Jesus My Glory

O LORD GOD, 

Thou hast commanded me to believe in Jesus; and I would flee to no other refuge,
wash in no other fountain, build on no other foundation, receive from no other fullness, rest in no other relief.

His water and blood were not severed in their flow at the cross, may they never be separated in my creed and experiences;

May I be equally convinced of the guilt and pollution of sin, feel my need of a prince and saviour, implore of him repentance as well as forgiveness, love holiness, and be pure in heart, have the mind of Jesus, and tread in his steps.

Let me not be at my own disposal, but rejoice that I am under the care of one who is too wise to err, too kind to injure, too tender to crush.

May I scandalize none by my temper and conduct, but recommend and endear Christ to all around, bestow good on every one as circumstances permit, and decline no opportunity of usefulness.

Grant that I may value my substance, not as the medium of pride and luxury, but as the means of my support and stewardship.

Help me to guide my affections with discretion, to owe no many anything, to be able to give to him that needeth, to feel it is my duty and pleasure to be merciful and forgiving, to show to the world the likeness of Jesus.

“The Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions”

The Problem With Evangelical Campaigns

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, former minister of Westminster Chapel in London, was interviewed by Carl Henry for a February 1980 Christianity Today article. Henry asked, "You declined to be either a participant or observer [of the Berlin World Congress on Evangelism]. You were also, I think, the only minister of a major church in London that did not cooperate in the Graham crusades? What kept you on the sidelines?"

Lloyd-Jones' response:

This is a very vital and difficult matter. I have always believed that nothing but a revival—a visitation of the Holy Spirit, in distinction from an evangelistic campaign —can deal with the situation of the church and of the world.... I have never been happy about organized campaigns.... When things were not going well, the old approach was for ministers and deacons to call a day of fasting and prayer and to plead with God to visit them with power. Today's alternative is an evangelistic campaign: ministers ask, "whom shall we get as evangelist?" Then they organize and ask God's blessing on this. I belong to the old school.

Henry then asked, "What specific reservations do you have about modern evangelism as such?"

He replied:

I am unhappy about organized campaigns and even more about the invitation system of calling people forward.... I just can't subscribe to the idea that either congresses or campaigns really deal with the situation. The facts, I feel, substantiate my point of view: in spite of all that has been done in the last 20 or 25 years, the spiritual situation has deteriorated rather than improved. I am convince that nothing can avail but churches and ministers on their knees in total dependence on God. As long as you go on organizing, people will not fall on their knees and implore God to come and heal them. It seems to me that the campaign approach trusts ultimately in techniques rather than the power of the Spirit.

Cited in the April 1989 issue of The Berean Call.

What Is Our Outlook on Life?

Rejoice, the Lord is King!
Your Lord and King adore;
Mortals, give thanks, and sing,
And triumph evermore:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice! Again I Say: Rejoice!

Jesus the Saviour reigns,
The God of truth and love;
When he had purged our stains,
He took his seat above:

His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o’er earth and heaven;
The keys of death and hell 
Are to our Jesus given:

He sits at God’s right hand
Till all his foes submit,
ANd bow to his command,
And fall beneath his feet:

Rejoice in glorious hope;
Jesus the Judge shall come
And take his servants up
To their eternal home:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;
Rejoice! Again I Say: Rejoice!

Charles Wesley, Hymns for our Lord’s Resurrection (1746)

As cited in the book,
“Lost in Wonder: Charles Wesley; The Meaning of His Hymns Today, by S.T. Kimbrough, Jr. 

Random Apostasies and Heresies

The week goes by so quickly and there are so many things to report!

One of the things that liberal Christians hate is the FACT that the Bible teaches what is known as “complementarianism” in regards to roles of men and women in the church and family.  Liberals teach “egalitarianism” - that there are no different role for men and women in the church or family.  This subject blew up in the news recently because actress Candace Cameron Bure had the audacity to write a book about proper biblical roles for wives.  This, of course, gave the liberals a hissy-fit, with a feminist being particularly angered.  Stan even weighed in on Bure’s side.
Of course, the proper roles as instructed in the Bible scare the liberals.

As if Michael Brown’s attack on the “Strange Fire” conference wasn’t enough (I’m looking forward to reading these reviews), now we have Frank Viola putting in his two-cents’ worth.  Viola isn’t known for being strong on orthodoxy or church history (as demonstrated in the book, “Pagan Christianity,” which he co-authored with George Barna).  Apparently his new book about “Strange Fire” isn’t any better than Pagan Christianity when it comes to revising facts to fit his ideology.

I read a very interesting confession of a pastor who once allowed Gothardism in his church - to his regret.

Calvary Chapel, as a denomination, has had a pretty good record over the years for being fairly fundamental in their teachings.  I know around my neck of the woods I have no problem recommending the local CC assemblies, and I’ve always - in the past - have read how solid they are overall.  Well, sad to say, over the past few years there has been more and more turning away from solid teaching at CC as contemplative and mystical teaching has entered some assemblies.  News from Lighthouse Trails Research about Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa’s sanctioning of horrid “worship” in England really gets my head spinning.  The video of the sanctioned event, showing not only a bizarre “hard rock” version of “Amazing Grace,” but also the lead singer’s immodest attire.  I see nothing in the video which even HINTS at giving praise to anyone but the performers.

Still another bit of information about the bad teachings by Sarah Young in her book, “Jesus Calling.”  Did you know that Jesus told Sarah about the “filthy stable” in which He was born?

Then, of course, there is arch-heretic Benny Hinn.  Think of all the damage he has done to those who follow him!

This past Sunday was “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday,” and yesterday the nation celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King.  Neil Simpson exposes the liberal agenda of false teachers by what was taught on Sunday.  Sigh.

Finally, I have to say that there is no way I’d go to listen to a 16-year-old “pastor.”  I’d say the very first qualification he is lacking is that he is not old enough to be an “elder.”  The video of his sermon delivered while 10-years-old seriously abused the passage about David and Goliath so as to give support for his preaching as a young person.   I just don’t understand what it is about these types of “churches” who put kids in the pulpit.  Take a look in the Bible at the qualifications to be an elder, and then let me know which of these this boy has met.

What Is A Pharisee?

The following was in my daily e-mail from The Berean Call, for last Thursday, the 16th.  It’s worth thinking about.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WHAT IS A PHARISEE? [Excerpts]

Let's face it, no Christian wants to be accused of being a Pharisee, because the Pharisees are portrayed in the New Testament as being pretty loathsome characters. The accusation of being a Pharisee is made even more incendiary when it is combined with rhetoric about the Pharisees being the ones who killed Christ.

This is perfectly illustrated by a statement made by Mike Bickle, a key leader in the massively influential "evangelical" organization International House of Prayer (IHOP). He said in an audio message titled Contending for the Power of God (CD1):

"It was the ones pressing into biblical orthodoxy that murdered Christ."

Were the Pharisees really too biblically orthodox? Was their sin really to hold the
Scriptures in too high of esteem? Was it the Pharisees who killed Jesus?

Rather than take Mike Bickle's word for it, perhaps we should test his claim against what Scripture actually tells us about the Pharisees. For example, a careful look at Matthew 15:1-9 and John 5:45-47 clearly shows that the Pharisees problem was 
not that they held the Scriptures in too high esteem, thereby rendering them lifeless; their problem was that they knew the Scriptures, but were willing to cancel them out in favour of their own doctrine. 

So who exactly is being a Pharisee then? The Bible speaks a lot about knowledge and how having knowledge can save, but having a lack of knowledge can leave people open to destruction. For example: "Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge" (Isaiah 5:13).

 In spite of the importance God places on knowledge in His Word, there is a definite weaning of evangelicals away from knowledge of, an understanding of and a dependence upon the Word of God; a dumbing down of the flock that produces biblically illiterate Christians that have little or no defence against "ravenous wolves" that come forth...and claiming to be "evangelical," but in reality are not; "ravenous wolves" who make claims of new revelation through the rhema of God that the flock should recognize as being counterfeit, but do not because they do not know the genuine article (the logos) well enough to spot a fake....The flock has no means of reliably testing what these false teachers claim, because the sheep no longer recognize the shepherd's voice. As such, the sheep rely on their own understanding and desires to discern what is and is not true.


(Jamie Smith, "Shibboleth," December 2012, updated May 2013).

Did They Really Say That?!?

“You don’t think earth was first, do you? Huh?  Well, you don’t think that God made man in His image, and then made earth in some other image?  There is not anything under this whole sun that’s new.  Ary you hearing what I’m saying?  This is all a copy.  It’s a copy of home. It’s a copy of the Mother Planet.  Where God lives, He made a little one just like His and put us on it.”

Kenneth Copeland, Following the Faith of Abraham I [Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1989], audiotape Z#01-3001, side 1.  Cited by Hank Hanegraaff in Christianity in Crisis, 21st Century, p.375.

Notice the similarity here to the Mormon doctrine of eternal progression, where their god is an exalted man living on another planet.

I challenge anyone to show me from Scripture where it says God lives on a planet.  Copeland just made this up out of his own imagination.

Random Apostasies and Heresies

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is time again for a look at things going on in the church, which shouldn’t be going on in the church.

Elizabeth Prata has an excellent post about confronting fellow believers who follow false teachers.  She uses Beth Moore followers as an example.  Interestingly enough, Prata also has a new article examining another of Moore’s books.

Dr. Michael Brown has greatly reduced his credibility after being challenged about working hand-in-hand with arch-heretic Benny Hinn.  Brown claimed he really doesn’t know much about Hinn.  Yeah, well I have a bridge I can sell him.  Some of Brown’s apologists pointed the finger back at John MacArthur because MacArthur once appeared on TBN.  Of course they refuse to acknowledge the great difference between the two.  As Justin Peters writes, “Ignorance Is Not an Option.”

An interesting item I discovered about Neale Donald Walsch - God told him that Adolf Hitler went to heave, that he wasn’t a bad person, he didn’t hurt anyone, etc.  And thousands of Christians still buy his books.  SIGH.

More about Sarah Young and her book, “Jesus Calling,” for those who haven’t read it.  She got the idea for the book by reading the false and occult teaching in the book, “God Calling.”  I’m sure that doesn’t matter to those who use no discernment when reading Young’s book.  A Calvary Chapel bookstore still sells Young’s book, but because it is “controversial,” they keep it in the back room and you have to ask for it.  So why sell it at all - is money more important the protecting the flock? 

Sola Sisters posted an old article about the book, “Dream Encounters,” in which the author, Barbie L. Breathitt, teaches how to interpret dreams and find the secret codes God uses in dreams.  I wonder if Breathitt ever read Genesis 40:8, when Joseph spoke of interpreting dreams and said, “Do not interpretations belong to God?”

Mark Batterson, of “The Circle Maker” fame, is still making up doctrines [link gone by 2/14/16] out of thin air. Meanwhile, Tim Challies examines the problem with Batterson’s unbiblical teaching.

Regular readers of this blog will quickly learn my stance on what proper worship music and lyrics consist of.  Steve Bricker has a thought-provoking article about the subject, with examples of “ear candy” and “ear porn.”  

Mike Bickle, of that bastion of false teachings IHOP, has been proven to be a false teacher and false prophet by many, many solid preachers and apologists.  Yet the ever-popular Francis Chan is enamored with Bickle.  That should say a lot about Chan’s discernment.

Here in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area, an Episcopal Church “is helping people better understand the world around them” as they take a “Tour of Islam.” [link gone by 2/14/16]  Now, I am all for the Church at large teaching about Islam as an apologetic exercise, so that Christians may better understand how to evangelizing Muslims, and so they can be warned about what dangerous belief system it is.  But that isn’t what’s happening:  “Tolerance is lower on the diversity scale if you want to speak that way. But to move to acceptance, approval and affirmation of people that are different than us.”  Then again, what can you expect from the Episcopal Church?

“Beware of Self-appointed Pastors.”  It’s interesting that some of these women have some of the most outlandish costumes to identify their position.

Aaaaannnndddd finally, did you know that it has only been fairly recently that people have claimed that the Mormon Church is not Christian?  Neither did I; having studied the LDS for 40 years now, I’d say they were pointed out as a false belief system from the start.  What’s funny is that they didn’t used to want to be called Christian.

An Apostate Mega-Church

Yesterday I read news about a married pastor of a mega-church in a Arizona, who resigned after it was discovered he has been involved in affairs with multiple women.  The news article didn’t specify if the women were members of his church (which has a regular average attendance of over 6000).

Now, I got curious about what this pastor’s church looked like, so I “Googled” the place and skimmed through the various pages in the church’s site.  I felt that a good place to start was to look at the staff and their qualifications, etc.

Aside from the normal staff pastors one would expect to find for a church, I found they have the following “pastors”:

Lead Pastor.  This is the one who resigned, and so now they have an “Interim Lead Pastor.”

Executive Pastor of Expansion.  Say what?  His degree is a B.S. in “Justice Studies.”  I’m afraid to ask.

Executive Pastor of Weekend Experience.  And this one is a woman.  She has a degree in “Communications Studies” and attended a “School of Worship.”  I wonder how one “pastors” a “weekend experience”?

Executive Pastor of Operations.  With an MBA.

Mercy Ministries Pastor.

Care Pastor

Spiritual Formation Pastor.  This one is a woman.  She’s currently reading Discerning the Voice of God, by Priscilla Shirer, among others.

Pastor of Spiritual Formation.  This one is a man.  I don’t understand what the difference is between a “Spiritual Formation Pastor” and a “Pastor of Spiritual Formation.”

Missional Community Pastor

Children’s Ministries Pastor.  This one is a woman.

Connections Pastor.

Other staff members include (not including numerous administrative assistants):

Teaching Team.  Two men, both founding pastors of other churches, and both live in other states.  So how are they a “teaching team” at this church?

Director of Local Justice Ministries.  A young woman who, in addition to going to a state university, also attended the “United States Sports Academy.”  The books she was currently reading tell me a lot about her:  Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning and One Thousand Gifts, by Ann Voskamp.  I wonder what her job consists of?

Local Justice Coordinator.

Recovery Director

Funeral Coordinator

Director of Marriage Ministries

Marriage Coordinator

Each part of the children’s ministry has a “Lead” person:
Children’s Resource Ministry
Childcare Ministry
Nursery Ministry
Preschool Ministry
K-3rd Ministry
Large Group Ministry
Special Needs Ministry (TWO “Leads”)
Nursery/Toddler Coordinator (Sat.)
Nursery/Toddler Coordinator (Sun.)
Preschool Coordinator (Sat.)
Preschool Coordinator (Sun.)
K-3rd Coordinator (Sat.)
K-3rd Coordinator (Sun.)
Large Group Coordinator (Sun.)

Then we have the team for “Students”, including two more “pastors”:
FOUR56 Director.  I’m guessing that means 4th-6th grades.
Junior High Pastor.  His degree is in Sociology  
High School & College Pastor. Oh boy, a Fuller Theological Seminary grad.
High School Director.  

The there’s the “Communications” section:
Director of Communications.
Graphic Designer & Animator
Graphic Designer
Storyteller/Cinematographer
Filmmaker/Editor
Communications Coordinator

The “Connections” team, aside from the “Connections Pastor,” has the following staff:
Connections Coordinator
Guest Services Coordinator
Connections Caller

And let’s not forget their “Worship” section:
Creative Director.  Look at what he’s currently reading:  The Ender series, Henri Nouwen and Karl Barth.
Youth Worship Director.  Lots of tattoos, which seems to be the norm for church leadership and staff positions nowadays.
Music Director.  One of his current reading books is Rob Bell’s Love Wins.
Worship Director.  
Youth Worship Coordinator.

With all the pomp and circumstance of this mega-church, they also need a “Production” team.
Production Director
Tech Arts Director
Audio Tech Director

And of course they have a Finance section, Facilities section, and a “Board of Servant Leaders.”

This mega-church has a staff larger than probably most corporations!  And certainly larger than the congregation of many churches.  This “church” has more programs than you can shake a stick at!

You can probably imagine what their “Worship Culture” is like - very entertaining, and they call it a “worship experience.”  And they have ore programs than you can shake a stick at!  

They have a book store, so I thought that would tell me a lot about them, but they don’t show you what they have.  However, the photograph of some shelves shows only one book clearly:  Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster.  

Running such an organization obviously takes money, and their statement shows a weekly need of $162,000, with the current weekly giving of $191,105.  WOW!  Maybe if they had fewer staff members they would have a smaller budget!  But, hey, they allow you to use your credit cards for giving your “tithes and offerings.”  (I wish Christians would quit using that word, “tithes.”  - We DON’T HAVE TITHES!!)

Well, let’s sum up what I see here.  It is apparent that the philosophy of the market-driven mentality is standard with this “church.” They violate Scripture by appointing women “pastors.”  They are very much involved in the apostate “spiritual formation” theology, appear to have a “social gospel” focus, lacking of discernment apparent by the reading material admitted to by staff members, and worship services which look to be more like productions of entertainment.

I did not waste time listening to any sermons.  With what I see of their operation, I would be surprised if they had consistently good messages, and with what I see of their site I wouldn’t attend if they DID have good messages - after all, how solid can your teaching be when support the whole mysticism of “spiritual formation.”

With their apparent love affair with the ways of the world, is it any wonder that their lead pastor had affairs with women?

Christian Diets

So-called “Christian” diet plans have not been a topic I thought of writing about because they don’t normally have doctrinal teachings.  However, as I have looked at some over the years, I have noticed how often the Scripture is abused so support the author of whatever diet is being promoted.  Due to a request by a reader, I decided to write this general overview of some well-known diets and examine them in the light of God’s Word.

Let me start by explaining what the Bible says about the foods mankind is to eat.  I will not include the dietary restrictions given to the theocratic nation of Israel because such restrictions were for ceremonial reasons, and were cancelled by Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament (Mark 7:17-23; Acts 10:13ff; 1 Tim. 4:4-5).

In the beginning, God gave man - and the animal kingdom as well - a diet of that which comes from plants, be it vegetable, fruits, nuts, grain, roots, etc. (Gen. 1:29).  But after the Flood, God gave man meat for food, in the form of fish, birds, and “everything that lives and moves” (Gen. 9:3)

Throughout Exodus, and the remainder of the Pentateuch, God tells Israel that He is taking them to a land of “milk and honey.”  Throughout the Bible milk and honey for food is considered a blessing.  John the Baptist subsisted on honey and locusts.  In Luke 11:11-12, Jesus discusses about whether fathers would give something bad for food in response to a son’s request, and He contrasts “egg” with “scorpion,” with the implication that eating the egg would be good.  In Isaiah 10:19 an analogy is given which uses men gathering abandoned eggs from a bird’s nest, but nothing is intimated about that being wrong.

So now let’s take a look at what various “Christian” diet plans say.

The first one to look at is the “Hallelujah Diet.  The author of this one is Rev. George Malkmus.  The first problem I have with this diet is Malkmus’ claim that it is “God’s Way.”  Now, in order for anyone to be able to truthfully say something is “God’s Way,” it has to be demonstrated clearly from Scripture, or it has to be by direct revelation.  Since the Scripture is fairly limited in this area, and I doubt if Malkmus has had a direct revelation, I would say the claim that his diet is “God’s Way” is false.

Of course, as with so many who teach their “____” as “God’s Way,” and who then have a whole industry selling products based on their claims, Malkmus is no different - he has a whole line of expensive dietary supplements and other products.

The home page of the company offering the Hallelujah Diet, offers a course called “Biblical Nutrition 101,” by Rev. George Malkmus (which essentially explains the “why” of the Hallelujah Diet).   Overall, the diet program is based on vegetarianism, which may or may not be good, depending on the program itself.  I’m not going to address all the outrageous and unproven health claims found in the document, but for those interested in that subject, an examination can be found at “Quackwatch.”  I will concentrate only on Malkmus’ biblical claims.

While it is correct in its claims as to God’s original diet for mankind being fruits and vegetables, as noted above, Malkmus neglects the fact that God later included meats, and his whole diet is based on the premise that meats were never to be a part of mankind’s diet. 

I found some abuse of Scripture with this course, such as on page 9 where the author uses Galatians 6:7 in reference to consequences of improper diet.  Another passage abused on p.12 is Hosea 4:6 being applied to our supposed ignorance of a proper diet.  Then we jump to p.13 and the author states that God didn’t intend for us to be sick, and his “proof text” is 3 John 1:2!   “Refined table salt” (Lesson 8) is bad because Gen. 2:7 tells us how man was made - breathing life into dead minerals; and salt is a dead mineral without life, etc.  In Lesson 11 the discussion is about the need for oxygen “so that we can experience life to the fullest.” After all, didn’t Jesus say that He came so that we would have abundant life? (“proof text” being Jn 10:10)  In Lesson 12 he opens his “concluding thoughts” citing 1 John 4:1, and then proceeds to tell us what the world says about religion and health - implying that these are what John is referring to.  And the final “proof text” to support his thesis is Dan.1:15-20.

There is nothing in the “course” which backs up the author’s claim that it is “Biblical Nutrition”: just because he cites Bible verses and refers to creation, that doesn’t make it “Biblical Nutrition.”  My guess, though, is that there are hordes of Christians claiming this diet is from God.  Again and again the author emphasizes Gen. 1:29 with claims that eating anything else is not good for us, yet if that is the case, then why did God give mankind meat to eat?  The issue is moderation, not abstention.  

I found a Calvinist KJVO site which did some examination of this diet vs what the Bible teaches.  While I can’t recommend this site, the one page about Malkmus and his diet gives a lot of “food” for thought for those who want to pursue such a diet because it is supposedly “God’s Way.  The site calls the “Hallelujah Diet” heresy, which I think is a false charge in itself.  Aberration?  Yes.  Heresy? No.

Weigh Down Workshop. This course by Gwen Shamblin was considered to be a fairly good diet program, but churches soon discovered how much heresy was being taught as part of the “workshop,” and they began booting Shamblin’s course out as quickly as possible.  So Shamblin ended up with her own cultic group called the Remnant Fellowship.  Midwest Christian Outreach is just one of many ministries exposing Shamblin as a heretic.

Rick Warren’s “Daniel Plan.”  Again, most commentators I’ve read on this plan think it is a fairly sound diet and health program, but there are grave problems with the consultants Warren used to develop it - and who supposedly inspired it - who are proponents of Eastern religious beliefs.  Erin Benziger also addresses this.

I’m sure there are many more such diets, but one that I’ve come across which has become faddish, even with some Christians, is veganism.  Veganism is vegetarianism taken to a more bizarre level, in that vegans refuse to eat animal products.  There are, of course, degrees to which different vegan groups or individuals apply this, but milk, eggs, and honey are examples of what they shun.  And some at the extreme end refuse to even USE products of animals, such as silk, wool, or leather.  

I’m not going to concern myself with veganism practiced by unbelievers, but I am going to address the claims Christian vegans use to support their diets, because the claims abuse Scripture and get to be quite cultic.  In fact, one of the claims about veganism is similar to claims by Bill Gothard with his various dietary restrictions - unsubstantiated claims of health benefits (in addition to known health benefits).

As with the Hallelujah Diet, one of the immediate claims is that the only food man was intended to eat was outlined in Gen. 1:29.  Of course Gen. 1:29 makes no mention of using animals for milk products, or using honey from bees.

If the reason for vegan diets is because of concern for how the animals are treated in “animal factories,” then that is an ethical belief rather than a biblical belief about food, especially when all animal food products can be procured from farms where animals are given humane treatment.

In an article at “Today’s Christian Woman,” the author makes a convoluted argument to claim Mark 12:31 is applicable because how food choice affect your neighbor!  And, of course by supporting the meat industry you are obviously NOT heeding the call to heal the sick and help the poor (Matt. 10:8; Gal. 2:10), an idea the author got because of what she read in a book by Peter Singer - who is one of the worst people to accept any kind of teachings from!  Then the author uses Hosea 4:3 as an analogy to the “bloodshed and devastation that factory farming has on the people, the animals, and the land.”  Again, everyone can get their products at non-factory farms.  The author is another one who uses Dan.1:15 as a “proof text,” which has nothing to do with veganism or vegetarianism.

Scan the Internet looking for “Christian vegan” and you will find those who claim animals are on a level with humans in creation, and that proper stewardship does not include eating them.  Peter Singer’s philosophy about animals compared to humans has apparently been adopted by too many non-discerning Christians!

I found a Christian vegan blog in which the author makes the point about Gen. 9:3 being after the Fall, but that doesn’t explain why God would intentionally give mankind food which would be to his detriment; does her God say, “Here, have a little of this poison” and then laugh as man gets ill from what God gave him? But the author doesn’t even mention that God gave “milk and honey” as blessings! 

In a serious abuse of Scripture, the author cites Heb. 10:7-8 where God was not pleased with animal offerings!  SIGH!  Do I really have to explain that it wasn’t because the offerings were animals?

The blog author tells her readers that they need to “stop the suffering in this world.”  Do sheep suffer when we shear them for wool?  Do bees suffer when we eat their honey?

I didn’t find one site that told Christians to seek out farms which treat their animals humanely, rather than promoting the ethical claim which says we should show compassion as Christians.  It was never once pointed out that there are indeed farms who are not part of the system they decry.

It was interesting how many sites on Christian vegetarianism and veganism were by either members of,  or those connected with, Seventh-day Adventism or the Jehovah’s Witnesses (even sites that quoted the JW “New World Translation” as support).  There are even claims that Jesus was a vegetarian!  (I found a good response to that at “got Questions?.org)

Here’s the point of this article:
If you want to be a vegetarian or a vegan, that is your liberty as a Christian.  If you want to live on such diets because of the inhumane treatment of animals by “factory farms”, etc, that’s all well and good.

BUT, even though God designed man originally for eating from the plant kingdom, God did indeed give man stewardship in the use of the animal kingdom for food.  Nowhere does God denounce eating meat, nowhere does He denounce drinking milk or eating honey, nowhere does He say the use of sheared wool is wrong, and nowhere does God say eating eggs is wrong.  The principles are established directly opposite of such claims as demonstrated in the first four paragraphs of this post.  

Instead of condemning those who use animal products from places which aren’t ethical about proper treatment of animals, do some research to find farms who do things properly and tell people where to find them!  

Above all, STOP abusing Scripture to promote your dietary desires.  The claim that something is “God’s Way,” is nothing less than spiritual abuse!

Behold the Lamb

We had communion during our worship today, and, as we do sometimes, we sang a hymn as the elements were passed.  It was a contemporary song, but from the team of Keith and Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend - some of whose hymns I’ve previously posted.

Take a look at the lyrics below, and you will notice that these musicians understand what Christian hymns are supposed to about - doctrine!  (If you’d like, here is a link to a youtube with Stuart Townend singing the song.)

Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away, 
Slain for us - and we remember 
The promise made that all who come in faith
Find forgiveness at the cross. 
So we share in this bread of life, 
And we drink of His sacrifice 
As a sign of our bonds of peace 
Around the table of the King. 

The body of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
Torn for you - eat and remember 
The wounds that heal, the death that brings us life 
Paid the price to make us one. 
So we share in this bread of life, 
And we drink of His sacrifice 
As a sign of our bonds of love 
Around the table of the King. 

The blood that cleanses every stain of sin, 
Shed for you - drink and remember 
He drained death's cup that all may enter in 
To receive the life of God. 
So we share in this bread of life, 
And we drink of His sacrifice 
As a sign of our bonds of grace 
Around the table of the King. 

And so with thankfulness and faith we rise 
To respond, - and to remember 
Our call to follow in the steps of Christ 
As His body here on earth. 
As we share in His suffering 
We proclaim Christ will come again!
And we’ll join in the feast of heaven
Around the table of the King