The Gospel Annoys

The gospel commends itself to me because of its truth, because it does not just say, "Well now, let's forget our troubles and think of something beautiful."  It says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:33).  It says that in a world like this, dominated by Satan, there will be "wars and rumours of wars" (Matthew 24:6).  It is psychology and not the gospel that just tries to make us forget our troubles for the time being.  The gospel of Jesus Christ always, therefore, of necessity annoys certain people, people who think that a place of worship is just a place where you listen to beautiful things, and therefore while you are sitting there, your forget your problems and the problems of the world -- these people are certain to be annoyed.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, p.24

World Conference of Religions?

We are living in days when people are always saying, "We want a world conference of all the religions, so we can all get together and pick out the best in each."  But you cannot do that with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is exclusive, and its challenge is that Christ, and Christ alone, can truly give us peace.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, p.18

Protect the Sheep by Exposing the Wolves

Clearly, if we were to place the truths taught in this passage [1 Timothy 4:1,2,6] into a shepherding context we would be told that a good shepherd advises sheep about false teachers who will turn from Christianity and teach demonic beliefs.  But that is precisely where people hesitate today.  They consider such "advice" heresy hunting!  But to obey Paul's command would mean that some of those who have set forth these teachings would not only be exposed for their  false teachings, but also that they would be shown to be hypocrites and liars who have little or no pangs of conscience about what they are doing to God's sheep.  Doubtless, this advice would also contain powerful scriptural arguments used as a rod to demolish the errors propagated and to establish the sheep in the truth.  The rod would be employed so effectively by a faithful elder that he would "stop their mouths," as Paul told Titus to do (Titus 1:11).


Jay E. Adams,  The Use of the Rod & the Staff: A Neglected Aspect of Shepherding, p.19-20

Pastors - USE YOUR STAFF!

The problem is, as Paul said, that there will arise from within the church many who would lead sheep astray.  Every day on television and over the radio false teaching of every sort, proclaiming to be Christian and biblical, may be heard.  Elders of truly Bible-believing churches must become aware of the false teaching that is being propagated at any given time, and must instruct their members as to its unbiblical nature.  They should be aware of any members of the congregation who have become so enamored of such error that they have begun to spread it among other members of the flock.  They should preach and teach the truth so clearly that error stands out in stark contrast to it.  Often, they must name names of false teachers as the apostle Paul frequently did in his letters.  Otherwise, the sheep may not know whose teachings they should avoid.  Elders may not be neutral about such matters; they must use the crook to snatch one sheep by the leg in order to keep him from falling over a precipice; another from following "a wolf in sheep's clothing."  They must keep him out of caves where the devil's snakes and scorpions lie in wait, or clear the cave before allowing him to enter it.  When these dangerous creatures have secretly crawled into their midst, they must use their staff to chase them away. . . .

A true shepherd is always intolerant to the nth degree of the wolf or anything else that may harm his flock.

Jay E. Adams,  The Use of the Rod & the Staff: A Neglected Aspect of Shepherding, p.19-20

Pastoral Neglect

There are too many elders who fail to take their shepherdly managing "work" seriously. . . .  [They] do not warn the flock of dangerous trends in the church, will not go after straying sheep, and will not counsel them when they are perplexed about problems.  They have laid aside their staffs.  This deplorable situation concerning elders and flocks is what is found in many (should I say "most"?) congregations today!  It must be remedied.  Until it is, and biblical shepherding is reestablished in congregations, the church will become riddled with error and falsehood, and grow farther and farther away from its Lord.

Jay E. Adams,  The Use of the Rod & the Staff: A Neglected Aspect of Shepherding, p.19

Where Does Your Church's Money Go?

Many churches spend more on interest payments than on world missions. Debt ties the church’s hands. If attendance drops, the economy suffers, or giving dips, then pastors or missionaries must go unpaid. The building completed eight years ago, already needing repairs, keeps demanding those monthly payments, mostly going to interest. . . . When a church overextends itself financially, it inevitably spends time during services trying to persuade people to give to the building fund. This changes the focus from worshiping Christ, studying the Scriptures, and meeting the needs of the community, to concerns about buildings, mortgages, and money.

Randy Alcorn

HT to Jerry

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Hello ladies and gents!  It’s that time again to highlight recent news about false teachings in the Church.

Answers in Genesis continues to provide reviews of that revisionist history TV series, “A.D., The Bible Continues.”   Episode 10 has some of the most ridiculous stuff yet!  Not much better is Episode 11. This abuse of Scripture — and history — in this series is inexcusable.

AIG also reports on another upcoming TV show which is sure to abuse the Bible and history, Of Kings and Prophets.

“Bono” from the “Christian” band U2 professes to be a Christian, but the evidence suggests otherwise.  Be careful what you fill your mind with and who you let teach you — even through music.

Catholics decided that Mexico must be full of demons which need exorcising — all because of Mexico’s new law for same-sex fake marriage.  So why haven’t they tried exorcising demons from the many states in the US which have legalized this fraud?  Actually, Rome needs to exorcise itself!  Most amusing is that even the “gay” news points out the ineffectiveness of Roman Catholic exorcisms.

Speaking of Roman Catholicism, now the pope has jumped on the “climate change” bandwagon.  It’s not important that science doesn’t support it (demonstrated by the Catholic position on evolutionism), rather it is important because the pope wants to be like the world and promote the false social gospel.  Oh, and if you want to use air-conditioning, well you are just part of the problem.

Of course part of the whole social gospel is the end of wars — and impossibility.   Well the pope has declared that those who make weapons cannot call themselves Christians.  For some reason he has decided that Christians should have nothing to do with weapons regardless of what the Bible says.  Ah, but how does this go along with his complaint about the allies not bombing [link gone by 7/14/18] the railroad lines to Auschwitz?  Can he spell, “H I P O C R I S Y”?!?  And yet Catholics follow him as if he speaks for God.

The Church of England has brought much trouble on itself because of its apostasy.  Now they are being sued [link gone by 7/14/18] for denying permission for a homosexual to serve in public ministry because he “married” his partner.   Once the Anglican Church approved of homosexuality, they really have no logical reason to deny the end result.

Hey, Joel Osteen has stated that President Obama is a Christian!  I guess that settles the question, doesn’t it?  Um, nope.  Obama is doing his best to legally persecute Christians and the Christian faith, promotes the homosexual agenda, thinks abortion is just grand, promotes theft, and has no respect for the rule of law.  Just to mention a few things.  If Osteen himself was a Christian, he would know better.  Remember, this is the guy who said Mormons worship the same God as do Christians.

There is nothing at all wrong with a church — or any building — having restrooms which aren’t limited to either male or female.  They usually just have a sign on them showing a man and a woman with a line between them, and they are a single person unit which may or may not have a urinal and women’s products — I’ve been in many.   But this is not the same thing as deciding to make an “all gender restroom” so as to pander to those who claim to be of the opposite sex from what they really are.  And when your church is a haven for “transgender” people, then I guess it’s natural to help promote their agenda.  Just don’t pretend to be a Christian assembly.

Do you want some false doctrine in your life?  It’s quite easy to do.

There Is A Fountain

THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD
by William Cowper

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.
Be saved, to sin no more, be saved, to sin no more;
Till all the ransomed church of God be saved, to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.
Lies silent in the grave, lies silent in the grave;
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave.

Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared, unworthy though I be,
For me a blood bought free reward, a golden harp for me!
’Tis strung and tuned for endless years, and formed by power divine,
To sound in God the Father’s ears no other name but Thine.

Too Tolerant of False Teachings

In our time, once again the evangelical church has grown lax.  There is an emphasis upon tolerance that tends to exclude shepherdly protection.  In the eyes of many sheep today the "good guy" is the one who makes no protest against unbiblical teachings and practices; the "bad guy" is the one who will not "take part in the unfruitful works of darkness" but instead "goes so far as to expose them" (Ephesians 5:11).  The "good guy" is the one who endeavors to go along as far as possible with the world; the "bad guy" is the one who avoids eclecticism at all costs.  It is, perhaps, this tolerance of and mixture with worldly principles and practices, and such tolerance of error and heresy that has most seriously affected the Bible-believing churches of our time.  All too few elders (including both ruling and teaching elders) are aware of the insidious inroads of worldly thought and practices within the church.  If something is not done to correct this situation, however, it is clear that truth once more will be seriously compromised, and if it continues for long unabated, truth may once more all but vanish from the church.

Jay E. Adams,  The Use of the Rod & the Staff: A Neglected Aspect of Shepherding, p.13

A Significance of Baptism

Baptism does represent the washing away of sins, but having done so, it goes on into something infinitely more important.  We note that the term used is “baptized into” or “baptized unto.”  This gives us the key to a true understanding of this “one baptism.”  It means “in reference to Christ,” or “into the realm of Christ,” or “into the sphere of influence which is exercised by Christ.”

There is an interesting statement, again in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, which really throws much light on this.  The Apostle is writing to those Corinthians who were so ready to divide, and he uses this amazing expression:  “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (10:1-2).  It is a statement about the children of Israel.  God had sent Moses to deliver them out of the captivity of Egypt.  They had started on their journey, but Pharaoh and his hosts were chasing them. They came to the Red Sea, and God worked the miracle of dividing the Red Sea, and the children of Israel, led by Moses, went over on dry land.  The Egyptians, trying to follow them, were all drowned.  It is with reference to that incident that the Apostle says that they children of Israel were “baptized unto Moses.”  That statement can have but one meaning.  They were baptized into the leadership, the sphere of influence, of Moses.  They had become identified with Moses and all he stood for, and the cause that was represented by Moses.  In other words, they were separated from the Egyptians, amongst whom they had been living, and were now the redeemed people of God, the saved people, the protected people identified with Moses whom God had sent to deliver them.  There was now a division between them and all who belonged to the real of Pharaoh.

This is a picture of that which is true of all who are in Christ.  Baptism therefore represents and signifies our being put into the realm and into the sphere and into the influence of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This means that formerly we belonged to the world, we belonged to the realm of the world; but the moment we become Christian we go out of the realm of the world, and into the realm of Christ, and baptism signifies this.  Paul, in writing to the Colossians, says that we have been “delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son” (1:13).  We have been taken out of the world and put into the kingdom of God, and into the kingdom of Christ.  We are in a new realm, we are in a new sphere, we are under an entirely new influence.  Not only so, when we are baptized we are confessing Christ, we are announcing that we have submitted ourselves to Him, that He has become our Lord and Master.  Those children of Israel, if they had preferred it, could have stayed in Egypt.  But they had listened to Moses and had followed him, risking their lives with him, and stepping into the Red Sea.  They had submitted themselves entirely to Moses’ leadership, had surrendered themselves to him; he was their leader, their master, their lord.  Figuratively, they were baptized in the Red Sea unto Moses.

So baptism represents and signifies that you and I who are Christian no longer belong to the world, and its realm, and its interests; but that we belong now to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is to us the one Lord, the only Master whom we acknowledge.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16, pp.124-126

Pat Robertson, a Foolish and Dangerous Heretic

I was going to report on this incident in my latest “Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies” post, but I felt the need to use more than a short paragraph to deal with it, so I ended up with this post.

Pat Robertson has a history of making foolish claims and false  prophecies.  What makes him even more dangerous is that he has the ear of the media, who promote him as a leader in the Christian faith.  Of course there are some of the secular media who actually get that he is a false teacher (hard to believe, I know).   All one has to do is Google Robertson to see the many outlandish claims and false prophecies he has made (he claims to have a direct link with God).  I have already written a full article about Robertson, exposing him for the false teacher he is.

So, with all this being said, I need to deal with Robertson’s latest harmful, nonsensical and false teachings.   It seems that a non-discerning and deceived woman who watches Robertson’s show wrote to him asking for advice as to “how to respond to a co-worker who is struggling to believe in a God who would allow her 3-year-old child to suffer and die.”  The child had apparently spent most of its short life in and out of hospitals.

Robertson decided that God’s dealing with humanity in general isn’t the same now as it was in the Old Testament times.  He claimed that God was responsible for everything in the O.T., but in New Testament theology, “human beings have an agency, they have responsibility.”  And then he explained his idea of free will.

Let’s just stop and think for a minute.  Isn’t God still responsible for everything, in that He is sovereign and can decide what He will allow or disallow in this world?  Can he not still intervene in people’s lives or world events if He so chooses?  Of course He can!  Why would Robertson think otherwise?!?!  And didn’t the people before Christ have free agency and responsibility for their actions?  Of course they did, which is why God would punish people for rebelling against HIM — He held them responsible for their choices and actions.

“A lot of things happen, because of what humans do,” Robertson said, citing medical malpractice and mistakes made by doctors and nurses as examples of how individual choice can sometimes lead to situations in which people negatively impact others.

In this statement, Robertson is actually 100% correct.  There are consequences for human actions.  But there was no information given to him (at least reported by the media) which said that the toddler’s death was caused by human actions.  Such a statement then becomes irresponsible.

“As far as God’s concerned, he knows the end from the beginning and he sees a little baby and that little baby could grow up to be Adolf Hitler, he could grow up to be Joseph Stalin, he could grow up to be some serial killer — or he could go up to die of a hideous disease. God sees all that. For that life to be terminated as a baby, he’s going to be with God forever in heaven. So, that isn’t a bad thing. … A good God is going to take that baby to heaven right now.”

Again Robertson has one thing right — that God is outside of time and sees the end from the beginning.  BUT, then Robertson gets foolish.  According to Robertson, God took the child because He saw it would grow up to be some horrible person.  Wow: God allowed the baby Hitler and the baby Stalin to live, but He thought this woman’s baby would apparently be a worse person so He took the child to heaven.  WHAT A HORRID THING TO TELL A MOTHER!  It is not only unbiblical, and just plain false, but it does nothing to comfort the woman when you tell her that her child was apparently going to grow up to be another Pol Pot!

If the woman was struggling to believe in God before Pat’s counsel, she’d want nothing to do with such a fickle God that Pat describes.

The right thing to say may have just been that this is a fallen world, and God allows death and suffering because it is the result sin entering the world.  God does not intervene in every situation, and in fact rarely does intervene.  Whether He heals the child or allows the child to die, He will bring about good from the situation, even if the good is only that you will see the child again if you are saved.

Pat Robertson blasphemes God and is a blight on the Christian faith.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a week without too many news items about the state of the Church.  It is really difficult to keep up with it all, which is why it is good that so many apologetics ministries are busy exposing all this stuff.

The big news has been Tony Campolo’s recent statement in support of “committed” same-sex relationships.  I’m really not surprised; after all, he was one of the first false teachers I exposed just a few months after I started this blog, and a few months later exposed his advocacy for homosexuals.  Michael Brown has an excellent open letter to Tony.

Homosexual activists who also claim to be Christians continue to lie about what Bible teaches in regards to homosexuality, which often leads weak/immature Christians astray.  One of their attacks is the Bible’s interpretation of the Greek word, “arsenokoites.”  I actually addressed the origin and meaning of this word in a previous article.  This article does a good job responding to arguments about the word.  Great information for your apologetics file in regard to the cult of homosexuality.

The pope continues promoting Roman Catholic supporters of homosexuality.  I just see this as more proof that he never speaks for God.

I have often said that those “Christians” who promote homosexuality and same-sex fake marriage are preaching another gospel and worshiping another Christ.  One particular blog-trolling false teacher who is 100% behind fake marriage just rails when you suggest he is preaching false gospels and false Christs.  Denny Burk has an excellent article where he cites an Orthodox priest saying essentially the same thing I’ve been saying.

So what excuse can Willow Creek have for engaging an open homosexual, who is an advocate for the homosexual agenda, as a worship leader?!? [link gone by 7/14/18] He claims to be celibate, but then that would mean he isn’t a homosexual, because a homosexual is one who is practicing the behavior; otherwise he is just a man struggling with homosexual desires.  (A thief is no longer a thief if he no longer steals.)  Willow Creek has been in the apostasy of market-driven philosophy for decades.  Now they say their “gay” worship leader is “held to the same standards that we have for everyone in our church.”  Obviously those standards don’t include not being allowed to advocate for false teachers.

Speaking of the market-driven/seeker-sensitive heresy, Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church is seeking $71million for another expansion!  I guess he needs a larger goat pen.

A great article about Creflo Dollar’s new expensive jet.

A thought-provoking article about who restrains the Holy Spirit.

OH NO!  Another Roma Downey show to promote more of her false teachings.  The comment section on the article is also quite interesting.

A blogger recently emailed me this link to a very well done article in regards to one of my blog posts about the Sabbath.  He is an ex-Seventh-day Adventist.

I never realized just how widespread some of Bill Gothard’s teachings have reached.  One particular insidious teaching is the claim that Christians have no rights.  I was directed to an excellent article examining the foolishness of such a claim, and the dangers this teaching presents.

So, knowing the great harm brought into the Church by false teachers, should we love them?

Christian Intolerance is Unifying

It is precisely because we are all one in Christ that you cannot have a World Congress of Faiths.  Such an idea is a farce; indeed it is a denial of Christ.  Christianity cannot participate in such a Congress.  It cannot enter into any proposal or conference that says that Christianity is marvelous, but, after all, God gave insights to the Buddha, to Confucius, Mahomet and others and we can learn something from them.  The Christian does not need to learn from such quarters, because "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Christ."  He does not need them, is not interested in them, because he has it all in Himself.  Even to give a glance at any other is a denial of Him.  Intolerant, and yet unifying!

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16, p.103

A Collection of Goodies

The “Christian” Left loves to promote the idea that Christians are NOT helping “the least of these,” as they define who they are (the “poor”).  However, their view is unbiblical.  Denny Burk wrote an excellent article correcting the Left’s erroneous understanding.  When he was rebutted as having come up with something novel, Burk easily defended his position.

John MacArthur had an excellent series about Mary Magdalene:
The Myth of Mary Magdalene
The Real Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene’s High Calling

A good examination of what the word “day” means in Genesis 1; it means a 24-hr day.

For those pacifists who decry Christians who are in the military, the Bible NEVER condemns soldiers or war.  Being a member of the military may very well be a calling.

An excellent examination of the Christian response to illegal immigration.

Do we have the real text of the New Testament?

Biblical tongues are real, authentic languages used somewhere in the world.

Jesus’ kingdom has come.

Does Jude 7 really refer to homosexual behavior?  Regardless of what the “Christian” Left says, the true answer is, “YES!”

Finally, Transgendered Gnosticism.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

I’ve been way too busy this past week or so, but I have been collecting links as I’ve gotten the chance to read — So you are in for a long one!  I like looking at some other blogs which have similar “roundups,” and while they usually have items I’ve already seen, they also have items which I hadn’t seen.  I want to give a general “hat tip” to these sites, and recommend them:
Asleep No More
Guarding the Deposit
Eternity Matters (although Neil doesn’t have his “Round Up” as often as before)
Do Not Be Surprised…

There are many more blogs I follow, but they don’t have routine “roundups.”

Let me start this week’s “RAAH” by telling you of a personal experience I had yesterday.  A local “Christian” book store, “Lemstone,” is part of the “Parable” book store chain.  The owner is retiring, so they are having a close-out sale to clean out their inventory (25% off yesterday).  So yesterday after church we decided to see if there were some books or other items we could use.  I did get a copy of one of my favorite books, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist,” so we have one available for giving away.  My wife got about 200 “Pass it On” cards, which we usually leave with tips at restaurants.  But I found walking around that store to be very distressing.  Except for the Bible shelf (which also included garbage like “The Message” and “The Story”), I would say probably 80% of the publications they sold were by false teachers and heretics.  The aberrant and heretical teachings in these books are what makes these “Christian” bookstores so spiritually dangerous.  Of course they also had a huge Catholic section, which, like Family Christian Stores, was added over a decade ago so as to make more money.  After all, isn’t making money more important than protecting people from false teachings?  (Yes, that is a rhetorical question.)  There were so many pictures of “Jesus,” with so many variations, that I saw that as proof that these are just idols of people’s own making.  The “religious” junk filling the store, besides the books, was mostly useless and also promoting false teachings.  So, in my opinion, this city will be better off spiritually with the demise of this store.  Now if only the Family Christian Store would also go under…

The big news this past week or so (besides Bruce Jenner having himself mutilated so he can pretend to be a woman) was about one of the Duggar men having a sinful past.  Well, I never watched the show, but I knew they were Gothardites, and part of the patriarchy and “quiverfull” movements, so nothing which came out surprised me.  What is good about this situation is that lots of exposure is being given to the false teachings the Duggar family follows.  What is bad is that the media makes it look as if this is normal Christianity.  Some examples of informative articles are this one about Gothard’s teaching about sex and this one about Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute’s home-schooling material.  Then there is this article about the entire worldview of the Duggar family; be sure to examine the numerous articles the author links to.  These, and many articles like them, demonstrate just how bizarre these types of cultic movements can be.  We must remember, however, that, contrary to what the media says, this is not a “fundamentalism” problem — it is a legalism problem.

Speaking about Bill Gothard, he has a new web site - or does he?

If you want to see what happens when you mix feminist theology with false prophets, just take a look at this article, and watch the video.  Female Benny Hinns, and about as unbiblical as it gets.

Matt Chandler demonstrates why he is not qualified to be a pastor.

Homosexual Heretics

Interesting video about “Modern Worship?”  If you let it continue, you will find the next couple videos to also be of interest.

A couple months ago I wrote an article explaining why Jesus would not want us to serve a same-sex fake wedding.  The arguments I used to demonstrate why He would not have us do so can also be used for why Christians should not even attend a same-sex fake wedding.  By attending, we are giving approval to the lie being passed of as a wedding to marriage, and approving what God has condemned is rebellion against God.  Yet a Calvary Chapel pastor thinks that attending such a blasphemous event can be okay if the couple aren't Christian!  So it is okay to sanction sin by non-Christians?

Answers in Genesis provides reviews for episode eight and episode nine of “A.D., The Bible Continues,” demonstrating the unbiblical nature and anti-historical nature of much of the series.

Commentator Matt Walsh has a good article about Christians denying the existence of Satan, and the new “Charlie Charlie” game.

Some people can be great Bible scholars, but still can’t be trusted.  Craig Blomberg has a very low view of Scripture.  In the weekly email (6/4/15) from Midwest Christian Outreach apologetics ministry, L.L. (Don) Veinot said, “I suppose I am not overly surprised. When we reviewed his book, How Wide the Divide in our article, "Why the Divide?" where we learn from Craig Blomberg that Evangelicals and Mormons agree ‘The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one eternal God.’ A line from a Simon and Garfunkel song is echoing in my mind as I think about Blomberg's grasp on the Bible, ‘Slip slidin' away.’”  I read that book by Blomberg, and learned he really has no clue about Mormonism.

Another false prophecy by Benny Hinn as he seeks to enrich himself even more.

Finally, maybe you’ll be happy to know that heretic Creflo Dollar is going to get his jet anyway.  I’m sure the money will come from his “church” coffers anyway.

Pray to Whom?

This short article has been floating around in my head for a while now, so I finally decided to get it on paper.

Here is the problem:  I have heard people praying to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, and also hear them ending a prayer “in your name.”  

If we are praying to God the Father, how does it make sense to end the prayer with, “In your name”?  This is saying we are going through God the Father to talk to God the Father!  Even if we were to pray to Jesus, would that even make sense to end the prayer “in your name”?  Of course not.  And why is it that the only people I’ve heard praying to the Holy Spirit are charismatics?

Here’s the question:  Biblically speaking, to whom do we pray?  God the Father? Jesus? The Holy Spirit?  Is there a distinction — after all, aren’t they all the one God?

In the Trinity there are different roles for the different persons: Jesus is the mediator between man and God, and the Spirit is the indwelling counselor.  While they are all God, our prayers are not directed to all persons.

Let’s look at “the Lord’s Prayer,” which is what Jesus used to teach the disciples.  To whom does he pray — the Father or the Spirit?  The Father.

Look at Paul’s letters; in some of them he begins by saying that in his prayers for the readers he thanks God.  Notice he never says he thanks Jesus.

The clincher is Colossians 3:17.  Paul says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  (NIV)

So, our prayers should always be to God the Father, through Jesus our mediator; which is why we end our prayers with, “In Jesus’ Name” (although I maintain we don’t need to say that in order for our prayers to God be through Jesus, since Jesus is our mediator and high priest who allows us to go directly to God the Father).