Paraphrasing Relevance: Pop Goes The Bible

Whether it be the thundering of a t-shirt cannon in their worship service, or their recent Christmas according to John, Paul, George and Ringo sermons, the leadership at Granger Community Church, with their books and pastor training seminars, certainly know how to push the envelope of 'church'. Surprisingly, they have not been awarded the Old Truth Athenian Spirit Award, up until now. Specifically the trophy goes out to Tim Stevens, who may be their most 'innovative' thinker, for perhaps finding the only way to make a paraphrase like The Message less reliable than it already is. Tim accomplished this by writing his own pop-culture paraphrase of part of the bible, by basing his paraphrase on The Message paraphrase. In addition to the Athenian Spirit Award, I'm also using the blinded by relevance theme on this post, since Tim Stevens' bible translation instructs us to: "always be looking for God in the culture" which he suggests we should do through our use of movies, watching TV, listening to your XM radio, and flipping through the pages of People Magazine. ... [Read More!]

A god Who Loves 'Funk' & Those Who Defend him

I try to give a reasonable amount of slack to professed Christians who don't understand God the exact way that I do, but every once in a while something is said that rips open the curtain of the Seeker Sensitive movement and reveals how desperately twisted it's mindset can be. It makes you wonder if some of them are even talking about the same God that the bible describes as 'holy, holy, holy'. I had one such glimpse behind that curtain over the weekend as I interacted with some defending a popular 'funk' song with lyrics relating to "how well built" a female is. Yes, music in church! ... [Read More!]

"I Can Only Afford To Buy One Soul This Month"

Can you imagine somebody saying that? Maybe we should stop for a moment and ask how they'd manage to figure out how much a soul is worth in the first place. But let's say for a moment that we can determine that, now I have to ask, are you sure that you can only afford to buy one, just one soul, this month? What do you think about the morality of going out to dinner, buying a pair of shoes, or traveling somewhere, instead of saving that money to buy two souls (instead of just one) this month? The person that I'd like to ask that question to, is my latest Athenian Spirit Award winner. ... [Read More!]

Perry Noble Shakes Up Church, TKO's Strawmen

My latest Athenian Spirit Award goes out to megachurch pastor Perry Noble for the new ideas presented in his recent series of blog posts entitled "The Church And It's Passion!". The Athenians of Acts 17 were always after something new, and likewise - it is Perry's expressed goal to avoid the church-norm and "continually shake things up". The music is new, the messages are new, and most of all - the purpose of church gatherings is new. But is it biblical? ... [Read More!]

Megachurch Letter To Leaders in Church History

The Athenian Spirit Award is bestowed upon groups and leaders who have become enamored by religious novelties or inventive alterations to centuries-old Christianity. Upon consideration of the preposterous letter that was recently submitted by the Megachurch Association of America, it's hard to imagine anyone being more deserving of this award. Old Truth has intercepted this unprecedented letter, and has made it publicly available. Clearly, the megachurch mindset portrayed in this letter demonstrates the Athenian spirit of Acts 17. ... [Read More!]

The First-Ever 'Athenian Spirit' Award Winner

Recounting the Athenians in Acts 17, CH Spurgeon spoke of those in modern times who are ever straining after novelties. There may be much of the "Athenian spirit" among congregations, but that should be no excuse for it's being tolerated among ministers, who should be the last to spend their time in seeking "something new". Leaders who are quick to jettison old truth, are now eligible for the "Athenian Spirit Award". Charles Stanley is a recipient. ... [Read More!]