OldTruth.com

Taking a Few Days Off - See You Next Week

OldTruth.com — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:18:11 EST

Some of our regular Old Truth readers, have been sending me emails this week such as this one from Joan: "Hello, I've noticed that no new subjects have been posted in a few days. I hope you are doing ok health-wise and otherwise. I have you in my prayers." Thank you Joan and everyone else who has expressed concern. Rest assured, it is in my plans to be back shortly (a week from today as a matter of fact) on June 10th. Here's a short post to let you know what's behind my absence this week. ...

Controversy is Sometimes a Painful Necessity

Will Metzger — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

Perhaps some will say that "the gospel is a person (Jesus), not a doctrine." This is a false dichotomy. The living word and written word are not enemies, but friends. As much as I agree with presenting the person of Christ, not just flinging concepts at people, Christ must be defined. A content-less Christ will not save anyone. Just as we saw the word of God is used by people in various ways, similarly Christ is redefined to fit people's preconceptions. Biblical illiteracy abounds and the possibility of misleading people about Jesus is real. This means that the written word is absolutely necessary to explain who Christ is. (In our explanations of who Christ is, we do not pit the Gospels against the apostolic letters. Both are equally inspired. Red letter Bibles can be misleading, unless all the sentences [not just those of Jesus] are in red!). ...

Sometimes God's Earthly Plan Doesn't Always Seem So Wonderful

OldTruth.com — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

I'm not the world's biggest CCM fan by any stretch but who couldn't empathize with the tragedy that Steven Curtis Chapman's family is going through after having their 5 year old adopted daughter run over by an SUV driven by one of the family teenagers last week. Family friend Steve Camp attended the funeral and talks more here about what happened. It's a tragedy that the family and the teenager will never entirely get over in this life. I'm afraid that this is just one more reminder for wrong-headed pastors and all of us who are active in evangelism to ensure that we don't bait unbelievers to Jesus by telling them how much their earthly life will improve if they will only make a decision for Jesus. That's especially true in countries where there is persecution for allegiance to Christ; in such cases your earthly life is bound to get worse rather than better. True Christians indeed have the Holy Spirit living inside them (a truly priceless gift) and the hope of eternal life. But as the Chapman story vividly demonstrates, our time here on earth is often filled with hardships that are the same or worse than unbelievers. This is part of why our discipleship should tell people to count the costs. Here now is a special blog in memory of Maria Chapman. May the Lord of all comfort be with this family. ...

The Costs of Following Christ in Bangladesh

OldTruth.com — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

Set to be baptized in February, 70-year-old suffer burns on 70 percent of body. DHAKA, Bangladesh, Unknown attackers tried to burn a 70-year-old woman to death on January 7 after learning that she would be baptized as a Christian next month. Rahima Beoa, who was planning to be baptized on February 13 in Muslim-majority Rangpur district, 248 kilometers (154miles) northwest of the capital city of Dhaka, suffered burns on 70 percent of her body. "The unknown people wanted to burn alive the elderly woman because they came to [believe] that she would be a Christian in the next month," said Khaled Mintu, a regional supervisor of the Rangpur district of the Isha-E-Jamat Bangladesh denomination. "It was a devilish conspiracy to stop her being a Christian." Beoa is the mother-in-law of Ashraful Islam, who along with his wife became a Christian two years ago. Close relatives and neighbors were said to be angry with the couple for their conversion from Islam. ...

The Further From Worldly Conformity The Better

Charles Spurgeon — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

"Only ye shall not go very far away." Exodus 8:28 - This is a crafty word from the lip of the arch-tyrant Pharaoh. If the poor bondaged Israelites must needs go out of Egypt, then he bargains with them that it shall not be very far away; not too far for them to escape the terror of his arms, and the observation of his spies. After the same fashion, the world loves not the non-conformity of nonconformity, or the dissidence of dissent, it would have us be more charitable and not carry matters with too severe a hand. ...

Caring For Afflicted Brethren

OldTruth.com — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

I'm happy to say that what you are about to read does NOT apply to the majority of my church. Not only through my own afflictions but also the afflictions of others, it's often too easy to forget about the sick and wounded amongst us. I've seen it where Christian brothers and sisters end up being ignored, because people at a church lack the empathy or knowledge of how to handle them. Sometimes, the afflicted person seems to be a "black hole" for your prayers, never seeming to improve. What do you do in these cases? How do you treat a brother or sister in Christ who is going through a long term affliction? ...

"Getting Fed": Does This Describe Your Sermons?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

What is preaching? Logic on fire! Eloquent reason! Are these contradictions? Of course they are not. Reason concerning this Truth ought to be mightily eloquent, as you see it in the case of the Apostle Paul and others. It is theology on fire. And a theology which does not take fire, I maintain, is a defective theology; or at least the man's understanding of it is defective. Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this. I say again that a man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit; and should never be allowed to enter one. What is the chief end of preaching? I like to think it is this. It is to give men and women a sense of God and His presence. ...

Confessions of a "Not Being Fed" Pastor

OldTruth.com — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

It's a topic that we've talked about before, relating to churches that change over to the trendy, pragmatic, give the audience what they want, style that dominates today's church scene. When a pastor makes the decision to do this switch, one of the first complaints they begin to hear from their flock is "I'm not getting fed here". When this complaint is made, the usual tactic is to turn it around and make it YOUR fault; you are not reading your bible enough, not getting involved in small groups enough, etc. Rarely do these types of pastors consider that there might be some legitimacy in such a complaint, and that the problem is due to their wimpy preaching (as James White called it) . But here's an account of one such pastor who had a change of heart, and seems to have accepted his responsibility in many of those "I'm not getting fed complaints". ...

Church History versus A Misleading Brian McLaren

OldTruth.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:18:11 EST

http://theologica.blogspot.com/2008/01/mclarens-ahistoricism.html

McLaren is particularly misleading when he's suggesting, as he does quite emphatically at times, that somehow the church went off the rails early on, and that only now are (some) Christians beginning to understand what Jesus was really saying. While McLaren occasionally adds nuances and qualifiers, this ahistorical account runs through [his Everything Must Change] book. In this respect, his message is oddly reminiscent of the ahistorical narrative of church history that dominated the evangelical/fundamentalist churches of my youth. Between an idealized first-century church and the present moment, when the preacher was calling on you to make a decision for Christ, there loomed a great wasteland-all those centuries in which the church failed to heed the plain words of Scripture. ...