Mitt Romney on his faith

By MATT STUART (from ABC News) (blue print = my comments about red print)
Dec. 6, 2007

"If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States," Romney said a crowd of 400 to 500 people at the George H.W. Bush Library at Texas A&M University.
Do you suppose that King David would have said that? Why not serve your beliefs? If a person is going to go contrary to his beliefs, then his beliefs are worthless.

'I Believe in My Mormon Faith'
With some voters suggesting they have qualms about a Mormon president, Romney said he shares "moral convictions" with Americans of all faiths.


If he believes in his Mormon faith, then why would he share moral convictions with all faiths? The Mormon church teaches that all religions are wrong! That they were all apostate. That was supposedly the reason why Joseph Smith was told to begin the new church.

Demystifying the Mormon Faith"I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it," Romney said. "My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs."
and yet, one of the first comments he makes is "I will serve no one religion." If he is really going to be true to his fathers and to his beliefs, then by definition, he MUST serve his religion.

Nonetheless, he said his faith doesn't define his candidacy.

"A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith." Romney said.
I can agree that a person should not be elected just because of his faith. There are many self-proclaiming Christians out there who cannot be trusted. But as far as being rejected "because" of his faith, sure, we have the right to do that. He is in a cult. Would we want David Koresh (sp?) if he were still alive to run for president. No way! We have to realize that little children look up to the President of the United States, and to have a Mormon in the White House would give validation to his religion (validation that the Mormon religion so desperately wants!). As Christians, we have a responsibility to watch out to make sure that people are not being led astray.

"Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin," Romney said.
As a Christian, you will not have a chance to influence Mitt on decisions regarding abortion (which he has flip-flopped on)
I don't know about you, but "my" God is sovereign! And as far as the affairs of the nation is concerned (no, I am not talking about the Bill Clinton affair!) God should be the ruling force. Now, more than ever before, our nation is in need of God leading the way! (oh, wait, Mitt thinks he is going to be a god someday! uh oh!)



Romney Invokes Founding Fathers
He decried those who would remove from public life "any acknowledgment of God," and he said that "during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places."
Wait a minute, didn't he say that his religion would play no part in government?



Romney took a hard line on questions about the doctrines of his religion, stating, "There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution."

For the Romney-friendly audience, the most enthusiastic response came when Romney praised the founding fathers: "And so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of God they founded this great nation."


The difference is this...


Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus IS God. Jesus is not a brother of Lucifer as Mormons teach!

Romney: 'No Candidate Should Become a Spokesman for His Faith'
While Romney had underscored that he's "not gonna be giving a JFK speech," some of the speech seemed to echo the sentiment laid down by President Kennedy, and Presidents Lincoln and Jefferson before him.
But we should stand up for what we believe in. Our lives should be a living testimony of Jesus living within us. Again, it is not the brother of Lucifer living within us. It is God!



"When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God," Romney said.
Hey Mitt, is that only if the Bible is interpreted correctly (which Mormons would teach that they are the only ones able to properly interpret it!)



As he has done many times before on the stump, Romney reiterated that "no candidate should become a spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths."
This just goes to show you that he does not know the Bible at all. Because God does not hear the prayers of the unrighteous and the unbelievers!



Notably, Romney stated today that his "church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths."
MAY not be the same. He knows better than to say that. According to his own religion, all religions are apostate. The Jesus of the Bible is not a created being. He was not born by an angel having actual intercourse with Mary. He knows that HIS church teaches that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers. Mitt is lying or is not at all familiar with his own church teachings. Since he was a Bishop in the church, I would have to conclude that he is most likely lying! We do not need that in the White House leading our country!



While not contradictory, Romney has previously focused on his claim that religions in American flow from the same "Judeo-Christian" tradition, rather than cite the differences of his church.
Again, NO! This is not from the same Judeo-Christian tradition. It is not even close.



Some criticized Romney for trying to tie his Mormon religion too closely to that of evangelicals and other Christians.
Of course, he wants to be elected President of the United States. without the support of Christians he will not be able to do it.



Romney also sought to emphasize the "nation's symphony of faith," and assured "any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me."
Any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty (Muslims??) Or is he trying to be like Bill Hybels, Rick Warren and many others who have signed the contract with the Muslims apologizing to them.

Romney's campaign has claimed for months that if he was going to give a speech, he likely wouldn't do so until after the primaries should he gain the nomination.
While the campaign vehemently denies there is any connection, the most significant change in the Republican field in the last two weeks is certainly the rise of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa, where a recent ABC News poll showed Huckabee tied for first with Romney.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister, also recently released a new television ad in Iowa touting himself as a "Christian leader," putting the issue of religion front and center in the earliest of the early states.

In a subtle jab, Romney said Monday that, "I think that a candidate or a president that tried to make his religion a defining a feature of his campaign or of his term in office would tend to divide the nation rather than bring us together."


The nation would become divided if the President turns out to be something other than what he portrayed himself to be during the primaries. As Mitt worries about his faith being "against" him, he is upset that Huckabee is BOLD in proclaiming his faith!



Whether related or not, the speech certainly comes at the moment Romney has clearly lost momentum in Iowa, failing to capture supporters after Sen. Sam Brownback's departure from the race and draw those conservative voters disappointed in former Sen. Fred Thompson's campaign.



Faith on the '08 Trail
Much has been made of Romney's Mormon religion throughout the campaign. While reporters covered the topic extensively, his faith was also frequently questioned on the campaign trail.


Before his presidential campaign even officially began, Romney told ABC News' Terry Moran in January that he thought "the American people respect individuals of faith," and that "when you take the oath of office, your highest responsibility is to follow the Constitution and the rule of law."


People do have respect for any person who truly believes in something with a passion. But when push comes to shove, a (true-Bible-believing) Christian will not support a cult member.

Soon after, a February ABC News/Washington Post poll found that a third of Americans were less likely to vote for a candidate who was Mormon.
When Romney surprised the Republican field by posting a whopping $20.1 million in first-quarter fundraising, many noted that Romney's second-highest fundraising state was Mormon-dominated Utah.


Does this surprise you?



It's also been reported that Romney's top fundraising zip code is 84604 — Provo, Utah, the home of the most notable Mormon school, Brigham Young University.


Does this surprise you? And he tells you that his religion will have no influence on America?? You can bet his own church/religion has other ideas about that!



Despite Romney's rising to lead in the Iowa polls by early August, the question of "the speech" remained. Romney told The Associated Press in July that it was "more likely than not" that he would give a speech at some point.


He's got the flip-flopping down to a science!



On Nov. 10, Romney was speaking at a house party in Holderness, N.H., when he admitted that he "liked the idea" of giving a "special speech" on his religion, but that "the political advisers tell me, 'No, no, no, its not a good idea — draws too much attention to that issue alone.' But I sorta like the idea anyway, and will probably do it at some point."
Romney tried to downplay his comments, even going so far as to say, "there's no news on this," but speculation continued.


Wouldn't it be interesting to see how many of his advisers are Mormons??



Though his faith remains a serious topic for Romney, and a serious issue for some Republican voters, Romney has also made a point of making light of the prejudice against the Mormon faith throughout his campaign.

While speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington in October, Romney asked why the Mormon religion "scares people so badly." Romney quipped, "I'm probably the wrong guy to ask. But my neighbors might know."
One of the stigmas attached to the Mormon religion is the practice of polygamy, which the church forbade in 1890. At a campaign stop in Laconia, N.H., last month, Romney was speaking on the importance of his family when he said, "I love my wife and my five sons and their five wives."
Romney stopped, and smirking, added, "Wait a second. Let me clarify that. They each have one."


Yeah, that's a funny one. But what about the fact that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young both had many wives and some of them were little girls??? Is that funny?





You want more information on Mormonism? go to: http://time2changechurches.blogspot.com/2007/11/33-facts-mormons-wont-tell-you-when.html


and also go to:


http://time2changechurches.blogspot.com/2007/11/mormo-and-mormons.html





I am not trying to tell people who to vote for. In America, we have the freedom to vote for whomever we want. I am just wanting to inform people who do not know about Mormonism. I didn't know a thing about it until I actually got into Mormonism. After three years, I got out. I am very well learned on the teachings of Joseph Smith Jr, Brigham Young and the apostles. I am very familiar with the Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, The Book of Mormon, and the Ensign. I am very familiar with the teachings of the Apostles (so I do not take things "out of context") but the most important thing that I am familiar with is this...


The Bible -- The Word of God -- The innerancy of Scripture

Below is a copy of a comment that a mormon sent me on one of my other posts:
You are such a bigot that it simply amazes me in this day and age...why? Because you seem to single out and attack only one church. Why? Because you're afraid...and because you're ignorant. You live inside the four walls of your glass cathedral and lap up every lie you're told with hardly ever giving an honest moment of individual thought to any of it. You're so busy attacking the beliefs of others that you gloss over or outright ignore the gaping holes in your own. In spite of all this, the LDS church continues to grow. And THAT is what frightens you the most! The LDS is growing so fast, that it is literally taking away funds from your own pocket. That is what it truly is about. I'm here to say that the majority of those who have been to your blog never come back. Why? Because you truly are a bigot, and we can all see right through you. I know that I will never be back. But I will pray for you.

Here is my reply --
You are such a bigot that it simply amazes me in this day and age...why? Definition of a bigot is one who is intolerant of another persons beliefs.
Okay, maybe so. But as a Christian, I do not have to tolerate a religion that is not a Christian but CLAIMS to be. I do not want people to go to hell.
Because you seem to single out and attack only one church. Why?
Actually, if you read all of my posts, you will see that I pick on Christian churches as well as mormons. I am against ANY church that claims to be Christian but does not follow biblical guidelines.
Because you're afraid...and because you're ignorant.
Afraid? Not afraid of anything since I have Christ in my life.
You live inside the four walls of your glass cathedral and lap up every lie you're told with hardly ever giving an honest moment of individual thought to any of it.
No one told me any lies other than the actual church that I mention in this post. I was a member of the LDS church and I do know EXACTLY what they teach. I can back up every comment with Mormon doctrine. Plus, I am not in a four wall, glass cathedral.
You're so busy attacking the beliefs of others that you gloss over or outright ignore the gaping holes in your own.
And yet, you provide no Scripture to back up what you are saying. I would be happy to dialogue with you on the false teachings of mormonism. I will also be happy to share with you biblical Scripture to back it all up.
In spite of all this, the LDS church continues to grow. And THAT is what frightens you the most!
Numbers do not validate anything other than many people are being led astray. Jesus said that few will enter the gates of heaven.
The LDS is growing so fast, that it is literally taking away funds from your own pocket. That is what it truly is about.
They are not taking a single cent out of my pocket. I am an evangelist and not behind the pulpit of a church. My goal is to reach the lost the way Jesus did.
I'm here to say that the majority of those who have been to your blog never come back.
Wrong!! I am able to keep track of who is visiting my blog. And you have no idea of the response I get. All Christians have been very supportive and I have Mormon friends who read the blog to and are investigating the claims I am making. That is all I ask you to do. Investigate the claims and see for yourself if they are true. I do not want you to go to hell.
Why? Because you truly are a bigot, and we can all see right through you.
I am a concerned Christian that truly cares about my mormon friends. I want them to be saved.
I know that I will never be back. But I will pray for you.
That is fine. I will be praying for you too.

As anyone can see, attacks such as this one show a lack of reasoning. Mormons do not want to face the facts of Scripture. They turn to name calling in some cases. I pray that if there are other mormons reading this (and I know there are), that you will read all of the blogs. Read Mormo and the Mormons, 33 things a Mormon will not say to you, and Pastors beware and Mormonism Taught.

It's called Christmas with a capital "C"

Enjoy!! and to think, Christian radio stations still feel it is necessary to play Frosty the Snowman and Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer!

Here is a copy of the letter I sent to WCIC radio station out of Peoria, IL.

Good morning Stephanie,

I wanted to send this to the station manager but was unable to get his email address off the computer here at work. I hope you don't mind me sending this to you.

I am seriously considering finding another radio station to listen to. It is pretty upsetting to listen to secular Christmas music on a "Christian" radio station. I know this particular radio station does not like to present the whole gospel message. It is on a very rare occasion that sin is spoken of and the need to repent of sins is even a more rare case. There will come a day when people will say, "Lord, Lord, and he will say, depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you." I worry that could happen to WCIC. You (not you personally, Stephanie) will stand before Jesus and say, Lord, Lord, didn't we play good Christian music to honor you to try to bring people to you? And I get the feeling He will say, depart from me you worker of iniquity (Lawlessness -- For MY LAW is not within you), I never knew you. Please don't cave into pressure to worry about offending people with the gospel. If all you do is sugar-coat the good news, the good news will not make sense. I listened to your radio station for years and always felt blessed. But the truth of the matter is this. I was not saved. I thought I was. I listened to Christian music every day. I read my Bible. I went to church. But I was not saved. It wasn't until someone FINALLY presented God's Law (the Ten Commandments) to me in such a way that my sinfulness became exceedingly sinful and I realized that I was headed for hell. It was at that time the message of the cross made sense to me. It wasn't by listening to music that I was saved. It wasn't by listening to music that it eventually brought me to being saved. It was by the Law and the Law only. I would venture to say that over 75% of the people who listen to your station are not truly saved. They have not repented of their sins, they are not fulfilling what God told us to do. Go and preach the gospel to every creature in all the world. I would bet that not a single person within your own radio station is out evangelizing in the streets in an attempt to reach the lost. Right? I pray that I am wrong but I also pray that you can see why it is important to change your message that you are feeding the listeners. Give them the whole news. Not just the good news, but let them know they are headed for hell if they don't repent and put their trust and faith in Jesus alone. Then give them the good news of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. It will make sense then. I know I will most likely not get a response to this letter, but I hope you will at least consider what I have said and you will pray about the direction of your radio station for next year. In Ezekiel we are told to warn people of the danger to come (hell) and if we do not warn them, then when they die, they will die in their sins and their blood will be on your hands. If you do warn them, then when they die, if they do not accept what you have said, they will still die in their sins, but you will be guiltless. It is very important. Won't you be a radio station that does the right thing?

My prayers are with you.
God bless

till His nets are full

Brian Culver

I did receive a reply back from Stephanie and here it is:

Brian,

Thank you so much for listening. We truly value your input and opinion and I have forwarded your email to our station manager, Dave. I will be discussing this with him personally and I will be sure that he gets in touch with you as soon as possible!

In Christ,
Stephanie Miller
Office Manager
Business Underwriting Director
Family Friendly 91.5 WCIC
309.692.9242

I hope that the station manager does reply back to me in a positive manner. I truly believe he will not change. I pray that he is truly saved because if he is falling to the temptation to not mention hell or sin on his station, then why bother calling it a Christian station. Please keep this and all Christian radio stations in your prayers.

When you've been hurt by the church!

You go to church thinking all is well. You picked this particular church because either you knew someone who attended there, it was close to where you live, it was the denomination you grew up in, or you have heard great things about the pastor and the youth program. You are excited to be a part of such a loving family of believers. You eat up everything they offer to you. You go to all of the sunday school classes, you volunteer your time with the youth, you go to every Bible study they have and you sit in church drinking your coffee while the pastor gives his sermon and you feel as though you are on top of the world. You feel good when you leave church. Everyone tells you to have a nice day and they will see you next week.

That was me! And it quite possibly is you too. Sounds good, doesn't it? The only problem is, you have this inner sense of not being fulfilled. Something is missing. You don't feel any different than you did before you came to church. You hear Scripture being read. You hear great stories that "really relate" to your life. You hear the story of the "pig with the wooden leg" and you know that it just has to go with the Scripture that is being read. And you are right. The sermon title is: "Are you walking around with a "wooden leg?"

You go home that day from church and you can completely remember the joke about the pig with the wooden leg. But what was the sermon about? What was that Scripture that was read this morning? It had something to do with being persecuted as a Christian. From all of the people I have talked to in my church (pastor included), none of them had ever really been persecuted as a Christian. Is that just because we live in America (the land of the free?). I would rather think it has more to do with the fact that we as Christians are not doing anything that bothers Satan. We have become so comfortable in church. Let's take our lawn chairs, some pepsi and potato chips and let's listen to what the pastor has to say today. When the sermon is over, let's pack everything up and go home and watch tv. See you next week Pastor!

How long have you gone to church like this? I went for years. Hey, I ever was a pastor and held services like this for 5 years! You know, it has to do with entertaining the people, (just like I learned from watching Willow Creek Church services!), it had to do with telling stories so that people would see they needed to have a purpose in their life (just like Saddleback Church). I wanted to have a church service like everyone else was having. After all, that is what the people wanted at this particular church. As far as the last church I attended, that is what they want there too.

But something happens. You come across something that totally changes your life. For me, it was coming across Way of the Master. It changed my life. No longer do I just "go" to church, but I truly want to hear God's Word being taught "word by word." I want to not only say WWJD? But rather, I want to know what "did" Jesus do?! The first one wwjd, has to do with trying to interpret what you think Jesus would do in a given situation. The second one, wdjd, is something you can validate by reading God's Word. You can open the bible up and see exactly what Jesus did do! That is a much better way of doing things, it takes all error out of the equation. Anyway, as a newly saved person, I flooded myself with God's Word. The difference this time is this ---

I WAS OBEDIENT!

I had never been taught that I had to be obedient to God's Word. I heard a lot of feel good stories, I heard a lot of jokes (I can still remember many many of them!!) but I never was told that I had to repent of my lustful thoughts, of my lying, thieving ways. I always just figured all I had to do was just say, "sorry God, please forgive me." And I would go on my merry way. Off to commit the very same sins day in and day out!

You will be amazed by this but when a Christian decides to become obedient to God's Word, you can bet that he or she will finally see persecution. Unfortunately it will come from the least likely source. Many times it comes straight from your church family. They start to look down at you like, "who do you think you are to become so self-righteous?" I myself, had not become self-righteous, I became humbled by my total depravity. I finally "got it!" Jesus died on the cross for me. Not just because I was a "sinner," but because I was a totally depraved man so deep into sin, a breaker of all of God's Commands, and definitely not worthy to enter into heaven based on anything that I could do myself.

I REPENTED

See, when you become obedient to God's Word, you realize that you need to truly repent of your sins. You can't just go through the motions of being a Christian. You have to actually die to self and pick up your cross and follow Jesus. Where will He lead you (many people will say we don't know but we will follow anyway). I tell you I know where He will lead you -- STRAIGHT TO HEAVEN! He will guide you along that narrow road that few will find.

PERSECUTION -- WHAT NOW?

So what do you do when the church brands you as "one of those 'super' Christians?" Someone who feels they have attained such a high level of godliness that no one can relate to them. Here is your answer...

You do what God's Word tells you to do. Be loving, display the fruits of the Spirit, thanksgiving, repentance, love, long-suffering, patiences, etc. You do what the Word tells you to do...

You get out and reach the lost for Christ. You evangelize to people. 150,000 people are dying each and every day, the time is now! Get out of your chair. How many of you reading this right now, spend more than an hour at the computer and don't spend a single minute out trying to reach the lost the way Jesus did? How many of you spend hours watching TV, but don't spend a second, being a Good Samaritan to someone by pointing them to the cross? I have personally witnessed to over 300 people this year and that just seems like such a small number to me. And that was after going YEARS without witnessing to a single person! I am not talking about inviting people to church, no, it is presenting God's Law to them then following it up with the wonderful grace of God! Just one person per day (not one person per month as some pastors goals would indicate!), and it is not enough. I do not want anyone, regardless of who they are to go to hell.

So, what do you do when the church has hurt you? Do what Jesus did...

Honor thy Father in heaven! Go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. Can you do just one person per day? Try it! Once you get in the habit of doing it daily, you will want to increase the number. Will evangelizing the lost get you saved? No! Will it make God smile?

Yes! Give Him the glory in everything you do. Praise His wonderful name. We are here to glorify Him and for His good pleasure. Let's bring people to Christ, regardless of what members of your own church are saying about you. Be faithful and don't give up! And if you want to hear the pig joke, just send me an email!!

Way of the Master FAQ's

1.) I have just read The Way of the Master -- and I am scared that I'm not saved.

It is healthy to examine yourself and see if you are in the faith. Once you have repented of all sin (see Psalm 51, 1John 1:9), don't doubt God's promises. Doubt produces fear. It is also a great insult to God--if I don't trust you, it means I think you are a liar.Here's a recipe for success:
Read your Bible every day . . . without fail. Every day.

Value the Word more important than your food (see Psalm One).
Obey what you read.
Develop a tender conscience.
Never doubt any of God's promises.
Obey the Great Commission by sharing your faith (see John 14:21).

2.) Why not tell a sinner of God's love rather than of His Judgment?

Here's a question: How do we know of God's love for the sinner? Only through the Cross. If you study the NT you will see that God's love is almost always in direct connection to the Cross. Herein is love, For God so loved, God commended His love, etc. Prosperity, blessings, etc., are not a sign of His love. If that is so, He loves the rich far more than He loves the poor. So, the Cross is what we should point to to express God's love to a sinner. How can we point to the Cross without making reference to sin? How can we refer to sin, without the Law?

The correct/biblical way to express God's love to a sinner, is to show him how much he has sinned, how wretched he is (to see himself in truth so he or she understands their desperate need of God’s forgiveness) . . . (the Law/God’s wrath/God’s judgment) . . . then give the grace of God. That will reveal the depth of God’s love for the sinner.

Second. When a criminal stands guilty--on trial--it would be a mistake to speak to him of how the judge loves him and how compassionate the judge is. Better for a criminal to see the frown of the judge, so that he will see the seriousness of his crime, and find a place of true sorrow and grief for what he has done. It is then that the mercy of the judge should be revealed, no sooner. This is very important/biblical and we hope this makes sense.

3.) I am struggling with feelings of being unsaved.

There is a wonderful little verse in First John. It says "Hereby we know that we know Him . . . if we keep His commandments." I don't "feel" God's presence. If I lived by feelings, I would conclude that God wasn't with me. This, then is how I know that I know Him--because there is something in me that wants to keep His Commandments. I have a new heart with new desires. Before I was saved, I couldn't care less about loving and obeying God.Do you believe that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved? Do you believe that if you confess your sins, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness? Do you believe that you are a saint (by the grace of God)?

If you don't believe His promises, then you are calling God a liar . . . and there is no greater insult to God than not to believe His promises. See First John.

4.) I have a lust problem.

The Bible says to "guard your heart with all diligence . . . " That means the area of your thought life. If we have a problem with lust, we should be quick to remember that we share that thought with God. That's scary. He is perfect, pure, holy . . . and just. If He considers lust to be adultery of the heart, we are in BIG trouble. That knowledge should send us back to the Cross, where we should confess and forsake our sins.We all have similar battles with unclean thoughts. Be careful what you look at, and what you think about. If you begin to lose the battle in your mind, go somewhere and pray. Confess your sins the moment you become aware of them, and don't let the enemy get a double victory by not sharing your faith or by allowing sin to keep you out of fellowship. Make sure you read the Word every day without fail. That old saying is true: "This Book will keep me from sin (and Hell), and sin will keep me from this Book." Also, be very careful of idolatry. It is easy to change our concept of God so that He conforms to our sins (a god who doesn't mind lust).

5.) What is the place of good works?

Remember that Jesus said that there was no one born of women greater than John the Baptist . . . "But he that is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he." In Christ, your works are pleasing to God. They can't and don't justify you, but you can now make God smile when you do good works, evangelize, love your husband/wife, etc . . . because you are in Christ. The motive for what you do as a Christian isn't tainted by guilt. Love and gratitude motivate your life of godliness. It's like a criminal trying to do something good for the judge before sentence is given. That's an attempt to bribe the judge and pervert justice. But if the judge pays the criminal's fine himself out of his own hard-earned money and the criminal is released on the basis of his fine being paid, he is free to show the judge how much he appreciates kindness. One is an attempt to pervert justice, the other is gratitude in action. One makes the judge frown with displeasure, the other makes him smile.

6.) I love your teaching about sin and repentance, but doesn’t this fail to exalt the cross?

A man committed what he believed was a petty crime. He didn’t have any money to pay his fine, so the judge kindly paid it for him. Another man committed what he understood to be a very serious crime and didn’t have any money to pay his fine, so the judge kindly paid it for him. Which criminal do you suppose was more grateful to the judge--the one who thought that his crime was no big deal, or the one that saw how serious his crime was? It was more than likely the latter. So it is that those who think lightly of sin, think lightly of the Savior. That’s why it is most important to show sin in its true light—that it is “exceedingly sinful.” When a sinner understands that his sin is a very serious crime against God, His mercy in Christ is seen as an unspeakable act of kindness. The more he understands his sin, the more he appreciates the cross, and the way to make a sinner understand how sinful sin is, is to take him through the Moral Law (the Ten Commandments) because it’s the Law that makes the offence abound. That’s the meaning of Romans 5:10:20: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound . . . ”Every preacher should have one resolute eye on Calvary as he speaks of the serious nature of sin. He is the kindly doctor, talking with the patient about the seriousness of his disease. He must convince him of the terminal nature of the disease, so that he will appreciate and appropriate the cure. So he thoroughly speaks of the disease, with one eye on the cure he is about to reveal. The cure of the cross is the centrality of the preacher's message. He must exalt the love of God in Christ, and the way to do that is to do what Jesus did, to do what Paul did, what Spurgeon, Wesley and Whitefield did. He must thoroughly expose the blackness of sin so that the light of the glorious Gospel will shine in all its splendor. To fail to speak about sin in depth, is to demean the grace of God in Christ. It is to fail to exalt the cross.

7.) How can I witness to the unsaved when I am depressed?

I would witness anyway. Think of it this way. I have a cure to cancer. How can I give the cure to dying people, when I am feeling down myself? The answer is -- my feelings are secondary. If you have that attitude, I am sure your joy (the "joy of the Lord") will flood back. That joy will then be your strength and sustain you in your trials.

8.) Do you sin as a Christian?

I have sinned since I became a Christian -- but it is against my will. I may take the largest piece of chocolate cake, or let a impure thought enter my mind, but I hate it. However, if I sin willfully, then I am a hypocrite and not a Christian at all. The first Epistle of John makes that very clear. When I am aware that I have done something wrong, I ask for God's forgiveness, and immediately turn from that behavior.

9.) What about those who haven't heard the gospel?

Those who have never heard the gospel will be given justice. People don't go to hell primarily "because they don't believe in Jesus" but rather because they have sinned against God. If they have lied, stolen, murdered, committed adultery, etc., God will punish them -- not because of their ignorance, but because they have sinned despite the light God gave them via their conscience. If you really care about those who haven’t heard about Jesus, take the Gospel to them and tell them how they may be forgiven and be saved from Hell.

10) I have my own thoughts on what god is like.

This is transgression of the First and Second of the Ten Commandments: "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before Me . . . You shall not make to yourself a graven image of any likeness." You are creating a god in your mind that you are more comfortable with—a god to suit your sins. Man has always made gods to suit himself. My opinion doesn't matter when it comes to God's character. What matters is the truth--and He has revealed what He is like through the Bible.

11) I am afraid of witnessing because I have a fear of not being able to answer questions.

If you learn to use the Moral Law (Ten Commandments) in evangelism, you will find that there won't be too many questions because you will be dealing with the conscience, rather than the intellect. By that I mean, if you get a man to admit that he is a liar, a thief, a blasphemer and an adulterer at heart, "hypocrites in the church," Darwin's theory-tale, etc., become non-issues. Study how Jesus dealt with questions in Luke 13. He didn't spend much time at all on them, but took the sinner back to the fact that he has to face God on Judgment Day. To learn how to use the Law in Evangelism, go to our free audio lessons page, where you can listen online to several of the messages out of the 16 message audio set (available on CDs). We have created The Evidence Bible specifically to answer this fear. The Evidence Bible has answers to over 100 of the most common questions and objections about Christianity. You can see these answers in our free online resource called "Answers to 100 Questions from the Evidence Bible” To build up your courage, you may also want to consider reading God Doesn't Believe in Atheists.

12) Do you believe in "Once saved always saved?

"Unfortuantely, when commenting on the subject of eternal security, many books and sermons from respectable men and women of God, seem to be evidently silent on the subject of true and false conversion. This is in spite the fact that it is incredibly relevant to the topic of eternal security. The New Testament deals with this in great depth. It tells of Judas' profession of faith (he was in truth a thief, and was referred to by Jesus as a "devil"), and relates the parables of Jesus about the true and false "believers" sitting alongside one another. It speaks of Demas, who forsook Paul because he "loved this present world." As such, he revealed himself to be an enemy of God--"Whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God.”In one book, the author referred to a pastor/friend who was found to be "romantically" involved with another woman. The pastor had made his mind up to divorce his wife and marry the woman. I presume he means that he had been committing adultery. Instead of challenging the man as to the validity of his faith, and therefore warning him that "adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God," he spoke of the man's "loss of rewards." We do believe in eternal security for a true convert. He puts his hand to the plow and doesn't look back, because he is "fit" for the kingdom (Luke 9:62).Those who are fit for the Kingdom are not hypocrites as was Judas. The true convert is eternally secure in his faith, because his faith in Jesus is genuine rather than false.However, if a man steals, lies, kills, rapes, hates, lusts, covets, commits adultery, etc., and calls himself a Christian, he would be very wise to examine himself and see if he is "in the faith." The Bible makes it very clear that hypocrites will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. If a man has no understanding of true and false conversion (in his ignorance), he may make a calculated decision to forsake a few future eternal rewards and trade them for the immediate and temporary pleasures of sin. His confidence is in an interpretation of scripture that may have eternally tragic repercussions. We think that teaching on true and false conversion would clear the air when it comes to the contentions between two opinions that so often divide the Church. It would bring closer together those who say you can lose your salvation at the drop of a sinful hat, and others who think that Christians can get away with murder and still be assured that they are saved, because they once professed faith in the Savior. For more information, freely listen online to "True and False Conversion" from the 16 message audio set (available on CDs).

13) I was just wondering what the best way to witness to someone is who doesn't believe that the Bible is the Word of God.

It really doesn't matter if someone says that he doesn't believe that the Bible is the Word of God (or that they don't believe in Hell or Judgment Day). If we have rightly used the Law (the Ten Commandments -- to bring "the knowledge of sin"), we merely say, "It doesn't matter that you don't believe the Bible. You still have to face God on Judgment Day, and you've admitted that you are a liar, a thief and that you have committed adultery in your heart." His conscience will afirm the truth of the Commandments, and the Word of God (regardless of his or her lack of belief in it) is faithful to bring conviction throught the power of the Holy Spirit.We then, gently (in love), explain to him that if he walked on a freeway, saying that he didn't believe in trucks, his unbelief wouldn't change reality.
© 2006 The Way of the Master. A Ministry of Living Waters Publications
Design by Snow Media Inc.

Non-Christians -- you are falling!

One minute for Christ!

LOCKED DOORS
OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH
Non-believers
Chapter 19

This book is for the person who does not believe in Jesus or has never been told about Him. I must apologize to you for our (Christians) lack of interest in saving you. As you can see from reading this book, we are all guilty of not doing a good job of sharing Christ with you. You are right when you say that “if we truly loved God” why are we not out in the streets proclaiming Him to everyone? To be honest with you, I am not sure I can answer that question. As Christians we feel compelled to pray for you and to be there if you need us. But for some reason we just do not get out of our churches to meet you. It is as though the doors are locked “after” we get “in” the church. Our Christianity is locked inside the church. We know that we are supposed to get out and make disciples for Christ but we always assume that someone else will do it for us (or for Christ!).
While we Christians shamefully keep our faith to ourselves: while the only place we truly serve Christ is within the doors of the church: we are losing ground. There are thousands upon thousands of “Christians” who have not repented of their sins. The Bible clearly states that no liar, adulterer, murderer, whoremonger, effeminate, fornicator will ever inherit the kingdom of God.
Does that mean that if you are guilty of one or more of these sins; you will go to Hell? Many people want to hear an answer of “no” of course not. They say that my God is a loving God and He would never send me to Hell because I believe in Him. He will forgive me of all my sins. Will He? What if you continue in the same sin day in and day out? What if you never repent of your sins and never try to change your ways?
If that is the case then you do not truly love God. The answer to the Hell question is – Yes. You will go to Hell. Because God is a just and loving God, He will and must judge each person. If you repent and confess your sins to God then you will be saved. It is when we put off the old self and put on the new self that God will change our hearts and our ultimate destiny.
Have you repented of your sins? Are you humble and truly sorry for not following Christ? There are people out there right now as you read this book that are doing a job that every Christian should be doing. They go out knocking on doors and talk to people about Jesus. Unfortunately, they are leading people to Hell because they are proclaiming a false gospel. They use Christian words and they read the Bible but Satan has confused their mind. They do not seek the truth and when it is spoken to them, they ignore the Truth. Earlier in the book I showed you what they believe about God and the Bible. The longer it takes you to get out of the church and out into the streets where the sinners/lost souls are, then the more people will be deceived and ultimately headed for Hell.
Dan Arnold said, “the gospel has not been clearly preached if the hearer doesn’t know that not to make a decision is a decision.”
What decision have you made? Take a look at the Ten Commandments again and see if you are guilty before God.





Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no God before me.
2. You shall not make any graven image.
3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
4. You shall keep the Sabbath Day Holy.
5. You shall honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not kill. (Hatred for brother)
7. You shall not commit adultery (lust)
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not lie.
10. You shall not covet.

Go back to the beginning of the book. Look at each one of these Commandments in depth. If God were to judge you for breaking His Commands, would you be innocent or guilty? Would you go to Heaven or Hell?
Are you willing to go to Hell just so you don’t have to give up your sinful ways? You know what sin is now so you have no excuse when you face God. (The same is true for all believers!)
Imagine if you will, you are on top of a tall mountain covered with snow (not you, the mountain!). You are going to attempt to ski down the mountain. You start out well enough but you gradually pick up speed and it is going too fast for you. You try to stop but you can’t. All of a sudden you lose your balance and you start to tumble down the mountain. You can’t keep yourself from doing somersaults and flipping over and over. You crash into some rocks and bang your head a few times. You break your leg and then your arm. The pain doesn’t hit you yet. It won’t really hit you until you hit the bottom of the mountain and come to a crashing stop. Death is certain and it will not be a painless death. Those that loved you will have the memory of watching you fall down that mountain and there was nothing they could do to save you. You do not die right away, you wish you could but the pain just stays and gets worse and worse through time.
Now suppose you are at the top of the snow covered mountain and you are going to attempt to go it alone. You begin downward and the speed starts to go faster and faster. It is faster than you can handle. You try to stop but you can’t. You lose your balance and start to tumble. You do several flips and are about to crash into the rocks, which will certainly break at least one of your arms. Right as you are about to hit the rocks an arm reaches out and is able to pull you to safety. It pulls you to a tightrope that leads back to the top of the mountain. You grab hold of the rope and hold on with all your strength. The person who saved you is right behind you to make sure you make it up the mountain safely. You are relieved that someone cared enough to reach out to save you. You are on your way to a safe haven. As you go back up the mountain you look out onto the mountain and see a loved one trying to go down the mountain alone. They run into the same problem you had and are starting to tumble.
What would you do? Would you ignore them? Or would you reach out your hand and bring them to safety too?
As a non-Christian, you are attempting to go down the mountain by yourself. You are confident in your own abilities but whether you feel the pain now or not does not matter. When life comes to an end you will feel pain. Not just a temporary pain: but an everlasting tormented pain!
God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
If you are tumbling down the mountain right now and don’t know how to stop it, the thing to do is to acknowledge your sins to God and repent of them. Do it right now! As you do, you will receive the hand that will save you from your fall. Look up to God and give Him thanks. Praise His name over any other name on earth. Jesus died on the cross so that you will not have to suffer the pain of death (eternity in Hell). He loves you so much that He is not willing that any should perish. Won’t you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior today? Confess your sins and truly repent of those sins. No longer be a slave to your sins but take charge over your life with Jesus as your pilot (or the lifeguard on slopes of life)

Which came first?

Let's play a game!

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? (the chicken!); The man or the woman (it depends if there is a mall nearby!) (just kidding! man!); The Book of Habakkuk or the Book of Jacob? (Habakkuk, there is no book of Jacob!); Photocopiers or Fax machines? (Fax machines by over a century!); Morse code or Braille? (braille in 1824, MC in 1838); Dry cleaning or Blue Jeans? (dry cleaning in 1855, blue jeans in 1873); Insulin or Penicillin? (insulin in 1821, penicillin in 1843); and one more question...

Which came first? Poor preaching or poor teaching from seminaries?

Okay, the Bible teaches about the Synagogue of Satan in Rev 2:9 and 3:9. It also talks about false teachers, false apostles. But I want to bring it up to our current lifetime. How effective have our seminaries been in training up pastors? I guess that depends on which seminaries we are talking about. While I do not have extensive data for proof, but rather, my own opinions, there are good ones out there like Master's Seminary (John MacArthur) and on the other end of the spectrum there are extremely bad ones out there like...

(okay, so I chickened out on actually naming one here -- don't want to get sued! if you email me and ask my opinion, I will be happy to tell you). One more thing, I know that Foghorn Leghorn is not a chicken! I just liked his picture!

It has gotten to the point where poor teaching and poor preaching abounds. Most likely because it is so easy to do. When I went through my training, I actually had a class where the professor told a joke every day. They were ones that he liked to use behind the pulpit. Of course, when I got my own church, I had to use them to make people laugh! I wanted to be funny -- never mind about being serious about sin and repentance, I had to be funny! (I've said it before and I will say it again, it was to my shame that I had to be funny!) I know there are people out there that say that joke telling isn't so bad (because they use them). No, joke telling isn't bad in the right situation and in the right place. But I have to warn you that if you rely on telling jokes to make people relaxed and happy, then what are you going to do when God's Word starts to get heavy and convicting? Will you tell more jokes to relax them? Just remember that people should be coming to church to "worship" the Almighty God! They are coming to give their thanks to God for sending His Son to die on the cross for each one of us. They are coming to share in fellowship with other believers (a commonality to lift one another up -- Remember my chains!), they do not need to come to hear the latest jokes. They can download them on the Internet if they want to. I am sure that Jesus had a sense of humor, but when it came time to talk about hell and heaven, it was serious. What must you do to be saved? Why haven't you repented of your sins? Are you ready to go to hell? (is now a good time to tell a joke?)

Please, please, learn from my mistakes. I have told 100's of jokes (I would say thousands, but like so many pastor's, I forget which ones I have already told so I am doomed to repeat them!) from the pulpit. You have to be soooo strong in God's Word and in your own personal walk because you better believe that Satan will use that joke telling pastor as a way of softening the gospel. He will use those jokes as a way of blocking the church members from being able to remember what the sermon was about or what Scripture was read. It is Monday, can you remember what Scripture was read yesterday in church? If your pastor told a joke, can you remember the joke? If you remember the joke more than the Scripture then I pray for that pastor because he is going to be held accountable for what he is teaching God's people.

So, is the seminary responsible for what kind of pastor's they put out into the world? yes and no! They are responsible for what they are teaching. They are responsible for what they are modeling to the classes. They are responsible for the example they set for everyone else. But the person attending the school is responsible for what they do and say behind the pulpit. God will not say to them, "I know, it is the fault of the seminary, that is why you are weak in your knowledge." No! We are each responsible to get into God's Word. We are each personally responsible for taking the knowledge we gain and taking it out into the world to reach the lost. How many professors at seminary are out reaching the lost? The one's I know -- NONE! What does that tell you about their love for Jesus and God's Word? What does that tell you about their desire to fulfill the Great Commission? What does that tell you about their love of their neighbor that is headed for hell? See, if the administrators of the Seminaries would hold their professors more accountable and make sure they are truly living their lives as a Christian "SHOULD", I think you would find much better results coming out of our seminaries and much better preaching would be the result behind the pulpits. And if you are getting much better preaching you will also see much better results from the church members in their growth and their ability to go out and reach the lost the way Jesus did!

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Let's stop playing games! If you know someone who desires to go to a Seminary, please make sure they do some research first. When you walk on a campus, take time to ask the people walking around these important questions...

1. Why are you a Christian?

2. What does it take to be saved?

3. How many people have you personally witnessed to this past month?

The answers will probably surprise you! From both the teachers and the students. Which came first?

(the above comments are somewhat found in my latest book titled, "Locked Doors of the American Church." It takes a hard look at Seminaries, Bishops and Church Hierarchy, Pastors, Elders, Church members and non church attending members and non Christians.)

Remember my chains!

"Remember my chains" is one line of Scripture that has always intrigued me. There is something so simple and yet so powerful in that one line that has a way of challenging me and encouraging me at the same time. It is part of a personal plea from Paul in the final part of his letter to the Colossians.

When you go through difficult times...

Remember my chains.

When life seems to be bringing you down...

Remember my chains.

When you are not sure what the future holds...

Remember my chains!

Check this out ~~

I grew up as a church-going young child (I used to call myself a Christian but until recently, I have changed my thoughts on that!). When I was 14 years old, my parents gave me the option of going to church or staying home. I decided to stay home! I went the next 14 years, not going to church, but always feeling like I was going to heaven based on the fact that I "believed" in Jesus. When I was about 25 years old, I was working at Hardee's Restaurant as a manager. I was not making much money so I decided to take the exam to get hired by the US Postal Service as a mailman. I went to take the test and prior to the actual exam they let you take a practice exam. I took that exam and completely bombed on it. I didn't get any of the answers right! They then took that exam away from us and gave us two more minutes to study and practice. When it came time for the actual exam, I was able to go through the whole thing and I scored a 100% on it! I was the only one to get a perfect score. I was at the top of the list to be hired. I waited and waited and nothing was happening. After about a year I decided to go back to school. I went over to Bradley University to see about getting into mechanical engineering. I was accepted to attend there. I was supposed to put my deposit down for my dorm on August 31, 1985. On Aug 30th, I received a phone call from the Post Office saying I had been hired. I had to make a decision. Do I take the government job with the good pay or do I go to school for four years and make even more money down the road. I took the security of the Post Office job! After spending a year as a part-time carrier I decided to transfer to Arizona for an opportunity to work full-time. I went to work in South Phoenix and was living in Tempe, Az. I didn't know anyone out there so I got involved in coaching little league baseball. My second year out there, I met Cole (an 11 year old boy). He asked me if I could take him, his older sister and his little brother to church because his parents were going to be out of town. I said I would. When I went to church, everyone treated me so nice and I decided to join the church. It was a Mormon Church. I knew nothing about that religion. They said words that seemed to be Christian. I had heard about salvation, Jesus, God, the Trinity, Holy Spirit. My knowledge was only that of a 14 yr old. I got completely involved in the church. I ended up being the Youth secretary in charge of finances for youth camps. I read my Book of Mormon faithfully every day. I abstained from drinking Pepsi (I cheated some times!!) I was in the church for three years. I started having some questions about what they were teaching. Some things did not make sense. How could God discriminate against people with dark skin? That didn't sound like the God I grew up with. Common sense told me that man did not live on the moon and on the sun (even though that is what was taught by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young). I did not believe that I could be a god myself. I was single and was made to feel like I was less of a person because I was not married and would not be able to have spirit children when I die. (I will say that Cole and his family always loved me even though I was not a whole-hearted mormon). On my third year in Mormonism, me and Cole and his family all went to the Temple in Mesa to watch an Easter pageant. There was a group of concerned-christians there handing out gospel tracts on mormonism. As soon as it hit my hand, Cole's mom grabbed it from me and said, "don't look at that, it is from the devil." I never saw what it said. Later that year, around the end of the first week of October 1990, my heart rate went down to 26 beats per minute. It stayed that way for six weeks! I went to the hospital and to doctors and specialists and none of them could tell me what was happening to me. They all said I was the healthiest dying person they had ever seen. I was sleeping 17 hours everyday! Six weeks of sleeping 17 hours each and every day! My heart, my lungs, my brain (debatable!), my blood were all excellent. They could find nothing wrong with me. The mormon elders would come over every night and lay hands on me and pray ~~ "in the name of Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, we heal you." They would repeat that every single night. Nothing worked! I felt like I was going to die. It finally got to the point where I got so scared and frustrated that I threw my Book of Mormon down on the floor and cried out to Jesus to save me. The very next day, I woke up completely healed. That was on Thanksgiving Day of 1990! My heart has been normal ever since that time. Doctor's never did figure out what was wrong with me. So the next day, I went to a Christian bookstore. It was the first time I had been in one, and what did I see under the heading of "Cults"? Mormonism!! I bought every book I could lay my hands on. For the first time since joining the Mormon church, I was able to read Scripture and it all came alive to me. I could see where Joseph Smith had twisted the truths of the Bible. I decided to go to a United Methodist Church (I grew up in the UMC). I finally was in a service that I remembered from my childhood. As the next baseball season started, I met a boy on my team and I ended up dating his mom. We were engaged to be married in November of 1991 (I know, kind of quick, but I had been single so long!). In October of 1991, I receive a phone call from Rey (the boy on the team) and he said to me -- "he's back!" It seems her exboyfriend had moved back in with her and they were sleeping together. I asked her about it and she said she didn't think it was any of my business. I kind of disagreed with her! I called the wedding off. I was mad at her and at women in general. I was a new christian and this was not supposed to happen to me. I held on to this pain for over a month and a half. Finally in January of 1992, I gave all of my pain over to God and asked him to bring someone else into my life. In October of 1992, he did. I met my son. He was on my mail route as I was delivering mail. He had just turned 9 years old. It is a long story but a wonderful story. Around this time, I had an exposed nerve on my wisdom tooth. The pain was more than you can even imagine. I was bouncing off of the walls. I got in my car at 4am and started driving. Not knowing where I was going, I was screaming at God asking him to stop the pain. I was yelling at Him for not helping me. I finally pulled over at a phone booth and looked up dentists in the phone book. I found one that was just one mile down the road. I sat in the car still screaming at God because it seemed as though the pain was getting worse. When I was finally able to open my eyes enough to see, I drove to the dentist office. I pulled into the empty parking lot of the dentist office. There was one light on in the building. I walked up to the building and was able to walk inside. I found the doctor's name on the board and saw he was up on the second floor. I took the elevator up and as it opened up, it opened up to the room with the light on. The dentist was sitting in his chair drinking coffee and reading the newspaper at 4:30am in the morning! I banged on the door and he let me in. He took care of me and as I was leaving, i asked him why he was there so early in the morning. He said his wife's car broke down the night before and she had to take his car out of town so she dropped him off four hours early so she could leave. Here just one mile earlier, I was screaming at God and complaining that He wasn't helping me and yet, the night before, he had already put into motion events that would take care of my need at the time I needed it most! Remember my chains! As for the boy on my route -- I ended up adopting him as a single man and we moved from Arizona to Illinois. I am white and he is Hispanic and I love him with all my heart. He is now 24 years old and has two little boys (3 yrs and a 5 month old). I love them and his wife, Sarah. They are such a blessing to me. After moving back to Illinois, I got into the ministry. I felt God was calling me. I went back as a student pastor. I had to finish my associates degree while working at a church. I met a girl who was just out of high school. She was very depressed and almost suicidal. We became friends. After lots of phone conversations she finally got her life back on track. One month before I started in the ministry, my dad died suddenly. He was my very first funeral that I ever did. As a pastor, I told a lot of jokes. Let me rephrase that, I told way too many jokes behind the pulpit followed by way too many stories. I had a lady come up to me and ask me if I was going to talk about homosexuality. I said I wasn't. She asked me not to because her son was visiting at our church that day and she did not want to offend him. I didn't say a word about it in the service. I never saw the young man again. I lost my chance to witness properly to him about the need to repent of his sins. I never felt right about that. Remember my chains. After a couple of years, we moved to a larger church. Again, I was telling my jokes (just had to be funny!). During this whole time of my ministry, I was an unrepentant sinner. I was living a lie. I did not tell people about God's Law and the need to repent of their sins. I only gave the "feel good" messages. I can honestly tell you that I was not saved as a pastor. I was the equivalent of an emergent pastor, of a Rick Warren or Bill Hybel type of pastor. I had to entertain the masses! Look at how popular I can be!!!! I was about to serve a new church in Iowa when my son and I decided to move back to Galesburg, IL to visit my mom. She was not doing well. The car was not running, the yard had not been mowed for over 7 weeks, and her plumbing was messed up. I called the church and told them that I was going to take care of my mom. I still was not saved but was still calling myself a solid christian because I believed in Jesus (this time around, now that I was not a mormon!). My first day on the job at a local grocery store was 9/11/01. The tragic events of that day will be remembered forever. When I went to work, everyone was in a state of shock. I was able to minister to people about God's love. I went through some very difficult times in my life during the following years. By living a life that had no repentance, I was destined to fall apart. I must have hit rock bottom. I felt unloved by the world and desperately wanted to get that feeling back. I attended church over the next few years and saw things that bothered me. I could see my "feel good" messages were not working. I didn't feel good. Remember my chains! Finally, after hitting rock bottom, I somehow came across Way of the Master and heard a recording of Hell's Best Kept Secret. That changed my life forever. For the first time in my life, I could see just how exceedingly sinful I really was and that I was headed for hell. I was a pastor that was headed for hell. I was a christian that was headed for hell. I was a very good guy that was headed for hell. God's law was preached. I was a liar, a thief, an adulterer and on top of that, I was also a covetous person, a murderer (hate), a person that dishonored my parents. I had not put God first in my life, I worshiped a god that was not the God of the Bible (I always figured that God would not send me to hell for my sins), I blasphemed the name of the Lord by being a terrible example of a Christian to my family and I never kept the Sabbath Day holy. I broke all ten of the Commandments. There was no way out, I was headed for hell. I cried when I finally "got it" that Jesus completely paid the price by dying on the cross for my sins. I finally repented of my sins. truly repented of my sins. I still sin once in a while, but the change is so drastic from where I used to be it is unreal. I now get out and seek to reach the lost. I have witnessed to over 350 people since the beginning of the year. I plan to more than double that next year. Remember my chains!

Life is finally good. I did a revival this past October and was totally persecuted by pretty much every church and even within my own church that I was attending. I count it as joy. Satan never had to worry about me when I was a pastor because I was not doing anything to bring people to God. I was creating false converts. Now that Satan is shooting his arrows at me, I can see that he is worried about me now. I count that as a tremendous joy! Remember my chains. Why did I write this long personal story? I want you to look back on your own life. Can you see where God opened and closed doors to you? Can you see any growth in your spiritual life? Can you see Satan actively going after you? Is Satan worried about the works you do for Christ sake? Remember my chains and remember your own chains. God is in control. He will not lose any of his children. He will gather them to himself! Rejoice in the truth of God's Word. Rejoice in His promises. Remember His chains!

The Ten Suggestions...

The words -- Ten Commandments, sounds like such harsh words, so judgmental! Maybe we need to soften it a little bit by calling it the Ten Suggestions. And while we are at it, lets rephrase some of the "suggestions."

1. God loves you, so why won't you take some time to love Him back?

2. God will help you "prosper" so go to church and "make some money!" but don't bow down to any wooden idols, okay? but if you want to be a god, you can!! (just ask Tom Cruise or any other scientologist or Mormon)

3. God loves you, won't you please stop using His name as a cuss word? Please????

4. God created the world in six days! Isn't that awesome? You need to work six days too, okay?

5. God loves you and if your parents are two homosexuals or two lesbians, that's okay, because all that matters is that they love you like God loves you and you need to love them too.

6. Now put that gun down. we don't want to kill anyone. If you hate someone, just try to put yourself in their shoes for a second. Good boy!!

7. Just because you see people having sex on TV is no reason for you to do it. If you see people making a million dollars selling ice cream, would you do it too?

8. If someone takes something that is yours, just do an OJ and go get it back! But do it lovingly!

9. We aren't supposed to tell lies, okay?

10. If you want what your neighbor has, all you have to do is pray about it and God will give it to you!

UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

It makes me sick to hear the way today's contemporary church has fallen apart! We don't want people to feel offended so we sugar-coat God's Word. We are not doing anyone a favor by doing that. I love some of my Mormon friends. It kills me to think that they are headed to hell because they are following a Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible. They are being led astray by false teaching and they are blinded by the truth. Please, please, please -- Chris B, Kim, Cole, and Josh and Van, I pray that your eyes be opened to what Scripture says. Please read my blogs on Mormonism and do not let your lifetime in the LDS Church cloud your judgment. I love you all so much and I do not want to see you head to hell. Please also, do not look at today's contemporary church and feel that is an example of what Joseph Smith said when he said "all" churches were apostate. God's Word tells us that His Word will live on forever and will NEVER fail. There are many good churches and many good Godly preachers (such as John MacArthur), but unfortunately, Satan has infiltrated the contemporary church with his lies (much the same way he has been involved in Mormonism). You want the truth? Look below...

The Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no other god's before me (this does not say that there actually are "other god's" it just means don't have something that takes His place)

2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image (you show not bow down to false idols - much the way Catholics worship Mary and the Pope. Much the way Mormons worship Joseph Smith)

3. You shall not take the Lord's Name in vain (you shall not blaspheme the name of God. You shall not, in God's Name, proclaim another gospel and call it Christianity!)

4. You shall remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy (I know how LDS people keep Sundays holy, but if you are worshiping a god that is not of the Bible, you are wasting your time on who you give worship too)

5. You shall honor your father and your mother (only to the point that it does not contradict the Bible. Jesus said that if you are not willing to leave your father and your mother for His sake, then you are not worthy to enter heaven!)

6. You shall not kill (Jesus said that to hate is as bad as murder. There are Christians and Mormons both who are guilty of this one. They hate the other group.)

7. You shall not commit adultery (Jesus said that anyone who looks with lust is guilty of adultery in their heart. With the pressure of women to make it to heaven as eternally pregnant women, they have to rely on a temple worthy man to get them to heaven. Guys are looking to women because it is important for them to sire as many children as possible to be pleasing to God)

8. You shall not steal (don't take that which is not yours)

9. You shall not lie (or bear false testimony)

10. You shall not covet (or desire what your neighbor has)

The Bible tells us that no one has kept the first of the Ten Commandments and that we are guilty of breaking all of the commandments if we break just one of them. You are headed for hell by breaking His Commandments. What do you need to do to go to heaven? It is not have several babies (that is "works" based! salvation is a free gift), it is not do temple work (that is also "works" based!), it is not tithing (again, "works" based), it is not going to church ("works" based), it is not abstaining from certain foods ("works"). It is solely putting your trust and faith in Jesus Christ to save you. Repent and be obedient to His Word as you have been saved by grace and not of works. You might say that to repent is to do "works." No, when you are saved, you are given the "fruit of repentance." Again, I ask that you read the part of Mormo and the Mormons and also the 33 things mormons won't tell you. If you want me to provide you with documentation on what I am saying, I will. It will come straight from the Doctrine and Covenants (not taken out of context but shown in its entirety) as well as out of The Ensign, the Book of Mormon and most importantly THE HOLY BIBLE. The Bible is correct and is translated correctly as being God's Word. When you only look at one line of Scripture and try to make it mean something that it doesn't, you are defiling the Word of God. You are creating a God to suite your needs (which is breaking the 2nd of the Ten Commandments). I have had someone tell me that the 33 things were all lies and that I was a liar. You know me well enough to know that what I am saying is true. For all of the people around the world who are reading this...

Please keep our Mormon friends in your prayers. Please keep our churches in your prayers as too many of them have fallen away from biblical preaching. And please, get out of your house today and go and reach the lost the way Jesus did -- PROCLAIM THE TRUE GOSPEL!!

There is only ONE WAY to heaven and that is through the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Sorry, Oprah, you are headed to hell if you don't acknowledge your sins to God and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Sorry, Tom, you are headed to hell if you don't put aside your own theology and realize that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh.

Mandatory Prayer in Schools (Illinois)

Is that what we are coming to as Christians?

I see some "christians" who do this!

There is a law that states that all schools "shall" have a moment of silence for a personal time of prayer in Illinois. Of course, there is an atheist who is against this and is planning to sue all of the school districts in Illinois to have it removed. You will hear the arguments of separation of religion and state. I have questions about the motive of the state mandating that there be a time of silence in schools so that people can pray "to their god."

I wonder if it is nothing more that an Illinois Democratic Government trying to appease the Christians by putting in a law requiring a moment of silence for prayer. And at the same time, promoting abortions, and other anti-christian movements.

I really have no problem with the atheist who wants it removed from the schools.

If a child does not know how to pray at home, he will most certainly not gain anything from a moment of silence at school.

We all cry about the fact that we used to have prayers in schools back in the 50's and even the 60's, be we didn't cry out when the churches stopped preaching about sin and repentance in church.

We didn't cry out when churches stopped preaching about God's Law, the Ten Commandments.

We didn't cry out when churches stopped expecting Christians to be obedient to God's Word.

We didn't cry out when we were no longer expected to strive towards righteousness.

We didn't cry out when reverence of God's Holy Word was no longer relevant.

We didn't cry out when joke telling became the "in" thing to do in church.

Why should we start crying out now, when an atheist wants the moment of silence removed from schools?

We cried out when the people said we could no longer say the pledge of allegiance in school, and yet, none of us teach the pledge of allegiance to our children at home. And we don't teach what it truly means to "pledge our allegiance" (be sure to watch this old clip)

We cried out when we were told to remove the Ten Commandments from governmental buildings. And yet we are silent about the Ten Commandments not being preached from the pulpits. Or better yet, we are angry about God's Law being brought up to us in church because we are offended by His Word because it makes us look guilty and besides, who does the church think it is to point a finger at us?? And one more thing about God's Law...

How many of you can name the Ten Commandments? From the people I have asked, I would venture to say that only about 5% of the people have been able to name all ten of the Ten Commandments! Pretty sad, huh? considering that Paul said he had not known what sin was "but" by the Law! The Law is to be used as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Law is used to shut the mouth of the self-righteous person. The Law is perfect for converting the soul.

And only 5% of us can name all ten of the Ten Commandments!

It amazes me how much Christian's get "involved" in the political world and yet stay out of the business of discerning how their church is equipping the saints (or NOT equipping). If we would take care of our church and require all pastor's to get back to biblical preaching...

if we as individuals would get on-board and be obedient to God's Word...

if we as Christians would repent of our sins...

if we as Christians would love our neighbors enough to talk to them about heaven and HELL...

if we would not just follow WWJD (what would Jesus do?) but rather we would WDJD (what did Jesus do) we would be much better off. We need to follow the way of the master!


So, for the 95% of you who cannot name all Ten Commandments, don't you think it is time to get back into God's Word? Let's make sure our walk matches our talk!

1. You shall have no other god's before me. (God is NUMBER ONE!)

2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image (no false idols)

3. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain (blasphemy)

4. You shall remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. (have we forgotten what "holy" is?)

5. You shall honor your father and your mother

6. You shall not kill (Jesus said you shall not hate either!)

7. You shall not commit adultery (Jesus said if you look with lust you are guilty of adultery)

8. You shall not steal (regardlss of the value)

9. You shall not lie (bear false witness)

10. You shall not covet



Let's get back to the basics. You have been in a church that has been feeding you potato chips (junk food) for a long time. How about having them feed you some real milk for a change?

Holy Special Edition Batman!

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which has called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be holy; for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:13-16

If you are a baby-boomer, you undoubtedly remember the old (the best) batman shows. They would fight, but you would never actually see them hit someone. The words POW, ZAP, BONK would always show up on the tv screen. They never used bad language, no cussing, no vulgarity. The one thing that is bothersome though, would be their use of the word Holy. Robin would inevitably use the word "holy" every time something exciting happened. Holy Sardines, Batman! Holy Houdini, Batman! Holy showcase, it's bulletproof glass! Holy agility! Holy complications! Holy missing relatives! Holy sudden incapacitation! Holy one-track Bat computer mind! Holy luther burbank! Holy contributing to the deliquencies of minors! Robin: "what's black and white and full of fuzz?" Batman: "zebra?" Robin: "no, a squad car!" Okay, I could go on and on and on with Robin and his use of the word "holy." There is a reason why I went to the extremes with this one. There are too many churches out there that use the word "holy" and it has absolutely no meaning, just as Robin's use of the word. We are called to be holy just as He (GOD) is holy. We are called to be obedient to His Word. We are not to go after our old ways (flipping people off and thinking God is okay with that! Using foul language and thinking God has more important things to worry about than your use of certain words!) In everything we do, in everything we say, in everything we think, we are to be doing that which is "right" in God's sight. We are to be "set apart" from the world. There should be something different about us. We are to be the light in a dark world. We are to display the love that comes from God. We are to put aside pride and humble ourselves before our Lord and Savior. We should have repented of our sins so that we will no longer be slaves to sin. We should be totally putting our trust and faith in Jesus! So the next time you say, "Holy!" It will be in reference to the One that is deserving of it. We should have such reverence for God and we should not take lightly the Word of God. When we are told to obey His commands -- OBEY THEM!! When we are told to love our neighbor as ourselves -- LOVE THEM! When we are told to warn unrepentent people about the wrath of God-- WARN THEM! Go into all the world preaching the gospel to every creature. THIS IS GOD'S WAY OF TELLING YOU TO GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE AND START TALKING TO PEOPLE ABOUT GOD. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost! Won't you start planting some seeds? Won't you get "right" with God right now? Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. Repent of your sins and do them no more. Be obedient to Gods Word. Love Him in a way that shows true love. He has told you to do some things. DO THEM! Be holy as God is holy! Want the world to see that there is something different about you? Start being obedient to God's Word and they will definitely know you are different -- they will hate you, because they first hated God! Rejoice in it! Demand that your church return to biblical preaching and teaching.

What has happened to our churches?

What is wrong with today's contemporary church? Click on the link to hear my sermon that I gave recently at a local park in Galesburg, IL.

I think my look says it all. "What in the world is going on with the churches in America today?" Why have they decided to go after other gods? Because that is what they are doing when they make a decision to promote a Jesus that does not have a problem with sin, does not expect you to repent of your sins, and does not care whether you are obedient to His Word or not!