SODOMY'S OKAY, EVANGELICALS SAY

In the 70's a rock group named after marijuana (The Doobie Brothers) did a song in which they said "Jesus is just alright with me." In that same spirit of feel good compromise many of today's "Christians" are reaching out to the worldly just like the Doobies once reached out to the delusionally religious. Yesterday I listened to a national news item on a religious radio station. The reader intoned solemnly that 48% of Americans believe homosexuality is a sin. Among "Evangelicals" and "Fundamentalists", however, he told us that 79% see homosexuality as a sin. So, the next time you're in church look around. If there are ten of you in your pew, two or three of you think gay is just okay.

Like the sewer you're in? Do you really believe any of those folks are saved?

In Christ (and, therefore, outside Modern Evangelicalism),
Phil Perkins.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK--April 26, 2008

The following is not a quote from a Christian. But it is applicable to Christians:

Knowing is not enough. We must apply.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

ALL I KNOW--lyrics by Randy Stonehill--from the album Edge of the World.

Just like Adam we awake at dawn,
Our lungs alive with Eden's perfect breeze,
Enchanted by the journey we are on,
Until gravity has dropped us to our knees.
And all the shining dreams we treasure never leave us satisfied,
But the heartache we embrace might be mercy in disguise
To turn our gaze to heaven until sorrow is a purifying snow.
That's all I know...all I know.

Yes, and time seems to be moving through me now
Like I'm transluscent, fading away.
I long to hold this miracle somehow,
Drinking all the wonder of these days.
But like a little barefoot boy standing on the beach,
Every new wave comes to steal the sand beneath my feet.
There's a sweet hidden wisdom only the angels bestow.
That's all I know.

Sometimes I cannot stand to hear myself pray.
It's as if my very words become a wall.
I want what I want and so I push the Truth away
And I do not have to listen when It calls.
And I curse my duality, this darkness that dwells in me
And marks me to the marrow as an orphan of the fall.
But in the middle my turbulence I see
It's amazing grace that grips me after all.
After all.

What can be said of this mystery we're in?
I have only one answer to give:
If Jesus didn't die to be the savior of my soul,
Truly I do not want to live.
Oh, for what would living be without a meaning and a hope?
Precious little more than just some cruel cosmic joke!
It's like being all dressed up and there was never even anywhere to go.
That's all I know.

Punch-drunk boxers wait for destiny to strike the fatal blow.
That's all I know.

I will be changed; I will be free; I will be healed; I will be Yours;
It must be so.
That's all I know...all I know.
That's all I know.

NO NEUTRALITY--Take up your cross or be man enough to admit you're not His.

I'm currently facing a situation in which my actual physical welfare is at risk. I've begun witnessing, with a friend, at a biker bar. We've been threatened. We will return. We will probably be beaten. So be it. (Pray for our boldness.) I tell you this so that you will know I'm not whining when I say what I'm about to say.

A little over a year ago I was fired from a Bible School for standing against the Emergent heresy. One thing has stood out about the experience concerning my friends and those who fired me.

First, those who fired me are orthodox in their doctrine. That is, they would never say that the Bible isn't God's word and authoritative or that Jesus wasn't God or that the resurrection didn't happen. The entire problem had to do with making people angry. All that had to happen for me to get fired was for a few (and I mean less than half a dozen) to contact the school and say that they were mad at me for exposing those inside our denomination and outside our denomination who were calling themselves Christian and yet denying the faith. The issue was that the president of the school would not have the school take a public stand. Nobody could be mad at the school. They want folks on both sides to like them. This is so unlike Christ. They wouldn't pay the price of having someone angry at them, so the school buckled.

Second, though my friends and former students remained friendly to me not one of them, to my knowledge, raised a word of protest about the wrong done me. (There is an exception to this. At least some of the students in my last class went to the college president for an explanation, so not all my students are cowards.) In fact, I have gotten the distinct impression many of them are actually embarrassed to be associated with me publicly. And they wish to be friends with those who have done this. Again, they wanted everyone to love them. Neutral. Both ways.

(Unless they're talking to me, of course--then they're more orthodox than Jesus.)

I've never complained to my friends or about them concerning this, because it's such a small thing to do. Christ suffered without complaining and so will I. And the picture painted by becoming a complainer isn't accurate because I would do this all again. I'm glad I did it. Jesus is worth it. I'm not whining any more than Paul was in Acts 20 when he stated he expected to be beaten wherever he went.

But he went.

No, rather, I'm saying these things because I want you, the reader, to think of something. Namely, just why do we think God is any less insulted when His "friends" refuse to stand for Him?

Jesus said, "The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me." Luke 10:16.

If we refuse to take a stand against those who deny Christ, how do you think God feels? Is He so stupid as to think we're His friends? I'm an old bald guy who grew up on a farm and went to a little school house with twelve (that's right, 10+2=12) students in my graduating high school class and I was smart enough to figure this out all by myself. Is a stupid farm kid smarter than God? Would you consider someone who chummed around with your severe enemy a friend? Why do we think we can do such a thing to God? Does He not see? Is He socially inept, unable to understand a simple interaction like this? Don't even kids on a playground know better? How do we disrespect God like this and expect His favor and not the flames He promised to all who deny Him?

Matthew 10:33
"But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." In other words, if we refuse to stand for Him, the Advocate won't stand for us at the judgment.

Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." In other words, if you're a Christian you signed up to die. What are you waiting for?

Mark 8:38
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." If we're unwilling to be associated with Him and His truth, we're an embarrassment to Him. Yet, we're proud of being inclusive to false teachers! This is our shame before God.

Knowing Jesus said this, how can anyone who calls himself a Christian stay silent inside or outside the church and suppose himself a friend of Christ?

As I watch these men, they have not stayed neutral. No, they've continued to keep fellowship with those who sided with the heretics. Even the school officials who sided with the heretics have not stayed neutral. (As if they ever were.) They have actually started using text books that push new age teachings and that are pro-homosexual. They claim this is only a temporary thing because they have to get along with another school until they get their own accreditation, but why do it at all since they know it's wrong? And my friends have continued as if all is well. Now I'm the one criticized--because I make others feel bad.

So does God. It's called guilt.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4.
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him.

Quiet cowardice now, galloping heresy later. Will you stand?

In Christ,
Phil Perkins. Walk the walk.

IF YOU WON'T STAND NOW YOU WON'T STAND LATER--Why a man who doesn't witness regularly is unfit for the pulpit.

1. Silence is sin. Acts 20:20. Even Jimmy Swaggart cried some crocodile tears for his sin and feigned some sort of repentance. Non-evangelists are hard and unashamed, as if this is normal. Not even a fake tear or two.

2. Let's be honest, the reason we don't witness is we don't want to be ridiculed or punched in the mouth. You have to be ready for that if you go witnessing. Paul expected to be beaten on a regular basis. Acts 20:18-24. In this age of sliding doctrine, a pastor or teacher will have to pay a price. DON'T EVEN TRY to tell me if you aren't witnessing now you will be willing to risk your career later. Don't lie to me that way. Don't insult my intelligence.

3. If a Mand o' Gawd (shamelessly stolen from Melvin Jones of "Pulpit Pimps") wishes to disciple others he cannot do so without taking them witnessing. Jesus did so from their conversion and this was the pattern of the early Christians in Acts.

As for absolute proof of that look to the Great Commission. There were two things His disciples were to do to disciple men after they had gone to them. One was to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The other was to teach them "all I have commanded you."

So just what were the commands He gave? Don't murder. Love your neighbor. Don't covet. Love God. Aaaaannnnnd.....

Oh, yeah. Go make disciples!!!!!!!!!!!

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

STREET PREACHING IV--Spiritual Carnage

Last night was the first night for me to go out street preaching for the summer this year. It was a weak start because we were only out there for about one and a half hours.

Did you notice the "we"? Yes, I now have two partners and neither of them are weak sisters, either. Both are Bible college students and both are real evangelists. I am totally jacked to have some help this summer. Last summer I was alone. I'll tell you more about them another time.

Once again, I was impressed last night by what I call the spiritual carnage left by the doctrinal bombings done from American pulpits. Lost people are convinced that they aren't because some preacher lied to them. The first young men to whom I talked were at a roller skating park. They were actually part of a church group so I asked them right out how to be saved. "Be baptized." They said it in unison. When I asked them if they had heard that they must repent of their sins, one kind of acknowledged that he'd heard something about that. The other, Sam, hadn't heard any such thing. He admitted that he had never repented of his sins.

Another young man, Steven, was from Wyoming. He was a joy to talk to because he really wanted to talk about God. I asked him how to be saved, because he, too, was raised in church. THIS WAS HIS LITERAL ANSWER: "That little prayer thing." I asked him if he's repented of his sins. He didn't really answer. I asked him if he reads his Bible. "No." I told him to read it daily and obey what he reads.

Next, my partners and I talked to a Catholic fellow who really wanted to talk. Pray for him. I expect to see him again.

Lastly, we spoke to a group of three or four and that was really disappointing. One of my partners lead the way on that one and he's really had a lot of experience witnessing. That part was awesome--I have two real partners who really love God and want to preach. The bad part was that the main guy who was doing the talking in the group we approached was a typical example of what I call the Idolaters of Luuv. When we talked about judgment, he responded that God was not a judge and no one was going to hell. No matter how we talked to him, he wouldn't budge off his center. May God judge the preacher who lied to him this way.

All in all, it was a great night. It's great getting back to it and it's great having two really great partners.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

TWENTY-THREE GREAT SINS OF AMERICAN EVANGELICALISM--Why We Must Pray For A Reformation Again.

Many Christians today are calling for revival. They are mistaken to do so. Revival is the imbuing of what already exists with new life. In the past, Evangelical Christianity has experienced renewed vigor from the Holy Spirit in great moves of God many call revivals. These are times, such as the Welsh Revival, when God, in a special work, in response to the need of the church and the prayers of the saints, breathes into the church and individual saints new spiritual power to live holy lives and to witness.

What we need is a reformation much like the Protestant Reformation. God didn’t revive the Roman church. To make it stronger and more powerful would be to aid the kingdom of Satan because its doctrine was Satanic. God called a remnant out of the Roman church to return to biblical doctrine and practice. Thus, Historical Evangelicalism was born. Modern Evangelicalism is not the same. We have gone into sin and lost doctrines that are essential to make biblical faith possible and added others that make biblical faith impossible. We must not seek new vigor for Evangelicalism. We must change it or simply leave it to return to Historical Evangelicalism, that is, the faith once for all delivered.

May it please God, not to revive an old donkey, but to make us a lion again.

1. The Lost Doctrine of Regeneration.
If we aren’t changed, we aren’t saved. Jesus said that if we are His sheep, we will obey His commands and if we don't, we aren't His. John 10, Matthew 7:18.

2. The Lost Doctrine of Sanctification.
If we aren’t being made progressively more holy, we aren’t saved. Romans 8:28-29.

3. The Lost Doctrine of Personal Holiness.
If we aren’t radically different than those around us, we aren’t saved. Matthew 10:17 & 16:6; Luke 6:26; Ezekiel 36.

4. The Lost Doctrine of Corporate Holiness.
If our churches and institutions aren’t pure from false teaching, false teachers, and any who hold to false teaching, they are no longer Christian institutions. We must change them immediately or stop supporting them in any way whatsoever and leave them. Deuteronomy 12-13; I Corinthians 5:9-13; Revelation 2:6; 14-16, & 19-24.

5. The Lost Doctrine of the Glory of God.
If we seek our own glory or success, we are sinning. Philippians 1:12-18; Psalm 145. Matthew 23.

6. The Lost Fellowship of Suffering.
If we avoid embarrassment for being Christians, don't worry. We aren‘t. Matthew 10: 32-33; Romans 10:9-10.

7. The Lost Leadership of Men.
If men don’t act like men again with courage and self-sacrifice, all is lost. Our fathers gave their lives for correct doctrine. Many of today's pastors and leaders won't risk being called "insensitive." Men, let the ladies be sensitive. You be godly. And lead. And die. I Timothy 2:9-3:13.

8. The Lost Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture.
If we read books other than the Scripture for Christian doctrine, we are blaspheming, calling God a fool or a liar. II Timothy 3:16-17. The only two proper uses of other religious works are 1) to illuminate Scripture by way of explanation or example by another more discerning or more familiar than we are, or 2) to research false teaching in order to expose the lie and expel the false teacher for the protection of those weak in the faith and for the preservation of the holiness of each of the saints and for the preservation of the corporate holiness of the church, Christian school, or any other Christian institution. I Corinthians 5:9-13.

9. The Lost Doctrine of Truth over Relationship.
If we value anyone, even our families, over being right with God in practice and doctrine, we aren’t saved. This is a call back to holiness and sacrifice, not meanness. Read and take seriously what Moses and Jesus taught in the following references. You will see that following God under either the Old Covenant or the New Covenant meant that many would be separated from families, friends, and loved ones who will not accept the truth. Much false teaching and many other sins in the church are tolerated simply because one brother will not sever ties with another who has fallen. In other words, will you be willing to be divorced by your spouse because he or she will not tolerate God in the house? Pastors, will you jeopardize your career for the gospel? Many will not. This is a disgrace unfit for the kingdom of God. Choose you this day whom you will serve! Deuteronomy 13; Matthew 10:32-39.

10. The Idolatry of Love.
If we worship the god preached in most of Modern Evangelicalism, we are idolaters, because the god of most Evangelicals is only love. The God of Scripture is much more. I John 5:6; Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9.

11. The Sin of Reproving the Reprover. (The New Phariseeism--Unbiblical Rules Against Telling The Truth.)
If we continue to adopt the unscriptural ethics of the idolaters of love, we will continue to be like the Pharisees of old, adding laws God has never given, and honoring human tradition over Scripture. In our zeal for the soft, the sentimental, and the mediocre, we hate the prophet and make artifical rules to silence him. Amos 5:10 & 14-15; Matthew 11:16-19; Amos 7:10-17.

12. The Idolatry of the Effeminate. (Worshipping the Uber-mommy.)
The American jesus isn’t the Jesus of Scripture. It’s a bizarre mix of god, goddess, man, and an uber-mommy unknown to Scripture. We have idolatrous pictures of this imaginary girlygod standing at a knobless door, unable to conquer the human heart that Yahweh, the true God, created. This contradicts both reason and Scripture. Exodus 20:4-6; Revelation 1-3; Nahum 3:13; Leviticus 19:17-18; II Timothy 2:1.

13. Self Idolatry.
If we continue to preach self-esteem, we deny Christ, Who taught us we are filth. Filth awaiting judgment. Roman 3:23, 6:23.

14. The Idol of the God Who Serves Me.
If we continue to seek earthly blessings from God, rather than self-denial, we continue to indulge our emotions and expect riches and health on Earth, while our souls die. Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 9:27.

15. The Lost Doctrine of the Value of Doctrine.
If we continue to deny the importance of strong biblical doctrine, we are self-contradictory fools, valuing the doctrine that says no doctrine is to be much valued. II Timothy 2:14-18.

16. The Lost Doctrine of the Powerlessness of the Church and Its People.
If we continue to speak as if God cannot act without our cooperation, we will remain idolaters, blaspheming the Sovereign Yahweh, and worshipping a domesticated god we control. Deuteronomy 11:25; John 6:44-65.

17. The Lost Doctrine of Redeeming the Time.
If we continue to spend time in secular entertainment, we will remain unfaithful servants, not evangelizing those for whom God has made each one of us responsible, all the while poisoning our souls with the humor of Satan, the mindset of this world, and the desires of the flesh. Ephesians 5:15-16.

18. The Lie of “Impacting the Culture.” (Whatever That Means.)
If we continue to engage in this and other nebulous doctrinal sophistries, we will go to our graves, not fulfilling the Great Commission, which calls us to the specific task of teaching individuals the Scripture. Culture is the world, and is to be shunned. Learn the customs of politeness and modesty. Avoid the contamination of the values of any human culture. Love not the world. Romans 12:1-2; I John 2:15-17.

19. The Lost Obedience to Witness. (Evangelicals Who Don‘t Evangelize Are Lying!)
If we continue to cower, and not witness, we disobey Christ’s last command on Earth and refuse to disciple anyone as Christ taught us to. All His students were required to witness almost from day one. How have we come to the point at which a man can be called a Christian who isn't regularly witnessing? It is dishonest. It is disobedient. It is inexcusable. May God damn the preacher who says otherwise. The book of Jude; Ezekiel 33.

20. The Lie of Relevance.
If we continue to attempt to “make the gospel relevant”, we are apostates, leaving the original gospel, which God told us was plenty relevant since it, and only it, is the power to save from eternal wrath. Are we smarter than God? Romans 1:16.

21. The Lost Doctrine of God’s Hatred for the Wicked. (Lost to the people, hidden by the preachers.)
If we continue to speak and preach about the god who is only love and does not hate evil and the workers of evil, we are idolaters and lie to our hearers, damning even our own children to eternal hell unless they rebel against us and return to the God of Scripture Who is loving to the repentant and burning in His anger against the unrepentant. Psalm 5:5.

22. The Lost Doctrine of Repentance.
If we continue to preach belief without Christ's call to repentance from all known sin, we have another gospel and will spend eternity in hell, with the blood of our followers on our hands. Jude 4; Matthew 4:17.

23. The Lost Doctrine of the Fear of God.
If we continue to tell people that God is to be respected and not feared and that He will not send anyone to hell, we are liars whom God will judge eternally in hell. Most of our preachers have lied to us on this issue. Because we insist upon a god who doesn't scare anyone we either fail to speak of hell or tell the lie that our god doesn't send anyone there. Scripture says otherwise. Revelation 14:9-11; Malachi 1:14; Hosea 3:5 , 11:10-11; Daniel 5:25-26; Jeremiah 2:19, 5:22-24, 10:7, 10:14; Isaiah 2:10-19, 33:6, 50:10, 57:11, 59:19, 64:1-2, 6:5; Jonah 1:8-16; Jude 4; Habakkuk 3:2-16; Matthew 10:28.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

AFTER NOTE: Many have asked to reproduce this post and I will be away for a few days. Please do so. Encourage folks to copy it and take it to pastors, church boards, and denominational leaders. Use it as a petition to ask them if they will return to these biblical doctrines and practices. If not, then shake the dust off your feet.

WORSHIPPING IN THE TRADITION OF NOTHING MATTERS

Celebrating the god of nonchalance.

The headline in today's Sunday Missoulian read, "Keeping Faith Casual".

Aaaah, isn't that sweeeet?

Reading the article about Grace Pointe church, it takes until the SEVENTH PARAGRAPH to read the word "God". And, no, the lower case on "church" isn't a typo. They, evidently, don't want to be identified with God all that much so they left "church" out of their title hoping you'd not notice they were religious until you'd already been put on the Committee for the Prevention of Stupid People Who Read Their Bibles Too Much. And you never read the word "Jesus", but I'm sure "God" is mentioned in passing, or under the youth pastor's breath when he has to clean up after the "Relational Teens" volley-ball-game-tofu-sundae-and-gospel-rap-concert-for-relevance-and-world-peace get together followed by the tattoo art and body piercing demonstration lead by the head of the local chapter of Hell Angels And Drug Paraphernalia Manufacturers For Some Unidentifiable Diety That Most Americans Call God Or Jesus Or Something. After all, talking too much about God would make them psychotic killers or something worse, like fundamentalists or Bible-thumpers, I suppose. Of course, you can find "relevant", "community", "faith", "unconventional", etc. No mention of the atonement or wrath or sin. However, Pastor Coler regularly takes up topics like slavery. Evidently, the slave trade's running just rampant in Missoula, Montana these days, what with the Montana cotton crop rotting in the fields.

Interstingly, despite all this unity and love, there's rumor of a raging doctrinal debate among them, for which I have yet to find solid documentation. (Or any for that matter.) Here's the burning question at the center of the debate:

"Is our faith mysteriously undefined and wordy or vaguely elusive and conveniently undetermined so we don't exclude anyone except real Christians?" Several families of whatever kind you prefer have already gotten up in arms and left the whachamacallit! Disappointed, Pastor Coler has been quoted as saying, "This sort of conflict is so unnecessary. I keep telling them doctine doesn't matter."

Just puking,
Phil Perkins. PS The above is a mixture of fact and errr...faith. On your part. The slavery reference is real, the newspaper is real, the name of the organization and the name of the pastor is real, and the lack of mentioning God, Jesus, and sin is real. Other things are a matter of your faith in my imagination. Oh yeah--the puking was almost real.

WHEN "PROGRESS" BECOMES AN EXCUSE TO SLANDER A PREVIOUS GENERATION

Remember the evening of 911? You weren't sure what was coming, but you knew Muslims had done this, so you got in line and paid whatever you had to pay to fill every vehicle you owned. We were scared and not quite sure what to do about it.

In the June 9, 1943 edition of the Los Angeles Times an article appeared entitled "Over 600 Nisei found Openly Disloyal". This refers to first generation Americans of Japanese ancestry, the children of Japanese immigrants. In Poston, Arizona there was an interment camp for Japanese Americans. Many, possibly almost all, Japanese Americans were loyal citizens of the US at the begining of World War II. For the loyal this was an unspeakable injustice and many of today's cultural elite would have us believe the World War II generation did this simply out of bigotry, for no real reason at all.

But look at the numbers as reported by the Los Angeles Times. At Poston there were about 3,600 interred Japanese Americans. When asked the question, "Will you swear allegiance to the United States and foreswear allegiance to the Emperor of Japan or to any other foreign power?" 630 were found "openly disloyal" in the words of the Los Angeles Times. Of these, 450 answered "No." Another 180 answered something like, "I'm neutral," according to the Times. These included 606 men and 24 women.

Given these historical facts, why do so many want to paint the World War II generation as racists and bigots? Answer that for yourself. I don't care why. I only hate a lie. Yes, there were bigots then as now. No excuses. What was done to blacks was especially heinous. And, yes, minorites are safer and more accepted now than then. And many of us are still bigots. Have you ever called anyone a redneck?

Is it really plausible that the average American was convinced anyone with Japanese features was evil? Or is it more plausible that our parents and grandparents, with feet of clay like ours, were simply as scared as we were on the evening of September 11, 2001 and not quite sure what to do about it?

Just thinking,
Phil Perkins.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"We should live each day as though it might by our last day.

Because it might."

---The Late Larry Norman.

For some good clips of Larry, go here and here.

UNSAVED BELIEVER

Bill's his name. I worked with him as my foreman for a few weeks before he moved on to greener pastures. He’s likable enough. Always a smile and a joke. However, many of his jokes were off color. He used God’s name in vain many times a day and used the f-word like water. In addition to that, he often took tools and supplies from our employer to his home, which became their new home. Then one day he invited me to a concert.

At his church.

Yep. Bill’s an Evangelical believer.

He called last week for work. He’d like to return to the tiny town where I work because the Assembly of God church he was attending there had recently doubled. Bill’s very sperchul, so he just has to be in a happening church. Bill even speaks in tongues. I wonder if he can tell some of those dirty stories in an angelic language or say the f-word in tongues. Perhaps in his angel language it’s the q-word or the k-word. Of course, I’ve no clue what “word” is in angelese. Perhaps it’s “dlospeq”, in which case the f-word would be the f-dlospeq or the q-dlospeq or the k-dlospeq or…

His call reminded me of several arguments we had while he was still my foreman. I had told him that stealing from his employer, cussing, and cursing God’s name regularly without so much as a twinge of conscience was a sign of an unsaved soul. So I told him as gently as I could once again.

Here’s where it gets good: When I told him one must repent of one's sins to be saved, he said that was not true. In Bill-land you just have to sepGeezus. As long as you sepGeezus yur SAVED, SAVED, SAVED! Remain in your sins if you want. Just sepGeezus and your ticket's punched to go to the Six flags Over Heaven, cotton candy and all.

I don’t know who Bill’s pastor is, but I’m sure his (or her)spot in hell will be very hot. And close to Joel Osteen.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

SERIES ON HELL FROM REVELATION 14

I want to apologize for the delay in the series on hell. I am finding it hard to complete because as I read through Scripture, I am finding it is all over the Scripture, especially in the prophets. I assure you I will finish it, God willing, but I want to do a complete and thoughtful job of it. It is a very hard thing to contemplate. Hell is an almost boundless thing.

DOUBLE DECKER HYPOCRISY

I was riding "The Deuce" That's what they call the double decker bus that takes one down "The Strip" in Las Vegas. I wasn't there for pleasure. I was in LV because I was taking training to work on steam and gas turbines in power generation plants across the country and LV is where the school is. However, while there I did a lot of Bible reading and in order to hold myself accountable in such a place, I flashed my Bible a lot. That way everyone knew I was a Christian.

That would keep me from messing up and possibly lead to some evangelistic opportunities. Both branches of my strategy worked and while on my way back from buying a Bible for a fellow trainee, I met Frank. He was passing out tracts on The Strip. Frank's real! After a brief conversation he agreed to allow me to witness with him and a number of his friends the next night on Fremont Street.

All of that was for this story:

On my way to Fremont Street and Frank and company, I was on The Deuce. And that's where I met the face of what's wrong with Evangelicalism. As usual, I had my Bible on the seat beside me. Behind me were two couples. One was young. The others were parents-in-law. Well, the young husband pointed to my Bible and asked if I attended a church locally in LV. "No, I don't live here." I told them I was in LV for training, not pleasure. He told me that he lead the youth group in his church and he was quite Evangelical as if that was really going to get brownie points. Just why he wanted to impress a middle aged bald guy with more wrinkles than that twenty you found in your 12-year-old couch I don't know, but religion functions quite well for such things, I'm told.

Here's where things get interesting. Whether or not you know this, Vegas is a chamber pot--Sodom for heterosexuals, as well as a huge gambling den. Going on The Strip will expose you to actual full-length, billboard-sized pictures of naked women. It's nothing to which a Christian man ought expose himself unless he is prayed up and has a really good reason to do so.

In just such a sewer this young youth pastor had purposely brought him, his wife, and his mother! Just what he and his father were thinking I don't know. As the conversation went, I told him I was going down to Fremont Street to hand out gospel tracts and evangelize. Here is roughly how the conversation went at that point:

Me: I'm going to meet some friends and pass out gospel tracts and evangelize down on Fremont Street.

Pastorboy: (Enthusiastically) Oh, you mean down there where all the dancers (read strippers here) are?

Me (thinking): Now how did he know just where to find strippers in a strange town? And why did he use the euphemistic "dancers" instead of calling them what they are--after all, Fred Astaire was a dancer.

Me (speaking): I don't know. I'm not from here. You're here on vacation?

Pastorboy: Yes.

Me (looking at his pretty young wife and his mother and reeling with the incongruity and blurting it out like a gag reflex): I would NEVER bring my family here!

My words trailed off as I realized I had just accused Pastorboy of the sin he was engaged in right in front of his own parents as well as what had to be his very young bride. That was the end of that conversation.

Meanwhile, a lost man sat next to me, immediately telling me the story of why he was running from the law and how many women in LV he had been with and their names as if I'd asked. I waited for an opening (you know--when he stopped to take a breath) and started to tell him about God's coming judgment.

Well, Pastorboy's stop was before mine. "Keep up the good work," he said as if in pain.

Yeah. He was still pretending we were on the same team or something.

Amazed,
Phil Perkins.

THE ALARM

This morning two alarms went off.
The buzzer went,
My back was stiff.
I had to cough.

It's time to rise, to start my day.
I love my work,
But soon I'll die.
The end of day.

My clock marks the daily morning.
God's names my end.
Mine's for a start,
His forewarning.

Today I'll work, with God I'll walk.
Tick tock, tick tock.
Tick tock, tick tock.
Tick tock, tick tock.

It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment.

UNBELIEVERS THE NEW CHRISTIANS!!!

Yes, that's right. The new thing out now is that you don't have to believe the Bible to be a believer. I know that sounds stupid, but I have been assured by several people with very straight faces it isn't. Instead, it's just very "nuanced" as many say.

Funny. When folk like that say "nuanced" these days they say it as if the rest of us may not be smart enough to know what that means. So, I'll take a moment to straighten out you backward people who sit around reading just your Bibles all the time, because heaven knows you have to do a lot more than that just read your Bible in order to keep up with all the theological innovations made by the sort of folk who say things like "nuanced," "metanarrative," "missional," and stuff like that. So here's what "nuanced" means: It means I am trying to fit an old heresy that the church rejected hundreds of years ago in by calling it something else really new and different-sounding. The point of the "nuanced" thing is to make an old, rejected idea sound like something novel that only the "nuanced" person and his friends could think of and that no one else in two thousand years of Church theology, thought, Scripture-searching, and scholarship could ever have thought of. EVER.

Several times in the last year I have had discussions with folks I otherwise would have thought to be real Christians. These quazi-Christians have introduced me to a new doctrine. The doctrine simply states that one doesn't have to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture to be a Christian.

Now, that sounds much more nuanced than the way I first stated it in my opening paragraph. You don't have to believe in inerrancy to be a Christian. So one can believe in Christ, but doubt the factuality of the Bible He seemed to love and trust.

This is a very stupid thing to say and here's why: Jesus taught and acted as though the Scripture was a reliable guide to truth. He told His Father that His Word was truth. This presents the unbelieving believers with a logical problem. Specifically, they must make a case that those who believe in Christ don't have to believe Christ. Or, to put it another way, one may believe that Christ is the God of All Truth while believing this God of All Truth was either mistaken or lying when He said and acted as if the Bible is completely true.

This case cannot be made to anyone who is not on pot or a rock-ribbed Evangellyfish.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.

READ THIS POEM

I read this poem for the first, when visiting this blog for the first time. It is by Steve Turner, a British journalist. Here is the poem:

CREED

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and
after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that sodomy’s OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes,
UFO’s and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man like Buddha,
Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same –
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of creation,
sin, heaven, hell, God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens
they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then it’s
compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps
Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and
bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that
is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will re-adjust.
History will alter.

We believe that there is no absolute truth
except the truth
that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

EIGHT CHARACTERISTICS OF HELL FROM REVELATION 14--Part I

"THEREFORE WAIT FOR ME," DECLARES YAHWEH,
"FOR THE DAY WHEN I RISE UP TO SEIZE THE PREY.
FOR MY DECISION IS TO GATHER NATIONS,
TO ASSEMBLE KINGDOMS,
TO POUR OUT UPON THEM MY INDIGNATION,
ALL MY BURNING ANGER;
FOR IN THE FIRE OF MY JEALOUSY
ALL THE EARTH SHALL BE CONSUMED."
Zephaniah the prophet, chapter three, verse eight.

This study of hell is based on the words of John written in Revelation 14. The focus will be on verses 9-11, which says, "9And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.'


I. Hell is one of God's great passions.
Hell is the result of God's passionate anger toward us. He desires to punish all sin and all sinful people.

God hates all who do iniquity.--Psalm 5:5. As a result, He is bent on punishing men. See verses 8, 10, and 19 in Revelation 14. The Greek word thumos is used for the passion of sexual immorality in verse 8. Add the prefix epi and the word becomes the common Greek word for lust. So thumos is definitely a word that denotes a deep, gripping desire. Next look to verse 10. There we read in the ESV, "...he will drink of the wine of God's wrath (thumos) poured full strength into the cup of His anger..." In verse 19 we read, "So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath (thumos) of God." Oddly, the common Greek word for God's anger is used here only at the very end and the first word for God's anger is thumos. Why not use the more straightforward word? Why use this very unusual word, that usually means passion or desire?

When God uses this word this way in Scripture it refers to only the most severe anger, a passionate, deep anger that lasts and burns. It appears in 12:12 to describe the passionate longing of Satan to destroy the earth. It appears in 14:8 to describe the lust of sexual immorality. In 14:10. 15:1. 15:7, and 16:1 it signifies God's wrath. This word also appears in some of Paul's writings and refers to the most severe wrath of either God or men.

Let's take a look at these passages translating thumos in its primary meaning:

14:10--...he will also drink the wine of God's passionate longing poured full strength into the cup of His anger..."

15:1--Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the passionate longing of God is finished. (So, evidently God is waiting in passionate expectation to punish all sin on the earth. He looks forward to the day when He will send all the wicked into destruction.)

15:7--And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the passionate longing of God Who lives forever and ever...

16:1--Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the passionate longing of God."

As longingly and as passionately as the immoral man desires the fulfillment of his depraved lusts, God desires to squeeze the lifeblood out of the wicked. This is personal. God is no unfeeling sheriff's deputy that has to give you a ticket because it's His job and you were speeding. You have hated him and He has hated you. His passionate longing is for your punishment.

II. Hell is punishment.
Interestingly, the announcement of the third angel in verse 9 starts with the word "if." "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives the mark upon his forehead and upon his hand,..." If a man is evil in his thoughts and actions, he will be punished with the punishments listed. Verse 10 reads, "...indeed, he will drink out of the passionate wrath of God, which has been poured out unmixed in the cup of His wrath and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."--my translation.

God is not evil. We are. The torments are not a whim. They have a purpose.

In other words, the evils that God will inflict on humanity on that day will be in response to the evils men have done in thought (the forehead) and in deed (the hand.) Indeed, the Bible tells us that all are sinful. In Jeremiah 8:6 we read, "I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle." Why does a horse rush to its own death in war? Because he has a master who has trained him to do so. And he does so without thought or regret because he knows no other course. He has been mastered. Even so man has been mastered by sin. We know of nothing but our basest instincts, lusts, passions, and drives. We will eat and wipe our mouth on our filthy sleeve. We will take a virgin and think nothing of the bastard child or the wasting disease. We will kill our neighbor with knife, gun, or tongue because we just want to. We are men and we are vile.

Just as the war horse drives into a phalanx unaware that this will be his last day to run, even so men without God do not have a thought of their impending destruction. Like the horse who ignores his impending death to obey his master, men stuff down any quivering of conscience and the briefest thought that God's avenging retribution may fit their actions so they may obey the sins that have mastered them. God is not mocked. He is ignored like a man ignores the stench of an open sewer.

But He is hated more.

III. Hell is public. The Display of the Damned.
It is often said, that hell is the absence of God for all eternity. That's a lie. In hell men will wish to get away from the God Who is torturing them. But they won't be able to. Instead, those in hell will see the redeemed in glory, cared for by their loving Father Who is, in turn, their fierce and eternal enemy punishing them forever. Hell is the absence of God's love, the ever presence of His passionate, destructive, white hot, long awaited, satisfying wrath.

Part of hell's punishment will be public humiliation in front of all the angels, God, and all the people who go to heaven. And all of them will give hearty approval of your punishment. Isaiah 66:24 and Romans 9 tell us something of this as does the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. There we read this:

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." 25But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us." 27And he said, "Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers —so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment." 29But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them." 30And he said, "No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." 31He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."

While the rich man was in torment in Hades, the saints saw him and he saw them. In heaven, the saints, the holy angels and God Himself will see the torment of the wicked. And while there will be a chasm between them, the very nature of the torment and the individuals being tormented will be evident daily to the residents of heaven. In Revelation 14:11 God says, "And the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever..." (my translation) Smoke is something no one can ignore. Everyone smells it. This was written to a culture familiar with campfires and fireplaces. The smell of smoke was everywhere. The smell of burning flesh was common to a society who sacrificed animals. It was also death that expunged sin to the Jews. Now we know that only the death of the sinner can cover sin and cleanse God's creation. At Calvary, Jesus became sin for us. For those who reject Him, their sin remains. Their eternal death, not the death of Christ, will be required. And all in heaven will be eternally aware of you, your torment, and exactly why it's just that you suffer--if you remain without Christ.

Going back to Revelation 14:10, we read, "Indeed, he will drink of the wine of the passionate wrath of God, which has been poured out full strength in the cup of God's wrath and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb."

The most bitter irony of all eternity will be the fact that those who despised the God Who died for them, the God Who suffered so they did not have to, will find Himself satisfied only by the suffering they will do for eternity. The utter stupidity of their choice will be in their face forever. The saints they hated will look upon their suffering and know that God is just. The angels who ministered to the saints as they suffered will wonder at the justice of God toward the sinful, and His mercy for the repentant. They may look at the just punishment of the wicked, and then turn their heads to look over their shoulders and be amazed that God's elect are not in the flames as well, because they will know that the saints were once as evil as any resident of hell. Thus, they will not understand the kindness and justice of the amazing I AM. And the saints will share their incredulity. All heaven will have no choice but to fall to the ground in awe-filled worship!

It is not amazing that God sends men to hell. It is amazing that He chooses even one for mercy.

Isaiah 66:24 says, "And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh." This is a description of the final state of the damned. They will be a curiosity to the saints. The writer describes three things that will fascinate the survivors. First, "their worm shall not die." Whatever that means, it denotes the destruction of the damned in some form. The destruction will never quit. Second, "their fire shall not be quenched." Like the rich man and Lazarus, the suffering man will make a pitiful figure, but, just as Lazarus was unable to help the rich man, no saint will be able to help any sinner in hell. Yet the saint will be unable to forget the sinner. His suffering and the fact the it will be forever, will eternally grab the curiosity of the saint--an eternal reminder, perhaps, that the saint ought to be ever grateful to His Elector. The third reason the saints will not be able to forget the sinners is that "they will be an abhorrence to all flesh." Whatever pity the saint may feel for the sinner will be overshadowed by revulsion at the utter sinfulness of the damned.

We, in our societies, know of people so evil they disgust us. In eternity, when the redeemed are completely changed, the friends and relatives we once loved, not being changed, but still in their sin will disgust us so that we will have no problem when God condemns them. Instead, the saints will be glad. To the suffering sinner who once ostracized the saint, the tables will be turned. He will be the outcast. Cast out from heaven, from life, and from any comfort. He will be a laughing stock and something which will cause all of creation to turn up its nose.

Romans 9 gives us another snapshot of the public nature and the humiliation of the suffering of those in hell. Verses 19 through 26 are both glorious for the saint and a fire alarm for the sinner:

"19You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who can resist His will?' 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?' 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,

'Those who were not my people I will call "my people,"
and her who was not beloved I will call '"beloved."'
26 'And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people,"
there they will be called(AM) "sons of the living God."'"

Did you catch verse 22? "What if God, desiring to show His wrath and to make known His power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
in order to make know the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy which He has prepared beforehand for glory..." God not only has the right to save whomever He wishes, and to destroy whomever He wishes just because He is our Creator, but He has done just that. And He has done so for a reason. That reason is to golrify Himself. This will be evident in eternity as all creation wonders at the just punishment of the wicked as it shows just how powerful God must be to clean the formerly wicked saints.

It is this very contrast between the wickedness of man justly punished and the mercy He bestows upon the chosen whom He saved for no other reason but to show off His power to creation that will be the greatest wonder of creation! So here we see punishment has two functions. First, it is to punish the wicked. But second, it is to glorify God by showing His most powerful miracle--the forgiveness of the repentant. As with all of God's creation, its primary purpose is the glory of God.

Yes, the wicked will glorify the God they hate by being tormented by Him forever.

IV. Hell is permanent.


V. Hell is painful.

VI. Hell is personal.
God hates men for three reasons. The way we think, the way we act, and the kind of persons we are.

VII. Hell is certain.
First class condition in verses 9 and 10. Ez. 16:20, 41-43.

VIII. Hell is appropriate

XI. Hell is barely avoidable.

BAD DOG! BAD, BAD DOG!

How depraved are we to love men more than we love God?

Dog Chapman, accomplished enforcer of the law and all around good guy, has been exposed as not being so good. He hates folks with African blood in their veins and it comes out his mouth in the form insults, denigrations, and epithets.

Bad Dog!

However, men hate God and the evidence of that hatred comes out their mouths, just like Dog. Just as we wish to make sure innocent folks are not maligned, do we dare suppose God will not avenge His name used in vain?

Just thinking,
Phil Perkins.

ABORTING SOUTHERN BAPTISTS

Two potential Southern Baptists were killed by their own mother. The mother's name is "Kayla." The story was on Fox News last night. Kayla is a pretty 17 year old high school girl. The vivacious blonde who usually shows a vibrant smile was shown weeping on an abortionist's table. Her mother (the grandmother of the child who had just been or was about to be murdered by the attending "physician") was at her side. Kayla had to tell an attendant that this was her second abortion. Kayla's mom was not aware of a prior abortion Kayla had so this was news to her. Pain registered on the grandmother's face as she learned that her first grandchild had existed and was murdered by her daughter.

The scene changed. The two women, Kayla and the grandmother, were in a cafeteria. Kayla expressed concern that in a Southern Baptist church a teen girl with a child might be looked down upon. Rather than face disapproval for fornication (WAH!), it was better to kill the kids, she reasoned, though not in such straightforward language. After all, straightforward honesty is not called for when excusing murder. But not to worry--the matriarch comforted Kayla. She said that even though the kids in the church would not accept her, Jesus would.

How is it that an older women, and a long time Evangelical, could lie so? Has she not read, "God hates all who do iniquity"? Or "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God." Or "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Evidently, Grandma doesn't know these things. Jesus will NOT accept Kayla. Who will tell Kayla the certain truth that she is headed for hell unless she repents? Certainly not her own Evangelical mother. Kayla is both a murderer and a fornicator. And such will go to hell or the Bible is not true.

The news article ends with confirmation of this sad fact. Kayla's face is zoomed in on as she makes a vow to do "everything I can" not to get pregnant until she is "ready." This is confirmation of her unregenerated soul and her sure destiny in hell because there is no repentance. Repentance would cause her to vow never to fornicate again. Staying unpregnant is not something a single woman has to try to do if she obeys God's demands for purity.

Pull your pants up and get on your knees, Kayla. It's time to repent.

Who would like to bet that when their pastor finds out about this neither one is disciplined by the church?

Hoping I'm wrong,
Phil Perkins.

"GOD" ISN'T CUSSING ANYMORE

This weekend I saw a clip of a drag racer who had a hard time expressing himself in an interview immediately after he won a race by a small margin. He had deftly avoided an accident caused by a malfunction of his car. He said this:

"G__! I can't even talk. You guys won't let me cuss!"

Evidently, the network had given him the word that profanity would not be tolerated on their broadcasts. However, it seems using God's name in vain is just fine.

In Christ,
Phil Perkins.