Emerging Church Definition-of-the-Week: “Persecution”

From:  Motivational Posters for the Emerging Free-for All

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Just Call Me “Ed”

You know you’ve been blogging too much lately when you start having blog-related dreams at night. I dreamt the other night that I was sitting at my computer reading someone’s blog. They were talking about some sort of apostasy-related topic and then referenced “Brandon at Peculiar Pilgrim” and “Mike at Possessing the Treasure” and “Ed at The Great Apostasy.”

Ed????  LOL!

Just so you know, my name isn’t Ed. Not even close.

But you want to know something funny and sort of ironic? When I was a child and went away to camp one summer, the other kids started calling me “Eddie”. Yep, Eddie. There was this one particular camp song that I really liked and would sing as I went about my day riding horses, swimming, doing archery, making braided plastic crafts, catching lizards, etc. The song was about a boy named Eddie who fell into a well. (Uh, oh … the tune just started up again in my head … I don’t want to walk around today singing a song I knew from horse camp 35 years ago! lol)

For reasons that will remain nobody’s business but my own, I’ve chosen to be anonymous on this blog. And will continue to do so.

But I’ll be honest with you, it gets more than a little weird when I’m posting a comment on someone else’s blog and I sign off as “The Great Apostasy” or people refer to me as “The Great Apostasy.” It makes me feel like I’ve decided to become the personal embodiment of heresy.

So from now on if you see me around in someone’s comment section, feel free to just call me “Ed.”

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The Need for Discernment

“I don’t know if there is a greater need in the Body today than the gift of discernment. The number of teachers and preachers in the modern church who sound good and seem right but truly are not, has multiplied exponentially just in this generation. I have rejected a great number of fine-sounding televangelists, teachers, authors and bible commentators over the past couple of years that I had once respected. So much so in fact, people often wonder if there is anybody I do like.”

Read the entire article here:  http://peculiarpilgrim.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/true-discernment/

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Emerging Church Definition-of-the-Week: “Wonder”

From:  Motivational Posters for the Emerging Free-for All

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Does God Care What We Call Him?

“… from its very starting point Islam denies what Christianity takes as its central truth claim — the fact that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father.  If Allah has no Son by definition, Allah is not the God who revealed himself in the Son.  How then can the use of Allah by Christians lead to anything but confusion … and worse?”
~Albert Mohler

To read the entire article, go here:  http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/11552241/

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Doctrine is Necessary to Authentic Faith

“Sound, biblical doctrine is a necessary aspect of true wisdom and authentic faith. The attitude that scorns doctrine while elevating feelings or blind trust cannot legitimately be called faith at all, even if it masquerades as Christianity. It is actually an irrational form of unbelief.”
–Dr. John MacArthur

Read the entire article here:  http://www.gty.org/resources.php?section=articles&aid=231218

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Don’t Pull Any Punches in the Fight for Truth

“… when we attack the lies of an utter apostate with the truth, we are doing the work of God.  There is no need to pull punches.  Handling false doctrine with kid gloves is never a good tactic.  There is no value in toning down the truth with ambiguities or withholding the hard parts.  Do what Jude did:  sound a clear signal.  Those who are being deceived can be rescued only by the gospel.  The more clearly we proclaim the message and the more starkly we set it in opposition to error, the better.”

~John MacArthur, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception

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Is Paula White’s “Gospel” the Real Gospel?

“I think God is a lot more concerned with making us holy rather than making us rich. More concerned with making us into the image of His Son, rather than into the image of wealthy televangelists. Making our souls prosper rather than just our bank book fat. Blessing us with every spirtual blessing, not just with every earthly one. I’m not saying that God doesn’t bless us financially at times … but I believe His true and deepest blessings are much more eternally minded than earthly minded.”
–from a comment by dsimple

Read the original article and other comments at:  http://kevinbussey.wordpress.com/2006/10/23/donald-trump-reveals-his-money-making-ways-in-first-ever-christian-tv-appearance-on-paula-white-today-show/

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Emerging Church Definition-of-the-Week: “Humility”

From:  Motivational Posters for the Emerging Free-for All

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Marriage is a Picture of Christ and the Church

If you somehow missed the story, you can read about it at this link:  Randy and Paula White to Divorce

I don’t follow the ministries of many Christian “celebrities” so I’m not well informed about what the White’s teach, etc., although I’ve gathered it’s some sort of prosperity message (which would be a whole ‘nother posting all together). 

Anyway, my gut reaction to the announcement that their marriage is ending is this: Why are they continuing to live their lives in a manner that obviously led to their marital breakup?

From some of what I’ve read the past few days, it sounds like they don’t hate each and their split is actually fairly friendly. They just seem to think their “ministries” are more important than their marriage.

Keep the ministries going but chuck the marriage? Wow. I think they should take their marital problems as a sign that their ministries and other commitments are somehow out-of-whack.

My personal perspective is that as married Christians, our first ministry is to our families. If we’re not meeting the needs of our spouse and children, what do we think we have to offer the world and the Church at large?

Marriage is supposed to be a picture of Christ and the Church.

Should the Church say to her bridegroom, Jesus, “I’m sorry … my ministry takes priority over my relationship with You. I still care deeply about You, but I have other priorities and our relationship just sort of gets in the way.”

But wait …

Now that I think about it, isn’t that a pretty good description of what’s happening in the Church today?

People are so concerned with building ministries and growing churches, that they’ve left off preaching the unadulterated Word of God in the name of “purpose” and “effectiveness” and numerical growth (and at the expense of Truth and Christian maturity and discipleship).

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