Call to Commitment

“The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires (2 Ti.4:3)… Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved... GOD will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false (2 Th. 2:11)… He also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone… And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night (Rev.14:10-11)… These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Th.1:9)… I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you fear HIM (Jesus, Lk.12>5)… and the Bible references go on and on, because the theme of falling into delusion and the resulting punishment is not a minor one in Scripture. I find it obligatory to join with other concerned Christians in doing the little that I can to counterbalance an avalanche of perverted teaching concerning the love of God. I just celebrated my 67th birthday, have been a Christian since two days before my 10th birthday and I have been in Christian ministry for 47 years. Within that time, I have watched apostasy make huge gains with great rapidity. It has invaded an increasing number of so-called evangelical churches and what is seen, heard and propagated in the name of Christ leaves those of us, who know better, horrified. You and I are exposed today to massive deception.

Powerful signs of upheaval in the last half century or so are seen in every area of society - in world politics, in nature, in moral values, and in economic collapse. Anyone, who will bother to take notice, can see that throughout 2010 and this far into 2011, we are experiencing a very notable upswing in the number and immensity of all sorts of disasters. Even the secular world is beginning to acknowledge it.

Two popular books have been written in the past few years and have sold millions of copies, contributing immensely to the 21st century church’s trip into apostasy. One of them is Love Wins by Rob Bell and the other is The Shack by Paul Young. Both authors are proponents of a Christianized version of universal salvation. That is serious error, for reasons that I will point out, and should be considered heresy. The authors, then, are heretics and I came to that conclusion before I went to the internet and heard Franklin Graham call Rob Bell a false teacher and a heretic. Right on, Franklin! Paul Young is no less a heretic.

Him Crucified

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Cor. 2:2

I remember driving into Romania one time during the heat of a political campaign. Along the roads in the countryside, political parties displayed newly-hung advertisements on the billboards. Posters were stuck to many light posts in the towns and banners streamed across the streets. On them all were the faces of candidates for various local, provincial and federal offices. They looked their very best, wearing the most pleasant expressions, and bedecked with fine suits and ties. Every effort was taken to give the impression that these men and women were intelligent, friendly and compassionate human beings, worthy of the votes of the populace. “This is our candidate,” the parties declared, “Vote for this person!”

My mind went back to the Gospels and the central event of all human history. It took place outside the capital city of the little country of Israel. Between heaven and earth a body was hung for public display on a Roman cross. His face was swollen beyond recognition, disfigured from the multiple blows of fists and palms, and from a rod, with which He was beaten over the head. Blood flowed from the wounds of thorns pressed into his forehead and from gaping holes in his hands and feet, where soldiers had driven nails. On the beam just above His head, the Roman governor had commanded that a sign in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, should present the charge, for which He was executed. It read: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. God Almighty looked down upon the scene from His throne room in Heaven and declared, “This is My Candidate! Vote for Him!”

Since that day, the writing has been translated into hundreds of other languages throughout the world. The cross gives us a startling revelation of God’s way of publicity. Make no mistake about it, God’s way is always the right and wise way. Ever since the fall, man’s ways are perverted and twisted 180% away from the divine perception that he was given in creation. His general means of publicity is nothing less than a deception. But Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (Jn. 12:32). He was speaking of His crucifixion as an attraction, through which, and only through which, people would be drawn to Him. All humanistic religion aside, no one comes to Christ except through the cross.

As I have been ministering on the cross from place to place, some have asked that I write on the subject. Here is a tentative introduction to the subject. I will try to include in this site soon, a chapter or two. These are not the finished project, but just something to give you an idea.


WE HAVE AN ALTAR
“We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate. So, let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.”
Hebrews 13:10-14

In the Old Testament God marked a site for sacrifice and it was forbidden that Israel should offer at any other place. Before Israel knew where it should be, God had already predetermined the place. His plans were formed before the world was created. At that spot, David interceded and a great plague that destroyed thousands came to an end. There He sent Abraham on a three-day journey to offer Isaac. There was no alternate choice, no “plan B”, regardless of the inconvenience involved in arriving. When King Jeroboam built an altar in another place, a man of God was sent to proclaim judgment against it.

The writer of Hebrews referred to “an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat”. He said that it was ours – “we have an altar” – showing it as something, which we Christians possess in common and we possess it exclusively. The Old Testament priests had no right to it, and, in fact, the whole world of religious and non-religious people must keep their distance. It has been erected by God Himself under a new covenant for true believers around the world. What can this altar be?

There is little possibility of making a mistake here; the only altar of sacrifice under the New Covenant is “the place of the skull” outside Jerusalem – Mt. Calvary, the Roman execution site, where the Author of our faith ultimately found His place. Here we must meet Him, confront His altar and extract from it all that it implies in relation to the Christian life. It is the only place, in which we can meet Him.

Mark records in his Gospel that Jesus forewarned His disciples four times of His suffering and death. The references are 8:31-32, 9:9, 9:31-32, and 10:33-34. Mark stated pointedly that Jesus made it very clear to them, without speaking in allegorical form. However, they somehow managed to escape from it, looking for some kind of hidden meaning in the message. They were simply unwilling to listen.

Just want to share with you an AP bulletin that affects every true Christian in the U S and in many other parts of the world. We lost yesterday a voice that shared with us "what the Spirit says to the church". Lowell


Home U.S. April 27, 2011

Pastor founded Times Square Church in New York City, made it his mission to bring religion to troubled area

(AP) TYLER, Texas - Rev. David Wilkerson, founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York City and author of the best-selling book, "The Cross and the Switchblade," has died. He was 79.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange says Wilkerson died Wednesday in a car accident in East Texas. Mange says Wilkerson's car smashed head-on into a tractor-trailer rig after veering into another lane.

Wilkerson's World Challenge Inc. ministries confirmed on its website that he "went to be with Jesus."

Wilkerson founded the non-denominational Protestant church in 1987 in an area of Manhattan that was then riddled with X-rated movie houses, strip clubs, prostitution and drugs.

Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge, which uses a biblically-based recovery program for drug addicts.

His wife, Gwendolyn, was injured in the car accident.

by A. W. Tozer

ALL UNANNOUNCED AND MOSTLY UNDETECTED there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental.

From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique-a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.

The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.

The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself for Christ." To the egotist it says, "Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the thrill seeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship." The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.