Category Archives: Debate

Apologetics, Current Events, Debate, Islam, New Testament Theology, Reforming, Theology

Islam, Terror, and a Peaceful Takeover?

The more news I see about Islam, the more I find it amazing that this religion is growing and growing in ‘peaceful’ ways. Regardless of the Islamic terrorism… peaceful Islam continues to grow in its size and influence due to its strong and public practice of worship mixed with a large birth rate of children being born to Muslim families. As Western Europe becomes less Christian and more secular, less and less children are being born to non-Muslims and thus the secular community loses more and more influence as the conservative and dogmatic Muslims have more and more children and demand equality and respect in the West. [Note to the reader: Islam’s eschatology says that everyone is born Muslim and that Islam must spread throughout the entire world and that the world must become Muslim one way or another before the end can finally come. Interestingly enough, Jesus is ‘the prophet’ who they say will come back on day (he never died, but was taken to heaven and Judas crucified in his place) and lead the world back to Allah.]

I find it funny and sad that more people in the West are not responding to Muslims like they are Christians, given that Muslims are even more aggressive and dogmatic in their views than Christians (or other religious groups for that matter). Why is it that Muslims are getting their religion promoted in schools and universities, while Christians are being censured and marginalized?

Well, the surface reading of things won’t help all that much, except to say that the West is tired of Christianity’s dominance and wants something that makes them feel justified in what every they choose to do or become. But below the surface, I really feel we must acknowledge the fact that sinful humanity will allow or even promote anything that pushes away and keeps the true religion, Christianity, off to the side or completely out of the picture. Islam is a false religion and the Western non-Christians (who aren’t Muslim) are not going to be as hateful towards Islam as they are towards the Triune God who calls them to repent of their sins and trust in His Son, Jesus, and become part of the New Humanity via the Church. Since Old Humanity’s default nature is sin, Old Humanity always suppresses the reality of the Triune God and seeks for anything else with which to replace Him (Romans 1) so as to satisfy the deepest longings in their heart, that only the Triune God can satisfy. But I digress…

Getting back to the main topic of this post: Lee Irons has an interesting and somewhat convincing post about why Barack Obama would actually be a very good president regarding the war on terror and the Islamic forces throughout the world. Here is a link to his post. Read it and tell me what you think.

I wonder though, if Obama is elected and Muslims around the world begin to think differently about the West, especially America, will a peaceful takeover actually begin to flourish more? Or will this actually be a great blow to their views of the West and end up helping the Western world survive the Islamic eschatology of making this world into an Islamic kingdom that controls the entire planet?

I honestly do not know what it is that God has planned with Islam and its current spread into the West. I can only rest in the Trinity’s sovereign will and know that God will lead His people (the Christians in the world) to continue on a path of renewal and regeneration as they work towards and anticipate the consummation of a New Heavens and a New Earth that will finally come once the resurrected Jesus returns to judge the world in righteousness, putting all things to rights! One day I believe that Islam will be converted to Jesus through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. Muslims will finally repent of their “Allah” idolatry and begin worshiping the Triune God who has promised to renew the whole human race through faith in Jesus, the true Human and the only Messiah.

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

Books, Debate, Eschatology, New Testament Theology, Theology

Who is the antichrist?

in defense of israelJohn Hagee’s knew book claims that Jesus is not the Messiah of Isreal and that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah in word or deed. John Hagee has given himself over to the spirit of Antichrist and will one day be punished for eternity because he did not remain faithful, but instead rejected that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel who came to save Israel from their sins. John Hagee must be called to repentance or else his place will be in the lake of fire that burns with sulfer and brimstone.

Read the reviews at Amazon to get a better picture of what Hagee says. Or, better yet, just look at the video on my previous post and hear John Hagee condemn himself before your very eyes.

If you will read this passage out of 1st John from the New Testament, you will see that John Hagee has forfited the eternal life which he claims to have…

“I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us —eternal life.” (1 John 2:21-25)

The end of the ages has come upon us. The end of days have begun. These days began when Jesus, the Messiah and representative of ethnic Israel, died for the sins of His people (both Jew and Gentile) and was raised from the dead and exalted on high as the King of kings and the Messiah of Israel. Jesus’ resurrection began the resurrection from the dead as He was the first fruits of that resurrection. This means that Jesus is now reigning over all the earth and that all who believe in Him have been raised with him in the heavenly places to reign over the entire earth with him as co-heirs of the Kingdom of God, the new heavens and the new earth! (Eph. 2)

For John Hagee to reject the Bible’s testimony that Jesus is the Messiah and, instead, embrace the very people who’s own generation of fathers nearly 2000 years ago rejected and crucified Jesus, their Messiah, is tantamount to blasphemy and destructive and damnable heresy. It is with great sorrow in my soul that I write this blog… but John Hagee has put an unfaithful and unbelieving people in the place of God’s own people, who are true Israel (the Christian Church), and he has chosen to twist the Bible into his own religion of neo-dispensationalism, which destroys the souls of all who hear and embrace it.

Pray for Pastor Hagee, that God will change his mind and his heart and bring him to the repentance and faith that he so desperately needs once again!

In Messiah and In Defense of the Jesus, who is true Israel,

Current Events, Debate, Eschatology, Pop Christianity, Theology

Is John Hagee going to Hell?

You just have to hear it yourself to realize that the title of this post is NOT being presumptive or judgmental. In fact, I worried about it, but I hoped the day would never come that I could write a post like this about Pastor Hagee.

John Hagee has rejected Jesus as the Messiah. John Hagee, who once preached the Gospel about Jesus the Messiah, has fallen away from the faith once for all delivered to the Saints of God. May God have mercy upon his soul and may God change his heart before it is too late!

Books, Current Events, Debate, Eschatology, Interviews, Justification, Mp3s, New Perspective on Paul, New Testament Theology, Promotionals, Reforming, Systematic Theology, The Solas, Theology

John Piper’s Book is FREE to read online!

The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright

This is the free PDF of Dr. Piper’s new book that Desiring God Ministries has made available for free online! Wow! I cannot say thank you to John Piper’s ministry enough. I’m just waiting for N.T. Wright to make some of his books available for free in response to Piper’s mass distribution campaign. 😉

BTW, if you missed it or if you cannot read the book right now, here is the interview series where Dr. Piper talks about his critique of N.T. Wright and why he wrote the book:

Books, Current Events, Debate, Pop Christianity, Systematic Theology, Theology

An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce?

Given all the recent online debates regarding divorce, I find it very telling, yet sad, that Time Magazine has picked up on the important discussion. Time entitled their recent article: An Evangelical Rethink on Divorce?

I would encourage everyone to read Times article and realize what Time is trying to say about the next generation of Christians regarding all moral issues and how the Bible is ‘re-interpreted’ to fit the individuals view of what they think is just/unjust. Unfortunately, Time hasn’t learned from all this that the Bible is suppose to shape our thinking, instead, Time’s article thinks it’s the other way around. That is the truly sad part about all this.

For those of you who have not been following the debate, here is a summary list of articles and blog entries that have been made by the various participants…

An article by David Instone-Brewer on divorce and remarriage at Christianity Today started the whole debate: “What God has Joined Together: What Does the Bible Really Teach about Divorce?” This article is a summary of his book on divorce and remarriage.

When the article came out, Justin Taylor provided a summary of the article with a chart from Andreas Kostenberger’s book God, Marriage, and the Family.

Since then, there has been a discussion concerning the issue of divorce and remarriage around the blog world. This is a run down of the discussion.

[HT: JT and JG]

Current Events, Debate, Evangelism, Interviews, Pop Christianity, Prayer Requests, Theology

President Bush attacks the Gospel

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Bush: All religions pray to ‘same God’

The link above is the article that was posted by Wordlnet Daily on Oct. 7, earlier this month. In the article President George W. Bush said, “Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That’s what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace.”

Now, I don’t care how much spin someone tries to put on this statement above. I don’t care how much anyone points out that Bush has done many things to help Christians and to help the pro-life cause. I don’t care how much he says, “I’m a Christian.” It doesn’t matter. During this interview, President Bush attacked the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah, when he said that all religious prayers reach the same God. They don’t!

It is only through the man, Jesus the Christ, that we can speak to “Almighty God.” In the context of telling Christians how to PRAY, the apostle Paul said, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5)

Please pray for President Bush. Pray that his eyes will be open and that his ‘politically correct’ heart will be changed and conformed to the Lord and Saviour that he professes to believe in. Pray that he will not be afraid or confused to tell the Islamic world that their prayers do not reach God and that they must submit their prayers to the mediator between God and men. Pray that our President will not further attack the Gospel and condemn himself as unworthy to receive the Kingdom because he refused to trust in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of a new heavens and a new earth.

I hope that God’s Spirit will change him. But ever since 9/11, Bush has never decided to put Jesus in the center of his Theological system and I don’t know if he ever will again.

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

Apologetics, Books, Current Events, Debate, Eschatology, New Testament Theology, Pop Christianity, Theology

Harry Potter is Jesus?

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The articles:

j.k. rowling

Harry Potter Author Reveals Books’ Christian Allegory, Her Struggling Faith

Additional Info: J.K. Rowling outs Dumbledore!

The Analysis:

Well, I have to say that I am somewhat shocked at this news about the final book in the Harry Potter series. Even though I have enjoyed the movies, I consistently saw a strong affirmation of the pagan occult and witchcraft which made me nervous of recommending them to others. But, after reading the first article referenced above, I ask this question to all of us… Should we now recommend Harry Potter? My answer is as follows.

[NOTE: Do not read further if you are reading the books and don’t want the ending to be ruined. If you are waiting for the movies, you might not care if the ending is ruined, since knowing about it will be extremely relevant to our cultural context and discussions with non-Christians who love these books.]

If you read about the article above, an amazing reality about the Harry Potter books (particularly the last book) comes to light for us… Harry Potter is a Messiah figure in which the climax of his life results in the resurrection of all those dead that he dearly loved!

Now, as happy as I am to affirm the Christian allegory found in this ending, I must say that the author, Rowling, does not do full justice to the Biblical portrait that I believe a book author, writing from a Christian worldview, should. Now, I’m only commenting on this article and I have not read the books and I will not say anything past what she reveals in the interview found in the article of reference…

Rowling offers us two Biblical references on the tombstones of Harry Potter’s parents. One is 1 Cor. 15:26 and the other is Matt. 6:21. They read respectively as follows:

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

This means that Harry Potter has defeated death by defeating his great enemy, Voldemort. And Harry Potter’s heart seems to have always been with his family since his greatest memories were about them and those memories were the source of all his strength in magical power.

But what’s the problem here? I know, Rowling never meant for them to be a grand Christian story. I just want to point out why we have to be critical of the Harry Potter story and help others to realize that just because the author reveals that the ending of the book is a Christian allegory doesn’t mean that we need to embrace it as a Christian novel series like C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien…

The problem is that Rowling struggles with her own faith in the resurrection and doesn’t have a fully Christocentric worldview. And as far as I can tell, her Christian allegory was not nearly as powerful as the guarantee that God promises about resurrection, new creation, and the eternal life to come.

God has promised us, in Jesus the Messiah, that he will not only give us resurrected bodies, but will actually re-create the universe, in which all sin and evil of men will be cast out, and only God and His people will enjoy a new heavens and a new earth for ages upon ages to come. From Rowling’s interview, I can only gather that she doesn’t realize the implications of her own belief in resurrection. There is no mention of a new universe in which there is no more death, instead, it seems that Harry is simply able to bring his parents and friends back to life. (Now, since I haven’t read the last book, I might be missing something, but does this resurrection mean that Harry, his parents and friends will never die???)

What about everyone else in the world? Is everyone perfected in goodness and freedom? Or is the world to go on as it is with only Harry’s parents and friend alive once again and able to spend time together and enjoy the rest of their natural lives only to die once again?

Well, needless to say, I’m sure that some of those answers are not dealt with in the final book by Rowling. But the fact remains that Rowling never intended to write a fully Christian novel series with all the Biblical and Redemptive Historical consequences one would expect of the Narnia series and Lord of the Rings.

So, am I happy or sad? I guess both. I’m thankful that Rowling has admitted to some Christian theology being written into her books, but I’m also sad that her own conclusions in the book are weak and local and not strong and global. This should give all of us great opportunities to talk with non-Christian friends about the Christian story as it relates to Harry Potter and hopefully those conversations will glorify God and spread His Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Please think about these things and let me know what you think about this news of Harry Potter and Jesus of Nazareth. How are they different? How are they the same? Are you and your family and friends ready for the resurrection?

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

Current Events, Debate, Evangelism, Reforming, Theology

California and the NEW ‘No Fly Zone’

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‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ banished by California
Schwarzenegger signs law outlawing terms perceived as negative to ‘gays’

After reading this article, I must say that I have almost no kind words to say to Governor Schwarzenegger, but I will keep those words to myself and offer him the respect that God demands me to give a person in this type of governmental office. (1 Peter 2:17)

I encourage everyone to read through these issues mentioned in the article above and understand the magnitude of what is happening to various states in our much beloved country. I honestly cannot fathom, anymore, putting my children into public school before they are well established in their faith and able to debate adults on a reasonable intellectual level. Even then I would not expect anyone to put their children into state-run education EVER again.

[Please note that College is a different issue and I would certainly encourage young adults to earn their degrees at which ever college/university that they desire (this would keep the universities on their toes and help our children learn how to be even more salt and light in this dark and rotting world).]

The funniest part about the article above was seeing one school official scold another official in a higher position for promoting a homosexual-pride event which exposed young children to pornographic material. I say ‘funny’ in this way… the scolding official wanted to affirm and promote sexual diversity, yet tell the other higher-ranking official that there were still sexual morals that had to be adhered to regarding young children. This is tantamount to the illogical and irrational thinking that pervades many leaders in every area of our society these days. They want to say (and teach children) that all forms of sexual orientation are okay, but condemn someone for sharing explicit, pornographic material with children. My point is this, upon what moral grounds do these people have any ability to pronounce one form of sexual “promotion” good/decent over and above another form of sexual “promotion”?

In the end, California has established a NEW ‘no fly zone’ that will continue to erode any moral objectivism that their state and our country has left. As more and more of our children are indoctrinated with this CRAP, more and more corruption will fill this country. I can only conclude that Christian families living in California need desperately to pull their children out of all California public schools and place them in private/home school settings until they are old enough and have been thoroughly trained to deal with this ungodly bombardment of irrationality and wickedness.

If you have not been praying, please start praying NOW that God will have mercy on the people of the United States and and that God will change the hearts of those who lead these states and lead this country, in order that God’s Gospel can continue to go forth unhindered and His Kingdom can continue to expand throughout this world.

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,