The Name that is above every other name!
Feb 23
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name." (Philippians 2:9) There are three primary names for God used in the Old Testament: Elohim, Jehovah, and Adonai. In the New Testament, both Jehovah and Adonai are translated as "Lord" (Greek, kurios) and applied to Christ. This word is also applied occasionally to human "lords," but is specifically used as a name or title of God or Christ no less than 663 times. His human name, of course, was Jesus ("Jehovah is Savior"), but this name is used by itself only 22 times in the epistles--always with special emphasis on His humanity. Although it was the common name used repeatedly in the gospel narratives, it is significant that the disciples and other believers almost always addressed Him personally as "Lord," never simply as "Jesus." Unbelievers and demons, on the other hand, never addressed Him as "Lord."
Are you willing to lose your life…
Feb 23
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it."(Mark 8:35) The principle expressed in this verse must be of paramount importance, for it is found repeated in one way or another, probably more often than any other single principle in the New Testament. Note the following examples representing at least four separate messages from the Lord Jesus:
Lakeland Deception, False Fires and Todd Bentley
Feb 09
After a major scandal and dwindling crowds, the Lakeland Outpouring concluded. The Lakeland Outpouring’s final meeting was held at Ignited Church - six months after Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley launched daily meetings in the small Lakeland, Florida, community and left without warning Aug. 11 in a cloud of scandal. “None of us knew how long this would last,” said Ignited Church senior pastor Stephen Strader, who announced on a blog Oct. 2 that, with the outpouring ending, he intends to set up a global apostolic base in Lakeland. “Ignited Church has had a vision [for] an International Apostolic Center. The Lakeland Outpouring has catapulted our vision forward.” Strader said with the support of “dozens of major leaders” for his apostolic center, he envisions a place for hosting conferences, special events and training workshops. He also announced the creation of Ignited Network of Ministries (INM), an initiative to connect Ignited Church with Lakeland-spawned revivals worldwide.
The Shack… another book for stupid sheep
Feb 01
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who secretly will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their pernicious ways, and because of them the way of truth will be evil spoken of. And through covetousness they will use you for gain with well-turned words; for whom judgment from of old does not linger, and their destruction does not sleep.” II Peter 2:1-3 Question: I'm confused by a book that is very popular among my circle of Christian friends. It's titled The Shack, and although it is endorsed by some leading evangelicals, I was freaked out by it and couldn't actually finish it. I don't understand how anyone thinks he can put God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in a fictional situation and then have them speak the words out of his own imagination. Isn't this dead wrong? Response: Yes. It's also blasphemy. Here is a definition of that word from Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language: "[It] is an injury offered to God, by denying that which is due and belonging to Him, or attributing to Him that which is not [true to] His nature."
Can a Fig tree become an Olive tree?
Nov 20
"Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh." (James 3:12) The answer to these rhetorical questions obviously is: "No." A fig tree cannot become an olive tree in one growing season, or in a million of them. Nor can a grapevine evolve into a fig tree, no matter what happens to it (grafts, mutations, chemicals, radiations, anything). In the very first chapter of the Bible, each kind of plant God created was given the genetic information by its Maker to "reproduce" only its own "kind" of plant, not to diverge into some other kind, although its offspring could develop into many varieties of the parental kind (but even that only within strict limits). The same was true with the animals. Ten times in Genesis 1 God, in five verses, tells us that each created kind of plant and animal was coded to reproduce just its own kind (Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25).
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