By johninnc
John 2:16: And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
Over the past year, I’ve observed our nation’s “churches” mostly hew to their governments’ whims, while providing very little leadership to their congregants. Some have gone along grudgingly, while others have enthusiastically participated in the orgy of fear being promulgated by the governments and media.
Local examples abound: churches that are only meeting virtually. Others that require masks, social distancing, and even reservations.
Revelation 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
(Sure, sure. As long as He’s wearing a mask (maybe two masks?), keeps His distance, and has a reservation?)
It has been an eye-opening glimpse into the dyad that is big government and big religion. And, it has been a foreshadowing of the partnership between the one-world government and one-world religion that will take place after the rapture of the church.
One of the more disgusting manifestations of the incestuous relationship between big government and big religion is the payment of billions of dollars of federal rescue package loans to US churches and their affiliates. According to a Newsweek article published last July, the US government has paid $7.3 billion to US religious institutions, including Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) affiliates, the Roman Catholic Church, and many others. According to the Newsweek article:
A LifeWay survey released May 1 found that 40 percent of Protestant pastors had applied for government assistance. Smaller churches with fewer than 200 members in their congregation were much less likely than larger churches to have applied for SBA loans. Fifty percent of pastors at churches with more than 200 members, on average, applied for nonprofit PPP loans.
Taking government money is a sure step to coming under their control. There is an old German proverb: Whose bread you eat, his song you sing. And, in the Bible we see:
Genesis 14:23: That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
It is clearly not wise to take money from a government that is increasingly hostile to people of faith. This is one of the easiest ways for the state to subsume churches. Who knows the extent to which accepting government money has influenced churches to adopt the government mantra of masks, lockdowns, and coercive “vaccine” messaging, even asserting that those things are Biblical imperatives.
One of the most loyal lapdogs to the politically-correct world is J.D. Greear, pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh, NC and current president of the SBC.
Greear was one of the pastors who shuttered his church last summer for the rest of the year, even though that wasn’t even part of the North Carolina governor’s interminable, overreaching mandates.
In addition, Greear was a near-apologist for the summer Black Lives Matter protests and the underlying deception of the Marxist Critical Race Theory.
Today, I came across some astounding new quotes from J.D. Greear that show his complete cynicism, worldliness, and lack of fitness to be leading any kind of a church. He is a politician, through and through, disguising himself as a pastor. Following is some of his new “material”:
“Let me state this very clearly, as clearly as I can, critical race theory is an important discussion and I am all for, as I hope you would be, robust theological discussion about it,” Greear said. “For something as important as what biblical justice looks like in the world today, we need careful, robust, Bibles open, on our knees discussion. But we should mourn when closet racists and neo-Confederates feel more at home in our churches than do many of our people of color.”
My comment: No one who is interested in the truth of the gospel should feel at home in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). They are an apostate organization led by cynical political actors like Greear. They have had Calvinist error imbedded in “The Baptist Faith and Message” for generations, and have almost always let the popular politics of the day further influence their false doctrine. Greear continues:
“The Pharisees who resisted Jesus, we know more than any other group in the world had correct doctrine. It was their spirit that Jesus said disqualified them from the Kingdom of God. They weren’t content with what the Bible said. For example, they weren’t content with how exactly the Bible said it, so they created what has come to be known as a hedge about the law, conflating the traditions of men, Jesus said, with the commands of the law,” he said.
My comment: NO! The pharisees DID NOT have the correct doctrine. They did not believe in Jesus as Savior. They had false doctrine, as does J.D. Greear.
Are SBC leaders, virtually all of whom have been to seminary, so Biblically illiterate that they wouldn’t recognize this quote as an obvious theological error that is a direct assault on the gospel? If so, let me help them out:
Matthew 23:15: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Jesus warned of both false prophets, masquerading as sheep, and of hirelings who would not protect their flocks when the wolves came calling.
Matthew 7:15: Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
John 10:11-13: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
If, while reading this, you are concerned that you may have put yourself under the “care” of wolves or hirelings, you do not have to continue to do that.
And, if you would like to know how to have eternal life, click here: The Gospel
Notes From A Retired Preacher 
Johninnc, I have too many of those stories (doctors), but the ones that bothered me the most were those who were outright ignored vs. just missed. So people need an advocate, thankfully we have the best advocate in Jesus.
Fryingpan9, On Marx, I thought I could see how believing that destructive doctrine could send one into great evil. So interesting to read your comment and see you think the same about how it sends them into a great darkness.
Holly, your story about Karl Marx reminds me of the movie adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s book Lord Jim. My 8th grade English teacher showed it to us and talked about how the most evil antagonist in the story was Gentleman Brown, played by James Mason. The reason for this was because Gentleman Brown concluded that his past sins made him irredeemable and that he was already damned, so he adopted a rather “they can’t hang me twice” attitude toward sin and evil.
Holly, it is a shame that anyone would believe the lies of Calvinism – especially thinking they were beyond redemption.
I saw a quote by a pastor (won’t name him) that talked about Karl Marx’s ‘belief’ in God.
The interesting part is that Marx thought he was chosen by God for hell. He believed in the god of Calvinism, and I thought to myself, what destruction an evil doctrine caused through an evil man and ideology. Who was every bit as savable as anyone of us.
Holly, it is great that you were there for your husband when his doctor was unaware that he was bleeding internally.
Yeah, doctors miss a lot. They have full-time jobs, and often work for medical corporations that are leading the charge on a lot of the PPE requirements and injections.
You are likely correct that there will be more opportunities for injections on the horizon.
Like you, I am both sad at how many people are oblivious to how to have eternal life through Christ Jesus, and excited for what is coming.
Johninnc, you made me laugh.
My husband went to his cardio today. The inevitable question, ‘have you had your shot yet’? Now my husband has always been a vaccine person. I was never anti-vax, but a few different situations caused me to be more cautious and to try to look at the side effects. This cardio missed a lot, including getting back with me on the emergency overnight line when I told him I was sure my husband was bleeding internally (couldn’t get the hospital to do anything). Anyways, he admits I saved his life and says it often. So now my husband is thinking about it again just because his doctor says it’s safe.
I asked him how he knew this in such a short time, and his response was that they had access to the data. I told him to please go on the VAER’s website and see how many adverse reactions, and not just a red arm or a headache. And I reminded him doctors work all day. And they rely on what they already know and what they are told from the mainstream. They don’t have any special knowledge beyond that, and we have a responsibility I believe to do our homework.
Still praying, and knowing what I am not going to do, and knowing I will fight for him to not do it. His doctor scared him with what would happen to him if he ‘got it’ and I mentioned to him again that people have gotten it right after the ‘vaccine’. So I pray people will really do their homework. I know I can’t state my way is right, and I’ll never judge another for their decision, (except the aborted baby part and believers), but I am extremely concerned at the way this is going, and when the ‘new strain or variant’ comes out (as they’ve been hinting at), they will continue to roll out a new, very profitable vaccine — probably annually.
Of course this is conditioning to the mark (not the mark) but it makes me sad (and yet excited for what is coming). I pray more and more might come to know Him.
Holly, yeah, I would feel better taking medical advice from most of these “evangelical pastors” than I would taking spiritual advice from them.
Johninnc,
Those are some great questions, and I feel the same. Although I understand partially why the government is involved in vaccines, meaning money, regulation, etc., the politics involved in vaccination has been unreal. Both sides whether conservative or liberal seem to be on the bandwagon, and that is o.k., if that is what they choose for themselves. Never have I been so against a vaccine.
The aborted fetal cells should be enough cause to pause for some of these ‘evangelicals’ but if not that, then changing our genome sequence? God made us that way, do they not feel a little twinge of concern at all? Especially in light of the fact, they do not know how it will end.
‘Evangelical pastors’ getting involved in giving advice to their flock to take the shot is a head shaker. Since when did they get their medical degree? And even if so, are they that patient’s physician? Can they answer the questions of the expected serious adverse events? I suspect not.
But as usual, we can see somehow these wolves tie it to being a Christian, or Christ like or some such social justice lie.
If someone chooses it for themselves, I pray they will be o.k. As for my family, I try to give them all information and pray they will consider it. We have differing opinions. But it is not a matter of ‘you are a terrible Christian’….
I saw the following today in a New York Times article. I apologize for the length of the excerpts and comments, but it brings up a lot of questions:
“If we can’t get a significant number of white evangelicals to come around on this, the pandemic is going to last much longer than it needs to,” said Jamie Aten, founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, an evangelical institution in Illinois…
Many high-profile conservative pastors and institutional leaders have endorsed the vaccines. Franklin Graham told his 9.6 million Facebook followers that Jesus would advocate for vaccination. Pastor Robert Jeffress commended it from an anti-abortion perspective on Fox News. (“We talk about life inside the womb being a gift from God. Well, life outside the womb is a gift from God, too.”) The president of the Southern Baptist Convention, J.D. Greear, tweeted a photo of himself receiving a shot…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci are not going to be able to persuade evangelicals, according to Curtis Chang, a consulting professor at Duke Divinity School who is leading an outreach project to educate evangelicals about the vaccine…
At this critical moment, even pastors struggle to know how to reach their flocks. Joel Rainey, who leads Covenant Church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, said several colleagues were forced out of their churches after promoting health and vaccination guidelines…
Rainey helped his own Southern Baptist congregation get ahead of false information by publicly interviewing medical experts — a retired colonel specializing in infectious disease, a church member who is a Walter Reed logistics management analyst, and a church elder who is a nurse for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
On the worship stage, in front of the praise band’s drum set, he asked them “all of the questions that a follower of Jesus might have,” he said later.
“It is necessary for pastors to instruct their people that we don’t always have to be adversaries with the culture around us,” he said. “We believe Jesus died for those people, so why in the world would we see them as adversaries?”
My comment: This seems like part of an increasingly concerted effort to blame COVID proliferation on Christians.
Some interesting questions:
Why is our government pushing medical advice?
Why are “Christian leaders” partnering with the government to push experimental medical treatments?
What does race have to do with this?
How does Franklin Graham know what Jesus would advocate, when Franklin Graham corrupts the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Why does Robert Jeffress’ name keep popping up? He is pastor of a church that is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which also corrupts the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why does J.D. Greear, president of the apostate SBC, need to have himself photographed being injected?
Why would “Christian leaders” who are so careless about the way to eternal life care so much about your physical life?
Why would reluctance to be injected by viewed as adversarial to other people?
Lots to think about here.
Holly, it is not just leftists and progressives who are pushing the narrative.
Robert Jeffress (senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas and a huge Trump supporter) called the vaccines “a present from God,” and also said “to ask God for help but then refuse the vaccine makes no more sense than calling 911 when your house is on fire, but refusing to allow the firemen in.”
Al Mohler (president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) wrote “I will take it not only for what I hope will be the good of my own health, but for others as well.”
Donald Trump wrote “I hope everyone remembers when they’re getting the COVID-19 (often referred to as the China Virus) Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful ‘shot’ for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn’t be getting it at all.”
All of the world’s powers are selling these vaccines like used car salesmen.
Very few people ask obvious questions that would lay bare the inconsistencies being propagated by the government’s “health experts.” In the spirit of brevity, I’ll mention just a few examples:
1. Why should young people, who have very little risk from COVID get the injections? (typical response: to protect others who can’t get the injections)
2. Do the injections keep you from being able to infect others? (typical response: No. They keep you from getting as sick if you become infected with COVID. So you need to keep wearing a mask, even after you are fully-vaccinated, in order to protect others)
3. If I’ve had COVID, why do I need the injections? (typical response: because we don’t know how long natural immunity lasts)
4. How long will the injections keep me safe? (typical response: we don’t know)
5. Why should younger, healthier people, who have very little risk of death from COVID, worry about it? (typical response: we don’t know about long-term health effects for people who have recovered)
6. What are long-term health risks from the injections (typical response: we don’t really expect there to be much long-term risk, but we really don’t know)
7. Why do the manufacturers of the injections need to be given legal immunity if there aren’t really any long-term risks? (typical response: so they’ll be willing to make the products for which they are being paid billions of dollars)
It should be obvious to a child that the above questions and their pat answers contradict themselves. Yet the official narrative is seemingly parroted by almost everyone without question.
John, watching politics with these socialists/communists/Marxists in control is almost like watching a very ridiculous Saturday night live skit. Masks/Vaccines supposedly will fix the problem, but this problem they do not intend to end. I believe I can surmise they have evil plans, yet I know Who wins.
But right… a vaccine that is not a vaccine (gene therapy). And the doctors promoting this I believe have violated their oath of ‘do no harm’ and are not doctors I’d want to listen to. What they decide with their patient is one thing, as long as they inform them of the risks – but they don’t. With the health experts, I try to look at potential motives (selling products, fame, power, etc.).
But as a medical power of attorney, not just to my own family members but others, I have to do a little more research on these things than I’d like to do. I have found over the years with what happened to my late husband, and the almost two months my current husband spent in the hospital, that even with good motives, doctors are human and make mistakes and we need to be our own advocate.
Most interesting though (isn’t it) that the government is involving clergy? I have watched with a shake my head interest at the pastors who are preaching social justice or CRT, and although I’m not that informed about CRT, I know enough to know where it leads. I believe they too are not who they say they are and should not be listened to. I believe the President and these clergy have plenty in common, likely most blinded by the god of this age.
Finally as you said, there is more to life than not getting Coronavirus, so thankful for that. Thankful for His tender new mercies.
Brad – interesting thought on those who charged Jesus as guilty. We know they brought forth false witnesses, and in the OT, when you brought forth a false witness, what you falsely charged them with, the penalty would be visited upon you for lying against them.
Likewise, these people in ‘leadership’ (I believe unlawfully) are bearing false witness about all sorts of things. It’s almost amusing if it weren’t so dangerous and evil. They’re still saying ‘Trump is at fault for this.’ Those of the medical profession I believe many are of course doing harm.
These groups are lying against and suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.
Holly, when the president of the United States feels comfortable calling on doctors, priests, and ministers to amplify his propaganda, it is very telling. He must think that many (most) of them can be counted on to do that. For doctors, it is unethical to put government propaganda above patient well-being, and for clergy, it doesn’t even make any sense.
MattM
What a post to rejoice over! Praise God! Thankful you are with us, and hope to fellowship more with you.
Yerbae
“A little Yankee-ology”… made me laugh.
Brad & John
Basically I’m of the same mind. We know that when these doctors make it political (or monetary), they are not doctors that have the good of the entire population as their goal (in my estimation). I have held back, watched, prayed, and saved info for those who may need it. But in the end, I trust Him and I do not trust a lot of those touting these things right now, nor the manner in which they are shaming, bullying, etc. But I think we all can agree, it is conditioning for what is to come.
Just a follow-up to this article – today the US president made the following statement:
I urge all local docs and ministers and priests to talk about why it’s important to get that vaccine. And even after that, until everyone is in fact vaccinated, to wear this mask.”
My comment: It’s hard to even know where to start.
First, most of these “vaccines” are not really vaccines in the traditional sense, so anyone who tells you to get a vaccine that is not a vaccine is giving you deceptive advice.
Second, what business do doctors have in promoting government propaganda? If a doctor thinks something is in the best interest of one of her patients, she should recommend it. The patient could consider the pros and cons and make his own decision.
Third, why should clergy be involved in promoting government propaganda? The mere fact that the president of the United States feels comfortable making this appeal implies that the government views (perhaps correctly?) that most of the clergy associated with professing churchianity are mere gatekeepers for the government.
Fourth, the president’s comment presupposes that EVERYONE WILL be getting the “vaccine.” This leaves no doubt that the intent is to make life virtually unlivable for people who do not wish to get the “vaccine,” in the same way that many states and communities have tried to make life virtually unlivable for people who do not wish to wear masks.
Yerbae’, it’s really threatening to some people who have a lot of sunk time in LS to accept the truth. It causes anxiety, because it demands a response. My wife and I have shared the gospel with friends who profess to not believe in Jesus, and with friends who do, but who seem stuck in LS. Some of the latter group abruptly stopped talking to us.
John, Yes it’s amazing that before I brought up, to my “Christian” friend anything about LS, we had a good friendship. But once I said Calvary chapels has a false gospel of LS, that’s when the friendship has been strained and he has been defending the Calvary chapels “turn from your sins” or have a changed live, gospel.
Brad, I think that is often the case.
However, much of what is going on with the COVID madness has to do with values. I value so much more than eradicating COVID at all costs. That likely won’t change, even if the fear peddlers tell me there is some new variant out there that means we need to go back to square one, or that we need to go back to the stone age to save the planet.
One of the best ways to maintain an open mind is to always hold the view that you could be wrong about something you believe.
Otherwise if a solid refutation or correction of a belief you hold comes along you would be less likely to even entertain it, let alone consider it.
Brad, there are government officials who have abdicated their authority to health experts. They do have a choice about the nature and extent to which they allow health experts to guide their decision-making, as well as which health experts to listen to. I think the government officials are trying to avoid public accountability by appearing to defer to health experts. And, it is difficult to know who the health experts listen to, or what animates their decision-making and judgements.
I do not believe that health experts are any more capable of ordering our lives than anyone else. They can give recommendations, but we have elevated their status to having wisdom to determine how we should order our lives and societies. I think this is very dangerous ground. Doctors are simply people with medical training. They are not imbued with any special wisdom. There is more to life than not getting coronavirus.
Many people seem to have closed their minds to truth of all sorts right now, and have accepted the world’s shifting views of justice.
It is good to focus on who we are in Christ, and it is instructive to see how people respond to being blitzed with messages of fear, while being given an avenue to signal their virtue. It will be hard for a lot of people to give these up.
Understood John. People need to know that government officials in most cases are taking orders solely from health experts. So economic decisions and social decisions are being made by people who specialize in epidemiology alone.
I don’t think someone who specializes in welding should be looked to for guidance in flying a plane, for example.
But moving on, a lot of all this has brought me back to prayerfully a more active Christian lifestyle. There’s always something to renew my confidence even if it is seeing how low humans are able to sink in cases like these.
When Jesus chose not to speak a word while being tried by the Pharisees, Sadducees and other religious people I see in a different but interesting perspective now. Even though Jesus was Jewish it was the Jewish people who charged Him with the crime of not being guilty of anything.
Only those with very guilty consciences would go so far as to try and redefine what is morally sound and what isn’t purely on the basis of wanting to successfully condemn the righteous for their horrible crime of being a good person (or in Jesus’ case) perfect.
Brad, I agree with a lot of what you say about the government overreach with respect to COVID-19 and the dark places that it could go. I have tried to avoid the temptation to dwell on it at length at expreacherman, and I have tried to not ascribe motives or intentions to some of the more prominent actors in this whole thing. But, I do not give governments or their “scientists” the benefit of the doubt regarding their intentions. That is, I do not assume that they have our best interests at heart.
In the US we have lots of doctors who are acting as politicians. I don’t automatically place any confidence in either doctors or politicians, but I am particularly wary when they join forces. Same with preachers.
This entire Covid-19 (formerly SARS-CoV-2) outbreak really puts into perspective the road to Hell being paved with good intentions. Every overreach of a government upon it’s own populace being hidden behind a shield of “for the public’s health and safety”. The ‘greater good’ mindset has been pushed onto everyone. So instead of a healthy dialogue where questions can be raised about any aspect of this ‘pandemic’, we have a ‘obey us or else’ mindset.
You have a question about Covid’s origins? The ‘how dare you’ brigade will be quick to silence you. You don’t think masks are necessary? You’ll be arrested for sitting in a public park. You don’t want to take a vaccine? All your rights to movement, speech, financial stability and employ-ability will become used as incentives to get one, as you will still have the freedom to choose… but the choice will be “you cannot participate in any aspect of society until you get a vaccination”, the illusion of a choice.
Of course, the road to Hell is actually paved with the only unforgivable sin we all understand as disbelief in Christ’s grace gospel. But the common saying fits well with this fiasco. Any illness with (conservatively) a 97% survival rate worldwide can never be classified as a pandemic unless there is a level of deceit going on too.
The idea of a “new normal” is an oxymoron too, nothing NEW can be considered NORMAL as the latter begs a historical precedent of some kind.
The echoes of Jesus saying “forgive them, for they know not what they do” has never been more relevant in my opinion in recent history.
Regarding a sign of the times, the “global” community (aka hostile governments like the Chinese Communist Party) have been floating the idea of a Covid-19 global passport. Very dangerous idea to have if it were implemented. Sovereign borders (aka countries) could easily be sold on a very convenient, I don’t know, lets say… a tattoo on your arm proving you’re Covid-19-safe. Even New Zealand’s Prime Minister is encouraging her citizens to be snitches against each-other, if any are caught violating Covid rules.
I’ll try to relegate my rants about the Chinese Virus to a minor amount of posts here. I appreciate being welcome back to this website as a poster and if I get too political please just let me know 🙂
Yerbae’, it is amazing that almost all of our detractors are professing Christians who object to the purity of the gospel. We would have a much bigger following if we let any of the LS/Calvinists subtly undermine the gospel here, but then it wouldn’t be an oasis of grace.
MattM, I am also so glad you found this grace oasis . I can totally relate to what you were going through. I went through the same experience, being so confused listening to all the false messages out there, that I did not want to live anymore. BUT I thank God for his abundant grace, that led me to the truth of the clear GOSPEL, through Yankee Arnold, Pastor Cucuzza, Dick Seymour, Jack Weaver. I finally changed my mind (Repented) from trusting in Jesus + my good works, to prove I was saved (LS nst’s false gospel), which is a downward spiral, to trusting ALONE, in the FINISHED WORIK, of JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS. Now I know I could not go to hell if I tried, and no I haven’t tried (a little Yankee-ology), because all my sins are paid for, CHRIST DIED FOR MY SINS!
John, thank you for all you do to protect this site from those who want to try to “show us the way” of LS, Calvinism, and other false messages!
MattM, I’m glad you found us, and really glad that you have stopped paying any attention to false teachers who both keep people lost and who attempt to undermine the assurance of believers.
The item that you mentioned from J.D. Greear’s blog is sad, but really doesn’t surprise me. Your father is probably right about some of these false teachers and their perceived financial interests.
One of my favorite verses is John 5:24, because it so clearly demonstrates that a person receives eternal life the moment they believe in Jesus as Savior, that their eternal life can never be lost or forfeited, and that assurance rests solely on God’s promise.
John 5:24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
I suppose it would surprise no one here to know that in a blog post on his website, Greear lists some signs of a false convert and one of them is “They don’t give sacrificially”. Give sacrifically to WHO, exactly, Mr. Greear?
My father, who has been a Christian for around five decades now, was not aware that there was such a thing as “Free Grace” or “Lordship Salvation” until I told him about it. He’s a former Catholic, who understood from reading his bible that eternal salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and that it cannot be lost and does not depend in any way upon works. He’s been around the block a few times and understands how people work and pointed out to me that most of these “fruit inspector” preachers know that most Christians simply cannot drop everything and work full-time in ministry or missions – so in order to show adequate “fruit”, they give money.
Anyway, I’ve been lurking on this site since January. Thanks to the panicdemic I haven’t been able to go to church, and to fill that void I got sucked into the neo-calvinism of Macarthur and the usual suspects over the past summer. Finally around november I started doubting because, obviously, I wasn’t showing “fruit”. This nearly brought me to a nervous breakdown. I battled with doubts (I know now that it’s at least partially due to OCD) shortly after I was saved 15 years ago, but always came back to salvation being by grace through faith alone. However, this time it was worse. Every time I regained my assurance, some “problem” passage or some past sin would pop into my head or I’d hear something by a neo-calvinist and BAM right back into the pit. This lasted until after Christmas, and, ironically, I found out about Free Grace movement through the “Got Questions” article johninnc wrote about a couple years ago! To make a long story short, I quit listening to Lordship preachers entirely and found this site. I just wanted to make a post and say thanks for presenting the clear Gospel, and also for turning me on to Yankee Arnold and Tom Cucuzza. Forget Spurgeon, if there’s a “Prince of Preachers” it’s Yankee!
Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Holly, it has put some stress on my relationships as well. I have had a few surprises, but most people reacted in the ways I would have predicted. Lots of complicity, some apathy, and very little courage.
Holly, I am deeply saddened, but not surprised, to see the world’s churches joining hands with the governments to compel people to adhere to the “public health” protocols of the day, as well as the social fads that so captivate the world.
People should be extremely circumspect of any transaction, particularly one that all of the powers of the world push with the intensity of time-share salesmen.
Having said that, it is up to each person to make whatever they think is the best, most informed decision about whether or not to get this, or any other injection. No person should ever be made to think that it is their Christian duty to get this injection.
John, I agree with you on the fear thing, and many of these wolves (and even some who are not), are focusing on this fear, all while pointing a finger at others who do not comply because what they ask of us is unlawful and harmful to us and others. I’ve lost some friends because of that fear (of theirs). I feel sorry they have been made so afraid, and literally it has caused them to keep others from assembling together.
Great article John.
I’ve sat there and watched these people join hands with the state. And foolishly defend CRT. But then I’m not exactly surprised because they are wolves and it’s so similar to the politicians. They can gain more of a following.
Maybe some are just deceived, potentially carnal. I know that Paul was concerned and warned even the elders (Acts 20:25-32). A pastor from a church I went to a long time ago, went that route and divided the local church by me. I know these people have a false gospel, and so I’m actually relieved that this has caused them to not have as much of an audience. Maybe a break from these wolves will break the trance the blind have while following them.
The vaccine thing some people are used to in my family because they’ve always taken them and they somehow think this is a vaccine. I’ve tried to explain the difference, and the gene therapy that it is. The Adverse reactions to the ‘vaccine’ was expected to be high. I can’t lovingly tell enough friends and family, PLEASE do not get this shot. Please educate yourself on the ingredients. If that doesn’t stop you, please consider the fact that you are literally changing/experimenting with your DNA.
Enough said, thank you for posting this, and may people be wise as serpents, harmless as doves.
LD, it is good to be reminded to be thankful of the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus, as well as the opportunity to share the gospel!
Meanwhile, it is truly sad to see the world myopically focused on the trappings of fear, and to see most of professing christendom being conformed to the world in that regard.
Very informative article Johninnc. As far as I see it, the future does seems bleak. However, thanks be to God for His gift of salvation and the opportunity to share the true gospel to those around us. Be strengthened always in Christ Jesus to you and all here.
Sam, same here. At some point, churches that take money from governments become government agencies. It is a recipe for disaster both for the churches and the governments. In this case, I am highly-concerned that many churches have allowed themselves to become complicit in propagating the governments’ fear campaign and suppression of civil rights.
I really don’t understand why you would accept or apply for government money for a church. Really what could possibly go wrong.
Dennis, it is sad that so many continue to stick with apostate institutions for whatever reason.
A very eye-opening and relevant commentary on the state of the ‘ so called ,” church today.
How sad, that millions stuck in these deceptive institutions, will believe man rather than God.
Believe the ONLY gospel that saves today.
1 Cor15 vs1-4 KJV Bible.
Dennis Klopper.
New Zealand
fryingpan, that is an interesting story about Lifeway. I’m not really familiar with them (its a quote from Newsweek), but it doesn’t surprise me that a large, ecumenical “Christian” organization might be doctrinally aberrant.
johninnc, you, at the risk of putting a stumbling block before you (actually, I’m confident you can handle it), are one of my heroes.
You mentioned Lifeway. I once had a business contact ( a fellow believer) who used to work at their headquarters. At one point in my past before meeting him, a former pastor of mine worked at Lifeway. I asked this business contact of mine about his thoughts on Lifeway, as I thought my pastor was a bit flaky.
“Oh, that’s a very dark place. Satan has a large presence there.”
Just thought I’d share that . . .