Evangelical Ship Sinking

No Truth Without Love, No Love Without Truth by Albert Mohler The church's engagement with the culture involves a host of issues, controversies, and decisions--but no issue defines our current cultural crisis as clearly as homosexuality. Some churches and denominations have capitulated to the demands of the homosexual rights movement, and now accept homosexuality as a fully valid lifestyle. Other denominations are tottering on the brink, and without a massive conservative resistance, they are almost certain to abandon biblical truth and bless what the Bible condemns. Within a few short years, a major dividing line has become evident--with those churches endorsing homosexuality on one side, and those stubbornly resisting the cultural tide on the other. The homosexual rights movement understands that the evangelical church is one of the last resistance movements committed to a biblical morality. Because of this, the movement has adopted a strategy of isolating Christian opposition, and forcing change by political action and cultural pressure. Can we count on evangelicals to remain steadfastly biblical on this issue? Not hardly. Scientific surveys and informal observation reveal that we have experienced a significant loss of conviction among youth and young adults. No moral revolution can succeed without shaping and changing the minds of young people and children. Inevitably, the schools have become crucial battlegrounds for the culture war. The Christian worldview has been undermined by pervasive curricula that teach moral relativism, reduce moral commandments to personal values, and promote homosexuality as a legitimate and attractive lifestyle option. Our churches must teach the basics of biblical morality to Christians who will otherwise never know that the Bible prescribes a model for sexual relationships. Young people must be told the truth about homosexuality--and taught to esteem marriage as God's intention for human sexual relatedness. The times demand Christian courage. These days, courage means that preachers and Christian leaders must set an agenda for biblical confrontation, and not shrink from dealing with the full range of issues related to homosexuality. We must talk about what the Bible teaches about gender--what it means to be a man or a woman. We must talk about God's gift of sex and the covenant of marriage. And we must talk honestly about what homosexuality is, and why God has condemned this sin as an abomination in His sight. Courage is far too rare in many Christian circles. This explains the surrender of so many denominations, seminaries, and churches to the homosexual agenda. But no surrender on this issue would have been possible, if the authority of Scripture had not already been undermined. And yet, even as courage is required, the times call for another Christian virtue as well--compassion. The tragic fact is that every congregation is almost certain to include persons struggling with homosexual desire or even involved in homosexual acts. Outside the walls of the church, homosexuals are waiting to see if the Christian church has anything more to say, after we declare that homosexuality is a sin. Liberal churches have redefined compassion to mean that the church changes its message to meet modern demands. They argue that to tell a homosexual he is a sinner is uncompassionate and intolerant. This is like arguing that a physician is intolerant because he tells a patient she has cancer. But, in the culture of political correctness, this argument holds a powerful attraction. Biblical Christians know that compassion requires telling the truth, and refusing to call sin something sinless. To hide or deny the sinfulness of sin is to lie, and there is no compassion in such a deadly deception. True compassion demands speaking the truth in love--and there is the problem. Far too often, our courage is more evident than our compassion. In far too many cases, the options seem reduced to these--liberal churches preaching love without truth, and conservative churches preaching truth without love. Evangelical Christians must ask ourselves some very hard questions, but the hardest may be this: Why is it that we have been so ineffective in reaching persons trapped in this particular pattern of sin? The Gospel is for sinners--and for homosexual sinners just as much as for heterosexual sinners. As Paul explained to the Corinthian church, "Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" [1 Corinthians 5:11]. I believe that we are failing the test of compassion. If the first requirement of compassion is that we tell the truth, the second requirement must surely be that we reach out to homosexuals with the Gospel. This means that we must develop caring ministries to make that concern concrete, and learn how to help homosexuals escape the powerful bonds of that sin--even as we help others to escape their own bonds by grace. If we are really a Gospel people; if we really love homosexuals as other sinners; then we must reach out to them with a sincerity that makes that love tangible. We have not even approached that requirement until we are ready to say to homosexuals, "We want you to know the fullness of God's plan for you, to know the forgiveness of sins and the mercy of God, to receive the salvation that comes by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to know the healing God works in sinners saved by grace, and to join us as fellow disciples of Jesus Christ, living out our obedience and growing in grace together." Such were some of you . . . The church is not a place where sinners are welcomed to remain in their sin. To the contrary, it is the Body of Christ, made up of sinners transformed by grace. Not one of us deserves to be accepted within the beloved. It is all of grace, and each one of us has come out of sin. We sin if we call homosexuality something other than sin. We also sin if we act as if this sin cannot be forgiven. We cannot settle for truth without love nor love without truth. The Gospel settles the issue once and for all. This great moral crisis is a Gospel crisis. The genuine Body of Christ will reveal itself by courageous compassion, and compassionate courage. We will see this realized only when men and women freed by God's grace from bondage to homosexuality feel free to stand up in our churches and declare their testimony--and when we are ready to welcome them as fellow disciples. Millions of hurting people are waiting to see if we mean what we preach. This article originally appeared here.

BARBAROSSA AND ADOLF HITLER

Hitler sent his Panzer troops into Russia on June 22, 1941. His invasion plans were kept secret but when his armies moved, he shocked the world as well as the Russian people who thought they were safe from him for a period. At the time, this move into Russia was the largest military invasion the world had ever witnessed. Hitler called the invasion Barbarossa! And he thought that he would have captured all of Russia by December of that year. He had the same dreams of Napoleon who also lost his armies to the Russian winter! What did the word Barbarossa mean and where did it come from? The Italian word was applied to the German Emperor Friedrich ("Lord of Peace") or Friedrich I (1152-1190). The word means "red" because of his red beard. Friedrich was a strong willed ruler who returned Germany again to the leadership of the Christian world, though Germany was actually an Empire or collection of some 100 independent states. Friedrich proclaimed a "Landfried" or Peace of the Land, whereby he enforced his rule on all of the German people. He was "a terror to evildoers" and his enemies. It is said he advanced civilization in Germany that up to that time was a pretty backward people. Friedrich may have been the first ruler to speak of the "Holy Roman Empire." He imagined himself as the world emperor ruling all of Europe. It is said that he hoped "that the entire world would consider him as emperor, as well as the Italian pope, who was at that time the vice-ruler of God." Friedrich held absolute authority over all of the Empire, and supposedly owned all the property within it. With an iron fist he held total control over Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary. In his last year (1189), he led the Third Crusade into the Holy Land, hoping to unify both East and West in a Roman Empire restored to its ancient scope. When in the 1800s Bismarck united all of Germany into one state, a proud people, the Germans, saw in him Barbarossa rising triumphantly from the tomb. When Hitler invaded Russia, he called that invasion Barbarossa. He dreamed of the glory of old Germany controlling and ruling the world. And he saw that domination beginning with the conquest of the Slavs, the backward Russian people. Hitler also dreamed of restoring Imperial Rome to its glory. His armies carried Roman standards in parades. Hitler knew history more than we give him credit for! It is no accident that he saw the German Empire (or the Roman Empire) lasting for 1,000 years, the same length of time that the Kingdom of Christ will last on earth! – Dr. Mal Couch

APRIL 21 – HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

During World War II six millions Jews died under the persecution of the Nazis in Europe. Today, many of the Arab leaders are denying that this great tragedy even happened. But it did! The Jews have stated that that event is what God used to drive them back to the Holy Land at the end of the war. A chapter to remember: Isaiah 62. "It will no longer be said to you, 'Forsaken,' nor to your land will it any longer be said, 'Desolate'; but you shall be called, 'My delight is in her.' The Lord will proclaim to the earth, 'The Holy People, the redeemed of the Lord'; a city not forsaken!" Below are some of the headlines in The Palestine Post of past years! NAZI SAVAGERY SPELLS DOOM OF JEWISH LIFE IN GERMANY (November 12, 1938) TRIAL OF NAZI CHIEFS FORMALLY OPENED (October 19, 1945) NAZIS ADMIT MURDERING 6 MILLION JEWS IN EUROPE (December 16, 1945) NATIONAL HOME BECOMES JEWISH STATE (December 10, 1945) REFUGEES REFUSE TO LEAVE THE SHIP "EXODUS 1947" (July 30, 1947) STATE OF ISRAEL IS BORN! (May 16, 1948) "I came to bring peace on the earth" (Matt. 10:34)

NO MORE GOVERNMENT FREE-BEES

You have to take care of yourself! Read carefully Joshua 17:12-18. The children of Ephraim and Manasseh complained to Joshua that they needed more territory because they were so numerous. Joshua then urges them to go up into the forests and clear the land to provide more space "since you are a numerous people whom the Lord has thus far blessed" (v. 14). But they moan and groan! "The hill country is not enough for us …" (v. 16). Joshua says in so many words "Too bad!" You need to go and provide for yourselves. Stop complaining! "The hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong" (v. 18). "Provide for yourselves!" A word for today! – Dr. Mal Couch

Thought Provoking

"Thought Provoking" by Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugs. I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied history all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes, these exist but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus. Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about 10 - 15 years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two. We demanded and then codified into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people whom we know could never pay back? Why? We learned recently that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "We the People," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not. We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why? We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?). We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose? Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse. Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x 10. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so. And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla, Alaska. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and a $150,000 wardrobe is more important.) Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why? I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again. And that is only the beginning. I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully them into submission. And then he was duly elected to office, with a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - Did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and . . . change. And the people surely got what they voted for. (Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.) Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. Don't forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years - a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency - it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them. As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong, close my eyes, have another latte and ignore what is transpiring around me. Some people scoff at me; others laugh or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe - and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. But, I do not think I am... About the author via Google... Pamela "Atlas" Geller began her publishing career at The New York Daily News and subsequently took over operation of The New York Observer as Associate Publisher. She left The Observer after the birth of her fourth child but remained involved in various projects including American Associates, Ben Gurion University and being Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Performance Evaluation at The Brandeis School. After 9/11, Atlas had the veil of oblivion violently lifted from her consciousness and immersed herself in the education and understanding of geopolitics, Islam, terror, foreign affairs and imminent threats the mainstream media and the government wouldn't cover or discuss.

WORDS TO THINK ABOUT!

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it." –Benjamin Franklin "The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation." –Lenin

THE PALESTINIANS AND ARABS ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE!

The Arab leaders are saying that the holocaust in Europe did not happen! They deny that six million Jews died under the evil reign of Hitler. They believe that if they say this long enough and loud enough that many people who are so ignorant about history will start to believe them and lose sympathy for Israel.    There is trouble brewing for the Arabs who hate Israel and who wish to drive her into the sea! God's wrath will fall upon them soon, or certainly in the time of the tribulation, which I believe is not far off!    Psalm 83 gives the warning, and that psalm virtually quotes what many Arab leaders are saying even today.    The chapter starts out pleading for God "not to remain silent, or be still" because of the hatred of the Arabic people surrounding Israel (v. 1). Those calling for Israel's destruction are "making an uproar, and are actually the enemies of God" (v. 2). They are really hating God and exalting themselves (v. 2b). These Arab peoples are "making shrewd plans against God's people" (v. 3). They "conspire together against God's treasured ones" (v. 3b).    The Arab nations call out "Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more" (v. 4). Further, "They conspire together with one mind; against God do they make a covenant" (v. 5). The peoples making this partnership are those who live around the people of Israel in the land: Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, Tyre, Assyria (modern day Iraq). The Arab enemies say: "Let us possess for ourselves the pastures of God" (v. 12).    God will someday make them like "the whirling dust, like chaff before the wind, like a flame that sets the mountains on fire" (vv. 13-14). They will be terrified with "God's storm" (v. 15). They will be "ashamed, dismayed, humiliated and perish" (v. 16-17). However grace is still available to these Arab enemies of Israel. The hope is that they would seek God's name (v. 16). For certain, they will find out who is in charge and who controls the world! "They will learn that God alone is the Most High over the earth" (v. 18).    The Most High is the name of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. See Daniel 7:18, 22, 25. The Arabs are in rebellion against Israel's Lord and Savior! – Dr. Mal Couch

POST-TRIBULATIONAL RAPTURE

I am often asked "What is this all about?" Before explaining this view it is important to understand something about those who have such crazy theological views, especially when it comes to biblical prophecy. There are those who (1) are just poor scholars and who have sorry skills when it comes to interpretation. (2) There are those who have a personal agenda. They have preconceptions and refuse to take the Bible at face value. (3) There are those who hate premillennialism and dispensationalism, though they could not really tell you why!    I call the post-tribulational view the escalator view of the doctrine of the rapture of the church. They argue that the rapture comes at the very end of the tribulation. The church is caught up into heaven right at the end of the tribulation, goes to glory, and then turns right around and instantly returns to earth to be in the kingdom! Now that is just plain dumb!    Why would they have this view? For some reason they want the church to go through the tribulation. Some argue that to go through the tribulation is a way to purge and clean up the church before the return of Christ. This shows that they have no correct concept of the doctrine of sanctification.    The posttribers say the church does not go through the final wrath of God as described in the seventh bowl of wrath in Revelation 16: 17-21. The passage says God gives to Babylon the Harlot "the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath" (v. 19).       But because the posters have such sorry observation and contextual skills in interpreting the Bible they fail to notice that the Scriptures make it clear that the entire tribulation, the total seven years, is labeled the wrath of God. And the wrath of God is used to describe this total period that starts in Revelation 6.     In the book of Revelation, the tribulation is rightly divided into two parts: one half and one half. But in most contexts outside of Revelation the tribulation is seen as a whole, the entire period is called the wrath of God. And again as mentioned, the church does not go under any part of that seven years.    The seven year tribulation actually begins in Revelation 6 with the seven seal judgments. This entire period is called "Their wrath," that is, the wrath (seen as a whole) that comes from God the Father and from Christ the Lamb (vv. 16-17). The world begs to be hidden from their wrath, "for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to [remain] standing" or to survive this entire period that falls upon the whole earth?    The apostle Paul describes the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. There, he says we are waiting for His Son from heaven, "whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath 'that is on its way'" (v. 10). Again, the wrath is seen as a whole, an entire period that has a start and a finish, from a beginning to an ending. The church will be removed from that entire period!     Paul repeats this in 5:9. He writes, "For God has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ." This wrath starts in Revelation 6. Jeremiah describes the wrath as "the birth pangs" that fall upon Israel, and he adds, "Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's (Israel's) distress" (Jer. 30:6-7). The word "distress" in Hebrew is "zarach" and can be translated "tribulation" or "wrath."     The wrath is seen as a whole, an entire period, in many OT passages. Zephaniah 1:15-17 says "A day of wrath is that day, a day of troubles and distress; a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, and a day of clouds and thick darkness. … I will bring distress on all men."     Remember, people who have strange views that contradict Scripture have an agenda. They are trying to avoid the obvious and change what is clear to the average reader who lets the Bible speak in all its clarity.     Talking about someone mixed up! George Ladd wrote: "The Church is 'already' passing through the Tribulation." Walvoord correctly noted about this view: "A literal interpretation of the Scriptures dealing with the tribulation and taking into account all the factors reveled in Scriptures concerning the Tribulation … supports the pretribulational rapture concept." Those of us who hold the pretribulational rapture are correct; the rest are wrong! – Dr. Mal Couch

OBAMA INSULTS OUR ALLIES!

President Barack Hussain Obama insulted our strongest ally this last week. When British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to the White House, Obama did not give him a joint Rose Garden press conference that has been a tradition for decades. He refused to say to the Prime Minister that we have a decades-old tradition "special relationship" with England, instead he simply referred to our "special partnership."    Brown gave to the President the 8 volume set of Winston Churchill's life; Obama gave to him a set of DVDs of American films, including "Psycho." When Obama first saw a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office he said "Get that g-d_____ thing out of here!" One historian said of the President's actions, "This was a stunning posthumous attack on the memory of a man who was not only the living embodiment of the Anglo-American special relationship (Churchill was half American)," but also an action against the ties of the Anglo relationship that made America what it is. The Calvinistic Puritans first came to this land and brought Christianity and peace to these shores. This is not to say that they were perfect; they were not! But God worked wonders through them by which the greatest nation of history was established.    Though Obama went to Harvard, he must have had sorry professors in history who did not share with him the truth as to how this nation came to be. Someone has well said that the 8-volumes on Churchill will sit on the White House bookshelves and certainly go unread during this presidency.    The London Daily Telegraph sadly said, "Obama has been rudeness personified toward Britain."    The two cultures that are growing rapidly in this country will certainly have no clue what this is all about. Nor will those under thirty who were so quick to want "change" in America. Only (some) Christians, and conservatives, who have some smarts will understand how quickly America is being destroyed!    Those of us who know history, and know our Bible, knew this was the way things would go when this man got into office! We were right! – Dr. Mal Couch

WE TOLD YOU HERE FIRST BEFORE NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE!

We have been saying for two years that we are now into the apostasy as predicted in Scripture. Those of us who are premillennial, and who take the Bible in its normal, literal hermeneutic, have said we are rapidly moving into the end times. You need to read the April 6, '09 edition of Newsweek Magazine. The article title: "The End of Christian America!" – Dr. Mal Couch

A THANK YOU NOTE!

Dr. Couch, I want to thank you for making your teachings available on the Scofield Ministries and Clifton Bible Church websites. I have been making time to listen to your sermons and am really enjoying them. Just wanted to express my gratitude to the Lord and to you for all that has been and continues to be revealed to me through the Scriptures. The Word of God is alive and powerful! I thank you for your years of preparation and steadfastness to the accurate interpretation and teaching of Scripture. I just found your cliftonbiblechurch.org website where you are the pastor/elder minister. Again, thank you so very much. I just am so appreciative of all the work you have done which is helping me understand God's Word better each and every day. -- A former student

OBAMA’S MARCH TO THE EDGE OF THE CLIFF

President Barack Obama is taking America deeper into apostasy. He has given to the Palestinians and the PLO $900 million to rebuild their cities, after they were destroyed because of their firing rockets against Israel. This is like giving to the bank robber money because he was wounded as he robbed the bank! This is stupid. Remember, that is your money!    Obama is also granting the Palestinians $20 million in order to allow the terrorists to emigrate to the U.S. This only waters down American support for God's people, the Jews. This is madness. And this shows how our new President does not understand spiritual and cultural issues, nor does he understand how America came about. Our support for the Jewish people has been part of the American fabric from the beginning.    But remember, part of the problem is not simply with Obama. It is with the American public who put him into office. And it is about the moral degeneration of the nation. 18% of abortions in the U.S. are performed on women who say they are "born again."    Expect also for the President to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military with the "no tell" policy for the sodomites. Genesis 18:20 says of homosexuality that He is angry: "And the Lord said, And because of the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous."    Our judgment is certain! We shall not escape God's wrath! – Dr. Mal Couch