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False Apostles and Deceitful Workers May 9, 2012 was a sad day for the Church of Jesus Christ in America. President Obama misused the word of God to further his political ambition. The President in reaching his “evolved” decision to endorse gay marriage said, "We are both practicing Christians, and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others. But, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule," he said. "Treat others the way you would want to be treated." Mr. President, I respectfully disagree with you as you already predicted. This is a different gospel. Jesus Christ died for our sins. One of those sins is homosexuality as the bible unequivocally declares it an abomination against God (Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9). We use the “Golden Rule” to live out our faith and not to justif

A Different Gospel A Different Jesus In its claim to relate with the present postmodern culture there is now “The Emerging Church Movement”. Google it and read. As summarized by Steven W. Cornell, “They believe the Church should be a welcoming and authentic community of creativity and learning—a place where people with different views are treated with the utmost respect and dignity (rather than being looked down on). ..They desire to move beyond a creed-based identity to a spirituality-based identity. They recommend embracing and celebrating the mystery of the world, life and God rather than conquering it. They prefer theology as a quest for the beauty and truth of God rather than a search for propositional statements, proof texts and doctrinal formulations ----used to measure those who are in and judge those who are out”. One of the big names in this controversial movement is Brian McLaren, a founding pastor of one of the churches in the Washington/Baltimore metro area. On the

The War in Our Minds (Spiritual Warfare) Have you been caught off guard like me? All of a sudden you are involved in a situation that you cannot discern the origin and you are left with self doubts and doubts of who God is and what He can do. You see yourself playing various scenarios is your head and the what-ifs in your relationships. May be I am not making any sense to you and that is the point. There are situations that will never make sense to us and we are just recipients of fragments of unseen warfare going on in the spirit world. Paul saw himself in a similar situation in relating to the Corinthians. Apostle Paul is now defending his authority as a minister having labored and won the Corinthians to Christ. Some false teachers have come and poisoned the minds of some of the Corinthians and brought all kinds of accusations against Paul. Paul by the grace of God recognized what was going on as spiritual warfare. Paul told the Corinthians, “3 For though we walk in the flesh, w

Handling and Administering God’s Money The headline this week reads: Small Town Treasurer arrested in Staggering $30 million Theft. “Rita Crundwell was a familiar face in Dixon , Illinois , a sleepy town of 15,000 where Crundwell also worked, managing the town's finances for about 30 years. But on Tuesday, federal authorities arrested the 58-year-old civil servant, accusing her of stealing $30 million in taxpayer funds in the past six years. The FBI was tipped by the city's mayor to the comptroller's suspected malfeasance. Crundwell's arrest leaves many Dixon residents wondering how she might have managed such a feat in a town as small as Dixon . Crundwell allegedly used money stolen from the town treasury to fund a lavish lifestyle, which included the purchase of a 2009 Liberty Coach motor home for $2.1 million, a 2009 Kenworth T800 tractor truck for nearly $150,000, as well as two more trucks and a horse trailer for hundreds of thousands of dollars more”. How coul

The Grace of Giving Church has become a big business all around the world. It has become a way of “break-through” for many who are trying to hit a big jackpot to live comfortably and often lavishly. I recently read about an African Church “General Overseer” (GO) who is so rich that he acquired a couple of private jets in a country and church where most can’t afford a good daily meal. The article says the GO is now trying to put the jets into commercial use because of the high cost of maintenance and airport parking fee. It has become a strictly business decision. In the USA, we have seen the flagrant abuse and misuse of donor funds by the prosperity preachers that warranted a detailed investigation by the US. Senate. The world is now teaching the Church good behavior on giving and stewardship. We are all put off by the excesses, misuse and manipulation that is going on and rightly so. However, there is a place for giving in the work of God and for His glory. In today’s study,

Maintaining Our Relationships As we continue our study of Paul’s Second Letter, we see consistent theme of the message of reconciliation. It seems that most of life is lived to understand others and to be understood by others. This is how we are able to bear with one another and to maintain our relationships. In today’s study, Paul’s goal is to clear up “old unfinished business” that could impede his relationships with the Corinthians. We all have some “old unfinished business” to deal with. Paul had written the Corinthians a Letter which challenged and caused them to be “sorrowful” because it touched on some serious issues of divisions/quarrels and un-Christ-like characters. We do not know for sure whether the letter is what we now have as First Corinthians or another subsequent letter before what we now have as Second Corinthians. Regardless of which, Paul continues to plead, “Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited