Relevance: 100%

Book: "Confessions of a Reformission Rev" Buy from www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com

Author: Mark Driscoll

Quote: I am particularly concerned, however, with some growing trends among some people: the rejection of Jeus' death on the cross as a penal substitute for our sins; resistance to openly denouncing homosexual acts as sinful; the questioning of a literal eternal torment in hell, which is a denial that holds up until, in an ironic bummer, you die and find yourself in hell; the rejection of God's sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, as if God were a junior-college professor who only knows bits and pieces of trivie; the rejection of biblically defined gender roles, thereby contributing to the "mantropy" epidemic among young guys now fretting over the best kind of looffah for their skin type and the number of women in the military dying to save their Bed, Bath and Beyond from terrorist attacks; and the rejection of Biblical names for God, such as Father, which is essentially apologising before the unbelieving world for the prayer life of the flamboyantly heterosexual Jesus, who uttered the horrendously polictically incorrect "Our Father" without ever having the decency to apologise for being a mysonogystic patriarchal meanie. This is ultimately all the result of a diminished respect for the perfection, authority and clarity of Scripture, all of which was written by patriarchal men.

Tweet

Relevance: 100%

Book: "The Father you've been waiting for" Buy from www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com

Author: Mark Stibbe

Quote: Reinhold Niebuhr was one of the most respected theologians of the twentieth century. He wrote the famous prayer associated with Alcoholics Anonymous: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. When Niebuhr was 21 years old, his father died. Two months later, the young man spoke in the pulpit his father used to occupy. This is what he said: As a child I once spent a day with my grandmother. Toward evening a severe storm began. "Now how will you get home, child?" she asked. But then my father came to fetch me. He had a big blue coat and as we left he said, "Come under here." I slipped under the coat, grabbed his hand, and off we went. I couldn't see anything as we splashed through puddles and mire. I heard the rain and the thunder and seized my father's hand and held it tightly. I would have been a fool if I had complained that it was dark around me. After all, it was my father\'s coat, protecting me from the weather, that made it dark. Father saw the path; I knew that ... and when the coat parted, we were home! Father had brought me home.... So it is with our Heavenly Father. If only we trust him, he holds our hand, takes us under his wings and leads us through storm and tempest.

Tweet

Relevance: 100%

Author: Rick Warren

Quote: Then at the proper time when you're talking with someone who wants a purpose for living and the hope of Heaven – but hasn’t a clue how to get either one – you can ask, "Have you ever established a spiritual base for your life? These are the four things you need to do to get into Heaven." B - Believe You must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and showed he was God by coming back to life. Do you believe that? If yes, then you're one fourth of the way there already. A George Gallup poll said that 87 percent of Americans believe this. That's why Christians celebrate Easter. Do you believe? Then say, "I believe Jesus was who he said he was - God - and he proved it by coming back to life." A - Accept You need to accept God's free forgiveness for your sin. Would you like to accept that? I don't know anyone who'd reject it. Why would you? If you've got this one, you're half way there. Do you agree, "I have sinned, and I need to accept God's free forgiveness for my sin"? S - Switch Switch to God's plan for your life. That means you're going to say, "I'm no longer going to do what I want to do. I'm going to live the plan God made me for. I want to know God's purpose for life and from now on God's going to call the shots, not me." When you become a Christian, you put a sign on your life that says, "Under New Management!" Now you're doing God's plan for your life. After all, your plan hasn’t worked out too well. If you're willing to do this, you're three quarters of the way there. E - Express Express your desire for Christ to be the director of your life – the manager. The word in the Bible is Lord. Are you ready to express that? After explaining the four steps, ask the person if he or she is willing to take them. If he or she is, and if he or she has never invited Christ into his or her life, lead in this simple prayer: "Dear God, I believe you sent your Son, Jesus, to die for my sins so I could be forgiven. I'm sorry for my sins, and I want to live the rest of my life the way you want me to. Please put your Spirit in my life to direct me. Amen."

Tweet

Relevance: 100%

Book: "Territorial Spirits and World Evangelization?" Buy from www.amazon.co.uk or www.amazon.com

Quote: In his book,Territorial Spirits and World Evangelization? (Mentor/OMF, 199),Chuck Lowe concludes that the strategic-level spiritual warfare advocated by the likes of C. Peter Wagner is unbiblical and the claims associated with it are unfounded. He points the way forward by exploring the experience of James Fraser, a pioneer missionary among the Lisu people in the far-western Chinese province of Yunnan in the early twentieth century. Fraser perceived spiritual warfare taking place through: 1)Attacks on new converts. The Lisu were bound to demon worship through fear of physical illness. When the family members of new converts fell ill there was strong pressure to return to demonic worship. 2)Public demonstrations of occult power in rituals. 3) Human opposition to the message, 4) Attacks on the missionaries (illness, fatigue, doubt, depression). He wrote: It is all if and when. I believer the devil is fond of those conjunctions... The Lord bids us work, watch and pray: but Satan suggests, wait until a good opportunity for working, watching and praying presents itself - and needless to say, this opportunity is always in the future. (Cited 134) Lowe himself comments: 'A small temptation, perhaps, but laziness leads progressively to life-long failure and was to be opposed earnestly in disciplined prayer.' (134)

Webpage: http://timchester.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/learning-about-spiritual-warfare-from-james-fraser/#more-467

Tweet