Repackaged Lies – ‘Christian’ Meditation, Part I

Posted by Dan C. on

image

I have no idea if you’ve seen ads on Facebook like the one above, but I’ve been getting them for a few weeks now. They are pretty slick. They offer something that sounds great, not enough information for you to make an informed decision, and a link to a ‘get started’ page. The only way to find out more is to sign up for a ‘free’ introductory course.

There are others just like this one, selling other ‘Christian’ courses. One thing common to most, if not all of these ads is an ability to comment until you say something critical about their false teaching and whatever they’re selling and then you might find yourself banned from making any more comments. That’s happened to me on several of similar ads about ‘Christian’ meditation.

So as not to be branded an uniformed idiot by some who love this sort of ‘Christian’ meditation, I actually signed up for the introductory 7 free sessions. I had a ‘gut’ feeling that this would just be another offering of Eastern meditation dressed up in ‘Christian’ garb. I wasn’t disappointed. And I actually painstakingly listened to the entire first session and transcribed every word of the narration.

But before I launch into the contents of Session 1, I thought I’d provide you with some of the actual content of the Web site.

The founder of Meditate on Christ is one Dean Davis:

“Dean’s personal journey into Christian contemplation and meditation began over 6 years ago and was an important part of overcoming the depression caused by the sudden and untimely loss of his Father in 2010. Wanting to contribute something to Christians everywhere he started Meditate On Christ in 2015.”

What they believe:

“We believe that meditation and listening to God has become a lost art. We believe that while secular mediation has some benefit, Christian meditation is far more powerful due to the fact that we are communicating with, and submitting to, the Almighty God of the Bible

The Mission Statement:

“…to bring powerful meditations and prayers to Christians seeking God to enrich their lives and assist them in knowing Christ.”

The Promises:

clip_image002

clip_image004

Why not just do secular meditation?

“Well there’s many benefits to it (secular meditation) for sure… but what’s missing is the ever present reality of God. By acknowledging the Holy Spirit in your meditation it moves into a spiritual practice that is life changing. There’s a good reason that the great Christian figures of history, such as the mystics, monks, nuns, etc spent so much time in prayer and meditation. It just plain works!”

Theology of Meditation (TheBait):

clip_image006

The Hook:

clip_image008

The Testimonials:

clip_image010

The cost:

The 7 introductory lessons are free! These lessons include a 10 minute session. The ‘advanced’ lessons (don’t you want to be an ‘advanced’ learner?) have longer sessions available (15, 20, 25, 30 min), for a price, of course.

(Drum roll please. . .)

clip_image012

(Drum roll please. . .)

clip_image014

___________________

Notice the appeal to “Get the Full ‘meditate On Christ’ Experience”. This ad, and all of the others like it, appeal to feelings and experiences, just like a myriad of secular ads we see every day that appeal to our senses. I’ve seen a lot of them, and you have too.

Well, that’s enough for Part I. Check back in a couple of days for Part II, the transcript of the entire first session.

Just Another Question: Who leads worship in your church?

Posted by Dan C. on

The question came to mind when I saw a Facebook that talked about it’s greAt worship team that really knows how to ‘lead’ people into the presence of God. The graphic could have been any group of attractive young people, dressed casualy and equipped with various musucal instruments, microphones, and great as they animatedly sung ‘something’. In other words, they looked like they were intwntionally entertaining the crowd (unseen innthe,photo).

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t have anything against Christian entertainment. Again, my question is “Who leads worship?”, or meybe even more appropriately, “Who ‘should’ be ‘leading’ worship?”

You see, I’m old enough to remember when people entering church didn’t spend the time before the service started catching up on all the chit chat they mssed during the week. Themtime before the services cemwas to start was spent quietly meditating, praying, or maybe bookmarking ahead of time the hyms called out in the morning bulletin. There might be an organ prelude in the air calling us to quiet reflection. By the time the service began many of us were already ‘tuned in’ to the Spirit of God.

If there was prayer and/or corporate confession of any sort, hearts were humbled before God and ‘cleansed’ in preparation for contunued worship. By the time the first hymn was announced, we,were ready to ‘sound off’ in praise to our God and King! There might have been a ‘song leader’, but the real ‘worship’ leader was the 3rd person of the Trinity!

Food for thought. Please share yours, but don’t just tell me I’m old. I know that already. 🙂

Why do we do this?

Posted by Dan C. on

I have a serious question.

Have you heard anyone beginning a testimony with anything like ‘Ever since I repented of my sin and believed in Christ. . .’?

I haven’t, not lately. They always begin with somethimg like:

‘Since I gave my heart to Jesus. . .’

‘Since I accepted Jesus. . .’

‘Since I received Christ. . .’

‘Since I chose Christ. . .’

Why is that?

John MacArthur’s Special, Direct Revelation

Posted by Dan C. on

 

The Walking Dead?

Posted by Dan C. on

clip_image002

I have never watched a single episode of the TV series “The Walking Dead”, and I don’t recall buying or reading the comic book (graphic ‘novel’?). In fact, I don’t think I ever watched “Night of the Living Dead” back in the late sixties. I just thought that the movie (pictured above) was well, stupid (nothing personal). My opinion of the genre has never changed.

When I couldn’t remember listening to sermon series based on zombies, and having seen or hear a LOT of film based sermons, I decided to ‘Google’. I actually found some. After all, the concept of ‘the living dead’ is in the Bible! That’s right, the Bible talks about zombies! Who’d a thunk it? Check this out:

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” 1 John 5:11,12

So you tell me I’m not right in the head because verse 11 is speaking about ‘eternal’ life, and ‘life’ in v. 12 refers back to that ‘eternal life’:

Grammatically speaking, you might be right. You might think that living apart from Jesus Christ just means living this life separated from God, or without a relationship with God. And we all see people we know are living a ‘good life’, temporally and materially speaking. Maybe you’ve already tried to witness to someone you know who is living that ‘good life’ without Christ and found it to be a challenge. After all, it’s easier to share Christ with someone NOT living a great life down here. Maybe you hesitate to share Jesus with those who seem to lack nothing in this world because the chances of ‘success’ (a decision) are slim.

I’m not sure how well the sermons I found with zombie themes presented the very serious predicament of those living apart from Christ. A few missed the point altogether, from what I read. Therefore, here’s a visual reminder of something the Bible says about everyone living apart from Christ:

1 John 5_12

Do you know any of these folks?

Food for thought. . .

You Might Reconsider Your Hipster Pastor if…

Posted by Dan C. on

SLIMJIM's avatarThe Domain for Truth

hipster-clown

Three quick thoughts that came to my mind yesterday.

1,) You might reconsider your hipster pastor if he has put more thought to shopping for his skinny jeans than his study on Christ as the solution to our sinful genes.

2.) You might reconsider your hipster pastor if he can tell you more things he has put into his hair than he can tell you what riches we have as Fellow Heirs with Christ.

3.) You might reconsider your hipster pastor if he’s more worried about what bow tie to wear on Sunday than his message tied to Scripture.

View original post

Engaging the Culture and Robert E. Lee

Posted by Dan C. on

“If those who hate the Word of God can succeed in getting Christians to be embarrassed by any portion of the Word of God, then that portion will continually be employed as a battering ram against the godly principles that are currentlyunder attack. In our day, three of the principle issues are abortion, feminism, and sodomy.” – Doug Wilson

That was a very interesting and I think true statement made by Pastor Doug Wilson in an intriguing article that can be read here.

What is the relationship between apologetics and evangelism?

Posted by Dan C. on

Easy, you say. Evangelism is sharing a specific message that Christ died for the sins of men, while Christian apologetics is defending the Christian faith against all comers. 9Marks offers an excellent summary of this relationship.

  • Difference 1: Evangelism is telling others the gospel. Apologetics is defending the truth of the Christian faith.
  • Difference 2: Apologetics addresses everything from the existence of God to the reliability of the Old and New Testaments. In contrast, evangelism is telling one specific message: the good news about what Jesus Christ has done in order to save sinners.
  • Difference 3: Another difference between apologetics and evangelism is that apologetics usually requires some level of intellectual sophistication. Apologetics can involve logical arguments, historical debates, philosophical discussions, interpretive disputes, and more. On the other hand, evangelism is simply telling others the message about Jesus Christ. That’s something every Christian—even a brand new Christian—should be able to do.
  • The link: However, the two can be closely linked. Apologetic conversations can lead to good opportunities to share the gospel. And evangelistic conversations will often lead to apologetics when non-Christians respond with questions or criticisms that require a reasoned response.
  • Bottom line: So, while Christians shouldn’t let apologetics distract us from sharing the gospel, we should also work to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us about the hope that is in us (1 Pet. 3:15).

Although I might be ‘preaching to the choir’ with this post, I thought a good reminder might be in order, based on recent experiences with a Facebook group I came across a few weeks ago. The purpose of group is stated as sharing the gospel and defending the faith (evangelism & apologetics) – both noble endeavors. Group members are encouraged to share their witnessing encounters with other faiths and encouraged to provide their favorite questions for challenging specific faiths/religions, i.e., Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.

My main contribution to the group was that I share Christ with lost sinners in pretty much the same manner, irrespective of the religious persuasion. Begin or enter an ongoing conversation about spiritual matters, steer the discussion to the issue we ALL have with sin, and offer God’s solution through Christ. And of course I need be ready to engage in apologetics to defend the Christian faith. The gospel message is paramount, with apologetics running a close 2nd. That’s how I became unpopular with this particular group, whose zeal is to be commended! It seems that (I was told by the group ‘owner’) we need to refute the lies of other faiths to be able to share Christ

This morning I listened to a 45 minute encounter between a member of this group and a couple of JWs at a college campus (it sounded like one), in which the table manned by the JWs were offering free literature, and engaged the JWs in conversation. He went straight to the task of refuting JW teachings and was met by some excellent rebuttal from the JW viewpoint. In fact, if I were asked to ‘judge’ the quasi debate as an outsider, I would have to say that the JWs won. They were more articulate quicker with their Bible verses than our evangelistic brother was.

The whole thing was difficult to listen to due to it being a noisy campus venue, but I stuck it out for one main reason. I was waiting to hear something concerning the way manner in which a person finds salvation as a JW, compared to Christianity. In case you are wondering, the JW teaching is that salvation is based on faith plus works, while Christianity teaches salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone. That is what I was waiting for, but it never surfaced. There was an amiable parting of the ways at the end of the encounter.

False religions all have an element of works for salvation, so going to the issue of how anyone is saved is a good principle to follow. My own most memorable experience with JWs was when a couple came to the door of our apartment when we were stationed in Italy. I let them tell me about ‘The Kingdom’ and how to enter it according to their church and when the time seemed right I gently interrupted and told them I wanted to see if I understood them correctly.

“According to what you are telling me, I can make it to the Kingdom if I believe the right things and do the right things?” They were thrilled! Then I asked them to read, out loud, Ephesians 2:8-9, from their Bible ( I knew those passages had not been corrupted because I had a copy of their ‘New World Translation.):

“8By this undeserved kindness (grace) you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; rather, it is God’s gift. 9 No, it is not a result of works, so that no one should have grounds for boasting.”

That was it. They had absolutely no response. They had controlled the conversation, I asked them if I was understanding them, and then asked them to read to me from their Bible. The very passages they read out loud to me contradicted what they had been telling me. Hopefully, their silence and calm departure from my door meant that the Holy Spirit had begin to go to work.

So there you have two different encounters between Christians and Jehovah Witnesses. I hope they have been instructive. Let us hit the streets, travel the highways and by ways, share our faith with whomever God gives us the opportunity! And let us always endeavor to keep the simple the main topic of conversation!

Have a blessed day!

Contradiction in God?

Posted by Dan C. on

Silly question, right? Do any of us know any genuine Christians who would affirm that there might be contradictions in God? I don’t. With that in mind, consider the following:

First, here are two passages of scripture that seem to say the God wants every human being to come to repentance and belief in Christ. At least that’s the prevalent belief across most of the Christian church.

“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires ALL people (men) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Tim 2:3

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that ALL should reach repentance.” – 2 Pet 3:9

Now consider the following passages that say very clearly that God personally causes ‘some’ to believe lies, and/or consciously blinds the eyes and hearts of ‘some’ so that they would NOT believe.

“Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” – 2 Thess 2:11-12

“He (God) has blinded their eyes
    and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
    and understand with their heart, and turn,
    and I would heal them.” – John 12:40 quotes Isaiah 6:10

If it is true that God desires that ‘all’ men, without exception, be saved, and at the same time the same God causes ‘some’ to believe a lie and blinds ‘some’ to the truth, so that they will NOT believe, we could logically conclude that

A. God can and will act contrary to his nature / desires.

B. God doesn’t always get what he wants.

C. We have, in some way, misunderstood the text of 1 Tim 2:3 and/or 2 Pet 3:9.

If A or B is true, then C might be false, an outcome we would prefer. We don’t like to be told we haven’t correctly interpreted the Bible.

If A or B is false, then C just might be true, and we have indeed misinterpreted 1 Tim 2:3 and/or 2 Pet 3:9.

That brings up the final question for now, “IF we have misinterpreted either passage, how have we erred?

I suggest that we very well might have erred in interpreting “ALL” in these texts to mean every human being without exception. It could be that “ALL” means, in both cases, all kinds of people, i.e. rich men, poor men, leaders/rulers, ordinary folk, Jews and Gentiles.

I further suggest that if we define “ALL” to mean all kinds of people, our high and loft view of God’s power and immutability remains intact, and there is NO contradiction in God. After all, he IS GOD.

Food for thought. . . yours? The lines are open.

The Goal of Our Evangelism

Posted by Dan C. on

We’ve all seen them – the reports of such and such evangelistic event having resulted in X number of decisions for Christ or professions of faith. In recent days, another mark of success has become the number of ‘spontaneous’ Baptisms that occurred immediately after the preaching, if not the very next Sunday or first opportunity to engage in a little dunking.

And while there is nothing wrong about those reports themselves (if they accurately report decisions, professions, and dunkings), they are most often used to measure success in terms of actual salvations that occurred at the event to which they refer, from large stadium and megachurch events to small church events and everything in between. Events are successful based on numbers of ‘decisions’ and/or ‘professions’. The same sorts of statistics appear in short introductions to Christian authors and ads for their books.

The goal of personal evangelism isn’t to obtain a decision for Christ or hear a profession of faith. The goal of personal evangelism is for God to save His people from their sins. Therefore the goal of the ‘evangelist’ should be to faithfully present the gospel message that Christ died for our sins. (NOT our self-fulfillment, as do many these days).

And while you are praying for opportunities to share the gospel, don’t just pray for an open door, or favorable circumstances to share the message. Pray that God would open hearts to receive it – the Lydia prayer. If God opens a heart to hear the gospel, no power in Hell can stop it from being heard and received with a glad heart. Whatever resistance to the gospel might be seen initially seen, the mighty hand of God will overcome it and souls WILL be saved.

Blessings to you as you continue to share Christ with those around you who know him not!