Call to Faithfulness - C.H. Spurgeon

Look you, sirs, there are ages to come. If the lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to his truth today. We have come to a turning-point in the road. If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children’s children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to his Word. I charge you, not only by your ancestry, but by your posterity, that you seek to win the commendation of your Master, that though you dwell where Satan’s seat is, you yet hold fast his name, and do not deny his faith. God grant us faithfulness, for the sake of the souls around us! How is the world to be saved if the church is false to her Lord? How are we to lift the masses if our fulcrum is removed? If our gospel is uncertain, what remains but increasing misery and despair? Stand fast, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat You to abide in the truth. Quit yourselves like men, be strong. The Lord sustain you for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”
-Charles Spurgeon-

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WHAT MAKES MUSIC... CHRISTIANLY? ...contending for biblical theology in CCM

Having ties to the Christian music industry, I could not agree more with Steve Camp. The things that you see and experience inside CCMI, will just make you sick. You soon come to the realization that much of what takes place in Christian music is no different than what takes place in the secular market place. Sadly CCMI is Christian by name only.

“Thy statutes are my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”

- Psalm 119:54

CCMI-On The Down-Grade?
History is a lucid teacher and we can learn from her. Give ear to the account of one man’s battle against the roaring lion[17] of modernity in his time:

Charles Hadden Spurgeon spent the final four years of his life at war against the trends of early modernism which he rightly saw as a threat to Biblical Christianity. Spurgeon wanted to warn his flock about the dangers from moving away from the historic positions [of the truth]. ‘Biblical truth is like the pinnacle of a steep, slippery mountain,’ Spurgeon suggested. ‘One step away, and you find yourself on the down-grade. Once a church or individual Christian gets on the downgrade,’ Spurgeon said, ‘momentum takes over. Recovery is unusual and only happens when Christians get on the ‘up-line’ through spiritual revival.’ History has vindicated Spurgeon’s warnings about the down-grade. In the early part of the twentieth century the spreading of ‘false doctrine and worldliness’—theological liberalism and modernism—ravaged denominational Christianity throughout the world. Most of the mainline denominations were violently if not fatally altered by these influences. A hundred years later, we are seeing history repeating itself again…. ‘False doctrine and worldliness’—the same two influences Spurgeon attacked—always go hand in hand, with worldliness leading the way. Christians today tend to forget that modernism was not first of all a theological agenda but a methodological one.[18]

We are seriously close, beloved, to being on the down-grade in Christian music, if, in fact, we have not already begun the slide. Though we are seeing an unprecedented interest by the secular arena with more press and publicity, I believe there are some danger signs we can’t ignore: an absence of biblical truth; a reductionist gospel; being unequally yoked with the secular music industry; syncretism; pragmatism; aberrant and heretical themes accepted in lyrics; worldliness in business practice; relativism; moral pluralism; and experientialism. Could it be that the love of money is producing all sorts of evil?[19]

Brethren, God’s judgment is assuredly upon the Christian Music industry. Like the street courtesan, she has been sold by the “gatekeeper pimps” to the “secular johns” who have the deepest pockets and make the sweetest promises! It has patterned itself after the ways of the world rather than doing the work of God, by the will of God, according to the Word of God! There is no hope for gospel music apart from Heaven’s intervention. We need revival; we need renewal; we need repentance; and we need a new Reformation!

--- Steve Camp

Read the rest of this article @ Camponthis

Steve Camp / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

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Christianity in Crisis Video of the Week - Mark T. Barclay vs. Charles H. Spurgeon

I decided to post this today instead of Monday and my goodness we are in trouble serious trouble in America when preachers say they are experts on Theology and have not a clue what they are talking about!

Here we have Mark T. Barclay (aka. The General) talking about the Damnable Doctrine of Calvinism. Take a look...



Boy, oh boy, oh boy... Where to start. We see here two startling different definitions of Calvinism. Barclay says "I met Jesus once, let's go get a beer" and Spurgeon says "Justification by Faith". Barclay implies Calvinism is basically "Once saved always saved". If Barclay would sit himself down and do even just a basic study on Calvinism (Historical Christianity), he would find that Calvinists believe in the "Perseverance of the Saints".

Perseverance of the Saints does not mean "once saved always saved". This corruption of the doctrine has been popular in recent years, as we see here with Barclay, but has never been a true representation of the doctrine. "Once saved always saved" is more keenly given the name "Perseverance of the sinner" instead of "the saint". For it teaches that man can be saved by Christ and then sin habitually, do whatever he wants, and then still "persevere to the end". Perseverance of the saints does not teach this. Perseverance of the saints teaches that once God has renewed the heart of a sinner through the application of the redemption wrought by Christ upon the cross, he will continue to be saved and show forth the fruits of that salvation. The sinner perseveres because of Christ, but he continually shows himself as one who has been changed by Christ. God has saved the individual and will sanctify him until the end when he is ultimately glorified, and in heaven. It does not mean man has a license to sin. Those who think they have a license to sin are not changed and saved by grace. They are still in sin. Those who are saved by grace and changed, desire to show forth the fruits of that salvation. God motions the heart to good work, and continues that good work to the end.

John 6:37-39, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."

Phil. 1:6, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

1 Thess. 5:23-24, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."

2 Tim. 4:18, "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

1 Peter 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."

Romans 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."


Lastly lets examine Barclay's statements "If you believe in the condemning, damnable doctrine of Calvinism". "That means it will damn your soul".

According to Barclay you will be damned to hell for believing in Calvinism (Historical Christianity). So, lets take a look at those who the General has condemned by his own lips. The names on here are staggering!!!

Historical Preachers/Teachers

John Calvin
John Owen
John Knox
Martin Luther
Jonathan Edwards
John Bunyan
A.W. Pink
A.W. Towzer
John Whitfield
John Gill
Augustine
The Puritans
The Dutch Reformed
The Disciples of Jesus (They preached Regeneration, Justification by Faith and Sanctification....The same doctrines Calvinists have preached for Centuries now)

According to "The General", Mark T. Barclay, preacher of righteousness, these believing Christian's are burning in hell today...There souls are damned!

Current Day Preachers/Teachers

Dr. R.C. Sproul
Dr. James White
Steve Camp
Dr. John Frame
Dr. Wayne Grudem
Sinclair Ferguson
J.I. Packard
Dr. D. James Kennedy
Dr. Albert Mohler
Paul Washer
Dr. Thomas Ascol
Dr. John Piper
Matt Slick


The lists for these could go on and on. There are so many I could keep listing for days. This really shows the absurdity of Barclay's condemning claim! The General needs to go back to the barracks and study the Bible and Historical Christianity before his next "Tour of Duty".


by His Grace alone,

Bill

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