1. The “Day of Pentecost” Test

The Day of Pentecost was a great day for the institution of the Lord’s church because it was the day it was empowered by the Holy Ghost. It was on the day of Pentecost (which simply means fiftieth, noting the fiftieth day since the Passover) that the Lord gave His already existing church three thousand new members in addition to the one hundred and twenty they already had. (read Acts chapter one)

On this day the Lord used the preaching of His Word to bring people to Himself, just like He always does, but on this day it was done in a very special way; he allowed men to speak languages they had never studied and had never before been able to speak. What a sight this must have been! Imagine seeing the “cloven tongues of fire” sitting upon each of the apostles as they were preaching the Word in these other languages!

And please, make no mistake, the apostles were speaking real languages when they preached on the day of Pentecost. If you don’t believe me, just look at the Scriptures for yourself. Here is Acts 2:6-11:

Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

There is only one possible interpretation of this scene; the apostles were preaching the Gospel, not yelling wildly, not convulsing, not rolling around on the ground, but preaching. The difference was that they were miraculously able to preach in languages that they couldn’t have spoken without the aid of the Holy Ghost.

As we can plainly see, the doctrine of speaking in tongues miserably fails the day of Pentecost test. Let us look now at the next test:

2. The “Spiritual Gifts” Test

When a person who believes in speaking in tongues is made aware that the disciples on the day of Pentecost were speaking in real languages instead of made

up gibberish, they will usually turn to I Corinthians chapters 12-14 because they believe Paul is referencing their church’s Sunday morning escapades as a spiritual gift, although we will quickly see that he is doing no such thing. Paul does spend these chapters teaching the Corinthians about spiritual gifts;why they should want to have them, and which ones are the most profitable.

Since time and space will not allow us the opportunity to go verse by verse, dissecting each mention of spiritual gifts, I will go directly to I Corinthians 14, where Paul explains that even though speaking with other tongues (languages) is fine in it’s proper place, it is the least desirable of the spiritual gifts. You see, the church at Corinth had elevated speaking in other tongues to a lofty height that it was never given by God, just like the charismatic churches of our day have done. 

I’m paraphrasing here, but Paul explains in chapter fourteen that it is better to be able to speak with understanding, meaning to be able to know what words you are speaking, than to speak with words that you can’t understand. He goes on to teach them that if there isn’t anyone there who can interpret the words you are saying, (meaning if you were given the gift of speaking Italian, yet there was no one there who could understand Italian) than you should just be quiet altogether.

This might be difficult for a born and raised charismatic to understand because speaking in tongues is so normal and seemingly beneficial to you, but if you stop for a moment and consider the reasoning for this, you will understand.

The Word of God makes it clear that God uses the preaching of the Gospel to save sinners. I Corinthians 1:21:

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 

So, you see it is the preaching that God uses, regardless of the language. So if a man is given the gift of being able to preach in a tongue or language that he doesn’t understand, or if he can preach in a language he does understand, either way, he is preaching, which is what God uses to save souls. Preaching in your native tongue, or not in your native tongue is simply preaching, and God doesn’t value one over the other.

I know that I have only briefly covered this text where Paul deals with spiritual gifts, but whether I say two words or write an entire book on the subject the result is the same, the doctrine of speaking in tongues miserably fails the spiritual gifts test.

3. The “Does God Still Use the Gift of Tongues” Test

For this final Scriptural test, we must look closely at I Corinthians 13:8-12:

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Notice in verse eight that the apostle points out that tongues shall cease, or stop. This tells us beyond a shadow of a doubt that there will come a time when the gift of speaking in other tongues will no longer be used by God to give the Gospel to the lost. The question is when. When will God stop using the gift of tongues? The answer: He already has.

In verse ten of our passage Paul writes “But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.” What is the perfect thing? What is this thing which is in part?

The perfect thing is God’s Holy Word. It is very easy for us to forget that Bible in it’s complete form has not been something that we have always had access to. At the time the Apostle Paul was writing this Epistle, only a small part of the New Testament had even been written. What Paul was explaining here is that when that perfect thing (The Complete Bible) had come, that which was in part, or what was only a partial revelation, would be done away with.

The partial revelation are the gifts mentioned in verse eight. The gifts of prophesying, tongues, and knowledge, specifically special knowledge only given to some people will all stop because none of them can do what the Bible can do: give all the knowledge that God wants us to have. Those gifts, while greatly used of God, simply cannot accomplish what God’s completed, inspired Word could accomplish.

So once again, when put to the test, the doctrine of speaking in tongues utterly fails. As we can clearly see from the Word of God, tongues have ceased to be used by God, and they have been for some time now.

What Does This Mean?

Simple this; the doctrine of speaking in tongues is a falsehood, it is untrue, and I would go as far as to say that it is of the devil. We must remember that the Scripture says in Matthew 12:30:

He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

So if a doctrine or teaching is not of the Bible it is against the Bible, meaning it is working against God. Anything that works against God is on the side of Satan. This is not to say that the millions across the world who speak in tongues each and every Sunday are attempting to be tools of Satan, as I’m sure that ninety-nine percent of them are just doing what they have been taught their entire lives to do, which is go to church, get excited, and speak in tongues. But although they may be sincere, they are sincerely wrong.

I hope if you believe the doctrine of speaking in tongues to be true that you will consider these Scriptures that have been presented to you and seek the truth of God through more personal study and prayer. Let me close by repeating something that I said at the beginning; if a teaching is not found in Scripture it is false, regardless of who is teaching it. Again, study the Word, seek God’s will, and He will guide you into all truth.

Tim, the seventeen year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Smith walked proudly down the stairs and into the family room at about eleven o'clock on Saturday Morning.  He walked over to his parents who were sitting on the couch, His dad is reading the morning paper and his mom is watching Oprah that she tivo'd from the day before.

"Mom, Dad, may I have a minute?" Tim asked in a very official sounding voice. "I have a declaration."

"This should be interesting," replied Mrs. Smith as she paused Oprah and elbowed Mr. Smith implying that he had better put the paper down if he knew what was good for him.

"What would you like to declare, son?"  Said Mr. Smith in a somewhat sarcastic, somewhat annoyed voice.

"Mom and Dad, I want you both to know that from this point forward, I am a Parentian."  He spoke these words as if he were on stage speaking to thousands of glowing fans hanging on his every word.  "From now, and until I take my last breath, I will be a devoted Parentian.  I will serve and love my parents with all my heart.  I will live to do whatever pleases my parents for as long as I shall live."

Mr. and Mrs. Smith just sat there, waiting for the punch line.  They knew this was some sort of a ruse, or sick joke, so they just stared at him with widened eyes.

"I thought this would make you happy," said Tim.  "I mean, look at me, I'm a Parentian!"  He said this in a loud, declarative voice.

By now Mr. and Mrs. Smith realize this isn't a joke and are searching for what to say.  Mr. Smith opens his paper back up and  dismissively says, "So, you're a Parentian, that's good son."

After gently but firmly pushing the newspaper down, and staring at her husband with a look that screamed, "If you pick up that newspaper again, it will be last thing you ever do!"  Then she smiled and looked lovingly at her son and said, "So, this means you're going to be the best son ever from now on, right?"

"That's right, Mom!" said Tim happily as he started to go back to his room.

"Wait son," said Mr. Smith, "I have a couple of questions for you."

"Ask me anything, Dad." Said Tim, happy and relaxed.

Mr. Smith, as he leaned back in the couch to a more comfortable position said, "Did you clean your room yesterday like we asked you to?"

Tim said, "No, I understand that you and mom really want me to do it, it just doesn't seem like the time is right.  I know that I need to do it, and that you want me to do it right away, I'm just still waiting for the right moment to start."

"Hmm," said Mr. Smith, "That's interesting.  Did you get the note that your mom wrote and left for you on the counter?"

"Yeah," said Tim.

"Did you see that it said you were allowed to go with some friends to the mall right after you cleaned your room, but that you needed to be home by eleven?" Said Mr. Smith.

"Yeah, I got it dad," said Tim not understanding why he was being asked these questions.

"Well, if you got it, why didn't you get home until 11:30?" Said Mr. Smith sternly.

"At first when I saw your note, I thought you were saying that you wanted me home at eleven, but after sharing the note with my friends we came to realize that this was too narrow an interpretation of what you were saying," said Tim calmly.

"Too Narrow?" Said Mrs. Smith while wrinkling her forehead trying to be understanding.

"Well, yeah, it was too narrow because we hadn't taken everything into consideration," said Tim, still very calm and matter of fact.

"What else did you need to consider?  We said be home at eleven."  Said Mr. Smith very annoyed but trying to hide it.

"Ok, well first of all you didn't specify whether it was eleven pm, or eleven am.  Then I remembered that it is always eleven pm somewhere in the world, which allowed me to come to an obvious conclusion." Said Tim very proud of what he was about to reveal.

Mr. Smith, while sighing said, "What was your obvious conclusion, son?"

"My conclusion was that your note was trying to tell me that your love for me has no time limit, and that it didn't matter when I came home, as long as I did come home." Tim spoke these words with his head up and chest out.

"Well, let me tell you my conclusion," said Mr. Smith, very angrily but keeping himself under control. "My conclusion is that I told you to clean your room and you haven't done it.  I also told you to be home by eleven PM, OUR TIME, and you didn't do it, so you're grounded for two weeks." 

Mr. Smith calmed himself and said, "Son, just because you call yourself a Parentian, and claim that you are obedient, doesn't mean that you are, and when you disobey, there are consequences."

"You guys are so unfair!" Tim yelled as he ran up to his room.

Here's the HardTruth

Many so-called Christians today love talking about how much they love God and obey Him, when in reality they live just like Tim.  Instead of doing what the Bible says they make excuses, or try and twist the meaning of the Bible to suit their desires.  Just like Tim's parents meant what they said, and expected obedience, God means what He says, only He DEMANDS obedience.  We also can't forget that just like the Smith's had every right to punish their son, God has every right, and will punish those that are not obedient to His Word.  And God is ALWAYS fair.

Quite frankly, there are too many errors in this video for me to address them all, unless of course I wanted to write a small book, which I don't, so I'll just point out two things.

1. Jesus had a lot to say about homosexuality.

Here are some passages that prove my point:

Leviticus 18:22:

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Leviticus 20:13:

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Romans 1:26-27:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

I Corinthians 6:9-10:

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

I Timothy 1:9-11:

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

Please allow me to be very blunt: The ONLY way a preacher would say that Jesus didn't have anything to say about homosexuality is if he doesn't know how Jesus is, period. Jesus is the Son of God, making Him equal with God, and in fact, making Him God. Even if a person has been saved for only five minutes they know this to be true. But on the off chance that someone reading this needs Scriptural proof, here you go:

I Timothy 3:16:

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

And John 1:1-2:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

Jesus is God. If God says something, then Jesus said it. If Jesus says something, then God said it. Therefore, regardless of what men like Frederick Haines III have to say, Jesus had a great deal to say about homosexuality, and He ALWAYS called it sin.

2. Frederick Haines III was NOT preaching the Gospel.

At one point in the video Mr. Haines declares that he is preaching the Gospel while he was waxing eloquent in attempt to justify the President's abominable stance on gay marriage. The good thing is, the Bible is couldn't be more clear about what the Gospel actually is, so let's take a look and see if Mr. Haines was truly preaching the Gospel.

I Corinthians 15:1-4:

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

So, the Bible says that the Gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Did you hear Mr. Haines mention any of those things while talking about the President's stance on gay marriage? Me neither. Please be aware of this fact; saying the word "Gospel" is not the same thing as preaching the Gospel.

Here is the Hard Truth.

Men like Frederick Haines III are corrupting the minds of Christians all across this country, but he is only partially to blame. Yes, he is at fault for standing up for our President and, by extension, standing against God. He is to blame for conflating the Gospel with the nonsense he was spewing. But the people of that church were to blame as well. They should have stood up and demanded his resignation right there on the spot, which they did not. Instead, they cheered and clapped for him as if he were doing some noble thing. As discouraging as this can be, at least we know the solution to all of this is very simple; read your Bible. Read it everyday. Search out for yourself to see if what your pastor is teaching is correct according to the Bible. Any true man of God would want you to do that. Our nation has to get back to Bible if we ever want to see change we can believe in, and that is the Hard Truth.

An illustration of this is found at a popular blog called the "Tony Jones Blog." I don't know much about him other than that he appears to be your typical "I'm smarter than anyone who doesn't believe what I believe" liberal Christian who mocks those who hold to the Bible while never using Scriptural support to back up his conclusions which we are supposed to take as the Gospel truth. 

He recently wrote a post about how he is "totally over" us jerks who believe that only men should be pastors. Of course he doesn't use the word pastor, but uses the broad term of "ministry" in his post. What's really nonsensical about this is that I have never met any Christian who believed that women shouldn't minister, in fact there are only a small handful of ways that women are restricted in ministry, one is pastoring, and the other is any position that puts her in authority over men. Believe it or not, there are only a few areas of ministry that fall into that category, but don't tell Tony that, it will ruin his post.

Let's look at one of the gems from Tony's post:

It is simply unfathomable to me that entire versions of Christianity today — be they Roman Catholic or Southern Baptist or Amish — restrict ministry to men. I grew up in a tradition that long had women preachers — beginning in 1853, with the first modern ordination of a woman, Antoinette Brown (I preached about that here, in my first (and likely my last) ordination sermon).

Ok, so it is unfathomable to you, ok, good enough for me! Or not. Tony, next time something is unfathomable to you, try this, "This teaching or belief is unfathomable to me because the Bible says in . . ." See the difference? If you use Scripture to argue your point, it might make someone who disagrees with you actually take stock in something you've said, but instead you used what, some woman in 1853?  So are you saying that women should be pastors because this lady was? Peter denied Christ all the way back in the days of Christ's earthly ministry, does that mean we should do that too? After all, look how long ago that happened!

Let me help you, Tony. Here is why people of my ilk don't believe women should be pastors, it's this really good book called the Bible. It has a couple verses in I Timothy chapter 3 that talk about this:

1. This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.

2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Notice how the Bible says "man" and "husband", you see, Tony, both of those words refer to what we commonly call "men." So as you can see, it is unfathomable that anyone would think it is okay for women to be pastors.

Now it's time for gem number two:

Let me interpret that verse for you: If the Holy Spirit has given the charism of preaching or teaching or pastoral care to a woman, and you deny the authority of that charism because of some head-in-your-a** (Tony, being the good Christian that he is, used a curse word here) biblical hermeneutic, you are committing an unforgivable sin.

Go ahead and read that again real quick.

Yeah, you read it right. If we claim that women can't be pastors we are committing the unpardonable sin. If only Tony would have given us some Scriptural support for such a ridiculous claim, it might have helped, but as we can see, Tony would rather just give us his opinion than waste time quoting some Bible verses.

Let me help you, Tony. The Holy Ghost and God the Father, and for that matter Jesus Christ, are all the same Person even though they are separate, and get this, because they are the same, they ALWAYS agree. Let me show you: I John 5:6-7

⁶ This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

⁷ For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

So Tony, here is why you can't use the argument, "If the Holy Ghost calls someone who am I to say otherwise!" Because the Holy Ghost and God would NEVER, EVER be contrary to One Another. So if God says in His Word that only men are to be pastors, (which he does) than we can know for an absolute fact that the Holy Ghost will NEVER call a woman to pastor. So once again, Tony, it is unfathomable that anyone would think the Holy Ghost would call a woman to pastor.

Here is the Hard Truth.

I hate the fact that guys like Tony Jones have a lot of readers. I hate that this liberal theology (I shouldn't even call it theology) that outright ignores the Bible continues to attract would-be, could-be, and wannabe Christians, but it does. What we as Bible-believers have to do is continue to point out error while pointing to the truth. Jesus did it constantly. He was always telling people to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees and to look out for false Christs. To be honest, I hate finding and reading this nonsense, but if I can make even one person aware of the tactics of Satan, and if God uses it to prevent them from going down the wrong road, than it will all be worth it, and that is the Hard Truth.

Today's post deals with a pastor, Pete Wilson, who by the looks of things, must believe himself to be some sort of rock star. Take a look at his book trailer:

Empty Promises Trailer- Full from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

Let me first say quickly, I don't recommend his book, Empty Promises, as I have no doubt that it is shallow and humanistic, which is on par with what you would expect from the modern day "mega church" pastor.

What I want to focus on is his look. 

First, why would any MAN over the age of 17 even want to dress like that? And then of course there is the hair, which is so obviously worldly that there really isn't much commentary that is needed, for any Christian can take one look at him and know that he doesn't look like someone who is trying to emulate Christ.

So with that said let me just skip straight to what we like to call the Hard Truth.

Pastors are supposed to be Godly examples. The Bible says so in I Timothy 3:2:

A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

As pastors, we are to strive to be blameless, we are held to a higher standard, and we are supposed to give people someone worthy of following. When I see men like Pete Wilson actively trying to diminish the role of pastor by going out of their way to be as worldly as possible, it makes me all the more aware of how wicked many "churches" today really are, and that is the Hard Truth.

While some naturally do this, I do not. It is not in my nature to take my time with reading, and then after the reading to sit and digest what I just read. I'm not saying that I never do it, but it's hard for me. 

Getting back to the Psalms, this time through them I've been trying more than I ever have to read them slow and think about what is being said, what it meant personally to the psalmist and the various ways it can be applied to my walk with Christ. But try as I am, it's still been difficult, but then it was almost impossible when I came to Psalm 23. 

The pastor of the church that where I grew up LOVED Psalm 23. I can say without doubt that it was/is his favorite portion of Scripture in all the Bible. Because of this he read it all the time. He encouraged us to memorize it, and we did, and I was better then and now for doing so. The problem in this today comes from the fact that now Psalm 23 is so familiar that I found my mind wandering CONSTANTLY. I would read a few words and then mentally be somewhere else. I would pray and ask God for help, read a few more words, and then mentally, I'm gone again.

After this happened several times frustration set in because I knew I needed to give this Psalm some real thought, but it seemed like in that moment I was physically unable to do so. Then the Lord calmed me down, and I suddenly felt led to write out my own version. Now bear in mind, I'm a KJV only guy, and believe the Scriptures need no adjustments in order to be easily understood or to be more effective in one's life. But in this moment, it seemed like the only way I was going to be able to give this Psalm any thought whatsoever. 

I must say that upon finishing my own version of Psalm 23 that I quickly realized that I had given that Psalm more thought than I had in years. I enjoyed it so much that I plan on doing this for all 150 Psalms at some point, and I'll be posting them all right here. I hope this helps someone who may be reading this blog, but struggling to read and ponder the Word of God. 

Here is the KJV Bible version of Psalm 23:

1. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Now I will share my personlized version:

1. Because the Lord is my shepherd, I will always have all that I need.

2. I don't know where I'm supposed to go, or how to find rest, therefore God makes me to lie down in lush, comfortable areas that I would have never found on my own. He leads me to quiet places of safety and comfort.

3. He forgives and restores me when I sin, and if I follow His lead I will stay pure.

4. No matter what danger or harm may come my way, I have no reason to fear, because God is with me.

5. I can be comfortable, even when surrounded by my enemies, and God has preserved me and blessed me in more ways than I could ever imagine.

6. I can be completely sure that God's goodness and mercy will always be with me, and I will always have a place with God.

May God add His blessing to His Word.

Let us take a close look at one very obvious reason for pastors and teachers to want to write on the internet, or blog:

1. Your people are online.

Whether you like it or not, and whether they admit to it or not, many Christians spend many hours online, and I'm sure most of it is on Facebook. People like to read what others are doing, watching, reading, games their playing, etc., and don't be fooled into thinking it is not the case with the members of your church. The problem, however, with Facebook is the same problem we face in the world, sinners use it. As we know, sin corrupts everything.

You would be hard-pressed to show how their is anything wrong with Facebook as a tool. All Facebook does is make it easy to find people that you know and connect with them, and regardless of what anyone would ever say, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Facebook becomes a problem for Christians because of how Christians use it, but that can be said for anything and in actuality, everything that pertains to this life, because everything is stained with sin. And while Facebook, at least for Christians, seems to be used as nothing more than a place to show either how Godly we are, or how unGodly we are, people who have the ability to publish Biblical content online can have a positive affect in this arena.

Wouldn't it be great if in their news feed they saw a link from you posting something that you had written about the Bible, or what the Bible has to say about a particular current event? All independent Baptist pastors understand that called has called us to feed the church of God, but many have yet to accept that this is more than just Sunday and Wednesday evening job. I can't help but think that now, more than ever, we need to make the time to write down our studies and share them with our people through the internet, so that we can at least give them a Godly reading option while they spend time online.

2. Many of them read the junk that is posted on line.

We know that we have an enemy in the devil. We know that he walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We also know that one of his greatest tactics for doing this is imitation. Satan loves to imitate truth, and he usually does this by carefully and painstakingly mixing a little bit of truth with a pack of lies.

I wish it were not the case, but I have learned through my reading on the internet, and in books too, that unless I know where the author stands, not to assume that he/she believes like I do, even if it appears so at first glance. I can't tell you how many times I've purchased a book from reading some of the beginning of it only to find out mid-way through that the book was utter trash, and I'm sure all those reading this have experienced the same thing. This is also happens online. I have come across many popular sites that the first appear to be great, but upon further examination, the liberal, and many times flat out anti-Bible leanings come through.

With that in mind, let me say again, we need to give people a place to read that they can trust. We need to give them Scriptural lessons that are truly Scriptural, not just sermons/blog posts that are carefully crafted to give the appearance of being Scriptural.

The internet is a dangerous place, and we all know this. So how about we do our part to make it a little less dangerous? The internet is full of junk, so why don't we do our part to add some pearls to it? I can't believe for a moment that God wants us to accept the awful state of "Christian" content on the internet, so let us use the talents God has given us for His honor and glory, and let us seek to proclaim Him in this vast open territory, as surely we can see that it is so desperately needed.

At the top of my search was a link to the list of the "Top Fifty Christian Blogs", and I thought "Great, surely a couple of these will at least be decent." I was wrong. This list should be called, "Top Fifty Blogs That Do Nothing But Bring Harm To The Cause Of Christ" because that's basically all they are. None of them point people to Godly literature. None of them point people to the Word of God. None of them point people to the Jesus and God of the Bible. None. Zip. Nada.

Instead I found blogs like "Ragamuffin Soul" which is written by a guy who uses foul language, makes videos about how excited his kids were when he gave them tickets to a rock concert, gets large tattoos all over his body, and was made "famous" by a video he made showing him and his family jamming to a rock song while he accidently made his youngest child cry. (the kid was cute, which is what people liked about the video, but it was a poor testimony that he not only listens to that music, but is evidently unashamed of his sin.)

Needless to say, no saved Baptist would be edified by such wickedness.

You will also find web sites like the "Baptist Standard" which do nothing to promote anything remotely Biblical or Baptistic. Today they featured articles about women pastors and the dangers of closing out an email with the words "take care." (really, a whole article devoted to the danger of "taking care")

Even though the landscape of Biblical content is scarce, the good thing is that there actually is a solution, that is not only possible, but cheap, and relatively easy, which would not be the case if we were discussing television. It would be almost impossible for independent Baptists to create a tv station that would have the necessary production value and be picked up by cable providers, and made available to the entire country. It is good for us to know, however, that none of these barriers exist with the internet.

Once something goes out on the internet, if someone can find it, they can see it, which up until this point has been mostly taken advantage of by non-Christians and pseudo-Christians, but this can change anytime we decide to make it change. If Independent Baptist pastors, pastor's wives, and teachers would create content for the internet and link ourselves together, we could start to become a positive, Biblically sound force on the internet. 

I know that some are skeptical about the internet and I don't blame you because the internet is mostly used to do evil. But let me ask you this, if you could have your Sunday morning service televised on Fox, NBC, or ABC, wouldn't you do it? Of course you would! You would see it as a grand opportunity to get the Gospel message out to a broader audience. Well, as we well know, the president of Fox is not going to be calling us offering a prime time slot any time soon. But the internet is available to us. The internet is free to post as many sermons and blog posts as we desire, we just have to do it.

Let me point out a couple other advantages to starting your own website or blog.

1. Your members will appreciate it.

How much more do you enjoy reading something when you know the author? That's why Christians enjoy God's Word, right? Your congregation will enjoy seeing this new side of you that will only come out in your writing. Ask any pastor who is currently blogging and they will tell you that I am telling the truth.

2. It will make all of your study time even more profitable.

We know that whenever we study God's Word, it's worth it, even if what we have studied never makes it into a sermon. But how much better would it be to know the facts that we have learned which might be too deep for a sermon would make for a perfect blog post?! I assure you that you will never even feel tempted to feel as though you have spun your wheels working on a sermon that you don't feel led to preach when you can post it online.

I know that by now some of you have doubts as to your ability to start a website, after all, what do you know about the web? Let's look at some popular misconceptions that those who are not internet savvy might have:

1. Believe it or not, if you know how to use a computer, you can start a website or blog.

Sites like Tumblr, Wordpress, and Blogger couldn't be more simple to get something up and running. Seriously, it will take five or ten minutes if you don't get caught up in worrying about how everything is laid out.

2. You might think it will cost too much money.

The sites I mentioned above are free. Totally forever free.

3. You may not believe you write well enough.

Trust me, you do. If you aren't as good at finding spelling errors or words you've accidentally left out, have someone proof read it for you, and if you do post it with mistakes it won't be anything that your readers won't understand.

4. You might wonder what your blog or website would be about.

It can be about whatever you want it to be. If you want to look at current events from a Biblical perspective, do that. If you want to write about personal stuff, do that. If all you want to do is post your sermons, do that. We know that God's Word says that His Word will not return void, therefore if we're presenting God's Word in the right context, it will be good, regardless of our angle.

I hope that all pastors, pastor's wives, teachers, evangelists, etc. who read this will strongly consider that we can make a difference in the world if we will use the talents God has given us. The more Bible that is on the internet the better, and who better to do that than people who have been blessed by God to believe the truth.

If you have any other questions about issues that I may have forgotten to address, please use the "contact" link above.

I know these services had singing in them. You could say they had great singing. Moody had Ira Sankey, Graham had George Beverly Shea, but people showed up for Bible preaching. They would work all day, come home and get dressed up (men in suits and ties and women in one of their best dresses) and go and sit through a two hour service, most of which would be preaching.

There was no cheering, no light shows, no rock bands, just perhaps a piano, organ and the congregation lifting up their voices in praise to God, followed by no frills Bible preaching. No music would play to help the preacher emphasize a point, he wouldn't plead for them to get excited and jump around, he would simply preach Jesus to them, and the poeple loved it.

Imagine a preacher going to a town, having the guts to book a meeting place that held thousands, and then filling that building to capacity for as many nights as he felt led to stay there.

Sadly, things have changed.

1. Preachers have changed.

Instead of Charles Spurgeon or Billy Sunday receiving attention for the great crowds that came to see them, we have men like Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, and Mark Driscoll. We have men leading large congregations that are so in love with the wickedness of the world that it seems almost impossible to me that these men are even saved, much less called to preach.

If you think I'm being too harsh, read this post about Mark Driscoll where he admits to his love of the music written by avowed God hater Jay-Z, and confesses to having a Chinese punk band perform at his church IN THE NUDE.

Andy Stanley is a man who would let homosexuals represent and serve in his church as long as they're not committing "good old-fashioned adultery."

All Rick Warren wants to do is unite Christianity and Islam, seriously.

Instead of preachers doing everthing they can to promote Christ, they are trying to promote some sort of pseudo-intellectual-Christianity that embraces the very worst elements of the world, e.g. God-hating music, drunkenness, homosexuality, fornication, Islam, all the while mentioning the name of Jesus every once in a while, and then calling themselves Christians.

So, the famous preachers of our day are at best unChristian, and at worst unsaved.

2. People have changed.

As much as I am frustrated by what I see among the leaders of this pseuo-Christianity, I am more frustrated by the people who follow them.  As recently as fifty years ago these men would have had only a handful of followers if they preached what they are preaching today. But now thousands are flocking to hear the vain, humanistic philosophy that flows from their lips. It's the people that have given these men their voice. It's the people that have made them relevant. It's the people that are letting these men do damage.

Here is the Hard Truth.

We need a revival in this country. Not rock n' roll shows, or carnivals, or whatever else these organizations (I can't call them churches, even with quotes) are trying to do to get large crowds. We need pastors and churches to remember what caused the great revivals of the past; it was preaching the Jesus Christ of the Bible. Not a Jesus who was hip and cool, and just wanted to be your buddy, but the Jesus who loved you so much that He died to pay the penalty for your sin. Churches and pastors alike need remember that God still uses that kind of preaching, and that even though the world will mock you and call you names, it doesn't matter, because God has the power to change the world.  God used a small group of disciples to turn the world upside down.  Imagine what we could do if true, Bible-believing churches had a revival of their faith in the fact that God can make a difference. We must believe revival is possible with the truth, or else our nation will continue to go down the wrong road, and that's the Hard Truth.