Good Wednesday

Good Wednesday or Good Friday?

I don't make blog entries very often, because very honestly I'm a better preacher than I am a writer, but there are times when I feel I need use the blog to teach important Bible Truths.

One week from today will be Good Wednesday.

It might be hard for some to accept, but much of what the church has taught about the timing of events during the week in which Jesus died for our sins is wrong.

A casual reading of the Bible makes it seem like Jesus died on a Friday, but a careful reading reveals that Jesus died on Wednesday.

Rather than make the case myself, I'm going to ask you click the links below and read 5 other experts who have written about this, and listen to one expert, Chuck Missler, teach about it in a You Tube Video, contained in two parts.

One thing I do want to point out, is that, "Preparation Day" is the day the Passover Lamb was killed and prepared for the Passover.  In order for the Hebrew family to escape the death of their first born, the lamb had to die, shed its blood, and that blood applied to the door posts and the lintel of their house.  That's what the term "Preparation Day" meant to Jewish people of the first century.

Please watch these video and read these links prayerfully asking God to show you the truth.  Also study them with a teachable spirit.  What you are about to learn is objective truth obtained from reading and studying the Word of God, completely and in context.

May the Lord Bless You as you read.

If you have questions, feel free to ask.

 

Dr. Chuck Missler, Part 1 of 2:

https://youtu.be/LTMagn5bz8M

Dr. Chuck Missler, Part 2 of 2:

https://youtu.be/sAKv7SZnICA

http://www.mauricejohnsonarchives.com/Good_Friday.html

 
http://ad2004.com/prophecytruths/Articles/Prophecy/3days3nights.html
 

http://www.newswithviews.com/Bill/sizemore31.htm

http://www.therain.org/appendixes/app156.html

http://www.therain.org/appendixes/app165.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YTJWFw40c4&sns=em

March 25, 2015

Pastor Art

Seventh Day Adventism: False Cult or Not?

August, 18, 2014

In 1971, while I was serving in the Navy, my two best friends on my ship were Mormons.  They both claimed to be Christians, yet their beliefs did not line up with what I knew about the Bible.  You see I had been raised in a church which did not teach me that there were things such as false cults and did not warn me to avoid them and did not identify which religious groups which claimed to be Christian but in reality were false cults.

When our ship arrived in Japan, I found a Christian Serviceman's Center and went there nearly every time I was able to get off the ship for a few hours.  I discussed with the Missionary there the conversations I had on board ship with my two Mormon shipmates.  He suggested I read a book they had in their library, which was titled, The Four Major Cults, by Anthony Hoekema.  The book had four sections, one covering each of the four major cults.

Using primary source materials, Hoekema presents the doctrinal teachings of Mormonism, Seventh-day Adventism, Christian Science, and Jehovah's Witnesses. He also briefly outlines the history and source of authority of each cult.

In June of 1972, I was released from active duty in the Navy, I moved to Normal, Illinois, where I continued my studies at Illinois State University.  There I ran into some Seventh Day Adventists, who told me they believed they were saved by trusting in Jesus but to stay saved they needed to observe the Saturday Sabbath, follow the Jewish Dietary Laws and follow the Ten Commandments.

These admissions convinced me that Anthony Hoekema was correct.  Seventh Day Adventism was indeed a false cult.

Later, other Christians began to tell me that the SDA, Seventh Day Adventists, had changed their teaching, and had become Bible-believing Evangelical Christians.  Those who really know me know that I have been given a nose to sniff out false cults, but this time I had been convinced, I even had several conversations with some current SDA clergy who confirmed, that yes we used to have some strange doctrines, but we don't anymore, we believe the Bible just like you.

Even Walter Martin had been convinced.

Then a couple of days ago, I received an E-mail from a Christian Ministry based in Oregon, The Berean Call, where they had interviewed a former SDA Pastor.  This former SDA Pastor claimed that the SDA is still a false cult, and why.  He said that several SDA leaders had intentionally lied to Walter Martin about their beliefs and that in 1994 the SDA Church/Cult, had even produced their own translation of the Bible, which they call the Clear Word.

So for the past few days I've been doing more research into this topic and became convinced that I need to once again warn Christian believers that the SDA is indeed a false cult.  I'm convinced that God not only wants me to preach the truth in love, but also to warn folks about those who pervert the Gospel.  See Galatians chapter 1.

Here are several web sites with more information about this topic:

www.ratzlaf.com

www.lifeassuranceministries.org

www.lifeassuranceministries.com

www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/clear_word.htm

www.clearwordexposed.com

www.carm.org/clear-word-bible-intro

Came home, 41 years ago today

41 years ago today, Dec 18, 1971, Pastor Art came home from the Vietnam War, safe and sound.

Art joined the Navy about a year after finishing high school, then in 1971, Pastor Art's ship was sent to the Western Pacific for the better part of the year 1971.  We came home, to our home port of San Diego, about 10 o'clock in the morning, on December 18, 1971.  Here is a picture:  U.S.S. Henry B. Wilson (DDG-7).

So today, I celebrate the 41st anniversary of that day, and pray that all those currently serving our country overseas will one day return home safely to their family and friends too.

Within an hour of docking at Pier 2 of the 32nd Street Naval Station, I was able to get to the place were I was living on the beach and by about  Noon was at the airport, and by 1 PM was on a plane heading back to Chicago, my home town.

About 7 PM I was able to call home from a pay phone at O'Hare to wish my mother a Merry Christmas and to ask them to come get me.

United Air Lines was very nice and allowed me to check 5 bags at no charge, but then they bounced me from the plane, since it was overbooked - I had purchased a standby ticket, so I ended up flying home on an American flight which left 15 minutes later.

American put me into the middle seat at the back row of the plane, a seat which would not recline, and then a few mintues later a sassy college girl, who had purchased a more expensive standby ticket, bounced me from coach, but American didn't ask me to leave the plane, after watching the sassy college girl giggle as she walked past me into the coach section, I was seated in First Class.

And that my friends is why December 18 is a date I'll never forget!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You, and May you and yours have a Very Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving

We sang in church this morning, Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Did you ever pay close attention to the words?

I did this morning. And wow, what theology comes forth from those words!

1 - Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

2 - All the world is God’s own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

3 - For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

4 - Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Do you get what it is saying in verse 3 and 4?

The Lord shall come and take His harvest home?

Did you see that?

Its talking about the Rapture! 1 Thess 4:17

Isn't that exciting?

And this was written in 1844 by Henry Alford.

In most of the great hymns of the church, we get a glimpse of the doctrine believed by the song writer.

When Charles Wesley wrote the words to: O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING was he desiring a choir of 1,000 voices or was he yearning to sing in tongues?

See Acts 2:4 and 1 Cor 14:15

When Martin Luther wrote the words to A mighty fortress is our God was Luther admitting to being a Pentecostal???

1 - A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

2 - Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

3 - And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

4 - That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Do you see that fourth verse: The Spirit and the gifts are ours?

Was Luther claiming to be a Pentecostal here?

It sure is something to think about!

I hope and pray your Thanksgiving will be Blessed.

Pastor Art

Presbyterians to consider redefining marriage

I just received an E-mail informing me that the Presbyterians are having a convention, in Minneapolis, and they are considering the question, Is it OK to be gay?

Therefore I made a few phone calls and figured out that:

The Prebysterian Church USA is meeting this week, in the very same convention center where the ELCA Lutherans met last year and where the Lutherans voted to say, It is OK to be gay.

Last August, just as the Lutherans were getting ready to vote on this important issue, a tornado hit the building where they were meeting.

No one was hurt, but the tornado knocked the cross off from the steeple of the Lutheran Church, which right across the street, where a mini conference was being held by various GLBT organizations.

A Baptist Pastor from Minneapolis blogged asking the question: "Was God in the storm?"

I wonder if any of the Presbyterians currently meeting in Minneapolis have checked the weather forecast?

New photo

How does everyone like my new photo?

I'm sorry I'm not very good when they say, "Say cheese!" or "Smile for the camera!"

However take a look at that shirt. I've had it for a while, but I only had my photo taken while wearing it last week for the first time.

That shirt is my official, "Talk 2 a Pastor" shirt.

It says on it, "Talk 2 a Pastor" and under that it says, "Pastor Art".

A man I tried to help a lot, during a rough period of time in his life, gave it to me as a gift. I guess it was one of his ways of saying, "Thank you for helping me, Pastor Art!"

Why are the non-religious more passionate about their beliefs?

This question was asked on the Yahoo Answers site and my reply didn't fully fit, so I wanted to show my complete answer here:

The question was:

Why are the non-religious more passionate about their beliefs?

Here is the link:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100405184703AATZY0q&r=w#TL1WDHv4JHaYqCoaKV3F

Below is my complete answer - the stuff in quotes below is from the answer of another person who answered the original question.

I thought the non religious had an absence of religious belief.

Are you telling me that the non religious, including atheists have beliefs?

I suppose you are correct, after examining the evidence it sure seems like since the non religious have no facts to back up their beliefs, their lack of religion, isn't a lack of faith, it is actually that they have the positive belief that there is no god.

Why else would they be so passionate about those who would otherwise claim, that they have no beliefs, they have no religion?

Edit: Karl P was right on again and the Lightning certain struck again with his excellent reply as well.

Allow me to respond to the reply of someone else by quoting his answer and then a one line comment of mine to each of his:

"I know I am because of all the harm caused by religion:"

Most of the activities you have listed are done by non Christian religions. Bible believing Christians have usually been on the forefront of stopping the objectional behaviors you list below.

"The demonization of other religions, e.g. Christianity demonizing Pagans ("They're devil-worshippers!"), the Romans demonizing Christians ("They're atheists and cannibals!")."

"Vilification of homosexuality, resulting in discrimination, parents disowning their children, murder, and suicide."

Not practiced by Bible believing Christians.

"People and animals sacrificed as an offering to gods."

Not practiced by Bible believing Christians.

"Food destroyed because it doesn't comply with specific religious beliefs."

Not practiced by Bible believing Christians.

"Women treated like second class citizens, or even slaves, based on religious teachings."

Bible believing Christianity was the first of the world's major religious which sought to give women equal rights with men.

"Children growing up without music."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Children growing up to hate and fear science and scientists, because science disproves their parents' religion - leading to appalling scientific illiteracy."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. Bible believing Christians have contributed more to science than any other religious group.

"Tens of thousands tortured and killed as witches (a practice which still continues today)."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Millions of cats killed in the belief that witches use them as familiars, leaving rats free to spread the black death throughout Europe, killing millions of people in turn."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"People bothered and sometimes woken up by door-to-door religion salespeople."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. False cults tend to do this the most: LDS and JWs

People dying because they believe their faith makes them immune to snake venom, or other lethal aspects of reality.

Bible believing Christians don't do this. False religious teach people to refuse medical care. Bible believing Christians pray on their way to see the doctor.

"People dying - and letting their children die - because their religion forbids accepting medical help."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. False religious teach people to refuse medical care. Bible believing Christians pray on their way to see the doctor.

"People choked, starved, poisoned, or beaten to death during exorcisms."

The last time I exorcised a demon, it was done over the telephone. Bible believing Christians have the power of Jesus in them and that power of Jesus has power over demons on the other side of the world.

The last time I exorcised a demon, I was in Florida and the person with the demon was in Great Britian, something like 4,000 or more miles away.

"Female genital mutilation endorsed by religious texts."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"People disowning family members for leaving their religion, in some cases symbolized by mock funerals."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

' "Abstinence-only" sex education, resulting in five times the amount sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies - often leading to ill-fated "emergency" marriages.'

The statment above is not true.

"Campaigns against safe sex, with similar results - responsible for much of the AIDS epidemic in Africa."

The statment above is not true.

"Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought."

Today the only religious speech that seems to be censored is Christians who teach the Bible.

"The discouragement of rational, critical thought."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Believers whipping, impaling, poisoning or crucifying themselves during religious festivals as a demonstration of their faith and piety."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Children spending the period of their lives when the brain is most receptive to learning new information reading, rereading, and even memorizing religious texts."

Memorizing the Bible is a good thing, not a bad thing.

"People who believe the world is about to end neglect their education, are not financially responsible, and in extreme cases take part in mass suicides."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Environmental issues ignored because of beliefs that God will magically fix everything."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Wives told they will be tortured forever if they leave their abusive husbands."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. LDS - Mormons and Muslims do this, not Chirstians.

"People in times of trouble relying on advice from religious leaders without any sort of training in counseling or therapy."

As a general rule, Bible believing Christians are the most highly educated compared to the leadership of any other religious group.

"Holy wars - followers of different faiths (or even the same faith) killing each other in the name of their (benevolent, loving and merciful) gods."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. However when attacked, Christians will defend themselves.

"The destruction of great works of art considered to be pornographic/blasphemous, and the persecution of the artists."

There are no great works of art which are considered to be pornographic or blasphemous.

"Persecution/punishment of blasphemers (Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence on him), and blasphemy laws in general."

You just described the problems with Islam, the religion of peace which regularly tries to kill those with whom it disagrees.

"Slavery condoned by religious texts."

In Jesus first public religious statement Jesus said He had come to set captives or slaves free.

"Children traumatized by vivid stories of eternal burning and torture to ensure that they'll be too frightened to even question religion."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Terminal patients in constant agony who would end their lives if they didn't believe it would result in eternal torture."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"School boards having to spend time and money and resources on the fight to have evolution taught in the schools."

Why do school boards spend money to promote the religion of Darwinism?

"Persecution of Heretics/scientists, like Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake) and Galileo Galilei."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Mayors, senators, and presidents voted into office not because they're right for the job, but because of their religious beliefs."

A person's religious beliefs affects how they carry out the duties of their office.

"Abuse of power, authority and trust by religious leaders (for financial gain or sexual abuse of followers and even children) - but hey, atheists are the immoral ones."

Bible believing Christians agree with you on this.

"People accepting visual and auditory hallucinations unquestioningly as divine, sometimes with fatal results."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Suicide bombers, who are certain they will be rewarded in heaven."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. You just described Islam.

"Discrimination against atheists, such as laws stating they may not hold public office or testify in court."

You can't have it both ways.

'Missionaries destroying/converting smaller, "heathen" religions and cultures.'

Cultures of hate need to be destroyed and replace with the culture which teaches us to love our neighbors.

"Hardship compounded by the guilt required to reconcile the idea of a fair god with reality ("why is God punishing me? What have I done wrong? Don't I have enough faith?")."

Bible believing Christians have the answer to this problem.

"Human achievements - from skillful surgery to to emergency landings - attributed to gods instead of to the people actually responsible."

Why have most of the patents and significant discoveries come mostly from Christians and Jews?

"Mother Teresa, prolonging the agony of terminal patients and denying them pain relief, so she can offer their suffering as a gift to her god."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. My own view is, after reading some of Mother T's writings is that she was not a follower of Jesus.

"Suppression of logical and critical thought."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Billions spent to build, maintain, and staff houses of worship."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. They spend some, but their building are rather plain and lack ornimentation.

"Grief and horror caused by the belief that dead friends and family members are tortured as punishment for disbelief."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"Opposition to scientific (especially medical) progress on religious grounds."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. Bible believing Christians believe that all human life is valuable and we don't believe it is right to kill one person to save another unless the person being killed gives his concent.

"Whole societies divided by minor differences in belief or doctrine, often resulting in violence."

Bible believing Christians don't do this. Minor differences don't lead to violence.

"Natural disasters and other tragedies used to claim God is displeased and present demands to avoid similar events (it's like terrorism, but without having to plan or do anything)."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

"The attempted genocide of followers of a particular faith (e.g. the Jewish Holocaust, "ethnic cleansing" in former Yugoslavia)."

Bible believing Christians don't do this.

Most your objections were about Muslims, not Christians or Jews.