President DeMint 2012?

Senator Jim DeMint R-(SC) interviewed by David Brody.
If you do not see a video box, click the title.

Fighting infant killings in Indian slums

INDIA (BP)--A baby girl, only a few hours old, is carried to her execution.

The woman who holds her calls herself a midwife, but everyone in this Indian slum knows who she really is: the bringer of death.

As the woman approaches the pressure cooker, the baby's mother does nothing. She has already paid, after all, about 30 cents for her newborn daughter to be boiled alive.

The woman lowers the squirming infant into the water. The lid snaps shut. The flames rise. Then the infant's scalded corpse is tossed to the dogs for them to devour.

Even more common, a mother refuses to nurse her starving baby until the "midwife" arrives to silence her infant daughter's pleading cries with a bottle of poison and cold indifference.

If the mother cannot find help, she kills the child herself. Then she unceremoniously buries her baby beneath her house, perhaps beside other daughters discarded before this baby.

How could a mother murder her own child?

Such questions probe the depths of human depravity -- and the passionate efforts of Christians who, at least in their small corner of India, may finally be turning the tide.

Sati Alva*, an Indian Christian, lives a short walk from one of her city's slums. A squalid expanse of grimy one-room houses and trash-strewn alleys, it is a place teeming with misery. The men savagely beat their wives in nightly rages fueled by the alcohol they spend all their earnings to buy. The traumatized women turn to prostitution or menial labor to survive, leaving their children to gamble, drink and steal.

"That's the condition in the slum," Sati said. "Even the mothers don't really care for the children."

The children are Sati's main concern. With help from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, she and her husband Ravindra* run an after-school feeding and education program where more than 200 slum children come to escape their abusive homes, get help with homework, eat perhaps their only meal of the day -- and learn about Jesus.

Full story in Baptist Press tells how Indian Christians and Southern Baptist hunger funds are working to save lives in this Indian slum. 

Old TV commercials

Remember these old TV commercials?
The Clapper


Original Chia Pet


HeadOn


Where's the Beef?


Life


My bologna has a first name . . .


Coke - Mean Joe Greene

(If you don't see several video boxes, click on the title.)

Faith of our Fathers

David Barton describes the Judeo-Christian faith of our Founding Fathers.

Isaiah 1:1-20 - The Remedy for Rebellion

Raphael's Isaiah

Request a free DVD or CD of this message from genebrooks@yahoo.com. Include the sermon title and your mailing address.


Contextual Notes: The prophecy of Isaiah is one of the most beautiful, towering, and significant books of the Old Testament. Its messages of judgment are set against great visions of comfort and hope. Isaiah has been called the Fifth Gospel, for it is the most Messianic and Christological (Christ-centered and Christ-predicting) in the OT.

Isaiah’s prophetic career began the year King Uzziah died (739 B.C.) and lasted until at least the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrian general Sennacharib under the reign of King Hezekiah, a tumultuous half-century when Neo-Assyria was bent on taking over the world. The ten northern tribes of Israel would fall to Assyria, and Judah would suffer under the privations of the Assyrian threat, but Jerusalem would somehow survive during this time. Less than 20 years after Isaiah, Jerusalem would fall to a new empire which would replace Assyria, the Babylonians.

Isaiah 1-5 forms a preface to the book and draws attention to the sad state of affairs in Judah and Jerusalem. The nation is sick, and the sickness is threefold: moral (mental), spiritual (1:2ff), and physical (1:5-9). Here in chapter 1, vv. 2-9 give the nation’s diagnosis, vv. 10-23 the prescription for healing, and vv. 24-31 the national prognosis.

Pray and Read:  Isaiah 1:1-20

Key Truth: Isaiah wrote Isaiah 1:1-20 to teach Israel the recklessness, the deceptive religiousness, and the remedy for rebellion.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about the foolishness of persisting in sin.

Sermon Points:

1. The Recklessness of our Rebellion (Isaiah 1:1-9)
2. The Religiousness of our Rebellion (Isaiah 1:10-15)
3. The Remedy for our Rebellion (Isaiah 1:16-20)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   THE RECKLESSNESS OF OUR REBELLION (Isaiah 1:1-9).

a.   1:1 – little is known of Isaiah, but his striking literary gifts suggest upper class birth and education. His career spanned the reigns of Uzziah/Azariaiah (2 Kings 15:1-7; 2 Chron. 26:1-23), Jotham (2 Kings 15:32-38; 2 Chron. 27:1-9), Ahaz (2 Kings 16:1-20; 2 Chron. 28:1-27) and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:1-20:21; 2 Chron. 29:1-32:33).

b.   1:2 – The Lord issues a formal indictment of Judah, calling heaven and earth as witness to his charges against the rebellious nation. The same thing was done when God made his covenant with Israel (Deuteronomy 4:26).

c.   1:4 – Holy One of Israel – a key phrase in the whole book. He does not inflict punishment on his people for his own amusement. He does it to bring us to repentance in order to prevent punishing them for eternity.

d.   1:5-6 – Isaiah pictures Judah as a sick nation

e.   1:8 – The daughter of Zion is a personification of Jerusalem the city. It is associated with the Davidic covenant of kingship ordained by God. The shelter in a vineyard is an image of desolation: the hut of the watchmen who kept away the birds later abandoned in every other season. So Jerusalem is portrayed as vacant and deserted with nothing left to protect.

f.    1:9 – Suddenly God’s indictment is met with a human response. The emphasis is on the total destruction similar to the wicked Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:20-19:29).

g.   APPLICATION: We are a nation extremely and universally sinful. We are loaded down with every species of iniquity. We are a crowd of evil-doers. All ranks of men and women among us are depraved. Our transgressions are excessive. We don’t just corrupt ourselves, we corrupt others as well. Vile as we are, Christ died for us, and his death avails even for the worst of sinners. If we will just rely simply on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and plead his merits at the throne of grace, then if heaven and earth testify against us for our eternal condemnation and the Devil himself stands up against us to accuse us before our faces to the Father, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ will be our divine protector, so that our offended God will be satisfied forever and receive us into his glory with joy.

2.   THE RELIGIOUSNESS OF OUR REBELLION  (Isaiah 1:10-15).

1. 1:12 – “Trampling the courts” like a herd of animals. Mindless and muddying. Religion without righteousness and ritual without commitment remain disgusting to God then and today.
2. 1:15 – Spreading hands in prayer: with arms raised and palms open up (2 Chronicles 6:12). Since they loved sin more than God, God must refuse to heed their prayers. “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalm 66:18). “Your hands” – “As for your hands, with blood they are full.” Full with violence as murderers (1:21); 2 Chron. 24:21; Matt. 23:34-35). This blood blocks intercessor for a nation.
3. The religious might reply: “How can you complain about us? We do our religious duty. We serve God with zeal. We offer the best kind of sacrifices with great reverence. How dare you judge my heart? We do a lot and give a lot to support you and this church, buddy. Watch your mouth. We’ll be watching you to see where you fail. You might step on our toes, but be assured we will smash your feet.” They wouldn't say it? It has been said to me.

4. APPLICATION: Religious activity with no heart change is no good. There is a huge disconnect with this in many Christian people. Religious activity can fool some people, but God can see through hypocrisy. What he requires is not religious ritual but a sanctified, holy life, demonstrated in love for one’s neighbor. This love must be shown in our economic and political behavior beyond simply religious behavior.

5. We are a crowd of self-righteous formalists who are so proud of our own level of spirituality. We imagine ourselves so spiritually mature. We complain if the service does not go like our expectations dictate. Some of us seem to have spent our very lives in showing up to keep a pew warm to hear and critique poor sermons, giving hugely to our church’s building program, or demonstrating our talents at prayer, but ignoring those widows and kids in need.

6. We leave church so holy and impressed with ourselves and go to eat in a restaurant and get up and leave the waitress (who is a struggling single mom) nothing in gratuity, but we make sure we leave a gospel tract for her to get saved. Then we curse our spouse on the way home for the way they drive. And we watch a filthy movie before we go to bed. Or we might have a few drinks in the warm evening and let things burn a little out of control with the boyfriend or girlfriend, but it was OK because we used “protection.”

7. Then we get up on Monday morning for a week of ripping the financial rug out from people too poor to pay. We are uncharitable toward those with whom we differ. We smart off in insolence at our supervisors and teachers. We cruise by that porn site again for a few moments. (BTW- Did you know that pornographers have found that their internet volume drops significantly one time a week – Sunday mornings between 10 and 12? Begs the question, so where is that added volume coming from?)

8. We demand to be first and cut our shopping cart in front, being haughty toward that man with little education and a poor command of English from a Latin American country. Then we deem it the cashier’s fault when she forgets to charge you for everything and you credit the Lord’s blessing for your shoplifting. Hypocrite!

9. A poor, dirty, ignorant sinner is one thing, but a Bible-believing, Bible-toting, Bible-quoting church-attender who acts like this is a stench to the Lord. More than anything, that person needs to ask the Lord for the grace of repentance. At the end of this service today, there will be an opportunity to come to this altar and take a few minutes of prayer and speak to the Lord about your heart and ask His forgiveness and like the old folks used to say, “Get right with God.”

10. Matthew 7:22-24: ²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

3.   THE REMEDY FOR OUR REBELLION (Isaiah 1:16-20)

a.   1:16 – Wash yourselves, clean yourselves: Keil & Deilitzsch: There is a difference between the two synonyms (to wash one's self, to clean one's self), the first refers to the one great act of repentance on the part of a man who is turning to God, the second to the daily repentance of one who has so turned (James 4:8).

b. Israel is not called to “do something.” You do not have to “get right” before God will hear – actually you can’t get right on your own. Simply stop and trust God. The only one who can wash away the blood of violence is Christ.

c.   ILLUSTRATION: Remember Jesus washing the disciples’ feet (John 13)? Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet until Jesus said that until he washed Peter, he would not be saved. Then Peter exclaimed, Then wash my head and hands as well. Jesus answered that they were already clean (i.e., Jesus has already done the work of faith in their hearts), but that they only needed their feet washed (from their daily activity in the world of sin.)

d.   1:17 – Five admonitions relating to the practice of what is good: “Learn to do good, attend to judgment, set the oppressor right, do justice to the orphan, conduct the cause of the widow” (James 1:26-27). The first admonition lays the foundation for the rest. God has rejected all their religious activity because they do not live it out in justice and care for the underprivileged, a constant theme of the 8^th century prophets (Hosea 6:6-10; Amos 4:1-5; Micah 3:9ff).

e.   1:18 – “Even though your sins were as scarlet, like the snow they shall become white. Even though they are real as crimson, as wool they shall be.”

f.    1:18 – “Come now” – an invitation to discuss the accusation and “reason together” – to submit to God’s dictates. “Even though your sins were as scarlet” -- Scarlet and crimson were red shades made from the crushed body of an worm/insect. Isaiah chose the image not only because of the color (see the parallel with blood in v. 15?) but also because this dye was the hardest fixed dye and would not come out of cloth. Isaiah says God can do the impossible and cleanse sinners, even though the stain of sin is fixed as firmly as crimson in the sinner’s soul. There is a choice. Jerusalem and Judah can be freed from their sins if they choose willing obedience. Otherwise, warfare will continue.

g.   Other examples of red being used to indicate sin and cleansing. Red heifer; scarlet wool tied around bird and scapegoat (Leviticus). Matthew 17:4; Revelation 19:8.

h.   v. 19 – “If you are willing and obedient” – Just as Moses in Deuteronomy 28 placed before Israel life and death, so does Isaiah.

9. APPLICATION: Here’s the remedy for rebellion. First, Isaiah says you must wash yourselves, that is, you must renounce the sins that you have become accustomed to. Whatever it is, whether anger and passion or discontent and envy, or lewdness and impurity, or laziness and idleness, or covetousness, or conceit and vanity, or skepticism, or infidelity, or unbelieving fears, whatever they may be. So first we must repent, turn away from our sin, renounce it, and walk away from it.

10. Second, you must receive the grace and hope of the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord. Christianity is not about moralism, doing things right. It is about Jesus, the Holy One of Israel who makes you right. He makes you righteous. He and only He will cleanse your crimson, sin-stained soul and make it white as snow.

Invitation:

Would you submit your life to Him today? Would you come and receive eternal life today? Would you come and pray at this altar today and get right with God?

Sources:

Tokombo Adeyemo, Africa Bible Commentary, 810-1.

J.A. Alexander, Commentary on Isaiah, 19-21, 28-30.

F.F. Bruce, ed., International Bible Commentary, 720.

G. Buchanan Gray, ICC: Isaiah, 1:22-31.

Keil and Deilitzch, Isaiah

Lange, J.P. The Prophet Isaiah, 29-31, 39-44.

Lawrence Richards, The Bible Reader’s Companion, 408-12.

Charles Simeon, Horae Homileticae, 5:223-234.

Walton, John H., IVP Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament, 584-6.

Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah

I will rise

Christ Fellowship sings Chris Tomlin's worship song, I will rise. (Click the title if you do not see a video box.)

John Newton on being yielded

"'What Thou wilt, when Thou wilt, how Thou wilt.' I had rather speak these three sentences from my heart in my mother tongue than be master of all the languages in Europe."    

--- John Newton, former British slave ship captain, later Anglican clergyman, abolitionist, and writer of the hymn, Amazing Grace, wrote this statement in a letter on April 23, 1779.

Mending a broken church relationship

Have you ever been hurt by the church? Stephen Mansfield offered some advice this past Good Friday, April 2, 2010. (Click the title if you don't see a video box.)

Repentance: Considering my ways

Scriptures: Psalm 80:18-19; 85:6; 119:59; Lamentations 3:40; Habakkuk 3:2; Hosea 6:1-2; 14:4-5

We only pray for revival when we see the need for it. “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart” (Proverbs 21:2). What would the Lord see if he weighed our hearts? Would he say to us as he said to Belshazzar, “You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting” (Daniel 5:27)?

Repentance is the forerunner of genuine revival. John the Baptizer was the forerunner of Christ, and what was his message? Repentance. Let’s ask ourselves a sober and pointed question: Is my life directed toward the reviving presence of God? Can you say, “I have considered my ways, and I ask You, Lord, to search me through and through. Please have mercy, hear my prayer, and lead me in your way which is everlasting.”

• Is Christ your Lord? Does he control your life and your decisions? Does anything or anyone hold first place in your life ahead of Him?
• Is knowing Christ intimately the priority of your life? Is He the source of your joy? Do you want your communion with Him to be at least equal to your knowledge of the Bible’s facts? Is Psalm 73:25-26 your life message?
• Are you seeking Christ? Do you seek Him in His Word, or do you just read the Bible out of habit? Can you say that you love Him more and know him better today than at any other time in your life?
• Is prayer vital in your life? Are you desperate for Him to get you where He will do what he wants to do in your life? Is the cry of revival the beat of your heart and subject of your prayers? Do you really want to be changed? Or are you content with where you are with God, just wanting your heart stirred and then be able to turn back to business as usual?
• Do you want to live a holy life? Do you want to obey more quickly today than yesterday? Is there anything the Lord has said to you wherein you have not yet obeyed? Can you indulge in sin without a serious check in your spirit by the Holy Spirit? Do you rationalize your disobedience? Do you make excuses out of convenience, selfishness, expediency, comfort, or rationalization? Do you justify your disobedience with “God understands”? Do you want Christ to create in you a clean heart and a willing spirit? Do you take seriously God’s holy hatred of sin? Are you puffed up with spiritual superiority?
• Is your lifestyle one of praise and worship? Do you long to enjoy a day in His presence, basking in Him? Are you aware of His nearness?
• Do you want Him to teach you Godly wisdom? Do you desire truth in your inmost being? Is your spiritual ambition to be more like Jesus? Are you lukewarm, which the Lord hates? Are you selfish and self-centered, seeking to get your own needs met first? Do you desire the servant-mind of Christ? Do you want Him to deliver you from laziness, selfishness, and lack of discipline in seeking Christ? Do you want the fruit of the Spirit to consistently characterize your life?
• Is prayer a priority for you or a safety valve only for when you are in trouble? Do you know the joy of salvation and close friendship with the Savior? Is God revealing Himself to you through His Word in ways that are increasing your trust in him? Do you desire to be Christ’s disciple, his learner, his follower?
• Do you desire for Christ to be the fountainhead of your heart and conversation? Do you want him to cleanse you of ingratitude, discontent, criticism, judgment, complaining, worldly idle chatter, coarse and unclean talk, and everything unedifying?

A Prayer:

“Touch others through my life this week, Lord. Go ahead of me into my family, neighborhood, and routine contacts. Tune me to your holy promptings as your ambassador.

“Break my heart for everyone I know who does not have eternal life in Jesus. Prompt me and help me obey you to be the messenger of your Good News. Make me a person who is never embarrassed by pointed spiritual discussions anytime, anywhere.

“Teach me the seductiveness of my own comfort, my own things and my own ease. Break my heart over injustice, misery, and need wherever they are found.

“When you are stretching my faith, help me not to complain, whine, or resist you, Lord. Help me learn to depend on you with joy, by faith, because you are trustworthy.

“Show me that person who can be a spiritual friend, who stimulates my pursuit of You, who will hold me accountable to seek You and obey what You are saying to me.

“Cause my life to count for eternity. Cause me to know when what I am doing for You is only wood, hay, and stubble (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

“Glorify Yourself through my life. Amen.”

Based on Sylvia Gunter's Prayer Portions

Some fast talk about Jesus

Click the title if you don't see a video box. Thanks and a shout out to Bette Strickland.

Baptists and Missions: 1800-1845

Part of an ongoing series on Southern Baptist history . . . 

William Carey (1761-1834) (pictured) was a friend of Andrew Fuller in Britain. He was a shoe cobbler, and he had a heart for missions. A short man with an unimpressive appearance, Carey was a poor preacher, so poor that after preaching all summer in the Baptist church in Olney, the congregation refused to recommend him for ordination, but considering his persistence, they reluctantly called him as pastor. He kept his cobbler business and while doing it learned Hebrew, Greek, Dutch, French, Latin, and several other languages. He also liked maps and as he drew them God burdened his heart with the world populations without Christ. It came to consume him.

In 1787 Carey attended the Ministers Fraternal of the Northampton Association, proposed for discussion “Whether the command given the apostles to teach all nations was not binding on all succeeding ministers to the end of the world.” The revered Dr. John Ryland, Sr., retorted, “Sit down young man. You are an enthusiast! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without consulting you or me.” Carey sat down, but missions burned in his heart. He would later in 1792 write the remarkable book, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use means for the Conversion of the Heathen. This book helped charter the modern missionary movement. Carey would later go to India for the rest of his life as a missionary.

Early post-Revolutionary America was seeing profound changes. Morality had hit a major low after the Revolution. Settlers were rushing to the frontier, and in response to prayer, the God sent the Second Great Awakening to America (~1798 – ~1803). Awakening fell on the Presbyterians first, and one of their leaders was James McGready who had been driven from North Carolina to Kentucky, and who returned in 1801 leading revivals. The problem was that the Presbyterians saw so many converts and their leadership structure and polity could not handle the influx of souls. The Baptists and Methodists had a polity to handle the revival, and they ended up with most of the harvest. Out of that revival came a hunger for international missions as well.

Three New England Congregationalists (who believed in infant baptism) named Adoniram and Ann Judson (pictured) and Luther Rice[1] (1783-1836) committed to missions in Burma. Because they knew they would have to deal with the Baptist William Carey in India over the issue of baptism, so on their separate voyages they studied their Bibles on baptism to be ready for him, but they found themselves convinced that Carey was right. They needed Scriptural baptism. When they left New England they had been Congregationalists, but when they arrived, they were Biblically convinced Baptists and joined with William Carey.

Now the Judsons and Rice had an integrity issue. They could not be supported by Congregational churches having rejected covenant theology and infant baptism. Therefore, Luther Rice volunteered to return to the United States and raise support for all of them. The Judsons would remain in India and eventually Burma, and Rice promised to return as soon as he could. Rice sailed to America in 1813 to meet with the Philadelphia Association and told them, “If you would have us, we will be your missionaries.” He would never make it back to the mission field.

There was a need for some kind of structure to support American Baptist missionaries, so in May 1814, the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions was formed. It came to be known as the Triennial Convention because it met every three years. From the beginning, regional prejudices would underlie the Convention. First, the distance. The Convention was nearly always held in the North. Transportation was expensive, difficult, and dangerous. Southerners wondered why they met only twice in the South between 1814 and 1844, and even then the convention cities were Baltimore and Richmond. By the 1840s this would become a huge issue.

The second area of contention was the representation on the Mission Board. To be a board member, one had to give $100 per year. When travel costs for the convention were added, it was too expensive for Southerners to be very involved. Therefore, the Triennial Convention was centered in the North, dominated by Northerners, and Northerners dictated the agenda.  

The third problem was how to conduct business in the convention. New England had the town hall tradition which led to a Society Model for funding missions. Societies were directed at one specific need, such as orphan ministry, building a hospital, or funding a missionary family. Membership was based on who donated and how much they gave. 

Southerners had the rural County Court Days tradition where everyone would come to town once a week to meet and transact business. This tradition led to a Convention Model where all activity was done at one time for all ministry needs. Membership was based on geographic representation, so everyone was represented and had a say in where funds were directed.

Luther Rice (silhouetted) kept his word to raise support for the Judsons among Baptist churches along the seaboard and rode thousands of miles raising monies for their mission in Burma. During one 11-month stretch, Rice traveled a total of 9,359 miles -- this coming mostly on horseback. He survived on a salary of $8, paid by the convention. Contributions by Baptists to foreign missions totaled $1,239.29 in 1814, but by 1816 the amount given was $12,236.84 -- almost a tenfold increase. 

His selfless work in preaching and casting the vision for missions transformed Baptists and unified them around the Great Commission and brought scattered churches together as a real, unified convention.

Unfortunately, Rice had a problem with administration, i.e., keeping up with the money he had raised. He was accused of thievery, but no malfeasance was ever found in him. He traveled on a strict budget, showed his expenses, but he would be gone so long that he gave an accounting only every six months. 

The other thing that happened was that in 1821, Luther Rice founded and became president of the Baptist-affiliated Columbian College in D.C., what would become George Washington University. That job entailed raising funds, too, so it got tricky. Who exactly was he raising monies for? When Rice took up an offering in a church, there were questions. Who received that money? The school or the missionaries? Rice found himself in a bind. He was over obligated with no good way to extricate himself.

Last, there was an issue with the perception of his integrity. Rice was so busy raising funds to support missions and the college that he never fulfilled his promise to return to the mission field, even though Ann Judson (pictured) wrote him about it. When Rice made a request to the Triennial Convention's board to return to India, it was turned down because the board wanted him to stay in America to raise funds and cast vision.

Enter Francis Wayland (pictured). He was not happy with Rice and was determined to do something about him. Wayland was a former pastor and now the President of Brown University, a Baptist school in Rhode Island. He worked to remove Rice as a fund raiser for the Triennial Convention. He eventually was successful in separating the Convention from Columbian College, but some questioned whether this was really a battle between two schools for funding. How did Wayland do it? In 1826, he led the Triennial Convention to focus exclusively on foreign mission work, thereby turning the Convention into a Northern-style Society, and then he moved the Board to Boston. Wayland’s action caused a big reaction – the Anti-missionary movement.

The Anti-Missionary Movement

Alexander Campbell (pictured) began as a Presbyterian, then became a Baptist where he became a thorn in the side of Baptists. He wanted to restore the ancient ways, the New Testament pattern. Jesus followers were not Baptists, he said. They were Christians, so he formed the Christian churches, leading many Baptists his way, and that way as Anti-Missionary. The Bible doesn’t say anything about a Convention or a Mission Board, he said. That is not New Testament. Was Paul under a board? No, he was sent out by churches.

Another anti-missionary leader was Daniel Parker was barely literate, having been taught to read by his mother. He was opposed to mission boards and societies, too. They are not in the New Testament. In 1820 in a General Address to the Baptist Society, Parker asked, “How can preachers be anything but preachers?” (i.e., no one should become a missionary). And “What mission board president is in the Bible?” But Parker kept heading into left field. About 1826 developed the heresy of Two-Seedism, a dualist idea that every person is born of the seed of the Woman (and therefore saved) or the seed of the Devil (and born to damnation). He would denounce his Baptist church membership. He becomes a case of “Consider the source.”

One anti-missionary leader stayed in the Baptist Convention named John Taylor. In his early years he had been persecuted as a Baptist in Virginia and moved to Kentucky. In his Thoughts on Missions written at age 69, Taylor said he smelled a New England rat. Who exactly is in control of what we’re doing in missions? You ask for money, he wrote, but there are no mission boards in the New Testament! What are you going to do with that money? Who is going to control it? You people are upsetting the customs of Baptists and committing a serious assault on Baptist traditions, he charged. “I’m not opposed to new institutions, but I am opposed to changing customs and tradition,” he said. Then he went after Luther Rice. “Does Luther Rice really have anyone at all on the mission field? We’re giving them everything we fought for in the Revolution,” he bemoaned. Taylor would set the tone for dissent among Baptists.

---

[1] http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=12973

Is it Conviction or condemnation?

Condemnation is not the same as conviction. Conviction is a sweet gift that leads to repentance and freedom. Condemnation is the demonic counterfeit to conviction and brings a burden (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 7:10).

	Conviction	Condemnation
Source	Holy Spirit	Satan
Focal point	The Cross	Myself
Goal	Victory	Defeat
Based on	Grace	Law (Legalism)
Enters through	Your spirit / heart	Your mind or emotions only
Produces	Spirit-led prayer of Godly repentance	Soulish prayer, carnal response
Results	Forgiveness Freedom Gratitude	Guilt Burden Shame

Ask the Lord to distinguish between the condemnation of the accuser and His work of thorough, holy conviction that brings freedom. Genuine confession and repentance brings freedom and gratitude for God’s mercies. If you find yourself burdened with condemnation, the accuser of the brethren is the source. If you agonize over the same sins that have already been forgiven by the blood of the Lamb, reject the accuser’s lying voice. Read Colossians 2:13-15 aloud to declare that you are cleared and pardoned by the Judge of Righteousness.

Roe of Roe v. Wade is now pro-life

Click the title if you do not see a video box.

Repentance: Clean hands, pure heart

Psalm 24. 

When repentance happens, the Holy Spirit has been at work in conviction. It may come in remorse for sin or avoidance or even anger, but conviction is real.

We do not want the enemy to have a foothold in our lives (Ephesians 4:27; 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; Romans 16:19), because his agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Unconfessed sin is bondage in our lives that can hinder the Holy Spirit’s work in us. Want victory? Ask the Lord what hinders your freedom in Christ. Perhaps something like this, “Father, show me my sins where I have given a foothold to the devil (Ephesians 4:27; Psalm 139:23-24). Help me through repentance to take back that ground. I submit to You, Lord, and resist the devil, and he must flee before You, O Lord (James 4:7-10).” Listen and be obedient to take care of everything standing between you and your Lord’s work in your life.

1.      Confess and repent of unforgiveness and bitterness toward others. Deal with personal offense and bitterness from broken relationships in which you were hurt. Name the people who have wronged or hurt you with rejection, betrayal, abuse, abandonment, those toward whom you have a grudge, people you resent or envy, and those who have sinned against you in any way.

2.      Confess and repent of broken relationships in which you hurt someone else. Look for ways to provide restitution to those you have sinned against.

3.      Confess and repent of actions or patterns of rebellion, insubordination, or stubbornness. Confess the names of people, authority figures, and institutions against which you have rebelled. Include patterns of personal willfulness, defiance, or dishonoring God-ordained authorities. Repent of rebelling against God and sinning against His rightful authority in your life. Ask God to restore the ground in your life that you gave as a foothold to the enemy through your rebellion and submit your life afresh to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

4.      Confess and repent of lies you have believed. Lies and deceptions you may have believed and acted upon may include defense mechanisms like denial, withdrawal, blame, shame, fears of failure, fears of rejection, fears of abandonment, distorted thinking, lying to yourself. Acknowledge your self-deception and the falsehoods you believed. Renounce the father of lies. Ask the Holy Spirit of truth to guide you into the truth that brings freedom (John 8:32).

5.      Confess and repent of areas of pride. Ask the lord to show you what he calls pride in your life (James 4:7). Renounce pride, arrogance, self-sufficiency, independence, unteachable attitudes, selfishness, etc. Humble yourself before the Lord (James 4:10). Ask the Lord to clothe you with humility, to help you submit to others, and to resist your enemy who wants to devour you (1 Peter 5:5-9). Ask the Lord to help you live humbly before Him and others.

6.      Confess and repent of sexual immorality. Ask the Lord’s forgiveness for your sin. Ask the Lord to break unholy soul ties between you and each person by name (1 Corinthians 6:16-18). Destroy all tokens of affection from sinful relationships.

7.      Confess and repent of bondages. Bondages can be formed with people, things, or words. Ask the Lord to show you what relatives, friends, people, hobbies, organizations, occupation, place, or way of life to which you have been too strongly tied. You are too strongly tied to something or someone who has a stronger call on your allegiance than the Lord Jesus does. Confess addictions and vows (“I will never . .  .” or “I will always . . . “ or “No one will ever make me . . . “ or “I will not be like . . . .” or “I will not say . . .”) Confess and repent of the stronghold these  things have had on you. Renounce them and say, “I break your power in my life in Jesus’ name.”

8.      Confess and repent of generational sins and bondages. Ask the Lord to show you sinful traits and behaviors that have plagued your family through the years. Ask the Lord to show you these curses operating in your family line. Renounce organizations that control your allegiance or those in your family by means of secret oaths. Disown these bondages, renounce them, and ask the Holy Spirit to cleanse the iniquity of your ancestors that may be affecting you and your children (Exodus 20:5-6; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9-10; 28:15-45). Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you and be glorified in your life and in your family.

9.      Confess and repent of involvement in the occult, cults, and false religions. Renounce by name all involvement in counterfeit spirituality and the works of darkness and repent of your participation. Destroy any tokens or items of allegiance to false gods, false religions, and the kingdom of darkness. Commit to being led by the guidance of the absolute authority of the Word of God, by Jesus who is the only Way, the only Truth, and eternal Life, and by His Holy Spirit of truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17; John 14:6, 17, 16:13; Acts 28:25).