Saturday, November 26, 2016

What Caused Society's Moral Decline?

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

Pastor Chris "Fighting for the Faith" Rosebrough presented a lecture that I used as a springboard for this article.

First, some background on the spiritual condition. Western society has never had morality that we can be proud of, since it has been in a decline for quite a spell. And it's getting worse. Increasing violence, sexual immorality, atheism and other false religions, mental illness, abortion, defamation, lying, corruption at many levels, and so much more. How did we get in such a state?

There are two related causes for the decline in morality in today's society. Whose fault is that?
Image credit: David Castillo Dominici /
The simple answer is sin, which began in Eden. It escalated (Gen. 6:5) and God judged the world with the Great Flood (Gen 7:23). It didn't take long for man's sinful nature to rear it's ugly head afterward, but God promised never to flood the entire world again (Gen. 9:14-15). Don't think we're getting out of this easily, because the next Judgement will be by fire (2 Peter 3:7) and we will all have to give an account of ourselves before God (Rom. 14:10-12).

A good part of the morality problem is because the church as a whole has been compromising on biblical standards, accepting naturalistic evolutionary views, and normalizing sinful activities. In the 18th century, a thing called "higher criticism" became accepted: although the Bible describes miracles as historical events, they became allegorized and "demythologized". Jesus rose from the dead? Nope, it means he rises in our hearts and gives us a new dawn. The Israelites crossed the Red Sea? Wrong again, it was a swampy region that wasn't all that deep (although how the Egyptian army drowned in a few inches of water is not explained by liberals). And so on, ad nauseum.

Now we get to take a fork in the trail and ride on toward science beliefs.

Science thrives in a Christian environment. Unfortunately, Christians began ceding science to materialists, like we did with theology. In the 1830s, Charles Lyell wrote Principles of Geology, and wanted to "free science from Moses", presenting geology to philosophical and methodological naturalism (which includes long ages). His work was an expansion of James Hutton's naturalistic views in the 16th century. Lyell influenced backslidden theology student Charles Darwin, who wrote On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, which was published in 1859. In 1871, Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, as well as other works over the years. 

At first, Darwin's conjectures were met with rejection and often hostility, but people eventually settled down and began accepting long ages as well as one form of evolution or another; people who wanted excuses to reject God and appear intellectual were happy. Some professing Christians wanted to accommodate the current man-made science philosophies but still have a veneer of Bible belief, so they came up with the "Gap Theory", "Framework Hypothesis", and other untenable compromises.

Many of these compromises against the Word of God is based on faith in science and scientists. Somehow, people have bowed to the altar of Scientism, believing that empirical science is the way to truth, and that "science" will provide the answers to various problems. People also tend to think that scientists are bastions of integrity, and are free of personal biases. Not hardly! There are many instances of flawed peer review, plagiarism, bad scientific research, and outright fraud in the scientific community (both past and present). Here are some slightly edited comments I received while taking notes for this article:
When I was a public school teacher and a bachelor, I shared a house with another bachelor teacher who taught biology at the same school. He was a Quaker and believed in Theistic Evolution. When confronted with Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man, etc., he would dismiss these as isolated incidents of fraud. When I gave causes for motivation for fraud similar to those cited in this article [I was given a link to "Why the epidemic of fraud exists in science today"], including man's sin nature, my friend would say "But they (scientists) just wouldn't do that!" He blindly believed in the moral and professional integrity of ALL scientists, except for perhaps YECS.
You may have noticed atheists' smug disdain toward the Bible heats up when it comes to the question of origins. The religion of atheism needs evolution to be their mythology of beginnings, and they fight with all they have to destroy the truth. A serious problem is that far too many Christians do not take a stand for the truth, or even know the contents of the Bible that they claim to believe! Then Christians are deceived by intellectual-sounding arguments from poor atheist philosophers like C. Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye the Propaganda Guy, and other tinhorns. 

Science, history, archaeology, logic, and a passel of other things support the truth of Scripture, but our faith is not based on current science trends. If your faith is based on scientific "facts" (which are frequently just speculations presented as science), where is your faith when those "facts" change? Let me give you something that applies to both morality and science: the so-called "gay gene". They were "born that way", so we have to let them have their immoral and rebellious lifestyles. Surprise! There is no "gay gene". Deviant-sexuality advocates are actually protesting! Seems to be the current trend to protest to try and change reality. One other point about false science and morality: evolution is used to justify abortion.

Bible-believing Christians are persecuted, including harassment, ridicule, and bullying. In some countries, our brothers and sisters in Christ are tortured and murdered for their faith, and that is coming West. Again I say that we need to know what and why we believe, and take our stand so we can be credible and effective in the world. In this pagan evolutionary culture, we would do well to pay attention to Joshua 24:15.

So, take a look-see. We rode a side trail for a spell, and ended up on the same one we started with. Both liberal "Christians" and atheists reject the authority of God's Word. There are theistic evolutionists who join hands with atheists in ridiculing biblical creationists, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a TE that doesn't act like an intolerant atheist. Lackadaisical professing Christians argue from materialistic, God-denying presuppositions. Our presupposition should be that the Bible really is God's Word, and is true from the very first verse. By letting trends of worldly society run rampant, letting atheistic interpretations of science underpin morality, and compromising on the Bible, we're equipping the enemies of Christ.

Morality and faith were compromised years ago because of intellectual-sounding philosophies from liberal theologians, and people also accommodated atheistic interpretations of science. These trends are accelerating. Now, even though liars for Darwin will call biblical creationists "science deniers" (based on the fallacy of equivocating evolution with science), they can still be given the truth. That is, if we truly believe the Bible. Are we willing to follow the commands of Jesus to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins and make disciples, or are we going to just float downstream?

If you'd like to hear the powerful lecture that tripped my trigger to write this, you can listen or download for free Chris Rosebrough's "Two Kingdoms The Church's Role in the Moral Decline of Society".

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Fresh Words from God

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen

We need something new. That Bible on the shelf (or wherever it is, I can't find mine) is tired and old. Fortunately, we have apostles that are busy anointing other apostles, and they are proclaiming direct revelations from God! I can be blessed, especially if I make seed offerings to their ministries. Praise the Lord! It's all about me, God needs me to fulfill my dreams, the Holy Spirit can't function without me, God wants me to meet all my material needs and desires, and maybe I, too, will be told by an angel to preach "Kingdom Power". I'm so special, I don't know how he made it so long without me.

Christians are ignorant of what we're supposed to believe and are functional heretics. Worse, we uphold false teachers because we will not - or CAN not - use biblical discernment.

Well, isn't that the kind of thing people are saying? Christians have turned into a bunch of biblically illiterate selfish owlhoots. We have enough problems of alleged "former Christians" who have rejected God and claimed he doesn't even exist (or God is evil) because he's not a magic wish-granting genie that jumps through hoops and is not at their beck and call. Then some professing Christians treat our sovereign Creator the same way! Say a formula and demand that God gives them what they want. God is holy and just, old son, not your errand boy, savvy?

It's amazing that we have false teachers in pulpits, television, the Web, and so on that are being applauded for saying nonsense when people should be walking out on them. Can't be biblically judging a false teacher because "I don't want to miss out on a blessing". Such "theology" is feckless and fearful, and people like that need to repent.

Many professing Christians are actually functional heretics as seen in a survey of Americans. I think it's well established that spiritual trends happening on this continent have already been established in Europe, and to a greater extent. People are not exercising healthy skepticism. The Bereans checked the teachings of Paul and Silas to see if they were supported by Scripture (Acts 17:11). Likewise, when I was a theologically liberal and ignorant teenager, a Fundamentalist would say something about the Bible, and I'd want to know if he could back up what he said. Today, we have people who are ignorant of the Bible that they claim to believe, and accepting false teachings because those folks stoke egos very well (2 Tim 4:3). Pay attention, also, to how those "teachers" claim to speak for God through the Holy Spirit, but glorify themselves instead of Jesus (John 16:14).

God made it clear how to know that he sent a real prophet (Deut 13:1-4 and 18:20-22, Isaiah 8:20, Matt. 7:20) Many self-appointed "prophets" are frequently wrong and self-serving, in the style of Mormon false prophet Joseph Smith. Political "prophesies" are abundant. Opal Covey ran for mayor of Toledo, Ohio five times, and lost every time even though she was "told by God" that she would win. When she lost, she said she really won, but the election was stolen from her. (False prophet blaming others, and God cannot keep his promises, it seems.) William Tapley and Vonda Brewer are off the rails: Tapley says Donald Trump is the Bible's "777", and Brewer prophesied a terrorist attack on Election Day (she also said God told her Trump would be discarded by the Republicans). I saw people posting on Facebook that Donald Trump would win, and there was an utterance that God said the next president would "be a Senator". Not difficult to claim such things are prophesies, and when they go wrong, oh well, move on and do it again since professing Christians who follow them do not use discernment.

One of the things I've emphasized in both creation science and theology is definitions. For example, the word evolution has several definitions. Some people will say that "change in allele frequencies" is evolution, therefore, muck-to-mocker evolution is true. Not hardly! The "change in allele frequencies" thing is accepted by creationists and has nothing to do with evolution.

Similarly, people who promote the "sign gifts" (tongues, prophesy, and the like) deal from the bottom of the deck when giving proof texts and definitions of their views. Dr. Michael Brown dismissed the clear teachings regarding false prophets, saying those people are not false prophets, but instead, prophesied falsely. Besides, we're not ancient Israel, so those rules about false prophets always being right don't apply today (similar to arguments used to redefine marriage and sexual morality today). What is with this guy? He has the arrogance to change clear teachings of Scripture? A bit of that healthy skepticism should have people ask, "Where did God change the rules on prophesy, according to Scripture? Are Hebrews 13:8 and Isaiah 40:8 irrelevant now?"  

Once again, if people knew and believed the Bible, they'd leave these false teachers in droves. I think it's a sign of the end times that people are abandoning the faith and following liars (Matt. 24:10-11, 1 Tim. 4:1-2) instead of exposing them (Matt. 7:15-16, Rom. 16:17, Titus 1:9 and 1:13, Eph. 5:11-13, 2 Thess. 3:6, 2 Cor. 11:13-15).

To hear more about Dr. Brown's compromises and affirmations of sidewinders, I refer you to this podcast and passel of supporting links from Pirate Christian Radio.

Time is short, and we have work to do. We cannot be biblically illiterate, vague on the essentials of the faith, compromising, or condoning false teachers. Bible-believing Christians must saddle up and ride for the brand — the Word of God — and not go following other trails to those who do not believe the Word, and seek glory for themselves instead of Jesus.


Thursday, November 17, 2016

Another Challenge for Christians

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen



What are you putting in your mind?

Image credit: Pixabay / johnhain







Saturday, November 12, 2016

Challenges for Christians

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen


Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Larch






Saturday, November 5, 2016

Is God Foolish?

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen


Image credit: Morguefile / Plume





Thursday, November 3, 2016

Rewriting the Ten Commandments for Today

Ever since God gave the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17), people have been a mite cranky about them. The Israelites broke them, and everyone else has been happy to oblige in breaking them as well (which is one reason taking people through the Ten Commandments is a powerful witnessing tool). They've been around for a few thousand years, and have been making people mighty uncomfortable.

For some people in this pagan evolutionary culture, the Ten Commandments aren't good enough. Some have tried to rewrite them.
Ten Commandments Monument in Austin, Texas image credit: J. Williams
Some folks have tried to rewrite them, including Clinton Richard Dawkins (who does not even keep number eight). It's not like there's anything wrong with them — except to misotheists and liberal culture revisionists who mock the authority of God's Word. We're in a pagan evolutionary culture, and the Commandments make for a hostile environment.

Some yahoos at Seeker dot com decided to replace the Ten Commandments with their own rules for the "good person" (defining "good" by their own subjective opinions), which would be right at home in a modern Bible-denying church, I reckon. For a discussion of Seeker's spurious version compared to the truth, click on "Do the Ten Commandments Need a Modern Update?" Unless, of course, you need to run to your safe space.