God Has Left The Building - Michael Smith July 28, 2013

Are there times when God after growing a once thriving fellowship departs? Could it be true that He would write Ichabod, “the glory of the Lord has departed,” on the door? Would we even know if God has left if the church service continues in singing, prayers, fellowship, etc. How would we know?

By observing whether or not there is life. Life as described in the dictionary as enthusiasm, vigor, vitality, zest, zeal, lively; all of which can indicate the presence and joy of the Holy Spirit.

For some churches they are devoid of life, “God has left the building” long, long ago!  But some refuse to believe it! They continue following after those who exhibit the same spiritual actions and the same spiritual words of the same spiritual visions that has been exhibited before only now repackaged for the appearance of growth and the seeming NOW presence of God.

None of us would want to be in a church that God has left?  

Yet staying in these churches, instead of leaving, only props them up as a healthy church. Do not be deceived. If we choose to continue in these Ichabod churches, we will physically grow older while spiritually remaining stagnate.  From such as these flee. Surely if it was that bad, people would have left, right? Wrong, dead churches have a blind allegiance. For a myriad of reasons they will not leave, familiarity, fear, misplaced loyalty, soul-ties to name a few. Deception is difficult to acknowledge when the one deceived is yourself. It takes a view from the outside looking in with fresh eyes. Eyes not under influence of a dead fellowship with bad leadership.

Remember those who were questioning and warned you, you thought they were crazy, wrong, deceived, and the leadership told you to stay away from them. Go out and find them. Search for the people who were caring enough to warn you before they left. They will probably still be caring. Be aware though, an abusive or deceived leadership of a Ichabod church will do everything it can to discredit them and malign the character of those who left and you as well. If you decide to stay inside the dead church system, you could stay spiritually impotent for a lifetime. 

It is true that whenever someone exposes darkness and subversion inside the Christian establishment, the slander will come against that person. Whenever someone unmasks deceptive ministers along with the evil practices within the local dead church, the hounds will be sent out.

They will show their ferociousness, anything to shut out the Truth and maintain a facade, the lie! 

Those in “church leadership” positions of Ichabod churches, will try to silence anyone who would dare oppose or expose them, that same spirit is still very much alive in many churches today.  

By speaking against the stale dead church it becomes evident very fast just how little interest indeed many of your supposed Christians friends have in God’s Truth. Jesus Christ was hated and despised by most of the religious teachers and spiritual leaders in His day. Do you think that anything has changed regarding this in today’s churches? There will be those who seek to hold you back; those from your family, your church, and those considered friends. 

They will accuse you, slander you and discredit you, your choice to live by God’s Word will reveal enemies and persecution from sources you never dreamed of. You will be mocked and lied about. Especially by those in so-called “positions of church leadership.” This is all that these people know how to do. The very people who are supposedly in the best position to inform their fellowships the truth of a matter, turn out to be the very same people who will destroy and silence you if you allow them.

If they hated Him, they will hate you also. 

WHEN TRUTH BECOMES THE CRIME

When the truth becomes the crime

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff and Geert Wilders

Last Thursday a court in Vienna found lecturer and human rights activist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff guilty of one count of “denigration of religious beliefs of a legally recognized religion” and she was fined the sum of €480. A relatively small sum, but she now has a hate crime conviction against her name.

Sabaditsch-Wolff's crime was to state, at a series of seminars about political Islam, that the Prophet Mohamed had sex with a child, his nine year old wife Aisha. Although acquitted of the more serious charge of inciting racial hatred, she was also convicted of being a “serial offender” despite this being her first offence.

Elizabeth is a regular writer at the Gates of Vienna who have written extensively about her case, links to their various articles can be found here, meanwhile American writer Diana West who runs the Death of the Grown Up blog has addressed the case in a recent posting “Willkomen to the Caliphate”, where she effectively argues that the conviction was in fact on the basis of Sharia law, not European law or what still passes for Austrian law.

It is interesting to note that the court did not find that the defendant had lied, at one point the judge stated that Aisha was 18 but later acknowledged that she had in fact attained that age at the time of Mohamed's death. Indeed the fact that Mohamed married Aisha while she was a child is largely undisputed and accepted as fact by most Islamic scholars. Marriage between an older man and a pre-pubescent girl was not unusual in Islamic culture during the prophet's life and remains so today in some Islamic countries.

The truth of the claim was irrelevant to the court. To convict Sabaditsch-Wolff, it was not necessary to demonstrate her claims were untrue, they were true, but merely to prove, as the court did, that she told a truth which some Muslims found offensive.

This was by no means an isolated case. Also last week French journalist Éric Zemmour was found guilty of incitement to racial hatred after telling a TV chat show that drug dealers were mostly "blacks and Arabs".

Once again, the truth or otherwise of Zemmour's claim was irrelevant to his conviction for he spoke a truth which French law bars him from speaking. It is illegal in France to reveal the race of criminal offenders, or to report rates of ethnic offending, presumably because to do so would be to reveal the truth of Monsieur Zemmour's illegal words.

Meanwhile in Holland it has been announced that the trial against PVV leader Gerrt Wilders for discrimination and inciting hatred will recommence on March 14th. As in the other cases mentioned, the truth or otherwise of Mr Wilders' words will have no bearing on his prosecution, all that matters is that they have offended Muslims and questioned the state dogma of multiculturalism.

Like Sabaditsch-Wolff and Zemmour, Wilders could join the growing group of people convicted of, and punished for, telling the truth.

In Britain, as we all know BNP leader Nick Griffin was subjected to a politically motivated criminal prosecution for making statements which have since been proven to be true. Mr. Griffin's claims that gangs of Muslim paedophiles have been grooming white girls for sex, have been echoed by ex-Justice secretary Jack Straw, and confirmed by various journalists and leading police officers. However, as Judge Norman Jones informed Nick Griffin at his trial, that he was telling the truth was no defence against race hate charges.

Indeed, had it not been for the wisdom of a jury, who acquitted Griffin against the judge's advice, he would have gone to prison for the New World Order offence of telling the truth.

In fact the situation is worse than the judge implied, Judge Jones understated the truth, for we in Europe have gone beyond the point where the truth is merely no defence against race hate charges, the truth itself is now the crime.

The mad Orwellian creed of multiculturalism, which our rulers have imposed upon us has produced a reality where, when addressing the subject of race and religion the only act left to us, which is legal and permissible, is to lie.

http://sarahmaidofalbion.blogspot.com

The Usual Suspects – A Line-up

The Usual Suspects – A Line-up

So let me make sure I understand. First Baptist Church of Glenarden on the Kettering (FBCGotK) is showing an “award-winning film” in two weeks. The “award-winning film” will feature what FBCGotK describes as “some of the most influential pastors, bishops and ministers in the United States.” Remember, nothing appears on that web site without the approval of John Kenneth Jenkins, the senior pastor of FBCGotK. Stated another way, if something appears on the site, there is the direct implication that he approves of it.

Take a look at who is appearing in “The Scroll”. More exactly, get a load of who your pastor, John K. Jenkins, is appearing with.

1. T. Dexter Jakes (a Oneness and Word of faith shill who makes a living selling products to hurt and damaged women.)
2. Jeremiah (G. D. America) Wright (a Liberation Theology proponent who thinks Jesus was a community organizer and Che Guevara was his disciple)
3. Shirley Caesar – Pastor. Tell me again what the Bible says about women pastors?

The list of folks in the announcement is bad enough. Look at some of the folks included there.  This is from the FBCGotK site.

Why would your pastor want to appear in the same film (supposedly promoting great faith) with Jeremiah Wright. Wright promotes a Social Gospel that doesn’t even come close to that which the Bible teaches. Rather than seeking to bring folks to Christ, he seeks to drag us into socialism and life that mirrors the miserable lives of those trapped in Cuba. He would make us all be equally miserable with state controlled medicine and a state controlled economy. What does this mean? Try to imagine the State Motor Vehicles Department running every aspect of your life.  And it’s not as though John K. Jenkins doesn’t know the fellow is in the film.  It’s right there on the web page.

T. Dexter, who by the way is your pastor’s mentor, is a Oneness fellow who doesn’t have the guts to stand on his beliefs and instead stands on his popularity, and his ability to draw a crowd stupid enough to throw money in his direction, over and over again.

The others on the list – certainly not consistent with Baptist doctrine (You know First BAPTISTChurch of Glenarden). However, compared to some of the folks not mentioned in the Church announcement they are the epitome of orthodoxy. Even T. Dexter.

What the announcement at FBCGotK doesn’t tell you is that the following people will also be included in the “award-winning film.”

1. Eddie (I’m rather fond of younger men) Long
2. Frederick(Jesus Committed Suicide) Price
3. Tudor (Yes, my wife is a prophet) Bismark
4. Donald (I Got John Started) Hilliard
5. Vashti (Yes, I’m a woman, but I’m going to be a bishop anyway) McKenzie
6. Al (Forget About Tawana Brawley, Please) Sharpton
7. Noel (The Weasel) Jones
8. Kenneth (New Thing but Nothing in the Bible) Ulmer

As if this is something to be proud of, John K. Jenkins, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Glenarden on the Kettering, has allowed himself to included in the Bizzaro version of the Hall of Faith – the Hall of Fakes.

Let’s go with the low hanging fruit here.

What has Al Sharpton to do with faith, Jesus Christ, and Holiness? Nothing. It’s generally apparent he worships the CNBC hosts, not the Lord of Hosts. He is what one might call a poverty pimp who occasionally presents himself as a pulpit pimp. But clearly he makes more money keeping the general Black population dependent on Government charity.

Then we have Eddie Long. Eddie Long!?!? Do we even need to say anything here? The man was accused of pressuring several young men into a sexual relationship with him. At least Fast Eddie had the good sense to make sure the young men were at least 18 years of age. How can you say this guy is an inspiration? An inspiration for what?

The rest of the list is, in fact, a list of the usual suspects. It’s the usual list of men and women who seek to deceive the body of Christ, taking advantage of those who don’t know their Bibles well enough to know they should avoid these characters.

You would think that John would know that bad company creates poor morals (1 Cor 15:33). In other words, if you lay down with dogs you’re going to get up with fleas. Of course if you already havefleas it really doesn’t make any difference if you lay down with the dogs.

And John appears to be more than willing to associate himself with these people. T. Dexter is his mentor. Noel Jones spoke at the grand opening of the Monument, Museum and Mausoleum they call a church building over near Kettering MD. And other theologically questionable people have been involved in activities at the church.

Here’s a challenge for you. Ask John why he is allowing himself to be associated with the likes of Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton, and T. Dexter Jakes. And see if he actually gives you an answer or if he tries to blow smoke by trying to cast doubt on my character. If he tries to call my motives into question, you’ll know he has no sufficient response to your question. If you have the ‘nads, press for an answer to the question.

But wait a minute. You probably can’t get to him (except maybe at the end of one of his milktoast sermons). So tell you what, ask one of the Elders or Deacons (try Stan Featherstone or Deacon Grant for starters) to answer the question. What do THEY think about the fact that the pastor is associating with the like of the men and women in the film? Why is he allowing his name to be associated with them? And why does he bring some of them in to speak to the congregation?

EVIL REPORT ~ Michael Smith 10.19.2014

When the people of God came up to a land of decision called Canaan they were confronted with an opportunity to believe God and trust the outcome to Him for their victory or they could believe a lie and miss the future blessings prepared for them. 

As they investigated the land two different stories or versions of what transpired in Canaan emerged. Something was different between the two. One was the truth the other was a twisting of the truth in order to sway the congregation to accept it as the truth. Out of twelve who spied out the land the majority of ten opposed the truth of the two and influenced the congregation with its destiny.

The congregation chose to believe the explanation of Canaan by the majority of ten rather than the minority of two. God called it an evil report. Because these chose to accept the majority report of the ten they spent the remaining years stuck in the same endless routine of circling a mountain of nowhere. 

Did the ten have influence more than the two? Did they have some level of maturity or were they more seasoned with the people that their words were accepted as truth rather  than Joshua’s and Caleb? Scriptures bears out the minority of two were the correct ones in their description of events in Canaan. Today we read the story with the advantage of hindsight seeing the obvious blunder by the congregation, but what if we were subject to that scenario today? Would we be any different? Sadly not, many today chose untruths over truthful versions of events more often than not. 

Imagine the family members, relatives and good friends of that congregation that were forever separated due to the choice of the people believing the majority version rather than the truth of Joshua and Caleb.

Sure the people acted in fear but their decision was based in an evil report (untruth) concerning what happened in Canaan. They doubted their God, Joshua and Caleb’s declaration and version that the giants were able to be overcome.

Amazing how those task with leading a people can resort to past patterns of safety rather than risk it all on God and His ability to fulfill His promises. They are called to lead yet remain non-involved, visionless and passive. By their actions (fruit) they declare it is better to be safe and not risk. They did not enter His rest (Canaan) due to unbelief and disobedience. Lack of faith; the very thing that displeases God. The ten chose to point the finger at Joshua and Caleb for their sudden newfound dilemma confronting them. In so doing encumbering those they lead into a lifeless existence where things never change including they're clothing or food until they die off having never experienced the victory God had for them. Condemned to miss the bounty of Canaan.

See, I Told You So - Pulpit Pimps

Not to quote one of my favorite conservative commentators, but: “See, I told you so.”
I told you Mr. Obama, our president, is anti-Christian. I told you that Mr. Obama, our president, is the most aggressively pro-abortion president we have ever had. I told you that Mr. Obama is the most aggressively pro-LGBT president we have ever had. But you sheeple out there, the ones who claim to be obedient and mature Christians pooh-poohed the idea. You said “No Melvin. Mr. Obama is a Christian. He’s a man of God. He is going to work for us (“us” being Black people)”. I’ll save the litany of his actions that have done just the opposite for a later article.
I warned you that Mr. Obama and his fellow progressives are going to make it very difficult for the Christian to exercise his or her conscience. You pooh-poohed that as well. But a week ago (21 January 2013), Mr. Obama, our president, on an international stage, put the force of the Presidency behind the idea that they way you choose to have sex is as immutable as skin color and gender. Homosexual practices, according to Mr. Obama, our president, should have the full protection of the law.
The citizens of Maryland (dumbed down by the education system and easily duped by the proponents of equating homosexual liaisons with marriage) have already placed homosexuality on the same footing as heterosexuality. It’s not going to be too long before parents will be accused of teaching bigotry and hate if the parents teach their children that homosexuality is a sin, just like adultery, stealing, and lying. Attempts to shame the parents and the children will increase. They will be treated like people who make racist comments.
Get ready for the pressure to start against orthodox churches. Your pastor preaches that homosexuality is a sin? Expect the government to pay them a visit and discuss their tax exempt standing. Your church gets funding from outside sources? Expect them to go away as homosexual activists protest against the companies contributing money. Remember, the Susan Kommen organization got hot oil poured on them just for contributing to a pro-life organization. And who could ignore the attempt at filleting Chick-Fil-A? You think your contributors will be any less a target to these ideological Terminators?
You professing Christians who have been exercising what at best could be called “easy believism” are about to experience at least a taste of what Christians have been experiencing outside the border of the United States. More and more often, you are going to have to decide which is more important: dull, boring doctrine and all that goes with it, or skin color, tradition, and cheap theatrics.
Our nation has, over the last forty years, killed fifty million (50,000,000) babies. That’s more than the populations of many countries. Currently, we are in the process of killing almost eight hundred thousand (800,000) babies a year. And, just as a note to you Afro-centric Christians, the ones who have pictures of Malcolm X, Mandella, and others on prominent display in your sanctuaries, almost half of those babies are Black. Let me put that in clearer terms – every year, Planned Parenthood facilitates the destruction of four hundred thousand (400,000) Black babies. Mr. Obama, our president, has made sure that Planned Parenthood, the folks who have facilitated the killing of 400,000 Black babies a year, continues to get funding from the federal government. Yet many of you Black Christians, enamored by the idea of a Black president, have voted a second time to put this man in office. Margaret Sanger would be pleased at how well the garden is being weeded by the weeds themselves.
Times are getting tough. They will continue to get tougher. And when the federal or state or local government comes knocking on your door to shut you down and shut you up, you will have only yourselves to blame. And you won’t even have Jesus Christ to comfort you. You kicked Him out of your church a long, long time ago

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