What SHOULD YOU GIVE UP FOR LENT? Lent itself and Easter............

Is your church one of the ones planning on a big turn out the next two weekends? Are your pews normally empty except for weddings, funerals, Easter and Christmas?

If so then perhaps you should close the doors on Easter Sunday. you will do the C&Es more good than harm.  A church should not want to be open on a pagan holiday to begin with.

But lo we will be reveling in full pews, remembering when every Sunday was a full church. Why bother now? The C&Es will not be back until Christmas Eve anyway. Like a long lost friend that shows up just to say goodbye at your funeral.......................why bother?

There is nothing scriptural about Easter. To think that Christ arose April 20th one year and March 21st another should be enough to sound alarms. Dig a little deeper and you will find Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. I am having a hard time finding this in the New Testament.

The Resurrection is something to celebrate EVERY DAY not just one Sunday each year. 

Even About.coms Atheist/Agnostic page acknowledges the pagan origins and customs 

LENT IS NOT BIBLICAL EITHER

According to the website of The Restored Church of God Lent is another Pagan practice;
(I make no claim about the teachings of this church just citing reference for Easter and Lent)

"Since there is no instruction to observe Lent in the Bible, where did it come from? A forty-day abstinence period was anciently observed in honor of the pagan gods Osiris, Adonis and Tammuz"

Pastor at Episcopal Church Says Divorce and Re-Marry is OK.............."rules change" He Says

Where in the Bible does it say the Word of God changes with the times? Has not God said he "God hates divorce" (Malachi 2:16) And even when divorce is allowed under very strict terms it is still a broken vow given before God. Sometimes for better or worse becomes so bad that due to adultery or non believing spouse it is allowed but so frowned upon that it comes with strict rules.

Christ puts it this way...." But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

Luke 16:18: Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery.

It does not get any clearer than that.

However Reverend Chuck Kramer  of the Hyde Park Episcopal Church thinks differently. He says in The Hudson Valley News (week of 10/9/13) that we now allow divorce and remarry......rules change!

Sorry Pastor no such verse in my Bible..................................

One more example of false teaching from a mainline denomination

Christmas Just A Pagan Tradition Gone Wild

Early Christians wanted to convert pagansbut they were also fascinated by their traditions.

"Christians of that period are quite interested in paganism," he said. "It's obviously something they think is a bad thing, but it's also something they think is worth remembering. It's what their ancestors did."

The Christmas tree is a 17th-century German invention the tinsel garland is actually a depiction of serpents coiling around the tree and the beautiful glass balls actually are derived from shrunken head traditions

Today's Santa Claus is really descendant of Medieval England's Father Christmas, who was not distributing gifts but just a pagan spirit flying through mid winter skies.

Despite the spreading of The Gospels and Faith pagan festivals were slow to become what we know as Christmas centuries. The Bible gives no date as  to when Jesus was born, which wasn't a problem for early Christians so they could just add His birth to any Pagan ritual if they so chose Puritans hated Christmas  even early Protestants considered it paganism

 Christmas and other saints' feats  days  so important to the PAGAN Catholic  church were banned. In New England it was illegal to celebrate Christmas

in the 1600's,. Forget people saying, "Happy holidays" or  "Merry Christmas," he said.

If your church puts up a Christmas tree it is time to find a new church!

Science: Biggest False Teacher Sets End of World Date

It is not only false teachers who hold degrees in theology but also science itself we need to worry about.
Scientists have somehow come up with a date the world will end. This accordring to Testing.com a techie sci-fi blog of sorts.

And of course it goes contrary to the words of Christs who said...No man knows the day....I come like a thief in the night.

The "expert" on such theory is Andrew Rushby and an article published in the fiction publication Astrobiology.

So there you have it false teachers are everywhere. At least Science attempts to show proof of their beliefs unlike the Michael Hales' of the Worldwide Supernatural Ministry kind who have yet to show me their dead man rising as they pull in to their false realm once biblically  solid churches and pastors

Blessing of The Animals....Another Modern Christian False Teaching

Pastor at our church last night brought up the fact that churches are holding animal blessing ceremonies while the world is on the way to hell..............................

By the way animals have no souls.

The Catholic church rich in idol worship promotes animal blessing.

Another mislead website godtellsus.com uses the Old Testament laws of clean and unclean food to further the cause of animal welfare.

So many seem to forget that the OT was a way to live for the Jews who had not tasted freedom in generations. OT laws have no bearing on Gentiles. 

Chew it Well and Spit Out The Bones Is Not a Safe Way To Learn God's Word

God's word is like meat and meant to fill.
the soul. Leave the bones of the demons to the dogs

Suppose your pastor commented on a sermon, broadcast or other program that contained some controversial doctrine like this: "Ya gotta chew it up well and anything that does not agree is like spitting out the bones from a piece of meat. You gotta get to the meat and throw the bones to the dog". 

At first such reasoning sounds good. Many lessons in life can be worked out this way by finding out what works best for you. Some of these situations may include the best way to drive to Florida, the interstate which is fast, or the more scenic back roads. Both have their benefits and drawbacks. You weigh the good and spit out the bad.

However even the thought of putting bones in your mouth when it comes to God's word should make you shudder. 

Would you even think of listening to an apostate speaker like a Mormon, Jehova's Witness or some New Age sorcerer in the first place?

Speak It? What Happened to PRAY IT?

If you think you can speak your wishes into being
instead praying for God's will then you are
simply The Sorcerer's Apprentice 

A common twist in modern Christianity involves your personal experience being shared on Sundays. Some call this Christianity Lite. More about you less about God. Yes we are all to have a personal experience with God during the week but Sunday is not meant to be the place to share your personal experience of the past seven days. Sundays, or the weekly go to meeting day, are to be focused on God not on you. The "this is what God did for me this week" reports take the focus away from God and direct it toward the individual who has the best experience to report. Week after week it is usually the same individuals "sharing" what happened to them last week. 

The danger of the same individuals "sharing", a term I hate by the way, week after week is they become the focus not God. Secondly and perhaps is an even broader effect on those who have nothing to share. Those with little or nothing to share or even those who have a good experience can be overshadowed by the individual(s) who always seem to have a good week.

Then there is the issue of those who always have a bad week and report to the church their Job like existence. Both the WOE is me and WOW is me syndrome can  be just a attention seeking behavior. A moment to claim the spotlight in front of a crowd. If you cannot out do the WOW is me individual, who every week seems to rank right up there with Elisha, then do the end around and prey on the sympathetic nerves to garner attention.

Now let's move on to the one's who champion their spiritual warfare with the "you gotta speak it, you have to claim it." The speak it crowd comes from the angle of, in a nut shell, your existence and experience in the Christian life is solely based on your words. They go so far as to say that your words are power. If you speak it you become it. And the really out there fringes of the speak it crowd say your words can actually make others turn into what you are saying. Again, yes to a point. Words can hurt and words can lift up. At the end of the day though it is up to the one hearing those words and how God works in their how they react not the speaker.

To think your words alone are power is sorcery.

What happened to the command to pray not say?

Even then, when you pray, it is to be asked for in God's will not yours.