"Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?" By Charles H. Spurgeon

An evil resides in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its imprudence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate evil for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a more clever thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.' That is clear enough. So it would have been if He has added, 'and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel' No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Then again, 'He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry.' Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? 'Ye are the salt,' not sugar candy—something the world will spit out, not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, 'Let the dead bury their dead.' He was in awful earnestness!

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, 'Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!' Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel amusement. Their message is, 'Come out, keep out, keep clean out!' Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, 'Lord grant Thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.' If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They 'turned the world upside down.' That is the difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to affect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy-laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God's link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

"Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?" By Charles H. Spurgeon

eta: this wonderful video by Paul Washer (with Portuguese subtitles) speaking on the subject:

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Christian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin

A Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.

By Heidi Blake

1:05PM BST 02 May 2010

Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.

The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Workington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.

Police officers are alleging that he made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard by others and have charged him with using abusive or insulting language, contrary to the Public Order Act.

Mr McAlpine, who was taken to the police station in the back of a marked van and locked in a cell for seven hours on April 20, said the incident was among the worst experiences of his life.

“I felt deeply shocked and humiliated that I had been arrested in my own town and treated like a common criminal in front of people I know," he said.

(source)

Jesus: Scientifically Proven to Be The Messiah

Dr. [Peter] Stoner studied the Bible and looked at the 300 general prophecies concerning the First Coming of Jesus Christ. There are 108 specific prophecies about Jesus' First Coming. He wondered what the possibility could be that all of those prophecies could be fulfilled in the life of one man. He began his calculations with just eight. Instead of us figuring the probability of the whole 108, he took merely eight.

These are the eight he used:

1. The Messiah will be born in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
2. A messenger will prepare the way for the Messiah (Malachi 3:1).
3. The Messiah will enter Jerusalem as a King riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).
4. The Messiah will be betrayed by a friend and suffer wounds in His hands (Zechariah 13:6). (I for one think that is a two-for-one deal there, but he counts it as one.)
5. The Messiah will be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12).
6. The betrayal money will be used to purchase a potter's field (Zechariah 11:13).
7. The Messiah will remain silent while He is afflicted (Isaiah 53:7).
8. The Messiah will die by having His hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:16).

Dr. Stoner figured the probability of there being maybe 88 billion people who ever lived from Jesus' time up until now. After computing all of the calculations, he calculated that the probability of Jesus of Nazareth — one man — fulfilling just eight of the 108 prophecies is "1 in 10 to the 17th power." That number means "1 in 100 quadrillion." Statistically impossible! And yet, Jesus fulfilled not just those eight but all 108 prophecies. Peter Stoner demonstrated that mathematically Jesus proves 100% that the Bible is true and accurate, especially when it concerns His prophetic Word.

Excerpt from: http://www.lamblion.us/2012/05/advancing-gospel-through-social-media_18.html

Politics: How Are Christians to Act?

Too many Christians are focused on a party to fix our problems. Although this sermon is at least a few years old, as Pastor Adrian Rogers (Love Worth Finding Ministries: www.lwf.org) has gone to be with the Lord, the message is nonetheless timeless. This goes for any time / political situation. Titled 'The Problem of Unworthy Authorities' (from the series titled The Incredible Power of Kingdom Authority) and partially transcribed here what stood out to me.

"Here's what one man said about Nero: 'He was just 3 years old when his father died. It was little loss to the boy, for his father had been a killer, a bully and a cheat. His mother took over the family trade and continued the boy's education, she murdered his step-father with a dish of poisoned mushrooms. He was reared in squalor and proved a notable son to his parents. While still young, he committed his first murder, killing a teenage boy who stood in his way and watching him die with calloused indifference. He married at 15 but soon had his wife killed. He married again and slew his second wife also. In order to marry a third time, he murdered the husband of the woman he wanted. His mother annoyed him, so he arranged her murder - first by guile, but when that was unsuccessful, he murdered her without pretense. He was an ugly man, with a bull neck, a beetle brow, a flat nose and a tough mouth. He had a potbelly, spindly legs, bad skin and an offensive odor. At the age of 31 he was sentenced to death by flogging, he fled to a dingy basement in the house of a slave, and cut his own throat. He survived that and he gave the infant Church its first taste of things to come. His name was Nero, he was the first of the persecuting Caesar's of Rome. That's the one that Peter says "honor the king"' [1 Peter 2:17: "Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."] 

......"We render unto Cesar the things that are Cesar's, we render unto God the things that are God's, but we WILL NOT render unto Cesar the things that are God's. Now let me say something about the political situation we're in right now. We as believer's in Christ need not identify the Church with any political party, but always with the Kingdom of God. We need to be able to tell both parties to repent and get right with God. The Church is not the servant of the State, the Church is not the master of the State, the Church is the conscience of the State. We will be civil, but we will not be silent. Nathan warned David, Elijah preached to Ahab, Daniel remonstrated with Nebuchadnezzar, Eliezer looked Jehoshaphat in the face and told him he was wrong, Moses was a prophet of God to Pharaoh. As long as we have a government that is trying to normalize sodomy, I cannot be quiet. As long as they are distributing condoms to children in school and normalize illicit sex we dare not be quiet. As long as a free born American is told he cannot pray vocally anywhere anytime, we cannot be silent. Nothing is politically right that is morally wrong. But if you think that an election is going to help us, let me tell you something folks....government cannot make us good, only God can make us good. Government is here to restrain evil and God's plan is a free Church in a free State, and when the Government does what it alone can do, that is, restrain evil, the Church is free to do what she alone can do and that is to preach the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are problems with submission, but we need to understand that we must obey God".......

"I have talked to you about the principle, I have talked to you about the places, I have talked to you about the problems, let me talk to you about the price of submission. You think this is easy? This is the hardest thing we are asked to do. Look if you will in v.19-21 [of 1 Peter 2] "¹⁹For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. ²¹For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: ²²Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: ²³Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:", that is he appealed to the Supreme Court of the Universe and the word means He just handed Himself over to God. He had undeserved suffering, unretaliating suffering, unfrustrated suffering because He was counting on God to even the score. But you say 'Pastor, that doesn't sound fair', well let's look at v.24, speaking of Jesus "²⁴Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness" - that is He bore our sins, He took our sins.....now that wasn't fair but thank God He did it! And He left us an example that we should follow in His steps. And because of that God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name. I'm telling you folks, God will do the same thing for us when we begin to obey Almighty God, you see it was the spirit of these early Christians that brought the Roman empire crashing down, because God gave them Kingdom Authority, and they turned that world upside down because they learned the strength of submission, they did not give in to evil, they overcame evil. Submission does not embolden tyranny, it destroys it. And they were just honeycombing that entire Roman empire, that mountain of evil with Gospel dynamite and it brought the whole thing crashing down. God gives authority to those who understand submission. We will never be over those things thats God has put under us until we get under those things that God has put over us. The Lordship of Christ, the Word of God, those institutions that God has put in place. They were killing the Christians in the Coliseum, but Cesar's gone friends and Jesus is still Lord. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We have victory in Jesus."

The Problem of Unworthy Authorities notes:

1 Peter 2:11-3:4 (Program 1958, Air date 04.29.2012) - CLICK TO LISTEN or here TO WATCH

1. THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBMISSION  (1 Peter 2:11)
1. John 15:18
2. 1 Peter 2:13
3. 1 Peter 2:18
4. 1 Peter 3:1
5. 1 Peter 2:15
6. Luke 7:1-10
7. What is submission?
1. One equal, voluntarily placing himself under another equal, that God may be glorified.
2. 1 Peter 2:13
3. Philippians 2:6-8
4. 1 Samuel 15:23

1. THE PLACES OF SUBMISSION
1. A godless government (1 Peter 2:13-17)
1. Honor everyone.
1. In our social life
2. In our church life
1. 1 Peter 2:17
3. In our spiritual life
1. 1 Peter 2:17
2. 1 Timothy 2:1-2
3. Matthew 17:27
2. A bad boss (1 Peter 2:18-19)
3. A mean mate (1 Peter 3:1-4)
1. 1 Corinthians 11:3
2. Galatians 3:28

1. THE PROBLEMS WITH SUBMISSION
1. Submission is not always the same as obedience.
1. Acts 5:28-29
2. Romans 12:18

1. THE PRICE OF SUBMISSION (1 Peter 2:19-24)
1. Jesus paid for our sins by submitting to His Father.