www.pulpitandpen.org

Greg Smith, Pulpit & Pen #fundie pulpitandpen.org

How Do we Respond to the Death of an Apostate? The Untimely passing of Rachel Held Evans.

Rachel Held Evans was on the wrong side of every controversial issue and point of doctrine plaguing the western church today. With full knowledge she loudly and publicly chronicled her departure from anything that could be considered the historical Christian faith. No need to establish and or document that here and now. It is beyond dispute for anyone with a modicum of commitment to the biblical gospel.

In that light, how do we respond when a person like this passes into eternity, by all biblically reasonable accounts, apart from the saving blood and knowledge of the true and holy only begotten Son of the living God?

We should certainly not shrink from the realities that such a situation confronts us with. Only God Himself can pass final judgement on a human soul, however He has given us His word whereby we are to declare His revealed mind on all things, including the standards by which yes, we ARE to judge the state of others when it is this clear according to the evidence their life has shown us.

If we do not warn that the denial of the saving truth as it in Christ Jesus IS eternal death, then we are presuming ourselves to be wiser and holier than God who commands exactly that. The blood of those who hear us would then be on our hands as the Lord proclaimed through the prophet Ezekiel.

With that in mind, we also should never rejoice or sneer at the loss of another, no matter who or what they are. To do so is to demonstrate a profound lack of the knowledge of our own sin and the grace and power of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit required to save us from it.

It is in the spirit of both of these biblical principles that Pulpit and Pen expresses it’s sorrow and regret at the passing of Rachel Held Evans. Both for the loss of her soul and for the unbiblical and further soul damning treatment that her already tragic death will inevitably give occasion to.

Lord our God, do work all your mercy and might in and through this situation in any and all ways you see fit, to the glory and honor of your great name alone.

Seth Dunn, Pulpit & Pen #fundie pulpitandpen.org

Heretical Author Rachel Held Evans Dead at Age 37

The Washington Post once called Rachel Held Evans “the most polarizing woman in evangelicalism”. The controversial blogger, speaker, and author made a career of writing about her transition from a conservative evangelical youth to a progressive Episcopalian wife and mother. The self-described “doubt-filled” believer was a well-known opponent of evangelicalism’s culture wars and a prominent voice for LGBTQ inclusion in the local church. Now, her controversial career is over. Rachel Held Evans doubts her beliefs no more. At age 37, Evan’s has died as a result of severe swelling on the brain. She now awaits God’s judgment in Sheol.

Rachel Held Evans was a heretic. While she was not a professional theologian or clergy person, her influential writings no doubt led many sinners astray or, at the very least, provided false assurance to those living in sin that they stood justified before God. The world is better off with her influence removed. Yet the Lord takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. The death of Rachel Held Evans is not an occasion for joy but for mourning. Rachel Held Evans is now without further opportunity for repentance and she goes down to face judgement as an advocate for depravity. Even her last tweet is a testament to her full acceptance of sexual perversion. As she took an unexpected trip to the hospital, she lamented missing out on the popular and widly pornography HBO drama Game of Thrones.

No one is guaranteed tomorrow. Rachel Held Evans was a relatively young wife and mother who most likely expected to come back home from the hospital when she was admitted for the flu and a urinary tract infection. She leaves behind a husband and two young children. Remember her. The church has a lot to turn from her life. Like many others of her generation, Evans grew tired of entertainment-driven worship services and politically-fueled religious culture wars. Instead of pushing for reform, Evans left the (evangelical) faith and rejected biblical fidelity. It’s very likely that the Christian readers of this article know at least one person a lot like Evans. As a fellow evangelical native Tennesseean, I know I do. Let’s take the time, while they are still with us, to provide a gospel witness to our doubting and erring friends and family members.

Jordan Hall #fundie pulpitandpen.org

When I watched a “Reformed” believer, Doug Wilson, argue that Papists were to be considered our Christian kinsmen, I literally wanted to vomit. I don’t mean that metaphorically; I mean it made me literally sick to my stomach.

Jeff Maples #fundie pulpitandpen.org

The worldwide international corporation known as Hillsong Church has an excellent business model. In 2013, Hillsong Australia alone had nearly 86 million in total revenue, with nearly 39 million in total assets and over 19 million in net assets. Bottom line, Hillsong is banking.

So why is this company so successful financially? Because they deliver a product that their customers want. They produce ear-tickling music that allows fence sitters to pretend to be Christian while not quite giving up their love of the world. They serve drugs so powerful that you can alter your state of mind without taking a single dose of physical substance. And they deliver motivational speeches designed to have people from all walks of life leave feeling like the world revolves around them. In other words, you can live as you please, do as you please, and come to our church on Sundays, and we’ll make sure you’re “personally included and accepted in our community.” [source]

In the business world, it’s well known that in order to keep your business running successfully, you must continue to deliver a product that your customers want. And when your customer base is the world, you must seek to please the world.

Screenshot from 2015-10-19 13:44:58This is exactly why Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, the two sodomites from the television series, Survivor, who are active, participating members of Hillsong Church, can continue to sit in the congregation week after week without being made to feel uncomfortable in their sin. They can do as they please, and Hillsong can pretend to preach the Gospel so they can call themselves a church while refraining from offending any of their customers.

Now this may be a good practice in the business world, but this methodology disqualifies Hillsong from being a biblical church. A biblical church does not exist to serve and please its customers–a biblical church does not have customers. A biblical church consists of born again believers (Eph 1:22-23) and seeks to shepherd the flock by proclaiming the truth at all costs (Acts 20:28). Yet Brian Houston has stated, “I think with the church, the message is sacred, but the methods have to change for the church to stay relevant”–relevant to its customers.

....

So how can this organization that claims to be a church baptize an unrepentant sinner, make them an active and participating member of their congregation, and lead them to believe that they are saved, according to their own statement of faith?

Fear.

You see, Hillsong is not a church, it’s a business, and they are in this for the money, and they’re good at it. This has already been shown. But the one thing they fear most is losing a large portion of their customers. And what would happen if Carl Lentz or Brian Houston were to tell these two sodomites that they couldn’t be baptized, and couldn’t be members of the church because they are living in unrepentant sin? Exactly! They would lose customers. Brian Houston put out a list of 30 Rules for Hillsong Australia Preaching and Teaching Team. Some of the disturbing rules put in place by Houston are “leaving people feeling better about themselves than when they came in, and having a message that easily transitions into an altar-call.”

....

This is exactly like I stated before. This is Hillsong pretending to proclaim the Word of God so that they can call themselves a church while at the same time delivering a product that their worldly customer base desires–without offending anyone. This is what is described in James 1:7-8 as a “double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” and he” ought not to expect that he should receive anything from the Lord.” Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, and all of the leaders of this organization are double-minded man-pleasers who are unfit for the ministry of Jesus Christ. They fear the gay mafia more than they fear God and have caved to them on all levels. They are so afraid that they will lose customers that they would rather tell two hell-bound unrepentant sodomites that they are welcome and accepted into their church and lead them to believe that they are saved, than to proclaim the truth to them, that they are lost, in need of a savior, and must repent of their sin and turn to Christ, lest their “portion be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

That’s real homophobia.

JD Hall #fundie pulpitandpen.org

[From a sarcastic article titled "My Open Letter of Apology to the Gay Community (From a Christian)"]

1. I’m sorry that any of us ever referred to you as a “gay community.” Really, that’s not helpful. A “community” is a group of individuals that either live in the same place or share the same values. Sodomy (defined as unnatural and immoral sexual behavior) is not a value. Sodomy is a deviancy. Now, if you defined “community” as sharing interests and not values, then there could theoretically be a gay community because you hold unnatural and immoral sexual behavior as a common interest. However, to call you a “community” would legitimize this sin in a way that we don’t legitimize any other sin. For example, we don’t recognize “the thieving community” or the “the lying community” or “the bank-robbing community” or “the rapist community” or the “white collar criminal community.” If communities could be founded upon self-destructive behavior, those communities would be self-defeating, and a self-defeating community is no community at all. In fact, a truly “gay community” would be extinct within one generation. Your unnatural sexual deviancy leads to death; legitimate communities are self-populating and regenerative. It was a dumb term for Christians to start using, and I apologize for all of those who inadvertently give credence to the narrative that yours is a community and not a group of sinners who share in community-destroying behavior.

Next page