The Great Falling Away - Evangelists Shying Away From Preaching Repentance

November 17, 2015  

By Jack Minor

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The watering down of the Gospel from being an imperative for lost sinners needing to be saved from Hell to mere suggestion or another lifestyle continues, as a new report indicates evangelists in one of America’s largest denominations are now steering away from calling sinners to repentance in their messages.

The new revelation comes from an early report of the August conference of the Research Services of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. The report is called 1001 New Worshipping Communities, and it states that “millennials respond to a different style of evangelism than did previous generations.”

"Millennials, it is argued, do not feel guilt and shame the same way older generations do. … As such, they do not respond to what one person referred to as 'fire and brimstone scare tactics,'" read the report.

"Telling them that they are sinners and need to repent does not work. Millennials respond to evangelism that tells them the world is [broken], and it is only through Jesus that it can be fixed."

The problem is the report suggests that in the past people enthusiastically received the Gospel, and that, contrary to the suggestion that millennials do not respond to the Gospel the same way, the reality is the Gospel has always met with resistance.

During the ministry of Gen. William Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, as the men and women in his organization would attempt to share the Gospel with sailors along city docks, they would have rockets launched at them, while others would attack and hurl rotten vegetables at them and their uniforms. During the preaching of Billy Sunday and DL Moody, they would often meet with resistance as they preached against the specific sins of their era.

The Apostle Paul said the preaching of the cross was foolishness to the world and he was often attacked and even stoned once for preaching the Gospel. This has been a common thread throughout church history.

The report went on to advocate for more of a lifestyle evangelism approach rather than offering a plain Gospel presentation.

"The people we spoke with primarily emphasize service and mission as their way to honor God by being God's 'hands and feet.' And, through modeling this behavior publicly and around non-Christians, they hope to bring more people to God in a subtle, less 'fire and brimstone' manner."

"They also mention the importance of going out into the community and working side-by-side with non-Christians as well as other Christians. In this strategy, leaders often (but not always) emphasize the importance of not engaging in God-talk while doing service activities."

What this fails to address is that by doing so they are essentially suggesting that salvation is not the only way to heaven, which contradicts Jesus when he said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” The reality is a person cannot be saved unless they realize what they are being saved from. If a person simply accepts Christ because he or she thinks it is a good idea, then they are following a philosophy rather than an individual.

People today will respond to the Gospel just like people of old if it is presented in a straightforward manner. I have done so on a number of occasions with people ranging from prisoners to executives. I present it matter-of-factly, such as when I take them to the Great White Throne Judgment where it mentions that ALL liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. Then I ask them, according to this verse where does it say any of us who have ever told a lie deserve to end up?

Whereas they may disagree as to whether liars go to hell, they must admit the verse says that is where they are going. It is then much easier to share with them the good news of why Jesus died for them. The Gospel has worked for over 2,000 years and it will continue to work. We don’t need to come up with a newer method, thinking we know better than God does about how to lead people to Christ.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/November17/174.html#57SiB6S4CuUzVQkg.99

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11 Predictions Of Economic Disaster In 2015 From Top Experts All Over The Globe

January 06, 2015 | Michael Snyder

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Will 2015 be a year of financial crashes, economic chaos and the start of the next great worldwide depression? Over the past couple of years, we have all watched as global financial bubbles have gotten larger and larger. Despite predictions that they could burst at any time, they have just continued to expand. But just like we witnessed in 2001 and 2008, all financial bubbles come to an end at some point, and when they do implode the pain can be extreme. 

Personally, I am entirely convinced that the financial markets are more primed for a financial collapse now than they have been at any other time since the last crisis happened nearly seven years ago. And I am certainly not alone. At this point, the warning cries have become a deafening roar as a whole host of prominent voices have stepped forward to sound the alarm. The following are 11 predictions of economic disaster in 2015 from top experts all over the globe…

#1 Bill Fleckenstein: “They are trying to make the stock market go up and drag the economy along with it. It’s not going to work. There’s going to be a big accident. When people realize that it’s all a charade, the dollar will tank, the stock market will tank, and hopefully bond markets will tank. Gold will rally in that period of time because it’s done what it’s done because people have assumed complete infallibility on the part of the central bankers.”

#2 John Ficenec: “In the US, Professor Robert Shiller’s cyclically adjusted price earnings ratio – or Shiller CAPE – for the S&P 500 is currently at 27.2, some 64pc above the historic average of 16.6. On only three occasions since 1882 has it been higher – in 1929, 2000 and 2007.”

#3 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, one of the most respected economic journalists on the entire planet: “The eurozone will be in deflation by February, forlornly trying to ignite its damp wood by rubbing stones. Real interest rates will ratchet higher. The debt load will continue to rise at a faster pace than nominal GDP across Club Med. The region will sink deeper into a compound interest trap.”

#4 The Jerome Levy Forecasting Center, which correctly predicted the bursting of the subprime mortgage bubble in 2007: “Clearly the direction of most of the recent global economic news suggests movement toward a 2015 downturn.”

#5 Paul Craig Roberts: “At any time the Western house of cards could collapse. It (the financial system) is a house of cards. There are no economic fundamentals that support stock prices — the Dow Jones. There are no economic fundamentals that support the strong dollar…”

#6 David Tice: “I have the same kind of feel in ’98 and ’99; also ’05 and ’06. This is going to end badly. I have every confidence in the world.”

#7 Liz Capo McCormick and Susanne Walker: “Get ready for a disastrous year for U.S. government bonds. That’s the message forecasters on Wall Street are sending.”

#8 Phoenix Capital Research: “Just about everything will be hit as well. Most of the ‘recovery’ of the last five years has been fueled by cheap borrowed Dollars. Now that the US Dollar has broken out of a multi-year range, you’re going to see more and more ‘risk assets’ (read: projects or investments fueled by borrowed Dollars) blow up. Oil is just the beginning, not a standalone story.

If things really pick up steam, there’s over $9 TRILLION worth of potential explosions waiting in the wings. Imagine if the entire economies of both Germany and Japan exploded and you’ve got a decent idea of the size of the potential impact on the financial system.”

#9 Rob Kirby: “What this breakdown in the crude oil price is going to spawn another financial crisis. It will be tied to the junk debt that has been issued to finance the shale oil plays in North America. It is reported to be in the area of half a trillion dollars worth of junk debt that is held largely on the books of large financial institutions in the western world. When these bonds start to fail, they will jeopardize the future of these financial institutions. 

I do believe that will be the signal for the Fed to come riding to the rescue with QE4. I also think QE4 is likely going to be accompanied by bank bail-ins because we all know all western world countries have adopted bail-in legislation in their most recent budgets. The financial elites are engineering the excuse for their next round of money printing . . . and they will be confiscating money out of savings accounts and pension accounts. That’s what I think is coming in the very near future.”

#10 John Ing: “The 2008 collapse was just a dress rehearsal compared to what the world is going to face this time around. This time we have governments which are even more highly leveraged than the private sector was.

So this time the collapse will be on a scale that is many magnitudes greater than what the world witnessed in 2008.”

#11 Gerald Celente: “What does the word confidence mean? Break it down. In this case confidence = con men and con game. That’s all it is. So people will lose confidence in the con men because they have already shown their cards. It’s a Ponzi scheme. So the con game is running out and they don’t have any more cards to play.

What are they going to do? They can’t raise interest rates. We saw what happened in the beginning of December when the equity markets started to unravel. So it will be a loss of confidence in the con game and the con game is soon coming to an end. That is when you are going to see panic on Wall Street and around the world.”

If you have been following my website, you know that I have been pointing to 2015 for quite some time now.

For example, in my article entitled “The Seven Year Cycle Of Economic Crashes That Everyone Is Talking About“, I discussed the pattern of financial crashes that we have witnessed every seven years that goes all the way back to the Great Depression. The last two major stock market crashes began in 2001 and 2008, and now here we are seven years later.

Will the same pattern hold up once again?

In addition, there are many other economic cycles that seem to indicate that we are due for a major economic downturn. I discussed quite a few of these theories in my article entitled “If Economic Cycle Theorists Are Correct, 2015 To 2020 Will Be Pure Hell For The United States“.

But just like in 2000 and 2007, there are a whole host of doubters that are fully convinced that the party can continue indefinitely. Even though our economic fundamentals continue to get worse, our debt levels continue to grow and every objective measurement shows that Wall Street is more reckless and more vulnerable to collapse than ever before, they mock the idea that a financial collapse is imminent.

So let’s see what happens in 2015.

I have a feeling that it is going to be an extremely “interesting” year.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/January06/063.html#MzeI1DGylcv0sgiD.99

10 Very Strange Things That Have Happened In Just The Past Few Weeks

July 09, 2015 | Michael Snyder

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Have you noticed that events have begun to accelerate? Over the past few weeks, things have officially started to get very weird. Chinese stocks are crashing, the Greek debt crisis is spiraling out of control, the New York Stock Exchange was down for about four hours on Wednesday thanks to a “technical glitch”, and global politicians have been acting very strangely. After several years of relative calm, could it be possible that the second half of 2015 will usher in a time of chaos and confusion on a worldwide scale? 

Personally, I have never been more concerned about a period of time as I am about the last six months of 2015. And if I am right, what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The following are 10 very strange things that have happened in just the past few weeks…

#1 On Wednesday, the New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines and the Wall Street Journal were all taken down by unexpected “technical glitches“. Authorities are assuring us that hackers were not responsible for any of this.

#2 In China, a full-blown stock market crash is unfolding. The Shanghai Composite Index has plummeted more than 30 percent in less than a month, and the Chinese version of the NASDAQ has dropped by more than 40 percent. The amount of “paper wealth” that has been lost in China is 15 times greater than the GDP of Greece.

#3 Just the other day, hackers were able to hack into a German surface-to-air missile battery…

Well, this is absolutely terrifying. According to The Local, hackers attacked a German Patriot surface-to-air missile battery, like the one shown above, stationed along the Turkish-Syria border. The cyber attack caused the battery to carryout “unexplained” orders.

It’s believed that cyber attackers managed to exploit the Patriot battery in two different ways. The first exploit was through the Sensor-Shooter-Interoperability, which controls interactions between the actual, physical missile launcher and its control system, while the other was on the guidance chip. These weaknesses could have allowed the hackers to steal data or, more worryingly, actually take control of the battery.

#4 Earlier this week, Barack Obama told reports that “we’re speeding up training of ISIL forces“…

#5 Just a few days ago, the U.S. Mint announced that they were sold out of American Eagle silver coins on the exact same day that the price of silver hit a new low for 2015. How does that make any sense?

#6 On June 30th, an unexpected blood moon was seen over a significant portion of the United States. This also happens to be the exact day when the Supreme Court gay marriage decision came out. The following is an excerpt from a recent article by Caiden Cowger…

On June 30, 2015, a surprise blood moon appeared in the sky, that was only seen in the United States.

According to the National Weather Service, large wildfires in Canada have been burning. Due to extremely high winds, smoke from these fires have traveled into the United States.

According to NBC-Chattanooga, “the smoke should remain in the higher atmosphere and not affect air quality, it gives the moon and sun a rosy glow.

Here’s what causes the effect:

As light from the moon or sun enters the atmosphere it gets scattered by particles like water, aerosols, and in this case smoke. Green, blue, and purple colors are sent in all directions but colors with longer wavelengths like red, orange and yellow continue through the atmosphere and remain visible to the human eye.”

#7 Even though NASA recently stated that they know of “no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth” and that “no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years“, NASA has teamed up with the National Nuclear Security Administration to try to figure out a way to use nuclear weapons to destroy asteroids that are threatening our planet. If there is no threat, why spend so much time and energy on this?

#8 A couple of weeks ago, we learned that Barack Obama has issued 19 “secret directives“. What is Obama planning, and why won’t he let the general public know about it?

#9 This week, Pope Francis called for the creation of “a new economic and ecological world order where the goods of the Earth are shared by everyone, not just exploited by the rich.” So exactly what would such a “world order” look like?

#10 The Greek people just overwhelmingly voted to reject austerity, so EU officials have responded by giving the Greek government a one week deadline to come to an agreement that will include even more austerity for the Greek people. If the Greek government does not submit, EU officials are threatening them with bankruptcy, the collapse of their banking system and expulsion from the euro.

Things promise to only get stranger from here. One week from today, on July 15th, a massive military exercise known as “Jade Helm” begins. More than 1,000 members of the U.S. military will be taking part in drills that will be conducted in the states of Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, California, Mississippi and Florida.

Then in September comes the end of the Shemitah year, the fourth blood moon of this tetrad, the launch of a radical new sustainable development agenda at the United Nations that is being endorsed by the Pope, and a vote on a UN Security Council resolution that would formally establish a Palestinian state.

And that is just the stuff that we know about.

Learn more about the Blood Moons and the Shemitah here

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/July09/092.html#cLIGZs4mFeLhjBBO.99

WATCHMAN FOR GOD: Analysis: 8 Reasons Conservative Christians Are Co...

WATCHMAN FOR GOD: Analysis: 8 Reasons Conservative Christians Are Co...: April 09, 2015 | NAPP NAZWORTH Share this article While conservative Christians have long fought for the religious freedom ...

Analysis: 8 Reasons Conservative Christians Are Concerned About Their Own Religious Freedom in the Obama Era

April 09, 2015 | NAPP NAZWORTH

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While conservative Christians have long fought for the religious freedom of religious minorities, they have become increasingly concerned about their own religious freedom in recent years. Here are 8 reasons that is happening.

1. Same-Sex Marriage

Some conservative Christians have long been warning that same-sex marriage presents a danger to the religious freedom of those Christians who believe true marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Those who sounded those warnings were accused of sensationalism; they were only making those claims to fan the flames of opposition to SSM, it was said at the time. We now know that they were right all along. SSM supporters who only a few years ago claimed that SSM would not infringe upon anyone's religious beliefs are now openly defending government coercion of SSM opponents.

Wedding vendors, like photographers, florists and bakers, have been on the front lines of these religious freedom battles. Even though there are plenty of wedding vendors not opposed to serving a same-sex wedding, and the brides or the grooms have usually stated that they preferred vendors who support SSM, there have been several instances where conservative Christian wedding vendors have been punished for declining to serve a same-sex wedding. In some cases, the punishments are so severe that these vendors will not only be put out of business but their life savings will be wiped out.

If those in powerful political positions believe that those opposed to SSM should be forced to choose between violating their religious conscience or personal financial ruin, they cannot be counted on to defend the religious freedom of conservative Christians.

Additionally, since SSM supporters lied about their support for religious freedom when they were pushing for passage of gay marriage, what are they lying about now? Churches will not be required to perform gay weddings, they say; pastors who denounce homosexuality will not lose their tax-exempt status, they say, or be imprisoned for hate speech, they say; but why should they be trusted? How far do liberals want to go in their use of government force to infringe upon the religious freedom of conservative Christians?

2. Anti-Christian Hostility

In their 2015 book, So Many Christians, So Few Lions: Is There Christianophobia in the United States? sociologists David Williamson and George Yancey document anti-Christian hostility among certain liberal activists. While these activists are small in number, they tend to be powerful elites, which provides them with much cultural and political influence.

Through interviews with some of these anti-Christian liberals, Williamson and Yancey reveal what conservative Christians have long felt to be true: there are influential people, in politics, the media and entertainment, who despise them and wish to marginalize them as much as possible.

3. Gordon College and Brendan Eich

For a preview of what could be next, look to Gordon College and Brendan Eich.

Gordon's president, D. Michael Lindsay, signed a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to include a religious exemption in his employment non-discrimination executive order. The exemption would not have benefited Gordon College directly and it was the same exemption that was already passed by a Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate. Additionally, the letter was also signed by Obama supporters and was organized by Michael Wear, who had worked for the Obama's White House and his 2012 election campaign.

Despite all that, Gordon has been targeted because the Christian college has a conduct policy that bans sexual relations between same-sex partners. A Massachusetts city terminated a contract with the college, and it is being investigated by its accreditor.

Brendan Eich was forced out of his job as the CEO of Mozilla because he had donated $1,000 to a campaign in support of an amendment to California's state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

Both of these cases could be a preview of things to come. Will Christian colleges guided by Christian principles lose their accreditation? Their tax exempt status? Will their students be denied government aid? Will Christians opposed to SSM be allowed to hold any high profile jobs?

4. Reactions to RFRA

The notion that those with religious objections to SSM should not be given religious freedom can also be seen in last week's reactions to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

RFRA was strongly supported by both liberals and conservatives in the 1990's when it was first passed at the federal level in reaction to members of the Native American Church who were punished after they used peyote, an hallucinogenic drug, as part of a religious worship service. After realizing that RFRA also protects conservative Christians, not just religious minorities, liberals have begun opposing it.

Most of the media coverage last week about RFRA has failed to inform the public of why the law is important. Worse still, the media has misinformed about what the law actually does.

One of the arguments liberal news sites used in announcing its opposition was that certain conservative Christians supported the law. If conservative Christians are for it, it must be a bad law, appears to be the reasoning.

On Thursday, liberal Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson called for the repeal of all RFRA laws. Similarly, in a Wed. op-ed for The Daily Beast, Michael Tomasky denounced RFRA and argued that those whose religious beliefs are opposed to SSM should not be provided any legal accommodation.

5. What Liberals Say

New York Times reporter Josh Barro once said that SSM opponents are "unworthy of respect" and should be "ruthlessly" stamped out. While these statements might be dismissed as the ravings of a wacky liberal, and unrepresentative of most liberals, the reactions to his statements are telling. If Barro had made those statements about any other group of people or point of view (blacks, gays, service members, Muslims, etc.), there would have been a national uproar, he would have been expected to offer an apology, and he may have even lost his job. Instead, The New York Times did nothing.

Other liberals have explicitly argued that gay rights and the religious freedom of conservative Christians cannot coexist in the United States.

Chai Feldblum, a Georgetown University law professor who was appointed to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by President Barack Obama, argued in a 2006 interview that liberals should demonstrate a "respectful awareness" of the views of conservative Christians, then added that this view does not represent the majority in her community of fellow liberals. Additionally, she said that when religious liberty and sexual liberty conflict, "I'm having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win."

In a January op-ed condemning RFRA, liberal New York Times columnist Frank Bruni argued that he favored a "live and let live" position while simultaneously arguing for government coercion of conservative Christians. And in a Friday op-ed, Bruni wrote approvingly of a gay philanthropist who told him that conservative Christian leaders "must be made 'to take homosexuality off the sin list.'"

Bruni appears to have no problem with government coercion of conservative Christians, because, in his view, conservative Christians can just become liberal Christians, so everything will be fine.

"But in the end, the continued view of gays, lesbians and bisexuals as sinners is a decision. It's a choice. ... So our debate about religious freedom should include a conversation about freeing religions and religious people from prejudices that they needn't cling to and can indeed jettison, much as they've jettisoned other aspects of their faith's history, rightly bowing to the enlightenments of modernity," he wrote.

To state the obvious (which appears to be necessary for Bruni), if you tell someone you support their religious freedom as long as they change their position to your preferred position, you do not really support their religious freedom. The religious freedoms embodied in the Bill of Rights and RFRA are intended to help a heterogeneous nation manage its differences. If you say, "I support religious freedom as long as everyone believes the same thing," you do not really support religious freedom.

Conservative Christians would prefer the liberals like Bruni honestly state their position up front rather than wrap their intolerance in the language of tolerance.

6. Memories Pizza

After Indiana passed a state RFRA, the liberal press needed a bogeyman, so they went looking for one.

A local South Bend, Ind., reporter went to local businesses with a mic and camera asking the owners how they would feel if asked to cater a same-sex wedding. She found Memories Pizza, whose owners said they would not cater a same-sex weddingdue to their religious convictions.

The story quickly went viral across liberal news sites and was cited as evidence that RFRA encourages discrimination against gays. RFRA, though, had nothing to do with it. Memories Pizza does not cater weddings. It does not deny service to gays. A reporter simply showed up and asked them how they would feel if asked to cater a same-sex wedding. As a result, the owners had to close the business and go into hiding due to death threats.

Scouring liberal news sites, one can find little sympathy for the owners of Memories Pizza, however. (See here for one notable exception.) Conservative Christians look at that and wonder how saying you're opposed to SSM became worse than threatening someone's life.

7. Obama's Indifference

President Barack Obama's indifference to the beliefs of conservative Christians has also been a cause of concern.

Through its birth control mandate, the Obama administration tried (and continues to try in some cases) to force those with religious objections to pay for certain types of birth control, some of which could even cause an abortion.

Besides the fact that Obama did not seem to care how some religions felt about birth control, the move illustrated that he has a narrow view of what religion is. The religious exemption attached to the mandate only applied to a narrow set of groups. Houses of worship were protected, soup kitchens were not. Religious freedom is only for what happens behind the four walls of a church, synagogue or mosque, Obama was saying.

Conservative Christians believe their faith should apply to what they do seven days a week. If you're only willing to give them religious freedom on Sunday morning, you're severely limiting their religious freedom.

8. Republican Leaders are Wimpy

Republican leaders cannot be relied upon to defend the religious freedom of conservative Christians because, as last week's events show, they become wimps whenever the issue of homosexuality enters the mix.

One might think that religious freedom would be easy to defend, given that it is contained in the first words of the Bill of Rights and America has a long history of promoting religious freedom. But when Republican leaders catch even the slightest whiff that they might be accused of being anti-gay for supporting a policy, they quickly fold.

This cowardice was on display, for example, with Republican Gov.'s Asa Hutchinson, Arkansas; Mike Pence, Indiana; and Rick Snyder, Michigan.

Hutchinson decided not to sign RFRA, he says, on the advice of his son, a 31-year-old government employees union organizer. Pence signed an amendment to his state's RFRA that would make it more difficult to bring religious freedom claims to court. And, not to waste time, Snyder announced he would veto RFRA even though his legislature hasn't even passed it.

These governors were cowering, in part, to certain large companies, like Angie's List, Apple and Walmart. It is OK, apparently, for large companies to act upon their convictions in opposing a religious freedom law, but a small family-owned shop opposed to SSM must be put out of business.

(Caveats: None of the previous implies that conservative Christians have never failed to defend the religious freedom of non-Christians. They have. Or that conservative Christians have never bullied or mistreated others. They have. Or that there are not Christians in other nations who do not have it far worse. There are. Or that conservative Christians do not have political resources with which to defend their freedom. They do.)

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2015/April09/095.html#ZfLrIMLPygI1ALKw.99