Very Scary Words!

Although I say that every season is “the best” in Wisconsin, perhaps Autumn is the best!  An Autumn day, bathed in hazy sunlight and vibrant with color, has a way of casting a quiet euphoria over our souls. 

Mellow!  That’s what Autumn is–a time for sitting and dreaming, reflecting on the goodness of life.  Surrounded by the beauties of God’s creation, one can easily forget the strife and struggles of the world around us which is becoming increasingly decadent and demoralized as I type these words!

Words have a way of jarring us out of our Autumn reveries.  Such were the words of a good friend who recently said, “I’m so glad I don’t have to think!  My church does that for me, so I don’t have to concern myself with what to believe or whatever is happening out in the world!”

Where does one begin to address such blatantly dangerous foolishness?  This friend’s church–the most fundamental of her denomination’s individual branches–may be described as “Part Bible and part heresy.”  We all know that the heresy part needn’t be huge, to derail a church.  A little leaven spoils the whole loaf.

A major flaw in my friend’s church is the insistence on infant baptism and the belief that this has replaced the Hebrew tradition of circumcision as a means of bringing the child into the fellowship of God’s people–thereby ignoring Scriptures such as I Corinthians 7:19 where outward circumcision (and hence infant baptism) is irrelevent, the issue being faith and the condition of a person’s heart. 

A main historic theological document undergirding churches in my friend’s denomination states:  “Concerning Baptism, our churches teach that baptism is necessary for salvation (Mark 16:16) and that God’s grace is offered through baptism (Titus 3:4-7).  Being offered to God through Baptism, they are received into God’s grace.”

Contorting Scriptures, this document ignores the fact that in the present, Church Age, baptism is an outward symbol of an inner transaction between God and a cogent individual.  It is ludicrous to imagine that a young infant could possibly understand his or her innate sin condition and make a decision to trust Christ for salvation!  The practice of infant baptism is heretical.

This heresy is dangerous in that it can lead to ignoring one’s personal accountability to God.  Where ritual predominates, individual responsibility often takes a back seat.  Also, the belief that baptised infants are automatically recipients of God’s grace undermines our God given mandate to share the Gospel. 

Even more devastating, is the widespread teaching of Replacement Theology which my friend’s church has embraced since its inception.  The heresy that the Christian Church has replaced Israel in God’s favor (and as beneficiaries of prophetic promises) dates back to the early church era. 

In the 1500s the founder of my friend’s church broke with the established church and traditions of that time.  We honor this reformer for some reasons–the prime one being his insistence that we are saved by grace alone, and not by anything we can do. 

Yet this church father embraced the disastrous error of Replacement Theology which feeds anti-Semitism–that bitter fruit experienced by Jewish individuals and communities for centuries in nearly every nation of the world, with the notable exception of the United States of America. 

Most Christians may be unaware that the revered founder of my friend’s church was radically anti-Semitic.  This fact is revealed in some of his writings, accessible online.  The polluted teaching of Replacement Theology tainted this reformer and resulted in ramifications centuries later in the reformer’s very own nation, in the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust. 

The conscientious Christian believer will militate at every turn against Replacement Theology.  As ”Bereans”, we can never sit back and accept what our church teaches; we must check out everything we hear against the infalliable standard of God’s Word.  If we are not a friend to God’s chosen people, the Jews, then I believe we are not really God’s friend at all, but rather those to whom our Lord will someday say, “Depart from me; I never knew you!”

Even on a beautiful Autumn day, when I’m tempted to merely sit back and dream, I must be alert to the world around me, ever awake to the implications of scary words!

Margaret L. Been

The God of Israel Is Not Sleeping!

“Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”  Psalm 121:4

Our president is currently in the Middle East, allegedly on a mission of “making peace” with the enemies of Israel.  Consistently over the years, these “peace missions” have resulted in horrendous compromise–hacking away at more of the land promised to God’s people, the Jews, and conceding to Arab nations who do not want (and have never wanted) peace.

The total extermination of Israel is all the Arab nations have ever wanted; and tragically, recent U.S. presidents have fed into the Arab agenda–always in the name of “making peace”. 

This spirit of compromise exists among many who call themselves Christian.  The ugly heresy of Replacement Theology–the teaching that the Church has replaced Israel and God is through with the Jewish nation–has permeated and polluted Christian circles since the early Christian era.

In circa 160 A.D., Justyn Martyr addressed the Jews with these words:  “The Scriptures are not yours, but ours.”  Tertullian, who lived between 160 and 230 A.D., wrote a treatise titled “Against the Jews”, stating that God rejected the Jews and transferred His favor to the Church.

The history of Replacement Theology is shocking.  You will find a detailed account of this doctrine of demons on http://www.therefinersfire.org/replacement_theology.htm . 

The list of Replacement Theology followers includes familiar names such as St. Augustine and Martin Luther–right up to some currently prominent Covenant theologians. 

The anti-Biblical view of Replacement Theology has fueled anti-Semitism over the centuries right up to the present time.  Now we are seeing the poisoned fruit of Replacement Theology in our once godly nation’s zeal to “make peace” with the enemies of Israel.

But God is not sleeping!  His plan is proceding, just as He mapped it out in Eternity Past.  When we read all of Scripture, and take the Bible to literally mean what it says, we know that a great day is coming when Israel will recognize our Messiah–a day of restoration and blessing! 

As the clouds gather, rather than be discouraged or fearful, we Christians need to look up!  The rapture is close at hand.  Then, after the Great Tribulation when God will pour out His wrath, our Lord Jesus Christ will return to reign in Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In Romans 11:26, we read:  “And so all Israel shall be saved:  as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

President Obama and others who believe that “peace making” lies within man’s power to accomplish have been blatantly deceived.  Their answers and solutions will come to nothing but more strife and deception–leading to the ultimate deception of the anti-Christ and his evil one-world government. 

Because we have failed to stand firmly with Israel in the last two decades, our nation will experience severe judgment–some of which we’ve already begun to realize in recent years.* 

God’s unconditional promise to Abraham stands:  “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”  Genesis 12:2-3

Margaret L. Been

*As well as deserving discipline for our disregard of Israel, our nation will suffer God’s righteous indignation over our moral collapse and the murder of millions of babies. 

We now have a president who openly supports child slaughter.  As if that were not travesty enough, President Obama has appointed the month of June as “Gay/Lesbian Pride Month”–while stating that these people “have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society”.

Is that a mind blower, or what?  It seems one would have to be either brain dead or thoroughly deranged, to imagine that gross immorality could possibly “strengthen the fabric of American society”.

Look up, fellow believers.  The Lord is coming soon!

“Mockers in the last time . . . .”

“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”  Isaiah 57:20

“But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.  These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.”   Jude: verses 17-19

Many of today’s churches are full of “mockers”–leaders and lay people who mock the efficacy of God’s Word, and turn instead to a fallen, sensual mentality as expressed in man-centered psychology and mysticism. 

This mentality has been labeled by some mockers as a “necessary paradigm shift”–from the centuries-old emphasis on spiritual growth through study and application of Scripture, to an alleged ”new paradigm” centered on man’s inner self, with a focus on emotions and experience.

I submit that this “new paradigm” is nothing new.  It’s as old as the scenario in the Garden of Eden, when the serpent said to Eve, “Thou shalt be as gods . . . .”

Those who focus on their “inner selves and emotions” rather than on God’s glory and God’s plan of redemption, are indeed like the troubled sea casting up mire and dirt!

Many churches are embracing a currently popular program called the Church Retool Kit.  This program and its agenda provide a clear illustration of the troubled sea whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

The Church Retool Kit actually encourages participants to look deep within themselves, cast up mire and dirt, and even share that mire and dirt with each other–whereas Scripture tells us to trust the Lord Jesus, confess our sins as He reveals them to us, and press on–focusing on God and His Word rather than on ourselves.

Eve fell for Satan’s lie, and it appears that countless people are doing likewise today.

For more analysis of the apostate church as evidenced in the Church Retool Kit, please check in at another of my blogs:  http://gracewithsalt.wordpress.com/

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.”  Jude, verses 24-25

Margaret L. Been

CONVERGE WORLDWIDE–flirting with demons?

In 1852, a group of Bible believing Swedish immigrants to the USA founded a Christian denomination known as the Baptist General Conference.  It’s fortunate that people don’t really “roll over in their graves”–for it that were true there would be a lot of underground rolling going on today!

The Baptist General Conference has changed it’s name to CONVERGE WORLDWIDE.  The name change–as ”New World Order-ish” as it may sound–is insignificant alongside changes in theology and practice now embraced by this once doctrinally straight Christian denomination.

We had documentation of accelerating foolishness and error in the Baptist General Conference a few years ago, with the growing popularity of former Bethel College professor Dr. Greg Boyd and his heresy of Open Theism–the idea that the future is partly open and that the world is engulfed in a cosmic war between God and Satan.

Open Theism infers that God has limited foreknowledge, and it denies the irreversible, inerrant plan of God throughout all of history–past, present, and future.  Open Theism is a Star Wars kind of concept, which undermines all of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.

Many Baptist General Conference leaders have effectively addressed the theories of the controversial Dr. Boyd, and he alone would not be reason enough to believe that the entire BGC-now CONVERGE WORLDWIDE is going down the primrose path to Emergent, Purpose-Driven apostasy. 

But if the denomination’s magazine, CONVERGE POINT (formerly BGC WORLD) is an indicator of a once-venerable organization’s defection, any discerning reader can see that there is trouble in the newly restructured CONVERGE WORLDWIDE.

The February/March 2009 issue of CONVERGE POINT contains a number of red flares to the present day “Berean” who runs everything he or she reads through the Word of God.

1)  An article titled “How to start a fire in your church”, by Steve Welling uses Acts 2:42-47 as a springboard for consideration.  This passage of Scripture starts out by saying, “And they continued stedfast in doctrine . . . .”

Yet author Steve Welling makes a disturbing statement, denying the relevance for today’s church in that passage.  According to the Welling:  ” . . . in the North American church there has never been more and better Bible teaching available.”

Then Mr. Welling goes on to give a couple of examples of people whom he considers to be good Bible teachers.  He never mentions the widespread contemporary lack of genuine, exegetical, dispensational Bible teaching. 

The idea that we have “more and better teaching” in our churches today is a downright fantasy which only a Biblically untaught and uniformed generation will believe!

In his article, Steve Welling goes on to infer that church growth is a positive goal in our current culture.  Most of us realize that many of today’s large churches are not great at all, but rather places to be avoided–sites where watered-down teaching prevails, cultural compromise reigns, and corporate America marketing practices abound.

To give due credit to Steve Welling, he states:  “One of the things we have missed in the American church is the idea of risk and suffering, of putting our lives on the line.”  Here I agree 100%! 

But today’s untaught church (consisting of millions of believers who have never heard of the end times apostasy, the salvation of the Jews, the restoration of Israel, and Christ’s ultimate return to reign in Jerusalem) will never be prepared for risk and suffering when it comes. 

All Steve Welling can offer, by eschewing thorough Bible teaching and preaching, is to witness without the power of Scripture:  a kind of “get cozy with Jesus and see how He can change your life” theology which is man-focused rather than God-centered. 

Yes, Jesus does change lives, but that fact is only a part of God’s plan.  The complete Bible includes God’s program for the ages, His plan to bring ultimate glory to Himself. 

Without knowing the whole Bible, we are helpless and ignorant–and man-centered enough to think that Christianity begins and ends with “What Jesus can do for me and you” or “How we can hold hands and feed the world”.

2)  The February/March 2009 issue of CONVERGE POINT gets worse!  On page 10, we find an article titled:  “Q & A with a hard-charging spiritual mystic,” featuring questions for and answers by Gary Rohrmayer, the director of CONVERGE WORLDWIDE’s church planting ministry in the USA.

In this Q & A session, Mr. Rohrmayer mixes truth with a tincture of error and the reader is reminded that a few drops of poison now and then will eventually kill.

Granted, meditation on Scripture is mandated for every believer.  The author of this article name drops, using as examples people whom we know to have been faithful servants of God’s Word–i.e. Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, etc. –as well as names of mystics with a questionable Biblical focus. 

I certainly believe in reading, and I constantly read non-fiction and fiction by Christian and non-Christian authors–especially the time-honored classics.  I read for inspiration, encouragement, fresh insights, challenge, information, entertainment, and for the exhilerating exercise of separating truth from error.

But Rohrmayer promotes the study of writings by Christians–subjective mystics as well as Bible oriented individuals–as a means of “centering our hearts on Him (God)” with the goal of gaining “spiritual authority to lead a flock, to touch a town, to impact a region.”

There’s confusion here!  Of course we are to “center our hearts on Him”, but by meditating on GOD’S WORD–and not on what humans, mystic or otherwise, say about God’s Word and the Christian life. 

All power and authority belong to God.  The slightest inference that a human can avail himself of this authority except through the thorough study of and obedience to Scripture alone, is enough arsenic to contaminate any truths that might be included on the Q & A page featuring Gary Rohrmayer.

Everything we need for spiritual growth and the deeper Christian life is imbedded in God’s Word.  When we immerse ourselves in Scripture, the Word of God dwells in us richly.  This is how we “experience God” and nurture intimacy with our Lord.  As helpful as the insights of our fellow humans may be, their writings are subjective–whereas God’s Word is solid, unchanging, and objective.

3)  The worst is yet to come.  Turn to page 12 and 13 of the February/March issue of CONVERGE POINT, and you will see an article which takes the proverbial cake:  “DREAMING THEIR WAY TO CHRIST”, by Dennis Danylak.

This piece is so outlandish, so reprehensibly anti-Scriptural, as to defy description.  The author justifies his topic by quoting dreams and visions from the Old Testament, those messages which God gave his faithful people and prophets in times when Divine Revelation was disclosed by dreams and visions–dispensations when God spoke not only in dreams and visions, but through burning bushes and donkeys as well.

In the Church Age, the Bible and the Bible alone is the voice of God.  If I were to presume that God was speaking to me through a dream, then I’d be open to believing He could reach me through a rose bush or via my Pembroke Welsh corgi!

God’s Word tells us that the human heart and mind are deceitful.  Even as saved individuals we cannot rely on anything from our minds, hearts, dreams, bushes, donkeys, or dogs, for spiritual leading.  We are to rely only on the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah God in the flesh, as revealed in the Bible from Genesis through Revelation.

Failure to rely on Scripture and Scripture alone is the gross apostasy operating in many of our nation’s “Christian” churches today.  This failure is becoming increasingly operative in the leadership mentality of the former Baptist General Conference as evidenced in their magazine, CONVERGE POINT.   

Some individual pastors in the denomination are holding on to God’s truth–continuing to preach a complete, unadulterated Bible.  I’m thankful for these courageous pastors and teachers, and I pray they will be allowed to continue their ministries.

Meanwhile, I’m thankful that those 19th century Swedish immigrants can’t really roll in their graves!

Margaret L. Been

Instruments, yes! But do we need the pagan, jungle beat?

“Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the psaltery and harp.  Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organs.  Praise Him upon the loud cymbals; praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals.”  Psalm 149:3-5

The above verses should leave no doubt concerning the Scriptural validity of all kinds of musical instruments in worship.  I enjoy Hebrew music and the Messianic Christian praise music which has stemmed from our venerable Old Testament roots. 

I realize that folk music, sung and performed on a variety of instruments, has its place–even though I love “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God“, ”Great Is Thy Faithfulness“, and “To God Be the Glory“ best of all!

Instruments, yes!  Singing, yes!  Perhaps even joyous dancing, when it doesn’t cross the line into sensual expression! 

But what about that jungle beat currently pounding the walls of our churches–achieved by drums and/or amplified guitars?  What about the repetition of one line of music–same notes, same words, over and over and over and over and over?

What about electrified “background music” so powerful, that one cannot distinguish, let alone understand the lyrics?  So powerful that early loss of hearing is a strong possibility for those who regularly perform or sit under the spell of it?

Even in churches where the preaching and teaching is peerless, uncompromising, and totally focused on God’s Word, that jungle beat is growing in popularity. 

Is contemporary church music simply a passing fancy, subject to fading out when the next trend comes along?  Or is this music, with its pagan jungle beat, a Pied Piper–leading entire generations into a dark cave of no return?

Today at church I was unable to stand for the “praise choruses”, due to orthopedic issues.  As I sat in the pew, in the midst of the standing worshippers, I listened analytically to the guitar and drumbeat drowning out one-line of music and its handful of words–repeated over and over and over and over and over.  As I listened, something in my spirit cried out, “No, Lord.  NO!”

I wondered, What is going on here?  We think we are praying to the Lord of the universe, the all-sovereign Creator God.  From the pulpit we are taught His truths, as revealed in Scripture.  But our “worship music” brings to my mind pagan savages dancing around a bonfire, led by a shaman dressed in feathers and shaking a gourd.

To whom are we offering our worship when the congregation lapses into a toneless trance where one line and a few words are repeated again and again, like a mantra accompanied by a pagan, jungle beat?

Margaret L. Been

Raging waves of the sea . . .

“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ . . . . These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear:  clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”                       Jude 4, 12, 13.

What a graphic description of the current apostate church leaders.  These ungodly men, “ordained to condemnation”, are flourishing today.  Their books are selling big time, and millions of clueless individuals, even some born-again Christians who fail to take Scriptures literally, are being deceived. 

Apostate, ungodly pastors (Rick Warren for one) have teamed with godless political leaders, tolerating every religion and world view with the exception of the TRUTH–the Judeo-Christian world view as delineated by fundamental, Biblical Christianity.

As these raging waves of the sea wreak havoc on our culture, the clouds gather and the darkness thickens.  Abortion, anti-Semitism, and ridicule of fundamental Christianity are rampant.  Censorship of Christian radio and television is forthcoming.  Perhaps our freedom to print the truth of God’s Word online may be threatened. 

Now more than ever before, we need to persist in the face of opposition–clearly proclaiming the Gospel whenever and wherever we can, regardless of what the personal cost may be!

Now more than ever before, we need to declare our faith without apology and without compromise. 

Now more than ever before, we need to state irrevocably, “I stand with the Lord Jesus Christ, I stand with Israel, and YES–I am a fundamental, Bible believing Christian!”

Yes, I will stand and speak out against the abhorrent trends in churches which once honored God’s Word, but have now drowned in the raging waves of the sea–that sea of error flooding the world.

Yes, I will stand against Rick Warren and others of his ilk who have compromised the Gospel of Jesus Christ and those non-negotiable truths of Scripture. 

Yes, I will stand for life!  With all my heart, words, and actions, I will oppose any and all who believe that women have a right to slaughter their babies. 

Yes, I will stand with Israel–God’s chosen nation where God will return to reign as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

The tiny book of Jude is packed with big warnings–the reality of which are unfolding before our eyes.  But Jude ends his letter on a glorious note:

“Now onto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.  Amen.”

How blessed to belong to the One Who controls the raging of the sea!  God’s plan will never be thwarted.  God is sovereign! 

Margaret L. Been 

Every thing that hath breath . . .

We are pulling out of the quietest time of the year.  Although our winter is enlivened by the sight of squirrels and birds at the feeders, the days and nights from late November through January are comparatively silent.

Now it’s February and things are on the move.  We’ve had a few days of thawing, and the wind is romping outside our windows.  It’s like a March wind.  We know that winter has plenty more to say to us, but we’re enjoying a reprieve!

I think there is nothing on earth quite like going to sleep to the sounds of creation–wind, rain, and all those exhilerating hymns of praise which we’ll hear in a few weeks:  Canada geese announcing their arrival, peepers trilling in our swamp, loons calling across the bay, frogs clacking in the cattails, and the great horned owl “whoo-whooing” in the forest around our home.

Any night now we may hear coyotes, as they mate in February and March.  We listen for them on moonlit nights, and we’re apt to hear them well into autumn.  A chorus of coyotes is thrilling beyond description.

And wolves!  They’re in our neighborhood and we’ve seen them a few times, but we’ve yet to hear them.  Meanwhile, I content myself with drawing and painting wolves.

How we miss the hymns of creation in the winter.  I continually remind myself that the beloved sounds of life will return.  God is faithful.

Now in February, with the melting snow and romping wind, we  anticipate exciting months ahead–filled with nature’s praise music.

Margaret L. Been

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.  Praise ye the Lord.”  Psalm 150:6

Receiving so we can give . . .

“How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!  I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.”                        Psalm 119:103,104

Recently a sweet young Christian friend made a statement which I’ve pondered over and over.  He said, “We shouldn’t attend church to get something.  We should attend to give.”

I understand what my friend meant, and the spirit of love with which he spoke.  Obviously, we are to be available to others in our church–to pray for them and serve them in any way we can.  We are not to be little islands, removed from those around us–but rather, we are to be caring and giving.

But after deliberating the pros and cons of giving vs. getting , I have to disagree with the statement that we should go to church primarily to give.  We cannot give what we haven’t received. 

Just as I have my private daily Bible study, I attend church to be edified in God’s Word.  Only then can I truly live (and give!) with the fruit of the Holy Spirit operative in my life.  Only as I receive, can I reflect the love and forgiveness of the One who has loved and forgiven me!

A church I attended for years in Waukesha, Wisconsin, had an inscription over the exit door.  As we walked from church after a worship service, we read these words:  “You are now entering your mission field.”

We attend church to worship our Lord, and to receive instruction from Scriptures.  Only then are we equipped to give–to those sitting beside us in church, to our neighbors, and to anyone else in the mission field God has given us.

Margaret L. Been

The End Times

What are the sounds,

those deep earth rumbles

mounting in our ears

to shake us from our sleep . . .

the distant murmuring

augmenting to a roar,

those anguished heartcries

prefacing a war?

Peace will come . . .

but only when

a lifeless, evil system breaks.

Sun and stars will fade

before the dawn awakes.

So let us hone our prayers,

and savor every life-pervaded

sight and sound . . .

and deeply draw

on all that is of God.

Let us dwell in love

until our King returns

to vanquish evil and remake

this scarred and slated thrust

of ground!

by Margaret Longenecker Been

Reprinted from A TIME UNDER HEAVEN

by Margaret Longenecker Been, Elk River Books

All Rights Reserved.

On this rock . . .

“And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  Matthew 16:18

In the verses preceding the above passage, the Lord Jesus questioned Peter, “But whom do you say that I am?”  And Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.”

This theological truth, succinctly stated by Peter, is the eternal rock upon which the church of Jesus Christ is built.  Although the name “Peter” means “rock” or “rock-man”, the rock Jesus refered to is the Gospel of Jesus Christ as embraced by believers. 

Upon the ageless truth of the Gospel, upon the truth of Scripture, our Lord has built and is still building His church.  Despite all indications to the contrary, the true Church will triumph.  It is built upon an indestructible rock.

Everywhere we look we see signs of decay in our society, in our world, and–saddest of all–in churches that once stood on the rock-solid foundation of the Bible.  Yet, the Lord has promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His true Church. 

Recently I received an encouraging email from a friend who met a missionary who trains Chinese Christian pastors.  This missionary testified to the current spread of Christianity in China, and the increase of born-again Christians in that country. 

China is experiencing a harvest of seeds sown by missionaries centuries ago.  Even in that land where tyranny has reigned for decades, the Lord is building His Church, and the gates of Hell cannot prevail against it.

As we view our decadent American culture and the blatant apostasy of America’s purpose driven, seeker friendly, emergent churches, let us focus on that great indestructible rock of Scripture–the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Let us focus on the Lord!  He is building His Church and the gates of Hell shall never, never, never prevail against it!

Margaret L. Been