A Manifesto for the Restoration of the New Testament Church

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a marriage proposal, and the New Covenant is a marriage covenant. Salvation and forgiveness of sin comes only through uniting with Christ in this New Covenant. We are saved by the grace of God through faith, but this faith is not merely believing in God or the facts of who Jesus is and what He did.

Faith is primarily a personal commitment (marriage) to Christ The New Covenant which Christ purchased for His Bride (the Church) promises forgiveness of sin, a new heart and a new spirit, God's Holy Spirit living in us, personally knowing God, and eternal life. Repentance and Baptism is God's ordained way of entering the New Covenant. more...

Salvation

Any so-called salvation that does not transform the fundamental nature of the sinner into that of a saint is not salvation. Let me make it simple: if you "got saved" and your insides were not changed, then you have been scammed. Paul warned that in the last days there would come those who "hold to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power."(2 Tim 3:5) We are saved solely by the grace of God through faith, but the salvation that comes from God is not the empty, powerless thing that is talk only and so common today. God's salvation not only delivers from the penalty of sin, but also delivers from the power of sin. Jesus will never be content with those who are content with a mere appearance of righteousness. more...

Commitment

Commitment to Christ is the first step of following Jesus. Becoming His disciple is not a matter of spiritual maturity, but spiritual necessity. Jesus was always careful to warn those who would follow Him of the cost of doing so. He always turned away those unwilling to pay the price. But we live in a day and in the midst of a "Church" where discipleship is going to a weekly bible study and where the cost is being a "faithful tither." The vast majority of Christians have no idea what it means to be a disciple. In fact, most think discipleship is an option, something for the committed. They are content to rest on the teachings of "grace," "Jesus paid it all," and "eternal security." Now, it is most certainly true that one is saved by the grace of God alone, apart from any merit or works on our part. And it is most certainly true that Jesus paid the full price for our redemption and salvation and it is something purchased by God for us and freely given, not something that is simply subsidized by God as the Catholic church teaches. But cheap grace is not God's grace. The cheap grace that demands less that Jesus demands has no more power to save that a rosary hung on a rear view mirror. more...

The Meaning of Baptism

In much of the so-called evangelical church there is a general neglect of baptism, both in practice and understanding. There are even some denominations that have gone so far as to do away with what Christ commanded. In many others, baptism has been reduced to little more than an initiation ritual into church (not Church) membership. It has become almost completely detached from salvation in both doctrine and practice. It has become optional, if not for church membership then certainly for Church membership. Yet does this square with the New Testament? Certainly, salvation is by faith through grace, but the early Church did not have the cavalier attitude toward baptism that prevails today. Certainly none was accepted as a disciple of the Lord Jesus and admitted to the Lord's Supper who was not baptized. Yet today, to have the same attitude would be widely condemned as intolerant, unloving, and legalistic. more...

Positively Un-American!

A call for serious discipleship

In the last portion of the 19th century in the first half of the 20th, there was the come-out movement as scores of orthodox evangelical Christians left apostate churches and denominations to set up new ones faithful to the word of God. But it was a half-way withdrawal from evil and compromise. What was not seen was that the slide into apostasy of the once doctrinally orthodox (more or less) denominations was only the ripening fruit of the covenant of peace made with the world millennia earlier. By the middle of the 20th century, and not recognizing the true roots of the problem, the neo-evangelical movement arose from within the ranks of fundamentalism, calling for a cultural re-engagement. They said: ‘Let Christians become politicians and lawyers, actors and teachers, artists and television hosts, and let us got forth to take the world for Jesus from the inside. Let us engage the world in dialog and show the world that we are not really all that different from them.’ Well, they succeeded in showing the world that "Christians" engaged in the world weren't’t really very different, and hence could be safely ignored. Evangelicals had committed the same deadly compromise others had made in previous generations. They had gutted the Gospel for the sake of cultural "relevance". more...

Islam and the Antichrist

For more than a generation, the kingdom of the Antichrist has commonly be equated among evangelicals with Europe. Many, having been influenced as young believers more by such books as "The Late Great Planet Earth" and now by the "Left Behind" series than the Bible, take the word of the prophesy "experts" as gospel. We were taught that the next event in the prophetic time line was the rapture of the church and then all hell would break loose as the Antichrist rebuilds the Roman Empire first in Europe and then spreads his control over all the world. The prophesy teachers also told us of a coming middle east war in which the Soviet Union with her Arab allies would invade Israel, be destroyed by God, and then the Antichrist would appear and make a seven year treaty with Israel. Many watched with trepidation as the European Community (now European Union) expanded to ten nations. But the EU went from 10 to 25 without the Antichrist appearing. And the USSR disintegrated without the prophesied invasion. But still the same old interpretations go on... and on... and on. more...

Is America Babylon the Great?

The purpose of this article is not to portray the United States as the worst of all nations. Nor is it to suggest that the leadership of America is more evil than others. Rome too, appeared at times to be great and good and noble, --when her interests coincided with the interests of others. But we must remember that the god of this world rules over the kingdoms of the earth. Those who would be kings in this age must first bow to him. Acting in one's self interest becomes a great evil when one has great power. If you believe that we live in the last days and the return of our Lord is close at hand, you must ask yourself what exists today in this world that fits the description of Babylon The Great. Neither the city of Rome, the ruins of Babylon, Iraq, the Catholic Church, or any of the other candidates sometimes mentioned fit the bill nor can they in the near future. Only the sole remaining superpower, the economic engine of the world, the one described by many in the press, academia, and government as the "New Rome" stands as a possible candidate. God may again shuffle the deck, but the cards as they are currently dealt point to America as Babylon the Great. more...

the third seal
Converting the world's poor
into biofuel

(CNN) "Riots, instability spread as food prices skyrocket"

"This is the world's big story," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute. "The finance ministers were in shock, almost in panic this weekend," he said on CNN's "American Morning," in a reference to top economic officials who gathered in Washington. "There are riots all over the world in the poor countries ... and, of course, our own poor are feeling it in the United States." more...

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A Warning to the Church
- Corrie Ten Boom -

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this.  These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days.  Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world.  I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution. 

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured."  Then came a terrible persecution.  Millions of Christians were tortured to death.  Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,

"We have failed.  We should have made the people strong for persecution rather than telling them Jesus would come first.  Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes, – to stand and not faint." more...

You Must be Born Twice!

Do you know Jesus Christ? I don't mean do you know about Him, but do you really know Him? Millions upon millions attend church every Sunday, but how many are disciples of Jesus and are willing to lay down their lives for Him because of the love He has shown to them? How many even understand that what sets a genuine Christian apart from the others is the fact that God truly lives in them? How many think that being 'born again' is any religious experience?

But our problem is not something that attending church or a religious experience can fix. Until we are touched by Jesus to our depths, we are dead to God more...

What's wrong with the Gospel?

According to George Barna 42% of Americans are "born again" and half of all americans are attending church on a typical Sunday.

Yet the United States has by far the highest prison population in the world as well as the highest rate of incarceration. And the divorce rate (35%) among "born-agains" is the same as among others. more

Can the Gospel of Billy Graham save?

Billy Graham remains the most admired man in the evangelical camp and one of the most admired in the world. He has kept himself free of the love of money that has made "Christian" television a byword for hypocrisy...

This article does not question the character of the man, nor his sincerity. However it is my purpose to question the message he has consistently preached along with that of the vast majority of the Evangelical/Fundamentalist camp... more