SIGN - No seeker sensitivity here...

This sign is located at I-35 in Carrollton, Texas between Beltline and Crosby on the west side of the road. The ArmyNavyWarehouse paid for this sign.

I have to admit I really like this sign. The message is shown in a direct to the point way with almost an old time feel to it. I tried to get the railroad crossing in there to emphasize the need to make a decision- should you cross into faith or not. Most will reject this sign but I pray some will seek the Lord because of it.

I can hear the the new age modernist believers arguing that this might turn people off to the gospel. We are so afraid we'll give someone a bad experience we settle for not even trying to share the gospel.

Do you think Christ offended some people when he went into the temple and knocked over the money changers tables? (John 2:13-16) How about when he stood toe to toe with the Pharisees? Think about it- he made them so mad they wanted to kill him. Could you imagine your pastor having this kind of conviction? Do you have this kind of conviction? Pray for it, I do.

The devil loves for us to pretend in church. He loves when we are into the world more than Christ.

We need to preach the Word of God.

John 2:13-16
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

Cussing / Swearing

Steve admits:

This post will not be an easy one for me but I feel lead to talk about my struggle with cursing. Recently, I read an interview on the Internet I did in 2006 with The Metal Pit and I saw to my horror several times I cursed in it. I have to no excuse and I have repented since but I have this example of my sin living on the net to remind me of my slipping into this sinful habit.

When we started the Rotting Corpse website and reunion shows in 2004, I got caught in the mindset of when I was 20. Thankfully, because I was a believer I didn't do everything I did back in the day. I falsely believed that- if I wasn't drinking, lusting after women, and being a generally nice guy, I wasn't hurting anything by a few cuss words. I believed I could pick my sins. Even after my daughter was born, I continued some cursing but through the urging of some friends who were bold, I finally realized I needed to watch my mouth.

What happened? Part of it is I like to cuss. When I get excited or angry, I like to express myself this way. The other part is I fell into the Seeker Sensitive trap of "If I act really cool, people will like me and might start believing in Christ (Jesus is better than beer)". After a few years back in the metal scene, I saw my friends still living the lives they lived before they re-met me in 2004 and realized how wrong I was to naively believe that the power to transform someone's life to Christ had anything to do with me being of the world. I also failed in that I was afraid to share the gospel with them verbally. I thought that them knowing I was a believer would be enough. I pray the Lord will bless me with more opportunities to share my faith boldly with my old friends from the metal scene and that he will forgive me for my timid ignorance.

Without true repentance, can we truly know the Lord?

Ephesians 4:29
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Colossians 3:8
"But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips."

1 Timothy 4:12
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Swearing:
Since 2002 I have been sensitive to people who say GD or JC in vain. It's like a kick in the stomach when I hear someone say it. I am praying for the boldness to tell people (in a nice way) to not say those things around me. I figure it's the least I can do for the man who gave his life for ours. And some times like me, people do not realize how much they are saying these things.

James 5:12
"Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your "Yes" be yes, and your "No," no, or you will be condemned."

John MacArthur in Southlake Sunday

I was blessed to see John MacArthur speak at Countryside Bible Church, in Southlake, Texas last nite, February 10, 2008. Countryside is a beautiful little church in an area that is usually associated with money, giant houses and possessions galore. I'd like to thank Jon Speed of Lost Cause Ministries, for telling me about this because I had no clue the Sola Conference was was going when the weekend began.

John MacArthur is an excellent Biblical teacher who I had heard several times on WOTM radio but I didn't realize how good he was until seeing and hearing him live. His teaching style is very thorough with Biblical references galore (2nd time I used that word). He spoke for 2 hours to a fairly large turn out. I had to sit in another room because the main sanctuary was full.

- Grace Community Church

Evel Knievel was born again?

Steve states:
One Sunday my pastor spoke about Evel Knievel coming to know Christ before he died. So when I got home, I found his testimony on youtube. I was fascinated by his sincere expression of his struggle to know the Lord. And I suppose some people can argue he was just a crazy old man driven by years of pain from injuries suffered doing his stunts. But isn't being broken what drives us to accept the gift of grace from the Lord? I know it was in my case.

His struggle to know God is something many in the church miss today. Most people today believe that if you pray a little prayer and really mean it, you're saved. No matter how they act afterwards. Some believe they don't need to read their Bible (if they even own one) or go to church.

I've been reading "Grace Abounding" by John Bunyan and was amazed how he struggled to know God. This book was written in 1666 while he was imprisoned.

From Chapter 6 (Temptation)
Sometimes I would lie under great guilt for sin, even crushed to the ground with the weight of it, and then the Lord would show me the death of Christ. Yes, He so sprinkled my conscience with His blood that I would find, even before I was aware, that in this conscience, where but just now did reign and rage the law, even there would rest and abide the peace and love of God through Christ.

From Chapter 8 (Continual Affirmation of Truth)
Then crying out in the bitterness of my soul, I said to my soul with a grievous sigh, "How can God comfort such a wretch?" I had no sooner said it but this returned upon me as an echo answers a voice, "This sin is not unto death." At that, it was as if I had been raised out of the grave and cried out again, "Lord, how could You find out such a word as this?" I was filled with admiration at the fitness and at the unexpectedness of the sentence - the fitness of the word, the rightness of the timing of it. The power and sweetness and light and glory that came with it were marvelous to me to find.

Steve continues:
Bunyan continues to question himself even further after these seemingly revelations he has had.

Perhaps we should consider our salvation and what it means to be saved. Has our modern society with all it's busyness made us insensitive to God's will, God's call? The gift of eternal life is beyond any kind of value. It's truly amazing what Jesus Christ our Lord did for us on that cross 2000 years ago.

EXAMINE YOURSELVES!!!

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?



Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Paul Washer

Steve notes:
I have been blown away repeatedly by the sermons of this man, Paul Washer. He doesn't hold anything back and I hope he represents a new breed of preachers in America. Almost every sermon I've heard from him is so convicting I feel as though I've been kicked in the gut after I listen to them.

He is one of the men that has challenged me to dig into my Bible like never before as well as find out what pioneers of the church believed - Moody, Whitfield, Spurgeon, Luther instead of reading the self-help humanistic teachings of today's so-called Christian preachers.

Below are some videos of Paul Washer, a missionary and itinerant preacher.





Description taken from youtube on the video below, this is a little long but it's worth listening to every bit of it:

This is a Shockingly Powerful & Biblical message
preached to about 5,000 youth in a day when youth
are appealed to through shallow and worldly means.

At one point in this sermon the 5,000 Youth are
clapping and yelling BUT THEN the preacher makes
a comment that CHANGES THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE TO
WHERE YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP... As you
can imagine, the preacher was never invited back.

We believe the whole sermon will be a blessing
to many souls. For more info about Paul Washer
go to www.heartcrymissionary.com

Mike Murdock - TV preacher I prayed the prayer with

A friend asked me what TV preacher I was referring to in my Profile section and that credit goes to Mr. Mike Murdock. He's frequently on Daystar during the telethon periods and is famous for chanting into a sincere-camera-close up, "go to the phone, go to the phone," over and over while he's praying. He has a tendency to brag about the fact people give him money, expensive cars and gifts of all sorts. At the time in 2002 he had just purchased his own personal plane and felt the need to justify why he needed that so badly.

He'll come up with a random number like 58 and tell you that God told him this was perfect dollar amount to sow a seed with to get a double portion. At the time being a fledging Christian this sounded good to me and I pledged to pay $58 for so many months. In a matter of months I realized how silly this was from reading the Bible for the first time and attending a Bible-based church. But I finished out my pledge period figuring I had prayed to God I would give this money, and it's on Daystar's head what they do with it.

At the time I came to Christ I was also going through a period of wanting to get rich. I was reading a lot of the get rich type business books. I had my own company which was driving me nuts and dreamed of making big money to get away from the woes of the world so it's understandable why I would not have a problem with Mr. Murdock's method of prosperity teaching (name and claim it). Fortunately for me, I kept digging to find people who preached the true gospel reflected in the Bible. I have heard stories of many people who don't get that far, gave away a lot of their money and become bitterly disillusioned enough to join the group of folks that believes that all of Christianity is run by frauds and believers are easily mislead sheep.

I can't help but think of Matthew 7:22-23 when I come across teachers like Mike and the infamous Benny Hinn (both live in north Texas BTW). I would hate to stand before God knowing that I took money from people in the name of Jesus so as to advance a life of luxury for myself. But I guess only they know if they are being good stewards of the treasures God has given them. To a certain extent we will all be subject how we spent our wealth on that last great day. I know I've been guilty of wasting money on silly things that could have helped feed a starving child somewhere in the world or helped someone hear the gospel.

Matthew 7:22
22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

A confession: I love Internet search engines because it makes me appear like I can recite Bible verses from memory. In reality I can remember part of a verse and then search on that phrase to find it the rest of it and it's book and numbering.

Mike Murdock in action:



What some people say about Mike Murdock:

- http://www.forgottenword.org/murdock.html

Bart - a friend from my past

Irving, TX 1986 (Bart, David, Steve)

Steve states:

I have played in bands most of my life. Not so much in the last 10 years but I still have played some reunion shows with one of my first bands called Rotting Corpse that dates back to the 80s. We played a primitive style of metal called thrash. It amazes me that the younger generation is getting to this but everything seems to come around again in fashion. One thing about playing in bands is that you meet a lot of people and with the Internet (Rotting Corpse webpage), I’ve been able to reconnect with several people I knew back in the day.

One of those is a fellow named Bart Blair. We played in a band called Eldritch Rite together for maybe a week in 1986. He was slotted to be the replacement singer but the band broke up instead of going on. I have a band photo taken behind Pipedream Records by Stu Taylor with Bart posing with us (he has the glasses on). He went on with the guitarist David of ER to form The Answer doing music in a similar vein as Eldritch for a year or so. I had lost touch with Bart since seeing him one time quite on accident at a grocery store in northern Austin (maybe in the early 90s?) while I was visiting a friend. I had heard that he had gotten into government work and didn’t want to be associated with his metal roots or friends. So I was quite surprised when I got a myspace friend invitation from him. He is now a worship leader for Grace Community Church in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. I’ve put in a video clip of his testimony and how he wound up from Northern Texas to frozen Canada. He has a much cooler conversion story than mine.

- www.myspace.com/bartblair

- www.bartblair.com

- www.grace-church.ca

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

The conversion of Charles H. Spurgeon

This is the story of Charles Spurgeon's conversion, in his own words. The preacher whom Spurgeon describes was the Rev. Robert Eaglen. Taken from Charles H. Spurgeon: His Faith and Works, H.L. Wayland, 1892.

I was miserable, I could do scarcely anything. My heart was broken to pieces. Six months did I pray, prayed agonizingly with all my heart, and never had an answer. I resolved that in the town where I lived I would visit every place of worship, in order to find the way of salvation. I felt I was willing to do anything if God would only forgive me. I set off determined to visit all the chapels, and though I deeply venerate the men who occupy those pulpits now, and did so then, I am bound to say, that I never heard them once fully preach the gospel. ... At last, one snowy day, I found rather an obscure street and turned down a court, and there was a little chapel. I wanted to go somewhere, but I did not know this street. It was the Primitive Methodists' chapel. I had heard of this people from many, and how they sang so loudly that they made people's heads ache; but that did not matter. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they made my head ache ever so much, I did not care. So sitting down, the service went on, but no minister came. At last a very thin-looking man came into the pulpit. He opened the Bible and read these words: "Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth." Just setting his eyes upon me, as if he knew me all by heart, he said: "Young man, you are in trouble!" Well, I was, sure enough. Says he: "You will never get out of it unless you look to Christ." Then, lifting his eyes, he cried, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, "Look, look, look!" I saw at once the way of salvation. O, how I did leap for joy at that moment! I know not what else he said, I was so possessed with that one thought. ... I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away, and in heaven I will look on still, in my joy unspeakable.

Steve notes:
I am always fascinated with conversion stories. Mine isn't very exciting- I didn't see any major flashes of light or have some unusual happenings that pointed me toward Jesus that I can remember. I was just fed up with the world. Even after I prayed my prayer, I continued to make sinful mistakes in areas I probably should have known better. I still struggle with sin and can only resolve it by getting on my knees in prayer and turning from my sins.

I believe some people have the perception of Christians that we think we're better than others. I admit there are some legalistic Phariseetic believers that are unduly judgmental of nonbelievers. But if Christians truly live, believe what's written in the Bible, we fully realize we are sinful wretches that are only pulled from death by the grace of Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:10
As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;

Revival 2008

Leonard Ravenhill in the video above.

Steve notes:
We live in a world that largely due to humanism and political correctness feels that being a Christian excludes the need to share our faith with people in our life as well as putting much time in the other activities that feed the soul. The majority of Christians in America have become like the Laodicea church, fat and comfortable waiting for heaven. I've been guilty of this myself.

In my opinion the key to making some kind of headway to revival in the US starts with ourselves. We must give up something in our lives that takes up time and dedicate the gained time to praying, spreading the gospel, helping the poor, reading your Bible, etc. I know an obvious one for me is to cut out is watching nightly TV shows.


Revelation 3:14-22

14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."