Emergent Church Marks
By Pastor David Cox
So what are the characteristics of an Emergent Church? In this day and time, some may try to hide themselves, but with a little knowledge and work, you can clearly identify them.
Here I am going to use Matthew Slick’s list and comment on them.
What is the Church’s Purpose?
By Pastor David Cox
Before I begin, some personal background. I am a missionary, and I started visiting churches presenting my ministry in Mexico to churches back in 1983. I have probably visited some 700-800 churches in my lifetime. While a goodly number of churches I have little to no idea of how they function, and what the thinking of their pastors really is, a lot of them I do see into their philosophy from talking at length with the pastors, and seeing them function on a Sunday in their services. Let me also say that over time, a missionary can discern a lot about a church from the details that are readily visible.
Twisted Scriptures: A Path to Freedom from Abusive Churches, Mary Alice Chrnalogar, 1997. By wielding distorted Scripture, controlling groups keep earnest believers struggling under the terrible tyranny of oppression, guilt, and fear. The author says, “This book will take you into the inner workings of abusive and controlling groups to show you how they control their members. I will make clear the mind games that many of the major destructively controlling groups have in common.” Checklists at the end of each chapter offer good topics for discussion. Ms. Chrnalogar is herself a former member of an aberrational Christian group.
Families Where Grace Is In Place: Getting Free from the Burden of Pressuring, Controlling and Manipulating Your Spouse and Your Children, Jeff VanVonderen, 1992. “Here is a message about how God’s grace can transform relationships within a marriage and family. The first step is learning the simple difference between God’s job and ours… Healthy relationships between husband and wife, between parents and children, are possible only when the filter of God’s grace is placed over the processes of marriage and parenting. The Christian family’s ultimate goals can be arrived at without using legalistic and manipulative methods.” (Quoted from the back of the book.)
The Assumption of Mary into Heaven
By David Cox
See my tracts on Catholicism here
This Catholic doctrine is of very recent devise, but it basically reads that Mary never really died like most other people, but ascended directly into heaven at some point similar to Enoch and Elikah, without having died.
“When the course of our Lady’s life on earth was ended she was taken up body and soul into heaven” (Mary—Doctrine for Everyman, p. 34).
As in our other studies on Mary, the Scriptures are totally silent on Mary, Jesus’ mother, after her assembly with her other children in the upper room waiting for the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
Continue reading
Mary’s Immaculate Conception
By David Cox
See my tracts on Catholicism here
Contrary to what many people understand, the term “immaculate conception” doesn’t refer to Jesus’ being born without sin, but rather it refers to the Catholic misunderstanding that Mary had to have been born without sin also, because otherwise she would have transferred her sinful nature to Christ.
“When we say that Mary was conceived without sin we mean that from the very first moment of her existence she was free from original sin, she was full of grace” (Mary—Doctrine for Everyman, page 17).
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX declared Mary had been born without sin. Thus, they explained Jesus’ sinless nature and held on to the doctrine of inherited sin. AllanTurner.com
This doctrine is involved with the Catholic doctrine of inherited sin, which is not biblical. They believe that every human being inherits the sin of Adam through their parents. A few salient points from Scripture is needed here. Continue reading
The Perpetual Virginity of Mary
By David Cox
See my tracts on Catholicism here
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The Catholic church exalts Mary into a position of being a goddess, equal to or over the Trinity. This godness status they assign her cannot be “ruined” by having sexual relations with a man.
“It is Catholic faith that Mary was a virgin before the divine birth; during it; and after it—Our Lady never had any other children” (Mary—Doctrine for Everyman, p. 14).
Summary: This study will investigate what the fruit (life and ministry) of a false prophet. Part 2 of this series is simply an introduction and begins by contrasting a man of God’s fruit (piety and holiness) with the false prophet’s fruit (sin, not doing God’s will).
For an overview, see
False Prophets and Teachers Overview
Fruit of a False Prophet and the Bible is a study on how false prophets mishandle the Word of God, not fulfilling it in their own life.
Fruit of a False Prophet and the Bible
by Pastor David Cox
Summary: This study will investigate what the fruit (life and ministry) of a false prophet. Part 1 of this series is simply an introduction, and begins by contrasting a man of God’s fruit (piety and holiness) with the false prophet’s fruit (sin, not doing God’s will). Continue reading
False Prophet
By David Cox
Summary: This is post is an index page for all our studies on the topic of “false_prophet”. Here we will define what is a false_prophet, describe him biblically, his methods and techniques, his goals and objectives, and his show what God says about him.
The existence of false_prophets and teachers is a given in the Bible. You cannot read and understand the Bible without seeing the danger and existence of false prophets. What God wants is for us to discern the incorrect from the correct. God’s instruction about false_prophets is a warning so that we can correctly identify the false prophet and separate from them and their ministries so as not to be hurt, nor enter into the judgment of God on them.
For an overview, see
False Prophets and Teachers Overview
ch87 The Remnant of the People of God explains why "big" churches that boast of their numbers are not as God's Word dictates to Christians.
Topics: Satan wants to Sift the Redeemed | What is the mentality of a Remnant? | The Nature of “the Church” | A Discouraged People | False Followers of Christ | The People who ask, “Give me! Give me!” | Faithfulness in Service | Conclusion.
Download/View: h87 The Remnant of the People of God.
Getting People Really Saved. The one true objective that takes priority over all other objectives is the gospel. If our people are not saved, nothing else will matter as much. This article in churchplantingworkshop.com investigates the question of not explaining clearly the plan of salvation and those who are witnessed to not understanding the plan of salvation.
Topics: Overview | Jesus Taught us of the Existence of "Tares" | Evangelism is very important, but also INSIDE THE CHURCH | Essentials in Fruit Production. (1) Bible reading/studying. (2) A Biblical sound local church. (3) Solid Expositional Teaching. (4) Exposure to real prayer power. | Harmful Elements: (1) False teaching. (2) Sinful conduct by supposedly good Christians. (3) Sins and crises that distract and disable a person's Christian life.
Read the tract: Getting People Really Saved.
evc07 God made the World and the Whole Universe is a study of God our Maker, and how He made things, not by evolution. Topics: Why does it matter so much? | God is greater than us | God imposes our condition on us | We must Obey and Worship Him | How do we worship God? | God created all things | Noah’s Ark | The Evolution and Evolution of God | The Maker of Job.
From the Tract: Job 38:4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding.
One conclusion of the statement that "God created the world" is that God is greater than us, which is to say, God is stronger, more powerful, and more wonderful than any human being. We owe God our worship and praise.
Read the Tracts: evc07 God made the World and the Whole Universe
Buy me a Cup of Coffee! To make an old Christian work into a PDF, a module for theWord, MySword, or eSword takes time. These works are scans from old books, and as such, I have to go through the text some dozen times looking for places where the OCR is incorrect, blurred, or just skipped something.
Text Editing.Then there are the old Bible references like John iii. 16. Many young Christians and even preachers do not know the Latin system for books of the Bible. I convert Roman numerals in these books to Arabic (iii. to 3).
I have had to invest days and days in writing macros to read a long text, and make substitutions (for the above, search for "iii" and replace with "3:"). Unfortunately, with Psalms you have to start with 150 in Roman numerals (CL) and work your way backwards. But using macros, it is almost instantaneous the next time I need this. Work smarter, not harder. All this takes time and patience, (and being smart enough to do it in a macro language) (as well as a lot of coffee) and then making the text into theWord or eSword, mySword or a PDF.
Please donate something to me once every 6 months or even once a year, even if it is only $5, so that I can pay my bills for hosting, and also keep things moving along. It costs me about $10 per month to keep a website on the Internet. My websites also contains ads which have links to my sermons, tracts, books, that I have written. These keep my works before visitors, even if they are not visiting the specific website where I have them stored. It is my own "web" internally of my own sites with links to good Christian literature. May God bless for your prayers and donations.
Take a look at a few of our tracts:
salv76 suffering should seek his Savior - explains how we should react to problems and sufferings, we should seek the Savior.
pc15 How to fight against depression - we treat the problem of depression. Depression is not a physical disease, it is an emotional and spiritual disease that "bleeds over" and causes aggravation and physical consequences if not attended to at the spiritual-social-emotional level.
ch15 Congregating because we Love - a tract about why we attend church. Our relationship with our brethren in Christ is highly integrated with our salvation and our sanctification.
SSTeen1-01 Existence of God - Does God really exist? This is not a tract but a teen Sunday School Class that I wrote answering this important question.
fam48 Men are God's Agents - Men are God’s Agents to accomplish His Will, looks at man as God wants him to be. Manhood and the husband-wife relationship.
Donations: paypal.me/davidcoxmex/
ch49 The Biblical Pastor: The Biblical Duty outlines the duties of a pastor.
Topics:
Dagg Manual of Theology (and links to this work in various other formats).
Dagg Manual of Theology (MySword for Android)
Dagg Manual of Theology (theWord Bible Format)
Dagg Manual of Theology (esword format)
Dagg Manual of Theology (PDF Format)
How Pastors can help their missionaries on Deputation is help from a veteran missionary of over 30+ years on his opinions and suggestions.
Topics: How Pastors can help their missionaries on Deputation | Money, Finances, and Expenses | "In-kind" helps | How Pastors can help their missionaries on Deputation continued | More Missionary Needs | A loaned Vehicle | More Articles on Missionary Helps.
Read the Article: How Pastors can help their missionaries on Deputation.
