According to ABC News and a host of Liberal illiterates if you believe in liberty, freedom of religion, freedom, of speech, private property, hiring the best qualified people for employment, or having a choice in where and how your children are educated then you are officially a member of a hate group.
Ironically, when I was a kid people holding such beliefs were called Americans and patriots.
But no longer is that true according to Disney owned news conglomerate ABC News. On Wednesday, two days after I posted about the crazy lady that owns “The Crystal Ship” (she holds similar views); Disney’s ABC News labeled the Alliance Defending Freedom a hate group. This group defends conservative folks from governmental tyranny. ABC is angry that our new Attorney General spoke privately to the group.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivered a speech to an alleged hate group at an event closed to reporters on Tuesday night, but the Department of Justice is refusing to reveal what he said.
Short thereafter, the article quotes US Senator Tammy Baldwin
“This sends a very troubling message that our Attorney General, America’s top law enforcement official, is not committed to standing up to anti-LGBT hate.”
The ABC reporter goes no to write:
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy group founded in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1994 that “specializes in supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality abroad, ending same-sex marriage and generally making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally.”
The group is representing Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who is challenging the state’s nondiscrimination protections after he was found in violation of the law for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the case in June 2017.
Do you see what the Left is saying? To state that “homosexuality is wrong” or “marriage is between a man and woman” is a hate crime. Hate crime means fines, imprisonment, and the full weight of the State falling on your little head; or so they hope.
So when Liberals take away my freedom, attack my God, my marriage, and my family and I dare to defend myself within the law, then I’m a hatemonger and should be banned from the public square. That’s the clear message of this news story. In addition, many Liberals believe I should forfeit my job, my children, and my freedom because I disagree with them. Such beliefs are being implemented now in California. I’m warning you here and now (once again) that these beliefs will shortly be enacted into law here in California. Folks we aren’t far behind Canada.
If you want to see where California is heading in the next few years then look to The Great White North. Canada has implemented some of the most far reaching and onerous laws promoting homosexuality on the planet. Canada has erected a series of human rights commissions that are charged with enforcing these laws. Both freedom of speech and religion have been severely curtailed in the last few years. Parents are in danger of losing their children to the state and preachers are forbidden to talk about sin from the pulpit.
To see where California is heading between now and the end of Gavin Newsom’s administration (and yes I think he will be the next governor) let’s look north. In Canada, a Christian group had created a charter school a few years ago. Now that these human rights commissions and other legislation are in place, the environment has become hostile to Christianity. The school district mentioned in the article below is Battle River School Division (BRSD). The charter school is Cornerstone Christian Academy.”
Christian School Defunded Over Bible Verses
But that has come to an end in a dispute over the school’s use of two biblical passages that BRSD board members contend “denigrate” and “vilify” LGBT individuals.
•Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
•Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. – Galatians 5:19-24
Please note that these verses in the Bible were written almost two thousand years ago. The Scriptures didn’t change in the nine years that the charter school has been running.
Earlier this year, Cornerstone removed the Corinthians passage from its website at the request of BRSD, but planned to include it and the Galatians passage in the student handbook.
BRSD sent the email following last month’s change in legislation adding “gender expression” and “gender identity” to Canada’s Human Rights Code and to the Criminal Code’s hate-crime section.
A BRSD spokesman said trustees believed the verses might contravene Alberta’s human-rights legislation.
BRSD chairwoman Lauri Skori called it inappropriate to share “any teachings that denigrate or vilify someone’s sexual orientation.”
Note: Colorado also has a human rights commission. In 2012, this commission was responsible for prosecuting a baker for refusing to make a wedding cake for a homosexual couple. (This happened two years before the Supreme Court forced “gay marriage” upon the fifty states.) This is the case scheduled to be heard this fall by the Supreme Court.
It is my belief and has been for several years that California will eventually require a test oath in order to allow access to employment, student loans, and other government benefits. But we Americans always do things to extremes so why not include the private sector as we implement these rules?
The first sign of this oath was last year in the bill to restrict student loans to schools that affirmed the gay rights agenda of the State as a condition of giving loans to California college students. This bill was withdrawn but I fully expect it to be passed by the end of the next legislative cycle (2018).
Today in the news is the next plank of this movement.
The bill would apply to every employer in California with 50 or more employees requiring training on gender harassment, as part of current sexual harassment training. And it reaffirms that transgender workers are allowed to go by their preferred names and pronouns.
If this bill doesn’t get signed by Jerry Brown it certainly will by Newsom. So how will employers prove they are complying with the law? They will have to have another poster in the breakroom and a signed form from each employee that they have been trained about the special treatment that must be given to sexually and morally deviant people. Failure of businesses to comply will eventually mean they will be forced to cease operations and failure of employees to sign will eventually cost people their jobs.
This law is not the end; it’s just the next step. These laws are to legislate morality (or in this case immorality) and to attack traditional Christianity. Remember that all law is religious. This is an establishment of religion albeit a foreign one.
We are very close to going full circle back to Rome. In ancient Rome you could have any god you wish as long as you acknowledged Caesar as Lord. Those that said Jesus is Lord were attacked not on religious grounds but as political enemies of the State. Christianity was high treason.
California is trying to criminalize Christianity—not just banish it from the public square but cleanse it from the culture.
John the Baptist warned those of his generation to “flee the wrath to come.” Instead of heeding his warning, he was beheaded for his trouble. Those that crucified his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, a few years later said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
True to their wishes, the wrath-to-come arrived in the form of a Roman army about forty years later. The wrath visited upon them and their children resulted in the death of most, the systematic and total destruction of their nation, and the enslavement of the few survivors. True to his warning, no loss of life is recorded for the Christians that obeyed the prophecy given by Jesus to flee when they saw the signs foretold.
Whether any of us can truly avoid the wrath to come upon our nation is doubtful but clearly some areas and people will do better than others. In my opinion, ground zero of the “wrath to come” is California. The late columnist Herb Caen used to call San Francisco “Bagdad by the Bay.” That was seventy years ago. Now, I think California can be thought of as “Sodom by the Sea.”
California is hell-bent on becoming “anti-America.” The people of California wish to remake the State into a dystopian socialist paradise devoid of petroleum, hydroelectric or nuclear power, water storage, commercial farming, privately owned automobiles, liberty, Christians and other bigots that insist on such Victorian ideals as right and wrong or personal responsibility, firearms, prisons, and small businesses. Instead, they want free college for all, publicly subsidized transportation, free healthcare, their own foreign policy, only electric vehicles within their borders, more government jobs, multiculturalism, legalization of recreational drugs, government backed pensions for all, and a bunch of other neo-Marxist crap dreamed up by baby-boomers. Oh, and all this will be paid by taxes on “the rich” whoever they are.
Liberals here have successfully turned the Constitution from a document that insures liberty into the suicide pact that protects evildoing and punishes the righteous. Nothing in California escapes the corruption of the almighty State. They are going places that not even George Orwell envisioned. California and other places dominated by Liberals have metastasized into a Tim Burton-like modern twist on the Roman Empire.
While many have attempted to stem this precipitous decline in Western Culture, my wife and I, like many before us have concluded that our time in California is coming to an end. As a result, my family has developed an exit strategy. Seven years from now, we plan to be far away from the formerly golden state. The apocalypse is coming but hopefully we will time it so we are long gone when everything comes apart.
One of the most memorable lines of the movie Casablanca is, “We’ll always have Paris.” This line refers to the time in Paris when Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) had a summer of love with Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman). The only problem was that Ilsa was married, but not to Rick. Yeah, the back story which is shown in the movie as flashbacks ultimately boils down to adultery and poor judgment. Just to make their love affair ok with the audience, Ilsa begins their romance with the belief that her husband is dead.
When I heard what President Trump did yesterday with the bogus global warming agreement that Obama entered us into in Paris, this movie line came to mind. What a shock it was to the Liberal establishment—including both the mainstream media and Hollywood—when they learned that they won’t always have Paris.
President Obama played the harlot and entered into illicit relationships with many of the world’s evils. Obama was a lover of thugs, murders, and charlatans. Obama was hell-bent to reduce the prominence and prestige of the United States. Obama was fine letting both Iran and North Korea advance their nuclear weapons ambitions. Obama was fine with the genocide of Christians in the Middle East. Obama even made sure that our country imported huge numbers of Muslims with no screening or background checks and then placed them in areas of the country without coordinating with state and local officials. Obama refused to enforce the laws on the books to protect our borders and citizens. He also hamstrung our economy with regulatory burdens and federal overreach—mostly via regulations. He also unilaterally entered us into many international agreements without following the Constitutional requirements for such agreements or doing what was in the best interests of our nation. In short, he violated his oath to protect and defend the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic. In fact, he did exactly the opposite.
The Paris agreement on global warming is “junk science” of the worst sort. It is based on a number of false premises not the least of which is a false view of that humans are somehow responsible for controlling the climate.
Much of the argument surrounding global warming “science” revolves around carbon. Carbon in our environment has become viewed as something bad. Believers claim that releasing carbon—often via fossil fuels—is bad. Yet these same folks ignore all the natural sources of carbon in our environment. Can anyone say, “Volcanoes”? Oh, these are the guys that love trees, right Al Gore? So if nature is so great, why is it that you so-call environmentalists are the first folks screaming about forest fires? Lightning causes many fires—especially in remote regions—and the natural thing to do would be to let them burn. Eventually the fire would go out. It would either run out of fuel by burning everything up or be doused by water when it rained thus being deprived of oxygen.
Even public school children know that much of the world used to be tropical from pole to pole. The world that we live in now is a virtual desert compared to what it was once like when dinosaurs roamed the world. Plants were everywhere and in abundance. Plants are made primarily from carbon. Trivial question Al Gore, which animal released more methane gas Apatosaurus or Bovine?
By any metric, there is less carbon in our world now than in the past. This being undeniably true, what is the real issue behind global warming?
Philosophically, it’s simple to see. However, before I go on, just remember that believers in global warming and Liberals in general cannot be persuaded by facts. They have no use for them. They are into emotions and have no consistent and coherent way of looking at the world. They are fragmented in their inner being and thus when they look at the world around them, all they see are fragments. Some fragments they embrace and others they despise or ignore. They cannot see the whole because they have no framework to reassemble the broken pieces into their original form. Sadly, when their Creator tells them that they are broken vessels made in His image they reject His counsel. Rejecting the Creator has consequences. Instead of loving their Father in heaven they hate him and anything made in His image.
They hate:
• God—idols, false gods, lovers of self
• Themselves—suicide, transgenderism, body mutilation
• Others made in His image—abortion, murder, genocide
• His creation—pollution, erosion, cruelty to animals
Despite their brokenness, men still bear the image of their Creator. But God is not just our Creator; He also sustains and controls His Creation. Nothing happens to us or our world that is not in accordance with His will. This is another point of contention that I have with the Paris accord folks. This is God’s world and He controls it. It is hubris to think that we can do anything that meaningfully impacts the fate of the planet or its climate.
The believers of things like the Paris accord are worshipers of the creation and not the Creator. Their god is Gaia—Mother Earth—not YHWH.
Such ideas as Paris are a feeble effort to usurp God and replace him with man as the ones controlling the climate—as if we really had any power to do so. Such an assertion is arrogant. Man’s pride was the original sin as it was Satan’s.
President Trump is right in his contention that this accord is trying to put us at a competitive disadvantage to other nations. His job as President is to do what is best for our country. Christ is the ruler of all nations—King of kings and Lord of lords. Trump is our President because right now that is God’s will for our nation.
I’m glad that we have a President that is actually tearing down the strongholds of the enemy. God bless you Donald Trump.
A group of enraged protesters exploded in anger after a chaplain prayed in the name of Jesus at a town hall meeting in Louisiana hosted by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy.
The Feb. 22 town hall meeting in Metairie, was quickly overrun by the angry mob – much like other town hall meetings hosted by Republican lawmakers across the country.
The mainstream media would have us believe the unruly demonstrations are part of an organic, grassroots effort.
But I sincerely doubt many in the mob were actually residents of Louisiana – because I know the good people of Louisiana and nobody behaves like that in the Bayou State.
Folks are raised right in Cajun Country. There’s no way anybody would embarrass their mommas by acting the fool in public.
I’d be willing to bet a cup of Community Coffee that the Jesus-hating rabble-rousers were shipped in from some God-forsaken place like Berkeley or Brooklyn.
But they became absolutely unhinged when he concluded his prayer in the name of Jesus.
“Wow, they booed the name of Jesus,” Cassidy said in remarks reported by the Times-Picayune
Normally I don’t get so personal on this blog but this time of the year, isn’t that—at least in part—what Christmas is about; preparing for Christ and what He is doing in your life?
This last month or so I have been experiencing many changes in my life.
First two friends have died rather unexpectedly.
At Thanksgiving time, I learned that Bishop Royal Grote had died.
Royal U Grote, Jr
Bp. Grote was based in Texas and for much of the time that I knew him, he was in charge of the Missionary Diocese of the West for the Reformed Episcopal Church. Bishop Grote was a fine man. He smoked cigars on important occasions, enjoyed adult beverages and loved the Lord. He was charitable with other believers and tried to be the best shepherd that he could for his flock. He took his vows of marriage and to serve God very seriously. He jealously guarded The Table from error and those living in it. Only once did I see him discipline a minister in his charge (although I am aware of other occasions). He acted firmly and decisively when needed. Like it or not, Grote was also instrumental in the formation of the ACNA (Anglican Church in North America). Grote hoped this organization would be an umbrella group to unite various splinter groups fleeing the heresy of the Anglican Church. Link: Wikipedia Royal U Grote Jr.
A week later, another friend—George Fincke—also died.
George B Fincke
George was also ordained a Bishop in the REC. George started out as the son of a Presbyterian minister in Cape May, New Jersey. He attended college at Bob Jones University and occasionally made life there a living hell for the Jones’. He attended college there in the 1970’s. While a student, George did a play at Bob Jones that was a parody of the original Star Trek. In the play, Spock was replaced by Bob Jones and the results, while hilarious, were unsatisfactory to Mr. Jones and his family. George also admitted to putting laundry detergent in the water fountain at the college’s main gate and creating a layer of foam three feet high in the fountain. He had a wonderful sense of humor and maintained a friendship with Bob Jones Jr. who was also a student there when he was.
Later George attended the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia and spent the next twelve years in the Presbyterian Church. Finally, he “saw the light” and moved to the Reformed Episcopal Church. I met George when he was recruited by Bishop Grote to be the minister of the parish in Vacaville California. At the time, many people were hoping to recruit Ray Sutton as their pastor but Grote had other plans for Sutton.
George and I became good friends. While in Vacaville, George suffered a stroke. He had to learn to speak again and also to walk. I spent many hours at his home during this time. That was 16 years ago. George had been made a Bishop about two years before the stroke but his life changed when this happened. He was effectively stripped of his duties and became a Bishop without a flock. It was an awkward period. Once he was recovered enough to resume preaching, he was transferred to Fargo North Dakota. Despite many years of labor, the Mission in Fargo faded away and about two years ago, George moved to Prescott Arizona and took a church there. At this point he transferred from the REC to the Anglican Provence of America. Link: All Saints Prescott, AZ
It was a fresh start for his family and much closer to his grandchildren. Two months before he died, he and his wife had finally purchased a home in Prescott.
I miss his emails and posts on Facebook; mostly his wonderful friendship and sense of humor. He always was laughing and enjoyed life.
I have another friend that is in the last stages of his life and will soon go to his reward. Unlike the other two that I mentioned, he hasn’t made his peace with God. Should you happen to see this post Frank, I’m praying for you to find the peace that only Jesus Christ can give you.
Also in the last month, the wife and I decided to pull our son from the private school that he has been attending for the last 8 ½ years and send him to a different school. The academic rigor is not there this year and the mandatory purchase of an Apple product for the second trimester was the beginning of the last chapter there. We had to buy him this device not for learning but so he could play even more games than he already does at home. Now he can play games at school too. It was time to go.
Back in November, the oldest child moved out. We are enjoying the relative peace and quiet. This move has provided us with the opportunity to do lots of cleaning and organizing. The biggest beneficiaries so far are Goodwill and Ikea.
Adding to this cleaning opportunity is the weight that my wife and I have lost this year. I’m back to where I was in my 20’s and the wife will be there soon if she survives the Holidays. (-:
Our first trip to Goodwill this fall was over one hundred clothing items, many that still had tags on them. This has been followed-up by several more trips.
Lastly, I was given a promotion at work. God is good and we keep pushing that Dave Ramsey snowball down the hill. A debt-free scream is still in our future but we’re getting there.
I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas.
Thanks Mr. X for your contributions this year. I hope to see you at the salsa bar real soon.
Last Sunday, I was tasked with doing the congregational prayer. Below is a prayer that I wrote and used concerning the upcoming election. I think that Dave Ramsey would approve this message.
Proverbs 21: 1
The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will.
A Prayer for the Election
Oh Lord who has foreordained all according to your will, we ask that as our country prepares to cast ballots that the outcome would be to move our nation to repentance and restoration to fellowship with you. Help voters to see through myriad of disinformation and empty promises made to them and not choose to burden future generations with debt and slavery in exchange for our leisure today. Instead help us to choose the path of thrift and honest labor that we may have an inheritance to give to our children’s children. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
On Friday, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, had his opinion piece published in the religion column of the Elk Grove Citizen newspaper. This article was titled “Is abortion sin?”
In it, this alleged minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ wrote about a women that came to him in a crisis pregnancy situation. Here is a portion of the column.
She, too, had a good reputation or I wouldn’t have let her babysit my kids. She didn’t want the embarrassment of a child born out of wedlock.
“You don’t want to keep this child, do you?”
She shook her head. Not even for adoption.
She raised her head, knowing that my wife and I had an adopted sibling group of three.
“No,” she said, tears soaking her blouse.
“Is abortion a sin?” she asked.
Some would give a quick answer, but I couldn’t. This was the woman I trusted with my children. I knew her heart.
She continued her worry list. She wanted to go to school. She wanted to date without having a baby in tow. She couldn’t handle the perceived embarrassment to her family.
I could’ve spouted Bible verses, but so could she. Instead, we talked pros and cons. I told her that abortions are never easy on anyone, pro-life or pro-choice. I told her that the spirit of Christianity is on the side of life and redemption and that I’d known women to suffer from abortion trauma for years.
After an hour, Sandy stood to leave. As she did, I reminded her that God had room for both mom and baby on this earth. However, no matter what she decided, nothing would separate her from the love of God.
Sandy had her abortion the next week. While she eventually finished school, married and had children, her decision to still a beating heart still troubles mine. That’s because there’s no easy answer to Sandy’s sin question. There never is. Link: EG Citizen: Is abortion sin?
This case of spiritual malpractice really makes me angry. Did you get that “I knew her heart” and “her decision to still a beating heart still troubles mine”? He also says that he could have “spouted Bible verses” I wonder which ones?
Romans chapter 6 immediately comes to mind. Paul writes,
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
The real situation was this. The woman in this article liked to practice fornication (sex outside of marriage) but after repeatedly practicing that behavior she became pregnant. Her pregnancy was the direct consequence of sin in her life. She was following the lust of her flesh not the biblical standards of righteous living. She knew what God’s standard is in this situation; namely, bear the responsibility of her actions, have the child and give the child up for adoption or raise the child.
Killing her baby is a second sin, not a corrective to her disobedient lifestyle. Going to this pastor was her attempt at taking the weasel way out of this situation. She wanted absolution for killing her child. The pastor knows that he gave bad council or he wouldn’t be haunted by “her decision to still a beating heart”.
There is a reason that I used to carry the sign “Abortion: One dead, one wounded, one rich” in front of the local abortion clinic. Abortion is an evil and violent act that has lifelong consequences. The premise that justifies abortion is a lie.
This lady and her pastor have both refused to acknowledge their sin. They conspired to sin so that grace may abound. They have cheapened the blood of Christ and made it to no affect.
Suppose there were two brothers. One brother decided to kill the other because that brother seems more loved by his parents. Well he knows that God wouldn’t like him to commit murder. He needs an out, a loophole if you will, to justify the crime in his own mind. So the brother seeks the advice of Reverend Scratch. Rev. Scratch says,
I could’ve spouted Bible verses, but so could he. Instead, we talked pros and cons. I told him that murders are never easy on anyone, pro-life or pro-choice. I told him that the spirit of Christianity is on the side of life and redemption and that I’d known men to suffer from murder trauma for years.
After an hour, he stood to leave. As he did, I reminded him that God had room for both him and his brother on this earth. However, no matter what he decided, nothing would separate him from the love of God.
He murdered his brother the next week.
Oh, and God’s response to this exercise of “choice” can be found in Genesis 4:8-11
And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
The Christian counselor wrote, quote “Who is the only humane choice ahead If you can’t support it Why don’t you abort it instead?”
You say you pray to the sky Why? When you’re afraid to take a stand down here ‘Cause while the holy talk reads like a bad ad lib Silence screams you were robbing the crib
Say it ain’t none of my business, huh? A woman’s got a right to choose Now a grave digger, next you pull the trigger what then? Whatever happened to sin?
The Huffington Post and other outlets are reporting that Verity Baptist is getting booted by their property management company.
A Baptist preacher who made headlines last week after praising the June 12 mass shooting at the LGBT nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, might be out of a church soon.
The property owner of the Sacramento, California, business park where the Verity Baptist Church presides has opted not to renew the church’s lease, The Los Angeles Times reports. Although Verity’s lease doesn’t end until March 31, 2017, officials for Harsch Investment Properties have asked the church to leave without any penalty for breaking the contract. Link: Huffington Post story
Looks like Mrs. Jimenez will be having services in her house again.
I am reluctant to unchurch other Christians from other branches of Christ’ Church; however, when they get off the path and into non-sense, I’ve been willing to call them on it. The folks at Verity Baptist seem a ripe target for such a critique. Had their pastor—Roger Jimenez—not become a news story recently, I’m sure he would have escaped my notice.
The comments below are based on material available or linked to their website. See it for yourself at Verity Baptist
After looking through their website, you have to conclude that this is not your run-of-the-mill Baptist church. Their statement of faith is partly contained on the page about What We Believe.
Portions of this page are Protestant and/or Baptist but others appear contrary to the mainstream of Christendom.
After reviewing the website of Verity and their affiliates (they don’t like the word “denomination”), I am reminded of the old joke, “What do you call a room with 40 people in it that each have their own opinion? A Baptist church.”
Verity is a different breed but their website is rather poorly done so it requires some digging to figure parts of their theology.
I would love to set their beliefs side-by-side with the Apostle’s or Nicene Creed but there is so much missing on their website that it is impossible to do a thorough comparison with the entire Creed.
The Nicene Creed is the most ecumenical of creeds. Except for one clause, all branches of the Christian Church agree on this Creed. Think of the Creeds as the fence around the flock of Christ’s Church. There God’s sheep may wander anywhere within the boundaries of the Creed—some emphasizing some parts more than others—but always within these boundaries. If a person or group strays outside of the boundaries set by the Creeds then they are no longer Christian. Thus the Creeds can be used as a measure of the Orthodoxy of any group or sect.
Below are parts of Verity’s website that can be compared to the Creeds or other documents.
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, and that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.
Yes Jesus was God in the flesh but he was also man.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. Nicene Creed 381 A.D.
As stated on their website, Verity is not in agreement with the historic Creeds. Their bullet point is either incomplete or incorrect.
Universal Church
Verity summarily rejects one clause of the Creed when they say, “We believe in the “local church” we reject the teaching of the “universal church”.
The whole of Christianity has always held that “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” Nicene Creed 381 A.D.
Christ has one body, the Church. The church includes all believers in all times and all ages; past, present, and future. This is the historic understanding of the term “Universal Church.”
If Verity is not part of this body then it is outside of Christ.
This is red flag number one when examining this group.
The Bible
Verity gives not one but two bullets to the King James Bible (KJV).
We believe that the King James Bible is the Word of God. We believe God inspired and preserved it.
This is not an all inclusive list; we believe anything and everything found in the King James Version of the Bible.
While this doctrine is not unique to Verity—I encountered the same claim about the King James Bible when visiting The Church of God of Prophecy back in my high school days—such claims are nonsense. This idea in not much different from Episcopalians clinging to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer as the superior expression of worship.
Just to contrast, let me quote another Baptist group on their view of the Scriptures.
We believe that the Holy Bible as originally written was verbally and plenary inspired and the product of Spirit-controlled men, and therefore has truth without any admixture of error for its matter. We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions shall be tried.
– First Baptist Church Woodland, CA 1967
This view is more correct than that espoused by Verity.
The Bible was written in three languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.
By the time of Jesus, the books we know as the Old Testament were translated into Greek. This was known as the Septuagint. From the word for seventy because seventy scholars did the translation. Jesus frequently quoted from this version of the Bible.
The New Testament was originally written in Greek. The whole Bible was later translated into Latin. Many of the manuscripts used by the translators of the King James Bible were from Latin sources.
I prefer the King James Version but it is not always the most accurate translation.
One problem that Verity has in proclaiming the KJV as The Word of God is that they are saying that the books of the Apocrypha are the Word of God also. You see, the original King James Bible was not just the 66 books recognized by the historic church (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) but also these other books. Here is a scan of the original edition (1611) of the King James Bible showing its table of contents. Link: 1611 KJV Table of Contents
Another issue confronting Verity’s claim is that the English language was much different in 1611 as can be seen from this part of Genesis. I promise you that the version of the King James Bible that they use for worship is not the same as this screen shot of the 1611 version.
Scan of Genesis from original King James Bible—1611
Lastly, those that claim the King James Bible over all others is THE Word of God are intellectually lazy. Remember, in their world, every other version of the Bible on the planet past, present, and future is not the Word of God; it is defective.
Verity’s sister church in Texas says,
We believe that the King James Bible is the perfect Word of God. We believe that it is inspired and preserved. We believe that all other English translations of the Bible are corrupt and are perversions of God’s Word. Link: Steadfast Baptist Doctrine
Most ministers whether Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox are expected to know some level of Greek and Hebrew. These guys seem to use the KJV as a crutch so they don’t have to bother learning all that other language stuff. I think this is in part, a way to get around having to deal with seminary education.
After further research I found that this was in fact the case. No minister of a church linked to Verity’s website claims to have any formal Biblical training. Apparently if you learn the Roman’s Road and say you are called, you too can be a minister.
This passage is typical:
Pastor Anderson started Faithful Word Baptist Church on December 25, 2005. He holds no college degree but has well over 140 chapters of the Bible memorized word-for-word, including approximately half of the New Testament. Today, most Baptist churches are started by Bible colleges. However, the Bible makes it clear that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, not a school. Link: Faithful Word Baptist
We aren’t statements
• We are Non-dispensational.
Verity rejects Dispensationalism but embraces Premillennialism and believes in a mid-tribulation rapture. Link: Prophecy Timeline
Verity’s view of the “end times” can be found via Links page of their website. They seem to be especially hostile to other pre-mills that believe the “Rapture” occurs before the beginning of the “Great Tribulation”.
What Verity uses in place of Dispensationalism is another moot point on their website. There is no indication of what they view as the relationship of the New Testament church with the Old. This is concerning especially since they anti-Semitic (see Reading List below).
• We believe in the autonomy of the local church. This means that we are independent of all denominations, conventions, and fellowships. We have Jesus Christ and the Bible as the head of our church and not some Pope, Prophet, President, or Board of directors.
Their zeal to dis the papacy and any other form of church government is so extreme as to unchurch everybody but themselves. Churches have a hierarchy of some sort because fallen men need to be held accountable; especially those in the pulpit. If we learned anything from Jim Baker, Robert Tilton, Jimmy Swaggart and others like them, accountability is important. Church hierarchy was the model of the early church.
“For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre”
Titus 1:7
This is another red flag.
• We take a stand against the Charismatic and Ecumenical movement of our day.
The Pentecostals and Charismatics of our day are just splinter groups of mainstream Baptists. Their theology is much the same except for the obvious emphasis on the Holy Spirit and their belief that spiritual gifts are still in effect today; whereas most Baptists believe that the gifts like speaking in tongues ended with the apostolic age. Most of these groups are Dispensational and Pre-mill.
• We reject the teaching of Calvinism and believe that God wants everyone to be saved.
Verity earlier in their list of what they believe rejects a universal church but here appeals to universal salvation. This is the logical outcome of Arminian theology but it is not based in Scripture.
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
John 10:26-28
Only those given to the Son by the Father will be saved, not all men. This was predestined before the world was created.
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”
Ephesians 1:4
Only those God chose before they were ever born will be saved. God chooses not man. If it makes you feel better, you don’t have to call it Calvinism, just the say the Bible teaches us … and call it good.
• We oppose worldliness and believe in a holy separated life.
Dear readers when you see a phrase like this, a big red flag should be waving in your mind. This is command and control language which means the church has an absolute right to decide what you do in your spare time and even what jobs you can or cannot hold. This is an opportunity for cult-like behavior which depends solely upon the whim of the pastor and how he defines “worldliness” and “separation”.
Example: When I was in the Navy, I knew a guy named Scott. We went thru training together but he and I were assigned to different bases. One day I got a letter from him explaining that he could not play organized sports because they were worldly and he was to abstain from all appearance of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). He was unable to provide any further explanation; his church said organized sports was the appearance of evil and that was the end of the discussion as far as he was concerned. To him, it just made sense.
In groups that want to control their members, this verse in Thessalonians is frequently used as a proof text that members must follow the dictates of their shepherd.
Any group that substitutes arbitrary rules in place of the Christian Liberty of their members is a group to be avoided.
Yet another red flag.
The Black List
Buckle-up as we take a wild ride way down the rabbit hole.
Not to be confused with the NBC TV show with James Spader, Verity Baptist and their denomination literally has a Black List of other Baptists that they have declared heretical because these folks say that non-believers need to repent.
This list includes Billy Graham, Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, John MacArthur, Charles Spurgeon, and many more. Link: Repentance Blacklist
Verity’s smoking gun purporting to prove repentance is a work of man
These guys are trying to play Three Card Monty with this supposed proof text.
Walter Martin, a Baptist minister that dealt frequently with the cults used to say; “A text without a context, is a pretext…usually for error”.
Let’s take a look at the story of Jonah.
God was going to judge Nineveh if they didn’t repent. God was judging their works. A repeated theme of the Wisdom Literature in the Bible is that out of evil men proceed wickedness. God sent Jonah to Nineveh. Jonah preached and the people believed his message and as a result, the people of Nineveh repented “turned from their evil way” so God withheld the judgement that he had threatened them with.
Jonah 3:10—taken in context—says the exact opposite of what these guys are trying to claim.
The fallacy of their argument is the assumption that men have the ability to exercise free will and choose God instead of evil.
Jonah spoke to the people of Nineveh, they listened; their response was repentance, based on their putting on sack cloth and ashes and crying mightily to God. This is the work that God saw in the verse quoted above (Jonah 3:10) and God changed his mind and spared them.
Jonah was upset with God that the people of Nineveh repented. Jonah wanted God to nuke the city ala Sodom and Gomorra. Jonah was not mad at the people for listening to his preaching and exercising their free will to repent. Instead he was angry with God for opening the ears of the people and causing them to repent. It was God’s working that brought the repentance; Jonah was just God’s chosen instrument.
This is the point of Jonah chapter 4. This chapter is an illustration of God’s Sovereignty. He is ruler and His will shall be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Man’s reaction when encountering God is always to fall to his knees and know he is unworthy to be in God’s presence. We are stained with sin and only by being washed in Christ’s blood can we be cleansed. If you encounter God and do not have a changed life then you are not saved.
Anybody what to say Pharaoh?
Repentance is a change in direction. We go from darkness to light, hell to heaven, bondage to freedom; or whatever metaphor you wish to use to describe it. Jesus told the harlot go and sin no more.
Repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit. Man left to his own devices can never be saved. He will never choose it. If he could then Christ died in vain.
To quote the song, “Changed hearts make changed lives and I see one in you.”
—Sweet Comfort Band 1982
Repentance is a part of genuine conversion. To divorce conversion from repentance is unscriptural. The two are inseparably linked.
For Verity to claim that you have any part in your conversion or salvation is salvation by works. This especially includes claiming that a man can choose Christ of his own free will. We all deserve hell but God choose some for himself. He is the potter, we are the clay.
Once saved, always saved?
I’m not going to go into a full throated discussion of this topic but I have to inquire about the logical contradiction in the various What We Believe statements. Five need to be viewed together instead of separately.
First Group
• We believe that salvation is by grace, through faith, and not of works. This means that salvation cannot be earned by any work (church attendance, baptism, repenting of your sins, etc, etc). Salvation is putting your faith in Jesus Christ and that he died, was buried, and rose from the grave to pay for your sin. You receive salvation by simply asking the Lord Jesus Christ to save you.
• We believe in the eternal security of the believer (once saved always saved). Just like there is nothing you can do to earn salvation, there is nothing you can do to lose it.
• We reject the teaching of Calvinism and believe that God wants everyone to be saved.
I already talked about the fact that men cannot—in a free will sort of way—put their faith in Jesus Christ, only God can give us saving faith. We love Him because he first loved us. However, for this discussion, let’s take the three statements above at face value.
The last sentence of the first statement quoted in this section says, “You receive salvation by simply asking the Lord Jesus Christ to save you.” The second proposition quoted above says, “…once saved, always saved…” The third proposition says “that God wants everyone to be saved.”
Let’s look at how this might play-out in the life of some young person we will call “Martha”. I am making up a name for the purposes of this discussion and not trying to get anyone that might really be named Martha into trouble with Verity or their leadership.
Martha is thirteen and attends Verity when she is in town visiting with her cousin. Pastor Jimenez really impresses her with his sermon and she walks the aisle and prays the sinner’s prayer just like they have it on their website.
Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I know I deserve to go to Hell. But I believe that you died on the cross, were buried, and rose from the grave to pay for my sins. Please save me and take me to Heaven when I die. Amen.Link: Verity Bible Way To Heaven
She is really sincere when she does it.
A few years later, Martha is nineteen and attending college at U.C. Berkeley. In order to graduate, she is required to take a women’s study elective. In her class, the teacher says that ten percent of the population is homosexual but don’t always know it. Over several months, Martha is encouraged to explore her sexuality and decides she is bisexual.
She then visits her cousin and goes again to Verity. She is interested in joining the church when she encounters these statements from the church website.
Second Group
• We believe that church membership is a privilege and not a right and church members are subject to be removed from membership and not allowed to attend the services if they violate the qualifications of church membership as set forth in the Holy Scriptures and the by-laws of Verity Baptist Church.
• We believe that sodomy (homosexuality) is a sin and an abomination before God which God punishes with the death penalty. No sodomite (homosexual) will be allowed to attend or join Verity Baptist Church.
Do you see the contradiction that Martha faces? On the one hand Martha is promised that she is saved “there is nothing you can do to lose it” and “that God wants everyone to be saved” while at the same time she is told that God will punish her “with the death penalty”. This death penalty includes everlasting torment in hell.
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. “
I Corinthians 6:9-10
But once saved, always saved, right?
In Fact Pastor Jimenez says, No matter what you do after you receive “the gift of eternal life” it can never end. Otherwise God lied, and we know that God “cannot lie”.
Anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved forever. Being saved is a one time event. All you have to do is ask. Link: Verity Bible Way To Heaven
Oh and Martha can’t repent because that is works and not faith.
• Verity says that God wants everyone to be saved but how do they wiggle out of this box?
• How can they promise both Hell and Heaven simultaneously to the same person?
• How is someone able to be saved but not able to be counted as a member of the body of Christ?
This is the ecclesiastical version of Star Trek’s Kobayashi Maru.
Given my scenario—which I think is realistic in today’s society—either once saved always saved is wrong or the condemnation of homosexuality is wrong. Since the latter is clearly taught in the Old and New Testaments then the former is clearly false.
Verity’s answer about God having to save you if you say the right incantation (sprinkled with faith) smacks more of Harry Potter or Celtic Druids than the Christian religion.
Reading list
A disturbing window into the soul of Verity can be found on their Links page under the innocuous title of After the Tribulation. This link redirects you to www.framingtheworld.com
Look at the books offered on this website. Many are by authors such as Texe Marrs.
This guy really hates the Jews. Here’s the description of his book Serpent of the Jews
“Amazingly, the Jews have proven to be exactly what Jesus prophesied. They are the People of the Serpent, unregenerated hypocrites whose religion is unparalleled in its treachery, its wickedness, and its unbounded filth. The Kabbalah and the Talmud, authored by the rabbis, are the very code of hell, the doctrines of devils.” www.texemarrs.com
On his website, Marrs also is promoting ideas like 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bushes, Mossad, and the CIA. This is John Birch Society craziness on steroids.
Another book featured on this website is The Holocaust Hoax Exposed by Victor Thorn.
So, akin to Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and any other figment of the imagination, the tale of six million Jews being exterminated in National Socialist death camps is nothing more than a deceptive ruse. Amazon.com review The Holocaust Hoax Exposed
Another book featured on the website is Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.
Per our friends at Wikipedia, this book was a forgery that was first published in 1903 and is still available in print today.
“Henry Ford funded printing of 500,000 copies that were distributed throughout the US in the 1920s. Adolf Hitler was a major proponent. It was studied, as if factual, in German classrooms after the Nazis came to power in 1933, despite having been exposed as fraudulent by The Times of London in 1921.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion
Here’s another reason Verity and their fellow travelers reject Dispensationalism. In Dispensational theology, God does a special work at the end of time that causes many Jews to repent and convert to Christianity. I guess if you think Jews will usher in the end of the world and the Great Tribulation, it might not make sense that God would go out of His way to redeem them.
Conclusion
If the historic Creeds of Christianity are used as a guide that establishes the boundaries of the Christian faith, then Verity seems to have hopped the fence in search of greener pastures. At best they are like the crazy uncle that lives in the church basement and at worst they are a Cult that has departed from the faith.
