Racism and The Church

The past Presidential election has shown that when it comes to voting many Americans allowed race to be the key factor in their decision. This should not have been the case for professing Christians but sadly it was. One thing that I have learned is that for some Americans there is a thin line between their loyalty to God and their loyalty to their race. I personally know many professing Christians that voted for Obama despite his views on gay marriage, abortion, Christianity, etc. The overall explanation that I've heard for Christians voting against their beliefs is that they wanted to see a black President. Now there are Christian organizations using racism as a means to get their agenda accomplished. Either your identity is in Christ or your race. I have resolved that Jesus alone is my savior not President Obama.


Grace & Peace

I'm often dumbfounded when I hear Christians justify the moral failures of pastors or others in some type of ministry position. Where did accountability go? Did we lose sight of the big picture? God has a standard and we are in no position to lower that standard. The issue isn't judging but rather holding one another accountable so that God is honored in how we live our lives. Of course, when we do rebuke one another it should be done in love.

I have talked to numerous people about biblical issues only to see that their emotions and feelings have more influence over their beliefs and decisions than scripture. Our feelings and emotions should never cause us to go against what we know to be true according to God's word. All Christians should have a Christian worldview that helps them to see everything through the right lens; when we don't our vision gets blurred and when our vision is blurred we cannot discern truth from error. It is a sad day in Christianity when pastors and other leaders commit adultery, fornication, etc and they are not held accountable or when they are held accountable the "don't judge" card is thrown out. Many Christians quote the "all have fallen short" scripture to justify moral failures within the church.

Sin should never be justified but condemned. No, we are not perfect but when we fail to meet God's standards we should be held accountable. We will not live sinless but we should sin less as we grow more into the likeness of Christ. So I encourage you not to view accountability as judging but rather as a necessary obligation we have to one another. "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (3:13).

A balanced and biblical view of Obama

Ligon Duncan offers this helpful response to how we should view Obama:

For those Christians who are more concerned than overjoyed about the prospects of an Obama presidency, there should be a remembrance that as our President, Barack Obama will have God-given authority to govern us, and that we should view him as a servant of God (Rom. 13:1, 4) to whom we should be subject (Rom. 13:1, 5; 1 Pet. 2:13-14). Thus, again, we are to pray for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2). We are to thank God for Barack Obama (1 Tim. 2:1-2). We are to respect Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7). We are to honor Barack Obama (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:17).

For those Christians who are more overjoyed than concerned about the prospects of an Obama presidency, there should be a remembrance of our ultimate allegiance: Jesus is Lord (and thus, He, not we, decides what is right and wrong), we serve God not man, and the Lord himself has promised to establish “the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him” (Malachi 3:18). Thus, where our new president opposes or undermines biblical moral standards in our society, fails to uphold justice for the unborn, undermines religious liberties or condones an ethos that is hostile to the Gospel, we will pray for God’s purposes to triumph over our President’s plans and policies.

James 3: A Story

Eyes Opened.....Coming Out of the Prosperity Gospel

Continued from Part 1....

When my husband and I became members of Mikel Brown's church, Christian Joy Center, three years ago we had never heard a pastor say that God wanted us healthy, wealthy, and full of life. We watched TBN every so often but we never heard anyone describe what was being taught on TBN as the "prosperity gospel". Truthfully, I had never heard anyone speak against prosperity preachers so I assumed that they were teaching the gospel. My husband was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico and we had recently gotten orders to Hawaii. We had left our previous church of two years and were searching for new church.

We saw an ad for Mikel Brown's church in the local Alamogordo news paper and decided to visit the church. Our first impression of the church was very positive. The people there were very welcoming, loving, and there seemed to be a different type of excitement in the air that we had never experienced before. The members seemed to be overly excited about God and the gospel. We quickly realized there was something different about this church when everyone began to recite a declaration of prophetic words in unison. It was awkward to say the least but we liked what we heard.

We joined the church the first day we visited; we had been looking for a church for about two or three months. We were advised to take a foundation class before becoming official members of the church. The class included a history of the church, the vision the pastor had for the church, what they believe biblically, and a class on money and tithing. The latter part was new to us. We were asked to fill out a form stating our income and told that in order to be involved in ministries you had to be a consistent tither. You couldn't lie about it cause once you filled out the form stating your income the pastor and his administration would know how much your 10% amounted to. I guess this was a new way of holding each other accountable.

Things began to get interesting after we joined the church. The first sermon we heard that initially moved us to join the church was on faith but we soon began to see a shift in the message. The pastor did use scripture but the messages were more on the motivational side; all topical sermons of course. I had never heard the gospel taught like that before. God seemed to be a very generous God who wanted to bless me with money and possessions if I'd only seek Him first. That is what Mikel Brown taught. He taught us that Jesus came to preach the good news to the poor that they didn't have to be poor anymore. It all sounded good to our flesh at the time. We were very business minded and wanted to have the American Dream God's way. Mikel Brown seemed to know how to get wealth God's way but we would later learn that our money equaled wealth for him.

For what it is worth we were happy to be apart of the church and felt that we were going to get rich if we followed the "principles of increase" that Mikel Brown was teaching. I became apart of the children's ministry and sang with the praise and worship team. All seemed good. We were convinced that God wanted us healthy, wealthy, and full of life. We were sowing seeds and waiting for our harvest. While we waited for our harvest we were told to have faith and keep believing because it was coming. So we keep sowing seeds. We kept tithing. We would tithe first when my husband was paid even if we had bills that needed to be paid. We were taught to give God what is right and not what is left. We were taught to tithe off of our gross income not our net. We were introduced to first fruit offerings. Money became more and more of an issue.

We started giving above and beyond our means and would constantly overdraw our account believing that this was God's will and that he would provide. We survived by shuffling bills around,robbing Peter to pay Paul, and by pawning things. Mikel Brown was constantly asking for money and making us feel ashamed if we weren't giving God our best. If we didn't tithe then we were robbing God and would be cursed with a curse; he believed it would be a financial curse.There was a tremendous amount of stress on us to give money all of the time. Mikel Brown also talked about business a lot. It seemed that his passion was really for business more than it was for teaching God's word. He told us that God had called him to make millionaires.

All of his websites online were about business and money. Mostly all of his speaking engagements outside of church were on business and money. They were advertised in church and were pretty expensive and really no different than what he taught during church services. Success is never free or discounted he would say. Most of his books and CD series were about business or money or prosperity. Business and money began to become more of our focus as well. We knew that if we were going to be able to give as much as Mikel Brown wanted us to we had to start a business to create an abundance of wealth.

We were amazed that 90% of the people in the church had some sort of business; most weren't successful but everyone always had something going. If someone started a business and it wasn't successful they would try something else. The idea was to create wealth so we could be a blessing to others. Mikel Brown talked a lot about his dreams and the possessions that he was believing God for and encouraged us to do the same thing as well. He quoted a lot of secular millionaires and often said that these secular people were millionaires because they were using God's principles of increase.

The other members worshiped Mikel Brown and so did we. He, as well as other ministers and members, taught that the pastor is the mouthpiece of God and that he had wisdom concerning our lives and we were to submit to his authority. God had supposedly given him special revelations concerning the word and the lives of those in his church. Blessings would come to those who submitted to the authority of the man of God. We now see that these were signs of an abusive church.

As I mentioned earlier, we had received orders to Hawaii prior to our joining Christian Joy Center. So eventually the pastor asked us to see if we could turn down our orders and stay in New Mexico to be apart of the church. Our first response was that we could come back to New Mexico after my husband got out of the military since his enlistment would be up after our tour in Hawaii. Mikel Brown cleverly said that we should make up our minds now and that things could change once we left and moved to Hawaii. He didn't pressure us but he believed that we would really prosper the way God wanted us to if we stayed apart of his church; it was very conniving.

We didn't make a decision that day but because there were other ministers in his office when he asked us to stay we immediately began to get pressured after that. Some of the other members began to tell us of there stories. There were a a lot of members who he had convinced to get out of the military and stay apart of the church; some who had planned on starting ministries back in their home town. There was a couple who had bought a house in New Mexico and the pastor asked them move to Texas where the mother church was located and be apart of the ministry there full time. This couple moved out of their house and rented a house in Texas all the while driving back and forth (two or more times a week) to be apart of the church in New Mexico. The commute between the church in El Paso and New Mexico were about an hour and a half.

There were numerous members , whom he had asked and whom had volunteered, from his church in El Paso that drove back and forth during the week to be apart of the leadership of both churches. They were and are very dedicated to Mikel Brown and will do whatever he asks of them. The members began to tell us that the pastors' instructions were from God and we should follow them. I remember so vividly, after a Wednesday night service, we asked one of the elders of the church if he had gotten out of the military and stayed in New Mexico because he felt led by God to do so or because the pastor asked him and he said he did so because the pastor had asked him to.

During this time we were so confused. We had prayed about the orders and gotten them but we were feeling pressured by the church members to stay because the pastor was the "mouthpiece of God". We wanted to go to Hawaii but we wanted to stay in New Mexico if that was God's will for us. We didn't want to be out of God's will; we believed that was possible at the time. One night while we were at the local Walmart we ran into four members from the church and they began asking us if we had decided rather we were going to turn down our orders and stay. We told them that we hadn't decided yet. We all ended up joining hands in the middle of the store and praying about it. We eventually gave into the pressure and turned down our orders to New Mexico. We let the pastor know and everything seemed great. We were one big happy family.

Everything was okay until we began to realize what we had done and we couldn't shake the uneasy feeling we had about the decision to stay. My husband came home one day and said I am going to see about taking those orders to Hawaii and boy was I relieved. We had been praying about it together and individually and we felt that we were making the right decision. By the grace of God God, the military allowed my husband to recant the decision to turn down his orders. My husband announced in front of the church the next Sunday that we had changed our minds and were going to accept the orders to Hawaii. Once everyone was aware of our decision we began to be treated like we were the evil stepchildren. Mikel Brown seemed the same but everyone else just began to turn their backs on us.

I don't know if the pastor encouraged them to treat us this way but we were very hurt.The tension in the air became so thick that one Sunday after the pastor preached my husband stood up and confessed that he had some ill feelings toward the members in the church for how we were being treated since we accepted the orders to Hawaii. He asked that everyone forgive him. After my husband's confession the pastor stood up and said that he had no ill feelings about us leaving and that he had wanted us to stay but respected our decision. Members of the church began to come to us and confess that they had cut us off because they were mad that we had decided to go to Hawaii. They all asked for our forgiveness and we forgave them though the closeness we had once felt was no longer there.

Some of the members continued to say that we did not adhere to the instructions by the man of God and that we are out of God's will. Eventually we left for Hawaii and the pastor sent his blessings with us and told us to make sure we sent our tithes to the church until we joined another church in Hawaii.

After we left, God began to work on our hearts and open our blinded eyes from the deceit of the prosperity gospel. We began to hear people speak out about it and say that it wasn't the gospel. It all started when we bought an album called, If They Only Knew by Trip Lee. Trip Lee had a song on his album called, Cash or Christ, when we first heard the song we hated it; if you are in the prosperity gospel you will too; cause it made us question everything we had been taught. We begin to feel very convicted about our constant pursuit of money and we couldn't pretend that we hadn't heard the message of the song. That one song shook our foundation. After that, we learned about a pastor by the name of John Piper through another Reach Records artist by the name of Tedashii. John Piper spoke a lot about finding infinite joy in God and his sermons and resources were very God centered.

I cannot stress how grateful we are to God for John Piper's ministry. John Piper truly spreads, "a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ." Life has truly changed for us and God is doing amazing things in our lives in many different ways. First, we are learning what it means to treasure Christ above everything and we are experiencing the infinite joy of being satisfied in God alone. We reduced God to a servant by coming to Him for riches now we humbly submit to the Lordship of Jesus. Thanks to Randy Alcorn and his book, The Treasure Principle, we have a biblical perspective on how we are to use our money to glorify God. In his book we learned about why it is wiser to store our treasures in Heaven and not on earth. We can now give knowing that our treasures in Heaven will never be destroyed.

It is very man centered to think that God just wants to dish out money and blessings so that we can feel loved. John Piper said it best in his book, Don't Waste Your Life, when he said, "Being loved does not mean being made much of. God sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we could spend forever making much of Him not so that we can make much of ourselves". God is the gospel and He is the gift not money or possessions. Don't settle for fleeting pleasures let your joy be in Jesus.

"Now that my vision's clear, Oh Lord we sing your praise
And pray that those in the world would turn and seek your face
Father we thank you for eyes to see so we can know you and love you forever"
-Eyes Open, Trip Lee 20/20

Eyes Opened.....My Vision is Clear

I knew it would be inevitable that once I started a video on the prosperity movement exposing my former pastor, Mikel Brown, some of his members would be upset. My mind was at ease though because I had prayed about doing the series and I knew God could use my testimony to open the eyes of those blinded by the prosperity gospel. I've lost some friends but what I have gained is of infinite value.... finding my treasure in Christ and finding satisfied in God alone.

I am sure that those of you who have been members of a cult or an abusive church know how hard it is to speak out about the experience; especially when you are warning people out of a love for God and the gospel. Let God tell them some may say. However, if you saw someone poison the food of a legally blind person would you warn them? or would you let them find out for themselves? We must warn others when they are being poisoned by a false gospel. How can we say that Christ is in us when we are afraid to stand up for the true gospel just because we may loose some friends or even family members? Did Christ not say he didn't come to bring peace but a sword?

There are many of you who believe that your pastor or the televangelists you see on TV aren't false teachers because they are so nice, quote scriptures, or because they attribute what they are doing and what they have to God...but that is why they deceive so many of you. Satan's agents will always come as angels of light. They will lead you on a path that seems right but in the end will lead to destruction....those aren't my words that's the bible folks. Even when I was apart of Mikel Brown's church I was never the type of person who would write someone off because they questioned my pastor. If someone were to say to me today that my current pastor was a heretic based on him teaching x, y, and z...then I would look at what is presented to me and match it with the word to see if he is teaching heresies. Some of you defend your pastors before you defend what you believe to be the gospel. Yeah, I said it but it's the truth! Some of you worship your pastors and these televangelists you see on TV. You have become so blinded by the affections that you have for them that you don't search and test their teachings.

We are all called to be like the Bereans and to search and test the teachings of others. Paul commended the Bereans and consistently exhorted the readers of his epistles to do the same. David rebuked Saul. Nathan rebuked David. Paul rebuked Peter. There are countless of other instances of rebuking others to bring about repentance. It's biblical and necessary with the mess that is going on within the Body of Christ today. Anyone who tells you not to question a spiritual leaders teaching is someone you should avoid.

Any spiritual leader who refuses to answer your questions about their doctrine is not a person you should be learning from. Don't allow your pastor to give you some lame excuse. 1 Peter 3: 15 says we are to always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks us to give an account for the hope that is in us. The English word apologetics comes from the Greek word translated as defense in that verse. Peter is insisting that believers must understand what we believe, why we are Christians, and then be able to articulate one's beliefs humbly, thoughtfully, reasonably, and biblically. If your pastor tells you that he is teaching the full gospel but avoids the scriptures that contradict the prosperity gospel you should be concerned. I know you who are in the prosperity gospel have read scriptures that contradict the teaching that God wants you healthy, wealthy, and ful of life. If you haven't I can show you some.

When a pastor can't and refuses to answer questions regarding what he is teaching this should raise some flags. A lot of you take what these false teachers say as being the gospel truth just because they claim to be called by God and have the title "Dr" or "Bishop" at the beginning of their names.....do some research people! Some of these pastors are lying about their degrees and some of them get these questionable degrees from degree mills or diploma mills (look at links below). You must ask yourself why would a pastor or anyone want to get a degree from a university that is not accredited? Some of these false teachers will also claim to have an undergraduate degree from an accredited university but then claim to have a graduate degree from a non-accredited university but does that make any sense? You be the judge.

Now I am not saying that you must have a degree in order to understand the bible. I am saying that if you are going to spend money on a degree it would be wise to make sure the educational institution is regionally accredited. I am also encouraging you to ask questions about the degrees your pastor or these televangelists are claiming to have. I am close to finishing up my bachelor's degree and with all the work I am putting in for this degree you had better believe I will be more than happy to show it someone should they ask....transcripts and all. Could we say the same for some of the pastors claiming to have all of these degrees? of course not, because they probably aren't telling the truth about their educational backgrounds.

Now I know someone might say well what does that have to do with anything? It is very important when you consider that these false teachers will go to the degree of lying about their educational backgrounds just to deceive you into believing that they know what they are taking about. These false teachers want to give you the impression that they are spirit lead and have studied biblical theology extensively making them more than qualified to teach you. But are they?

Stay tuned for part two..........


Here are some links for those of you interested!

List of Unaccredited Institutions of Higher Learning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unaccredited_institutions_of_higher_learning

Wikipedia Definition of "Diploma Mill":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diploma_mill

Wikipedia Definition of "Honorary Degree":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_degree

The following institutions -- claiming alumni who are among the most prominent ministers in America -- have been identified as diploma mills or otherwise have a dubious history:

Friends International Christian University -

http://www.ficu.edu/

Life Christian University-

http://www.lcus.edu/

Don't Waste Your Love

Most people strongly believe that love means being made much of. We believe that God's love means he makes much of us. That, my friends, is far from the truth. God's love, which is what we should follow, means sacrificing. True love means doing what is best for someone else. God did what was best for us in sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins...not to make much of us but so that we can spend eternity making much of Him. Love means pointing people to Christ. Not to aim to show God is not to love, because God is what we need most deeply.

Don't waste your chance to love!

Psalms 51

Psalm 51

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

The Prosperity Movement: Bishop Mikel Brown

I am releasing a series of videos exposing false teacher, Mikel Brown, pastor of Christian Joy Center. When a person teaches a doctrine other than what the apostles taught, this a greater threat to unity than the disunity caused by avoiding such people. The true believers must defend the gospel! The bible warned us of false teachers and we must expose them.

Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?

Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I fear to own His cause,
Or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
While others fought to win the prize,
And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;
Increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by Thy Word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die;
They see the triumph from afar,
By faith’s discerning eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all Thy armies shine
In robes of victory through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine.

Words: Isaac Watts, ap­pend­ed to his Ser­mons, pub­lished 1721-4; Watts wrote this hymn in con­junc­tion with a ser­mon he was giv­ing on 1 Co­rinth­i­ans 16:13.