Real Hope: Only Found in Christ

Do you have "Real Hope"?

In Christ you can have the hope of a "New Start". The hope of a "New Purpose". The hope of a "New World". The hope of a "New Body". Join us this Easter at Compass Bible Church to see how you can have "Real Hope".

Click on the poster to visit our website.

A Careful Wake Up Call

Good morning church, did you have a nice nap? What, you still feel groggy?

Hmmm, well, you have been sleeping for awhile, so I guess we should expect some lethargic behavior from you. But, before you get up, I think I need to tell you something.

No, really, please don't get up just yet. I really need to tell you something.

Now, bear in mind that what I am about to tell you may shock you so much that you may experience an extreme feeling of light-headiness, which could cause you to become faint. Please know that isn't my intention. But because you have already been sleeping as long as you have, I don't want to cause you to consider just going back to bed and hiding under your covers.

One more thing I should tell you is that you may actually go into a state of shock after I get this news off my chest. Yes, a state of shock. In fact, it may be so profound and deep that you will pretend that I didn't say anything at all and you will get up out of that bed without ever remembering what I said. Trust me, that would be bad.

Now that I have clearly stated the disclaimer, are you ready to hear this news?

Are you sure you are ready?

Okay, here it goes...Christianity is under attack.

Okay, you aren't blinking. Let me try this again.

Christianity is under attack.

You are looking a little pale, you better get some water and take some deep breaths if you plan to keep reading. Wait, you are looking a bit dazed. Are you pretending I didn't say that Christianity is under attack? Don't go to your happy place! Please, stay with me.
It's okay. Go ahead and say it with me..."Christianity...is...under...attack"...very good, don't you feel better?

Say it again, but this time faster. "Christianity is under attack"..."Christianity is under attack".

Good.

I am proud of you.

Okay, what I am about to tell you now may be even harder for you to deal with than what I have already shared with you. Deep breath...ready?

The attack is coming from within the "church".

Yes, you heard me. There are people who are calling themselves Christians that actually deny the deity of Christ. They also deny the miracles of Christ and any "so-called" claim of miracles by the Apostles. Get this, they too deny the complete authority of the Bible.

Yes. Everything we consider essential and orthodox, they deny it.

Yes. Everything.

I know what you are thinking, and I must confess that I thought the same thing. "How is this attack coming from within the church? Non-Christians don't hang out in church."

Well, you must realize, just like I did, that not only are non-Christians hanging out in church, they are actually redefining what Christianity means in our culture.

Yes, I guess you can say they are tyring to hi-jack the faith.

Who are they? Well, I will get to that later. Just know that they call themselves things like "progressive" and "emergent". They adhere to the new "social" gospel, which is "post-modern" in thought. You see, they view themselves as advanced. Leaving the dogmatic claims of we "born-again, right-wing" believers and instead imbracing unity, acceptance of many ideas about God and tolerance.

What was that?

Of course their beliefs aren't based on the Scriptures.

No, salvation isn't based on the grace and mercy of God. You will love this one, salvation, according to them, isn't necessary at all, at least in the way we would think about it.

What was that? How do they call themselves Christians?

Okay, before I tell you, you better sit-up.

Ready? They claim they are Christians based on their own authority, their own understanding and their own feelings.

You're drifting away again...

Okay, I knew this was going to happen. I have sent you into a dangerous state of denial.

What? You are just trying to clear your head and get your bearings?

How do we fight back?

That's what I wanted to hear! Get up out of that bed church! Get dressed! We have work to do!

Blake Snake Moan: Should Christians See This Movie?

The following is a letter to the editor of The Chimes student newspaper at Biola University. It is in response to an article written by a student at Biola about the move, "Black Snake Moan".

By Shawna Thackrah

Today in our office I opened up the Chimes and saw the additional section on movies, TV, music, etc. The top of the front page had a huge picture from the movie “Black Snake Moan” below the related movie review titled, “Collision of Christianity and Sexuality on Film” and subtitled “Heavy film explores difficult subjects.”

I had seen a preview for the movie on TV and was curious to know what this review was going to say, especially with a title that so immediately caught my eye. While reading the article, though, my heart became dismayed and actually amazed at how the author came to his conclusions that ultimately led him to give the movie an enthusiastic recommendation. It also caused me to continue to wrestle with and clarify my own thoughts on how we as Christians view media and the arts in light of what the Scriptures say.

Here are some of the statements that were made and that caused me to question what was truly being promoted in the review:

"'Black Snake Moan’ definitely deals with sexuality, but Brewer [the writer/director] shows he is a true artist by dealing with the subject matter professionally. The sexual dialogue is brief, and well-edited sex scenes are shone in a negative and non-explicit light.”

So, a “true artist” who acts “professionally” is someone who can take something that is considered completely sinful (sex out of wedlock) and that is emphasized in Scripture as an especially egregious sin because it is a sin against the body (1Cor. 6:18), and keep it “non-explicit” or avoid it being looked at in a “negative light”? Isn’t the movie viewer still taking in the scenes and filling their minds with depictions of acts that were meant solely for the marriage bed? In regards to the music that is used throughout the movie the reviewer says, “…it was amazing to watch how it helped them deal with their pain and sickness so they could truly search for love, meaning and grace.”

Now, I haven’t seen the movie but I have to truly wonder, were these characters really shown as looking to the True God to find His love, His meaning, and His grace? If not, then they are looking for man’s part in all of these things and we conveniently relegate the character’s “faith search” to the category of “Christian themes” so that somehow we can still be okay with participating in the “art” and “faith” message of a sin-filled movie. I saw this same point when I read this line of the review, “It’s very apparent in this film, which runs much like a parable about two broken people struggling with faith through their situations and trying to find redemption and meaning in this world.”

Finally, the last few lines of the article were the ultimate catalyst for me to write this response to the author expressing my struggle with his promotion and excitement about this movie. He says:

“It’s a great film that Christians and non-Christians alike should see, and it’s a perfect conversation starter about faith…The film carries an R rating for its sexual nature, a good deal of language and some violence. However, none of this seems too much or overbearing. I hope many will flock and see this powerful film, which will easily become a favorite.”

My first and one-word response to reading these words was, “WHY?”

Why “should” I spend money to sit and watch a fictional movie in which people curse, have sex out of wedlock, and cause violence to others (each blatantly and clearly sinful), all to watch Hollywood try to interact with “Christian themes”? Also, at what point does depicting, and in turn viewing, all of these sinful actions ever become “too much or overbearing”? Is there a scale out there that shows when we should no longer deem the movie “artistic” or the “perfect conversation starter about faith” because it has somehow shown too much sin?

And why, when this movie and so many others are full of scene after scene of sinful actions that we are clearly told to stay completely away from in Scripture after Scripture, should I “flock” to see it and fill my mind with these ungodly things instead of keeping my eyes on things above (Philipians 4:8)? Weren’t we told to be so saddened and convicted of sin that if our hand sins we are to cut it off and if our eye sins to pluck it out? (Matthew 5, Matthew 18, Mark 9) Do we understand that through this drastic word picture, Jesus is telling us to completely remove ourselves from the causes of sin in our lives?

Furthermore, do we not remember that our Lord and Savior died for those sins to be forgiven and that in Hebrews 10:29 it says that when we continue to sin, we are essentially trampling Jesus under our feet and walking all over the blood of the covenant in addition to insulting grace? (my paraphrase) If we are clearly told not to sin, to completely avoid it, and to never continue in it then where do we see that it is okay to fill our minds and thoughts with these same things? Why “should” I consider something to be art when sinful acts are put to music or shot in a movie scene in a supposed minimally offensive way just because the artists or characters involved are searching for Christian themes like “love, meaning and grace” through it all?

Am I saying that we should never listen to or watch any secular forms of entertainment? No. I would simply submit to the movie reviewer and all fellow believers that we need to stop, confront our culture that says we must be entertained by pop-culture to be relevant, and instead to first and foremost filter all of our entertainment through the Word of God. I honestly cannot see through anything that was written in the reviewer’s article that would convince me that he did this most important first step but if he did so in the future, he would be incredibly hard-pressed to find a fit for this movie.

Using the word “collision” in relation to this movie and its themes seem right on but on a much larger scale. The true “collision” is between God’s Word and our culture today and I plead for you to encourage others to “flock” to the Bible and the exciting and truly relevant stories found within its pages. There you will find true art, true love, true meaning, sex, war, truly “difficult subjects” and so many other exciting themes and events that, as we know, all culminate to the story of God’s redeeming his creation through the life, death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

New Look, New Name: Same Truth

Yes, you have come to the right place, this is Pastor Dale's blog. However, there is a new name, "Foundation for Faith" and a new look. I am committed in my efforts to continue to blog on the truth of Christ and the relevancy of the church in today's culture.

I am working on drawing a bigger audience to the sight and plan on opening up this blog to guest writers as well. I want this sight to be a community for orthodox Christian thought where ideas can be exchanged on how to impact the world for Christ.

Please pray for this work and please continue to come back to see the progress we are making.

Thanks,

Pastor Dale

Tipping the Scales: Do-Gooding Our Way to Heaven?

" All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away" - Isaiah 64:6

Do-Gooding Our Way to Heaven?

I went to dinner with some friends tonight and heard a story that made me shake my head. One of my good friends is a manager at a Wal-Mart in Orange County and he told me of a real-life situation that occurred this week in his store. You see, a customer came up to him and confessed that he was able to shop-lift some items without being noticed by any of the employees and because there was nobody stationed at the front door to check receipts, he could have left the building without being noticed. However, the customer did not leave the store with the items because he claimed that he "was working his way in to heaven" and if he were to steal something, it would be bad Karma and thus harm his chances of entering the "pearly gates".

What do you think about that? Can a man earn his way into fellowship with a perfect and holy God by doing good works? And if so, how much good does one have to do in order to satisfy the payment to enter into heaven? Finally, just what does 51% good and 49% bad look like?

Only Two Religions

Many of you might have heard this before, but when you think about it, there are really only two classifications of religions in the world. The first classification is that man, by doing good works, can earn his way into good favor with God and go to heaven. The second, is that God through His grace and mercy, satisfied the necessary work (on the cross) for salvation, and that those who repent and place their faith in that work shall be saved.

Examples of "man-centered" salvation religions are:

1. Roman Catholics
2. Mormons
3. Muslims
4. Jewish
5. Jehovah Witness'

Example of "God-centered" salvation religions are:

1. Protestant Evangelicalism (many denominations fit into this category)

So, can we work our way into heaven? Is there enough good we can do to qualify for God's plan of redemption? According to the above Scripture, no.

As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips." - Romans 3:10-13

Dead Men tell no Tales

According to the Scriptures, man can not (and will not) do enough good to qualify them for heaven. Why? In Paul's letter to the Ephesians the following verse states the answer clearly:

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath" - Ephesians 2:1-3

Because we are born spiritually dead, there is no physical act that we can perform that would bring us into a relationship with God. There is no work great enough to pay for the transgressions of our sinful nature. Left to ourselves, we are hopeless.

Thank God, the story doesn't end there. Let's keep reading from the passage in Ephesians:

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" - Ephesians 2:4-10

So, in hindsight, the guy at Wal-Mart didn't accomplish anything (spiritually speaking) by not stealing those goods. The only thing he did, besides exposing his really bad theology, was probably keep himself from getting arrested.

Blogs You Need to Know About

The 21st Century will most likely be remembered as the century the church in America either gives up the Gospel message for the sake of unity and political correctness, or it will be known as the century where the church rose and defended Biblical Orthodoxy, even to the point of extreme persecution by other more "tolerant" religious systems.

We are close to the point where the church will be faced with either conforming to the world, or remain faithful to the call of Christ to make Disciples. In other words, the wheat and chaff will be sorted as society continues to spiral out of control and "up" becomes "down" and "black" becomes "white". I take heart in the truth that Christ is never changing:

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings - Hebrews 13:7-8

I am encouraged to know that there are other Christians in the blog sphere who are committed in their stance to defend the orthodox faith. So, I wanted to link to some of them in order that you would know they were out there.

1. www.sfpulpit.com/
2. http://teampyro.blogspot.com/
3. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog.php
4. www.godsongmusic.com
5. http://blog.togetherforthegospel.org/
6. http://www.blakeyblog.com/
   

Please visit these websites often. If you have any other suggestions for blogs committed to Christian Orthodoxy, please comment on this blog and let me know!