The Berean Call Podcast

<p>Prophecy is a very important part of Scripture. In fact all of Scripture is prophecy. In some places, the Bible gives us God’s words as He reveals to us what He wants us to know and do (or not do), and in other places, it gives us His revelation concerning what will take place in the future. Prophecy has been referred to as “forth telling” and “foretelling.”...</p>

<p>If I could go back and correct anything attitude-wise about my walk with the Lord for nearly four decades, it would be that early on I would like to have had more of an eternal perspective. I didn’t exactly buy the lie that “to be too heavenly minded is to be no earthly good,” but in some ways my thoughts and actions reflected that idea. I’m much older now, which has certainly increased the amount of time I spend thinking about Heaven. I’m sure that happens to all of us seniors who know and love the Lord. Wanting to be with Him for eternity is an exciting desire soon to be realized by us, unless—better yet—the Lord hastens the event by His imminent return for His saints....</p>

<p>How does your church provide counsel for its fellowship? That’s a critical question for the body of Christ. The answer ought to be “God’s way.” Yet for more than half a century, due primarily to the influence of so-called Christian psychology, the church, with rare exceptions, has been counseling man’s way in one form or another. The consequence has been that many believers have little more success in overcoming sins that are related to problems of living than do unbelievers. Indeed, even when the flesh is well-meaning—it profits nothing. Jesus declared, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John:10:10), but this lack of success would seem to deny His words. Furthermore, looking to worldly sources for help in sin-related mental, emotional, and behavioral problems is a rejection of the authority and the sufficiency of God’s Word...</p>

<p>First published in December 1993<br><br>God’s holiness and justice require that sinners be eternally separated from Him. To be cut off completely and eternally from that Love for which one was created will be to burn with a thirst that will only grow ever more unbearable. God, however, graciously and freely offers salvation from that most dreadful condemnation. “The gospel of God’s grace” declares that God became a man through virgin birth, that this sinless God-man died for our sins, satisfying His own justice by suffering the eternal punishment we deserve, resurrected the third day, and that all who believe in Him are forgiven and receive eternal life as a free gift. Salvation is that simple—and wonderful—and must be preached in that simplicity.</p>

<p>Here we go again. For those who may agree but are a little tired of my crying out for discernment regarding “biblical” movies, you have my apology…in the midst of my growing concern. Nevertheless, I covet your prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for the multiple millions of the lost who are being presented with a caricature of the biblical Son of God in yet another Hollywood translation of the Word of God.</p>

<p>The Bible gives the body of Christ complete instructions for ministering to one another, yet in rebellion to its teachings and the enablement that the Word of God supplies, the church for decades now has turned to man’s ways and means.</p>

<p>In October 2013, John MacArthur and Grace Community Church hosted a conference to address what he and the other speakers believe are major errors in the teachings and practices of the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements. The conference introduction states: “Strange Fire, part of Grace to You’s Truth Matters conference series, evaluates the doctrines, claims, and practices of the modern charismatic movement, and affirms the true Person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.” Seventeen messages were presented and two Q&A sessions offered. Besides MacArthur, the speakers were R. C. Sproul, Steve Lawson, Conrad Mbewe, Tom Pennington, Phil Johnson, Nathan Busenitz, Justin Peters, Todd Friel, and Joni Eareckson Tada....</p>

<p>First published in January 1996<br><br>Once again we have entered upon a new year welcomed with wild celebrations at midnight, December 31. Such festivities are questionable at best. And why celebrate the reminder that, just as a year has vanished into the past, so all too quickly must our earthly lives pass as well? That fact should bring sober contemplation and prayer rather than loud rejoicing.<br><br>Time passes and cannot be recalled. The poet wrote of her memory running “like a hunted thing down paths I cannot retrace.” Time is mysterious, beyond our ability to fathom. We know some things about time, but what it really is eludes our most advanced science. Essential for change and motion in the physical universe, time will be absent in eternity. Nothing changes or ages in eternity; it is one eternal now , impossible for us at present to comprehend...</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>We live in strange times. When I became a born-again believer nearly four decades ago following thirty years as a Roman Catholic, not one non-Catholic Christian chided me for leaving the Church of Rome. In those days it was fairly obvious to evangelicals that the teachings and practices of Roman Catholicism were at odds with the teachings of the Bible. Yes, there were a few things, at least superficially, that Catholics and Bible-believing Christians held in common. The virgin birth of Christ, which involved the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit, is one example. Yet, regarding Christ’s miraculous birth, the Catholic Church added to the virgin Mary the dogmas of her Immaculate Conception, i.e., her having been conceived without sin, and her perpetual virginity. Although those extra-biblical teachings are serious errors, they do not directly contradict the gospel that is essential for salvation...</p>

<p>“Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:12-13)<br><br>Those verses include a warning from the Lord for His people—and the reason for the warning. They are the consequences of His followers forsaking Him by turning from “the fountain of living waters.” Although addressed to the Jewish people during the time of Jeremiah the prophet, God’s words of admonition also seem to be directed at the Christianity of our day.</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>

<p>"The B-I-B-L-<a href="http://E...Yes" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">E...Yes</a>, that's the book for me!" was once the happy refrain of all believers young and old in churches throughout the land. But years have come and gone since that time. Has the first love of your faith, too, grown old? In this special series, TBC Executive Director T. A. McMahon encourages believers of all ages to "stand alone on the Word of God: the B-I-B-L-E."</p>