The Times, They are a-Changing

R.C. Sproul


Everything in creation is subject to time. Everything in creation is mutable. Everything in creation goes through the process of generation and decay. God and God alone is eternal and immutable. God and God alone escapes the relentless onslaught of time.

We not only measure moments in time, but we measure periods that take place in terms of ages, eras, and epochs. In our own generation, we have seen various transitions of the human cultures in which we find ourselves situated, hurled against the backdrop of time (as Martin Heidegger indicated in his epic book Being and Time). We say that times are changing. That doesn’t mean that time itself changes. There are still sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day. But cultures are constantly shifting in their patterns, in their values, and in their commitments.

The decade of the 1960s — in which the United States of America went through an unbloody revolution that changed the culture so dramatically that people who lived before that decade feel like aliens in a culture dominated by a post-1960s worldview. The revolution of the ’60s spelled the end of idealism and ushered in several radical changes in the culture, including the sexual revolution. The sanctity of marriage was more explicitly undermined. Clean, wholesome speech in the public sphere became increasingly rare. The sanctity of life with respect to the unborn underwent attack legislatively, and moral relativism became the norm in our culture.

With this moral relativism came technological advances that also altered our daily lives. The knowledge explosion rocked by the advent and proliferation of the use of the computer has brought a new culture of people who live more or less “online.” This relativisitic culture brought with it a culture of eros and heightened addiction to pornography, as well as a culture of drugs with the subsequent invasion of addiction and suicide.

The times in which we live are times that are exceedingly challenging to the church of Jesus Christ. The great tragedy of the church in the post-1960s revolution is that the face of the church has changed along with the face of the secular culture. In a fatal pursuit of relevance, the church has often become merely an echo of the secular culture in which it lives, having a desperate desire to be “with it” and acceptable to the contemporary world. The church itself has adopted the very relativism it seeks to overcome. What is demanded by times such as ours is a church that addresses the temporal while at the same time remaining tethered to the eternal — a church that speaks, comforts, and heals all things mortal and secular without itself abandoning the eternal and the holy. The church must always face the question of whether its commitment is to sanctity or profanity.

We need churches filled with Christians who are not enslaved by the culture, churches that seek more than anything to please God and His only begotten Son, rather than to attract the applause of dying men and women. Where is that church? That is the church Christ established. That is the church whose mission is to minister redemption to a dying world, and that is the church we are called to be. God help us and our culture if our ears become deaf to that call.

Satan, The First Postmodernist

The Devil and Jesus Christ

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’" Jesus answered him, "It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’" Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Notice the diaprax of Satan in his three attempts to tempt Christ. He tries to get Jesus to prove He has power by making Himself something to eat. This appeals to the humanity of Christ on the levels of body and soul. But for Christ to break His fast and use His Divine power after making Himself "nothing" (Phil. 2:7) in obedience to the will of the Father would have been the end of salvation for men.

Postmodernism appeals to the mind and to the flesh and seeks to satisfy the desires of them, but is ignorant of the things of the spirit. In the second temptation Satan tries the same tactic, only this time he pulls Scripture from its context to do so. This is another mark of postmodernist teachers. They pull what they want out of context from Scripture to serve their own paradigm, their own agenda. Many postmodernists are fooled by this ploy because they don't bother to look up the biblical context to see if it is correct. They don't bother because critical thinking is not part of their daily existence. Facts really don't matter to them, it is how they feel about what they hear and how it fits into their sensibilities. But Jesus rejects this false argument because He is the author of the Scriptures and knows their context. He rejects this temptation with Scripture that is not taken out of context but used according to it.

The third temptation is Satan's grandest attempt. He knows that Jesus is on a mission to save men from sin who believe in Him and must die in order to achieve it. Satan tempts Christ to take the dominion of the world from Satan who is called the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph. 2:2) the prince of this world (John 12:31). Jesus knows that "the whole world is under the control of the evil one." (1 John 5:19). So this was a real offer. Jesus could have the world now instead of going through pain and suffering if He will simply worship Satan. But Satan failed to realize this offer was not what Jesus wanted. He did not need the world, He wanted to save people. The world would be His because He created it (Col. 1:16). But this world would be destoryed.(2 Pet. 3:10) In the course of time the devil and his angels would be thrown into the lake of fire forever (Rev. 20:10). Satan's goal had been, from the time of his sin in heaven, that God would worship him. Like postmodernists, the facts did not persuade Satan. What mattered to him was that his personal agenda be fulfilled come hell or high water. In this case, come hell.


Satan, False Apostles, False Prophets And False Teachers

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

2 Peter 2:1-2 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them— bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Finally, we have to deal with the issue of false apostles, prophets and teachers. False apostles pretend they are serving the Lord but actually they are serving their master Satan. They may not even realize they are serving Satan, but you can only serve one master (Matt. 6:24). Postmodernists do not realize that you cannot serve God if you are serving yourself and your own agenda your own way. Like Satan before them, they serve their own desires instead of God. Thus they end up serving the agenda of their master Satan. This never occurs to them because they believe that life is all paradox and oxymoron, that it is full of gray areas of truth instead of black and white truth according to God's Word. To the postmodernist life is subjective. God's truth is objective. To them truth is relative. To God truth is absolute. To postmodernists truth is existential. Existentialism is defined by the dictionary this way:

A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.

God views existence just the opposite from this. What postmodernists fail to realize is that, behind half truths and heresy lies the work and kingdom of Satan. The postmodernist's paradigm is then completely in the domain of the evil one. It was begun by him and it is sustained and bolstered by his temptations. It is propagated by postmodernist false apostles, prophets and teachers whom true believers are to test because of the spirit of antichrist that pervades their teachings and actions. Postmodernists see no reason to test anything because they have been taught not to judge by false Satanic teachers. But God says that we are not to suspend our critical thinking, our minds that He created in us, rather to submit them to God and use them to test the spirits.

For a postmodernist to be saved they must be reprogrammed by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to think correctly. Their world view must be entirely changed. This is why people like Leonard Sweet and other Emerging Church teachers are so dangerous. They cater to an evil mindset instead of attempting to change it through education in the Word. This is why we are living in the end times generation. The postmodern paradigm will bring in the reign of the Antichrist, Satan himself. We can only thank the Lord Jesus Christ that it will be short-lived and that the devil, the first postmodernist, will be put down forever.

A Dearth Of Discernment - The Mark Driscoll Controversy

Once again, Mark Driscoll in a new controversy. As a leader of one of the largest ministries, should he be bringing awareness to the lost, in pointing them to the foot of the Cross at Calvary or to himself? When is the Mark Driscoll controversy going to stop laying its ugly head, at the church's doorstep? In the light of Titus 2:7,8, we ask ourselves, when will it ever end? Or are we in the wrong in exposing men like Mark Driscoll?





..."in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you." Titus 2:7,8

Mark Driscoll, the controversial Pastor of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, spoke at the London Men’s Convention at the Royal Albert Hall on May 7th 2011. He was invited to the Men’s Convention by a group of evangelical ministers and leaders, made up of Richard Coekin (Chair) of Dundonald Church Wimbledon; Trevor Archer of Chessington Evangelical Church; Tim Thornborough of The Good Book Company; Wes McNab of Slade Evangelical Church; Richard Perkins of Christ Church Balham and Wanyeki Mahiaini of All Souls, Langham Place.

The purpose of this website is to highlight areas of Driscoll’s ministry which should cause grave concern to true, discerning Christian believers. It is the contention of the authors of this website that the levels to which Driscoll has publicly stooped in his approach to a variety of issues are unacceptable when it comes to Christian ministry and ultimately make a mockery of the Christian faith. We are disturbed that Driscoll uses the pulpit to mock Noah, and to call Gideon a coward. We believe that the picture Driscoll describes of Vintage Jesus is blasphemous. We are concerned that Driscoll’s flippant and irreverent conduct makes him unfit for the pulpit. We are concerned that Driscoll encourages the use of what he calls new ‘convenant tattoos’ and that Mars Hill Church declares that Jesus loves tattoos. We believe that the assertion that God loves punk rock music demeans the holiness of God. In view of this evidence, and in the light of Scripture, the discerning believe needs to face up to this question: Is Mark Driscoll a false teacher?

It is essential that concern is raised in regard to the enthusiastic welcome which has been extended to Driscoll from across evangelical circles, and the support that has been publicly voiced.

The intention of this website is not to provide a platform for discussion on the ministry of Mark Driscoll but rather to provide primary source evidence from Driscoll’s own mouth and written works, as an opportunity for discerning believers to weigh what has been publicly stated with the Word of God.

A helpful introduction to the subject can be found contained in Cathy Mickel’s Memo to Church Leaders regarding Driscoll’s suitablility for ministry. Other articles and examples of questionable teaching can be found throughout this website.

Witness at London Men’s Convention

On Saturday, 7 May, the London Men’s Convention took place at the Royal Albert Hall. As there was an extensive report in the 22 / 29 April English Churchman about the LMC and the controversy regarding one of the main speakers we will not repeat the same material but refer readers to that particular issue.

A small witness to protest took place in the vicinity of the Royal Albert Hall. Three men arrived early in the morning and they set up large posters with relevant Bible verses in full view of those queuing to go into the building. The posters displayed the following: Jude 1:4 turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness; Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ; Ezekiel 22:26 they have put no difference between the holy and profane;1 Thessalonians 5:22 Abstain from all appearance of evil. One large poster displayed the article which appeared in the EC. There were tourists who took photos of the posters.

Many leaflets were given out warning people of the dangers of Mark Driscoll’s teachings. There was widespread ignorance regarding Driscoll. There were many conversations with people. Some were friendly and some were hostile.

Two of the protestors left after the people entered the building for the 10.00 a.m. start of the conference. One stayed to continue witnessing till people came out at lunch time and at the close of the conference in the late afternoon. He was joined by another friend who supported the witness.

The organisers of the convention and people who attended were alerted to the dangers. As predicted, Driscoll was well behaved during the conference and it was reported he spoke well and was careful with his language.

As the new contraversy starts to unfold, Mark Driscoll's "so called apology" has a lot to say, but surely lacking what a humble man of God would had said and done, under an all consuming God.Mark Driscoll Responds; "I then put a flippant comment on Facebook, and a raging debate on gender and related issues ensued. As a man under authority, my executive elders sat me down and said I need to do better by hitting real issues with real content in a real context. And, they’re right. Praise God I have elders who keep me accountable and that I am under authority"

I for one believe that this so called "apology", was nothing of the source. He was taken to the woodshed "supposedly" by the elders, because the "effeminate" issue was a "hot potatoe." They didn't want people like G.L.A.D.D. and others to run with this NEW controversy from Driscoll. If they have, as we yet to see, it would be the last of Mark Driscoll behind a pulpit. This has been a political hypocrisy in part by Mars Hill, the elders and Driscoll himself. Where is the heart felt apology to Christ, the body and the misrepresentation of The God of the Bible? It has always been about Driscoll and his so called cavalier way of preaching Christ and Him crucified. I for one moment do not think that we will hear the end of Driscoll's controversies as he prepares himself to be under the spotlight once again, in the Mark Driscoll Show.

Is this the last of Mark Driscoll's controversies? Will he ever stop, bringing these controversies to the church's doorstep? is the question that we need to ask ourselves. When will it ever end? To be continued...