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| Pastor Mathias | | Ms. Brunell - Executive Director | | Mr. Gaffney - Managing Director | | Ms. Helmers - Managing Director | | | |
| Mr. Flynn - Senior Director | | Mr. Bolton - Director | | Ms. Irwin - Director | | Mr. James - Director | | Mr. Levine - Director | | Ms. Radewicz - Director | | Mr. Rodgers - Director | | Mr. Shea - Director | | Mr. Widmyer - Director | | | |
| Ms. Avery | | Ms. Baird | | Ms. Baker | | Ms. Bray | | Ms. Burns | | Ms. Coffey | | Ms. Crane | | Mr. David | | Ms. Drew | | | |
| Mr. Dunlap | | Mr. Ewing | | Mr. Farley | | Ms. Finley | | Mr. Friedman | | Ms. Gay | | Ms. Hahn | | Ms. Hobbs | | Ms. Holder | | | |
| Mr. Horton | | Ms. Lee | | Mr. Maddox | | Ms. Perez | | Ms. Rollins | | Ms. Smith | | Ms. Smith | | Ms. Weslin | | Mr. Wilkerson | | | | | | M.R. Mathias - Ambassador |
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| | | | | Preterism - Wikipedia | Preterism is a Christian eschatological view that interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened. This school of thought interprets the Book of Daniel as referring to events that happened from the 7th century BC until the first century AD, while seeing the prophecies of Revelation as events that happened in the first century AD. Preterism holds that Ancient Israel finds its continuation or fulfillment in the Christian church at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
The term preterism comes from the Latin praeter, which Webster's 1913 dictionary lists as a prefix denoting that something is "past" or "beyond". Adherents of preterism are commonly known as preterists. Preterism teaches that either all (full preterism) or a majority (partial preterism) of the Olivet discourse had come to pass by AD 70.
Historically, preterists and non-preterists have generally agreed that the Jesuit Luis de Alcasar (1554–1613) wrote the first systematic preterist exposition of prophecy - Vestigatio arcani sensus in Apocalypsi (published in 1614)—during the Counter-Reformation [More] | |  |
| |  | | | Preterist Research Institute | | Preterist Pilgrim Weekend - PPW) in Ardmore, Oklahoma where Dr. Don K. Preston and guest speakers discuss and lecture on important issues within eschatology, and Christianity in general. | | |
| |  | | | Don K. Preston . Com Ministry | President of Preterist Research Institute, a non-profit institute dedicated to the positive proclamation of the good news that we are not in the last days, and the world is not just about to end.
Served as minister for the Ardmore Family of God (formerly the Ardmore church of Christ) for 16 years.
Sponsor and Host of an annual conference known as the Preterist Pilgrim Weekend, held every July at the Ardmore Convention center, in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
Conducts numerous seminars and debates around the world, including Australia, France, etc..
Preston has engaged in formal debate with some of the leading evangelicals of the day, including James Jordan, Joel McDurmon (July, 2012 in Ardmore) C. Marvin Pate, David Englesma, Harold Hoehner, Randall Price, Thomas Ice, David Hester, Michael Brown and others.
Co-host with William Bell of Memphis, Tn. of a popular Internet radio program called, “Two Guys and the Bible,” which airs each Tuesday evening at 6 PM central time, at www.fulfilledradio.com. Also appears on various radio shows. Preston also owns three websites: www.eschatology.org, www.bibleprophecy.com, and www.donkpreston.com.
Author of 22 books on preterist (fulfilled) eschatology. Included is, We Shall Meet Him In The Air: The Wedding of the King of kings, 450 pages, which is the first and only commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:13f, written from the preterist perspective. The book is causing a good deal of interest and excitement in the Christian community.
Preston’s book Who Is This Babylon, has been positively peer reviewed, and received a positive review in the official publication of the Russian Academy of Science. This book has been called “ground-breaking” by some reviewers.
Preston’s tome, We Shall Meet Him In The Air, The Wedding of the King of kings, is the very first full preterist commentary on 1 Thessalonians to be produced.
Preston received the Doctor of Divinity degree from Vision International University of Romana, California, in June of 2010.Preston is available for radio, Television and newspaper interviews, lectureships or debates. He can be contacted at: dkpret@cableone.net. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Charitable Hospital Ships - Medical Care for the Poor | A sailing hospital. A vessel of hope.
Our ships are state-of-the-art facilities that offer clean water, reliable electricity and care centers. Because over 50% of the population lives within 100 miles of the coast, we’re able to sail a modern hospital ship with a crew of 400 volunteers directly to people who lack access to first-rate medical care. | | |
| |  | | | Youth With A Mission – About Us | Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known.
Back when we began in 1960, our main focus was to get youth involved in missions. Today, we still focus on youth, and we also involve people aged 9 to 90. We currently work in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, with a staff of over 18,000.
One of the joys of participating in YWAM is to work with people from many nations. YWAM’s staff (known as “YWAMers”) come from over 130 countries, including places like Indonesia, Nepal, Mozambique, and Colombia.
We invite you to join us! Type a city name or a ministry idea into the search box below. Discover how you can use your gifts and callings in the YWAM world. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Top 25 Christian Nonfiction Authors | Newsmax.com | 1. Pastor Rick Warren — The leader of one of America’s largest megachurches, Rick Warren’s blockbuster book “The Purpose Driven Life” has sold more than 50 million copies, prompting TIME to name him one of “the 100 most influential people in the world.” Zondervan plans to release a “50 millionth copy edition” of the book later this year, Warren told Newsmax. Gallup and Barna Group polls found 16 percent of Americans — or 60 million people — have read it. Guinness World Records lists it as the second most translated book in history, next to the Bible. Newsweek described Warren as one of “15 People Who Make America Great” and the Encyclopædia Britannica calls him “one of the most influential Evangelical Christians in the United States.”
As co-founder with his wife Kay of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, Warren built the Purpose Driven Network, a global alliance of more than 400,000 pastors representing 162 countries. His book, “The Purpose Driven Church,” has sold over 1.5 million copies, while his book “The Purpose of Christmas” has sold over 1 million copies.
2. Max Lucado — Described by Goodreads as “America’s best-selling inspirational author,” Pastor Max Lucado’s books have sold nearly 100 million copies and have occupied spots on every major national best-seller list. “Max Lucado has spent the last 40 years telling the story of God’s grace in books, in pulpits, on broadcasts, on music tours … every chance he gets,” according to his bio. “Max’s message of God’s unfathomable grace has resonated with people around the world for the past 30 years, making Max one of the world’s most popular authors.” The senior pastor at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, Lucado is the author of “On the Anvil,” “Just Like Jesus,” “In the Grip of Grace,” and “When God Whispers Your Name.”
3. Josh McDowell — Christian apologist, speaker, and evangelist Josh McDowell is the author or co-author of nearly 150 books with 51 million copies distributed that reach the “spiritually skeptical.” An agnostic in his youth, McDowell challenged himself to intellectually examine the claims of Christianity, leading to the discovery of “compelling, overwhelming evidence for the reliability of the Christian faith.” McDowell is best known for his 1977 book “More Than a Carpenter,” with over 27 million copies distributed, and 1972 book, “Evidence That Demands a Verdict,” which was named one of the 20th century’s top 40 books and one of the 13 most influential books of the last 50 years on Christian thought by World magazine. [More] | | |
| | | | | Did America Have a Christian Founding? | The Heritage Foundation | Abstract: Did America have a Christian Founding? This disputed question, far from being only of historical interest, has important implications for how we conceive of the role of religion in the American republic. Mark David Hall begins by considering two popular answers to the query—“Of course not!” and “Absolutely!”—both of which distort the Founders’ views. After showing that Christian ideas were one of the important intellectual influences on the Founders, he discusses three major areas of agreement with respect to religious liberty and church–state relations at the time of the Founding: Religious liberty is a right and must be protected; the national government should not create an established church, and states should have them only if they encourage and assist Christianity; and religion belongs in the public square. In short, while America did not have a Christian Founding in the sense of creating a theocracy, its Founding was deeply shaped by Christian moral truths. More important, it created a regime that was hospitable to Christians, but also to practitioners of other religions.
The role of religion in the American republic has been a source of controversy since the nation’s inception. Debates are particularly fierce when they concern religious liberty and the proper relationship between church and state. Arguments on these questions are often framed in the light of the Founders’ intentions, but unfortunately, their views are often distorted.
Did America have a Christian Founding? Two popular answers to this query—“Of course not!” and “Absolutely!”—both distort the Founders’ views. There is in fact a great deal of evidence that America’s Founders were influenced by Christian ideas, and there are many ways in which the Founders’ views might inform contemporary political and legal controversies.
Two Common but Mistaken Answers
According to those who answer “Of course not!” America’s Founders were guided by secular ideas and self, class, or state interests. These scholars do not deny that the Founders were religious, but they contend that they were mostly deists—i.e., persons who reject many Christian doctrines and who think God does not interfere in the affairs of men and nations.
For instance, historian Frank Lambert writes that “[the] significance of the Enlightenment and Deism for the birth of the American republic, and especially the relationship between church and state within it, can hardly be overstated.” Similarly, University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone avers that “deistic beliefs played a central role in the framing of the American republic” and that the “Founding generation viewed religion, and particularly religion’s relation to government, through an Enlightenment lens that was deeply skeptical of orthodox Christianity.” Virtually identical claims are made by Edwin Gaustad, Steven Waldman, Richard Hughes, Steven Keillor, David Holmes, Brooke Allen, and many others.[1]
In addition to asserting that the Founders were deists, these authors regularly contend that they abandoned their ancestors’ intolerant approach to church–state relations and embraced religious liberty. They often concede that some Founders thought civic authorities should support religion but argue that this is irrelevant as Jefferson’s and Madison’s conviction that there should be a high wall of separation between church and state was written into the Constitution and reinforced by the First Amendment. As we shall see, there are significant problems with this story.
The second answer to this question is offered by popular Christian writers such as Peter Marshall, David Manuel, John Eidsmoe, Tim LaHaye, William J. Federer, David Barton, and Gary DeMar. They contend that not only did America have a Christian Founding, but virtually all of the Founders were devout, orthodox Christians who consciously drew from their religious convictions to answer most political questions.
To support their case, these writers are fond of finding religious quotations from the Founders. The rule seems to be that if a Founder utters anything religious, at any time in his life, he counts as an orthodox or even evangelical Christian Founder. Using this methodology, Tim LaHaye concludes, for instance, that John Adams was “deeply committed to Jesus Christ and the use of Biblical principles in governing the nation,” and George Washington, if he was alive today, “would freely associate with the Bible-believing branch of evangelical Christianity that is having such a positive influence upon our nation.”[2] This approach leads to similarly bad history.
What Exactly Would a Christian Founding Look Like?
In order to answer the question “Did America have a Christian Founding?” properly, we must first understand it. Let us begin by considering what, exactly, would constitute a Christian Founding?
One possibility is simply that the Founders identified themselves as Chri [More] | | |
| |  | | | www.Jamieglazov.com - YouTube | | Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. | | |
| |  | | | Southern Baptist Convention > About Us | Southern Baptists
For more than 170 years, Southern Baptists have sought to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people everywhere.
The Southern Baptist Convention was formed with a Gospel vision. Its founding charter identifies its singular focus: . . . for the purpose of eliciting, combining, and directing the energies of the Baptist denomination of Christians, for the propagation of the Gospel.
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has grown to be a network of more than fifty thousand cooperating churches and church-type missions banded together to make an impact for God’s Kingdom. Though as many as two hundred could be counted as “mega-churches,” the vast majority of Southern Baptist churches run less than two hundred in weekly worship. No two Southern Baptist churches are alike; but there are certain commonalities that bind Southern Baptists together, regardless of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, language, size, or locale. What we offer here is an overview to help tell the story of what God is doing in and through the people called Southern Baptists. [More] | | |
| |  | | | About 9Marks : 9Marks | The Nine Marks
What Does 9Marks Do?
How is 9Marks Funded?
9Marks News
International Efforts
Our Team
Mark Dever
Jonathan Leeman
Building Healthy Churches
9Marks exists to equip church leaders with a biblical vision and practical resources for displaying God’s glory to the nations through healthy churches. To that end, we want to see churches characterized by these nine marks of health: | | |
| | | | | Statement of Faith | First Southern Baptist Church, Bellflower | THE BAPTIST FAITH & MESSAGE (2000)
[For A Summary Version Click Here]
I. The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.
II. God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
A. God the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.
B. God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.
C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He en [More] | | |
| |  | | | The Nicene Creed (AD 381) | CrossView Church LA | The Nicene Creed (AD 381)
We believe in one God, the Father, Ruler of All, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;
And we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all time; Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father, through Whom all things were made.
Who for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made a man.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures, and ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.
He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead: His Kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who is worshiped and glorified together with the Father and Son, and Who spoke through the Prophets.
And we believe in one holy, universal and apostolic church. We confess one baptism for the remission of sins, and we look for the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
History of the Nicene Creed (AD 381)
Belief in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit is an essential part of Biblical faith. Knowing God, and constantly affirming this faith is part of what it means to be a Christian.
In AD 381, in the city of Constantinople, a group of elders formed a council to write a statement reaffirming their faith in Father, Son and Spirit. This statement, commonly known as the Nicene Creed of AD 381 declares Biblical truths such as 1) Jesus is God; 2) Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead; 3) the Holy Spirit is Lord as well; 4) there is one universal church; and 5) the dead will be resurrected. Later, this creed was amended to make clear that the Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. This creed was an appropriate response to false teaching of the past, and to guard against false teaching that might occur in the future.
This morning, we confess our faith aloud through these words of the Nicene Creed because we believe Jesus Christ is God, our Savior, Lord and Creator, and we believe the Holy Spirit is our Lord and giver of eternal life. At CrossView Church, we know that what we believe about God matters, and so we join saints throughout the centuries who have confessed the same Biblical truth. [More] | | |
| |  | | | What We Believe | First Southern Baptist Church, Bellflower | We believe the gospel (which is the greatest news you’ll ever hear!) – That God created us and made us to enjoy him and the world, but our sin and rebellion messed it up and we are under his judgment. Yet God sent his Son Jesus Christ into the world to die in our place for our sin and ridse from the dead so that if we repent from our sin and trust in Jesus Christ we will be saved. Saved from what? To be saved is to be reconciled in our relationship with God to enjoy him and be freed from the judgment w e deserve, all based on what Jesus has done.
“Religion” says I obey God in order to be accepted by God. The Gospel says, I’m accepted by God through his Son Jesus Christ, therefore I obey him. To understand the difference is to understand the main tenet of the gospel (and that is part of the good news!).
We believe that the Bible is God’s Word to humanity and that it is trustworthy and without error in the original manuscripts. Therefore we seek to hear, read, pay attention to, believe, receive, and obey God’s Word to us.
You can listen to how our teaching is expressed in the preaching on Sundays. [More] | | |
| |  | | | 95 Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther | Book of Concord | | The Ninety-Five Theses, composed originally in Latin, were posted by Martin Luther on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. The Castle Church was used by the university as its "campus church" and as such the door served as a sort of public bulletin board for the academic community. The theses were a proposal for a discussion about the practice of indulgences. October 31, 1517, the day before All Saints Day, was chosen because the Castle Church was also home to one of the largest collection of relics in all of Western Christendom, owned by the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise. Indulgences were granted to the faithful for viewing the many relics that were put on display on All Saints Day. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Marble Collegiate Church | | In 1628, four years after the founding of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, Reverend Jonas Michaelius arrived from Holland to organize what is now known as the Collegiate Church of New York, whose oldest remaining building is Marble Church. As the first ordained minister in New Amsterdam, Reverend Michaelius conducted the first worship service in a gristmill on what is now South William Street, when the entire population of the city was less than 300. The first church elder was Governor Peter Minuit, who had recently purchased Manhattan Island from the Native Americans. Peter Stuyvesant, Director General of New Amsterdam, led worshippers to Sunday service and would impose a fine on anyone who did not attend church! [More] | | |
| |  | | | David Murray – Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary - Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary | Dr. David Murray
david.murray@prts.edu
Dr. David Murray is Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. He is also pastor of Grand Rapids Free Reformed Church. He was a pastor in Scotland for 12 years before accepting a call to teach at Puritan Reformed Seminary in 2007. He has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Reformation International Theological Seminary for his work relating Old Testament Introduction studies to the pastoral ministry. You can read his blog at www.HeadHeartHand.org/blog or follow him on Twitter @davidpmurray. David is married to Shona and they have five children ranging from 3 to 20 years old, and they love camping, fishing, boating, and skiing in the Lake Michigan area. [More] | | |
| |  | | | About Pastor Doug Batchelor | Amazing Facts | Doug Batchelor has experienced great extremes in his life. His long and winding journey from anti-social drug user to president of a worldwide ministry has helped shape him into an engaging speaker with whom audiences the world over can identify.
Today he is the senior pastor of Granite Bay Church in California and the president of Amazing Facts. He hosts the weekly television program Amazing Facts Presents and the Bible Answers Live radio broadcast. [More] | | |
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M.R. Mathias 
