What is this call that sounds my name? What is this affliction that awaits my soul? Ay, it is the cross of my Lord. It is the cross that He has chosen for me.

Shall I run? Shall I hide from its hideousness? Shall I beg of Him another way?

Terror grips my soul! The sight of it repulses me. My flesh recoils at the suffering I know I am to endure. I cry to Him, “Have mercy, Lord! Deliver me!”…But the cross remains. He insists that I bear it.

My cheeks are stained with tears; my heart, in deep agony; my flesh trembles at the beam that awaits my back.

Mocking and insults are thrown upon me as I consider the cost. Doubt ravages my soul. Insanity threatens and whispers comforting sounds in my ear. Images of compromise pressure me to turn back. The noise rises to a deafening pitch! I cry out to God, “Deliver me!”…. But the cross remains. He insists that I bear it.

Read the rest of this entry »

DEAR FRIEND, a false gospel is sweeping our land, and has swept like wild fire through Christendom in these last decades, damning more souls to hell than seemingly any other of Satan’s subtle lies; and I’ve come again to warn you of this FALSE GOSPEL OF CARNAL CHRISTIANITY. In our past messages, we have been showing the fruits that grow on the tree of this false gospel as they are described in II Tim. 3:1-7. We have seen from v. 5 that these fruits are manifested in the lives of those who have a “form of godliness, but deny the power thereof;” so these are not worldlings, but professors, converts of this false gospel that deny the power of the grace of God to break the power of sin. Consequently, their fruits are the fruits of the flesh, for they have never been born again of the Spirit of God. We have seen first that their behavior is all wrong, described by the words and expressions: “blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, traitors, and heady.” Second, their opinion is all wrong, described under the words and expressions: “boasters, proud, high-minded and despisers of those that are good.” Third, their affection is all wrong, described by the words and expressions: “without natural affection, lovers of their own selves, covetous, and lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.”

Read the rest of this entry »

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2Timothy 4:3-4).

During the last two or three generations the pulpit has given less and less prominence to doctrinal preaching, until today, with very rare exceptions, it has no place at all. In some quarters the cry from the pew was, ‘we want living experience and not dry doctrine’; in others, ‘we need practical sermons and not metaphysical dogmas’; and yet others, Give us Christ and not theology. Sad to say, such senseless cries were generally heeded: ’senseless’ we say, for there is no other safe way of testing experience, as there is no foundation for practicals to be built upon if they be divorced from Scriptural doctrine; while Christ cannot be known unless he be preached (1Cor.1:23), and he certainly cannot be ‘preached’ if doctrine is shelved. Various reasons may be given for the lamentable failure of the pulpit, chief among them being laziness, desire for popularity, superficial and lop-sided evangelism, and love of the sensational’.

Read the rest of this entry »

The personal testimony of J.M. Vergara

It was January 2, 2008; around 10pm…

I’M LOST!
I’M LOST!
I’M LOST AND I’M GOING TO HELL!!!

…is what I cried out to God in prayer as I lay in despair with empty hands, an empty soul, with an anguishful heart.

There is no convincing of myself otherwise that I am saved. Many of us would advise someone like myself in the same situation not to think this way, that maybe it is only Satan’s doing that I go into such a thought. That I must realize that this is only a sort of test. That these are just lies that Satan has imputed into my mind, doing his best to take me from the straight path.

Oh, wicked generation. How many times have we blamed the devil for each and every mishap that has happened in our lives. “It’s because of Satan. Stand in faith and rebuke him and he will leave! Do you not know what the Scripture says? Resist him and he will leave?”

My friend, if only you knew how to differentiate the presence of God from the presence of Satan.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live.  Turn, Turn from your evil ways!  For why should you die, O house of Israel “ Ezekiel 33:11.

Before we proceed, I will explain the difference between one who is converted and one who is not.

The Unconverted Person

First, the unconverted or wicked person is one whose chief interests are on earth. He loves his fleshly prosperity above heavenly things, thus He favors the things of the flesh, but neither discerns nor savors the things of Spirit.  Although he may say that heaven is better than earth, he really does not believe it to be true, for if he could be sure of earth, he would let go of heaven, and be content to remain on earth. A life of perfect holiness, in the sight of God, and in God’s love and praise forever in heaven, does not find such appeal in his heart as a life of health, wealth, and honor on earth. And though he may falsely profess that he loves God above all, he never felt the power of divine love within him, but his mind is more set on the world or on fleshly pleasures than on God. In a word, whoever loves earth above heaven, and fleshly prosperity more than God, is an unconverted person.

A converted person, on the other hand is illuminated to discern the loveliness of God; and so believes the glory that is to be had with God, that his heart is set more on it than anything in this world. He would rather see the face of God, and live in His everlasting love and praises, than have all the wealth or pleasures of the world.  He sees that everything else is vanity, and nothing except God can fill the soul, and therefore, let the world go whatever way it wants, he lays up his treasures and hopes in heaven, and for that he resolves to let go of all. As the fire mounts upwards, and the compass needle still points to the north, so the converted soul is inclined to God. Nothing else can satisfy him, nor can he find any content and rest but in His love. In a word, all who are converted love God better than all the world; and heavenly things are dearer to them than fleshly prosperity. The proof of what I have said you may find in the following Scriptures: Philippians 3:18, 21; Matthew 6:19-21; Colossians 3:1-5; Romans 8:5-9, 18, 23; Psalm 73:25-26.

Read the rest of this entry »

What’s Wrong With Modern Evangelism?

If modern “Evangelism” be weighed in the balances of Holy Writ, it will be found wanting-lacking that which is vital to a genuine conversion, lacking what is essential if sinners are to be shown their need of a Savior, lacking that which will produce the transfigured lives of new creatures in Christ Jesus.

The “evangelism” of the day is not only superficial to the last degree, but it is radically defective. It is utterly lacking a foundation on which to base an appeal for sinners to come to Christ. There is not only a lamentable lack of proportion (the mercy of God being made far more prominent than His holiness, His love than His wrath), but there is a fatal omission of that which God has given for the purpose of imparting a knowledge of sin. There is not only a reprehensible introducing of “bright singing,” humorous witticisms and entertaining anecdotes, but there is a studied omission of the dark background upon which alone the Gospel can effectually shine forth.

Those who really receive the “message” which is now being given out from most of the “orthodox” pulpits and platforms today, are being fatally deceived. It is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but unless God sovereignly intervenes by a miracle of grace, all who follow it will surely find that the ends thereof are the ways of death. Tens of thousands who confidently imagine they are bound for Heaven, will get a terrible disillusionment when they awake in Hell.

Read the rest of this entry »