9 Signs of the Modern-Day Remnant Church - JOSEPH MATTERA CHARISMA NEWS

There is always a true remnant left during times of apostasy and persecution. (Flickr/Creative Commons)

9 Signs of the Modern-Day Remnant Church

1/21/2016 JOSEPH MATTERA  charisma news

As the persecution of the Bible-believing church becomes more intense, there will be a greater manifestation of what I am referring to in this article as the "remnant church." By remnant church, I am referring to the surviving vestige of the body of Christ that remains true to biblical principles in spite of cultural opposition.

There is always a true remnant left during times of apostasy and persecution. Elijah the prophet found out that God always preserved a remnant, by His grace, that held true to the faith (1 Kin. 19 and Rom. 11:2-5). By remnant church, I am not merely referring to so-called "cultural warrior" churches who seem to always be battling for a cause (which can be part of it, although the gospel is always much bigger than one social cause).

I am also not referring to so-called Christian churches that do idiotic things (like burning the Quran) or exhibit intentionally hostile (and un-Christlike) behavior by so-called churches (such as the Westboro Baptist Church). (I cringe even calling this group of hate-mongers a church.) I am, however, referring to those of plain and simple faith and obedience to the Word of God, which is practiced by humble, people-loving, community-serving, compassionate churches that do not compromise the Word of God.

The following are characteristics of the modern-day remnant church:

1. They will become more entrenched in the Word of God the more the world opposes them.

The more resistance they face, the more the remnant church will become resolute in their faith (sort of like the way the muscles in our body get harder with resistance training). Instead of compromising the message of the Word, they may change their method of presenting the gospel but will never even consider watering down biblical ethics, values and the message of the cross of Jesus Christ.

2. They will become the vilified in society.

The remnant church used to be merely unpopular in the past but has now gotten to the point where they are hated. It is very apparent that Christian values are constantly mocked, such as by popular voices like Bill Maher, Rachel Maddow and the like. This can give you an idea on how popular it is to hate biblical Christianity.

3. They will preach countercultural biblical messages.

The remnant pastors will continue to preach the gospel of Christ, which always has vast implications related to human sexuality, the sanctity of human life, the definition of marriage and family and such; albeit, they should apply the gospel to cultural issues in a wiser, more winsome way. The remnant church will remain faithful in preaching the gospel in spite of the possible backlash they can receive from church attendees and or the public.

4. They will produce the most committed Christians and make disciples.

It is a known fact that liberal, progressive, compromising churches are shrinking, while conservative evangelical churches are the ones growing in numbers. Also, when a church is on the tip of the spear in regards to biblical truth, it is able to produce disciples because it takes great sacrifice to believe in Jesus in the midst of hostile environments. Consider the Christians still living in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Northern Nigeria, Sudan and similar persecutory regions. Compromising churches produce wimpy believers and the remnant church produces committed disciples.

5. They will experience a greater presence and power of God than other churches.

The first-century church was a hated minority, yet the great power and presence of God that accompanied its ministry (Acts 3-5)! I have found the more difficult it is to confess the truth of the gospel, the more God shows off His glory! Where sin abounds, grace does more abound (Rom. 5:20).

6. They will become more visible and distinct as the culture becomes more decadent.

I believe that in any entity, secular or religious, about 25 percent of its members are the most committed to its vision and mission. They are the ones willing to endure the most pain for the cause. That means that most of the people in any entity detach when the going gets tough. From this we can expect that the harder it becomes for the church to practice biblical Christianity, the more evident it will become who the remnant church is.

7. They will be more excluded and separated from mainstream secular evangelical churches and denominations.

The more uncool it becomes to be a biblical church, the more the so-called cool (or, as I call them, compromising) churches will distance themselves from the remnant church. Presently, it is still not as easy for the average person to discern between remnant and compromising churches. (Most folks still lump us all together.)

However, as the heat gets turned up more and more, compromising pastors and churches will choose to accommodate culture and compromise Scripture, thus making a clearer distinction between the remnant and mainstream church. Not only that, these (compromising) pastors and churches will continue to do their best to distance themselves in public from remnant pastors and churches. (This is what happened in Nazi Germany when the nationalistic churches separated from the confessing churches to avoid persecution and death.)

8. The remnant church will change the world.

Sometimes God allows difficult circumstances to weed out the uncommitted followers from the committed followers. (Read the story of Gideon's army of 300 in Judges 7.) As it was during the days of Elijah, the early church period and the time of the Confessing Remnant Church in Nazi Germany, only the remnant has what it takes to change the world! Only the remnant church has the conviction, the sacrifice, the devotion, the endurance, the message and the power to change the world. The compromising church will enjoy their temporary popularity in the present time, but those who are wise and turn many people unto righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever (Dan. 12:3).

9. The remnant church will endure while the compromising church will fade away.

In Malachi 3:16-18 God promises that He has written a book of remembrance for those who speak of Him and fear His Name. The reward for them (the remnant) is that He will spare them as a man spares his son. The implications of this are vast. While the spiritual children of the compromising church will probably become agnostic, the children of the remnant will carry the torch of Christ to the next generation, which will increase in strength and do greater works (John 14:12). The remnant church goes from strength to strength and faith to faith (Rom. 1:17). Meanwhile, the compromising church goes from strength to weakness and from faith to apostasy and eventually into oblivion.

May God help us all remain faithful to the end and participate in the remnant church. 

Joseph Mattera is an internationally known author, futurist, interpreter of culture and activist/theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence nations. He leads several organizations, including The United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (uscal.us). He also has a blog on Charisma magazine called "The Pulse." To order one of his books or to subscribe to his weekly newsletter go tojosephmattera.org.

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I Hate to Say I Told You So by MICHAEL BROWN

I Hate to Say I Told You So

4/7/2014 MICHAEL BROWN

For years I’ve been sounding the alarm about an impending social, cultural and spiritual crisis, and for years critics have compared me to Chicken Little, discounting my warnings as the ravings of a hysterical, religious fundamentalist. Well, it’s a little late for that now.

Ten years ago, I charted this progression and made this prediction:

• First, gay activists came out of the closet.
• Second, they demanded their “rights.”
• Third, they demanded that everyone recognize those “rights.”
• Fourth, they want to strip away the rights of those who oppose them.
• Fifth, they want to put those who oppose their “rights” into the closet.
• From here on, embracing diversity refers to embracing all kinds of sexual orientation, (homo)sexual expression and gender identification but rejects every kind of religious or moral conviction that does not embrace these orientations, expressions and identifications.
• From here on, hate refers to any attitude, thought or word that differs with the gay agenda, while gays are virtually exempt from the charge of hate speech—no matter how vile and incendiary the rhetoric—since they are always the (perceived) victims and never the victimizers.
• Children in elementary schools will be exposed to the rightness and complete normality of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender expression, and opposing views will be branded as dangerous and homophobic, to be silenced and excluded from the classroom. 

Initially, I was met with scorn and derision: “No one wants to put you in the closet!”

The last few years, the tone has changed to “Bigots like you belong in the closet!”

I hate to say it, but I told you so.

After the forced resignation of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, the influential gay blogger Andrew Sullivan wrote, “The whole episode disgusts me—as it should disgust anyone interested in a tolerant and diverse society. If this is the gay rights movement today—hounding our opponents with a fanaticism more like the religious right than anyone else—then count me out.”

Not long after, the ultraliberal Bill Maher said on Real Time, “I think there is a gay mafia. I think if you cross them, you do get whacked.”

This echoes comments made years earlier by lesbian journalist and author Camille Paglia in her book Vamps and Tramps. “One reason I so dislike recent gay activism,” she wrote, “is that my self-identification as a lesbian preceded Stonewall: I was the only openly gay person at the Yale Graduate School (1968-72), a candor that was professionally costly. That anyone with my aggressive and scandalous history could be called ‘homophobic,’ as has repeatedly been done, shows just how insanely Stalinist gay activism has become.”

Stalinist? Was she overstating her case?

In my 2011 book A Queer Thing Happened to America, I noted, “It would appear, then, that ‘civil rights’ for some means ‘limited rights’ for others, and that by specific design. As stated explicitly in a teacher’s lesson aid published by the Gay and Lesbian Educators [GALE] of British Columbia: ‘We must dishonour the prevailing belief that heterosexuality is the only acceptable orientation even though that would mean dishonouring the religious beliefs of Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc.’”

In that same book, I explained what was already here and what was on the immediate horizon, including this:

• From here on, tolerance refers to the complete acceptance of LGBT lifestyles and ideology—in the family, in the workplace, in education, in media, in religion—while at the same time refusing to tolerate any view that is contrary.
• From here on, inclusion refers to working with, supporting, sponsoring and encouraging gay events and gay goals while at the same time systematically refusing to work with and excluding anyone who is not in harmony with these events and goals.

What exactly would this look like? Again, here is what I wrote in 2011:

• Middle schools, high schools and colleges will go out of their way to encourage both the celebration of homosexuality and deep solidarity with gay activism.
• The federal and state governments will legalize same-sex marriages, meaning that all heterosexuals must accept the legality of these marriages and that anyone refusing to do so could be prosecuted for discriminatory behavior.
• Corporate America will embrace every aspect of nonheterosexuality (including bisexuality, transgender and beyond), calling for the dismissal of those who refuse to follow suit, and religious groups will no longer be allowed to view homosexual practice as immoral, branding such opposition as “hate speech.”

Yes, all this was written before the Mozilla debacle (which was justified, absurdly, in the name of being “inclusive, safe, and welcoming to all”); before the Walt Disney Corporation gave the Boy Scouts of America an ultimatum that they had to accept openly homosexual Scout leaders or lose Disney’s financial support; before the Girl Scouts announced that boys who identify and present themselves as girls can join their Scouting clubs; before pastor Louie Giglio was disinvited from praying at President Obama’s second inauguration because he preached a biblical message on homosexuality more than 15 years ago; before the Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act and the military overturned "don’t ask, don’t tell"; before the passing of ridiculous bills like California’s SB 777 (mandating the celebration of LGBT American history for all classes, K-12) and AB 1266 (allowing students to choose the bathroom of their personal gender identification as well as play on the sports team of their choice, using that locker room as well, resulting already in a 17-year-old boy playing on the girls’ softball team); before Facebook created the customized gender option with 50 gender choices; before different states banned professional counseling requested by minors with unwanted same-sex attractions; before companies like Sweet Cakes by Melissa were put out of business because they would not participate in same-sex “weddings”; and before Attorney General Eric Holder told state attorneys general that they were not required to uphold and defend laws against same-sex “marriage” if they didn’t want to—just to mention a few.

I hate to say it, but I told you so.

Do you believe me now? And would you like to know what is coming next and what we can do about it? And would you like to know why I am convinced that, ultimately, the gay revolution will fail?

Stay tuned for more. I’m glad I have your ear.

Michael Brown is author of Hyper-Grace: Exposing the Dangers of the Modern Grace Message and host of the nationally syndicated talk radio show The Line of Fire on the Salem Radio Network. He is also president of FIRE School of Ministry and director of the Coalition of Conscience. Follow him at AskDrBrown on Facebook or at @drmichaellbrown on Twitter.

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Actor Kevin Sorbo - "God's Not Dead' Star Speaks Out Against Hollywood's Christian Stigma

"God's Not Dead' Star Speaks Out Against Hollywood's Christian Stigma

3/21/2014 GINA MEEKS  CHARISMA NEWS

Kevin Sorbo (Facebook)

Actor Kevin Sorbo has some harsh words for comedian Bill Maher, who recently called God a “psychotic mass murderer” while discussing the upcoming film Noah.

“All I can do is feel sad for the guy because I think he’s a very angry, lonely man,” Sorbo said in an interview with Newsmax to promote his new film, God’s Not Dead, which released Friday. “There’s no reason to try and talk to a guy like that because he has so much hate."

“I wonder what happened to him in his lifetime,” the actor added. “The atheists I’ve met—not all of them are angry. I’ve got some very good friends who are atheists. They just don’t believe. They simply don’t believe. We’ve had great debates. ... [Maher just] has so much hate.”

The actor continued, “Morals are declining, the country is going under. We are getting worse and worse, and everything is OK, according to half the population of this country. Not everything is OK.”

Sorbo, who plays an atheist professor in God’s Not Dead, has also spoken out about the stigma Christians face in Hollywood.

“There’s a negativity towards Christians in Hollywood,” ChristianHeadlines.com reports him saying. “And a negativity towards people who believe in God.”

The actor who once played Hercules says he has noticed a difference in how he is treated in Hollywood since he publicly came out as a Christian. He says he has not been offered as many roles as he was in the past, and he doesn’t understand why his faith should affect his work.

“I don’t begrudge them—why do they begrudge me?” he asked.

Sorbo believes Hollywood will stop treating Christians negatively when believers stand up for their beliefs.

“The silent majority is starting to get annoyed with what’s going on,” he says. “I think more people need to start speaking about it instead of just sitting there and taking it. ... It’s happening; you’re getting attacked; you need to stand up for yourself and your beliefs.”