3 False Gospels

Interesting post - please read!
3 False Gospels

Little Foxes

The little foxes, those tiny things
They seem they cannot harm.
But, they go down deep with sharpened fangs,
And bite with deadly harm.

The little foxes, those tiny things
We think they do no ill.
We justify them in our hearts,
And claim that God must love them too.

Throw off, then now, these little sins
That tear us to the ground.
Repent then at the Saviours feet,
There, Mercy, will be found.

Let not these sins, these tiny sins
Destroy us on our way
Resist Satan's fiery darts,
That hinder and delay.

Go marching forward then,
Gain back the ground we lost.
Our hearts restored in Jesus' name,
Our gaze set on the Cross.

Apostasy

Fathers and mothers, watch over your children. Keep them from the world. Train them up for the world to come. Draw out their young hearts in admiration of the coming glory, so that earth’s vanities shall fade from their eye. Be careful as to what books or magazines they read. Discriminate between the useful and the useless, between the wholesome and the poisonous. Lead them not into temptation. As the world goes on in its apostasy from God and its deification of humanity, its snares will become more subtle and its falsehoods more beautiful, especially for the young heart and eye. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life. No amount of “progress” or “culture” or “liberality” can make that gate wider or that way broader, either for yourselves or your children.—Horatius Bonar

The Minister's Self-Watch

The Minister's Self-Watch, by C.H. Spurgeon

This is an excellent booklet.

http://www.chapellibrary.org/files/archive/pdf-english/mswa.pdf

The Hunger Games

THE HUNGER GAMES

 

The word h--- appears once. In this tale of 24 teenagers forced to kill each other, readers follow a number of gruesome, bloody and otherwise disturbing scenes. One tribute murders another by snapping his neck. Other tributes are killed by spears, arrows, blows to the head with rocks and the stings of mutated yellow jackets. Wounds ooze blood and puss, and the wounded smell festering flesh. One of the final tributes is mauled by a pack of rabid dog-like creatures for hours before he dies. Katniss also mentions how, in previous games, tributes were killed by venomous snakes, went insane from thirst or froze to death. One previous contestant tried to eat the tributes he'd killed, but the Gamemakers stopped this because it didn't play well with the audience. Leaders in the Capitol cut out the tongues of those who disobey them. Despite the many alarming images, readers find little if any gratuitous gore. The descriptions emphasize the horrible plight of the tributes and the gross desensitization of the Capitol dwellers.

 

Kissing/Sex/Homosexuality

Katniss and Peeta kiss a number of times and snuggle together for warmth in a sleeping bag.

Mythology: The book's plot was influenced by the Greek myth in which King Minos requires 7 boys and 7 girls from Athens to battle the Minotaur in a labyrinth.

 

Alcohol: 

Haymitch drinks constantly. He is often drunk and humiliating himself, like when he vomits all over the floor of the train en route to the Capitol. The prep team gives Katniss wine at a dinner, but after drinking half of one glass, she feels foggy and switches to water. She says she can't understand how Haymitch can stand being in a fog all the time. Instead of observing Katniss and rating her pre-Games performance, the intoxicated Gamemakers ignore her and sing drinking songs.

 

Gambling: 

The Hunger Games are a hotbed of gambling, not unlike big sporting events of today.

 

Nudity: 

The prep team examines Katniss in the nude, and she's often naked in their presence as they prepare her for TV appearances. The mentions of nudity, neither graphic nor sexual, emphasize how Katniss is viewed as an object to be modified rather than a human being.

 

Illegal activity: 

Katniss and Gale hunt illegally. They sell some of what they gather and/or kill on the city's black market. Nearly all District 12 citizens rely on the black market for survival.

 

THE HUNGER GAMES portrays a godless world that throws its children and teenagers into a large but confined arena to kill each other as the society watches. 

 

THE HUNGER GAMES has a strong humanist worldview with violence that no child should see.

 

THE HUNGER GAMES is an exceptionally dark movie where the audience literally watches as children kill each other in a bloody maniacal fashion. The movie portrays society as wanting this sort of killing, which implies the same thing for real human society, including the people who might watch the movie or read the book series on which it’s based. Though this is a point the movie is making, it only has a negative impact on society. In the Sudan, for instance, children are being taken, desensitized by watching violence, given a gun, and killing. So, why would you want to watch the same thing happening in a Hollywood Blockbuster?

 

Taking death so lightly will desensitize the audience in a very dark way.

 

With a strong humanist worldview, THE HUNGER GAMES has no depiction of God or the supernatural world. It’s all up to the movie’s heroine to win the game, but, eventually, she too has to hurt other people to win. Thus, there is no solid depiction of good and truth in THE HUNGER GAMES and no implication of a greater Hope. Ultimately, the story seems overly cynical and dehumanizing.

 

THE HUNGER GAMES is a science fiction thriller with a big budget. This is doubly saddening because it means even more children will see the behavior depicted in the movie. Those susceptible to violence will want to reenact it. Those children who are not as susceptible to movie violence will come out traumatized or fearful, or, worse, desensitized to the violence around them in real life.

 

Ultimately, MOVIEGUIDE® finds THE HUNGER GAMES unacceptable viewing due to its violence and dark, secular, humanist worldview. The director is Gary Ross, who’s directed and/or written a couple other humanist fables, PLEASANTVILLE and DAVE. Reportedly, the original author of the story envisioned her story after watching Reality TV games and TV coverage of the Iraq invasion after 9/11. Maybe she should have watched a Sunday sermon on Christian TV at the same time to gain a larger perspective. THE HUNGER GAMES is one movie that parents might want their children to avoid.

What Is Apostasy? by A.W. Pink

In the past, dear reader, there have been thousands who were just as confident that they had been genuinely saved and were truly trusting in the merits of the finished work of Christ to take them safely through to Heaven, as you may be; nevertheless, they are now in the torments of Hell. Their confidence was a carnal one; their "faith," no better than that which the demons have. Their faith was but a natural one which rested on the bare letter of Scripture. It was not a supernatural one, wrought in the heart by God. They were too confident that their faith was a saving one, to thoroughly, searchingly, frequently, test it by the Scriptures, to discover whether or no it was brining forth those fruits which are inseparable from the faith of God’s elect. If they read an article like this, they proudly concluded that it belonged to some one else. So cocksure were they that they were born again so many years ago, they refused to heed the command of 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Prove your own selves." And now it is too late. They wasted their day of opportunity, and the "blackness of darkness" is their portion forever.

In view of this solemn and awful fact, the writer earnestly calls upon himself and each reader to get down before God and sincerely cry, "Search me, O God: reveal me to myself. If I am deceived, undeceive me ere it be eternally too late. Enable me to measure myself faithfully by Thy Word, so that I may discover whether or no my heart has been renewed, whether I have abandoned every course of self-will and truly surrendered to Thee; whether I have so repented that I hate all sin, and fervently long to be free from its power, loathe myself and seek diligently to deny myself; whether my faith is that which overcomes the world (1 John 5:4), or whether it be only a mere notional thing which produces no godly living; whether I am a fruitful branch of the vine, or only a cumberer of the ground; in short, whether I be a new creature in Christ, or only a painted hypocrite." If I have an honest heart, then I am willing, yea anxious to face and know the real truth about myself.

Perhaps some readers are ready to say, I already know the truth about myself: I believe what God’s Word tells me: I am a sinner, with no good thing dwelling in me; my only hope is in Christ. Yes, dear friend, but Christ saves His people from their sins. Christ sends His Holy Spirit into their hearts, so that they are radically changed from what they were previously. The Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in the hearts of those He regenerates, and that love is manifested by a deep desire and sincere determination to please Him who loves me. When Christ saves a soul, He saves not only from Hell, but from the power of sin; He delivers him from the dominion of Satan, and from the love of the world; He delivers him from the fear of man, the lusts of the flesh, the love of self. True He has not yet completed this blessed work. True, the sinful nature is not yet eradicated, but one who is saved has been delivered from the dominion of sin (Rom. 6:14). Salvation is a supernatural thing, which changes the heart, renews the will, transforms the life, so that it is evident to all around that a miracle of grace has been wrought.

Thus, it is not sufficient for me to ask have I repudiated my own righteousness, have I renounced all my good works to fit me for heaven, am I trusting alone to Christ? Many will earnestly and sincerely affirm these things, who yet give no evidence that they have passed from death unto life. Then what more is necessary for me to ascertain whether or no my faith be a truly saving one? This, there are certain things which "accompany salvation" (Heb. 6:9), things which are inseparable from it; and for these I must look, and be sure I have them. A bundle of wood that sends forth neither heat nor smoke, has no fire under it. A tree, which in summer, bears neither fruit nor leaves, is dead. So a faith which does not issue in godly living, in an obedient walk, in spiritual fruit, is not the faith of God’s elect. O my reader, I beg you to diligently and faithfully examine yourself by the light of God’s unerring Word. Claim not to be a child of Abraham, unless you do the works of Abraham (John 8:39).

What is apostasy?
  It is a making shipwreck of the faith (1 Tim. 1:19). It is the heart’s departure from the living God (Heb. 3:12). It is a returning to and being overcome by the world, after a previous escape from its pollutions through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 2:20). There are various steps which precede it. First, there is a looking back (Luke 9:62), like Lot’s wife, who though she had outwardly left Sodom, yet her heart was still there. Second, there is a drawing back (Heb. 10:38): the requirements of Christ are too exacting to any longer appeal to the heart. Third, there is a turning back (John 6:66): the path of godliness is too narrow to suit the lustings of the flesh. Fourth, there is a falling back, which is fatal: "that they might go and fall backward, and be broken" (Isa. 28:13).

The Sword by Mike Ratliff

Check out this great article, it was too long for me to copy/paste.

http://mikeratliff.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/the-sword/#more-5513