Why I Stopped Singing Hillsong - by Bruce Herwig

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author misrepresents some things, particularly certain Scripture references.
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The Weight of Being a Pastor - BY SCOTT SLAYTON

Found here. My comments in bold.
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There is hardly anything in this missive that describes the actual biblical role of pastor. The author will never advise the reader how to transfer the burden to others. He will never explain how gifted people can help carry the burden of leadership.

No wonder present-day "pastors" are so weighted down, they are bearing burdens God never intended for them.

Anyone taking the author's advice is setting themselves up for failure.
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The power play of the Resurrection

The Resurrection is one of those things we Christians can easily become accustomed to, because it's been so much a part of our thinking. It almost is a given. We take it for granted because we know very well that God can do anything.

And it's familiar. We've read about it many times before. These days we might even just skim over it. We've become inoculated. It's similar to our familiarity with John 3:16. Everybody knows the verse.

I think we've robbed the Resurrection of its incredible power.

And that's what I got to thinking about: The power of the Resurrection. When we stop and think about it, the Resurrection is crazy. Coming back to life is crazy. Rising from the dead is crazy. How did we allow this to become routine and unremarkable?

When we examine the Scriptures, we discover that the Resurrection is God's power move. It is a unique and powerful statement of God's mighty move into the events of history. The Resurrection may be the top expression of God's power ever. If not number one, certainly the top five.

The resurrection is like a Michael Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game. Michael Jordan doesn't just beat his defender and make the shot. No, he leaves the defender in his tracks, spins around, floats 15 feet through the air, and slams it home in a.power move. The defender is not just beaten, he is humiliated. It leaves everyone speechless. How did he do that?

That's a power move. That's the power of the Resurrection.

The difference is between being effective and being exorbitant. Jesus' resurrection was much more than effective, it were an over-the-top power move. It was designed to be untoppable. There would never be anything better than the Resurrection.

Scripture tells us that satan was humiliated.

Col. 2:13-15 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Context Matters: Your Body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit

Found here.
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On the whole the author does a pretty good job. However, I will quibble with him a bit.

The word "outside" (ἐκτὸς) in 1 Cor 6:18b (Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body) is not exactly how the author represents it.

This word is also used in other places, variously translated "except," "unless," and "out of." One particular noteworthy usage is Mt. 23:26: 

Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside (ἐκτὸς) also will be clean.

Jesus was criticizing them for cleaning cups, a ritual. Jesus uses this to tell them they need to clean more than the external, they need to clean their inner man.

Notice here that the "outside" is still part of the person. It is not apart or separate. So "sinning against his own body" is simply a distinction about usage of the body itself. There is no difference in various sins themselves.

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Perhaps you’ve been told that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). And perhaps this declaration came in the wake of an argument against drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco, piercing a part of your body, or getting a tattoo. This go-to verse has kept countless multitudes in reverent submission to a variety of cultural expectations. At least until many of those submissive masses come of age. When many inevitably rebel against the behavioral expectations set for them, are they rebelling against the word of God?

Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled proverbial sayings—we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages don’t actually mean what we’ve always assumed.

The Verse
It appears rather straightforward. I’ll even go as far as to quote two verses:

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

Easy, right? If you profes to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, your body has become a temple for his Spirit. Therefore, it is not appropriate for you to put harmful substances (alcohol, tobacco) into it, or to mutilate your body with excessive piercings. Glorifying God in your body requires you to abstain from such harmful behaviors.

The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness - are they found in the BIble?

A friend of mine recently asserted that the Declaration of Independence's famous phrase, 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

is not a biblical concept. I disagreed, and this is the material I came up with:

1) Life: God created us according to the Bible: "...from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Gen 2:7. Genesis then goes on to note a somewhat curious detail. Genesis 2:9 notes that God put the Tree of Life in the garden: "In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

So when God drove Adam and Eve from the garden, He gave the reason why in Genesis 3:22: "He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever.” Adam and Eve had access to eternal life, which was then prevented by their expulsion. But before, they could eat of it any time they wanted.

Revelation 2:7 brings it around full circle: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." As does Revelation 3:5: "He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels."

Fast forward many years. The apostle John tells us in John 1:12-13, "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." The true life, the life we receive by right, is eternal life, life in the Spirit, because there is no life without God. "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing." [John 6:63] The fullness of life is what Jesus came to restore to us (John 10:10), because the only other alternative is to have life stolen from us. We cannot have stolen what we do not possess!

And lest you think I am conflating the right to eternal life with the right to natural life, there is this verse: "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." [Romans 8:11]

Christian TV network enters world of 24-hour news - By BEN FINLEY

Found here. My comments in bold.
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Ben Finley, "journalist," is a producer for Anderson 360. He is a leftist by any measure. 

So he writes this story for the Associated Press about CBN starting a news channel. But he isn't content to simply write a story about the new news channel. No, he has to egregiously drag President Trump into it. Trump has absolutely no connection to the story, yet occupies a 25% of the narrative. 

Mr. Finley is trying to impugn the new network by connecting Trump to it. But he doesn't stop there. He writes, "Critics have accused Brody and the elder Robertson of being less than objective," which is an astonishing statement. Every day for the past 20-30 years, conservatives have been documenting the pervasive bias of the mainstream media with barely a peep of acknowledgment. But apparently it is now an issue because Christians.

Further, Brody is described as CBN’s chief political analyst. Analyst. Opinion. Not journalist. And Pat Robertson is preacher, for God's sake. On what basis should objectivity be imposed on him?

This is exactly why trust of the media has fallen precipitously. 
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The Charismatic Experience - by Erroll Hulse

Found here. My comments in bold.

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We're going to take the liberty of deleting some large sections of this long article so as to get to the meat of the issues.

Before we start we must note that the author needs to provide a biblical critique. But unfortunately he will not restrict his presentation to the biblical argument. We have previously set forth our requirements when considering the claims of cessationists. Any argument presented must

• be biblically based
• not appeal to contemporary expressions of other believers
• not appeal to silence
• not appeal to events or practices of history

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The Blessings, Main Problem and Dangers of the Charismatic Experience

1. The blessings

(...)

2. The main problem 

The main problem confronting us is simply, Have the charismatic gifts ceased or not? If they have not ceased and were never meant to cease, then the Charismatics have a cogent case when they say that this explains why the Church is weak. Also there is a strong argument that we should down tools and concentrate on the regaining of that which has been lost. This is a problem far greater than the questions posed by the second blessing issue. Thomas Smail in his book already referred to rightly concedes that there is ultimately only one blessing: (We address the semantics of "second blessing" here. Suffice to say, what charismatics mean by the second blessing is actually to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18).

‘How many blessings are there?’ The New Testament answer is ‘essentially one’. God has given us his one gift of himself in his Son, and everything else is contained in him. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ (Eph. 1:3). However many and varied our spiritual experiences, they all have their unity and significance in the fact that they all proceed from him, reflect him, and glorify him.⁴

In the chapter on the baptism of the Spirit I point out that when we are united to Christ we are united to the whole of him. Regeneration and conversion together with justification and forgiveness do not form a first blessing with sanctification to follow at a later date as a second blessing. The main problem is not the second blessing issue. No, the main problem is the one that has been asserted and which can be stated in a different way as follows. Is this entire dispensation supposed to be extraordinary and charismatic? Is this whole time from Christ’s first advent to his second advent supposed to be filled with the miraculous and extraordinary gifts or not?

This main problem could be settled in a moment if we could find one statement which plainly or conclusively declares that it was God’s purpose to withdraw the charismata. No such text can be found. (Emphasis added.) This discovery by no means ends the dispute because the next question to be posed is this: Can it be proved by inference (Emphasis added.) from the Scripture that the Charismatic period ended with the apostles? As theologians might express it, is there a biblical hermeneutic which is decisive? Is there a principle inherent in the Scriptures which decides the issue? I believe there is. (Let's hope the author will lay out the Scriptures that infer this.)

Predestination and irresistible grace

Calvinists seem to pretty militant lately on Facebook. It's definitely an us-vs.-them scenario, where those who deviate from their preferred doctrinal stance are deceived or maybe not even saved. Typical memes include:

One of the tenets of TULIP is Irresistible Grace, which basically means that God has already picked those who will be saved. Some ancillary principles that descend from this include

1. God chose us, we did not choose Him. 
2. We don't participate in any way in our salvation. 
3. We don't make a decision to believe the Gospel. God has already arranged it, and at the exact time of His choosing, we came to Christ.

Of course there is plenty in Scripture that suggests this:

Mk. 13:20 If the Lord had not cut short those days, no-one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

Jn. 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Ro. 8:33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Ep. 1:4-5 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ,

2Th. 2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

Jn. 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

1Pe. 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

1Pe. 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

By the same token, there are Scriptures that indicate the opposite, that we have the ability to choose to come to Christ:

A Comment on Miracles - by Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Ms. Prata makes another appearance, and she is in no way a better position than previously. 
-----------------

This first appeared on The End Time in July 2011 (She obviously is proud enough of her work to republish it.)
***

Today’s people want miracles. They want fabulous signs and wonders, and flock to places where they think God is performing them. (Three premises are stated. She won't bother to document them.)

I happen to believe that once the scriptures were closed that the signs and miracles all but ceased. (Now an undocumented refutation. Perhaps she will elaborate.)

God used the signs and wonders through His designated apostles (the 12 plus Paul) (What about Mathias [Acts 1:26]? Barnabas [Acts 14:14]? Andranicus and Junias [Romans 16:7]? There are certainly more than 12 apostles.

And what about Stephen? He wasn't even an apostle, yet he did "great wonders and miraculous signs among the people." [Acts 6:8] In a few words the author makes two substantial errors.)

to authenticate the performer of those miracles as being from God. (There is no Scripture that describes miracles as authenticating to the apostles.)

Acts 2:22 says, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” (Previously Ms. Prata claimed the apostles were authenticated by miracles. But this says Jesus was.)

2 Corinthians 12:12 says, “The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance”. Hebrews 2:4 says of the Gospel, “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” (Um, yeah, no. The writer of Hebrews tells us something else. The prior verse, verse three, reads, ...how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. What was being authenticated? This salvation! 

Ms. Prata doesn't even bother to read the context.)

Buoyant stocks lift US household wealth, mainly for affluent - By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

Found here. My comments in bold.

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This remarkable article is so unabashedly left-leaning I'm surprised it's presented as news.

I'm going to simply note where leftist talking points are being inserted into the narrative.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A rising stock market lifted U.S. household wealth to a record $106.9 trillion in the April-June quarter, the culmination of a decade of economic recovery (Leftist talking point.) 

but a gain that is concentrated largely among the most affluent. (Leftist talking point.) 

The Cessation of the Charismata - Benjamin B. Warfield

Found here. My comments in bold.

------------------

This is an extremely long and opaque article, and we've deleted some sections that do not come to bear on the issue at hand. We shall try to wade through it to pull out the salient points. 

Warfield seems to be the source of all cessationist thought, so it is good that we get to the bottom of the issue. We would hope he would be able to provide the Scriptural case for cessationism, but alas, in thousands of words he does not manage to quote a single Scripture verse. In fact, he hardly is able to even provide any Scriptural references at all! 

Astounding.

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WHEN our Lord came down to earth He drew heaven with Him. The signs which accompanied His ministry were but the trailing clouds of glory which He brought from heaven, which is His home. The number of the miracles which He wrought may easily be underrated. It has been said that in effect He banished disease and death from Palestine for the three years of His ministry. If this is exaggeration it is pardonable exaggeration. Wherever He went, He brought a blessing:

One hem but of the garment that He wore
Could medicine whole countries of their pain;
One touch of that pale hand could life restore.

We ordinarily greatly underestimate His beneficent activity as He went about, as Luke says, doing good.’

His own divine power by which He began to found His church He continued in the Apostles whom He had chosen to complete this great work. They transmitted it in turn, as part of their own miracle-working and the crowning sign of their divine commission, to others, in the form of what the New Testament calls spiritual gifts2 in the sense of extraordinary capacities produced in the early Christian communities by direct gift of the Holy Spirit.

The number and variety of these spiritual gifts were considerable. Even Paul’s enumerations, the fullest of which occurs in the twelfth chapter of I Corinthians, can hardly be read as exhaustive scientific catalogues. The name which is commonly applied to them3 is broad enough to embrace what may be called both the ordinary and the specifically extraordinary gifts of the Spirit; both those, that is, which were distinctively gracious, and those which were distinctly miraculous. In fact, in the classical passage which treats of them (I Cor. 12-14) both classes are brought together under this name. The non-miraculous, gracious gifts are, indeed, in this passage given the preference and called “the greatest gifts”; and the search after them is represented as “the more excellent way”; the longing for the highest of them — faith, hope, and love — being the most excellent way of all. Among the miraculous gifts themselves, a like distinction is made in favor of “prophecy” (that is, the gift of exhortation and teaching), and, in general, in favor of those by which the body of Christ is edified.(With a flowery style to which we are unaccustomed in our day, our verbose author finally makes a point, and it is a stumble. In an unattributed assertion, he deems prophecy to be simply exhortation and teaching. This is false. Teaching and prophecy are separate, though related, gifts. 

Ro. 12:6-8 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. 

1Co. 12:28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.

Ep. 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers...

Notice that prophecy and teaching are part of lists of gifts, distinct enough from each other to merit separate mention.)

(...)

(Now comes an Appeal to History, which of course has nothing to do with the biblical case for cessation of the charismata.) How long did this state of things continue? It was the characterizing peculiarity of specifically the Apostolic Church, and it belonged therefore exclusively to the Apostolic age — although no doubt this designation may be taken with some latitude. These gifts were not the possession of the primitive Christian as such;6 nor for that matter of the Apostolic Church or the Apostolic age for themselves; they were distinctively the authentication of the Apostles. (Unsupported assertion. On what scriptural basis should we conclude that the gifts were solely to authenticate the apostles? Perhaps there is a case to be made, but the author does not make it.)

They were part of the credentials of the Apostles as the authoritative agents of God in founding the church. Their function thus confined them to distinctively the Apostolic Church, and they necessarily passed away with it.7 (From an unsupported assertion comes an unsupported conclusion, again bereft of scriptural documentation.)

Of this we may make sure on the ground both of principle and of fact; that is to say both under the guidance of the New Testament teaching as to their origin and nature, and on the credit of the testimony of later ages as to their cessation. (The "testimony of later ages" is not a Scriptural argument. We can think of our own reasons for the lack of the supernatural in the post-apostolic church. Perhaps it was apostasy. Perhaps it was lack of faith. Perhaps it was the abandonment of elder-centered church leadership. Perhaps God intended the supernatural to continue on, but the church went its own way. 

In any case, we would love to see our esteemed author make his case from Scripture.)

What are the dangers of ‘Treasure-Hunting’ evangelism? - by Holly Pivec

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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It isn't our intention to defend treasure hunting or Bethel church. Our interest is confined to the author's assertions.

We note the author manifests the typical modus operandi of the doctrinal police, that is, a marked reluctance to quote Scripture. The author manages a snippet of only one Scripture in the entire article.

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Treasure Hunting is a new type of evangelistic outreach that has been popularized by Bethel Church in Redding, California, and has been picked up by many well-known evangelistic groups such as YWAM. It’s also sometimes referred to as “prophetic evangelism” or “supernatural evangelism.” Yet despite its popularity, this practice of Treasure Hunting is one that ought to be avoided by Christians because of its many inherent problems and dangers. ("Inherent" is the word the author uses. Based on the presentation to follow, however, we would have suggested "inferred.")

Before I talk about some of the problems with Treasure Hunting, I want to fill you in on how it works. This is what might typically happen: a team of three or four people will choose a place to conduct their hunt, such as a park or grocery store. Then, before the Treasure Hunt, team members ask God to give them prophetic “words of knowledge” — called “clues”— about specific people they will find at that location. The clues they seek include a person’s name, descriptions of that person’s appearance, and any ailments (such as recurring headaches or a bad knee). Team members mark these clues on a treasure map, which they then use to guide them to a person — called a “treasure” — who matches their clues.

For example, in his book called The Ultimate Treasure Hunt: A Guide to Supernatural Evangelism through Supernatural Encounters, Kevin Dedmon – who was on the leadership team at Bethel Redding – recounts a treasure hunt. During one hunt conducted in a Wal-Mart, the clues included “Starbucks coffee,” “hurt right arm,” and “frozen foods.” The treasure hunters located a woman buying Starbucks coffee-flavored ice cream in the frozen food section. When they approached the woman and told her about their activity, she looked at their list of other clues and revealed that she had an injured right arm. She allowed the team members to pray for her and, according to their reports, her arm was immediately healed.

This account, if accurate, sounds great: a woman was found and prayed for, and then healed. It seems all good, so someone might ask, “What’s wrong with Treasure Hunting?”

Lots, unfortunately. Here are several problems with this novel practice.

It’s not supported by Scripture

This practice does not have the support of Scripture. Nowhere does the Bible ever record a Treasure Hunt or instruct people to engage in anything like a Treasure Hunt. (Argument from Silence.)

The biblical stories Dedmon has presented as examples of Treasure Hunts are a stretch. (That is, the examples are not enough to assuage the author's preconceptions.)

For example, he suggests that the time when Jesus spoke with the woman at the well (John 4:1-26), he was engaged in something like a Treasure Hunt. But Jesus did not pray for clues (That we know of.)

and then seek a person matching those clues. (That we know of.)

Also, the story of his encounter with this woman is descriptive; it’s doesn’t prescribe a new practice for his followers. (Upon what basis does the author assert this? Aren't we supposed to be like Christ?

Ep. 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children...

Ro. 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

1Co. 15:49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so let us bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

2Co. 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

1Jn. 4:17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

In fact, we are to do what Jesus does:

Jn. 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.)

Are there prophets today (in fewer than 500 words)? - by Clint Archer

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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I was asked this question in an e-mail. I’m notoriously long-winded (perhaps you’ve noticed). But I am trying to be more concise (please say you’ve noticed). I get asked this question a lot, and I wanted a pithy reply I can cut-and-paste in the future. So I am crowd-sourcing the CGate readers for assistance. This reply is 414 words. Is there anything I should add or replace to make the answer tighter and more helpful? (Well, we're happy to put our two cents in.)

Please use the comments feature to help a brother out. (Also, if you don’t agree at all with my answer, you can try to convince me in 500 words or less!)

The short answer is: no, there are no prophets today, if what you mean by “prophet” is a person who supplies new revelation from God. (Um, no. That is not what Scripture describes for the gift of prophecy in the church. 

1Co. 12:7-11: Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 

8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.

1Co. 14:3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 

1Co. 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

Do you see the author's definition anywhere in these?)

Are claims of supernatural experience really that harmful? (in 500 words) - by Clint Archer

Found here. My comments in bold.
-------------------

Previously I answered the question “Are there Prophets today?” and concluded no. Today I answer a good follow-up question:

“If the claimed revelation/vision is not taken as authoritative or infallible, but just meant for encouragement, then what harm is there in that?”

While it is true that most cautious continuationists (e.g. Wayne Grudem) would agree that the claims of prophecy today are not authoritative or infallible in the way biblical revelation is, there is still harm in having this type of practice in churches.

Here’s why in 500 words:

A claim of supernatural revelation always… ("Always?" This is a claim to global knowledge. The author manipulates us into a position of a false binary choice. We either agree with him or we are selfish, discouraging, denigrating the value of Scripture, or engaging in one upmanship. This is dishonest and anti-intellectual.

And none of these reasons are biblical reasons. In fact, we are quite glad that the writers of the NT did not have the author's doctrine.)

What do people mean by ‘coming into the presence of God’? - by Stephen Kneale

Found here. My comments in bold.
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The author fails to quote a single Scripture, nor does he ask anyone what they might mean by saying this. He is content to make vague references and speculate.
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I recognise the concept of God’s presence means somewhat different things in different traditions. But I struggle to shake the sense that a lot of ‘coming into God’s presence’ language stems primarily from some iffy theology surrounding the presence of God. (The author struggles, but for some reason will make no attempt to ameliorate his struggle by actually investigating the matter to obtain an answer.)

For some folks, there is a belief that we must ‘invite’ the Holy Spirit to join with us when we meet, as though he might not turn up if we don’t. Seemingly our desire to feel/know/see (I don’t know) the Spirit is the determinate factor in whether he shows up at all. The relationship between church and Spirit on such a view resembles a cat faffing around with a jack-in-the-box. Whether the Spirit shows up or not remain, over and again, a genuine surprise that is ultimately caused by our cranking the handle properly. (The author asks his question, then supplies his own answer by characterizing the situation in an insulting and frivolous manner.)

Alternatively, you have people who believe that the Spirit shows up because of the room you are in at the time. They reinforce the idea by calling their main meeting area things like ‘the sanctuary’, which seems like a farce when your church happens to meet in a school cafeteria or some other 6-day-per-week worldly venue that we sanctify for a couple of hours each Sunday merely by showing up. It’s a much easier line to maintain when you have your own building, for sure. (So it's a matter of semantics? The church has been called a sanctuary for perhaps centuries. Apparently the author just noticed and is offended.

How this is relevant to the matter at hand is a mystery.)

What Does Prophecy Offer that Scripture Does Not? - Tim Challies

Found here. My comments in bold.
--------------------------
The author offers a succinct question. Here's the short answer:

1. Those who have the gift of prophecy are part of the body and are therefore needed (1 Co. 12:10-21)
2. We are commanded to desire it (1 Co. 14:1)
3. It's good for the Body (1 Co. 14:6)
4. Prophecy is for believers (1 Co. 14:22) to be instructed and encouraged (1 Co. 14:31)
5. It must be done (1 Co. 14:26)...
6. ...to build up the church (1 Co. 14:12)

We could shoot back some questions to the author: Why was prophecy ever needed? Why were there others prophesying besides the apostles? The early church had the OT, plus many of the letters and other documents were already circulating. The apostles themselves were itinerant, plus they were appointing elders in every town. Yet there was still prophecy?

Why? Why prophecy at all? And why did Paul find the need to explain it so thoroughly? Why bother, if it was going to cease in a few years?

If charismatics have to explain why prophecy is needed now, then the author needs to explain why it was needed in the early church.
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Was the Early Church Communist? - by Aaron Brake

Found here. A very good article.

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In the book of Acts, we’re told the following about the early church in Jerusalem:

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common…. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. (Acts 4:32–35)

Some may read this passage and come away with the mistaken idea that communism is the Christian ideal. Individuals who accept Marxist ideology or liberation theology may certainly argue this way while using this passage as a proof text. But is the Bible really teaching communism as a normative and ideal way of life for Christians?

A proposal for a church plant: The Church Alternative - A church where life happens

This is submitted with the purpose of exploring the establishment of a faith group that embraces the things of God while making a concerted effort to avoid the historical failures of other churches.

We are not so arrogant to think that we will be able to form a perfect church, but we do believe that with God's help we will be able to create a community that is something God-honoring and real.
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Preamble:

Church has been done the same way for centuries, and the results we see today leave much to be desired. Most every Christian has been touched by toxic churches, toxic people, bad doctrine, and visionless denominations at some point in their lives.

Many groups and organizations have tried to shake themselves from the “business as usual” mindset that permeates the contemporary church, with mixed success. The problem as we see it is that the structures, leadership arrangements, bad teaching, and the rigid dead formality of many contemporary churches lends itself to hierarchy, lack of involvement, and quenching the Holy Spirit (1 Thes. 5:19).

It would seem that there has to be a better way, where the church loves, heals, ministers, and exhorts as led by the Spirit..

Therefore, we seek to establish a body of believers (both mature and new in Christ), as well as those who seekers, those who need healing... basically, those who are looking for a place where life happens.

Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch tell orphan children to go screw themselves -by IAN MILLHISER

Found here. My comments in bold.

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With an inflammatory title like this, the article had better explain to us how exactly three Supreme court justices used terminology in their decision that would indicate that children are being left without hope of being adopted.

In actual fact, the author is lying. No such thing was said, and as you read you will discover that the story, though couched in vague misleading language, is quite different.
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Three members of the Supreme Court announced on Thursday that they would literally ("Literally," as in it is the direct result of these justices' decree that orphans are relegated to be without families. We will learn that this isn't actually the case.)

force orphan children to live in a group home or similar setting, rather than allow those children to be placed in foster care with a same-sex couple. (Let's run the actual numbers. Approximately 19% of same sex couples have adopted a child or have a step child, which is 3811 children. For opposite sex couples, the number is 1,143,721 children. So that means 0.33% of the children adopted are to same sex couples.

Remember, the claim is that these children, if denied a same sex adoption, would be relegated to not have a family. As shown by the numbers, however, same sex adoptions are statistically insignificant. The author's claim is simply hyperbole.)

Trichotomists, Charismatics, and 1 Corinthians 14 - by Daniel M. Brown

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Another installment in our quest for the biblical case for cessationism. Unfortunately, a large part of the author's presentation is about contemporary charismatics, while he barely touches on the biblical case.

In fact, the author entirely avoids quoting a complete Scripture verse, managing only an isolated phrase or two.

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1 Corinthians 14 is one of the most popular chapters in the Bible for Charismatics. (And probably one of the most avoided by cessationists...)

Practically every Charismatic author that writes anything on the gifts of the Holy Spirit will refer to this chapter. (It's a mystery why the author would be surprised at this, since Paul discusses tongues and prophecy extensively here.)

Ironically, 1 Corinthians 14 is one of the strongest rebuttals against the modern Charismatic teaching on tongues, (We are not interested in the modern teachings on tongues. We want the biblical case.

We will soon discover the author will never tell us what is the proper interpretation of the chapter.)

but Charismatics are completely oblivious to this fact because they read the chapter with a trichotomous mindset. (That is, the failing of charismatics is that they view the human person as spirit, soul and body. This is an odd approach to the debate, since it really doesn't come to bear on the author's case at all.)

In a nutshell, this argument against Charismatic tongues goes as follows (He clearly doesn't understand charismatics, so his false premise leads to a false conclusion.):

1. No Charismatic claims to understand the tongues-language that he speaks. (False. Interpretation of one's own utterance is very common.)
2. 1 Corinthians 14 plainly teaches that the Biblical tongues-speaker understood the words uttered from his own lips. (The author never demonstrates this false assertion.)
3. Therefore, the modern Charismatic phenomenon of tongues has nothing to do with Biblical tongues. (Thus a non sequitur. And ironically, we will never discover the author's idea of biblical tongues.)

When a Charismatic reads 1 Cor 14:14, “my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful,” he reads this to mean that his spirit utters words which is own mind does not understand. Based on a trichotomy or tri-partite view of man, he claims that his spirit speaks a heavenly language that bypasses the mental understanding of his soul. However, a careful study of the scriptures concerning spirit and soul reveals that the Bible does not teach such a concept. (The author morphs to an irrelevant tangent. We have no need to discuss the divisions of soul, mind, body, spirit, or whatever. We can just view the Scripture for what it is.

Further, it isn't necessary to presume from the author's dichotomous perspective that the mind must be informed. By that we mean that even if the soul and spirit are one in the same, it still can be unfruitful as Paul says.

"Unfruitful" (ἄκαρπος) is defined as unfruitful, barren, profitless, while "mind" is νοῦς, the mind, the reason, the reasoning faculty, intellect. So if we don't allow the author to parse Paul's plain statement, we simply discover that praying in tongues does not edify the mind. 

And let's not ignore what Paul writes in the prior verse. 1Co. 14:13-14: 

For this reason anyone who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret what he says. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

Paul thus states that an uninterpreted tongue can be, but not always is, interpreted by the utterer. Uninterpreted tongues yields the result of the utterer's mind not being edified by the tongue.

In addition, 1Co. 14:2 says this:

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no-one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.

No-one understands. Including the speaker. Unless it's interpreted.

But beyond that, if we just take the Scripture for what it says, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful, why would Paul say that one thing happens but another thing does not if the two are the same thing?)