LaVrai.COM – The Truth

I don’t know if you are familiar with the Rev. Brad R. Braxton who was brought in earlier in the year to preside as leading pastor of NYC’s Riverside Church. In the beginning, some congregants were resistant because of what they considered the exorbitant pay Braxton was to get, which appears to be $600,000 and not some of the higher, crazier figures I remember seeing.

Anyhoo, Mr. Braxton has called it quits — and it apparently has nothing to do with resistance to his salary anymore. It seems, the Baptist preacher, might not have been aware of exactly who his congregants are:

The disagreements are described differently by each of the many factions at the church, a nondenominational congregation on Riverside Drive in Manhattan that has traditionally embraced a broad-spectrum interfaith style of Christian theology for all comers, whether Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, gay, lesbian, transgender or none of the above.

Notice that “broad-spectrum interfaith style” of philosophy and recall what Christ Jesus says about the broad road and the narrow road.

The Rev. Braxton sent an e-mail to members informing them of their decision, saying: “The consistent discord has made it virtually impossible to establish a fruitful covenant between the congregation and me,” he said. He also added in an interview that he felt his mandate was: “how to bring an interfaith, interracial, progressive religious institution from the 20th century into the 21st century.”

Do you know what the Rev. Braxton’s great transgression in this so-called Christian church (that has no problem letting the world sit and prosper within its walls)?

According to dissidents, Dr. Braxton went about that by bringing elements of evangelical tradition into church services. They said he called on worshipers to come forward and bear witness to their faith, favored the gospel choir over the church’s traditional choir, and preached at times what they considered a Riverside heresy: that Jesus and only Jesus was the way to salvation.

Some members of the congregation may believe that, said Constance Guice-Mills, a member of the church. “But his focus on personal salvation, on the individual, was diametrically opposed to the tradition of Riverside. Here, we believe you achieve salvation by doing social justice. Out in the world. And we have people from all backgrounds. Buddhists.”

Why didn’t the board/trustees just seek out a Buddhist to lead the church if they’re not concerned with personal testimonies are people bearing witness to the sufficiency of Christ’s death and resurrection and ascension to Heaven? Their resistance to Christ and HIM crucified apparently contradicts the mission statement they have posted on their Web site. Or perhaps it is just for show? Words without meaning as this Wikipedia entry seems to show (sidenote here: if demons know and confess Christ Jesus as LORD, shouldn’t human beings be required to go a little further)?

I suppose the Rev. Braxton really had no clue. I surely hope it wasn’t the money or the reputation of the church (the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made his Vietnam speech there) that compelled him to walk through those doors and ascend the steps of that filthy pulpit.

Riverside congregation is not actually a church, just a type of club where people believe in doing good works come together. This place has nothing to do with Christianity — which is not good works. Christianity is Salvation in Jesus the Christ and HIM crucified. Only one of those will get us into the Kingdom.

Maybe the LORD was trying to reach out to the congregation, but apparently they want none of it… they’re not interested in hearing the TRUTH – Salvation in Christ Jesus and in HIM alone. GOD didn’t send anyone else into this world to save us.

Source: NY Times

I am assigning this to End Times Alert also since this is the current false Gospel that will apparently pervade the whole world.

A visitor named Yos commented on this article on June 9, 2009, and I’ve been taking my time in order to provide a genuine, Biblical response to the best of my ability. Here’s the question and my response follows after.

How are we to know if the Holy Spirit dwells within us and we’re not in some delusion? I re-call listening to some sermon by a preacher who said something similar to the effect of that it’s possible for someone to go to church, function within it, and believe they are saved, but find out otherwise. By what method can we be sure of of our state?

Another blogger whom I’ve asked about salvation itself told me that the metric isn’t clearly understood,thus leading me to get the idea that no one knows the right way ;we must just strive for it the best we can via what we’re given. At times, it makes me wonder if anyone has a true grounding in what they speak.

How are we to know that what ever impulse we are given that something is right or wrong is exactly so and from G-d? There’s countless people through the history of our religion that may have tarnished the name, but could probably claim some right in their actions.

My response to Yos (and all interested): read more…

Thanks to a tweet from PhilCooke, I came across this awful classified ad apparently from the folks who manage the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Fla. As we read in the ad, found on Craigslist.org, the folks at the Holy Land are “DESPERATELY seeking 3 actors to play Jesus NOW.” The ad then goes on to list the requirement for physically portraying our LORD and SAVIOR: “It would be good to have the general look of Jesus – beard – grow one or wear one, long hair or get extensions, taller – to create the look once hired.”

This Holy Land Experience ad brings up an issue that has always bothered me — how does anyone know what Jesus the Christ looks like? Has someone gone to Heaven and taken HIS photo or done a sketch? I’m really curious. Is there a description of HIS so-called beard, long hair and height in the Holy Bible that I cannot see? Who came up with this idea that Jesus Christ was some tall, strapping fellow with fair skin, beautiful long hair and a beard? The book of Isaiah actually makes the LORD sound like a pretty plain-looking man (source).

I assume the Jewish men of those times may have worn beards (as some sects of Judaism call for today) — but other than that, how can anyone dare apply such physical traits to Messiah Jesus as this Holy Land ad does when HIS biographers gave no physical description (as found in the Gospels)?

Here we have a popular icon that has become an idol in the mainstream. People actually fight and destroy relationships over what Jesus “looks” like — the stereotypical blond-hair, blue-eyed white male. I have a pretty good idea where this imagery comes from… why are folks still clinging to it?

Would the Holy Land Experience hire a black, Asian or a Middle Eastern man to portray Jesus Christ to the masses? I don’t necessarily agree with the Holy Land (and I have never visited), but was no one conflicted when they sat down and decided what Jesus the Christ should look like?

Here’s a previous related article on what Jesus actually looks like – ‘Do You Look Like Jesus?’

I was surprised to just learn that this is a common way to celebrate Purim in this Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel.

These little boys sure look like they’re having a good time… I wonder if they sneak a smoke when it’s not Purim. Notice the little one on the left with several cigarettes in his hand.

Purim is a celebration of the Jews’ salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, as recounted in the Book of Esther.

Photos: Day Life

When I saw this first photo here, I was like, hmm, folks having church at the Apollo in NYC? Then I noticed the young lady holding on to the Michael Jackson album.  (Click on images to see them larger)

Photo source: Day Life

I came across (another) post today declaring that homosexuality was not why Sodom was destroyed (although the blogger concedes that it was most definitely one of the many sins that contributed to their destruction). Let me say off the bat — any and all sin will lead to destruction, that’s the way of the LORD. HE IS Holy and those that seek HIM must also live holy. But let’s keep it real, Sodom was ultimately destroyed because of their sexual sin and perversion — that was the tipping point.

In Ezekiel 16 we read:

49Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

We’ve just read that the people of Sodom  practiced numerous sins, including “abomination” and what is this abomination? Based on supporting passages, we know that this “abomination” was sexual sin. Out of all the sexual sins GOD gives to Moses in Leviticus, homosexuality is the only one the LORD calls an abomination. And it is the only explicit example given of Sodom’s wickedness in the Holy Bible. What else are we to believe if the very last thing that happens before Sodom’s destruction is the men of the whole city attempting to get their hands on Lot’s angelic visitors (who are male)?

GOD didn’t have Moses record examples of their pride, gluttony, prosperous ease, lack of love for the poor and needy nor their haughtiness. For some reason, GOD thought it best to have Moses record what happened in that city just before they were destroyed — which was wishing to fulfill their sexual desires by violence on members of HIS angelic hosts.

That says a lot.

Of course, however, any and all sin is a problem, no matter how “little” or “big” we think they are. And thank the LORD that HE is more than willing and able to forgive us all of any sin that may be keeping us in bondage.

But let us not downplay the sexual sin of Sodom when we have such a glaring testimony on the eve of their destruction.

Notice the very first mention of GODs displeasure with Sodom in Gen. 13:13But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly (which is why GOD overthrew them into Abram’s hand).

It doesn’t say the people of Sodom. It says the men. If you use a concordance this term (‘enowsh) explicitly refers to the men of Sodom, and is not being used in general term for “people,” which we see in the passage concerning the LORD’s angels.

Genesis 19:4But before they lay down (Lot and his guests), the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

How can one downplay this occurrence when all the people from every quarter including the men of Sodom surrounded the house, desiring to know the angelic guests carnally? We see here that it wasn’t just the men of Sodom, as the term for “people” in this passage refers to the general populace. Sodom’s glaring sin was sexual immorality — fornication and homosexuality. If this is how they wanted to treat Lot’s angelic guests, how did they treat other visitors to their cities?

We read in Jude 1:7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Sodom was a sexual cesspool, in which fornication and homosexuality were glorified.

And some in this nation are concerned that America, too, is becoming a sexual cesspool. But homosexuality is not the beginning nor the end of it — this nation is wracked by all kinds of sexual immorality and sin in general. And what is a Christian’s sole mission while walking in this dark world?

Matthew 28:18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We are to confront sin with the Good News, declaring unto men that sin does not please GOD and will surely lead to destruction. GOD didn’t send anyone into Sodom to declare this TRUTH (as HE did with Jonah and the city of Ninevah) — HE simply judged them. So while we’re busy clothing and feeding the poor (who Christ Jesus said will be with us always), let us not forget to let them know that GOD IS love and HE hates all sin (Romans 2:11).

I am not a fan of “The View,” but I was pleasantly surprised to turn on my TV yesterday and learn that not everyone in the media has drunk the cool-aid. Thomas Beattie came out a couple years ago, claiming to be a man, and was pregnant — Beattie is actually a gay woman who has had a double-mastectomy and is taking hormones. She became pregnant not long ago (and recently again) and the media has dubbed her the “pregnant man” — although men are incapable of conceiving and giving birth — GOD just didn’t make them that way. Everyone I suppose was so concerned about being politically correct, they failed to make note that Beattie has a uterus and therefore a vagina — the basic requirement for child birth.

Here is Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd explaining biology 101, refusing to at least exchange this very basic truth for a lie.

Video Courtesy: NewsBusters. You can watch a longer excerpt of the discussion at “The View” Web site.

England always seems to be the guinea pig when it comes to what we in American can eventually expect to suffer. Here, a Christian preacher is doing the LORD’s work in the streets of England and police officers come by to let him know that he’s been offending people, some of whom have allegedly claimed that he’s been saying homosexuality is a sin — which he says he hasn’t, although it is. Homosexuality is an abomination. The preacher’s name is Andy Robertson.

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I was going through Psalm 110 today (in the NKJV) and thought about the Judaic interpretation of so-called Messianic prophecies. Psalm 110 is oft cited by Christians as telling of Jesus the Christ being told by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY that HE would share HIS throne. Scholars who practice Judaism, however, refute this claim, saying instead that Psalm 110, titled “A Psalm of David,” is indeed about GOD’s promise to King David (the second “Lord” in the passage).

Based on the “Christianized” translation I was reading (NKJV), I found the Judaic interpretation unsatisfactory.  I have written on this passage before, but focused more on the inconsistencies of the JPS use/translation of “Lord/lord/LORD.” This time, I am more concerned with what the passage says about Melchizedek, whom I will explain below.

Looking at verse 4 of Psalm 110 as translated by the Jewish Publication Society, it seems impossible that the passage is about King David, a man blessed by GOD. read more…

I have been trying to keep my peace on this story, but these write-ups on murdered Kansas late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller’s funeral is just too much.

I don’t want to be insensitive to his family, but we must be truthful. GOD, the CREATOR of the universe and life, does not take pleasure in the killing of innocents… and this country has plenty of babies’ bones beneath our feet. Nor does the LORD our GOD take pleasure in those who murder and advocate murder. The only way Mr. Tiller is in heaven is if the LORD Jesus Christ gave him the opportunity to repent of his sins before the breath left his body. If he died unrepentant, then his place of eternal rest is NOT heaven. He is shut out of the Kingdom of GOD. The alleged shooter, if he is guilty of this crime, will likewise be shut out of Christ Jesus’ Kingdom if he, too, does not repent of his sins.

From the New York Times:

George R. Tiller, the Wichita physician who was shot dead in his church last week, was remembered at his funeral Saturday as a man of courage who showed uncommon grace in the face of constant challenge to his medical practice, which included late-term abortions.

“He is in a much better place now, a safe place, a place where he is free,” said Dr. Tiller’s son, Maury, who did not need to remind anyone at the service that his father rarely went in public without a bullet-proof vest.

Dr. Tiller’s death leaves in doubt the future of Wichita’s only remaining abortion clinic. It also leaves even fewer options for women around the country who are seeking late-term abortions. But for the most part, Dr. Tiller’s funeral focused less on his work than on his life with his family and friends.

The word abortion was never uttered, nor were there any recriminations against the anti-abortion groups who for nearly two decades had tried in vain to put him out of business through relentless protests and an array of legal actions.

A 2nd  Source:

Tiller, one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions, was killed by a gunshot last Sunday in the foyer of his own church, Reformation Lutheran, while he was serving as an usher and his wife was singing in the choir. His family had the funeral at the Methodist church to accommodate the large number of mourners.

His son, Maury, said the manner of his father’s death resulted in an unimaginable outpouring of love and support for the family.

But he added: “I struggle with the manner he was welcomed into heaven.”

… He also was remembered for his generosity and sense of humor.

“Dear God, get heaven ready, because Mr. Enthusiasm is coming,” said Larry Borcherding, of Overland Park, who first met Tiller a half-century ago when both were students at the University of Kansas. “Heaven will never be the same. It will be a better, better place with George in it.”

If GOD refused King David’s request to build his temple because he was a man who spilled blood during war… how is it HE would honor one who spills the blood of unborn babies without cause?

You can read what the Holy Bible has to say about abortion here.