Monday's Catch: Beware of local cults" And More

Darnel, or Cockle, the Tares of the Parable

Beware of local cults
Cults (and much like religion too), latch onto human vulnerabilities and hopes. They offer community. They promise hope, security, or that thing which are affections are wanting to be met. We shouldn’t be surprised by such groups. Jesus warns about errant and self-seeking groups will come about to confuse and steal and destroy peoples lives.

9 Practical Ways To Increase Generosity In Your Church
Giving financially to Kingdom work is a profound and deeply personal process for each person in your church.From every leader, it requires artful and prayerful leadership to inspire a congregation to give consistently and generously out of a love for God.

How Pastors Can Encourage Others to Consider Vocational Ministry
Why are fewer people today answering the call to vocational ministry, and what can pastors do to curb this trend?

Unity Is Not the Same as Total Agreement
An extreme view of Christian unity is found among those who will work together only with those with whom they agree on everything—doctrinal and practical. They often divide over styles of worship, political and social issues, modes of child discipline and education, church organization and administration, the use of social media, eschatological views, and so on. As you will notice, these are all non-gospel issues. Granted, our level of interchurch cooperation does depend on how united we are over matters of doctrine and practice, but there should still be some level of cooperation where it is evident that we stand for the same gospel. Refusing all cooperation with fellow believers is surely wrong. If such division were allowed, the New Testament church would have long split between Jews and Gentiles, because in those early days that was what largely threatened church unity.

Adherents of this particular view of Christian unity are endemic on social media on the internet.

5 Tips on Handling Angry People
A Simple and Quick Checklist Before Preaching Every SermonScott Thomas offers 5 tips on how to handle angry people.

A Simple and Quick Checklist Before Preaching Every Sermon
very preacher prepares differently. You likely already have a personal method of sermon preparation or will create one as you develop and gain more experience. This checklist is not meant to be a comprehensive guide, but I hope you find it useful in the sermon writing process.

How to Build Prayer Into a Worship Service
Jesus strongly reminded us that God’s house is to be a house of prayer (Luke 19:45-46). Getting there means building prayer into the DNA of a congregation, so every church should consider how to build prayer into a worship service.

Even the worship services of liturgical churches which use a liturgy that contains set prayers (Collect of the Day, the Prayers of the People, or General Intercessions, the Lord's Prayer, etc.) could be made more prayerful. A churh's worship services are a means of grace as are cogregational singing the reading of Scripture, sermons, silent reflection on the Scripture readings and the sermon, and public and private prayer. We shortchange a congregation when we reduce the worship service to three songs performed by a worship bad and a sermon with maybe one short prayer at one point in the service.

All Together Sunday School (Book 1) - When You Have Kids of All Ages in One Room
All Together Sunday School lessons for ages 4-12 work any time you have kids of all ages in one room. You get 13 weeks of fun and effective lessons—each focusing on one key Bible verse, making it simple for kids to remember and easy for anyone to teach. Plus, they’re easy to pick up and teach because they have simple supplies and digital copies.

Preschool Bible Craft + Rhyme Game: Whoo Loves You?
Whoo loves you? This preschool-age appropriate Bible craft project is a creative way to teach your children’s ministry students the answer to this great question.

What is the Great Commission and why is it important?
Many Christians refer to the Great Commission, but what does it mean? This is the story....

In North America, in the United States and Canada, many churches have lost sight of what is the chief task that Jesus assigned to his disciples before he asceded ito heaven. It is a task which every generatio of his disciples is expected to undertake until his return.

Special Feature: Religion, Politics, and the Rise of Authoritaranism in America

Trump Prophets Are in a Frenzy After the Assassination Attempt The narrowly avoided assassination of former President Donald Trump led more than a few Republicans to credit divine intervention for his survival. But a particular group of hard-line, evangelical Christians has gone even further, seeing the episode itself as a part of modern prophecy.

In the last century the late David Watson, a Brtish charismatic leader and an Angican pastor, warned Anglicas and other Christians about a particular development in the Pentecostal-charismatic movement. This development was to give more weight to personal special revelations than to the Bible. David Watson urged Anglicans and other Christians to test all such revelations against the teaching of the Bible. The Bible itself warns against false prophets and false prophecies and stresses that the prophetic utterances of those claiming the gift of prophesy are subject to those uttering them.The Bible has nothing good to say about the false prophets who deceived and misled the people of Israel. 

A big question about experience': Red flag raised over Vance's ability to serve as VP
Reacting to a report from Politico that pointed out big holes in Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance's resume when it comes to dealing with how the government functions, former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele expressed surprise the GOP approved of Donald Trump's running mate.

Related article: Ethnic stereotype left Trump convinced Biden would never drop out: analysis

The theology behind the Christian nationalist view on immigration
As America has grown more diverse, tolerance for that diversity has waned among those who believe white Christians should be in charge.

The Christian nationalist view of immigration and immigrants conflicts with Jesus' teaching, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me..." (Matthew 25:35).

RNC official blames 'hateful, antisemitic people' for response to Sikh prayer
“The Republican party is not a church.” Attorney and conservative political activist Harmeet Dhillon isn’t mincing words over criticism of her Sikh prayer at the conclusion of the first night of last week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Now there’s an effort to put a specific ‘American’ Bible in classrooms
Republican officials, partnered with the Aitken Bible Historical Foundation and the First American Bible Project, are lobbying to have editions of the Aitken Bible provided for use in public school classrooms. The initiative has been especially popular in Tennessee, but already has provided about 2,500 Bibles to 750 public schools across 11 states.

Guilty: Is Trumpism a Movement or a Cult?
MAGA is not a movement. A movement is based on ideas. Trumpism is less durable—but it can still do plenty of damage.

A second Trump presidency will not only do a great deal of harm to US democracy but it also wiill have a serious detrimental effect on Christianity in the United States. While Trump is adept at exploiting the religious beliefs of others for his own advantage, he displays no discernible evidence of true repentance, a living faith and a transformed life, what sets the regenerate apart from the unregenerate. Regeneration produces more than a subtle change in a sinner. It produces a total change in a sinner's attitudes, ways of thinking, and behavior.

On the other hand, Trump does display an uncanny, almost supernatural, ability to appeal to people's fears and prejudices, bring out the worst in them. and to attract to his orbit those hungry for power and position.

Image Credit: The Species Recovery Trust