A Full Course Meal for Atheists

DEAD FLIES cause the ointment of the perfumer to putrefy [and] send forth a vile odor; so does a little folly [in him who is valued for wisdom] outweigh wisdom and honor.

Ecclesiastes 10:1 [AMP]

Some of you may remember how the Watergate scandal brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. He should have gone down in history as the man who ended the Vietnam war. The man who initiated detenté with the former Soviet Union. The man who crossed the Bamboo Curtain and opened to the door to diplomatic and economic relations with China. But when you say the name Richard Nixon, the first thing that comes to the mind of many is Watergate. Thus, the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes (commonly thought to be King Solomon) are proven to be absolutely correct.

All it takes is a little foolishness to bring much wisdom and honor to nought.

Most of you know that broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the rapture would occur on May 22, 2001 -- accompanied by a myriad of catastrophic events. Pundits, comedians and naysayers caught hold of this and responded with a barrage of comments, basically riduculing any belief in God. This has dangerous consequences... as King David found the hard way.

Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord and given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme

2 Samuel 12:14a [AMP]

What makes false prophecies even more dangerous is if the cause you to do something contrary to the will of God for your life. There was a huge controversy over a pastor who taught a relatively famous parishioner of his that God approves of people living homosexual lifestyles. Not to open a can or worms (whoops, too late!) but anyone who questions what God has clearly said is doing the same thing that the serpent did to Eve in the Garden of Eden. There was a prophet in the Old Testament who was led astray by a false prophet and that act of disobedience came with a heavy price.

⁷ Then the king invited the holy man, "Join me for a meal; I have a gift for you."
^8-10 The holy man told the king, "Not on your life! You couldn't pay me enough to get me to sit down with you at a meal in this place. I'm here under God's orders, and he commanded, 'Don't eat a crumb, don't drink a drop, and don't go back the way you came.'" Then he left by a different road than the one on which he had walked to Bethel.
¹¹ There was an old prophet who lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him the story of what the holy man had done that day in Bethel, told him everything that had happened and what the holy man had said to the king.
¹² Their father said, "Which way did he go?" His sons pointed out the road that the holy man from Judah had taken.
^13-14 He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." When they had saddled it, he got on and rode after the holy man. He found him sitting under an oak tree.

    He asked him, "Are you the holy man who came from Judah?"

    "Yes, I am," he said.
¹⁵ "Well, come home with me and have a meal."
^16-17 "Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country. I'm under strict orders from God: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'"
^18-19 But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from God: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying. So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together.
^20-22 There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of God came to the prophet who had brought him back. He confronted the holy man who had come from Judah: "God's word to you: You disobeyed God's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your God gave you; you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place God told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."
^23-25 When the meal was over, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. Down the road a way, a lion met him and killed him. His corpse lay crumpled on the road, the lion on one side and the donkey on the other. Some passersby saw the corpse in a heap on the road, with the lion standing guard beside it. They went to the village where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.

1 Kings 13:7-25 [MSG]

Following the false prophecy caused the holy man to meet an untimely demise. You can read more about the holy man, the false prophet, and the full set of events in Chapter Three of our book, Five Men Who Faced the Roaring Lion.

But getting back to Camping’s obviously false prophecy, many people are using this false prediction as an occasion to blaspheme. We read in Hearst Seattle Media’s Seattle P-I web site that atheists are having rapture parties to ridicule religious belief. Adding additional fuel to the fire are other journalistic reports, including an article in The Los Angeles Times regarding seemingly foolish behavior by those who followed Camping’s false prophecy.

Too bad Camping never read our book, Please Don’t Feed the Atheists.

Unfortunately, antics such as Campings false prophecy are giving the atheists a full-course feast. Last year, comedian Ricky Gervais published a piece in the Wall Street Journal speakeasy section in which he explained why he was an atheist. We have seen similar thoughts from Bill Maher and other pundits... and like Gervais’ article, there are the streams of comments by fellow atheists blasting Christianity (primarily the target of such diatribes). Funny how atheists rarely spew hateful venom at Ba’Hai, Hinduism, Buddhism, or other belief systems). For that matter, they never use figures of those religions as curse words.

What can we do about this absolute mess? The only solution is to show the world what real Christianty is.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 [AMP]

²⁶I anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless (futile, barren).
²⁷External [a]religious worship [[b]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

James 1:26-27 [AMP]

One final note: The Powerhouse produced a CD a while ago entitled Atheists Challenge. You can listen to this message by clicking here.

A Full Course Meal for Atheists

DEAD FLIES cause the ointment of the perfumer to putrefy [and] send forth a vile odor; so does a little folly [in him who is valued for wisdom] outweigh wisdom and honor.

Ecclesiastes 10:1 [AMP]

Some of you may remember how the Watergate scandal brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. He should have gone down in history as the man who ended the Vietnam war. The man who initiated detenté with the former Soviet Union. The man who crossed the Bamboo Curtain and opened to the door to diplomatic and economic relations with China. But when you say the name Richard Nixon, the first thing that comes to the mind of many is Watergate. Thus, the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes (commonly thought to be King Solomon) are proven to be absolutely correct.

All it takes is a little foolishness to bring much wisdom and honor to nought.

Most of you know that broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the rapture would occur on May 22, 2001 -- accompanied by a myriad of catastrophic events. Pundits, comedians and naysayers caught hold of this and responded with a barrage of comments, basically riduculing any belief in God. This has dangerous consequences... as King David found the hard way.

Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord and given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme

2 Samuel 12:14a [AMP]

What makes false prophecies even more dangerous is if the cause you to do something contrary to the will of God for your life. There was a huge controversy over a pastor who taught a relatively famous parishioner of his that God approves of people living homosexual lifestyles. Not to open a can or worms (whoops, too late!) but anyone who questions what God has clearly said is doing the same thing that the serpent did to Eve in the Garden of Eden. There was a prophet in the Old Testament who was led astray by a false prophet and that act of disobedience came with a heavy price.

⁷ Then the king invited the holy man, "Join me for a meal; I have a gift for you."
^8-10 The holy man told the king, "Not on your life! You couldn't pay me enough to get me to sit down with you at a meal in this place. I'm here under God's orders, and he commanded, 'Don't eat a crumb, don't drink a drop, and don't go back the way you came.'" Then he left by a different road than the one on which he had walked to Bethel.
¹¹ There was an old prophet who lived in Bethel. His sons came and told him the story of what the holy man had done that day in Bethel, told him everything that had happened and what the holy man had said to the king.
¹² Their father said, "Which way did he go?" His sons pointed out the road that the holy man from Judah had taken.
^13-14 He told his sons, "Saddle my donkey." When they had saddled it, he got on and rode after the holy man. He found him sitting under an oak tree.

    He asked him, "Are you the holy man who came from Judah?"

    "Yes, I am," he said.
¹⁵ "Well, come home with me and have a meal."
^16-17 "Sorry, I can't do that," the holy man said. "I can neither go back with you nor eat with you in this country. I'm under strict orders from God: 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop; and don't come back the way you came.'"
^18-19 But he said, "I am also a prophet, just like you. And an angel came to me with a message from God: 'Bring him home with you, and give him a good meal!'" But the man was lying. So the holy man went home with him and they had a meal together.
^20-22 There they were, sitting at the table together, when the word of God came to the prophet who had brought him back. He confronted the holy man who had come from Judah: "God's word to you: You disobeyed God's command; you didn't keep the strict orders your God gave you; you came back and sat down to a good meal in the very place God told you, 'Don't eat a crumb; don't drink a drop.' For that you're going to die far from home and not be buried in your ancestral tomb."
^23-25 When the meal was over, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. Down the road a way, a lion met him and killed him. His corpse lay crumpled on the road, the lion on one side and the donkey on the other. Some passersby saw the corpse in a heap on the road, with the lion standing guard beside it. They went to the village where the old prophet lived and told what they had seen.

1 Kings 13:7-25 [MSG]

Following the false prophecy caused the holy man to meet an untimely demise. You can read more about the holy man, the false prophet, and the full set of events in Chapter Three of our book, Five Men Who Faced the Roaring Lion.

But getting back to Camping’s obviously false prophecy, many people are using this false prediction as an occasion to blaspheme. We read in Hearst Seattle Media’s Seattle P-I web site that atheists are having rapture parties to ridicule religious belief. Adding additional fuel to the fire are other journalistic reports, including an article in The Los Angeles Times regarding seemingly foolish behavior by those who followed Camping’s false prophecy.

Too bad Camping never read our book, Please Don’t Feed the Atheists.

Unfortunately, antics such as Campings false prophecy are giving the atheists a full-course feast. Last year, comedian Ricky Gervais published a piece in the Wall Street Journal speakeasy section in which he explained why he was an atheist. We have seen similar thoughts from Bill Maher and other pundits... and like Gervais’ article, there are the streams of comments by fellow atheists blasting Christianity (primarily the target of such diatribes). Funny how atheists rarely spew hateful venom at Ba’Hai, Hinduism, Buddhism, or other belief systems). For that matter, they never use figures of those religions as curse words.

What can we do about this absolute mess? The only solution is to show the world what real Christianty is.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8 [AMP]

²⁶I anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless (futile, barren).
²⁷External [a]religious worship [[b]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

James 1:26-27 [AMP]

One final note: The Powerhouse produced a CD a while ago entitled Atheists Challenge. You can listen to this message via the audio controls below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

False Prophets

¹ But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. ² Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; ³ and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep

(2^nd Peter 2:1-3)

[But false prophets also arose among the people,]

False is defined as:

1. Contrary to fact or truth.
2. Unfaithful or disloyal.
3. Not real or artificial.

Therefore we see false prophets and teachers as being not real in the sense that they are speaking contrary to truth and are unfaithful and disloyal to the cause of Christ.

The apostle tells us that there were not only holy men of God among the members of the early Church, who prophesied by divine inspiration, but there were also false prophets, whose prophecies were from their own imagination, and they perverted many. We see in today’s congregations there are those who prophesy by divine inspiration, but there are those who prophesy contrary to biblical truths and they also are leading many astray.

Now some of these people did not choose to be false prophets and teachers; just as Satan used the serpent to deceived Eve through the lust of her eyes, lust of the flesh and boastful pride of life, others that Satan had prepared long before hand to do his bidding deceived them through lust. And then there are those who, like Adam, are not deceive but are driven by their worldliness and greed.

[Just as there will also be false teachers among you,]

At a very early period of the Christian Church many heresies sprung up; but the chief were those heresies of the Ebionites, Cerinthians, Nicolaitans, Menandrians, and Gnostics. And in today’s gatherings there are false teachers, by many different names, among the people who secretly introduce destructive heresies; destructive as in, if followed, would destroy the soul in hell.

[Even denying the Master who bought them,]

Here we find something very interesting. The Apostle Peter seems to state that these teachers were bought by the blood of Jesus but had turned away teaching false doctrine “bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” Could it be that the riches and pleasures of the world aroused these teacher’s sensual appetites and they turned to a Jesus conjured up in their minds, thus deserting and denying their true Savior, and they are to be destroyed? If the answer is yes to this question it would go against the popular teaching of “once saved always saved;” but there seems to be no other suitable answer.

[Many will follow their sensuality,]

The word “sensual” relates to the gratification of the physical appetites, or affecting the senses. One might describe a sensual person as being fleshly or worldly. This would be in opposition to spiritual or spirituality. Such people follow the false teacher because of their sensuality; they come together, as in a social event, to be entertained with stories and jokes and a whisper sweet “gospel” containing little or no truth, designed to appeal to their fleshly ears, that their sinful conscience not be disturbed. Their fleshly religious appetite being satisfied they continue their sinful ways because the word they have heard has no saving power.

[And because of them the way of the truth will be maligned,]

These false teachers and their followers make up a false Church and “because of them “The way of the truth,” the true Church, is being spoken evil of.

The Apostle Paul says this of the false Church, yes, the false Church. Pay close attention to the first line of verse five.

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;.” (2^nd Timothy 3:1-6 NASU)

[Difficult times will come.]

The true Church is within the hearts of the true believer and difficult times will come upon these children of the Spirit because of persecutions from the fleshly people within the congregations and from opposing religions. We see a type of this in the Holy Scripture: Ishmael, the son born unto Abraham through an act of the flesh, persecuted his son Isaac born unto him according to the word of God. The children of the flesh will persecute the children of the Spirit as Ishmael persecuted Isaac (Genesis 21:8-10).

[Holding to a form of godliness,]

The people of the world do not hold to “a form of godliness,” or “deny its power” because they know nothing of it; thus the people the apostle is speaking of must be of the “Church.”

Now we return to 2^nd Peter, chapter 2, verse 3.

[And in their greed they will exploit you with false words;]

Exploit means to make use of selfishly or unethically. With itchy ears and shallow hearts as their fertile ground these false teachers selfishly and unethically sow their seed of corruptness, feeding their greed and enlarging their bank accounts.

[Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep]

From the beginning God has condemned sin, and inflicted suitable punishments on transgressors; and has promised in His word from the earliest ages, to pour out His indignation on the wicked. The punishment, therefore, so long ago predicted, shall fall on these impure sinners who are incapable of being corrected; and the condemnation which is denounced against them does not sleep, it is alert and on its way; God’s judgment will soon overtake them and their destruction is imminent.

James C Sanford

For the Time Has Come

3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” (2^nd Timothy 4:3-4 NASU)

[For the time will come]
The Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, prophesies of a day to come: is this that day? Today most congregations that gather in our Lord’s name refuse to hear the practical truths of the gospel, they prefer speculative opinions, which either do no good to the soul, or corrupt and destroy it. They have turned their ears away from the wholesome doctrine of “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me,” which Jesus our Lord gave to His church. And following after their own lusts they strongly oppose and loathe preachers of the true doctrine.

[But wanting to have their ears tickled]
The ears of the modern day congregations itch for the soothing words of the “prosperity doctrine of health and wealth for everyone,” “once saved, always saved,” “God loves you no matter what,” and a rescuing “secret rapture” and on and on. These same people have an endless curiosity and an un-satisfiable appetite for variety desiring to be amused and entertained; and they get their ears tickled with the language and accent of the ones holding the pulpits captive, while abandoning the good and faithful preacher of the true gospel for the eloquent speaker with his fine cloths, jet airplanes, TV shows, movies and books.

[They will accumulate for themselves]
Through their special schools they add one misguided and deceived teacher to another and run about seeking those men who do not insist on the necessity of bearing the cross, of being crucified to the world, abstaining from sin and of having the mind of Christ. They run after men interested in only fattening their wallets and building their own boastful ego, carefully soothing the passions and flattering the vices of a trifling, superficial people. These false prophets they have gathered unto themselves gladly widen the path and strew it with flowers, leading them straight into the pits of hell.

[And they shall turn away their ears from the truth]
The truth exposes their vices, destroys their idols, cuts away at their easily besetting sins, and absolutely requires conformity Christ; therefore they turn their ears away from it. Turning aside to myths, fables and lies, and traditions of men, believing any kind of distorted and twisted doctrine and nonsense. Someone once said, “Those who reject the truth are abandoned by the just judgment of God to credit the most degrading nonsense.”

James C Sanford

Rat Poison

Rat poison contains about 97% good food that looks, smells and taste good; it is so designed by the manufacture for the enticing of the rat. But it also contains about 3% poison, not enough to taint the smell and taste but just enough to kill the rat. When placed in the area of the unsuspecting rat, seeking to satisfy his appetite, it will entice him to consume it. If the rat is wise, and values his life, he will sniff out the food carefully and detect the poison and not eat it, thus avoiding consuming the poison.

False prophet and teachers look and act like true prophets or teachers and teach some truth; but they are blinded, deceived and so designed by Satan to entice the immature unsuspecting people blindly seeking to satisfy the appetite of there fleshly senses. False teachings can only be discerned by the spiritual, those who practice righteousness (Hebrews 5:14), and if they detect false doctrine they no longer listen, turning away from such teachings.

The message is: if you value your life, learn to discern false doctrine and do not follow after and listen to false teachers just because they seem to have some truth, thus you will avoid consuming the poison.

James C Sanford