Looking Back at 2008 — An Incredible Year in the Financial World

Well, on January 2, 2008, we saw crude oil hitting $100 per barrel for the first time in history.

On January 22nd, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.75 percentage points – the largest single-day reduction in the bank’s history.

On February 13th, President Bush signed into law that $168 billion dollar, two-year stimulus package. The idea was to put money in our pockets, hoping that we would be spending more of it.

On March 16th, J.P. Morgan Chase acquired Bear-Stearns after the deal was brokered by the Feds and the U.S. Treasury – the beginning of it all.

May 15th – The Bureau of Labor & Statistics announced the biggest one-month increase in food and beverage prices in eighteen years.

June 8th – It is hard to believe that is was just a little more than six months ago that gas hit Read more

Financial Downturn, Christian Head-Up Turn

Blogger Bio:  Dan Celia is the Executive Director of the Regency Foundation, an affiliate and support organization to Philadelphia Biblical University which exists to help individuals and organizations plan, invest and give wisely based on solid, consistent Christian values.  Dan is also an author and conference speaker. He has worked since 1981 developing estate plans, corporate retirement plans and investment strategies for individuals, corporations and institutions.

Dan is the host of the Financial Issues Live Radio Show–an educational ministry, and of a daily radio spot, “Stewardship Moment” – a biblical look at our stewardship, heard on Christian radio stations all across America.  Dan’s area of focus on TheChristianWorldview.com will be in the area of biblical finance, economics, and stewardship.

Well, as we bring our year to an end, I am sure like so many of you I would prefer to look ahead and really not look back. At least not look back at 2008.

We saw the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the bailout of AIG Insurance, the bailout of the auto industry, the TARP program with a $350 billion dollar bailout for the financial sector, and in January are likely to see Read more

What is the True Gospel?

Podcast: Download (14.4MB)

LISTEN NOW: [audio:http://www.thechristianworldview.com/audio/TCW122008pod.mp3]

TOPIC: What is the True Gospel?
GUEST: Steven Lawson, Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship Baptist Church, Mobile, AL

Here at Christmas, and in a world with all sorts of “other gospels” — the prosperity gospel, the social gospel, the works gospel, and false religion gospels — the TRUE GOSPEL is often misconstrued, misinterpreted, or downright forgotten.

One of the first things Jesus said in Mark 1:15 was, “Repent and believe in the gospel.” What does He mean? What is this gospel? How does the true gospel compare with “other gospels”? How can you communicate the true gospel to your family and friends this Christmas?  Read more

Merry Christmas and Thank You from The Christian Worldview!

Christmas is a time for thankfulness. And as Christians, we should be especially thankful this time of year for God’s gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, as the only One who can mediate the dispute that we have created with God through our repeated sin. Repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ as being the required and perfect sacrifice for our offences is where salvation begins and when the Christian worldview can start to sharpen.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for listening to the radio program, sending me potential show topics and articles, calling in with your comments, writing me encouraging feedback (and a few challenging ones as well!), visiting the new blog, TheChristianWorldview.com, and above all, keeping the ministry in your prayers.

I’d also like to thank those who make The Christian Worldview possible. Most people incorrectly assume that because The Christian Worldview is nationally syndicated on 39 stations across America, Read more

Parents’ Rights in Extreme Danger

I have a huge regard for Michael Farris who has worked tirelessly over the years to advance the cause of parental rights in home education. He is now president of ParentalRights.org, an organization dedicated to warning American Christian parents about the extreme dangers they face from the leftist child’s rights activists, including those ascending to power in January. His letter today was extremely sobering. Mr. Farris is not one to cry “Wolf!” unless there is one. I urge you to follow his advice and the action points at his website. Your ability to disciple your own children, take them to church, run your own household along Christian lines and so forth will be under grave threat from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Only Somalia and the United States have not signed onto this treaty and there is enormous pressure on the US to do so. Obama, I predict, will Read more

Eating Shellfish While Stoning Your Children

Editor’s note: Frank Pastore is the afternoon drive-time host on KKLA 99.5 FM in Los Angeles. As a former professional baseball player with graduate degrees in both theology and political science, Frank integrates religion and politics with the news of the day in an entertaining and stimulating style at the intersection of faith and reason.

Frank pitched for the Cincinnati Reds from 1979 through 1985 before ending his eight-year major-league career with the Minnesota Twins in 1986. In 1994, Frank graduated summa cum laude from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University with a master’s degree in philosophy of religion and ethics. In 2003, he completed his second masters degree, completing his graduate work in political philosophy and American government at Claremont Graduate School.  Find out more at FrankPastore.com.

This week, the creative minds behind “Hairspray,” composer Marc Shaiman and director Adam Shankman, opened their “Prop 8: The Musical” with an all-star studded cast that includes Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris and John C. Reilly at Sacramento Community College.  You can watch it here.

The point of the production is to shame the voting public for passing Proposition 8 a month ago, which simply defined marriage in California as between a man and a woman. The musical is clearly intended to spark more Read more

Doug Pagitt and Christian Universalism (video)

Editor’s note: Ken Silva is an ordained pastor-teacher and the general editor of Apprising Ministries. In addition, he is a columnist at both Walter Martin’s Religious InfoNet and the Christian Worldview Network. He’s also an accomplished songwriter and former professional musician with two of his most popular songs being “Broken Wings” and “Never Be Lonely”. The following is from his website, Apprising.org.

For one to come to understand what is currently going on within evangelicalism they will have to realize that many of the younger leaders within the visible church have already had their theology warped by corrupt Bible college and seminary professors.

As a result we are seeing within mainstream evangelicalism a reimagined version of just about every piece of antibiblical theology i.e. doctrines of demons that seducing spirits have ever attempted to bring with them as they slither into the Christian Church.

Recently Dr. John MacArthur clearly stated concerning Doug Pagitt, a leader within this current Emergent Church rebellion against Sola Scriptura: Read more

Educated All The Way To Heresy

Guest Blogger: Mark Moore spent over a decade as a public school science teacher. Prior to that he was an officer in the United States Navy. He hosts a well-read blog in his home state of Arkansas, called Arkansas Watch. He and Dr. Donald J. Eckard provide content for the site, “textbookaccuracy.org”, which counters public school textbook macro-evolutionary bias. Mark currently works in private business and lives in Northwest Arkansas with his wife and daughter.

The current manner in which doctorates in theology (and to a great extent history) are awarded serves to promote heresy rather than truth. The system can actually serve to reduce what we know is true rather than add to or preserve it. It encourages lies to be given the same consideration as truth, and thus adds confusion rather than clarity to our sum total of knowledge.

The three orders of degrees awarded in most of the world are those of Read more

The Health, Wealth, and Prosperity Non-Gospel

Podcast: Download (14.2MB)

TOPIC: The Health, Wealth, and Prosperity Non-Gospel
GUEST: Justin Peters, staff evangelist, First Baptist Church, MS

It says in the Bible that God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and prosperous, right? If you’re sick, just pray and believe and He’ll make you well. If you’re poor, just pray and believe — and give to the church or ministry — and it will returned manifold to you. And if you’re stagnating in your career, just pray and believe and God will give you that promotion you’ve been waiting for. Read more

Scripture Exposes False Prophets (Part 4 of 4)

Both the Old and New Testaments are replete with warnings of false prophets. The following is intended to provide biblical criteria for discerning false prophets and teachers. If a preacher engages in any of the following behaviors, be very wary of him or her:

Repeated immoral, unbiblical behavior. A false prophet may be detected by examining his moral character. If a prophet habitually displays character incongruent with that of God, then the former cannot speak for the latter. In Jeremiah 23:14, God speaks of prophets that “commit adultery and live a lie.” It is important to note that it is spiritual adultery, not marital, that is in view. Evangelist Benny Hinn, for example, has a habitual problem with the truth. He has been caught in numerous lies about his own life and ministry. He has threatened not only his critics, but also their innocent children. He claims to have been visited by Elijah and the late Kathryn Kuhlman (a Word of Faith evangelist to whom he often refers for inspiration), and he reports to get Read more

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