Militant

Militant.mp3

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST MILITANT

By Walter Giddings

May 22, 2022

“The Church of Jesus Christ Militant”. Is that some kind of military organization? What is the need for that? Have “the weapons of our warfare” become “carnal”?  The first problem we encounter with this Lesson is the word “militant”. It does not appear in the King James English of 1611. What word or words can we find in The Scriptures that have a meaning similar to “militant”? We better put our “Thinking Caps” on. Should we first establish the meaning of militant?

MIL’ITANT, a. [L. militans, milito, to fight.]

1. Fighting; combating; serving as a soldier.

2. The church militant is the christian church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare against its enemies; thus distinguished from the church triumphant, or in heaven.

MIL’ITARY, n. The whole body of soldiers; soldiery; militia; an army.

U. States. Mitford.1828 Webster. Vol II. page 15

Great Britain's Chaos

by Pastor Don Elmore

This will be a four-part history lesson.  It will tell of the chaos that occurred in Great Britain during the hundred years of the Stuart dynasty.  I hope that you will find it as fascinating as I did researching for these sermons. 

Part 1:  The Covenanters  Most Christians are aware that it was James I of England who had the Kings James Version of the Bible translated.  But few are aware of what he tried to do to the Presbyterians in Scotland and the Puritan Parliament in his own country.  And very few are aware of what that meant for the English colonies in the America.

Part 2:  Presbyterianism vs Episcopacy While the US was a colony of Great Britain, Great Britain was in complete chaos.   Protestant/Catholic royalty was against Protestant Presbyterians, Puritan Protestants were against Roman Catholics.  Protestant/Catholic Royalty thought that they had the "divine right of kings", there were three civil wars in ten years, there were wars among the countries of Great Britain.  The US had refugees and slaves from Great Britain...what do you think that they thought of when they were under Great Britain as they lived in the colonies?

Part 3: What about the Enlightenment? What did all of the chaos in Great Britain have to do with the Enlightenment thinkers that came on the scene during this time. Did it affect other countries and colonies?

Part 4: The Pathway to Democracy  Great Britain was in complete chaos.  It was a monarchy for a time, then a Commonwealth for 11 years then back to a monarchy.  But who was to be king or queen.  Was it a Catholic or a Protestant?

Great Britain's Chaos - Part 1

The Covenanters  Most Christians are aware that it was James I of England who had the Kings James Version of the Bible translated.  But few are aware of what he tried to do to the Presbyterians in Scotland and the Puritan Parliament in his own country.  And very few are aware of what that meant for the English colonies in the America.

The Covenanters.mp3

THE COVENANTERS

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

May 15, 2022

Scripture Reading:  Deuteronomy 28:48

Oliver Cromwell was a Protestant Puritan Calvinist, but the crimes which he committed were many.  A few of his major atrocities were:

  • He replaced Parliament with his own people

--Puritans.

  • He confiscated the lands of his one-time friends, then declared them his enemies, and gave their lands to his close followers.
  • He killed thousands of non-Puritan Christians who surrendered to his armies.
  • His armies looted cities, killed his opponents and their wives and children.
  • Ships were loaded with tens of thousands of Catholic captives from Ireland to be sold into slavery in Virginia and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
  • In the 1650’s, against public outcry, he opened England’s gates to international Jewish bankers, thereby infecting England with usury for the first time in almost 400 years.

This last crime committed by Cromwell is not well known to the world.  It is left out of many history books.  But it is written in enough books that it is well-known among true historians.

Truth

Truth.mp3

By Alan Breitenstein

May 8, 2022

Scripture Reading:  John 18:37-38

What is truth?  There are 224 verses in Scripture with the mention of truth. Jim had 119 in the New Testament. Search these verses out and you will find that you can replace the word truth with Yahweh, the words of Yahweh and the works of Yahweh.

Trouble and suffering often trickles down to the grassroots level — the people. And, it is often left to the people to remedy such situations. But how can the people act unless they truly know what is happening in their nation? This is the main reason for the church, to keep their people informed with the truth. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) Further, the church is not just the source of theological truth, but of all truth. “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) The word truth appears 119 times in the New Testament alone. We instinctively know the importance of truth. We also have the most powerful weapon in the world — prayer. But if we do not know the truth, then how can we direct our prayers and exploits to the source? We must know the truth and we must know our enemy. Duty is ours — the results are up to God.

R U Woke? Part 8

R U Woke 8.mp3

Exodus

Sermon notes by Jim Jester

May 1, 2022

SCRIPTURE READING: Exodus 15:11-13 & 17-18

INTRODUCTION

Of all the books in the Bible, the book of Exodus ought to be the simplest book to recognize the racial implications contained therein. The message of identity is obvious in the language of Scripture, even though the judeo-Christian world refuses to acknowledge it. All we can say is “come now, let us reason together.”

In the “burning bush” experience, Moses meets the God of his fathers; and God says to him; “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (Ex. 3:10)

The Israelites had been in Egypt 215 years (most say over 400 years); the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel had long passed on. Now the Israelites were a multitudinous number, feared by the Egyptians, and made slaves to Pharaoh. God spoke to Moses with the promise of deliverance for His people, the progeny of Israel. The deliverance (the salvation), was not for the Egyptians, but for the covenant people of God. “My people” denotes possession.

Rebuke

Rebuke.mp3

by Walt Giddings

April 24, 2022

Scripture Reading:  1 Timothy 5:20

Who among us has witnessed “rebuke before all” in any church assembly?  Who has witnessed someone in church assembly being rebuked “before all”?  Is this rare or nonexistent?  According to the verse above, when are we commanded to rebuke?  Are we commanded to rebuke when sin is in active commission?  Is watching the Stupid Bowl a sin? Greetings kindred and fellow sheep.  Who here does not see the need for this lesson?

Luke 17:3 Take heed to yourselves:   If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him;  and if he repent, forgive him. 

If Jesus was in this pulpit right now, and said “take heed to yourselves”, what would we do?  Does it sound very dangerous if we do not “take heed” to ourselves?  Is it unthinkable to mess this up?!  How difficult is it to think of ourselves being in law enforcement?  Does rebuking someone sound risky?  Before we try this risky rebuking stuff, would we want to know a lot more about it? 

What is “rebuke”?  Rebuke is translated from the Koine Greek word G2008 epitimao, ep-ee-tee-mah’-o, whose seed meaning is to censure.  Have we heard of legislative bodies censuring one or more of its members?  G2008 epitimaho is also translated elsewhere charge.  In two places in The Gospels Jesus charged the Apostles not to tell anyone he is The Christ, or Messiah.

It’s Official: The American Church Is Apostate

By Pastor Chuck Baldwin

“I’ve [Pastor Chuck Baldwin have] known for many years that the Church in America has fallen to the lowest spiritual state of its entire existence. I’ve tried to warn Christians in both this column and my public speaking to the dismal state of today’s churches. Faithful readers are very much aware of those warnings.

But now, studied research confirms all I have warned about over the past several decades, and it’s actually worse than I thought: The American Church is not just derelict; it is apostate.

Why We Hate Jews Part 3

Why-We-Hate-Jews-3.mp3

by Pastor Mark Downey

Scripture Reading: Revelation 2:14

Note from Pastor Elmore:  This is the last part of a three part series by the late Mark Downey.  Mark died of cancer on March 28, 2018.  Mark preached this at our church almost ten years ago.  I consider this one of his classics. 

FGCP Church Discussion on Communion

Church Communion Discussion.mp3

Does the Scripture Sanction the Sacraments? by Pastor Jim Jester

April 10, 2022

The question before us as a church is, does the Bible demand that we observe the alleged sacraments of the historic Christian faith?

Holy Communion by Pastor Don Elmore

There are different ways and different formulas that every church uses.  Which one is correct or are several correct?  Which ones are wrong?  They all can’t be correct.  Maybe none are correct. What are we as a covenant church to believe and do?