2009 And Beyond...

As 2009 draws to a close Melanie and I just wanted to thank you for praying for us, our family and our ministry during the past year. We treasure our longtime friends and supporters and are grateful as well for the many new relationships that God has given us in the past twelve months.

The year ahead is already affording us many opportunities and challenges. With God's direction and grace we'll walk through each door He sovereignly opens and take on any and every topic that He directs us to.

Above all, we'll be watching for every opportunity to fulfill our calling as expressed at the top of our website's home page - We exist to see the lost saved and the Church changed by the glory of God!

Prayer Needs...

Please pray for our family, in particular Melanie as she continues to care for the needs of her aging parents. She's also working each day in our ministry office. Both of us relish the tiresome but wonderful responsibility of being grandparents to four wonderful kiddos too.

Pray for me as I continue with ongoing writing projects and as I spend many hours weekly answering email questions and inquiries. Also pray for God's leading during the research and construction of several new seminar messages. This is an extremely rewarding yet sometimes very laborious process.

Pray for our ongoing financial needs. God faithfully supplies - but always uses human hands to do so.

Pray for open doors and invitations from local churches, groups, and conferences across the nation where the Lord would have me to minister.

And pray for the fruit of changed lives and souls won to the Lord Jesus through our preaching, newsletters, DVDs, books, website and one-on-one ministries.

Final Thoughts...

Like many of you, I have received numerous end-of-the-year donation requests from ministries and charities. I know there are many worthy causes to give to but if your heart is to see "the lost saved and the Church changed by the glory of God" then I surely suggest giving to Take A Stand! Ministries. We've been here for more than a quarter century giving biblically based answers and reasons for faith always pointing people towards the blood-stained cross of Jesus Christ.

As you consider where you might plant a gift here at year's end or where you might be led to give in 2010, we'd greatly appreciate your support as we follow the apologetics-based directive of I Peter 3:15.

...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you...

Though the heretical bloggers may mock our mission and resort to mere name calling, I am certain many will agree with me that we must aggressively address the many issues effecting our culture today, not the least of which is the mounting theological and doctrinal confusion among professing Evangelicals. Though astounding numbers are now rejecting the historic and biblical faith for the false gospels of "Emergent," "Feel Good," and "Seeker-Sensitive" we'll continue to boldly remind anyone and everyone of the changeless truth that there is but one way, one Lord and one holy Word of God!

Thanks for your gift to make it happen. (Just click here to give safely and securely online.)

The time is now. The harvest is ripe. All ahead full in 2010!

God bless you!

Eric

PS... Another terrific way to support the ministry is to order some of our DVDs, CDs and Books. These valuable tools can be shared again and again and will continue to serve the Kingdom of God for many years to come.

Coming Peril in Defending the Faith: Part 3

Part 3 of 3

MUSLIMS SEEK TO MUZZLE OPPOSITION

Much has been said concerning the passage and signing of the new “hate crimes” law. Readers here probably already understand that this new law adds no teeth to shutting down crime but is instead designed to shut down opposition and stifle debate concerning not just homosexuality but also false religious systems. The Hate Crimes law, passed as a part of the 2010 Defense Authorization bill, is just one more hurdle for Christians to jump if we intend to truly carry out the scriptural mandate to reach the lost and warn them of the godless eternity ahead for all who reject Jesus Christ. The real hate crime occurs when we shrink back from adequately sounding the fire alarm concerning sin and worthless religions.

If you think the newly enacted hate crimes bill is an affront to free speech and unconstitutional (which I believe it will be found to be), then you need to understand that there is an influential movement within the United Nations that has attempted to muzzle all vocal opposition to Islam every year since 1999. Though couched as a generic “defamation of religion” resolution, make no mistake this move, sponsored yearly by the Organization of Islamic Conference, is all about silencing the critics of Islam. If such a resolution is ever adopted as “binding,” it would probably be enforced through an international police-like watchdog agency and could realistically bring a halt to legally conducting Christian apologetics as we know it. Referred to as a “global blasphemy law,” dozens of human rights and free speech advocates have denounced the adopting of such a law which this year received its highest number of votes, inching closer toward passage at the UN. Remarkably, even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted the UN’s adoption of the yearly non-binding resolution as an encroachment on individual liberty, saying, “An individual’s ability to practice his or her religion has no bearing on others’ freedom of speech.” (Source Here) It may be a completely foreign concept but can you say “Way to go, Hillary”?

Click to read more ...

Coming Peril in Defending the Faith: Part 2

Part 2 of 3

THIS BOLOGNA IS NOTHING NEW

Sixteen years ago I wrote, “The stated goal of the New World Order is to establish a global government. To do this, the redistribution of the wealth of the United States is mandatory. The New World Order simply cannot happen if we remain financially strong.” I also stated that the public’s perception of any pending global catastrophe - whether real or imaginary - would promptly be pounced upon as a tool to cede sovereignty from sovereign nations and into the grip of the global elite. That same year (1993) I recorded the video “The New World Order and the Environment… or How to Rule the World Through Fear.” (See here) What I observed nearly two decades ago is materializing right before our eyes today. Even conservative pundits (such as Rush Limbaugh, heretofore a naysayer concerning the encroachment of globalism) are now sounding daily alarms concerning this very thing.

Though admittedly there is a biblical case to be made for thoughtful custodial care of the earth, the current global warming frenzy is simply an extension of fanaticism from the recent past. Whether it was global warming, planetary extinction from alleged ozone depletion or the assurance that the earth was about to enter the next ice age, all of these like-minded movements fingered mankind as the culprit. They also all lacked one thing as well. Though leftists have succeeded in pushing the various environmental nightmare scenarios as absolute fact (using every medium from school curriculum to motion pictures), they have yet to achieve scientific consensus to validate their assertions. Even though the mainstream media has done their best to ignore them, and their peers have denigrated and ostracized them, the scientists and climatologists who've not walked the party line have thankfully managed to fuel and grow a burgeoning opposition movement.

Click to read more ...

Coming Peril in Defending the Faith: Part 1

The proposed Climate Treaty and the UN’s “Defamation of Religions” resolution plus Apostate “Christians” all threaten to cripple and even criminalize the work of God…

Part 1 of 3

By Eric Barger

Updated December 10, 2009

It is no secret that the ability of believers to present the authentic Christian faith is under attack on many fronts today. However, the free speech and liberty American Christians have long enjoyed to evangelize, give a biblical defense of the faith (apologetics) and to expose false beliefs (polemics) could very possibly soon be hampered as never before since the founding of the republic 200+ years ago.

There are two proposed international treaties being promoted at this time which could, for differing reasons, greatly reduce the Church’s ability to carry out “The Great Commission” found in Matthew 28:19-20. Concerned Christians should take serious note that one of the treaties I’ll discuss here could conceivably curtail or even criminalize the making of public declarations such as “Jesus is the only way.” One doesn’t have to look far to find nations where Christianity cannot be practiced openly today. Plus, in a world increasingly hostile toward the Gospel message, it is also easy to imagine how our politically correct society might welcome the implementation of such policies. These two situations are particularly egregious and deserve our serious attention - and our prayers - for I believe that these treaties are a foretaste of what life might be like at some point in the future under the Antichrist.

Click to read more ...

Preaching the WHOLE Truth

Presenting the truth without compromise is not popular in many religious circles today. With a great volume of "feel good" and "happy" half-gospels being offered, those who buck the trend and offer messages laced with words such as "sin," "judgment," "holiness,"  "Satan," and "repentance" are commonly viewed as narrow, old-fashioned or even Neanderthal. Actually, the preaching of the whole, authentic Gospel, with all of its convicting themes, never has been "popular." What is different now than in times past is that yesterday's Evangelicals were primarily interested in winning and then building strong, righteous disciples. In our day, however, many have decided to market themselves in such a way as to engage in a sort of popularity contest. This is symptomatic of the last days. Doesn't it make sense that, if one is attempting to use marketing techniques like we're seeing now, sermons pertaining to righteousness and surrender - let alone sin and hell - wouldn't be considered? These themes are relics from a bygone era and are considered counterproductive to the prevailing wisdom churned out by today's gurus of church growth.

The Modern Church Growth Movement has literally formulated "another gospel" by dictating that the stated goal (growth) cannot be achieved unless these and other biblical themes are sufficiently toned down or simply eliminated. With the pressure to be "positive" - and to fill the seats - countless pastors are now caught in what is nothing less than a web of compromise. Over the past 20 years, many leaders have become at least somewhat aware that the world is growing increasingly hostile to Christianity. This, coupled with eschatological views that fail to recognize just where we are in time, seems to be the crux of why Evangelicals have steadily shifted to user-friendly themes instead of sound Gospel preaching. They said "the numbers are shrinking" and instead of holding steady with God's Word they fashioned a solution based on man's desires instead of God. With the approval of their peers, many pulpiteers have settled on what works instead of what is right. The rude awakening ahead is that, regardless of how much tinkering is done with presentations or how nicely packaged Christianity is made to be, the majority in the culture just isn't going to buy what even the best salesmen in the Church Growth business are selling. The world is gearing up for what will eventually become a full-blown rejection of biblical truths. To try to stave off this inevitable end, the "feel good" preachers will continue to drift further away from the Bible and eventually find themselves completely entwined in what is commonly referred to as "the kingdom of the cults." In the end, nothing is going to attract the world to our doors - nothing except a Holy Spirit-born reality that they are hopeless and destitute without the forgiveness and cleansing found only in the Savior.

One of my favorite quotes concerning this comes from a collection of essays known as The Old Cross and the New by the prolific 20th century Christian writer, A.W. Tozer. He stated, "We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world.

"We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum."

Count me in with Tozer - Amen!

So, if your pastor has fallen for the siren song of the incomplete, counterfeit "positive" gospel, pray fervently that he would have a holy encounter with the righteous God. If your pastor has avoided the enticing, compromised counterfeit and is holding onto the real, authentic gospel, pray that he would stay close to God, full of His Spirit, and remain strong in conviction and character. At a time when the world is demanding we offer up something less than the truth to gain their approval, may the people of God instead rally around the preachers of righteousness - regardless of how unpopular to some the message may be.

It is these things that our ministry tries to instill in the Christian leaders of today - and tomorrow. Thank you for your support and prayers to see this goal realized - one man, one woman, one church at a time.