The Faithful Christian a blog of The Lighthouse Ministries

  In an era of spiritual confusion and cultural fragmentation, the Reformation stands as a poignant reminder that truth is worth fighting for.    October isn’t just about falling leaves and pumpkin spice ;  it’s Reformation Month. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, sparking a movement that would reshape the church, challenge empires, and recover the gospel’s blazing center: salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. This month, I’m launching a series of blog posts that explore why the Reformation still matters, how its truths confront our modern confusion, comfort our weary hearts, and call us back to the beauty of biblical grace.   When most people hear the term “Reformation,” they think of dusty history books, old church controversies, or perhaps Martin Luther wielding a hammer. However, the truth is that the Reformation isn’t just a chapter in church history; it’s a living legacy. It’...

In this age of cultural Christianity, and what I mean by that is Christianity that is changed to fit the current popular ideas.  Christianity that is custom tailored to suit the community’s various wants, tastes, and needs. Did you know that when one of the trendy new “modern churches” are planning to plant a campus (that’s the new trendy name for these modern, progressive churches now, “campuses” ) they send interviewers into the community to talk with people to find out what they want in a church.  What sort of programs they like and what kind of sermons they want to hear, and then they tailor the entire worship service around what the community wants.  This is not church folks, this is a social club.   The problem with this new fangled Christianity is that people may know very well what they want, but what they need is an entirely different story.  Many people today want to be entertained in a worship service.  They want loud music, they want drama skits...

  A Beautiful Doctrine    In some churches, it is a word that conjures up images of an angry and capricious God who acts arbitrarily to save some, but consigns most sinners, including deceased infants, to eternal Hell. For many professing Christians, it is the mother of all swear words.   Let the pastor breathe it in the presence of the deacon board and he risks firing, fisticuffs or worse. A God who chooses is anti-American, anti-democracy. It bespeaks a long-faced, puritanical religion, a doctrinal novelty invented by a maniacal 16th-century minister whose progeny manufactured a theological “-ism” that has plunged countless souls into a godless eternity.   In other churches, it is a cherished word that describes a beloved doctrine, one that bestows comfort and unshakable confidence that not one maverick molecule, not one rebel subatomic particle exists outside of God’s loving providential control, even in the matter of salvation. Want to start a lively convers...