The following are contrasts between commercial Christianity and biblical Christianity:

1. Commercial Christian pastors preach culturally accommodating messages. Biblical Christian pastors preach culturally convicting messages (Acts 2:37-38; Acts 24:24-25).

2. Commercial Christianity encourages adherence to the status quo. Biblical Christianity encourages reformation of the status quo (Acts 17:6).

3. Commercial Christianity invites. Biblical Christianity proclaims (Acts 17:23).

4. Commercial Christianity converts people to their churches. Biblical Christianity converts people to Jesus (John 1:12-13; Acts 8:35).

5. Commercial Christianity encourages congregational membership. Biblical Christianity develops world-changing disciples (Acts 6:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Timothy 2:2).

6. Commercial Christianity separates faith from public policy. Biblical Christianity applies the gospel to policy (Matthew 5:13-16).

7. Commercial Christianity is defined by the state. Biblical Christianity redefines the state of affairs (Daniel 4:19-37; Acts 8:4-8).

8. Commercial Christianity is complicit with the powers that be. Biblical Christianity casts down the ungodly powers that be (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

9. Commercial Christianity is a sweet-smelling savor to those who are perishing. Biblical Christianity is a sweet-smelling savor to those who are being saved (Philippians 2:15-16).

10. Commercial Christianity is not distinguishable from the world. Biblical Christianity lives in the world but is not of the world (John17:14-15).

11. Commercial Christianity often uses biblical language for secular reasons. Biblical Christians often uses secular language for biblical reasons (1 Corinthians 9:20-23).

12. Commercial Christianity is man-centered in its goals. Biblical Christianity is God-centered in its goals (Colossians 1:15-18).

13. Commercial Christianity elicits praise only from people. Biblical Christianity brings favor from both God and people (Acts 2:47).

14. Commercial Christianity leaves a temporal imprint. Biblical Christianity leaves an eternal imprint (Hebrews 11:4).

15. Commercial Christianity leaves a legacy of compromise. Biblical Christianity leaves a legacy of sacrificial commitment (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

16. Commercial Christianity attracts followers by compromising the truth. Biblical Christianity attracts followers through the promotion of the truth (Acts 2:40-41).

17. Commercial Christianity is one step away from being irrelevant. Biblical Christianity is always in or near revival (Acts 9:31).

18. Commercial Christianity accommodates a backslidden lifestyle. Biblical Christianity accommodates a lifestyle of faith, fidelity and freedom (John 8:31-36).

19. Commercial Christianity emphasizes hyper-grace without moral obligations. Biblical Christianity preaches a radical grace that produces radical sanctification (Titus 2:11-12; Romans 8:3-4).

20. Commercial Christianity brings about a commitment to Sunday services. Biblical Christianity brings about commitment to a life of service (John 13:13-27).

21. Commercial Christianity invites people to make Jesus our personal Savior. Biblical Christianity admonishes people to surrender to Jesus as our Lord so He can save us (Romans 10:9-10).

December 29, 2014In Articles, The Church
MMIadmin
About the author / Joseph Mattera

Joseph Mattera has been in full-time church ministry since 1980 and is currently the Presiding Bishop of Christ Covenant Coalition and Overseeing Bishop of Resurrection Church in New York. He is also serving as the United States Ambassador for the International Coalition of Apostles, and as one of the founding presiding bishops of the International Communion of Evangelical Churches.
Joseph Mattera

Twenty-one Contrasts between Commercial Christianity and Biblical Christianity

After Pentecost (Acts 3 and later), Christ-followers were first involved in something called “the Way” (Acts 24:22). After the gospel progressed to the non-Jewish...

josephmattera.org

This will doom Greece and fracture the EU.

 When a nation votes for largesse when none is possible it's over. We are perilously close to this level of insanity in the USA

Greeks Vote in Election Seen as Referendum on Austerity

Greeks headed to the polls on Sunday in a high-stakes election that could bring to power the left-wing Syriza party, led by Alexis Tsipras, as the first anti-austerity...

mobile.nytimes.com|By LIZ ALDERMAN

Bloodsuckers

Grassley to hospitals: Explain why you’re suing low-income patients

Sen.

www.foxnews.com

Is he a Christian..YES

He still IS ... You can't listen to the things he wrote in the late 70s and think any differently

Bob Dylan to AARP (!): "The government's not going to create jobs. It doesn't have to."

Bob Dylan, the greatest creative force in postwar America (in my opinion), has given a fantastic and uncharacteristically straightforward interview to

reason.com

A nickle is yours if you can find me in this bunch. Yup I'm there. My Tribe

Business Concept #4 FIX MY MACHINE

 I said I would offer up some business concepts and ideas for those who seem to feel there is nothing out there. There is. Let's see, I offered the Micro Power Backup, Brokering and Yard Policing.. Now the fourth.



I spoke today with a man I know who at 40 years old 8 years ago was flat broke, his family and him were happy when the AFDC money came every year. Living on nothing, underwater. Huge Credit Card bills. Behind on the rent.

Then he took a risk. Decided that he might make a little money fixing household appliances. He did. He apprenticed under a guy who knew how. He was paid minimum wage while the was training. In two years had learned enough to decide to go out on his own. He began by charging half what the market was on this kind of work. He worked out of the back seat of his car. When he was working, his wife had nothing to drive. He had tools he picked up here and there. Nothing new.

He developed business by talking to sales people at Lowes, Sears, Home Depot, Menards and Best Buy for getting leads from people who just wanted their unit fixed.
He never ever solicited even ONE of this former boss's customers. Now years later his former boss refers customers to HIM.

They called his monthly pay cell phone. He worked and worked until he had a guy who wanted to work along side of him. Now he is 48 years old. He made $80,000 last year after paying his guy $40,000 and all expenses. He started out charging $40 per hour and now charges $90. All of the stores he first started contacting informally (just the sales people asking for referrals) now contract with him and his guy to do all the work of installation and repair for appliances.

They didn't have to go to school. They didn't need a license. They didn't need certification. They just needed to know how to fix things, follow instructions from a sheet and do it well enough to get people to pay them to do it. One important thing, they have the highest level of integrity. Never sloppy. Never messy. Show up on time and work on budget. They develop deep trust. Repeat business is now the base that keeps earnings up. They do credit cards with a square thing on their cell phones. His wife keeps the books. They have no office but each one has a good used van now to drive. They have upgraded their tools a bit. All in all it is a low expense high return venture.

This has no barriers to entry other than the capacity to learn, diligence, hard work and perseverance at the beginning. Anyone can do this. There is high demand. YET.. most won't. It's just too hard to take the plunge, to say, I am going to try to change my life. I'm sick of living on nothing. SURE he worked very long days. Some nights. But today all his bills are paid, he has more than enough, he has a family of 4 + a wife well provided for.

I'm not saying this is all there is, but you don't need a college education to do this, just diligence and a little ingenuity. There is plenty of work out there.

Kinda sad. The carrot is gone

I wish I understood what the future holds. There seems to be no way to make a buck selling music anymore..

Buying Songs Is Over

Every statistic in the recorded music business is pointing except for streaming and, amazingly, vinyl.

theatlantic.com|By Derek Thompson

It's time to put a bullet in public education once and for all.

Teachers unions have lost all respect even of those who used to back them. They have been shown for what they are, a crooked mechanism for stealing money from the public coffers.

Andrew Cuomo Rebukes Teachers Unions: 'Don't Say You Represent the Students'

Democrats everywhere have had enough of teachers unions

reason.com

Learn to do actual physical skilled work and you'll never want a day in your life....

U.S. Economy Needs Hardhats Not Nerds | Newgeography.com

The blue team may have lost the political battle last year, but with the rapid fall of oil and commodity prices, they have temporarily gained the upper hand economically. Simultaneously, conditions have...

newgeography.com

Hey, they don’t call him President Goldman Sachs for nothing.

Where Was Obama When the Middle Class Needed Him?

Six long years into presidency, Barack Obama has finally made the middle-class an explicit priority— placing “middle-class economics,” as he called it repeatedly in...

politico.com|By Zachary Karabell

Your mattress is still safe.. but maybe not. Drones

I talked to a friend of mine about this today. There is much money in savings, in 401Ks, IRAs, 529s, Roths and just sitting around. The government, this administration has it's eyes on that money and as soon as they figure out how, are going to grab it. . http://www.usatoday.com/…/college-cost-tax-federa…/22314063/

Middle-class savings like blood in the water: Column

Obama goes where the money is to pay for 'free' education programs - your savings account.

usatoday.com

Can't I just do the eating and skip that other stuff?? HUH?

I need a new body. I was with this non draconian program until the mentioned that EXERCISE part.

New food and fitness regime that promises a new body in 4 weeks

Despite the non-draconian premise of the guide, the plan promises to 'transform your physique' in just four weeks, helping you to lose weight, lower your body fat...

dailymail.co.uk

This is a battle that will be brutal for many elderly people and their families in the years to come

To Collect Debts, Nursing Home Is Seizing Control Over Patients

A New York State statute to protect the infirm has become a routine tool for nursing homes to ensure patients’ bills are paid.

www.nytimes.com|By NINA BERNSTEIN

Now we understand why Obama won't meet with Bibi. He is trying to get him out of office.

Obama Campaign Team Arrives in Israel to Defeat Netanyahu in March Elections - Breitbart

Just days after the Obama White House accused House Speaker John Boehner of “breaking protocol” by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to...

breitbart.com

They're shocked, shocked they'll tell you

Phone Company ‘Outraged’ By Fraud, Abuse In ‘Obamaphone’ Program

A nationwide cellphone company distributing phones and cellphone plans in Denver as part of a massive government program says it is "outraged by the...

denver.cbslocal.com

Isn't that special

Bergdahl to be charged with desertion, ex-military intel officer says

The Army has decided to charge Sgt.

www.foxnews.com

This is dangerous.

You won't remember but basically this was Germany before the second world war. Look out for the bear to growl and go to war.

Russia Credit Rating Cut to Junk by S&P First Time in Decade

Russia’s foreign-currency credit rating was cut to junk by Standard & Poor’s, putting it below investment grade for the first time in a decade.

bloomberg.com

The conventional wisdom is that Oil will rebound to higher prices ($5 per gallon).

 These charts seem to say something different. What think ye? What will happen in Iraq, Russia, Iran, Venezuela when the Oil money stops cold. They have nothing else. This is why agriculture is so critical.
http://www.zerohedge.com/…/why-oil-prices-will-be-lower-lon…

Why Oil Prices Will Be "Lower For Longer" In 3 Simple Charts | Zero Hedge

History may not repeat... but it does rhyme!

zerohedge.com

Some cultures ARE superior to others.

Some are more advanced. Some developed differently from others. We need to be careful not to make the assumptions they are all equal. They are not. Civilization requires civility. Not all cultures are or were. Why this truth offends is hard for me to grasp. We need to have a model to help a culture transform thru telling ourselves the truth.

We know about Plato, Aristotle, Shakespeare, Luther, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Issac Newton, Constantine, Augustine of Hippo, Copernicus, Cicero, Michelangelo, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, and many others. They have left a mark on the culture that lasts.

The question that no one will dare ask is where are the names, art, books, discoveries and institutions established in pre European USA among the native Americans? What about much of Africa. Aboriginal peoples all over the world. There is a mythology that inflates the cultural sophistication of these people and a pretending to make them equal when no equivalency exists. Consider the culture of the Muslim. There is virtually no advance since the 1500s.

If we are going to make cultural changes, we need a direction, an end point, a goal. What will a superior culture really look like? We can't make the changes without knowing change is needed.

We are at war in the fiat currency world.

 You might think this will have no affect on you. But it does. I won't try to explain it but you need to understand what is happening and what that will mean long term, here's the truth.. a global reset, as I prophesied a year ago is in full swing. Then end will be hard..

Global central banks manning the battle stations

Central banks are in combat mode. On the front lines: Europe, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland, Peru and India.

cnbc.com|By Sara Eisen

I'd try it... actually looks good.. looking at it just clogged an artery...

KFC's New Double Down Is a Dog

Hot dog in fried chicken bun only sold in Philippines

newser.com|By Rob Quinn