The Barnabas Blog

In this last post on the matter of “fake news” and its comparison to “fake theology” ( Part 1 , Part 2 ), I would like for us to consider what impact that “fake theology” ultimately has on a church.   When Murray takes an interlude in one of his chapters about truth, he wrote that truth has a tendency to create trouble.   The trouble the comes with biblical truth is that it demands something of every person—a demand to yield desires and their desired identity to what God is calling for.   In fact, John captured the words of Jesus when he said, “everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37).   “Fake theology” will never make such a vigilant, sobering call because it CAN’T!!!!  “Fake theology” is literally the opposite of what God has spoken and even demanded of this fallen world of mankind.   The curse of sin is death and yet “fake theology” wouldn’t dare to tell anyone that even if they were to ask the question as to what the penalty o...

In the last post , I recommended a book by Abdu Murray Saving Truth:  Finding Meaning & Clarity in a Post-TruthWorld , that Pastor Tony Mansinho had sent to me.   Murray’s first chapter really struck me in the fact that just as “fake news” has played a major role in shifting a lot of public thinking even though it isn’t true, “fake theology” has enormous eternal consequences due to its lack of truth as well.   There was another matter brought up in Murray’s chapter “Confusion and the Church:   Seductions of a Post-Truth Mindset” when he described that almost immediately after the US Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage another article got widespread dissemination throughout social media.   The article claimed a lawsuit was pending that would outlaw the Bible as hate-speech in the US.   Murray said that when he started reading and digging into the story, he described that it only took about three minutes ...

I have no idea how I managed to get into the good graces of Pastor Tony Mansinho who pastors Calvary Apostolic Church in Pittsburgh, PA.   In about a five-month period, he has sent me more than 50 books that have been of excellent quality and not just fillers for a bookshelf.   He has also shared several pics of his personal library and it is composed of a wide range theological works that I am confident would be stimulating to any pastor-theologian.   One of the books that he sent me was by Abdu Murray, Saving Truth:  Finding Meaning & Clarity in a Post-TruthWorld , published by Zondervan.   I was not familiar with this author but once I started reading, the compelling nature of it did not allow it to be easily put down.   As I read, highlighted and made marginal notes, my mind began to run down the proverbial rabbit trail.   Murray spends time developing and proving the fact that the American church has lost its abilit...

The New Year, 2018, has brought along its share of nostalgia, hope, and a bit of retrospect as to how far down the road I have come.   Some of the looking back could be due to a pretty significant health event that I endured this past July although thankfully I have made a near full recovery.   Even though I spent a number of years working in the medical field and was constantly made aware of the fleeting nature of life in others, it was brought home to me in a far more serious way when I was on the other end of a surgeon’s care.   Perhaps another reason that 2018 is a significant time for me is because it is the year that thirty years ago, I along with my wife were compelled to make a decision that entirely changed the direction of our lives.   In 1988, I attended my first Because of the Times, which is a minister’s conference hosted by the Pentecostals of Alexandria and led by Senior Pastor Anthony Mangun.