All posts by Nick Sabato

Reformed Baptist Scripturalist
Church and State, Downgrade Trends, Social Justice / Social Gospel 3 Comments

The Narrative Behind the Narratives, by Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal

For this first post of 2020, I am grateful for the following contribution by my friend and brother in Christ, Dr. C. H. E. Sadaphal. In this timely and well-researched piece, Sadaphal carefully connects the dots with regard to current events in the world and church and the anti-Christian ideologies which preceded them. He provides us with a succinct analysis of what I have routinely termed, “The Narrative”, and in the words of the late Dr. Stan Monteith, brings us “the story behind the story”. Links to a podcast of the article and Dr. Sadaphal’s website are provided at the end.

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Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology, Eschatology 1 Comment

Eschatological presuppositions and literal interpretation

“The word ‘literally’ is one of the most misused and abused words in the contemporary English language.”[1] –Craig Carter, professor of theology at Tyndale University College and Seminary

Currently in its 55th year of publication, the Creation Research Society Quarterly journal is the longest running periodical amongst the creationist technical literature. I am certainly in no position to question the scientific research or calculations found in many of the papers in CRSQ, most of which are well over my head. Nevertheless, all Christians are under the obligation to evaluate every proposition and point of doctrine (cosmological models not excepted) according to the Bible and determine whether or not the relevant Scripture references have been properly exegeted. Continue reading…

Social Justice / Social Gospel 1 Comment

‘The Great Silencer’: A method to the madness

For most of my Christian life, I was committed to a system of biblical interpretation known as Dispensationalism. Key tenets of that system include a premillennial eschatology, a pretribulational rapture of the saints, a future and physical restoration of ethnic Israel as God’s chosen people, and a commitment to a (generally) wooden-literal hermeneutic.[1] As I eventually started having doubts about the integrity of Dispensationalism’s “unified interpretive scheme”[2] and was concerned that perhaps Dispensationalists were unwittingly imposing a grand scenario on the Bible justified only by the use of a faulty hermeneutic, I nevertheless found it difficult to escape the futurists’ fold out of fear that I would be branded an “anti-Semite”. Continue reading…

Economics, Social Justice / Social Gospel No comments

Ex-Roman Catholic Priest Richard Bennett on Liberation Theology

On the homepage of nopeacewithrome, I assert that

The encroachments of Romanism are plainly evident in the doctrinal downgrade, charismatic chicanery, and ecumenical evisceration of Truth so prevalent in contemporary evangelicalism. But the retreat to Rome is not confined to areas of soteriology. Some may even hold to the biblical gospel and yet be thoroughly romish in their political and economic theory, Thomistic in their epistemology, compromising in their protology, and/or Jesuitical in their eschatology.

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Social Justice / Social Gospel 1 Comment

Walter Rauschenbusch and Russell Moore: The roots and fruits of the social gospel

“Americans had come to believe in the religion of progress and humanity. Rauschenbusch now visualized the tremendously swift transformation of America.” –David Noble

In a series of posts addressing the leftward trend in the church and in Western society and the hysterical aftermath of the publication of the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel, I attempted to show that the modern social justice movement is little more than a revival of the old social gospel repackaged for a racially “woke” environmentally-friendly gender-bending generation. Continue reading…

Economics, Social Justice / Social Gospel No comments

Judas the socialist, by Shane Kastler

The following article is by Shane Kastler. It is reposted with permission. Original post here.

If Judas Iscariot was walking the earth today, he would make an ideal presidential candidate for the Democrat party.  With the recent, hard left veer toward socialism, he would fit right in.  He was socialistic to the core.  He loved to spend other people’s money.  He loved to criticize how THEY spent THEIR OWN money.  He loved to act like he cared for the poor, all while using it as a ruse to line his own pockets.  And scarily, he had the ability to influence others toward his way of thinking. Continue reading…

Social Justice / Social Gospel 2 Comments

On Sam Allberry and ‘Living Out’

When the Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel was published back in September of 2018, some Christians wondered why its framers felt the need to include affirmations and denials concerning the subject of “Sexuality and Marriage” (article 10). In light of Matthew Vines’ publication of God and the Gay Christian, Gregory Coles’ Single, Gay, Christian: A Personal Journey of Faith and Sexual Identity, and Sam Allberry’s Is God Anti-Gay? (and the subsequent rise to prominence of Allberry’s Living Out ministry), by now it should be abundantly clear why this component of the social justice narrative had to be squarely addressed. Continue reading…

Social Justice / Social Gospel No comments

The problem isn’t the Great Commission, by Tom Ascol

The following article is by Tom Ascol and reposted from Founders Ministries (access the original here).

Anthony Bradley has been a loud voice in the social justice movement among reformed and evangelical Christians in America. He actually helped awaken me to the threat of this movement to the gospel. It was his comment on Twitter on December 22, 2017 that started bringing into focus what I had only been seeing through a haze over the previous year or so. In response to Jonathan Leeman’s article suggesting that evangelicals don’t need a better gospel, Bradley wrote,

Here’s the problem(and this will be hard) [sic]: from a black church perspective, evangelicals have never had the gospel. Ever. Read the book “Doctrine A Race” [sic]. Here then is the actual Q: When will evangelicals embrace the gospel for the first time ever? #BlackChurch

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Romanism, Social Justice / Social Gospel No comments

How Romanism ruined America, by John Robbins

On the No Peace with Rome home page, I stated that

“The encroachments of Romanism are plainly evident in the doctrinal downgrade, charismatic chicanery, and ecumenical evisceration of Truth so prevalent in contemporary evangelicalism. But the retreat to Rome is not confined to areas of soteriology. Some may even hold to the biblical gospel and yet be thoroughly romish in their political and economic theory, Thomistic in their epistemology, compromising in their protology, and/or Jesuitical in their eschatology.”

Indeed, almost all erroneous roads lead to Rome and her foundation built upon sand. Rome’s pernicious influence must not be overlooked when scrutinizing the rise of socialism among American politicians and Christian leaders. Continue reading…

Social Justice / Social Gospel 4 Comments

Molech and the masters of deceit

“Abortion is kind of fading as an issue….”

–Nancy Pelosi, 2017. Washington Post

“[Abortion] continues to be the fight of our lifetime.”

–Hillary Clinton, 2019. Bloomberg

“Kavanaugh is going to reverse Roe v. Wade. I have no doubt. Gorsuch is going to reverse Roe v. Wade. I have no doubt. So what do we do? Protect ourselves. Pass a state law that is a prophylactic from the Federal action.”

–Andrew Cuomo, 2019. Bloomberg

“A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.”

–Solomon, 900 BC. Proverbs 18:2

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Downgrade Trends 4 Comments

‘Stop and think about it’: The Trinity

Stop and Think About It is a Christian discernment podcast produced by Phil Sessa, Glenroy Clarke, Nick Vasquez and my dear friend Steve Langella. Entertaining and rich in theological content, Stop and Think About It is intended to take

“Sound biblical doctrine and practical Christian theology out of the ivory towers and putting it into the hands of Christians. We are living in a day when sound biblical preaching has been replaced by man-centered entertainment, and the church is becoming increasingly anti-intellectual. This podcast will encourage believers to think biblically and theologically.”

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Downgrade Trends 3 Comments

Precious in the sight of the Dems is the death of your kids

“The state Senate voted 38-24 in favor of the so-called ‘Reproductive Health Act’ Tuesday evening, the Albany Times-Union reports, a bill that has repeatedly cleared the state Assembly in years past but been blocked by the formerly-Republican Senate. Following the Senate vote, the Assembly passed it 92-47.

‘We have a president who’s made it very, very clear that he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade,’ Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins declared before the vote. ‘Today, here in New York, we are saying no […] and we’re not just saying no. We’re saying that here in New York, women’s health matters. We’re saying here in New York, women’s lives matter. We’re saying here in New York, women’s decisions matter.’”

[Breitbart]

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Social Justice / Social Gospel 2 Comments

The seduction of ‘social justice’ (part 2): Christianity and “race”

The very concept of “race” has more to do with biological evolution than it does to do with biblical anthropology. Since all men are descended from Adam and Eve, “race” is simply not a biblical concept. That is why I usually put quotes around the words “white” and “black”. I use the terms for the purpose of communication but not because I think they are legitimate categories.[1] Continue reading…

Ecumenism, Romanism No comments

“Can we have peace with Rome?” video with Ryan Haines

“…Keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians. 4:3).

Ryan Haines of The Gospel Training Ground was kind enough to ask me to join him in discussing Rome’s false gospel, ecumenism, and the tendency in modern evangelicalism to put unity above purity. Let it be remembered that Scripture never tells us to make peace with error, or unite Christ with antichrist, but rather to keep or maintain the unity which already exists amongst God elect. Continue reading…

Creation 5 Comments

Ken Keathley and the cancer of compromise

Ken Keathley is at it again. His latest blog post, “The Extent of Noah’s Flood: the Geological Evidence (Part 1)”, is an excerpt from the book he coauthored with Mark Rooker, 40 Questions about Creation and Evolution. I addressed some of the major concerns with the book in a review for Journal of Creation (see Irreconcilable records of history and muddled methodology). But even with a relatively high upper limit of 3000 words, I could only scratch the surface of the book’s problems. Keathley’s July 13th 2018 post provides an opportunity to make some further commentary on old-earth creationism.

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