Turning Self Up and the Word Down: Joyce Meyer’s Approach to the Battlefield of the Mind

Posted on January 3, 2021February 10, 2021 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind (Tulsa, OK: Harrison, 1995). According to Paul, it is clear that believers are to subject themselves to the renewal work of the Holy Spirit by honoring God with how they live their lives (Rom 12:1-2). In Ephesians, Paul demonstrates that Christians are to submit themselves to ministers with equipping gifts so as to be thoroughly trained in the knowledge of God’s Word and thereby reach maturity (4...

The Negative Effects of Psychology on the Gospel

Posted on December 21, 2020December 21, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD According to David Wells, the rise of psychology in contemporary Christianity has prostituted the gospel in at least three ways.[i] First, it has given rise to the idea that people are ultimately good. In other words, they have the capacity within themselves to return to perfect wholeness through the tools offered by psychology. With such a view, sin is no longer seen as an obstacle in one’s plight toward self-actualization. Given psychology’s presupposition that huma...

Jesus Came to Meet Your NEED and Not Your Needs

Posted on December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD Modern psychology holds that people essentially exist to have their needs and wants met so as to attain unto a state of satisfaction. This has only led to a rise in self-fulfillment being the chief aim for many if not most. Unfortunately, the Church often allows itself to be polluted with this worldly philosophy by focusing its message on felt needs whereby the individual self becomes central in worship. Typically, this is all done in name of evangelism under the bann...

Matthew 4:1-11 – Don’t Be the Devil’s Fool

Posted on December 19, 2020December 19, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX Matthew 4:1-11 – “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the...

Moving on from Mere Emotional Experience to a More Biblically Informed Witness

Posted on December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD In this increasingly self-centered world, many people seek experiences that satiate their every desire. This desire for experience is often found even within the church where many gather on Sundays not so much to worship God for what He has done in their lives through Christ but simply to get their emotional ‘batteries recharged’ to face another week. Beyond this, it also tends to impact their personal testimonies as well. This trend seems to only be getting worse as ...

Personal Testimony Should Include the Word of God

Posted on December 16, 2020December 16, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD The revivals of the eighteenth century caused a major shift in the theological commitments within many churches in America. At the onset of the First Great Awakening in America(1730s), Calvinism was deeply entrenched in theological commitments of both the churches and many of the revival leaders including George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Jonathan Dickinson, Gilbert Tennent, and Samuel Davies. After this movement, most churches held firmly to their historic Calvini...

If You are Right, Then You are Religious

Posted on December 13, 2020December 13, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD In this contemporary age of relativism, many argue that truth either does not exist or is at least unknowable. With this philosophical stance being firmly established, these relativists boldly spurn exclusive notions of truth in general and religious declarations of the preeminence of exclusive truth in particular (especially those espoused by Christians who are deriving their truths directly from Scripture). In such an age of freedom from the constraints of religious...

Do Christians Have to Follow the Old Testament?

Posted on December 9, 2020December 9, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX Often times, people will ask about the application of the Old Testament to the life of the Christian today? Typically, they are speaking about the Mosaic Law in general and the Ten Commandments in particular. Before the time of Moses, no codified law was given after the initial fall of Adam and Eve who were given a specific command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). After Adam and Eve ...

Philippians 2:1-4 – Unity

Posted on December 9, 2020December 9, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD, Pastor of MBC in Channelview, TX One of enemy’s preferred strategies to undermine the gospel ministry is to attack the Word of God. This includes our reliance on it. A second strategy is to lead the church away from its first love. A third strategy would be to lead God’s people into willful sin. A fourth strategy is to attack the unity of God’s people. Paul had this fear when addressing the Corinthians: “For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want y...

Proclaiming Truth in a Time When Only Hope is Wanted

Posted on November 30, 2020November 30, 2020 by markwchristy

By Mark W. Christy, PhD Jer 26: 11 – “Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.”[i] Today, many people want words of hope and positivity. When they come to church, they want their batteries recharged. They want to depart from their time of worship with an emotional high and heart filled with an upbeat word. In this context, preachers, who...