The times dictate we all, that is those professing to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, need to spend much more time, a lot more time in the word of God and much less time in the world.

A lot more time in faithful, fervent prayer not amiss. Not asking continually for ourselves, but for the church, for the body of Christ, for the saints, for the pure gospel to be preached and to spread.

The following is edited by me, the administrator of A Crooked Path. Because the final three paragraphs were all an ad to contact and enroll in the Southern Evangelical Seminary to be equipped, prepared, and able to engage this lost, confused, in utter darkness world about Christ, about Christianity. A person does not need to attend a theology school, a Bible college, a seminary in order to be well equipped in the whole armour of God in this escalating spiritual war. Each person needs to immerse themselves, eat of, drink of, live from the inerrant infallible living and active word of God. Prayerfully. Faithfully. Boldly, Continually.

I left a link in the article below if anyone finding themselves at this place is interested in learning more about the Southern Evangelical Seminary. But know this…what you need is FAITH, belief, you need BOLDNESS in the WORD, in the TRUTH of God Almighty. In the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to save. In the free gift of grace. Salvation by faith, by the confession of sin, by repentance, by obedience. Not by works. By faith. Truly transformed by the Supernatural power of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. To live Biblically, to live separate from the ways, the lies, the darkness of this world. To be God’s. To die with and be resurrected with Jesus Christ (read and slowly study and meditate within the apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Read and slowly study and meditate within the apostle John’s gospel). For starters. To renew and refresh. To build upon. To go back to and learn more. Grow closer and deeper with the Lord.

We can learn best, learn the most by our diligence to and living within and then according to the word of God. And the Holy Spirit will instruct, teach, direct, uplift, guide, implant and strengthen. The Holy Spirit will make possible understanding incapable humanely, or from a seminary — but if that’s how you’re directed? Purely? Honestly? Do your research on all those you consider. Sadly, in the majority of places professing to teach Christianity, teach the word they debate and tear down God’s word. They debate and deny the virgin birth, the very resurrection of our Lord, they debate and deny and intellectualize bypassing the spiritual aspect. In many places.

Let the word of God, let Jesus, let the Holy Spirit, let your faith and diligence and obedience by the course of instruction and path needed taking. No matter your age, where you live, your gender, so on. No matter.

Make the word of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and the word of God what matters most.

This world, this culture is only going to grow darker. More alien to God and Christ and the word of God. More sinful. Eviler. We know this as we know and discern, understand the word of God.

Each professed believer needs to be equipped continually, always in the full armour of God (see Ephesians 6), and never take that armour off. Never pause. Never grow lax or distracted. For Satan and his ministers, evil never rests.

Trust in the Lord. With all your heart, spirit, mind, and soul. And He will provide. He will protect. He will instruct — if you apply yourself continually. Growing stronger on the meat of the word. Prepared for the day. Prepared for the times in which we live.

Ken Pullen

Sunday, June 13th, 2021

ACP — A Crooked Path

Are You Prepared to Engage a Post-Christian Culture?

June 10, 2021

By Dr. Richard G. Howe, Provost Southern Evangelical Seminary

Reprinted from The Christian Post

Once again, we’re confronted with statistics that may startle some Christians. The health of the Christian worldview appears increasingly bleak. According to the American Worldview Inventory 2021, nearly half of the millennials surveyed said they either don’t know, don’t care, or don’t believe that God exists. Only 26% of Gen X, and a mere 16% of millennials, understand and believe the basics of the Gospel. In addition, 31% of teens and young adults “strongly agree” that what is “morally right and wrong changes over time, based on society.”

While these trends should not surprise those who believe in the traditional Christian doctrine of the Fall, certain observations of recent Christian and American history might also help explain how we got to where we are. It didn’t happen overnight. Short of a monumental move of God, we won’t get out of it overnight, if at all this side of heaven. In one sense, an increase in religious diversity is to be expected as immigrants bring their religions and cultures with them. Such diversity can enrich everyone’s experience. And for the Christian, the mission field is conveniently coming to us.

But other reasons are not so encouraging. Historically, there have been cyclical assaults on the integrity of the Bible. Consider Charles Spurgeon’s “Downgrade Controversy” as he fought the increasing modernism in his Baptist Union of the late 19th century England, or J. Gresham Machen’s Fundamentalist battle with the liberal influences at Princeton, or the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy’s response to the post-WWII subtle compromise of inerrancy of the Bible, not to mention the current battles within evangelicalism against the erosion of inerrancy.

Second, the seeds of postmodern relativism, originally confined to the ivory towers of academia, have now blossomed into a rampant moral and religious relativism. This is being lived out before our eyes in ideologies such as critical race theory for example.

Third, the American church’s widespread increase in anti-intellectualism, that emphasized experience over truth, has created a church that is anemic in any attempt to contend for the objective truth of Christianity. We are like the sedentary person who has disregarded his diet and exercise and is startled later in life to discover that he has health problems.

It’s time for the church to try to understand what’s going on around us and prepare an adequate response. It’s time for every believer, in whatever context God has placed him, to be better equipped to proclaim the Gospel, engage the culture, and defend the truth. This is precisely the mission of Southern Evangelical Seminary and Bible College (SES).

As we have seen, our culture is more hostile to Christianity, even though it understands Christianity less than ever before. To effectively engage with the culture, you will need a deeply integrated understanding of theology, philosophy, and apologetics.