Posted 8/11/2013
A recent Christian Post article gave an update on Justin Beiber’s latest news worthy involvment in fund raising for children in Quatemala.
Justin Bieber, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter, said his life has changed after recently working to help build a schoolhouse in Guatemala.
Bieber performed in Guatemala City on Saturday but made sure to impact the poverty stricken villagers in the Guatemalan jungle by giving away the shoes on his feet and teaming up with Pencils of Promise to build a school in the community.
“Today was 1 of the most powerful and humbling days of my life. Thank u Guatemala & @PencilsOfPromise,” Bieber tweeted after taking part in the experience Saturday. “Today I saw real happiness. So powerful.”
Read more at http://global.christianpost.com/news/justin-bieber-helps-build-school-in-guatemala-107644/#3MxylclyzPJvDxex.99
However my eye was drawn to the photo in the article of Carl Lentz and pop artist Justin Beiber, a shot taken by a friend and posted on instagram.
Awww…What a nice photo of two good friends. Justin Beiber has been under the watchful eye of Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz for a month or so now, and seems to be amending his ways, from the bars and strip club lifestyle that Beiber has been prone to of late. Obviously Lentz is having a good influence on Lentz, which in and of itself is commendable.
However I am looking at the picture only to be shocked by the words on Lentz’ T shirt?
IMAGINE ALL THE PEOPLE.
You know the song! You know the rest of the lyrics? You know the Artist?
Imagine – by John Lennon
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You, you may say
I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You, you may say
I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
And there you have it! A Christian pastor of a supposedly Pentecostal Evangelical Church running around in a T Shirt that any worldling would wear, with not a care or a thought of the message written (emblazoned) on his T- Shirt, its mindless stupidity to say the least. I could rabbit on about ‘Apostasy’ and Hillsong slowly moving toward a ONE WORLD RELIGION but you have heard it all before.
I will just leave you with the wisdon of A W Tozer who sums up the Hillsong Gospel.
A. W. Tozer writes, ALL Unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental.
From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique-a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.
The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam’s proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.
The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.
The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egotist it says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.” To the thrill seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship.” The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.
The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.
The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.
The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.
We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.
God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him.
What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God’s stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.
Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.
To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow and private view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon this message from Paul’s day to the present. Whether stated in these exact words or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has brought life and power to the world through the centuries. The mystics, the reformers, the revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and mighty operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God’s approval.
Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power. (A. W. Tozer, Man, the Dwelling Place of God, 1966)
Source
http://global.christianpost.com/news/justin-bieber-helps-build-school-in-guatemala-107644/
http://www.ldolphin.org/oldcross.html
Coercion Code - "Dark Times are upon us" 
Hi! Thanks for your prayers regarding Justin! In regards to my shirt, I hear you on the song your referring to. My shirt doesn’t allude to that song! Although Lennon was popular, there is NO WAY he forever owns that sentence..no way! We use that phrase often to keep our eyes on Jesus, as we pray for a city and even at times IMAGINE a city, hearing the good news of the gospel. Point taken though, my apologies if the wrong message could be recieved. Sincerely: Carl Lentz
Correct, Pastor Lentz, ‘technically’ Lennon doesn’t ‘forever’ own that sentence.
His estate owns it today in copyright and that song owns the sentence in cultural mindshare.
Please consider walking circumspectly.
For instance, what place does a misogynist, 666-wearing Notorious B.I.G. belong on your chest, over your heart even, all while wearing a crown?
What is he king of to you? Misogyny? You’re heart? Don’t ask – won’t know!
Baddies? Does that mean: ‘little bad things’ or ‘cute bad things’?
You shouldn’t even need to be asked.
Would you wear this on the alter when you are preaching? no!
“my apologies if the wrong message could be received”
Are you serious! do you not think before you walk! Even though Jesus chilled out with the sinners and the wicked doesn’t mean he conformed to what they did/wore or believed in, don’t lead the younger generations astray! My heart cries out in pain seeing this.
Hillsong is so big now, why cant you guys make your own clothing label promoting the glory and grace of Jesus Christ!!!!
Barns of sheep are useless if you keep feeding them watered down doctrine!
Reblogged this on yozefel's Blog.
Relax, you’re taking things that don’t even matter out of context. When you could be out preaching Christ, sharing someone your testimony or loving someone or even working behind the scenes to get the Gospel out. You’re here worrying about little things. If you’re concerned pray for it, leave it in His hands, and He’ll do what must be done. The message of holiness is waiting to be apart of your experience.
If you really want to still, let you without sin throw the first stone.
My my … next you will telling me its all fine to be walking on the Broadway.