Some professing Christians take umbrage with my statement advocating boycotting NCAA sports. I made my statement because the NCAA “trannycotted” and bullied North Carolina into repealing “The Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act” (H.B.2). Let’s be honest. Either we are slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:15-23). Being a slave of righteousness is genuine Christianity.
That stated, it follows that there must be a redline, a point beyond which genuine Christians will not tolerate, associate with, or support a person or entity. Sadly, for the great majority of professing Christians there is no such redline. In spite of abundant and clear data with repeated warnings, they do what their flesh dictates. Then they insist that they are just as much Christians as anyone.
For such people there are no exists standards for Christianity except professing that you are one. Perhaps maybe they just pick and choose standards. If they don’t like an activity anyway, they oppose it and make themselves look as if they really stand for something.
Genuine Christians uphold righteousness. Therefore, I believe they should boycott NCAA sports. However, many professing Christians insist that watching NCAA sports is just harmless entertainment. Let’s look through a “hole in the wall” for a response (Ezekiel 8:6-12).
The NCAA has a section on their site entitled “fairness and integrity.” They opposed H.B.2 with the statement that they wished to “assure a safe, healthy, discrimination free atmosphere for all those watching and participating in our events.” However, at the bottom of NCAA.org home page is a link to NCAA.com. At the bottom of NCAA.com is the following:
Turner © 2017 NCAA | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc.
NCAA. com is a part of Bleacher Report – Turner Sports Network, part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Network.
If you try to find an email address to NCAA, you will run into many dead ends. They cowardly neglect to publically list an email contact. You have to join the NCAA site to access board member’s email addresses. In fact, Google will direct the query to NCAA. com/Tuner Broadcasting where one can complain to the liberals who could not care less.
Tuner Broadcasting Network owns CNN, a bastion of progressive liberalism that has undermined and openly attacked Christians and Judeo/Christian values for decades. Turner also owns NBA TV and Adult Swim. Adult Swim is the extremely vile programming that occurs on the Cartoon Network when “children between the ages of 7-15 would normally be sleeping.” Ok, so children under 7 and over 15, or children who are awake, can watch Adult Swim? That’s like Turner saying that children who live in perfect households are not subject to evil influences. Therefore, they justify saturating the TV with immoral sewage.
“Shows may have sexual themes, frank sexual discussion, nudity, strong language, and graphic violence.” – Wikipedia
One of Adult Swim’s shows is Rick and Morty about a man apparently in an incestuous pedophile relationship with his grandson. Unfit for any age group. (Reference leading to this opinion is too vulgar to post.)
“Adult Swim was available to approximately 96,390,000 pay-television households (82.8% of households with television) in the United States.” – TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
Outraged that your children can access this wickedness? Equally outraged that pedophiles can now access your children? Do you watch Adult Swim? Do you watch NCAA sports?
I am outraged that the hypocritical, anti-Christian NCAA board members declared that they wish to ‘assure a safe, healthy, discrimination free atmosphere for all those watching and participating in our events.” However, they don’t mind associating with Turner Broadcasting. It is not safety of individuals that they are concerned about, but merely the cash flow and fear of losing the support of godless, liberal, organizations.
It is time to stand up for righteousness or one day we will no longer have that privilege.
April 6, 2017 at 9:45 pm
Absolute Truth and a Christian Standard that ALL Christians should live by. As for me at 9:00 pm on Championship night, my TV went off and I went to sleep. I wasn’t watching the game as much as I would have liked it. As the article implies there are standards we will find ourselves faced with to live.
April 7, 2017 at 12:56 am
I confess that I was once obsessed with sports, NFL, PGA, and NCAA consumed large chunks of my time. I had to choose between those distractions and serving God. In fact, I dearly loved golf. It was extremely difficult to give it up. In fact, I came up with many reasons to keep playing golf. My minster friends encouraged me to keep playing. One of them told me that there was no way that God was telling me to quit. I knew that it was God speaking to me. Today I cannot fathom why I thought I had time for those things.
April 6, 2017 at 10:13 pm
AMEN X A MILLION!!! Professing Christians will only stand against what doesn’t make them feel uncomfortable. Obviously most are very comfortable with the wickedness hidden underneath the cover of the NCAA. After them threatening to pull the NCAA out of North Carolina due to the HB2 Law you’d think that would be enough for Christians to boycott them. It most certainly was enough for me. Compromise has consumed professing Christianity.
April 7, 2017 at 12:38 am
Well said!
I’m not a sports fiend anyway but would definitely drop that now that they did that. I have dropped many things that I have liked as a result of this sort of thing. That is what a righteous Christian does.
But like you said, when they hit that fork in the road, they always manage to find some ‘justification’ for keeping their habit going and not cutting those cords. It has gotten so bad now that they all look just like the world. When something like this comes up, they still can’t cut it loose. I understand if there is only one bank branch or grocery store in your small town or they all do the same thing in that way, there are other ways to let them know and protest. But sports we do NOT need at all and there should be no problem at all boycotting something like that. I don’t know what it will take, but most of the time they won’t and they just rationalize it all away.
The worst case of that, and I see how things are leading up to it, is the thing about the mark of the beast. Some wolves in sheep’s clothing have already stated that it would be “okay” to take the mark and “still be saved”! That is where ‘eternal security,’ and ‘easy believism’ lead, down the path to hell. Anyone who says that you can still be ‘okay’, there is no excusing it, and they are a wolf, point blank. But oh… ! How they come running up, still endorsing them, flocking to them, promoting them and hanging on their every word! (Like John MacArthur for one! There is a video of him saying that, check it out if you doubt.) The Bible says in Revelation 14; 9-11 that anyone who takes the mark (no exceptions!) goes to the lake of fire.
But first it’s stuff like this, one slippery slope downward step at a time, until they reach that reprobate point of no return and do some fool thing like take the mark. At that point, they won’t even care. The scary thing is, many don’t even care now.
April 7, 2017 at 9:59 pm
A few years back I actually heard Jimmy DeYoung say the same thing basically about anyone who takes the mark of the beast can still be forgiven. I was flabbergasted! I wrote the ministry that was having this program aired and questioned what Jimmy had said. I was only told that other people had also questioned that comment. Please keep in mind that this was NOT Dr. James B. DeYoung but Jimmy DeYoung of Prophecy Today.
April 7, 2017 at 12:39 am
I firmly believe no Christian should have a TV or go to the Movies, or watch Sporting events, period. This may make me a prude but we have been commanded to separate from the World and its filth. People need to more than ever, get alone with God, pray, read their Bible, praise Him, seek Him while He may be found. Time is about up.
April 8, 2017 at 2:13 am
Amen! I concur. Pulled the plug on all of that stuff too. Secular music too. Nothing but the enemy’s brainwashing in those lyrics if you really pay attention. There is nothing like quiet time with God, worshipping from your heart, reading His Word, praying, and seeking Him. Agree all the way! God bless you! ( :
April 7, 2017 at 2:11 pm
In the book of James, it says, “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.” (James 1:26). I once enjoyed sports very much too before I became a Christian, but the Lord has led me to give that up. I once searched for things to satisfy my lusts in ways not even appropriate to discuss on this forum. The Lord pulled me out of that too. I once believed MacArthur’s heresy on the mark of the beast only to realize that contradicts the plain sense of Scripture. These testify to the great evil the tongue can do.
April 12, 2017 at 2:43 am
Hi Ron,
Glad to hear how the Lord has been delivering you! ( :
And anyone who says that about the mark being “okay”, it’s not just a ‘slip of the tongue,’ but they are satan’s intentional deceivers. The apostasy did not just so happen, it’s a well orchestrated, deliberate conspiracy by infiltrators to lead the church astray and down the path of the one world religion under antichrist and all the things of Revelation 13. I can’t possibly go down that whole list (actually I think I did a few posts ago in a comment…) but I pretty much emphasize that if a person is reading the Bible, obeying what it says, and walking in fellowship with the Lord, it is pretty much impossible to slip. If you love Jesus with all your heart, you could never take the mark, or deny Him, or compromise, or any of those things. The way to stay safest is to walk as closely with Him as possible. ( :
God bless you!
April 7, 2017 at 2:54 pm
Lydia, I do not agree with John MacArthur but…are we saved by grace and kept by works? A true believer is eternally secure. Can we be unsaved, unsealed, unborn, unredeemed, unjustified, unsanctified, etc.? If so then Jesus is lying in John 5:24. When does ETERNAL life begin?
April 11, 2017 at 12:43 pm
I want to be kind with my remark, Lauril. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us; that is the truth of the Scripture. BUT, we believers, who are born again to a “lively hope”(1 Peter 1:3-9), have an obligation to fulfill; it is OUR faith or continuing belief in Jesus as the Only way to eternal life and heaven that gets us “home” to heaven. Take away your “blinders” of what you have been taught and the truth you think you have read, I am afraid you have bought into a man-made doctrine-“once saved , always saved that”- that is a heretical teaching started many centuries ago by John Calvin(the perserverance of the saints), OSAS permeates the “church landscape” today and many are “assured” of a salvation that they have never acquired and taught they cannot lose.
Lauril, if you have truly been “born again” , keep believing in Jesus as the “only” way to eternal life! There are many who are turning to “universalism” by getting into heresies like contemplative prayer(think “Jesus Calling”, “The Silence”, and “The Shack” and there you have the same scenario that happened to Solomon in the latter part of his earthly life. He turned away from God and went after the “demonic” gods of his wives. He finished very badly. We must run this “race of faith” to the finish line(heaven) and not turn aside to the “gods of this world”. The Bible clearly tells us that, and we must obey until death(or to the return of the Lord Jesus). Denying Jesus’s exclusivity will cause us to forfeit His salvation and eternal life with Him! “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us”. It is a “spiritually healthy” thing to know that we must stay faithful to Jesus until the very end!!
Christian love to you and yours, Ken
April 13, 2017 at 8:47 pm
Amen! Well said Ken.
We must remain faithful to Jesus until the end, until death, and never deny Him even when faced with martyrdom. Jesus said if we deny Him, He denies us and it is a two way relationship. That is what the Bible teaches and like you said, so many don’t see that but rather have been mislead by ‘easy believism’ in many forms.
If anyone takes the mark they go to hell, no second chances. That is what the Word of God says in Revelation 14; 9-11. But, so many have deceived themselves into a warm and fuzzy ‘do whatever you want and still get to heaven’ deception. They mistake any effort on our part as a ‘work,’ and then accuse us of holding to ‘salvation by works.’ Of course it is by grace through faith, but it is not a dead faith, it is a living faith that results in works. (Ephesians 2; 8-10) That fulfillment is on our end, we are told to do ‘works of repentance,’ we are to be obedient, loyal, faithful to Jesus to the end, we are empowered to and expected to live a life of holiness, and to confess Jesus, contend for the faith, share the gospel, help others, bear fruit in many ways and these are the evidence of our salvation. We are called unto good works. Not denying Jesus under pressure is our obligation.
I get so tired of people who hold to OSAS and shout ‘grace,’ as if it is a card to sin, deny Jesus, take the mark, anything goes. If we go too far, if we deny Him, He denies us, that is what HE said, I’m only repeating it. If you take the mark, you go to hell and no amount of theology, no ‘get out of hell for free’ card will change that. Jesus died for us, when we accept that salvation we enter the race, we do not finish it at that point unless we follow Him. So it does not mean that you are home free and safe forever and Matthew 10; 32-33 along with many others prove that. Then there are those who think that once we accept Christ, all our future sins are on a blank check. We will stand before a judgment throne of Christ for both good and bad, once we receive Him our past sins are forgiven, we won’t be judged for those again. It is the future that matters now. How did you run the race for Jesus after He saved you? I’m not saying we need to be perfect or else, repentance and confession is a lifelong process along with sanctification and as we confess and repent He forgives us. The question is; are we growing in Christ, or falling back into sinful ways? Just because it is a process does not make it a blank check to sin up a storm, deny Him, and do whatever just because we won’t be ‘perfect’ until we reach heaven. We will give an answer for our actions from the time we are saved forward. Some act as if not sinning is to insult grace, but it is to sin that is to insult grace. We are His servants now, after all.
(This is not directed at anyone, just in general).
Thanks again for the great comment,
love and peace to all!
God bless
April 17, 2017 at 3:30 pm
Once saved, always saved unless you NEVER were “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1Jo 2:19 KJV). It’s clear that eternal life is permanent for all who actually receive it, but the deception is those who think they received it but didn’t, whose true state is revealed by whether they stay bearing fruit or leave bearing none. I have personally struggled in my walk at times but have committed to never forsake the Word of God, prayer, service and the fellowship of the saints and by these God has sustained me, not me myself. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jhn 8:31-32 KJV)
April 18, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Victor. The real question is;”Can we apostasize or fall away from the “faith?” . I truly believe that we can, and when real Christians start neglecting the “spiritual disciplines” of prayer, Bible study, making disciples, assembling with other true Christians and start reading heretical literature, following teachers that are false prophets, they have left the “narrow road” and re-joined those on the broad road to “destruction”.
The fact is we must finish the race of life “in the faith”, Are you a “reformed” man? Calvinism is Satan’s biggest trap for “professing” Christians. Religiosity (like the Pharisees) is the result of this system that perpetuates “dead faith” in the place of true Spirituality and the churches are full of “tares” and the false prophets that lead them to “broken cisterns” where there is no “living water” to drink. Is that your case? Come out from religion and read your KJV honestly and ask yourself some hard questions about what constitutes faith and salvation.
Read my post about, “Perfect Disobedience- a critique of New Calvinism and the Young, Restless, and Reformed” on my WordPress blog, “Hey, Jude 15”. Feel free to email me about your sincere concerns, but I will not argue for the sake of arguing!
April 19, 2017 at 12:52 am
Nope, no OSAS. That is a deception of satan. If one reads their Bible in earnst they will see this clearly. Alas, many are reading their Bibles through the tainted glasses of the teachings of a fallen man instead of relying on the Holy Spirit alone. In the end, if you are following the Lord you will be fine and need not worry about OSAS, but if you are not living right, you DO need to worry about it, despite the fact that satan has deceived you to the contrary.
( :
April 18, 2017 at 5:02 pm
Dear Ken (and Lydia), I agree that those who take the mark of the Beast are forever lost. I do not believe a true believer will do that during the tribulation.
I agree there are those who abuse grace as a license to practice sin. How could they possibly have a relationship with the Lord? A person who truly knows what they have been saved from expresses gratitude and appreciation by their lives. A lamb (believer) falls into the mud striving to get out; a pig (unbeliever) wallows in the mud.
For the longest time I believed a person could lose their salvation then I studied what the scriptures, overall, had to say. As a sister IN Christ I admonish you both to study who we are IN Christ once we are born again and those verses which are the practicality of walking out the Spirit-filled life. I also encourage you to study the doctrine of justification and loss of salvation versus loss of rewards or physical life. I’m so thankful that the Lord knows those who are His.
In His Keeping,
LauriL
April 21, 2017 at 1:37 pm
Lauril. Do you consider yourself a Bible teacher, a watchperson, a contender for the faith; someone who has a calling to rescue people from the fire of false teaching and heresy? By defending OSAS on the internet, I believe you have taken on that role! I write replies on Truthkeepers.com to join hands and hearts with Cedric and others who post here for that very reason. That is why I replied to your first post. I want folks who believe in false teaching to read what I say and think about their situations in church and the condition of their souls. This is NOT a personal vendetta to shut people down and for me to inflate my ego with my written knowledge. I come back on a regular basis to see if I am having an effect with my comments. You can ask my wife Barb about my dedication to the truth of the Bible. She lives with me 24/7 and sees my determination and drive to get out the Word and help Christians “stay the course and finish the race victorious”; to call people to God for salvation, and also back to Him when they stray into the “pigpen” of heresy and false prophecy.
Do you have knowledge of all the Bible passages that say a Christian needs to stay faithful to the Lord until the end of their life or until the Lord Jesus returns. And with that knowledge and the Holy Spirit’s help, you can show how all these verses “do NOT apply” to you and every other real Christian; with sound Bible teaching and supporting verses and passages!! Or, is your concern just a strong personal feeling of conviction? Well, I can take every verse or passage that “seems” to say that we are secure,( no matter what we start believing later or what vileness we let ourselves get associated with) and show you how that verse can be reinterpreted (in context) to apply only to God’s faithfulness, not our individual responsibility to stay faithful to the very end!!! There is a huge difference, with eternal consequences, in understanding this matter properly. If you come from a “reformed” prospective or have Baptist type leanings about God’s faithfulness vs. man’s responsibility then I understand why you feel this way. I really do! I “walked in those shoes” myself until 6 years ago. God gave me this “rescue ministry” about 5 years ago when I retired and had the time to sit at His feet and study the Holy Scriptures consistently with an open mind guided by the Holy Spirit. I defend the truth of God’s inerrant Word through my ministry, Everlasting Covenant Gospel Missions (Barb and me). It has several sub-sets; the Luke 14 Project (a tract and CD ministry that we do locally) 4 audio teachings on YouTube, and my blog, Hey, Jude 15 (WordPress.com).
You sound like a true Christian, therefore you are my sister in Christ. Keep believing in Jesus Christ as the ONLY way back to God, heaven, and a blissful eternity. Keep the faith that was ONCE delivered unto the saints (Jude 3) and maybe we will meet in glory.
Blessings,
Ken Hall
April 12, 2017 at 2:54 am
“You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”
James 2; 24
“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb… And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” Revelation 14; 9-11
“Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Revelation 3; 4-5
Thus I do not believe in eternal security because Jesus said He will abide in us IF we abide in Him and that is the context of anything like that. So no, of course He is not lying. But we need to read the Word in context.
According to these verses, if anyone who thinks they are saved; takes the mark of the beast, they will no longer be saved. I did the math and would never take any chances, even if hell was not the consequence, because someone who is truly loyal to Jesus and loves Him could never take the mark and deny Him like that by giving allegiance to the devil. I wrap my theology around what the Bible says, not the other way around.
Anyone who thinks they can just ‘convert’, live like hell and still go to heaven is in desperate need of a wake up call. A good place for that to start would be the letters to the churches in Revelation, from Jesus Himself; the Head of His church and His bride.
April 10, 2017 at 7:17 pm
I agree, Joe. I don’t have a tv. A believer MUST separate from filth. The deliberate point of tv, is to promote evil. We don’t need it.
April 12, 2017 at 3:05 am
Right!
The days of innocent entertainment are gone.
I have to share this, but I live with a family member who is not saved and there’s pretty much nothing I can do as I can’t actually leave unless it gets unbearable. Well I don’t watch tv or any of that, but this person will tune in to a few things at times. Well just from doing my thing in the background and overhearing the show that is considered mild family entertainment I lost count of the times sex was mentioned in varying contexts; dreams, orgies, homosexually, with multiple partners without marriage (fornication), with a male who was underage and a female who was not, and much more… all jokingly of course. And after that the typical bashing of Biblical morality was thrown in, in a way that made it seem like these things were old fashioned in one way and worse in another. I ask; how could any God-fearing Christian enjoy this garbage?! And I see them all the time, touting this show or that entertainment item, all of the same ungodly type, as if it’s ‘no big deal’! And they claim to be such God-loving Christians but they have no clue as to our obligation to holiness and if you even so much as mention something in a gentle way, Ohp, out comes that ‘killjoy’ legalistic label assortment from their bag. These retorts are not a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when.’