Roman Catholicism is of Satan

“I would not hesitate to assert that … Roman Catholicism it the devil’s greatest masterpiece!  It is such a departure from the Christian faith and the New Testament teaching, that i would not hesitate with the Reformers of the sixteenth century to [say] … she is, as the Scripture puts it, ‘the whore.’ … Christian people, your responsibility is terrible.  You must know the truth. … There are innocent people who are being deluded.  It is your business and mine to open their eyes and to instruct them.”

D.Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Roman Catholicism” booklet, pages 1-4, 16.  Cited by Dave Hunt in The Berean Call, June 1990

Did They Really Say That?!?

“God spoke Adam into existence in authority with words (Gen. 1:26, 28).  These words struck Adam’s body in the face.  His body and God were exactly the same size.”

Kenneth Copeland, Holy Bible: Kenneth Copeland Reference Edition (Kenneth Copeland Ministries, 1991), 45 (emphasis in the original).  Cited by Hank Hanegraaff in Christianity in Crisis, 21st Century, p.375.

Apparently, neither Kenneth Copland or any of his ilk are able to read the Bible.  God did NOT speak Adam into existence — the Bible says that God formed Adam “from the dust of the ground” (Gen. 2:7).  There were no “words” to strike Adam’s body.  Nor did God make Adam as a physical likeness, since God is Spirit (John 4:24). 

This heretical theology is very much like Mormonism with their idea that God is an exalted man with flesh and bones.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

I’ve been quite occupied lately and unable to get time to post a blog article.  (Well, I have posted some on my other blog, but those are easy to just copy out.)

Anyway, I spent a couple days in the Chicago area, and my desktop computer was down for repairs for five days.  Then there were some ministries out of town, band practice for an upcoming concert, and even a memorial service for the son of a friend.  And now my yard needs mowed and my gardens are overgrown with weeds!

Speaking of something being overgrown with weeds — that’s sort of what is happening to the church as the pure teachings for the Word are being overgrown by false teachings from every quarter!  Some of what I’m reporting today might be a week or two old, but it may still be the first place my readers have seen it.

False teacher Ed Young has taken a page from the Benny Hinn playbook for seeking money from his gullible congregation.  (By the way, Christians DO NOT TITHE!!!!)

The Presbyterian Church (USA) has finally declared official approval of same-sex fake marriage.  After giving tacit approval to homosexuality and same-sex unions for years, at last there is no more pretense!  But they’ve even made another heinous decision; they’ve struck down “a resolution condemning the killing of babies born alive during abortions.”  It’s difficult for me to believe that any real Christian remains in that denomination.

An example of how perverse, apostate, heretical the Episcopal Church is the “transgendered priest” delivering a sermon.  (By the way, “transgender” is a load of psychobabble - there is no such thing; mutilating one’s body doesn’t change their gender.)

Ever wonder what apologists mean when we talk about churches being “liberal”?  Christian Apologetics & Resource Ministry has a good list of the elements of liberalism.

Talking about liberal churches - the United Methodist Church fits just about all those elements in CARM’s list.  They have now decided to re-instate an apostate “pastor” who presided at his son’s same-sex fake marriage.  Like the PCUSA, the UMC is dropping all pretense of being against homosexuality.

Beth Moore is really getting more and more bizarre in her teachings.  So why do pastors allow her junk in their churches?!?

I don’t often direct my readers to No Compromise Radio because of their very heavy Calvinist leanings, but this one is some good information about false prophet Ellen G. White of the Seventh-day Adventists.  Just another example as to why I call the SDA a cult.

The Watchman Fellowship has posted a new profile on the Hebrew Roots movement.

Lastly, Tim Challies tells us about the lessons he’s learned from false teachers.

Science Cannot Explain Human Behavior

By claiming to offer a "scientific explanation" for human behavior, psychology invaded the realm of soul, spirit, morals, and religion.  It thus posed a greater challenge to belief in God and the gospel than had physics or chemistry, which proposed no explanation for the universe or man's existence.  Many of this century's greatest scientists have issued grave warnings against trying to mix science and religion.  Einstein said, ". . . scientific theory has nothing to do with religion."  Nobel laureate Erwin Schroedinger added, "[Science] knows nothing of . . .  good or bad, God and eternity."  Pretending to know what it couldn't, psychology offered a religious science of the mind and claimed to present new evidence for God's existence: the harmony of psychology and Scripture.  The truth is that the two are irreconcilable.

Dave Hunt, "How Close Are We? Compelling Evidence for the Soon Return of Christ," p. 17

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Lots of good stuff about the Roman Catholic Church this week, most of which came from Christian Apologetics & Resource Ministry posts on Facebook  (By the way, as a disclaimer - CARM is operated by staunch Calvinists, so you will encounter that sort of theology being defended there.)  Here are the topics you may find useful for dealing apologetically with Romanists:

A list of false teachings in the Roman Catholic Church.

Maintaining Salvation in Roman Catholicism.

The Exaltation of Mary.

Roman Catholicism, comparing Mary to God.

Roman Catholicism, Mary, and Idolatry.

The Cripplegate had a good article about why Peter isn’t the “rock” on which Jesus built the Church, contrary to Romanist claims.  “So, to paraphrase Jesus’ words, the Lord told Peter,’“I say to you that you are a small stone, and upon this bedrock I will build My church.’ It was a play on words that made a significant spiritual point.”

All this proof about the false teachings of the Romanist church means nothing to smiling Joe Osteen; he gives the Pope praises.

CARM also had an article about what Oneness Pentecostals teach, and why it is heresy.

And then we come to Mormons again:
Something I’ve know for a long time, since I study Mormonism more than any other false teaching, is the fact that Mormons as a whole are under more stress than the average population.  With their constant striving for perfection, and worrying about whether they’ve done enough to earn salvation, it is no real wonder why they are so stressed out!  I’ve previously read that Utah has the highest rate of depression in the U.S.A.

One of the doctrines Mormons try to pretend never happened is Brigham Young’s teaching - which he claimed to get from God - about Adam being God.  The discount that Young was speaking as a prophet of God, and nowadays try to say he was just expressing a personal belief.  Well, the history proves the LDS to be - as usual - liars.

Over the years I have stayed in various Marriot brand motels, and enjoy trading the ever present Book of Mormon in the rooms with one I have annotated.  Well, I’m not staying in their motels any more, unless that’s all I can find.  Unlike real Christians who avoid pandering to homosexuals, Marriot is pandering to them to enrich himself.  Of course the Mormon church won’t excommunicate the Marriots because that would be a huge loss of money for them.

Do we really need another Bible based on the entertainment or personality industries?
HT to Erin.

A woman who reads this blog sent me a link to this article which points out what happens when the church panders to the world - it causes more loss of the younger generation.  Those of us in the apologetics ministry have been saying this for a long time, as we have condemned the seeker-sensitive and market-driven philosophies.

One last item to demonstrate the future of the American church - in Denmark the Church now has to allow homosexual “couples” to “marry” in their churches, and they even have to supply the clergy.  Those who wish to follow Christ should leave these establishments.

Love Lustres at Calvary

MY FATHER,

Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips, supply words that proclaim “Love lustres at Calvary.”

There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son, made a transgressor, a curse, and sin for me;
There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;
There thy infinite attributes were magnified, and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due, and infinite punishment was endured.

Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy, 
cast off that I might be brought in, 
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.

My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song, 
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thorny crown that I might have a glory-diadem,
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might for ever live.

O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.

O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
my every step buoyant with delight, as I see my enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open.

Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross,
mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

From The Valley of Vision, Puritan Prayers and Devotions, p.76-77

Did They Really Say That?!?

“Well, just because the Bible says that God framed the world with things that were not seen, that does not mean that He framed this world out of nothing.  It simply means that He framed the world out of something that you could not see.  In other words, He didn’t go out here and pick up something - a few raw materials - and then sling a world together.  No, the raw material or the substance that God used to frame this world was His faith and His Word - His faith and His Word ... The way that He created the world was, first of all, He conceived something on the inside of Him.  He conceived; He had an image; He had a picture.  God doesn’t just sling things into existence without first of all conceiving it first.”

Jerry Savelle, Framing Your World with the Word of God, part 2, audiotape #SS-36, side 1. Cited by Hank Hanegraaff in Christianity in Crisis, 21st Century, p.374-375.

This is the sort of nonsense one can expect from false teachers.  This is the “fruit” of their teachings; that faith and God’s Word are material substances that God joined together for creation.  The Bible says that God just spoke it all into existence; created everything out of nothing -- ex nihilo.  God doesn’t have faith, because God has all knowledge and has nothing for which He needs faith.   Jerry Savelle, and all of his Word of Faith ilk, are false teachers -- and their teachings are spiritually dangerous.  Avoid them like the plague.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

This week I’ve read lots of things about Roman Catholicism, so I’ll start with those articles, which you should find of interest.

Elizabeth Prata has an excellent article examining some of the teachings about Mary.

Then the Pope himself posted a “tweet” about being able to “turn to the Mother of God and find protection and care.”  I really would like to see where they find this nonsense in the Bible.

Quite a while back one of my RA&H articles linked to an article about Roman Catholic Womenpriests, a liberal feminist movement to ordain Catholic women.  Of course they do not do it with the sanction of Rome.  The movement is still going strong.

Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry had four articles about Romanist teachings:

1.  Salvation by works.

2.  The Gospel according to Rome.

3.  Responding to the question about whether Catholics are Christian.

4.  The Catholic view of the god of Islam.

In addition to articles about Romanism, CARM also had a synopsis of the basic  teachings of Mormonism.

Another cult I learned something new about this week is the Jehovah’s Witness.  I was reading the weekly email from Midwest Christian Outreach and there was a report about a meeting with a JW.  The author gave an example of part of the conversation:
She mentioned she believed Jesus is HER (personal) mediator just as the Bible teaches. I said I agree w/her! but then I showed her pg.10 of the WT book Worldwide Security Under the Prince of Peace in which the WT teaches:

"Jesus Christ, is not the Mediator between Jehovah God and all mankind. He is the Mediator between his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, and the nation of spiritual Israel, which is limited to only 144,000 members."

Mind you, this is a citation from an official JW publication!  I had never read this before - had never known that they saw Jesus as the mediator for ONLY the 144,000.  And yet this cult claims to be Christian!!

Another really false teacher is Todd Bentley.  Not only is he a false teacher, but he is dangerous to peoples’ physical well-being because he likes to kick and punch them for “healing.”  Pastor Justin Peters confronted Bentley this week; read this report to see what happened.  (Hint - false teachers don’t like to be confronted.)

More on the “bridal eschatology” of the International House of Prayer.  This cult actively seeks the youth, so be very careful to protect the young people you know from this self-centered and perverse false teaching which leads to arrogance on behalf of those at IHOP.

Psychotherapists Are Wolves

The most obvious counseling error is for a church to refer a believer to a professional counselor, be it a clinical psychologist, marriage and family counselor, or a psychiatrist who practices psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, if you are not aware, does not deal with medical issues; rather it is "talk" therapy drawn from some of the more than 500 concepts that professional counselors employ. ...

Yet here, in brief, are our fundamental problems with referring believers to those trained in psychological counseling: 1) The basic concepts were conjured up by those who were atheists and anti-Christians. Scripture tells us in Psalm 1 that believers are not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly. 2) The foundational belief of psychological counseling is that mankind is inherently good. Jeremiah 17:9 states the opposite. 3) It is an intimidating myth that psychological counseling is scientific and that only professionals are equipped to counsel. 4) Since nearly all issues related to counseling are symptoms of sin, psychological counselors have no basis for addressing sin. 5) All Christian psychologists attempt to integrate psychotherapeutic concepts with the teachings of Scripture. 6) Referring believers to professional counselors is a shameful denial of the authority and sufficiency of God's Word. It is a matter of shepherds turning their flock over to hirelings at best--wolves in disguise at worst.


T.A. McMahon, "How Does Your Church Counsel?", The Berean Call, June 2014

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

As a follow-up to the Liberty University fiasco of having Glenn Beck teach Mormonism, Mormonism Research Ministry’s blog has a two part article explaining the problems with the incident.  Part 1 and part 2.

Rick Warren’s support for Roman Catholicism is nothing less than apostasy.

The Emergent/Emerging movement has also been playing around with Roman Catholic mystical teachings, including the heretical idea of the RCC’s Eucharist.

Lighthouse Trails Research has a good reference source for identifying organizations promoting the contemplative/mysticism movement.

The latest target of Tim Challies’ series on false teachers is Creflo Dollar.  He’s another of those wealthy Word of Faith teachers who have gotten rich off of suckering his followers.

James MacDonald has a book out, which Gary Gilley reviews, exposing MacDonald’s false teachings.  MacDonald has succumbed to the popularity cult.

About 2 1/2 years ago I wrote a series about how the psychology and psychiatry industry was diametrically opposed to Christianity.  Answers In Genesis has posted an excellent article, “A Christian Response to the Crisis in Psychiatry,” which I think is a good follow-up.

Arch-heretic Jim Wallis and his cronies have always claimed to be Christian while at the same time teaching opposite of what the Christian faith teaches.  Their primary focus has been on the “social gospel” and promoting every left-wing political agenda.  Now they’ve “come out” unabashedly as pro-homosexual.

Wallis and his ilk promote the idea that there can be such a thing as a “gay Christian.”  Answers In Genesis has a good response to this oxymoron.

With many “churches” succumbing to the homosexual agenda, it is important that we, as true Christians, continue to stand fast on the Word of God and what it says about homosexual behavior.  While some suggest that there can be a neutral stance, Albert Mohler explains why there is no “Third Way.”