It is the duty of Christians to warn of false teachers and false teachings. HT to Mary.
One of my favorite conservative commentators is Matt Walsh. Take a look at his excellent article, “If Your Church Makes Christianity ‘Cool” and Comfortable You Should Find A New Church.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury just proves what an apostate he is.
Watch out for the teachings of George Elerick. Sounds like he’s been training with Mormons.
Alec has an EXCELLENT exposure of some of the heresies of Rick Warren. And yet Warren is held in high esteem by the majority of Christians — including pastors who should know better. And he continues to join with Rome.
Another episode examining Bill Gothard’s ATI education.
The Museum of Idolatry has posted some new stuff finally, and here are some examples of what is wrong with the Church today:
1. “Wrestling Match, Drag Race or Youth Conference?" Just who are they worshiping?
3. Did Jesus really come to earth to demonstrate the supernatural? Um, no. A perfect example of false teaching at its worst.
6. A pastor goatherd tries to defend his Star Wars nonsense.
Did these articles sadden you? They should, because this is what is invading the REAL Church, totally distorting the Gospel and the whole purpose of the Church, let alone that these things demonstrate the self-focus and charismania that so many “churches” teach.
A very good article about Bible versions, examining the horrid non-translation known as “The Message.” It’s a “MESS” and definitely not a Bible; it is dangerous.
The December issue of The Berean Call has an excellent article about Calvinism, proving it is just Augustinianism and latent Roman Catholicism. Many good questions about how Calvinism doesn’t fit with Biblical teachings.
Wheaton College has some heretics promoting Islam, but I think that is only a symptom that in general the college itself has gone quite liberal.
The ELCA branch of the Lutheran Church apostatized many years ago. There is a site which keeps track of their teaching, and they also have a blog, both sites of which I recommend if you are interested in learning about the ELCA’s apostasy.
Mark Driscoll is such a wolf, sneaking in wherever he can.
Be careful what you share on line. First there is The Piano Guys Christmas promotion of Mormonism, then there’s this video of a woman doing an excellent job of playing the violin followed by what seems to be a great evangelistic message about Jesus - until you realize she’s a Mormon (which the video doesn’t tell you).
Here’s a “newish” cult to be aware of: Wayne Jolley and his “The Gathering International.”
Lastly, I have “A Reference Blog” which I use to gather links to various sites on various topics. I started this blog after having a couple computer crashes and losing all my links. After the first crash I began collecting all my favorite links on a document file so at least I could retrieve the document from backup storage and link from it. But after my last crash, I decided to get my links permanently on line. Oh there are so many!!! It’s taking me a while, and I’ve sort of been doing the blog post as topics in the particular subject come up. While for the present they are mostly links in regards to theological, apologetics, and social issues, they will include aviation topics and such. Anyway, the latest post I made might be of interest to my readers for quick reference links about cults: “Apologetics—Specific Cults” is the title of this post. You might find some of the other posts of interest also.
13 comments:
Hi Glenn,
Ok, you got a lot of gems in this week's roundup. Matt Walsh, Alec Satin, Berean Call, Warren Throckmorthon on Driscoll (unreal, but not unexpected), and Challies comments about the Piano Guys.
But what really hit me was your mention of the Star Wars "church"... not because of that wolf's obvious "apostasy center" shenanigans, but because of the whole Star Wars phenomenon right now in general. Why Christians are rushing to see that movie is beyond me. If you get down to the brass tacks, it is a powerfully deceiving story about an alternative world, with an alternative worldview, and an alternative salvation message. But because it is told in a very compelling manner, one doesn't really process the deceptions. Should we be conforming to the world by filling our minds with this kind of entertainment, or should we be transformed by renewing our minds in the Scripture? For the record, I do not believe entertainment is inherently sinful, but what we choose to spend our leisure time doing should not be in obvious conflict with our faith.
-Carolyn
We watched the first three Star Wars movies and enjoyed them. I used to be a big fan of science fiction (which is how I became a Mormon), and I find it easy to laugh at the silly new age theology -- discerning people can do that. ALL science fiction I've ever seen or read has new age or evolutionist ideology which can be ignored by intelligent people. I have found, though, that modern science fiction is full of just about everything else unwholesome and so gave up the genre for the most part years ago.
For curiosity we ended up renting the "prequels" and found them to be just plain inane and overly done with CGI to the point of not being one bit enjoyable. Now the whole Star Wars idea has become virtually idolatry and we will not waste time or money on the new ones. For churches to use ANYTHING of the entertainment industry for sermons (except to give examples of condemnation of worldviews) is downright abhorrent.
your reference blog is awesome! I'm definately keeping an eye on that one too
I understand your point... you and your wife are discerning and mature believers, so you can certainly see through the problems. But really, considering most Christians can't see the problems with so-called "Christian" teachers like Beth Moore or Rick Warren, I don't think adding to their confusion by seeing movies like Star Wars is going to help! :)
-Carolyn
Doug,
Thanks! I made it for me, as noted, but a couple other bloggers have said they find it useful. I just finally finished one last night with some important aviation links I use for research.
Carolyn,
You are correct, which is why I never recommend movies with questionable ideology to anyone but mature Christians.
A lot of churches in your blog, Anglican, Lutheran, Calvinist, Catholic, Hillsong, Vineyard et al. Could you say which churches you would say are the true church, and really important question, as I try and have a discernment ministry, is the comment from Jesus about planks and splinters, I do worry whilst I try and correct false teaching I may have planks I don't know of.
And Jesus said consider the warbirds of the air, sorry Glenn, your focus is on the wrong flying things!!
Richard,
The Anglican church became apostate years ago when they began putting women in leadership and sanctioning homosexuality, as well as teaching that Genesis is just a story and evolution is how we got here.
The only Lutheran body I condemn by their teachings is the ELCA branch, which for almost 20 years has sanctioned homosexuality and later promoted same-sex fake marriage. They also have women leaders, deny the literal creation, etc.
Calvinists are normally fundamental in their teachings and beliefs except when it comes to specific Calvinist teachings of the TULIP nonsense (which I examine in one of my articles). There are individual Calvinists, such as Mark Driscoll, who are condemned by their personal actions and teachings outside of Scripture. Calvinism is not a denomination.
Roman Catholicism is an apostate and heretical man-made organization, and I wrote a whole series about them back in 2010, exposing their false teachings.
Hillsong is a group of seeker-sensitive churches which began by Brian Houston in Australia, with at least two assemblies in the USA and at least one in England. They are known for their complete concert atmosphere and feel-good teaching, as well as scandals such as having a homosexual couple as a worship team, refusal to condemn homosexuality, etc.
The Vineyard denomination was begun as a signs and wonders group, with lots of false teaching in regards to spiritual warfare and other charismanic nonsense.
Another denomination decried on this blog is the United Methodist Church, which as a denomination has gone quite liberal, but some individual assembles are fighting against that trend. Then the United Church of Christ is probably the most liberal and apostate denomination still pretending to be Christian.
As for denominational churches which still seem pretty solid, the LCMS Lutherans and PCA Presbyterians are still solid (although they do have teachings I disagree with, such as Calvinism, baptismal regeneration, consubstantiation, etc, but these can be fairly minor points in the overall scheme of things).
Overall, one must examine the teachings of the individual assemblies, because there are many more who are independent than who are with a denomination. Examine their doctrinal statements first and foremost. Then examine their teachings and practices.
Apologetics ministries expose false teachings, which has nothing to do with planks and splinters, rather they are about just exposing what goes against Scripture.
Anonymous 12/19, 2:14 AM
I'm guessing your comment is due to my last Reference Blog post, which is aviation links. You have made a snap judgment without knowing anything about the topic. I think you violated every Scripture about judging.
Wow Glen,
I did not know that you were previously a Mormon; no wonder you address the heresies of this cult.
Praise our LORD Jesus, you are now saved by the finished work of Him! This news made my whole day, ALLELUIA!
Appreciated the article addressing Rick Warren's false teachings concerning his version of ecumenism. In taking our notes from the Bereans, it is becoming easier and clearer to actually see how the organized, institutional churches are teaching, promoting, and practicing that one world religion, Babylon, that our Holy Scriptures speak of. I watched a video series by Pastor Dean Good via Vimeo, one being "As Goes the Church, So Goes the Culture." I have to admit, he presents some very powerful examples of how the visible churches are leading us down the path of the antichrist system.
Also, the Star Wars visits the church themes are tickling the ears of the pew sitters to be sure. In our neck of the woods, when Al Gores "An Inconvenient Truth" were shown in our local public school system science classes, the community elite decided that was not enough, so they marched the movie across the street to the most influential ELCA Lutheran church in town, and showed the movie to the youth group and any other adult that chose to view this fabled tale. And to try and reason with these "churched" folks is virtually impossible, for the religious sect of life has MORE influence than the educational/political systems.
It seems as though church folks in our area know everything about everything, and yet when it comes right down to reading the Bible, studying and meditating upon the Scriptures for oneself, the individual, there has been a mass exodus away from such a thing, for it is far easier to rely on the pastor of our dreams to interpret the Scriptures their way in manipulating and controlling the masses.
The Jesus of our Holy Scriptures is growing faintly dim as He is still knocking on the doors of most church buildings made with human hands, desiring to come in.
"Star Wars," "An Inconvenient Truth/Al Gore," "The Andy Griffith Show Bible Study" (Actually attended this study in one of the most conservative churches in our area and it was a total joke!), or driving our youth group (our children included much to our shame) to the local catholic assembly to watch Mel Gibson's catholic version of "The Passion of Christ" movie and then visit the so called 'stations of the cross' afterwards, it seems as though the modern version of Christianity seen in the visible church cannot rely on Scriptures alone for their truth......they need help from afar. How sad, oh how Jesus must be grieving for His sheep.
Anonymous, 12/20 9:04 AM:
I mention my Mormon background every now and then, as it comes to my mind in context of what I'm discussing. If you look at the article labeled "About Me" you will find this one which describes my church history:
http://watchmansbagpipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-church-experience.html
My first apologetics desire was to reach Mormons with the truth. I used to have a whole bunch of article about Mormonism on this blog, but for convenience of use I started a new blog just about the Mormon church and moved all the articles there (a link to it is shown on the upper right side of The Watchman's Bagpipes blog). On that blog I give a little bit more information about my time with the Mormons:
http://watchmanvlds.blogspot.com/2015/10/my-history-in-and-out-of-lds.html
Yes, been a fan of the pianoguys for a while too. Thanks for the link.
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