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. A.W. Tozer
Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. --Basil of Caesarea
Once you learn to discern, there's no going back. You will begin to spot the lie everywhere it appears.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:12

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

It really takes a lot of work to keep up with this stuff so as to warn my readers about what is happening!

Excellent article suggesting we should have “stranger danger” teaching in the Church!

Prophet Passion Java, “Bishop” Noel Jones — another false teacher/prophet I’ve not heard of before.  I just don’t get it — why do people believe this trash!?!?!

Similarly, another false prophet gaining an audience is “Prophet Nicholas,” who “launches Holy Ghost Missiles Against Singleness.”  Satan is having a field day!

Gary Gilley had an excellent series on the “Ancient-Future Faith” movement.  Part 1 is “Ancient-Future Faith Or Do All Roads Lead to Rome?”; part 2 is “Ancient-Future Faith: Its Practices”; and part 3 is “Ancient-Future Faith: Its Beliefs.”

It may be satire, but it is right on the money.

It’s pretty sad when people like Greg Laurie help promote the false teachings of Roman Catholicism.

Christians need to quit being cowards.

Priscilla Shirer is really using her popularity to get more and more bizarre with her false teachings.

Seems to me that Thabiti Anyabwile is nothing less than a full-blown racist.  And yet he is cited by so many as a wonderful evangelical teacher.

Seeker-sensitive tithe mongering.  For the members of this congregation: Four minutes of your life wasted, should be leaving you questioning why you went to this church!

Speaking of tithes, it is becoming common for churches to play the secular game of collecting offerings on-line, supposedly for more convenience. First problem is the name of this group, which reinforces the lie that Christians are to tithe.  Another problem with this is that these groups charge a percentage of the take for their own income, so not all money donated goes to the church.  They claim that stats say giving increases when people can do so on-line.  Oh, and I’ve heard it said that it also makes giving convenient when traveling.  But why can’t the travelers just give on their return?  Why do people think they have to give every week? (I get paid once a month and give once a month!)  And, really, why would people increase giving just because they have on-line access?  To lessen their guilt about not attending Church?  Does the possibility of receiving more money really justify the pragmatism of playing the secular world’s game?  Is money really that important to the Church that they will use anything that “works” to get more of it?  I certainly wouldn't want a percentage of my offering going to pay a firm to handle the money -- I want ALL of my offering to go to the Church.  This is just a way to make money off of the church, plain and simple, and the churches go along with it and praise it.

I’ve discovered another female false prophet in a 2-year old video — Stacey Campbell.  Looks to me like she’s demon-possessed.

The United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom is now approving and performing same-sex fake marriages.  This denomination no longer pretends to obey God.

It’s ironic when a church fires a false teacher, not for false teachings, but for his sins.  I think his self-image from his popularity probably had something to do with his actions.  Here’s another short report on Perry Noble’s firing.

The ultimate in pastor worship.  How about returning to worshiping God?

Russell Moore again promoting paganism.  Can you just see Paul asking all the pagans to pray together with him for peace in the Roman Empire?  Neither can I.

Part 3 of the series on the NAR’s “Passion Translation” of the Bible.

Rodney Howard Browne’s church had a 12-year-old girl blaspheming God!

Closing with this.  All I can say is, WOW!  How far down away from the Lord can CCM get?!?

9 comments:

Karen said...

Noel Jones was one of I think 6 or 7 "preachers" who were featured on a reality series. They were all a disgrace and showed the world the arrogance, pride and infatuation with living like the world. Besides Noel Jones they had Clarence McClendon on there. If you research him he is "word of faith", appears on TBN, etc. But what is most disturbing is that he ended his marriage because "God told him he was to marry another woman". He was divorced and remarried within a short amount of time which seems to indicate he was unfaithful to his wife. TBN still promoted him during this time and continues to have him on as a guest.

How God must weep at our lack of holiness, discipline, living His Truth. I've been praying for Christians to have a clear understanding of God's holiness and our individual sinfulness. We are like the children of Israel who without a judge did what was right in their own eyes.

Anonymous said...

Hi Glenn,

I read Stranger Danger. While I appreciate the Veinot's excellent (definitely excellent) explanation of how the secular trends, based on emotionalism, psychology, marketing, and etc, and passed on from Finney, to Maslow, to Schuller, etc, have unfortunately influenced the church, they were way too gracious about Hybels in giving him any credit for fidelity to the Gospel. Hybels is a hireling at best, a wolf at worst. All Hybels did was capitalize on the massively compromised and unsound trajectory of his unsaved forbears, and created a huge goat pen with a nice wide gate, calling it "church". He himself teaches falsely and also invites wolves in to fleece the flock. Let's give credit where credit is due... and speak the plain truth about an untrustworthy man.

Frankly, the blame for letting wolves and serious compromise/error in the flock comes in all the "camps" of Christianity.. SBC and Baptists have done this, Pentecostals have done this, the Reformed have done this (and since the latter often consider themselves more doctrinally sound than the other camps (at least that's the attitude my husband and I have personally encountered from them), a few examples of their shortcomings: Piper endorsed RW and Driscoll. Read Glenn's current RAAH article about Ron Burns, better known as TA. Also the SGM child abuse scandal... just to name a few).

The worst part is when ordinary saints in any of these camps try to be watchmen on the wall and rebuke these problems, the wolves are still coddled, the wrong teaching is still propagated, the big name celebrity preacher is still promoted (no matter what he does or says!), the abuses are still covered up, etc, etc, etc, and the watchmen are castigated! At least we're in good company. Hebrews 11.

Otherwise, the Veinot's article was worth a read. Excellent history, connecting the dots. The leaven has truly leavened the whole lump, just as Jesus said it would.

As for the rest of your posts, the usual problems in the church, sadly.

The only other comment I will make is about is "online tithing/giving". A local assembly collecting offerings online? For all the reasons you listed Glenn, and more, I agree that worldly idea gets a capital N-O!!! Giving according to the Spirit is 2 Cor 9:7. We should show up and worship with our local assembly, and give in person. I'd love to see offering plates ditched, though, in favor of a collection box in the building. Allows for more anonymity - including giving cash without your name attached to it - and prevents anyone from seeing you put something in the "plate". We also need to remember most of us give of our excess, so we have nothing about which to boast, and also we should never sound those trumpets (Matthew 6:1-4).

By the way, another verse that speaks correctly to the real heart of giving: Romans 12:1. Because we can render to God what is God's even when "silver and gold" have we not...

-Carolyn

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Hi Karen,

Lots of false teachers/prophets are support by TBN -- Total Blasphemy Network. They have do so much to lead Christians astray, as well as unbelievers looking for the truth, that surely they will be severely punished by the Lord.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Carolyn,
To be fair to the Stranger Danger article, it was written 12 years ago (MCO is trying to get all their journal articles on line) and Hybels wasn't quite as bad then as he is now. He just kept getting worse as he gained "fame."

The church we left after 13 years had a two boxes for offerings, one near each door. And that was it; everyone knew were they were. I also think that is the best way, but the assembly we currently attend does the plate.

Anonymous said...

Hi Glenn,

You're right, Stranger Danger was written 12 years ago. Thank you for pointing that out. Hybels has become measurably worse.

I've never been in a church that had boxes for the offering. I'd love to see it, though, in all churches!!!! :)

-Carolyn

Anonymous said...

It has been pointed out by mathematically inclined people that our planet Earth takes up

0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000003 %

of the volume of the observable universe.

Some believers would point to that and say the human race is only a tiny speck in God's creation and not very important in His scheme of things. Only our sinful pride could lead us to think otherwise. But then I know there are believers who insist Man is the apex of creation-- the overwhelming reason why the creative act was done in the first place.

How do folks here resolve this issue?

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Anonymous,

The way to resolve the issue is to look at what the Bible says. Man was the apex, created in God's image. The immenseness of the Universe is so that we have a little understanding of the vast power of God. The whole universe became corrupt as a result of the Fall, and all of creation now groans while waiting restoration (Rom. 8:21-22)

Anonymous said...

This brief article speaks of "pseudogenes" in human chromosomes.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/17/what-found-when-scientists-decoded-genome/QnFSWn1bxjSpI0jLx8fUPL/story.html

"... They simply became extra baggage carried down from one generation to the next. Thanks to a genetic roll of the dice, they ended up becoming common. Now these 14,000 pseudogenes are found in all humans today."

Do you predict that some day researches will find that they are not "broken" at all, and actually are serving a useful purpose?

-- Cameron

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Cameron,

Certainly. The same way all those "vestigial" organs have been discovered to have purpose.