It’s been quite a busy time for me, giving me little time for blog work. I’ve had a few piping jobs - and today I will be playing for a funeral an hour away - as well as taking an overnight with my sweetie to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of our wedding. And the yard work never stops calling my name! So here are things I’ve been reading since my last “GBU” post.
The Good:
“Unconditional Love” is from the psyche field, not from the Bible.
Is Mark’s Gospel an early memoir of the Apostle Peter? YES!
How did Judas die? Biblical contradiction? NO.
The Bad and/or Ugly
Matt Chandler continues to demonstrate his total lack of discernment as he and Francis Chan, another poorly-discerning teacher, join with the false teaching Hillsong and heretical Jesus Culture in a conference — a conference which has nothing to do with the REAL Christian faith. Stay away from the teachings which come from these people.
It is really sad when a Jewish “biblical scholar” decides that Leviticus has been messed with and that it originally approved of homosexual behavior. Of course he has also decided that nothing in the Pentateuch is original.
This says a LOT about this so-called “Christian” conference (“Revoice”).
Robert Gagnon gives his comments on that “Christian” conference (“Revoice”).
An example of the sort of nonsense found at “Revoice.”
Oh boy, another “conference” of false prophets, false apostles, and every other sort of false teacher. Any name you see in these advertisements are people to avoid like the plague.
Steven Furtick seems demonic to me.
Beth Moore’s theology is getting wackier by the day. AVOID HER!
David Barton is a dangerous false teacher. AVOID HIM!
Bethel Redding/Bill Johnson are getting more aberrant and absurd every day. That place is a bastion of every kind of false teaching by FALSE prophets. WARN everyone to avoid that place and their teachings as if their very lives depend upon it.
A “pastor” from a UMC mega-church claims that supporting same-sex fake marriage isn’t incompatible with Christian orthodoxy, that it isn’t heresy. Well, when you say there is such a thing as this fake marriage, then you are saying that God approves of it, which means you are worshipping another God and not the God of the Bible — i.e., you are indeed practicing heresy!
And the Pope again disagrees with God. His excuses for violating Gen.9:6 are just asinine. Hey Mr. Pope — assertions from you don’t trump God’s rules!
No humor for today!
5 comments:
Hi Glenn,
Good posts in the "good" section. And as always, informative posts in the "bad/ugly". I read in the papers about the pope trying to eliminate capital punishment. Ecc 8:11 came to mind. Along with your reference to Genesis 9:6.
In your next Good/Bad/Ugly post, I hope you'll cover the implosion at Willow Creek. Saw the articles on CT and other sources, about Hybels and his massive amount of misconduct (didn't surprise me one bit, because his 'church' philosophy wasn't Biblical from the beginning), and the stepping down of - at first just one of their pastors - and now - the entire leadership. Of course, it would do well for the leaders there - especially the women "elders" and "pastors" - to recognize that the women "leaders" were in sin and out of God's will in the first place by teaching and leading a mixed assembly. It is not hard to read the Word of God and see that God has ordained men to lead all aspects of corporate worship, including prayer, preaching, and the music.
With these events unfolding, I see a vindication not only for the abused women, but also for those of us who have been beat down by pastors and elders because we have had the discernment to see that the WC model (the seeker/market driven church) was unbiblical, with wrong doctrine and wrong thinking.
-Carolyn
HI Carolyn,
I'm not going to bother with Willow Creek's latest. I've posted so much about them over the years that I just see the current issue as the result of their ideology.
Hi Glenn,
No problem! My comment and your statement sum it up succinctly anyhow... what is going on there right now (Hybels misconduct exposed, the leadership failures in disobeying the Word of God and also in mishandling the misconduct situation, etc) is a direct result of their unbiblical ideology.
One final note... this also shows that God often lets churches head down the wrong path for a length of time before He addresses their errors. Read Revelation 2 & 3. Five of the seven churches were disciplined (some severely) from the Lord. But notice, He called each one to repentance, first.
It all starts with one little deviation from the truth... which in turn brings more and more error... which in turn will snowball into disaster unless the church repents. Catching and stopping error: the sooner the better. Ignoring error: always ends poorly.
-Carolyn
I liked your link on God's unconditional love. In one sense it is unconditional "It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love upon you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples; but it is )because the LORD loves you" (Deut 7), that is, God's decision to love a people is not conditioned on anything they have deserved or that is within them. Yet Israel was told to continue in the love of God by obeying his commands.
However, the modern sense in which this phrase is used - and it doesn't appear in any English translation I am aware of - leads to the error that whatever you do, however backslidden or indifferent you get to sinning, God will simply carry on loving you. All will be well in the end. I have little doubt that this doctrine has enabled abusers of various sorts to mistakenly think that whatever selfish behaviour they indulge in, God will still unconditionally love them, and that at the very least their salvation could never be in jeopardy.
I would echo Caroline here in her criticism of Hybels and Willow Creek. Unconditional love is a major doctrine of WC, exported round the world, and I think we can see some of the fruit of it in both the alleged abuse that has gone on there, and an indifference if not outright rebellion against some biblical doctrines not to popular today, namely the issue of women elders and teachers, or the abandonment of NT teaching in favour of psychological "insights". 'Boundaries' being a good example.
Ken B
How can Catholic "sacred tradition" be a valid source of divine authority when it is constantly changing?
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