Agglomeration

The Good - For Education and/or Edification

Why is sex so complicated? Good discussion of love vs sex.

Why modern-day prophets never saw this pandemic coming. Simple answer: because they are false prophets! Good analysis of all that is wrong with the prophetic movement, including how false teacher Michael Brown supports them.

The Enneagram — Part 1

The Charismatic Mishandling Of Mark 16:9-20

How Early Are the Biblical Accounts of Jesus?

More Wolves and False Teachings

More heresy from Rome — the Pope wants to unite with other religions in prayer!

An excellent book review of Experiencing God. It is a dangerous book.

Benny Hinn — it’s God’s fault that pastors fornicate.Hi

Andy Stanley continues to prove what a false teacher he has become. He fails to understand that the faith developed BECAUSE of the Bible — the Old Testament. The Bible was assembled in portions in the FIRST century. WE, that is everyone who has lived since the 1st century, DID learn about the resurrection via the Bible. The gospels WERE the Bible for those in the 1st Century.

Fake healers exposed and challenged.

It’s a long video (2+ hours) but many false teachers/false prophets are exposed.  Kenneth Copeland, one of the main targets, is obviously demon-possessed.

Tony Evans says God needs our permission to intervene on earth!

More evidence that the ELCA Lutheran denomination is heretical.

Hillsong, Changing the Bible one Gender at a time. But what else can you expect from a cult.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

Ex-President Jimmy Carter (the worst in history until Obama) continues to be looked to as a spokesman for Christianity.  Now he claims that Jesus would approve of same-sex fake marriage.  This man worships another Christ — and apparently always has.

The superstition in the Roman Catholic Church never ceases to amaze me.  Their whole ideology of exorcism has been unbiblical from the start, but it just keeps getting more and more ridiculous.  A priest performed an exorcism over a whole town from a helicopter!  Does he really think he affected any demons?  Come on, Catholics, where is your protest over this nonsense?!?  Aren’t you the least bit embarrassed?  It’s no wonder the world makes fun of the Christian faith when they see such antics.

OH BOY!!  Willow Creek, that bastion of the market-driven mentality, just held a “Leadership Conference,” where guest speakers included MORMONS!!!  And Brian Houston of Hillsong, to name a few.  Well, when you think of your assembly as a business organization instead of a place for believers to gather for corporate worship, edification and mutual support, I guess anything goes.

Anyone still in the United Methodist Church really has to justify why they are part of a denomination which is so deep in apostasy.  Now we have a “Methodist Healthcare Ministries” providing almost half-a-million dollars to Planned Parenthood!  Talk about dishonoring God!!!!

How often have you heard the saying, “Preach the Gospel, If Necessary Use Words”?  I’ve always thought it was a very stupid thing to say, but it usually comes from those who think they are more “holy” in someway because they promote the social gospel rather than the gospel which saves.  Take a look at Steven Kozar’s post — it hits the nail on the proverbial head.

Christian Missionary Alliance seems to be going deep into the whole mystical/contemplative movement.  Be forewarned.

Elizabeth Prata has an excellent, short commentary on Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God.

Midwest Christian Outreach’s blog article this week gave me a good laugh.  It’s about how we end up laughing at some of the foolishness of the cults — because it can be so absurd!!  The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ “New World Translation” is used as an example of some really silly things.

Lastly, one of the best articles this past week comes from Pamela Couvrette: “The Cult of Personality Under the Evangelical Limelight.”  She hits a lot of false teachers with this one — don’t miss it.

Random Stuff

I have been collecting a lot of items this past week, so put on your sunglasses and get ready for much darkness to be exposed!

There is a lot of controversy about The Harbinger, the best-selling book by Jonathan Cahn.  I have discussed this book in previous random posts (under the label “Cahn, Jonathan), but more and more is coming out about Cahn himself and his aberrant beliefs.  Apprising Ministries has been following the subject, so my links will take you to that site.  The first article I’d like you to read has a claim by Cahn that God used “spiritual wingnut” Jim Bakker to launch his book.  The next article tells about Cahn’s claim that he’s been blessed by Bakker’s mentoring.  The last article demonstrates more of Cahn’s association with Word of Faith heretics, as well as showing how Cahn will not correct those who see him as a prophet.  I think discernment would tell us to avoid any teachings by Jonathan Cahn.

Seeker-sensitive goatherd Steven Furtick has become buddies with Word of Faith heretic Rod Parsley.  Parsley considers Furtick to be “one of the nations most influential young leaders.”  I think this idea is really scary.  Apprising Ministries demonstrates that Furtick is becoming a “quasi-Word Faith preacher.”  For those who doubt that Rod Parsley is a heretic, I suggest this post by Apprising Ministries.

Tim Challies has posted a review of Mike and Debi Pearl’s book, To Train Up a Child. This is a book I previously reviewed, but you might find Challies’ report to be worthwhile. Meanwhile, Recovering Grace did their own review of the book Challies previously reported on, Debi Pearl’s “Created to Be His Help Meet.”  The Pearls are definitely teachers to avoid.

In the news last week was a report about a Jackson, MS, church [link gone by 12/16/16] who would not allow a black couple to be married there.  This is totally unbiblical and unChristlike racism.  The pastor of the church was told that if he conducted the wedding there, he would lose his position.  I understand that the pastor, Stan Weatherford, was interested in giving the couple a controversy-free wedding, however, I have to condemn him for not defying the members who were racists.  I think the proper thing for him to have done was to either defy them (and I would think the couple would go along with it - at least if it was me, I would) and hold the wedding ceremony there, or else resign his position.  The racists won the battle.  If Weatherford had done the ceremony there, the racists would have been exposed and excommunicated until they repented. The big question I have is, will Weatherford preach against racism?  Will he require repentance of the racists? Apparently there are enough members of that assembly who would have supported Weatherford had he done the ceremony there.  This goes to show that our shepherds should not allow themselves to be intimidated against doing what is right.

“Vision Casting” seems to be the rage among many of the seeker-sensitive and emergent leaders.  They have a “vision” for the direction of their church and if you don’t agree, well then, as Mark Driscoll has said, they need to be thrown off the bus.  Ken Silva has a good article about the unbiblical nature of “vision casting.”

Recovering Grace blog is testimonies from former Gothardites, i.e., those involved with IBLP.  There are so many excellent testimonies telling of the cult-like teachings of this organization that it is difficult to choose what to tell you about.  I have posted some previously.  “Why I Reject IBLP” is a good one to read to understand the depths of spiritual damage which happens in groups like this.

Lifeway Christian Resources bookstores is an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.  It is they who are responsible for publishing Beth Moore’s false teachings while pulling the movie “Courageous” because of language issues.  The SBC rejected the 2001 NIV Bible because of its gender-neutral translations, yet Lifeway continues to sell it.  When questions were raised about this issue, Lifeway simply stated that people have to trust its trustees to determine what they sell in their stores.  Um, yeah; I’m supposed to trust people to decide what is appropriate when they are very inconsistent.  They sell boatloads of false teaching by Beth Moore and yet refuse to sell a movie because of questionable language (and it isn’t the really foul stuff, either), but they will sell a liberal translation Bible.

Seeker-sensitive and emergent churches have claimed that Paul taught the use of worldly ways to draw people to hear the Gospel.  They claim this based on 1 Corinthians 9:22b, where Paul says, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.”  Was Paul really a pragmatist?  Pastor Larry DeBruyn presents an excellent biblical argument against that idea.

Finally, Apprising Ministries exposes the mysticism of Henry Blackaby’s “Experiencing God.”

Experiencing Henry Blackaby

Let me state up front that I have never read anything by Henry Blackaby.  I first heard about him through numerous reviews of his book, “Experiencing God,” and didn’t like what I read.  The reports all pretty much came to the same conclusion, which was that Blackaby’s teachings were not orthodox and should be avoided.  Therefore, my report here is based on others’ reviews, which I think are more than adequate to be used as a warning.

According to G. Richard Fisher & M. Kurt Goedelman in the Personal Freedom Outreach’s The Quarterly Journal, “One of the leading exponents of non-Charismatic subjectivism is Southern Baptist Henry Blackaby.  His writings include the best-seller, Experiencing God.  Charismatics have called Blackaby one who is ‘shaking Southern Baptist tradition.’”  They also cite Charisma magazine as saying about Experiencing God, “it urges individuals and congregations to break free from religious traditions in order to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance.”  (vol.23/no.3, July-September 2003, Experiencing Mysticism)

Fisher & Goedelman assess Blackaby’s writings this way: “Some of what he says is right.  Some of what he says may be helpful.  And he has tapped into every Christian’s desire to love God more and have more intimate times of fellowship with Him.” But they also say that some “are disturbed by what they see as semantic and hermeneutical confusion.  Some say that what Blackaby gives with one hand in exalting the Bible, he takes away with the other through nuances and caveats.  Blackaby’s book [Experiencing God] has good parts, questionably parts, contradictory parts, and problematic parts.  An evaluation of the book depends on the evaluation’s focus.”  They then cite what a few other evaluators say:

Michael Horton: “they are simply repetitions of the Keswick ‘Higher Life’ teaching.”

CRI’s Elliot Miller: “I do think [Blackaby’s] teaching is largely extra biblical and Scripture is arbitrarily and subjectively used to support principles he has really observed from his own experience.  I think his teaching can do some harm, and it disturbs me that he is so widely influential….”

Dr. Jay Adams said: “In [his] book the changes are rung on the word ‘sensing.’ One is guided by sensing God’s will, by sensing that He is at work, etc. … It has been a long time since I have read a book containing more misleading ideas about guidance.  There is no doubt that this book has the potential to do much harm.”

Gil Rugh, referencing his pastoral staff:  “Upon our review of Experiencing God, we have come to the conclusion that this book contains serious theological errors that disqualify it from being a helpful Christian resource.  To summarize, we believe that Experiencing God is in error in the following areas: 1) it teaches that God speaks directly to Christians in ways outside of the Bible; 2) it promotes a view of presenting the Gospel that is essentially the same as the ‘power evangelism’ approach of the Vineyard movement; 3) it takes a neo-orthodox approach to Scripture; 4) it promotes a low view of the person of Jesus Christ; 5) it seriously misinterprets and misapplies texts of Scripture; and 6) it promotes a view of Christian living that is unbiblical.”

So just what is it about Blackaby’s writings that disturbs discerning people?  Let me give some examples from “Experiencing God.”

“When God gave directions to our church in Saskatoon, most of the time He gave them through persons other than me.  Most of theme came from the members who were sensing a clear direction from God.  We created the opportunity for people to share what they sensed God was leading us to be or do.  Our desire was not to find out who was for it and who was against it. ... That is the wrong question. ... The right question is ‘With all of the information and all of the praying that we have been doing, how many of you sense that God clearly is directing us to proceed in this direction?’ This is a very different question.  It does not ask for members for their opinions.  It asks them to vote based on what they sense God is saying to His church.”

Okay, now I have some questions.  Is this not still asking for opinions as to personal “sensing”?  And does not Jeremiah 17:9 tell us that the heart is deceitful?  And can this vote not still be directed by personal agenda?  Fisher & Goedelman point out that, “Even more disturbing is the spiritual intimidation he exploits in getting people to ‘sense’ the direction God was supposedly providing.”  And then they cite this paragraph:

“People often ask, ‘Did you always wait until you got a 100 percent vote?’  No, I knew that we might have one or more that were so out of fellowship with the Lord that they could not hear His voice.  Another might be purposefully disobedient. ... Their disagreement indicated that they might have a fellowship problem with the Lord.”

So, if you disagree with what Blackaby “senses” God wants, then it is YOU who are out of fellowship or disobedient and can’t hear God’s voice!  Can I not turn this around and say that those in disagreement with him are the ones truly hearing God’s voice and that Blackaby is the disobedient one promoting his own agenda?  Fisher & Goedelman make a good point that, “If one applied a form of Blackaby’s premise to the ten Promise Land ‘explorers’ (and subsequently the entire Israelite community) who stood against Caleb and Joshua..., we see how unscriptural this guidance by ‘sensing’ of the majority can be.”

Thomas Williamson is also disturbed with this teaching.  He wrote, “I would just love Blackaby's book, if I was a pastor or religious leader that wanted to make unquestioning zombies out of my followers, so that they would do whatever I wanted them to do without question. I would order copies for every member (our of church founds), get everyone to read and study it, and make everyone feel that their spirituality, and our hopes for revival in the church, depended on their acceptance of Blackaby's teaching.”  Can you imagine the Joseph Smiths out there waiting to exercise this teaching?!

Fisher & Goedelman have three major concerns with Blackaby’s teachings: 1) contradictory statements along with a questionable Christology, 2) grandiose claims, and 3) confused hermeneutics resulting in covert mysticism. 

As an example of contradictory statements, Blackaby is cited as saying in one place that “God speaks through circumstances,” while later in the book he says, “Never, ever determine the truth of a situation by looking at the circumstances.”   Other similar examples are also provided, which demonstrates just how confusing Blackaby’s teachings can be.

An example Fisher & Goedleman give of Blackaby’s defective Christology is how he claims that Jesus had to continually make “major adjustments to be in perfect cooperation with the Father.”  Nowhere do we find this in Scripture!

Fisher & Goedelman explain the grandiose claims as being unverifiable “testimonials” about Experiencing God:  “Reports started to come in that people were sending copies of Experiencing God to friends and family all over the world.  Missionaries were studying it and had renewed senses of call and outbreaks of revival.  The book was even being used for church planting....”  They then make a very good point:  “What is especially disconcerting is to observe that none of the claims made for Blackaby’s book are made for the Bible.  Although maybe not intended, the testimonials in Experiencing God of “experiencing God” appear to transcend what Scripture is able to do in one’s life.  Consider that the reader is volleyed with testimonies of exhilarating intimacy with God, life-changing experiences, and church revival, all of which have come, not through the living Word of God, but through Blackaby’s book.” 

I don’t know about you, but when people give this sort of praise to a man’s book rather than to the Bible itself, I am really disturbed as to their focus.

Fisher & Goedelman continue their examination of Blackaby’s teachings by looking at the book he co-authored with his son, Hearing God’s Voice.  (Fisher & Goedelman say this book “is clearly a rewrite of Experiencing God with an apologetic attempt”.) In this book they teach that there are only two kinds of people - those who “know when God is speaking to them” and “those who question whether God communicates with people at all.”  So where does that leave people like me, who says God MAY communicate with us outside of Scripture (after all, He is sovereign) but I don’t “know” if God has ever done so with me?  And yet in the Experiencing God workbook, Blackaby writes, “If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience.” 

I find this to be very presumptuous! 

Blackaby claims that since God spoke to Adam and Eve, Abraham and other patriarchs, as well as Old Testament prophets and the New Testament Apostles, then we “can anticipate that He will be speaking to you also.”  The implication is that God will speak audibly to us!!!  But where does he find justification for this in Scripture?

Much of Experiencing God teaches a mystical relationship with God and Scripture, based on personal experiences, which is a major problem with Blackaby’s teachings - mysticism.  Mysticism as defined by D.D. Martin (cited by Fisher & Goedelman):  “an experienced, direct, nonabstract, unmediated knowing of God.”  

What does “unmediated” mean?  In the O.T. God mediated His presence through priests and the tabernacle.  God mediated Himself through Jesus and now mediates Himself through the Word.  Seeking a mystical knowledge of God is based on feelings, which leads to much dangerous theology.  After all, the Mormons capitalize on the fact that they “feel” a “burning in the bosom” which tells them the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, both of which we know to be false!

Fisher gives also gives a good explanation of mysticism in the April-June 2011 Quarterly Journal: “Mysticism is sensual, rather than cognitive.  It is emotional, rather than thoughtful.  It wants emotions, not biblical precision.  It wants a spiritual Disney World, not doctrine.  It cares little for biblical truth and feelings that may follow from truth, but wants feelings written large and leading out in front - truth aside.  Truth is no longer the judge of feelings in mysticism, but the reverse. ... Mystics mistake imagination for revelation and and individual’s feelings become God to them.”

Thomas Williamson is also disturbed by things in “Experiencing God.”  In his review, Williamson notes the following under his “Some Not-so-good Teachings”:

A sign of possible error in Blackaby's theology can be found on p. 19 of Blackaby's book "Experiencing God" when he states "With God working through me, I can do anything God can do." This statement assigns to man the attribute of omnipotence, which is a mistake. Only God can do anything God can do.

It gets worse, as Blackaby tells us how we can know about God. "In the Scriptures knowledge of God comes through experience. We come to know God as we experience Him in and around our lives." (p.5) "God wants you to come to a greater knowledge of Himself via experience.” (p.19)

I must strenuously disagree with this teaching. We know about God through His revealed, inspired, preserved Word of God, the Bible, not through our experience. 

....

Blackaby teaches that there is only one possible will for the life of every Christian, and that the Christian must learn God's perfect will for every action or else he will go astray. But how can we learn God's will for everything we do without a continuing revelation from God? Not to worry- just follow your leaders and do not disagree with anything they propose. According to Blackaby, true Christian unity means that all members of a church must be in to talk agreement even on non-moral, nontheological matters (such as whether to proceed with a building program.)

Summing up Blackaby’s teachings, Fisher & Goedelman conclude that “Christians who buy into Blackaby’s advice will find themselves in the muddle of the old higher-life school, trying to discern God’s voice and hear God speak.  Christians need not jump through all of these hoops, but ask God to help them to understand the power of His Word and to commit to daily devotions and Scripture memorization.  These things will bring strength, comfort, direction, and consistency.”

I heartily agree.  We can “experience God” through Scripture and prayer rather than some mystical experience which we try to interpret.

For further reading regarding the false teachings of Blackaby, I recommend the following:

Pastor Gary Gilley’s excellent 3-part review:

http://www.svchapel.org/resources/articles/20-christian-living/38-experiencing-god-part-1

http://www.svchapel.org/resources/articles/20-christian-living/39-experiencing-god-part-2

http://www.svchapel.org/resources/articles/20-christian-living/40-experiencing-god-part-3

Gilley’s review of “Hearing God’s Voice”:

http://www.svchapel.org/resources/book-reviews/4-christian-living/130-hearing-gods-voice-by-henry-and-richard-blackaby

http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue99.htm

http://discernmentministriesinternational.wordpress.com/tag/henry-blackaby/

http://apprising.org/2009/06/10/henry-blackaby-and-his-sons-view-of-gods-will-negates-sola-scriptura/

http://solasisters.blogspot.com/2012/02/cant-hear-god-speak-repent-says-henry.html

http://solasisters.blogspot.com/2011/12/bestseller-experiencing-god-misleading.html

[Other problems with Blackaby include his promotion of books by Madame Guyon (mystic and heretic) and Brother Lawrence (Catholic monk and mystic), which promotion was on his site for a time.]

Random Things

I’ve been quite busy lately, giving much less time to work on my own articles, but I have done my usual habit of collecting links to others’ good articles in the apologetics realm.  So this is another episode of random articles and my associated comments.

Rick Warren and various Emergents and other false teachers are going deeper into apostasy - and rank heresy - as they signed on to a proclamation titled, “Loving God and Neighbor Together.”  [link gone by 12/15/16] I expect this from heretics like Robert Schuller (who is one of the signatories)   and Brian McLaren, but too many supposed evangelicals are going along with this pandering to Islam.  I guess I have to admit that Warren’s involvement is no surprise, considering his previous episodes of sanctioning Islam, but I think it is time for pastors to start warning their sheep about what a dangerous religion Islam really is, and that - as Christians - we have nothing really in common with them.

Then there’s the story going around the past couple of months about churches in Great Britain changing the Ten Commandments.  After all, they needed to be “updated” to “reflect modern values.”  It won’t be long until the Big Ten are referred to as the jokes say - the Ten Suggestions.  “Thou shalt not steal” is now “prosper with a clear conscience.”  I know what you’re thinking - “HUH?!?!”  as Ken Silva asks, “So apparently, as long as I have “a clear conscience,” it’s okay for me to ‘prosper’ by stealing from you?”

Yes, Rick Warren is again a topic.  His “Daniel Plan” is another fad taking off, but Erin has a good question about it: “Does “Daniel Plan” Co-Author Care More About Your Scale Than Your Soul?”  The answer is, apparently, a resounding “yes!”

More on Mark Drisoll’s lack of qualifications for being a pastor comes in the form of a testimony by the wife of a former elder of Mars Hill Church.  Driscoll seems to be more of a cult leader (or just plain dictator) than he does a pastor.  

The goatherds leading so many charismaniac “churches” continually blaspheme God with their false teachings and blatant blasphemy.  Rob Deluca is a name I’m not familiar with, but watching just this one video of part of a “worship” service was enough to disgust any Christian with the abject blasphemy taught to a young girl, let alone the rest of the goats in the audience and the screaming “worship” leader.  I suggest this goatherd read Jesus’ warning at Matthew 18:6.

Here we go again: another Bible version will be released later this summer.  Called the “Common English Bible,” it seeks “to make a bridge between conservatives, moderates and liberals.”  Um, is there really a problem with just translating what the manuscripts actually say rather than making it agree with any particular agenda?  From the article in the Christian Post, one can read of politically-incorrect language being changes to something more palatable for liberals.  Of course it also follows the modern idea of being “gender-inclusive.”  Fuller Theological Seminary, that bastion of liberal Christianity, is adding it to “the NRSV and TNIV as translations that could be required for students doing biblical studies.”  After all, we certainly wouldn’t want them reading an unbiased Bible, would we?  I discovered Ken Silva did an article about this Bible when it was first available in digital format on the Internet, which I suggest you review.  Erin has a good commentary about this latest update.

Almost a year ago I wrote a short article which mentioned the Hebrew Roots Movement.    This led to an e-mail contact from the owner of Joyfully Growing In Grace blog, which reports of this movement.  This week she wrote a very good article about some claims by people in this movement.  I recommend it for your perusal.

Meanwhile, I am still slowly working on an article about the false teachings of mystic Henry Blackaby, but I came across this article last week, which should give you an idea of problems with Blackaby’s teachings!  As the author of this article points out, Blackaby claims that we should all be able to audibly hear God’s voice, and “If you do not hear God's voice, could it be your heart is not ready to respond to what he says? Are you clinging to sin or holding out against what you already know of his will? No matter what the reason for the silence, there is a remedy: repent and return to God. Allow God to soften your heart so you are ready to hear his voice and to respond in obedience. Continue seeking and listening until you have heard him speak to you in his unmistakable voice. When he does, it will change your life."  So my question becomes, “can you demonstrate this from Scripture?”  I like the author’s question:  “Mr. Blackaby...does this mean that you are sinless?”

Sola Sisters blog reports on “Concerns About Kirk Cameron’s Movie ‘Monumental.’”  I like Cameron, but I think he’s getting mixed up with the wrong people and getting some wrong information regarding not only American history, but theology in general

I long ago reported about the apostate condition of the ELCA denomination, especially in regards to their love affair with homosexuality.  Well, they’ve just sunk a bit deeper into that pit by choosing as senior pastor in St. Paul, MN’s largest Lutheran Church a man who openly practices homosexual behavior.  Do they really think this is pleasing to God?

One thing all false teachers have in common is that they seek the approval of man rather than the approval of God.  Ken Silva has a very good article on this subject over at Apprising Ministries.  Unlike most pastors today, Ken isn’t afraid to “name names” of false teachers.

The Cripplegate has a thought-provoking article about worship leaders.  Essentially, they need to remember that they aren’t rock stars.