Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good:

Captivated Through Philosophy and Empty Deceit.  Excellent review of popular false teachings from popular false teachers.

Chuck Missler, as well as many others, claim that there are secret messages in the Bible which can be found by discovering “codes.”  Here’s a good article examining Missler’s nonsensical “discovery.”

Steven Furtick’s church now has a water-slide baptismal — it must be true, because I saw it on the Internet.

Are we physically healed by Jesus “Stripes”?  NO!

Is the tithe required of Christians? Absolutely not.

The Bad:

New Calvinism is worse than the old Calvinism! Tim Keller is representative of their apostasy.

Michael Brown continues to prove he is a false teacher.  Scripture says NOTHING about any time one shouldn’t be exposing false teachers.

Beth Moore is again exposed as a teacher to really, really avoid.

Leonard Sweet — another one of those “only love matters” false teachers.

Roman Catholic superstition never ceases to surprise me. And they claim this stuff is “Christian”!!

The Ugly:

I guess Clayton Jennings thinks tooting your own horn while doing good works makes up for his abuse of women. Moody Radio interviewed this horrible example of a believer, but to their credit, they apologized when they were told what a predator he is.

Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson’s SOZO “ministry” is very, very dangerous.

Bethel Redding and SOZO.  Long video, but very informative about such horrendous false teachings.

Bethel, Hillsong, and associated false teachers are going to “bring Heaven to Earth.”  Just  look at the names of the participants to know who to avoid.

More information about “The Passion Translation” of the Bible: just another cult version.

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

I have many articles I want to write (a topic list with some references sits on my desk) but I am just busy with so many things lately that I’m resorting to posting some great quotations for provoking the thoughts of my readers.  Due to various medical issues with both me and my wife, we've had too many doctor visits; we’ve had extra band practices because of an important performance next month (our band meets 70 miles from our house); we are involved with photographing old country schools and helping a newspaper website with their archiving of photos and information on these schools; I’ve been busy teaching the history of U.S. military aircraft; doing much research for a local pastor; ministering to an elderly shut-in (including transporting her for doctor appointments); and responding to many e-mail apologetics requests.  I’m really hoping some of this stuff slacks so I can get back to reviewing New Age Bible Versions as well as writing articles on various topics.  Until then, I hope my readers enjoy the citations I post.

As a follow-up to my December 4th discussion of “church karaoke,” why does it have to be so LOUD!?!?  The youth group choir sang to the recorded music today and the music was so over-powering in volume that you could barely hear their voices!  Please, you who are in the position of running the sound — lower the volume!

More proof that the Pope speaks for the devil and not for God.

Why do any churches allow Jesus Culture garbage into their assembly?!?  OR Hillsong, or Vineyard, et al ?  Worship leaders, please use some discernment!

Is self-defense a biblical position?  I have always said it is, and this article agrees with my understanding of Scripture.

Rick Warren has now proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is not only apostate, but also a heretic.

The foolishness of dangerous false teachings gets more bizarre daily.  Self-proclaimed “prophet” Larry Randolph (one of many Elijah List false prophets) has a bizarre teaching in an even more bizarre book: The Physics of Heaven.  Please don’t waste your money.

When discussing the bizarre, I am immediately reminded of IHOP, and Mary’s weekly “Warning You With Tears Wednesday” includes a lot of information about this cult.

When skeptics/atheists accost you about why Paul didn’t mention the virgin birth, use the information from this article to counter them.

False Teacher of the Year 2015 — Mark Sandlin.

A good perspective on Mary, the mother of Jesus, to counter the Marian cults (such as Romanism).

More heresy by the Roman Catholic Church.

Jesus Culture band is dangerous.  Of course you should expect that, coming from the  Bethel cult.

Some good warnings about admiration of “Christian” celebrities.

Chuck Missler has been on my RADAR for quite some time.  While he has a lot of things right, he has way to many things wrong.  Mary Dalke has a good exposure of Missler which I recommend for your perusal.

While doing some research on Joyce Meyer this week I came across this excellent article exposing her worst teachings.  And yet Christians will go to the mat defending Meyer—including many of the commenters!

Just remember as you are warned about the wolves, that we know who wins in the end!

Random Apostasies and Heresies

Wow, it’s been almost two weeks since I last did a “Random” post, and I really have been collecting stuff to warn people to watch out for - some bad stuff to be exposed!

First up, more about that book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.”  This book is rife with Scripture-twisting and other false teachings.  On top of that, the author misrepresents himself and his credentials as an author for such a book.

Interesting statement from Mark Batterson (Mr. “Circle Maker”) showed up.  Did you know that “there are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet”!?  Well, firstly, I didn’t know we were “doing” church - I thought Christians ARE the Church.  If he means concocting “worship” services, yeah, there are ways I’m sure no one has thought up yet, but they sure aren’t biblical.  Batterson is among the market-driven bunch always looking for more ways to feed the goats.

The Pope, who claims he represents Christ on earth, continues to demonstrate just how far he is from representing Christ.  He gave Ramadan greetings to Muslims, and said, “We are called to respect the religion of the other.”  Wow!  Can you imagine Jesus or Paul giving the pagans greetings during their celebrations of their false beliefs?  Can you imagine God telling Moses and Joshua that they should respect the Canaanite religions and its “teachings, its symbols, its values”?  Islam worships a false god.  The teachings of Islam is to conquer everyone and exterminate those who disagree with Islam.  Its values includes the abuse of women, terrorism, and extermination of Jews and Christians.  And yet the Pope says we should respect all that!?!?  Just more proof that Roman Catholicism does NOT represent Christianity.

Of course this doesn’t matter to Catholics, whose worship of Mary leads to their seeing “visions” of her everywhere.  This is nothing less than idolatry.

A favorite icon of Romanists is Mother Teresa.  There are many myths about her, but the truth about Teresa leads one to wonder if she was ever saved (I previously noted that she had an exorcism done on her).

A month ago I noted that there was a “Wild Goose” festival coming which was a gathering of all sorts of false teachers.  Well, it happened, and it was about a degenerate as as it gets.

I came across an interesting book review this week.  It’s about Tom Horn’s “Apollyon Rising: 2012.”  It’s just another “Christian” book sold by “Christian” bookstores so as to make money off of those whose itching ears follow every whim of doctrine.  My recommendation - don’t bother.

I have previously discussed some problems with the teachings of Chuck Missler, but last week I came across an article exposing his propensity for plagiarism.  This is not something Christian teachers should be doing.  I’d avoid Missler’s teachings.

A couple of my “favorite” false teachers to expose are Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen (I haven’t done much on Meyer on my blog, but much in real life).  Way too many Christians follow the teachings of these heretics, which is why their teachings need to be exposed for what they are - dangerous!  I came across a good article discussing both of them, which gives no quarter!  I find many of the comments to be sad, because the commenters are so deceived as to protect these false teachers!

Another false teacher I have learned about this past week is Jentezen Franklin.  There are just sooooooo many wolves out there that it is difficult to keep up with them.

The ELCA Lutherans have gone even farther down the road to complete apostasy: they have now elected a woman as their presiding bishop.

Chuck Currie is a well-known false teacher with the heretical United Church of Christ.  He has now found a heretical version of the Lord’s Prayer from a New Zealand prayer book, and will be using it in his congregation for “the next several months.”  I think it would be virtually impossible to find a real Christian in the UCC.

One of the things I was always sadly amused about with the Mormons is their virtual worship of Joseph Smith.  I have previously seen hymns giving praises to Smith, and now you can see some of them, as well as other hymns teaching heresy, as posted on the blog of Mormon Research Ministry.

Random Apostasies and Heresies

Well, it looks like Liberty University is sliding into politically-correct apostasy; they have “no official position” about Mormonism.  How can any Christian not have a position as to whether or not the LDS is a cult?!?

The International House of Prayer in Kansas City preys on Christian youth by their very charismatic and musical productions.  IHOP is mostly aberrant and often heretical in their doctrines and teachings.  Yvonne over at “...and the world hears them” has posted a video of what looks to me to be demonic manifestations over at IHOP.  Stay away from this place and anyone who teaches there.

Speaking of heresy, the Word of Faith teachings definitely fall into that category and there are too many WOF heretics out there to keep up with.  “Pastrix” Dayna Muldoon is a new name to me, but she has apparently been around for a while.  She finally ran into someone who exposed her publicly and she doesn’t seem to be to happy about it!  Now for the background and what happened prior to that video, the pastor exposing her fraud describes everything at CARM’s blog.

The sad thing now is that an excellent Bible teacher, David Jeremiah, has now given these WOF heretics credence by being a guest speaker on TBN’s “Praise-A-Thon” and not only praising heretic Paul Crouch, but telling of his involvement with this heretical organization over the last few years!!!!!

Brian McLaren, in his recent brainwashing “Children, Youth and a New Kind of Christianity Conference,” warned against Bible passages that supposed are “texts of terror.”  He also said that “Bible-preaching/teaching/reading people are the most dangerous in the world for Muslims.”  This conference was not only an Emergent forum, but it also appeared to be a haven of liberal “Christians” of every stripe, including apostates and heretics.

Roman Catholics claim to be the one true church, and yet daily we find them supporting things that Christ would have nothing to do with - and this is aside from their aberrant and heretical doctrines!  Up in Canada a Catholic elementary school hosted the “transgendered” (read “mutilated”) man who was a contestant for Miss Universe Canada.  Okay, to be fair, they hosted all 62 contestants, but since hosting the man was giving tacit approval to his perversion, he should not have been allowed.  And aside from hosting this man, the school was promoting the whole idea of girls being “sexy and glamourous” - a message for elementary school girls!!!  Yep, I’m sure Christ would approve of this - NOT!

An article in the Austin, MN, Daily Herald by a retired UMC pastor claims that since Mormons have faith in one God they are then Christians.  I certainly hope this doesn’t reflect UMC teachings!  Mormonism is no more Christian than is Satanism!

Going back to the subject from last report, about “The Voice” translation of the Bible, Ken Ham points out another problem with this agenda-driven version - the allowance for evolution!

A good article by Erin Benziger was posted at the Christian Research Network, covering the history and teachings of “Spiritual Formation,” which is a false teaching invading the Church over the past few decades.

I’ve previously posted a couple articles about the movie Courageous; one being my own review and the other one highlighting some other critiques.  This week I came across another excellent critique which I highly recommend.  While this is a good movie, there are many concerns for Christians to be aware of.  (Be sure to read the thought-provoking comment discussion).

One of the problems with seeker-sensitive “pastors” is their irreverence for God and Christ.  (One of the things which bothers me also about Mark Driscoll.) For a good example of how crass these teachers can get, Ken Silva has posted a video clip of Eric Dykstra.  Believe me when I tell you that if I had been in that assembly, I would have stood up and ran out the door!

The blog “Herescope” has been presenting a good series examining some of the various aberrations that come into the Church through the ministry of Chuck Missler.  Titled, “Cosms, Codes, and Cryptologies,” there are five articles so far.  While lengthy, I do highly recommend them, especially if you are a fan of Missler:

Part 1: Crossing the Boundaries of Reality and Scripture

Part 2: Cosmic Cryptology in the Church

Part 3: The Emerging ENIGMA Bible

Part 4:  False Eschatology Arising!

Part 5: Quantum Teleporting Through Time

I am one who really dislikes most “contemporary Christian music,” mostly because I really can’t stand the rock and roll music with so much of it.  However, when I analyze such songs for proper use in the assembly, I try to stick with examining the lyrics.  This past week I discovered a great site which will be very helpful with this, “Worship Song Ratings.”  It also has a couple links to examining the music.  I recommend it for your perusal.

Finally, I have read several places about supposed “same-sex wedding ceremonies” in the early Christian church.  Of course I never gave any of this stuff credence because I’m not that gullible.  I came across an excellent article this week to put in your apologetics tool box for responding to this claim. I think you’ll find it well-worth it.