More Odds and Ends

Lots of information on the ‘net about a so-called association of Bill Gothard with John MacArthur, but any who knows much about Gothard should know it’s a lie. A lengthy article shows where this “gossip” came from and the misrepresentations of what’s in a photo.

Examples of bad interpretations of Scripture by various Church Fathers

A great review of Debi Pearl’s new book, Created to Be His Help Meet. You can bet she twists scripture into pretzels.

While the major topic of this post is Nancy Pelosi’s violation of Catholic tenets, it really has good information about Christian doctrines which are violated by many who call themselves Christian.

“Heaven Tourism” is a dangerous fraud.

3 Reasons Why “The Chosen” Does More Harm Than Good. Beware that there is some Calvinist theology taught.

Beth Moore has gone full LEFT with calling “white” people racists. If this video doesn’t convince you that Beth Moore is a false teacher, you are in denial! By the way, she’s taught her daughter to be a horrible person.

Revoice—worshiping Satan and defending evil.

It’s difficult for me to believe Andy Stanley is really a Christian. He denies the Creation in Genesis.

Take the time to watch this video—52 minutes. You’ll learn why almost all the teachings you hear about angels is from false teacher who prove they are false Christians; what they teach is demonic.

Another MAJOR problem with Hillsong—Greed. Another example.  Scandals in the church abound.

Good, Bad, and Ugly

Well I got my computer back for the second time this past Monday, and it’s all fixed.  But it’s been a very chaotic week, so some of this stuff I’ve collected you may have already seen on other sites. On Monday I played for the graveside service after a funeral for a friend who died; 88-year-old Korean War veteran.  Tuesday the air conditioner got fixed after being without it for five hot and humid days.  Wednesday we traveled 93 miles north so I could play for a graveside service — one I got paid for!  Thursday was morning haircut and vet appointments, with evening band practice (70 miles east).  Yesterday was doing some service for an elderly couple, then up to the airport to photograph a rare, freshly restored B-29 bomber arrival, followed by a late lunch date with my wife.  Returning home for 15 minutes, we then headed back to the airport for a 3:30 appointment with a friend who works at Rockwell-Collins and who got me a pass to tour the B-29 (which was on its way to Oshkosh but stopped in Cedar Rapids to allow R.C. employees to tour it because R.C. did a lot for them).  We stood in line for 1.5 hrs and watched a nasty storm building (got some great photos of the storm) and, just when we were about 5 minutes from our turn to go inside the plane the downpour began and we were all ushered into the hangar.  Well I decided that was the end and we headed on into town to pick up photos which had been processed the previous day.  By the time we got home it was almost 7:30.  Whew!  Oh, and we got an inch of needed rain.  So now let’s look at this week’s news.

The Good:

A good examination of the reason “The Message” is to be avoided at all costs!

The Watchman Fellowship has published a profile exposing John Dominic Crossan.

Fred has posted episode six of his review of the book, “Navigating Genesis.”

Neil examines the Problems With Pro-Gay Theology.

I wish this was really true.

Good article about real spiritual warfare.

The Bad:

David Jeremiah is now promoting false teacher Sarah Young.

A Catholic university has bought into the “Islamaphobia” lie.  Wasting donors’ money.

A Trojan horse in women’s ministry.

The Ugly:

Global Leadership 2017 doubles down on carnality

More about Debi Pearl’s horrid book.

Eugene Peterson came out in favor of same-sex unions.  Oh, wait a minute, he has done some flip-flopping about them; Lifeway said they’d pull his books and suddenly he decided such unions weren’t right after all.  Another bad thing about this is that SBC leader Russell Moore says Christians should still read and learn from Peterson!

This is some old Benny Hinn stuff, including Suzanne Hinn’s teaching about a Holy Ghost enema, but it demonstrates just what charlatans they are (a commenter said that this isn’t Benny Hinn’s wife, but this article contradicts that claim).  These people are not Christians.

The love of money leads many “evangelicals” to embrace pro-gay theology.  This article demonstrates the same problem.

Mary Dalke has a very thorough study about the Roman Catholic Virgin Mary (which isn’t the Biblical mother of Jesus) and the so-called apparitions of her.  The RCC idolatry of Mary is a very ugly and demonic doctrine.

Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good:

Ecumenical vs Evangelical.  Thought-provoking.  Continuing in this vein, read Idolatry, Demons, and Ecumenism. 

Don’t kill the Bereans.

How do they [blaspheme the Holy Spirit]?  By attributing to the Holy Spirit words that He didn’t say, deeds that He didn’t do, and experiences that He didn’t produce, attributing to the Holy Spirit that which is not the work of the Holy Spirit.  Endless human experiences, emotional experiences, bizarre experiences, and demonic experiences are said to come from the Holy Spirit.  Visions, revelations, voices from heaven, messages from the Spirit through transcendental means, dreams, speaking in tongues, prophecies, out-of-body experiences, trip to heaven, anointings, miracles – all false, all lies, all deceptions – attributed falsely to the Holy Spirit.  Read the rest, by John MacArthur.

Why we can’t forgive ourselves.  Good response to those who are always saying, “I just can’t forgive myself.”

Another good article on who the real Pharisees are.

How VBS has driven too many from the Church.  I remember my pagan mother sending me to VBS, where I learned nothing of eternal consequence.

The Bad:

More about Debi Pearl’s false teaching supporting spousal abuse.  Oh, and her husband Michael is right in there with his own dangerous teaching.  I love this great response to Michael.

Verse mapping — another false teaching which is new to me.  Where do people get such nonsensical ideas?!?!?!

The Osteens never met a Bible verse that they didn’t twist.

Another example as to why Matt Chandler is not qualified to be a pastor: he continually demonstrates his lack of discernment.

The Ugly:

An old “hymn” that really, really, needs to be trashed!

Who or what are they worshiping here?

Bethel Redding teaches “Firestarters,” a course to “activate” your prophetic gift.  You too can become a prophet there for only $395.  Nothing like cranking out more and more false prophets to blaspheme God.

Good, Bad, and Ugly

The Good:

A very good analysis of the Jehovah’s Witness’ erroneous reading of John 17:3. 

Things to know about the formation of our Bible.

Pull the Plug on CCM

How patriarchy saved her from feminism.

The Bad:

This short video is really sort of funny, because it demonstrates the intellectual schizophrenia of the Catholic Church — be sure to read the statement at the end because it really sums up the problem.  This is just more proof that the Pope does NOT represent Christ in any way, shape, or form.

I am one of the “wolf hunters” who alert the sheep to wolves like Michael Brown.

The Seventh-day Adventist book Steps to Christ, by E.G. White, is a false gospel.

Another solid alert about false teacher Lisa Bevere.

And then don’t forget false teacher Shawn Bolz.

A whole caboodle of false prophets will tell you what the Lord has said is in store for 2017.  The sad thing is that too many Christians listen to these lies.

Watch out for the “Orange Strategy” Sunday School curriculum.  Bad news!  This article also has lots of links to Andy Stanley stuff.

The lies told by the likes of Sid Roth and Jeff Jansen.

Yoga and Christianity are NOT compatible.

The Ugly:

Visions Beyond Fatima — evidence that such visions are demonic in nature.

The Word of Faith heresy cult continues to prove just how awful it is.

The Church as AMWAY

More on the horrid teachings of Mike and Debi Pearl.  Marital abuse gets a pass.

Willam Paul Young’s Christless “Shack.”

That’s it for today. I hope to have my last episode on “Bible ‘Contradictions’” posted tomorrow.

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.”

Random Apostasies and Heresies

Well, it has been a busy week for me, with little time at home, so I haven’t worked on any articles as I wanted to do.  And here it is already time for another “Random” collection.

First up, Tim Challies posted the second part of his review of Debi Pearl’s book, “Created to Be His Help Meet.”  Well worth reading.  As usual when dealing with false teachers, the comment string does have some supporters who think Challies is wrong in his assessment.

Erin reports on “The Resurgence” conference, which promotes Rick Warren’s “man-centered mythology.”  This is the type of stuff which is destroying the Church from within.

Speaking of Rick Warren, his self-esteem theology makes for some wonderful satire.  Apprising Ministries demonstrates this as they give an example of a daily devotion by one of Warren’s staff.

Years ago I first read Alexander Hislop’s “The Two Babylons,” and immediately had some problems with his claims against the Roman Catholic Church.  As years have gone by I have learned much more about how poorly the book was written, based mainly on speculation and poor logic - and bigotry.  This book has become the mainstay of those who want to “prove” just how horrid Romanism is.  However, one doesn’t need to misrepresent and lie about Romanism to prove how apostate and heretical it is, so promoting the stuff in this book just backfires on those using it.  Sola Sisters has a good article about this book.

Ed Young, Jr continues to demonstrate how unbiblical he is as a teacher.  Now he is pandering for “tithes” via automatic withdrawal.  He seems more and more like the Word of Faith hawkers looking for money from the gullible.  This man is definitely a goatherd.

I’ve never been fond of Max Lucado because everything I’ve seen from him is touchy-feely, and that’s just not my cup of tea.  He also participated in the Be Still video, which has contemplative teachings.  Well, now I have another reason to dislike him:  He has now come to the conclusion that Christine Caine is just like Paul, Mary and Esther, and has endorsed her new book, “Undaunted.”   Caine’s promotion of various Word of Faith heretics certainly eliminates her from comparisons to these Biblical persons.

Roman Catholics have another recent demonstration as to how apostate they are.  It seems there is a relic of a “saint’s” heart which has been traveling around, with Catholic venerating it (read, “worshiping”).  The whole teaching of worshiping relics - including body parts - is nothing less than idolatry, as well as being totally nonsensical.

The ELCA Lutheran denomination long ago left any semblance of orthodoxy, especially when they began supporting homosexuality.   A good example of how far down to the pit the ELCA has gone is the fact that “pastor” Nadia Bolz-Weber has not been excommunicated.  This woman is a rank heretic, besides being a false teacher.

Hank Hanegraaff is really starting to bug me.  I have previously written about some theological problems of Hanegraaff’s, including his preterist view of eschatology, his support for the Local Church, and his low view of the book of Genesis.   Then there was his joining up with OWS in Iran.  Now Hank, and his cohort Gary Burge, attacks Christian supporters of Israel as being “racist and supporting ethnic cleansing.”  In this article, Hanegraaff demonstrates his complete lack of understanding of the mid-east conflict, as well as what Dispensationalism teaches about the end times.  They also have unbiblical ideas of Israel’s place in history.  Hank has been a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Rich Mouw, president of the liberal Fuller Theological Seminary, has spent too much time supporting the Mormon church.  Back in 2004 he made a stir when he suggested Christians have sinned against Mormons by exposing their false teachings.  His new book seems to be much of the same about how we just need to understand Mormons, and they really aren’t a cult, etc.  I agree with Mouw that we have to understand Mormonism in order to effectively deal with it, and the same could be said for any other cult.  But Mouw’s soft-peddling around the real issues of Mormonism, and his seeming lack of understanding of their teachings, makes his teachings on the subject dangerous.  I guess I shouldn’t expect any better from the president of Fuller.

Rob Bell once again proves he is a heretic and a dangerous teacher to follow.  He now has come out as “gay affirming,” who doesn’t see the need to tell homosexuals that their behavior is sin.

Meanwhile, the United Methodist Church has decided to take another step into the political area (aside from preaching the social gospel) and put out the call to ban all handguns. [link gone by 12/5/15]  Explain to me where in the Bible one finds God being against handguns?  Actually, I guess they have been anti-gun since 1972, but the latest shooting in Colorado is bringing them out of the closet again.  Perhaps the UMC should start reading their Bibles and leave the social gospel behind instead of promoting the banning of legal personal property.

Good and Evil, by Michael Pearl

My knowledge of Michael Pearl is that he has some legalistic and aberrational teachings, so seeing that this comic-book version of the Bible was authored by him immediately set my alarm bells off.   While the premise of this book is good (to get the Bible into the hands of Muslims), one cannot ever justify twisting the Biblical story to match a personal theology.  I understand that one must take artistic license to round out some of the story to keep interest, however we cannot allow such license to teach what is blatantly false

I have to admit that this book is fairly good overall, but where it messes with Scripture it is sometimes grievous in its error.  With that said, let us begin to look at Pearl’s idea of what the Bible teaches.

To begin with, Pearl uses the name “Jehovah” for God, which I am guessing is due to his KJVO stance.  I think he should use Yahweh.

Pearl apparently subscribes to the “Gap Theory” of creation, wherein there was a previous creation which was destroyed by a war with Satan, because he has Satan - who he erroneously calls “Lucifer” - rebelling and becoming Satan before man was created. (pp.2-5)  Also, by being a proponent of the King James Version as the only correct English translation, Pearl ends up with much error in his understanding of what it says.

Before proceeding farther, let me state that the name “Lucifer” comes only from the King James version of the Bible (and the New King James which keeps it) and the Latin Vulgate.  The King James translators didn’t know what to do with the Hebrew word and simply transliterated it from the Vulgate.  When Jerome was translating the Hebrew into Latin, he came across the word “Helel,” which means something like, “shining one” or “bright one,” in Isaiah 14:12.  The passage described Helel as the “son of the dawn.”  Jerome decided that Isaiah was describing what Jerome knew as the “morning star” (what we know as Venus).  In Latin the name for this “star” was “Lucifer,” which means, “light-bearing,” so that is the word Jerome used to translate “Helel.”  Modern translations all use “morning star,” “star of the morning,” “Day Star,” “shining one” or similar in their translations at this point, because “Lucifer” is a Latin name for Venus.  It was never the name of Satan.

Part of the issue is how to translate Isaiah 14:12ff; some say it is about Satan, but the context is about the king of Babylon and some say that Satan is addressed as the power behind the king.  However you want to interpret this passage, the point is that Satan never had the name of “Lucifer.”

So, what is wrong with Satan’s rebellion taking place before man is created?  A couple things.  First, the “gap theory” has been debunked from just about every scholarly point possible.  It was a theory designed to fit long ages into the Bible, but it isn’t necessary to do this because those long ages supporting evolution are all theories in and of themselves with absolutely no proof.  Secondly, since God called all of creation “very good” when He finished (Gen. 1:31), Satan could not have yet fallen.

On page two there is an image that is supposed to be Satan, which is an angel with the head of a bull. Pearl’s belief that this is Satan’s real pre-sin appearance plays later in the story.  This idea is purely fictional and extra-biblical.  

Because of his belief in the “gap theory,” Pearl has Satan and the demons watching as Adam and Eve are created.  This has absolutely no biblical support and is just plain false teachings.

Not reading his Bible, Pearl has Eve already created when Adam is told not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and has God telling the both of them.  But Scripture says Eve wasn’t created until after Adam received the command (Gen. 2:17).  Pearl then has Satan telling Eve that if she eats of the fruit she will become “like the gods,” whereas Scripture says Satan said she would become “like God.”  There is a big difference here in that Pearl has Satan teaching polytheism.

Pearl depicts Adam and Eve believing God will kill them because God said they would die. (p.9)  Then when God kills animals to make skins for clothes, Pearl says God killed the animals instead of Adam and Eve.  From Scripture it is apparent that God had no intent to kill them.

Apparently misunderstanding what the text says, Pearl has the curse of Satan including Satan’s “seed” and Eve’s child (p.8) to be enemies, whereas Scripture says the enemies would be the seed of both - not necessarily Eve’s child but rather her descendants.  

The artist depicts the cherubim guarding Eden as having a lion’s head (p.9).  This is extra-biblical.

Pearl makes the decision that the offerings Cain and Abel brought were sin offerings and that they were supposed to be sacrificed animals, supposedly based on Adam telling how God killed animals instead of killing Adam and Eve (p.10).  However, there is nothing in Scripture saying that the animals were killed in their stead, nor is there anywhere in Scripture where it says Cain and Abel were offering such a sacrifice.

Pearl says that Cain gave his best offering but it wasn’t accepted because it wasn’t an animal.  However, that is not what Scripture says.  Scripture says that Abel offered the firstborn and fat of the flock - the best he had to offer.  Cain was a farmer and should have offered his best - i.e, “first fruits” - but Scripture says he only offered “some” (NET, NIV, et al) of his produce.  Hebrews 11:4 says it was by faith that Abel offered a better sacrifice, intimating that the problem with Cain was his attitude towards God where he did not offer the “first fruits.”  It had nothing to do with being a “bloodless” offering, yet this is the reason Pearl has Cain getting angry at Abel - he has Abel telling him there is still time to do a blood sacrifice - another extra-biblical claim. (pp.10-11)

Next, Pearl has God telling Cain that Cain will rule over his brother and Abel will be in subjection to him (p.11).  This is nowhere in Scripture, but it is apparently Pearl’s misunderstanding of the passage (Gen. 4:7) where God tells Cain that sin is desiring him but that he must rule over it (“him” in KJV).

Moving on to Noah, when he comes out of the Ark, Pearl has his sacrifices being for sin and to pay for the lives of his family (p.18).  This is not what Scripture says, and shouldn’t be assumed.  This is a common theme with Pearl; all animal sacrifices are in trade for the lives of the persons offering them.

Pearl has Noah discover wine, as if before the flood no such fermenting of grapes took place (p.18).  This is just silly.

When Pearl is telling the story of the Israelites making an idol while Moses is on the mountain, he says they made it in the form of a bull because that is what satan looked like before he sinned (p.79).  As noted previously, this is extra-biblical.  Where Pearl gets this information is unknown.

Pearl again does the Satan/Bull thing when telling the story of Jeroboam where he depicts them making an idol of a golden calf. (p.106)

The next thing I found difficult to pass by is when Pearl is telling the story of the magi.  He has three of them, as in the song “We Three Kings.” (p.166ff)  Scripture tells us there were three gifts brought, but doesn’t say how many magi there were.  While this could be passed over as artistic license, it tends to solidify the legend into fact for those who don’t know better.

When Jesus is fasting in the desert, Pearl has him just then understanding poverty, hunger, being alone, sick, weak, etc.  (p.175)  This denigrates the deity of Christ; wouldn’t he as God already understand that?

At the end of the temptation of Jesus, Pearl has Satan owning the world since Adam and Eve sinned (p.177).  This is very common for those who believe in Strategic Level Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance ministries.  However, Satan may be ruling the world, but he doesn’t own it.  Many Scriptures tell us that all of Creation belongs to the Lord.

Pearl does as many others do, which doesn’t excuse him, as he identifies Mary Magdalene as a prostitute (p.219ff).  There is no Scriptural warrant for this charge against her.  But Pearl conflates stories and has prostitution as the reason she is demon possessed.

On page 236 Pearl puts Jesus’ words in the mouth of the woman who anoints him and washes his feet.  He has her telling Jesus, “You are the resurrection and the life. He that believes in you will never die.”  This gives Mary the origin of this very important citation by Jesus.

When Jesus is being ministered to by the angel in the Garden prior to his arrest, Pearl has the angel paraphrasing Psalm 23 to Jesus: “Abraham and all the host of Paradise are awaiting you coming.  They have prepared a table before you in the presence of your enemies; your cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy will follow you and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (p.249).  I think this is a bit ridiculous.

The back of the book, several pages long, tell the story of why this particular book was developed, as well as a story depicting its use and success; I hope this book I have is not a version which goes to the field, as I don’t think this is appropriate.

While many of these problems can be somewhat harmless, they can be misleading to those new to the Gospel.  However, I feel Pearl’s handling of Genesis is grossly errant due to propagating false “gap theory” teachings, which undermines the literal teachings of Genesis.  For me to recommend this book, the section on Genesis would have to be re-written.