More Odds and Ends

Long, but interesting article about the defense of the Bible being accurate.

Dismantling 9 “Proofs” of Millions of Years.  The 9 “proofs” are not scientific at all.

The Misplaced Identity of Gay Christianity

When “Sound Doctrine” Gets Redefined.

When a “church” has to decide whether to require monogamy for anyone, let alone leaders, then you know it isn’t a church which follows Christ. The PCUSA denomination has been corrupt from the beginning.  More on the topic.

And if you thought the PCUSA couldn’t get any worse, they are now supporting “sex change” surgery for children, let alone adults.

Mysticism in the Church: Is Mysticism Biblical?

Catholic archbishop praises new mosque, ignores ubiquitous gang rapes by Muslim men.

Then we have a Catholic university having a “very tight relationship” with the Council on American Islamic Relations. 

An old article about the New Apostolic Reformation but well worth learning why they are aberrant false teachers.

It’s been a while since I’ve reported on false teacher Beth Moore, so here’s another good article exposing her unbiblical nonsense.

Then we have the worst of charismania—pure blasphemy! Although this ranks up there—a megachurch “pastor” who says opposing abortion and gun control is “satanic.”

Exposing Mormonism's Latest Deception. Beware of their pretense to Christianity.

Satan, the Counterfeiter

For individuals who are caught up in the heady intoxication of profound spiritual experiences, it is easy t slip into error.  Not that there is anything wrong with such experiences per se, but spiritual experience is only one leg of a three-legged stool.  Unless it is balanced by the Word of God through Scripture and through other Christians, as well as the daily living of a life of self-denial, obedience and repentance, the stool will topple.

Satan is a master counterfeiter, who is able to imitate every spiritual experience which a Christian can have, including the "inner voice" of the Holy Spirit.  Time after time we have seen cases of an especially "anointed" personality, who will lead a flock of gullible sheep into the strangest heresies, because the sheep have not yet learned to know their Shepherd's voice, and follow Him.  Not nearly enough has been preached under the title: "Beware the Christless Pentecost.”

Peter Marshall and David Marshall, The Light and the Glory, pp.200-201

Feelings Come and Go

Feelings come and feelings go

And feelings are deceiving;

My warrant is the Word of God, 

Naught else is worth believing.

Martin Luther

What About Mysticism?

Mysticism is the exaltation of subjective experience over objective truth....  How many times have you heard the plea for us to get rid of our "silly doctrine," and come together in unity?... [Doctrine] is the body of objective truth, the teaching of God's Word.  Doctrine is the only basis for evaluating spiritual experience.  This is why Satan wants to move us away from it.  Without doctrine, all you have to judge by are your own fickle feelings.

Bill Randles, Making War in the Heavenlies, p. 15

The Bad and the Ugly

Yesterday I posted the “good,” so today you get the “bad” and the “ugly” in the Christian culture.  

The Bad:

Francis Chan continues his spiral towards apostasy by teaming with false teachers and the cult of IHOP.

The delusion so many Christians are under.  What a waste of time and effort!

Willow Creek just goes from bad to worse—now they have a woman lead pastor!  When did this become acceptable?

David Barton — not to be trusted in any of his teachings.

Some names to know for avoiding, because they are showing their contemplative beliefs.

Max Lucado continues going off the deep end.

The Ugly:

Ah, the heresy and apostasy of the PCUSA.

Brian McLaren’s “new Christianity” is dangerous paganism.

Perry Noble remains as unrepentant as ever, and as unbiblical as ever.  Mark and avoid him like the plague.

Harry Potter as sacred texts — I guess it’s no real surprise.

Clayton Jennings.

Todd White claims to be sinless.  And he claims Jesus went to Hell, which is typical Word of Faith heresy.

Al Sharpton — there is nothing “reverend” or even Christian about him.  In addition to his fruit exposed in this article, Sharpton is also an ardent racist and a zealous socialist.

More blasphemy from Jim Bakker.  And yet his followers are still loyal to him.

Yes, Bill Johnson and Bethel Redding teach a different, FALSE, gospel.

The demonic “Mary” of the Roman Catholic Church.

Good, Bad, and Ugly

Although we are in sort of a drought, with virtually no rain for over a month (all the grass is turning brown, etc), it’s giving me time to work on fixing our deck, fixing our picket fence, digging out lilies (they’ve spread too much), etc.  On top of the yard work I’ve had a lot of piping gigs (including band gigs) keeping me busy so I’m not getting much of a chance to write articles.  Nevertheless, I’m still trying to keep up with apologetic news so I can alert my readers to some good articles as well as alert them to more about false teachings — and about the horrid stuff to beware of!

The Good:

Interesting article about how sexual immorality is turning people away from the Church — not because the Church rejects them, but because they KNOW what they are doing is wrong.

An open letter to Roman Catholics.

A good examination of the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation.

Excellent listing of the false teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Some excellent charts to help you decide what translation of the Bible you’d prefer.

Modern gnosticism invading the church.

The Bad:

Michael Brown exposed for his lies, as well as proof that his audience is gullible.

Jory Micah, solidly shown to be a heretic.

The questionable John Maxwell.

I get amused when Calvinists attack another respected staunch Calvinist.  They are correct about Piper’s bad stuff, though.

The Ugly:

Hillsong Leaders suffering from pride or narcissism? Part 1: Christine Caine.

The wolves continue to fleece the sheep.

The Pope is a LEFTIST hack.  He has decided to be against abortion we must also be for allowing illegal immigrants to invade our country.  Then on top of that he has decided that if you deny their is a connection between the recent hurricanes and “global warming” are denying science.  Okay, what about the scientist who claims “climate change” has nothing to do with the hurricanes, let alone the tons of research proving that “climate change” (aka global warming) is nothing but a fraud, and an agenda for more government control?  The Pope pretends to be an authority appointed by God but his LEFTIST ideology is as false as his theology!

“The Message” translation is a herephrase.  I like the term.  The Message is a “mess,” as I have previously noted.

But quietly, there are the thousands of faithful Christians who practice polyamory—living lives of giftedness, dignity, and worth, but receiving next-to-no spiritual support.  

Um, how can they call themselves “Christian” when they violate Christ’s teachings about marriage?  This article comes from a supposed Christian site, but their “Christianity” is all of the liberal variety, which is not Christian at all.

Delusion on Parade:  Word of Faith “Weather Warriors”

Hillsong and “theoerosism.”  Makes ya wanna puke!

Contemplative Prayer is NOT for the Christian

Too many describe the Christian life as tepid, while mustering up nothing more that a lukewarm enthusiasm for Christ.  Many feel God hasn’t come through for them and won’t until they do something.  Again we try to control God by making something happen and by earning points with Him.  We desire an experience, and since God isn’t doing anything, we initiate it ourselves.  Rather than giving up control and letting God do the work in our lives, we come up with man-centered, man-prompted ideas and methods.  Brennan Manning calls it “grabbing a holt of God.”

Are we unwilling to completely let go and let God?  Then we will never find that true, lasting satisfaction in our Christian lives.  All the meditations, all the self-help Christian books, all the lighting of candles are not going to make any lasting difference.

Contemplative spirituality is nothing more than an attempt to fill that void with a man-made solution.  In essence, they are attempting to build a spiritual tower of Babel.  And as with all things man-made, it pales in comparison to what God can do.

If contemplative prayer or other Eastern practices were sanctioned or blessed by the God of the Bible, why are there no stories of any Hindus or Buddhists coming to Christ by these methods?  Instead, we hear of Christians receiving revelations during contemplative prayer that all paths lead to God and that God is in all.  If those revelations were true, this would make the Cross unnecessary and, in effect, null and void.

Brian Flynn, Running Against the Wind, pg. 176-177

Random Things Needing Discernment

Women teachers to avoid, and why.

This is an example of the corrupting influence false teachers have on our young people.  Another report explains how this is polluting the Church at large.

Are we heading for a one-world religion of Roman Catholicism—Islam? 

The Southern Baptist Convention is more and more proving to be a liberal agenda movement, a group in apostasy.

Beware of the Word of Faith heresy.

Good reference source — The Word of Faith Cornucopia of False Doctrine

Watch out for the “desert fathers” and the modern mystics — their teaching is not biblical.

The World Race and Adventures in Missions is a cultic, false-teaching organization which I’ve never seen reported on by any site, ministry, etc, except for this one.  Because of that, I will periodically continue to highlight some of their articles so that there is at least one more site raising the red flags!

John Crowder is someone I’ve not reported on much, but he really, really needs to be avoided.  This guy is definitely off the wall.

Be careful and discerning when hearing tales about missionaries’ stories of people raising from the dead, etc.  I’ve never seen any evidence support such tales.

Beware of contending for miracles — it is nothing more than hopelessness.

The Episcopal Church/Anglican Church community gets more apostate daily.

They call themselves a Christian assembly and yet have a lesbian couple as co-pastors leading them.  Solid blasphemy against the name of Christ.

A good article about discernment with the false teaching about “Spiritual Formation.”

A great cartoon about Joel Osteen!

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?!?

Mysticism

Mysticism teaches that God is in you, God is in every one, and that if you want to know God, all you have to do is concentrate on this one thing, shut out everything else, and sink into yourself.  You will go through a kind of negative phase and die completely to yourself, and then you will come to the point of illumination.  And so you have “the mystical way,” so called, and the various steps on the mystical way.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13,” pg.175

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

They are nice while they send you to hell.

Mysticism is spreading like wild fire in the Church, promising “close encounters” with God.  However, such mysticism is nothing less than regurgitated practices from pagan Eastern religions and have nothing to do with the Christian faith, let alone communicating with God.  Beware.

Another glaring example of the apostate condition of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Popular false teachers who are women.

Willow Creek is getting more and more apostate.

Part two review of Beth Moore’s Simulcast.

10 Serious Problems With Jesus Calling.

The teachings of Paul (David) Yonggi Cho are aberrant and sometimes dangerous.

Yes, Seventh-day Adventism is still a cult.

Another Roman Catholic honcho who should be excommunicated due to his promotion of homosexuality.  Yet Rome continues to ignore this type of apostasy.

Albert Mohler has a good commentary as to why we real Christians can’t accept the world’s modern view of human sexuality.

Gothard’s ATI education is twisted Scripture and legalistic nonsense.  Recovering grace has a series exposing ATI:  Introduction, chapter 1, chapter 2.  Looking for more in the future.

Another new heretical Bible, this time endorsed by the Hebrew Roots Movement.  SIGH!  (To read more about Hebrew Root, Marsha gives some good links at the bottom of the article.)

Finally, Joyce Meyer reads too much Joel Osteen.