We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. A.W. Tozer
Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. --Basil of Caesarea
Once you learn to discern, there's no going back. You will begin to spot the lie everywhere it appears.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:12

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Random Apostasies and Heresies

Satan never sleeps, and it seems every day he comes up with more and more ways to deceive not only the world, but also Christians.  After all, deceived Christians can be sidelined so as to be ineffective at spreading the Gospel, and they can also be used to spread the deception.

As my last post showed, the new “Son of God” movie is not anything Christians should be spending money on to see, nor should they be promoting it.  There are so many false teachings in it!  But that doesn’t seem to matter to Mark Driscoll - his church bought out more than 3500 seats [link gone by Sept 2020] in their area.  Guess who is also endorsing this madness — Rick Warren, Andy Stanley, Max Lucado, Joel Osteen, and T.D. Jakes.  These men have no business being shepherds when they feed garbage to the sheep (of course Osteen and Jakes are rank heretics to begin with).

Then there is Steve Furtick, who seems to think HE is God!  Maybe that’s because he gets so many people baptized.

I’ve never heard of Ed Stetzer before, but I learned this week that he is the president of Lifeway Research, which is part of Lifeway Publishing, of the Southern Baptist Convention.  He has seen fit to begin hosting Praise the Lord on the heretical Trinity Broadcasting Network (or, as Ken Silva calls it, Trinity Blasphemy Network).  When you view this article, you will also several other names mentioned - people involved in all sorts of false teachings.  One of these is Lifeway’s darling and favorite false teacher, Beth Moore — who has a new series in which you can “hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church and every believer seeking their full potential in God’s Kingdom.”  And I thought we had the Bible for that!

Very often I get commenters who ask me if I have personally confronted the teachers I expose before I write about them.  I am told I am required to do so by Matthew 18.  Of course I point out that Matthew 18 is about personal sin - how you confront someone sinning against you.  Public false teachings require public denouncement.

I was shocked reading THIS ARTICLE today - the Pope thinks same-sex civil unions should be tolerated because they would be good for economics.  Fine, corrupt society but be sure to provide those who practice deviant sex a good economic status.  Of course they have the same economic access as normal people do, but apparently that’s not good enough for the Pope.

I consider the proper hermeneutical approach to the Bible will lead to a complementarian view of the roles of men and women.  There are those on the liberal side of biblical interpretation who have decided we need to look at how culture is to properly understand that the Bible teaching egalitarianism.  Well, this article from The Gospel Coalition provides excellent evidence for the complementarian understanding of roles.

To end today’s edition of RA&H (an abbreviation a commenter used - which I like) I will point to some articles about the Mormon Church.  First, it appears the LDS is revising more of their previous teachings, this time to say that they really can’t be sure what “becoming like God” means, even though historically it has been understood to mean that a man can become a god of his own planet.  

3 comments:

Unknown said...

In opposition to the Son of God travesty, may I recommend the Jesus Film, being re-released in HD - much better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkv7R5twZE0

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Yes, we've used that in our ministry, and I still have half-a-dozen DVDs for passing out.

Anonymous said...

Hi Glenn, the article about how Driscoll got his book on the NYT bestseller list - I am speechless (but not surprised). Talk about conduct unbefitting of a (man utterly disqualified to be a) pastor.

The supporters of the Son of God movie - the usual suspects. Really, how Biblical can the movie be if Joel Osteen loves it? That's proof positive that the movie is inaccurate.

Beth Moore - utter insanity. Would all believing sisters everywhere come out and separate from her!!!

Good article about Matthew 18.

I would agree with you - Satan's major work right now is deceiving believers, rendering them ineffective and spreading more deception.

Another good roundup, thanks for keeping us all aware and warned.

-Carolyn