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, August 27, 2015

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

My, oh my, oh my.  Keeping up with the collapse of the Church at large is a never-ending task.  There are so many good sites doing the same thing I’m doing, with periodic collections of news items, that you’d think we could catch most of it to warn the sheep about, but with so much false teachings out there it really is an impossible task.  Here are examples of some sites I recommend for keeping up with the latest (some of the articles I point to will often come from these sites):

Do Not Be Surprised, has weekly “This ’n’ That” roundups.

Asleep No More has “Random Bits

Eternity Matters has taken sort of a hiatus from his “Roundup” as he’s been concentrating on examining all the abortion news as well as exposing the “Christian Left.”  Just the continual update on the latter should open your eyes to those who are bent on destroying the true Church.

Living4HisGlory has “Warning You With Tears Wednesday.”

There are more of these types of sites, but don’t be shy about visiting these for starters.

Okay, now for the news!

Along the false gospel vein, is a followup on the Mike Adams’ article I posted about last week as he now examines “The Counterfeit Christian.”

Last week I also told you about an upcoming Beth Moore Simulcast; here’s a good examination of what it will most likely be teaching — and you can see just how dangerous this woman is as a teacher!

Fred continues his review of “Which Bible Would Jesus Use?

Last week I told you about the false prophet who invaded John MacArthur’s church; now here’s an update on this guy showing just how bad of a false prophet he really is!

A history lesson about the Cane Ridge Revival, which so many Christians hold up as a great event spreading the gospel — sounds like much of it was nothing but the same emotionalism found in today’s false revivals.

Another look at history is Elizabeth’s article about a Baptist publication list from 1870 when compared to Lifeway’s 2015 best-seller list.  The 2015 list just demonstrates that Lifeway is more about making money than protecting the flock from spiritual danger.
Lastly, some humorous truth about the teaching of Joel Osteen and what his “sermon prep” information must look like.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link! I just use the Facebook page for "Roundup" types of articles now. Saves time.

Thx for the article on Furtick. We just moved to Charlotte and I cringe when I see one of his church locations. He's awful.

Anonymous said...

Hi Glenn,

Translations by Ellie - SLAM DUNK on the Ashley Madison scandal!!! I mean EVERY point she made, she nailed it on the head perfectly, spot on. Don't get me started on the Duggar involvement on this... but I will say I didn't buy one bit of the crocodile tears over his first transgression. So when this next scandal came out... ok I'll say it, frankly I'm afraid he's "sorry he got caught". Ok, I'm done for now. Time will tell. Lots of time. Ok, I'm not done, may God completely obliterate Gothardite teaching from the face of the earth. Amen. Done.

-Carolyn

Anonymous said...

Hi Glenn,

Ok, part 2, about the other good stuff in this week's RAAH... :)

On Counterfeit Christians, very sorry to hear what's going on around colleges by the "campus ministries"... Counterfeit Crusade? This is why pastors need to name names, so the church knows who to support and who not to support. As GTY said in their recent blog on Every Believer's Responsibility, once reputable ministries and teachers are departing from orthodoxy. Now isn't the time to be vague about where the problems are, because we can't even rely on the past "good" reputations of popular preachers. We need to know where they stand TODAY.

Modalism, as I read it explained once: a "god" hat, placed on the Father OR the Son OR the Holy Spirit. So "god" can only be "god" when wearing the hat.

About the KJVO nonsense, so when KJVO missionaries go to other nations to evangelize the lost, do they translate the "heathen"'s bibles into the languages they spoke 400 years ago, too?

-Carolyn

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Carolyn,

From much I've read, KJVO will use the KJV Bible to translate into other languages, because, ya know, it is even more accurate than the Greek & Hebrew because (according to them) it was the one God CHOSE to preserve His Word with.

Sharon Lareau said...

Thank you for linking to my evaluation of Beth Moore’s upcoming simulcast.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Sharon,

You are quite welcome. That was too good of a report to not pass along!

Anonymous said...

Glen,

I watched the video of the false prophet in JM's church and was stunned by the reaction of JM and the pew sitters. Where was the love, the concern, the humility, and the prayer for this man who caused a bit of chaos amongst them? The lack of compassion, the mocking, the laughing, and the outright rebellion against our LORD by those who claim to love Christ and love people at the same time, spoke volumes to me as a saved Christian taught to turn the other cheek and pray for my enemies.

Perhaps pride/narcissism/mocking God would describe the scene on that day. And we would do well to point out John MacArthur's false teachings concerning the mark of the beast. I used to follow JM, even purchased his John MacArthur Study Bible for a large monetary fee, and now, I own this so called Bible no more. Praise the LORD.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Anonymous,

First, John MacArthur's teaching about the mark of the beast was a very, very long time ago, and my understanding is that he ended up reconsidering his thinking about it. And it wasn't heretical. The understanding he was suggesting was that (and this only works if you believe in pre-trib rapture, which I don't) someone could take the mark as an unbeliever and then later hear the gospel, the understanding that all sin can be forgiven. Everyone made a mountain out of a molehill, and the only people really making a big deal were ardent anti-Calvinists who really made a mission out of attacking John MacArthur by misrepresenting a lot of what he was teaching in regards to was was being called Lordship salvation (which only says if you are truly saved you will show it my your works by Christ being the Lord of your life). So you people really need to get over that non-issue.

UM, every book you buy has a "large monetary fee," so why the complaint about a book no one forced you to buy? As anyone who reads this blog knows, I am not a Calvinist and am very anti-Calvinist teaching. But I also find outstanding teaching among Calvinists when they aren't discussing Calvinism, and I have MacArthur's Study Bible as well as his one-volume commentary and they are a wealth of information (stepping around the TULIPS). It is YOUR loss to toss out such a reference source because you have a problem with a minor teaching point. Where is YOUR humility, compassion, love, concern, etc for him?


Now as to what you think was inappropriate behavior. (Oh, and what is with YOUR judgment calling the congregation "pew sitters"?!?! You don't know ANYTHING about those people, and yet you judged them for doing the RIGHT thing!) First, there was a lot of tension, and I thought MacArthur did a great job of diffusing the situation with a little humor. Secondly, please fine me one -- JUST ONE -- place in Scripture where false prophets were given love, concern, compassion or even prayer. Jesus vilified them as did Paul, who said they should be eternally condemned. In the O.T. they were stoned. The Bible nowhere tells you to pray for them as your enemies, because they aren't YOUR enemies rather they are enemies of God! And the teaching of "turning the other cheek" is about personal insult, not false prophets making claims for God.

I have absolutely NO patience with those who want to pander to such people and pet them, etc. The reason there are so many false prophets and teachers in the church today is due to attitudes such as yours.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Glen,

I SAT under false prophets of both genders, men and women, in a Baptist church with an Assembly of God pastor. The 'god spoke this or that to me' theme was the main course of the meal in this church system. Those of us who chose not to believe every word that came out of their mouths, for their self prescribed importance claimed they were the 'mouth pieces for god' were literally spiritually abused by these people. I was spiritually abused, Glen, by a religious system full of these wolves in sheep's clothing and the whole religious ordeal was and still it very
painful. For these people make you believe that you have a 'jezebel spirit' and that you are not saved by the blood of Jesus, because you are not following their 'leading.'

And the sexual sins of these so called 'prophet types,' I will not even address for it sickens me. And no, I am not the reason there are so many false prophets and false teachers within the church system here in our country for I have left all of that behind me and trust only in Jesus for my teachings. The reason there are so many false teachers, prophets for profit, and false leadership is because people choose to support this false religion.

Because of the spiritual abuse, instead of laughing, mocking, and trying to do evil against my abusers, I have been led to humble myself and pray for them, not because of 'my wonderful religious self'; because these people were created in God's image as well and have souls, and Jesus desires to have a relationship with them as well. And when we mock, laugh, and entertain self righteousness above another, we are no better than those who cried "Crucify Him, Crucify Him" on that very day long ago, for sin knocks on all of our doors.

I gave up the celebrity pastor thing for the pagan festival of lent, long ago.

Anonymous said...

RC Sproul, Jr, another leader exposed in the AM scandal. :( :( :(

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/august/ligonier-suspends-rc-sproul-jr-over-ashley-madison.html

Heavenly Father, help your children pray for the pastors, elders, teachers, and leaders, who are daily tempted in a myriad of sinful directions, sometimes severely tested, and some now unfortunately failing, that You would hold them up in both doctrine and character, and in doing so, glorify the name of your Son Jesus Christ.

-Carolyn

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Anonymous,

I fully understand the problem of having sat under false teachers. My first religious experience was as a Mormon, so I understand cults.

I did NOT say you were a reason so many false prophets, etc were in the church. I said it was the attitudes such as you projected that we should coddle to these people with love, concern, humility, prayer, etc rather than rebuke. The reason they are out there isn't just because they have followers, but also because people don't want to challenge them! There is nothing about being humble in regards to false teachings in the Bible. Nowhere does it tell us to pray for them (although we can, but the vast majority of them have no desire to change), rather we are to rebuke them, expose them. It is not "self-righteousness" to point out the false prophet for what he is, and there is nothing wrong with mocking him as part of that exposure. It is CERTAINLY nothing like "Crucify Him." Remember, JESUS Himself vilified them and condemned them. God said to STONE the false prophets. Paul said to let them be eternally condemned, and yet you are still saying that the treatment of that guy was wrong, that those people were wrong to laugh at his obvious foolishness and blaspheming of the Lord?!?! Actually, the guy WAS treated kindly as he was gently led out.

Suggesting that you accept teachings from a solid scholar is not saying to follow a "celebrity" pastor. And, by the way, be careful of that tag -- many of the "celebrity" pastors of history were celebrities not because of their charisma or looks, etc, but rather because they preached the WORD. A.W. Tozer, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, H.A. Ironside, et al were "celebrity" pastors whose teachings are still solid and sought after.