Another Agglomeration

The Real History of Israel and Palestine – Pt. 1 Then read Part 2.

A very good, thought-provoking article about “Enjoying the Anger of Jesus.”

Does the Bible Encourage Masters to Beat Their Slaves? NOPE!

No, Jesus would NOT have us vote for Kamala Harris or the Demonkratic party.  “Evangelicals for Harris” is also very, very pro-abortion, which is something NO Christian should be.

Who Were the Emergent Church Leaders? Where Are They Now? Excellent review of the movers and shakers of the Emergent movement and how they still cause damage in the Church.

Beth Moore’s latest study: critique and review. As bad of a teacher as always.

I don’t remember ever hearing of Joni Lamb before, but she definitely needs to be warned against.

Heresy by the Pope! He essentially says all religions lead to the same God.  A wee bit of humor has the Pope debating with Jesus.

Blasphemy in the Church by those who condone and support the LGBTQ+ agenda. Satan is very active turning this nation even more and more into Sodom and Gomorrah.

Robert Morris is indeed a false teacher.

Heidi Baker, Billy Burke, etc, false teachers.

The Gospel Coalition loves to twist Scripture for their ideology.

I just had to share this false teacher, spawn of satan, so you can see what is out there and what  we real Christians have to work against. The article doesn’t give her name or “church,” for which I am glad.

Closing with this nonsense by Greg Locke:

Random Aberrations, Apostasies, and Heresies

An interesting look at false “spiritual warfare.”

Fred Butler is now tackling heretic Hugh Ross’ book, Navigating Genesis.  Looks to be a good series exposing the false teachings of Ross’ ministry.

Jen Hatmaker and her husband are standing firm in their ideology about homosexuality and the Bible — they claim the Bible only addresses homosexual behavior in certain circumstances, which doesn’t include “a life-long monogamous commitment,” which they claim “can be holy before God.” This lie has been propagated over and over by the “gay Christian” cult, and has been prove false by proper hermeneutics ad nauseum.  They want to call “holy” what God has called an abomination!  This couple are dangerous wolves, and have proven they are not Christians.

Rachel Held Evans, another well-known false teacher, has jumped on the Hatmaker bandwagon supporting them and those who practice homosexual behaviors.  

Interesting that the books RHE recommends are all by liberals who reject what the Bible says and twist scripture beyond recognition so as to support what God calls abominable.  I’d suggest those who doubt what God says, and who need to learn real hermeneutics, go find these books (for starters) and learn the truth:

The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics, by Robert A.J. Gagnon; 

Straight & Narrow? Compassion & Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate, by Thomas E. Schmidt; Scripture & Homosexuality: Biblical Authority and the Church Today, by Marion L. Soards; The Same Sex Controversy: Defending and Clarifying the Bible’s Message About Homosexuality, by James R. White & Jeffrey D. Niell.

Lifeway has pulled Hatmaker’s books, but this only shows that they have limits to what apostasy and false teachings they will tolerate; after all, they sell tons of material by false teacher Beth Moore and false prophet Sarah Young (among others).  As this article points out, Lifeway has no doctrinal guidelines to begin with.

However, this incident also shows another problem with Hillsong — their lead artist says  the Hatmaker’s teaching on same-sex fake marriage to be “refreshing”!

Answering the Galileo Myth.  Good information for the next time you deal with and atheist claiming the Church has always denied science.

The different gospel of Seth Barnes, head of World Race and Adventures in Missions, is horrid!!!!  He is leading many to a false Christ.

Origin of the Emergent Church movement, and it’s prime teachers.

Michael Brown shows lack of discernment as well as personal gullibility.

“Bridal Mysticism” - i.e., “Jesus is my boyfriend” theology.  This makes me wonder about Beth Moore’s status; did she ever really know the true Gospel?

Bethel students are so deceived as to think they can heal a man in a wheelchair.  This is an example of the harm caused by Bill Johnson and his ilk.

Until next week, keep on discerning!

Did They Really Say That?!?

“I must add, though, that I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion.  It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts.  This will be hard, you say, and I agree.  But frankly, it’s not all that easy to be a follower of Jesus in many ‘Christian’ contexts either. …

“Ultimately, I believe ‘they’ and ‘we’ can all experience this transformation [by God’s Spirit] best by becoming humble followers of Jesus, whom I believe . . . to be the Son of God, the Lord of all, and the Savior of the world.

“In this light, although I don’t hope all Buddhists will become (cultural) Christians, I do hope all who feel so called will become Buddhist followers of Jesus; I believe they should be given that opportunity and invitation.  I don’t hope all Jews and Hindus will become members of the Christian religion.  But I do hope all who feel so called will become Jewish or Hindu followers of Jesus.

“Ultimately I hope that Jesus will save Buddhism, Islam, and every other religion, including the Christian religion, which often seems to need saving about as much as any other religion does.”

Brian McLaren, A Generous Orthodoxy, p.260, 264.  Cited by Albert Dager in, “The Emergent Church: A New Path to Ancient Religion,” Media Spotlight, Vol.28/no.4

Can someone please explain to me how one can remain in a pagan religious “context” while following Jesus?  If one is “following” Jesus, that means they have accepted him as their Lord and Savior, have placed their faith in who He is, the work of the cross and the resurrection.  His disciples MUST adhere to the Christian “religion” — that is what it means to be a disciple of Christ; i.e., a Christian.  A Buddhist cannot remain a Buddhist if he truly follows Jesus - he will become a Christian.  Same with the Jew and the Hindu.  

Jesus will never “save” any religion, rather he saves people from their sins.

What McLaren teaches is nothing less than abject heresy.

There Is No "Build-A-God"

Not too long ago, if your child wanted a stuffed animal, you went to some local retail outlet and bought one off the shelf.  While there may have been a large number of possibilities, still the options were limited to the stuffed animals in stock.  Enter the “Build-A-Bear Workshop” franchise which began in 1997 and now has over 400 locations worldwide and online.  At Build-A-Bear children can create their own stuffed animals.  They can be as creative as they like, for Build-A-Bear allows children to be sovereign over their own creations, leaving the toy store with a unique critter unlike anyone else’s.  The only question is, what does the child want in a stuffed bear?  But what may be desirable in a fuzzy friend is not desirable when it comes to God and the Christian Faith.

Neither the Lord nor the faith is left to our desires.  While there is much diversity within the body of Christ, there is only one Lord and one faith (Ephesians 4:5).  We are not free to “build a God” or “build a faith.”  The one true God and the one true faith have been handed down to us in the Word.  We must reject the temptation to be our own creator and humbly accept that which the Lord has revealed to us.  Pragmatism, the god of “what works,” is a creation of our own imagination and ingenuity.  We must rest in the true God of the Word.

Gary E. Gilley, “It Works For Me…, Pragmatism and the twenty-First Century Church,” PFO’s “The Quarterly Journal,” Jan-Mar 2015, p.9

Some Good Stuff

Another post to start the New Year, this time with some articles which I found last month, which were edifying or otherwise helpful.

First up is a great article about “10 Old Wives’ Tales About Church Growth.”  This article is good at demonstrating part of the error with the seeker-sensitive and market-driven churches.  Now, this is not a site I normally would have visit, so I have to give a hat-tip to my fellow blogger Steve Bricker.

Stan, over at Winging It, had an excellent article about marriage, based on what he calls the Genesis Principles.

Lighthouse Trails Research Ministry blog had a good list of books Christians should avoid.  All these books promote contemplative prayer in some way or another.  It’s a good list to be familiar with.

Are you interested in the truth about St. Nicholas and his connection to Christmas?  The Gospel Coalition had an informative article.  I enjoyed the article especially because my wife and I had just recently visited the National Czech and Slovak Museum while they had a huge display about Nicholas and the history and legends surrounding him.

A very interesting article examined God’s probable attitude towards the cult known as Westboro Baptist Church.  This is the “church” which likes to protest at funerals, claiming the person or people were killed by God because of the sanctioning of homosexuality in America.  I think God does indeed hate WBC.

And, finally, Elizabeth Prata has an excellent article about the “therapeutic gospel” being espoused by so much of today’s church leadership.  Although I have not previously heard of Trevin Wax, Prata’s review of his book explaining this false gospel leads me to seek to purchase a copy of Wax’s book.

Have a blessed New Year!

Random Things

I’ve been quite busy lately, giving much less time to work on my own articles, but I have done my usual habit of collecting links to others’ good articles in the apologetics realm.  So this is another episode of random articles and my associated comments.

Rick Warren and various Emergents and other false teachers are going deeper into apostasy - and rank heresy - as they signed on to a proclamation titled, “Loving God and Neighbor Together.”  [link gone by 12/15/16] I expect this from heretics like Robert Schuller (who is one of the signatories)   and Brian McLaren, but too many supposed evangelicals are going along with this pandering to Islam.  I guess I have to admit that Warren’s involvement is no surprise, considering his previous episodes of sanctioning Islam, but I think it is time for pastors to start warning their sheep about what a dangerous religion Islam really is, and that - as Christians - we have nothing really in common with them.

Then there’s the story going around the past couple of months about churches in Great Britain changing the Ten Commandments.  After all, they needed to be “updated” to “reflect modern values.”  It won’t be long until the Big Ten are referred to as the jokes say - the Ten Suggestions.  “Thou shalt not steal” is now “prosper with a clear conscience.”  I know what you’re thinking - “HUH?!?!”  as Ken Silva asks, “So apparently, as long as I have “a clear conscience,” it’s okay for me to ‘prosper’ by stealing from you?”

Yes, Rick Warren is again a topic.  His “Daniel Plan” is another fad taking off, but Erin has a good question about it: “Does “Daniel Plan” Co-Author Care More About Your Scale Than Your Soul?”  The answer is, apparently, a resounding “yes!”

More on Mark Drisoll’s lack of qualifications for being a pastor comes in the form of a testimony by the wife of a former elder of Mars Hill Church.  Driscoll seems to be more of a cult leader (or just plain dictator) than he does a pastor.  

The goatherds leading so many charismaniac “churches” continually blaspheme God with their false teachings and blatant blasphemy.  Rob Deluca is a name I’m not familiar with, but watching just this one video of part of a “worship” service was enough to disgust any Christian with the abject blasphemy taught to a young girl, let alone the rest of the goats in the audience and the screaming “worship” leader.  I suggest this goatherd read Jesus’ warning at Matthew 18:6.

Here we go again: another Bible version will be released later this summer.  Called the “Common English Bible,” it seeks “to make a bridge between conservatives, moderates and liberals.”  Um, is there really a problem with just translating what the manuscripts actually say rather than making it agree with any particular agenda?  From the article in the Christian Post, one can read of politically-incorrect language being changes to something more palatable for liberals.  Of course it also follows the modern idea of being “gender-inclusive.”  Fuller Theological Seminary, that bastion of liberal Christianity, is adding it to “the NRSV and TNIV as translations that could be required for students doing biblical studies.”  After all, we certainly wouldn’t want them reading an unbiased Bible, would we?  I discovered Ken Silva did an article about this Bible when it was first available in digital format on the Internet, which I suggest you review.  Erin has a good commentary about this latest update.

Almost a year ago I wrote a short article which mentioned the Hebrew Roots Movement.    This led to an e-mail contact from the owner of Joyfully Growing In Grace blog, which reports of this movement.  This week she wrote a very good article about some claims by people in this movement.  I recommend it for your perusal.

Meanwhile, I am still slowly working on an article about the false teachings of mystic Henry Blackaby, but I came across this article last week, which should give you an idea of problems with Blackaby’s teachings!  As the author of this article points out, Blackaby claims that we should all be able to audibly hear God’s voice, and “If you do not hear God's voice, could it be your heart is not ready to respond to what he says? Are you clinging to sin or holding out against what you already know of his will? No matter what the reason for the silence, there is a remedy: repent and return to God. Allow God to soften your heart so you are ready to hear his voice and to respond in obedience. Continue seeking and listening until you have heard him speak to you in his unmistakable voice. When he does, it will change your life."  So my question becomes, “can you demonstrate this from Scripture?”  I like the author’s question:  “Mr. Blackaby...does this mean that you are sinless?”

Sola Sisters blog reports on “Concerns About Kirk Cameron’s Movie ‘Monumental.’”  I like Cameron, but I think he’s getting mixed up with the wrong people and getting some wrong information regarding not only American history, but theology in general

I long ago reported about the apostate condition of the ELCA denomination, especially in regards to their love affair with homosexuality.  Well, they’ve just sunk a bit deeper into that pit by choosing as senior pastor in St. Paul, MN’s largest Lutheran Church a man who openly practices homosexual behavior.  Do they really think this is pleasing to God?

One thing all false teachers have in common is that they seek the approval of man rather than the approval of God.  Ken Silva has a very good article on this subject over at Apprising Ministries.  Unlike most pastors today, Ken isn’t afraid to “name names” of false teachers.

The Cripplegate has a thought-provoking article about worship leaders.  Essentially, they need to remember that they aren’t rock stars.

What Is Good for the Market Isn’t Good for the Church.

I was cleaning off one of my book shelves today and came across a pamphlet by David F. Wells titled, “The Bleeding of the Evangelical Church.”  The point of the pamphlet was that the whole market-driven, seeker-sensitive movement was wrong and leads people to a false Christianity.  I had highlighted three quotations when I read this pamphlet back when I acquired it in 2001, and I am sharing these citations here, so as to give some food for thought.

“The Church is sanctioning the idea that when someone comes in its doors its okay to view that person as a consumer, somebody who is going to attempt to hitch up a product to their own felt needs.”

“Consumers in the market place are never asked to commit themselves to the product they are purchasing, as a sinner is to the Christ in whom belief is being invited.”

“For what succeeds in this world is not necessarily what is true or what is right.”

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?

Cleaning out my files last night I came across a sheet of paper with this written on it.  I don’t know where I copied it from, but it sounds like it could have been written today.  Most likely I copied it from some internet site.  It’s some great teaching from Charles Spurgeon.

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it.  During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil.  It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments.  the devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.  From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day.  Then she tolerated them in her borders.  Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church.  If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it?  “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”  That is clear enough.  So it would have been if he had added, “and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.”  No such words, however, are to be found.  It did not seem to occur to him....

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles.  What was the attitude of the Church to the world?  “Ye are the salt,” not the sugar candy - something the world will spit out, not swallow. ... I do not hear [Jesus] say, “Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching.  We will have a pleasant evening for the people.  Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it.  Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!”  Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.  In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel of amusement....

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired.  It works havoc among young converts.  Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them half-way, speak and testify.  Let the heavy laden who found peace through concert not keep silent!  Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment had been God’s link in the chain of their conversion, stand up!  There are none to answer.  The mission of amusement produces no converts.  The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root.  The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

I suggest Willow Creek, Saddleback, “relevant” churches and “emergent” churches all take heed to what Spurgeon wrote.  And always remember that the word “amuse” means “no think”. 

The Social Gospel

The January 2009 issue of the Jews for Jesus newsletter has an article by David Brickner about the “Social Gospel.” This movement by the likes of Rick Warren and his ilk is nothing new, as Brickner points out. Here is an excerpt from the article that I think sums it up:

Why was it, and why is it popular to blend evangelism with social action? Can’t each stand on its own merits? Some believe it is necessary to combine them in order to gain an entrée for the gospel, or to earn respect from those who think Christians don’t care about social concerns. The problem is, since social action is far more acceptable to unbelievers than attempts to point them to Jesus, it is easy to convince ourselves that our social actions will speak volumes about our faith. And people will want to know more about Christ, some insist, without our having to offend them by talking about sin and the Savior.

We all prefer appreciation to rejection - I know I certainly do. And isn’t it wonderful that some of the things God commands us to do may lead people to appreciate us? But if we try to blend that which people usually appreciate with that which they often reject, we should not be surprised to find ourselves giving precedence to the former at the expense of the latter. That’s how many “missions” programs minimize the difficult doctrine of the uniqueness of Christ for salvation, undermining the gospel message and rendering it essentially powerless. Hence the phrase “social gospel” implies a lot of social, but not much gospel.

Rick Warren, are you listening?

Emerging Into Cultdom!

One of the things that should be an immediate red flag for any "Christian" movement is when they have to come up with their own Bible to reflect their theology. This is what happens with cults and other groups who have gone aberrational or heretical. Some examples of this are:
1. Mormons and their Joseph Smith Translation (also called the "Inspired Version").
2. Jehovah's Witnesses and their New World Translation.
3. Seventh-day Aventists and their The Clear Word.
4. The Local Church and their Recovery Version.

So now the Emergent Church has joined the ranks and are now publishing their own “translation” of the Bible called The Voice. If the Emergent Church hasn’t raised red flags with all their aberrations, heresy and apostasy already, then their new “Bible” should do so.

Extreme Theology has done some excellent work showing problems with this new version of the Bible. So far they have posted two parts of their investigation:
http://www.extremetheology.com/2008/11/review-of-the-voice-new-testament---part-one.html
http://www.extremetheology.com/2008/12/review-of-the-voice-new-testament-part-two.html
(Extreme Theology is a site I recommend for general reading, as there are a lot of good, thought-provoking articles.)

As I read these articles I couldn’t help but shake my head in wonderment that these men would do such twisting of the Word of God.

Emerging Into Homosexuality?

The Emergent Church leadership are continuing rapidly in their run to apostasy. A case in point is their acceptance of homosexual behavior.

The latest of the “emerging” leaders to whitewash the sin of homosexual behavior is the former national coordinator of Emergent Village, Tony Jones. Tony Jones has decided that “gay persons are fully human persons and should be afforded all of the cultural and ecclesial benefits that I am…I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state.” (For an excellent article about this, see http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/mwest/081201)

We previously had Brian McLaren saying, "Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about homosexuality. We've heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say 'it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us.' That alienates us from both the liberals and conservatives who seem to know exactly what we should think."

I don’t know what Bible these people are reading, but my Bible says homosexual behavior is a sin before God, so I don’t understand McLaren’s confusion over the issue. Furthermore, to say that people practicing sexual perversions can live “in accord with biblical Christianity” is certainly a far cry from Jesus’ charge to the adulteress to “go and sin no more.”

I have read many articles in which members of the various “Emergent Church” branches go soft on the issue of homosexuality. It seems they want to be politically-correct rather than biblically-correct.

The Emergent Church movement is one that is apostate in many ways, and often heretical. We need to be alert for its intrusions into our local assemblies and identify it for the evil it is.