I’m Out For a Bit…
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(The video is self-explanatory.)
http://www.lanechaplin.com
Author: LaneCh
Keywords: lanech
Added: August 11, 2008
Preach the Word
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As I write this I am listening to my Keith Green collection. I can’t seem to get past his song, “A Billion Starving People,” which is not about people physically starving, but about the vast numbers of people in the world who do not know God. In this song he sings about his drive to “preach the word” to all even if only one is brought to the Father. While the seeker-sensitive advocates proclaim that they have this same vision, they make a mistake in eliminating the meat of the Gospel so the ‘unchurched’ won’t be offended by the truth that all are dead in their trespasses and sins and cannot be reconciled to God outside of coming to the bloody cross to die and be reborn as slaves of Jesus Christ as their Lord. The offense of the cross is eliminated from this “easy-believism” version of the Gospel.
(click here to read this post)
THE “CHURCH” OF OPRAH WINFREY
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In this piece Apprising Ministries draws together into one place a couple of helpful resources concerning the New Age theology of Oprah Winfrey. Though not meant as an endorsement of the ministry who produced the piece referenced below their article The Gospel According to Oprah will prove helpful for those wanting to know the truth about what this professing Christian believes and is teaching millions of her followers:
The issue before us is the steady stream of messages and advice that Oprah and her favorite guests communicate to the millions of people who are starved for meaning and purpose in life. Clearly, Oprah Winfrey has been converted into the New Age Movement. And one of the biggest deceptions is that she apparently doesn’t know it. Many of her favorite guests are major New Age proponents and authors, and Oprah contributes to the enormous popularity and sales of their books.
Some of these New Age guests (and a number of them make repeat appearances) are, Marianne Williamson, Barbara DeAngelis, LaVar Burton, Richard Carlson, Betty Eadie, Dannion Brinkley, M. Scott Peck, Sophy Burnham, Marilyn Ferguson, Kevin Ryerson, Shirley MacLaine, Sara Breathnach, James Hillman, and psychic medium and best-selling author, James Van Praagh.
Oprah is on a mission. Repeatedly stated, her “mission” is, “I want people to see things on our show that makes them think differently about their lives…To be a light for people. To make a difference…to open their minds and see things differently…how to get in touch with the spiritual part of their life.” Unfortunately, the “light” Oprah offers is the “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and “opening their minds,” in this case means their brains fall out—they become empty headed (Romans 1:21-25). (Online source)
The Church of Oprah Exposed
See also:
OPRAH WINFREY SPEAKING AS A CHRISTIAN
“The Secret” New Age Universe According to Oprah
Oprah and Eckhart Tolle’s New Age Revival
Multi-Religious Retreats Offer Variety in Faith
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From Christian Post:
Religious retreats are traditionally focused on strengthening a particular faith, but a new type is cropping up where believers of a variety of faiths are worshipping together. Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Zoroastrian, Judaic, Christian and Islamic texts are read aloud during the same Sunday service at a Muslim Sufi religious retreat in New York, according to The Associated Press. The Sufi Muslim retreat leader speaks about Jesus and the peace that he has inside.
This is the scene at Abode of the Message in New Lebanon, New York, about 25 miles southeast of Albany. At this retreat center, guests are invited to deepen their faith without converting. There is a woman who even described herself as a Sufi Christian. Nearby, the Buddhists at Zen Mountain Monastery say they see no conflict with Buddhist practice and a person’s search for God… Perhaps the multi-faith retreats are part of the increasing openness Americans have towards their personal faith…
PYROMANIACS: STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND ERWIN MCMANUS
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In his post Phil Johnson begins with:
Some random but loosely-connected thoughts about the Fad-Driven Church® have been accumulating in my subconscious while I’ve been reposting those old entries about evangelical fads. So I’ve decided to interrupt the process of reposting old entries and take a load off my mind today…
Why is it that those who seem to talk most about originality are always so lemminglike? Take Erwin Raphael McManus, for instance. (Is there anyone more pretentious in all the world of postmodern religion?)… I confess I do not understand the near-reverential respect McManus’s admirers lavish on him. Sure, if you read his own PR about himself, you might think he is the most wonderfully creative and forward-thinking guy ever to grace a platform. But I can’t think of a single idea he has proposed that is not somehow adapted from the standard seeker-sensitive repertoire, cherry-picked from Emerging postmodernism, or purloined from some neo-gnostic playbook. Can you? (Online source)
No, Apprising Ministries is in total agreement here as it regards Emerging Church ”cultural architect” and “istinguised furturist” Erwin McManus. As I pointed out in a comment today at Pyromaniacs:
Some might find this to be of interest concerning Erwin McManus. I have a source who was one of the people in the Terra Nova Project back in 1997 where Doug Pagitt was asked by Leadership Network to bring together 10 youth pastors and youth ministers who were trying to reach a “postmodern” culture.
From that TP the emerging church movement would extend with perhaps its largest and most influential branch being Emergent Village. This source told me that Erwin McManus was originally selected to be a part of TP. However, McManus was dropped very early on from further [consideration], not for theological reasons, but for personality conflicts with some of the others.
You can read Johnson’s insightful post in its entirety here.
See also: SBC PASTOR OR HUMAN POTENTIAL ADVOCATE?
ERWIN MCMANUS’ REAL POSITION ON THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE
Pyromaniacs: Stream of Consciousness and Erwin McManus
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In this post Phil Johnson begins with:
Some random but loosely-connected thoughts about the Fad-Driven Church® have been accumulating in my subconscious while I’ve been reposting those old entries about evangelical fads. So I’ve decided to interrupt the process of reposting old entries and take a load off my mind today…
Why is it that those who seem to talk most about originality are always so lemminglike? Take Erwin Raphael McManus, for instance. (Is there anyone more pretentious in all the world of postmodern religion?)… I confess I do not understand the near-reverential respect McManus’s admirers lavish on him. Sure, if you read his own PR about himself, you might think he is the most wonderfully creative and forward-thinking guy ever to grace a platform. But I can’t think of a single idea he has proposed that is not somehow adapted from the standard seeker-sensitive repertoire, cherry-picked from Emerging postmodernism, or purloined from some neo-gnostic playbook. Can you?
Emergent Village: Can Eckhart Tolle Help Us Be Better Christians?
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The Emergent Village blog features a post from Messiah College professor, Jenell Williams Paris, who claims that Eckhart Tolle’s teachings helped her through grief. She asks whether Eckhart can make us better Christians. Apparently, as long as someone doesn’t claim to be a Christian, we don’t have to critique their beliefs and their teachings can be viewed as potential guides through life.
I once sat in a classroom for a course called Life’s Search for Meaning. It was a required class or I wouldn’t have taken it. One of the texts used was On Death and Dying by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. In the class was a woman who was losing her husband to Lou Gherig’s disease. The book was absent any Gospel hope whatsoever and was based in a complete humanistic framework. During the class discussions she talked about how much the course was helping her get through her husband’s illness. The point is, she wasn’t really being helped spiritually. She was being taught things that were not true about death and the hereafter, and to look within oneself for help to get through difficulties. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was not a safe guide for grief and loss, but was presented as such. I find it dangerous that Jenell Williams Paris is introducing a lot of people to the writings of Eckhart Tolle and endorsing them as helpful. There is no discernment today among emergents who have discarded the plumb line for truth, the Word of God. It can only get worse from here as the blind continue to lead the blind down a very twisted and dark path that is absent the light of God’s Word.
RICK WARREN IS SAYING PROTESTANT REFORMERS LUTHER AND CALVIN WERE WRONG
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That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. (James 1:8-9, NASB)
Believing Reformation Doctrine And That The Church Of Rome Is Christian?
In the Apprising Ministries feature article Rick Warren Says “Great Spiritual Awakening Coming” I brought to your attention that Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren has recently said:
I believe God is preparing the church for another reformation. The first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does.
For too long we’ve separated the Word of God from the work of God. As the church, we’re called to be the body of Christ – the whole body. (Online source)
Then in Rick Warren Reversing the Reformation (RWRR) I showed you that he has also made his own personal position quite clear concerning the apostate Roman Catholic Church, “The small group structure is the structure of renewal in every facet of Christianity — including Catholicism” (Online source). But in RWRR you’ll also read that at the same time out of the other side of his mouth Warren is telling us, “the First Reformation, begun by Martin Luther, was about the creeds (doctrine). Our doctrines were established by the First Reformation.”
The question we need to ask here is: Which Rick Warren are we to believe? The one who says the Church of Rome with their false gospel of grace plus works—which negates grace—is part of the Body of Christ; or should we instead listen to the Rick Warren who tells us, “Our doctrines were established by the First Reformation.” These statements are actually diametrically opposed because Reformers like Luther and Calvin clearly called the Roman Catholic Church apostate (and worse), so Biblically we would really have to refer to Warren as being double-minded when it comes to the Church of Rome.
The Reformation Was About The Very Gospel Itself
Men and women, this involves the very Gospel of Jesus Christ itself, which Warren as a pastor who would be sent by the Lord is supposed to preach publicly, not just privately affirm while meeting with his critics. The doctrine of salvation is no minor issue and Warren also happens to be a pastor with the Southern Baptist Convention, which is still—at least for now—reputed to be a Protestant denomination. Further Warren has also even claimed he is a “Kuyper-Calvinist.”
In his article History of the Doctrine of Justification Dr. John Gerstner begins:
“The doctrine by which the church stands or falls.” So said Martin Luther about justification by faith alone. John Calvin agreed, calling justification by faith the “hinge” of the Reformation.
Dr. Gerstner then correctly informs us:
It was not until the Council of Trent (1545-1563) that justification was officially confirmed as a process based on human merit derived through divine grace. This was the article in Session VI, Canon 7 of the Council of Trent which led the Roman Catholic Church away from the orthodox teaching on justification. (Online source)
The doctrine of justification speaks to what happens because Christ Jesus rescues from death and Hell all sinners who will believe. Let me give you a little working knowledge as we get set to wrap up this message. Here is a good brief definition for what the historic orthodox Christian Church means by justification. Dr. Charles Hodge (1797-1878) esteemed professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, before the Cult of Liberal Theology swallowed it whole, writes:
Justification is defined in the Westminster Catechism, “An act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoned all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone”
(Systematic Theology, Vol. III, 114).
As simply as it can be stated—the Bible teaches that justification happens the nanosecond a human being through God’s grace alone, truly places his complete trust in Christ alone by faith alone. And it is the act whereby God as the righteous Judge declares a guilty sinner instantaneously absolved of his sins by crediting the merit of perfect life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to the believer.
But this proper Biblical Gospel preached by Christ’s Apostles is literally cursed by the Roman Catholic Church. As our expert witness I’ll call in Dr. Ron Rhodes, who even praises Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life, and could hardly be considered a hostile witness. In his book Reasoning from the Scriptures with Catholics Dr. Rhodes tells us, “One of the greater challenges in engaging in discussions with Roman Catholics involves the issue of salvation.”
He then goes on to explain, “Certainly Catholics deny that their Church teaches a works salvation.” It should be clear now that Rhodes believes the Roman Catholic Church preaches another gospel just the same as did Luther and Calvin of the Protestant Reformation. And that would be the very same Reformation where Warren told us earlier our “doctrines were established”. Here we note that even though he is supposedly a “Protestant” pastor, by embracing apostate Roman Catholicism as a viable Christian expression, Rick Warren is thereby saying that Luther and Calvin were in fact wrong.
Rhodes now continues:
[Roman Catholics] will talk about how their salvation is impossible apart from the grace of God. But though things start out by grace in the Roman Catholic system of salvation,…works do indeed get mixed into the picture. By virtue of the fact that a life of meritorious works is necessary to gain final salvation, it is clear that in reality the Roman Catholic view of salvation is works-oriented. (121)
Roman Catholic Church Warren Says Is Christian Condemned The Gospel
And this is exactly what Reformers like Luther and Calvin correctly rejected as a false gospel when their “doctrines were established” through the leading of God the Holy Spirit by appealing to the Bible as their final authority because He wrote it. Dr. R. C. Sproul now puts this all into perspective for us on The John Ankerberg Show, which concerned the Evangelicals And Catholics Together document when he stated:
the Catholic Church understood in the 16th century, and Trent and Rome placed its unambiguous anathema on the Protestant doctrine of “Justification by faith alone” and has never, in any magisterial sense removed that anathema. The Roman Catholic Church condemns “sola fide! (L.)” Now if, please understand this, if “sola fide (L.)” is the gospel, then the Roman Catholic Church has condemned the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, nobody who went to the Council of Trent, as a delegate, went there with the intention of condemning the gospel.
The theologians of Rome really believed that they were defending the gospel and that the Protestants had in fact committed apostasy. And I admire the Church, the Roman communion of the 16th century for at least understanding what apparently people don’t understand today, and that is what is at stake here. That they understood that somebody is under the anathema of God! And we can be as nice, and as pleasant, and as gentle, and as loving, and as charitable, and tolerant as we can possibly be, but it’s not going to change that folks. Somebody is preaching a different gospel!
And when Rome condemned the Protestant declaration of “Justification by faith alone” I believe, Rome, when placing the anathema on “sola fide (L.),” placed the anathema of God upon themselves. I agree with his [John MacArthur] assessment, that the institution [Roman Catholic Church] is apostate! (Online source)
So now I will ask the key question yet again: How is it that one of the most powerful and prominent pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention—the largest Protestant denomination in America—flatly contradicts the doctrine of the Reformation, which he also says he believes in, and no SBC leader has stepped forward to call him to account for his sin?
See also:
RICK WARREN AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC “CIRCUMCISION PARTY”
RICK WARREN AND A “BALANCED” REVERSAL OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION
KEN SILVA: THE BLOODIED GROUND UPON WHICH I STAND CONCERNING RICK WARREN
RICK WARREN: THE NEW CHARLES FINNEY
RICK WARREN AND THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE: DRIVING GOD AWAY
Ichabod, the Glory Has Departed
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Rev. Allen Baker of Christ Community Presbyterian Church has written an excellent devotional about the state of the church. He is pastor of a vibrant, Christ-exalting assembly in West Hartford, Connecticut. There’s a reason evangelical churches look like they do these days. The problem didn’t start over night, and it didn’t begin with Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. This piece by Rev. Baker goes back into history to point out the roots that have produced the fruit we see today.
ABC News: What Would Jesus Buy?
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The racket in religious trinketry was in the news again over the weekend. ABC News featured this article about the billions of dollars worth of trash sold in Jesus name, under the guise of “sharing” the faith. I somehow don’t think the Lord is glorified by young women wearing low cut t-shirts with “J.C.’s Girl” emblazoned across the front. I also seriously doubt the evangelistic value of a Jesus bobble-head in someone’s car window. What it does do is make Christians look like morons. What the world really needs to see are believers who live what they claim to believe, who aren’t hypocrites and who have someone more powerful than a bobblehead Jesus for a Savior. If the Lord turned over tables in the synagogue where the merchandising was going on, one can only wonder what He would do today if He would have walked into the Christian Retailers Association convention that was held in July. On the other hand, a bobblehead Jesus is exactly the kind of “God” evangelicals have created today—a God who doesn’t care what they do or how they live, and who doesn’t mind if man is at the center of things. It’s the perfect icon for evangelicals today. Sadly, the world knows it too.
Porn Addiction Not Just a Male Issue
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OneNewsNow reports that porn is no longer just a male issue today.
More than a decade ago, when Pat Trueman was the chief obscenity prosecutor for the Justice Department, the idea of a woman being addicted to pornography was unthinkable. “It was so rare to see a woman who was addicted or even hardly interested in pornography back in the days when porn was only accessible at a porn shop,” states Trueman.
Crosstalk recently aired an interview with Mike Cleveland who shared his story of how he was addicted to porn for years. He lost one marriage over it and nearly a second before he came to Christ and was delivered of his addiction to smut. As an airline pilot, he constantly found himself in hotel rooms alone with the temptations of the pay-per-view movies, and it became his life. His testimony is so encouraging to hear. He now has a ministry to help men break free from this bondage through the power of Jesus Christ. You can hear the interview here. This is his ministry link.
