The Psychological Manipulation of the "Invitation"
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UN & Vatican: Peacebuilding – A Role for Religion
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The Vatican’s office at the United Nations recently hosted a panelist discussion on Peacebuilding: A Role for Religion: “At a time when the UN is giving new attention to peacebuilding, including the role of religion in promoting reconciliation, this panel will consider the spectrum of peacebuilding initiatives of the Catholic Church around the world and lessons learned from its peacebuilding work, especially in the Great Lakes region of Africa…”
See the remarkable similarities between this Vatican-United Nations sponsored event and Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. plan at the resource links at Watcher’s Lamp.
How a Toned-Down Gospel Undermines Holiness
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Wherever and whenever the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith have prevailed in the Christian church, and according to the degree of clearness with which they have been enforced, the practical duties of Christianity have flourished in the same proportion. Wherever they have declined, or been tempered with the reasonings and expedients of [...]
How a Toned-Down Gospel Undermines Holiness
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
Wherever and whenever the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith have prevailed in the Christian church, and according to the degree of clearness with which they have been enforced, the practical duties of Christianity have flourished in the same proportion. Wherever they have declined, or been tempered with the reasonings and expedients of [...]
The Triumph of Grace over the Power of Sin
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The debate in the visible Church in our time concerning the need for Christians to walk in Repentance is actually quite perplexing to those of us whose hearts and consciences are bound to the Word of God. It clearly exhorts us all to repent and walk in righteousness. I had a conversation with a Pastor a couple of years ago at lunch following his sermon that Sunday morning. We discussed the dreadful condition in the visible Church today in which most professing Christians appeared to be very immature and in bondage to their flesh. I asked for his opinion of why that was so. His response was that it was the result of the Church not being the Church as God designed. There was little or no Church discipline. There was little preaching of the Law and the Gospel together. There was hardly ever a mention of walking in repentance before our Holy God. I agreed completely with his analysis. He also shared that he did not believe that a very large percentage of the professing Christians were genuine.
(click here to read this post)
Biola University Contacts Lighthouse Trails – Accuses of Libel
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A short post related to the Apprising Ministries article Biola University Now Drifting From Evangelical Protestant Roots? Apparently “someone from the Media Relations department at Biola University contacted Lighthouse Trails” and accused them of libel. More info at AM here.
BIOLA UNIVERSITY CONTACTS LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS – ACCUSES OF LIBEL
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This short post is related to the Apprising Ministries article Biola University Now Drifting From Evangelical Protestant Roots? Over at From the Lighthouse… we’re informed:
On October 21st, someone from the Media Relations department at Biola University contacted Lighthouse Trails because of articles we have posted about Biola’s promotion of contemplative spirituality. The person, who asked not to be identified in our articles, said that statements Lighthouse Trails has made are libelous. Upon asking for examples of libelous statements, none were given. Biola’s media person did say that our definition of contemplative spirituality (eastern-style mysticism) is not what they mean by contemplative.
To supplement our previous articles (see links at bottom) and to show that Biola is indeed promoting and introducing students to contemplative mystical spirituality, the following links are provided… (Online source)
What is the Gospel?
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For many of you who have waited patiently for the teachings from the Western Slope Seminar on Biblical Evangelism, the wait is over. Pastor Randall Easter’s sermons are now available for download at www.elmavenuebaptist.org.
The Lord is My Shepherd
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If we could but understand the goodness of God, it would transform our lives. Here are my meditations on the goodness of the Lord from the first verse of the 23 Psalm.
The Lord is My Shepherd
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“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…”
Psalm 23:1
I ‘ve been meditating on this Psalm, especially the first verse, lately, and the goodness of God has again been impressed upon me. If only we could understand the goodness of our God, it would transform our lives and transform the church. Moses asked God, “Show me your glory,” and God said, “I will show you my goodness.”
“The Lord is”
David begins by declaring that the Lord is his Shepherd. The wonderful truth expressed here is that God can never change. He is the “I AM” and can never be anything else. When an attribute or characterization of God is true at one time, it will always be true. The Lord is the Shepherd of his people, and he will never be anything else. If the words of David were true in his time, they are no less true now. No years have passed to God; he is still the same, and still the Good shepherd.
“My Shepherd”
What does a shepherd do? A shepherd is one who has given his life to care for his sheep and to seek their benefit. All his energies are given to this end. If they are lost, he will seek them; if they are in danger, he will protect them; if they are hungry, he will feed them. If necessary, he would die to preserve their well being. So many things could be said about what a shepherd is and does, but the chief principle is that a shepherd his given himself wholly to seeking the well being of his sheep.
When David ascribes the character of a shepherd to the Lord, then, it’s a truly wonderful thing. The Lord–the high and lofty One, the terrible God of the universe–has given himself to seeking the good of his sheep, which are his people. The great God has devoted himself to seeking our benefit and our good. He could have given a might angel or some other heavenly being this charge, yet he has taken it upon himself. His love for his sheep is to great to entrust the charge to someone else. His love is so great hat he has done the greatest thing a shepherd can do: die to preserve his sheep from suffering and harm. ”I am the Good Shepherd, I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Why does God do these things? Why does God love us? Because we deserve it? Because we can give him something in return? No. Sheep are stubborn and rebellious creatures, and often wander from him who cares so much for them. They are frequently unaware of the pains that the shepherd takes for them. If they are grateful, they do little to show it. So we are also ungrateful, and we take our Good Shepherd and his goodness for granted. But even were we to show him gratitude and give him glory, it still would not be enough. Anything that we could give to God would fall infinitely short of repaying him for his great love. Why, then, does God love us and care for us? Simply because he is good.
Yes, God is good. He doesn’t simply achieve or measure up to the standard of goodness, he is goodness itself. Like a balm that heals because of its very nature, God is good to his undeserving and erring creatures because he cannot be anything else. In spite of our sinfulness, ingratitude, rebellion, and ugliness, God is good to us and loves us without limit.
But David doesn’t just call the Lord the Shepherd of his people. No, he says, “the Lord is my Shepherd.” This is yet another wonderful truth. God gives himself to the care of every one of his sheep as if it were the only one. God cares for me as if I were the only Christian, or person, alive. Only God can do so– human shepherds are limited, and so is their care. But the God who knows no limits cannot give of himself in pieces. He doesn’t give a little care to some of his sheep and more to others. No, God cares for each of his sheep with all of his infinite love and attention. My needs, my wanderings, my hurts, are as important as if they were the only ones in the world. How can we ever comprehend such love and care?
“I shall not want.”
The conclusion of the first verse states an obvious truth, yet one that we often forget: If God is the one who is caring for us, we will never lack anything. Too often we as Christians live as though God were dead; as if he didn’t exist and we were at the mercy of blind forces. The enemy of our souls would love nothing better for us than to believe that we are left alone to carve out our survival in a cruel and uncertain world.
But it isn’t true– it’s a lie. If the Lord is truly our Shepherd, then nothing can come near us or happen to us that the Good Shepherd hasn’t first allowed. And we can take confidence in the fact that if it happens, it is for our good, though we may not see how. Not all things are good, but all things are working together for our good. God has determined that he will care for us–for you, for me–and God never fails at anything he sets out to do. His good pleasure will be accomplished, our good will be achieved. Don’t fear the future, don’t fear the present; your Good Shepherd is caring for you now, and always, even if you can’t see it or don’t believe it. God will never abandon you; he will always meet your every need. Trust him and his omnipotent care.
Why do I write all this? Frankly, because I have not lived recently as if it were true. I have wandered from God, and doubted his love. Today, the Lord reminded me of this Psalm, and of his great love for me. How humbling it is, how convicting, to be reminded that in spite of my senseless sin, God cares for me still. He has not changed, and he is still the Good Shepherd. What insanity sin is. How could I, how could I leave a God so good?
Evangelicals Embrace Mystics with Guest Pastor Ken Silva (Crosstalk America)
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Lane Chaplin put together the below You Tube clip with Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries joining Ingrid Schlueter on her Crosstalk radio program to address an important aspect the current drift away from Sola Scriptura in contemporary evangelicalism. In Christianity Today Promoting the Cult of Richard Foster a few of weeks back we told you about a feature interview with Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster in a recent edition of Christianity Today magazine.
But there’s something you need to understand about this highly subjective and spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) with its Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP), all of which flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism. Right now it’s spreading as a cancer within the American Christian Church through the spurious Spiritual Formation as taught by Foster along with his spiritual twin Dallas Willard.
Chaplin includes the actual You Tube video of Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias who, while discussing homosexuality, referenced Henri Nouwen as being a great saint of recent memory. You can listen to and watch this right here.
EVANGELICALS EMBRACE MYSTICS WITH GUEST PASTOR KEN SILVA (CROSSTALK AMERICA)
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Lane Chaplin put together the below You Tube clip with Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries joining Ingrid Schlueter on her Crosstalk radio program to address an important aspect the current drift away from Sola Scriptura in contemporary evangelicalism. In Christianity Today Promoting the Cult of Richard Foster a few of weeks back we told you about a feature interview with Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster in a recent edition of Christianity Today magazine.
But there’s something you need to understand about this highly subjective and spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) with its Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP), all of which flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism. Right now it’s spreading as a cancer within the American Christian Church through the spurious Spiritual Formation as taught by Foster along with his spiritual twin Dallas Willard.
From the Crosstalk website:
There is a growing fascination among evangelicals who are claiming to find truth by embracing elements of medieval mysticism as well as the modern, Eastern influenced mysticism.
To prove the point, Ingrid played a You Tube audio clip of Christian apologist Ravi Zacharius who, while discussing homosexuality, referenced Henri Nouwen as being a great saint of recent memory. Once a professor of psychology at Harvard University, Nouwen believed that it was his call to help every person claim his or her way to God. That’s a message of universalism, not Christian theology.
As you listen to this program you’ll learn about other personalities, past and present, that support a union of Christianity and mysticism. You’ll also discover how this movement is actually leading people toward neo-pietism as it attempts to connect them into union with God.
More Information
Article on “Who is Ruth Haley Barton”
Article on “Who is Richard Foster” (Online source)
Of course Zacharias praising Roman Catholic priest and universalist Henri Nouwen isn’t that surprising when you consider that in his piece “Spirituality and Spiritual Disciplines” he calls Celebration of Discipline a “contemporary classic”:
Many have languished spiritually under the delusion that since there is nothing that we can do to be justified before God, there is also nothing we can do to be sanctified, or made righteous. This is a falsehood. Salvation is a completely unmerited gift of God given to us through faith. But that does not mean that we have no role in our becoming sanctified. God does not wave a magic wand and make us completely sanctified at the point of salvation. Rather, God calls us to pursue Him, and promises to transform us as we do so.
That is what the Spiritual Disciplines are. They are our pursuit of God, so that He can change us. As Richard Foster says, “[The Spiritual] Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.” We do not make ourselves righteous by reading the Bible or fasting or meditation. Rather, as we commit to seeking God, and expectantly seeking Him in these disciplines, He changes us. The disciplines are God’s garage in which He works on us. (Online source, emphasis mine)
Now we realize Zacharias likely wrote an awkward sentence and is trying to talk about progressive sanctification, but even so we do not ever reach a point this side of Heaven where we are “made righteous.” Former Roman Catholic can tell you that what is highlighted above would not be Protestant theology. Rather it is in lock-step with apostate Roman Catholicism.
Justification means that the regenerated believer is delared righteous by God having had the merits of Jesus Christ imputed to him. As such there is absolutely nothing which the human contributes, or ever could contribute, to this justification so he would be made righteous. This is Soli Deo Gloria.
And following in the excerpt below from the AM post About Richard Foster Dr. Gary Gilley gives you a proper breakdown of the “virtual encyclopedia of theological error” that is Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster:
Celebration of Discipline alone, not even referencing Foster’s other writings and teachings and ministries, is a virtual encyclopedia of theological error. We would be hard pressed to find in one so-called evangelical volume such a composite of false teaching. These include faulty views on the subjective leading of God (pp. 10, 16-17, 18, 50, 95, 98, 108-109, 128, 139-140, 149-150, 162, 167, 182); approval of New Age teachers (see Thomas Merton below); occultic use of imagination (pp. 25-26, 40-43, 163, 198); open theism (p. 35); misunderstanding of the will of God in prayer (p. 37); promotion of visions, revelations and charismatic gifts (pp. 108, 165, 168-169, 171, 193); endorsement of rosary and prayer wheel use (p. 64); misunderstanding of the Old Testament Law for today (pp. 82, 87); mystical journaling (p. 108); embracing pop-psychology (pp. 113-120); promoting Roman Catholic practices such as use of “spiritual directors,” confession and penance (pp. 146-150, 156, 185); and affirming of aberrant charismatic practices (pp. 158-174, 198).
See also:
RAVI ZACHARIAS ANSWERS “CAN A PERSON LIVE A SINCERE CHRISTIAN LIFE AS A HOMOSEXUAL?”
CHRISTIANITY TODAY PROMOTING THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC CATHERINE OF SIENA
HENRI NOUWEN HELPED BY “MEDITATION”
SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS PIETISM REIMAGINED
SPIRITUAL FORMATION: JUST SAY NO
CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM (CSM) OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS RECKLESS FAITH
EVANGELICALS EMBRACE MYSTICS WITH GUEST PASTER KEN SILVA (CROSSTALK AMERICA)
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
Lane Chaplin put together the below You Tube clip with Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries joining Ingrid Schlueter on her Crosstalk radio program to address an important aspect the current drift away from Sola Scriptura in contemporary evangelicalism. In Christianity Today Promoting the Cult of Richard Foster a few of weeks back we told you about a feature interview with Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster in a recent edition of Christianity Today magazine.
But there’s something you need to understand about this highly subjective and spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) with its Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP), all of which flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism. Right now it’s spreading as a cancer within the American Christian Church through the spurious Spiritual Formation as taught by Foster along with his spiritual twin Dallas Willard.
From the Crosstalk website:
There is a growing fascination among evangelicals who are claiming to find truth by embracing elements of medieval mysticism as well as the modern, Eastern influenced mysticism.
To prove the point, Ingrid played a You Tube audio clip of Christian apologist Ravi Zacharius who, while discussing homosexuality, referenced Henri Nouwen as being a great saint of recent memory. Once a professor of psychology at Harvard University, Nouwen believed that it was his call to help every person claim his or her way to God. That’s a message of universalism, not Christian theology.
As you listen to this program you’ll learn about other personalities, past and present, that support a union of Christianity and mysticism. You’ll also discover how this movement is actually leading people toward neo-pietism as it attempts to connect them into union with God.
More Information
Article on “Who is Ruth Haley Barton”
Article on “Who is Richard Foster” (Online source)
Of course Zacharias praising Henri Nouwen isn’t that surprising when you consider that in his piece “Spirituality and Spiritual Disciplines” he calls Celebration of Discipline a “contemporary classic”:
Many have languished spiritually under the delusion that since there is nothing that we can do to be justified before God, there is also nothing we can do to be sanctified, or made righteous. This is a falsehood. Salvation is a completely unmerited gift of God given to us through faith. But that does not mean that we have no role in our becoming sanctified. God does not wave a magic wand and make us completely sanctified at the point of salvation. Rather, God calls us to pursue Him, and promises to transform us as we do so.
That is what the Spiritual Disciplines are. They are our pursuit of God, so that He can change us. As Richard Foster says, “[The Spiritual] Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us.” We do not make ourselves righteous by reading the Bible or fasting or meditation. Rather, as we commit to seeking God, and expectantly seeking Him in these disciplines, He changes us. The disciplines are God’s garage in which He works on us. (Online source, emphasis mine)
Now we realize Zacharias likely wrote an awkward sentence and is trying to talk about progressive sanctification, but even so we do not ever reach a point this side of Heaven where we are “made righteous.” Former Roman Catholic can tell you that what is highlighted above would not be Protestant theology. Rather it is in lock-step with apostate Roman Catholicism.
Justification means that the regenerated believer is delared righteous by God having had the merits of Jesus Christ imputed to him. As such there is absolutely nothing which the human contributes, or ever could contribute, to this justification so he would be made righteous. This is Soli Deo Gloria.
And following in the excerpt below from the AM post About Richard Foster Dr. Gary Gilley gives you a proper breakdown of the “virtual encyclopedia of theological error” that is Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster:
Celebration of Discipline alone, not even referencing Foster’s other writings and teachings and ministries, is a virtual encyclopedia of theological error. We would be hard pressed to find in one so-called evangelical volume such a composite of false teaching. These include faulty views on the subjective leading of God (pp. 10, 16-17, 18, 50, 95, 98, 108-109, 128, 139-140, 149-150, 162, 167, 182); approval of New Age teachers (see Thomas Merton below); occultic use of imagination (pp. 25-26, 40-43, 163, 198); open theism (p. 35); misunderstanding of the will of God in prayer (p. 37); promotion of visions, revelations and charismatic gifts (pp. 108, 165, 168-169, 171, 193); endorsement of rosary and prayer wheel use (p. 64); misunderstanding of the Old Testament Law for today (pp. 82, 87); mystical journaling (p. 108); embracing pop-psychology (pp. 113-120); promoting Roman Catholic practices such as use of “spiritual directors,” confession and penance (pp. 146-150, 156, 185); and affirming of aberrant charismatic practices (pp. 158-174, 198).
See also:
RAVI ZACHARIAS ANSWERS “CAN A PERSON LIVE A SINCERE CHRISTIAN LIFE AS A HOMOSEXUAL?”
CHRISTIANITY TODAY PROMOTING THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC CATHERINE OF SIENA
HENRI NOUWEN HELPED BY “MEDITATION”
SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS PIETISM REIMAGINED
SPIRITUAL FORMATION: JUST SAY NO
CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM (CSM) OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS RECKLESS FAITH
Evangelicals Embrace Mystics with guest Pastor Ken Silva (Crosstalk America)
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To download an mp3 of this episode, go here:
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com/shows/2008/02/is_barack_obama_the_messiah.php
Host:Ingrid Schlueter
Guest:Ken Silva
There is a growing fascination among evangelicals who are claiming to find truth by embracing elements of medieval mysticism as well as the modern, Eastern influenced mysticism.
To prove the point, Ingrid played a You Tube audio clip of Christian apologist Ravi Zacharius who, while discussing homosexuality, referenced Henri Nouwen as being a great saint of recent memory. Once a professor of psychology at Harvard University, Nouwen believed that it was his call to help every person claim his or her way to God. That’s a message of universalism, not Christian theology.
As you listen to this program you’ll learn about other personalities, past and present, that support a union of Christianity and mysticism. You’ll also discover how this movement is actually leading people toward neo-pietism as it attempts to connect them into union with God.
More Information
http://www.apprising.org
Author: LaneCh
Keywords: ravi zacharias henri nouwen dallas willard richard foster ken silva ingrid schlueter crosstalk america
Added: October 21, 2008
Evangelicals Embrace the Mystics: Crosstalk with Ken Silva
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Lane Chaplin has put together a YouTube version of a Crosstalk show I did recently on the subject of evangelicals embracing the mystics. This includes the video clip of Dr. Ravi Zacharias calling Buddhist sympathizer, Henri Nouwen, one of the greatest Christians of recent memory.
Amazing Grace or Random Grace?
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- By Tim Challies
It was quite a while ago that I received an email from a father, concerned about the task of sharing the gospel with his children. While I answered the email then, I also filed it away for further thought. Today I want to answer it in a little bit more detail. Here is what this reader wrote to me:
I have such a hard time grasping this notion of election as a father. God made the very emotions in me (love, care, would lie down in front of an 18-wheeler for my children….he gave me that). But nothing can assure me that i can have an influence in whether their “number was called”? I would appreciate any thoughts you have on this as I’m really struggling with it. Also struggle with why so much of Bible addresses us as decision making/choice making creature, appealing to us to recognize something and depart from sin and accept Christ. If God is simply “zapping” us with irresistible Grace, then it seems rigged and the begging / pleading to turn away sin and accept Christ is really not genuine? I just haven’t been able to reconcile these two paradoxes of Truth that seem to exist between Calvinisms viewpoint and choice.
I certainly understand the heart behind this question. I, too, am a father and one who is deeply concerned about the eternal welfare of my children. I love them so deeply and desire nothing greater than that they would turn to Christ in repentance and faith. Like this reader, I am sometimes tempted to express frustration with the way God has chosen to save a people for himself. But through it all I know that his ways are good; his ways are the best.
I will break my answer into three parts.
First, I think we need to have much greater confidence in God’s sovereignty than in the ability of our children to choose God without his foreordaining grace. This is why Calvinistic theology begins with “T” for Total Depravity. This doctrine tells us that without God’s grace, none of us could ever turn to him. We are so radically depraved that we are unable, totally unable, to follow God or to even want to follow God. Thus if we properly understand human nature, we will thank God that he has not left us ultimately responsible to choose whether or not we would want to be saved. The Bible tells us clearly that we would never make such a choice; we could never make such a choice. So we need to take refuge in God’s sovereignty and not make it an occasion of fear or dread. Our hearts are so wholly polluted by sin that God’s election is the only way that anyone could be saved, ever.
Second, I think it is helpful to see predestination as something that is of far greater concern to God than to us. While we see from Scripture that God has predestined his elect to eternal life, I’m not sure that it is helpful for us to think too much about who is among the elect and who is not. God has not seen fit to reveal that information to us. Charles Spurgeon once said something along these lines: “if a stripe were painted down the backs of the elect, then I’d go around lifting up coat-tails.” But there is no such mark; we cannot know infallibly who is among the elect. Human experience tells us that some people who seem to have everything going for them–great natural ability, an early interest in the Christian faith, a childhood spent in a Christian home–turn away from Christ while others come from the most unusual and rebellious circumstances and are drawn to him. Some people we could have sworn were Christians have fallen away while some who were utter rebels have had their hearts turned to God. We just cannot know who is counted among the elect.
When it comes to the task of preaching the gospel, we sometimes make a false distinction between the means and the end, assuming that since God has ordained the end we ought to take little interest in the means. When we hear of hypercalvinists, we hear of people who do just this. These people insist that, since God has already ordained who will be saved, we need to have little involvement with calling people to turn to him in repentance and faith. They say that we have no business extending the free call of the gospel to those who are unregenerate. But nothing could be further from the truth. While God has, indeed, ordained who will be saved, he has not told us who he will save. And so we are called us to take the gospel message far and wide, preaching it to all men and allowing God to work the gift of faith into those whom he has chosen for life. Our task in evangelism is not ultimately to win people to Christ but to faithfully preach the gospel message. If we have preached that message, we have done what God calls us to. We then leave the results to him.
Third, we need to be careful in how we understand God’s work of election. The Bible does not describe this work as “zapping” or “random” or anything of the sort. We know that God has chosen a people for Himself but he has not told us why or how. Scripture does not say that certain people “had their number called” and others did not. Instead, we read that God chose some because he had special love for them. There is nothing random about it. It is difficult to illustrate this, but I think we could turn to adoption as an example, albeit an imperfect one. When a couple sets out to adopt a child, they have a large number of potential children available to them. But somewhere in the process of adoption they set their heart on a particular child. It is not that they have chosen this child randomly and (hopefully!) they have not chosen this child for what he or she can do for them. Instead they have chosen to love this child, setting their affections upon him. I do not think many adoptive parents look at their selection of a child as random or arbitrary. Furthermore, their selection of a particular child is not unfair to the other children. One child was graciously selected for the special blessing of adoption while many others were not. Giving a gift to one person does not make it unfair to withhold a gift from another.
Too often, I think, we approach this subject from the point-of-view that every person deserves a chance to go to heaven. We see our sweet children and are unable to believe that they justly deserve an eternity of separation from God. And so we deem it unfair that they may not be among the elect and hence can never turn to Christ. But Scripture tells us that all men, even children, have turned away from Christ. All men have committed an act of cosmic treason and deserve to be punished for it. God chooses to extend grace to some, but not all. But the very fact that it is grace tells us that it is not deserved; it is a free gift.
I conclude by pointing again to the goodness (Psalm 107:1, James 1:17, Psalm 84:11) and sovereignty (1 Samuel 2:6-7, Psalm 135:5-6, Proverbs 16:9) of God. God is good and does only what is good. This is as true in election as in any other area. When the Lord calls us home and when we stand before him, we know that none of us will question God’s wisdom; none of us will deem him unfair or unkind. We will rejoice in his goodness and will rejoice in his sovereign choice.
End of post.
T.D. JAKES ANOTHER WORD FAITH HYPOCRITE
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And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:12-13)
The Sheep Need To Be Protected From Preachers Pretending To Be Sent By God
There are those who would ask: “Do you have to be so blunt and use words like that?” My answer is: “Well, it’s about time somebody spoke this way about these jokers.” Victor T. Stephens is a former member of notorious Word Faith prosperity preacher Creflo Dollar:
Mr. Stephens is not a “religious” man, but rather a truth seeking spiritual Christian who has accepted salvation solely by faith in Christ. Embarrassingly, he use to be a member of World Changers Church International. After four years, the Lord opened his eyes to His truth and he withdrew from the charismatic, but aberrant teachings of Creflo Dollar.
(Online source)
While I may not necessarily agree with all of his conclusions in ”The Word-Faith Movement: Wolves In Sheep’s Clothing” Mr. Stephens has done an interesting series on something he knows quite a bit about from first-hand experience. Page five deals with the false teaching of “positive confession” by Word Faith phonies particularly as it pertains to their bogus claim that if a human being has enough faith it causes God to heal them.
Within Stephens happens to quote Word Faith mogul and Oneness Pentecostal heretic T.D. Jakes on divine healing:
Word-Faith leaders attempt to sanction divine physical healing for all Christians who possess adequate faith. If a believer is feeling sick, then he should deny his symptoms and speak positive words of faith. Word-Faith leaders suggest that if a Christian has an incurable disease or is permanently handicapped, then he lacks faith and is living outside God’s will. T.D. Jakes alleges:
“It’s what you say to yourself that gets you healed. If you say that you won’t be healed, you won’t be healed. If you say that you are broke, you will stay broke. Oh! But I came to serve notice on the Devil. The Bible says, ‘The power of life and death is in the tongue.’ Slap somebody and say, ‘You better speak to yourself.’ “ (T.D. Jakes, “Seize The Moment”, Woman Thou Art Loosed, 2000 Atlanta, Georgia)
(Online source, emphasis mine)
Now why is the highlighted above important here? Well, I’m glad you asked. Looks like Jakes needs to speak to himself because it turns out T.D Jakes just canceled an upcoming trip because he is a hypocrite who apparently doesn’t have the faith to back up his own stupid slandering of a celestial being (look it up) in that passage cited by Stevens:
American televangelist TD Jakes called off a planned trip to Zambia where he was to officiate at a Freedom Summit, meeting presidential hopefuls ahead of this month’s presidential election… He explained his cancellation, citing a mysterious disease reported last week to have killed some people. Summit organizers were unable to reassure Bishop Jakes there was no chance of catching the viral hemorrhagic fever believed to be rodent-borne. Two out of three victims of the disease, who died in Johannesburg, had come from Zambia. (Online source, emphasis mine)
When will people wake up and realize what these talk loud when in their own crowd Word Faith wolve$ are really after. Apprising Ministries already contrasted Jakes with some genuine preachers in the history of the Christian Church in T.D. Jakes Is A Spiritual Coward. For example:
Dr. Martin Luther the key figure in the Protestant Reformation that T.D. Jakes might just have enough intestinal fortitude to admit to believing in. Well as long as there wasn’t any Roman Catholic money around…oops, make that weren’t any Roman Catholic people around. T.D. Jakes and Martin Luther are brought before Emperor Charles V with the great Roman Catholic theologian Johann Maier von Eck armed with a papal bull acting as his spokesman who demand that they recant their teachings.
Luther asks for time to think it over. But T.D. Jakes mumbles:
“I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and became a bit disenchanted and so I worked some with Luther… Both of these chapters of my early spiritual journey contributed volumes to my faith and walk with God, helping to hone my character. I was shaped by and appreciate both the Roman Catholic Church and the spirit of the Reformation, but am controlled by neither.”
And concerning Jales’ tacit denial of the Holy Trinity in T.D. Jakes Be A Man And Answer The Question I bring to your attention that back on January 6, 2007 as a pastor I even wrote T.D. Jakes myself for his view of this cardinal i.e. non-negotiable doctrine proclaimed by the actual Church of Jesus Christ. I’ve yet to receive a response and because it would require the gellatinous Jakes to make a clear-cut stand, potenially causing a loss of some of his money, oops—follower$, I’m not holding my breath. 
See also:
KEEPING YOU APPRISED OF: T.D. JAKES ON THE TRINITY
Your Church and IT
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
I just received this marketing campaign blurb. We’re supposed to run these spots on the radio network so churches can have “IT”. Is it just me or is there something blasphemous about referring to the Holy Spirit as “IT”? If your church has “IT” and is growing, and “IT” is NOT the Holy Spirit, what does that say about contemporary Christianity and what’s fueling, pardon the term, its growth. They are seriously running low at the Zondervan idea mill these days.
P.S. The Jainist Temple below clearly has “IT” because they just built a $20 million dollar facility and there is plenty of passion and excitement. Perhaps pastors will be visiting to find out what “IT” is that they have.
Jainist Mega-Temple Opening in Orange County
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
Cue the sitar players. A new $20 million dollar Mega-Temple for Jainists is opening in Buena Park, California. They are unveiling their marble idols for the grand opening. The Washington Times reports:
The soaring marble-and-limestone facade takes up almost an entire block in this working-class city and dominates a mundane scene of laundromats, auto repair shops and taco stands with its domed roof and gleaming, coffee-colored pillars. It replaces a much smaller temple that opened in 1988 about a decade after 25 Jain families first came together to worship in this northern Orange County city. That original building was the first independent Jain temple in the U.S.
According to the thinking of church growth experts and seeker church pastors, God has richly blessed this effort. 25 Jain families came together to humbly worship, and now they are building a $20 million dollar temple? God must be in it, right? Wrong.
The most fascinating line in the entire article is the opening sentence which goes like this:
“In a suburban landscape dotted with evangelical mega churches and auto malls, followers of an Indian religion thousands of years old spent days decorating marble idols and lighting incense to herald the opening of one of their faith’s largest temples.”
Yes. The landscape is dotted with evangelical mega churches that are so self-absorbed, so bent on entertaining seekers with sex sermon series and motocross stunts, that a towering pagan temple is being built in their midst as a living shrine to the impotence of their contemporary Christianity. I doubt that one of the local megapastors gets the larger symbolism here. To paraphrase a famous quote, many pastors today are sweetening the cup of death held by the unsaved by tossing in life enhancement tips and messages about purpose. The pagans, meanwhile, are building libraries in their mega-temples that will house thousands of books to train children in pagan thought. They are building rooms where children will be discipled as pagans in a serious manner. The pagans, unlike evangelicals, are serious about discipleship.
The sound of those saws and hammers working away at the marble columns on this new vast temple complex is the sound of God’s judgment in America. Christians in this country have been on the playground, not the battleground, and the pagans are on the march.
