THE "MENTOR/COACH"
APPROACH TO SALVATION
ANOTHER OUTREACH IDEA OF
PASTOR JEFFREY PINDER;
FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH INVITES
JOE GIBBS
TO SELL
"THE GOSPEL OF WINNING"
(Pop Psychology Mixed With Easy Believism)
MARKETING CHRISTIANITY FOR SUCCESS;
HIS AND MAYBE YOURS?
DID JESUS CHRIST IDENTIFY AS A
"TEAM COACH" OR
"SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEUR"?
GIBBS: "You and I are the players, God's our head coach and we're all playing the biggest game of all."
(Eternal Salvation or Damnation
Is Not a Game)
FROM:
WHO REALLY IS JOE GIBBS?
HAS SUCCESS & MONEY BOUGHT CREDIBILITY AMONG CHRISTIANS?
1) WE KNOW HE ASSOCIATES WITH ECUMENISTS.
2) SOME SAY HE IS A PASTOR.
3) DID HE ATTEND SEMINARY?
4) GREW UP BAPTIST, BUT WHICH CHURCH?
5) SOME SAY HE PREFERS "BIBLE BELIEVING" CHURCHES, BUT WHICH ONE DOES HE ATTEND, IF ANY?
6) CLAIMS TO HAVE RETURNED TO BELIEF IN CHRIST BUT ONLY PRIVATELY.
7) DOES HE HAVE A PUBLIC TESTIMONY OF SALVATION FROM SIN, BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, AND WITH REPENTANCE?
8) DOES HE BELIEVE IN THE TRUE GOSPEL AS NECESSARY FOR SALVATION, OR IS IT DIFFERENT FOR EVERY PERSON?
9) WHAT ARE HIS BELIEFS, THEOLOGICAL POSITIONS, AND DOCTRINES?
10) WAS HE EVER DISCIPLED OR MENTORED AFTER "SALVATION"?
11) DOES HE GIVE "SERMONS" OR RATHER "INSPIRATIONAL PEP TALKS"?
12) CLAIMS TO BE "SECOND" TO GOD. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN THEOLOGICALLY?
13) IS AN "INCOME STREAM" THE MEASURE OF A SUCCESSFUL CHRISTIAN?
FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE
WILL HAVE "BREAKFAST WITH JOE GIBBS",
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2014
AND EXPOSE THE UNSAVED
TO HIS FALSE GOSPEL OF DECISIONISM
From Chuck Colson's website:
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Chuck Colson's world collapsed when he was trapped in the Watergate scandal. He was an Episcopalian with no understanding of saving faith. A man by the name of Tom Phillips pointed him to Christ. When left alone he humbly cried out, "God, take me as I am." Shortly after, he was sentenced to prison (Colson's testimony as reported in New Neutralism II, p. 68). After his release from jail (he served seven months of a one-to-three-year federal prison sentence), Colson founded Prison Fellowship Ministries (PFM) to help "meet the needs" of the kind of men he met in prison. PFM now operates programs in more than 80% of the prisons in the U.S.
Colson started a daily four-minute radio program, Breakpoint, in 1991, which now airs on more than 1,000 stations nationwide with more than 3 million listeners. He is also a syndicated columnist and has also authored 38 books (over 5 million books sold). In 1989, Colson expanded Prison Fellowship by adding Neighbors Who Care, a community-based support system for victims of crime. PFM states its vision as: "That God's kingdom will be manifested as the redemptive grace and peace of Jesus Christ are experienced by those impacted by crime"; and its mission statement as:
- Colson claims to have been converted in 1973 by reading C. S. Lewis (Lewis' theology is a garbled mixture of some ideas from the Bible, more from the Anglo-Catholic Church, and many from pagans), and Colson was later tutored in theology by R. C. Sproul, among others. Lewis was a member of the apostate Church of England, an institution whose history is based largely on theological compromise with Rome, and R. C. Sproul clings tenaciously to Aristotelian and Roman Catholic philosophy, while preaching the sovereignty of God, apparently believing that a mind divided against itself can too stand. (Source: 4/98, The Trinity Review.) Colson also credits Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings with influencing his life. From this beginning, it is not difficult to see from where Colson learned his twisted theology and ecumenical philosophy.
- Until recently, Colson (born in 1931) was president of PFM. (Mike Timmis, a Roman Catholic and former Promise Keepers board member, is now president -- see below.) Next to Billy Graham, Colson is probably the most responsible for the growing acceptance of Roman Catholics on the part of professing evangelicals. PFM uses about 50,000 volunteer workers, and employs 21 Directors (some of whom are Roman Catholics) in PFM offices in 83 countries. (Over 70% of PFM's chaplains are Roman Catholic.) He has an ecumenical record of praising liberals, Roman Catholics, and charismatics, and opposes the death penalty. He has even gone so far as to praise "Mother" Teresa as "the ultimate example of holiness for me" (Christian American, May-June 1993, p. 16). By profession, he is a Southern Baptist. [Colson's wife, Patty, is a practicing Roman Catholic, but teaches a women's Bible study in his Southern Baptist church! (6/15/91, Calvary Contender). See also the review by John Robbins of Colson's book, Life Sentence.]
- In July of 1998, Detroit businessman Michael Timmis was named chairman of PFM, succeeding founder Chuck Colson who remains on the board as Chairman Emeritus. Timmis is a Roman Catholic. Colson, Timmis, and Jim Berlucchi (Promise Keeper's Catholic evangelist) were scheduled speakers along with two Catholic priests at the "Catholic Men's Conference" June 9-11 at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, which is heavily involved with Marian apparitions and with PK (6/00, The Berean Call).
Colson seems to have a policy of speaking anywhere, anytime, regardless of the heresy or apostasy emanating from the pulpit he accepts (e.g., recipient of the 21st "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion" (8/93), R.C. Sproul's 2/92 "Hunger for Significance" conference, NAE's 3/90 annual convention, Dallas Seminary's 1990 commencement, Wheaton College's 5/82 commencement [also received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Wheaton], 1985 Moody Founder's Week, numerous James Dobson' Focus on the Family radio programs, etc.)
- Colson's Prison Fellowship appears to be a money-hungry group that milks its members. In the summer of 1993, Colson sent out a computer-generated, fundraising letter to his thousands of followers. In the letter, Colson tearfully appealed for an immediate $800,000 or, he claimed, Prison Fellowship wouldn't be able to pay its summer bills. This letter was sent just after Colson's group had pocketed over $1 million he had received in May from the "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion."
- In the Foreword to Keith Fournier's book Evangelical Catholics (see the end of this report for Fournier's teachings in Evangelical Catholics), Colson wrote a glowing endorsement. This book is a plea for Protestants to join Catholics in a joint evangelization effort (i.e., an "evangelistic endeavor" that will "evangelize" the world by the year 2000). Fournier, former Ohio prosecutor, is one of the new breed of charismatic Catholic activists. He is executive director of Pat Robertson's American Center For Law and Justice, and the former Dean of Evangelism and legal counsel at the Roman Catholic (Franciscan) University of Steubenville in Ohio. He pleads for Protestant/Catholic unitywithout concern for doctrine (a policy with which Colson has never had a problem). Rather than recognize that the false gospel of Catholicism is what separates Protestants from Catholics, Fournier and Colson want to gloss over the differences and unite in love. Christ's love, however, compels us not to "accept Catholics," but to inform them where and why Catholic dogmas and traditions contradict God's Word. (Excerpted in part from the 2/91, CIB Bulletin.)
Colson's thesis is that secularism is the great enemy of our age and about to overwhelm us all. Since EC's (evangelical Catholics) and EP's (evangelical Protestants) share "belief in the basics" and "the same mission," we should put aside "minor differences" (since we are all "whether Catholic or Protestant part of the same Body") and work together for the evangelization of the world. Colson's hope is that Fournier's book will be a "bridge across many historic divisions," and bind us together "against the encroaching armies of secularism ... it's high time that all of us who are Christians come together regardless of the difference of our confessions and our traditions and make common cause to bring Christian values to bear in our society" (Evangelical Catholics, p. vi). (Emphasis added.)
- In Colson's 1993 book, The Body: Being Light in Darkness, he calls on evangelicals to join forces with orthodox Catholics and charismatics in the "common cause to combat cultural relativism [atheism & secularism]." He says "the body of Christ, in all its diversity, is created with Baptist feet, charismatic hands, and Catholic ears -- all with their eyes on Jesus." In an 11/23/92 Christianity Today interview, he criticized those evangelicals who would write-off and not join with Roman Catholics in the "cosmic battle." Colson, ever ecumenical, praises the Catholic chain of command and includes the Catholic Church as a part of the body of Christ. (Reported in the 12/15/92, Calvary Contender.) [Colson has also made a two-part video series on The Body.] According to the 12/28/92 Christian News, the bottom line of The Body is:
Colson finds fault with various segments of the evangelical church, but not with today's Catholic Church. And the praise he gives Rome is often so blind as to be embarrassing, such as his statement that "the Catholic Church, to its great credit, does call heretics to account" (p. 132). Indeed she does, having burned more than a million at the stake! And to this day both Trent and Vatican II condemn evangelicals as heretics for holding beliefs to which Colson subscribes. Surely he must know this! [As an example of Rome's censure of heretics, Colson commends Pope Urban VIII for declaring "that anyone in the New World who kept Indian slaves would be excommunicated" (p. 133). But he fails to mention that this same Pope condemned some heretics to the most horrible slavery of all -- the galleys for life! Nor does he tell us that Urban VIII also threatened an elderly and very ill Galileo with torture for saying that the earth revolved around the sun, and had him on his knees in front of the Inquisition recanting of this "heresy" in fear of his life! Calling heretics to account, indeed!] (Adapted from the 4/93, Berean Call.)
- In an article in the Religious News Service (October 16,1995), Colson described his October meeting with the Pope in New York City. He depicted the Pope as a great moral leader and a friend of Biblical orthodoxy. Consider an excerpt:
Forty people signed or endorsed the document, including Protestants J.I. Packer, Pat Robertson, John White (of NAE), Bill Bright (of Campus Crusade), Os Guinness, and Mark Noll (a historian at Wheaton College who said, "Evangelicals can no longer consider Catholics as ogres or anti-Christs"). Catholic endorsers included six priests, three bishops, one Archbishop, and one Cardinal. By joint declaration, Colson and friends have, in effect, declared the Protestant Reformation a tragic mistake!
- When Prophets of PsychoHeresy II (a book which critiqued the teachings of Dr. James C. Dobson) was published in 1990 (republished and revised in 1998 as James's Dobson's Gospel of Self-Esteem & Psychology), Colson consoled Dobson by saying, "Jim, God has called you to do a work for Him. Don't look to the right or left. Just go get it done." (Colson also served on the National Advisory Committee of the 1993 National Day of Prayer, chaired by Dobson's wife, Shirley; also, a Jewish rabbi and Catholic cardinal were listed with Dr. D. James Kennedy as "Committee Liaisons." James Dobson has also endorsed PFM and Colson has appeared many times on Dobson's Focus on the Familyradio program.)
In 1997 there was an award established for "Service in Christian Psychology." The award will be presented annually to recognize Christian psychologists who are engaged in "sacrificial Christian service." Six recipients were initially recognized and awarded $2,500 each: Elizabeth Dole, James Dobson, Art Linkletter, D. James Kennedy, Gary Collins, E.V. Hill, Clyde Narramore, and Charles Colson. (Source: 12/29/97, Christian News.) So, along with his other "achievements," Colson is now also recognized as a "sacrificial" psychobabbler.
- Colson was a supporter of the Williamsburg Charter Foundation (WCF), an ecumenical amalgamation of professing Christians, humanists, atheists, New Agers, Eastern religionists, etc., whose stated goal was religious pluralism and tolerance in education, but all the while was promoting a new one world religion. Other "evangelical" signators and/or supporters with Colson were James Dobson, Beverly LaHaye, and Billy Graham. [WCF no longer exists, but the curriculum has been passed on to a "new" organization, "The First Liberty Institute," an organization headed up by New Ager Dr. Charles C. Haynes. (First Liberty is located at George Mason University, which was originally designated as "national teacher training and outreach center" for the Williamsburg Charter Foundation. Its New Age/One World curriculum, "Living With Our Deepest Differences: Religious Liberty in a Pluralistic Society," is being offered to the nations' public schools by the National Council on Religion and Public Education, a Liberty Institute organization, and has been accepted by the California State Board of Education.)]
- Colson endorsed R.C. Sproul's 1991 polemic for self-love, The Hunger For Significance (the revised edition of Sproul's 1983 book, In Search of Dignity). Sproul had this to say about his own book:
- Colson endorsed Bill Hybels' book Honest to God. "Bill Hybels, one of the bright stars in today's evangelical world, has performed a great service in Honest to God. He helps Christians deal with unrecognized sin inhibiting our witness in today's secular struggle for a more authentic faith." (Hybels is a psychologizer [e.g., he extols the virtues ofJungian personality theory in Honest to God] and is one of the leaders in the unbiblical "church growth" movement.)
- Colson also appears to have difficulty recognizing the seriousness of allowing children to read books with occult fantasy themes. In a May, 2000 radio commentary, Colson opined on the Harry Potter phenomenon:
- Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright fasted 40 days during the summer of 1994, during which he claims to have received a "prophecy from God" that a mighty revival is coming. He then issued a call for hundreds of liberals, charismatics, and new-evangelicals to gather in Orlando 12/5/94-12/7/94 to fast and pray for revival. An Invitation Committee made up of a hodgepodge of 72 liberals, new evangelicals, and charismatics was formed. Included were: Robert Schuller, Charles Colson, E.V. Hill, Jack Hayford, James Dobson, W.A. Criswell, Charles Stanley, Paul Crouch, Luis Palau, Bill Gothard, Pat Robertson, Kay Arthur, and Larry Burkett. CCC's Bill Bright cites "a great sense of urgency to link arms and unitedly call upon God for help in the spirit of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20)." This ecumenical "linking" is in the "spirit of Jehoshaphat" indeed, but the Jehoshaphat of 2 Chr. 18 (instead of 2 Chr. 20) where he "linked" with wicked King Ahab and incurred the wrath of God. (Reported in the 11/15/94, Calvary Contender.) [Another three-day "Fasting & Prayer" conference was held in 11/95 in Los Angeles; it attracted 3,500 "evangelicals" and charismatics. The Invitation/Host Committee for this event included most of those listed above, plus Dick Eastman, Chuck Smith, Bill McCartney (Promise Keepers), Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Shirley Dobson, Paul Cedar (E-Free), Ted Engstrom (World Vision), Joseph Stowell (Moody), and Joseph Aldrich (Multnomah). A third conference was held 11/14/96-11/16/96 in St. Louis. New additions to the Host Committee included Max Lucado, Henry Blackaby, Loren Cunningham (YWAM), Greg Laurie, Dennis Rainey, Randy Phillips (Promise Keepers), Josh McDowell, D. James Kennedy, Howard Hendricks, and Neil Anderson. (Conferences have been held every year now, but there is an uncertain future with Bill Bright's planned retirement (August, 2001) from Campus Crusade.)]
- Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) "men's movement" among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK's contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a "phallic messiah" tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, Colson is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men's movement -- Colson has been a speaker at PK men's conferences and has written numerous daily "devotionals" for publication in PK's bi-monthly Men of Integrity ("your daily guide to the Bible and prayer").
- More than 6,000 delegates to the Parliament of the World's Religions (PWR) met in Chicago from 8/28/93-9/5/93. Nearly every demonic false Christ-worshipping cult, Scripture-twisting counterfeit, and apostate Christian group in the world was gathered at the Palmer House for a week of plenary sessions and over 500 meetings and workshops. Prior to the Chicago meetings, a committee made up of the leaders of the world's five major religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) met and chose Chuck Colson as the 21st recipient of the million dollar "John M. Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion -- "for showing "extraordinary originality in advancing humankind's understanding of God." (The "Prize" was established in 1972 by New Age pantheist/science-of-mind universalist/investment guru John Marks Templeton.) Colson not only agreed to take the money (which actually came to more than $1.2 million for 1993), which he claimed would be used to further the aims of his Prison Fellowship Ministry, but also agreed to attend and speak at the Chicago PWR event. (Although the presentation of the Templeton Prize was not an "official act" of the PWR, the timing for the public presentation -- a ceremony that was held on 9/2/93 in the Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago -- was meant to coincide with the PWR's meetings, and the ceremony itself was listed on PWR's 9/23 schedule of events.) There, in the presence of some of the most evil and diabolical men and women on the face of the earth, Colson expressed his gratitude to them in his formal acceptance speech.
Among the attendees with Colson in Chicago were a Hindu swami who heads the Divine Life Society of India (Chidananda Saraswati); the secretary-general of the Muslim World League (Abdullah Omar Naseef); the exiled "god-king" of Tibetan Buddhism (the Dalai Lama); the feminist director of the National Council of Churches (Joan Campbell); several Roman Catholic dignitaries such as liberal theologian Hans Kung, the Archbishop of Chicago (Joseph Cardinal Bernardin), a goddess advocate (Dr. Rosemary Reuther), a worshipper in Hindu temples who dresses in robes of a Hindu guru (Dr. Bede Griffiths), and even the Vatican's official representative (Francisco Gioia of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue); representatives of the Eastern Religions of Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism; officials of the satanic Lucis Trust; Zoroastrian sun god worshippers; witchcraft priestesses, santeria/voodoo high priests, and various shamanists and animists; apostate "Christians"; Freemason higher-ups; serpent charmers; liberal Jewish rabbis; assorted New Age "dignitaries"; and Druid priests! Even the American Humanist Association was represented. In all, occultists and religionists from over 130 countries came to celebrate their "Unity in Diversity."
The joint goal of PWR is Unity -- it "seeks to encourage understanding of the benefits of each of the great religions," and ultimately, to bring all the world's faiths and religions together as one. As a result, PWR is made up of a gaggle of deceived and misguided zealots blindly following the pied pipers of ecumenism. The 4/19/93 Christian News said: "The World Parliament of Religions promotes an anti-scriptural universalism, the notion that all religions worship the true God and that Christianity is not the only true and saving faith." This intent was reiterated by Templeton himself at the first news conference (2/17/93 in New York), where he announced that Colson, who was present, was the 1993 Prize recipient. In response, Colson said, "I salute Sir John for establishing this award ..." [One researcher asks, "Would Elijah have complimented the priests of Ashtoreth, Baal, Dagon, Molech, et al. for establishing a 'progress in religion' prize and have accepted it? Would Paul have accepted such a prize offered by the pagan leaders of his day? Then why excuse Colson?" How can anyone really justify a professing evangelical commending and accepting the "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion"? Is Christianity merely another religion? Do Christians help false religions progress? Religious leaders nailed Christ to the cross. To accept an award from Christ-rejecting Muslims, Hindus, et al. for "progress in religion" is to deny Christ and His gospel! (11/93, Berean Call).]
Perhaps Colson was picked for this high "honor" precisely because of his devotion to the ecumenical movement. In later press releases, Colson announced his pleasure in being selected for the "Templeton Prize." Colson noted that Mother Teresa and Billy Graham were past recipients. What he failed to mention was that other past recipients also include India's Hindu guru, Baba Amte; Japanese Buddhist teacher and founder of the world's largest Buddhist lay organization, Nikkyo Niwano; the secretary-general of the World Muslim Congress, Dr. Inamulla Khan; evolutionist Alister Hardy; Unitarian Ralph Burhoe; the former president of India (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan), who was awarded the Prize for his contribution to Hinduism; and the Dalai Lama. The 6/1/93 Calvary Contender stated: "'Evangelical' Colson, by participating in such an interfaith worship/dialogue parliament featuring New Agers and adherents of Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Islam, etc., will confuse his followers and bring great reproach to the cause of Christ. Even his Watergate deeds, not done in the name of religion, could hardly be so shameful."
Is Chuck Colson, then, a wolf in sheep's clothing -- a "born again" New Ager disguised as an evangelical Christian? Whatever he is, the Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans (witches), Moslems, and other false religionists and cultists must have been deliriously happy that the famous Chuck Colson appeared in Chicago to bless their devilish affair. [Portions of the above were also adapted from a 6/93 Flashpoint article and an 8/93 Media Spotlight article.]
[More on the Parliament of the World's Religions/Chuck Colson: In the "business" sessions of the PWR, it's chairman proposed a "United Nations" of religions be established that would dispatch mediators to help defuse inter-religious tensions. (A Zoroastrian, a Muslim, and a Buddhist actually prepared a charter. The General Council plans to meet annually and form an Executive Council, which will meet often throughout the year. The plan is for religious leaders to work with the United Nations on all world affairs, including war.) The Jewish ADL pulled out of the event after Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan was invited to speak. Pagans swayed and chanted "We are one with the soul of the Earth." A Global Ethic document, drafted by Catholic theologian Hans Kung, was signed. It made no mention of God, but called for human rights, respect for the environment, gender equality, and a culture of peace (10/15/93, Calvary Contender).
Colson's award ceremony began with a Muslim's speech and chant (Dr. Ghulan-Haider Aasi of the American Islamic College of Chicago). After Colson's talk, a Buddhist (Dr. Chuen Phangcham of the American Buddhist Congress) led the audience in a "meditation," during which he and some of the audience went into a trance, and what he was saying became unintelligible. A Roman Catholic Church leader closed with final remarks. Colson's office claimed that accepting the Prize gave Colson "a marvelous opportunity, not unlike that of Paul on Mars Hill, to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and powerfully to ... many who have perverted the truth." Sadly, in none of his news conferences or speeches did he fulfill this ideal. Moreover, it would be the height of hypocrisy and confusion to accept an award designed to promote all religions and at the same time to charge that all religions are false and that Christ alone saves. No wonder the gospel was not made plain on any of these occasions.
In Colson's formal acceptance speech, the full Gospel was not preached, but instead he used language that would not offend his hosts. This was by design, to emphasize the interfaith, ecumenical nature of the event. Nowhere in his speech did Colson make it clear that we are sinners facing God's wrath and that Christ's death paid the penalty demanded by God's justice against sin so we could be forgiven. In fact, Colson obscured that vital truth with his final story of a prison cell occupied solely by a crucifix, which a prisoner explained as, "He's doing time for all the rest of us" -- an appealing, but false Catholic gospel. Christ is not "doing time" for us. He is no longer on the cross. The debt has been paid in full! (10/93, Flashpoint;11/93, Berean Call).
It is equally alarming that not only Colson, but also other professing evangelicals would imagine that he had actually presented the gospel, when its primary elements were missing. Colson came just close enough to the gospel for Christians to interpret his ambiguous language as meaning what they believe; and he missed it by enough so as not to offend too badly the followers of the world's false religions or to convert them (11/93, Berean Call).]
- Colson claims to be conservative and orthodox, but his actions speak louder than his words (from 10/93, Flashpoint):
- In one and two sentence statements interspersed throughout the book, Fournier indicates acceptance of and adherence to every pagan Romish doctrine. He accepts infant baptismal regeneration (pp. 101-102, 134, 181), he believes in using statutes as an aid to prayer (p. 26), that the Roman Catholic institution is the "ark" of spiritual safety and the "mother church" (pp. 45, 46, 49, 165), and that it is in this "church" through which God makes known his will (p. 49). He also adheres to the Rosary (p. 95), Mariolatry[calling Mary the "second Eve"] (p. 125), and the Eucharist as becoming the literal body and blood of Christ (according to Fournier, it is the "heart of the Christian life") (p. 42).
- Fournier accepts all seven Roman Catholic sacraments as means of grace (p. 17), and he believes in the supremacy and full authority of the papacy (pp. 18, 204), never questioning the pope's position or theology. And of course, the Roman Catholic "church" is the one true world-wide ecumenical church (pp. 65, 143, 165). These doctrines are carefully and subtlety "slipped in," while promoting an "evangelical" line. (Reported in the March-April 1992, Fundamentalist Digest.)
NOTE I: Colson's conclusion about the author is: "Keith Fournier stands in the breach -- truly orthodox in his adherence to Catholic doctrine and fully evangelical in his relationship to Christ and His creation."
NOTE II: Fournier says concerning Colson: "Several years ago we honored Chuck with our Poverello Medal, our highest award given annually to the man, woman, or organization which most reflects the spirit of Saint Francis in his simple love for Jesus Christ [p. 205] The Prison Fellowship Ministries staff and volunteers simply want to touch unbelievers and fellow Christians with the love of Christ. So when their work takes them to predominantly Catholic countries and Catholic environments, they strive to work with Catholic Christians" (p. 202). Throughout the book, Fournier's foremost Christian heroes appear to be Mother Teresa and Charles Colson.
NOTE III: Foundation for March-April 1990, in reference to Colson stated: "When questioned as to any doctrinal requirements for participation in his Prison Fellowship Ministries, he explained that because of its nature and scope, it is necessary to make no distinctions on the basis of either religion or race." After reading the revelations in Fournier's book, it is understandable how Colson could make that statement. He simply sees no differences based on doctrine. This is tragic. It is obvious that Colson was trained as a lawyer, not as a theologian (New Neutralism II, pp. 68-70).
NOTE IV: Fournier lists nine current areas of cooperative effort between the evangelical- ecumenical Roman Catholic and the evangelical-ecumenical Protestant that are expediting the "back to Rome" process: These included (a) social ecumenism [joint social action projects]; (b) evangelistic ecumenism [ecumenical evangelism] and (c) moral ecumenism [joint action in the anti-abortion effort]. Through the Fournier/Robertson ACLJ, professing fundamentalists, in their desire to retain/regain essential constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, are being conned into an ecumenical mesh from which they may be unable or unwilling to extract themselves. In the future, they could wind up regaining/maintaining the right to publicly exercise a faith which they no longer possess that faith having been lost in an ecumenical planning for legal justice. It has been said that "It's never right to do wrong, in order to get a chance to do right." This certainly appears to be applicable here. Fighting for religious liberty does not justify forging ecumenical ties! [Return to Text]
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Colson started a daily four-minute radio program, Breakpoint, in 1991, which now airs on more than 1,000 stations nationwide with more than 3 million listeners. He is also a syndicated columnist and has also authored 38 books (over 5 million books sold). In 1989, Colson expanded Prison Fellowship by adding Neighbors Who Care, a community-based support system for victims of crime. PFM states its vision as: "That God's kingdom will be manifested as the redemptive grace and peace of Jesus Christ are experienced by those impacted by crime"; and its mission statement as:
- Colson claims to have been converted in 1973 by reading C. S. Lewis (Lewis' theology is a garbled mixture of some ideas from the Bible, more from the Anglo-Catholic Church, and many from pagans), and Colson was later tutored in theology by R. C. Sproul, among others. Lewis was a member of the apostate Church of England, an institution whose history is based largely on theological compromise with Rome, and R. C. Sproul clings tenaciously to Aristotelian and Roman Catholic philosophy, while preaching the sovereignty of God, apparently believing that a mind divided against itself can too stand. (Source: 4/98, The Trinity Review.) Colson also credits Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings
- Until recently, Colson (born in 1931) was president of PFM. (Mike Timmis, a Roman Catholic and former Promise Keepers board member, is now president -- see below.) Next to Billy Graham, Colson is probably the most responsible for the growing acceptance of Roman Catholics on the part of professing evangelicals. PFM uses about 50,000 volunteer workers, and employs 21 Directors (some of whom are Roman Catholics) in PFM offices in 83 countries. (Over 70% of PFM's chaplains are Roman Catholic.) He has an ecumenical record of praising liberals, Roman Catholics, and charismatics, and opposes the death penalty. He has even gone so far as to praise "Mother" Teresa as "the ultimate example of holiness for me" (Christian American, May-June 1993, p. 16). By profession, he is a Southern Baptist. [Colson's wife, Patty, is a practicing Roman Catholic, but teaches a women's Bible study in his Southern Baptist church! (6/15/91, Calvary Contender). See also the review by John Robbins of Colson's book, Life Sentence.]
- In July of 1998, Detroit businessman Michael Timmis was named chairman of PFM, succeeding founder Chuck Colson who remains on the board as Chairman Emeritus. Timmis is a Roman Catholic. Colson, Timmis, and Jim Berlucchi (Promise Keeper's Catholic evangelist) were scheduled speakers along with two Catholic priests at the "Catholic Men's Conference" June 9-11 at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, which is heavily involved with Marian apparitions and with PK (6/00, The Berean Call).
Colson seems to have a policy of speaking anywhere, anytime, regardless of the heresy or apostasy emanating from the pulpit he accepts (e.g., recipient of the 21st "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion" (8/93), R.C. Sproul's 2/92 "Hunger for Significance" conference, NAE's 3/90 annual convention, Dallas Seminary's 1990 commencement, Wheaton College's 5/82 commencement [also received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Wheaton], 1985 Moody Founder's Week, numerous James Dobson' Focus on the Family radio programs, etc.)
- Colson's Prison Fellowship appears to be a money-hungry group that milks its members. In the summer of 1993, Colson sent out a computer-generated, fundraising letter to his thousands of followers. In the letter, Colson tearfully appealed for an immediate $800,000 or, he claimed, Prison Fellowship wouldn't be able to pay its summer bills. This letter was sent just after Colson's group had pocketed over $1 million he had received in May from the "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion."
- In the Foreword to Keith Fournier's book Evangelical Catholics (see the end of this report for Fournier's teachings in Evangelical Catholics), Colson wrote a glowing endorsement. This book is a plea for Protestants to join Catholics in a joint evangelization effort (i.e., an "evangelistic endeavor" that will "evangelize" the world by the year 2000). Fournier, former Ohio prosecutor, is one of the new breed of charismatic Catholic activists. He is executive director of Pat Robertson's American Center For Law and Justice, and the former Dean of Evangelism and legal counsel at the Roman Catholic (Franciscan) University of Steubenville in Ohio. He pleads for Protestant/Catholic unitywithout concern for doctrine (a policy with which Colson has never had a problem). Rather than recognize that the false gospel of Catholicism is what separates Protestants from Catholics, Fournier and Colson want to gloss over the differences and unite in love. Christ's love, however, compels us not to "accept Catholics," but to inform them where and why Catholic dogmas and traditions contradict God's Word. (Excerpted in part from the 2/91, CIB Bulletin.)
Colson's thesis is that secularism is the great enemy of our age and about to overwhelm us all. Since EC's (evangelical Catholics) and EP's (evangelical Protestants) share "belief in the basics" and "the same mission," we should put aside "minor differences" (since we are all "whether Catholic or Protestant part of the same Body") and work together for the evangelization of the world. Colson's hope is that Fournier's book will be a "bridge across many historic divisions," and bind us together "against the encroaching armies of secularism ... it's high time that all of us who are Christians come together regardless of the difference of our confessions and our traditions and make common cause to bring Christian values to bear in our society" (Evangelical Catholics, p. vi). (Emphasis added.)
- In Colson's 1993 book, The Body: Being Light in Darkness, he calls on evangelicals to join forces with orthodox Catholics and charismatics in the "common cause to combat cultural relativism [atheism & secularism]." He says "the body of Christ, in all its diversity, is created with Baptist feet, charismatic hands, and Catholic ears -- all with their eyes on Jesus." In an 11/23/92 Christianity Today interview, he criticized those evangelicals who would write-off and not join with Roman Catholics in the "cosmic battle." Colson, ever ecumenical, praises the Catholic chain of command and includes the Catholic Church as a part of the body of Christ. (Reported in the 12/15/92, Calvary Contender.) [Colson has also made a two-part video series on The Body.] According to the 12/28/92 Christian News, the bottom line of The Body is:
"... the Catholic Church runs a tight ship and he approves a Southern Baptist sounding at times like a Catholic traditionalist. praising the Catholic chain of command. Some of Colson's comments in The Body sound like a blueprint for 'stealth campaigns' by the Christian Religious Right. An effective army, he argues, 'infiltrates small units to disrupt the enemy's communications and attack strategic targets.' [He argues that] this is, in fact, what Christians must do in a 'post-Christian culture' dominated by the TV feel-good values of Donahue and Oprah." [The book has been endorsed by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Carl F.H. Henry, James Montgomery Boice, Jack Hayford, Adrian Rogers, Vernon Grounds, and Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus; a 7/19/93 Christianity Today advertisement carried additional endorsements from Roman Catholic John Cardinal O'Connor, neo-evangelicals J.I. Packer and Kenneth Kantzer, and psychoheretic, "church growth" guru Bill Hybels.]Colson's appeal for unity with Rome is based upon gross misinformation provided to his readers. For example, after explaining that a major catalyst for the Reformation wasLuther's revulsion for the practice of selling indulgences, Colson writes: "The Reformers, for example, assailed the corrupt practice of indulgences; today they are gone" (p. 271). Indulgences "are gone"? Absolutely not! Vatican II's Indulgentarium Doctrina by Pope Paul VI devotes 17 pages to indulgences. This document declares that the Roman Catholic Church commands that the usage of indulgences be kept in the Church; and it condemns with anathema those who say that indulgences are useless! (Adapted from the 4/93, Berean Call.)
Colson finds fault with various segments of the evangelical church, but not with today's Catholic Church. And the praise he gives Rome is often so blind as to be embarrassing, such as his statement that "the Catholic Church, to its great credit, does call heretics to account" (p. 132). Indeed she does, having burned more than a million at the stake! And to this day both Trent and Vatican II condemn evangelicals as heretics for holding beliefs to which Colson subscribes. Surely he must know this! [As an example of Rome's censure of heretics, Colson commends Pope Urban VIII for declaring "that anyone in the New World who kept Indian slaves would be excommunicated" (p. 133). But he fails to mention that this same Pope condemned some heretics to the most horrible slavery of all -- the galleys for life! Nor does he tell us that Urban VIII also threatened an elderly and very ill Galileo with torture for saying that the earth revolved around the sun, and had him on his knees in front of the Inquisition recanting of this "heresy" in fear of his life! Calling heretics to account, indeed!] (Adapted from the 4/93, Berean Call.)
- In an article in the Religious News Service (October 16,1995), Colson described his October meeting with the Pope in New York City. He depicted the Pope as a great moral leader and a friend of Biblical orthodoxy. Consider an excerpt:
"As one of the evangelicals present, I left with one conclusion: Those who defend eternal moral truths and Christian orthodoxy have taken their stand on common ground. The pope made it quite clear that he fully supports those of all persuasions who recognize, and work to counter, the enormous problems resulting from our society's flight from the truths of orthodoxy. When my eyes met the pope's, we stared across centuries of distrust and suspicion and found common ground. ... Orthodoxy is nothing less than that thread that connects the present to the past and the past to the future -- and that is the thing that really bothers our adversaries."Colson's blindness is incredible. Only Biblical prophecies of last days apostasy can explain such blindness. The Pope of Rome, a defender of Christian orthodoxy?! Why, everything he stands for uniquely as the Pope is contrary to the Bible. He claims to be the head of all the churches. He claims to be able to turn the bread and juice of the Lord's Supper into the very body and blood of Christ. He claims to be a spiritual father to all Christians. He claims, as a priest, to mediate between God and men. He claims to be able to influence the eternal destinies of men through his unscriptural sacraments. He claims that Mary is the Mother of God. He prays to her and adores her, and he thanked her for saving him when an assassin's bullet almost ended his life. He has "all yours" embroidered on his garments, and he admits that it refers to Mary. He claims that the blood of Christ was not sufficient to give men eternal life but that they also need Roman masses and baptisms and other rituals. In fact, he claims that even all of this might not be sufficient, and that even "the faithful" might have to go to a place called purgatory where their sins will finally be expunged.
The last statement we cited by Colson is telling. Colson claims that he has found common ground with Roman Catholicism. This is not because Romanism has changed, but it is because he himself represents an apostate form of Christianity known as modern evangelicalism that is so nonchalant about the truth that it cannot resist error. Colson says orthodoxy is the thread which connects the present with the past and the future. Not so. In relation to the Pope, it is not orthodoxy which connects the past and the future, but heresy. John Paul II represents ancient heresies which were affirmed by the anathemas of Trent; at the same time he represents that final apostate Mother of Harlots foretold in Revelation 17. Those who yoke together with the Pope are yoked together with his blasphemies and heresies (Revelation 18:4). (Source: FBIS)
- Announced at a press conference on 3/29/94 was an ecumenical declaration titled "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium" (ECT). The negotiations toward the declaration were initiated in 9/92 by Chuck Colson and Richard Neuhaus (former Lutheran clergyman turned Catholic priest) under the auspices of the ecumenical and theologically liberal Institute on Religion and Public Life (headed by Neuhaus). The declaration starts with "We are Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics who have been led through prayer, study, and discussion to common convictions about Christian faith and mission." It goes down-hill from there. The coalition specifically called for an end to aggressive proselytizing of each other's flocks (in effect, a mutual non-aggression pact), and even confessed their past sins against unity.
The declaration said: "All who accept Christ as Lord and Savior are brothers and sisters in Christ." This conveniently ignores the fact that Catholics espouse a works-salvation false gospel! In a revealing admission of what brought these groups together, some signers said it was the experiences of worshiping together in the Charismatic Movement and working together in political causes such as anti-abortion [Moral Majority for example]. In fact, one writer correctly assessed that the declaration "amounts to a truce on theological issues so that the parties can continue to cooperate on political issues."- Announced at a press conference on 3/29/94 was an ecumenical declaration titled "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium" (ECT). The negotiations toward the declaration were initiated in 9/92 by Chuck Colson and Richard Neuhaus (former Lutheran clergyman turned Catholic priest) under the auspices of the ecumenical and theologically liberal Institute on Religion and Public Life (headed by Neuhaus). The declaration starts with "We are Evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics who have been led through prayer, study, and discussion to common convictions about Christian faith and mission." It goes down-hill from there. The coalition specifically called for an end to aggressive proselytizing of each other's flocks (in effect, a mutual non-aggression pact), and even confessed their past sins against unity.
Forty people signed or endorsed the document, including Protestants J.I. Packer, Pat Robertson, John White (of NAE), Bill Bright (of Campus Crusade), Os Guinness, and Mark Noll (a historian at Wheaton College who said, "Evangelicals can no longer consider Catholics as ogres or anti-Christs"). Catholic endorsers included six priests, three bishops, one Archbishop, and one Cardinal. By joint declaration, Colson and friends have, in effect, declared the Protestant Reformation a tragic mistake!
- Dr. Bill Jackson, president of the Association of Fundamentalists Evangelizing Catholics (AFEC), prepared a 6/18/99 statement on "The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration" (EC) (see the 6/14/99 Christianity Today for the full text of the EC). This document has been endorsed by Charles Colson, Bill Bright, and J.I. Packer, all of whom also signed the controversial ECT documents of 1994 and 1997; as well as endorsed by R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and D. James Kennedy, all of whom publicly [albeit weakly] challenged and criticized them for signing the ECT documents. There are a number of helpful statements in this latest document which deal with areas which were not fully dealt with in the ECT documents (e.g., imputation is now dealt with favorably, but has been consistently opposed by Roman Catholic Councils and Catechisms). EC says, "We cannot embrace any form of doctrinal indifferentism by which God's truth is sacrificed for a false peace." But there is certainly no better example of "doctrinal indifferentism" than the ECT documents themselves (James 1:8)! Because ECT I stated that "Evangelicals and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ," in order to be relevant the new EC document should be submitted to the Roman Catholics who signed ECT I and II. It is difficult to see how a person could subscribe to both ECT and EC. The only logical conclusion is for all who signed EC to remove their names from ECT. It also appears that the so-called "evangelical" ECT endorsers have been "let off the hook" by former critics. We believe EC will be used to rehabilitate those who erred in 1994 and 1997, without their having to admit or ask forgiveness for their error. (Source: 7/15/99, Calvary Contender.) [Other "evangelical" endorsers of EC among the 15 members of the Drafting Committee and 114 members of the Endorsing Committee includeJohn Ankerberg, Kay Arthur, Tony Evans, Jerry Falwell, Bill Hybels, David Jeremiah, D. James Kennedy, Max Lucado, Woodrow Kroll, Tim & Beverly LaHaye, Erwin Lutzer, Bill McCartney, Luis Palau, Pat Robertson, Ronald Sider, Charles Stanley, John Stott, Joseph Stowell, Chuck Swindoll, and Ravi Zacharias; also endorsing EC were hyper-charismatics Jack Hayford, Steven Strang, and Bruce Wilkinson.]
However ignorant Colson and fellow endorsers may be of all this, his participation in EC makes him a party to its consequences. It is also important to note that the EC document (which is supposed to be a definitive and comprehensive statement of the true saving Gospel of Christ) never mentions repentance for salvation, and never mentions the total depravity of man (thereby leaning towards a decisional regeneration). Moreover, the EC promotes an ecumenical unity (via "trans-denominational cooperative enterprises") with all professing believers who attest to the EC's "essentials" of the faith). But this is not the unity of the faith taught in Ephesians. While we are instructed by Scripture to be of one mind, the evangelical today scoffs at the idea of true Biblical unity based on complete agreement with, and submission to, God's holy Word. The only use of the word "unity" in the New Testament is found in Ephesians chapter four. It is a "unity of the Spirit" (v. 3), not of men. It is a "unity of faith" (v. 13) based on sound doctrine for which believers are to contend, not water down nor reclassify into essentials and non-essentials (Jude 3). No real spiritual unity can exist apart from doctrinal unity, and we are to "mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Rom. 16:17).
- On 10/31/98, Colson spoke at Calvin College chapel. Calvin Theological Seminary and the Roman Catholic Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan collaborated on a symposium titled "Over One Hundred Years of Christian Social Teaching: The Legacy of Abraham Kuyper and Leo XIII." Colson presented his lecture "Building Common Ground in the Christian Church for the Culture of Life." A handful of Roman Catholic priests milled about greeting those who had come. Vietnamese Archbishop Van Trang, a cabinet member at the Vatican on the Commission of Peace and Justice (introduced as "Your Excellency"), was also present. Colson came to the platform to rousing applause and began his lecture by commending the seminary for a conference that brought together Calvinists and Catholics on the eve of celebrating the Reformation. Relating the 1994 release of Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT), Colson said the message of the document was "something I believe in very deeply." He went on to commend the pope, saying John Paul II, a man he called the "Holy Father," would be known as "John Paul the Great," and he thanked the pope for his positive movement in bringing social change.
The theme of Colson's lecture was linking ECT with the Reformed tradition as expressed a century ago by the Dutch scholar and statesman Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). Colson's intent was to show the existence of a historic Reformed basis for ECT and thus justification for continuing to build a Roman/Reformed consensus and apologetic for ECT and "The Gift of Salvation" (1997). First stating the problem, Colson illustrated the moral decline of America both in contemporary culture and in the political arena. To be a fundamentalist or a separatist, which includes not engaging contemporary culture with the Bible, he said, is the "greatest sin." After thirty years of cultural autonomy and its dismal failure, he argued that it is time to identify with John Paul II and his statement that the new millennium will be a "springtime of the Christian faith." Evangelicals and Catholics together, according to Colson, have a historic opportunity upon the demise of humanism to join ranks and create a driving force for implementing world change.(Source: 3/99, The Trinity Review.)
- Charles Colson is clearly one of the leaders of the ecumenical movement. He has expressed his fundamental ecumenical idea in these words ("Foreword," Evangelical Catholics):"The pain and distrust between Catholics and Protestants goes [sic] back centuries. The church has often been plagued by wars within her walls, crippling her in her battle against the encroaching armies of secularism. But at root, those who are called of God, whether Catholic or Protestant, are part of the same Body. What they share is a belief in the basics: the virgin birth, the deity of Christ, His bodily resurrection, His imminent return, and the authority of his infallible Word. They also share the same mission: presenting Christ as Savior and Lord to a needy world. ... It's high time that all of us who are Christians come together regardless of the differences in our confessions and our traditions and make common cause to bring Christian values to bear in our society. When the barbarians are scaling the walls, there is no time for petty quarreling in the camp."Colson first asserts that "the church" has been crippled by wars within her walls. He says that Romanists and Protestants are part of the same church. What makes them part of the same body is their common doctrine, and Colson lists five fundamental doctrines held in common. But his fundamental doctrinal unity between the systems of Romanism and Protestantism does not exist. Take, for example, the single issue of Scripture: Colson calls the common doctrine "the authority of His infallible Word." But what is common about it? Romanism and historic Protestantism have different Bibles; Rome says there are 73 books and a few fragments; historic Protestantism says there are 66 books and no fragments. Second, Rome says that she wrote the books of Scripture, and not only did she write them, she approves and authenticates them. Historic Protestantism says that the books of Scripture are prior to the church, they called forth and created the church; and they judge and authenticate the church. Third, Romanism denies the sufficiency, inerrancy, historical reliability, scientific accuracy, and clarity of Scripture; historical Protestantism asserts all these. Romanism and historic Protestantism have nothing in common on the doctrine of Scripture. Those who assert that they do -- such as Charles Colson -- simply display their ignorance of what both Rome and the Scriptures teach.
Colson goes on to say, after asserting that Protestants and Romanists have fundamental doctrines in common, that we should put aside the remaining minor doctrines and unite to fight secularism. Why does Colson find secularism a greater threat than false religions? The greatest enemies of Christianity have always been false religions. It was not secularists who crucified Christ; it was false religionists. It was not secularists who persecuted Christians in the first century; it was false religionists. It was not secularists who ruined ancient Israel; it was false religionists. The ancient prophets denounced the false religions of their times. Quite frankly, friends, the eighteenth century Enlightenment did less harm to Christianity than Romanism or twentieth century modernism. Colson, being a political animal, calls for a united front against the barbarians scaling the walls. He denies that the barbarians are already within the walls, that barbarians ruled and ruined virtually all the churches for a thousand years -- and for the past 500 years, most of the churches professing to be Christian.
In Colson's circle, the Cultural Mandate has been substituted for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the United States it has become the conservative counterpart to the liberal social gospel. The Western civilization that Charles Colson and his ilk are attempting to save cannot be saved by the cultural gospel, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Only the preaching of the Gospel can defeat those principalities and powers. Western civilization is a by-product of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, in the name of saving what is left of Western civilization, Colson and his ilk demand that we make a theological, social, and political alliance with the Roman State-Church, and battle the barbarians scaling the walls. Mr. Colson is ill-educated. His many ghostwriters have not served him well. He neither understands the source of Western Civilization nor what is required to save it. Just as the individual's eternal salvation is entirely in the hands of Christ, so a civilization's temporal salvation depends entirely on Christ, and if his Gospel is ignored, disbelieved, or despised, as Colson and his tribe despise it, then Christ will surely abandon that culture. All power in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Christ. (Source: "Bleating Wolves: The Meaning of Evangelicals and Catholics Together," 10/98, No.164, The Trinity Review.)- In endorsing ecumenical evangelist Luis Palau's 1991 book Say Yes!, Colson says: "He preaches with a powerful, convicting spirit and with a wonderful ability to have all people of all backgrounds relate to him. He's been anointed to preach the Gospel." Palau is a Catholic sympathizer whose ecumenical message is heavily diluted with pop psychology and Arminian easy-believism. (Colson and Palau were elected as trustees of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, effective May 1, 1999. As pro-Catholic ecumenicals, they should fit well with G-C's new-evangelical stance.)- When Prophets of PsychoHeresy II (a book which critiqued the teachings of Dr. James C. Dobson) was published in 1990 (republished and revised in 1998 as James's Dobson's Gospel of Self-Esteem & Psychology), Colson consoled Dobson by saying, "Jim, God has called you to do a work for Him. Don't look to the right or left. Just go get it done." (Colson also served on the National Advisory Committee of the 1993 National Day of Prayer, chaired by Dobson's wife, Shirley; also, a Jewish rabbi and Catholic cardinal were listed with Dr. D. James Kennedy as "Committee Liaisons." James Dobson has also endorsed PFM and Colson has appeared many times on Dobson's Focus on the Familyradio program.)
In 1997 there was an award established for "Service in Christian Psychology." The award will be presented annually to recognize Christian psychologists who are engaged in "sacrificial Christian service." Six recipients were initially recognized and awarded $2,500 each: Elizabeth Dole, James Dobson, Art Linkletter, D. James Kennedy, Gary Collins, E.V. Hill, Clyde Narramore, and Charles Colson. (Source: 12/29/97, Christian News.) So, along with his other "achievements," Colson is now also recognized as a "sacrificial" psychobabbler.
- Colson was a supporter of the Williamsburg Charter Foundation (WCF), an ecumenical amalgamation of professing Christians, humanists, atheists, New Agers, Eastern religionists, etc., whose stated goal was religious pluralism and tolerance in education, but all the while was promoting a new one world religion. Other "evangelical" signators and/or supporters with Colson were James Dobson, Beverly LaHaye, and Billy Graham. [WCF no longer exists, but the curriculum has been passed on to a "new" organization, "The First Liberty Institute," an organization headed up by New Ager Dr. Charles C. Haynes. (First Liberty is located at George Mason University, which was originally designated as "national teacher training and outreach center" for the Williamsburg Charter Foundation. Its New Age/One World curriculum, "Living With Our Deepest Differences: Religious Liberty in a Pluralistic Society," is being offered to the nations' public schools by the National Council on Religion and Public Education, a Liberty Institute organization, and has been accepted by the California State Board of Education.)]
- Colson endorsed R.C. Sproul's 1991 polemic for self-love, The Hunger For Significance (the revised edition of Sproul's 1983 book, In Search of Dignity). Sproul had this to say about his own book:
"Every person needs to feel significant. We want our lives to count. We yearn to believe that in some way we are important and that hunger for significance -- a drive as intense as our need for oxygen -- doesn't come from pride or ego. It comes from God because he wants each of us to understand how important we are. ... We must seek our roots, our origin, and our destiny so that we can know our present value. ...Written for anyone who shares the hunger for significance. This book explores the human cry for dignity, the hallowed longing for love and respect. ... Wherever people come together, we can help each other discover our self-worth. We can help each other realize that we are persons of significance being made in the image of God." (Emphasis added.)Colson had no problem endorsing the book: "This book is powerful. It speaks in understandable terms to one of the most critical issues of our day -- the dignity and worth of man -- and equips the believer in the living God with magnificent insight and answers for a world desperately yearning for meaning." [Colson also spoke at Sproul's 2/92 "Hunger for Significance Conference" in Orlando, Florida.]
- Colson endorsed Bill Hybels' book Honest to God. "Bill Hybels, one of the bright stars in today's evangelical world, has performed a great service in Honest to God. He helps Christians deal with unrecognized sin inhibiting our witness in today's secular struggle for a more authentic faith." (Hybels is a psychologizer [e.g., he extols the virtues ofJungian personality theory in Honest to God] and is one of the leaders in the unbiblical "church growth" movement.)
- Colson also appears to have difficulty recognizing the seriousness of allowing children to read books with occult fantasy themes. In a May, 2000 radio commentary, Colson opined on the Harry Potter phenomenon:
"It may relieve you to know that the magic in these books [more than eight million of them] is purely mechanical, as opposed to occultic. That is, Harry and his friends cast spells, read crystal balls, and turn themselves into animals -- but they don't make contact with a supernatural world."What spiritual ignorance! There can be nothing more occultic than crystal balls (divination), casting spells, and demonic alteration of oneself into an animal-like creature. Yet Colson sees this as mere innocent child's play. (Source: 6/00, The Berean Call.) [See the following four linked reports on the danger of the Harry Potter books: Report1;Report2; Report3; Report4.]
- Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright fasted 40 days during the summer of 1994, during which he claims to have received a "prophecy from God" that a mighty revival is coming. He then issued a call for hundreds of liberals, charismatics, and new-evangelicals to gather in Orlando 12/5/94-12/7/94 to fast and pray for revival. An Invitation Committee made up of a hodgepodge of 72 liberals, new evangelicals, and charismatics was formed. Included were: Robert Schuller, Charles Colson, E.V. Hill, Jack Hayford, James Dobson, W.A. Criswell, Charles Stanley, Paul Crouch, Luis Palau, Bill Gothard, Pat Robertson, Kay Arthur, and Larry Burkett. CCC's Bill Bright cites "a great sense of urgency to link arms and unitedly call upon God for help in the spirit of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20)." This ecumenical "linking" is in the "spirit of Jehoshaphat" indeed, but the Jehoshaphat of 2 Chr. 18 (instead of 2 Chr. 20) where he "linked" with wicked King Ahab and incurred the wrath of God. (Reported in the 11/15/94, Calvary Contender.) [Another three-day "Fasting & Prayer" conference was held in 11/95 in Los Angeles; it attracted 3,500 "evangelicals" and charismatics. The Invitation/Host Committee for this event included most of those listed above, plus Dick Eastman, Chuck Smith, Bill McCartney (Promise Keepers), Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Shirley Dobson, Paul Cedar (E-Free), Ted Engstrom (World Vision), Joseph Stowell (Moody), and Joseph Aldrich (Multnomah). A third conference was held 11/14/96-11/16/96 in St. Louis. New additions to the Host Committee included Max Lucado, Henry Blackaby, Loren Cunningham (YWAM), Greg Laurie, Dennis Rainey, Randy Phillips (Promise Keepers), Josh McDowell, D. James Kennedy, Howard Hendricks, and Neil Anderson. (Conferences have been held every year now, but there is an uncertain future with Bill Bright's planned retirement (August, 2001) from Campus Crusade.)]
- Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) "men's movement" among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK's contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a "phallic messiah" tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, Colson is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men's movement -- Colson has been a speaker at PK men's conferences and has written numerous daily "devotionals" for publication in PK's bi-monthly Men of Integrity ("your daily guide to the Bible and prayer").
- More than 6,000 delegates to the Parliament of the World's Religions (PWR) met in Chicago from 8/28/93-9/5/93. Nearly every demonic false Christ-worshipping cult, Scripture-twisting counterfeit, and apostate Christian group in the world was gathered at the Palmer House for a week of plenary sessions and over 500 meetings and workshops. Prior to the Chicago meetings, a committee made up of the leaders of the world's five major religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) met and chose Chuck Colson as the 21st recipient of the million dollar "John M. Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion -- "for showing "extraordinary originality in advancing humankind's understanding of God." (The "Prize" was established in 1972 by New Age pantheist/science-of-mind universalist/investment guru John Marks Templeton.) Colson not only agreed to take the money (which actually came to more than $1.2 million for 1993), which he claimed would be used to further the aims of his Prison Fellowship Ministry, but also agreed to attend and speak at the Chicago PWR event. (Although the presentation of the Templeton Prize was not an "official act" of the PWR, the timing for the public presentation -- a ceremony that was held on 9/2/93 in the Rockefeller Chapel of the University of Chicago -- was meant to coincide with the PWR's meetings, and the ceremony itself was listed on PWR's 9/23 schedule of events.) There, in the presence of some of the most evil and diabolical men and women on the face of the earth, Colson expressed his gratitude to them in his formal acceptance speech.
Among the attendees with Colson in Chicago were a Hindu swami who heads the Divine Life Society of India (Chidananda Saraswati); the secretary-general of the Muslim World League (Abdullah Omar Naseef); the exiled "god-king" of Tibetan Buddhism (the Dalai Lama); the feminist director of the National Council of Churches (Joan Campbell); several Roman Catholic dignitaries such as liberal theologian Hans Kung, the Archbishop of Chicago (Joseph Cardinal Bernardin), a goddess advocate (Dr. Rosemary Reuther), a worshipper in Hindu temples who dresses in robes of a Hindu guru (Dr. Bede Griffiths), and even the Vatican's official representative (Francisco Gioia of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue); representatives of the Eastern Religions of Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism; officials of the satanic Lucis Trust; Zoroastrian sun god worshippers; witchcraft priestesses, santeria/voodoo high priests, and various shamanists and animists; apostate "Christians"; Freemason higher-ups; serpent charmers; liberal Jewish rabbis; assorted New Age "dignitaries"; and Druid priests! Even the American Humanist Association was represented. In all, occultists and religionists from over 130 countries came to celebrate their "Unity in Diversity."
The joint goal of PWR is Unity -- it "seeks to encourage understanding of the benefits of each of the great religions," and ultimately, to bring all the world's faiths and religions together as one. As a result, PWR is made up of a gaggle of deceived and misguided zealots blindly following the pied pipers of ecumenism. The 4/19/93 Christian News said: "The World Parliament of Religions promotes an anti-scriptural universalism, the notion that all religions worship the true God and that Christianity is not the only true and saving faith." This intent was reiterated by Templeton himself at the first news conference (2/17/93 in New York), where he announced that Colson, who was present, was the 1993 Prize recipient. In response, Colson said, "I salute Sir John for establishing this award ..." [One researcher asks, "Would Elijah have complimented the priests of Ashtoreth, Baal, Dagon, Molech, et al. for establishing a 'progress in religion' prize and have accepted it? Would Paul have accepted such a prize offered by the pagan leaders of his day? Then why excuse Colson?" How can anyone really justify a professing evangelical commending and accepting the "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion"? Is Christianity merely another religion? Do Christians help false religions progress? Religious leaders nailed Christ to the cross. To accept an award from Christ-rejecting Muslims, Hindus, et al. for "progress in religion" is to deny Christ and His gospel! (11/93, Berean Call).]
Perhaps Colson was picked for this high "honor" precisely because of his devotion to the ecumenical movement. In later press releases, Colson announced his pleasure in being selected for the "Templeton Prize." Colson noted that Mother Teresa and Billy Graham were past recipients. What he failed to mention was that other past recipients also include India's Hindu guru, Baba Amte; Japanese Buddhist teacher and founder of the world's largest Buddhist lay organization, Nikkyo Niwano; the secretary-general of the World Muslim Congress, Dr. Inamulla Khan; evolutionist Alister Hardy; Unitarian Ralph Burhoe; the former president of India (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan), who was awarded the Prize for his contribution to Hinduism; and the Dalai Lama. The 6/1/93 Calvary Contender stated: "'Evangelical' Colson, by participating in such an interfaith worship/dialogue parliament featuring New Agers and adherents of Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, Islam, etc., will confuse his followers and bring great reproach to the cause of Christ. Even his Watergate deeds, not done in the name of religion, could hardly be so shameful."
Is Chuck Colson, then, a wolf in sheep's clothing -- a "born again" New Ager disguised as an evangelical Christian? Whatever he is, the Hindus, Buddhists, Wiccans (witches), Moslems, and other false religionists and cultists must have been deliriously happy that the famous Chuck Colson appeared in Chicago to bless their devilish affair. [Portions of the above were also adapted from a 6/93 Flashpoint article and an 8/93 Media Spotlight article.]
[More on the Parliament of the World's Religions/Chuck Colson: In the "business" sessions of the PWR, it's chairman proposed a "United Nations" of religions be established that would dispatch mediators to help defuse inter-religious tensions. (A Zoroastrian, a Muslim, and a Buddhist actually prepared a charter. The General Council plans to meet annually and form an Executive Council, which will meet often throughout the year. The plan is for religious leaders to work with the United Nations on all world affairs, including war.) The Jewish ADL pulled out of the event after Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan was invited to speak. Pagans swayed and chanted "We are one with the soul of the Earth." A Global Ethic document, drafted by Catholic theologian Hans Kung, was signed. It made no mention of God, but called for human rights, respect for the environment, gender equality, and a culture of peace (10/15/93, Calvary Contender).
Colson's award ceremony began with a Muslim's speech and chant (Dr. Ghulan-Haider Aasi of the American Islamic College of Chicago). After Colson's talk, a Buddhist (Dr. Chuen Phangcham of the American Buddhist Congress) led the audience in a "meditation," during which he and some of the audience went into a trance, and what he was saying became unintelligible. A Roman Catholic Church leader closed with final remarks. Colson's office claimed that accepting the Prize gave Colson "a marvelous opportunity, not unlike that of Paul on Mars Hill, to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and powerfully to ... many who have perverted the truth." Sadly, in none of his news conferences or speeches did he fulfill this ideal. Moreover, it would be the height of hypocrisy and confusion to accept an award designed to promote all religions and at the same time to charge that all religions are false and that Christ alone saves. No wonder the gospel was not made plain on any of these occasions.
In Colson's formal acceptance speech, the full Gospel was not preached, but instead he used language that would not offend his hosts. This was by design, to emphasize the interfaith, ecumenical nature of the event. Nowhere in his speech did Colson make it clear that we are sinners facing God's wrath and that Christ's death paid the penalty demanded by God's justice against sin so we could be forgiven. In fact, Colson obscured that vital truth with his final story of a prison cell occupied solely by a crucifix, which a prisoner explained as, "He's doing time for all the rest of us" -- an appealing, but false Catholic gospel. Christ is not "doing time" for us. He is no longer on the cross. The debt has been paid in full! (10/93, Flashpoint;11/93, Berean Call).
It is equally alarming that not only Colson, but also other professing evangelicals would imagine that he had actually presented the gospel, when its primary elements were missing. Colson came just close enough to the gospel for Christians to interpret his ambiguous language as meaning what they believe; and he missed it by enough so as not to offend too badly the followers of the world's false religions or to convert them (11/93, Berean Call).]
- Colson claims to be conservative and orthodox, but his actions speak louder than his words (from 10/93, Flashpoint):
(a) Colson has unhealthy connections with the United Nations. In 1986, he and Prison Fellowship reportedly endorsed the New Age movement's World Day of Healing -- also known as Global Mind-Link -- then hastily withdrew its endorsement after receiving criticism from concerned Christians.- See the reviews ["The Counterfeit Gospel" (Book Reviews)] of various Colson' books for more on Colson's false Roman Catholic gospel, his praise of Catholicism, his moral/religious relativism, his social activism, etc.
(b) In a 1993 newsletter, Colson bragged that Prison Fellowship's proposal to release over half of all criminals now in prisons from their cells, and return these convicts to their local communities, had been adopted by Janet Reno, Bill Clinton's attorney general. Reno has also expressed support for Colson's campaign to end capital punishment and abolish the death penalty. Colson and Prison Fellowship are in bed with radical liberals on both these issues.
(c) Colson has encouraged Christians to read the works of fiction writer Madeleine L'Engle, in spite of the fact that L'Engle's writings are laced with occultism and New Age imagery. He has also enthusiastically promoted President George Bush's "Thousand Points of Light" program, which has been proven to be a project of the New Age group, Secret Brotherhood.
(d) In the early-1990s, the ultra-liberal newspaper, The Washington Post, "invited" Colson to write a guest article. In the article, Colson blasted pro-life Christians, accusing them of "inflammatory rhetoric." Pro-lifers, said Colson, must "seek common ground" with the abortionists. Moreover, "the Religious Right," Colson wrote, "must accept the fact that America is the pluralist nation."
Keith Fournier's Teachings in Evangelical Catholics
- Fournier's "new birth" experience in adulthood, after he gained full knowledge of the "true Faith," is declared to be merely a "renewing" of his "baptism vows" and infant baptism. Fournier states, "We need to insure ... that those who occupy our churches have met Jesus Christ personally. For some of us that will mean reaffirming our baptism as children" (p. 181). Conversion is declared to be a continual process that takes place, not a "once for all" experience.- In one and two sentence statements interspersed throughout the book, Fournier indicates acceptance of and adherence to every pagan Romish doctrine. He accepts infant baptismal regeneration (pp. 101-102, 134, 181), he believes in using statutes as an aid to prayer (p. 26), that the Roman Catholic institution is the "ark" of spiritual safety and the "mother church" (pp. 45, 46, 49, 165), and that it is in this "church" through which God makes known his will (p. 49). He also adheres to the Rosary (p. 95), Mariolatry[calling Mary the "second Eve"] (p. 125), and the Eucharist as becoming the literal body and blood of Christ (according to Fournier, it is the "heart of the Christian life") (p. 42).
- Fournier accepts all seven Roman Catholic sacraments as means of grace (p. 17), and he believes in the supremacy and full authority of the papacy (pp. 18, 204), never questioning the pope's position or theology. And of course, the Roman Catholic "church" is the one true world-wide ecumenical church (pp. 65, 143, 165). These doctrines are carefully and subtlety "slipped in," while promoting an "evangelical" line. (Reported in the March-April 1992, Fundamentalist Digest.)
NOTE I: Colson's conclusion about the author is: "Keith Fournier stands in the breach -- truly orthodox in his adherence to Catholic doctrine and fully evangelical in his relationship to Christ and His creation."
NOTE II: Fournier says concerning Colson: "Several years ago we honored Chuck with our Poverello Medal, our highest award given annually to the man, woman, or organization which most reflects the spirit of Saint Francis in his simple love for Jesus Christ [p. 205] The Prison Fellowship Ministries staff and volunteers simply want to touch unbelievers and fellow Christians with the love of Christ. So when their work takes them to predominantly Catholic countries and Catholic environments, they strive to work with Catholic Christians" (p. 202). Throughout the book, Fournier's foremost Christian heroes appear to be Mother Teresa and Charles Colson.
NOTE III: Foundation for March-April 1990, in reference to Colson stated: "When questioned as to any doctrinal requirements for participation in his Prison Fellowship Ministries, he explained that because of its nature and scope, it is necessary to make no distinctions on the basis of either religion or race." After reading the revelations in Fournier's book, it is understandable how Colson could make that statement. He simply sees no differences based on doctrine. This is tragic. It is obvious that Colson was trained as a lawyer, not as a theologian (New Neutralism II, pp. 68-70).
NOTE IV: Fournier lists nine current areas of cooperative effort between the evangelical- ecumenical Roman Catholic and the evangelical-ecumenical Protestant that are expediting the "back to Rome" process: These included (a) social ecumenism [joint social action projects]; (b) evangelistic ecumenism [ecumenical evangelism] and (c) moral ecumenism [joint action in the anti-abortion effort]. Through the Fournier/Robertson ACLJ, professing fundamentalists, in their desire to retain/regain essential constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, are being conned into an ecumenical mesh from which they may be unable or unwilling to extract themselves. In the future, they could wind up regaining/maintaining the right to publicly exercise a faith which they no longer possess that faith having been lost in an ecumenical planning for legal justice. It has been said that "It's never right to do wrong, in order to get a chance to do right." This certainly appears to be applicable here. Fighting for religious liberty does not justify forging ecumenical ties! [Return to Text]
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EXCERPT:
Charles Colson was a leader and drafter of the 1994 document Evangelicals and Catholics Together. In essence, this document undermined the Reformation as it affirmed that there was little difference between the gospel of Roman Catholicism and the gospel of the Reformation (i.e., the Biblical Gospel).
In 2009, Colson appeared at the helm of the drafting of another ecumenical document, The Manhattan Declaration. This document, though standing against social ills such as homosexual marriage and abortion, did so at the expense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In his response to The Manhattan Declaration, John MacArthur explains:
Instead of acknowledging the true depth of our differences, the implicit assumption (from the start of the document until its final paragraph) is that Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant Evangelicals and others all share a common faith in and a common commitment to the gospel’s essential claims. The document repeatedly employs expressions like “we [and] our fellow believers”; “As Christians, we . . .”; and “we claim the heritage of . . . Christians.” That seriously muddles the lines of demarcation between authentic biblical Christianity and various apostate traditions.
_________________________________________________________The Declaration therefore constitutes a formal avowal of brotherhood between Evangelical signatories and purveyors of different gospels. That is the stated intention of some of the key signatories, and it’s hard to see how secular readers could possibly view it in any other light. Thus for the sake of issuing a manifesto decrying certain moral and political issues, the Declaration obscures both the importance of the gospel and the very substance of the gospel message. (Source)
Ron Blue; General Teachings/Activities
SEE: http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/blue/general.htm; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Ron Blue is the head of Ronald Blue & Co., a financial advisory firm with offices in Atlanta, Orlando, and Indianapolis. He is also founder and owner of Christian Financial Management. He is a C.P.A. and holds an MBA degree from Indiana University. Blue's wife, Judy, who has co-authored two books with him (Money Matters for Parents and their Kids and A Woman's Guide to Financial Peace of Mind) has a degree in Speech & Hearing Therapy from Indiana University, as well as an M.A. in Counseling & Guidance.
- Ron Blue is one of the two so-called "Christian financial experts" so popular today (the other being Larry Burkett). Blue is probably best known for his book and video series,Master Your Money. He is also the popular author of several other books on financial management -- The Debt Squeeze [now renamed Taming the Money Monster], Money Matters for Parents and their Kids, Raising Money-Smart Kids, A Woman's Guide to Financial Peace of Mind, Sneakers From Heaven, and Storm Shelter. One of Blue's books (Money Matters for Parents and their Kids) has been endorsed by Gary Smalley (of left-brain/right-brain pseudoscience fame), another (Sneakers From Heaven) by Chuck Swindoll (pop-psychologizer and recommender of books by occultists and New Agers), and another (the 1991 edition of Master Your Money) by both Swindoll and Howard Hendricks (self-love advocate). In addition, Blue not only appears regularly on James Dobson's radio program (as well as being published by Focus on the Family Publishing --The Debt Squeeze:1989), but also serves on the board of directors for Swindoll's Insight for Living and for Promise Keepers (see later in this report).
- As for Blue himself, it is almost humorous the way he incorporates pop psychological ideas into his explanations of financial and economic phenomena. For example:
- Blue is quite ecumenical in his associations and speaking appearances. Besides the previously detailed affiliation with Promise Keepers, Blue was also a scheduled speaker at CBN's (Pat Robertson's) 11/10/94-11/13/94 "Financial Success in the '90s" Conference (10/92, Charisma, p. 11; 4/1/96, Calvary Contender).
In addition, in endorsing ecumenical evangelist Luis Palau's 1991 book Say Yes!, Blue says: "I consider Luis Palau and the LPEA to be one of the vital forces in world evangelization today. ... The world needs more examples of men like Luis who with boldness and integrity communicate the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Palau is a Catholic sympathizer whose ecumenical message is heavily diluted with pop psychology and Arminian easy-believism.
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- Ron Blue is one of the two so-called "Christian financial experts" so popular today (the other being Larry Burkett). Blue is probably best known for his book and video series,Master Your Money. He is also the popular author of several other books on financial management -- The Debt Squeeze [now renamed Taming the Money Monster], Money Matters for Parents and their Kids, Raising Money-Smart Kids, A Woman's Guide to Financial Peace of Mind, Sneakers From Heaven, and Storm Shelter. One of Blue's books (Money Matters for Parents and their Kids) has been endorsed by Gary Smalley (of left-brain/right-brain pseudoscience fame), another (Sneakers From Heaven) by Chuck Swindoll (pop-psychologizer and recommender of books by occultists and New Agers), and another (the 1991 edition of Master Your Money) by both Swindoll and Howard Hendricks (self-love advocate). In addition, Blue not only appears regularly on James Dobson's radio program (as well as being published by Focus on the Family Publishing --The Debt Squeeze:1989), but also serves on the board of directors for Swindoll's Insight for Living and for Promise Keepers (see later in this report).
- As for Blue himself, it is almost humorous the way he incorporates pop psychological ideas into his explanations of financial and economic phenomena. For example:
(a) In a February 1992 Moody Monthly article, Blue discusses the problems associated with the huge amount of consumer debt outstanding. A logical question for Christians would be, "How can I avoid getting into debt, and what are the causes of people overspending?" Blue has the answer: "If we look beyond overspending tothe root cause, we often find a low self-esteem [Dobson], or a need for significance or approval [Crabb], which can trigger materialism" ("The Middle Income Muddle," p. 30). (Emphasis added.)- Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) "men's movement" among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK's contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a "phallic messiah" tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, Ron Blue is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men's movement -- he has spoken at PK conferences, has written articles for the PK monthly newsletter, PK promotes his books, and he is a member of PK's Board of Directors in 1996.
(b) In the August 1991 Focus On The Family magazine, Blue co-authored an article with his wife titled "A Woman's Guide to Financial Peace of Mind." In that article, adapted from the Blue's book by the same name, the Blues incorporate Larry Crabb's "need theology" into their idea of why men and women invest the way they do: "Women tend to be security-oriented in their attitude toward money, whereas men tend to be more motivated by a desire for significance. It's common, for example, for a husband to want to invest in the stock market while the wife wants to pay off the home mortgage. Men are driven more by the need to build something of significance than by the [woman's] desire to provide short-term security for their families" (p. 12). (Emphasis added.)
(c) In the February 1995 In Touch magazine (Charles Stanley's publication), speaking of his latest book at the time (Storm Shelter), Blue exhibits more Larry Crabb terminology: "The Christian who struggles with his or her finances needs to stop and ask: 'Where does my security and significance come from?...'"
- Blue is quite ecumenical in his associations and speaking appearances. Besides the previously detailed affiliation with Promise Keepers, Blue was also a scheduled speaker at CBN's (Pat Robertson's) 11/10/94-11/13/94 "Financial Success in the '90s" Conference (10/92, Charisma, p. 11; 4/1/96, Calvary Contender).
In addition, in endorsing ecumenical evangelist Luis Palau's 1991 book Say Yes!, Blue says: "I consider Luis Palau and the LPEA to be one of the vital forces in world evangelization today. ... The world needs more examples of men like Luis who with boldness and integrity communicate the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Palau is a Catholic sympathizer whose ecumenical message is heavily diluted with pop psychology and Arminian easy-believism.
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RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES EMBRACING CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM
SEE: http://apprising.org/2009/01/02/ravi-zacharias-international-ministries-embracing-contemplative-spiritualitymysticism/
ALSO SEE:
RAVI ZACHARIAS CALLS UNIVERSALIST HENRI NOUWEN
“ONE OF THE GREATEST SAINTS”
AND:
RAVI ZACHARIAS CLARIFIES CALLING
HENRI NOUWEN GREAT SAINT
http://apprising.org/2012/08/11/ravi-zacharias-clarifies-calling-henri-nouwen-great-saint/
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Josh McDowell: General Teachings/Activities:
SEE:
http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/mcdowell/general.htmrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Once known for his apologetics (e.g., Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Answers to Tough Questions, and Reasons Skeptics Should Consider Christianity -- three of the more than 30 books McDowell has authored or co-authored), McDowell years ago converted to a different gospel, one that "sells better": the humanistic gospel of self-love/self-esteem. Rather than his former message, i.e., that the evidence for Christianity demands that lost sinners repent and believe in Christ, his new message can best be summarized as: (a) poor self-image, rather than sin, is the cause of man's problems, and (b) improved self-image reduces or eliminates man's problems. (Confirmation of McDowell's adherence to this new gospel was evidenced on his television program on TBN ["Issue of Truth," 5/13/94]: "... self-image is one of the greatest crises we face in the 20th century," says McDowell.) [McDowell also has a 30-minute radio program, "Telling The Truth."]
McDowell's espousal of this false gospel has been massive. In his 35-plus years of "ministry," since graduating from Wheaton College and Talbot Theological Seminary (1964) (all of which has been affiliated with the ecumenical, psychologically-oriented Campus Crusade for Christ; he also heads the Josh McDowell Ministry International), McDowell claims to have given over 18,000 talks to over eight million high school and college students on over 900 campuses in 84 countries. And what was the primary message of these talks? -- On the 12/12/93 John Ankerberg Show, McDowell gave a testimony as to why the Scriptures are important to him -- Josh said the Scriptures have shown him "how to love myself in a Biblical way." [McDowell has apparently signed-on to the Jack Hyles' school of new math -- 18,000 talks in 35 years is three talks every two days for 35 years!]
- McDowell's most popular book, Why Wait?, is a polemic for good self-image/high self-esteem as the primary motivating force for sexual abstinence before marriage. According to McDowell, why should teens wait until marriage? -- because sexual activity before marriage will cause one to have low self-esteem later in life. McDowell gives only brief lip-service to God's commands concerning sexual purity. Evidently, a desire to please God and to obey His commands is not a strong enough motivation for Christian teens, but instead, a dose of the world's "What's in it for me" philosophy (humanism) is required.
- McDowell has devoted two other entire books to helping Christians develop their self-image, self-esteem, and sense of self-worth: Building Your Self-Image (Tyndale:1978) and His Image, My Image (Here's Life:1984).
In His Image, My Image, McDowell presents three psychological essentials for a normal person: (1) a sense of belonging (acceptance by others); (2) a sense of worthiness (feeling good about oneself); and (3) a sense of competence (confidence in oneself). He didn't learn these ideas from the Bible, but from humanistic psychology. In fact, most if not all of the heroes and heroines in the Bible lacked everything that McDowell says we need. [McDowell still promotes these teachings via an audiotape message he sells on his Internet web site (12/26/01).]
- McDowell supports psychology's self-esteem, self-worth, self-acceptance teaching with a blasphemous paraphrase from the Living Bible: "I want you to realize that God has been made rich because we who are Christ's have been given to Him" (Eph. 1:18, LB). Elaborating on McDowell's erroneous interpretation, he is clearly saying that we should feel good about ourselves because God was enriched through gaining us as His children! The context of Eph. 1:18, however, is all about the blessings we receive from God, notthe blessings He receives from us. Clearly, the "riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" refers to what God has given the saints, not to an inheritance the saints have bequeathed Him. Nowhere in the Bible is God enriched by man. It is man who is always benefited by God. Common sense makes that clear. God, being infinitely rich and needing nothing, cannot be enriched by anyone or anything. (Adapted from the 9/93, Berean Call.)
- Regardless of which of the Bible versions a true Bible-believer might choose to use, all can agree that The Living Bible is not an acceptable "translation." In July 1996, theNew Living Translation (NLT) by Tyndale House Publishers came out as a remake of Kenneth Taylor's The Living Bible, which first appeared in a complete Bible in 1971 and which has sold more than 40 million copies. The advertisements tell us that "The New Living Translation provides a wonderful balance of readability and authority. ... due to the careful work of 90 leading Bible scholars, it is accurate to the original Greek and Hebrew text." The cover jacket of the NLT contains enthusiastic recommendations by Billy Graham, Bill Hybels, and Josh McDowell, and was featured positively in the 10/28/96 edition of Christianity Today in an article, "The Living Bible Reborn."
In truth, the NLT is a more worthless version than The Living Bible ever was. It is, again, a paraphrase, like The Living Bible, but its updating of the language and phrase additions make a mockery of the Word of God. Nevertheless, McDowell says, "Nothing illuminates the way God wants us to live more than the Bible. The New Living Translationis an excellent way to communicate God's truth to people of all ages and spiritual backgrounds."
- Referring to Building Your Self-Image, psychologizers David and Karen Mains say, "... author Josh McDowell uses this book to describe his own battles with self-esteem and to provide practical and powerful answers to others who lack self-confidence" (2/93, The Chapel Newsletter). The following excerpts are from Chapter one of this book:
- On 3/6/93, the First Baptist Church of Stanton, Michigan (General Association of Regular Baptist Churches) sponsored a massive "Christian rock" party. It was attended by more than 1,300 teens, and included sensuous dancing and lewd behavior during the party activities. The party was part of a national teen evangelism project (called "Operation Powerlink" -- billed as "the world's largest pizza party") sponsored by Sonlife Ministries and Josh McDowell Ministries. An estimated one million teens participated in the nationwide event connecting thousands of youth groups through a live, one-hour cable presentation. The presentation, called See You at the Party, aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). McDowell's organization was expecting 150,000 "conversions" from among the nearly one million teenagers attending three-hour pizza parties at locations across the continent.
The "party" had a definite ecumenical and charismatic flavor, with 60 participating denominations. TBN, a hyper-charismatic, predominately blasphemous "Christian" TV network, "aired a one hour special in connection with the party [which] included a simultaneous broadcast via satellite linking teens from across the country," including the Stanton party. The special featured CCM artists Petra, Michael W. Smith, and Carmen, "along with dramatic vignettes and the testimony of Josh McDowell."
One observer at the Stanton "party" reported that the live band's "music was so loud that it hurt to breathe," and that it "was just like any other rock concert" with rising smoke, an elevated rotating drum section, and an incredible light show. [The female vocalist in the band even taught the crowd "dance moves to make with God"!] The associate pastor at the Stanton GARBC-affiliated church defended the "party" on the basis that (a) the church youth group had grown from 25 to over 100 in two months since the church "began playing Christian rock at their youth activities"; (b) there were "decisions" for Christ at the party [15 out of 1,300 in attendance]; (c) the GARBC seminary nearby had supported and commended the "party" by sending 50 students as counselors; and (d) the church was experiencing the beginnings of a mighty revival. (Reported in the July-August 1993, Fundamentalist Digest.) [On a number of occasions socialist radical Tony Campolo has also been a speaker with McDowell at "Christian" rock concerts around the country (1/25/94, A Christian View of the News).]
- McDowell is also into "Christian" rap music for winning teens to Christ. On his 10/28/94 "Issue of Truth" program on TBN, McDowell had as guests three "Christian" gangster-rapper kids, who redefined their "music" as "hip-hop." They said they were previously bad guys, but now they "hip-hop for God." They also said that they let their clothes identify them with other hip-hoppers, not their Christian walk -- "That's the beauty of it. No one knows we're Christians, until they hear our music." McDowell also boasted that his 13 year-old daughter's favorite music group is DC Talk, another "Christian" rap group (6/10/94, TBN -- "Issue of Truth").
This should not be surprising when one considers whom McDowell has employed as his publicist/public relations man -- Fred Baye. Baye also represents the following people and/or groups: Jake "the snake" Roberts, a professional wrestler; Rebecca St. James, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Michael W. Smith, pop/contemporary "Christian" singers; John Schlitt, "Christian" rock soloist for the band Petra; Petra; Wellington Boone, writer/charismatic evangelist/reconstructionist/Promise Keepers conference speaker; DC Talk and the Newsboys, "Christian" rappers; and neo-evangelical psychologizers Billy Graham, Luis Palau, Pat Robertson, Jack Hayford, and Bill Bright. (Documented from the 12/26/01 Fred Baye & Company Internet web site.)
- The co-host of McDowell's "Issue of Truth" 30-minute television show aired on TBN is Steve Arterburn, a codependency guru and co-author of Toxic Faith. Arterburn is the CEO of New Life Treatment Centers (codependency treatment centers now affiliated with the Minirth/Meier Clinics), and teaches many of the same concepts as non-religious codependency guru John Bradshaw, only dressed up in Christian terminology. [Bradshaw is an unbeliever who defines codependency as the internalization of shame, and blames it in part on Christians who teach doctrines of original sin, total depravity, and eternal punishment, adding that a Christian's problem results from "toxic shame" rather than sin. This theory holds that virtually everyone in the country is a product of a "dysfunctional family," a whopping 96% of us, and that we have all experienced some form of traumatic abuse as children. In turn, this childhood "abuse" inevitably results in some form of adult dysfunctional behavior -- often some form of addiction -- the solution for which is a concerted effort to "heal the inner child" through 12-Step programs. This is the same John Bradshaw who "heartily recommends" Love is a Choice: Recovery for Codependent Relationships, a best-selling "Christian" recovery book which Frank Minirth and Paul Meier co-author with Robert Hemfelt (of Serenity Bible fame).]
- An excerpt from McDowell's 1994 book, Right From Wrong -- What You Need To Know To Help Youth Make Right Choices, was featured in a cover story in Dr. James Dobson's 11/94 Focus On The Family magazine. In his 2-page article, McDowell mentions sin only twice. And he mentions not at all either the Lord Jesus Christ or the necessity for repentance. McDowell does mention a 1994 survey he took of 3,795 kids (ages 11-18), from 13 denominations, in which they were asked 193 questions. More than 80% said they attended an "evangelical church" weekly, and 86% said they had made "a commitment to trust Christ as their Savior and Lord." Citing a number of worldly activities these young people engage in, McDowell says this reveals "that many of our kids are not adopting our value system at all." He asks: "What is happening to our kids?" Well, the answer here is painfully obvious, yet it seems not to have dawned on McDowell. The so-called "evangelical churches" are not producing real Christians! These kids are lying.
McDowell is also big on "honesty" -- which he never defines. He says we have to teach our kids that being "honest" gives them "unbroken fellowship with God." But, it doesn't!Sin is what broke this fellowship, and only faith and repentance will restore it. McDowell says nothing about being born-again. What Josh McDowell and his ilk must face is a very unpleasant truth: Their kind of preachy, feel-good-about-yourself moralizing is not working, has not worked, and never will work, because it is not the Gospel. (Excerpted and/or adapted from the Lofton Letter, as reprinted in the 11/14/94, Christian News.) [McDowell then appeared on Dobson's 11/15/94 FOTF radio program to promote the book and his latest youth campaign -- "Right from Wrong."] [McDowell continues to be a regular on Dobson's radio program, his latest area of expertise being how to "rescue the next generation" from the "cultural gap" between parents and youth (10/1-10/2, 2001, FOTF radio).]
- McDowell is also very ecumenically-minded. He was a speaker at the 55th annual NAE convention in 1997. He gave 12 keys to networking. He said that he is now working with 50 denominations in order "to resource families and reinforce the crumbling foundation of our young people." He added, "We are all in the same boat. Unless we start rowing together we will all sink separately." (Source: Ralph Colas NAE convention report.)
In 1996, Campus Crusade invited Russian Orthodox theologians and Russian doctors and professors to participate at a cult seminar, along with Josh McDowell and Ron Enroth. McDowell told Christianity Today that opportunities exist for Protestant and Orthodox Christians to work together on right-to-life, youth, and family-related issues. (Source: What in the World, Vol.16, No.7.)
- McDowell appears to have also thrown-in with the charismatic fasting and revival crowd. Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright fasted 40 days during the summer of 1994, during which he claims to have received a "prophecy from God" that a mighty revival is coming. He then issued a call for hundreds of liberals, charismatics, and new-evangelicals to gather in Orlando 12/5/94-12/7/94 to fast and pray for revival. An Invitation Committee made up of a hodgepodge of 72 liberals, new evangelicals, and charismatics was formed. Included were: Robert Schuller, Charles Colson, E.V. Hill, Jack Hayford, James Dobson, W.A. Criswell, Charles Stanley, Paul Crouch, Luis Palau, Bill Gothard, Pat Robertson, Kay Arthur, and Larry Burkett. CCC's Bill Bright cites "a great sense of urgency to link arms and unitedly call upon God for help in the spirit of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20)." This ecumenical "linking" is in the "spirit of Jehoshaphat" indeed, but the Jehoshaphat of 2 Chr. 18 (instead of 2 Chr. 20) where he "linked" with wicked King Ahab and incurred the wrath of God. (Reported in the 11/15/94, Calvary Contender.) [Another three-day "Fasting & Prayer" conference was held in 11/95 in Los Angeles; it attracted 3,500 "evangelicals" and charismatics. The Invitation/Host Committee for this event included most of those listed above, plus Dick Eastman, Chuck Smith, Bill McCartney (Promise Keepers), Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Shirley Dobson, Paul Cedar (E-Free), Ted Engstrom (World Vision), Joseph Stowell (Moody), and Joseph Aldrich (Multnomah). A third conference was held 11/14/96-11/16/96 in St. Louis. New additions to the Host Committee included Max Lucado, Henry Blackaby, Loren Cunningham (YWAM), Greg Laurie, Dennis Rainey, Randy Phillips (Promise Keepers), Josh McDowell, D. James Kennedy, Howard Hendricks, and Neil Anderson. (Conferences have been held every year now, but there is an uncertain future with Bill Bright's August 2001 retirement from Campus Crusade, and his 2003 death.)]
- Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) "men's movement" among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK's contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a "phallic messiah" tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, Josh McDowell is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men's movement as evidenced by his speaking at PK events and by his writing numerous daily "devotionals" for publication in PK's bi-monthly Men of Integrity ("your daily guide to the Bible and prayer").
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McDowell's espousal of this false gospel has been massive. In his 35-plus years of "ministry," since graduating from Wheaton College and Talbot Theological Seminary (1964) (all of which has been affiliated with the ecumenical, psychologically-oriented Campus Crusade for Christ; he also heads the Josh McDowell Ministry International), McDowell claims to have given over 18,000 talks to over eight million high school and college students on over 900 campuses in 84 countries. And what was the primary message of these talks? -- On the 12/12/93 John Ankerberg Show, McDowell gave a testimony as to why the Scriptures are important to him -- Josh said the Scriptures have shown him "how to love myself in a Biblical way." [McDowell has apparently signed-on to the Jack Hyles' school of new math -- 18,000 talks in 35 years is three talks every two days for 35 years!]
- McDowell's most popular book, Why Wait?, is a polemic for good self-image/high self-esteem as the primary motivating force for sexual abstinence before marriage. According to McDowell, why should teens wait until marriage? -- because sexual activity before marriage will cause one to have low self-esteem later in life. McDowell gives only brief lip-service to God's commands concerning sexual purity. Evidently, a desire to please God and to obey His commands is not a strong enough motivation for Christian teens, but instead, a dose of the world's "What's in it for me" philosophy (humanism) is required.
- McDowell has devoted two other entire books to helping Christians develop their self-image, self-esteem, and sense of self-worth: Building Your Self-Image (Tyndale:1978) and His Image, My Image (Here's Life:1984).
In His Image, My Image, McDowell presents three psychological essentials for a normal person: (1) a sense of belonging (acceptance by others); (2) a sense of worthiness (feeling good about oneself); and (3) a sense of competence (confidence in oneself). He didn't learn these ideas from the Bible, but from humanistic psychology. In fact, most if not all of the heroes and heroines in the Bible lacked everything that McDowell says we need. [McDowell still promotes these teachings via an audiotape message he sells on his Internet web site (12/26/01).]
- McDowell supports psychology's self-esteem, self-worth, self-acceptance teaching with a blasphemous paraphrase from the Living Bible: "I want you to realize that God has been made rich because we who are Christ's have been given to Him" (Eph. 1:18, LB). Elaborating on McDowell's erroneous interpretation, he is clearly saying that we should feel good about ourselves because God was enriched through gaining us as His children! The context of Eph. 1:18, however, is all about the blessings we receive from God, notthe blessings He receives from us. Clearly, the "riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" refers to what God has given the saints, not to an inheritance the saints have bequeathed Him. Nowhere in the Bible is God enriched by man. It is man who is always benefited by God. Common sense makes that clear. God, being infinitely rich and needing nothing, cannot be enriched by anyone or anything. (Adapted from the 9/93, Berean Call.)
- Regardless of which of the Bible versions a true Bible-believer might choose to use, all can agree that The Living Bible is not an acceptable "translation." In July 1996, theNew Living Translation (NLT) by Tyndale House Publishers came out as a remake of Kenneth Taylor's The Living Bible, which first appeared in a complete Bible in 1971 and which has sold more than 40 million copies. The advertisements tell us that "The New Living Translation provides a wonderful balance of readability and authority. ... due to the careful work of 90 leading Bible scholars, it is accurate to the original Greek and Hebrew text." The cover jacket of the NLT contains enthusiastic recommendations by Billy Graham, Bill Hybels, and Josh McDowell, and was featured positively in the 10/28/96 edition of Christianity Today in an article, "The Living Bible Reborn."
In truth, the NLT is a more worthless version than The Living Bible ever was. It is, again, a paraphrase, like The Living Bible, but its updating of the language and phrase additions make a mockery of the Word of God. Nevertheless, McDowell says, "Nothing illuminates the way God wants us to live more than the Bible. The New Living Translationis an excellent way to communicate God's truth to people of all ages and spiritual backgrounds."
- Referring to Building Your Self-Image, psychologizers David and Karen Mains say, "... author Josh McDowell uses this book to describe his own battles with self-esteem and to provide practical and powerful answers to others who lack self-confidence" (2/93, The Chapel Newsletter). The following excerpts are from Chapter one of this book:
(a) "Yet each of us also carries another portrait with us, a picture far more important than any in our wallet. Psychologists have a name for it. They call that mental picture of ourselves, our self-image. ... there's always the person whose self-image is bent all out of shape, like a photo carried too long in a wallet."- Another McDowell book, The Secret of Loving, perhaps best details his philosophy of self-love/self-esteem; Chapter 3, "A Proper Self-Portrait," contains the following key humanistic teachings (All emphases added):
(b) "The person with a healthy, positive self-image tends to be out in front in the race of life. Whether we like it or not, our mental self-portrait, that self-image, has a tremendous bearing on our emotional and spiritual well-being."
(c) "Research has shown that we tend to act in harmony with our mental self-portrait. If we don't like the kind of person we are, we think no one else likes us either. And that influences our social life, our job performance, our relationships with others. ... That is why one writer styled the new insights about self-image 'the most important psychological discovery of this century.'"
(d) "When did you get your mental portrait of yourself? How was it shaped? ... For all of us the foundation begins to be laid the moment the doctor places us in our mother's arms. ... By the age of five or six our self-concept, the person we think we are in relationship to others, is so firmly established that we will resist efforts to change it."
(e) "... your self-portrait ... You can change it. You can develop a more accurate and healthy view of yourself. ... The good news of the tremendous worth we have in God's eyes can light up our inner self-portrait."
(f) "Those of you who know me or who have read my biography, A Skeptic's Quest, know what a pitiful foundation for a good self-image was laid in my life. If I let those experiences shape my view of myself, I would be overflowing with rage. ... I now see myself more as Jesus sees me. More and more I like what I see in my self-portrait."
(g) "You can have your self-image reprogrammed through understanding and applying Biblical principles. I want to help you see yourself as God sees you. I want to help you discover who you are, the special individual you have been created to be in the eyes of God (Rom. 12:3)."
(h) "The good news of the tremendous worth we have in God's eyes can light up our inner self-portrait."
(a) "This image (what psychologists call our self-image) alone daily determines how you and I perceive ourselves before other people ... the opinions we hold of ourselves affect everything we do ... It's the way you think of yourself deep down inside ... that motivates your actions" (pp. 21-22).[These gross heresies in The Secret of Loving (some would say blasphemies) make an utter mockery of the doctrines of grace and redemption! "The old rugged cross" has been robbed of both its shame and its glory. The cross is now viewed from the selfish prospective of what it did for me and what I get out of it. McDowell's teaching on self-love/self-worth/self-esteem/self-ad nausea does epitomize what Paul was warning believers against in 2 Timothy 3:2 -- "In the last days, men will be lovers of themselves." This certainly does give new emphasis to the concept of narcissism! (See The Danger of Self-Love; The Biblical View of Self-Esteem, Self-Love, Self-Image; and Beyond Seduction, pp. 146-189; for a Biblical analysis of the so-called "self-worth" issue.]
(b) A clear presentation of McDowell's "shopping mall" theology -- "You are special also because you are of great value and worth to God. ... The value or worth of an object is usually determined by the price one is willing to pay to purchase or redeem it. It couldn't be more true for you and me ... I am worth the price God paid for me, which was 'Jesus' ... the real basis for a healthy self-image is to understand and accept the value God has placed on you. ... Christ's loving actions on your behalf have demonstrated and documented forever the great value you have to God" (pp. 24-25). (First emphasis in original.) [This "shopping mall" theology -- that the value of an object is equal to the price paid for it -- has become quite a popular concept among the psychologizers in today's professing church. This "theology" goes something like this: "The death of Christ on the cross is God's price tag on the human soul; it means we really are somebodies, that we are of great value to God. After all, why would God pay such a great price if we're not worth it?" On the contrary, the Bible teaches that Christ didn't die for somebodies but for sinners. The price He paid on the cross does not establish my personal worth, but instead was required to meet the claims of divine justice. In fact, the greater the price, the costlier my sin, not the greater my worth! That the sinless Son of God had to die upon the cross to redeem me is not anything that should make me feel good about myself, but instead humbled and ashamed, for it was my sins that nailed Him there. How could that fact possibly build up my self-esteem? (Adapted from Beyond Seduction.)]
(c) According to McDowell, unconditional love and acceptance by others is essential to the development of a good self-image, but even more important is to accept yourself because, after all, "God can accept me just the way I am." (p. 27) "God's love, you see, is unconditional and His acceptance is unconditional" (p. 30). (See Brownback, The Danger of Self-Love, pp. 109-116, and Bobgan, Prophets of PsychoHeresy II, pp. 91-96 (reissued as James Dobson's Gospel of Self-Esteem & Psychology), for a proper, Biblical analysis of so-called unconditional love and acceptance.)
(d) McDowell's teaching on self-appreciation seems to epitomize what Paul was warning against in 2 Timothy 3:2 -- In the last days, men will be lovers of themselves. -- "I can go back to the motel room, look in the mirror and say, 'McDowell, you're cool! I like you. ...' When one has a healthy self-image, you can do that" (p. 31).
(e) It's okay for a Christian to buy flowers for himself or herself just, "Because I like myself ..." McDowell then relates the story of being away from home, buying himself five dozen flowers, placing the flowers all over his room, "And every time I look at a dozen flowers, it's going to be God saying to me, 'Josh, I love you. Josh, I accept you. Josh, I forgive you. Josh, as the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Josh, you're special!' I'll look at each dozen flowers and hear God saying, 'Josh, you're of great value. I created you in My image. Josh, you're unique'" (p. 34).
(f) McDowell recommends two books as "further helpful resources," both of which teach a self-love gospel: Bruce Narramore, You're Someone Special and Verna Birkey, You Are Very Special (p. 34).
- On 3/6/93, the First Baptist Church of Stanton, Michigan (General Association of Regular Baptist Churches) sponsored a massive "Christian rock" party. It was attended by more than 1,300 teens, and included sensuous dancing and lewd behavior during the party activities. The party was part of a national teen evangelism project (called "Operation Powerlink" -- billed as "the world's largest pizza party") sponsored by Sonlife Ministries and Josh McDowell Ministries. An estimated one million teens participated in the nationwide event connecting thousands of youth groups through a live, one-hour cable presentation. The presentation, called See You at the Party, aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). McDowell's organization was expecting 150,000 "conversions" from among the nearly one million teenagers attending three-hour pizza parties at locations across the continent.
The "party" had a definite ecumenical and charismatic flavor, with 60 participating denominations. TBN, a hyper-charismatic, predominately blasphemous "Christian" TV network, "aired a one hour special in connection with the party [which] included a simultaneous broadcast via satellite linking teens from across the country," including the Stanton party. The special featured CCM artists Petra, Michael W. Smith, and Carmen, "along with dramatic vignettes and the testimony of Josh McDowell."
One observer at the Stanton "party" reported that the live band's "music was so loud that it hurt to breathe," and that it "was just like any other rock concert" with rising smoke, an elevated rotating drum section, and an incredible light show. [The female vocalist in the band even taught the crowd "dance moves to make with God"!] The associate pastor at the Stanton GARBC-affiliated church defended the "party" on the basis that (a) the church youth group had grown from 25 to over 100 in two months since the church "began playing Christian rock at their youth activities"; (b) there were "decisions" for Christ at the party [15 out of 1,300 in attendance]; (c) the GARBC seminary nearby had supported and commended the "party" by sending 50 students as counselors; and (d) the church was experiencing the beginnings of a mighty revival. (Reported in the July-August 1993, Fundamentalist Digest.) [On a number of occasions socialist radical Tony Campolo has also been a speaker with McDowell at "Christian" rock concerts around the country (1/25/94, A Christian View of the News).]
- McDowell is also into "Christian" rap music for winning teens to Christ. On his 10/28/94 "Issue of Truth" program on TBN, McDowell had as guests three "Christian" gangster-rapper kids, who redefined their "music" as "hip-hop." They said they were previously bad guys, but now they "hip-hop for God." They also said that they let their clothes identify them with other hip-hoppers, not their Christian walk -- "That's the beauty of it. No one knows we're Christians, until they hear our music." McDowell also boasted that his 13 year-old daughter's favorite music group is DC Talk, another "Christian" rap group (6/10/94, TBN -- "Issue of Truth").
This should not be surprising when one considers whom McDowell has employed as his publicist/public relations man -- Fred Baye. Baye also represents the following people and/or groups: Jake "the snake" Roberts, a professional wrestler; Rebecca St. James, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Michael W. Smith, pop/contemporary "Christian" singers; John Schlitt, "Christian" rock soloist for the band Petra; Petra; Wellington Boone, writer/charismatic evangelist/reconstructionist/Promise Keepers conference speaker; DC Talk and the Newsboys, "Christian" rappers; and neo-evangelical psychologizers Billy Graham, Luis Palau, Pat Robertson, Jack Hayford, and Bill Bright. (Documented from the 12/26/01 Fred Baye & Company Internet web site.)
- The co-host of McDowell's "Issue of Truth" 30-minute television show aired on TBN is Steve Arterburn, a codependency guru and co-author of Toxic Faith. Arterburn is the CEO of New Life Treatment Centers (codependency treatment centers now affiliated with the Minirth/Meier Clinics), and teaches many of the same concepts as non-religious codependency guru John Bradshaw, only dressed up in Christian terminology. [Bradshaw is an unbeliever who defines codependency as the internalization of shame, and blames it in part on Christians who teach doctrines of original sin, total depravity, and eternal punishment, adding that a Christian's problem results from "toxic shame" rather than sin. This theory holds that virtually everyone in the country is a product of a "dysfunctional family," a whopping 96% of us, and that we have all experienced some form of traumatic abuse as children. In turn, this childhood "abuse" inevitably results in some form of adult dysfunctional behavior -- often some form of addiction -- the solution for which is a concerted effort to "heal the inner child" through 12-Step programs. This is the same John Bradshaw who "heartily recommends" Love is a Choice: Recovery for Codependent Relationships, a best-selling "Christian" recovery book which Frank Minirth and Paul Meier co-author with Robert Hemfelt (of Serenity Bible fame).]
- An excerpt from McDowell's 1994 book, Right From Wrong -- What You Need To Know To Help Youth Make Right Choices, was featured in a cover story in Dr. James Dobson's 11/94 Focus On The Family magazine. In his 2-page article, McDowell mentions sin only twice. And he mentions not at all either the Lord Jesus Christ or the necessity for repentance. McDowell does mention a 1994 survey he took of 3,795 kids (ages 11-18), from 13 denominations, in which they were asked 193 questions. More than 80% said they attended an "evangelical church" weekly, and 86% said they had made "a commitment to trust Christ as their Savior and Lord." Citing a number of worldly activities these young people engage in, McDowell says this reveals "that many of our kids are not adopting our value system at all." He asks: "What is happening to our kids?" Well, the answer here is painfully obvious, yet it seems not to have dawned on McDowell. The so-called "evangelical churches" are not producing real Christians! These kids are lying.
McDowell is also big on "honesty" -- which he never defines. He says we have to teach our kids that being "honest" gives them "unbroken fellowship with God." But, it doesn't!Sin is what broke this fellowship, and only faith and repentance will restore it. McDowell says nothing about being born-again. What Josh McDowell and his ilk must face is a very unpleasant truth: Their kind of preachy, feel-good-about-yourself moralizing is not working, has not worked, and never will work, because it is not the Gospel. (Excerpted and/or adapted from the Lofton Letter, as reprinted in the 11/14/94, Christian News.) [McDowell then appeared on Dobson's 11/15/94 FOTF radio program to promote the book and his latest youth campaign -- "Right from Wrong."] [McDowell continues to be a regular on Dobson's radio program, his latest area of expertise being how to "rescue the next generation" from the "cultural gap" between parents and youth (10/1-10/2, 2001, FOTF radio).]
- McDowell is also very ecumenically-minded. He was a speaker at the 55th annual NAE convention in 1997. He gave 12 keys to networking. He said that he is now working with 50 denominations in order "to resource families and reinforce the crumbling foundation of our young people." He added, "We are all in the same boat. Unless we start rowing together we will all sink separately." (Source: Ralph Colas NAE convention report.)
In 1996, Campus Crusade invited Russian Orthodox theologians and Russian doctors and professors to participate at a cult seminar, along with Josh McDowell and Ron Enroth. McDowell told Christianity Today that opportunities exist for Protestant and Orthodox Christians to work together on right-to-life, youth, and family-related issues. (Source: What in the World, Vol.16, No.7.)
In 2000, McDowell was part of the ecumenical Billy Graham Amsterdam 2000 extravaganza, where he taught a workshop on family relationships.
- McDowell is a member of COR (Coalition on Revival), a Reconstructionist/Dominionist organization dedicated to a social gospel/activism agenda that proposes to impose Biblical standards (e.g., Old Testament law) on unbelieving peoples and institutions. Though McDowell is no longer a Steering Committee member of COR, he has signed its Manifesto. COR has stated that "Unity of the Body of Christ in any city as non-optional," thereby making it necessary to "rebuild [a] city's entire society upon the Bible." COR says that its founding documents (see below) were created "to give the Church a proper foundation," and that "no denomination, church, organization, or mission can completely fulfill its God-assigned tasks unless it stands firmly on the biblical truths represented in these documents ... the Church must stand on these truths or remain ineffective" (July 1997, "The Vision for the Coalition on Revival").
As an indication of what the people affiliated with COR believe, the following is from a brochure announcing the 12th Annual Northwest Conference for Christian Reconstruction. Does this not sound like a different gospel? (All emphases added):
- McDowell is a member of COR (Coalition on Revival), a Reconstructionist/Dominionist organization dedicated to a social gospel/activism agenda that proposes to impose Biblical standards (e.g., Old Testament law) on unbelieving peoples and institutions. Though McDowell is no longer a Steering Committee member of COR, he has signed its Manifesto. COR has stated that "Unity of the Body of Christ in any city as non-optional," thereby making it necessary to "rebuild [a] city's entire society upon the Bible." COR says that its founding documents (see below) were created "to give the Church a proper foundation," and that "no denomination, church, organization, or mission can completely fulfill its God-assigned tasks unless it stands firmly on the biblical truths represented in these documents ... the Church must stand on these truths or remain ineffective" (July 1997, "The Vision for the Coalition on Revival").
As an indication of what the people affiliated with COR believe, the following is from a brochure announcing the 12th Annual Northwest Conference for Christian Reconstruction. Does this not sound like a different gospel? (All emphases added):
"The Christian Reconstruction movement believes that the Bible contains not only a message of personal salvation through the blood of Christ shed on the cross, but also a comprehensive law structure which is alone able to provide a just basis for society. It is committed to the view that sovereignty and thus government belong to God, and that all delegated government, whether to family, church or state (civil government), is to be exercised in obedience to the law of God's covenant.Furthermore, salvation involves every aspect of man's life and thus also the relationship she sustains to the world around him. The exercise of dominion in accordance with the terms of God's covenant is therefore basic and vital to the Christian faith. To neglect this is to deprecate the extent of Christ's victory at Calvary."That McDowell has no problem identifying with this movement is a bit disconcerting to say the least. (For details of COR's unbiblical strategy for "taking the world for Christ," see COR' documents titled A Manifesto for the Christian Church, Forty-two Articles of the Essentials of a Christian World View, and Twenty-five Articles of Affirmation and Denial on the Kingdom of God. These three documents, along with COR's 17 Sphere/World View Documents, make up what COR calls its "20 COR World View Documents.")
- McDowell appears to have also thrown-in with the charismatic fasting and revival crowd. Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright fasted 40 days during the summer of 1994, during which he claims to have received a "prophecy from God" that a mighty revival is coming. He then issued a call for hundreds of liberals, charismatics, and new-evangelicals to gather in Orlando 12/5/94-12/7/94 to fast and pray for revival. An Invitation Committee made up of a hodgepodge of 72 liberals, new evangelicals, and charismatics was formed. Included were: Robert Schuller, Charles Colson, E.V. Hill, Jack Hayford, James Dobson, W.A. Criswell, Charles Stanley, Paul Crouch, Luis Palau, Bill Gothard, Pat Robertson, Kay Arthur, and Larry Burkett. CCC's Bill Bright cites "a great sense of urgency to link arms and unitedly call upon God for help in the spirit of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr. 20)." This ecumenical "linking" is in the "spirit of Jehoshaphat" indeed, but the Jehoshaphat of 2 Chr. 18 (instead of 2 Chr. 20) where he "linked" with wicked King Ahab and incurred the wrath of God. (Reported in the 11/15/94, Calvary Contender.) [Another three-day "Fasting & Prayer" conference was held in 11/95 in Los Angeles; it attracted 3,500 "evangelicals" and charismatics. The Invitation/Host Committee for this event included most of those listed above, plus Dick Eastman, Chuck Smith, Bill McCartney (Promise Keepers), Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Shirley Dobson, Paul Cedar (E-Free), Ted Engstrom (World Vision), Joseph Stowell (Moody), and Joseph Aldrich (Multnomah). A third conference was held 11/14/96-11/16/96 in St. Louis. New additions to the Host Committee included Max Lucado, Henry Blackaby, Loren Cunningham (YWAM), Greg Laurie, Dennis Rainey, Randy Phillips (Promise Keepers), Josh McDowell, D. James Kennedy, Howard Hendricks, and Neil Anderson. (Conferences have been held every year now, but there is an uncertain future with Bill Bright's August 2001 retirement from Campus Crusade, and his 2003 death.)]
- Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) "men's movement" among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK's contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a "phallic messiah" tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, Josh McDowell is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men's movement as evidenced by his speaking at PK events and by his writing numerous daily "devotionals" for publication in PK's bi-monthly Men of Integrity ("your daily guide to the Bible and prayer").
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Game Plan for Life Outreach Breakfasts
About the Coach
About the Event
Purpose of the Event
Strategy of the Event
How is this Strategy Implemented
Cost of the Event
(SEE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR LINK TO AN EVENT WHERE THE COST PER TABLE WAS $250)
Simple Invite
Timeline of the Event
Game Plan for Life Resources:
Coach Joe Gibbs Tells How The Bible
"Turned His Life Around"
(P.S.: From Failure to Success?)
SEE: http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/coach-joe-gibbs-tells-how-the-bible-turned-his-life-around/;
EXCERPT:
"Coach Joe Gibbs talks with ReadTheSpirit about his work on this new Bible. Here is a sample of the new Bible—Joe Gibbs’ introduction to the Book of James …
'I decided to hop a plane to meet with my “spiritual father,” George Tharel, back in Fayetteville, Arkansas.'
'Are you currently facing a career decision? Have you trusted God to direct your steps? My life is a testament to placing your career in God’s hands. It is the best move I ever made. No matter what He has called you to do in life, you can rely on Him to put you exactly in the right place that you need to be.'"
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself how in the world you got to where you are? In school, I was the guy who sat in the front row, pointed at my letter jacket and said, “I need a C. I need to be eligible.” So how did I end up as coach of the Washington Redskins?
My path to success has been interesting—one full of people and significant events that have greatly influenced me along the way.
Searching for the Truth
While growing up in the hills of North Carolina, my mother and grandmother made certain that I was always in church. It helped shape my views as I had to choose between the Bible and what it said of how I was created versus the view being taught in school that I was formed when two amoebas happened to hit in a mud puddle a couple million years ago. At church I was hearing that God looked down and loved me enough to make me and put me on earth with special abilities. I started searching for the truth. I wanted proof for what I believed. As I looked around, I came to believe one thing for sure—since there was a world, there must be a world maker.
My pastor, grandmother and mother encouraged me to read the Bible. It provided me with added proof that God exists. Think about it. It was written by 35 authors over a period of 1,500 years with a perfectly consistent theme from beginning to end. You know how hard that is to do?
While coaching, I had to call plays from the press box by telling an assistant coach who told a player who eventually told the quarterback. It’s next to impossible to get the message right. But through the pages of the Bible, God has given man the truth—plain and simple.
God’s Game Plan or the World’s?
God created Adam and Eve, and you and me, for a purpose. He wants to have a relationship with us. So based on the truth of the Bible, at age nine I trusted Christ as my Savior and Lord.
As I grew older, I found there were other things the world wanted me to believe. You have one life to live and then you die, so you should do your own thing. Do whatever it takes to be happy and successful in life. I bought into the world’s game plan as my coaching career took off, thinking that were I to become a head football coach I would have all the money and prestige I would ever need. My drive to become a head coach became an obsession. I wanted the position more than anything else in life.
After a number of assistant coaching jobs, in 1972, while coaching at Arkansas, God placed a small, unassuming Sunday school teacher named George Tharel in my path. I was intrigued by his life and his teaching, amazed to find someone so at peace with himself and with God. I excel at being driven, but I have always envied people who could relax and enjoy life. As I observed his life, I started to see that there was another game plan. God’s plan was not based on money, position and winning football games. God was only concerned with me having a right relationship with Him.
Even though I had become a Christian at age nine, God had never been a priority. George helped me to see that; so one night in church I went forward and confessed in my heart, “God, I’ve known You since I was nine, but I have not been living for You. Tonight, I want to rededicate and commit my life to You.”
As I began to live out my faith, even through some trying circumstances, my life began to change for the better. Some of the changes were immediate, others have been a process.
This testimonial re-published courtesy of Athletes in Action and Beyond The Ultimate.
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Joe Gibbs To Speak At
'Game Plan for Life'
Outreach Breakfast
FEBRUARY 18, 2013
The NASCAR championship team owner and former Redskins coach
to share his testimony as a Christian
EXCERPT:
The event is an outreach breakfast with Gibbs sharing his testimony “and pointing people back to the Bible, and how to have victory in your life,” said Derrick Crawford, executive director of Game Plan for Life.
Game of Plan Life is the ministry side of Joe Gibbs Racing. The breakfast’s aim is to include practicing Christians as well as those who don’t go to church or are non-believers but may find inspiration in Gibbs’ speech. The group’s website said Gibbs’ message “best speaks to a male audience” ages 25 and older.
Guests will also receive a copy of Gibbs’ book, “Game Plan for Life.” He will sign copies of the book following the breakfast.
Tables cost $250 and include 10 tickets.
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Winning, by God.
Joe Gibbs' Third Act: Evangelist
EXCERPT:
In a new edition of the New International Version of the Bible, “Game Plan for Life Bible, NIV: Notes by Joe Gibbs,” and a book of biblical devotions,“Game Plan for Life: Chalk Talks,” Gibbs writes frankly about many of his failures, about how just as his coaching career was soaring he was facing private calamities including a bad real estate deal that had him losing $35,000 a month and spiraling into bankruptcy.
Gibbs says he found comfort amid the turmoil in a renewal of his faith. A life-long Baptist, Gibbs says he’s not fond of denominational distinctions and says he and his wife have always gravitated toward, “Bible-believing churches.”
He became a Christian at a young age, “I made that decision when I was 9 but I spent a part of my life drifting, you know, I was on God’s team but I wasn’t playing for him.”
He says spiritual mentors like a Sunday school teacher in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and some of his Redskins players helped him get back on track with a deeper, more meaningful Christian faith even while the struggles were at their worst.
That is why he is sharing his private trials in this public way: so others can understand his belief that even winners lose when they lose their way. He regularly tours the country speaking about his faith at Game Plan for Life Outreach Breakfasts, designed so he can present his faith and help men by “getting off the sidelines and into the game,” the organization says.
"I really want to spend the rest of my life getting out this word, you know, 'What is the right way to play the game of life?' You and I are the players, God's our head coach and we're all playing the biggest game of all."
But make no mistake: Joe Gibbs still preaches the gospel of winning and he still thinks that's part of God's plan for him, too.
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IF YOU THINK THIS IS THE END OF THE STORY,
HOLD ON, THERE'S MORE!
There are other "Christian Coaching" Ministries:
Check out the following:
"Salvation Coach": http://learnhowtobesaved.com/;
Salvation Coach is founded by MAKAIO and is part of MAKAIO Ministries(http://makaioministries.org/) MAKAIO spent several years of his life searching for the truth and meaning of life. During this time he studied the popular religions and philosophies of the world. Through a course of events God led him down a path to discover the truth. He turned from the destructive path he had been on to pursue the way of God found in the Bible. He has never looked back as God continues to guide and bless his life.
Very early on in his walk with God, MAKAIO fell in love with sharing the Bible with others. He would literally spend hour after hour, day after day studying the Bible with anyone God would put in his path. He led group discussions and, in less than a year of being saved, found himself working full-time in the ministry and joining the staff of his local congregation. Since that time, MAKAIO has helped countless souls discover salvation.
In addition to helping people spiritually through Bible study, MAKAIO is also an artist who expresses himself through music and drama. He has written many songs that highlight his journey into the light and considers his art an equal part of his ministry efforts.
Please, feel free to contact us so we can get to know you better and please, get started with Salvation Coach today so we can become a part of your life and help your life be all that it can be.
In addition to helping people spiritually through Bible study, MAKAIO is also an artist who expresses himself through music and drama. He has written many songs that highlight his journey into the light and considers his art an equal part of his ministry efforts.
Please, feel free to contact us so we can get to know you better and please, get started with Salvation Coach today so we can become a part of your life and help your life be all that it can be.
"Makaio Ministries": http://makaioministries.org/
"CMM Coaching": http://www.cmmnet.org/
"Gospel Coach":
"Hooper Coaching":
"Coaching Foundations For Leaders":
Overview
Coaching has become a very effective tool in the business and athletic world. We have introduced a new training called Coaching Foundations for Leaders (aka "CFL"). CFL is a course designed for anyone who wants to learn coaching principles and practices to shepherd others to glorify God. You are welcome to attend if you want to learn about coaching as an informal aspect of your ministry. Some of you want to be prepared for a formal role of coaching and CFL will certify you to do that. This training is fun, interactive and biblical in its approach.
Vision
To lay the foundation for 100 trained and certified coaches by May 2015 for discipleship and ministry leaders at Perimeter and for pastors we are partnering with around the world in strategic global cities.
Pre-requisites
CFL is open to any Perimeter member who has completed Theological Foundations for Leaders (TFL). Ideally CFL is for anyone who has or is functioning or serving as a Life-on-Life Missional Discipleship Coach or Leader. Anyone who is in a leadership role in any ministry is welcome to participate.
Format
Based on the principles of adult learning, participants will experience reading, focused talks, triad coaching practice, feedback, and question and answer.
Part A: Classroom training and triad practice (10 weeks - September 8 to November 17)
Part B: Coaching two people, monthly learning community, and certification (5 meetings on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings)
Text
Gospel Coach: Shepherding Leaders to Glorify God
by Dr. Scott Thomas and Dr. Tom Wood.
Zondervan 2012
For questions, please contact Rev. Charles Hooper, Jr.
charlesh@perimeter.org or 678.405.2133
"Coach Brian Williams":
Spiritual background:
- I once was lost but now am found – thank you Jesus for saving me
- Raised Pentecostal and current attend and volunteer for ministry at Saddleback Church
- Ordained Pastor
Coaching Background:
- Board Certified Coach through the Center for Credentialing and Education
- Credentialed in all four key areas of coaching (including life, executive, wellness, etc.)
- Certified Life Coach through the Institute for Life Coach Training
- Faculty member of the Institute for Life Coach Training
- Coached more than 1,000 people from all walks of life
- Previously Director of Executive /Live Coaching division of national business training company
Additional Career History:
- Ordained Pastor
- Author
- Professional presenter of demo’s, wellness fairs, lunch and learns, church events, etc.
- Presented to multiple Fortune 500 company executives
- Top performer in various sales positions and sales leadership
- Trainer in various settings, including business executives on leadership skills
- Financial Planner for prestigious financial firm in Southern California
- Previously licensed in securities with Series 7, 63, 24 and other licenses
- Personal trainer background
- Business experience as Internal Auditor
Financial Background:
- BSBA in Accounting with a minor in Economics and Management
- Previous security and insurance licensed (see above)
- Financial planning background
- Real estate investor and entrepreneur
Health Background:
- Previously a personal trainer and trained for body building
- Previously ranked AA in CBVA beach volleyball
- Trained for volleyball with top professionals (including Karch Kirally)
- Played games of volleyball against two Olympic gold medalists (and lost – Ha)
- Wellness Coach for over four years with industry leading company
Relationships:
- Happily Married to my beautiful wife Claudia for 14 years
- Relationship coaching
- Mentoring / spiritual counseling for couples
- Couples small group leader for many years
Motivational
- Spoken in front of various groups to motivate and encourage to success
- Worked for Get Motivated Seminars as Coach and Director of Coaching
Recreation
- Love to travel with my wife
- Still life, run, swim and play volleyball
- Try to learn Spanish (si, si)
"Many of the early psychological theories (Adler, Jung, Ellis) and current theories such as Positive Psychology and the “solution focused” therapies are antecedents to modern day coaching. Instead of pathology as the main focus, these theories focus on behavior change through increased awareness and choices for desired future results and solutions to current problems in living, with the individual as the creator and artist of his or her life."
"Dream Catchers Life Coaching":
http://www.dreamcatcherslifecoach.com/
"Association of Coach Training Organizations":
http://actoonline.org/center-for-credentialing/
"Association of Coach Training Organizations":
http://actoonline.org/center-for-credentialing/
The Center for Credentialing & Education, Inc. (CCE) is currently developing a new coaching credential. This new certification will recognize professional coaches who have completed the required curriculum and training, and met predetermined standards in their training, experience and performance on the required examination.
CCE is an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors. For more than 10 years, we have successfully provided services ranging from association and credential management to certification and psychometric functions.
As new information regarding the coaching credentialing program is available, it will be posted on our Web site. We also invite you to visit our Web site for information regarding other professional credentials CCE currently offers.
"Center For Credentialing and Education":
Mission of CCE
CCE advances professional excellence through credentialing, assessment, and business services.
CCE advances professional excellence through credentialing, assessment, and business services.
Vision of NBCC and Affiliates
Enhancing society worldwide through quality counseling.
Enhancing society worldwide through quality counseling.
For more than 10 years, The Center for Credentialing and Education, Inc. (CCE) has provided a variety of services ranging from comprehensive association and credential management to specialized aspects of credential review and measurement functions.
Operating as a wholly controlled tax-exempt 501(c)6, CCE was created in response to ongoing requests from other organizations to the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. and Affiliates (NBCC) for assistance with credentialing, assessment, and management services. While CCE’s staff members have a proven record of success in their own right, they also work closely with the NBCC staff, drawing on a rich 25-year history of credentialing, ethics, assessment, and organizational management experience.
Recognized for excellence, the CCE staff is frequently invited to present to other national organizations and participates actively in the committee work of several highly regarded groups. Among these are the Association of Test Publishers (ATP), the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR), and the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA).
While CCE’s initial projects focused on counseling and related professions, its reputation for excellence resulted in requests from organizations representing many other fields. CCE serves clients from a diverse array of professions ranging from medical to interior design.
