THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF
DR. JOEL BEEKE'S MINISTRIES CONTINUES
What do new evangelicals, Romanists, Orthodox “Christians,” Seventh Day Adventists, apostate Protestants, feminists, evolutionists, and even “gay Christians” have in common? Dr. Joel Beeke has joined in preaching and teaching fellowship with all of them!
BY By Ralph Ovadal, Pastor
Pilgrims Covenant Church, Monroe, Wisconsin
SEE: http://www.pccmonroe.org/2016/03.htm; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
As most of you know, Dr. Joel Beeke is a pastor of Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also the president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary as well as the founder and editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books. Dr. Beeke is the editor of the Puritan Reformed Journal as well. Joel Beeke is a highly honored, by some almost revered, minister and academic who influences a multitude of evangelicals and will continue to do so for many decades through the future pastors being trained in his seminary. What makes this minister’s unfaithfulness in ministry so dangerous is that Dr. Beeke has the reputation as being in “the old paths, where is the good way” (Jeremiah 6:16).
Back in 2011, Rev. Ivan Foster (Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, retired) and I aired a Heart of the Matter program in which we expressed our concerns about Dr. and Pastor Joel Beeke joining in preaching fellowship with John Piper at his Desiring God conference. I trust the reader knows that John Piper is far from being a faithful and sound minister of Jesus Christ. Of course, the same could be said of other speakers at that conference—for instance, Francis Chan. During that program, we were low-key and very respectful, simply expressing our concern about what I just mentioned. We really did not know the depth and width of Dr. Beeke’s ministry compromise at that time. After all, he has the reputation, which he has greatly cultivated and which is widely accepted, of being one who is a modern-day Puritan and a solid-as-a-rock minister. Yet, were the old Puritans here, they would have long ago unsheathed the sword of the Spirit and wielded it against the enormously influential Dr. Beeke, that unfaithful shepherd who has been so long now leading the Lord’s sheep into unscriptural, dangerous compromise and error, even as he has justified and endorsed by his actions all manner of ministers and teachers and even religions dangerous to the Lord’s blood-bought flock.
The Ubiquitous, Seemingly Shameless Dr. Joel Beeke
Has he ever met a corrupt conference he didn’t like?
“For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:2
In our first article on Dr. Beeke, in June, 2012, Rev. Foster and I wrote of the unfaithfulness of Pastor Beeke with regard to his ministry practice of joining with unsound, unfaithful ministers and teachers at any number of preaching conferences and meetings sponsored by any number of unsound, unfaithful churches, organizations, and ministries. We documented some, just some, examples of that very thing. In a subsequent article six months later in January, 2013, I added more and broader documentation with regard to that same reality.
And so it has gone since June, 2012, as unfolding events convicted each of us to publish more articles and broadcast more Heart of the Matter programs as well as a sermon, all of which are accessible at pccmonroe.org/nc/beeke.htm. What these articles, programs, and sermon document in depth and with undeniable, irrefutable facts is that Dr. Joel Beeke, personally and by his ministries, has yoked, and still is yoking, with all manner of unfaithful new evangelicals—Arminian and Reformed—as well as charismatics, apostate Protestants, Seventh Day Adventists, and Roman Catholics. To that list can be added feminists, evolutionists, pro-sodomite “Christians,” and now even at least one openly “gay Christian” (see below). Much more could be added; but suffice it to say, Dr. Beeke and his adoring cadre of willfully blind defenders have brushed off our warnings like so much annoying dandruff—in some cases, resorting to the old “kill the messenger” tactic—and have continued down the same unscriptural, destructive path. But, I have neither the time nor space to do more than mention just a relatively few of the facts already documented in articles, HOM programs, and sermons which we have posted atpccmonroe.org/nc/beeke.htm. The purpose of this article is to summarize in the briefest of ways, relatively speaking, and then update somewhat on the situation.
Dr. Joel Beeke and Refo500
Together again, or more accurately, the illicit affair continues.
“Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
2 Corinthians 7:1
In the previously mentioned June of 2012 article, Rev. Foster and I documented—as it turned out, only began to document somewhat—Dr. Beeke’s involvement in Refo500, an organization of new evangelicals; Roman Catholics; and full-blown apostate Protestants, including the Remonstrant Church which outright denies any number of essential Christian doctrines, ordains women as ministers, was a founding church of the World Council of Churches, and boasts, “The Remonstrants were the first church in the world to open marriage for same-sex couples. It did so as early as 1986.”
At the time we published that first article, we did not realize that Dr. Beeke was actually in on the launch of Refo500 in this country! In the aforementioned subsequent article published six months later, dated January 3, 2013, I provided more information on Dr. Beeke’s ongoing involvement in Refo500; and then on May 23, 2013, I aired an in-depth Heart of the Matter documentary on Refo500 titled “A Popish Octopus with a Very Long Reach.” In the course of that documentary, Dr. Beeke’s ongoing relationship with Refo500 is naturally included. Then in July of 2013, we published a full transcript of the “Popish Octopus” HOM program, complete with appropriate graphics. This, like all of our articles, had a wide circulation.
Close to six months later, in the fall of 2013, we heard that Dr. Beeke had finally left Refo500 and cut all ties with the organization. We had heard that more than once before from his defenders, including right after our first article was published in June of 2012. But this time, there seemed to be some hope that it was true, other than the fact that Dr. Beeke’s book publishing company continued to market books by Refo500 leaders, including Dr. Beeke’s friend, Refo500 director Dr. Herman Selderhuis, who is also the president of the Refo500 Reformation Research Consortium.
However, it was recently brought to our attention that Dr. Beeke has not even ceased speaking at Refo500 events, as evidenced by the fact that he is a featured speaker at a Refo500 conference in the Netherlands scheduled for August 31—September 2, 2016. This Refo500 event is being held at the Theological University Apeldoorn where Dr. Herman Selderhuis is Professor of Church History and Church Polity.
It is a troubling fact that Dr. Beeke seems to have no problem yoking with not only apostate Protestants but also Roman Catholics through his participation in the Refo500 organization and also his entanglement with the Evangelical Theological Society (see below). Dr. Beeke’s seminary is now also directly entangled with
Roman Catholic seminaries, as also mentioned further on in this article along with a link to documentation of that sad fact. Of course, as I documented in “A Popish Octopus with a Very Long Reach,” Dr. Beeke has, in the not too distant past, personally joined Roman Catholics as a speaker at the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference. This is an event which actually features a Roman Catholic mass. Dr. Beeke’s Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, represented by Jon Beeke, has also been involved in the SCSC.
Pastor Joel Beeke and ETS
Romanists, apostate Protestants, the Orthodox, Seventh Day Adventists, evolutionists, feminists, sodomites . . . and Dr. Joel Beeke!
“Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.” Hosea 9:1
In the previously mentioned January 3, 2013 article, several pages into it, I documented Dr. Beeke’s involvement in the Evangelical Theological Society and provided the facts which prove that organization to be an ungodly collection of new evangelicals, Romanists, clergy of the Orthodox church, “Christian” feminists, and apostate Protestants of all sorts.
Although that organization has only grown worse, as the reader will soon learn, that previous article gives more facts overall on ETS—the organization and the participants—than I will provide in this very brief update on Joel Beeke and ETS. So I urge the concerned Christian who has not yet done so to read that report as well as this one to get a comprehensive view of ETS. You will be astounded by the spiritually toxic, in truth, spiritually filthy nature of ETS and will be left wondering how Dr. Beeke could even think of being involved in that organization for so long and to the present day! But Dr. Beeke has continued on with ETS, not only as a speaker but also in a leadership role as a current member of the Reformation Studies Steering Committee and the Puritan Studies Steering Committee!
This past year’s annual ETS conference took place in Atlanta, Georgia, November 17-19. Numbered among the menagerie of speakers representing churches, ministries, schools, and organizations were quite a number of Romanists, also “Christian” feminists, charismatics, Seventh Day Adventists, evolutionists, apostate Protestants from apostate denominations and seminaries, various new evangelicals—Arminian and Reformed—an open “Christian” sodomite as well as a number of pro-sodomite apologists. And once again, the ETS conference included a time of morning prayer every day with all participants urged, “Join us for a simple worship service of Scripture and Prayer.” Also featured were devotions by ETS vice president charismatic Sam Storms.
As the ETS conference featured a very great number of speakers holding forth on a very wide range of subjects, I will first provide this link to the 2015 ETS conferenceI just mentioned. A glance over the speakers and their subjects may well bring to the reader’s mind the old saying, “It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. It’s worse!” Please keep in mind that these ETS gatherings are not a no-holds-barred, head-to-head, take-no-prisoners disputation type of situation. Far from it! Rather, the ETS meetings are a spiritually, theologically eclectic gathering where the academic is king; the intellect is glorified; philosophy and various ideologies are blended with theology; and all views, opinions, theologies, positions, religions, and now apparently even “sexualities” are held equally valid and worthy of equal respect. Remember also that all of the ETS participants are encouraged to worship and pray together each day!
To give some small inkling of what the reader will find at the link I just gave, consider that speakers from the Institute for Spiritual Formation—Talbot School of Theology spoke at the ETS conference on their favorite subject.
Or, consider that ETS conference attendees heard messages such as “Washed and Still Waiting: Homosexuality in Evangelical Perspective” by “gay Christian” Wesley Hill. That title of Mr. Hill’s talk is very similar to the title of a book he has written which is in the library of Dr. Beeke’s Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (see below). Wesley Hill’s book, according to the publisher’s promo, “is a book written primarily for gay Christians . . . With reflections from the lives of [Roman Catholic priests] Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins . . .”
Given the ground I am trying to cover, I dare not linger here to document facts on a number of pro-sodomite “Christians” who joined with Dr. Beeke to speak—in fact, on their favorite subject and as persuasively as they could—at this past ETS conference. But perhaps just a very few, brief facts on two of those ETS speakers ought to be given, along with some appropriate links.
Megan DeFranza, Boston University, is an advocate for sodomite marriage: “Why I am a Christian for Marriage Equality.” Some of her reasons why, listed in the article the link leads to, are: “* . . . because I believe in adoption. * . . . because I believe some gays can be good parents. * . . . because I believe it is possible that the conservative interpretations of the Bible on the issue of gay sexuality may be mistaken. . . . The general judgment against gay and lesbian sexual practice in Romans 1 does not fit the experience of many gay and lesbian Christians . . .” Enough said on Megan DeFranza.
Another champion of New Sodom at this past ETS meeting was Baptist minister and “Christian” ethicist David Gushee, Mercer University, known for issuing this apology at The Reformation Project Conference, a gathering of “pro-LGBT Christians,” on November 8, 2014: “I am truly sorry that it took me so long to come into full solidarity with the Church’s own most oppressed group.” On November 4, 2014, Gushee published an op-ed article in the liberalWashington Post. The title of the article is “I’m an evangelical minister. I now support the LGBT community—and the church should, too.” The subtitle of Gushee’s article is “Too many Christians stayed silent during the Holocaust and civil rights movement.” In this article, obviously published with the intent of wresting, perverting, and trampling over the truth of the Scriptures concerning homosexual acts, Gushee blames “six or seven biblical passages that appear to mention homosexuality negatively” for “bullying and violence” against sodomites. He explains why “my moral position has shifted” and declares, “I have now made the radical decision to stand in solidarity with the LGBT community.”
Not unique among ETS participants with whom Dr. Joel Beeke joined in ministry fellowship, Dr. Gushee is deeply involved in activism with a number of liberal, left-wing organizations and causes. But it seems his evil “passion,” to use the overused, trite expression, is to do all he can to reassure sodomites—it would seem especially the young—that they can be “gay Christians” while also seeking to convince all of us that we are wrong when it comes to what the Scriptures obviously teach concerning homosexuality.
The reader may also be interested in this from David Gushee’s web site: “An ordained Baptist minister, Dr. Gushee and his wife attend First Baptist Church in Decatur, where he teaches a weekly Sunday School class, as well as Holy Cross Catholic Church.” “My wife is a faithful Catholic, and I attend Mass with her most weekends in addition to my membership and service at First Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia.”
At the ETS conference, the title of David Gushee’s message was “Methodological Essentials for Changing the Evangelical Mind & Heart Related to LGBT Christians.”
But to go on with a sampling of the presentations at the recent ETS conference: there is the message by Matthew Lee Anderson, University of Oxford, titled “Reinvigorating the Erotic? The Etiology of Sexual Desire and the Authority of Beauty.” How about this from (Seventh Day) Adventist Theological Society’s Roy E. Gane, Andrews University (SDA): “Old Testament Principles Relevant to Consensual Homoerotic Activity”; or this from Tremper Longman III, Westmont College: “God Loves Sex”?
Feminist Mimi Haddad, Christians for Biblical Equality, gave a message at ETS and was involved in two discussions on “Evangelicals and Gender.”
Then there was the message by Darrel Falk, BioLogos: “An Evolutionary Creation View of Genetics in Science and the Bible.”
Sung Cho, Catholic University of America, spoke on “Honoring the Mothers of Matthew 1-2: Heroines for the Marginalized.” Mr. Cho joined a good number of fellow Catholics who spoke at this event, including, for instance: Margaret Turnbull of the Jesuit Boston College; Stephen Fowl of Loyola University; and Timothy Pawl, University of St. Thomas, whose message was titled “Transubstantiation and Philosophy.” Among other Roman Catholic speakers was Francis Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies and Co-Director of the Program in Philosophical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, and author of the book Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic.
As for unsound and even apostate Protestant Bible colleges and seminaries with speakers at ETS, we could, as they say, go on and on mentioning such apostates as Richard Mouw, Fuller Theological Seminary. Suffice it to say, they were, so to speak, “legion.”
In truth, I have just barely scratched the surface with that little sampling of messages given at the 2015 ETS meeting; and yes, Joel Beeke was right in the middle of that God-dishonoring, even God-mocking, ecumenical mess. In fact, he spoke three times! As I mentioned earlier, Dr. Beeke is also a member of two ETS committees.
By the way, representatives from The Master’s Seminary (TMS) spoke at this ETS conference, and TMS also held an alumni breakfast during the course of the event. John MacArthur is the president of The Master’s Seminary. I specifically mention TMS being at ETS because Dr. Beeke’s busy 2016 speaking schedule includes an engagement at The Master’s Seminary. That took place in January of this year. Dr. Beeke joined in preaching and teaching fellowship at TMS with the following New Calvinists: Dr. John MacArthur, Steven J. Lawson, and Alistair Begg. Dr. Beeke taught a 14-hour course, took part in a 2-1/2 hour discussion panel, and also taught on the Lord’s Day in MacArthur’s Grace Community Church. After his time with John MacArthur, Dr. Beeke posted on his Facebook page a picture of himself sitting in MacArthur’s study with this comment on Dr. MacArthur: “May God bless his amazingly influential ministry around the world for many years to come.” Yes, Dr. MacArthur does have an amazingly influential, and amazingly corrupted, ministryas we have documented.
Has Reformation Heritage Books Reformed?
Only if you count adding works by the likes of Karl Barth and Thomas Ward as reform!
“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.” Ezekiel 44:23
Dr. Joel Beeke is the founder and editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books which, we are told, has as its mission “to glorify God and strengthen His Church.” The title of a regular RHB sales publication is Tolle Lege, “pick up and read.” By the links to a number of articles, links previously provided in this article, the reader will find a wealth of documentation concerning some of the books which Christians are urged to “pick up and read” or, more accurately, buy from RHB and read—books written by new evangelicals such as John Piper (twenty at last count) and charismatics such as Sam Storms as well as even the writings of Roman Catholics.
RHB also markets a good number of books written by women Bible teachers, including Joanne J. Jung, professor of Biblical and Theological Studies, Biola University; and even six books which were not written but were compiled by JoAnn Ford Watson who, as RHB boldly declares, “is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA” and “has worked in Calcutta with Mother Theresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity.”
And yes, reader, make no mistake about it, when I say RHB sells books by women Bible teachers, I mean they are just that. For instance, Nancy Guthrie is one of many such women teachers who have a number of works offered at RHB. As to the context of Guthrie’s books, one can find this endorsement for one of them posted at RHB by David Murray, Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology at the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary of which Dr. Beeke is president: “I love Nancy’s infectious passion for teaching the Old Testament in a relevant, practical, spiritual, and Christ-centered way.”
By the way, concerning book endorsements openly posted on RHB, one can find anything from apostate Protestant Richard Mouw to Roman Catholic Francis Beckwith to “Christian” sodomite Wesley Hill to the filthy-mouthed Mark Driscoll to the obnoxious, irreverent Bad Girls of the Bible author Liz Curtis Higgs to “Alice Cooper, Rock Star.” Now, reader, correct me if I am wrong, but don’t Christian book distributors post endorsements from individuals who are supposedly spiritually mature and sound in the faith? I mean, isn’t that the point the endorsement is supposed to make—that the particular teacher, who is trustworthy and scripturally sound, recommends this book, and so you can be sure it is good for your soul?
Reformation Heritage Books also makes profit from modern Bible translations—but a little more on that subject in the next segment of this article.
Rev. Foster and I began in our June, 2012 article to document the unscriptural, ungodly, corrupted state of RHB. My next article which was published six months later documented more in depth the terrible admixture of truth and error being marketed by RHB. As time went by, things only got worse at RHB as the subsequent articles and HOM programs found at pccmonroe.org/nc/beeke.htm document. In the last segment of a sermon I gave early in 2014, I added to that weight of documentation concerning RHB and also dealt with some other issues regarding Joel Beeke’s ministries and ministry practice. That sermon was titled “Will the Steward Be Found Faithful?” A written transcript of that last segment of the sermon can be found here.
The situation concerning RHB seems to be ever downward, but then I suppose that could also be said of Dr. Beeke’s ministry in general. Just lately, I was informed that Reformation Heritage Books also sells used “Christian” books. This list is subject to change as particular books are sold and then others added. At the time of the writing of this article, there were a number of books on the RHB used book list which certainly do not “glorify God and strengthen His Church.” For instance, the list included several books by the apostate modernist Karl Barth.
Also found featured by RHB are “Christian” books by the likes of Metropolitan Antony Bashir of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Archdiocese of North America, and Roman Catholic writers such as J.A. Moehler and Thomas Ward. A few words are in order concerning Thomas Ward (1652-1708) and his book offered by RHB which is titled Errata to the Protestant Bible. The long title of the book goes on with Or the Truth of Their English Translations Examined. This 116-page book is an aggressive attack upon the Protestant Reformers, the faithful English Bible translation which came out of the Reformation, and the essential doctrines of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” At the same time, it is a vigorous defense of the horrific blasphemy and idolatry of popery, including the Roman priesthood, all of the sacraments, and also Mariolatry.
Here is the link to the RHB used book list. Please remember that on this used book list, books come, and books go. But for those wanting proof of the books I just mentioned, which were being offered as this article was being written, that can be seen preserved here.
Well, at least Dr. Beeke doesn’t promote modern Bible translations.
Well, actually, Dr. Beeke does!
“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” Isaiah 66:2
Some time back, we reported that Reformation Heritage Books was actually marketing the ESV Bible and had been for some time! Recently that changed. But to this day, RHB continues to market many books written by ministers and teachers who use modern translations in those books. Dr. Beeke’s RHB also markets Bible studies which use modern translations. RHB audaciously markets certain works of George Whitefield and Matthew Henry which have been edited with modern Bible translations!
This is the sort of documentation we have provided in some of the articles I have already mentioned, including, but not limited to, a short April 11, 2014 article I published titled “Pastor Joel Beeke, through RHB, Promoting Modern Bible Translations, Corrupt Teachers, and the UBS.” The title is an accurate summary of the contents. This particular article documents such things as RHB, at that time, marketing a Bible commentary using the United Bible Society Greek New Testament rather than the Received Text and another Bible commentary which uses the New International Version of the Bible.
To the documentation contained in our previous articles, we could add much more, such as the fact that RHB currently offers Knowing God: Scripture Memory Bookfor young people, available with either KJV or ESV. Then there is Understanding the Faith, New ESV Edition: A Workbook for Communicants Classes and Others Preparing to Make a Public Confession of Faith. Or how about A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible with “Complete text of the Hebrew and Aramaic Bible, using the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Greek text underlying Today’s New International Version”?
On October 10, 2014, I aired a Heart of the Matter program titled “The Continuing Assault upon the Authority and Trustworthiness of the Scriptures.” The second half of this program contains some of the information I shared in the April 11 article I just mentioned but also includes documentation concerning modern Bible translations being referenced and used in the Puritan Reformed Journal, Joel R. Beeke, editor, a publication of Dr. Beeke’s Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary.
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (PRTS)
PRTS entangled with Roman Catholic colleges!
“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”
Revelation 18:4
This past December, Rev. Foster published an article titled “Touching the Unclean Thing.” It is a short article; so rather than summarizing it, I will simply urge the concerned reader to access it at tinyurl.com/uncleanthing or hear the audio version attinysa.com/sermon/124152158103. This article deals with a deeply ecumenical organization with which Dr. Beeke’s PRTS is entangled.
Relative to one other aspect of that same article, I might just mention that Rev. Mark Kelderman is not only Instructor in Pastoral Theology and Dean of Students at PRTS, but he is also the Dean of Spiritual Formation.
By the way, recently PRTS Professor David Murray proudly posted pictures of and a little information, along with links to the Amazon listings, on some new books added to the PRTS library.Included was the book Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality, authored by the previously mentioned ETS participant, the “gay Christian” Wesley Hill. This book is all about convincing the reader that one can most certainly be both a sodomite and a blood-washed, regenerated Christian. It would be one thing for a seminary professor, in his teaching, to excerpt portions of such a book in order to expose and strongly refute such pro-sodomite propaganda with the word of God. It is a wholly different thing to put such a book on the seminary library shelf for the students’ general reading.
Another new book in the PRTS library isExtraordinary Women of Christian History: What We Can Learn from Their Struggles and Triumphs: “Martyrs and nuns, mystics and scholars, writers and reformers, preachers and missionaries, abolitionists and evangelists, these women are examples to us of faith, perseverance, forgiveness, and fortitude. . . . women like Perpetua, Joan of Arc, Teresa of Avila, Anne Hutchinson, Susanna Wesley, Ann Judson, Harriet Tubman, Fanny Crosby, Hannah Whitehall Smith, Corrie ten Boom, and Mother Teresa . . .”
Speaking of books, David Murray has a regular post titled “Check out” in which he gives various links to things he is encouraging his readers to check out. Just recently, Murray encouraged readers tocheck out a book authored by “Rev.” Maggie Oman Shannon, the spiritual director of a Unity church. The book is titled Crafting Calm: Projects and Practices for Creativity and Contemplation. A description of the book includes this: “In Crafting Calm the author will explore these new forms of creative spiritual practice and the benefits they provide.” “From making a desktop shrine or mini-Zen garden, to stringing intention beads and painting personal prayer flags, Crafting Calm is an essential tool for making mindfulness.” The table of contents reveals that the author also teaches how to make and use such things as “talking sticks” and “inner wisdom dolls.” Yet PRTS Professor David Murray, an instructor of future pastors and church leaders, is urging Christians to check out such a book?
Another book Murray would have us “Check out” is by Eric Metaxas and titledSeven Women: And the Secret of Their Greatness. Among the women featured in this book and held up as examples to be emulated by Christian women are Romanists Joan of Arc and Mother Teresa, also Orthodox “saint” Maria of Paris, and Rosa Parks. Though no doubt a courageous woman, Mrs. Parks attended meetings of the Communist Party with her husband and supported the Black Panthers and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. She was also a Planned Parenthood supporter, including being on the Board of Advocates of Planned Parenthood.
Another example of a book Murray just recently urged Christians to “Check out” is written by Brad Hambrick and titled Do Ask, Do Tell, Let’s Talk: Why and How Christians Should Have Gay Friends.
Still another recent addition to Murray’s “Check out” book promo is Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything by Adrian Warnock, a leader at the horribly corrupt Jubilee Church, London, which is part of the equally corrupt Newfrontiers and uses the Alpha Course.
In Closing.
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Jeremiah 6:16
In closing, I cannot help mentioning an entry Dr. Beeke recently posted on his Facebook page. It seems to me to be one more glaring example of how far he has slid into unfaithful compromise as a pastor and teacher of the Lord’s people. The posting is as follows.
I went to that link and listened as Marco Rubio, a post Vatican II “evangelical Catholic,” preached a very evangelical-sounding gospel message. Dr. Beeke’s posting certainly implied that Rubio is one of those men we are to pray for, one of those leaders who “fear God in Christ and are motivated to serve by His glory and His calling in their lives.”
Certainly, it is very troubling, and perhaps quite revealing, that Dr. Beeke did not even so much as at least warn the readers of his Facebook posting and the viewers of the video he linked to that Rubio, being a Roman Catholic, is in no wise a true Christian. Are we not left to wonder if Dr. Beeke believes there is such a thing as a “Roman Catholic Christian”? If so, his response to a question directed to him concerning his post on Rubio only deepens the impression of that possibility. Very soon after Beeke’s “Rubio post,” a Christian brother posted this on Beeke’s Facebook post: “These were good words, but is Mr. Rubio still holding to the works gospel of Roman Catholicism or has he departed that for the true and saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?” As of the date of this article, it has now been nine weeks, and Dr. Beeke has not answered that simple question.
I close here with the heartfelt hope that I may never again feel the conviction that the Lord would have me sound one more warning concerning Pastor Joel Beeke, his ministry practice, and his ministries. I cannot say I have enjoyed following this particular path of duty. Far from it. But I do not hesitate to state, based on the word of the Lord, that if Dr. Joel Beeke does not repent, reform, and return to the old paths, he and his ministries will continue to slide ever further into unfaithfulness and gross error.
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