PULPIT & PEN'S "APOLOGY" TO THE EASTERN ORTHODOX COMMUNITY~BY THE AUTHOR'S BOSS, SORT OF; BUT NOT BY THE OFFENDER

 

An Apology to the Eastern Orthodox Community

BY J.D. HALL

SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/04/21/an-apology-to-the-eastern-orthodoxy-community/; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

As the owner and president of Pulpit & Pen, I feel that I need to issue a public apology to the Eastern Orthodox community in regards to my managing editor’s recent words. In a series of posts, Pulpit & Pen editor, Jeff Maples, took it upon himself to essentially anathematize the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff, and in the process said some hurtful things about an old and revered religious tradition. I would be remiss not to clarify Jeff’s remarks and in the process, make some apologies. I pray that it is received well by all of our friends in the Eastern Orthodox community.
Firstly, we would like to apologize on behalf of Protestants everywhere for overlooking the grave and damning heresies of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, compared to our stalwart protest of Rome. This has been an oversight of Protestants, due mostly to the revival of actual Biblical orthodoxy (you might call it Protestantism) developing primarily in the West, and under the wicked authority of Rome, and not under the Eastern schismatics known by the misleading name of “Orthodox.” While we have rightly called the Bishop of Rome the “antichrist” in our Confessions of Faith, we have overlooked the many antichrists that have gone out into the world and settled in their positions as leaders in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It was not right of us to prejudicially focus on the Western anti-christ church just because they happened to be the ones murdering us for several centuries. In the future, we will strive to explain that anyone who seeks the title of ‘priest,’ (a blasphemous title if ever there were one), lead people into idolatry, claim the sole mediary position between God and man, practice necromantic prayers to the dead, engage in corpse worship, and promote meritorious salvation is an antichrist, every bit as much as the Roman Catholic abomination. We are sorry for leaving out specific condemnations of your religion in our Confessions, as it wasn’t very inclusive of us.
Secondly, we are sorry that many Protestants have stopped protesting, sending the impression that our confessional doctrinal beliefs don’t anathematize you as not only being sub-Christian, but being anti-Christian. We are sorry that men like Albert Mohler, Paige Patterson, Russell Moore and Carl Trueman, all who should certainly know better, seem to have affirmed you in your superstitious and pagan religion. While the Intelligentsia class of evangelicalism are happy to learn about how Rod Dreher’s monasticism fetish might be a valuable tool for fleeing the culture wars, the rest of us failed to speak up loudly enough to challenge them on this, partially because the idol-factory of our hearts are quick to make our own popes out of mere men, and we don’t like to challenge our popes. The fact is, Greek Orthodox men like Rod Dreher have no part in the Kingdom of God on Earth, because they have no part of the Kingdom of God in Heaven, unless they were to recant their idolatry and believe the one, true, catholic doctrine of Sola Fide. There’s no such thing as being “kind of Christian,” and the Trinitarian ontology of the Eastern Orthodox Church doesn’t undo the fact that trusting in your merit for salvation is just as damning as being a Modalist like TD Jakes or believing in 9 divine persons like Benny Hinn. So, therefore, we apologize for our evangelical leaders who have stopped protesting, even though they call themselves Protestants. Much of your outrage (the thousands of angry, F-bomb dropping emails we have received) is due to the fact you’ve never heard a Protestant say you’re not a Christian. It’s not because Protestant doctrine doesn’t say you’re lost (it certainly does), but because we’ve become a bunch of limp-wristed milksops. Forgive our cowardice.
Thirdly, we apologize for making it seem, should you have perceived it that way, that you’re unchristian because your priests wear dresses and you burn incense. While true religion has little patience for pretentious pageantry, the issue for us concerning your doctrinal apostasy is your denial of Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura, and Penal Substitution. The fact that you adorn your buildings in gaudy and sacrilegious, bedazzled idols is second to the more blatant soteriological heresies that damn your soul (although idolatry is damning enough). The fact that you believe that superstitious voodoo oil poured over someone’s head fills them with the holy spirit and brings them back from apostasy is secondary to your hope in your own righteousness for salvation. We (still-protesting Protestants) shouldn’t have focused upon your bizarre, extra-biblical rituals that resemble more seance than Biblical service of worship; we should have focused far more upon your doctrinal beliefs that oppose Jesus and the very Gospel itself.

A Greek Orthodox believer sent this to our email, which was going around to great applause in Greek Orthodox social media forums. This is Jeff Maples and his daughter, in hell with the Reformers.

Fourthly, we apologize for letting you get away with asserting your religious superiority by the age of your church. While it is true that you happen to live in a part of the world that was first affected by the Gospel, your geographical proximity to the early church does not mean that you hold to the doctrines or practices of that New Testament Church. The fact is, the heresies of Gnosticism, Antinomianism, and the Judaizers all predate the Greek Orthodox Church. In fact, the sect of the Nicolatians (founded by an Acts 6 deacon) predates your church considerably. Logic, of course, would not deduce that these groups, because they are older, are right. We apologize for not being more forward in pointing out that Jesus specifically wrote to the Ephesians Church (where there is now the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate) that he would remove the lamp stand (IE the Holy Spirit) from their church for forsaking their first love, the Gospel of Jesus. The Scripture contains a very explicit warning, directly from the dictation of Jesus, that the church that would become Eastern Orthodox would have the Holy Spirit depart it should they continue on their path of abandoning true religion. While the Eastern Orthodox church is older than, for example, churches in other parts of the world, that doesn’t make it better. It just means that the Eastern Orthodox Church has been apostate longer than most churches have existed. Big. Stinking. Deal. You don’t get brownie points for the number of centuries since the Holy Spirit left your building.
Fifthly, we apologize for not pointing out, as you rage in anger that we anathematize you, that you anathematized us first. Like the Roman Catholic apostate church, Eastern Orthodoxy has also declared Protestants to be hopelessly damned for trusting in Christ’s accomplished work alone for our salvation. While the Eastern Orthodox community has ranted and railed with lamenting and gnashing of teeth toward Pulpit & Pen in recent weeks, they seem blissfully unaware that, like many cults, official Eastern Orthodox teaching declares that only they are the one true church and more specifically, they teach that actual Christians like ourselves are damned for trusting only in Jesus. We apologize for not pointing out that your man-made tradition similarly anathematizes, only it does it wrongly. There is no moral high ground of tolerance and open-mindedness that you can confess toward outsiders without denying the official teachings of your church, a church you believe infallible based upon nothing but the amount of time it’s held to its heresies.
I pray that you, as the Eastern Orthodox Community, will receive our apologies charitably. There has been much confusion because of the inability or unwillingness to articulate what Protestants actually believe about those who deny Sola Fide and Penal Substitution. We aim to fix all that, and do better in the future.
There is no justification outside faith alone in his accomplished work. Christ’s accomplished work includes his substitionary and vicarious death in our place, being for us our propitiation.
No amount of smells and bells, chanting absurdities, or calling out the gods of Ba’al and Asherah with much incense-burning, bell-ringing pomp and circumstance will change that.
Cordially,
JD Hall
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 JUST DOING A JOB FOR CHRIST???
JEFF MAPLES WEARS BANGS:

 

 SEE ALSO: 

 Visiting Hank Hanegraaff’s New 

Greek Orthodox Church

BY JEFF MAPLES

SEE: http://pulpitandpen.org/2017/04/18/visiting-hank-hanegraaffs-new-greek-orthodox-church/;

 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

One of the biggest complaints against Pulpit & Pen we get consistently is that we somehow don’t “have all our facts,” or are “misrepresenting” someone or something. I received countless emails claiming that I “misrepresented” Greek Orthodoxy in my recent posts regarding Hank Hanegraaff and that I should do more research. Well, what better way to research than to go straight to the source in person? Saturday, April 15, known as Holy Saturday in the Orthodox tradition, I along with a couple of friends went to visit St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, NC–the church that Hanegraaff was recently chrismated in. The service began at 11:30 pm, and was still going strong showing no signs of slowing down when we decided to leave at around 2:00 am. While we hoped to have the opportunity to confront Hanegraaff in person, being that we all had to get up early the next morning to worship the living God on Easter morning, we decided to call it a night early. However, there are quite a few things that we can take away from this experience in this church.

1.) I have sat through many Catholic masses. I was married in a Catholic church, and I can definitely say I’ve “been there done that.” But I’ve never sat through anything so long and tedious as the Greek Orthodox mass. Perhaps being a special Saturday night “resurrection service,” this wasn’t the norm, but it was excruciatingly long. 2 1/2 hours in and no sign of slowing down.

2.) The cliche, “bells and smells” is actually a true reality. The burning of incense and ringing of bells was a noxious combination. It reminded me of being in a college dorm smoking weed and blowing the smoke through toilet paper rolls stuffed with dryer sheets.

3.) The liturgy was vain and repetitious. Literally, the same ritualistic prayers and chanting were sung over and over. Every prayer included an invocation of Mary and the Saints.

4.) While there was actually quite a bit of Scripture reading, there was absolutely no teaching. In fact, the vast majority of Scripture reading was sung in the eerie Byzantine chant. You’d really have to pay attention and try to listen really hard to even understand what they were reading or reciting.

5.) The facility was adorned, literally, wall to wall, floor to ceiling in graven images of the saints. The images were painted in such a way that the expressions on their faces were devoid of any emotion. They looked like lifeless figures just floating around in space.

6.) The enthusiasm of the clergy and participants in the service was extremely low. Those participating in the rituals walked around with lifeless expressions on their faces. The entire ritual was empty and dead.

7.) There is obviously little to no pursuit of holiness in this church. Several times during the service, the ushers and deacons could be seen stepping out to take smoke breaks. Many of the women and even some of the younger girls were dressed less than modestly.

8.) Repeatedly, the chanting and liturgy included a summons to God to perform certain acts. It was clear that they believe that God works through and is dependent upon these rituals to activate the work of the Holy Spirit.

9.) The Greek and Eastern Orthodox church is clearly a lifeless church. There was absolutely no gospel in this service. A lost person could not walk into this church and walk out a changed man. It was literally a Pagan practice. Like a seance. Pure witchcraft was going on in this place. In this religion, salvation doesn’t come through Christ’s imputed righteousness and substitutionary atonement on the cross, it comes through these dead rituals that they believe ontologically changes them into divine beings. It was truly one of the most wicked experiences I’ve ever seen.

This is what Hank Hanegraaff has apostatized to. He knows the Bible, he has taught it his entire life. He now rejects it. The bible clearly teaches against the wickedness and error found within the manmade traditions and doctrines of demons in the Orthodox church. It would have been easy for one to let their guard down and become entranced by the production. While in the West it is likely less common for practitioners of the religion to take it that seriously, it’s easy to see how those who do take it seriously could achieve an altered state of mind which would in effect by a spiritual experience for those truly seeking it. After my experience at this church, not only do I fully stand by what I have written, but it is even more clear now that this religion is not of God and should be avoided.
[Contributed by Jeff Maples]
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GOSPEL AS LAW??? TREATING OTHERS AS YOU WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED

 LUKE 6:

27But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28    Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
29    And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.
30    Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
31    And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
32    For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
33    And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.
34    And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
35    But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
36    Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.
37    Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:
38    Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

 QUOTE FROM MAPLES BELOW: 
"While we are glad to see her go, we also want to show the love and grace of Jesus Christ."

 

BUT THEN THIS BLOG HAD ISSUES WITH MAPLES TOO!:

(Email chain below is word for word unedited, except for the email addresses being removed):

 "Let's Extend Grace to Those Who Least Deserve It"

Meet Haley Nicole.

 

This is a girl that moved to the Charlotte area a few years ago and started a major "pro-choice" movement at the abortion mill that I minister at. After months and months of relentless attack on us, she is obviously getting burned out with her efforts. She has verbally attacked our children and our families. She has campaigned against our local churches in the area who have tried to offer help. She banged pots and pans in our faces while we try to preach. As a matter of fact, she has even been asked by the abortion clinic itself to stop coming due to her erratic and disruptive behavior. 
This poor woman is so lost. If anyone deserves the wrath of God more than her, I would be surprised.
"...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." --Romans 5:8
We are certainly under no obligation to help her after all she's done to us. But we believe that if the grace of God in His Son Jesus Christ was sufficient to save wretched sinners such as ourselves, then we should extend that grace to others. Christ was certainly under no obligation to take the punishment on the cross for our sins, yet he did so because he loved us.
While we are glad to see her go, we also want to show the love and grace of Jesus Christ. If anyone wants to help this woman and her young son move back to her home state, she has a GoFundMe page here. If you decide to help her, please leave a comment in your donation about the grace of God found in Jesus Christ. She has heard the gospel preached for months, now it's time for her to see it in action.

She may ultimately end up spending the money elsewhere. We have no control over that. The Lord will deal with her if she does. But one of the most humbling things a Christian can do is set aside our pride and extend grace where it is least deserved. I hope that you will prayerfully consider helping her. 

The link to her GoFundMe page is here:
https://www.gofundme.com/pzejda

Jeff
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Mr. Maples,

      I read and appreciate the articles on Pulpit & Pen very much. Of all the authors, how is it that you are the only one who has had, and still has, a problem with Donald Trump, expressing your distaste for the man at every opportunity, it seems? Granted, the man is a self-described "professing" Christian, but has shown his worldliness. But why criticize him, when the other choices for President were far worse? In your case, "let's extend grace to those who least deserve it", meaning Trump as well, to avoid appearing hypocritical.

     I would also like to know why the authors, yourself, and the organization have not published any email addresses or phone numbers prior to this missive?

John
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Not sure why you are lumping me in as the only one who "has had a problem with" Donald Trump. But to answer your question as best as possible, my main point of contention against Trump has always been against those Christian leaders who have held him up on a pedestal as though he is some kind of messianic savior. If you read my articles, I have defended Trump on issues that I believe are defensible and criticized him where appropriate. Further, I would treat Trump the same. First, I would never allow him to think that I believe he is a true Christian... that would be the most unloving and ungraceful thing I could do.

Yes, the alternatives are worse. I've always said that. And I have no problem with those who in good faith voted for Trump from that perspective. Where I have the problem is with men like Robert Jeffress and Dobson who go around proclaiming this man a born again believer, and trying to get people to vote for him because of that. It's a lie, and I'm more concerned with people's eternal state than the state of this nation.

Donald Trump is our president, and to the best of my ability, I will support him in his efforts to do his duty to this nation. I will continue to criticize him where it's due, and I will continue to defend him where it's due.

As far as email addresses, I'm not going to publish my personal email address online for the world and spammers to see. We have always had a contact form on our website that comes directly to the inboxes of all the contributors of the site. Further, every author has a link to their Facebook profile to which many people have reached out to us before. And you could always reply to the weekly emails that go out... the replies come directly to me. We are not hard to contact.

I hope this answers your questions.

Grace & Peace.

Jeff

Jeff Maples, Editor

Pulpit & Pen

http://www.pulpitandpen.org

jeff@pulpitandpen.org

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Mr. Maples,

        My name is John, and you omitted same in your response. Likewise, your tone is blunt, defensive and dismissive. Why? Not very courteous, I have to say!
        I don't think I've either missed or misread your articles, so I have a hard time seeing exactly where your self justifications are actually in print. Can you send them to me? Especially the ones where you say you have defended Trump where defensible? I maintain that peoples' "eternal state" directly affects the "state of this nation". For me, it's not an "either/or" as you imply. I have to say also that the "semper reformanda" of the reformed crowd is typically apostate and corrupt, and in practice is a reproach on Christianity. You should change your logo for those reasons.

       I am well educated, yet I have never been able to decipher how to respond to any one author. But that is not my fault. It's purposely that way, isn't it? I hate using impersonal contact forms. Why are you screening for the other authors? I'm not suggesting that personal email addresses be published; you assumed that in error. Do the other authors have email addresses ending in @pulpitandpen.org, like yours? Why can't they be published? Or must you exercise total control?

John

________________________________________________________

 Considering we get hundreds of emails every day, I'm not so sure why you have such a problem with it. I don't screen anyone else's email, sir. And you're the one contacting me making assumptions.

Yes, every contributor has a .pulpitandpen.org email address. The only emails that come directly to me are the responses to the newsletter. Why? Because I'm the one that sends them. Simple as that. Other than that, like I've said, every contributor has a link to their profile at the bottom of every single article. It's not my problem that you don't want to use an "impersonal contact form." We respond to every inquiry that isn't spam, and every time we respond, it's with our own individual .pulpitandpen.org email address.

Below is the author box that you will find at the bottom of every article. Feel free to add me on Facebook or message me if you like.

There is also a link to our facebook group on our website in which all of the contributors are active and participating members. We post all of our articles in there and interact with people on everything. That's under the resources menu. Here is the direct link to it.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/638527459548792/

We also have a Facebook page which is open to the public. We do the same there. There is a slide up that advertises this resource on every page on our website. Here is the direct link to it. We respond to ALL messages that aren't spam on that page.

https://www.facebook.com/pulpitandpen/?ref=bookmarks

So with all the ways you could have tried to reach out to us, it doesn't appear you put in too much effort. If anything else, you could have used one of the methods to ask for a specific contributor's email address. Have you tried? Apparently not. So how about less griping about what we should be doing when you're the only one that seems to be walking around aimlessly trying to contact us.

Grace & Peace

Jeff

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Mr. Maples,

               Looks like you've been triggered like an anti-Trump rioter? So you degenerate into disrespect, rudeness, further assumptions, ridicule, and demeaning sarcasm? How "reformed"! How "Christian"!
              I don't use Facebook because of its tracking and censorship of late. If you don't know about that, look that up! Other than that, no reader should have to put a lot of effort into contacting authors, unless it is designed that way. Which it is, because of your paranoia about constructive criticism which hurts your narcissistic ego. Links to author profiles do not contain email addresses, do they? NO.

             You need to repent about your poor way of relating to subscribers. Such behavior is juvenile and un-Christian to say the least. And you have the hypocritical gall to sign in "Grace & Peace". No wonder you got hit with abuse from Haley Nicole!

In Christ,

John

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