THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
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Showing posts with label Reformation/Martin Luther. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reformation/Martin Luther. Show all posts
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Tim Keller, at the TGC19 Panel, Lauding a Romanist Who Blames the Reformation for ‘Secularization’ that stands in the way fo their Jesuit-Marxist Social Justice Worldview
The Gospel Coalition’s annual conference was held earlier this month and produced many sessions and panels, one of which especially stood out in promoting one of the primary influences in the ideology and ministry philosophy of TGC co-founder and Vice President Dr. Tim Keller, who was one of the four panelists.
TGC Senior Editor, Collin Hansen moderated, with fellow TGC Senior Editor, Brett McCracken and author, Jen Pollack Michel rounding out the panel. The discussion centered around the survival of Christianity in this secular age based on the book titled “Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor,” produced by TGC and contributed to by Hanson, Alastair Roberts, Carl Trueman, Michael Horton, Alan Noble, and more ‘woke’ Social Justice advocates.
Because the panel discussion focused on the book regarding Charles Taylor, it benefits those of us in the proletariat cheap-seats to ask the question as to who exactly this character is, who draws so much attention and appreciation from the Evangelical Intelligentsia.
You can watch the panel discussion below, but it might be wise to skip to the summary below for the sake of time. You won’t want to miss it.
Dr. Charles Margrave Taylor was a Roman Catholic and communitarian philosopher, and his biographers list the greatest influences on Taylor’s thinking as Aristotle, Plato, Hegel, and Karl Marx.
Com-mu-ni-tar-i-an adjective\ kə-ˌmyü-nə-ˈter-ē-ən \ : of or relating to social organization in small cooperative partially collectivist communities
Col·lec·tiv·ism noun \ the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it.
Synonyms for communitarianism (which is what Russell Moore is according to sources) includes collectivism, socialism, Sovietism, Bolshevism, Marxism, Leninism, Trotskyism, and Maoism.
Taylor’s magnum opus, A Secular Age, is a massive 896 pages that best demonstrates his religious philosophy, as summarized below:
Taylor believes that a movement of Reform in Christianity, aiming to raise everyone up to the highest levels of religious devotion and practice, caused the move to secularization. The disciplined Reformed-self replaced the porous-self, vulnerable to external forces, spirits and demons, with a new buffered-self, or a disciplined and free agent living in a progressively disenchanted world of expressive individualism.”
According to Taylor, the success of Reform and the propagation of successful disciplined individuals leads to a disciplinary society that starts to take action against rowdiness and indiscipline.
Calvinists and Puritans were by nature industrious and disciplined. With such men a safe, well-ordered society can be built (p. 106), so Taylor argued, but the success of the project encouraged an anthropocentrism (human-centeredness) that opened the gates for a godless humanism (p. 130). Humans, therefore the arguing goes, are individuals no longer embedded in society, God is no longer embedded in the cosmos, and the notion of human flourishing becomes transformed into “salvation which takes us beyond what we usually understand as human flourishing” (p. 152).
Taylor argues that the Reformation was essentially a bad thing because its congruent entanglement with the Enlightenment caused “people started using reason and science instead of religion and superstition” (p. 273) to explain the world.
To argue for his theistic (but still terribly flawed outlook) unbelief, Taylor presents a selection of recent spiritual conversions or “epiphanic” experiences among Romanist artists and writers.
In summary and according to the Roman Catholic and communitarian philosopher, Charles Margrave Taylor, everything in the world was basically fine until the Reformers – led by Luther and Calvin – and the consequence of the Reformation was a rise in secularism. Taylor insists that the long road from the religious bliss of The Dark Ages to the secular doom of today started with The Protestant Reformation, and will only end when we go back to The Dark Ages.
No, seriously. That anti-Reformation theology is what’s being promoted at “The Gospel Coalition.”
Taylor recommends mystical, sensual experiences that provide a rich variety of paths to God, as well as a new approach to issues of sexuality, thereby promoting unity in the church. Not surprisingly, Taylor is a constant presence in Keller’s sermons, speeches, and books. This is a panel discussion on what they’ve learned from Taylor and the need to implement his philosophy in the church!
Unbelievable.
Charles Taylor is lauded by The Gospel Coalition for attacking the “secularism” of the Protestant Reformation (because The Gospel Coalition’s Jesuit-Marxist Liberation Theology stands opposed to Lockean concepts of personal liberty that came out of the Reformation and formed English Common Law and civil liberties). Another liberal organization, Huffington Post, had equally glowing things to say about Taylor if that tells you anything.
Taylor is of global influence as a Catholic thinker, a leader on the social democratic left and a spokesperson for combining rather than opposing liberalism and defense of community.
It should be apparent by now that The Gospel Coalition is an ideological change-agent for the political left in American evangelicalism.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
[Reformation Charlotte] The Reformation was our defining moment as
Protestants. It’s who we are, it’s our history. It was the moment the
gospel was recovered from the grips of the apostasy of the Roman
Catholic religion and made available to the common man. It was the
wellspring of good theology of which we rest our knowledge of God on.
Apart from the Scriptures itself, the Reformation gave birth to the
greatest understanding of Jesus Christ and his saving gospel of grace
that history has ever seen.
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. Deuteronomy 32:7-8
However, at the Cross Conference a few days ago, JD Greear, president
of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of the multi-campus
Summit megachurch in North Carolina, declares that God says we need to
“shut up about the Reformation” because He is “not a God of the past.”
Basically what God says through
Amos is if you’ll let me put it in colloquial language, “will you shut
up about Gilgal and Beersheba?” I’m sick and tired of hearing about
those places because I’m not a God who moved in the past. I’m a God who
wants to move today in your present. I almost think, I’m on dangerous
ground here…I almost think that God is saying to us “shut up about the
Reformation.”
However, at the Cross Conference a few days ago, JD Greear, president
of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of the multi-campus
Summit megachurch in North Carolina, declares that God says we need to
“shut up about the Reformation” because He is “not a God of the past.”
Basically what God says through Amos is if you’ll let me put it in
colloquial language, “will you shut up about Gilgal and Beersheba?” I’m
sick and tired of hearing about those places because I’m not a God who
moved in the past. I’m a God who wants to move today in your present. I
almost think, I’m on dangerous ground here…I almost think that God is
saying to us “shut up about the Reformation.”
For your viewing pleasure, here is a link to the entire sermon. [Editor’s Note: Over-all, this reeks of the Acts 29-ism of Greear’s homeboys. By the way, Greear is wrong on God’s name being defined simply as “I am.” יהוה, or Yahweh, is an omni tempered verb meaning that it could be rendered, I was that I was, I was that I am, I was that I will be, etc as well as the more traditional I am that I am or I will be what I will be. Also, I would remind Greear that God is the “One who was, and is, and is to come” (Revelation 1:8). Either way, it is safe to say – as we’ve reported before – Greear is definitely not Reformed and not a Calvinist]
Pope Attempts to Reverse the Reformation in Geneva with the World Council of Churches
BY MIKE GENDRON
SEE: www.proclaimingthegospel.org; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
In an ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva Pope Francis said, "Not only God, but today's broken, divided world is begging for unity among Christians." He said, "Our differences must not be excuses because as Christ's disciples, Christians can still pray together, evangelize and serve others." The pope spent several hours with Christian leaders at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 350 ecclesial communities. The pope came to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of what is the largest and broadest ecumenical fellowship in the world.
In his speech, the pope said, "Our lack of unity" is not only contrary to God's will, it is "also a scandal to the world." Pope Francis, the third pope to visit the WCC, said he wanted to come as "a pilgrim in quest of unity and peace." He thanked God for having found "brothers and sisters already making this same journey." He said it was critical that Christians come together for "the credibility of the Gospel," which is "put to the test by the way Christians respond" to those suffering in the world today. Read more.
Mike's Comment: How ironic that the pope would call for unity among Christians in the city of Geneva, where God used the Reformers to expose and renounce the corrupt, apostate religion of Roman Catholicism. The pope is unaware that there can never be unity between born again Christians and Roman Catholics, because we are divided on the essentials of the Gospel, how one is born again, how one is justified, how one is purified of sin, who mediates between God and man, and the necessity, sufficiency and exclusivity of Jesus Christ. The unity God desires is only among those He has called out of the world and given as a gift to His Son. Unity can only be in truth among those who have kept God's Word (John 17:6, 9). Jesus did not pray for unity with unbelievers but for unity among those who believe in Him through the Word, that they may be sanctified by the truth (John 17:20-23).
The U.S. Catholic bishops submitted a brief to the Supreme Court declaring that President Donald Trump’s ban on migration from five Muslim countries was “blatant religious discrimination.”
One learns from childhood to discriminate between what is harmful and what is benign. Trump’s ban was from “countries of concern” that were chosen by the Obama administration due to the security threats emanating from them, not because of anti-Muslim bigotry.
There is no discrimination against Muslims in America, based solely on faith. Muslims are free to practice their faith in peace, despite the fact that many Islamic preachers are spewing hatred against Christians, Jews and Zionism.
Attorney Neal Katyal referred to the bishops’ strongly worded friend-of-the-court brief as Justice Samuel Alito pressed him for evidence that a “reasonable person” would view Trump’s proclamation as discriminating against Muslims.
Any reasonable person should ask the question of why there is concern about Islam and none about Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, etc. No reasonable person has anything against a Muslim’s private faith if it is benign, but any reasonable person has concerns about jihad and the global Islamic war that has been declared against infidels.
The next question that comes to mind is this: what possible motive could the bishops have?
In the Fiscal Year 2016, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) received more than $91 million in government funding for refugee resettlement. Over the past nine years, the USCCB has received a total of $534,788,660 in taxpayer dollars for refugee resettlement programs
These bishops have abandoned persecuted Christians and abdicated their role as Christian leaders. They are unfit for their ecclesiastical duties.
“The Bishops’ Brief Against the Ban,” by Paul Moses, Commonweal, April 26, 2018:
The U.S. Catholic bishops submitted a brief to the Supreme Court declaring that President Donald Trump’s ban on migration from five Muslim countries was “blatant religious discrimination”—and the lawyer representing opponents of the measure reminded the justices of that line in oral arguments held Wednesday.
Attorney Neal Katyal referred to the bishops’ strongly worded friend-of-the-court brief as Justice Samuel Alito pressed him for evidence that a “reasonable person” would view Trump’s proclamation as discriminating against Muslims.
“This is a ban that really does fall almost exclusively on Muslims,” Katyal said. “…Look at the wide variety of amicus briefs filed in this case from every corner of society, representing millions and millions of people, from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which calls it, quote, ‘blatant religious discrimination’”—
He was cut off, but the point was made before a court with five Catholic justices and one Episcopalian who was raised Catholic, Neil Gorsuch. The bishops’ brief cited Trump’s anti-Muslim tweets as evidence that the president’s order “arises out of express hostility to Islam,” and violates the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.
“Such blatant religious discrimination is repugnant to the Catholic faith, core American values, and the United States Constitution. It poses a substantial threat to religious liberty that this Court has never tolerated before and should not tolerate now,” the brief says. “Having once borne the brunt of severe discriminatory treatment, particularly in the immigration context, the Catholic Church will not sit silent while others suffer on account of their religion.”
Much of the news coverage of the hearing took the justices’ questioning as evidence that the court’s five-member conservative majority would rule in Trump’s favor. On the face of it, the justices need to decide if the core element of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965—abolishing discriminatory national-origin quotas passed in the 1920s—is trumped by a paragraph in the same law that, if the Trump administration is right, gives the president unlimited power over who can enter the country.
Whether the religious discrimination argument will move the justices in this case remains to be seen—and it’s best not to speculate on a justice’s thinking based on his or her questions.
But however the court rules, the USCCB’s brief is important in staking out an authentic Catholic position on Islam and immigration at a time when many anti-Islam voices are able to find a platform in Catholic media and institutions. And it counters the bishops’ past failures to include discrimination against Muslims as a cause for their campaign for religious liberty, as seen in the statement “Our First, Most Cherished Liberty,” which was issued before the 2012 presidential election. With a few exceptions, Catholic institutions were slow to respond to the nativist strain in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and the first nativist president was elected with a majority of the white Catholic vote. More recently, the USCCB released a statement in February 2017 urging Trump to fulfill his promise to protect religious liberty—but without mentioning his plans for immigration or his anti-Muslim comments……
_______________________________________________________ SEE ALSO:
As Jihad Watch reported Saturday, “The U.S. Catholic bishops submitted a brief to the Supreme Court declaring that President Donald Trump’s ban on migration from five Muslim countries was ‘blatant religious discrimination.'” Is it really?
And do the U.S. Catholic bishops feel any obligation to support measures that would protect Americans from jihad attacks? Apparently not. The message that the bishops are sending to Americans is simple: drop dead. The U.S. Catholic bishops appear to be absolutely unconcerned about the following facts:
Somali Muslim migrant Mohammad Barry in February 2016 stabbed multiple patrons at a restaurant owned by an Israeli Arab Christian; Ahmad Khan Rahami, an Afghan Muslim migrant, in September 2016 set off bombs in New York City and New Jersey; Arcan Cetin, a Turkish Muslim migrant, in September 2016 murdered five people in a mall in Burlington, Washington; Dahir Adan, another Somali Muslim migrant, in October 2016 stabbed mall shoppersin St. Cloud while screaming “Allahu akbar”; and Abdul Razak Artan, yet another Somali Muslim migrant, in November 2016 injured nine people with car and knife attacks at Ohio State University. 72 jihad terrorists have come to the U.S. from the countries listed in Trump’s initial immigration ban.
What’s more, all of the jihadis who murdered 130 people in Paris in November 2015 had just entered Europe as refugees. In February 2015, the Islamic State boasted it would soon flood Europe with as many as 500,000 refugees. The Lebanese Education Minister said in September 2015 that there were 20,000 jihadis among the refugees in camps in his country. On May 10, 2016, Patrick Calvar, the head of France’s DGSI internal intelligence agency, said that the Islamic State was using migrant routes through the Balkans to get jihadis into Europe.
The bishops have never expressed any concern about any of this. They are completely in line with Pope Francis, who has claimed risibly that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.” This has become a super-dogma in the Catholic Church: if you don’t believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace, you will be ruthlessly harassed and silenced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the hierarchy elsewhere as well. The bishops of the Catholic Church are much more concerned that you believe that Islam is a religion of peace than that you believe in, say, the Nicene Creed. And so what possible reason could there be to be concerned about these “refugees”? It’s a religion of peace!
The bishops, of course, have 91 million reasons — indeed, 534 billion reasons — to turn against the truth and disregard the safety and security of the American people: “In the Fiscal Year 2016, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) received more than $91 million in government funding for refugee resettlement. Over the past nine years, the USCCB has received a total of $534,788,660 in taxpayer dollars for refugee resettlement programs.”
“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
It was not always thus. For centuries, in fact, as I detail in my forthcoming book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS, the Catholic Church was at the forefront of efforts to resist jihad aggression in Europe. In it, you’ll discover:
The Pope who was a true precursor of Pope Francis: he was harshly criticized by the Romans for failing to keep them safe from jihad attacks;
The Pope who answered a Byzantine Emperor’s call for help against the jihadis not by scolding him about how Islam was peaceful, but by calling on the rulers of Europe to send troops;
The Medieval Pope who called Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, a “son of perdition,” and called for Christians to unite against the advancing jihad;
What happened when a Mongol ruler sent an emissary across Central Asia and into Europe to meet the Pope and seek an alliance with the Christians against the forces of jihad;
The Pope who haughtily refused to come to the aid of the Christian Byzantine Empire when it was mortally threatened by jihadis, because of doctrinal differences;
The Pope who took a solemn oath at his consecration to “extirpate the diabolical sect of the reprobate and faithless Mahomet”;
The Pope who touched off worldwide Muslim riots by noting that “God is not pleased by blood”;
David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org
Saddleback Church recommends a wide range of books on contemplative mysticism at its web site.Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun, for example, has been listed under the “Spiritual Growth” section for at least the past two years. Rick Warren, senior pastor at Saddleback, pretends that contemplative prayer is merely getting alone in a quiet place to meditate on God’s Word, but it goes far beyond that. Warren says that contemplative prayer is nothing like yoga, but as a former member of a Hindu meditation society, I can testify that practices such as centering prayer are definitely yoga-like.
Adele Calhoun recommends Roman Catholic monastic practices which were, in turn, borrowed from paganism, as we have documented in our book Contemplative Mysticism. Calhoun lists Roman Catholics as “spiritual tutors,” including M. Basil Pennington, Henri Nouwen, Peter Kreeft, William Meninger, Francis de Sales, Richard Rohr, William Johnson, Teresa of Avila, Thomas Keating, John of the Cross, Brother Lawrence, Tilden Edwards, Ignatius Loyola, St. Benedict, Thomas Merton, John Henry Newman, Julian of Norwich. Not only are these deeply misguided individuals laden down with Catholic heresies, but many were led by their mystical practices to universalism, panentheism, and even rank idolatry. (For example, Thomas Merton worshipped Buddhist idols.) Calhoun recommends following the Roman Catholic Church liturgical calendar, seeking spiritual direction from Catholic orders, and visiting Catholic retreat centers. She describes a pilgrimage she took with 30 women in her “covenant group” to visit the sites of Catholic mystics and to study their practices. She recommends a whole slew of unscriptural contemplative practices, including the Jesus prayer (vain repetition), palms up palms down (psychological visualization), lectio divina, imagination prayer, centering prayer, breath prayer, practicing the presence, silence, and spiritual direction. She recommends the use of single words as a mantra to drive away conscious thoughts. “Choose a simple word ... Let this word guard your attention. ... When your thoughts wander let them drop to the bottom of your mind. Don’t go after them. ... Imagine your distracting thoughts are part of the debris floating in the current of a river. Don’t try to capture these thoughts; release them and let the river of God’s life carry them away.”
In describing her mysticism, Calhoun quotes Richard Rohr, “Prayer is not primarily saying words or thinking thoughts. It is, rather, a stance. It’s a way of living in the Presence.” This is not biblical contemplation; it is blind mysticism. Even when it comes to devotional reading of the Bible, Calhoun discourages “mentally critiquing or exegeting the text.” Rather, the Bible is to be used as a launching pad for mysticism as the practitioner refuses to “analyze” it but merely “listens and waits.”
It is impossible to exaggerate the danger inherent in contemplative mysticism, and it is impossible to warn too loudly and plainly of the spiritual blindness of the “evangelical” leaders who are promoting it.
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The following photos are an assortment taken from stories we have written or posted over the last three years. July 2017
Leaders of the World Communion of Reformed
Churches sign copies of the declaration in the Saint Mary’s City Church
in Wittenberg, Germany, expressing support from Reformed churches for
the Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification. (Credit: Photo courtesy of WCRC/Anna Siggelkow.)
2014 at the Vatican, Italy
Pope Francis speaks at an inter-religious
conference on family values at the Vatican on Monday. Saddleback Pastor
Rick Warren, bottom right, sits in the audience.
2014
Pope Francis with several evangelical leaders including James Robison, Tony Palmer, and Kenneth Copeland
2014 - Beth Moore's Legitimizing of the Catholic Church
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
For Reformation Day, we want Christians around the world to consider
who they think are the most dangerous heretics in the world today
undermining Christianity. The Pope will always be the most serious
threat to Christianity since at the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic
Church anathematized the gospel.
Credit to PirateChristian.Com for the 5 Sola symbols…
In this article, we list our top 20 most dangerous heretics that
Christians world-wide must mark and avoid (Romans 16:17) for the sake of
Christ’s people and Christ’s gospel. We have also color-coded the
heretics so people can identify what modern-day cult they represent.
They are marked in order from the more dangerous to the less dangerous, addressing the following:
Evidence either gathered on them (which can be accessed in our archives).
Their influence on Christianity globally or people’s perception on what Christianity is because of them’
Who they target and how effective they are.
Their disregard of the Solas.
Their character.
We will assess them on the Solas as so:
Key:
[1. Sola Scripture: 1] [2. Sola Fide: 1] [3. Sola Gratia: 1] [4. Sola Christus: 1] [5. Sola Deo Gloria: 1]
Total: 5/5
After the leading Apostle (C. Peter Wagner) of the New Apostolic
Reformation died in 2016, Che Ahn became his successor. Che Ahn is now
the leading promoter of the aberrant practices, teachings and new
revelations of the NAR today.
It is important to remember that 2001 was the year Wagner believed
that ‘end-times’ governing Apostles and Prophets would lead the church
to usher in Christ’s return. Essentially whatever Che Ahn claims to be
new revelation or claims what God is saying and implementing through NAR
prophets, it is Ex Cathedra – infallible truth that cannot be
challenged. Just like the majority of other popular Apostles in the NAR,
he espouses the NAR kenotic Jesus, the NAR sonship spirit (Spirit of
Power), the NAR gospel of the kingdom (Gospel of Power), new Wine Skin
church (Apostolic Centers) and the ‘infallible’ 7 Mountain Mandate
(Lauren Cunningham, Bill Bright), The Dominion Mandate (Wagner, Johnson)
and the Billion Souls mandate (Bob Jones, Mike Bickle).
To be this hardened against Jesus Christ, the actual gospel and the
plain reading of scripture while celebrating 500 years of the
Reformation, places him first as the most dangerous man in
evangelicalism.
Never did we think Michael Brown could be considered a serious threat
in evangelicalism. We grew up with his ‘biblical’ teachings. With our
charismatic leanings we were excited that he, as a Messianic Jew, was
doing great work winning Jews to Jesus and being an academic voice of
reason on behalf of Christianity to a world growing more and more evil.
And then we saw him acting like an ‘apostle’, defending other NAR
‘apostles’ such as Brian Houston, Bill Johnson, Cindy Jacobs, Lance
Wallnau, Lou Engle, Mike Bickle, David Yonggi Cho and Benny Hinn. We
started going off the criteria of how an NAR apostle brings ‘order’ and
‘unity’ in the ‘church’. We watched other Apostolic leaders bestow
apostolic titles such as ‘spiritual father’, ‘revolutionary’, ‘pioneer’,
‘general’, etc. on Brown. Even more disturbing is how Brown justifies
his beliefs and practices by apealling not to the authority biblical
authority but to the Brownsville Revival he was apart of (clearly
refuted to be the antithesis of Christianity and the Holy Spirit by
Chris Rosebrough).
Since calling him out on his Apostleship and in his involvement with
the NAR (and although he denies these claims), his actions betray him.
To this day Brown is still defending NAR Apostles and capitalizing on
people’s ignorance while claiming he holds to Sola Scriptura.
Apostolically he continually attempts to bring ‘order’ and ‘unity’ at
the expense of the irrefutable evidence against those he defends and
against clear biblical instruction. He even deliberately muddies the
waters to justify the most wicked and abhorrent ministries, heretics and
practices today seen throughout evangelicalism. Time and again, he has
been caught defending the false NAR kenotic Jesus, the NAR sonship
spirit, the NAR gospel of the kingdom and the NAR eschatology of the New
Breed. He even endorses NAR Apostle Brian Simmons and the NAR Bible known as ‘The Passion Translation’ (TPT). He also holds to the NAR ecclesia of governing Apostles and Prophets but has his own spin on this theology.
Furthermore, he hides behind his title of ‘Dr’ (he has a B. A. in
Hebrew Language), while giving a pass to false teachers like Sid Roth
and Jonathan Cahn who twist the ancient biblical Hebraic language to
justify their latest nonsensical paradigms. For him to be considered a
doctor in anything with the people he endorses makes a mockery of
Christian academia. It’s not just the status he uses, it’s the
friendships. Brown will often use his ongoing friendship with Dr Jame
White to present the facade that he carries a Reformed or academic face
in Apologetics or Polemics.
Brown has become quite the skilled deceiver, yet has the audacity to
try to be a voice of Christianity, a voice of conscience for society and
a moralist in social settings. To call Michael Brown a ‘doctor’ or
biblically sound gives a black mark to academia, apologetics, polemics
and is an insult to the scriptural integrity of Christians all around
the globe. Evidence clearly demonstrates again and again that Michael
Brown gives nothing more than lip service to the Reformation and the
Solas, capitalizing on the good will of his gullible audiences.
What makes Brian Houston incredibly dangerous to the body of Christ, is his ability to get away with anything.
As an NAR Apostle, he has the ability to legally threaten anyone who
dares question or investigate him and his movement. He has demonstrated
he has the power to escape any legal accountability when it comes to him covering up the crimes of his father in his movement.
This is the same man who quite happily allows documentation of the sins
of Hillong youth groups in order to manipulate them (called Sin Files), but will condemn anyone who will record his countless deceptions and dangerous teachings.
Houston also claims his church is called apostolically and sees it as a “network committed to the apostolic anointing of leaders.” This means Brian is an NAR Apostle of an NAR Apostolic Center (Hillsong used to be called Christian Life Center).
If that is not enough, he has been proven to ‘preach’ any other gospel rather than the Christian gospel, promote Christian transgenderism and homosexuality, teaches that Christians and Muslims worship the same god, and teaches Christians should travel the ‘wide road’.
And the reason why people seem to turn a blind eye to Houston’s
behaviour and heretical beliefs is their ignorance of scripture and
their love for their ears being scratched by the pleasant-sounding music
his Hillsong ministry puts out.
Who cares if he gets people to drink spiritual cyanide, as long as
the worship music makes you feel God is ‘near’. Much of his theology shapes the music many people listen to,
with Hillsong having no regard for the Reformers, the doctrines of the
Reformation or to Christian beliefs or practices. They are happy to
change the scriptural methods of ‘doing church’ which has resulted in
their abandoning the gospel all together (although you may hear gospel
‘nuggets’ or songs occasionally). They also have no problem worshiping
with or praying for the Pope. Sadly, Hillsong is like McDonalds –
everyone knows it’s not good for you – but where else do you go for a
quick spiritual fix?
Bill Johnson literally advertises himself as following a Jesus who emptied himself
of His divinity and functions completely as a man empowered by the Holy
Spirit. (If Jesus did all His miracles as God, doesn’t that leaves Bill
as a spectator – not a participant?) Because he advertises himself and
his movement as miracle-workers like Jesus, this has made his church a
world-wide phenomena. (Everyone wants to be like a miracle-working revivalist like Bill Johnson!)
The ’emptied himself’ teaching is an heretical teaching known as
kenosis theory. What comes with this kenosis teaching is the sonship
spirit (aka Spirit of Power), that claims we are born again as ‘little
gods’, raised up to perform supernatural signs and wonders in order to
awaken an end-times revival (us being manifest as a corporate Christ on
earth), ushering Christ’s return. Bill Johnson is the offspring of the
New Order of the Latter Rain (established in 1948), his teachings being
the bad fruit of their extreme practices and beliefs. So when he claims
the Lakeland Revival, Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville Revivals
helped shape him and his ministry to what it is today, this demonstrates
he puts experiences and ‘supernatural’ events as the foundation of his
ministry, not the bible.
It is also not uncommon to hear Johnson claim his church is like
Israel camping around the ‘presence’ of God and not around the message.
Johnson appears to only use the bible to justify the latest revelations,
experiences and direction he thinks his movement should go.
His gospel is the NAR false ‘Gospel of the kingdom’ (aka Power
Gospel). That is, the gospel is about signs and wonders to convince
people God wants them healthy, wealthy and supernatural. Lastly, Johnson
is a deceiver, downplaying his role in the NAR and his Apostolic
office.
Mike Bickle makes it at number 5 mainly for the global recognition of
him as a cult leader. If he was not considered a threat or a cult
leader by churches or the general public, he would be higher on this
list. This is mainly because Bickle has been exposed multiple times for
false prophecy and unusual scandals.
He was known in the 1980s as being the leader of the Kansas City
Fellowship (otherwise known as the Kansas City Prophets) and recognised
leader of the Prophetic Movement within what Apostle Bill Hamon called
the ‘Prophetic Apostolic Movement’ (PAM). His entire prophetic movement
was exposed by Ernie Gruen, Bickle attempting to downplay his work by
spreading lies about him. Yet Bickle’s word games and lies have not gone
away. His denial of peddling controversial NAR doctrines such
dominionism and the ‘little gods’ should convince the masses that he
cannot be trusted since many people have records of him teaching such
things. (Bickle also teaches the false NAR Seven Mountain Mandate
commission.)
To try and improve the reputation of his ministry (IHOP), Bickle has
been inviting popular speakers like Francis Chan to give the impression
IHOP is concerned about social issues and the gospel. Do not be deceived
by Bickle and his movement. There are many published stories of people
being seriously damaged spiritually by IHOP.
Although an Apostolic giant in the NAR, Cho is often forgotten about.
Nevertheless, he has helped raise up Brian Houston, Phil Pringle, Rick
Warren and the research and leadership efforts of C. Peter Wagner. Many
of the greatest heretics today are part of his apostolic network (called
Church Growth International). Our research indicates that he was one
for the first heretics who popularized what is known today as the
‘Dream-Destiny-Thingy’. You can research this teaching in his two volume
work ‘The Fourth Dimension’.
When we analyse his works and the context of his upbringing, he is
peddling the pagan practices of Soga Gokkai (a religion Cho appears to
be influenced by). What makes his teachings very dangerous is that he
claims to hear the ‘spirit’ speak to him directly about the new
revelations of the ‘Fourth Dimension’. Yet he claims this same spirit
helped him build the biggest church in the world. Worse still, Cho was
is acknowledged for creating the Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville
revival. At Brownsville, he prophesied that the revival would not end
until Jesus returned. In other words, he operates from a lying spirit
and not a born again believer filled with the Spirit of Truth.
His teachings and prophetic delusions of grandeur have nothing to do
with the Solas of biblical Christianity. We know he can preach an
apparently biblical message but he uses it as ‘bait and switch’ to
promote his Fourth dimension teachings. His works were very influential
in the early 80s, impacting the biggest churches we see today. His books
are still widely read to this day.
In regards to character, his books reveal that the spirit that speaks
to him will encourage him to lie to get what he wants. Recently, Cho
has been convicted of mishandling church funds. Under his Apostolic
authority he removed his own elders who tried to hold him accountable
when they made this information public – causing much distress in his
church. In other words, Cho cannot be trusted at all as a leader and
teacher and should be marked and avoided.
Rick Warren is dangerous for his Purpose Driven Life emphasis and
causing a new sect within Christianity known as the PDL movement. With
his emphasis on God wanting people to have a purpose for their life, the
biblical gospel has been replaced with the ‘social gospel’ message.
This requires neither faith in Jesus nor an acknowledgement of the
gospel of salvation, (as Rick demonstrated when a caller rang in while
he was on Oprah, asking for God’s help).
Warren’s teachings on the church and his extreme teachings on
visionary leadership are based on the fascist teachings of Peter
Drucker, a dangerous mix that helped develop an authoritative arm in NAR
churches. Warren’s extreme leadership ideas have also raised concern
when he stated he wanted the same zeal of Hitler Youth to be in the
practice of Christian Youth.
Warren also believes in modern-day Apostles. The fact that Hillsong
invites him to speak at their conferences also reinforces the fact he is
considered an Apostle of the NAR. It appears he also has his own spin
on the Seven Mountain Mandate with his P.E.A.C.E plan and his own
version of the NAR gospel in ‘changing the world’ (Uganda being the
first Purpose Driven Nation). Overall, his books and purpose driven
teachings are polluting the gospel and turning churches into social
centers.
T.D Jakes is also known as Bishop Jakes. This title is often lost on
many people if they are not familiar with NAR jargon. In NAR circles, a
Bishop is an Apostle. However, his apostolic status is not enough to
mark him as dangerous, he publicly denies the Trinity and refuses to
recant or discuss his stance on this publicly. As a modalist, on this
rejection alone, he is not a Christian. Thus he is very dangerous
considering many Christian pastors, leaders and teachers invite him to
speak at their churches or conference.
A lot of Oneness Pentecostal cults promote Jakes’ books and
materials, and sadly his books are found in most Christian bookstores
and charismatic churches. His guest appearance on TBN and other TV
networks often have him scamming people financially with the false HAW and WOFheresies.
A lot of people have been ruined financially as well as spiritually by
his teachings. He also is responsible for making heretic Paula White.
HERETIC 09: JAN-AAGE TORPE
Jan-Aage Torpe is the Che Ahn of Europe, the NARpostle overseeing the
growth of the NAR through his ‘European Apostolic Leaders’ (aka
European League of Apostles). Similarly to Che Ahn, Torp believes he and
his apostolic coalition have received new revelations to govern the
end-times church, thus rejecting the bible and Jesus the God-man.
Brian Simmons is an Apostle of the NAR and claims God has helped him
write a new bible called ‘The Passion Translation’ (TPT). This NAR
bible is nothing more than a propaganda attempt to get people converted
to the NAR away from doing the true biblical missions, church and
evangelism. You couldn’t get anything more dangerous to lead people away
from the Christian faith.
At this point of time Simmons is still an unknown in the eyes of
many Christians with his Passion Translation. He would have made it
higher on this list if he started becoming a guest speaker in churches
to promote his work. Needless to say, his work barely reflects any
resemblance of the Christian faith and as Gervase Nicholas Charmley
observed, his work was nothing more than propaganda for spreading NAR teachings.
* One to keep an eye on in the future. HERETIC 11: JOEL OSTEEN
Ministry: Lakewood Church
Osteen tries to give the impression with his Lakewood creed that he
believes and teaches the bible. But when you actually review his
sermons, he rejects the bible, instead preaching WOF heresy and the HAW
gospel. While people assume he is a heretic only in the WOF and HAW
camps, they fail to realise his father was made popular not by preaching
the historic Christian faith but was raised to prominence through the
early NAR networks. Aspects of his ministry reflect NAR ideologies and
heresies such as the little gods heresy (see his work ‘I AM’) and his
view on eschatology reflected in his worship band name called ‘New
Breed’.
The most dangerous thing about Osteen is his ‘charm’ – in other
words, he can make you feel good and convince you just how really
special you are (does not like to convict his listeners of their sin).
Armed with these things and his ability to elevate his opinions above
the bible to appease culture, only goes to show that he exists to appeal
to masses to line his own pockets.
Paula White would not have made this list since her reputation as a
notorious huckster and financial scammer are clearly seen. However, now
that she is the US President’s ‘Spiritual Advisor’, she has had to
reinvent herself and her NAR Apostolic office, downplaying her extreme
NAR theologies (we are ‘little gods’) and denying Jesus as being the
only son of God.
This ‘new’ Paula White has helped further the NAR in politics and her
Christian facade is doing more damage than good in spreading what
Christianity actually is.
Although people still question if Furtick is either a Word of Faith or Health and Wealth heretic, he presents himself the way C. Peter Wagner would describe an New Apostolic Reformation(NAR) Apostle.
The fact he speaks at Hillsong Conferences, confirms his apostolic
prestige as well his desire to be seen with other high profile leaders, as a ‘super apostle’
(his words). What makes him incredibly dangerous is his apparent
Messianic complex. Thus he is known around the world for actually
running a Cult of Personality (COP).
Famous for his tantrums (Hey Haters!), authoritarian behaviour
(Elevation Vision Statement) and cult-like structures and props in his
church (kid’s colouring pages), he is probably best known for others
identifying his style of preaching with the term, Narcigesis (reading
yourself into any text of the bible and writing God out of it.) His
influence in evangelicalism with his innovative language, church ideas
and scripture readings (Egg Drop, Sun Stand Still, Audacious faith,
etc), has made him into a church ‘rock star’.
The most dangerous thing about Furtick is his appeal to young people
and reinforcing narcissistic tendencies in youth around the world.
Sadly, there is no cure for narcissism apart from Christ. Although
ironically he calls his critics ‘toddlers’, his own childish behaviour
is displayed when he does not get his own way. This was demonstrated
when Matt Chandler actually preached a biblical sermon on David and
Goliath at his Code Orange Conference a few years ago, concluding with
“the bible is not about you”. Furtick was clearly angry with the message
and initially prevented it from being uploaded. (He later claimed there
were technical difficulties.)
Nevertheless, his youthfulness, his fast rise to prominence and
innovative style have inspired many immature believers to walk down his
road of insecurity and self-obsessiveness to embrace their own
‘messianic’ ministries.
Peterson is the author of the Message Bible. His bad bible
translation has been regarded as ‘the most dreadful and dangerous
mainstream version of the Bible’. (That was until the TPT came along.)
His arrogance and flippant attitude in producing a complicated work
needs to be noted:
“I just kind of let go and became
playful. And that was when the Sermon on the Mount started. I remember I
was down in my basement study, and I did the Beatitudes in about 10
minutes. And all of a sudden I realised this could work.”
Eugene’s tampering of the text, adding and taking away important
information and embedding New Age language and ideas makes him
incredibly dangerous. To read more on the dangers of Eugene’s work, read
here.
Encouraging Christians to embrace New Age language and concepts gives a
clear indicator that the Christian faith and gospel message is a
foreign concept to this ‘guru’. Many major heretical movements and cults
in Christianity love to quote from his Message paraphrase.
If God the Father was a big black woman, Young is a creepy potato…
William Paul Young is famous for his book ‘The Shack’. While some
read it as a story, the ‘Trinity’ that speaks to him undermines a lot of
Christian truths. When his work first came out, many solid Christians
were pointing out that Young appeared to be subtly undermining the
essential teachings of the Christian faith and promoting Post-Modern and
New Age ideas to impressionable readers. Young ignored these criticisms
and gullible Christian audiences praised his story-telling and were
spreading his books to Christian friends, families and churches.
Just before the launch of his movie ‘The Shack’ in cinemas around the
world, Young promoted his latest book that brazenly attacked essential truths about God and the Christian faith.
His malicious attack on core Christian doctrines revealed that his
critics were right and that he had no regard for God or the bible at
all. To this day, many churches and leaders promote ‘The Shack’ without
fully realising how dangerous his subversive message is.
Nicky Gumbel is the man who created the ‘Alpha Course’, a basic
introduction to Christianity being promoted in 1000’s of churches across
the globe. The Alpha Course acts like a Trojan Horse, tailor-made to
change at a whim to suit any sect, cult or movement to win followers to a
different gospel. Thus it’s not about knowing Jesus, the gospel or the
bible – it’s about indoctrinating or brainwashing people into a certain
sect. The information is watered down to the extent that many of those
who complete the course are much more ecumenical in their beliefs and
too shallow to contend for the faith at all. You couldn’t have a more
dangerous course in your church (Hillsong, C3 and many others use it to
indoctrinate their members).
HERETIC 17: SARAH YOUNG
Sarah Young has been openly rebuked for her poor regard of scripture
in favour of personal encounters and conversations with Jesus in her
book ‘Jesus Calling’. In our modern New Age saturated culture, Young’s
work is incredibly popular among women. Due to her popularity, Young is
now targeting children with an illustrated version of ‘Jesus Calling’.
Pastor Bob DeWaay rightly describes her work as a toxic devotion,
stating the book “promotes mystical devotion to God and is based on
words from Jesus beyond Scripture” and that, “Young puts New Age,
panentheistic ideas into the mouth of Jesus Christ Himself.”
Like DeWaay, many pastors and apologists, polemicists and concerned
Christians have reached a similar conclusion that Young is promoting the
New Age religion through a New Age Jesus. Tim Challies claims that
Young speaks for God but ‘mimics occult practices‘ such as ‘automatic writing’ (Young calls this ‘listening prayer’).
This occult technique runs rampant in NAR circles, (we think originally
this came from NARpostle Mark Virkler). By penning this book and
presenting herself in a way where she speaks forGod,
she is portraying herself as a type of prophet for others to imitate.
In other words, Christians around the world need to realize in reading
her book, she is indeed penning unbiblical ‘revelations’ from God.
Challies further states that “Her book has been corrected’ where she
has revised ‘the words she claims to have received from Jesus.” Carm.org
provides an example
where Young has corrected the words of ‘God’ in her book, concluding
that ‘The Jesus of the Jesus calling seems to be nothing more than the
musings of a woman who “feels” her way through devotional material and
in the process makes numerous mistakes’. Her false Jesus, her disregard
of the bible and her promotion of her New Age influences against the
backdrop of the historic Christian faith leaves her books not even close
to resembling the core tenants or Solas of the Christian faith. Sadly,
her work is promoted around the world at women’s conferences, bible
studies and as a valid form of daily devotional.
HERETIC 18: BETH MOORE
Although Beth Moore presents herself as a bible teacher, she clearly
has an agenda to usurp the pulpit in the light of plain scripture about
women in leadership. She first came on to the scene speaking only to
women and then proceeded to speak at Christian conferences where she is
now considered by many as a legitimate preacher or pastor by many. Her
usurpation of the teaching office does not stop there.
Although she claims to be Baptist, she operates as a prophet of the New Apostolic Reformation,
claiming God speaks directly to her. While her critics highlight the
dangers of Beth Moore, she has no problem demonizing them or bullying
Christians to leave her alone. We regard her as one of the leading women
of the Mysti-Chicks Uprising.
Brian McLaren still appears to be the face of the Emergent/Liberal church movement.
McLaren has a liberal worldview impacted by a social Jesus providing
nothing more than semantics. His ideals override the biblical narrative
and his verbal gymnastics play fast and loose with the Word of God. This
man was incredibly dangerous – he, and those in the Emergent/Liberal
church movement (like Rob Bell, Doug Pagitt, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Peter
Rollins and Tony Jones), have demonstrated that their rejection of the
bible and the Jesus plainly presented in scripture has shipwrecked not
just their own faith but that of their entire movement.
However, their presence and teachings are still impacting churches
all around the world, winning the hearts of men with their lofty
sounding speeches and vain imaginings but leaving their souls without a
Saviour and the assurance of God’s absolute truth and unchanging love.
They are still making significant inroads in Anglican, Uniting and
Presbyterian churches around the world. McLaren is a lot like Wagner,
endorsing any liberal figure who agrees with his set theology. Many
Christians hurt by authoritarian churches (usually NAR), will find the
works of McLaren and co refreshing, mind-freeing, seemingly more honest
and down to earth in community and church settings.
That is until they start believing what the bible says above their
lofty ideas. The complete absence of God’s teachings on His laws, church
structure, protocol and teachings on the church being an institution,
leaves many Christians open for psychological and spiritual abuse. With
McLaren operating from a worldly post-modern worldview, his hypocrisy
remains obvious: he will happily deconstruct faith, the church and you –
but he won’t deconstruct his positions of authority and his postmodern
world-view.
HERETIC 20: JOYCE MEYER
Joyce Meyer was famous many years ago for teaching Christians that
Jesus ‘became possessed on the cross, was born again in hell’ and
‘raised so that we can be ‘little gods”. While people associate this
with the Prosperity gospel (she taught this), this is the New Apostolic
Reformation ‘Gospel of the Kingdom’. While she claims to reject a lot of
her old teachings, her theology says likewise. She still peddles Word of Faith and Health and Wealth heresy alongside her NAR sonship heresy.
The Sonship heresy is another form of the little gods heresy, (also
known as ‘kings kids theology’). The fact that Hillsong invite her to
speak at their conferences also reinforces the fact she is considered a
female Apostle in the NAR. To this day, she is still deceiving millions
of Christians around the world with her false teaching and new
revelations.
Keller
was close to getting on this list. It is likely it would be
controversial for him to be considered one of the top 20 considering he
comes across to many as Reformed. However, his liberal tendencies reveal
he acts more like a ‘termite’, eating away the foundations of the
Reformation. We have seen much of his liberal leanings, actions and his
teachings encourage people to question Sola Scriptura.
He
appears to have a strong idea of the gospel of grace, however
considering how popular he is among young Christians and ‘New
Calvinists’, his skeptical evaluations of scripture are dangerous and
are leading many young, reformed and restless youth away from the faith.
(We have personally seen this.)
Those were our top 20 for 2017/2018. Do
you agree with our assessment and the order in which they were rated?
Who do you think should have been on the list for Reformation Day? Keep
the conversation going. We encourage people to compile their own warning
list and explain who they think is doing the most damage to the
Reformation.
Email all comments and questions to c3churchwatch@hotmail.com
Leaders of the World Communion of Reformed
Churches sign copies of the declaration in the Saint Mary’s City Church
in Wittenberg, Germany, expressing support from Reformed churches for
the Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification. (Credit: Photo courtesy of WCRC/Anna Siggelkow.)
Pope Francis speaks at an inter-religious
conference on family values at the Vatican on Monday. Saddleback Pastor
Rick Warren, bottom right, sits in the audience.
Pope Francis with several evangelical leaders including James Robison, Tony Palmer, and Kenneth Copeland
