Eccumenical Monday - IHOP and Their Adoration of the Papist Church

Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what
partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or
what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14)

Sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone) is the foundational doctrinal principle of the Protestant Reformation. It is held by we Reformers, who know that Scripture is self-authenticating, clear to the rational reader, is its own interpreter, and sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian doctrine. However some denominations prefer Prima Scriptura which states that scripture is pretty good, but needs man's help through revelation and Tradition. Denominations that encourage this kind of thing are Anglican, Wesleyan Methodists, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers, Pentecostals, Charismatics and Roman Catholics

The International House of Prayer (IHOP) claims to be all about Prima Scriptura, but may be Secundum Scriptura (Scripture is Secondary), but probably Alia Scriptura (Another Scripture). Regardless of what they are, what they are not is evangelical Christian. At the very best what they are is a Christian flavored cult. With much more focus on mysticism and contemplative spirituality than on worshipping the Lord in prayer and interceding for others through prayer, and the expectation that healings, visions, dreams, prophecies, tongues, words of knowledge, signs, wonders, etc become commonplace, IHOP sets itself apart from biblical Christianity. Which is probably why IHOP simply adores the Roman Catholic Church. Consider this quote from the Franciscan University of Steubenville: 

“The International House of Prayer (IHOP) was founded in 1999 by Mike Bickle, who says that many IHOP teachings draw upon the works of St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, as well as contemporary Catholics including Father Henri Nouwen and Father Thomas Dubay, SM. The IHOP 24 hour prayer room, he says, was inspired by the spiritual practices of  Catholic European monks, such as St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 

‘I’ve always had a passion for Catholic-Christian unity, and enthusiastically welcome this years Catholic track,’ says Bickle. ‘We may have different religious traditions, but we focus on fellowship, and unity and Jesus being glorified in prayer, worship, and teaching.’”

Emergent Monday: IHOP - Feeding the Undiscerning

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in  sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
(Matthew 7:15)

Once upon a time, Joseph Smith said that God sent him a message, so he started the Mormon Church. Ellen G. White also claimed a message from God and she started the Seventh Day Adventists. Mary Eddy Baker believes she got a message from God and she started the Christian Scientist church. Sun Myung Moon said he got a message from God and he started the Unification church. Muhammed claims to have received a message from God and started Islam.

Then there's Mike Bickle. In the 1980's Mike was a preacher in a small church St. Louis when a man named "Augustine told him that he had heard an audible voice that told him to prophesy "by the spirit of truth" to Bickle's congregation. Bickle allowed him to do this and was impressed by the seeming accuracy with which he described the condition of his church. In September of that same year Mike claims that while visiting Cairo, Egypt a mysterious, audible voice told him:

I am inviting you to raise up a work that will touch the ends of the earth. I have invited many people to do this thing and many people have said yes, but very few have done my will. (Source, page 60)

In 1999 Mike Bickle started the International House Of Prayer known for it's 24/7 prayer ministry. It has since grown to establish international ties, its own seminary, and an undergraduate program along with tying itself to the New Apostolic Reformation. And when I say it's a 24/7 prayer ministry, I mean it's really, really, Really 24/7. Nonstop praying 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is true that there's no such thing as praying too much, so the idea of a ministry dedicated to non-stop prayer is a good one. But what worries Christians is the type of prayer they use. IHOP is dedicated to contemplative prayer. Here are a few quotes on contemplative prayer by Mike Bickle. 

Emergent Monday - The Occultic Roots of the NAR

This is the gravestone of William Branham, the man whose strange teachings fuel the strange fire of the New Apostolic Reformation. Every Easter, many of Branham’s followers visit his grave in Jeffersonville, IN expecting to see his resurrection. They believe that his rising from the grave will be the sign that Jesus’ Second Coming is at hand. Branham’s grave attracts hundreds of domestic and international visitors who believe, as Branham prophesied, that he was the messenger of the Last Days.

This occult Masonic pyramid gravestone is adorned with an eagle, Branham stated many times that the Bible compared God's prophets to eagles, however, he never provided one scriptural example of where this was the case. This grave marker Lists the seven churches of Revelation on one side, and a list of seven men whom Branham believed signifigantly impacted the church. They are Paul, Irenaeus, Martin, Columbia, Luther, Westley, and Branham himself. This stone is eerily similar to the Watchtower Memorial marking the grave of Charles Taze Russell, the founder of the Jehovah's witnesses. 

William Branham was a false prophet and major heretic who taught false doctrines and promoted occultism. Even with his outlandish teachings and proven false prophecies, there are many poor souls who still believe in him, promote his teachings, and are basing their ministries on his ranting.

Three Common Errors of False Teachers

Mike Gendron

Being a recovering Roman Catholic I have a great affinity to Mike Gendron. For 34 years Evangelist Mike Gendron was a devout Roman Catholic and a strong defender of the "one true church." In 1981, at an evangelistic seminar, Mike heard for the first time that salvation is not by works or sacraments but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. He also discovered the Bible must become his authority in all matters of faith. After graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1991, Mike began this ministry to reach the many Catholics who currently are where he was for most of his life - believing he was heaven-bound but, in reality, destined for a Christ-less eternity. Mike is recognized internationally as being gifted at lovingly explaining the false teaching of the Church of Rome and why their doctrines are wrong according to the Word of God. Thanks and a hat tip to Defending. Contending. for finding this important article by Mike Gendron. ( I will be back with my series on the NAR soon)

Three Common Errors of False Teachers

by Mike Gendron

Since we are now living in the age of religious tolerance and ecumenical unity, there are some people who will immediately call this article unloving and divisive. Others will ask, "What right do you have to judge another religion?" The answer is given in Scripture. All God-fearing people are called to make right judgments, judgments that have already been established by the objective principles of God's Word (John 7:24). There may be nothing more important than warning people who are being deceived about their eternal destiny. If we do not lovingly confront them with God's Gospel, they may never know how to escape the eternal fire of God's punishment. Clearly, the most unloving thing we can do is to ignore them and let them continue down the road to destruction. For this reason, I am always willing to offend people with the offense and exclusivity of the Gospel in the hopes that God may grant some of them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth (2 Tim. 2: 25). Let us look at three fatal errors of false prophets and how to handle them: 

WWUTT Wednesday: Correcting False Teachers? ...By Name?!

Those of you who follow my blog may have noticed a theme that appears from time to time - I tend to identify false teachers by name. I name them to the point of handing out trophies for their excellence in heresy. To be brutally honest, I actually don't give them a trophy, I give them a picture of a trophy: The Golden Goat. After all, it's only fair because they don't give their flock the real gospel, therefore I don't see a need to give them the real trophy. 

I am now so concerned about Greg Laurie of Harvest ministries and Lou Engle of the blasphemous New Apostolic Reformation and their plans to unite their denominations along with the Roman papists, and the Calvary Chapel that I opened a recent Random Bits with a long tirade about it. I'm concerned about it because my wife 'grew up' in Calvary Chapel and listens to Greg Laurie a lot, and being associated with the NAR is a danger sign. I was so concerned that I actually contacted a Calvary Chapel pastor and asked his opinion. The pastor said he didn't know anything about it and proceeded to give me advice from Matthew 18. But does Matthew 18 cover this situation? Check it out:

Is Dominionism What God Wants?

When warriors for the atheist faith sharpen their swords, their main targets are actually dominionists, not Christians. However being ignorant of the bible and Christians in general, atheists don't know the difference between dominionists and Christians. 

Atheist acolytes such as Mikey Weinstein and his cohorts are really up in arms about dominionists, claiming that dominionists want to take over the world. And the horrible thing is that they are right. Dominionists claim to be Christian, they claim to worship God, they claim to love Jesus, but in reality they fall short of all three claims.

So lets's play a quick round of Final Jeopardy. The Final Jeopardy answer is: This verse in the bible says that followers of Jesus are required to take over the earth. Please word your response in the form of a question (Jeopardy theme for 30 seconds) Times up. The correct Jeopardy question is: What is none?

That's right, no verse in the bible even remotely hints at Christians taking over the world. So who in their right mind would would even consider claiming to be a Christian and insisting that they are going to take over the world? The correct answer should be "no one"... but then there's the New Apostolic Reformation - the NAR. 

What Part Of "A Just God" Don't You Understand?

Do you know Dan Trabue? Dan has several blogs where he writes about literature and art and his church and critters and plants and Dan Trabue. Dan is interested in Arts, Culture, Children, Civil Rights, Humanitarian Relief, Education, Environment, Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Social Services. He's every involved at his home church whose core beliefs emphasize being peacemakers and being welcoming and affirming.

But for all that going for him Dan appears to be a sad, lonely man and needs our pity as well as our prayers. One of his ways of alleviating his loneliness is being an internet troll. He sincerely likes to troll Watchbloggers, harassing them with attacks, abusive language, and his own creative twists on scripture. This is very odd behavior for someone who is active in a church whose core beliefs emphasize being peacemakers and being welcoming and affirming. Several Christian bloggers have had run-ins with Dan, in fact Alec Satin at While it’s yet day has collected a few 'Dan Stories' to share. I too have had a Dan-attack very recently.

Emergent Monday - Getting Your Ears Tickled by Steven Furtick

Exegesis: the Bible says anything I want it to

I'm not totally sure why, but Steven Furtick keeps popping up in my life, and I've found that when someone or something starts popping up, the Holy Spirit us sending me hints that He wants me to pay attention. Since He gifted me with the ability to observe and write about my observations, that's what I do.

This is now what I call part 3 of the Furtick Cult Trilogy. You don't have to read the other parts, but if you want to read part 1 and/or part 2 go ahead and catch up. We'll wait... 

Welcome back. Recently I've had a small cadre of Furtick Followers remind me that the important part of Steven Furtick is his message. One Furtick Follower informed me that they had studied the bible for a quarter of a century and Steven's message is dead on and the best message they've ever heard. Forget the part about his anger and his badmouthing Christians and his putting down doctrine and his insulting Christians that want to learn the word of God, it's the message that I should be concentrating on.

To be honest I have listened to his message, and first I need to point out that Steven Furtick does not do sermons, he does homilies and calls them sermons. A homily is a religious discourse that is intended primarily for spiritual edification rather than doctrinal instruction. In other words, a homily is a monolog that is religious in nature designed to make you feel something, where as a sermon is a discussion on what God actually said and how to apply it. If you listen to Furtick's messages you will come out feeling something, but you will come out knowing less about the word of God than when you went in.

Steven's homilies are passionate and moving and light and fluffy. Sometimes he gets riled up when he wants to make a point, and often that point is way off the mark which makes me wonder if the whole getting riled up thing is to distract the audience, because to the undiscerning he sounds good. One fine example is his homily "The Great Emoti Con" - according to his website this is one of his most popular messages.

False Teacher Of the Year 2015

As the snow falls and the days grow shorter, it's time to recognize those special false teachers that help make the days grow darker spiritually. This year's award is coming out much later than usual, but that's because there's been so much competition for the prestigious Golden Goat award. Our first winner was back in 2013 was John Shore, leader of the Not All There Like That "Christians" who worship Rob Bell and Dan Savage over the God of Israel. Last years winner was Steven McSwain is a self-professed "Christian Atheist", a title that he oddly bears with pride. These two fellows have worked tirelessly to justify their unbelief in such a manner that the undiscerning thinks that they're being fed the Word of God, but instead are being lead through the wide gate to destruction. And that's what being a Golden Goat recipient is all about.

If the nominating committee were to hand out the prized Golden Goat award based solely on atheism in the pulpit we probably couldn't stamp out the gold foil embossed false idols fast enough to keep up with demand. For example Gretta Vosper would be presented with one every time she addresses the congregation in Canada's own West Hill United Church of Self. Or closer to home John Schuck, a man who earns the title of Psalm 14 Fool, instructs the lost to make up their own bible. He would have to add a whole new wing to the Southminster Presbyterian Goat Pen to store his Golden Goats if mere atheism were the sole qualifier.

Emergent Monday: One God, Many Paths - to Hell

Mark Sandlin is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and co-founder of the Christian Left.  His work has been published on "The Huffington Post," "Time," and even the "Richard Dawkins Foundation" and is married to a "Baptist Minister" which pretty much sums up his credentials. 

Poor Mr. Sandlin, he firmly believes that his made up mantra of "One God, many paths" is actually true, and when called on his fallacy he misuses John 10:16 then ends the conversation by "victoriously rotate on my heel and walk away"

Mr. Sandlin believes that John 14:6 is meant for Thomas and Christians alone, no one else. And because Mr. Sandlin's version of Jesus doesn't agree with what the word of God says, Mr. Sandlin admits to throwing out a rejoinder in quoting part of a bible verse with “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.” Using this as a retort fails miserably for someone who actually knows ALL of John 10:16 -

I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

Emergent Monday: The Porpoise Driven Life

For all our smarts, people aren't very bright. Look at the popularity of shows like Ancient Aliens - these people are making a fortune off of the gullibility of their audience. These shows are based on little more than exaggerations, baseless speculation, and outright lies. You would think that an educated society would know better than to fall for the nonsense of the alien addicts. 

You would also think that a Christian society would know better than to fall for scam artists and false teachers (Romans 16:17). We're told to research the scriptures to make sure our teachers are being honest with us (Acts 17:10-11), we're warned to keep watch for those who would take advantage of our good hearts and naiveté (Matthew 7:15-23), and we're told to test everything to insure what we are being told is from God (1 John 4:1).

So why do our brothers and sisters fall for fads and scams and false teachers? Harold Camping, Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Rob Bell, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and so many more. They've even made up their own heretical version of the bible and the goats are using it in Christ's church! They're all ravenous wolves and people are practically jumping down their throats to be consumed.

Another Historical Fail of Biblical Proportions for the History Channel.

The guy with the hair to the left is Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Tsoukalos is a 1998 graduate of Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York (which is part of the Burned Over District - go figure) and is one of the "experts" on the History Channel and H2's show Ancient Aliens. When the guy with the hair comes on TV the UFO fans go crazy. The biblically and historically challenged members of society abandon rational thought and move one step further away from God.

As a bible believing, bible studying Christian and avowed history nut I find this show abominable. As I've said before, the little green men that so many see are not from space, they're from Satan.

Ancient Aliens and Giorgio's hair has been invading American homes since 2009 and the premise of the show is simple - aliens have been visiting the earth for thousands of years making interesting things and leaving without any scientific evidence to back up the theories expounded on the show. Ancient Aliens is based on the pseudoscientific writings of Eric von Daniken and in the long run it is more pseudo than scientific. The most amazing thing by far with this show is the amount of stuff they get wrong. Mindbendingly, gutwrenchingly wrong. As Brian Switek, science writer for the Smithsonian Institution, says:

Emergent Monday: What Harmony Has Christ With Belial?

Would you hire an illiterate to tutor your children in literature? Would you trust a blind man to pilot an airliner? Would you let a child molester teach kindergarten? 

So why on earth would you trust an atheist with your salvation?

The United Church of Canada did just that. They knowingly subjected their congregants to the whims and vagaries of an atheist they allowed in the pulpit. Gretta Vosper was ordained as a UCC minister in 1993 and in 1997 she became the minister of West Hill United Church in Toronto, in 2001 she "came out of the closet" and announced she was an atheist all along. in 2004 she formed the Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity. Under her leadership the West Hill United Church as sank from a Christian congregation to a faithless goatpen, their statement of faith turned into meaningless political drivel called "Visionworks", their love for God and their faith in Jesus replaced with worshiping the earth, how you live is more important than God Himself. By their actions they show they are worshiping the god of this world. And it gets worse.

This dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, is the emergent church in all it's glory - regressive progressivism driving a wedge between Jesus and his Bride, led by a selfish woman, worshiping the creation rather than the creator. Yes, I know 1 Corinthians 5:12 tells us that we're not to judge unbelievers, and I'm not. I'm simply reporting on this fool, but the same verse requires us to judge the United Church of Canada and the elders of the West Hill Church, if I do judge anyone it would be them

Unsocial Media

Social Media (which includes this blog) can be anything but social, cyber bullying abounds and being a method of communication Satan has sank his foul claws claws into it perverting it into a festival of hate, manifesting in accusations, groundless gutless bravado, and cowardly imputation. 

Social media reflects the inner-connected society at a whole and follows the internet into the depths of depravity. While the percentage of pornography isn't as high as claimed by many of us Christians, but it's still there. I've heard some Christians claim that a full 50% of the internet is pornography yet Forbes magazine puts it closer to 4% (why do we Christians fall for these outrageous claims? WE are supposed to be the discerning ones). 

To be honest, there are some gems out there on social media, there are many good Christian facebook sites to be seen, some of my favorites are Good Fight Ministries,  Eternity Matters and Stop Playing Church. Sadly the Sola Sisters stopped updating their site.

Coming in behind the cyber bullying and the pornography one of the biggest abuses of social media I see is outright fraudulent information being passed as fact. It appears that one of the best ways to to be believed is to attribute anything that pops into your head to George Carlin (who never, ever said this) or Ben Franklin (who never said this, but he did say this)  However social media saves some of it's worst lies and misquotes for the realm of theology. The ones I see the most are from the prosperity pimps who post pictures of cash with the comment "Money will locate you this month. If you believe type Amen and Share" one of the worst charlitains to pollute the web with this heresy is Pastor E A Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God who appears to worship money as his god. I say all that so I can point out this:

Strangeness on the 7th Day

Not long ago I wrote a post on the easiest way to identify a cult (Hint: they make up their own bible) Glenn Chatfield pointed out that I missed one, the Seventh Day Adventists. Ooops.

The Seventh Day Adventists trace their roots back to the Burned Over District of Western (not upstate!!!) New York. The burned-over district refers to Western New York in the early 19th century where religious revivals and the formation of new religions took place.

The term was coined by Charles Finney (yes, THAT Charles Finney), who referred to a "burnt district" to indicate central and western New York State during the Second Great Awakening. He said that the area had been so heavily evangelized as to have no "fuel" (unconverted population) left over to "burn" (convert). A lot of strangeness came out of this area. Keep in mind that in the early 19th century, Western New York was the "wild west", think backwoods Kentucky with a Chicago accent. Folks were hard working and self taught and clergy were rare. Evangelists  that ventured into the hinterlands of WNY achieved many converts to Protestant denominations, such as Congregationalists, Baptists, and Methodists. However due to the lack of clergy the people of the remote regions were easy prey for religious charlatans, heretics, and spiritual con-men. Ever hear of Palmyra NY? That's where God and Jesus appeared together on earth and told Joseph Smith some awesome stories... at least that's what Joseph Smith and his followers claim.

Yes, Western New York is the birth place of Mormonism, it's also the birth place of all kinds of strange, including the downfall of the Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ, and the Episcopal Church thanks to the "Social Gospel" that came out of the Burned Over District in the early 20th century. However in the early 19th century, besides the Mormons and their Golden Tumbaga Plates, we were given the Shakers, the Oneida Community (where Joseph Smith probably got his inspiration for plural marriage while Hitler and Margaret Sanger probably got their inspiration for Übermenschen), and we were also "blessed" with the Millerites.

Our Book's Better Than Your Book

Actually the title for this should be "God's Word Isn't Good Enough For My Cult", but the old jingle for Ken-L-Ration was stuck in my head so I went with this. (And for all you folks that followed the link and are now songstuck - tuff. Welcome to my world.)

As more and more congregations fall into apostasy (such as the Presbyterian Church USA and the Episcopal church) there's going to be a lot of church shopping going on as Christians turn their back on man worshiping apostate churches and look instead for Christ centered true to the Word of God churches. I have a sad feeling that the Christ centered true to the Word of God churches will soon be in the minority while cults and apostate groups grow and abound. I pray that this won't happen, but current events and biblical prophesy say otherwise. So I want to send a bit of advice to disaffected servants of Christ as they walk through the darkness looking for a congregation to call their home church:

Stay away from any group that has made their own bible

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Nowhere in the bible does it say "This is just a suggestion..." the bible is the word of God, man was inspired by the Holy Spirit and captured on paper. vellum, parchment, papyrus, what ever. Cults and apostate congregations claim that the Bible isn't the Word of God, it just contains the word of God. To which I say - Jesus believed that the scriptures are the word of God, and he said so numerous times; Matthew 15:6, Mark 7:13, John 10:35. In the Scriptures "Thus says the Lord" occurs over 400 times in the Old Testament, "God said" occurs 42 times in the Old Testament and four times in the New Testament, and "God spoke" occurs 9 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New Testament. If you're going to argue with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit do so at your own risk. 

There are many cults and groups that have no problem disagreeing with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and take it upon themselves to change, modify and re-write the Word of God to suit their own desires. These are the groups you may wish to avoid 

Why I Post About False Teachers So Much

This is why I post about false teachers so much:

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

²² Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:22-23)

 And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6) 

Red Letter Christians - Denial In The New Age

So a Red Letter Christian walks into a newspaper that he doesn't have the courage to name and suddenly has a desire to explain to their account rep who and what they are. The following conversation ensues:

"We’re the opposite of  The Christian Right,”

“Oh so it’s just the Gospel,” he said, “none of this Leviticus and Revelation stuff.” 

"Pretty much," we said. "We like the red words. Haha!”

Yes, the Red Letter Christians love the words in the bible that are printed in red, the rest of the bible not so much. If you pay attention to a Red Letter Christian you'll get the idea that the rest of the bible needs to be ignored. When confronted with Timothy 3:16-17 the response of the Red Letter Christian is: 

That's all great and everything. Paul said that. Jesus said, "The sum of the law and all the prophets is to love God and love your neighbor as you do yourself." Not only that, he said it several times.

and my favorite, rejecting historical fact and getting their theology from Wikipedia:

2 Timothy is one of the pseudepigraphical epistles. Paul didn't actually write that one; one could call it a forgery

The Red Letter Christians are saying 'we ignore Timothy because we think it's a forgery, Wikipedia says so. We will ignore the fact that Clement, the Bishop of Rome (100 A.D.), Ignatius, the Bishop of Antioch (67-110 A.D.), and Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna (69-156 A.D.) were contemporary with the apostles or contemporary with Timothy and were familiar with the letters. They accepted 1 and 2 Timothy as genuine letters from the apostle Paul. As further evidence that their authorship was never in doubt, the Pastoral Epistles were found in the early Latin and Syriac versions of the New Testament. We trust Wikipedia over people who were there and know better and we certainly trust Wikipedia over the Holy Spirit.'

So why am I writing this post about the Red Letter Christians? As any Christian blogger will tell you, sometimes you just have to write something on a particular subject. While not wanting to wax Pentecostal, I believe that the Holy Spirit occasionally wants a subject to be broadcast and I've noticed that when I feel His push to write about a subject I often see that several other Bloggers will write about the same subject too. I had never heard about Red Letter Christians until this weekend but after seeing a post at Eternity Matters (an awesome blog) I started feeling that push. Then yesterday I found out why the Holy Spirit wanted a broadcast message sent out. More on that later. What I found out about Red Letter Christians made me weep for Christianity.

Emergent Monday - Spurgeon is Broccoli, Osteen is Cheetos.

It's Too Easy Bein' Cheesey 

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

Paul could not have said "...I gave you Cheetos to munch on, not broccoli..." even thought he's talking kid food vs real food, Paul was talking to people that could handle the basic elements of the Gospel, but they weren't strong enough to take the deeper mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ such as those spelled out in Ephesians 3. The followers of the prosperity gospel don't even measure up to this category. If solid food is the deeper mysteries of the gospel and milk is the basic elements of sin and salvation, then anything less is empty calories.

Sadly the largest "church" in America can't even handle milk, they get snack food. They're fed morsels of crunchy goodness that feel filling but are made of empty calories and have almost no nutritional value at all. They're getting fed Cheetos and being told it's steak. They're most definitely not alone, but in this example I'm talking about the 43,500 starving souls of Lakewood Church and their goatherd Joel Osteen plus the millions that follow on TV, radio, and internet. Joel likes God a lot, as well he should, because mentioning God on occasion insures Joel a steady influx of cash. But Jesus? Not so much. 

Here's what I mean by Cheetos. Look for quotes on sin by Joel Osteen, the vast majority of what you'll find go along the lines of "There's worse sins than homosexuality, like pride." but beyond that all you get is Cheetos:

Emergent Monday: THIS is What It Means To Be Unevenly Yoked

14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17)

If you want to know exactly what Paul was writing about in 2 Corinthians 6:14, look no further than John Shuck. John Shuck says 

"Jesus may have been an historical figure, but most of what we know about Him is in the form of legend... God is a symbol of myth-making and not credible as a supernatural being or force... the Bible is a human product as opposed to special revelation from a divine being... human consciousness is the result of natural selection, so there's no afterlife."

You might say that John Shuck is another sad, lost atheist working to undermine the faith and love that the saints have for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and you'd be right. So you might be surprised to find that John's work address is Southminster Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, OR. And yes this is the Presbyterian Church USA, so it should not come as a horrible surprise to you that John Shuck is employed as a "Minister" there. If you want to be shocked, be shocked at the fact that he 'outted' himself as an atheist over 2 years ago and is still employed, and there are people that show up for his sermons and honestly believe in what he is saying.

And believe it or not, this man who calls the son of the Living God a mere "historical figure", who calls Christs' promise of everlasting life a lie, who insists the Bible is fiction and God is a symbol forged in myths, gets upset if someone points out the obvious truth that he's not a Christian. He calls his brand of ear tickling "Belief-less Christianity" And his church is filled with goats willing to be fed any doctrinal flavored swill that John Shuck can throw at them.