False Teacher Of The Year 2019

It's that time of the year when we look back on the months that have passed and reflect on what happened in our world. We make lists of what happened in the past year, including list after list of the celebrities who had died during the year. As for me, I've had better years - my spinal issues have caused severe pain in my hips, my pulmonary hypertension pressures in my heart have gone up, and after 20 years of working in the cable industry I was let go. But it hasn't been all bad, God allowed me to be born in the greatest nation on earth where doctors are able to diagnose and treat my myriad of medical issues, where that evil Big Pharma can provide me with treatment, and after 20 years of slaving away in the cable industry I was given my freedom. But, as hard as you may argue the opposite, it's not all about me. We are here to stand in shock as false teachers gnaw away at the visible church, the body of Christ here on earth, and to recognize the efforts of the lead gnawers. (I think that's a word)

False teachers are everywhere you look, through their messages of disunity and mammon worship it's clear that Satan is on the march. From Sheep Poaching church planters to howling Poverty Pimps, Christianity is under attack from within. These  malignant parasites are clearly spiritual cancer tumors feeding off the body of Christ in an effort to destroy the Church founded on the cornerstone of Christ and built by Jesus Christ Himself. 

I wish I could list the top 10 churches for 2019, but a good church doesn't make headlines. In the near future when we Christians fall under blanket persecution by the government and self serving Satan run atheistic special interest groups, good churchs will make headlines, but until then all we hear from the good churches is the Word of God, and that's all right by me. On the other side of the spectrum, the agents of Satan have been having a banner year. From private jets to $600 t-shirts the false teachers are wallowing in this world. And it's not just A private jet, Jesse Duplantis already has three jets, he wants a fourth, a $54,000,000 Dassault Falcon 7X.

Paula White - Satanic Mistress

"Pastor" Paula White
showing off new clerical robes?

17 Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. 18 For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Romans 16:17-18)

Let me say this out at the beginning of the article so you are not shocked by the conclusions I raise: in my personal opinion I believe that Paula White is one of the most dangerous agent provocateurs that Satan has inserted into Jesus' church here on earth. 

For those not familiar with that term, be careful when looking up agent provocateur, there is a scanty woman's lingerie line by the same name. We should always be good Bereans and look up everything we are not already familiar with but sometimes there are traps. According to dictionary.com an agent provocateur is "a secret agent hired to incite suspected persons to some illegal action, outbreak, etc., that will make them liable to punishment"

Twice amicably divorced "Pastor" Paula White is now on husband #3, rock keyboardist for the glam band Journey Jonathan Cain who asked "Pastor" Paula to marry him on the same day his third divorce was finalized. If you question why I put the word Pastor in quotations when in conjunction with this woman it is because she doesn't fit the biblical requirements of being a pastor.

6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain (Titus 1:6-7)

2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. (1 Timothy 3:2-3)

Both of these verses describe the qualifications of the overseer of a congregation, the Pastor. Both of these verses require the overseer to be the husband of one wife. I have heard of more than one godly man who stepped down from the pulpit when his wife died because he no longer fulfilled these qualifications of a pastor. Does "Pastor" White fulfill the biblical qualification of a pastor? If you look carefully at the attached photo, she doesn't look much like a husband, and being the mother of one son, I think am safe in assuming that she truly is a woman, but these days you never know...

Just When You Thought It Was Safe To Go To Bible Study

I have no idea why I get the junk email that comes pouring into my inbox... no check that, I know EXACTLY why I get the junk email that comes pouring into my inbox and I wish it would stop. There's an underground economy out there based on trading and selling you. Your data (phone number, address, email address) is worth money to people and there's a lively trade going on. I found that one used car dealerships put me on a ton of junk lists, I wonder how much money they got for selling my data.

Ok let's restart: Dear Lord in heaven, what did I do to get put on a Life Way mailing list? 

This latest piece of ejunk particularly rankled me, it's an advertisement for a bible study for the book of Ephesians named "Defined" but it starts out splashing the movie Overcomer across the top of the page. Since the Overcomer is mentioned in the ad picture this in your mind using any movie trailer Voice Of Doom guy's voice:

From the people that brought you The War Room - In a world gone mad, where sins becomes virtue and false teaching becomes fast cash comes a new kind of superhero - The Overcomer

I have no idea why the movie the Overcomer is tied to this bible study other than the name Priscilla Shirer is featured in both. I don't go out of my way to see a lot of movies, and when I do go I've researched the movie before I plunk down $14 for lemonade and a small popcorn. Which is why I've seen very few "Christian" movies. An inordinate amount of "Christian" movies are only "Christian" in the loosest terms of the word, and many are barely "movies" at all. One of my tests is to look for the names Kevin Sorbo and Priscilla Shirer in the credits. I have very few qualms with Kevin Sorbo so I'll see his movies. Priscilla (and her dad) are a different story, and a reason for me to not see this film.

But the question remains - why is the Overcomer tied to 'Defined' which is a study of the book of Ephesians? At the bottom of the ad is the clue:

OVERCOMER is in theaters August 23. Buy tickets here. To see books, Bible studies, and other items based on the movie, visit LifeWay.com/Overcomer. 

The Battle Against Heterodoxy

heterodoxy
/ˈhed(ə)rəˌdäksē/
noun
deviation from accepted or orthodox standards or beliefs.
"his work was marked by elements of theological heterodoxy"

The definition of heterodoxy is pretty straight up, and we as Christians need to try to avoid heterodoxy at all costs. Heterodoxy is the work of Satan, it's one of his greatest weapons in his battle against God. Satan knows that he cannot win against God so he will try to take as many of us with him as he can.

This creature to the left here is Haresis Dias. She's a 16th Century, satirical depiction of a goddess heresy or heterodoxy, and she contradicts the teachings of Christian Church. This is a pretty good illustration of heterodoxy, she looks kind of nice from a distance but when you look closer you start to see the evil creatures that wrap themselves around her, and I think that's a body of a demon she's clutching, she's got the ears of a donkey, her neck is made of brick, and she has cloven hooves. To battle Heterodoxy, the false teaching itself, our best weapon is Apologetics 

apologetics
/əˌpäləˈjediks/
 noun
reasoned arguments or writings in justification of something, typically a theory or religious doctrine.

Apologetics is useful against the false teaching itself, when we see a friend getting swallowed up in false teaching we intervene with the truth from the Gospel and use quotes from the great masters. Masters such as Charles Spurgeon:

Who, think you, are the most honest men - those who tell you plainly what the scriptures say concerning this wrath of God, or those who smooth in over or deny it all together?

How Deep Do You Plant A Church?

“When the Greeks got the gospel, they turned it into a philosophy;

when the Romans got it, they turned it into a government;

when the Europeans got it, they turned it into a culture;

and when the Americans got it, they turned it into a business.”

―Biblical Scholar, Dr. Richard Halverson

There's many reasons to plant a new church here in North America. The number one reason I hear is that the need to plant churches is from Jesus' essential call to plant churches. First of all, there is no essential call from Jesus to plant churches, secondly there's only one church - the church that Jesus built, the one we call the Body of Christ

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:18)

Jesus didn't plant a church in a suburban neighborhood alongside four other churches, and he didn't insist that the lead guitarist become the worship leader for each congregation, He said (and put my first point in motion):

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)

To start let's look at four very important words here and then we'll circle back to planting churches. Those words are Church, Hades, Disciples, and Nations. Church is not a building where the worship band has their light show and kicks off their concert series, it is not a series of buildings that funnel money to the denomination head office. The word that Jesus spoke we translated to 'church' is ekklēsia (ἐκκλησία) and that means "a group of people". Jesus could very easily have said "I will build my team" and maybe that's what He really did say. Let's go with that: Church = Team because Jesus sure didn't mean "Let's put up something with decent acoustics in the auditorium and plenty of office space."

What if Mormon missionaries told the truth about their religion?

What if Mormon missionaries told the truth about their religion?
by Matt Slick

If Mormon missionaries came to your door and told the absolute truth about their religion, how many people would really believe that? What if the Mormon missionaries had a dialogue that went something like this...

Knock Knock.

The door opens.

"Hello, we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And we want to tell you about the restored gospel. You see, after the apostles died, the church fell into apostasy. But God in his loving mercy restored the true gospel to Joseph Smith in the early 1800s. We bear our testimony to you that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true, restored church. All other churches are false.  Furthermore, we testify to you that, through heavenly Father's restored church, you have the ability, with the restored priesthood, by keeping commandments, and tithing, to reach godhood.  We want you to know Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that God was once a man on another world and by keeping the laws and ordinances of His God, he was able to reach the status of God himself. He, and his wife, now live in the heavenly realm and we are all their literal offspring born in the pre-existence before we came to this world. Our goal is to honor God by keeping his commandments, by going to the temple and receiving the tokens, and baptizing people for the dead, so that on the day of judgment we might become gods ourselves."

The man of the house stares back at the two young missionaries.  "Become gods?"

"Yes, you can become a God if you join our church, pay a full 10% tithe of your income to the church, and keep celestial law.  You can then call your wife forth and she will assist you as a goddess in populating your own planet."

The man's eyebrows can't rise any further, though he seemed to try.  "Goddess wife?"

"Yes sir, as you would be a God, she would be your wife and you and your family could stay together forever in heaven."

The man stares at the young men...for a while....not sure how to respond to all of that.

"Would you like a Book of Mormon?"

"What is this Book of Mormon?"

"The Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ.  It was revealed to Joseph Smith who restored the true church when he was given golden plates by the Angel Moroni. Joseph translated the golden plates by the authority of God when he put a seer stone in a hat, he put his face in the hat, and then God gave him the translation of the reformed hieroglyphics that were on those gold plates."

After a few more seconds of staring, the man lowers his eyebrows and asks, "Hieroglyphics?  You mean Egyptian hieroglyphics?

Christian Witches: Blasphemy on Resurrection Sunday

Blasphemy on Resurrection Sunday 

Just when you think Satan's plan is all about sex, one of his oldest schemes of damnation crawls out from under a rock:

“The Bible is a huge book of sorcery. You literally can’t get around that. You can’t get around Jesus being a magician. There’s just no way,” - Calvin Witcher, self proclaimed prophet

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

Jesus was an sorcerer who 'performed alchemy' and the bible is really a 'book of magic' and that being a "Christian" Witch, or Wizard, or Mage is just ducky. There's actually people running around believing this, and (of course) there's someone out there to make money off their ignorance. So from April 15 to April 21 (Resurrection Sunday) in Salem Massachusetts (could they be more cliche?) attendees of the First Annual Christian Witches Convention will prance around in pointy hats, and gothic robes attending workshops (Tune Up Your Broom For Maximum Altitude? Boiling Children In Cauldrons Dos and Donts? Hummingbird Tongue - The Next Eye Of Newt?) all the while worshiping Satan and denying it through their teeth.

The advertisement for this upcoming detestable-fest breathlessly invites the spiritually confused to the "Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School" from Monday through Friday, April 15-19 promising  "Bible Magick, Ritual, Spell Work and MORE for the Practicing Christian Witch" All of this taught by "Mystery School Head Mistress Rev. Valerie Love" and guest visiting professor "Prophet" Calvin Witcher.

Monday through Thursday the "Mystery School" will cover Demonology, "Magick, Magick & More Magick!" which is a dive into "Hoodoo, Bible Magick, Chaos Magick, an Introduction to Enochian Vision Magick and the Grimoires in the Solomonic Tradition" AND "An Intense Introduction to the POWER OF BIBLE MAGICK featuring the secret teachings of Gideon" And on Friday "Prophet" Calvin Witcher Medium & Spiritual Healer (oh naturally) will teach a class on... something. They haven't announced it yet. In fact they haven't announced the venue yet, but they will get one, the good people of Salem MA haven't seen a witch whose purse they couldn't empty.

And how much is this sinful extravaganza? It's a mere $1,100 - or the cost of books and lab fees for an entire quarter at a self respecting college. If that's a bit much then there's the American Horror Story Apocalypse Themed Witches Ball on Saturday Night for only $99 (get your best Witchy gear on!) and if that's still too pricey for you there's the Resurrection Sunday Gospel Brunch "celebrating Resurrection Sunday Christian Witch style" for only $55

Ten Commandment Tuesday - How To Delete A Commandment You Don't Like

I Bring You These Fifteen... oops... Ten Commandments...

Are there 10 commandments? Mel Brooks told us that there were really 15 commandments but there was this issue coming down off Mt. Sinai. An atheist who didn't know anything about the bible he was arguing against said that there were over 600 commandments. I've been told that the 10 commandments are God's instructions to the Jews, so as gentiles they don't apply to us.

Are the 10 commandments the be-all, end-all of how God wants us to obey or are they merely guidelines?

The 10 Commandments seem to be a difficult to achieve moral imperative, but our salvation is no longer depending on the law, our salvation is in Christ. It is by our faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved, and that's only through God's grace. Does that mean that we can pitch the 10 Commandments off to the side and do what we want? Let me quote what Dennis Prager said at the beginning of this series:

[The 10 Commandments are] so relevant that the Ten Commandments are all that is necessary to make a good world, a world free of tyranny and cruelty... In 3,000 years no one has ever come up with a better system than the God-based Ten Commandments for making a better world. And no one ever will

And that's all we need to know, the 10 commandments are both marching order for the Jews, and guidelines for behavior as Christians. Having faith in Christ does not make murder or theft permissible because Jesus did not replace the 10 Commandments, what He did was make it proper application to the heart (Romans 8:1-4). Gotquestions.org tells us:

In place of the Old Testament law, Christians are under the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2), which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…and to love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). If we obey those two commands, we will be fulfilling all that Christ requires of us: “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40)

So it's good to review the 10 commandments, 1-4 tells us how to love God and 5-10 tells us how to love each other... unless you're a Roman Catholic. Given the option to remove a commandment a good Protestant would remove #4 - remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy and I've already covered that commandment from the Protestant point of view. But no matter if you're a sabbatarian or someone that demands repeal of Commandment #4, one day off a week to rest, recuperate, and recharge is a good idea, and God is the creator of good ideas.

False Teacher of the Year 2018

I held back this year until one person or denomination broke out of the pack of false teachers and came to the forefront of falsehood.  Sadly, the church that Jesus built is now devolving into a worship of cash and self and that particular teaching is getting very popular. While pretending to worship God, they're actually worshiping Lakshmi. Where once Christianity was the home of the teaching of the solid gospel of Jesus crucified and resurrected, it now is sliding into a mishmash of feelings and emotions.

God wants you to be; happy, rich, healthy, wealthy, prosperous, successful...

And that's the problem. The very best false teachers go right to the emotions. They know how to manipulate people’s feelings. They tell you warm stories that tug on your heart. They get you laughing and cheering and clapping and then they get you weeping on cue. They inject themselves into the bible, they ridicule those who stand firm for biblical truth and portray them as mean, angry, and unloving. They bring the world into their message and appeal to greed and the desire that we all have to be healthy by telling us of the Green God of clean water, social justice, and a world free of white privilege. By preying on your feelings, they draw you into their false message.

This year has been headspinning, The  United Church of Canada decided that an atheist preaching self help messages was just ducky and can keep her job as a PASTOR, the NAR is slow rolling their own bible, Andy Stanley has decided that the Old Testament is Old News (actually he said “intellectually ruinous and morally debilitating.”), and Pope Francis... I get vapors just thinking about Pope Francis and his continuing efforts to protect his mob of homosexual child rapists. But no matter how bad Mr. Pope wanted the fabled Golden Goat he didn't "win" again. but the nominating committee awarded him second place (I hope he likes the color)

So onward with the presentation of the ignominious Golden Goat award; John Shore grabbed the very first Golden Goat in 2013, followed by Steven McSwain in 2014, Mark Sandlin hoisted a cold one in one hand and the Golden Goat in the other in 2015, in 2016 it was God's own NFL bookie, Rick Joyner that grabbed the Goat, and in 2017 the squiggly squid herself, Jennifer LeClare was the Goatrix. The nominating committee still wants to nominate Gretta Vosper for this prize but in Paul's letter, 1 Corinthians 5:12, he tells us that God instructs us not to judge those outside the church. Yes, Gretta is a devout atheist and that puts you as far outside of the church as you can get without being drown in hell's fires even though she is still a PASTOR in the West Hill United Church, Scarborough, Ontario. The United Church of Canada decided not to remove this wolf from the remainder of their flock, because: feelings. 

WWUTT Wednesday - Modern Day Prophets?

A prophet is an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. Simply put if you say "Jesus died and rose from the dead" you are a prophet because you proclaimed God's words. If you say "Jesus died and went to Cleveland" or if you say that God told you "the Carolina Panthers are going to win Super Bowl 50" you are a False Prophet.

That's the thing - today God's will is there for everyone to view, read, discern, and share, we don't need special prophets. Ages ago God's will was hard to reach, one had to journey to the temple in Jerusalem or have a chance to listen to a local prophet (before he was killed). Later God's will was hidden by the Roman church, shared only in a language that the congregation didn't speak: Latin. Now God's will is everywhere and free - not only book form, but audio, video, and web page.

Column: Why I call Joel Osteen a false teacher

This column appeared at Fredricksburg.com

Why I call Joel Osteen a false teacher

By Adan Blosser
Oct 9, 2018

Joel Osteen recently spoke at an event in our area. I knew about the event ahead of time and took the time to listen to it on Facebook Live as it was taking place. I then read the article that was published on the front page of the Oct. 5, 2018, The Free Lance–Star.

I don’t believe in attacking other churches, but I do believe in speaking clearly about false teachers. Especially when they show up on the front page of the newspaper because they spoke at the largest church in the area.

Make no mistake, Joel Osteen is a false teacher and should not be trusted as a source of biblical teaching by Bible-believing Christians.

That raises the question “Why?” It is a serious charge to call someone a false teacher. It is a charge that I take seriously and do not throw around lightly. So why would I call Osteen a false teacher? Is that fair? Those are important questions that are worthy of an answer.

Osteen’s message is built on the power of positive thinking. If we will remove any semblance of negativity from our lives and focus only on things that are positive, then we can live lives that are victorious and successful. The clear problem with this message is that it ignores the reality of Christian persecution and suffering around the world.

The Book of Mormon And It Came To Pass - lifeafterministry

The Book of Mormon And It Came To Pass

From the book by Mark Twain, “Roughing It”, Chapter XVI;

"All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few, except the elect have seen it or at least taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me. It is such a pretentious affair and yet so slow, so sleepy, such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print.

"If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle. Keeping awake while he did it, was at any rate. If he, according to tradition, merely translated it from certain ancient and mysteriously engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out of the way locality, the work of translating it was equally a miracle for the same reason.

"The book seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history with the Old Testament for a model followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint old fashioned sound and structure of our King James translation of the scriptures. The result is a mongrel, half modern glibness and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained, the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern, which was about every sentence or two, he ladeled in a few such scriptural phrases as, “exceeding sore,” “and it came to pass,” etc. and made things satisfactory again. “And it came to pass,” was his pet. If he had left that out, his bible would have been only a pamphlet.”

From the Book of Mormon:

2 Nephi 4:14; “…for a more history part are written upon mine other plates.”

Mormon 9:35; “And these things are written that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief.”

I had a pastor ask me to provide him with a synopsis of the Book of Mormon and I have to admit that it took a few days to fulfill his request.  It’d be easier to tell you the number of times I’ve dozed off while reading it (100% of the time) than it would be to give a quick analysis.  And as I write this I have an incessant memory of a visit with my mother in Utah.  She was sitting on her couch reading her Book of Mormon and after a half hour or so of not turning a single page I asked her what truths she had gleaned from her experience. 

Spurgeon Thursday - An Evil in the Camp of the Lord

The following message is commonly attributed to Charles Haddon Spurgeon, but it is actually from the Reverend Archibald Brown, a student of Spurgeon, which is probably why it sounds so much like Spurgeon that the attribution is often confused. The pulpit is no place for actors, entertainers, or performers, it is for preaching Christ risen from the dead. Nowhere does the Gospel say "Go ye into all the world and amuse every creature" (Mark 6:15) nor does it say "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to put a smile on the faces of the entertained" (Ephesians 4:11-12)

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted Christian can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years this evil has developed at an alarming rate. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments!

The devil has seldom done a more clever thing, than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out the gospel, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses!

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.” No such words, however, are to be found.

Wretched Wednesday - The Royal Wedding Sermon Disaster

I did not watch the royal wedding, in fact as far as I'm concerned the enchantment of anything royal ended in 1776. I do know several people that were agog at the worldwide display of excess by a familial dynasty built on patricide, matricide, mariticide, uxoricide, fratricide, filicide, sororicide, and good old fashioned regicide. 242 years ago the "North American Union" rose up against the tyranny of a royalty run amok and gave us a new nation founded on the principles of inherent rights, government by the people, separation of powers, and not having to publicly fund fairy-tale weddings. While I hate royalty, I love England. England gave the world many things: one of the coolest flags in history, the Third and Fourth doctors, the DB-5, fish and chips, the Hitchhikers Guide, and most of all Charles Haddon Spurgeon. In return we sent them the comedic stylings of the drain circling Episcopal Church

How To Tell if it’s a Prosperity Gospel Church

How To Tell if it’s a Prosperity Gospel Church

by Tim Challies

The prosperity gospel is a diverse, popular, and worldwide movement that understands faith to be the instrument through which Christians can attain physical health, material riches, and divine favor. There are countless thousands of these churches around the world with various levels of adherence to the key tenets of the wider movement, yet they rarely advertise themselves as prosperity gospel churches. So how can we know if a church is part of this movement? In Kate Bowler’s book Blessed, she provides some helpful guidance.

Look for Keywords. There are certain keywords that may demonstrate an association with the prosperity gospel. The first place to look is in the name of the church since most churches have names that reflect their ethos. Words like “victory,” “abundant,” or “conquerors” provide what may be key information. Beyond the name, look at the language used either in the church’s material or in its services. In different ways these churches will emphasize their core conviction that faith is the instrument through which believers attain their desires. This leads to language like, “releasing your faith,” “speaking your faith,” or “believing God for” things. 

God Is Not Like “Whatever, Dude”

This is probably one of the best things I've ever read concerning the sin of Reckless Worship. If you don't know what reckless worship is, then you haven't been paying attention. God is not our buddy The Great Dudemeister, Jesus is not a romantic interest in a song that with a few words changed can be published in the secular world as a "date song", and the Holy Spirit is not an out of focus Asian woman who is a spiritual Magic 8 Ball. 

I know some wonderful people in the church who need to read and heed, not because I fear for their Salvation (that's not my job) but because they don't fear for theirs. And if you don't want to read this because it's a woman teaching, you can suck it up and give it a go, or you can consider it's my instructions if that will help. It's that good, and it's that important, and it needs to be shared.

God’s Not Like “Whatever, Dude,” About The Way He’s Approached in Worship

By Michelle Lesley

Social media is a strange universe to live in. There’s a lot of stupidity, but there’s also a lot that can be learned from various trending issues.

Such was the case recently when Christian social media was up in arms (and rightly so) about Cory Asbury’s worship song Reckless Love, and whether or not churches should use it in their worship services. Discussion centered around the use of the word “reckless” to describe God’s love for us and whether or not that was a semantically and theologically appropriate adjective. “Relentless” was suggested as an alternative lyric. “Reckless” was defended as an appropriate lyric. And then Cory Asbury’s explanation of the song came to light and did further injury to his doctrinal cause.

It was all a very interesting and helpful discussion, but, to some degree, it was a rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic.

‘Cause we’ve hit the ice berg, folks. And the ship is taking on water.

Focusing on the word “reckless” missed the point – at least the big picture point. You see, Reckless Love was produced by Bethel Music. And Cory Asbury is a “worship leader, songwriter and pastor” with the Bethel Music Collective. Prior to joining Bethel, he spent eight years as a worship leader with the International House of Prayer (IHOP).

Why is this important? Because Bethel “Church” in Redding, California, and IHOP are, functionally, ground zero for the New Apostolic Reformation heresy. Heresy. Not, “They just have a more expressive, contemporary style of worship,”. Not, “It’s a secondary theological issue we can agree to disagree on.” Heresy. Denial of the deity of Christ. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Demonstrably false prophecy that the head of IHOP, Mike Bickle, has publicly rejoiced in (He estimates that 80% of IHOP’s “prophecies” are false.) And that’s just the tip of our metaphorical ice berg when it comes to the NAR.

IHOP and Bethel are, by biblical definition, not Christian organizations and certainly not Christian churches. They are pagan centers of idol worship just as much as the Old Testament temples of Baal were. The only difference is that, instead of being creative and coming up with their own name for their god, they’ve stolen the name Jesus and blasphemously baptized their idol with that moniker.

The point in this whole debate is not the word “reckless”. The point is that Christian churches should not have anything whatsoever to do with idol worshiping pagans as they approach God in worship. Yet Sunday after Sunday churches use Bethel music, Jesus Culture music, Hillsong music, and the like, in their worship of God.

And it’s not just that churches are using music from the temples of Baal in their worship services. We have women who usurp the teaching and leadership roles in the church that God has reserved for men – many even going so far as to preach to men and/or hold the position of “pastor”. We have men setting themselves up as pastors who do not meet the Bible’s qualifications. We have churches that let anyone – Believer or not – participate in the Lord’s Supper. We have pastors who welcome false teachers and their materials into their churches with open arms and castigate anyone who dares point out the false doctrine being taught. We have preachers who have forsaken God’s mandate to preach the Word and use the sermon time to talk about themselves, deliver self-help tips, or perform a stand up comedy routine.

And everybody seems to think God’s up there in Heaven going, “Cool! Whatever y’all want to do in the name of worship is just fine and dandy with Me. You do you.”

Well, He’s not.

God demands – and has every right to do so – that He be approached properly. In reverence. In awe. In holy fear. With clean hands and a pure heart.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Psalm 24:3-6

Let’s take a stroll through Scripture and be taught by those who learned that lesson the hard way…

Cain

Most of the time, when we read the story of Cain and Abel, we focus on the fact that Cain killed his righteous brother. But we tend to gloss over the event that precipitated the murder. Cain and Abel both brought offerings to the Lord. God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s.

Scripture doesn’t tell us why God found Cain’s offering unacceptable. The Levitical laws delineating offerings and sacrifices hadn’t yet been given, and even if they had, grain offerings and other offerings of vegetation were perfectly appropriate if offered at the right time and for the right reason. Was it because Cain had a wrong attitude or motive when he gave his offering? Or maybe because he offered God leftover produce instead of his firstfruits? We don’t know. What we do know is that God had a standard of how He was to be worshiped, Cain violated it, and God expressed His displeasure.

Aaron and Israel

It’s shortly after the Exodus. The Israelites have seen God perform ten – count them – ten plagues on Pharaoh for his idolatry and failure to bow the knee to God’s command to let Israel go. They saw God destroy the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea. And now, their fearless leader, Moses, has trekked up Mount Sinai and is late getting back. The people are worried and restless.

Does Aaron lead them to pray? Trust God? Be patient? Nope. He fashions an idol for them – a golden calf. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he wasn’t even creative enough to come up with his own name for this idol. He stole God’s character and work and blasphemously baptized the idol with that moniker. He led the people to worship the false god as though it were the true God. (Does that ring any bells?)

“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings.

Surely God gave them a pass, right? I mean, Moses broke the tablets of the Ten Commandments when he came down from the mountain before they even had a chance to read the first and second Commandments that prohibited what they were doing.

Uh uh. God told Moses to get out of the way so He could fire bomb Israel off the face of the Earth and start over with him. It was only after Moses pleaded with God to stay His hand that God relented and allowed for the lesser punishment of having the Levites kill 3,000 of them with the sword and sent a plague on the rest of them.

Doesn’t exactly sound like an “anything goes in worship” kind of God, does He?

Nadab and Abihu

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace.

Are you seeing a pattern here? God is so not OK with people approaching Him irreverently, via idol worship, or in any other way He deems inappropriate that He’s willing to kill them.

Saul

God sends Saul and his army on a mission to defeat the Amalekites. His instructions are simple: completely destroy everything. “Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

But Saul’s a smart guy, see? He knows better. He goes in and destroys all the worthless stuff, but saves the good stuff for himself. It’ll be OK with God, he reasons, because he’s going to take some of the really nice sheep and make a big, showy sacrifice. Like a rich man pitching pennies to an urchin shoeshine boy.

And when Samuel confronts Saul about his rebellion, “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”, Saul has the temerity to say, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.” Because he was going to perform an act of worship. And the fact that he was doing it his way instead of God’s way didn’t matter. In Saul’s mind, it was the outward act that counted and God should have accepted it.

God didn’t see it that way:

And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”
(1 Samuel 15:22-23)

God is not pleased with worship offered by hands dirtied with sin and rebellion. Saul paid the price: his throne and God’s favor.

Uzziah

Uzziah started off well as king of Judah. He listened to the counsel of Zechariah, obeyed God, and prospered. But after a while, prosperity can make you proud, and that’s just what happened to Uzziah.

He became so proud, in fact, that he took it upon himself to enter the sanctuary of the temple and offer incense to God on the altar. That was a position of leadership restricted to the priests. Uzziah had never been installed as a priest because he wasn’t biblically qualified to hold the office of priest, much like many who take on the role of pastor today.

Bravely, Azariah and eighty of his fellow priests stood up to the presumptuous king – at the risk of their lives, but in defense of proper worship as commanded in God’s Word – rebuked Uzziah, and kicked him out of the temple. “You have done wrong,” they said, “and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.”

Well! Uzziah was hot with anger. How dare these mere priests stop him – the king whom God had blessed and prospered – from worshiping God any way he wanted to!

Guess who God sided with? The priests who were upholding His Word and His standard of worship. God struck Uzziah with leprosy for the remainder of his life, which exiled him from the palace and a royal burial, and effectively ended his reign.

The Pharisees

Hypocrites! Blind guides! Fools! Blind men! Greedy! Self-indulgent! Whitewashed tombs! Lawless! Serpents! Brood of vipers! Murderers!

How would you like to be dressed down like that by Jesus? You’re teaching the Scriptures. You’re tithing to the nth degree. You’re traveling over land and sea to proselytize. You’re behaving with outward righteousness. You’re memorializing the prophets. As far as you can tell, you’re doing pretty well with this holiness thing.

And here comes the Messiah – the One you’re (supposedly) doing all of this for – and He shames you. Publicly. He exposes your blackness of heart to the commoners you want looking up to you. All because God’s way is for you to worship Him in spirit and in truth, but you insist on doing it your way- for all your deeds to be seen by others, and because you love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.

You’re approaching God in arrogance and selfishness, and He will have none of it. You won’t die to self, so He – if only temporarily – kills your pride.

The Corinthian Church

You’ve probably never seen a Lord’s Supper as messed up as the way the Corinthian church was doing it. Some people were going without while others were getting drunk. The “important” people got to go first while the poor and lower class went to the back of the line. People were using the Lord’s Table as an opportunity for selfishness rather than putting self aside and focusing on the fact that the purpose of this meal was to proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

That wasn’t acceptable to God. He didn’t want the church observing the Lord’s Supper just any old way. It was dishonoring to Christ and shameful to His church.

So God declared that “whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord…For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”

“But all of that was back in Bible times!” you might protest. “God isn’t killing anybody these days for worshiping Him improperly. In fact, some of the worst violators of God’s Word are rich ‘Christian’ celebrities!”

That’s right, they are. Exactly like God said they would be: “teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.” And woe betide them when they stand before Christ in judgment. Because judgment is coming for them:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

God is high and He is holy, and so are His standards for those who approach Him. He expects His people to obey His Word about how He is to be worshiped.

“I, the Lord, do not change,” God says in the Old Testament. The New Testament tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” God hasn’t mellowed out or calmed down or gotten more tolerant. The God who poured out His wrath on those who blasphemed Him with unbiblical worship in the Old Testament is the same God we worship this side of the cross. Nothing escapes His notice. He doesn’t let sin slide. Whether in this life, or the next, or both, there will be a reckoning for unbiblical worship.

When it comes to worship, God is not a “whatever” kind of God.

WWUTT Wednesday: Jesus Christ Superstar

I remember when Jesus Christ Superstar first came out, I remember it like it was merely 48 years ago. I personally believe that this musical was the beginning of what is best described as the Contemporary Christian Music Industrial Complex. The ONLY good thing about that entire musical was that the song "I Don't Know How To Love Him" can be used as a litmus test to separate those that can sing from those that can howl.

To me the whole thing just seemed wrong but at the time in my very early teens, I just couldn't enunciate my reasons why I knew it was wrong. Was my revulsion over this production the Holy Spirit guiding me away from a blasphemous heap of noise? In retrospect I'm going to have to say yes. I didn't watch the live airing of it on Easter Sunday, but if you did, did you play Spot The Heresy?

Satan's New Gig: Queering The Bible

RELG 033. Queering the Bible

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This course surveys queer and trans* readings of biblical texts. It introduces students to the complexity of constructions of sex, gender, and identity in one of the most influential literary works produced in ancient times. By reading the Bible with the methods of queer and trans* theoretical approaches, this class destabilizes long held assumptions about what the bible--and religion--says about gender and sexuality.
Humanities
1 credit.
Eligible for GSST
Fall 2018. Kessler.
Catalog chapter: Religion 
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/religion

No, this isn't something I made up, this is something that Rabba Gwynn Kessler ("Rabba" is a female Rabbi, and yes, it is a thing)  and she even has a book: Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives. It must be a gem, it's a $65 book but it's going for $5.70 on Amazon. Hurry, because they only have three copies left (and oddly it has NO reviews) It's ranking in Amazon is #1,249,981 with a bullet. Swarthmore college also teaches this class:

Wretched Wednesday - the NAR is Nothing New

It was exactly one year ago when I first wrote about Montanism, back then the word started popping up in the WatchBlogosphere® and never having heard it before I did a bit of research on it. In the last paragraph or two of my post I touched upon a connection that should have hit me over the head, rang alarm bells, and set off signal flares, but I missed it. 

In the responses to that post Glenn Chatfield pointed out the connection I should have made, but neither of us took it any further than that. Suddenly one year later here is Todd Friel, Mr. Wretched himself, making the connection that Glenn and I should have made and expanded upon a year ago. 

Destiny Destiny No Escaping That's For Me

First of all, kudos to everyone that caught the Mel Brooks references in the title of this post and accompanying meme.

You can't read an article or listen to a homily from the Charismatic fringe without hearing the word "Destiny" being being beaten into your head. Not just false prophesy but falsely prophetic merchandise like Destiny Pants and Destiny Cards are being sold to the theologically gullible. This got me to thinking; where is all this Destiny nonsense coming from?

Destiny is not just a vacuous concept, it's a tired and overworked  Buzzword that the charismatics have been flinging at their followers like #4 birdshot at a flock of mallards. Destiny is defined as "the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future" AND "the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future"

If you are a human being your destiny is the same as all other humans, when you die you will stand before the throne of judgement. If you are a Christian and truly believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead, He will stand as your advocate at your judgement. As for "the hidden power believed to control what will happen in the future" I'll get to that in a few moments, let''s look at the use of the word destiny first. 

The cool thing about a search engine is that you can search for something particular in one site if you want, so if I were to search my own blog for all the articles where I've used the word "UFO" I would enter this in the search engine:

site:https://wideawakechristian.blogspot.com UFO