Author Archives: Marsha West

About Marsha West

Marsha West is the owner and managing editor of Christian Research Network, Apprising Ministries (the late Ken Silva’s blog) and On Solid Rock Resources. She is also co-founder of Berean Research. For two decades Marsha was the owner and managing editor of Email Brigade website as well as the EMB News Report, a bi-weekly email report for conservative people of faith. For many years Marsha was a regular contributor to several blogs including CRN, RenewAmerica, News With Views and Web Commantary as well as popular websites she no longer endorses: American Family Association, Worldview Weekend, Stand Up For The Truth, The Christian Post and Christian Headlines. Although Marsha still blogs, her primary focus is CRN. Marsha also writes Research Papers (White Papers) on various topics that are published on CRN, Berean Research and On Solid Rock Resources. Visit Marsha’s other sites: On Solid Rock Resources https://www.onsolidrockresources.com/ Apprising Ministries http://apprising.org Marsha’s RenewAmerica Column http://renewamerica.com/columns/mwest Marsha’s Facebook Page http://facebook.com/marsha.west.77

Trump Administration Considers Far-Reaching Steps for ‘Extreme Vetting’

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According to Laura Meckler of the Wallstreet Journal it’s going to get a whole lot tougher for a foreigner to enter the U.S. The Trump administration’s “extreme vetting” measures could even apply to France and Germany. Meckler writes:

Foreigners who want to visit the U.S., even for a short trip, could be forced to disclose contacts on their mobile phones, social-media passwords and financial records, and to answer probing questions about their ideology, according to Trump administration officials conducting a review of vetting procedures.

The administration also wants to subject more visa applicants to intense security reviews and have embassies spend more time interviewing each applicant. The changes could apply to people from all over the world, including allies like France and Germany.

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Shocking News: Steven Furtick Goes Full-On Prosperity

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Jeff Maples of Pulpit & Pen shares what’s going on with prophet-pastor Steven Furtick:

If it isn’t enough that Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation, the multi-campus megachurch in Charlotte, NC is a habitual twister of the Scriptures for the purpose of self-promotion and egotistical gain, it’s now abundantly clear that he’s gone full-on Prosperity Gospel.

The Prosperity Gospel is a false gospel that teaches that God promises to all believers who have “enough faith” a long life of good health and extraordinary wealth. Never mind that the proponents of this false gospel are regularly afflicted with various calamities, including death. Recently, Eddie Long, one of the most notorious proponents of the distorted gospel of health and wealth died after a long battle with cancer. Then you have others, like Jan Crouch, who died unexpectedly. Perhaps their faith failed them? Perhaps they did not ask therefore they did not receive?

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Three Reasons God is a Cessationist

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Jordan Standrich has some thoughts on cessationism vs. continuationism to help us think through this challenging topic. “An important part of cessationism,” says Standridge “is God Himself and what He has done in history.”

In this piece over at The Cripplegate, Standrich offers three reasons to bolster his argument that God is a cessationist and not a continuationist. He writes:

Lord I believe that Jordan will play in the NBA! No! I declare Jordan will play in the NBA!

That was a sentence that a guy prayed over me as we were leaving a basketball camp I attended in high school. He said that sentence as he alternated between speaking in tongues and speaking in English. I wanted to say, “have you not seen me play this whole week? I’ll be lucky to start on my high school team this year!” That was the first time I was exposed to the modern version of the gift tongues. Over the years I’ve had a chance to attend quite a few pentecostal churches and events but it wasn’t until I got to seminary that I really started gaining interest in Charismatic theology.

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Research: New Apostolic Reformation

 

Bayer Unleashes Army Of Re-Educated Farmers From GMO Training Program

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And you thought Bayer was in the pain killing business. According to NaturalBlaze:

Set to become the world’s largest seed technology company, if it is successful in acquiring Monsanto – Bayer’s Adrian Percy, a global head of Research and Development with Bayer, has publicly bemoaned the fact that consumers in Europe are staunchly resisting genetic engineering and even stated that he believes that the battle over GMOs in Europe is over.

“To be honest,” he said. “I think that battle is probably lost.”

Percy says that countries like France and Germany are simply not going to budge when it comes to GMOs and that there is no point in fighting it. But that doesn’t mean that Percy, Monsanto or Bayer are actually giving up. In fact, they’re simply gearing up for a new fight, this time, with more “educated” “scientists,” “farmers” and “consumers.”

The company is planning to push for a new form of genetic engineering known as gene editing. And this time, the corporation wants consumers pacified before the fight even starts.

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You Might Be a Pharisee If . . .

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Those of us who are involved in online discernment ministries (ODM) regularly take on Scripture twisters and outright heretics.  Professing Christians who’ve fallen into false teaching come back at us with “take the log out of your own eye,” as if bringing truth to light means we’re judging. ODM’s have been labeled “Heresy Hunter,” “Legalist,” “Pharisee” and we’re charged with “quenching the Holy Spirit” for doing what we’re commanded to do: “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1) False prophets hate being tested.  So their response is to turn the tables and make ODM’s out to be the villain. I mean, how dare commoners judge Christians who’ve reached rock star status, right?

Over at Grace to You, Cameron Buettel tackles this very subject.  He lays out three biblical earmarks of a Pharisee, beginning with the person who supplements Scripture with all sorts of man-made rules.  He writes:

The odds are good that someone, somewhere, at some point has called you a Pharisee. The odds are even better that you’ve slapped that label on someone else.

It’s no surprise that the name “Pharisee” carries a leprous stigma. They’re the villains virtually every time they appear in the pages of Scripture. Jesus never had anything good to say about them. And their heavy-handed, legalistic authority made them a scourge to all of Israel—even other pious Jews.

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The aim of AIM and the World Race

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Berean Research reports:

Some red flags to warn you about regarding a popular missions trip for youth called AIM- Adventures in Missions, and an event called the World Race,  in which students travel to 11 countries in 11 months.

Young people have been exposed to the New Apostolic Reformation, along with contemplative spirituality and New Age mysticism.

One of my readers contributed her testimony to my series, Leaving the NAR Church, in which she writes:

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Mike Pence will not meet alone with a woman, so the online left flips out?

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Julia Duin of Get Religion has the story:

When does a rather ordinary news profile turn into a mass-media panic?

When it’s in a Washington Post feature about Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence.

I covered this two days ago in that finally – after zillions of fawning pieces about Hillary and Michelle – a major newspaper had profiled the Second Lady. I had no idea that one sentence in the story would create a Twitter mob scene. Part way down the story, a Post reporter mentioned that Mike Pence has a policy of never dining alone with a woman nor attending an event where alcohol is served without Karen by his side.

Ka-boom. The mockery began.

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Christian son of American Atheists founder says Netflix film about his mother is ‘full of errors’

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The Christian Times reports:

William J. Murray, the only surviving son of American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair, has said that the new Netflix film about his mother is full of errors, omissions and distortions.

The film titled “The Most Hated Woman in America,” which debuted on Netflix last week, tells the life story of O’Hair, who founded the American Atheists in 1963 and spent half of her life fighting for the separation of church and state.

O’Hair filed a case against the Baltimore City Public School System in 1960 to prevent her son from taking part in Bible readings in school. She won the case in 1963 with a Supreme Court decision that banned prayers in classrooms.

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Why calling Rick Warren a ‘General’ is significant

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Berean Research responds to the question many in the Christian community are asking: How do I know if my church is part of the New Apostolic Reformation?  Here’s their says:

What’s in a name? When the name and title of “General” is used in a church leadership context, it’s a rank that ought to be a red flag for you.  After reading this article, I hope it will be in the future.

First, the photo. Hillsong’s Brian Houston posted this on his Facebook profile:

The rank title in this case may be easily dismissed as nothing more than just a friendly term of endearment. But did you know that “General” is code word for Apostle within the New Apostolic Reformation movement?

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Santa Is a Gay Man in an Interracial Relationship in This New Picture Book

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Yes, you heard that right.  A controversial children’s book depicts Santa Clause as an African American gay man who’s married to Mr. Clause.  TIME has the story:

Photo credit: TIME

A new picture book will depict Santa as a gay man in an interracial relationship, publisher Harper Design confirmed Tuesday.

The book, Santa’s Husband, goes on sale Oct. 10 and tells the story of a black Santa Claus and his white husband who both live in the North Pole. Santa’s spouse frequently fills in for his husband at malls, according to a description of the book Harper Design provided to TIME.

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Your browser history can now be sold to advertisers without your consent

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According to MarketWatch:

Corporate tracking of your online activity is about to get even more invasive.

Internet service providers will soon be automatically able to collect information on browsing habits, health information, and other sensitive data from its users after the House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a repeal of protections put in place under the Obama administration. On a 215-205 vote, largely along party lines, the House voted undo these Obama-era broadband privacy rules that govern the behavior of internet service providers.

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Visible Church In An Accelerating Apostasy

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Apprising Ministries has an excerpt of a lecture Dr. Walter Martin did in the 1980’s entitled The Cult of Liberal Theology, which is just as true today:

Let me tell you something that I have learned; I know the liberals. I know them well; I was one of them. And they are the most dangerous, insidious, and all-pervading cult that’s loose in the United States right at this moment.

They make the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the Mormons, and all of the Mind Sciences, and the Occult, look like Sunday School teachers. Do you know why? Because these other people are outside the Church; and these devils are in it! And they’re doing it in Jesus’ Name.

They do not believe the Trinity; they do not believe the Deity of Christ; they do not believe the Virgin Birth; they do not believe the vicarious atonement; they do not believe the Bodily resurrection, and they have grave doubts about whether Jesus will ever come back again, and that the Bible is itself the Word of God. Yet I could give you a list of them that infest—and that’s the proper word—infest our theological seminaries; and our church related schools, and our denominations.

And this theological flea infestation is ruining the lifeblood of the Church, which is evangelism. And, you think these are very strong statements; I intend to back them up in—if necessary—excruciating details. For any person who does not know that today in the United States,  and in denominational structures world-around, we are in an accelerating apostasy does not know—I repeat—does not know what’s going on…

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Where Do We Go When We Die?

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In this piece over at The Watchman’s Bagpipes, Glenn Chatfield examines what the scriptures teach about the soul after death.  He writes:

Many teachings about where we go when dead can be totally unbiblical, including the ideas of “soul sleep” and annihilation, as promoted by cults such as the Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as by many individual false teachers.  Along with these teachings is usually the claim that there is no hell (as the place of eternal torment and separation from God).
If the scripture tells us the abode of the soul after death, that it is still conscious and aware, then the idea of the soul sleeping until resurrection is proven wrong, as is the idea that the souls of unbelievers are annihilated.  One could actually write a whole book on the topic in order to cover what the Bible says about the grave, the afterlife before and after Christ, etc, but here I can only highlight the most important and concise arguments against the “anti-Hell”, “soul sleep” and “annihilation” teachings.

The Biggest New Cheat in Professional Women’s Sports

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LifeZette reports:

Fallon Fox, transgender fighter in MMA

The East German women’s Olympic teams were known for doping their way to victory. Their cheating, long suspected, took longer to be discovered. But today there is a new cheat happening in the world of women’s sports, only this time it’s perfectly legal. It is transgender women — biological men, in other words — who are dominating in women’s sports.

While still rare, a growing number of sports organizations are allowing men who identify as women to compete against women in sports such as weightlifting, mixed martial arts, and basketball. To no one’s surprise, these individuals are winning.

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Laughing Planned Parenthood Abortionist: It ‘Takes More Force’ to Dismember Some Babies

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According to Christian News:

Newly-released undercover footage from the Center for Medical Progress captures a Planned Parenthood abortionist laughing about how much force is required to dismember babies when chemical agents aren’t used, and joking that she first thought she needed to go to the gym just to get in shape to perform a dilation and evacuation procedure.

“Research shows that Dig (short for Digoxin) doesn’t make the procedure easier in someone who is well trained, but I have to tell you anecdotally my biceps appreciate when the Dig works [to kill the baby],” DeShawn Taylor of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles stated, flexing her arm and giggling.

“It does not take me any longer to complete the procedure, but it takes more force,” she explained. “I remember when I was a fellow and I was training, I was like, ‘Oh, I have to hit the gym for this. I need to hit the gym.’”

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Heaven, Hillsong, and Heresy

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Costi Hinn has a warning for parents: Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be…..targets.  Targets? Yes.  Young people are being targeted by “Christian” bands like Hillsong and Jesus Culture.  Jesus Culture is known for their “prophetic worship.” Their aim is to “ignite revival in the nations of the earth” through global events. But how will this come about when their message obscures the true Gospel of Jesus Christ?

What are groups like Hillsong and Jesus Culture actually accomplishing through their music?  Multitudes are being drawn into counterfeit Christianity!

As the nephew of Word of Faith televangelist Benny Hinn, Costi knows first hand what it is like to be lured into a heretical movement at an early age. But the Lord in His mercy delivered Costi Hinn out of Satan’s clutches and now Costi’s on a mission to prevent others from being manipulated the way he was.  “Christians who are clueless to enemy strategies are sitting ducks,” he warns, “and churches who can’t confidently explain to their young people why they must avoid these types of conferences are unable to effectively keep watch over the souls of their sheep (Hebrews 13:17).”

In his piece over at Pulpit & Pen, Costi Hinn lists five ways pastors and parents can protect young people, and the rest of the church, from being enticed by the enemy of God.

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Related: Jesus Culture’s Kim Walker Smith’s Alleged Encounter With Jesus Christ And God the Father by Ken Silva

Canada Reportedly Harvesting Organs of Euthanasia Patients

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According to Christian News:

A recent push in Canada to encourage euthanasia patients to donate their organs appears to be working.

In Ontario, the first province to report data, 26 people who died by lethal injection decided to donate tissue or organs since the Medical Aid in Dying Act (MAID) came into effect last June, according to the National Post. A total of 388 people have chosen to die by lethal injection in Ontario, over half of the 744 total Canadians who have been euthanized.

Proponents of linking organ harvesting to euthanasia point to the shortage of organ transplants readily available and the lower cost associated with euthanasia than with end-of-life care.

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Quadriplegic man’s arm and hand brought back to life by thought-control tech

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Sky News reports:

Bill Kochevar, 56, was paralysed below his shoulders in a cycling accident eight years ago but can now grasp and lift objects after having two pill-sized electrodes implanted in his brain.

The electrodes record the activity of brain neurons to generate signals that tell another device to stimulate muscles in the paralysed limb.

During trials held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Kochevar raised a mug of water to his lips and drank from a straw.

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Want to Risk It? Butter That Biscuit

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Finally, some good news to report. As it turns out, butter may actually be a more healthy choice than the “white bread or potato on which it is commonly spread,” even though we’ve been led to believe that “a pat of butter a week will lead to heart disease, diabetes, the Bubonic plague and the burning in hell for all eternity.” Lisa Fogarty of LifeZette has the story:

You thought you were doing the right thing all of these years. You’ve been saying “no” to butter and watching in horror (and envy) as your co-workers slather their corn muffins with the delectable saturated fat — all the while attempting to convince yourself that hummus or worse, Vegemite, is a superior spread substitute.

You’ve been led to believe even a pat of butter a week will lead to heart disease, diabetes, the Bubonic plague and the burning in hell for all eternity. You’re not at fault for thinking butter is the culinary Lucifer.

But it’s all been a lie. Lies!

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Marriage Doctrine Alone Disqualifies Pro-Gay Theology

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Alan Shlemon of Stand to Reason reminds us that, “There have been different understandings of the Lord’s supper, baptism, eschatology, etc. When it comes to marriage, however, there is universal agreement on its definition as a heterosexual union. That’s amazing and significant.” He writes:

I really appreciate a point that Preston Sprinkle made when I interviewed him on the Stand to Reason broadcast recently. Even if you set aside the (at least) five biblical texts that prohibit same-sex relations, you can still make a solid case against pro-gay theology by simply looking at Scripture’s teaching on marriage.

It turns out that 3,500 years of Judaic teaching and nearly 2,000 years of Christian teaching have unequivocally upheld that marriage is only between a man and a woman. The Genesis account of creation, where God establishes marriage as a heterosexual union (Gen. 1:27–28, 2:22–24), alone rules out the possibility of man-man or woman-woman marriage. Jesus even cited the Genesis definition and upheld this view during the New Testament era (Matt. 19:4–6). Since the closing of the canon, the Church uniformly taught that marriage was between a man and a woman.

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Virginia Governor Vetoes Bill Prohibiting Punishment of Those Who Believe in Biblical Marriage

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Christian News reports:

The Democratic governor of Virginia has vetoed a religious freedom bill which would have prohibited the government from punishing those who believe in biblical marriage and conduct their public lives in accordance with that conviction.

“Although couched as a ‘religious freedom’ bill, this legislation is nothing more than an attempt to stigmatize,” Gov. Terry McAuliffe asserted in a statement on Thursday in rejecting S.B. 2314 and H.B. 2025.

“No person shall be required to participate in the solemnization of any marriage, or subject to any penalty by the Commonwealth, or its political subdivisions or representatives or agents, notwithstanding any other provision of law, solely on account of such person’s belief, speech, or action in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman,” the vetoed legislation read.

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‘Sanctuary’ mayors have American blood on their hands

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Those are strong words.  Todd Starnes, host of Fox News and Commentary, feels justified in saying them.  Here’s why:

In 2015 Kate Steinle was gunned down by an illegal alien in San Francisco – a sanctuary city. The man charged with her murder was a seven-time felon who had been deported five times.

Five times.

There was an immigration hold on the suspect, meaning the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted to come get him and ship him out of the country. But San Francisco authorities set the man free. Just a few months later, Steinle was dead.

Steinle’s blood is not only on the hands of her killer, it’s also on the hands of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

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Hillsong’s Brian Houston faces sex abuse cover-up inquiry

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Berean Research has the latest on the sex abuse cover-up inquiry involving Hillsong Church’s celebrity pastor Brian Houston.  According to BR, Houston once blamed a victim of Frank Houston’s sexual assault saying, “It’s your fault this happened, you tempted my father.”  Here’s the story:

Brian Houston’s hearings before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse are underway, as Houston faces questions about the safety of his Hillsong empire after the original charge: that Houston failed to tell police his father was a child sex abuser.

“Frank Houston had abused up to nine boys in Australia and New Zealand, and in its final report on the case released on Monday, the commission found multiple failings within the church executive – at the time led by Frank Houston’s son Brian – in responding.   Source

Many of you remember this from 2014:

“After the allegations became public within the church during 1999, Frank Houston met his victim offering him $10,000 and saying: “I want your forgiveness for this. I don’t want to die and have to face God with this on my head,” the commission heard.

Months later, when the money had not arrived, his victim called Frank Houston’s son Brian, who was then the national president of the Assemblies of God in Australia Pentecostal movement.

The victim said Brian told him: “You know, it’s your fault all this happened. You tempted my father”.

“Brian got very angry after that. He slammed the phone down after saying words to the effect of ‘You’ll be getting your money’,” the victim told the commission. He received a cheque for $10,000 about two weeks later. 

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7 False Teachers in the Church Today

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“Satan’s greatest ambassadors are not pimps, politicians, or power-brokers, but pastors,” warns Tim Challies. “His priests do not peddle a different religion, but a deadly perversion of the true one. His troops do not make a full-out frontal assault, but work as agents, sneaking into the opposing army. Satan’s tactics are studied, clever, predictable, effective.”

Who are the heretics, charlatans, abusers, etc.? Hint: Popes, Pentecostals, prominent scholars and prophets who prophesy falsely.

The following is from Tim Challies’ Deadly Doctrines series:

The history of Christ’s church is inseparable from the history of Satan’s attempts to destroy her. While difficult challenges have arisen from outside the church, the most dangerous have always been from within. For from within arise the false teachers, the peddlers of error who masquerade as teachers of truth. False teachers take on many forms, custom-crafted to times, cultures, and contexts. Here are seven of them you will find carrying out their deceptive, destructive work in the church today. Please note that while I have followed the biblical texts in describing them in masculine terms, each of these false teachers can as easily be female.

The Heretic

The Heretic is the most prominent and perhaps the most dangerous of the false teachers. Peter warned against him in his second letter. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). The Heretic is the person who teaches what blatantly contradicts an essential teaching of the Christian faith. He is a gregarious figure, a natural leader teaching just enough truth to mask his deadly error. Yet in denying the faith and celebrating what is false, he leads his followers from the safety of orthodoxy to the peril of heresy.

From the church’s earliest days, she has been afflicted by the Heretic in his various forms. He continues his evil work today, sometimes by contradicting the truth and sometimes by adding to it. He may reframe the doctrine of the Trinity, as Arius did in the third century and as Oneness Pentecostals do today. He may, like Marcus Borg and other prominent scholars, deny the virgin birth or the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Like Jehovah’s Witnesses, he may alter God’s finished word, or like Mormons, he may add to it. Always, he boldly tampers with “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).

The Charlatan

The Charlatan is only interested in the Christian faith to the extent that it can fill his wallet.

The Charlatan is the person who uses Christianity as a means of personal enrichment. Paul charged Timothy to be on guard against him. “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Timothy 6:3-5). The Charlatan is only interested in the Christian faith to the extent that it can fill his wallet. He uses his leadership position to benefit from others’ wealth.

Simon Magus was motivated by the love of money when he tried to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:9-24). Since him, the Charlatan has appeared in many forms, always seeking prominence in the church so that he can live in extravagance. When Pope Leo X famously commissioned Tetzel to sell indulgences, the profits not only funded the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica, but also his luxurious lifestyle. In the 1990s, televangelist Robert Tilton brought in tens of millions of dollars each year by exploiting the vulnerable and gullible. Today Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, and a host of others peddle the prosperity gospel to enrich themselves from their followers’ gifts.

The Prophet

The Prophet claims to be gifted by God to speak fresh revelation outside of Scripture—new, authoritative words of prediction, teaching, rebuke, or encouragement. In reality, though, he is commissioned and empowered by Satan for the purpose of misleading and disrupting Christ’s church. John offered an urgent warning about him. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Christians must “test the spirits” to determine if they originate with the Holy Spirit or with a demonic spirit. Later, John declared that God has spoken fully and finally in Scripture and offered the most solemn warning against anyone who claims to bring revelation equal or contrary to Scripture. “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

The Prophet appears throughout the history of the church. As early as the second century, Montanus and his disciples claimed to speak on behalf of the Holy Spirit. In the nineteenth century, Joseph Smith claimed to receive The Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni. Today the airwaves are chock-full of people claiming to speak in the name of God through the power of the Spirit. Personal prophecies are just a phone call away. Sarah Young, author of the top Christian bestseller of the decade, boldly claims that her book contains the very words of Jesus. The Prophet continues to speak, to lead astray.  Continue reading

 

 

Judge OK’s Petition for America’s First ‘Genderless’ Person

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According to Heatstreet:

A Portland student has become the first American to gain legal designation as “genderless”, following a ruling by a Multnomah County judge.

The March 10 decision, reported for the first time on Thursday, involved a 27-year-old who was born male but claimed to identify with no gender whatsoever. Judge Amy Holmes, who approved the petition, also last year approved a “non-binary” gender designation for another Portland resident.

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