Commentary, analysis and opinion.

Founder of Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement Trashes Calvinism as ‘Garbage’

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“Mark Driscoll, who spent his life at Mars Hill preaching and defending Calvinism, actually says that he doesn’t hold to the five points of Calvinism because they’re “garbage” and “not biblical.” What’s interesting is that his doctrinal shift (a term that keeps popping up lately) didn’t happen until his fall.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  One of the most notable problems within the Young, Restless, and Reformed (YRR) New Calvinist movement is the tendency to be tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine…. Continue reading →

Better gear up for the 5 major changes coming to the Church (Reprise)

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FLASHBACK FRIDAY

This article by CRN managing editor Marsha West was first published May 25, 2015.

John Burton has written a piece titled “Ancient and Emerging: 5 Major Changes Coming to the Church.”  Before you get all excited, or maybe even concerned over those changes, you should know a bit more about Burton.  As it turns out he’s a “prophet” in the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement.   According to his blog, John Burton, he “has been developing and leading ministries for over 20 years and is a sought out teacher, prophetic messenger and revivalist. Burton has authored ten books, has appeared on Christian television and radio and directed one of the primary internships at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City.”

That Burton was associated with IHOP-KC could only mean that he has served under IHOP’s Pied Piper Mike Bickle.  I spent quite a bit of time researching Bickle for a piece I wrote and discovered his strong ties to the NAR or what some refer to as  Dominionism.  Also identified was his involvement with the Kansas City Prophets (KCP).  According to Pastor Ken Silva, the KCP:

brought grandiose claims that a ‘new breed’ of super prophets were beginning to arrive on planet earth who would change the world forever. These so-called prophets were a group of men that coalesced around a church known as the Kansas City Fellowship, pastored by Mike Bickle, that attracted a following of other likeminded churches in that region. (More on the KCP here)

It gets worse.  Mike Bickle believes that God speaks to him in an audible voice.  But here’s the kicker.  He has visited heaven – twice.  On one visit he told false teacher Bob Jones: Continue reading →

Beth Moore Labels Christians Against Homosexuality, ‘Hyper-Fundamentalists’

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“While some of us aren’t afraid of the term “fundamentalism,” for many evangelicals the term has a negative connotation. Essentially, Moore is insulting those of us who have a Biblical sexual ethic and is implying that we are all stuffy, KJV-only, kill-joys and party-poopers.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  In a continued social media meltdown, similar to the one that had the unstable and hysterical feminist take a break from Twitter back in May, Beth Moore labeled Christians explicitly opposed to homosexuality “hyper-fundamentalists.” Continue reading →

Does Beth Moore really believe that homosexuality – not just the behavior, but the identity and desire – is a deadly sin?

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“It is no secret that I have very serious concerns with Beth Moore. Many, many people do. Even if she were to (finally) make a strong and clear affirmation of what is truly a Christian sexual ethic on this issue, that would certainly be a welcome development but it would not allay the concerns with her poor hermeneutics, her allegorizing of scripture, her false claims of God speaking to her, her false claims of God giving her visions, and her endorsements of known false teachers. Those concerns are real and remain outstanding.”

(Justin Peters – Justin Peters Ministries)  I want to share my thoughts regarding Beth Moore’s blog post from July 6, 2019, in which she addressed her removal from her book, Praying God’s Word, (PGW) a 6 page section in which she described homosexuality as follows: Continue reading →

The Forgotten Facts about Michael Brown of Brownsville

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“While speaking at that Jerusalem gathering, Michael Brown proceeded to tell the attendees that “tonight,” that night, would be a “history-making” night insomuch as the Holy Spirit would descend in power and fire as earth-shaking and monumental as the literal day of Pentecost detailed in Acts, chapter 2. On a video of this speech in the presence of Israeli Messianic leaders including such leading scholars as Dr.  Arnold Fruchtenbaum who all witnessed the false prophetic predictions, Michael Brown went so far as to interpret the national disaster of forest fires destroying 20% of Israel’s reforested land as emblematic of the outpouring.” 

(Sandy Simpson – Deception In The Church)  Dr. Brown has been making the rounds of evangelical church gatherings and conferences presenting himself as an authority on Judaism and the truth of Scripture…. Continue reading →

Can We Slow The Speeding ‘Trans’ Train?

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“Once upon a time, when children were confused about gender, doctors adopted a “watchful waiting” protocol, knowing that the child’s confusion might be caused by trauma, unresolved emotional issues, other developmental struggles or family problems. There was reluctance to rush into prescribing puberty blockers to be followed by opposite sex hormones and then, mutilating surgery, all severe treatments with lifetime implications.” 

(Linda Harvey – Mission: America)  I have a dream.

In my dream, hundreds of parents, doctors, counselors, and pastors are protesting outside children’s hospitals throughout America. Continue reading →

An Open Letter to Beth Moore – Timeline of Events

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Michelle Lesley keeps us informed as to what has transpired since six Christian women published a letter to Beth Moore asking that she clearly state her view on homosexuality, as what she believes has “evolved” over the years. Under immense pressure, Beth has finally come out with a statement! Michelle shares her statement in the timeline. She writes:

Nearly three weeks ago, six Christian women (and nearly 500 subsequent signers) addressed An Open Letter to Beth Moore, asking five questions about her views on homosexuality:

  1. Do you believe homosexuality is inherently sinful?

  2. Do you believe that the practice of the homosexual lifestyle is compatible with holy Christian living?

  3. Do you believe a person who dies as a practicing homosexual but professes to be a Christian will inherit eternal life? Continue reading →

Living Out – A Follow-Up and Call to Further Action

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“Have all the objectionable resources that were exposed in your articles been removed from Living Out during the audit?  Answer: NO. Only two resources were removed and all of the resources quoted from the section above are presently live on their website. Although I trust that an audit is being carried out, this reckless and unbiblical teaching remains unedited for people to follow. (It is important to clarify that Sam Allberry does not have the sole authority to remove these resources.)” 

The above quote was taken from a June 6 piece written by Tom Buck. A few days ago I checked his blog over at Alpha & Omega Ministries to see if he had written a second follow-up. Nothing yet.

Many people are unaware of the controversy that erupted over some of the articles posted on Living Out (LO), a website owned by three professing Christians who experience same-sex attraction (SSA), namely Sam Allberry, Sean Doherty and Ed Shaw.  According to LO’s site, these men have a desire to “bring out into the open the questions and dilemmas that gay Christians can often face.” Continue reading →

Beth Moore: Calling Homosexuality a Sin is ‘Exceeding Scripture’

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Yet, in one of the rare situations where Beth Moore actually writes something biblically sound and true — a clear position on the sinfulness of homosexuality — she insists that she’s “exceeded Scripture.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  Beth Moore has been under fire lately after a group of female Bible teachers published an open letter to Moore urging her to clarify her doctrinal position on homosexuality. Moore insisted that her doctrinal views on homosexuality have not shifted over the course of her ministry. On page 279 of Beth Moore’s book, Praying God’s Word, originally published in 2009, Moore writes: Continue reading →

The Curious Mystical Text Behind Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Bid

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If you’re unfamiliar with A Course In Miracles, the Christian Research Institute published an essay “A Course In Miracles: Christian Glossed Hinduism For The Masses” that delves into the dangers of the Course. In short, the book “is a masterpiece of spiritual strategy. It claims to be a revelation from Jesus Christ Himself, and it is intelligently organized and simply written. It appeals to personal pride and can become almost addicting emotionally. It is carefully designed for radically restructuring a persons perception against Christian faith and toward New Age occultism.”

Columnist Sam Kestenbaum reveals that “the Christian Research Institute, ominously described the narrator of the Course as not divine at all, but “a demon cleverly impersonating Jesus” bent on turning a “person’s perception against Christian faith and toward New Age occultism.”  Ms. Schucman was hesitant. But with the encouragement of a colleague, William Thetford, she began to write. She came to believe the voice belonged to Jesus. Her spirit channeling unspooled over several years, culminating in a three-volume, 1,300-page tome. It was published in 1976 by the Foundation for Inner Peace.”

Here’s Kestenbaum’s piece over at The New York Times: Continue reading →

Pope Francis unleashes his inner pagan in Pan-Amazonian document laying foundation for ‘new’ Christianity

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“The document is fraught with references to “Mother Earth” while touting a “New Pentecost” based on the “diversity of religion and culture” in the Amazon region of South America that Francis sees as a template for the world.”

(Leo Hohmann)  Pope Francis has released the preparatory document for the Vatican’s upcoming Pan-Amazonian Synod in October, and it contains yet another window into the pope’s green-friendly worldview in which he subtlety and deceptively turns traditional, biblical Christianity on its head. Continue reading →

The Heart of the Difference Between Revoice Theology and Reformed Theology – the Sinfulness and Mortification of Sinful Desires

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“The Confession, and those who are opposed to Revoice and Side B Gay Christianity, view not only actual homosexual acts but desires to be properly sinful. We also regard part of the work of sanctification to consist of bringing these desires into subjection and mortifying them so they really diminish and die as the regenerate person is sanctified.”

(Andrew Webb – The Aquila Report)  At the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) General Assembly June 25-28, 2019, several speakers (the most prominent being self-proclaimed Gay PCA pastor Greg Johnson) took issue with the Nashville Statement on the grounds that it condemns a homosexual self-identity…. Continue reading →

Lauding Heretic, Eugene Peterson, Beth Moore Compares Him to Beethoven

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“An advocate of the now largely defunct Emergent Church, Peterson actually encouraged people not to read or study the Bible. Peterson created a Bible paraphrase that was as least like the Bible as humanly possible, because Peterson wanted people to avoid God’s Word as much as possible.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Beth Moore recently likened the author of The Message “translation” – perhaps the worst Bible translation in the history of mankind – to Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, and Ludwig von Beethoven. If you know anything about Bible translation, this is face-palmingly stupid. Continue reading →

Anti-Trump fever takes threatening turn

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“There was Antifa’s recent attack on Andy Ngo, a freelance journalist often associated with the pro-free thought cultural publication Quillette. At a demonstration in Portland, at which Trump was a focus of dispute, Antifa fighters beat up and milkshaked Ngo, apparently because he was there and he was not on their side.”

(Byron York – Washington Examiner)  The toxicity of the resistance to President Trump has risen in recent days, with the nation’s most respected newspapers publishing rationalizations for denying Trump supporters public accommodation and for doxxing career federal employees, while a journalist found himself under physical attack from the so-called anti-fascist group Antifa, which has stepped up its violent activities since Trump’s election. Continue reading →

God Is Good and Just When He Punishes People

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If He were to render our judgment, we’d all be doomed. If He faltered in His responsibility to punish us—criminals—He shouldn’t be commended for it. He would be a deficient God, one who can’t be trusted to do what is right. Even though I’d be included in His judgment, I would still have to acknowledge that to punish me would be the just and good thing to do. This is bad news. But here’s good news.

(Alan Shleman – Stand To Reason)  When my son trespasses into his sister’s room and takes something of hers, he’s violated our daughter’s trust and broken our family rules. He knows he’s done something wrong and now he’s in trouble. That’s why we punish him with some sort of discipline. Continue reading →

Adonai with female body parts?

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John Lanagan of The Word Like Fire begins with an apology:

Reader, I sincerely apologize for the title, and for having to present the quotes from Paul Young’s novel, Eve. Young’s false teaching and mother goddess first entered the visible church through his book, The Shack.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. (Hosea 4:6) Continue reading →

Matt Chandler & Other Evangelical Leaders Rejected TED Bloggers’ Pleas to Expose Harvest in 2012

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“I’m heartened that Chandler may be changing his tune. But I am underwhelmed by his response. The failure by Chandler and his unnamed colleagues left thousands at the mercy of a vicious wolf, including Mahoney and Bryant. These leaders should be cut to the heart right now and asking these men and others hurt by Harvest for forgiveness.”

(Julie Roys)   Former celebrity pastor, James MacDonald, has been fired. His sins have been splashed on national headlines. Every elder and senior leader at Harvest Bible Chapel (HBC) has resigned. And the church is scrambling to stay afloat.

But it all could have been prevented.

That’s according Ryan Mahoney and Scott Bryant, authors of The Elephant’s Debt (TED), a blog critical of Harvest and MacDonald. Continue reading →

This Is Not Your Grandparents’ Church

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Bethel Church in Redding CA, live worship (stage show) April 2019 – Youtube screenshot

“And here’s the sick irony: by driving off the elderly, they were driving off the people who, through their weakness, would bring a unique strength. They were driving off people who are necessary to the healthy functioning of a church.”

(Tim Challies)  One of the ugliest boasts of so many of the churches created during the era of the Church Growth Movement was this: This is not your grandparents’ church. This was a slogan they proudly broadcast on signs outside their churches multi-function ministry centers, a motto they printed on postcards and mailed to nearby homes. Just about every upper middle class neighborhood in North America got at least a few of these in the late 90s and early aughts. Continue reading →

Demise of LifeWay: Changing times or because they peddled heresy?

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“[A] movement was launched against LifeWay by comments construed as elitist towards its customers in 2014 by Ed Stezter in response to concerns over John Piper’s cozy comments to the Pope.”

(Ray Fava – NOQ Report)  It’s not the best of times to be a book store in 2019. Amazon crushed much of the competition. Still, LifeWay remained the retail branch of the Southern Baptist Convention until its announced closure of all of its stores back in March. The brand will continue to operate online…. Continue reading →

Bethel Redding singer Amanda Lindsey Cook’s Jesus as ‘Enlightened Master’?

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“Bill Johnson believes the miracles Jesus performed came about because He, as a man, and only as a man, had access to the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Johnson teaches that Christians should be capable of wondrous feats of healing and miracles due to our own relationship with the Holy Spirit.”

(John Lanagan – The Word Like Fire)  “Happy Good Friday everyone. I never know how to greet people on this day….a day we mark as a moment in time when the Enlightened Master seemed to descend into shadows.”[1] — Amanda Lindsey Cook

Enlightened Master? Continue reading →

Beth Moore Refuses to Denounce Homosexuality as Sinful

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“It appears that Moore has made a half-witted, half-hearted attempt to divert the focus of the question by giving the impression that she was answering the question without actually addressing the issue at hand. In her response, she refuses to directly answer the question, “is homosexuality a sin?” and instead, quotes a Scripture that does no mention homosexuality.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  Beth Moore has been under scrutiny for the last several weeks due to her outspoken advocacy for feminism and egalitarianism in the Southern Baptist Convention…. Continue reading →

The young are regarded as the most tolerant generation. That’s why results of this LGBTQ survey are ‘alarming’

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“Ellis is confident the younger generation can rise again as beacons of unbiased values. When numbers dipped a year ago for young males, GLAAD went to where male audiences consume content: video games. The advocacy group worked with the industry to introduce diverse characters and help shape attitudes.”

(Susan Miller – USA Today)  Young people are growing less tolerant of LGBTQ individuals, a jarring turn for a generation traditionally considered embracing and open, a survey released Monday shows. Continue reading →