Commentary, analysis and opinion.

Are Christian Ministries ‘Hate Groups’ for Believing the Bible?

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“Are groups who declare homosexual behavior and transgenderism sinful (based on the clear teaching of Scripture) “hate groups?” asks Ken Ham of Answers In Genesis. “Well, The Eliminate Hate Campaign (EHC), a new coalition in America made up of liberal, LGBTQ organizations, certainly thinks so. They’ve formed to “label socially conservative organizations that oppose transgender rights as hate groups” and “to draw attention to groups it sees as extreme and hateful against . . . LGBT people.”

So watch out, Christian, because you’re being targeted.  Here’s Ken’s piece:

“Hate Group”—An Arbitrary Designation

Of course, this immediately raises the question, “Who gets to decide what is extreme, hateful, or a hate group?” The EHC has arbitrarily made itself the authority by saying that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a hate group.

This ignores the obvious fact that many liberals and liberal organizations frequently spew hateful, demeaning, profanity-laced language toward those who disagree with them. (Just view some of the comments on my Facebook and Twitter, and you’ll quickly see what I mean!) Why are they not considered hate groups? It’s arbitrary to designate groups that stand against sinful behavior as “hate groups,” and it’s based on nothing but the coalition’s own values and beliefs. Ultimately it’s a symptom of the spiritual battle raging around us, because those who are “dead in trespasses and sin” (Ephesians 2:1) do all they can to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).

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Fighting the Politicized, Evidence-Free ‘Collusion with Russia’ Narrative

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According to Andrew C. McCarthy of National Review, the ‘Russian collusion’ scandal is completely manufactured. No question that the Russians hoped to influence the election outcome but no one can say whether they actually did, including former CIA director John Brennan who recently answered a slew of questions before the House Intelligence Committee. The end result? “After all this time and effort, Democrats are unable to show that Trump and his minions did anything wrong,” says former assistant U.S. attorney McCarthy. In a column he penned, he makes the case that there is not a smidgen of evidence that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians.  There is collusion, though — between the liberal media and the Democrats. More from McCarthy:

If police believe bank robbers were hoping for inside help on a heist, they don’t hold a press conference to smear the bank manager with their suspicions about “collusion.” They go about the quiet police work of building a conspiracy case. Unless and until they find concrete evidence and are ready to file formal charges, they keep their big mouths shut. Those rudimentary rules of the road are worth remembering when we consider the transparently political testimony of former Obama-administration CIA director John Brennan before the House intelligence committee on Tuesday.

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Planned Parenthood executives joke about decapitating fetuses in new video

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Bradford Richardson of Washington Times has the story:

Photo credit: Godspeak Calvary Chapel

Planned Parenthood executives joked about decapitated fetuses, admitted to altering abortion procedures to preserve fetal organs and said clinics have a financial incentive to sell human tissue in a new undercover video released Thursday.

The three-minute video was recorded at an annual National Abortion Federation meeting by pro-life investigators with the Center for Medical Progress. The advocacy group said it’s just a preview of never-before-seen content that has been sealed for almost two years due to legal fights.

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How deep and wide does the NAR rabbit hole go?

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On Wednesday we posted a piece over at Berean Research entitled “Who Are Family Research Council’s Watchmen On the Wall?” where BR revealed who these so-called watchmen are and what the Watchman on the Wall gathering is all about.  They did some more digging into pro-family groups, starting with the Family Research Council and what they discovered about this organization will come as a surprise to many of you. Thanks to their digging, those who’ve helped keep FRC in business by supporting them financially will learn where their money has been spent:

How do you discover which networks of Apostles are working together to reclaim America and build God’s Kingdom here on earth? You click. Just keep clicking, and clicking, and clicking some more, until things click. It takes time to research, and if you’re looking for an easy, bullet-point list of what I’m sharing in this report, you should put this aside for when you have time to investigate.

This morning I reported on the Family Research Council’s Watchman On the Wall meeting in Washington D.C., which continued today and features several NAR speakers who teach a different gospel.

After doing a little more digging on this Watchman organization, I found a disturbingly large network of ecumenical groups working together in what the New Apostolic Reformation calls the “Cultural Sphere of influence” in its 7 Mountain Mandate. (If you can take dominion of these seven spheres, you can activate Jesus’ return, as the modern Apostles teach.)

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Salman Abedi: How Manchester attacker turned from cannabis-smoking dropout to Isis suicide bomber

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In this piece over at The Independent, Lizzie Deardon reveals how a young man’s transformation to a murdering thug echoes those of Islamist terrorists across Europe. She writes:

Salman Abedi’s journey from cannabis-smoking university dropout to Isis suicide bomber is being gradually pieced together by investigators as Manchester reels from the worst terror attack to hit the UK in over a decade.

The 22-year-old was remembered as a “fun guy” who drank, took drugs and possibly had links with local gangs before appearing increasingly religious as his radicalisation deepened.

The same transformation has been documented in many of Europe’s deadliest terrorists, including petty criminals and drug dealers in the Isis “super cell” behind the Paris and Brussels attacks.

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Feeding Sheep Or Amusing Goats

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We discovered the following essay by Archibald Brown, who was a student and contemporary of Charles Spurgeon, in Apprising Ministries‘ archives. Brown expressed his view of entertainment in the Church and his words still ring true today:

Photo credit: Ken Silva

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil.

It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer 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 as the Puritans did, 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.

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Who are Family Research Council’s ‘Watchmen on the Wall’?

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Berean Research tells us who these people are and exposes their agenda:

Wouldn’t it be great if men and women who are dead in their sins would just stop being wicked and start respecting  professing Christians? At first blush, the idea of transforming America’s ever-sickening, vile culture sounds like a great plan. And giving pastors a support network of Watchmen on the Wall to help them fight the culture wars would be a really good thing, right?

In Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill, The Family Research Council is hosting a Watchman on the Wall National Briefing for pastors to transform America. FRC President Tony Perkins says this is not a political event, but a spiritual one. He’s invited dozens of guest speakers, including Harbinger and Shemitah author Jonathan Cahn, Bishop Larry Jackson (part of Apostle Rick Joyner’s MorningStar TV Network), Word of Faith prosperity preacher Jentezen Franklin, David Barton, Circle Maker author and pastor Mark Batterson, and radio host Dr. Michael Brown.  Click on the image for the full list of speakers:

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Don’t Judge Me!

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According to David Hutchison, Christians must identify certain behaviors as sinful and we must judge in at least three other senses which includes evaluating the teachings of those who claim to speak in the name of the Lord. He reminds us that “There are contexts in which Christians must judge, but we must judge justly.” Now to his piece over at Theology Matters:

Standing for biblical truth elicits many negative responses from those outside the church as well as from some within. This is not surprising since Jesus told His disciples that they would be hated on account of Him (John 15:18-19, 1 John 3:13). While we may simply shrug this off as part of the reality of life, what is more challenging to navigate is the suggestion that by using the word “sin” for certain activities, we violate Jesus’ command not to judge. In popular sentiment, “do not judge” means that one cannot say any behavior is wrong. This understanding is pervasive, but it is severely flawed.[1]

There are pitfalls of judging that we must avoid, but doing so does not mean we cannot call sin what God has called sin. In fact, if we refuse to do so, we act as God’s judge, claiming that our perspective on the situation trumps His own. Similar to the rejection of God’s testimony in 1 John 1:10 and 5:10, this is tantamount to calling God a liar. We must call sin, sin, but we must also remember that God knows all of the details of the situation. We never will, and we often lack key information. As John 7:24 notes, we must not judge by mere appearances but must make a just judgment. If we wish to do so, we are wise to listen well and listen long, remembering the folly of giving an answer too quickly (Proverbs 18:13).

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How to Combat Biblical Illiteracy in the Church

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“Two-thirds of young people are leaving the church largely because of unanswered questions about the Christian faith.” says Avery Foley of Answers In Genesis.  Foley has some good suggestions as to what we can do about this crisis in the visible Church. He writes:

Biblical illiteracy has become an epidemic across America. People, sadly including many professing Christians, simply don’t know what the Bible teaches and often hold to unbiblical or even heretical beliefs. For example, a recent study found that a mere 10% of Americans have a biblical worldview (despite 70% of Americans claiming the label of Christian). And the biblical teachings that the study considered part of a “biblical worldview” were the most basic of biblical beliefs, such as the personhood of the Holy Spirit or the existence of Satan. This study is a sad testament to the state of the American church.

What Can We Do?

What can parents, pastors, and Sunday school teachers do to combat biblical illiteracy? Here are a few ideas for how to instill a biblical worldview in the young people under your influence.

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Pastor talks to ‘God’ on the phone during church service

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“I actually have a direct line which I can call Him on and get instructions on how to proceed,” claims the man who goes by the name of Pastor Talent. “I got this when I was praying and I heard a voice telling me to call direct.” So now he calls God direct and they chat on the phone.  The Citizen has a video of this guy that you won’t want to miss. Here’s the story:

Pastor Paul Sanyangore of Victory World International has claimed to have a direct phone number to heaven, after a video of him talking on the phone during a church service emerged.

In the video, the pastor can be seen holding his cellphone and responding to God’s questions, he claims.

He calls a woman from the crowd, and as she kneels down, he then starts receiving instructions from “heaven”.

“Hello, is this heaven? I have a woman here, what do you have to say about her? Oh … I should ask her who is Sibo,” he asks “heaven”. The woman then responds telling him who the said person is.

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What does the Bible teach about abortion?

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Jesse Johnson of The Cripplegate offers eight biblical truths about abortion.  He writes:

1. The Bible teaches that a baby in the womb is alive, and is a person whom God is making. Those I know who have had an abortion all say this is the most critical issue for them. If they believed their fetus was a real person which an abortion would murder, then they would not have done it. But they all believed that at that point of development, what was inside of them doesn’t qualify as a person by their arbitrary standard.

First, it is important to note that a fetus is a human life. It is alive, and it is human, so there is really no other way to describe it (here is a graphic and info on a fetus at 12-weeks from a secular website, and it’s obviously a person). At 12 weeks, a baby has arms, fingers, eyes, and toes. He makes fists, faces, and all his organs are working, albeit still developing.

But the Bible says that before that point a fetus is a person. For example, King David declared:

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them (Psalm 139:15–16).

Before ultrasounds, David looked inside the womb and saw God at work. Before his frame was finished, God was at work, making him. God counted David as a person, with his days numbered, before he ever saw daylight.

This truth is not limited to David. Back when God introduced himself to Moses, who wrote the first book of the Bible, God asked: “Who has made man’s mouth? Is it not I?” (Exodus 4:11).

The mouth, by the way, is formed in week 6 of a baby’s life.

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Pastors, don’t be a jerk. Be a shepherd.

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Boyce College professor Denny Burk has a word of advice for pastors: A wise and courageous pastor will always remember the wisdom of Solomon when exhorting his people: “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, But the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Prov.12:18). A good pastor is not going to use his words like a sword but like a scalpel. A sword and a scalpel are both made for cutting. But a sword is for killing. A scalpel is for healing. Even in confrontation, a pastor’s aim is not to deliver the coup de grâce but to heal.

Listen as Denny Burk offers appropriate ways for a pastor to treat family members. He writes:

The venting of the proverbial spleen seems to be the order of the day from cable news to social media and sometimes even in interpersonal interactions. We like to hear someone who agrees with our views “tell it like it is,” especially if the telling involves a few zingers against people whose views offend us. We thrive on this kind of outrage because it appeals to our sense of self-righteous indignation. It feels oh so good to be oh so right. And there’s nothing quite as satisfying as dressing down “those people” who don’t agree with us.

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Watching Your Spiritual Diet

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According to Bible expositor Dr. John MacArthur, although Christians are supposed to be growing in Christlikeness, many are not. So Dr. MacArthur lays out the ways in which the believer can eat right and grow spiritually. He writes:

Most of us have known people whose bodies have not grown or matured properly. It’s sad to encounter people with cognitive handicaps, brain damage, or other developmental obstacles that have hindered their growth. Many of them remain locked in a child-like state—others tragically don’t progress even that far.

In a similar way, some Christians remain locked in a perpetual state of spiritual infancy. However, unlike those suffering with mental handicaps, Christians struggling with arrested spiritual development have no one to blame but themselves.

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The extreme teaching of Jennifer LeClaire

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In a piece entitled “LeClaire spills ink over ‘sneaky squid spirit’ attack?” Churchwatch Central (CWC) begins by telling us that their article will show that Pentecostalism and charismaticism are enemies of each other.  CWC points out that the Pentecostal AOG in America condemned the New Order of the Latter Rain, an early charismatic movement, for one of six practices. An excerpt of the minutes of the Twenty-Third General Council is included.

And then they get to the point of their piece: Charisma Magazine senior editor Jennifer LeClaire is guilty of operating under the condemned practice. (CRN has reported on Jennifer LeClaire here.)

So with this background in mind, here’s CWC’s piece:

LEARNING FROM THE LAUGHABLE LECLAIRE

“After this squid spirit attacked my friend, I went to her home to help her battle it. The attack was severe, but when I laid hands on her and commanded the squid to be bound, the most violent symptoms would cease. Of course, when you stand in the gap, you often take a hit. That squid spirit started stalking me. I ended up with a migraine during the battle—a manifestation of that mind control spirit—and was attacked in my mind for days afterwards.”

Is she deceived enough to believe (alongside her NARismatic brethren) that this is a “sneaky squid spirit”? Or is she arrogant enough to think that she, (just like the Sons of Sceva), had the authority over “the squid to be bound.” She was even more deceived to think she could “stand in the gap,” a concept most Christians have of what Christ did on our behalf on Calvary. So her Messiah-like complex is also a major problem when it comes to exorcism. One only needs to read scripture to see what happened with the infamous sons of Sceva who were tricked by a demon to cast out entities by their own authority.

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Surrender or fight – our country is at stake

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich urges American’s not to surrender to the Left.  Following is an excerpt from a recent column he wrote:

We are today in a one-sided cultural civil war. The Left has picked the battlefield and defined the terms of engagement. If conservatives respond to this aggressive, sometimes violent hostility from the Left with confusion, uncertainty, and appeasement, we are guaranteed to lose the struggle to drain the swamp and reform Washington.

Further, surrendering will destroy America as we know it. Far from making America great again, we will have yielded our country to left-wing thugs, liars, and intimidators.

Now to his column:

Republicans, in particular the Trump administration, are approaching a historic decision that will shape America for generations to come.

The endless hostility of the Left, exemplified by violent fascists on college campuses, thugs in the streets, determined disrupters at town hall meetings, and the dishonest elite media are all part of their efforts to defeat the reforms and changes that President Trump was elected to implement.

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Research Claiming Sex-Change Benefits Is Based On Junk Science

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According to former transgender Walt Heyer, who says he has a passion to help trans people, “Research about transgender people is biased toward reporting success.” This is because LGBTQ studies “purposefully exclude anything that would reflect badly on their overblown trans agenda,” says Heyer. He writes:

Caitlyn Jenner has perfected the art of cashing in on each step of gender transition. A few short weeks before the release of his new book, Jenner acknowledges the boys are now gone. Adios to his life-long companions in gender reassignment surgery (known as bottom surgery).

Jenner is wealthy and can cash in on celebrity, but a large portion of the transgender population remains lost and unaccounted for. Did they die, detransition, or commit suicide?  All we know is the attempted suicide rate for transgender people has remained above 40 percent for many years.

Doctors jam trans kids with puberty blockers and trans adults with cross-gender hormones, then recommend irreversible genital surgery, all without having long-term systematic studies of the effectiveness of such invasive treatment. Parents of trans kids don’t have the benefit of trustworthy information on the probable outcomes of up to 90 percent of gender changers.

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Sheriff ordered to remove ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ decals

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Todd Starnes, host of Fox News & Commentary, has the story:

The peacemakers are not allowed to be blessed in Montgomery County, Virginia.

The sheriff was ordered on May 17 to remove decals bearing a portion of a well-known Bible verse from patrol cars.

The decal, which had been posted on vehicles in March, bore the words, “Blessed are the peacemakers…Matthew 5:9.”

“Our intent was, and still is, to honor our fellow brothers and sisters in law enforcement,” Sheriff C.H. Partin wrote in a statement to Fox News.

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Get Ready for the Pillorying of Pence

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Kyle Smith begins with this question: If Trump is ‘uniquely’ unfit, his critics should be just fine with ultra-normal Pence, right?

Um…No. Smith lays out what he believes will happen should Vice President Mike Pence become President of the United States. For example, “Pence will be labeled an extremist for being part of the American Christian majority. We’ll be told that Pence’s misogyny is even more outlandish than Trump’s because he declines to have boozy one-on-one dinners with women other than his wife.” In his piece over at National Review, Kyle Smith gives us the lowdown on what the Left has in store for Mike Pence. He writes:

Should Mike Pence become president, the Left will surely lead us in a national chorus of “Whew! Back to normal.” Correct? After all, our friends in the Democratic party have been saying for many months that President Trump is not normal, that he is uniquely unfit for office, that his brand of mendaciousness, volatility, poor character, and immaturity have no precedent in the Oval Office, that he is a Nazi sympathizer and even a fascist, that he is an extremist who exists outside the bounds of ordinary political disagreement.

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Brian Brodersen Now Promoting Contemplative Mysticism?

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According to Berean Research:

A new report says Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor Brian Brodersen is an active promoter of contemplative mysticism. Last November Brodersen led the Calvary Chapel split, quit his leadership position at the Calvary Chapel Association, and  announced he is establishing a new Calvary Chapel Global Network.

Today a new EmergentWatch news article reports that Brodersen is now actively promoting contemplative mysticism, that he is now not merely liking or sharing a post of a known contemplative – he himself is now an active promoter of contemplative practices. There is extensive documentation on the EW post, and I encourage you to visit the site and examine the evidence for yourself.

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David Gushee: Our ‘differences are unbridgeable’

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Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, makes the case that evangelicalism is facing a crisis over the issue of sexual immorality. “We are about to find out who is for real and who isn’t,” says Burk.  He writes:

David Gushee has a column at Religion News Service about Jonathan Merritt, Jen Hatmaker, and LGBT “inclusion” within the church. Gushee says that he exited evangelicalism 30 months ago, and since then he has concluded this:

I now believe that incommensurable differences in understanding the very meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the interpretation of the Bible, and the sources and methods of moral discernment, separate many of us from our former brethren — and that it is best to name these differences clearly and without acrimony, on the way out the door.

I also believe that attempting to keep the dialogue going is mainly fruitless. The differences are unbridgeable. They are articulated daily in endless social media loops.   View article →

Related:  It Is Not ‘Character Assassination’ For The Church To Be The Church

 

Dr. Michael Brown Ruins His Credibility on His Own Facebook Wall, Then Deletes All the Evidence

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Steven Kozar claims that Dr. Michael Brown lost all credibility on his Facebook wall by choosing to become a “cheerleader” for false teachers. Sadly, Dr. Brown, who is a highly regarded Bible scholar and host of The Line of Fire, has declined to compare the teaching of those who teach doctrines of devils (1 Tim 4:1) such as Jennifer LeClaire, Heidi Baker, Bill & Beni Johnson and others to Scripture.  Brown has been chided for appearing on the shows of two notorious false teachers, Benny Hinn and Sid Roth.

In this piece over at Messed Up Church, Steven Kozer lays out the evidence that Dr. Michael Brown really “stepped in it”:

On May 5th, 2017, Dr. Michael Brown interviewed Jennifer LeClaire on his call-in radio show “The Line of Fire,” and after the interview segment was finished Chris Rosebrough called the show to ask Dr. Brown some tough questions about Jennifer LeClaire and her “Sneaky Squid Spirit.” There was a brief and interesting exchange between the two men.

I (Steven Kozar) wrote a blog post about the exchange where I said this about Dr. Michael Brown: “He’s a hyper-charismatic cheerleader with a big microphone and a very gullible audience.” (Here’s the full blog post with audio of the “Sneaky Squid Spirit” exchange between Dr. Brown and Chris Rosebrough: Michael Brown Can’t Defend “Sneaky Squid Spirit”-Repeatedly Changes the Subject)

Dr. Brown decided to make light of my quote and garner support from his Facebook friends by posting this:

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We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us

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According to Steve McCranie of Leaving Laodicea, hidden sleeper cells have found a home in the visible Church. “These certain men have crept (pareisdúō) into the church unnoticed, or by stealth.  The word means to ‘enter in craftily, under cover of darkness, like a thief,'” says McCranie. “They, like a terrorist sleeper cell, blend in with the others waiting for a time to attack from the inside, from the unprotected underbelly of the church.  They are most sinister.”

So, what are we to do?

McCranie tells us who some of these wolves in sheep’s clothing are and offers his advice on what we must do to keep the Body of Christ a “glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle.” He writes:

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4 

Churchill once said, borrowing from an old African proverb, “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”  While there is much truth to that proverb, the opposite is also true.  “When the enemy is within, the enemies outside can hurt you.”  And they can hurt you bad.  Often permanently.

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False Converts Teaching False Doctrine Are Leading Professing Evangelical Christians Astray

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Just prior to his death in 2014, Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries took on what he referred to as Big Tent postmodern liberal Christianity in a piece entitled “Good Works Actually Extend From God.” And as always, Ken nailed it: 

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)

Labors in the Lord like this one here at Apprising Ministries would never have been necessary had the mainstream evangelical Christian community not decided to follow the mainline denominations, who’re now mortally wounded by adherence to the religious slavery of liberal theology. It was a serious error from which evangelicalism may indeed never recover.

Yet in His mercy, as the Internet started to gain more influence within Christendom, Jesus would begin to raise up a few initial ministries to pioneer the mission field of online apologetics and discernment ministry (OADM). Unfortunately self-righteous, and largely self-appointed, evangelical leaders chose to ignore these early watchmen.

Even so, over the past couple of decades—as God would begin calling His elect away from these false shepherds—He’s still graciously continued to try and reach them while spreading His truth through the work of a growing number of OADMs. At the same time Satan would launch his Christian counterfeit aka the Emerging Church (EC) via evangelicalism’s Leadership Network (LN).

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Dr. Michael Brown (Sort of) Approves of These ‘Fine Christians…’ Watch at your Own Risk!

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Steve Kozar over at Museum of Idolatry put together a video to show how false teachers such as Heidi Baker and Bill & Beni Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, CA use repetitive phrases and repetitive music to induce their audience into a trance-like state. You will see ordinary folks, who’ve been hypnotized, doing the most bizarre things imaginable, believing that the Holy Spirit is responsible for what they’re experiencing. Kozar begins with a warning to those who view the video that some might find what they see very disturbing.  Here’s what prompted the headline:

Recently, in an exchange on his Facebook page, Dr. Michael Brown was challenged (by Steven Kozar, Chris Rice and others) to call out these false teachers in order to protect his listeners from their very bad doctrine. False teachers like Jennifer LeClaire, Heidi Baker, Bill Johnson and Benny Hinn. Nobody suggested that Dr. Brown personally attack these people, but simply compare their teachings to Scripture. He repeatedly refused. Strangely,  he did not fully endorse them; instead he used vague generalizations like “as far as I know these are fine Christians.”  Dr. Brown wants to be respected as a very knowledgeable scholar and expert, but he continually expresses ignorance about the people and teachings from within his very own movement. Dr. Brown promotes these people on his own radio show, and he’s been a guest on Benny Hinn’s TV show.

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Loathing Sin & Grabbing for God’s Glory

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According to Eric Davis, the Lord Jesus came to deal with sin. He came to “make us see, loathe, and eradicate our inward sin, and see, love, and follow him.” He was not interested in “social justice, external humanitarian inspiration, or politico-social revolution,” says Davis.  So why is it that a large (and growing) number of professing Christians avoid the concept of sin?  And why do those who claim they’re followers of Jesus Christ choose to close their ears to what He taught on sin?

In this piece over at The Cripplegate, Eric Davis reveals what the One who spoke the universe into existence wants those He created to know about…sin:

It’s an alarming trend, especially in some of our younger generations. Many of us professing Christians cannot stand to hear the word. When we do, we cry foul. “It’s unloving,” “It’s toxic,” “It’s legalistic,” “It’s graceless.” We leave churches who speak of it. We ignore older saints who bring it up. We avoid authors who write about it. We harden our hearts when identified in our lives. I suppose we could call it something like “hamartiphobia”: a fearful repulsion of things like hearing teaching about sin, experiencing the exposure of our sin, and being confronted on our sin.

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