Shack Author Says ‘I Want to Be More Like Oprah’

Warren B. Smith of Lighthouse Trails has the details:

Oprah Winfrey interviewed Shack author William Paul Young on July 9, 2017 on her Super Soul Sunday television program that was broadcast on her OWN network. Young and Oprah appeared to be like two peas in a New Age pod as they talked of child abuse, traded spiritual quips, and seemed to continually marvel at the other’s brilliant insights. At one point midway in their conversation, Young answered his own rhetorical question regarding where Jesus dwells—he stated that “Jesus dwells in our hearts.” His quick, authoritative response was consistent not only with Oprah’s longstanding New Age beliefs but also with The Shack’s “Jesus” who presented this same New Age heresy when he stated that God “dwells in, around, and through all things.” This false teaching is the foundational teaching of the New Age/New Spirituality/New World Religion. The Bible is very clear that God is not “in” everyone and everything.  View article →

Related:

Video — William P. Young on Oprah

Video — William P. Young on Oprah, part 2

H/T Roxanne Murphy Adams

Apologist James White Draws Concerns After Holding, Defending Interfaith ‘Dialogue’ at Church With Muslim Imam

Heather Clark of Christian News Network carefully lays out the details of a recent uproar among evangelicals over a debate between Christian apologist James R. White of Alpha and Omega Ministries and Yasir Qadhi, Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute.  The ticketed event, called “Christians and Muslims: Agreements and Differences,” was held at Grace Bible Church on Jan. 24. On his Facebook page Dr. White stated that he is thankful that Heather Clark “actually quoted from the dialogues, fairly, evenly, and then gave extensive quotes from what I’ve written since then.”

A well-known Reformed apologist, elder and professional debater is drawing concerns after presenting, and continuing to defend, an interfaith dialogue event at a Mississippi church with a Muslim imam, which he says was meant to help Christians and Muslims engage in conversation and to “get along without compromise.”

Some objectors, while noting that they support dialoguing with and evangelizing Muslims, do not believe that it was proper to give an unconverted Muslim any type of platform during a special event hosted at a church, and feel that many of the imam’s statements should not have gone unchallenged.

“I’m totally in favor of having an accurate view of what they believe,” Andy Woods, the senior pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church in Texas and president of Chafer Theological Seminary in New Mexico, told Christian News Network. “Working out our differences and sitting down and making sure we understand each other is one thing, but giving someone a platform at a church is a different matter.”

View article →

Correction: When we posted this piece we stated that the event was paid.  We apologize for the error. The event was not paid, it was ticketed. 

Civil Religion–The Chief Rival of Biblical Christianity in America?

Does confusing Christ’s kingdom with civil religion open the door to exchange the truth of Christianity for what amounts to a false religion, “one in which faith in the national interest eclipses the primary allegiance a Christian owes to Jesus Christ and his word.” According to Pastor Kim Riddlebarger, who is co-host of the White Horse Inn:

One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations Christians face during their pilgrim journey is the allure of civil religion.  James Davison Hunter defines civil religion as a “diffuse amalgamation of religious values that is synthesized with the civic creeds of the nation; in which the life and mission of the church is conflated with the life and mission of the country.  American values are in substance, biblical, prophetic values; American identity is, thus, a vaguely Christian identity.” (1)  Civil religion often functions as an alternative public religious framework for many professing Christians, especially those who accept the “Christian America” myth, or who find exclusive Christian truth claims too controversial to play any significant role in the public square.

View article →

Papal Advisers Bash American Christians in Bigoted Screed

According to Thomas D. Williams, the “sweeping generalizations” of papal advisers and their “lack of familiarity with the complex religious landscape in the United States prompts concern about the quality of advice that Pope Francis is receiving from close advisers.”  Williams has the details:

In a peculiar, rambling essay, papal adviser Father Antonio Spadaro SJ has caricatured white southern evangelicals as well as conservative American Catholics as ignorant, theocratic, Manichean, war-mongering fanatics anxiously awaiting the apocalypse.

It is “these religious groups that are composed mainly of whites from the deep American South” that push conflicts and justify belligerence, while favoring the Old Testament “rather than be guided by the incisive look, full of love, of Jesus in the Gospels.”

The article appeared in both Italian and English in the Vatican-vetted journal La Civiltà Cattolica, of which Father Spadaro is editor-in-chief. In it, the Jesuit priest says that U.S. Evangelicals and Catholics have engaged in “an ecumenism of conflict” that seeks to advance “a theocratic type of state.”

View article →

See our Research Paper on Roman Catholicism

David Jeremiah: ‘Appreciates Sarah Young and Jesus Calling’

So, is it time we “mark and avoid” this popular pastor, teacher and author?  Christians who are of the opinion that Dr. David Jeremiah can be trusted couldn’t be more wrong as you will see in this piece from Berean Research:

Pastor David Jeremiah recently worked with JesusCalling.com to produce a podcast titled, Keeping Hope In A Darkened World. In addition to promoting his new book, the pastor also promoted Sarah Young, the author of the Jesus Calling books, studies, devotionals, calendars, and coloring book.  The transcript of the interview regarding his admiration for the multi-million dollar Jesus Calling empire is as follows:

Narrator: “As a pastor and a teacher, Dr. Jeremiah advocates daily prayer and scripture reading. He appreciates how Sarah Young has helped many with their prayer lives through the words of Jesus Calling.”

View article →

Hank Hanegraaff Must Step Down After Converting to Eastern Orthodoxy: CRI Founder’s Family

The following article by Stoyan Zaimov of Christian Post is posted for informational purposes and not as an endorsement of CP.  Zaimov’s story contains an interview with Jill Martin Rische, the spokesperson for most members of Dr. Walter Martin’s family, where she reveals that they’re requesting that Hank Hanegraaff leave his leadership post at Christian Research Institute (CRI.) As of this writing, daughter Cindee Martin Morgan has not called for Hank to step down.  In May, Morgan stated her view of the controversy in a piece titled “Christians Are Jumping to ‘Shameful Conclusions’ About Bible Answer Man’s Conversion to Orthodoxy, Says Daughter of CRI Founder.”

CRN has reported on Hank’s conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy since the news broke in April. You can follow the story here.

Now to Stoyan Zaimov’s piece:

Family members of Dr. Walter Martin, founder of the Christian Research Institute, are calling on current CRI president Hank Hanegraaff to step down due to his conversion from evangelicalism to Eastern Orthodoxy.

A majority of the family members have signed a statement asking the “Bible Answer Man” to leave his leadership post.

Jill Martin Rische, the eldest daughter of Dr. Martin and who leads Walter Martin Ministries alongside her husband, Kevin Rische, told The Christian Post in a phone interview on Thursday that she and many other evangelical Christians were “shocked an [sic] surprised” when Hanegraaff was formally received into the Eastern Orthodox Church back in April.

She argued that Hanegraaff has since been teaching a blend of Eastern Orthodoxy and evangelical Christianity on the “Bible Answer Man” show, which she called “fundamentally dishonest.”   View article →

Related:

Christians Are Jumping to ‘Shameful Conclusions’ About Bible Answer Man’s Conversion to Orthodoxy, Says Daughter of CRI Founder

Bible Answer Man Renounces Evangelical Christian Faith

[Added 7/16/17] Walter Martin’s daughter, Cindee Martin Morgan, was accused by Dr. Martin’s eldest daughter of being “untruthful” in her article at Christian Post in May. Cindee and her husband Rick created a video response in order to allow Walter Martin’s own words to show that Cindee was neither untruthful, or mistaken. View the video here

See CRN’s excellent Research Paper on the Roman Catholic Church

 

Group of Religious Leaders, False Teachers Surround and Lay Hands on President Trump

According to Christian News:

Rodney Howard-Browne Facebook photo

A group of religious leaders, including several known for their false teachings, appeared in the oval office on Monday, where they surrounded President Trump and laid hands on him.

Rodney Howard-Browne, known for the “Holy Laughter Movement” and his claim of being a “Holy Ghost bartender,” said that he had been asked by prosperity preacher Paula White, who reportedly serves as a spiritual advisor to the president, to pray over Trump.

“Yesterday I was asked by Pastor Paula White-Cain to pray over our 45th president,” he wrote on Tuesday in sharing several photos of the occasion to Instagram. “[W]hat a humbling moment standing in the Oval Office, laying hands and praying for our president—supernatural wisdom, guidance and protection. Who could ever even imagine. Wow. We are going to see another great spiritual awakening.”

View article →

Actually, Eugene Peterson Does Not Support Same-Sex Marriage

Earlier today we posted “Eugene Peterson’s Error Isn’t About Gay Weddings” to inform you that Eugene Peterson stated in an interview with Jonathan Merritt of Religion News Service that he had changed his mind on same-sex marriage — he’s all for it. Now we learn from Christianity Today, (CT), a site we do not endorse, “LifeWay Christian Stores had reached out to “confirm with Eugene Peterson or his representatives that his recent interview on same-sex marriage accurately reflects his views.” Had Peterson indeed shifted on the issue, America’s largest Christian retail chain would have stopped selling his books, which include dozens of versions of The Message as well as A Long Obedience in the Same Direction and The Pastor.”

Now to the Kate Shellnutt’s report:

A day after a Religion News Service interview portrayed retired pastor and author Eugene Peterson as shifting to endorse same-sex marriage, the evangelical leader retracted his comment and upheld the traditional Christian stance instead.

“To clarify, I affirm a biblical view of marriage: one man to one woman. I affirm a biblical view of everything,” he said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Peterson, best known for creating The Message Bible, also regrets the “confusion and bombast” in the fallout of his remarks, which were widely shared and commented on online yesterday.

View article →

Getting wasted with the Holy Spirit at Bethel Redding

In part 2 of a series Holly Pivec of Spirit of Error penned on Bethel Redding’s Firestarters course, we were alerted to Bethel Church’s attempt to draw people into the world of the occult by teaching participants how to “burn with passion for God.” In this installment Pivec reveals that students were taught to imagine themselves holding a huge bottle of wine and encouraged to “get drunk.”  This is no joke, brethren.  She witnessed this bizarre behavior and shares what she saw:

When I recently attended the Firestarters adult Sunday School class at Bethel Church in Redding, California, I was shocked by the teacher’s announcement at the start of the class. “There are only three rules in this class. Rule 1: Get drunk. Rule 2: Stay drunk. Rule 3: Get other people drunk.”

View article →

 

The Dark Secret in America That Threatens Kids

According to Dr. Meg Meeker of LifeZette, there is an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases among teens.  Yet ‘Teen Vogue’ and other popular magazines relentlessly push sex on young people. Dr. Meeker has the story:

When I see magazines, movies, or television shows that market sex to kids, I go ballistic.

Here’s why: There is a dark secret in America that is threatening our kids about which most parents and teens don’t know: Our youth are living with an unprecedented epidemic of sexually transmitted infections.

That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet if your teen reads magazines, watches television, or streams movies — he will never know this.

How bad is it? Let me give you a few solid medical facts.

View article →

Eugene Peterson’s error isn’t about gay weddings

Berean Research examines what’s behind Eugene Peterson’s change of mind on homosexual marriage:

Stop the presses: Another progressive Christian pastor is “gay affirming.”

Well, it’s not exactly surprising that “The Message” author and retired pastor Eugene Peterson would announce that he has changed his mind on homosexual marriage and would perform a “gay wedding” in his own church.

The real news is that this really isn’t about same sex marriages, or even homosexuality. The error is much bigger than that.

First, the hullabaloo: Folks are talking about a Religion News Service article penned by progressive Jonathan Merritt, in which Peterson states:

“I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian and they seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do. I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over. People who disapprove of it, they’ll probably just go to another church. So we’re in a transition and I think it’s a transition for the best, for the good. I don’t think it’s something that you can parade, but it’s not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.”

View article →

Global Leadership 2017 doubles down on carnality

Bill Hybels’ claims his vision is for a better life and a better world. According to Berean Research, Hybles’ mission misses the point, as it completely takes the focus off of Christ:

On Aug. 10-11, 2017, hundreds of church host sites in North America along with telecast centers in over 100 nations world-wide will tune in to the 2017 Global Leadership Summit, hosted by founder Bill Hybels of Willow Creek church in greater Chicago.  That means a wide swath of pastoral and church leadership will hear how to lead their churches through following Christ and biblical principles worldly, non-Christian leadership authors, social justice organizations, and corporate gurus from Facebook and Google. When we call these leaders non-Christian, let’s be honest and call them “enemies of the Gospel,” which God’s Word says they are. (Luke 11:23 and James 4:4)

View article →

Yet Another One –An Undiscerning Believer– Is Being Deceived!

Lois Putnam of Learn to Discern Granny has a quote from Roger Oakland women should heed“In fact, in many churches … books replace the Bible altogether.  Rather than teach verse-by-verse … the leader of the women’s study teaches page-by-page through a book that is very appealing to the flesh and provides additional revelation to the Bible.  When a discerning woman in the study goes to the pastor and expresses her concerns, she is often chided for being divisive, or her concerns are totally overlooked.” Putnam offers some good advice to women and men alike:

Not long ago a dear friend wrote me an e-mail that she titled: “Yet Another One.”  In her note she wrote that a former pastor’s wife had just messaged many on Facebook touting “Jesus Calling.”    Now this seasoned pastor’s wife seemed to have absolutely no clue, or discernment, that there were any problems with Sarah Young’s devotional Jesus Calling.  Sadly, she had never read Warren Smith’s classic critique: Another Jesus Calling.

View article →

I’m a Pediatrician. How Transgender Ideology Has Infiltrated My Field and Produced Large-Scale Child Abuse.

Michelle Cretella is the pediatrician.  In a piece over at The Daily Signal, Dr. Cretella, who is a board member and researcher for the American College of Pediatricians, reveals what pediatricians who don’t go with the flow are up against. For one thing, “The transgender movement has gained legs in the medical community and in our culture by offering a deeply flawed narrative. The scientific research and facts tell a different story.”

Read it and weep.

Transgender politics have taken Americans by surprise, and caught some lawmakers off guard.

Just a few short years ago, not many could have imagined a high-profile showdown over transgender men and women’s access to single-sex bathrooms in North Carolina.

But transgender ideology is not just infecting our laws. It is intruding into the lives of the most innocent among us—children—and with the apparent growing support of the professional medical community.

As explained in my 2016 peer reviewed article, “Gender Dysphoria in Children and Suppression of Debate,” professionals who dare to question the unscientific party line of supporting gender transition therapy will find themselves maligned and out of a job.

View article →

The Fight for Charlie Gard’s Life: Maybe Doctors Aren’t Right

Dr. Meg Meeker believes that Charlie Gard’s parents, who live in Great Britain, should have the final say over their son, not gov’t bureaucrats or faceless “experts.” Charlie’s story has made headlines, even in America, and it’s a very troubling story indeed. Here’s how Dr. Meeker tells it in a post over at LifeZette:

Charlie Gard’s parents are embroiled in the fight for their son’s life and — importantly — the fight for their right to be parents.

Diagnosed with a rare mitochondrial disease, a condition that disables the cells of the body from functioning adequately, little Charlie — who is not yet a year old — has been on life support. And the British courts, not his parents, are assuming responsibility for his life.

View article →

Transgender Men in Women’s Showers Must Get ‘Dignity and Respect,’ Says U.S. Army

According to Breitbart:

Female soldiers must give “dignity and respect” to transsexual men who join them in their shared shower rooms, according to training manuals leaked by soldiers in a mandatory class.

But this “dignity and respect” is a one-way street, according to the training slides, which were developed by officials working for former President Barack Obama. “Transgender Soldiers are not required or expected to modify or adjust their behavior based on the fact that they do not ‘match’ other Soldiers,” according to the slides, which were first leaked by TheFederalist.com:

View article →

Trump’s Warsaw Speech a Coup for Poles, Disaster for Eurocrats

Edmund Kozak of Lifezette covers what some are calling President Trump’s “Reaganesque” speech:

President Donald Trump delivered a speech Thursday in Warsaw, Poland, sure to boost the anti-globalist ruling government of the eastern European nation — and undercut his EU critics.

“The Polish experience reminds us — the defense of the West ultimately rests not only on means but also on the will of its people to prevail,” Trump said before a huge crowd at Warsaw’s Krasinski Square.

“Your oppressors tried to break you, but Poland could not be broken,” he continued.

View article →

Fracturing the Rock of St. Peter: Pope Francis and ‘Doctrinal Anarchy’ in the Catholic Church

The brouhaha is over Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia, where the pontiff declared that divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can now receive Holy Communion. The RCC has always considered divorced/remarried Catholics to be living in a state of adultery and because adultery is a sin against God, they were not allowed to take communion. According to Jonathan Kleis of Reformissio, “A key problem is that the Pope’s own position on this issue has been ambiguous. Although last year he backed an Argentine bishops’ directive advocating support for giving Holy Communion to some remarried divorcees and, a few months ago, wrote a letter thanking Maltese bishops for their guidelines on interpreting the document, he has yet to state an official position…”  So now things are starting to get ugly.  Kleis writes:

Trouble is brewing in Rome. As I wrote a while back about the fractures developing in the foundation of the Catholic Church over the interpretation of Pope Francis’s Amoris Laetitia, the situation has only become worse. Not only have requests for clarification gone unheeded, but talk has now begun of “doctrinal anarchy” as regional conferences of bishops around the world have been issuing contradictory guidelines for the admission of divorcees to the sacraments. In an article posted on the National Catholic Register, Edward Pentin writes:

View article →

See our Research Paper on Roman Catholicism

Keeping Freedom, and Growth, in the Fourth

The government works for us, not the other way around.

By Larry Kudlow

What is the Fourth of July? It’s a wonderful time. We’re outdoors. We’re with family and friends. We’re playing golf or fishing. There are barbecues and baseball and fireworks and all that good stuff. And beneath it all, supporting it all, there is freedom. Freedom. The Fourth of July is about freedom, if nothing else. America’s freedom, of course. But a freedom that extends to all people. One that leads to greatness and prosperity. A freedom that has become the backbone of the world. I would like to take a moment this holiday to revisit the sources of that freedom. They were outlined so eloquently in perhaps the greatest document ever written, the Declaration of Independence. And they’re as crucial now as they were 241 years ago. It’s a well-known story. Back in 1776, the Continental Congress sought freedom from tyranny. They said, “We’re revolting against a British monarchy and parliament that doesn’t represent us. We’re rebelling against laws we don’t control and are capricious to say the least.”

To formalize this revolt, the congress formed a committee of five. Chosen were Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingstone (New Jersey), John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Roger Sherman (Connecticut). A pretty spiffy group of thinkers and writers. Their task was to draft a statement of independence — although what they came up with was so much more. Their document, “The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,” was adopted on July 4, 1776, after days of debate and revision. The document begins: “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

I’d like to underscore the civility of that opening. This document is an example of civility. The great American revolt was a defense of the right of discussion. Civil discourse. Respectful disagreement.

View article →

Dr. Michael Brown Says Friends Mike Bickle and Lou Engle ‘True Men of God’ (Reprise)

In 2014 the late Ken Silva expressed his concern over Dr. Michael Brown’s promotion of NAR false teachers Mike Bickle (who was recently permanently disqualified) and Lou Engle. CRN is re-posting a blog post he wrote as a reminder that Dr. Brown has been criticized for his connection to and defense of wolves in sheep’s clothing for quite sometime. “The point of this piece,” stated Silva, “is simply to archive and document this for you because the pages containing these kinds of admissions often seem to vanish.”  No surprise there. “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. John 3:20

Ken Silva did a brilliant job of exposing and documenting the wicked things people do. With this backdrop in place, here’s Ken’s article:

Concerning Mike Bickle, the International House Of Prayer’s false Kansas City prophet and purveyor of New Apostolic Reformation/Latter Rain doctrine, Apprising Ministries recently told you that Francis Chan Is Wrong For Endorsing NAR Teacher Mike Bickle.

Then yesterday I pointed out that Dr. Michael Brown, host of The Line of Fire radio program and widely respected theologian in many charismatic circles, has come to the defense of the indefensible: Dr. Michael Brown Defends Word Faith Heretic Benny Hinn.

That post featured Brown’s spirited Twitter exchange with Steve Camp, pastor-teacher of The  Cross Church, who correctly took Brown to task for his conduct on the television program of Benny Hinn. It’s beyond question that Hinn’s a notorious Word Faith (WF) preacher.

Yet on Facebook Brown had already posted the following: Let’s just say that Benny Hinn was as bad as some of you say. Why shouldn’t I reach his audience with gospel truth for five days, even if it means some people will be upset with me? (Just more food for discussion!) (source)

It would seem from this that Michael Brown doesn’t believe Benny Hinn is “as bad as” critics e.g. like Watchman Fellowship have previously pointed out. ((http://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/bennyhinnprofile.pdf, accessed 1/14/14.)) Well, here’s a clip from Benny Hinn’s You Tube page published this past December 24 featuring Hinn with so-called “prophetess” Juanita Bynum.

Hinn’s intro to this video tells us:

Bynum has become an example of inspiration, hope, and new life to men and women around the world. She has turned her humble beginnings into an inspirational and philanthropic empire for educating, equipping and empowering people from all walks of life.

Her bestselling books include Matters of the Heart, My Spiritual Inheritance, Threshing Floor, and No More Sheets. On this powerful broadcast, Dr. Bynum reveals the fresh word that God has been showing her about the coming days. Get ready to feel the igniting of your heart as you hear about promotion, favor, and increase during 2014! (source)

Watch as Hinn marvels at WF flake Bynum’s absolute spiritual gibberish concerning the “anointed” prayer shawls he’s selling offering. You tell me if Hinn’s changed. I personally think it’s sad that Dr. Michael Brown apparently can’t see through hucksters like Benny Hinn:

Video removed [mejsvideo src=”https://www.apprising.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BHinnBynum2013.mp4″ width=640 height=360]

But this video still remains:  Watch the moment Benny hinn prayed for Juanita Bynum to receive the prophetic ??

Unfortunately, you’re about to see that it gets even worse for whatever credibility Brown may have left. He also wanted us to know that his NAR dominionist friends Mike Bickle of IHOP and Lou Engle of TheCall are preachers to follow and that the Brownsville Revival was a true move of God:

I know it’s late, but for those of you who are still up, here’s a quick question (meant honestly): How many of you are fine with my friendship with men like Mike Bickle, Lou Engle, and Reinhard Bonnke (whom I believe to be true men of God), and my involvement in and endorsement of the Brownsville Revival (which I believe to be a wonderful move of the Spirit), but you’re just concerned about my appearing on Benny Hinn’s TV show? (source)

The point of this piece is simply to archive and document this for you because the pages containing these kinds of admissions often seem to vanish. So, in closing this for now, for more information on false prophet/quasi-apostle Mike Bickle I refer you to the Mike Bickle – I.H.O.P. page of Apostasy Watch (no longer online).

As it concerns Bickle, who’s now crossing over into the mainstream, Christian apologist Bob DeWaay has already informed us:

IHOP president and director Mike Bickle…claims that Jesus cannot return until something drastically changes in the church: “He is not coming any day. He is not coming until the people of God globally are crying out in intercession with a bridal identity under the anointing of the Spirit.” If you do not understand what he means by that it is likely because you have read the Bible literally and have never found anything regarding a special anointing that imparts a revelation of a “bridal identity.”

In fact, much of Bickle’s terminology will be strange and foreign to most Christians… Bickle’s movement is based on allegorized scripture, deeper life pietism, and mysticism, representing a slightly modified version of the heretical Latter Rain movement of the 1940s. Bickle claims that he began his ministry through the hearing of an audible voice of God in 1983 that told him to start 24-hour prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of David.

He further claims that he erected a sign to that effect and that he himself did not even know what prayer in the spirit of the tabernacle of David was, despite that God had told him to establish it. It turns out that it is “prophetic singing prayers.” Once they figured out what it was, IHOP was born. (source)

The Significance of Youth-Filled Stadiums: Revisiting the Old Latter Rain Prophecy in Light of Current Events from Herescope is a good place to get started with what NAR Apostle Lou Engle is about. You may recall I showed you Engle is also moving closer to the mainstream as well in Louie Giglio, Passion 2013, And Jesus Culture.

Here’s an example of Lou Engle in action from August of last year. Notice that this false prophet of the New Apostolic Reformation is with spiritual wingnut Patricia King:

Video removed [mejsvideo src=”https://www.apprising.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Engle.mp4″ width=640 height=360]

But there’s this video: False NAR Prophet Lou Engle w/Patricia King of XP Media

Finally, G. Richard Fisher and M. Kurt Goedelman of Personal Freedom Outreach will fill you in on The Murky River of Brownsville: The Strange Doctrine of the Pensacola Revival (no longer available). It’s important to note that Dr. Michael Brown was a leader in ((http://www.fire-school.org/author/drmlbrown/, accessed 1/14/14.)) as well as an apologist for, this so-called revival. ((http://www.equip.org/articles/the-counterfeit-revival-part-three/, accessed 1/14/14.))

While these spiritual shenanigans  were still going on [circa 1997] Fisher and Goedelman brought out:

Within Pentecostal circles in the early 1900s and beyond, “Azusa Street” became a catch phrase describing what some regarded as a powerhouse move of God. Now, nearly a century later, recent events at an Assembly of God church in Florida’s panhandle are receiving similar fanfare…

This “revival” is being heralded as “A River is Flowing” and a place to “meet the God of the Universe face to face.” Praise for it has even been proclaimed from the very top of the denomination [the AoG] that represents the largest body of Pentecostals…

There are two dominant human agents of the revival. The first includes the pastor of the Brownsville congregation, the Reverend John Kilpatrick… The second key player in Pensacola is the Reverend Stephen Hill who is ordained as a Missionary Evangelist with the Assemblies of God…

Despite the warnings against those with critical spirits, the Brownsville team strives to at least present a veneer that their doctrine and practice are biblical. Hill recently stated:

“We have a theologian, by the way, on our staff. Michael Brown, who is a theologian. He debates rabbis all over the world. Those of you who have a problem about anything write Michael Brown, Brownsville Assembly. He’ll blow you away, friend. He’ll give you Scripture for everything that’s going on. But I don’t have to have a Scripture every time a man’s hand twitches. I’m sorry, if you’ve got to have a Scripture if a man’s hand twitches.”

In spite of Hill’s challenge, members of the Brownsville staff are not always able to provide an answer for what they say from the pulpit… Is this a “revival” to end all “revivals” — the mother of all revivals? Its doctrine and practice says simply that it is the Church tapping into a new emotionalism and new heights of mysticism, the paranormal and entopic phenomenon. (source)

Someone needs to explain to Dr. Michael Brown that slander refers to the spoken word; libel concerns the written word. Unfortunately for him, he will have no success trying to refute the factual information I’ve presented above:

Brown-Silva (source)

You should also know that in The Raging River Of Brownsville: PFO Responds to Michael L. Brown’s Attack of the Critics of the Pensacola Revival (no longer available) Fisher and Goedelman would later engage with Brown’s critique of Brownsville critics. What they wrote is really rather revealing:

Dr. Michael L. Brown rightly could be called the critic of the critics. His nickname of “knock ‘em down Brown” (acquired a number of years ago by his ability to “slay in the Spirit”) could easily be retooled to describe his response to the critics of the Pensacola-based church where he is resident theologian.

He is super-critical of anyone who expresses more fault than flattery of the purported revival and its manifestations occurring at the Brownsville Assembly of God in Florida. Brown’s book, Let No One Deceive You, is just one of the many items being promoted and marketed as a result of this “latter-day revival.”

In it he suggests that the doctrine and practice of the “Pensacola Outpouring” is biblical and of God. However, some of the troublesome things, like the false declarations of Pastor John Kilpatrick and Evangelist Stephen Hill and the bizarre manifestations, are conveniently passed or glossed over.

Brown is harsh and combative, to say the least, and is a mirror image of Brownsville’s harsher critics. In reality, his tone far exceeds that of most of the critics of the alleged “outpouring.” Name-calling and damnation, absent from the vast majority of revival evaluations, are readily present in Brown’s writing…

Let No One Deceive You is saturated with insulting language. Critics are referred to in the Preface as “critical, religious, fault-finding, ministry nobodies.”… Brown has a way of turning Scripture on its head. He takes a perspective and then makes the Bible conform to it. (source)

As one who was saved in a charismatic church, and has been documenting for you evangelicalism’s move away from sola Scriptura, I can tell you that this would all be par for the course. Too many people today are running around claiming direct revelations from God and then making Scripture conform to their fickle feelings.

Ken Silva’s 2014 article is published here.

CRN has compiled a list of false teachers and several other professing Christians we’ve warned you about over the years. The list also contains those we must keep an eye on plus movements, organizations and “frauds, phonies and money-grubbing religious quacks” to mark and avoid as per Romans 16:17-18 such as those mentioned in the article.

Join Marsha West on Facebook and MeWe

C3 San Diego pastor endorses ‘The Shack’

Why this warning, why this article? A few days ago Jurgen Matthesius, senior pastor of C3 San Diego, announced his support for “The Shack” in an Instagram. Over the years Churchwatch Central has done a stellar job warning the sheep about dangerous sects and movements that claim to be Christian including C3 churches. In their latest report they included a piece by noted Christian apologist Matt Slick where he details why the blockbuster book and movie must be avoided at all costs:

“There is a famine in the land, and Christian discernment is dying.  The book “The Shack” is a feel-good fictional story about a man named Mack whose daughter is murdered.  Mack subsequently has an encounter with God in a shack in the woods, and through this meeting, he’s healed emotionally and spiritually.  Sound good?  Of course it does.  The only problem is the many false doctrines laced throughout the book.

Instead of describing God as the Majestic Supreme Being that He is, The Shack dumbs Him down and reshapes Him into a feel-good figure.  God the Father who, according to the Bible, cannot be seen (John 6:46; 1 Tim. 6:16), appears in the form of an African-American woman named “papa” (p. 86–talk about gender confusion) who has scars on his wrist (p. 95).  Wrong!  The Father was not crucified.  Jesus is presented as a Middle Easterner wearing a plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves (p. 84).  The Holy Spirit appears as an Asian woman (p. 85).  The Shack’s author, Mr. Young, justifies these false representations under the rubric of literary license and says it is only fiction.  Okay, but does that mean it is alright to refer to God in a way that is in direct contradiction to Scripture?  No, it does not.  God has chosen to reveal Himself without gender confusion in the man Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5), but The Shack doesn’t stop with flamboyant reconstructions of God.

View article →

A platform for porn and a dialogue with the devil

Jordan Standridge of The Cripplegate tackles a delicate subject: porn. Is it ever a good idea for Christian churches to offer debates about whether or not porn can be good for a marriage?  Standridge answers in the negative. He writes:

A few years ago my wife and I were invited to what was being called “The Great Porn Debate.” A Christian man who was anti-porn was going around the country with a famous porn actor and they were debating the question: Is porn harmful or helpful? They were debating this on college campuses, but the meeting we were invited to was in a church—a large church in San Diego where thousands of Christians would be exposed to a man who was going to try to convince the crowd that porn can be good for you and your marriage.

View article →

NAR Apostle Bill Johnson explaining Apostolic Teams and Spiritual Fathering

From Churchwatch Central:

Bill Johnson writes:

Bill Johnson: “Apostolic Teams -a Group of People Who Carry the Family Mission”

[…] Bill Johnson:

“Apostolic Teams -a Group of People Who Carry the Family Mission”

For centuries the people of God have gathered together around specific truths. Denominations and organizations have been formed to unite these groups of Believers. Having common belief systems (see footnote 1 at bottom) has helped to build unity within particular groups and define their purpose. Historically these groups were formed from people who were usually newly saved, or were asked to leave whatever denomination they were previously a part of.

The ‘Can’t Talk’ Rule – Red Flags in Abusive Churches

In this piece over at The Hope Blog, Ingrid Schlueter tackles a tough topic: abusive churches. One of the hallmarks of corruption to look for is the application of the “Can’t Talk Rule.” Speak out loud about the problem and you are the problem. Ingrid cites a book that spells out how abusive pastors and church boards operate.  She writes:

At a time when spiritual abuse in churches is epidemic, being able to spot it when it occurs is crucial. I’ve written a number of posts on this topic, and time and again, I am reminded of why understanding how abusive church leaders operate is important. Abusive leaders all tend to operate with the same play book. The difference between a secular abusive environment and one that is religious is that abusers in high places of a church have some extra tools in their control toolbox to bludgeon those under them into submission. Throughout history, on a grand scale or on a small scale, you can see how corrupt religious leaders make full use of speaking for God in order to consolidate and wield their power. It’s how they roll.

View article →

Kris Vallotton ‘You are gods’

From Berean Research:

Photo credit Christian Research Service

There is no doubt that the influence Bethel Church in Redding, California has on its global networks is one your own church may well be a part of, either knowingly or not. We have many research links on this site to help you learn more, along with articles on Bethel, and Kris Vallotton.

Churchwatch Central has been posting a series on Bethel Church, where pastor Kris Vallotton is beginning to be more bold in how he displays is unbiblical theology.  Understand that the “You are Little Gods” theology is from the Word of Faith movement, which has been blended expertly by those at Bethel Church into a New Apostolic Reformation cocktail poisoning the modern church around the world.  Here is part of Churchwatch’s article, and I encourage you to read the entire post on their site: (And yes, we stand by CWC’s assessment of Dr. Michael Brown, who has proven to be a proponent and a part of the NAR.)

View article →