The Council for National Policy is a group of influential conservative leaders that get together to “cultivate ideas to help solve America’s growing problems.” The left-wing blog Politico asserts that political candidates turn to the CNP for money. According to Politico one conservative operative deemed the group “a self-validating echo chambers where they sit around four times a year and tell each other how great and important they are, and believe their own press.”
How the Apostates Take Over, Part 1
Pastor Michael Youssef sheds light on how the Church has surrendered her birthright for a morsel of peace and acceptability. He writes:
The evangelical church is under constant threat to compromise its reliance on biblical truth. The human desire to be accepted, to not be seen as “outside the mainstream,” can be overwhelming. But that desire is our weakness, our downfall. It does not always immediately destroy the dam we build to protect the waters of truth, but instead it leads to tiny fissures that grow until destruction is inevitable.
Evangelicals’ Collapsing Cultural Influence
David French of the National Review Online writes:
On a day when many evangelicals are perhaps flexing their political muscles in the aftermath of their decisive votes in Alabama and Mississippi, it’s worth pondering whether evangelicals’ actual cultural (rather than political) influence is waxing or waning. While reading Charles Murray’s new book, I came across insightful and disturbing discussions by Yuval Levin and Ross Douthat. Surveying the devastating decline in marriage and other critical social markers in the working class, Levin notes the failure of social conservatism outside the political sphere.
Banks Offering Wine Tastings, Trivia Contests and Yoga Classes?
The bank branch is dead. Long live the bank branch?
…forget the teller windows and solid-wood desks of days gone by. Say hello to everything from banks that feature community rooms for free yoga classes to ones that feature video-conferencing stations. It’s all a matter of giving customers something more than a checking account with free checks – such pieces of paper are hardly necessary these days, anyhow — or a CD with a marginally higher rate.
Lying
With the ongoing circus that has devolved with the release of an ongoing program within Saddleback Valley Baptist Church in Orange County, California, fully under the control of its pastor Rick Warren, of an attempt at multi-faith interaction with the Muslim community, those of us who care deeply about the Church, the glory of God, and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is disturbing on many levels. However, what should really concern us about the actions of Rick Warren and his people both at Saddleback Valley and his public relations folks is their attempt at obfuscation in order to confuse and cover up the truth. In other words, this is simply another form of lying and that is sin.
More On The King's Way Presentation At Saddleback Church
Christians Have no Right to Wear Cross at Work, Says British Government
Persecution of Christians in the United Kingdom seems to be intensifying. The Telegraph reports:
In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.
It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.
A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.
Rick Warren Says No King's Way Document and No Saddleback “Staff” Involved
Apprising Ministries would have you know that in his letter to Saddleback Church concerning the King’s Way controversy Rick Warren chose, yet again, to attack veteran freelance reporter Jim Hinch.
However, this time Warren also made the dubious decision to try and impugn my character as well via an ad hominem. So, I encourage you to take a close look at the actual evidence within this new aritcle.
In my opinion, it simply does not add up with what Rick Warren is saying.
David Barton: Historian or Revisionist?
Christian J. Pinto, independent filmmaker and host of Noise of Thunder Radio, questions Christian historian David Barton’s handling of history. He writes:
Without question, David Barton is the leading history teacher among those who long to hear stories about the Christian founding of America, and as we know, for the past year, he has operated as Glenn Beck’s historian on Fox News. As believers, we all rejoice to hear about those who stood strong in the faith, especially in the face of difficult trials. But does this apply to the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution? Were they Bible believing Christian men fighting to establish a Christian nation? According to teachers like David Barton, the answer is yes. But as we show in the film, The Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers, much of Barton’s historical information is quoted out of its full context. He gives the false impression that the revolutionaries supported Christianity, when in truth they rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and were even hostile to its precepts.
T.D. Jakes Speaker This Month for Paula White's A God Encounter
Apprising Ministries reminds you that former Gospel Coalition member James MacDonald implies that the private conversation he’s having with T.D. Jakes indicates that Jakes is no longer a Word–Faith prosperity preacher.
You are encouraged to take a look at the evidence yourself and see that it just does not bear out that claim.
Why Impostors Love the Church
Russell D. Moore, the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, writes:
Recently I read a book that kept me awake a couple of nights. It was about “Clark Rockefeller,” and the scare quotes are important. The man was neither “Clark” nor “Rockefeller.” He was a German immigrant who crafted an identity as an heir of one of America’s wealthiest dynasties. He married, fathered a child, and was involved in fraud, theft, and maybe even murder. And no one ever knew, until the very end.
What made me squirm was that fact that the fake Rockefeller’s inroad to all his deception were churches and relationships, particularly with women. He would make the connections he needed in local congregations, and he would charm the women there. At the same time, he would parasitically imitate the men, watching and mirroring back to them their convictions and opinions, even the inflections of their voices. But, behind all of that, there was nothing real but a predatory appetite.
Word-Faith: A Fast-Growing Movement with Disastrous Implications
The gospel’s most dangerous earthly adversaries are not raving atheists who stand outside the door shouting threats and insults. They are church leaders who cultivate a gentle, friendly, pious demeanor but hack away at the foundations of faith under the guise of keeping in step with a changing world. Phil Johnson
Do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even expose them. Ephesians 5:11
There is a spiritual battle of epic proportions going on in churches all over the globe that should drive serious Christians to their knees. A whole host of aberrant to downright heretical movements have slithered into contemporary evangelicalism and more are being added to the mix virtually every day.
Unbiblical teaching is rampant in mainline Protestant denominations as well as in non-denominational churches. Inside our churches you will find men and women teaching rank heresy. Sunday after Sunday people flock to churches and become a captive audience to those who preach outlandish lies and half-truths. Televangelists are the worst offenders. Many of them are money grubbing charlatans. As a result of false teachers and cult leaders gaining worldwide access to churches and Christian ministries over these past few decades to spread their false doctrines, evangelical Christianity is experiencing a downward spiral.
Why has Liberty University agreed to bring Mark Driscoll to teach on sex?
Warning: This piece contains sexually explicit language that some readers will find disturbing. Nonetheless, David Kupelian accurately reports on what some Christian pastors with rock star status are preaching in their churches.
There’s a new form of Christianity sweeping the U.S. Its main focus: sex.
Don’t be surprised. We already have a Christian denomination catering to every other worldview, comfort zone and obsession, so why not sex? As I said in “The Marketing of Evil”:
No matter what kind of person you are, a form of Christianity has evolved just for you. There’s a politically liberal Christianity and a politically conservative Christianity. There’s an acutely activist Christianity and an utterly apolitical Christianity, a Christianity that holds up a high standard of ethical behavior and service, and a Christianity for which both personal ethics and good works are irrelevant. There’s a raucous, intensely emotional Christianity drenched in high-voltage music, and there’s a quiet, contemplative Christianity. There’s a loving Christianity and a hateful, racist Christianity, a Christianity that honors Jews as God’s chosen people and a Christianity that maligns Jews as Satan’s children.
So, it was just a matter of time before we got a version of Christianity for people obsessed with sex.
‘New Theological Position’ of Saddleback Church Concerning Islam
CRN contributor Erin Benziger wonders if we’re seeing some sort of King’s Way Cover-up going on with Saddleback Church.
Apprising Ministries now gives you the opportunity to take a look at the Muslims view of this controversial document. In this new article we’ve recovered a post from The Islamic Center of Southern California.
King’s Way was co-authored by Jihad Turk, who is director of religious affairs for ICSC. As you’ll see, they appear to be under the impression that this document represents a new theological position of Saddleback Church concerning Islam.
Something Deadly This Way Comes — “After-Birth Abortion”
Dr. Albert Mohler addresses an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics that argues for the morality and legalization of “after-birth abortion”:
The debate over abortion comes down to one essential issue — the moral status of the unborn child. Those making the case for the legalization of abortion argue that the developing fetus lacks a moral status that would trump a woman’s desire to abort the child. Those arguing against abortion do so by making the opposite claim; that the unborn child, precisely because it is a developing human being, possesses a moral status by the very fact of its human existence that would clearly trump any rationale offered for its willful destruction.
Rick Warren, Ed Stetzer, And Watchbloggers
Ed Stetzer made the choice to take a swipe at critics of Rick Warren referring to them as watchbloggers. Then he refused to publish my comment showing him there’s more to this story.
Apprising Ministries now walks you through the issues and questions raised by a segment of the King’s Way document sent to me by Jim Hinch.
The "God" Of Glenn Beck
Apprising Ministries reminds you that Mormon talk show host Glenn Beck is making the rounds and doing a little preaching in some ostensibly Christian megachurches.
Here we take a look at official sources of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and find out what the Mormons really believe about God the Father and Jesus Christ, God the Son.
Is Alcoholics Anonymous a Religion?
Christians in A.A. may not see it this way, but they are in agreement with a belief system that lifts up strange gods (Amos 3:3). In Alcoholics Anonymous all gods are called the “higher power,” thus relegating Christ our King to commonality, as if He were simply one nameless deity among many.
I am the Lord, that is My name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to idols. Isaiah 42:8
In 1941, Jack Alexander of the Saturday Evening Post wrote the article that provided A.A. its first national publicity. Describing A.A.’s “higher power,” Alexander noted the alcoholic “may choose to think of his Inner Self, the miracle of growth, a tree, man’s wonderment at the physical universe, the structure of the atom, or mere mathematical infinity. Whatever form is visualized, the neophyte is taught that he must rely on it and, in his own way, to pray to the Power for strength.”
Rick Warren: "Christians Have A Fundamentally Different View Of God Than Muslims"
Planned Parenthood Urges Students to Share Their Sex-perience
Most Americans are unaware that National Condom Week has been an annual occurrence since the 1970s, commencing the week of 14 February. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) did not give out the customary flowers and chocolates; instead, they distributed condoms to students at universities in the Pacific Northwest. In its effort to promote safer sex, the organization launched WhereDidYouWearIt.com and passed out 55,000 condoms wrapped with smartphone-scannable QR codes that link to the site, so that students can ‘check in’ to their booty call locations.
Harvard Hosts Born This Way Foundation Launch Event
The Guardian writes that ‘Lady Gaga and Oprah Winfrey are among the luminaries lending their egos to the Born This Way Foundation launch event at Harvard today’:
We’re getting set to live blog the launch event of the Born This Way Foundation, a youth empowerment project started by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta. As youth outreach goes, this is way beyond after-school-special territory: BTWF is big. Oprah-big. Plus Harvard. Attending today’s launch at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre are Ladies Gaga and Winfrey; Deepak Chopra and the US health secretary, among other luminaries.
Participating in the foundation are Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the California Endowment.
ER2 Shockwaves Hit Harvest Bible Chapel
Apprising Ministries has the details of Harvest Bible Chapel, Prescott leaving Harvest Bible Fellowship over Elephant Room 2. Women Pastors, Priscilla Shirer, And The Southern Baptist Convention
Apprising Ministries continues to point out growing syncretism with the mainstream evangelical community in unparalleled ways.
The mainstreaming of Word Faith prosperity preachers, e,g, T.D. Jakes, opens the door for the next push, which will be for women pastors.
In this new well-documented article see just how close this is getting even to the ostensibly conservative SBC.
Was Rabbi Ralph Messer Called in to Re-Establish a Struggling Eddie Long?
The Christian Post reports:
Nearly a month after a video showing Rabbi Ralph Messer, who leads the Simchat Torah Beit Midrash congregation in the Denver metropolitan area, “crowning” Atlanta megachurch leader Bishop Eddie Long went viral and earned both men a storm of criticism, Messer’s ministry is still evoking questions.
Most recently, a local Messianic Jewish community has officially renounced Messer, who has given the impression that he is a Messianic Jew.
Is it Deceit or the Product of Being Unequally Yoked?
Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες ἀπίστοις· τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ, ἢ τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος; 2 Corinthians 6:14, NA27
Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14, Possessing the Treasure New Testament V1
As many of you have know, there has been much news and rumor about the “Historic Interfaith Document” between Saddleback Valley Baptist Church in Orange County, California and the many Muslim communities there. As usual, the absolute worst place to get the truth about something like this is in the opinion polls of “Twitter,” which are like popularity contests with only your best friends. What should our position be about this? We should always come down on the side of sharing the gospel with those outside of Christ, but not if is some sort of “social engineered gospel” meant to offend no one nor be robbed of the right view of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It must also be clearly defined in terms of the Orthodox position of the fall of man and his need of redeemer as the only means of redemption, hence, the need of a perfect, sinless, propititiation, that is, God himself, who is the second person of the Holy Trinity, God the Son. Yes, the gospel we give to these Muslims must at least start there.