Apprising Ministries continues uncovering the syncretism happening between the Seeker Driven camp of mainstream evangelicalism and the heretical Word Faith cult.
You’ll see in this new piece that popular evangelical SD prophet-leader Steven Furtick has been smitten with WF prosperity preacher Jole Osteen since at least 2007.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints and believers in Christ Jesus who are in Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 1:1–2, Possessing the Treasure New Testament v1
I originally planned on this being a six part study, but have decided to break the last part into two posts so there will be a “Part 7.” I had a lot of work to do today of the sort that enabled me to listen to podcasts while I worked. I have been keeping up with Dr. Al Mohler’s “The Briefing” podcast since April of this year. If you don’t listen to it I highly recommend that you do even if you do not agree with Dr. Mohler on some theological issues. Why? The podcast is simply him going over what is going on the secular media and then he contrasts that with the Christian World View. It has been most enlightening. The podcasts is only about 20 minutes long each weekday. After those, I usually, if I have the time, try to catch up on listening to Dr. James White’s “The Dividing Line” podcasts. I also listen to the White Horse Inn podcasts, with Dr. Michael Horton, which comes out weekly. My theology is probably lined up closest to that of Dr. James White of those I just listed, but the input I get from those others in invaluable. Why?
McLaren’s new book Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? comes complete with an endorsement by former Emerging Church icon Rob Bell.
Apprising Ministries once again shows you the universalism of Brian McLaren as he discusses his new book in the vid clip within this new piece.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints and believers in Christ Jesus who are in Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 1:1–2, Possessing the Treasure New Testament v1
While visiting in Oklahoma over this last weekend I heard a sermon Sunday morning taken from 2 Peter 3:17,18.
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 2 Peter 3:17,18, NASB
It was a good sermon. The preacher used the example of how we are able to discern what is error from what is not by remaining faithful to our study and obedience to the truth, that is, God’s revealed truth, which is his Word. When we do that then when counterfeit truth is taught as if it is the truth we are already on guard and are able to not be carried away by the error of those unprincipled false teachers who are seeking to draw away followers from the flock of God unto themselves. This series on going through The book of Ephesians a verse at a time is what the Holy Spirit uses to build the mind of Christ in Christians. This is their transformation through the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2). Let us look at Ephesians 2:1-10 for some more of that mind renewal.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints and believers in Christ Jesus who are in Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 1:1–2, Possessing the Treasure New Testament v1
What I am about to say is indicative of the doctrinally confused times in which we now live. I have written posts that teach nothing more than the doctrine of Justification by faith and have received criticism from more commenters than I care to count and several confused questions concerning not our Justification, but our Sanctification. Here are two examples. One was from a Roman Catholic priest who wanted me to stop teaching people about the sufficiency of God’s Grace at our Justification because, according to the traditions and teachings of the RCC, that grace is not sufficient and with each sin, Christians must attend Mass and confession, et cetera and even then that did not entirely pay the entire penalty for that sin in the eyes of God and so Purgatory awaits all true believers. Sigh… The other example was a very short angry comment that contained a link. The comment stated, “Calvin, John MacArthur, James White, John Piper are wrong” then there was link to a post on another site that was a very confused teaching about the fact that no one can enter into the presence of God carrying any sin so even though each believer is “saved” when they believe, it is conditional on their walking in repentance and keeping the law, et cetera. Those who are not able to reach this level of perfection lose their salvation. Sigh… My brethren, We are sinners and our salvation is a miracle because not one of us do one thing to deserve or earn it.
This is something they don’t want to talk about. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be listening either; but evangelical leaders can never say they weren’t warned.
Apprising Ministries shows you conclusive evidence that T.D. Jakes’ own spiritual DNA produced his Potter’s House North pastrix Sheryl Brady.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints and believers in Christ Jesus who are in Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 1:1–2, Possessing the Treasure New Testament v1
In these dark days there is an accompanying Biblical ignorance within the Church. This ignorance is in itself quite sad because so many genuine Christians actually have a wrong view of God. This means they also have a skewed understanding of the gospel that is doctrinally shallow. In fact, the religious structure around this is man-centered rather than God-centered. The end result is a religious system that does not satisfy the spiritual needs that God designed into all of us. This is why those church leaders behind this moving tragedy are continually attempting to derail all attempts by their people’s demands to “go deeper” into the Word or to address what the Word says about election and the Sovereignty of God after they read a book by Dr. James White or listen to a sermon by John MacArthur, for instance, that does indeed address these highly relevant spiritual topics. My brethren, man-centered religiosity is so spiritually thin because it is based on man’s traditions that came out of policies designed to offend no one. In doing this, the theologians and religious leaders behind this also produced a religious system that is based on feelings and, therefore, is temporally based rather than focused on the eternal.
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints and believers in Christ Jesus who are in Ephesus. 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Eph. 1:1–2, Possessing the Treasure New Testament v1
Is the Gospel something that the Christian “is” or “becomes?” The Emergent Christians are fond of quoting St. Francis of Assisi, “preach the gospel always, use words if necessary.” There are two problems with this quote. First, he never said that and second, the gospel is a message that is to be proclaimed. The word “gospel” comes from the Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion), “gospel, good news.” It is a message that redemption is available to those who are in bondage. The Emergents’ call “to be the Gospel” is utter nonsense because what they have done is taken the Biblical definition of the Gospel and redefined it into something else that we often call on this blog the “social gospel,” which is “another gospel,” and does not save.