Watch Fake Tongues on Jim Bakker’s Program

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , , ,

There is no hint whatsoever that the gifting of “tongues” is nonsense gibberish gobbledegook. Charismatics turn to 1 Corinthians 13:1 which speak of the “tongues of angels,” but Paul clearly was referring to fine oration and lofty speech. We know this because we see angels quite a bit in the Scripture and they are always speaking a human language (even when they’re seen in Heaven). It turns out that angels don’t speak gobbledegook either.

(Pulpit & Pen)  Just for the sake of a discernment exercise, do you want to hear what ‘fake tongues’ sounds like? Here you go. Continue reading →

Did Jesus struggle with his gender and his sexuality? Was he tempted to same-sex attraction?

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , , , ,

Dani Treweek of The Gospel Coalition Australia interviewed same-sex attracted “Christian,” Ed Shaw, who’s one of the founders of Living Out Ministries. A brouhaha erupted over Shaw’s claim that Jesus “struggled” with His gender and sexuality. So TGC added a postscript to Treweeks article in an attempt to tamp down the strong reaction to what Shaw said about the Lord Jesus. According to Elizabeth Prata, in so doing TGC mishandled Scripture, specifically verses in Hebrews that say Jesus was tempted in every way. Before we get to Prata’s piece, in which she clears up the confusion, here’s the Editor’s Postscript:

In view of some strong reactions on social media to some of the material in this interview, the TGCA editorial panel would like to make clear that we are very grateful for the heroic stand of Christian leaders such as Ed Shaw who have been open and honest about their own struggles with sexuality while defending biblical standards of sexual practice. Continue reading →

The Call to Sound Doctrine

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 7 wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 1 Timothy 1:5-11 (NASB)  (Read verses 8-11 on the site.)

Carefully read the passage I placed at the top of this post. What is the aim of the charge of a true discipler? It is to produce the good fruit of of love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. That is the good fruit of genuine prophet of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, our Lord Himself told us in His Sermon on the Mount how to discern whether a prophet was false or not. Continue reading →

Missing Elements in Our Discussions about Apostasy

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , ,

“It is rare that people apostatize all of a sudden. Rather, there will almost always have been a long trajectory away from genuine Christian faith and practice and toward distinctly unChristian faith and practice. I expect that those who knew these men well, those who saw their lives up close, could tell of a slow drift rather than a sudden deconversion.” 

(Tim Challies)  For the past few weeks, apostasy has been a trending topic among Christians. Though the discussion has been spurred by the sad news of some well-known men revoking their Christian faith, the discussion is bringing about the positive effect of engaging a crucial but neglected subject. (Apostasy refers to people falling away from previously held Christian beliefs.) Continue reading →

Michael Brown is An Apologist for the Devil

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Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:10), and at every point possible, Michael Brown attacks that gift of the Third Person. Brown lamented that Bentley was publicly outed (again) as an adulterer and abuser. He wrote…”I have no comment on the most recent accusations against Todd, since I do not know what is false and what is true. But I do know this (and it applies especially to those of us in leadership): God gives us many opportunities to repent in private before allowing us to be exposed publicly.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Michael Brown is a popular ‘Christian’ apologist who is right on some issues, but damnably wrong on others. But more than anything, Michael Brown is an apologist for the worst and most extreme occultism of hyper-charismania. If you’re paying close attention, you’ll see that Michael Brown is an apologist for the devil. Continue reading →

Seduced By Bethel Redding

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Some go to Bethel to “see God move.” Bethel’s “encounter” theology has propelled them into experiential mysticism and demonic manifestations purported to be the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon people. Bethel’s “glory cloud” and other manifestations have deceived those looking for signs and wonders to validate their beliefs, and experience some sort of touch from God. This obsession with signs and wonders has become an indispensable aspect of Bethel’s evangelism.

(Rick Becker – Famine In The Land) Jacob had his dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven at a city called Luz, which he renamed “Bethel”- meaning “house of God.” At a later stage in Israel’s history Jeroboam (first king of the northern kingdom) went off the map by ignoring God’s commands regarding worship. Jeroboam appointed his own priests, set up a golden calf at Bethel and seduced his people into idolatry…. Continue reading →

The Real Christ of God

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

18 And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” 20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” Luke 9:18-20 (NASB) 

Since this blog has existed (2006) we have looked at the growing apostasy that appears to be consuming the Church. This has caused many of us anguish and grief along with some growing excitement in anticipation of the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ…. Continue reading →

We’re Looking for the Harrisburg, PA, Pastor Born With Polio That Todd White Healed!

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , ,

“According to Todd White’s own story, it had to have happened from mid-2009 forward, when White was still working as an ice delivery man and he also had his dreadlock hairstyle.”

(Steven Kozar – Messed Up Church)  Todd White has recently appeared in a video where he tells the story of how he healed a pastor in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, of a leg that was three and a half inches too short. We want to hear from that man!

This man was the head pastor of a church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that taught against healing until Todd proved him wrong. Todd says that this man’s leg grew out immediately, and the pastor was forced to denounce his former disbelief in healing. Continue reading →

Bethel Church Suggests ‘LGBTQ+’ People ‘Who Feel Fulfilled and Happy As You Are’ Don’t Need to Change or Repent

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Various photos online also show members of Bethel visiting cemeteries to try to soak up the anointing of the deceased, including the graces of John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth and others. While Johnson has stated that he does not endorse the practice, and Vallotton once said that he had never heard of the idea, some note that photos online show Johnson’s wife Beni laying on the tombstone of C.S. Lewis and hugging the tombstone of Charles Finney.”

(Heather Clark – Christian News Network)  Bethel Church, led by Bill Johnson, is raising new concerns after it posted to its Facebook page on Thursday that its program for those who struggle with homosexuality has never had the message of “all must change,” suggesting that those who “feel fulfilled and happy as [they] are” aren’t required by God to repent…. Continue reading →

Todd Bentley Confirms Disqualifying Accusations in Public Confession

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , , , ,

“Bentley claims to have been working through these sins with appropriate restoration and repeatedly invoked the name of Rick Joyner as someone who has “been calling around to leaders” for him, which sounded like Joyner was basically doing Bentley’s crisis management.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  After a former staffer came out publicly with accusations about Todd Bentley’s ‘open marriage,’ homosexuality, and sexting, the evangelist went to Facebook to confirm some of the allegations and (vaguely) denying others.

THE ACCUSATIONS

Over the last 24-48 hours, alternative Christian websites like the Bible Thumping Wingnut, Reformation Charlotte, and Pulpit & Pen have written about accusations toward Bentley on behalf of Stephen Powell, a former colleague of Bentley who claims that he was engaged in the most despicable kinds of personal immorality. Continue reading →

Christian Oneness

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 1 Peter 4:7-9 (NASB) 

Our sanctification is designed by God to transform us unto the image of Christ. The human heart before regeneration is clueless about the ways of God. The unregenerate heart can only comprehend the wisdom of the world. This ‘wisdom,’ such as it is, views the Christian calling as utter foolishness…. Continue reading →

Filthy in God’s Sight

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Zechariah 3:1-4 (NASB)  (Read verses 3-4 on the site.)

The neo-evangelists in our day push their evangelical emphasis to the forefront where it has become the golden calf in their churches. Instead of obeying our Lord to make disciples they seek to multiply their numbers through easy believism. They use shame tactics to get their flocks to bring their friends and relatives to church so they can hear that Jesus wants to come into their lives so they can live abundantly here and now. Continue reading →

What we need to know from the Horowitz report

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“Republicans know the end result of the investigation, but they don’t know how it began. Yes, they know the official story of the start of what the FBI called Crossfire Hurricane — that it began with a foreign intelligence service (Australia) telling U.S. officials that Papadopoulos appeared to have foreknowledge of a Russian plan to release damaging information about Hillary Clinton. But they don’t think it’s the whole story.  That’s where Horowitz comes in.”

(Byron York – The Washington Examiner)  There will be much to learn in Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s upcoming report on the Trump-Russia investigation, but most of it will likely boil down to just two questions. One, how much did the Obama Justice Department spy on the Trump campaign? And two, was it justified? Continue reading →

Todd Bentley Accused By Colleague of Homosexual Acts and Teenage Sexual Abuse

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , , , , , ,

“…a male intern that witnessed such things, took it to Rick Joyner, and ultimately nothing was done and Todd was still allowed to go on in ministry as if everything was okay….Rick Joyner refused to help this young man with his personal restoration after the 2013 incident.”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte) Todd Bentley is the hyper-charismatic faith healer who claims to have raised multiple people from the dead and claims he heals people, yet with zero evidence of such healings. He has been involved in sex scandals as long as he’s been known in the charismatic world, who fell from ministry and was subsequently restored by Rick Joyner. Continue reading →

Drag Queen Story Hour ‘greatest grooming program ever devised,’ counselor says

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Drag queen “Annie Christ”

“Uhler calls the push to foment confusion in the minds of children and break down their boundaries with gender-bending messages — with Drag Queen Story Hour at libraries and gender fluidity lessons at schools — a “moral e-bola virus” that is spreading rapidly through society.”

(Brandon Showalter – Christian Post)  A clinical counselor who has worked with over 4,000 serial predators is urging parents to be vigilant after a Texas library hosted a Drag Queen Story Hour for kids featuring a reader who has a criminal record. Continue reading →

The Need To Belong

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching ∙

So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families.  Nehemiah 7:5

It was necessary to ensure that only true Israelites lived within Jerusalem. There follows a list of names of all the families of those who came back from Persia to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra, some thirty years before the time of Nehemiah. These were among the ones who helped him build the wall…. Continue reading →

The Gospel Coalition Promotes a Conference Pushing the Rainbow to Tweens

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , , ,

“Why are some people Same Sex Attracted?” Shaw answers, “Well I am, and God is good and God has created me to be the person that I am. I can rage against that if I want to, but it isn’t particularly constructive. What I can do is see the good God has brought out of that and how he has used it in my life and other people’s lives to help me become more like Jesus, and to help them become more like Jesus…”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Watch out Christian parents. This Gospel Coalition author wants to help your 11 year old accept being gay as “a really, really positive thing.” Continue reading →

Confronting Neopaganism in the Culture and in the Church Part 1

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , , , , , , ,

“I am proposing to use two relatively neutral, descriptive terms, Oneism and Twoism, in order to avoid applying a narrow theological system that only a few of us could affirm. These terms seek to express the only two bedrock options found in Romans 1:25: either the worship and service of creation understood as closed, homogeneous system, or the worship and service by creation of the transcendent ontologically other Creator.”

(Peter Jones – The Aquila Report) We are living in a most disorienting time, especially since someone said that orientation is knowing where the East is! When I came to the States in 1964, the threat from the East was not spiritual but material—atheistic Marxism and a fear of the disappearance of religion altogether, predicted by Ludwig Feuerbach,[1] Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud…. Continue reading →

The Crisis Of Faith We Are Seeing In Today’s Christians

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“One of the problems with the “me-centred” gospel is that it only works well as long as everything is rosy in one’s life. But as soon as the wheels fall off and you encounter significant hardship of some kind, you can easily decide that Christianity “doesn’t work”. When the self-actualising hype that is fed to people from the pulpit doesn’t align with their experience of reality, they conclude that Christianity isn’t true.” 

(Kevin Simington – My Christian Daily)  There is a crisis of faith formation in the modern church. It has produced a generation of Christians with an emotionally based faith that is ill-equipped to respond to the intellectual challenges and objections raised by an increasingly secular society…. Continue reading →

Faith Grace and Certainty

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.  Romans 4:16-21 (NASB)  Read verses 18-21 on the site.

Several years ago I wrote a post about Liberal Theology. That post produced a very long and protracted discussion in the comment section of this blog. I remember it very well. The discussion became quite heated at times. One person insisted that scholarship and critical analysis of the Bible far outweighed faith when it comes to theology…. Continue reading →

Russell Moore Speaking at Event in Conjunction With Adoption Agency That Hands Children Over to Homosexuals

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Opinion ∙ , , , , , , , , ,

“Jonathan Merritt once served on the national board of directors for Bethany…Merritt is the gay son of former Southern Baptist President, James Merritt. Now, why wouldn’t we want to support an adoption agency with homosexuals on its board who hands children over to homosexual couples?”

(Jeff Maples – Reformation Charlotte)  We’ve been warning you for months that the gay Evangelical push for inclusion was leading down a dark path that no honest Christian in their right mind could support. A while back, we reported that The Gospel Coalition was platforming a gay Anglican priest, Sam Allberry, to push not only for homosexual inclusion in churches and church families but also for churches to back gay, single-parent adoption. Continue reading →

How to Clean Up Your School and Stop the Revolution

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“Get rid of teachers’ unions. Who’s the boss here? You are, taxpayer, and if parents get active, you can make sure the destructive, anti-child, anti-American policies of the NEA and its local affiliates don’t bleed all over your local school….After last year’s Supreme Court ruling, this once-Goliath group is much more vulnerable, and that’s our opportunity.”

(Linda Harvey – Mission: America)  The backpacks are loaded, the lunch boxes are filled.

What else will your child need this school year? Continue reading →

Why is an Affair with a Church Member ‘Clergy Sexual Misconduct?’

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I believe there’s unity on this particular issue because of my view of pastoral authority. I believe that what the Scripture has to say about the role of spiritual leaders makes it abundantly clear from the Bible that there’s no such thing as a pastor-congregant “affair.”

(Pulpit & Pen)  Tullian Tchividjian, when defending his return to the pastorate after being defrocked by his Presbytery and fired from multiple churches for both adultery and subsequent cover-ups, claimed that having sexual relations with a church member was not “abuse.” He is wrong. Continue reading →

Our Heavenly Dwelling

Posted by ∙ ∙ In Devotion/Teaching

22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:22-25 (NASB) Read verses 24-25 on the site.

As I have grown older as a Christian, and, hopefully, as the Lord has matured me, the more I want freedom from everything that is in any way tinged with The Fall. Of course that includes my own flesh that wants only to have its cravings satiated as well as the World System whose king is Satan. God does use our time here to grow us in humility while uprooting our pride, but I so want to be past this so I can be with my Saviour. Continue reading →