20 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 “And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Matt 13:20–22, NASB
The Bible very clearly teaches that Christians should examine themselves quite often in order to see what their spiritual condition is. Genuine Christians are not perfect people. Neither are they always full of happiness, in perfect health while having plenty of money in the bank. No, the fact that all believers are called to be humble, poor in spirit, meek, pure in heart and many other things that are growing in their character unto Christlikeness means that they will spend much of their time in the fires of sanctification.
It is during these times of pruning that believers are in the greatest danger of becoming despondent, discouraged, and even depressed if they have not learned to view their circumstances correctly.
Despite what many in the Easy-believism or Universalism camp teach, there are people who profess Christ who are not genuine. They are not regenerate nor do they have the Holy Spirit. They are not in Christ. All genuine Christians abide in Christ according to their new nature. They remain. They may go through the worst tribulation(s) imaginable, yet they remain attached to the Vine. However, when tribulation descends on the disingenuous professing Christians they do not endure because they have no root in themselves. The world and the deceitfulness of riches cause others to fall away. These are not genuine believers. View article →
Yesterday, Dr. James White wrote a blog post that gave us a peak into the thinking of one who possesses a conspiratorial mindset. Aside from being a fascinating read, the post demonstrates how conspiratorialists will not – or maybe a better way to say it is, cannot – view evidence objectively and rationally. This then causes them to interpret every shred of evidence through the lens of conspiracy. On the one hand, the conspiratorialist will always accept proof that supports his conspiracy theory, no matter how flimsy the source. On the other, the conspiratorialist will automatically reject any evidence that challenges or disproves the conspiracy and, oftentimes, the conspiratorialist will retaliate against those who challenge his theory by casting suspicion on them and associating them with those whom the conspiratorialist believes are plotting the conspiracy.
A textbook example of this type of conspiratorialist retaliation was documented by Chris Rosebrough on the 29 August 2013 episode of the Fighting for the Faith radio program. In that episode, Rosebrough played audio from Chris Pinto’s Noise of Thunder Radio program, in which Pinto put forward a series of guilt by association (GBA) arguments against two of his critics, Alan Kurschner and Dr. James White. Because the conspiratorialist mindset always interprets data through the lens of conspiracy, the only plausible explanation in Pinto’s mind for Kurschner and White’s having criticized him is that they are theologically compromised and, either knowingly or unwittingly, working to promote liberal gay-affirming ecumenical apostasy. What was most fascinating about that program was that Rosebrough documented the fact that, more than a month prior to Pinto’s retaliation, he had engaged in an identical GBA argument against Alan Kurschner. At that time, Kurschner personally responded to Pinto’s allegations and answered every one of them by giving primary source testimony demonstrating conclusively that Pinto’s claims were patently false. However, conspiratorialists always reject evidence that does not fit the conspiracy. True to form, Pinto dismissed Kurschner’s evidence out of hand and re-employed the same GBA attacks one month later, expanding them to implicate Dr. James White and to cast doubt on his scholarship.
Noise of Thunder: The Lost Episode – A.K.A. Pinto’s Papal Pickle
Another fascinating piece of evidence that gives us a peak into the conspiratorialist mindset of Chris Pinto involves the missing 5 August 2013 episode of Noise of Thunder. In that episode, Pinto led off his program by reading and commenting on a news story that he believed was real, but which was in fact a satirical story from Newslo.com, a competitor to The Onion.
The satirical news story is entitled Pope Criminalizes the Reporting of Sex Crimes, and there are many offhandedly silly, off-color and outrageous statements within the piece that are clearly designed to elicit a chuckle from the reader. What is striking is the fact that these jokes were not seen as jokes by Chris Pinto, but instead as real news! Here is the audio of Chris Pinto reading this satirical story as if it were real:
Why would Chris Pinto fail to see that this was satire? Why didn’t he take the time to vet his news source and corroborate the story before going on air? If the jokes within the story weren’t obvious enough to identify the piece as satire, a simple glance at the right column of Newslo’s website reveals links to their most popular stories, including headlines such as Pat Robertson Unveils Gay-Repelling Necklace and Syrians Enjoy Day Off from Gas Attacks to Enjoy Miley Cyrus Twerk. The reason Pinto thought it was a real news story is because it fits his conspiracy. It was just one more piece of proof to add to his growing pile of carefully screened and highly selective evidence. It fit his conspiracy template, therefore it had to be true!
After Pinto posted this program, a listener alerted him to his error. As far as I’ve been able to gather, it looks as if Pinto – rather than issue a formal retraction and apologize to the Vatican for his false reporting – chose simply to delete the program.
More to come in my next article.
Postscript: Because it is highly unlikely that Chris Pinto will acknowledge his conspiratorialist mindset to be the driving force behind the slips and follies that I’m reporting, and because Pinto is most likely trying to figure out how to link me to the Roman Catholic ecumenical apostasy conspiracy, I feel compelled to inform my readers that I am not a Roman Catholic, a Jesuit, a homosexual, a pedophile, or a Mason. Neither am I a member of the Iluminati, the Democratic Party, the Teamsters, or the Council on Foreign Relations. I have never attended Harvard or any other liberal university. I am a dog lover, don’t trust cats, and have never been a vegan.
Biola University’s president has apologized for a school administrator threatening a student with expulsion and arrest for holding a sign showing an abortion victim and affirmed the role graphic images play in educating the public about “injustice.”
The incident occurred three months ago when Diana Jimenez held a single sign with an image of an aborted baby. Jimenez had resorted to her lonely demonstration after her approved table display was shut down for displaying unapproved graphic images.
She had also been denied permission to display one sign for one hour.
Francis Chan is scheduled to speak at the IHOP-KC Onething Conference in late December. So is Banning Liebscher, director of Jesus Culture. And, yes, Jesus Culture will be there as well. Matt Redman is also on the docket.
Last year International House Of Prayer leadership scheduled a Catholic Track at Onething without ever revealing this on the IHOP website. The Catholic Track speakers planned to “draw upon Catholic doctrine, practices, and tradition and touch on the larger conference’s themes centering on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.”
Chris Pinto, host of the Noise of Thunder radio program and documentary film-maker is a man who, as of late, has become something of a self-anointed expert in the field of textual criticism and ancient manuscripts. The problem is that for someone who thinks of himself as qualified to determine the reliability of modern translations and their underlying Greek and Hebrew texts, every time Pinto opens his mouth he demonstrates that he hasn’t done his homework and that he doesn’t know what he is talking about. It’s a lot like that scene in the movie Mr. Mom when Jack Butler, played by Michael Keaton, is explaining the plans he has to renovate and rewire his house to his wife’s boss Ron, played by Martin Mull. Ron asked Jack if he’s going to make it all 220. Jack’s answer is one of the all time great movie lines. Here’s the clip:
In almost an identically comical blunder, Chris Pinto on the 24 August 2013 episode of his radio program demonstrated to anyone who has taken a college level introduction to Biblical Greek and understands even the basic tenets of textual criticism that he has no clue what he’s talking about. Even funnier is the fact that Pinto then uses his comically erroneous evidence as the basis for casting theological doubt on the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. Here is what Pinto said:
I will focus my comments on this portion of Pinto’s statement:
What nobody seems to want to talk about is that the ESV is based on the United Bible Society Nestle-Aland Vatican-supervised Greek text. That would be the only problem, right there at the beginning. OK, do you really want your Bible to based on something that has been supervised by the Vatican?
When a colleague of mine first played this quote for me, I asked him if it was a joke or if it was taken from a sitcom. When he insisted that it was legit and that Chris Pinto truly believes what he is saying my response was, “God help anyone who listens to this man.”
“220, 221 – Whatever it takes”
If Chris Pinto possessed the education or had taken the time to properly understand the field that he has deemed himself qualified to make such grand sweeping judgments about then he’d know that the Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, is not published by the United Bible Societies (UBS). It is published by the German Bible Society and the Institute for New Testament Research. Neither of which is supervised by the Vatican. As for the the UBS, they publish their own Greek New Testament and the scholars involved in its production come from a wide range of denominations and theological traditions which is a strength, not a weakness. The reason that this is a strength is because it provides a safeguard against theological bias.
For Chris Pinto to imply that the UBS Greek text is somehow tainted by a Roman Catholic agenda and that the Vatican is supervising its work and has to sign off on the UBS text is an ignorant and intentional mischaracterization of the UBS’ oversight committee and policies. Rather than putting forward meaningful evidence that demonstrates that Pinto possesses the knowledge and credentials to offer a substantive criticism of the texts that were employed by the translation committee of the ESV, Pinto instead played on people’s ignorance, fears and prejudices. These are not the methods employed by scholars but the tactics of propagandists and conspiracy theorists. It makes me wonder if Chris Pinto will begin casting doubt on the reliability of the Old Testament portion of the ESV because it heavily relied on the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, which as everyone knows, utilizes the work of Jewish scholars who do not even believe that Jesus is the messiah. It’s not hard to imagine Pinto saying, “you don’t want your Bible to be based on the scholarship of unbelieving rabbis, do you?”
Truth be told, Pinto’s methods are more akin to the same types of guilt by association arguments employed by the Roman Catholic inquisitors than they are to the methods employed by knowledgeable textual scholars.
The truth about the scholarship behind the ESV
The scholars on the translation committee for the English Standard Version reads like a who’s who of the most noted and celebrated living scholars that Protestantism has to offer and it is notable that no Jesuits or Vatican lackeys are listed among them.
The list includes such men as:
Dr. J. I. Packer, ESV General Editor
Board of Governors Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada
Dr. Wayne A. Grudem
Research Professor, Theology and Biblical Studies, Phoenix Seminary
Dr. Robert H. Mounce
President emeritus of Whitworth College
Dr. Vern Sheridan Poythress
Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Westminster Theological Seminary; Editor, Westminster Theological Journal
Dr. Clinton E. Arnold
Professor of New Testament and Chair of New Testament Department, Biola University
These men have distinguished themselves in their respective fields of study when it comes to Biblical Greek and Hebrew and textual criticism. As for the texts employed by the translators of the ESV, here is what they have to say about them.
Each word and phrase in the ESV has been carefully weighed against the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, to ensure the fullest accuracy and clarity and to avoid under-translating or overlooking any nuance of the original text.
The ESV is based on the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (2nd ed., 1983), and on the Greek text in the 1993 editions of the Greek New Testament (4th corrected ed.), published by the United Bible Societies (UBS), and Novum Testamentum Graece (27th ed.), edited by Nestle and Aland.
The currently renewed respect among Old Testament scholars for the Masoretic text is reflected in the ESV’s attempt, wherever possible, to translate difficult Hebrew passages as they stand in the Masoretic text rather than resorting to emendations or to finding an alternative reading in the ancient versions.
In exceptional, difficult cases, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Syriac Peshitta, the Latin Vulgate, and other sources were consulted to shed possible light on the text, or, if necessary, to support a divergence from the Masoretic text. Similarly, in a few difficult cases in the New Testament, the ESV has followed a Greek text different from the text given preference in the UBS/Nestle-Aland 27th edition.
The footnotes that accompany the ESV text inform the reader of textual variations and difficulties and show how these have been resolved by the ESV Translation Team. In addition to this, the footnotes indicate significant alternative readings and occasionally provide an explanation for technical terms or for a difficult reading in the text.
Throughout, the Translation Team has benefited greatly from the massive textual resources that have become readily available recently, from new insights into biblical laws and culture, and from current advances in Hebrew and Greek lexicography and grammatical understanding.
This hardly sounds like the work of men who are taking their orders from the Vatican. If Mr. Pinto would like to continue challenging the texts utilized by ESV Translation Committee, I suggest that he provide us with real evidence and real scholarship and do more than make mere assertions about the Vatican’s alleged supervisory involvement in the UBS. After all, if the UBS Greek New Testament is tainted by Roman Catholic scholarship why doesn’t it contain passages supporting the perpetual virginity of Mary, prayers to the saints, indulgences, purgatory and the primacy of the Pope? What’s the point of having supervisory oversight of the UBS if you can’t flex that supervisory power to smuggle those Roman Catholic dogmas into the text?
Here is something for you consider: conspiracy theorists, propagandists and fear mongers never have to provide real evidence to back up their assertions. All they have to do is make assertions and imply associations in order to cast doubt and suspicion on those with whom they disagree. But, that’s not scholarship. That’s what the Bible calls, “bearing false witness”.
37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37–39, NASB
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matt 5:3–12, NASB
Hell is real. All who do not repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will spend eternity there. Those who repent and believe are those who ‘come to Jesus to drink.’ They believe as the Holy Spirit is poured out on them to the point that their lives are taken over by Him. Those who do will never experience hell. Instead, they come to Jesus and find rest for their souls. Those who do this are poor in spirit. They mourn for their sins. They are not proud, but meek. In their growing godliness they hunger and thirst for Christ’s righteousness to become manifest in them. They become more and more Christlike, therefore, they take on His character. They show mercy as He does. They become more and more pure of heart. They remove themselves from seeking their own. Instead, they become those who live to bring others to their Lord. Conversely, this holy and separate life does not cause them to find peace in the world. No, instead they are persecuted for righteousness sake. View article →
14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 2 Cor 6:14–15, NASB
Contrary to what most believe about Christianity, what one’s own framework is of their conception of salvation and having fellowship with Jesus Christ is irrelevant. Unless this ‘understanding’ is totally submitted to the Word of God and the authority of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit then it will be according to the counsel of the individual’s own conscience. This counsel is according to the value system of the individual not according to what God has revealed. It creates its own image of God and holds that image accountable to the individual’s value system.
View article →
I discuss a couple key issues within the mainstream evangelical community affecting the proclamation of the Gospel in this new piece at Apprising Ministries. View article →
Make no mistake, because no human being can know for certain who is indeed born again, there is a sense in which there is the visible Christian church.
However, as you’ll see in this article at Apprising Ministries, the long apostate Roman Catholic Church is not this visible church.
In fact, since she preaches a false gospel, the Church of Rome is not even a Christian church in the first place. View article →
According to prominent blogger Tim Challies, there are 7 marks to look for in a person who teaches a false gospel:
No one enriches hell more than false teachers. No one finds greater joy in drawing people away from truth and leading them into error. False teachers have been present in every era of human history, they have always been a plague and have always been in the business of providing counterfeit truth. While their circumstances may change, their methods remain consistent.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one according to his great mercy has regenerated us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an imperishable inheritance that is undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if it is necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to bring praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 1:3–7, translated from the NA28 Greek text
I left on a trip early in the morning of August 19th for a scheduled two week meeting in the Kansas City area dealing with restructuring much of how we do our Database Management at our company. However, I knew going into this that there was the possibility that I could receive a message or call or email from my sister that the time in hospice care was drawing to an end for my nephew Travis who has been battling brain cancer for about 6 years or so. In fact, on Wednesday last week I got an email from her saying that the hospice care nurses were saying he had only a matter of hours or days left so we had better be prepared. I called her that night and she confirmed that and I could also sense a deepening dread in her perhaps some weariness. In any case the very next evening after after my wife drove up to KC from our home in the OKC area to spend the weekend with me, we received the message from her that Travis had died. I made all the arrangements to depart the meetings and head home the next day so we could then drive to Houston to be with family and attend Travis’ funeral, which was on Monday this week. We arrived in Houston with our daughter Sunday afternoon in time to attend the “Viewing” at the funeral home. This was the first time I had seen my sister in several weeks, perhaps months. What a difference! It was a like a massive load had been removed from her. We visited with my brother-in-law, Travis’ brother and sister, and his wife Jennifer and it was amazing how, yes, they were in mourning, but there was also a great release and joy present knowing that the one they loved was no longer suffering and was now in the presence of our Lord. View article →
Baptist Press writer Mike H. Hunter reports the chilling story of a courageous American pastor:
It was hot, stuffy and crowded in the one-room shack, deep in a labyrinth of slums of Mumbai, India, when the door burst open. Angry Muslim men ordered everyone to get out — except for one.
“You stay!” they told the pastor of one of Louisiana’s largest churches who was holding a Bible study with about a dozen Bangladeshi men.
As part of its international missions outreach, the church — unnamed for security reasons — adopted Bangladeshi Muslims, an unengaged, unreached people group who migrated to India by the millions and are despised “illegal immigrants” in the predominantly Hindu nation.
This was the second trip for the Louisiana church to meet with house church planters who were evangelizing the vast slums of Mumbai.
“The first minute or two my blood pressure rose because I knew they were angry — and I was alone — except for the Lord,” the senior pastor recounted. “But I felt courage rise. Jesus said, ‘Don’t worry before you go in to testify before kings and authorities, I will give you words in that moment,’ and in that moment the Lord was granting me wisdom to respond to what they were saying.”
Pro-life groups decried the “abortion-first” mentality of a bill approved Monday by the California State Senate that will allow nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives and physicians’ assistants to perform first-trimester abortions.
“This expansion will help alleviate a shortage of abortion providers in California,” said Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who introduced the bill, which passed by a 25-11 margin. “All women should have timely access to reproductive healthcare regardless of whether they live in urban or rural areas and without excessive expense or travel,” she said in a press release.
Courtesy of Herescope’s well-researched article Apprising Ministries shows you we have real reason for concern about what’s coming out of the camp of the prophecy movement. View article →
Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis reminds Christians that they are living in the midst of an ongoing spiritual war. Many believers “are virtually asleep while a battle rages all around them.”
A friend of ours, knowing that Mally and I enjoy watching detective programs on TV, sent us an intriguing DVD series set in World War II. As we watched the programs, I thought about what is happening today in the church. You see, while soldiers were at the battlefront overseas in WWII, people back home in England were by and large going about their daily business.
The British people definitely knew a war was going on, but they were quite oblivious to much of what was happening where the battles were raging. When soldiers came home, some with horrific wounds and startling stories, it was clear that the general population really did not know what terrible things were happening on the front lines.
Author and speaker Nancy Pearcey examines the liberal worldview that holds that a person’s sex at birth is merely arbitrary and not a scientific, biological fact.
California has just passed a new law saying school districts may not bar transgender students from same-sex settings, like men’s basketball teams or women’s locker rooms (Assembly Bill 1266). Opponents promptly submitted a referendum to overturn the law. But it will take more than the usual political activism to stop the momentum on what some are calling the next major drive for “equality.”
It will take a serious, sustained program of education in both scientific facts and real respect.
Every law has an implicit worldview, a set of assumptions that justifies it. The worldview implicit in the transgender movement is that our physical bodies have no particular value — that our biology is irrelevant to who we are as persons.
In a piece posted at LifeSite News, Hillary White examines “homosexualism.”
I have been asked recently “what is homosexualism?” I started using the term in my writing on these issues a few years ago when it became clear that we were dealing not with a group of people, but with a particular ideology that is often held by people who are not themselves homosexuals.
A few days ago in The Guardian, Peter Tatchell wrote a pretty good description not only of that ideology’s goals but its origins. This political ideology, often called “queer theory” by its proponents in academia, is what is being pushed, quite openly these days, by the “gay rights” movement. Despite what we are told all day by their collaborators in the mainstream media, from the six o’clock news to your favourite sit-com, this movement is not about “equal rights”. It is about re-writing the foundational concepts of our entire society. I predict that it will not be much longer before the pretense of “equality” is dropped, having done its work.
While introducing a video by Richard Bennett showing why Eastern Orthodoxy is not biblical, Apprising Ministries explains why this has now become an issue within apostatizing evangelicalism. View article →
Planned Parenthood employees will soon have access to a vast federal database of sensitive information, including the Social Security number, tax form, bank account, and medical records of every single American citizen as the president seeks their help in implementing ObamaCare.
Consumers purchasing health insurance through health care exchanges will speak to “navigators,” whose job is to help them find the best coverage and determine if they are eligible for a federal subsidy.
Campus Pride, a gay rights advocacy group, released its annual list of the “Top 25 LGBT Friendly Colleges and Universities” on Tuesday, which includes schools with gender-neutral bathrooms and a minor in “queer studies.”
The top 25 schools had to achieve five stars in overall, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression categories in order to be listed in the top 25. Each school also had to be 4.5 stars or above in eight LGBT-friendly factor areas
A Muslim terrorist who killed thirteen people in a shooting rampage has told a local newspaper that he was “defending his religion” in the ruthless attack.
On November 5th, 2009, former Army Major Nidal Hasan opened fire in Texas’ Fort Hood army base, killing thirteen people and injuring over 30. One of the slain individuals was a pregnant mother; the unborn baby died also. Hasan fired over 200 bullets during the rampage.
A Christian legal organization states that it plans to file a lawsuit against New Jersey officials in an effort to block the enforcement of a new law that bars therapists and counselors from assisting youth in turning away from their homosexual inclinations.
As previously reported, reiterating his belief that homosexuality is “not a sin,” the Republican governor of New Jersey signed a bill into law on Monday that bans the use of conversion or reparative therapy, or to otherwise help minors who are struggling with homosexual feelings to overcome their temptations.
This new piece from Apprising Ministries offers that the visible church seems more concerned with pleasing men then standing for the great truths of the historic, orthodox, Christian church. View article →
