SBC’S ED STETZER AS REGULAR HOST OF TBN’S PRAISE THE LORD

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The other day in On Contemplative Spirituality And Charismania here at Apprising Ministries I explained once again what I mean by charismania. I’m using the word as an apt description of the excesses of hyper-charismatic practices a la what you see daily on the haven of heretics known as TBN.

As I said one of the results of these heretical hyper-charismatic practices, along with its parallel track of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), is a delusion concerning Christian unity. The adherents truly believe that God wants to unite all the various factions of the visible Christian church; including Rome.

One quick example can be seen n Pope to Copeland: Catholics and Charismatics must spiritually unite where Stand Up for the Truth points out:

We are galloping toward a one-world melding of religions, and the ramifications are staggering. Pope Francis has now sent a video message to Word of Faith father Kenneth Copeland, urging a reconciliation between Catholics and Charismatics.

“The Catholic and Charismatic Renewal is the hope of the Church,” exclaims Anglican Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer, before a group of cheering followers at the Kenneth Copeland Ministries.   Palmer said those words are from the Vatican. Before playing the video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, Palmer told the crowd,  “When my wife saw that she could be Catholic, and Charismatic, and Evangelical, and Pentecostal, and it was absolutely accepted in the Catholic Church, she said that she would like to reconnect her roots with the Catholic culture. So she did.”

The crowd cheered, as he continued, “Brothers and sisters, Luther’s protest is over. Is yours?”

Even Kenneth Copeland finds this development incredible: Said Copeland, “Heaven is thrilled over this…You know what is so thrilling to me? When we went into the ministry 47 years ago, this was impossible.” (source, emphasis in original)

Allow me a couple of quick points; 1) I am a former Roman Catholic, and 2) after the Lord in His mercy saved me from that false religion, I was once in the Word Faith movement as a very young Christian. Therefore, I can tell you that the pope reached out to Copeland because he’s Kenneth Hagin’s successor as WF head.

Below Christian apologist Chris Rosebrough of Fighting For The Faith presents us the prayer that Kenneth Copeland offered for the pope, including a fresh translation of the part of Copeland’s prayer offered in the inane babbling that’s purported to be tongues:

Then a couple of years ago, e.g. in Emerging Ecumenical Evangelephants And The Word Faith Movement, I warned you that the Elephant Room 2 (ER2) of James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll was like a nuclear explosion in the spirit world and the full effects of its silent shockwaves have yet to be fully realized.

One was that ER2 was used to further mainstream Word Faith mogul T.D. Jakes and even his friend Joel Osteen. This has largely been accomplished through Osteen wannabe, prophet-pastor Steven Furtick; a veteran of both ER1 and 2 who’s developed Furtickism, see: Steven Furtick Debuts On TNB Amid Financial Concerns.

So, what we’re witnessing now is mainstream evangelical megachurch pastors such as MacDonald, Driscoll, and Furtick, becoming unwitting dupes (at best) or willfully trying to help make Word Faith wingnuts legit (at worst). Then there’s Southern Baptists Assisting The Roman Catholic Church To Infiltrate Evangelicalism.

Consider Beth Moore from the SBC’s Lifeway publishing horn ((Lifeway offers the Believing God series from which the video clips are taken to the public here: http://www.lifeway.com/bg/, accessed 3/3/14.)) telling us below that God gave her a literal vision where she claims He allowed her to see “the Church, as Jesus sees it”:

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Now watch as Moore illustrates the vision concerning “something different” she sees “God doing” in the Church; i.e.“the body of Christ.” She clearly includes the apostate Roman Catholic Church, which long ago anathematized the Gospel of Jesus Christ, among her Christian denominations:

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This is the context you need to more fully understand what Beth Moore includes as part of the unity she’ll mention below. What you’re about to see was spoken at the Awaken Now (AN) conference last year and the program from which this clip comes aired on James Robison’s Life Today Wednesday February 26. ((http://lifetoday.org/video/an-outpouring-part-3/, accessed 3/3/14.))

As you can see, AN was the featured resource that day:

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(source)

This is an example of the charismania I’ve been speaking to you about because without a doubt we’re told what you’re about to hear from Moore is divine revelation; in other words, “what the Holy Spirit is saying” to all of us. And that would be those of us who oppose false teachers of this phony unity are scoffers:

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Lord willing, I’ll have more on all of this later. But for now, it’s against this necessary backdrop that I now leave you with Ed Stetzer hosting the Praise the Lord (PtL) program of TBN last Friday night. You really need to realize here that PtL is the heart and soul ministry vehicle for this brood of vipers.

Yet here is Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research—a critical component of the SBC’s publishing arm Lifeway—hosting PtL and thereby lending his considerable mainstream evangelical credibility to the Trinity Blasphemy Network:

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Not only that but the following press release informs us that Stetzer is actually “a regular host” of PtL:

Ed Stetzer, best-selling author and president of LifeWay Research, will be hosting Praise the Lord on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Friday, Jan. 10. A regular host of Praise the Lord, Stetzer will be joined by megachurch pastor Matt Chandler, who will tell the story of his brain tumor and God’s providence.

At The Village Church in Texas, Chandler has been preaching on the message of recovery through the gospel, a message that also will be shared in a major release calledRecovering Redemption (B&H Publishing Group), releasing in Ma. New York Times best-selling author Priscilla Shirer also will be featured… (source)

Here’s how TBN themselves used last Friday’s appearance by Ed Stetzer in order to promote themselves:

Popular author, columnist, professor, and faith trends expert Ed Stetzer, a vice president at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Nashville-based Lifeway Christian Resources, will host a special live taping of the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s signature music and talk show “Praise the Lord” at Nashville’s famed Trinity Music City, Tuesday February 25th. The taping is open to the public.

Stetzer is a scheduled keynote speaker at this year’s National Religious Broadcasters convention February 22nd through 25th in Nashville. NRB convention participants are being invited to attend the live TBN taping later in the day February 25th.

A leading voice in today’s evangelical church, Stetzer is the author of a dozen books and countless articles in such publications asChristianity TodayOutreach Magazine, and theChristian Post. He is also executive editor of both The Gospel Project, a curriculum used by more than 400,000 individuals each week, and Facts & Trends Magazine, a Christian leadership journal with a circulation of more than 70,000 readers.

Considered an expert on faith trends and cultural issues, Stetzer is frequently quoted by leading religious publications, as well as by such secular outlets as CNN and USA Today. He holds two masters degrees and two earned doctorates, has taught at numerous universities and seminaries, and has planted churches and trained pastors around the world. (source)

Whatever Ed Stetzer’s motivation, make no mistake, TBN is attempting to piggyback upon his credentials in order to try and paint themselves as an orthodox institution. Finally, considering Francis Chan Declares “I Love Mike Bickle”, I tell you that you have real reason to wonder just how far this phony unity is already stretching.

Further reading