Apprising Ministries has been tracking the influx of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), which arrived inside the wall of the mainstream of evangelicalism within the Trojan Horse of the Emerging Church.

In our 6+ years along the Internet Front I’ve observed CSM a la neo-Gnostics like Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard slithering deeply into the church.

Here’s a case in point. In a March 1, 2012 post at ostensibly Protestant evangelical Dallas Theological Seminary we read:

(source)

That would be Roman Catholic mystic priest Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) whom DTS faculty member Michael Lawson apparently considers “essential” for DTS grads going into Christian service for God’s people.

And if you like, you can purchase Nouwen’s book right at the DTS bookstore:

(source)

As you can see, the subtitle is: Reflections On Christian Leadership. The trouble is, there’s no evidence that Henri Nouwen was a Christian. Wouldn’t it be better to turn to actual Christian sources to learn about leadership?

I would offer, yes. What we do know about Nouwen is his lifelong practice of CSM turned him into a universalist:

Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.[1]

This is the rotten fruit of Henri Nouwen’s so-called “Christian” leadership. In fact, it’s in direct contradiction with what Jesus Himself said:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(John 14:6)

1) To enter God’s house one must know Jesus, and 2) there is only this one way, period:

“let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)

Another thing we know about Henri Nouwen is—even today—from his books, he remains a leading teacher of spurious CSM; in particular the practice of “Christian” meditation in an altered state of consciousness.

It’s called, interchangably, Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP); and is truly transcendental meditation lightly sprayed with Christian terminology. This CCP was at the very heart of the teachings of the mystic Henri Nouwen.

So we’re not surprised in his In The Name Of Jesus when we come to the chapter “The Discipline: Contemplative Prayer.” Nouwen muses:

To live a life that is not dominated by the desire to be relevant but is instead safely anchored in the knowledge of God’s first love, we have to be mystics. A mystic is a person whose identity is deeply rooted in God’s first love.[2]

In the previous chapter Nouwen tells us this “first love” of God is “unconditional and unlimited love” because “God is love and only love.”[3] Like all mystics Nouwen distorts the nature of God until he/she/it becomes a mush god.

Space doesn’t allow a full discussion so I’ll just tell you that mystics receive a delusion where they feel they’re “bathed in love” and one with all creation. As panentheists they believe all things are in God and He in all things.

What they’re actually experiencing is a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:2 — people will be lovers of self. While this encompasses the arrogant in love with themselves, I believe the primary meaning is as lovers of mankind itself.

As you’ve already seen, in Nouwen’s CSM we lose the justice of God and replace it with a form of universalism. It is hostile to the Gospel. So, why would at least one faculty member of DTS want to expose graduates to this?

Nouwen continues:

If there is any focus that the Christian leader of the future will need, it is the discipline of dwelling in the presence of [God]… This is the discipline of contemplative prayer… Contemplative prayer keeps us home, rooted, and safe,… Contemplative prayer deepens in us the knowledge that we…already belong to God,…[4]

You need to know that “dwelling in the presence” of God is CSM-speak for the practice of CCP; aka “wordless prayer.” CSM advocates like Henri Nouwen and Richard Foster will tell you that “silence” is God’s language.

That Nouwen means all people “already belong to God” is clear from the earlier quote re. everyone finding “his or her own way to God.” It wasn’t an isolated idea. Consider also the following from Nouwen:

One of the discoveries we make in [meditative] prayer is that the closer we come to God, the closer we come to all our brothers and sisters in the human family. God is not a private God. The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.[5]

However, the proper Christian spirituality of sola Scriptura where we experience God in His Word and in prayer recognizes the Lord has spoken to us in Holy Scripture. If you want to hear from God, then read  your Bible.

In closing this, for now, what Nouwen says next is a recipe for spiritual disaster:

Through the discipline of contemplative prayer, Christian leaders have to learn to listen again and again to the voice of [God]… For Christian leadership to be truly fruitful in the future, a movement from the moral to the mystical is required.[6]

Can you see this is antithetical to sola Scriptura, which is why Roman Catholic mysticism was rejected by God’s Reformers. The key question is: If CCP is so important, why didn’t Christ Jesus or His Apostles teach it?

I encourage you to make the time to examine this: The Origin Of Contemplative/Centering Prayer. There you’ll see contemplatives themselves tell you that CSM and its CCP actually originated with the schismatic “desert fathers.”

We should be concerned that DTS would be recommending this book by apostate (at best) mystic Henri Nouwen.

___________________________________________________________________________
End notes:

[1] Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1998], 51, emphasis mine.

[2] Henri Nouwen, In The Name Of Jesus: Reflections On Christian Leadership [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1989], 42.

[3] Ibid., 38, emphasis mine.

[4] Ibid., 42, 43.

[5]  Henri Nouwen, Here and Now: Living In The Spirit [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2006], 25, emphasis mine.

[6] In The Name, op. cit., 47.

See also:

HENRI NOUWEN HELPED BY “MEDITATION”

WHEN YOU PRAY, SAY: BIBLICAL PRAYER VS CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

THE TERMINOLOGY TRAP OF “SPIRITUAL FORMATION”

Since we came online at the end of August 2005 as a pioneer in the field of Internet apologetics and discernment works Apprising Ministries has, sadly, been documenting The Falling Away Of The Evangelical Church.

Among other things, I also monitor trends in the visible church from this outpost where the Net is moving ahead of the rest of the Christian community. Oftentimes anywhere from 2 years to 6 months before they see the results.

Sometimes even more than that. You might recall back in December of 2008 I told you that Rob Bell, former icon of the neo-liberal cult operating within the Emerging Church, was teaching a form of Christian Universalism.

This news was finally discovered by the mainstream of the church visible when he released his book of Love Wins mythology in March of 2011. My point being, many times the things of which I warn won’t even seem possible.

Along this line, months before the ill-fated ecumenical Elephant Room 2, both myself and Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio told you that James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll would use it to mainstream T.D. Jakes.

Well, that’s what happened as Jakes was allowed to tell us in essence: “I’m a trintarian-modalist.” Shortly thereafter, not naming any names (James MacDonald), we were told of private discussions with T.D. Jakes.

It seems that Jakes is saying he wouldn’t accept the label of prosperity preacher; not hard to believe because, after 26 years in fields of apologetics, non-Christian cults and Comparative Religion, I don’t know one who would.

However, it seemed pretty clear that Elephant Room curator James MacDonald was implying there’s been some repentance by T.D. Jakes in that area. But Jakes’ record since ER2 actually gives us the opposite indication.

For example, Elephant Room 2′S T.D. Jakes Says TBN’s Paul Crouch Led By God To Launch Jakes’ Ministry on TBN’s Spring 2012 Fleece-A-Thon. Then there’s his performing for his spiritual daughter pastirx Paula White.

See for yourself in T.D. Jakes Speaker This Month (March 2012) For Paula White’s A God Encounter. Jakes is also fresh off his Pastor’s & Leadership 2012 Conference. Notice at :25 in this clip Paula White shows up:

As you can see below in the advertisement for the DVD set P&L 2012 also featured Joel Osteen. Yes, we know prophet-pastor Steven Furtick says Joel Osteen Is A Great Man Of God, but Osteen’s a WF heretic same as Jakes:

(source)

This next clip is called a recap of P&L 2012 but it sounds more like the typical self-help stylings of Jakes’ usual WF prosperity show to me. Taking God’s name in vain is certainly not Biblical preaching:

Odd how much “touching” goes on within WF shows. Next we have “Bishop” Tudor Bismark whose bio tells us he:

resides in Harare, Zimbabwe,… Bishop Bismark serves as an Apostolic overseer to over 900 churches in 12 African nations, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South America, the West Indies and the United States of America…

Bishop Bismark travels extensively functioning in the role of an Apostle and is sounding a clear voice in this season that it is time for God’s people to establish His kingdom in the earth. (source)

“Apostle-Bishop” Bismark also ministers with his wife pastrix ChiChi. I have to tell you, Bismark’s WF mythology below from P&L 2012 strikes me more like simply rambling. His shtick here is “keep the structure intact.”

Bismark shouts, “If a ship is blown in pieces; keep the structure intact.” How is one to do that if it’s been blown apart? Be that as it may, I’m also not sure where he gets Satan squeezing Jesus like a boa constrictor in Genesis.

However, as a former football coach, Tudor Bizmark is really quite light on his feet, I’ll give him that:

Then there’s pastrix Sheryl Brady, whom I told you of in Elephant Room, T.D. Jakes, And Pastrix Sheryl Brady, Jakes is really quite enamored with her having installed her as pastrix of The Potter’s House Of North Dallas.

Actually, Brady was also a featured speaker for T.D. Jakes’ Woman Thou Art Loosed 2011 hosted by the Lakewood Church of Joel Osteen, which even boasted his WF protégé, pastrix Paula White, as well as Cindy Trimm:

Keep in mind, the closer T.D. Jakes gets to the mainstream, the closer such as these also get. Having been in a WF church for a time as a young Christian I have much experience with this type of self-centered mythology.

I know the WF players well. In closing this, for now, we come to “Bishop” Noel Jones. I can tell you that Jones is no lightweight in the world of urban prosperity preachers; he’s royalty. Born in Jamaica Jones’ bio informs us:

Some may know him as “Bishop,” others as an astute intellectual, a columnist, prolific orator, theatrical producer,… Bishop Jones is also a frequent guest on Trinity Broadcasting Network…

Bishop Jones continues to make an indelible mark on the world, violently reclaiming territory for the Kingdom through his philanthropy, service and social justice efforts. (source)

Yikes, that sounds a bit malevolent. Following, Jones makes up one of most bizarre WF fables I have ever heard. Let me warn you, you do not want to be eating anything as you hear Jones’ wild speculations about Lazarus.

Notice that Noel Jones even claims that what he’s saying is actually “a Word” from God; but to me it sounds a little like Gil Grissom from a nightmare episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation:

I leave you now with some more bad news. seems T.D. Jakes is already gearing up for P&L 2013. But hey, who knows, maybe we’ll even see Steven Furtick and James MacDonald next time around:

(source)

See also:

ELEPHANT ROOM 2′S T.D. JAKES’ SPIRITUAL DAUGHTER PAULA WHITE IN THE NEWS

LEADING EMERGING ECUMENICAL EVANGELEPHANT JAMES MACDONALD ON CRITICISM

STEVEN FURTICK, JAMES MACDONALD, AND JOEL OSTEEN

Apprising Ministries will show you in this piece that the subtitle would be: Nor can she; not without admitting her popes are but fallible men, not vicars of Christ, and that her dogma asseverated at the Council of Trent was wrong.

I have already covered this further in Has The Roman Catholic Church Really Changed? Here I’m going to point out a rather huge fallacy that’s being perptrated by Roman Catholics and spiritually obtuse evangelicals right now.

Take for example this lunacy in the Lord’s name, Southern Baptists Assist The Roman Catholic Church To Infiltrate Evangelicalism. The fallacy is that the Church of Rome has somehow actually become orthodox.

However, it can’t; not without destroying itself as an institution. Let’s take a moment to consider the following from the Second Vatican Council, which was held by the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in the early 1960’s.

Please look very carefully at the following quote from Lumen Gentium – “Solemnly Promulgated By Holiness Pope Paul VI On November 21, 1964.” I have added emphasis:

just as the office granted individually to Peter, the first among the apostles is permanent and is to be transmitted to his successors, so also the apostles’ office of nurturing the Church is permanent, and is to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops. (14*)

Therefore, the Sacred Council teaches that bishops by divine institution have succeeded to the place of the apostles, (15*) as shepherds of the Church, and he who hears them, hears Christ, and he who rejects them, rejects Christ and Him who sent Christ. (149)(16*) (source).

Click the source and you’ll see I quote this right from the online Vatican Library itself. Note: “the office granted individually to Peter, the first among the apostles is permanent and is to be transmitted to his successors.”

We must ask ourselves an important question here: In all its ecumenical dialogues, do we really think that the RCC ever had any actual intention of changing that dogma, which is the very reason the Church of Rome exists?

No, it can’t and still remain the RCC. It doesn’t matter what individual Roman Catholics or RCC theologians believe; it matters what the RCC itself set in stone. Here is her official position concerning herself and her pope.

From the Code of Canon Law, again my emphasis:

Art. 1. THE ROMAN PONTIFF Can. 331 The bishop of the Roman Church, in whom continues the office given by the Lord uniquely to Peter, the first of the Apostles, and to be transmitted to his successors, is the head of the college of bishops, the Vicar of Christ, and the pastor of the universal Church on earth. (source)

Again, individual Romans Catholics might disagree; but it doesn’t change the fact that the RCC sees its pope as the head of the Body of Christ on earth. Next let me show you a critical part of the document Unam Sanctum.

This was “a Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302.” And it’s never been rescinded even to this day; nor can it ever be. Pope Boniface the VIII said:

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins,… she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5].

We venerate this Church [of Rome] as one,… Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, [the Pope]… For since the Apostle said: “There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God” [Rom 13:1-2],…

Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal…This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine,granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven’ etc., [Mt 16:19].

Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2],…Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff. (source)

Certainly, this is a Roman Catholic pope speaking concerning faith and morals. The late Dr. Walter Martin, who founded the Christian Research Institute, was a recognized authority in the field of Comparative Religion.

He informs us that this papal decree Unam Sanctam was declared by Cardinal Henry Edward Manning—himself “an authority on papal bulls and decrees”—to be “infallible and beyond all doubt an act ex cathedra.”[1]

Ex cathedra is an RCC term which refers to when the Roman Pontiff—the pope—speaks “from the Chair of Peter,” with his alleged supreme apostolic authority as the supposed Vicar of Christ—Head of the universal Church.

It’s important at this point to consider the following from the First Vatican Council of the RCC:

we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that

• when the Roman pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA,
  • that is, when,
  • 1. in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians,
  • 2. in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,
  • 3. he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church,
• he possesses,
  • by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter,
• that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals.
• Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable. (source)

The meaning is crystal clear: When the pope makes a decree on faith and morals, this statement would therefore be considered an infallible decree. And as such then, Unam Sanctum also has to be considered as irreformable.

So also the Canons from the Council of Trent; they cannot be changed[2], so leading RCC apologist Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers is correct when he tells us:

An infallible definition, by its very nature, can never be “undone.” The [Roman Catholic] Church still believes and teaches all the definitions Trent issued…

Many of Trent’s definitions concern articles of faith, and for a Catholic to doubt them culpably or to deny them constitutes heresy (CIC 751), which in turn incurs excommunication (CIC 1364 §1) (source)

This now properly positions you upon the battlefield to better understand what’s being discussed by John Ankerberg, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, and the late D. James Kennedy in the video to follow below.

You’re about to see the second of six programs by The John Ankerberg Show entitled Protestants and Catholics: Do They Now Agree? on Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.

Even though that ecumenical document came out in 1994, what they talk about on this edition of Ankerberg’s show is crucial for people to understand as the spread of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism continues.

With it has come a romanticizing of apostate Roman Catholic mystics and a sappy sentimentality that somehow the RCC is now to be considered part of the Body of Christ. However, our difference involves the very Gospel itself.

And as you’ll hear Dr. R.C. Sproul say below:

The Roman Catholic Church condemns “sola fide! (L.)” Now if, please understand this, if “sola fide (L.)” is the gospel, then the Roman Catholic Church has condemned the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, nobody who went to the Council of Trent, as a delegate, went there with the intention of condemning the gospel. The theologians of Rome really believed that they were defending the gospel and that the Protestants had in fact committed apostasy.

And I admire the Church, the Roman communion of the 16th century for at least understanding what apparently people don’t understand today, and that is what is at stake here. That they understood that somebody is under the anathema of God! And we can be as nice, and as pleasant, and as gentle, and as loving, and as charitable, and tolerant as we can possibly be, but it’s not going to change that folks.

Somebody is preaching a different gospel! And when Rome condemned the Protestant declaration of “Justification by faith alone” I believe, Rome, when placing the anathema on “sola fide (L.),” placed the anathema of God upon themselves. I agree with his [John MacArthur] assessment, that the institution [Roman Catholic Church] is apostate!

Part 2

JOHN ANKERBERG: Welcome. We’re here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the beautiful Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church with this wonderful audience tonight. And my guests are Dr. D. James Kennedy, who is the pastor of this beautiful church. The well known and popular Dr. John MacArthur and Dr. R.C. Sproul. Now our program is about a document called Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium. We’re also going to be talking about a new clarifying statement that was just written by the evangelical signees of this document. You may not know, but the Evangelicals & Catholics Together document was written by evangelicals and Protestants and signed by twenty well known leaders in the evangelical world and twenty well known Roman Catholic leaders. Now Chuck Colson, who helped to draft this document, has acknowledged that it has caused a lot of controversy.

And he has admitted that it raised genuine concerns over whether this document clearly represents what evangelical Christians believe. So just a few weeks ago we met with Chuck, at his request; we had ten evangelical leaders there—the for of us were there. And Chuck expressed his concern over the confusion the document has caused—the lack of clarity concerning what evangelicals believe. And he wanted to resolve and remove any contentious issues, so that there would no longer be any doubt as to where he and the other Protestant signees stood. To this end—together—we all composed a statement that clarifies, and clearly defines, our evangelical distinctives. Not all of them, but some of the primary ones.

Now, Dr. John MacArthur, when we met together, we agreed that the ECT document, the “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” document was attempting to join Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants together as “cobelligerents,” the word the Francis Schaeffer coined “working at the grass-roots level” in terms of social issues. And we were going to work together against the many social evils, including secular humanism, the riding tide of Islam, pornography, abortion, and things like that. But we also agreed that this work [ECT] has been perceived as going too far in proclaiming the kind of unity that exists. I would like you to define the kind of unity that can exist between Evangelicals and Roman Catholics, and the kind of unity that cannot exist until the doctrine of “Justification by faith alone” has been dealt with clearly.

JOHN MACARTHUR: Well, I might be a little bit radical on this, but I will go ahead. I think the way we can work together on it is for the Catholics to work against those things, like they want to work against them, and we will work against those things, like we want to work against them, but we can’t really throw our arms around each other in a common effort because that confounds the issue of spiritual truth.

Look, if the Catholic Church is already a cobelligerent, if they are already anti-abortion, and pornography, and homosexuality; they are going to use all of their energies within the framework of their system to go after that. We are committed to that, and we are going after that. There is already a collective movement. Once you then sort of try to define that as “common spiritual mission” built on “common spiritual unity” you just take doctrine and throw it out the window, and perception is violated, particularly because the Catholic Church claims to be true Christianity, and when we reverse 450 years of history, and just throw our arms around the Roman system, which I think we have to say, John, in all honesty, is not a group of wayward brothers but is an apostate form of Christianity.

It is a false religion, it is another religion. When you throw your arms around that you literally have to undo any doctrinal distinction. In fact, ECT doesn’t just do that implicitly, they do that explicitly. In the document, in effect, they say, “we have to accept all baptized Roman Catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ. In an article that followed that up in Christianity Today, J. I. Packer said, “We should acknowledge as brothers and sisters in Christ, anyone who lives to the highest ideals of their communion.” My response to that is the opposite. I maybe could fellowship with a bad Roman Catholic, that is, one who has rejected the system, but was still in the church and came to know Christ. But one who holds the highest ideals of Roman Catholicism—on what grounds do I have spiritual unity? And when you get spiritual leaders from both churches, coming together to sign a common effort—you may say that it is to fight a cultural war, but people are going to see it as confusion over doctrine.

R. C. SPROUL: John, can I say something?

JOHN ANKERBERG: Yes, let me just throw in here, that is why we put in here, paragraph one in this new doctrinal statement, which, let me read it:

“Our parachurch cooperation with evangelically committed Roman Catholics, for the pursuit of agreed objectives, does not imply acceptance of Roman Catholic doctrinal distinctives, or endorsement of the Roman Catholic Church system.”

R. C. SPROUL: That is important, John, that Chuck and Dr. Packer, and Bill Bright wanted to make that point clear. I just wanted to comment on John’s statement that he prefaced by saying he was “a little bit radical,” you know, like being a “little bit pregnant” I think. Because when somebody, representing evangelicalism makes the comment, “that in their opinion or their judgment, the Roman Catholic Church is apostate—it is not a true Christian community.” In this day and age of tolerance and pluralism and relativism, and the milieu or irenic peaceful, gentle coexistence. . . .we live in a world that is fed up with theological controversy and disputes, and divisions and all of that. You see we don’t live back in the 16th century where people burned each other at the stake over that.

For John MacArthur to make a statement like that, about the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest professing body in the world, that claims a Christian position—it’s just flame inflammatory, incinderary (sp.), and will provoke a howling outcry of people—you’re going to get an enormous amount of mail for saying that John, you know that! [Great Applause].

The one thing that the spirit of tolerance of our day cannot tolerate is intolerance, because relationships have become more important than truth. Now what’s at stake here, if I understand the New Testament where the Apostle Paul writes the Galatians and says, “If anybody, anybody, if it’s Peter, if it’s Barnabus, if it’s an angel from heaven teaches any other gospel—let him be anathema.” That’s not Sproul, that’s not MacArthur, that’s not Kennedy, that’s not Ankerberg—that is the Apostolic position, and Paul wanted to make sure that he made himself clear so he repeated that.

And then he goes on to say that he had to resist Peter himself, as Peter started to crack and compromise and negotiate the gospel. Now think about the people in the first century who got that letter—they were horrified. They said the last thing we can have happen is a break-up of fellowship and unity between Peter and Paul! All I have listened to for ten months is “Oh, my goodness, what would happen if we saw a split among people like Colson, Packer, and Sproul, and MacArthur—we cannot have that happen! Well, I am the last person in the world to want to have that happen—I can’t stand that either, these people are my friends, my comrades and everything. But John, what he [John MacArthur] is saying here, the Catholic Church understood in the 16th century, and Trent and Rome placed its unambiguous anathema on the Protestant doctrine of “Justification by faith alone” and has never, in any magisterial sense removed that anathema.

The Roman Catholic Church condemns “sola fide! (L.)” Now if, please understand this, if “sola fide (L.)” is the gospel, then the Roman Catholic Church has condemned the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, nobody who went to the Council of Trent, as a delegate, went there with the intention of condemning the gospel. The theologians of Rome really believed that they were defending the gospel and that the Protestants had in fact committed apostasy. And I admire the Church, the Roman communion of the 16th century for at least understanding what apparently people don’t understand today, and that is what is at stake here. That they understood that somebody is under the anathema of God! And we can be as nice, and as pleasant, and as gentle, and as loving, and as charitable, and tolerant as we can possibly be, but it’s not going to change that folks. Somebody is preaching a different gospel! And when Rome condemned the Protestant declaration of “Justification by faith alone” I believe, Rome, when placing the anathema on “sola fide (L.),” placed the anathema of God upon themselves. I agree with his [John MacArthur] assessment, that the institution [Roman Catholic Church] is apostate!

JOHN MACARTHUR: I don’t want to leave Jim [James Kennedy] out of this, but I think that it is so important to know this. In a time like this of tolerance, listen, false teaching will always cry intolerance. It will always say you are being divisive, you are being unloving, you are being ungracious, because it can only survive when it doesn’t get scrutinized. So it cries against any intolerance. It cries against any examination, any scrutiny—just let’s embrace each other; let’s love each other; let’s put all that behind us. False doctrine cries the loudest about unity. Listen carefully when you hear the cry for unity, because it may be the cover of false doctrine encroaching. If ever we should follow 1 Thessalonians 5, and examine everything carefully, it’s when somebody is crying unity, love, and acceptance.

JOHN ANKERBERG: Dr. Kennedy, not Chuck, and not J. I. Packer, and some of our Evangelical buddies that came out with the ECT document, but others have gone one step further, and have said, “You know, Evangelicals and Catholics should overlook doctrinal differences and distinctives and unite to survive today here in America. If we don’t stand together; if we don’t fight together; we are all going down. How does that come into your theology of the sovereignty of God? Should we give up doctrinal distinctives just to survive? What do you think about that?

JAMES KENNEDY: John, first of all, let me if I could just add one little thing to this discussion that went on here, and then I will get back to that. For those lay people here that are not familiar—the Council of Trent, eighteen years that they spent examining the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation, and at the end of that time they came out with many Canons of the Council of Trent, and this is the particular one that R. C. was referring to, and I just like to have you hear the words. This has never been altered or denied by the Catholic Church, “If anyone says that the faith which justifies is nothing else but trust in the Divine mercy, which pardons sins because of Christ, or that it is trust alone by which we are justified” Which is what every Evangelical Christian would say. And they end with, “let him be anathema,” which means “let him be accursed.”

Every Evangelical Christian in the world stands under the official, never changed curse of the Roman Church, and we need to be aware of that fact. Now, the Bible says that we are to hold to the truth—in love. Now, that is difficult to do. Only Christ did that perfectly. We always tend either to slip into a rigidity or a legalism or to slide on the other side into some sort of “wishy-washy” compromise of the gospel.

But, getting to your question, and that was one of the reasons for ECT, that we live (as Chuck told me on the phone when he called me). We live in a time when the concept of truth is under attack. When the values and morals that Christians hold in common are under enormous assault, that we must stand together, or we are going to fall together. But, the problem with this document is that it gives the appearance of compromising the basic doctrine of the gospel of the Bible, which is the gospel, and this is the heart of all Christianity. This is why we had this meeting, right here in my office, to try to work these things out so there would not be a schism among Evangelicals, and happily got all of these gentlemen to sign a statement that they do affirm the basic Reformational truths. I still would have difficulty having my name on that document [ECT], which it is not, because I think of the ambiguity of it; the lack of clarity, and the way it opens a door for people to think that there is no difference of any significance, pertaining to the Gospel of Salvation between Protestants and Catholics.

JOHN ANKERBERG: It is very important right now, that we, for the people who are tuning in, because they want to know, “Where do we stand right now?” “What does this doctrinal statement mean in terms of where we are at?”

R. C. SPROUL: That’s what I was going to address, John, so that we have an understanding of this. The purpose of this meeting for the clarification, was as Chuck Colson had a compassionate concern to communicate. He said, can’t we come together and agree to disagree as brothers in Christ, because the controversy had escalated to such a point that the issue became now: not what is the relationship between Catholics and Evangelicals, but what will the relationship now be between evangelicals who endorse this position and those who didn’t. Are we facing a serious and permanent breach within Evangelical ranks? I mean, are we going to break fellowship over our disagreement over ECT, and that is what provoked this. At that meeting everybody expressed their concerns in a candid way, and Chuck, of course, said, “The whole thing was provoked in the first place because of their deep concern of what was happening in Latin America, and they didn’t want to see another Belfast erupt, and trying to come to a united front to an increasing hostile secularism.” And we all said, “Hey, we share that concern. We don’t want to see Latin America become a Belfast, and we recognize the hostility of secularism.”

Our concern was, as I stated it in that meeting, as clearly as I knew how, “that as far as I could see ECT, in my judgment, betrayed the gospel of Jesus Christ.” I also went on to say, and I have said this as loudly as I can every time that I discuss this, “I don’t for one minute think that Bill Bright, Jim Packer, Charles Colson, et all, ever in their wildest dreams, ever intended any such thing. But by the same token, neither did the signers of the Council of Trent.” This is not a personal thing with me. I was saying the document, in what it says and proclaims because it goes beyond this standing together as cobelligerents—it declares a unity of faith, John, where there is not a unity of faith. That’s what deeply, deeply, concerns me. So what the concern of the men was, at this meeting was to say, “Hey, look, let’s say to the world, `We do believe in `sola fide (L.)’ and Chuck Colson says, `I believe in Justification by faith alone’ and he wanted to put his print on paper his statement that this is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ, because he realized that people were interpreting the document the way that I was interpreting it, and he believed that that was a misinterpretation. Packer thinks that it is a misinterpretation. I think that it is the one that the document screams, but we still disagree on that, and Chuck is still committed to ECT—my fondest hope was that these men would remove their names from it—”A.” And if they couldn’t do that, if they couldn’t formally recant of it, “B” that they would at least revise the document itself, and if we couldn’t get them to do that—at least, please give a clarification that we can print separately of what you meant.

JOHN ANKERBERG: Next week we’re gonna continue our conversation. And we’re going to look at: Are there any people that are off limits in terms of evangelism? Sheep-stealing, prostelization between Catholics and Protestants. And we’re going to look at this very controversial area newt week. And I hope that you’ll join us. (source)

___________________________________________________________________________
End notes:

[1] Walter Martin, Roman Catholicism, CD Rom, available at Walter Martin’s Religious InfoNet.

[2] http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct25.html, accessed 5/24/12.

See also:

RICK WARREN AND TEACHINGS OF DEMONS

DID GOD GIVE BETH MOORE THIS VISION?

THE DECEIVERS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 3-4)

Spiritual Judgment And The End Of God’s Patience

Years ago Charles Spurgeon said: “We can learn nothing of the Gospel except by feeling its truths. There are some sciences that may be learned by the head, but the science of Christ crucified can only be learned by the heart.” A few years back I wrote an article entitled Emerging With The Spiritual Side Of Christianity, which is a reminder that no matter how intellectual any of us are, in the end the Christian faith is still a spiritual relationship with God Himself.

The Bible clearly tells us that God is Spirit, and not a spirit as the King James Version reads; therefore those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). My point being that, although this is a bit mysterious—it’s been referred to correctly as the mystical union of the believer in Christ—there is no escape from the fact that to be a Christian is to become involved in another world, this one spiritual. The neo-liberal cult operating within the Emerging Church aka the Emergent Church has erected a straw man to pretend that those of us who hold to sola Scriptura aren’t aware of this; but no one credible is saying anything otherwise.

Apprising Ministries has been alerting you that we are seeing an increase of deceptions entering the Christian community; and the reason for that is actually tied to 1 Peter 4:17 — For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now, I’m not pulling a Harold Camping and saying that this is the final judgment; nor am I saying that the Lord is necessarily coming in our lifetime. What I am attempting to do is draw attention to a secondary principle that’s found in this verse, which is when God tires of mankind’s foolishness in a given generation, He will first begin to deal with His own remnant—or specifically to this verse—His Church.

As you come to understand this you’ll see what’s happening in the visible Christian church. The Lord is allowing the rapid acceleration of spiritual blindness and such spiritual deceptions as the Purpose Driven/Seeker Drivenism a la Rick Warren , the judgment-less Love Wins mythology of former Emerging Church icon Rob Bell, and the growing acceptance of the Word Faith heresy of smiling Joel Osteen; by doing so, He is challenging us to actually live up to our most cherished beliefs through these combined forces of The Ecumenical Church Of Deceit (ECoD).

By allowing this ECoD and its own critical thinking skills-numbing Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism to gain strength the Lord is forcing an evangelicalism steeped in the humanism she never really renounced to come to grips with the spiritual side of the Christian faith. I’m not going to hash out dispensationalism, cessationism, Calvinism, Arminianism etc. at this point; what I am trying to do here is to let you know that we had best come to grips with a good working knowledge of these kinds of issues because Satan’s forces are doing their best right now to try and drive his wedge of division and confusion into the very remnant of God itself.

I must tell you that at the present time he is winning the battle spiritually and his ECoD has been doing a fantastic job of undoing the Reformation within evangelicalism. Can we really not see that this ECoD is a dutiful daughter who’s been very busy tying to draw spiritually obtuse Christians right back to apostate Roman Catholicism and the Church of Rome, her man-pleasing mother? These are the new Pharisees of Roman Catholic self-righteous religion who have simply recreated their own form of Judaism all over again. Do you possibly think all of this interest in Contemplative/Centering Prayer, which originated within the monastic system of the Rome—has come about by accident?

And A Sad Pattern Again Comes Emerging

Maybe we might look at it this way. Consider the sad pattern of mankind’s relationship with his Creator from Adam, who actually walked with Him in the garden, to God’s own chosen people Israel not even recognizing Him when Jesus Christ—the LORD God Almighty in human flesh—stepped upon His planet. Man is given the privilege of knowing His loving and merciful Creator, but then through his own sin and rebellion, he always ends up abusing that relationship until he no longer even recognizes Him anymore. Now let’s move ahead into the Age of Grace; our Great God and Savior Himself establishes His Church and then graciously comes to actually dwell within us.

However, by 1517 His visible Christian church is so corrupt, and has turned so far away from Him, that God has to send His Reformers to return the Body of Christ back to the things the Lord has already taught us in His Word the Bible. William Webster is dead-on-target when he says:

The Reformation was responsible for restoring to the Church the principle of sola Scriptura, a principle which had been operative within the Church from the very beginning of the post apostolic age. Initially the apostles taught orally but with the close of the apostolic age all special revelation that God wanted preserved for man was codified in the written Scriptures.

Sola Scriptura is the teaching and belief that there is only one special revelation from God that man possesses today, the written Scriptures or the Bible, and that consequently the Scriptures are materially sufficient and are by their very nature as being inspired by God the ultimate authority for the Church. (Online source)

How far the mainstream of the largely pretending to be Protestant evangelical community has drifted. If you will honestly take a look at what God has revealed to us prophetically concerning what is going to happen to this world before Christ returns, you will see that once again mankind will push Him right out of his life; and even now Purpose Driven/Seeker Driven and Emergent pseudo-Christians are engaged in shoving the Lord right out of His own church visible. We need only turn to Revelation 3:20 to shed some prophetic light upon this. Although it’s often quoted in its secondary meaning to unbelievers, this truth is that the passage from which it is taken is actually speaking to a church, or at least people who would profess to be Christians:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

So we see an interesting pattern come emerging from Genesis to Malachi; even among those who considered themselves God’s chosen people because of their birth, they end up completely forgetting Who their Creator is by the time Christ comes into the world He created. And then as we move into the Age of Grace, from the Matthew to Revelation, could it be that we are seeing this same pattern come emerging once again by the time we reach chapter 3 of Revelation? I would say this is good cause for one to take heed of the Biblical admonition of 2 Corinthians 13:5 — Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

If John the Baptist were here, in a style that would no doubt be frowned upon by today’s focused on the self Christianity, I believe he’d be saying to these leaders in the ECoD of new and postevangelicalism, as well as to their apostate brethren in the Church of Rome:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9)

Since God cannot change, the spiritually mature should see that the point is still the same: It’s one thing to say you belong to God, but it’s quite another to have the life to back it up. You don’t think that the Pharisees had any good works; of course they did, but they loved the approval of men, just the same as Rick Warren and Rob Bell and Joel Osteen and Pope Benedict XVI seem to today. I exhort you, don’t be fooled by deluded deceivers any longer because this is what the Lord says to those who are:

“‘But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’”
(Revelation 2:14-17)

See also:

MAN-CENTERED METHODS OF RICK WARREN A LA ROBERT SCHULLER

POSTMODERN MYTH AND SOME HOMEBREWED ROB BELL

JOEL OSTEEN: SMILE WHEN YOU LIE

Christian Research Network is a sister work of Apprising Ministries. Today CRN Associate Editor Erin Benziger of Do Not Be Surprised… brings to our attention an odd occurrence recently at Saddleback Church where Kay Warren, wife of SBC megapastor Rick Warren functioned in the role as teaching elder:

The Bible is not ambiguous in describing the necessary qualifications and characteristics that must be met by a man who desires to hold the role of pastor, or elder, within a church. In Titus 1:5–9 and 1 Tim. 3:1–7, Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, clearly outlines these requirements.

The Apostle Paul also delivered instruction regarding the role of women within the church:

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. 1 TIM. 2:11–14, ESV

This is the biblical admonition against a woman being ordained to the role of pastor in the church. While passages such as Titus 2:3–5 encourage women to live godly lives and to mentor and teach other women, Scripture is clear in its call for the role of pastor to be held by a man who has met the biblical qualifications. Though women are equally gifted and important to the vitality of a church, God is clear that they may not hold any authoritative position over the men of the church.

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) agrees with this biblical standard. Below is the SBC’s official position on the role of women in the church.

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.THE BAPTIST FAITH & MESSAGE, VI. THE CHURCH, EMPHASIS ADDED

While other SBC documents may offer a perceived loophole in this instruction, most Southern Baptists would affirm the position stated above.

Saddleback Church in Southern California is officially registered with the Southern Baptist Convention, so it is presumed that they would adhere to the biblical standards set forth by the SBC in regard to women preaching. It is odd to note, then, that Kay Warren, wife of pastor Rick Warren, recently usurped the role of pastor by preaching the weekend services at this large megachurch.

For four weeks beginning on 11 March 2012, Kay Warren preached a sermon series entitled, “All Access: The Story of You and God.”

Audio and video of these sermons may be accessed by visiting the Saddleback media archives for the weekend services. These messages centered around the tabernacle of the Old Testament as Warren sought to teach that

God is a relational God and He wants to be in relationship with you…God wants to be at the center of the story of you, because the story of you is really the story of you and God. SOURCE

Even more recently, Kay Warren preached the Sunday service at the controversial Crystal Cathedral. On 30 April 2012, The Christian Post reported:

Author Kay Warren delivered a sermon on choosing joy at the Crystal Cathedral during two Sunday worship services that were taped for the Garden Grove church’s “Hour of Power” TV broadcast.

The wife of Saddleback Church founding Pastor Rick Warren adapted her message from her recently released book, Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn’t Enough.

Warren told the congregation about her own struggles to find joy even when the Bible clearly states a Christian’s life should be full of joy.

SOURCE

While standing in the role of pastor for four consecutive weekends, then, Kay Warren undoubtedly found herself teaching a mixed audience of both men and women. How can this be reconciled not only with the SBC’s stated position on this topic, but with the biblical prohibition against women taking authority within the church? Should the body of Christ remain silent on this issue? If it was important enough for God to offer explicit instruction in His Word, then it ought to be of equal importance to Christians today.

See also:

SOUTHERN BAPTIST KAY WARREN PROMOTING DEVOUT ROMAN CATHOLIC JEAN VANIER

SETTING KAY WARREN STRAIGHT ABOUT ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTIC HENRI NOUWEN

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM INVADES EVANGELICALISM WITH RICK WARREN AND KAY WARREN LEADING THE CHARGE

Apparently Apprising Ministries has more influence than we thought. Is she actually serious:

See also:

DECADE OF DESTINY WITH RICK WARREN

RICK WARREN, LAVERNE ADAMS, AND CINDY TRIMM

RICK WARREN, DR. LAVERNE ADAMS, AND DR. MARK CHIRONNA

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:5-7)

Don’t Be Fooled As Richard Foster And Dallas Willard Are Leading A Rebirth Of Pietism

Apprising Ministries reminds you of an important aspect of the Incarnation of Christ Jesus, our Lord. That being, as a Man on earth Jesus chose to set aside His “rights” to act as God and was willing to function pretty much the same as you and I do in our day to day lives. Of course, we are fallen; He was not.

So while Jesus is our model, we will always fall short because we have a sinful human nature where Christ Jesus has a divine nature. With this in perspective, the fact is the Bible quite plainly teaches that Jesus of Nazareth lived on earth as a Man indwelt by God through the Holy Spirit in great similarity to the way we are presently.

Let’s look at verse five of out text — Have this mind among yourselves—[you and me as Christians]—which is yours in Christ Jesus. As born again believers this is something we now possess. God the Holy Spirit also tells us through His same inspired Apostle Paul — we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

There are other ways that we can go here, but I want you to see the Bible unmistakably teaches that Jesus of Nazareth, verse 6 — was in the form of God; i.e. He has the very nature of God. The point being, His essence is deity. This is crucial to maintain as get to verse seven, which tells us Jesus was later born in the likeness of men.

In other words, in His incarnation—His Virgin Birth—God the Son, second Person of the Holy Trinity, voluntarily chose to “empty” Himself of His right to act as God and agreed to live on earth as a Human Being. As I just outlined above, this is greatly similar to the way you and I as Christians are living right now.

Like I said, Jesus didn’t have our sinful nature and His nature is also deity, but it’s important for you to keep in mind here that Christ Jesus was in actual fact a Man. As such then, the Master truly was the second Adam. This is what’s at the heart of the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Christ Jesus. It can’t be compromised.

One outworking of this would be God the Father desires, because of the saving work of God the Son—His living the perfect life as a Man and then dying in our place—substituting His life for ours—to “recreate,” as it were, the life of the Son of God and the Son of Man in each of us by the power of God the Holy Spirit.

You need to know that this is all under attack right now. Yet Scripture says — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) and — [you] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:10)

Now, God’s Word is not speaking of some abstract concept here; for the glorious truth that Satan does not want the Christian to understand is this: To the exact proportion that each of us will surrender control of our “old” lives to Christ Jesus, God the Holy Spirit will then fill that space in you. I’m not talking about pietistic “disciplines.”

More and more each day as we then let God transform us in our inner nature, which we refer to as our spirit, we will receive His power to live as the Master did while He was here on His earth. They key to remember is: Christ Jesus has done this for us; we don’t need Foster-Willardism, we need to simply let God guide us as He will.

There’s no pressure; there’s no so-called spiritual disciplines required, and there’s no need to “work yourself up.” As we read the Bible; pray, and allow God to help us do what it says—which we can do to a greater extent because Jesus already did it for us—we will find ourselves naturally comforting to the image of Christ in us. Make sense.

Soli Deo gloria; not trying to force people to be “Christ-followers” through some man-made traditions rooted in rotten Roman Catholicism. We don’t need to shy away from the doctrine of progressive sanctification just because the Foster-Willardites have largely captured contemporary evangelicalism with their reimagined Pietism.

But let me ask you a question: Do you seriously think you need a better purpose for your life than asking God to more and more conform your image to His Son? Sadly, this most basic of issues concerning the Christian faith has become so clouded in the bad teaching currently perforating the contemporary evangelical community.

Let me remind you of the Lord’s plan for His adopted children in Christ in our daily lives. Come with me to Romans, chapter 12, and verse 1. Many Bibles have a heading here: “Living Sacrifices.” Romans 12:1 — I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God — His mercy in saving you, which none of us deserve.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers — [and sisters] — I appeal to you —  [all of us who are Christians] — by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Can you see; this is spiritual worship. We bring glory to God in letting Him use us as His sacrifices.

This isn’t pietism; we do the presenting, but God does the sacrificing. Verses 2 + 3 — Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  You may recall we have just seen this in Colossians 3:10 as well. Part of the way God transforms us is this renewing of our minds through our studying the Bible.

Why? So that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Now can you begin to see why the average professing evangelical “Christian” in this generation is so clueless? Foster-Willardism tells us go within to discover God’s will for our lives; but God tells us look without and into Scriputre.

See also:

JOHN PIPER, RICK WARREN & FOSTER-WILLARDISM

RICHARD FOSTER—CELEBRATION OF DECEPTION

UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS OF PIETISM

This particular email below is published with permission, and is presented here upon the request of its author, prayerfully for encouragement for those who have been standing with us here at AM. As it says in our About AM section, the Lord has given me the privilege of being involved in a lot more ministry endeavors than the writings you see here at AM.

Take for example, what you’re about to read in this unsolicited testimony. The man who wrote the email lives a couple of states away from me and the only way I would have ever met him is through my labor in the Lord here at AM. As God would will, in time he would even sit with me on my porch and we’ve broken bread together. Here now another side of the controversial work of Apprising Ministries:

Please share this praise report.

Dear Pastor Silva,

As you know, I have struggled for the last 3 years to reckon with my wife’s infidelity.

A situation, that I know now, I contributed to by neglecting my family.

The Lord used you to correct me, to see my wife as He does.

In that perspective, I could not help but see my own sinfulness. For that, I repented.

Now, my marriage is on a path of healing and joy.

I thank God for putting you in my life. I would have been shipwrecked otherwise.

To our God be the glory.

TK

As I said in Our Gratitude Apprising Ministries is an apologetics and discernment outreach extending from Connecticut River Baptist Church, the small local fellowship who called me as their pastor. Please know that I have no staff to assist me in pastoral counsel such as the above; or in the research and writing, and AM is also reader-supported, which means I depend entirely upon the generosity of God’s people to be available.

So if you’ve been blessed through the work here perhaps you might consider helping to support this labor. The truth is, I also regularly receive letters from many pastors around the country looking for help in discerning issues or asking me to do additional research, and we remain hopeful that a church or two might consider taking on AM as even a small part of their mission giving.

In any event, at this time a gift of any amount—whether one time or on a regular basis—as we head toward the summer slump will go a long way toward helping to keep AM available along the Internet Front. If you’d like to donate via PayPal click here or you can make your checks/money orders payable to Connecticut River Baptist Church with Apprising Ministries in the memo and send them to:

CONNECTICUT RIVER BAPTIST CHURCH
P.O. Box 340
Claremont, NH 03743

See also:

YOUR APPRISING MINISTRIES SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED

T.D. JAKES AND SUPPORT FOR APPRISING MINISTRIES

EX-HOMOSEXUAL FRIEND OF APPRISING MINISTRIES

Apprising Ministries has been warning here that a very dark and deviant same sex storm is reaching hurricane force and is only slightly off the coast of the mainstream evangelical community. That’s why I wrote Miley Cyrus And Gay Marriage; while I don’t consider her a Christian, her views do represent young evangelicals.

It’s likely not very long before the evil aggressive pro-homosexual agenda launches a full-on assault upon evangelicalism because they know its leaders are just way, way, too timid to stand up to them. In addition, its main ally the Emerging Church has already softened up evanjellyfish’s younger sectors.

A couple of years ago I discussed this further in Doug Pagitt And The Emerging Church Gay Agenda; it’s a major EC area of concern. Such as these postmodern neo-liberals, in lockstep with their evil forebears, are pushing for the deviant lifestyle of unrepentant homosexuality to be accepted as viable for even the evangelical Christian.

In fact one of the first EC leaders to come out, in full on support of this, was Fuller Theological Seminary professor Dr. Tony Jones; apostate progressive “theologian in residence” at his “pastor” Pagitt’s gathering. And a couple of years ago I already showed you that Doug Pagitt And His Solomon’s Porch Affirm Homosexual Sin.

So warped is FTS professor Jones that last year Tony Jones Argues For Open Marriage And Polyamory. That’s why it’s no surprise that today Jones would tweet:

(source)

That link takes us over to Tony Jones’ blog and his post There’s a Queer Underground at Biola where he informs us:

The purveyors of the website The Biola Queer Underground and [sic] contacted me, hoping that students and alumni of Biola who read my blog would speak out in support of them. (source)

It turns out the same-sex storm is heading for Biola University, “a private Christian university located in Southern California. For over 100 years, Biola — a community where all faculty, staff and students are professing Christian.”[1] Now BU has seen this slither into its midst:

(source)

As we follow back the link that’s in Jones’ tweet we find Response to “Biola University Statement on Human Sexuality “ where we can see that the pro-homosexual lobby, per its usual modus operandi, is now attempting to stir up division at BU:

Please understand that this discussion is not an abstract subject for us. Our sexual and gender identities, which are integral to who we are, are being questioned in terms of their morality. The university’s upcoming decisions will affect our daily lives, education and, consequentially, our financial security; we take none of this lightly.

The recently published policy, eighteen months in the making, did not bring change except to make it clearer that Biola views “any acts of sexual intimacy between two persons of the same sex as an illegitimate moral option for the confessing Christian.” It did not even attempt to address those with transgender or other non-conforming gender identities.

Nor did it speak to the consequences for those who do not view their own or other’s homosexuality as “a struggle to maintain sexual purity.” (source)

Best get ready, this will be happening with increasing rapidity within more and more mainstream evangelical institutions. Years of EC propaganda aimed at younger sectors of the professing Christian community and the introduction of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism have kicked out the key pillar of sola Scriptura.

So now people are deciding critical issues like this by their feelings; not by what God has said in His Word, the Bible. The Biola Queer Underground is reacting to this:

(source)

As you can see, this is framed correctly. God’s design for marriage is one man to one woman; as such then, all sexual relations between members of the same sex will always happen outside the bounds of marriage and therefore remains the sin of sexual immorality. May God grant this Biola Queer Underground repentance.

___________________________________________________________________________
End notes:

[1] http://www.biola.edu/about/, accessed 5/17/12.

See also:

HOMOSEXUALITY, MEGACHURCHES, AND ANDY STANLEY

JAY BAKKER, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND GOSPEL REDUCTIONISM

PHILIP YANCEY WITH AN EVANGELICAL NON-STANCE ON HOMOSEXUALITY

Over a year ago Apprising Ministries began warning you that Word Faith Heretics Like Creflo Dollar Draw Nearer To Evangelical Acceptance. I’m sure many thought, “Silva, you’ve lost what’s left of your mind.” But since then we’ve had the Elephant Room 2 try and tell us that T.D. Jakes Is Not A Word Faith Prosperity Preacher.

It seems the inmates are running the evangelical asylum now as postmodernism’s influence wraps itself around the sappy sentimentality produced by corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism and slithers its syncretism deeper into the weak heart of the mainstream of the church visible. I wish I had better news; but, I don’t.

Here’s another example of an evangelical odd couple; and I do admit I was a bit surprised to discover this. As you can see below, popular Southern Baptist pastor David Jeremiah was a featured speaker for the March 5 2012 spring version of Praise-A-Thon for the nefarious haven of heretics known as Trinity Broadcasting Network:

(source)

If you didn’t know, Mark Chironna and “Bishop” Clarence McClendon are typical TBN Word Faith (WF) heretical snake oil salesmen along the order of Paul Crouch himself. While Jeremiah doesn’t appear with them, he was the first featured speaker during this time TBN uses as a main vehicle to fleece their flock each year.

Rather odd that David Jeremiah, an ostensibly conservative evangelical, would wish to rub shoulders with WF prosperity preachers. Yet here he is below where you’ll see Jeremiah lavish his praise upon Paul Crouch as well as TBN itself. In this first clip Crouch touches upon the classic sow a seed (money) so God is obligated to bless you.

Then he introduces David Jeremiah as “one of my dearest brothers in the whole world” while putting his arm around him:

In this next clip Paul Crouch is telling the faithful they should support TBN because of it’s continued expansion with new networks, which he says he can’t even name because there are so many. Crouch informs us that God is behind their having to continue to grow and introduces David Jeremiah, who discloses an interesting tidbit.

Jeremiah says, “I’ve been involved with this organization over these last few years” and tells us it’s “an incredible thing” TBN is doing:

Before going any further it’s important that you understand a couple of core doctrines of WF heretics like Paul Crouch. In his helpful Understanding Word-Faith Teaching Christian apologist Rob Bowman explains:

The distinctive ideas about God and man in Word-Faith theology are the basis for its views on faith and prayer. Faith is not only believing what God says but also believing that we have whatever we say. Prayer is not only speaking to God but also speaking to things and circumstances and commanding them to do as we say. This is the basis for the concept of positive and negative confession, the idea that what we believe and say, whether good or bad, will happen for us…

On the basis of a positive confession – itself based on faith that we are divine spirits created and redeemed to rule our circumstances by speaking words of faith – Word-Faith theology says we are to obtain health and wealth. Since Christ died to free us from the curse of the law, reason the Word-Faith teachers, this must mean that Christians need no longer accept sickness or poverty in their lives. Christians ought to live in divine health and wealth as testimony to the power of God and as evidence that they are children of God… (source)

One of the ways WF teachers tell us that we acquire this wealth is their twisted “law of sowing and reaping.” You often hear them tell their flocks to “sow a seed” into their ministry in order that God will then return them more than they gave as a “blessing.” For example, here’s TBN favorite Paula White at the “church” of T.D. Jakes:

Considering where he is, David Jeremiah appears to be trying to straddle the fence in his Praise-A-Thon sermon at TBN. It seems, at best, an attempt to blur the lines between orthodoxy and and heretical WF teaching. You’ll see Jeremiah expressing praise for Paul Crouch below so his discernment certainly leaves much too be desired.

In this next clip, Jeremiah also reveals a real misunderstanding concerning the sovereignty of God. While elaborating on how people say, “if we give to God, He’ll give a lot back to us,” Jeremiah tells us we often misunderstand how this happens. So, at 1:44 he muses:

Here’s how it works. The Bible says that if we’re faithful over a few things, God will make us ruler over many. So, here’s how it works. God sits in heaven and He gives to us a stewardship. When He watches us manage that, in His behalf—and we do it effectively—He says, “I think I can trust that person with some more.”

So He gives us more to manage. And, as long as we manage what He gives us effectively, God can trust us with even more resources.

What Jeremiah has just said would be true of the fictitious WF god, who is at the beck and call of mankind; but the one true and living God of the Bible is completely sovereign. He already knows before He gives us anything what we’ll do with it; and the LORD God almighty already knows that He can’t trust any of us—period.

Apart from what Jesus Christ has done for us, and is now doing in us, we have no ability on our own to do anything “effectively” by God’s perfect standards. After using the law of gravity as an example of how God’s laws work, whether we believe them or not, Jeremiah begins to shares laws that “go along with stewardship.”

Right on the line between WF and orthodoxy he tells us, “God says, whatever we invest, that’s what we get back,” which is a principle Jeremiah assures us works “across the whole link and breadth of life.” Using the desire to be loved as an example, he tells us that if we want to be loved by more people, we need to invest love in more people.

The reason, Jeremiah explains, is “because that’s what you’re gonna get back.” Later he turns the topic of sowing and reaping specifically to TBN and offers that some in the audience may be saying, “Well, I’ve been giving to TBN and I don’t see anything going on in my life.” To that person at 2:09 in Jeremiah says:

Well, you probably have a big harvest coming because God’s saving the best… You only reap what you sow. Let me ask you this: Do you get blessed by this network [TBN]; by watching the teaching programs and the music and the things that come to your life?… Do you get blessed by this ministry?…

If you wanna get blessed by TBN, then the problem you have to solve is, “how am I investing in TBN?” Let me tell you something, we have this incredible network today because people before us—for many, many years before us—have invested their dollars, their time, their effort, in this network so that it could be what it is today.

So, I wanna stop right now and ask you to do this; if you’ve been blessed by TBN this year—and you haven’t called to say, “I wanna be a part of TBN going forward”—I want you to go to your phone and find out how you can help make this network even more successful than ever before.

In this next clip David Jeremiah continues his pitch for people to send money to TBN and then gets to his third principle; “the principle of increase.” Jeremiah explains:

If you don’t call, if you don’t go to the phone, if you don’t help, then this ministry can go no further than the people who join with it, and become part of the team… I want you to go do it [call to pledge money]; because it depends upon all of us together.

If I get up in my church and I don’t take an offering, then the church is gonna be out of business in a short time, amen? So, this [Praise-A-Thon] is how TBN takes the offering; and you have to participate., if it’s gonna work…

“What is the principle of increase?” Watch. [reviews his principles] You only get what you sow; you get later than you sow; and you get more than you sow, amen?… The Bible says that God works, in His plan for us, men and women, by the principle of sowing and reaping.

Now at 1:49 of this next clip you’ll see David Jeremiah teaching us that God Himself even believes in this principle of sowing and reaping; so much does He live by this principle that He even “sowed His own Son into the world” for the harvest of men’s souls. So, apparently this principle is actually more powerful than God Himself:

Let me tell you something that’s real special about what we do here at TBN… Do you know the Bible said that God believed in this principle [sowing and reaping]; did you know that?… Did you know that God believes in the sowing principle? How does He believe in it?

He believes in it because He sowed His own Son into this world. Did you know that? One day God sent His own Son into this world. He sowed His Son into the world. Why? Hebrews says He did it so that He might reap many sons to glory. Isn’t that how it works?…

So tonight, I wanna encourage you, with all of my heart, to understand your part in the ministry of TBN… Everybody needs to do it [send money], and especially now… It’s really encouraging to hear Paul talk about how God has sustained [TBN], and it hasn’t gone backwards.

But unless everybody who’s involved in this ministry gets underneath it and says, “This is part of my life”—I mean, if you sit and watch this program [Praise The Lord] at home—if you use this to grow spiritually, then the Bible says you should be involved with it. You should invest in it.

You should make it part of what you do for almighty God.

Finally, David Jeremiah concludes his pitching for pledges for TBN and lauds the vision of Paul Crouch, which Jeremiah offers came from God. I’ll spare you his closing prayer where Jeremiah calls TBN an “incredible delivery system” for the Gospel and how thankful he is that God gave this vision to Crouch:

We can do this together. These 14 networks aren’t gonna just keep going because we started them. They’re gonna keep going because we have a part in financing them and working to make them happen. So tonight I wanna ask you, help us do this. Help Paul do this.

I’m so amazed at the vision God has given to this man… I want to be a part of helping him continue… I hope you will do that, too. Be a part of what’s happening at TBN. And let’s pray together that God will enable you to do more than you even thought… [A]fter you support the [local] church, you need to support the ministries that feed your soul [like TBN].

See also:

TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK FIRES BACK REGARDING FINANCIAL FRAUD ALLEGATION

ELEPHANT ROOM 2′S T.D. JAKES SAYS TBN’S PAUL CROUCH LED BY GOD TO LAUNCH JAKES’ MINISTRY

EMERGING ECUMENICAL EVANGELEPHANTS AND THE WORD FAITH MOVEMENT