Last February I reported on the 30-day sex challenge that came from a “church” aptly named Relevant Church (imagine that).
Sadly this same gimmick is being regurgitated by Ed Young but now it’s only a 7-day sex challenge. You may remember Ed Young from his other ridiculous attempt at courting the mistress of relevance in this previous post.
Although the Bible primarily focuses on the human agents propagating false doctrine, it also deals with the source of false doctrine: Satan and his demons. Behind all false teachers are invisible demons. No false teacher teaches from his own wisdom; a demon or demons inspire him to teach. False teachers are mouthpieces for Satan.
– John MacArthur
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
It takes discernment as a Christian to recognize proper biblical preaching and teaching. Have you been using discernment in your listening? The difference is frightening and it can have eternal consequences. Now, think about your friends who follow after Joel Osteen and his teachings. Are they saved?
It is time to DEMAND that your church properly preach God’s Word. Do not let your pastor off with smushy, soft-core gospel preaching. Do not let him get away with only giving “feel good” messages without talking about sin and the need to repent of those sins that we do.
There are some interesting comments that we should be aware of. As you read this article, I want you think about the coming Antichrist. I am not saying that Obama is the antichrist. This is only used to show you how easily the whole world might be willing to follow one man!
Much of the World Applauds Obama
From Kenya to Britain, Indonesia to Korea, Many People See Signs of Hope
By JIM SCIUTTO and ZOE MAGEE
LONDON, England, Nov 5, 2008
With unprecedented news coverage worldwide, this year’s presidential election had already captured the globe’s attention. Now, it has delivered a winner who is capturing the world’s imagination. World leaders, normally diplomatic in their official statements, were unusually effusive in their praise for President-elect Barack
The president-elect is receiving great fanfare from countries around the globe.More Photos
“I applaud the American people for their courage and the great morality that they showed,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was even more glowing in a letter to Obama: “In choosing you, the American people have chosen the path of change, openness and optimism. Your election raises immense hope in France, Europe and beyond: the hope of an open America.”
Nelson Mandela, as qualified as he is complimentary in his comments, gushed, “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”
Newspapers at first stumbled over each other to declare Obama the winner, and then to find the language to match the moment.
Britain
The sense of global excitement is palpable in Britain, the United States’ closest ally. Even before the results officially came in, the British press was both confident and biased: Headlines read “Gobama!” (Daily Mirror); “The History Man” (The Independent); and “Yanks Very Much” (The Star).
Obama’s victory is being especially heralded among the young in London. “Obama is an inspiration, especially as an orator,” 23-year-old Alexandra Demper told ABCNews. “We can’t quite say what the effects will be for Britain yet, but it is a great change for America.”
Of course, not everyone is pleased with the result. A taxi driver and former police officer told ABCNews: “An amateur is now the most powerful person in the world. A salesman is all Obama is. He has no experience in foreign affairs.”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent his “sincere congratulations” to the U.S. president-elect, saying Obama would be a “true friend to Britain.”
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition, David Cameron, said Obama’s victory has restored America’s status as a “beacon of hope.”
“If the ark and the tabernacle had to be built exactly according to God’s plan, should not the Church also be built according to His plan? Surely the Bride of Christ is of even greater importance than the ark or the tabernacle.”
– Trevor Mcllwain
Is it me, or is something missing from the message of these new evangelicals?
See the following related posts:
Priorities Completely Out of Whack
Distractions, Distractions, Distractions
Obama wins the electoral college votes.
You asked for it!
Obama wants to bring in change!
You asked for it!
Can you remember a time when people asked for something and God gave it to them?
1 Samuel 8 comes to mind…
Israel Demands a King 1 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. 9 Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.” 10 So Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who asked him for a king. 11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots. 12 He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. 14 And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage, and give it to his officers and servants. 16 And he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men,[a] and your donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. 18 And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the LORD will not hear you in that day.” 19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the LORD. 22 So the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king.” And Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Every man go to his city.”
What have we as a nation asked for in this new president?
Be very careful for what you ask for! God is giving us what we as a nation asked for.
Religious freedom out the window??
Abortions run rampant and increase??
Taxes raised to help fund the abortions??
Gas prices will sky-rocket within the next couple of months??
Immorality will reign over our country. It has already begun and it is only going to get worse. Can you feel the Last Day’s are upon us?
Put everything to prayer.
Spend your time reaching out to the lost before it is too late. There is not much time left. If we are not doing the Lord’s work, then we are wasting our time. God is looking for obedience to His Word, not just smushy, lovey-dovey kind of love for God. He wants to see action. Doing His will while we are still on this earth.
If He comes back today, are you ready? Are your friends saved? Family members saved?
Or are you just concerned about yourself and meeting “your” needs?
You asked for a president to lead this country. Where will he lead us?
I don’t know what the future holds with our president but I do know what the future holds for us from God.
Put your faith and trust in God while there is still time. Repent of your sins and be obedient to His Word.
The world is going down hill fast! Is this what you want for us? We as a nation seem to want a quick fix, but are we willing to pay the price? Will other religions now be considered our national heritage instead of Christianity? Will proclaiming the name of Jesus be safe in our own country much longer? As a nation, we have asked for and voted for change. Will you still stand up for Christ when the world demands satisfaction from you?
After congratulating comrade Barack Hussein Obama on his win, emergent heretic Doug Pagitt has now announced his intention to run for political office (see his announcement here).
To find out more about who Doug Pagitt is, check out an interview here and here on Youtube from Way of the Master Radio in which Doug Pagitt denies the existence of Hell. You can download the audio from this WOTMR episode by right clicking here.
You can also learn more about who Dog Pagitt is by viewing the video on this link of John MacArthur challenging Doug Pagitt on the issue of “Christian” Yoga. I also recommend an inside look at Pagitt’s “church” Solomon’s Porch in the video found on this link.
Check out the following piece from Apprising Ministries on the pope throwing a monkey wrench into Rick Warren’s ecumenical machine:
Ok, here’s the latest scoop on the religious scene from Apprising Ministries. Well, it turns out that Rick Warren Is Saying Protestant Reformers Luther and Calvin Were Wrong because in opposition to what these Reformers taught Purpose Driven Pope Warren has now pontificated that the Roman Catholic Church is no longer apostate and is, in very fact, once again a part of the Body of Christ.
O but wait, it gets even better because meanwhile, back at the ol’ Vatican ranch Benedict XVI, the papal pretender to being the Vicar of Christ, has said instead that Rick Warren is the one who is actually wrong. I know, I could hardly believe it myself when I heard it! Just imagine the nerve; someone dares to criticize America’s favorite social worker and Megapastor. Zowie; good thing he’s a god on earth, huh.
So now here’s the deal; you see, Rick Warren is not a Roman Catholic but is instead a decidedly—er, non-protesting *ahem* “Protestant” in the SBC—which might actually stand for Slowly Becoming Catholic. Ok, because of that fact, according to the RCC Pope it now seems that the PD Pope can’t even be “America’s pastor” anymore because he doesn’t actually pastor a real church:
Pope Benedict XVI has reasserted the universal primacy of the Roman Catholic Church, approving a document released Tuesday [July 10, 2007] that says Orthodox churches were defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches…
It restates key sections of a 2000 document the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, “Dominus Iesus,” which set off a firestorm of criticism among Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the “means of salvation.”
In the new document and an accompanying commentary, which were released as the pope vacations here in Italy’s Dolomite mountains, the Vatican repeated that position. (Online source)
If only this was as silly as a Hollywood gossip column. But with people’s eternal souls in the balance I’m afraid there’s nothing funny about men such as these, who for now, are peas in a very corrupt spiritual pod and speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them (1 John 4:5).
Thanks to Pastor Ken Silva for this piece. I’d like to add that I find it ironic when the very apostate Roman Catholic Church that the very apostate Saddleback Church is trying so hard to merge with refuses to consider them a legitimate Church at best and anathema at worst. What Rick Warren fails to realize is that if the world’s religions are going to merge into one anti-Chirst led conglomerate, it’s going to be under the RCC and it’s going to be on their terms, not his.
See also: All roads may not lead to Rome, but according to the pope, only Rome leads to Heaven.
Zero church is making news on DefCon again (see the previous post here). This time they are holding a “Halloween fun” service on November 1st in which the following description is provided:
“Ghost”
. . . More than Halloween fun, although we will have plenty of that with illusions and a demonstration seance. We ask the big question, what happens after you die? Can we communicate with the dead?
You can see the advertisement here.
Needless to say, the purpose-driven, seeker-friendly churches have produced a huge crop of false converts. Fifteen years ago, when I became director [of Genesis Pregnancy Care Center in Pottstown, PA], we rarely saw Christians coming through our doors, but now 65-75% of our clients say they are “Christians.” Some have had four or more abortions; others are having their third or fourth child out of wedlock. Most are living with boyfriends and have not read a Bible or attended church since they repeated the “magic prayer.” Trying to reach these women with the truth of the Scriptures is like pulling teeth! They believe themselves to be saved, and that’s the end of the discussion. When confronted with their sin, they often become angry and defensive, sometimes to the point of leaving.
– Dianne Pomon
How apropos.
Apparently Trish from Fish With Trish isn’t immune to these Laodicean mailings.
I think Keystone Church is running behind the “relevance caboose” as they’re a little behind the times. The whole Beatles thing was like so five minute ago.
I checked into Keystone and found the following “trailer” for their Beatles “sermon” series.
Back in July I published a post entitled When the Church Stops Being the Church. In this post I highlighted a trend in which churches claiming to be “Christian” are refusing to preach the Gospel (one of the church’s primary purposes for existence). In this previous post I exampled three particular churches and their (proud) refusal to preach the Gospel
Note: the assembling of the Body together is for our encouragement, building up, instruction, and edification, however, outside the walls of the building the “Church” should be evangelizing.
Now, sadly, I have to make another addition to this commentary: Welcome Zero Church to the repository of the new era of man-centered Christianity as they begin “rethinking faith together.” In their attempt to be edgy and relevant they throw out “preaching” for “a talk” and they have “a band” but “not much worship music.”
Does anyone else see a problem with this? Are we on the slippery slope or are we already face down in the bottom of the canyon?
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Romans 10:14
Portfolio.com is reporting in this article that megachurch ear-tickler Joel Osteen, aka “Reverend Feelgood,” and his wife Victoria (whose new book Love Your Life which is in direct contradiction to Jesus’ command not to love your life) are reportedly taking in $75 million dollars a year through their Lakewood church (not counting his $13 million dollar advance for his latest book). Here’s a quote from the article:
We are a nation stumbling through our worst financial crisis in a generation and our worst housing market in a lifetime. And so we come, seeking gentle salvation, inspiring prayers, steadying words, soothing notions, and calming thoughts that will allow us to become, in Joel Osteen’s words, “victors, not victims.”
And Time.com is reporting that the prosperity “gospel” may have actually contributed to the current economic crisis. Read their article here.
“[Jesus] was the first man to be born again from sin, sickness, demons, death to life.“
And yet the multitudes continue to sit under his teachings and send this wolf their money.
“If you’re tempted to these sorts of things — including sexual sin — some of you say, “Now Mark, Jesus wasn’t sexually tempted.” Well, of course he was — 30 something year old single man who had women who adored him. You don’t think he ever wanted the comfort of a woman? You don’t think he ever got tired of going to bed by himself? You don’t think that he didn’t once want to have intimate relations with a woman? He was tempted.”
(Mark Driscoll – “How Human was Jesus?”, October 15th 2006.)
How is this rubbish defensible from one who claims to be a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the same thing as saying that Jesus Christ was tempted to lust after Mary Magdalene as others have claimed. The next thing we will hear is that the thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ did equal sin until He (the Lord) actually acted upon those thoughts —– Oh wait a minute, never mind, he did say that also!
This is the same man who claims that the heresy teaching Joel Osteen is a Christian brother and the “happiest Christian preacher” out there. This is the same man who claims the Bible is completely silent on whether Jesus COULD have sinned.
This is the same man who is being endorsed by a man who has in the past stood for the truth of God’s Word. He is being endorsed by a man who it seemed would not have endorsed much less allowed to preach in his pulpit a man who teaches the things that Driscoll believes.
I am afraid that I am one of those who take a stand for Biblical separation. These issues are NOT matters of secondary separation. They are clearly defined matters which require an explanation from one who has demeaned the office of elder by his caustic, vulgar, offensive, Christ-dishonouring speech (Driscoll) and also a Biblical explanation from those who are willing to openly endorse such nonsense without calling such a one to account.
It is a mockery to say that such a one who openly (and seemingly) with no remorse and repentance and no chastisement or discipline even has the Spirit of God dwelling within him. The Bible makes it clear that by their fruits you shall know them. While the ultimate judgment is in the hands of the Almighty Sovereign of the Universe, I believe that it would behoove Christian leaders to start being more discerning in what and who they allow into their pulpits.
Sadly, I believe that based on the writings and warning by the apostle Paul, it can be concluded that John Piper is gravely in error in allowing this man to preach at Bethlehem Baptist Church. He is wrong for not condemning the language and for waffling on the issue. I have serious concerns that such endorsements will just as surely lead true believers down wrong paths as what men like J.I. Packer did when being willing to embrace Colson and Neuhaus as brothers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grieving for the downhill slides in the church,
The Desert Pastor
********** EDITED WITH ADDITION BELOW **********
James 1:15 says, “Then, when desire (lust) has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
The word used for lust in this verse means “a longing (especially for what is forbidden), concupiscence, desire, lust (after).”
Desire is defined by Princeton as “the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state.”
For those who are trying to smooth over the harm that Mark Driscoll is doing, it won’t work – at least, not with those who seek to be discerning. Even if his only problem is that he used a poor choice of words, he has had plenty of time since 2006 to make this right. His verbage indicates that Jesus wanted/desired what He could not have. He also made it clear that Jesus had an unsatisfied state. This explicitly demeans the sinlessness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ had need of nothing, and He certainly did not “long for/want/desire/etc” the company of a woman to “satisfy” His flesh!
*************** PER MBAKER’S RECOMMENDATION ***************
**** I AM ADDING THE FOLLOWING COMMENT AS OF 11/29/2008 ****
Thanks again for your comments. We have no problems here at DefCon considering the issue of Mark Driscoll from a biblical perspective. The problem is that when we do his followers trot out the “do not judge” line. When we address his vulgar language and sexual innuendos about the Lord Jesus Christ, we are told that MD is merely trying to be culturally relevant.
If you are truly interested in further conversation, may I recommend that you go to the following link:
http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/search?q=driscoll
Read all the posts by Steven Camp that have been written from a carefully worded position that I believe is honouring to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those blogs have more than enough information showing the heresy that Mark is teaching and his connections with people like T.D. Jakes and the heresy of Oneness teaching, connections with the emergent church and the contemplative movement that is taking many within so-called new-evangelical by storm.
For the record, we do NOT hate Mark Driscoll. However, we do believe that he is disqualified from currently being a minister of the gospel. We also believe that instead of being openly rebuked that there are other ministers such as John Piper and Joshua Harris who are openly endorsing this man.
I would challenge ANY reader from a Biblical perspective ONLY (not your personal feelings) to prove that Mark Driscoll is theologically correct in his belief on the doctrine of imputation (as just one example) or that he somehow manages to qualify as a pastor (when such drivel as he preaches and teaches and such language would not have been tolerated even 10-15 years ago from mainline evangelical pulpits.
The Desert Pastor
More heresy from John Crowder and co in a hotel in Israel. This is NOT from the God of heaven, but is clearly a manifestation of the presence of the evil one who masquerades as an angel of light.
The list of those invited to speak at John Piper’s 2008 National Conference includes Mark Driscoll (see this post from Coram Deo). In the following video of John Piper, he does his best to “defend” and “justify” why he has invited Mark Driscoll.
But while the debate rages over Mark Driscoll’s appearance at this conference, it seems that there’s much less discussion over another individual who is scheduled to speak at this same conference. His name is Paul Tripp. And Paul Tripp has a little video in which he discusses What makes bad language bad?
I was hesitant to post the video of Paul Tripp due to its nature (I refused to watch the whole thing myself) but I think it illustrates for people the severity by which John Piper is compromising by having people like Driscoll and Tripp at his conference.
I have reservations about posting the video on DefCon, but for those who simply wouldn’t believe it if I told them about it, here’s the link to the video of Paul Tripp’s flippant use of profanity (you have been warned).
Christ Alone Wyoming 