Apostasy

by

Charismania unrestrained: Africa’s witch children.

This is one of the most disturbing and heart-wrenching documentaries I’ve ever seen. This shocking six-part video depicts what I view as simply the Word of Faith heresy taken to its logical conclusion (and perpetuated in the fertile soil of pagan superstition) in a land where no laws exist to protect children. You can’t help but be moved to tears by the human wreckage left in the wake of Pentecostalism’s sweep across Nigeria as children are starved, tortured, beaten, and killed because some “prophet” or “prophetess” labels them a witch. Stepping Stones (the only known organization helping these children) said the following on their website:

“Stepping Stones Nigeria does not wish to denounce any faith organisation. However the role of the church, especially some of the new Pentecostals, in spreading the belief in child witches cannot be underestimated. There are numerous so-called pastors in the region who are wrongly branding children as ‘witches’ mainly for economic self gain and personal recognition.”

This is a documentary that you must see, but be warned, it contains some graphic and disturbing images and material.

I’ve posted my own title/description preceding each video.

One:

The false prophet’s gold wrist watch (seen at 4:44 in the video) reveals his true intentions

Two:

Inside the churches of the ravenous wolves

Three:

Meeting Mary; the five-year old rejected by a whole village

Four:

Helen Ukpabio identified as the lead false prophetess

Five:

Helen Ukpabio’s true self comes out

Six:

A child’s heart-wrenching anguish of abandonment

Also see DefCon’s related posts:

The Hell-bound false prophetess Helen Ukpabio of Liberty Gospel Church in Liberia

and

Church Planting in Liberia, West Africa

by

Quotes (432)

John MacArthur

I’m sad to say there are some congregations today that seem to be wrestling with who they are and what their mission is—a spiritual identity crisis of sorts. Relentlessly assaulted by doctrinal fads, scandals, divisions, internal and external criticism, and worldly thinking, they’ve buckled under the pressure. The chain reaction that creates is heartbreaking. Doctrine is compromised, effectiveness is forfeited, biblical ministry is abandoned, and God’s blessing is withdrawn. That grieves me, and I know it grieves you as well.

However, we can thank the Lord for the many churches that have stayed the course in spite of pressure, and the many others that struggle but have not given up the fight. Large or small, the congregations that remain faithful to God’s Word are the ones that are alive, vital, flourishing, reaching their communities with great effectiveness, and advancing the kingdom of God. They’ve resisted the fads, remained true to God’s calling, and are now seeing His blessing. I’m grateful to Him for those churches, and for the encouragement they are to me and to the Body of Christ.

– John MacArthur

by

What is on Mark Driscoll’s shirt?

In the following video of Mark Driscoll I observed something that may have gone unnoticed (or ignored) by the masses of Driscollites.

Is the image on his shirt truly a depiction Jesus Christ (what we commonly associate in the West as being Jesus for those who will split hairs in Driscoll’s defense)? And is that depiction of who we commonly associate in the West as being Jesus Christ also being depicted on his shirt as a DJ at the turntables?

How completely irreverent but oh, so relevant.

His depiction of the Savior on his shirt betrays everything he says in the video. ‘Tis a shame, ’tis a shame indeed.

dj

by

“Disciple Shades” spammed the wrong blog.

DefCon oftentimes deals with the shameless marketing of Christianity. In fact we have a whole category devoted to this foolishness entitled Den of Robbers.

What makes this one so special, though, is the irony behind it. I discovered these despicable Disciple Shades because the company actually sent their product advertisement to me via the DefCon e-mail!

Apparently they didn’t take the time to read how DefCon views their shameless marketing of Christianity. But what more would you expect from a company who links to TBN and the Crystal Cathedral on their links page? Apparently they didn’t take the time to read how DefCon views TBN and Robert Schuller.

Here’s a picture from their website:

disciple-shades

What exactly is this supposed to be depicting? Does it remind you of anything? Perhaps an event that transpired in the third chapter of Genesis?

But I digress.

Here’s part of what their e-mail to DefCon said:

For those who desire to dwell on their devotion and stay focused on their faith, Disciple Shades is pleased to offer the first and only collection of Christian-based reading and sunglasses with different meaningful biblical verses on the inside of every style. Created as simple reminders, our glasses provide a unique way to keep our attention on what is truly important – our faith and spirituality.

Then if you go to their Good Works Brigade page you will learn all about their good works brigade, but there’s not one mention of Jesus Christ nor His Gospel. The following is an excerpt from that web page:

Doing “good” is about being the best you can be and giving the most you can—to yourself, your friends, your community, and our world. Wherever you live on this big, beautiful planet, whether you wear a beret or a burkha, a serape or sweats, we’re all part of one universal family. Committing a single act of kindness can set the stage for inspiring the next person—and the next person and the next person and the next—to follow suit. It’s in this spirit of keeping that connection going and growing that we created our Good Works Brigade web forum.

We know your good deeds come from the heart and that you don’t expect material recompense. (You know your ultimate reward comes after this lifetime!) But Disciple Shades nonetheless wants to give you a big pat on the back—and a t-shirt to go with it. Yep, we’ll send you a free t-shirt with the Disciple Shades logo on the back and, on the front, our Works Brigade slogan: Think Heavenly, Act Locally.

What kind of universalist drivel was all that? “We know your good deeds come from the heart“? They do? Apparently they know nothing about man’s total depravity and that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).

So how can you too take advantage of the weak minded like these den of robbers? Here’s how simple it is: Find something mundane like a pair of sunglasses; smack a feel-good (usually out of context) Bible verse on it (in a place where no one can see it); slap a cross or dove on it in a place where people can see it, and then market it to shallow professing Christians. The same also works with shoe inserts & socks and tight-fitting “Christian” jeans with stilettos.

by

What did C.S. Lewis really believe?

cslewis Every time I turn around I discover some respected Christian preacher, teacher, pastor, scholar, etc. is affirming some doctrinal error or flat out heresy (and/or rubbing elbows with known heretics). And now I’ve come across this shocking examination of C.S. Lewis’ creed on Christian Research Network.

It asks the question whether or not C.S. Lewis is in Heaven. After reading this article which reviews some of Lewis’ beliefs (and teachings), I not only realized that it is a legitimate question to ask, but one whose answer is not as simple as you might think.

by

Here we go again.

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.

by

Quotes (421)

John MacArthur 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

by

How seeker-friendly churches skew the Gospel like a cult.

“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

by

Doug Pagitt to run for the Minnesota State Legislature in 2010.

doug-pagitt 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.

HT: Slice of Laodicea

by

Pope tells Rick Warren that he doesn’t pastor an actual church.

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.

by

Zero church to perform a “demonstration seance.”

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.

by

Yet another church, and yet another Beatles service.

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.

by

Zero church rethinks faith as they replace preaching for “a talk.”

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

by

Tickling ears is big business . . . and business is good.

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.

by

Do you need any more proof that Kenneth Copeland is a wolf in sheep’s clothing?


“[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.

by

Quotes (383)

awpink.jpg And what about apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ? Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears with “much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”

– A. W. Pink

1886 – 1952