heresy

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Here’s a shocker: The false gospel of John Crowder, Benjamin Dunn, and Sloshfest originated from an LSD drug-induced experience.

When you read a quote like this . . .

Heaven is going to be wild. God will show up and be the life of the party. We want to see fun coming back into the Church.

. . . you know the blasphemous duo of Crowder and Dunn isn’t far behind.

The 38-year-old [Sloshfest organizer David Vaughan] from nearby Pontypool is a former drug-user who makes no apologies for painting God as a party animal who wants to win over youngsters with supernatural highs. Bizarrely, David greets me at the door wearing a monk outfit – he is joined by dozens of dancing pirates, an Abraham Lincoln, a unicorn, winged fairy and a court jester draped in Christmas lights.

The Sun recently ran an article on the demonic revelry known as Sloshfest entitled The Ravers Who Get High on God in which the sons of Hell, Crowder and Dunn, were in attendance.

And as with any gathering of these folks, demonic activity (e.g. possession) is present:

A middle-aged woman calling herself Pinky Pirate dashes to the front and grabs a microphone. The crowd screams with delight as she shakes uncontrollably and bellows: “It is such a wild fire. It is a fierce wild fire. It is untamable and undomesticated.” . . . Amid the chaos a woman dressed as a pirate queen crawls past muttering. Strangely, despite no sign of alcohol or drugs being consumed, she and many other worshippers look spaced out, with red, puffy eyes and a vacant stare. Standing up, she shakes my hand and slurs: “I’m Mrs Jesus. I love my husband” (Emphasis mine)

This article also reveals how John Crowder came to be the ravenous wolf he is today:

Before addressing the lively Welsh crowd, the 6ft 5in David Blaine lookalike tells me he became a Christian after a Godly experience on LSD. John, 33, from California, says: “I was a party guy at college and became an alcoholic within the first year, sometimes downing up to 36 beers in a single day. I also did recreational drugs and during an LSD trip in a bar I had a profound encounter with God. I knew that if I went to sleep that night without changing my ways, I would surely die. When I sobered up I stopped doing drugs and became devoted to Jesus.  Now I want people to see that church isn’t dour and dreary. It is an awareness of the mystical, fun and joyful nature of God.”

We used to identify people who had mystical experiences with “god” during a drug induced high (predominant in the 1960s) as burned out hippies. Now they sell books and their followers call them “Christian.”

Finally, the article wraps up with this telling quote:
Outside, a curious passer-by peers through a steamed-up window. Chuckling, he shakes his head and says: “Looks like one hell of a party.”
And so the world passes by shaking their head at yet another false image of Christianity and all they see is a group of unregenerated sinners who’ve created a “party-god” who demands little and expects nothing while winking and nodding  at their partying on the broad road to Hell with “Jesus” on their lips.

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Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. – Ephesians 5:6-10

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The epitome of “oxymoronic” – Christian fight clubs.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the pied pipers of the mile-wide, inch-deep church in America drop one rung lower on the ladder as they continue to lead the masses of goats down the broad path of destruction.

I thought the pragmatism of Laodicean evangelism techniques couldn’t shock me anymore but this article from the New York Times has left me speechless. Here are a few quotes form the article:

Recruitment efforts at the churches, which are predominantly white, involve fight night television viewing parties and lecture series that use ultimate fighting to explain how Christ fought for what he believed in. Other ministers go further, hosting or participating in live events. The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing. “Compassion and love — we agree with all that stuff, too,” said Brandon Beals, 37, the lead pastor at Canyon Creek Church outside of Seattle. “But what led me to find Christ was that Jesus was a fighter.”

The sport is seen as a legitimate outreach tool by the youth ministry affiliate of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 churches.

Nondenominational evangelical churches have a long history of using popular culture — rock music, skateboarding and even yoga — to reach new followers. Yet even among more experimental sects, mixed martial arts has critics.

I can’t even begin to imagine what will come next in the name of “evangelism.”

For more, checkout this post too.

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10 reasons to return to an oppressive, dead religion that preaches a gospel that cannot save.

It appears that the Catholic church is continuing to resort to marketing schemes to draw people back to the oppressive, dead religion of Rome.

It was only a few weeks ago that I posted a video highlighting this new trend and–if you thought it was only an isolated incident–I submit for your consideration another example of this Roman Catholic pragmatic approach to church growth found over at A Little Leaven where Chris Rosebrough aptly introduces the video by saying

If you know your Bible this video will give you several more reasons to not return to Rome.

Personally, I think for their number one reason they should have cited Proverbs 26:11

Like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

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Rome’s Purgatorial Arguments and Blasphemy

Please watch the video below where James White from Alpha and Omega critically analyzes Catholic Answer’s Tim Staples’ purgatorial arguments.  He also shares about the Catholic doctrine of purgatory which statues that nearly all Catholics must endure the purging flames of purgatory to make full expiation for their sins.  Sins that the Catholic Jesus was unable to remove from his work at Calvary.

 

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What do D.B. Cooper, Jimmy Hoffa, the Fountain of Youth, and Mormon archaeological evidence have in common?

None of them have ever been found!

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The Reformation View of Roman Catholicism

From the works of Martin Luther (1483-1546)

What is the whole papacy but a beautiful false front and a deceptively glittering holiness under which the wretched devil lies in hiding? The devil always desires to imitate God in this way. He cannot bear to observe God speaking. If he cannot prevent it or hinder God’s Word by force, he opposes it with a semblance of piety, takes the very words God had spoken and so twist them as to peddle his lies and poison under their name. (What Luther Says, II: 10007)

Since the papal church not only neglects the command of Christ but even compels the people to ignore it and to act against it, it is certain that it is not Christ’s church but the synagogue of Satan which prescribes sin and prohibits righteousness. It clearly and indisputably follows that it must be the abomination of Antichrist and the furious harlot of the devil. (What Luther Says, II: 1019)

The negotiation about doctrinal agreement displeases me altogether, for this is utterly impossible unless the pope has his papacy abolished. Therefore avoid and flee those who seek the middle of the road. Think of me after I am dead and such middle-of-the-road men arise, for nothing good will come of it. There can be no compromise. (What Luther Says, II: 1019)

Read the rest of the article here.

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Scott Hodge and his hodge-podge of Roman Catholic meditative monastic heresy.

Chris Rosebrough is tackling an unbelievable issue that has crept into the church: The continued march backward into Romanism by supposed Evangelicals (some of which are the golden calves of Americanized Christianity) through the use of monastic meditation practices. He addresses this in his post Purpose-Driven Roman Catholic Monastic Mysticism (which is where I obtained the quotes below).

Roman Catholic Monastic Mysticism is becoming all the rage among innovative post-modern purpose-driven pastors. Practices developed by Roman Catholic Monks such as the Lectio Divina, The Practice of the Presence of God and the Prayer Examen which was created by on [sic] of the arch enemies of the Protestant Reformation, Ignatius Loyola are openly being promoted by an alarming number of seeker-driven / Purpose-Driven pastors. These so-called ’spiritual disciplines’ are being featured at Willow Creek, Saddleback, and Mars Hill to name just a few.

Rosebrough examines an absolutely astonishing sermon from seeker-sensitive pastor Scott Hodge who teaches his whole congregation that practicing the mystical Lecito Divina (like eating at a five-star restaurant) is somehow better than reading the Scriptures for yourself without the magical formula (like eating McDonalds). This is unbelievable when you consider Hodge is considered an evangelical protestant. What in the world did Luther break from Romanism for if this guy is directing his people to place the yoke back upon their necks and return to the bondage of Rome’s dead religion?

Let me be clear here, Pastor Scot Hodge is not promoting meditative practices similar to Lecito Divina, he’s promoting Lecito Divina itself. He spends the overwhelming majority of his sermon singing its praises and he even walks his whole congregation through a Lecito Divina session that will make your hair stand on end (for those familiar with Eastern mysticism and New Age practices).

To hear this unbelievable “sermon” and Rosebrough’s commentary with it, you can download it by right clicking here. It starts at 1:08:08 into the podcast.

While listening to this sermon, keep in mind that this Roman Catholic mystical practice was developed by men who did not believe in salvation by grace alone through faith alone by Christ’s work alone. These monks were trying to earn their salvation through their monkery. These practices are not taught in the scriptures. Neither Jesus, his disciples, the prophets nor the patriarchs practiced Lectio Divina. This Roman Catholic practice is pure monastic mythology and spiritual fantasy and rather than helping you experience God, it is more likely that you will experience self deception or demonic spirits.

For those unfamiliar with Scott Hodge, DefCon dealt with him back in 2007 when his video mocking the sacred ordinance of baptism was making its rounds on the internet. You can check out our previous post on Scott Hodge in the post Narcissism Gone Wild.

The fact that seeker-driven and Purpose-Driven pastors are adopting Roman Catholic Monastic practices in droves proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that chasing after relevance has caused them to abandon Biblical truth and they are now being blown about by every wind of false doctrine. (Eph. 4:7-19) Sadly, this is what happens when you try to marry the church to the ’spirit of the age’.

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Haiti – A Nation in Darkness Needing Light

As we all know Haiti has suffered a catastrophic earthquake that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, where countless additional lives hang in the balance due to lack of water, food and medical care.  What many may not know though is that Haiti is a nation in darkness, spiritual darkness as it is largely given over to Voodoo and has been for years. 

Before continuing, what exactly is Voodoo?  According to Dictionary.com, it is said to be:

A religion practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries, especially Haiti, syncretized from Roman Catholic ritual elements and the animism and magic of slaves from West Africa, in which a supreme God rules a large pantheon of local and tutelary deities, deified ancestors, and saints, who communicate with believers in dreams, trances, and ritual possessions. Also called vodoun.1

From the same source, animism is said to be:

1. The belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and phenomena.  2. The belief in the existence of spiritual beings that are separable or separate from bodies.2

So we can see that “Voodoo grew out of the animist religions [which were] brought to the country by [African] slaves.” This religion “…was then overlaid by the Catholicism of the plantation owners … [which] led in many places to syncretism, or fusing, of the two belief systems.” 3  A fusing that has given Haiti its dominant syncretistic  religion that mixes Catholicism and Voodoo; a religion it has practiced  for hundreds of years. 

But Voodoo was never a recognized religion in Haiti even though most practiced it in one form or another.  All of this changed in 2003 when Voodoo was “…recognised as a religion on a par with others worshipped in the country.” 4 This formal recognition was done by Haiti’s President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

A godly nation would have wept at such a decision, but not so in Haiti since it is said that “…over 90% of Haitians are voodooisant.”5  Voodoo being a religion that is practiced in the open and in the home “…where each family has their own collection of household gods, many of them Catholic saints. In many households, it sits comfortably alongside a family’s Catholic observance.”6  Catholic observance that is not merely winked at but supported as the “…Catholic church officially backs the right of families to practise voodoo.”7  How accommodating of the Vatican!

Yet there is hope for the people of Haiti even in the midst of such unimaginable suffering.  Hope that will not be found in Voodoo any more than it will be in Catholicism.  Rather, the hope is in Jesus Christ, the light of the world that came to destroy the works of the devil and darkness; the very works that Voodoo glorifies and embodies.  Jesus can set the people of Haiti free but it must be the Jesus as revealed in the Scriptures and not the idols of Catholicism or the “Eucharist Jesus” which lead not to freedom but more bondage. 

Thankfully, the gospel message is being preached in Haiti as there are believers and missionaries there.  Individuals who obviously need our prayers and support not only due to their physical sufferings, but also the spiritual darkness that covers their land.  We can only hope that the earthquake will engender godly fear in the people whereby they repent lest a worse thing happen unto them.

Below I have included a few videos for the readers of DefCon to get better educated on Haiti so you can properly pray for the people of this land.  Note that the first two videos show demonic posession.  If you only watch one video, please make sure it is the last one.

Footnotes
1 – “voodoo.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 29 Jan. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/voodoo>.
2 – “animism.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 29 Jan. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/animism>.
3 – Gledhill, Ruth. “Voodoo faith ‘could hinder Haiti’s recovery from quake’.” TIMESONLINE January 15, 2010. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6990002.ece
4 – BBC News.  “Haiti makes voodoo official.” BBC News April 30, 2003.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2985627.stm
5 – Ibid.
6 – Gledhill, Ruth.  “Voodoo faith ‘could hinder Haiti’s recovery from quake’.”
7 – Ibid.

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Jay Bakker and the art of manipulation.

So what do you do when you’re preaching to a church full of people and you want to persuade them to believe that a sin (that’s clearly defined in Scripture) isn’t really a sin?

Well, if you’re Jay Bakker, you first go for the shock of it all then follow it up with making the congregation feel stupid. If that doesn’t work, make them feel guilty. And if that still doesn’t work turn on the tears to manipulate their emotions.

And what do you do if none of this works? If you’re the Sundance Channel you make a short video of the incident, insert some sentimental music at just right spot, and make it available to upload to YouTube.

HT: The Museum of Idolatry

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Quotes (688)

Instead of the Bible’s masculine doctrine of salvation in which an initiating God acts with efficacious love to subdue His chosen people to Himself, much of the church now proclaims a passive God who offers His love but would not think of imposing His love on His bride. The pallid Jesus stands at the door and knocks, hoping we’ll let Him in. God is no longer presented as the very archetype of masculine power and love. This kind of feminized doctrine has contributed to the proliferation of feminized men who stand fearful even before their wives. If God is feminized, what chance do Christian men have?

– Philip Lancaster

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The peddler of false assurance.

Recently my grandfather was in the hospital for a week (it was looking pretty serious). On one of my visits to the hospital with my grandmother present, a nice white-haired man in a dress shirt and a tie entered the room. He introduced himself as a Eucharist Minister (I saw where this was going).

He was “doing his rounds” throughout the hospital visiting those who listed themselves as Roman Catholics on their intake papers and wanted to know if my grandfather wished to take (the heretically distorted version of Rome’s) holy communion. Of course both my grandparents were anxious to do so and stopped their profanities, taking of God’s name in vain, and all their other pet sins long enough to be good Catholics for a moment in the presence of such a holy man.

This man asked if we were all Roman Catholics and after my grandparents said yes, I said, “No, I’m a Christian.” Immediately realizing that his response was inevitably going to be “we’re all Christians,” I cut him off before he had a chance to tell that lie and I added, “Protestant,” for clarification.

My grandfather jokingly replied, “We won’t hold that against you.” And of course this stranger representing Rome agreed, confirming they don’t hold anything against anyone. (How kind of him.)

Because challenging this man in front of my grandparents would do more harm than good, I bit my tongue. He then wasted no time as he leapt into ecumenical action requesting that since we were all Christians “let us pray to God together.”

I stood and watched as this man who knows nothing about my grandparents, their lives, their sins, their struggles, or even their current relationship with God, blasphemously stood in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ as their mediator and prayed for them to be forgiven of their sins.

And what sin of my grandparents did this stranger clairvoyantly hone in on as their biggest sin, requiring special emphasis and forgiveness from? Why, none other than their needing to be forgiven of their sin of not realizing how close God is to them and that God is near to them at all times.

After this feel-good prayer of pseudo-repentance while avoiding the real issues of their sin nature in all its abhorrent wretchedness and hostility toward God, we were now ready for communion! (If only the hospital was this quick with their formalities before moving on to administer care and medicine.)

The man then reached into the pocket of his slacks and pulled out a round object. It was very similar to an Altoid tin. This man then opened the lid to reveal a bunch of white squares resembling Chiclets gum. He removed one of the squares, and holding it between his two fingers, held it in front of him so that my grandparents could see it. He then presumptuously announced, “This is the Lamb of God.” I could endure no more and removed myself from the room with an exhale that I’m certain he heard.

This false teacher peddling his false assurance had the audacity to call a little piece of food the very Lamb of God; what utter blasphemy. Yet my grandparents clung to every word of this fork-tongued tool of Satan, and now had clean consciences to continue about their normal lifestyles of rampant and impenitent sin.

Sadly, late at night while I sat alone by my grandfather’s bedside trying desperately to convey the gospel of Jesus Christ to him (Law first), he remained completely averse to it. After all, the nice priestly mediator already prayed for him and he took communion, so what need does he have of a propitiation for his sins?

Not even his brush with death that put him in the hospital could rouse him from his spiritual slumber. My grandfather opined that God understands that he’s just a human, and with a nice condescending pat on my arm he assured me that all will be well . . . all will be well.


“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace.” – Jeremiah 16:14


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As if we needed more proof that Joel Osteen is one of those false teachers the Bible warns us about.

Recently Joel Osteen “blessed” Annise Parker, the new mayor of Houston, Texas who is openly homosexual. (See articles here, here, and here.)

“… We ask that everything we do would bring honor to you … and we just lift up especially Mayor Annise Parker. … Lord, we thank you just for raising her up and just for your goodness, your mercy in her life, and just for supernatural wisdom, Father. We honor her today and our other officials, and Lord, we count it a joy and honor to be here in your presence with all of our friends and we just thank you for this day. In Jesus name, amen.”

This is as mind boggling as the wolf who “blessed” an abortion mill, calling it “sacred ground.”

Ingrid Schlueter hits the nail on the head regarding Joel Osteen with this excerpt from her commentary:

We bring honor to God by asking Him to bless a woman who is living in conduct that He calls an “abomination”? Does Joel Osteen even possess a Bible?



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On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Mormon church wishes to remind you that they’ve been racism-free for 31 years.

Mormon Racism

Isn’t “new revelation” about doctrine just grand? It’s like silly putty: so pliable in the hands of the “prophets” that they can overturn years of racist LDS traditions and teachings (including the prohibition against blacks in the priesthood) with one simple claim: God has changed His mind.

And since this “new revelation” in June of 1978, the LDS spin doctors have worked tirelessly to cover up the racist teachings of their prophets, even going so far as to change the Book of Mormon–the very book they claim not only contains the fullness of the gospel, but is the most correct book on earth (minus those 3,913 changes and corrections made to it of course).

So on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, let us embark on a leisurely stroll down the halls of Mormonism’s history to see what this organization’s stance on race was until the summer of 1978.

And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them [Lamanites]; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ . . . . and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and delightsome people. – Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 30:5-6, (Changed in 1981 to read “pure and delightsome“)

And it came to pass that I beheld, after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people, full of idleness and all manner of abominations. – Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 12:23

And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites; And their young men and their daughters became exceedingly fair . . . – Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 2:15-16

For behold, the Lord shall curse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people. – Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7:8

The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. . . . The children [Indian children in the LDS] home placement program in Utah are often shades lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservations . . . . These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated. – Spencer Kimball, Improvement Era, Pags 922-923, December 1960

Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so. – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, Page 110, 1863

You can see men and women who are sixty or seventy years of age looking young and handsome; but let them apostatize, and they will become grayhaired, wrinkled, and black, just like the Devil. – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 5, Page 332, 1857

Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a sin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the Holy Priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to. The volition of the creature is free; this is a law of their existence, and the Lord cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would cease to be God. – Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 11, Page 272, 1866

Suppose we summons them to appear here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed, with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in with us and be pertakers [sic] with us of all the blessings God has given to us. On that very day, and hour we should do so, the priesthood is taken from this Church and kingdom and God leaves us to our fate. The moment we consent to mingle with the seed of Cain and Church must go to desstruction [sic], — we should receive the curse which has been placed upon the seed of Cain . . . . Therefore I will not consent for one moment to have an african [sic] dictate me or any Bren. with regard to Church or State Government. . . . If the Affricans [sic] cannot bear rule in the Church of God, what business have they to bear rule in the State Government affairs of this Territory or any others? – Brigham Young Address, Ms d 1234, Box 48, Folder 3, LDS Church Historical Department, February 05, 1852

Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fulness [sic] of the blessings of the Gospel. These are the descendants of Cain. Moreover, they have been made to feel their inferiority and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning. – Joseph Fielding Smith, Way to Perfection, Page 101

It was well understood by the early elders of the Church that the mark which was placed on Cain and which his posterity inherited was the black skin. The Book of Moses informs us that Cain and his descendants were black. – Joseph Fielding Smith, Way to Perfection, Page 107

There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less. – Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrine and Covenants, Volume 1, Page 61

The negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned . . . but this inequality is not of man’s origin. It is the Lord’s doing, is based on his eternal laws of justice, and grows out of the lack of spiritual valiance of those concerned in their first estate. – Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, Pages 527-528, 1966 Edition

“I don’t know, I don’t know, I can only say that.”

The late Mormon prophet, seer, and revelator, Gordon B. Hinckley



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Roman Catholics copying Evangelicals?

A sad trend as of late is that many supposed professing Christians are unifying with and even returning to Rome (like a dog to its vomit) and taking many of the undiscerning with them.

But what I find ironic is that while an exodus out of Biblical Christianity and into Roman Catholicism is taking place (i.e. A great falling away), simultaneously the church of Rome appears to be borrowing from evangelicalism the very pragmatic methodologies that’s killing evangelicalism.

After watching the following video it seems that Rome is trying to model the same seeker-sensitive, feely-touchy, charismatic, man-made methodology that has left so many evangelicals disenfranchised with Christianity and is the impetus behind why so many are running into the arms of the Romish organization.

Here’s the Roman Catholic Life Teen promo video chalk full of images explicitly Romish along with images indistinguishable from modern Churchianity, devotion to a dead woman, and typical Romish heresy.

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Quotes (682)

The church is in a sad state today. Never mind the mainline denominations that have long-since abandoned biblical faith; we’re talking about the bible-believing church. Here, too often, we see much ado about nothing. There is talk of revival without the reality. The church today measures its success by the numbers on its rolls, the size of its offerings, or the volume of its worship bands—rather than by the holiness of its members.

– Philip Lancaster

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The Fall of the United States of Rome.

Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) offers a sobering warning from the grave:

If the West goes down and is defeated, it will be for one reason only: internal rot . . . If we continue to spend our lives in jollification, doing less and less work, demanding more and more money, more and more pleasure and so-called happiness, more and more indulgence of the lusts of the flesh, with a refusal to accept our responsibilities, there is but one inevitable result—complete and abject failure. Why did the Goths and Vandals and other barbarians conquer the ancient Roman Empire? Was it by superior military power? Of course not! Historians know that there is only one answer: the fall of Rome came because of the spirit of indulgence that had invaded the Roman world—the games, the pleasures, the baths. The moral rot that had entered into the heart of the Roman Empire was the cause of Rome’s “decline and fall.” It was not superior power from the outside, but internal rot that was Rome’s ruination. And the really alarming fact today is that we are witnessing a similar declension in this and most other Western countries. This slackness, this indiscipline, the whole outlook and spirit is characteristic of a period of decadence. The pleasure mania, the sports mania, the drink and drug mania have gripped the masses.

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Welcome to the gospel in America in the 21st century.

The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining.  – Neil Postman

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Quotes (679)

http://easterpeople.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/im-a-charismatic-baptist-reformed-calvinist/

The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ and Him crucified and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity.

– Charles Spurgeon

1834 – 1892