Bethel Church’s “Apostle” Bill Johnson: A Comedy of Errors, Part 1

Bill Johnson is no stranger to controversy.  For one thing, he claims to be an apostle, as in the unique position held by the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ.  He was given this high honor by C. Peter Wagner who holds many titles himself, including president of Global Harvest Ministries, chancellor of Wagner Leadership Institute, convening apostle of theNew Apostolic Roundtable, and my personal favorite: presiding apostle of (ICA).  So for the purpose of this article I’ll dub him Presiding Apostle Peter or PA Peter for short.   What’s important to know about him is that he’s sort of like the pope of the “new apostolic-prophetic movement.”

Following is ICA’s definition of modern day apostle:

An apostle is a Christian leader gifted, taught, commissioned, and sent by God with the authority to establish the foundational government of the church within an assigned sphere of ministry by hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches and by setting things in order accordingly for the growth and maturity of the church.

What role do the so-called apostles play?  There are a couple of tasks, says PA Peter.  First, apostles are to “set things in order” and “they’re to assure that the body of Christ is operating on the basis of sound, biblical doctrine.”

Sound biblical doctrine my Aunt Fanny!

PA Peter and his self-proclaimed apostles and prophets are out-and-out false teachers!  These men and women (yes, there are women apostles) are well aware that accusations of heresy have been leveled against them by a large number of highly regarded orthodox Bible scholars and still they continue the pretense.

In this two part series you’ll discover the many twists and turns the new apostolic-prophetic movement has taken over the years and why those of us who are in an online discernment ministry believe it is a clear and present danger to the Body of Christ, thus we will continue warning the brethren.  ()

Now, keep in mind that the men and women involved in this heretical movement are sincere in their belief that they’re in the same league as the Old Testament prophets and the Lord’s hand-picked disciples who later became the Twelve Apostles.  The leaders have convinced their followers that the office of apostleship is not reserved for a select few, as the Bible teaches.  Moreover, they’ve led people to believe that Christ is once again choosing apostles and prophets to preside over His Church.  Listen to ’ dire warning:

Those claiming the office of apostle seek authority equal to, or at least rivaling, the authority of the original twelve apostles. There is absolutely no biblical evidence to support such an understanding of the role of apostle today. This would fit with the New Testament’s warning against false apostles ().

So – if it’s true that Christ is giving authority to a select few apostles and prophets why, pray tell, would our Lord give it to individuals who possess questionable character?  I’ll have more on this in a moment.

Suffice it to say C. Peter Wagner and Bill Johnson believe that the Lord has given them the authority to rule over the Church.  So – if it’s also true that the so-called apostles arecalled by Christ to form a government to control the Church and that they will hold Church leaders accountable then who, pray tell, is going to hold them accountable?

Itching Ears

Without getting too far afield, since the new apostolic-prophetic movement’s inception it has been referred to in a number of different ways, i.e. …Latter Rain……Manifest[ed] Sons of God…Kingdom Now…Charismatic Renewal…Positive Confession and a few others.  Its current handle, (NAR), was coined by Presiding Apostle Peter in the 1990s.  He “reinvigorated the Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God false prophecies about a great endtime revival accompanied by signs and wonders.”  As I said, NAR leaders teach that God is restoring the lost offices of church governance – and they are His chosen ones to bring it to fruition!

Do not be surprised:

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,;and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths

In Paul’s final warning to the Church he never suggested that they embrace new movements.  On the contrary, he warned that they would not listen to the truth.  Commentator clarifies:

Having itching ears; for their ears itch, and they must have those that will scratch them. The disease of lust in their souls brings forth an itch in their ears, that they will have a mind to hear only such as will by scratching please them.

Shall they heap to themselves teachers, will be finding out teachers, not according to God’s, but to their own hearts; and there will be plenty of them to be found, they shall heap them up, choosing them without any judgment, regarding nothing but whether they will not be smart upon their lusts. (emphasis in original)

Paul’s message throughout his entire letter was that the church must “follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me” (1:13); “guard the good deposit entrusted to you (1:14); “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2:2).

Unity Over Doctrine

Now to Bill Johnson, head pastor of Bethel Church (BC).  BC’s leadership holds to the theology of the (WoF) movement.  WoF doctrine teaches the occult belief that:

He [God] framed the world with His words. You can’t build without substance. He took words — faith-Filled words were God’s substance. Here, essentially, is what God did. God filled His words with faith. He used His words as containers to hold His faith and contain that spiritual force and transport it out there into the vast darkness by saying ‘Light be!’ That’s the way God transported His faith causing creation and transformation. ()

One word: unscriptural!

BC also has its roots in the early1980s movement dubbed by C. Peter Wagner the (TW).

Following is an excerpt from Apologetics Index.  What they’ve laid out here should help prevent people from getting drawn into TW:

[D]istinctives of the Third Wave movement include — but are not limited to — the following:

• The baptism with the Holy Spirit is identified with conversion. This is unlike other Pentecostal movements, in which the baptism with the Spirit is either a separate and/or a recurring experience.
• the belief that the spiritual gifts are valid for today; that Christians can ask for, receive and learn how to use these spiritual gifts (and become better at using them with practice.
• the belief that the primary use of the is for ministry in the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit – both to bless and heal those inside the church and to minister to those outside the church (“.”). This ministry includes , , , etcetera.
• active promotion of unity — sometimes at any cost (e.g. the ‘s acceptance of certain Word-Faith teachers. “ over “
• the belief that people, Christians included, can be possessed (or ‘demonized’ — or ‘oppressed,’ something seen as a lesser form of possession) by evil spirits with or without their consent
• the belief that objects or places can project evil influence and act as conduits for demonic oppression
• the belief that traumatic events, either in our lives or in our ancestral past, can make us particularly vulnerable to demonic influence, possession or oppression
• the belief that some Christians — using appropriate spiritual gifts — can identify and cast out demonic spirits
• a general acceptance of theology, which has led to the practice of so-called ‘‘ or SLSW — an unbiblical concept in which Christians identify (through ‘‘) and then target (with SLSW) ‘.’ (all links are AI’s)  ()

WoF and TW leaders are false teachers.  (You’ll find the names of these as well as many other false teachers on my .)   Over the years self-proclaimed apostles and prophets have managed to coax undiscerning individuals to involve themselves in some of the strangest physical manifestations imaginable.  Those who participate in church services where “signs and wonders” take place like to blame their crude behavior on the Holy Spirit.  Now, try to imagine giants of the faith such as John, Peter, James or even Paul “,” crawling on all fours barking like a dog, clucking like a chicken, jerking and twitching, rolling on the floor, themselves into a convulsive state.  People involved in NAR have done these things in the past and continue them to this day.  When I think about it, it really wouldn’t surprise me to witness Apostle Bill on all fours, nose in the air, howling like a wolf.  But I digress.

Two Super Apostles Restore A Fraud

During the alleged Lakeland Outpouring aka Lakeland Revival in Florida, a story hit the news that put NAR evangelist Todd Bentley in a bad light.  It was revealed that that the rock-star evangelist was in an adulterous relationship with a female intern – and suddenly all hell broke loose.  In my column “” I scrutinized the NAR’s leaders and pointed out that Apostle Bill,

calls those who exposed Todd Bentley as a false prophet “sharks.” He also says:

“I’ll never blame the opponents [sharks] of this outpouring for Todd’s choices [sin].  However, it had a greater effect on the outcome than any of his critics will likely own up to in this lifetime. History proves this.”

(More on the Bentley brouhaha , and .)

Apostle Bill and fellow apostate – oops! — apostle-prophet decided to involve themselves in Bentley’s “.”  Just so you know, Rick Joyner’s the founder and Executive Director of MorningStar Publications and Ministries and is a big promoter of the “new breed” of apostles and prophets.

Both Bill Johnson and Rick Joyner, who are seasoned apostle-prophets, claim to hold the title “Super-Apostle” and/or “Super-Prophet” which is comparable to holding the high office of cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church.  Chew on that for a moment.  As an aside I should mention that some “” have been accused of using cultic mind control techniques on those they prey upon.

Listen to Apostle Rick pontificate about how he sees himself:

Even though I have not been able to go to journalism school, or even Bible school, in many ways I would not trade my education for anyone’s. Like Paul, I can say that what I received I did not receive from men.

I mean, really, are we supposed to believe him?  And why would we?

Now, back to Bentley.  Bringing this man under submission took place following his divorce and after he married the woman, who, by the way, wasn’t the only woman he had an extra marital affair with.  Apostle Bill was well aware that the fraud-evangelist had had a .  Both “Super-Apostles” knew that he was drunk during his Lakeland stage act yet they chose to return him to ministry.  But, then, no one has ever accused NAR leaders of doing much of anything by .

Todd Bentley is no more qualified for ministry than is disgraced televangelist/prosperity preacher , who was incarcerated for fleecing the flock (fraud).  After his release from prison, what did Bakker do?  Still craving attention, he returned to .

So – how should churches handle a person in a leadership role when he/she brings shame on the Name of our Lord Jesus?  I’ve already addressed this topic in my column entitled   In a nutshell the biblical way to handle it is for the church hierarchy to apply an appropriate level of discipline necessary to bring the person to true repentance.  Church leaders who have a “moral failing” must publically repent of his/her sin against God.  They then must seek spiritual guidance and accountability and move out of the limelight altogether.  Once the person’s restored, he/she’s most often encouraged to serve the Lord behind the scenes.  Sadly, this hasn’t been the case with Todd Bentley.  And the reason for this is that the self-appointed Super Apostles Bill and Rick found it in their hearts—not in the Bible—to reinstate the man to public ministry.

I’ll close part 1 with a plea from a genuine apostle:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. ()

Part 2 coming up!

Resources:

—Phil Johnson interviews John MacArthur

–By John Lanagan

1. –Around 54:00 into the session, Wagner responds to a question during the Q&A. He tells the audience that when the Holy Spirit stopped revealing things through the written Word, He kept on revealing new things to us through the “Rhema Word.” He claims that the Holy Spirit still speaks to us today by giving us information that you cannot find in the 66 books of the Bible, info that the Bible doesn’t address, but it’s not contradictory.

—Tony Miano, host of Cross Encounters radio, discusses, among other things, the music of BC’s music team Jesus Culture (more below). Listen to Tony tell of his Twitter chat with Beni Johnson, Bill’s pastorette wife.

…scroll down—Apologetics Index

–On Solid Rock Resources

Bethel Church’s Music & Entertainment:

—Ken Silva

—Amy Spreeman

Watch And Weep:

—My Word Like Fire

The Low-Information Evangelical – Part 1

We are told throughout the New Testament to judge, to test, to discern, to assess, to rebuke, to hold one another to account, to make moral distinctions, and to pronounce judgment when and where it is due. ~ Bill Muehlenberg

The phrase low-information voter (LIV) was made popular in the mid-1990s.  Although the LIV is uninformed on the issues, he casts his vote.  The LIV is often highly opinionated even when he has no idea what he’s talking about.  A popular conservative talk show host has labeled a segment of those who vote for liberals LIVs.

D. Edmund Wright expresses his disdain for the LIV in a rather harsh way:

But forget low-information voters for just a minute; the malignancy that is really destroying this country is low-information people with high-profile power and/or influence.  You know, people who would lobby for, comment on, advocate for, or vote on laws like ObamaCare without any understanding of its real-world impact.  Such felonies are then carried out by low-information bureaucratic microbes with the power to destroy lives and businesses with impunity, and a political and talking-head class with the access and sway to codify these common malfeasances. Destruction of private property and liberty – and these two concepts are not divisible – takes place in government cubicles every minute of every day across the country.  And why not?  ( – emphasis in original)

While reading Wright’s rant against the organized left (and rightly so) it occurred to me that evangelicalism is dealing with the same sort of crisis – low-information people with high-profile power and/or influence.  So for the purpose of this piece I’ll refer to them as low-information evangelicals (LIE).

Reminiscent of the LIV, the high-profile LIE does not understand the impact that his unorthodox view has on the visible church.  When it comes to the Bible, the LIE has opinions on a variety of challenging topics.  Even when his opinion is decidedly unbiblical, he presents it as the gospel truth.  The LIE’s arguments are often based, not on what God’s Word clearly teaches but instead on esoteric experiences he’s had or what he’s picked up from LIE celebrities.  As a side note, whenever I write a column for the express purpose of exposing a LIE-celeb’s unbiblical teaching and even though I included an abundance of evidence to support the biblical view, the LIE rarely uses logical argumentation to contest the facts and win me over to their way of thinking.   Instead he resorts to personal attacks.  For example I’m often scolded for being unloving…ungracious…mean spirited…hateful…homophobic……and far worse.

Facts are stubborn things.  And the fact of the matter is that it’s biblical to report on a high-profile Christian leader whose teaching is unbiblical.  Much of the problem lies in the fact that oodles of LIE-celebs are unapologetically  in their worldview and their teaching reflects that.  (For the record, “progressive Christian” is an oxymoron.)

Several influential Bible teachers started out as good Bible expositors but got off track when they became enamored with Eastern mysticism.  Today the beliefs some Christians hold contain a good deal of New Age/New Thought ideas borrowed from Eastern mysticism.  Bible teacher, conference speaker and founder of Living Word Ministries  is one of those teachers.

Over the years Moore has gained substantial popularity with women, so much so that her resources line the shelves of churches and Christian book sellers everywhere.  Because she’s affiliated with the  her overt acceptance of “” surprised a lot of people.  For instance, at one of her conferences she shared a vision she supposedly received of “the church as Jesus sees it.”  Listen to this bombshell:

You know what He [God] told me not too long ago? I told you when I first began this whole concept, He first started teaching it to me about five years ago, and He said these words to me: “Baby, you have not even begun to believe Me. You haven’t even begun!”

You know what He said just a few days ago? “Honey, I just want you to know we’re just beginning.” Oh, glory! That meant I had begun. Hallelujah!

But He was telling me, “When this ends, we ain’t done with this. Honey, this is what we do for the rest of your life.” And He says those words to me over and over again: “Believe Me. Believe Me. And I hope it’s starting to ring in your ears, over and over again, Believe Me.” ()

Does that not make your hair stand on end?   “He said these words to me…” is the same as saying “Thus saith the Lord!”   Any discerning Christian will no doubt find Moore’s alleged chats with God troubling.

Contrary to what Beth Moore believes, when the Lord allegedly speaks to her it couldn’t be His voice she’s hearing.  How do I know that?  Because the way in which she claims the Almighty communicates with her is unbiblical.  How does God speak to us today?  We are told in  that He speaks to us by His Son through His Spirit in His Word.

In  Paul commands us to “test everything; hold fast what is good.”  With this in mind, I challenge Beth’s fans to test her teaching by the Word of God.  Those who are open to the truth will discover that this Bible teacher is feeding her followers rotten fruit!

Erin Benziger has been warning of Beth Moore’s shift into mysticism for quite some time.  Erin points out that:

Beth Moore has demonstrated time and again that she cannot properly handle the biblical text. And yet, she is a mentor and teacher to many women who look to her leadership and knowledge as a foundation for their own spiritual walk.

In recent months, Moore participated as a speaker at the Unwrap the Bible conference, which was held at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. The event was hosted by ministries, and also featured such dangerous teachers as Priscilla Shirer, Christine Caine, Lisa Harper, Sheila Walsh and of course, Victoria Osteen. Nearly 11,000 women were in attendance at this event. 11,000. That is a tremendous number of women who were exposed to deceptive and erroneous Bible teaching. These are women in your Bible study and in your church. These are women who will now take the principles they learned and will begin to influence other women and girls within their church. This ought to be of no small concern to those who love and revere the Word of God. ()

Before I move on, I should mention that I don’t enjoy tearing down the powerful magnetic personalities professing Christians revere.   My purpose for taking aim at Beth Moore is to get undistinguished LIEs (ordinary folk) up to speed on her unbiblical teaching.  Sadly, some undistinguished low information evangelicals (u-LIEs) assume that popular pastors, teachers and best-selling authors would never steer them wrong.  But nothing could be further from the truth!

The Undistinguished LIE

The u-LIE learns Scripture in a variety of ways:  (1) Best-selling “Christian” books; (2) Blog posts; (3) Religious TV programs; (4) “Christian” radio/podcasts; (5) Trendy market-driven/seeker sensitive churches; (6) Family and friends (some of whom are nominal Christians at best and Bible illiterates at worst.)

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not saying that the u-LIE who utilizes the above resources won’t learn anything worthwhile. He will!  In fact it’s a good idea to gain knowledge from mainstream Bible scholars/theologians/apologists/bloggers and ministers of the gospel; likewise from TV, radio/podcasts of solid Bible expositors.  But we must see to it that those from whom we learn, including LIE-celebs, continually guard against error.  As I said above, when someone’s theology lands outside of the pale of orthodoxy it’s appropriate to challenge what’s being taught and to (gasp!) “name names.”  How else will we know who to be wary of?

Christians must never lose sight of the fact that false teachers are deceptive and evil.  And by the way, anyone who’s exposed as a wolf or wolverine must swallow their pride and repent of their sin against God.  The objective is restoration.

What has resulted from all the abysmal teaching in the Church?  U-LIEs have accepted liberal/progressive theology.  Likewise, they’re up to their eyeballs in aberrant/heretical movements such as liberal/progressive/social justice; emergent/emerging; /health & wealth/name-it-claim-it; New Apostolic Reformation/Dominionism/Latter Rain. Moreover they’ve become easy prey for the .  How does one avoid becoming ensnared by the wiles of the devil?  By becoming a Berean!  ()

Christian Mysticism

Thanks largely to Christian mystics such as recently deceased ordained Baptist Minister Dallas Willard and Quaker Richard Foster, many u-LIEs have been introduced to spiritual formation.  Sounds biblical, but I assure you it’s not.  In a nut shell, spiritual formation,

encourage[s] believers to incorporate a wide variety of extrabiblical spiritual practices, such as contemplative prayer, silence, meditation, creative expression, and yoga.  In fact, some of the most popular methods of spiritual formation have been lifted from Catholicism, new age mysticism, or other religions and rebranded with biblical-sounding terminology. ()

Ken Silva cautions that involving oneself in mysticism can lead to a “denial of the Reformation and the acceptance of apostate  as a viable form of Christianity.”

Both Willard and Foster, as well as Rick Warren, John Ortberg, Ruth Haley Barton and Tony Campolo have encouraged believers to read the writings of Roman Catholic Trappist Monks such as Thomas Merton, Basil Pennington, William Menninger and Thomas Keating to name a few.  From individuals like these, Eastern pagan practices have been introduced into mainline Protestant churches, likewise independent, nondenominational, charismatic and Pentecostal churches.

Because of books penned by Catholic monks, an increasing number of u-LIEs embrace the idea that  in much the same way that He spoke to the patriarchs and apostles.  And this is the primary reason Christians boast that they hear directly from God.

LIE-celebs and u-Lies who are exposed to mysticism will say things such as: “I had a word from the Lord” or “God said (this or that)…”  Or “God told me to do (this or that)…” And “I have received revelation knowledge.”  Anyone who makes these claims is saying that God speaks directly to them!  The danger in thinking this way is that when God doesn’t “speak” to a professed Christian, she worries that He’s silent because she doesn’t have enough faith, or she has a “hidden sin” in her life because if she didn’t, God would speak to her; or perhaps the Lord’s silent because He’s angry over an act of disobedience…and the list goes on.

The Silence Is Not Golden

The aforementioned monks, or , allege that by engaging in a prayer method called The Silence they’ve been able to achieve a profound experience with God.  “We enter the silence to consciously experience our oneness within the one Mind, God.”  The idea of experiencing oneness within the mind of God comes, not from the Bible, but from Eastern mysticism.  It makes no sense for God’s people to borrow from a corrupt religious system that God despises.  Listen to :

For you [God] have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with foreigners.

The Desert Fathers have so little discernment that they not only participate in recycled paganism, they encourage others to go that route!  Willard and Foster and other LIE-celebs know full well that they’re “striking hands with foreigners” and they do it anyway!

Being that the Lord condemns paganism, His people are to have nothing to do with it.  No dabbling!  Steer clear of anything to do with .  Methods such as…centering prayer…breath prayer…are forbidden!   Even though this will ruffle some feathers, my advice is to steer clear of “.  “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” ()

Part 2, coming up!

Recommended:

 (Posting this with a warning)

The following is a concise presentation of the contemplative practice known as “Entering the Silence” taught by the  [a cult] founded by

—By Mike Ratliff

Research links:

–On Solid Rock Resources

—On Solid Rock Resources

—On Solid Rock Resources

Pastors Deliberately Keeping Flock In The Dark​

Research Confirms What I Have Been Saying For Years…

George Barna is the foremost researcher of modern Christianity in the country. He recently spoke about a two-year research project studying why modern-day pastors and churches are so silent regarding political issues. The result of his research only confirms what I have been trying to tell people for years. But there was one thing his research uncovered that did somewhat surprise me. OneNewsNow.com covered the story:

“On Thursday, George Barna–research expert and founder of The Barna Group–shared with American Family Radio’s ‘Today’s Issues’ about new information he’s compiling at American Culture and Faith Institute over the last two years, gauging where theologically conservative pastors are at politically.

“‘What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?–and the numbers drop…to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.’

“When researchers ask those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in the political process, Barna said ‘it’s almost nothing.’

“‘So the thing that struck me has been that when we talk about the separation of church and state, it’s that churches have separated themselves from the activities of the state–and that’s to the detriment of the state and its people,’ stated the researcher.”

That 90% of America’s pastors are not addressing any of the salient issues affecting Christian people’s political or societal lives should surprise no one–especially the readers of this column. It has been decades since even a sizeable minority of pastors have bothered to educate and inform their congregations as to the Biblical principles relating to America’s political, cultural, and societal lives. But the part of the research that did somewhat surprise me was this statement by Barna: “What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?–and the numbers drop…to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.”

Did you get that? Ninety-percent of America’s pastors say they KNOW that the Bible speaks to all of these issues, but they are deliberately determined to NOT teach these Biblical principles. That is an amazing admission!

It would have been one thing if the pastors had said that these political issues were not relevant to scripture, and, therefore, they didn’t feel called to address them. But the pastors are admitting that, yes, they KNOW that the scriptures DO relate to our current political issues, but they are deliberately choosing to NOT teach those scriptural principles. Holy heads-in-the-sand, Batman!

I confess: this statistic caught me off-guard. So, we can forever dismiss ignorance as justification for pastors remaining silent.

Now, all of the church members out there who have been forgiving of their ministers for not speaking out on the issues by saying things like, “He really doesn’t understand what’s going on,” need to reevaluate their leniency–if they are intellectually honest, that is–and if they truly care about the future of their country.

Church member, admit it: that pastor of yours who refuses to speak out on the issues KNOWS the Bible speaks to these issues, and he is DELIBERATELY refusing to teach those Biblical principles to you and your family.

So, we are not dealing with IGNORANT pastors; we are dealing with DELIBERATELY DISOBEDIENT pastors. They are PURPOSELY CHOOSING to remain silent. Will that make any difference to the Christians in the pews who say they want their pastor to take a stand but are willing to overlook his “ignorance?” Probably not. But, at least, we now know what the real issue is, don’t we?

The report goes on: “Why the disconnect? According to Barna, the answer is simple. He suggests asking pastors how someone would know if their church is ‘successful’–which he did.”

“‘There are five factors that the vast majority of pastors turn to [when asked that question],’ he explained. ‘Attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and square footage.’”

There you have it: pastors are more concerned about being “successful” than they are being truthful. They believe if they tell their congregations the truth, their churches will not be “successful.” And it is so refreshing to see Barna directly ask pastors what “success” means to them. So, now we know (as if we didn’t know before; but, at least now there is definitive research to back it up). The vast majority of pastors believe church success lies in:

*Attendance

*Giving (money)

*Number of programs

*Number of staff

*Square footage (of facilities)

Shazam! Where did pastors come up with this definition of “success?” You know where: from men such as Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, et al.

The megachurch phenomenon of the last several decades transformed how pastors think and behave. Pastors read the “successful church” books and publications; they attend the “successful church” conferences; they watch the “successful church” videos, etc. They, then, try to mimic the tactics and strategies they have been taught. And if there is one constant theme promulgated by the likes of Osteen, Warren, and Hybels, it is pastors must avoid controversy like the plague. Again, one must realize that the goal is NOT being faithful to Biblical principles; the goal is building a “successful” church as noted above.

It is time for Christians to acknowledge that these ministers are not pastors; they are CEOs. They are not Bible teachers; they are performers. They are not shepherds; they are hirelings. It is also time for Christians to be honest with themselves: do they want a pastor who desires to be faithful to the scriptures, or do they want a pastor who is simply trying to be “successful?” BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF, CHRISTIAN FRIEND.

Barna’s research blows the “ignorance” excuse out of the water. Again, it is not ignorance; it is deliberate disobedience.

Barna goes on to say, “Now all of those things [the five points of success listed above] are good measures, except for one tiny fact: Jesus didn’t die for any of them.” Wow! You nailed it, George!

See the report here:

Where do you find anything in the New Testament that measures a pastor’s success by the number of people attending his church? Or by how large his offerings are? Or by how many programs his church has? Or by how many staff members he has? Or by how large his facilities are? In fact, the early New Testament church didn’t even own property or buildings.

When the Apostle Paul listed his ministerial pedigree, here is what it looked like (II Cor. 11):

*Stripes above measure

*In prisons frequently

*In deaths often

*Beaten with rods

*Stoned

*Perils

*Weariness

*Painfulness

*Hunger and thirst

*Cold and nakedness

I don’t see attendance, offerings, programs, staff, or square footage in that list at all, do you?

When Paul wrote his own epitaph, it read, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Timothy 4:7). He didn’t say, “I had a large congregation, we had big offerings, we had a lot of programs, I had a large staff, and we had large facilities.”

In the world of Osteen, Warren, and Hybels (and 90% of America’s pastors), the Apostle Paul’s ministry must have been a dismal failure. And how many church pulpit committees would even consider the pastoral résumé such as the Apostle Paul wrote above?

Please understand this: America’s malaise is directly due to the deliberate disobedience of America’s pastors–and the willingness of the Christians in the pews to tolerate the disobedience of their pastor. Nothing more! Nothing less!

Oh, and get this: according to the survey conducted by Barna, guess what the number one reason is why pastors choose to be “successful” and not “controversial?” You guessed it: fear of the IRS 501c3 tax-exempt status. Who would have thought it? (Yes, that question is deliberately facetious.)

The release of this research by George Barna could not have come at a more opportune time. I announced just last week that we have officially launched the Liberty Church Project, whereby we will be helping people around the country to establish non-501c3 churches. I invite folks (pastors or laymen) who are serious about starting new non-501c3 churches–or helping to resurrect patriot pulpits within existing churches–to fill out our online application. We already have several groups that we intend to help and are looking for others. If you are someone who is serious about such an endeavor, and seeks our assistance, please fill out the online application here:

And, in case you missed it, here is my column announcing the launch of the Liberty Church Project:

I want to commend George Barna for his research. I suspect that the vast majority of pastors and churches will ignore it, but, at least now we know the painful truth of the matter: by in large, pastors are deliberately choosing to not teach Biblical truth to their congregations for the selfish goal of being “successful.” But as we come to grips with this reality, we must also acknowledge that pastors are simply (and shamelessly) putting their fingers to the wind and finding that the people in the pews are more interested in their churches being “successful” than faithful to the teaching of Holy Scripture. As Barna noted, it is the churches, themselves, that have chosen to separate from the political affairs of their country.

In the end, it always comes down to We the People, doesn’t it? If you want a church where the pastor is willing to teach the Biblical principles that relate to our everyday lives–including our political lives–you might have to vote with your feet and go find one. That is, if that kind of thing is truly important to you.

Is Judgement Real? Does God Punish Disobedience?

Bumper stickers often reflect the quality of the theology that supports American Christianity. “God said it and I believe it” used to be popular. “Are You Saved?” was often seen and a whole variety of challenging, pithy phrases continue to appear: “I Love Jesus”, “Jesus Possess Me”, “Know Jesus, Know Peace”, “Love God Love People”, “One Nation Under God”, “Pray for America”, “Got Jesus”, “Victory In Jesus”, “Honk If You Know Jesus”, “Love God Love People”, etc. etc.

The flippant attitude that pervades American Christianity reflects the feeble impact it has on the culture and the progression of Divine Judgment that overshadows us.

Christians often challenge one another with regular sessions of reading “The Word”; for many Christians this means reading the New Testament with an occasional short selection from the Old. They believe the Old Testament was applicable to another era and consider this new era one of Grace and any reference to law to be “legalistic”.

It is quickly apparent in reading R. J. Rushdoony that his approach to Christian theology is different than the preaching we hear at our local church. He believes the entire Bible, every word, is the Word of God From Genesis to Revelation he ponders each word, phrase, and sentence to determine what action his Creator seeks. Instead of using his reason as a filter he sets it aside to be used as a guide to the actions God requires. He wants to obey God rather than understand Him. He does not pick and choose but glories in the entire Biblical narrative. He tarries with God’s Law since obedience is the foundational requirement of the Covenant God of the Bible.

He embraces the Charismatic Movement as a new and more vibrant recognition of the Holy Spirit but expresses disdain for tongues and the gibberish that that often results. Sinful men are unable to accurately hear the Holy Spirit without the yardstick of His Law. We are sinful beings and without the restraint of His written Commandments chaos and wickedness quickly overtake us. Antinomianism in Charismatic circles destroys the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power and glory of the God of the Bible must emanate from individual Christian men who live by God’s Commandments. When men abdicate their responsibility to lead their individual families in obedience to the Will of the Creator they open the door for the state to assume that role and to tighten the vise of tyranny.

When the rule of the Creator is torn from its Biblical base and maligned by sinful human minds the strength of the Gospel no longer beams forth. Instead we have the amoral, adaptable, pragmatic, competitive, social creatures that are popular today. Men are suspected of being unfaithful and sexually promiscuous. Those that stand for honesty, righteousness and faithfulness are often mocked by powerful triflers.

Men no longer understand the leadership position God requires of them. They are responsible for the safety, well-being and conduct of their family. They are to be the head of their home and to participate in the government of the community in which they live.

Rushdoony writes, ”A society cannot be vital and possessed of an ongoing vigor if the men therein are marked by a loss of faith, a retreat from responsibility, and an unwillingness to cope with personal problems. A culture loses its will to live and to conquer if its members manifest a spirit of retreat and surrender.”

Role playing has become a pandemic mendacity. Public forums are full of men who role-play. During his campaign President Obama promised scores of actions that were popular and needed. However, when he assumed the office of President he installed programs diametrical to those he promised. American politicians never produce what they promise; they are puppets playing roles demanded by an unseen power center.

Congresspersons maintain their office as a grant from the closely held press. They carefully avoid taking positions that defy politically correct media dictates. They all play a role and the role is inimical to the well-being of our nation.

Men play an unnatural role in their homes when wives often assume equal or superior authority in family life. Women were created to helpmates to men and when they assume roles for which they were not intended we lose the decisiveness that is a masculine trait. Men sin by abdicating their responsibilities and women sin by assuming them.

However, even if role-playing ceased and rational thought began we would still be in serious trouble. Mortal minds will never produce peace, order, and freedom.

Recently, someone sent me an article by Tom Mullen with the audacious title of “Jesus Christ, Libertarian”. Mullen quotes verbatim Scripture from John 8 about the woman taken in adultery that Jesus forgave with the admonition to go and sin no more.

Mullin tees off on this particular incident with a plethora of dangerous and erroneous conclusions. He writes: “However, no one has a right to use violence against those who engage in behavior that does not harm another person, regardless of whether or not that behavior violates the laws of God.” Mullin would have his insignificant opinion override the perfect Law of God. Such arrogance is the fuel for murder and strife.

Mullin has devised a non-violent system but his system is vulnerable to an opposite system devised by a tyrant who has no aversion to the use of violence to achieve his goals – both systems are products of the anarchic minds of men and sans God’s immutable law one is as valid as the other. Man was not created to govern himself. Without the overarching, righteous law of the Creator chaos and strife will continue to plague us.

On page 387 of his “Systematic Theology” Rushdoony lists the curses that are visited on disobedient individuals and nations. First, fallen man lives under the curse of physical death. Second, he lives under the fear of “sickness, plagues, and epidemics”. Third, the advent of drought and natural disasters produces fear. Fourth, poverty lurks in the economies of profligates. Fifth, nonbelievers are cursed with war, invasion, defeat, conquest, and ultimate captivity. Sixth, Frustration annoys the intentions of men and nations when they seek their own will instead of following the Will of the Creator. And seventh, Rushdoony laments the curse of blindness that causes millions of Evangelical Christians to ignore the obvious signs of God’s judgment.

It is the curse of blindness that causes us to ignore the obvious poverty and strife that plagues the world’s pagan nations and the bursting prosperity that marked Christian civilization. When the United States of America was making an effort to obey God’s Commandments she enjoyed unparalleled prosperity. We have now become a secular nation and not only poverty but all of the other curses are bursting forth.

We have an adequate supply of anti-war spokespersons in the United States but I have yet to find one who espouses the only viable solution. History is replete with constant warfare. Men and nations have been engaged in continuous war from the beginning of time. The Bible contains that legal structure that God gave us to bring lasting peace but sinful men ignore it. Paul Craig Roberts is a bright and well informed writer. He writes with commendable insight into the conduct of our nation but he never once mentions the fact the humanistic solutions to perennial war have never been effective and he fails to consider the legal platform God has given us for lasting peace. His latest article is here.

As America continues to fall into the devil’s abbess will Christians finally wake up and begin to heed the One True God? Mainline churches will not stem the fall. Patriotism will not reverse it. Politics and revolution will not save us. Guns will not help against the judgment of Almighty God. Our stubborn failure to repent, follow Him, and obey His commandments may seal our fate.

For several years I wrote about the tyrannical nature of our government. But government is a reflection of the people who are governed and we have voted for the government we are receiving. We, the people, are the problem. The prayer that is need it that the One True God would change our hearts bringing a resolute desire for obedience to God and a resulting righteous government.

Cowardly Christian Entertainers

During an interview with  last year, country western star Carrie Underwood, a professing Christian, got the media’s full attention when she decided to come out in support of .”  “As a married person myself,” she chirped, “I don’t know what it’s like to be told I can’t marry somebody I love, and want to marry.  I can’t imagine how that must feel. I definitely think we should all have the right to love, and love publicly, the people that we want to love.”  Underwood also noted that she attends a gay-friendly church.

Four years ago another popular “Christian” singer, Jennifer Knapp, came out as a lesbian.  In an interview Knapp stated that she wasn’t interested in becoming another spokesperson for the gay agenda because she wasn’t equipped for that.  “I’m in no way capable of leading a charge for some kind of activist movement,” she bluntly  in 2010, adding, “I’m not capable of getting into the theological argument as to whether or not we should or shouldn’t allow homosexuals within our church.” ()  Four years later we learn that Jennifer has boned up on theology 101 and now feels she’s capable of arguing her view on what the Bible teaches on homosexuality.  Purchase her soon to be released book where she tells the story of her troubled life and you’ll discover Jennifer’s liberal theology.   And, not surprisingly, on her book publisher’s website we learn that she has become an “advocate for LGBT issues in the church.”

The gay agenda has weaseled its way into all aspects of society, including religious institutions, corporations, politics, the media, education, the arts, the entertainment industry and so on.  As a result, there’s a great divide in this country.  Even though the Bible clearly opposes homosexuality, a growing number of professing Christians have no problem with it. Far be it from a Christian to hurt someone’s feelings or to be thought of as – gasp – homophobic.  Anyone who dares oppose sodomy is said to be intolerant, even bigoted.  Well, the fact of the matter is that society has been indoctrinated to believe that homosexuality is normal and natural despite the fact that the scriptures teach just the opposite.  Not only is sodomy deemed unnatural, the Apostle Paul uses the term unseemly:

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. ()

With all the  why are Christians expected to be tolerant instead of outraged?

The vast majority of highly respected, published, biblical scholars agree that Scripture clearly teaches that homosexuality is sin.  Therefore practicing same-sex sex is unacceptable to God…to Jesus…to the Holy Spirit…in other words, to the holy .

Pastor Larry Tomczak said of so-called Christian entertainers who seem more concerned about their careers than with what the Bible teaches, “To say we genuinely care about our fellow man, yet not “speak the truth in love” is cowardice.”

Amy Grant and Dan Haseltine are the most recent Christian entertainers to take a stance on gay “marriage.” They’re for it.  Thus, Amy and Dan are cowards.

Amy Grant is a singer-songwriter, musician, author and actor.  This accomplished woman also has dozens of Dove awards, six Grammys and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Dan is the lead singer of popular Christian singing group Jars of Clay and “tweeter” extraordinaire.

Recently Grant agreed to do an interview with the gay press.  According to Chris Azzopardi:

During her first gay press interview, and for an entire hour, the Grammy winner reflected – with her usual sincerity and thoughtfulness – on her loyal gay fan base, how she reconciles Christianity and homosexuality, her “compassion” for gay marriage…

Azzopardi was curious to know if she was invited to perform at the wedding of one of her gay fans and couldn’t do it because of a conflict in her schedule.  She replied:

I was invited. I was honored to be invited. ()

Honored?  Why would Amy, who proclaims her love for Jesus, feel that it’s an honor to be invited to sing Christian music at a gay “marriage” ceremony?

The answer is obvious. She has rejected  in favor of following her feelings.  As I already pointed out, homosexuality is diametrically opposed to Scripture.

Equally concerning is Grant’s 2010 interview with the world’s largest Catholic network, .  Has she not heard of the ?  By doing the interview she as much as endorsed a religious system that has led billions of people down a path that ends at the Gates of Hell.

Reformer Martin Luther made it clear what Protestants must believe about the :

What kind of a church is the pope’s church?” asked Martin Luther.  “It is an uncertain, vacillating and tottering church. Indeed, it is a deceitful, lying church, doubting and unbelieving, without God’s Word. For the pope with his wrong keys teaches his church to doubt and to be uncertain.

If it is a vacillating church, then it is not the church of faith, for the latter is founded upon a rock, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it (Matthew.16:18). If it is not the church of faith, then it is not the Christian church, but it must be an unchristian, anti-Christian, and faithless church which destroys and ruins the real, holy, Christian church. (H/T )

It doesn’t require a degree in theology to know that the RCC has for centuries been spreading a false gospel, a gospel that does not save and intends to keep men blinded from the truth.  (). That Ms Grant—or any other professing Christian–would agree to sit down with a representative of a false religious system shows how little discernment she has.  Sadly, it appears that she is not concerned that her fans understand authentic Christian doctrine that will help them mature and grow in their faith.  Amy must know that,

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.  ()

Likewise:

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” ()

Dan Haseltine is not a household name.   But many believers are familiar with the popular Christian band .  In April Dan  his support for gay “marriage” and claimed that Scripture has nothing to say on morality.  When Christians objected to his unbiblical stance, he tweeted this stunning rebuke:

I don’t particularly care about Scriptures stance on what is “wrong” I care more about how it says we should treat people.

On biblical morality he tweeted:

Because most people read and interpret scripture wrong. I don’t think scripture “clearly” states much about morality.

The following day Metro Weekly reported Haseltine’s response to the uproar:

“Not meaning to stir things up BUT… is there a non-speculative or non ‘slippery slope’ reason why gays shouldn’t marry? I don’t hear one.” He went on to write “I’m trying to make sense of the conservative argument. But it doesn’t hold up to basic scrutiny. Feels akin to women’s suffrage. I just don’t see a negative effect to allowing gay marriage. No societal breakdown, no war on traditional marriage. ?? Anyone?” ()

By not taking a strong stance against gay “marriage” Amy and Dan have surrendered to three enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil.  And let’s be clear.  From their “progressive” vantage point, their brothers and sisters in Christ who oppose same-sex “marriage” (for biblical reasons) are homophobes, hate mongers and bigots.

But this is not only about Christian entertainers that have gone the way of progressive Christianity.  It is equally about the so-called Bible believing Christian who has chosen to ignore what God’s Word says on homosexuality; the one who puts his tail between his legs and cowers rather than to stand up for the Truth.  God’s people are commanded to “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.”  ()  And by the way, the discerning Christian knows perfectly well that same-sex sex is prohibited in Scripture.  Moreover, a spiritual person () will understand that .  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” ()

I’ll end this with a lengthy quote from Walter Martin, apologist and founder of the .  Over two decades ago Dr. Martin gave us fair warning:

I don’t think it needs blackboard diagram; or any amount of sophisticated logical presentation a fortiori. I think you can be a fifth-grader and understand that if God says “cursed” is something He takes an extremely dim view of it. I think that’s a rational approach. So the homosexual theologians who are attempting today to defend homosexuality on the basis of Biblical theology are in the same position as the Sadducees, to whom Jesus addressed this remark: “You do err. Not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God.”

That’s exactly where they are. They are trying to put Christianity and homosexuality in the same bed; and you’re not gonna do it because Jesus Christ very forcibly condemned it. And you say, “Where in the New Testament did Jesus ever mention homosexuality?” Open your Bibles and find out; because contrary to what the gay church says, He not only spoke against it—He went out of His way to make it very clear [so] nobody’d misunderstand Him.

Of course, you do have to study your Greek New Testament to come up with it. Most homosexual theologians, so-called, that I have talked to don’t even know the Greek alphabet, much less their Greek exegesis so they miss it completely—but it’s here in the passage and it should be looked at. Matthew, chapter 15, Christ is speaking, verse 19, “For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders,” notice the differentiation, “adulteries, fornications,” plural, “thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

“These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” “The word homosexual is not there; what are you arguing about?” I’m arguing about the use of the word porneus, which was found written over the wall, and the doorway, and the arches, in excavations [by] archaeologists of Roman brothels. And the word porneus did not mean “sex before marriage” alone.

It meant homosexuality, bestiality, and all forms of degraded sex. And it became well known to everybody in the culture, if any of them ever did their homework, that porneus referred to anything goes. Jesus well knew the Roman brothels. He well knew the culture of His time; and when He said adulteries and fornications—plural—He was making a direct reference to the practices of the Romans and the Greeks and the pagans of the time who prostituted themselves to all forms of evil.

He knew it; He condemned it. It’s not just the matter of the word, it’s a matter of the culture; and Jesus certainly understood the culture of His time—if He didn’t, nobody did. And therefore, when He used the word fornications, He obviously was making reference to all forms—all forms, inclusive forms—of that which was the deviation from the norm of Jewish law.

And the reason I can say that with such dogmatism is because He was a rabbi. And if a rabbi didn’t know Jewish law on the subject of homosexuality, nobody on earth knew it. … ()

Additional Resources

–On Solid Rock Resources

—Joe Dallas

The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics–By Robert Gagnon.  Dr. Gagnon  is Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  “Gagnon offers the most thorough analysis to date of the biblical texts relating to homosexuality.”

Does The Bible Really Say We’re Not To Judge?

Some professing Christians become infuriated when a “watchblogger” has the chutzpah to report on a false teacher by name, as if naming names is unbiblical.  High-profile leaders and bloggers who mention heretics by name are often accused of demonizing or judging them.

For example, when I expose  latest effort to unite with , , , , and when I examine his  and his penchant for (he often uses it as a tool to cover his own ideas with a pretense of divine authority), complaints come pouring in by the truck load.  Many of his defenders write to set me straight on what Scripture says about “judging him.”  Others scold me for not giving him credit for all the good he has done, as if doing good deeds, meeting felt needs and ignoring doctrine and creeds is biblical.

Invariably someone will cite  :

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

And then they’ll ask if I’ve gone privately to Rick Warren to correct him.  My response is “Of course not!”  Why?  For the reason that Christian celebrities like Rick Warren are generally not accessible.  Many are, in fact, akin to Hollywood celebs.  No doubt some of them rationalize that their popularity affords them certain privileges, one of which is to choose not to have a dialogue with those of us who write anything negative about them.

Yet the Bible says that those who are in sin (false teaching is sin) must be admonished.  In  the Apostle John calls out Diotrephes and promises to publicly correct him upon his return. In  Paul stands up to the highly esteemed Apostle Peter!   He even got in Peter’s face for fearing false teachers. What resulted from Peter’s “fear of man”?:

And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.  But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ (bold added)

In context the Matthew 18 passages (above) addresses the ways in which the leadership must go about disciplining a brother or sister in their church who has fallen into sin.  It also provides the proper steps to take before excommunicating someone who refuses to repent.  First, we are to go to him in private and if he refuses to repent we are to go a second time taking with us two or more witnesses.  If he still refuses to repent, the pastor must go before the church and proclaim his sin.  Ouch!

It’s essential that elders are involved in the process.

Likewise, the passages in Matthew 18 don’t apply to doctrinal issues nor do they apply to Christians who have put their work before the world.  A person’s willingness to do so makes them fair game for anyone who wishes to scrutinize and even criticize his or her work.   Consequently, Christians who can’t stand the heat should get out of the kitchen.

But I’m drifting from my point.

When believers make a judgment, we’re not to judge self-righteously.  Moreover, we’re not to judge a person’s heart or motives.  Those who do are sinning.

Because I name names I’m often accused of being judgmental.  All I can do is respond with Scripture:

The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’  But we have the mind of Christ.()

What?  You mean the true believer has the mind of Christ?  Yes!  This is a difficult concept to grasp to be sure, so I’ll point you to Matthew Henry’s commentary:

The apostles were not guided by worldly principles. They had the revelation of these things from the Spirit of God, and the saving impression of them from the same Spirit. These things they declared in plain, simple language, taught by the Holy Spirit, totally different from the affected oratory or enticing words of man’s wisdom. The natural man, the wise man of the world, receives not the things of the Spirit of God. The pride of carnal reasoning is really as much opposed to spirituality, as the basest sensuality. The sanctified mind discerns the real beauties of holiness, but the power of discerning and judging about common and natural things is not lost. But the carnal man is a stranger to the principles, and pleasures, and actings of the Divine life. The spiritual man only, is the person to whom God gives the knowledge of his will. … And the apostles were enabled by his Spirit to make known his mind. In the Holy Scriptures, the mind of Christ, and the mind of God in Christ, are fully made known to us. It is the great privilege of Christians, that they have the mind of Christ revealed to them by his Spirit. They experience his sanctifying power in their hearts, and bring forth good fruits in their lives. (bold added — )

In short, it is the spiritual man () who possesses the mind of Christ and has received the knowledge of His will which is laid out for us in Scripture.  Therefore, the believer who is truly walking with the Lord— –has the authority to judge words and actions — especially when the teaching is unbiblical.

How do we know when someone’s teaching is unbiblical?  That’s easy!  Test his teaching against the Word of God and if it doesn’t line up with what’s in the Bible, then what’s being taught is not from God! And if what’s being taught is not from God it’s from another source – the !

Bible teacher and expositor John MacArthur cautions:

It should be noted that [Matthew 7:1-5] has erroneously been used to suggest that believers should never evaluate or criticize anyone for anything. Our day hates absolutes, especially theological and moral absolutes, and such simplistic interpretation provides a convenient escape from confrontation. Members of modern society, including many professing Christians, tend to resist dogmatism and strong convictions about right and wrong. Many people prefer to speak of all-inclusive love, compromise, ecumenism, and unity. To the modern religious person those are the only “doctrines” worth defending, and they are the doctrines to which every conflicting doctrine must be sacrificed.  ()

In my experience, many professing Christians stubbornly stick to their position that those who expose the unbiblical teaching of Christian celebs are unfairly judging them so they play the card: “Judge not, that you be not judged” followed by a resounding rebuke from verse 5: “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye?”

Christians who fail to grasp the notion that those who are Spirit-filled have the mind of Christ is mind boggling.  Only believers can make this claim — no one else can.  And that includes Miss Spirituality herself, !  Why?  Since Oprah is unregenerate she cannot possible understand spiritual truth because her !

God’s ways and His Word make little sense to the unsaved.  Listen to what Paul says:

The natural person [unregenerate] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” ()

There is no other place we can learn about the things of the Spirit of God except in the Bible.  Moreover, the Bible’s the final authority in all matters of faith.  In  we’re told that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”  And   says “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”  Although every page of Scripture is , a growing number of Christians choose to reject hard to understand Bible stories and doctrines.  Two examples that come to mind are the  in Genesis chapters 1 & 2 and our Lord’s teaching that  is a place of fire, demons and everlasting torment.  Some readers will be surprised to learn that Christ preached more on hell than all the other persons in the Bible put together!

It’s unbelievable how many professing Christians don’t study their bibles.  They may attend church regularly but because they’re biblically illiterate they have no clue if the pastor’s teaching God’s truth or outright heresy.  In many cases they wouldn’t know biblical truth if it walked up and bit them on the nose!

I regularly hear from Christians whose heart’s desire is to attend a healthy well-balanced church where they can be confident that they’re receiving good solid biblical teaching.  They’ve searched high and low to find a gospel teaching church near their home but there are none.  And they’re discouraged.  The sad fact is that only a handful of ministers still preach the true .  My advice is always the same: “Don’t give up searching!”  But this is a subject for a whole other article so I’ll move on.

As if we didn’t have enough to deal with in the visible Church, a large number of ministers and so-called Bible teachers in churches and on the airwaves are selling a false gospel to consumers. Front and center is the /name-it-and-claim-it/prosperity charlatans such as , , , , ,  and , to name a few.

Be on the alert for the  (NAR) a heretical movement that holds to the view that God is restoring the lost offices of church governance such as the prophets and apostles.  “Super Apostle”  is the head of the NAR and there’s a swarm of so-called apostles and prophets worldwide.  The wolves and wolverines in this movement believe they possess the same gifts as the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles.  (Learn more about the NAR by visiting my .)

Other celebs to be wary of are , , , , , .

Again, we’re not to judge a person’s heart or motives, but we can certainly judge the fruit they produce!  Jesus himself said:

Every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. ()

Believers who read and study their bibles are far less likely to blindly follow false teachers.  But it’s not out of the realm of possibility for mature believers who cease being  to have the wool pulled over their eyes.  For this very reason John warned:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ().

Classic Confrontations: Mostly Dead In America

Confrontation is a necessary dam to the progress of evil in society.

American policy is now confined to determining which of two evils will be rewarded.  For decades conservatives have been voting for the lesser of two evils, impaired by party loyalty and seeking a maligned victory, they fail to confront egregious evil.

Evil is inherent in diversity.  The exclusive righteousness characteristic of ancient Israel was predicated on maintaining religious purity.  That purity is being consistently destructed by toleration.

Christian churches should be at the forefront in confronting these dangers.  It is not surprising that the scant confrontation evidenced in the public domain is coming from Christians.  Nor is it surprising that Christian ministers pre-occupied with growing larger and more powerful churches are wont to confront evil either in the society at large or in their own congregations.

In February, 1994, the late Mother Theresa of Calcutta speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast with then President William Jefferson Clinton and his wife Hillary in the audience made the Included in the prayer was the following litany:

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values.

We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism.

We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism.

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.

We have abused power and called it political savvy.

We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

In May, 1999, Darrell Scott, whose daughter Rachel was fatally shot at Littleton, Colorado’s Columbine High School, included the following poem in his poignant remarks before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee:

Your laws ignore our deepest needs
Your words are empty air
You’ve stripped away our heritage
You’ve outlawed simple prayer
Now gunshots fill our classrooms
And precious children die
You seek for answers everywhere
And ask the question “Why”
You regulate restrictive laws
Through legislative creed
And yet you fail to understand that
God is what we need!

Hardness in the reprobate heart repels the confrontation of wisdom.  Mother Theresa’s sweet rebuke of the Clinton stand on abortion was quickly forgotten.  Several walked out on the repentant prayer read by Pastor Joe Wright and Darrell Scott’s confrontation of the House Judiciary subcommittee was like a drop of fresh water in a cesspool.

Error (polite for sin) is a common denominator to human existence and when it is not confronted it metastasizes.  In an effort to preserve their right to debauchery Americans have elevated human comfort above human righteousness.  They have failed to confront lies and distortions of fact in an effort to maintain peace.  This most grievous of errors has become pandemic in our churches rendering them useless in the maintenance of Godly Wisdom and Righteousness.

Fred Reed in one of his recent insightful columns concerning the press writes, “because of law, convention, and political fear papers have to hire “diverse” newsrooms. This exercises a powerful flattening effect on the news. For practical purposes it is not possible to express opinions, or to cover stories, that offend a sizable group on the floor of the newsroom. If your editor is female, or the guy at the next desk black, or gay, you find it very hard to write anything that these groups won’t like. You have to come to work every day. More diversity in the newsroom means less diversity in the news.”

In a Brian Lamb interview on C-Span a caller queried Midge Dector, a Zionist Jewish author and wife of Neo-Con Norman Podhoretz, about why Jewish-Americans predominate in our superstructure.  The caller, who was able to announce that Jews make up a tiny fraction of the American population but have a tremendous amount of power, was loutishly cut off by Brian Lamb and Midge Dector with a straight but distasteful look on her face denied the existence of extensive Jewish power.

This is, of course, a lie.  Jewish intellectualism is cherished. They are a hardworking, intelligent, well educated, collusive, quasi-patriotic group of unassimilated Americans whose quest for behind the scenes power has been generously rewarded.

The road to Hell is paved with the inability to confront lies and America has been in the paving business for several decades.

Unfortunately, the American media hides facts and perpetrates lies.  While the quest for world government with all of its ancillary plots forges fearlessly ahead, detailed discussion of its disastrous consequences for the American people is studiously avoided.

Reporting on confrontations that involve truth are never widely covered in the media.  With all the ballyhoo that is made about freedom of the press, America has not enjoyed a free press for a long time.  As Fred Reed so aptly states, the press is “controlled, controlled, controlled”.

Pictures of aborted babies are avoided; the cruel results of war and the mutilated bodies it produces are never shown to the public; neither the scourge of AIDS nor homosexual activities are reported in all their ugliness; diversity is promoted for America but not for Israel; the efficacy of Christianity is regularly questioned and authentic movies such as “The Passion of Christ” are denigrated.  America’s press, ridden with bias and homogeneity, is a threat to the Nation.

The recent ruckus over “The Passion of Christ” has brought the errant nature the media elite into focus.

To question the right of a Christian American to produce a Biblically authentic movie on the death of Christ because it does not conform to the Jewish agenda and the contrived propaganda of Abe Foxman and the Anti-Defamation League is both an example of the power of Jewish influence in America and a travesty of major proportions for both Jews and Christians.

In an essay entitled “The Passion of the Christ, the Jews, and God” Screenwriter Brian Godawa addresses this problem with the following conclusion: “So to understand the New Testament claims of Jesus as Messiah is to understand a history of Israel that includes hundreds of years of stiff-necked resistance to God’s own prophets, building to a climactic rejection and killing of God’s own Son, the Messiah, followed by the persecution of Messiah’s followers and terminating in God’s wrath and vengeance being taken out on the nation by the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem and its temple. The barrenness of that temple, still desolate for over 2000 years, is a testament to the new spiritual temple created by God, the body of Christ — a new “nation” consisting of Jews and Gentiles who both have faith in Messiah, a Messiah, as portrayed in the movie The Passion of the Christ, whose rejection and victimization made Him the “unblemished lamb of sacrifice” slain on God’s altar to accomplish the victorious redemption of His people, the forgiveness of their sins.”

In his unique style Fred Reed praises the opportunity we all have on the Internet to express ideas that would never be inked in our newspapers.  This is, indeed, an exceptional opportunity but one that will surely be under attack by those that seek to exert their evil agenda over America.

The Political Tower of Babel: Government Solution

“If law does not reflect the fact that God is the Lord and Sovereign, it will reveal the premise that man and the state are gods.  No more dangerous gods have ever been affirmed by man.”  R. J. Rushdoony

Real Christianity is a foreign religion to the majority of those who claim the name.  We tend to think of ourselves as the center of reality and as arbiters of our beliefs and our conduct.  The Christian Church supports this heresy.  In spite of the Bibles unswerving record of God choosing His servants, Christian leaders urge the heathen to “make a decision” for Christ.  When the creature decides to affirm the Creator the creature becomes the sovereign – a blatant form of humanism.  Hundreds of thousands of Christians have allowed this heresy to invade their beliefs and, as a result, have never achieved a proper relationship to Christ.

The Triune God is the center of the Universe and we are His servants.  We are chosen by God before we voiced our allegiance and as one of God’s chosen people our duty is to obey His Law and seek to bring the creation under it.

With the Latin mantra Lex Rex (The law is king) the Protestant Reformation was partially successful in upending the Tower of Babel constructed by the divine right of kings.  Protestant Christianity brought the world its first taste of real freedom, order, and prosperity.

Though it was tainted by Arminianism and the Enlightenment colonial America set in place many of God’s legal principles and some of today’s fast fading elderly generation can remember the wonderful freedom it produced.  During the 1930s mothers did not worry about their children.  Doors were not locked and children ran through the neighborhood without fear.   It was a wonderful almost utopian time that now seems remote.

Obedience to God’s Law offers nations the closest thing to Libertarianism that humans can attain.  Liberal, Conservative, or anarchic Libertarian governments cannot sustain freedom and justice.  The sinful nature of man will always overcome freedom and righteousness with centralization and evil. Without the immutable yardstick of God’s Law man will be unduly restricted.

New Testament Christianity (Arminianism) is cultic and like all cults it is difficult to bring followers to righteousness.   True Christianity was bequeathed to us by the Reformation and for the cultic Christian to return is like accomplishing a difficult passage on a piano or understanding a complex mathematical problem; it is exhausting hard work that must be continued until the blessed truth lights up the mind and one understands what God intends for His chosen people.

Christians in their largest realm are not much different than their unbelieving neighbors.  Non-Christians often believe in a god and pray but they do not pray to the God of the Bible their prayers are to another deity or a god of their own making   Cultic Christians are no different;; they pick and choose what parts of God’s Word they will believe and obey thereby constructing their own god; they do not worship the God of the Bible.

Most so-called Christians will tell you that they chose to accept Christ as their personal Savior and are in the process of trying to please him by improving their relationship with Him.  They live in a spiritual quandary not unlike the “war on terror”; their behavior is evil and their objective is obscure.

We treat the King of the world as if He is our next door neighbor.  We ignore His nature which is described in stark detail in the Books of the Old Testament and instead of approaching Him with awe, terror, and a subservient spirit, by regaling Him with requests we make Him our servant rather than us His.  We are made in the image of God but Jesus, our Savior, is the ruler and judge of the world.   We are His servants and until we begin to understand that we are to obey His Commandments we are missing the nature of the relationship.

Arminian Christians (Lawless) have no defense against the satanic tyranny that threatens the world.  When God’s Law is no longer in vogue and human opinion rules, opinion enforced by power will win and slavery will result.  God’s immutable Law must rule His creation.

God’s judgment often comes in the form of tyranny.  Christians and their churches have failed to honor and obey the ruler of the world and we are being punished by the specter of a burgeoning police state.  Had we been obedient Christians and used His Word and His Law against the forces of evil we would not be in this dire state. The Christian Church has forgotten its mission to teach and define obedience, to confront and resist sin, both personal and public, and to support and define truth, righteousness, and justice.

The former president of J. C. Penney, Ron Johnson, made an effort to return honesty to the Department Store business;  he failed miserably because the American public prefers to be flimflammed into thinking they are getting a bargain.  Rushdoony writes, “A lie moves a man from the real world into a world of fiction, and his life begins to rest on falsity.  Truth gives us freedom in the real world God has made.  We are to live all our life in God and therefore in truth. Because a lie moves men and nations from the free world into fiction and slavery, men and nations must require a true witness or else theirs is a course of disaster and ruin.”

American Christians have allowed lying, cheating, theft, and immorality to become rampant in our nation.  We are propagandized by our media, lied to by our retail stores, cheated by our merchants, filled with blatant prevarications by our elected representatives, and deceived by our churches.  Is it any wonder that our nation and our individual citizens are hopelessly in debt, that we have become a puppet to hidden powers that are trashing our country to achieve world domination.

And where do our citizens go for help in this dire emergency?   Like dumb oxen they go to the major source of the problem, the United States Government. Over and over again like imbeciles they seek the same failed solution.  When will we realize the only remedy to our dilemma is the God of the Bible?  How long will it take us to repent and to seek His blessing?  God still runs this world and He is angry with the United States of America!

Many of our citizens have become so addicted to the sensual pleasures of living a leisurely life devoid of worry that they refuse to understand what is happening all around them.  Faced with factual information they will dismiss it without consideration.  When the truth is ignored by a major portion of society there is no way to stop the decline of our civilization.  Truth is essential to freedom!

The United States Government is a modern day Tower of Babel that is not only unable to save America but is itself the source of our problem.   A nation cannot remain free without an anchor.  The Constitution was supposed to maintain our freedom but it has been discarded and replaced by presidential fiat.

No Constitution is of any worth when the people it is designed to govern become dishonest and immoral.  The Constitution was crafted to govern a Law abiding, Christian people and we no longer have such a populace.  Christians and the leaders of their deceitful churches must shoulder the responsibility for this social deterioration.

Joseph C. Morecraft writes, “The entire community has a responsibility when crimes are committed or injustice done.  A community cannot be indifferent to any sin, crime or injustice in its midst, or else it bears the guilt as well as the offender and is under judgment.  When a community shuts its eyes to any evil in its midst and refuses to deal with it justly and in accordance with God’s law, then the whole community is under God’s condemnation.”

The answer to our problem lies in God and our relationship to Him – and nowhere else!

This essay was a result of the ideas express in “Deuteronomy” and excellent commentary by R. J. Rushdoony.  .

Onward Christian Soldiers

The War Is Against Paganism…

Crowns and thrones may perish.
Kingdoms rise and wane
But the Church of Jesus constant will remain
Gates of Hell can never
‘Gainst the Church prevail
We have Christ’s own promise
And that cannot fail

“To gain this victory, we must wage the war.  Too many want victory without the war, as though eloquence, patriotic or religious gush, ever overcame an enemy.”  R. J.  Rushdoony,” Numbers” Pg. 270

Patty and I spent Christmas in .  Destin is an upscale resort town named from a Yankee fisherman who settled there in the mid-Nineteenth Century.  It is home to one of the nation’s largest outlet malls.

In one of the shoe outlets we met a clerk from Maine.  Her story is typical of many who have been victimized by the massive changes that have been foisted on the world.  Born, raised, and married in a shoe prosperous Maine town, she and her husband had two children and were living lavishly.  He was a manager at a shoe manufacturing plant where she also worked.  Their combined income was in the high six figures providing them a luxurious lifestyle.

As the inexorable Asian labor monster invaded the shoe industry her husband lost his job. The entire industry shrunk and he was unable to find work.   She became the sole wage earner under a company promise that there would be no additional lay-offs.  The promise was broken and shortly her job was also moved offshore.   They lost everything: their home, their car, and their ability to support two children.  Without prospects of employment in Maine they moved to Florida where they are now working at dramatically lower incomes.  They have re-established their family and, though far less affluent, are again living an orderly life.  Since many employees of Maine factories are still struggling, they consider themselves fortunate.

Their story can be multiplied hundreds-of -thousands of times as industry after industry has been devastated by the planned economic reorganization of the world.

Maine is one of a number of areas that have been severely affected.  The Northeast quadrant has been hardest hit with factory closings and the accompanying disruption of the social order.  Some attempt to cite automation as a culprit but automation provides a social benefit while wholesale robbery is a devastating crime.

The current economic disaster was preceded by an earlier mini-disaster when the Japanese were given free access to our markets.  Now, Asians in several countries have entered the fray and despite efforts by the compliant media to cover it up debilitating disruption is clearly evident.

Since 1950 into the first decade of the Twenty-First Century Detroit, Michigan has lost over 61 percent of its population, Gary, Indiana 55 percent, Youngstown, Ohio over 60, Flint, Michigan over 43, Cleveland, Ohio over 56, Dayton, Ohio over 46, Canton, Ohio over 37, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania over 54.  Though it is growing in income Chicago has still lost over 25 percent of its population.

The kettle holding the United States population was put over very low heat in the 1950s.  The drum beat of women’s liberation began and continued relentlessly until after several decades single income homes became archaic being replaced by a household income that included two working adults.  This malicious manipulation was imposed without adequate confrontation.

Then we began to hear about the competitive nature of the American work force and how they could successfully compete in the new world market.  Soon the Japanese had usurped a major percentage of the automotive industry forcing the irascibly persuasive Lee Iacocca to shame the congress into loaning Chrysler enough money to keep it afloat.

But the bloody Japanese axe that struck the auto industry was only the beginning.  The Chinese horde soon followed and suddenly every “Made in USA” product disappeared from our stores.  Faced with labor costs a fraction of U. S. standards, industry after industry moved manufacturing to Asia.

The competition was not over the ability of American workers to produce goods as efficiently as Asian labor, as it had been framed.  It was instead over the standard of living Americans had enjoyed compared to the standard of living of Chinese peasants.  As the Twenty-First Century arrived, a multitude of Americans were like the family from Maine working in retail, health-care or fast food for wages of half or less than their previous employment.

Current propaganda tells us our economy is improving and new jobs are being created.  It is all propaganda; don’t believe it!   In the new world order competition will force labor costs to parity and parity is lower still.

Though they have prepared for an uprising the powers behind centralization want to maintain peace as long as they can continue extending world domination.  The media, a propaganda arm of world government, will continue to report improvement as long as people can be convinced.

Human efforts are useless in stopping this onslaught.  The battle is between Christianity and paganism.  The only effective weapon against paganism is the God of the Bible and His Law.

Rousas Rushdoony explains, “When men forsake God, they forsake all truth, because for them there is no difference between good and evil, nor between truth and lies”.  “Numbers” Pg.316

The Bible, Old and New Testament, Law and Grace, comprise the full gospel.  The full gospel would have stopped tyranny in its infancy, but we have forsaken the full gospel and replaced it with the “creative word” of men.   I received an email today from my kid sister entitled “What a Church Service”; a video of  for a large congregation. Beautiful it is, but an appropriate church service it is not.  It is a secular multicultural extravaganza with beautiful music.

Christians who seek to be entertained with music and praise and do not have ears to hear what God requires of His people are useless in stopping the advance of Satan.  It is truth and justice and the seating of King Jesus at the throne of power that should be the objective of every Christian congregation.  Lies, fantasy, and all the manipulations of arrogant men should be confronted from our pulpits and by our congregations.  It is our Christian duty to counter the evil establishment bringing their wrath against the power of the Church of Jesus Christ.  When the Christian religion fails to create wrath in God’s enemies there is a serious problem in the Christian religion.

We are being overrun by the minions of evil.  We should be fighting a war.  We need preachers whose intrepid denouncements will inspire us to enter the battle on the side of the God of the Bible.

The enemy controls our television stations, our newspapers, our government, and, sadly, most of our churches.  The voices of dissent are few.  Wake up Christians and hear the call to battle!

When a newspaper erroneously contends our economy is improving our pulpits must present Christians with the statistics that prove otherwise.  Christians are truth-tellers!  When the Media promotes homosexuality our pulpits must denounce it with God’s Words from the Bible.  Christian duty requires that we confront evil.

Muslims are busy fighting for control of the Middle East.  They appear to be overcoming the secular tyrants.  Islam is a false religion and an enemy to Christianity but it is not the core danger to world freedom. In that battle Islam is an ally against the wicked forces of the new world order.

It is time to stop playing church.  It is time for every Christian minister to disregard reputation and directly confront the secular forces that threaten peace and order God intends for His creation.

Churches that concentrate on the end times, on tongues and prophecy, evangelism, or on being theologically reformed should forsake their niche religions and confront the secular minions with the full gospel.  The size of a church or its growth is of no importance; what is important is its strength against the forces of evil.  Reputations must be sacrificed; our God and King is being threatened and we are His soldiers.  It is our duty to fight for the elevation of His government– both civilians and rulers are subject to the rule of King Jesus.

As Patty and I exited a restaurant in Destin late in the afternoon on Christmas day we noticed a table of 8 young men with their heads bowed.  We thought it wonderful that all these young people were honoring the One True God.  However, on second look they were honoring the IPhone god instead.

Statistics:  and .

A Modern Exodus

God’s deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage is the great recurring theme of the Old Testament. Time and again, God’s prophets would remind the Hebrews of this great deliverance. Moses, himself, recounted The Exodus with the children of Israel over and over again. Hear Moses:

“I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.” (Lev. 26:13 KJV)

Make no mistake about it: it was a real deliverance. It was real bondage; real slavery; real tyranny; real whips; real chains; real beatings; and real death. And while there is certainly a spiritual correlation between the deliverance Christ extends to the soul and the deliverance of the children of Israel under Moses, let’s not forget that The Exodus recorded in the Old Testament book named after the event was a literal, physical, and, yes, political reality. Real men and women were taken out of real slavery and given real freedom. It was not merely spiritual freedom; it was physical and political freedom. Men and women didn’t just march out of Egypt in their hearts; they marched out of Egypt on their feet.

Is there any professing Christian today who would disparage what the children of Israel did when they walked out of Egypt? Who is the pastor or church leader who would dare question the legitimacy and rightness of what Moses did in bringing the Hebrews out of bondage?

For that matter, all of the Old Testament events that are lauded and extolled by New Testament writers as being “ensamples” for us, were literal events. There is certainly nothing wrong with making spiritual correlations to these events but not at the expense of denying or denigrating the literalness of the events. David used a real sling and killed a real giant and took a real sword and cut off his real head. Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and Samson led real revolts against real oppressors. Queen Esther violated a real law and risked her real life to intercede for real people. After Esther’s real bravery, the Hebrews were given real swords and real spears and successfully defended themselves against real enemies really intent on killing them. The list is endless.

I say all of this, because it seems that the vast majority of pastors and Christians today do not equate the real-life stories of Biblical history with practical reality in modern life. Everything is spiritualized away. But Bible history is the story of one exodus after another, one separation after another.

Noah was separated from the antediluvian world; Abram was separated from his country and kin; Joseph was separated from his family and country; Israel and his children were separated from their homeland; Moses was separated from the throne he was set to inherit; David was separated from his place and position–and even his own throne; the Apostle Paul was separated from his profession, his home, and his friends; and none of us really knows the amount of separation that the rest of the apostles endured. From the Book of Genesis where God told Abram, “Get thee out of thy country,” to the Book of The Revelation where God declared, “Come out of her, my people,” the divine call of separation was not merely mystical; it was literal.

Until people of faith are willing to walk with their feet, nothing will happen. We can spiritualize all we want, but nothing will happen until we literally WALK.

Martin Luther walked up to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and used a real hammer and nails to post a real 95 Theses on a real church door. Zwingli took a real sword into a real battle and died a real death in defense of real liberty. The pilgrims walked out of one European country after another until they climbed into real boats that sailed over a real ocean and landed in a new land in search of real freedom. Our patriot forebears wrote a real Declaration of Independence and fought a real revolutionary war in order to bequeath to their posterity real liberty. Dietrich Bonhoeffer separated from the German Church and formed a real protest movement known as the Confessing Church and collaborated with a real conspiracy to rid a real tyrant from his country. Again, the list is endless.

To, again, quote Bonhoeffer, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Yet, all over America, Christians refuse to walk away from those churches that are, through their silence, facilitating the enslavement of their very own children and grandchildren. Worse yet, they refuse to walk away from churches that actively promote the political policies that would enslave their posterity.

Many Christians have written me in an attempt to justify them remaining in churches that refuse to take a stand for liberty. For some, it is a matter of tradition. For the life of them, they cannot imagine themselves separated from their liturgies or denominations–as if somehow their acceptance before God depends on them. It doesn’t! For others, it is an unwillingness to separate from friends. To them, church is mostly a social institution. Still others are addicted to programs. They have been deluded into thinking that somehow religious programs equals spirituality. They don’t! Then there are those who think that the spiritual message somehow trumps everything else. As long as their pastor preaches “the Gospel,” nothing else matters. Of course, many of these same people have jumped from church to church over any number of issues: music, children’s programs, youth programs, building programs, the pastor didn’t visit them when they were sick, etc., etc., etc. Yet, when it becomes obvious that their pastor will not take a stand for liberty, they continue to support the pastor because “he is preaching the Gospel.”

And I have had sincere believers approach me saying that they are willing to overlook their pastor’s silence, because they believe the pastor is simply ignorant and just doesn’t understand the issues. I will admit that this is a valid point. All of us were enlightened at different rates of speed. None of our eyes were opened to these things overnight. But the real question is how open is your pastor to the truth? Is he open at all? Or, does he dismiss out-of-hand any attempt to make him aware of reality? The sad truth is the vast majority of pastors seem to be “willingly ignorant.” Not only are they not aware of what’s going on; they don’t want to be aware of what’s going on.

How long are you going to wait for your pastor to wake up? How many links must be added to the chains of oppression before you decide you might need to find a pastor and church that are engaged in the liberty fight? How long are you going to support your pastor’s indifference and ignorance? Let me be blunt: as long as your pastor is preaching to a packed church, as long as the offering plates are full, as long as his ministry is “successful,” you are going to be waiting for a long, long time for him to awaken. As far as he is concerned, God is blessing his efforts. The church is full; the offering plate is full; new buildings are planned; he is popular. You can give him all of Chuck Baldwin’s video sermons you want; you can urge him to listen to Alex Jones all you want; you can give him all of the DVDs and articles you want. He won’t read or watch them, and if he does, he won’t act on them. Why? He is content to be ignorant. Life is too good.

Folks, I know I have said this before, but I say it again: until Christians by the droves remove themselves from these establishment churches that refuse to join the liberty fight, there is little hope for freedom. Without the patriot-pastors in Colonial America, there would have been no Lexington Green, Concord Bridge, Bunker Hill, Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, or United States of America. It was the combined efforts of pastors such as Jonas Clark, John Witherspoon, Ebenezer Baldwin, and James Caldwell as much as it was the efforts of political figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, and Patrick Henry that brought the American colonies out of British bondage.

It is not the presence of political parasites that are destroying our country; it is the absence of patriot-pastors.

Moses and the children of Israel literally walked out of bondage. So must God’s people today. If your pastor and church are content to let you and your family live in bondage, walk out. If he is unwilling to engage the liberty fight, walk out. God’s command to Abram to “Get thee out of thy country” was no less painful than the Holy Spirit’s command to us to “Get thee out of thy church.” And one of the final appeals of Heaven to believers is, “Come out of her, my people.” The “her” here is the Babylonian world system, of course. But need I remind readers that the Babylonian world system is a system that enslaves people? It always has; it always will. So, why would a believer stay in a supposed church that refuses to resist the Babylonian world system that seeks to enslave them? Why?

Besides, the true Gospel message always leads to action. Always! The Gospel requires action. Natural Law is little more than the practical application of the Gospel. The call to preach the Gospel is a call to action. For a pastor to say he is called to preach the Gospel then do nothing to teach and train his people how to apply the Gospel in Natural Law and practical life (including our political life) is to not understand (or to deny) the Gospel he is called to preach.

The Gospel is more than the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The Gospel is “the whole counsel of God.” We would have a very thin Bible if the only verses in it were those which specifically deal with Christ’s death and resurrection. If that’s all the Gospel God wanted us to know, why did He give us the rest of Holy Writ?  And why do we have the law of God “written in our hearts”?

The children of Israel walked out of a country that had put them in bondage; the spiritual children of Abraham today (all who believe on Christ) need to walk out of a church that would put them in bondage. The good news is the exodus has already begun.

This Pastor Proves My Point

A fellow pastor wrote a Facebook response to my column last week, which was entitled, “Our Friends Are Killing Us.” In the column I wrote, “By the same token, how long are Christians today who say they believe in the Second Amendment (and the rest of the Bill of Rights) going to keep sending their tithes and offerings to these churches where the pastors refuse to publicly resist these draconian gun control bills such as were recently introduced by Obama and Feinstein? How long are they going to keep filling the pews of these do-nothing churches? As long as these say-nothing pastors see their pews and offering plates full, don’t expect anything to change.

“I will say it plainly: if you attend a church and didn’t hear your pastor oppose the Obama/Feinstein gun control bills from the pulpit earlier this year, YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THAT CHURCH. The only thing holding this republic together is the people’s right to keep and bear arms–especially semi-automatic rifles with large-capacity magazines. By refusing to resist evil, your pastor has become an enemy of liberty. Wittingly or not, he is helping to put the chains of slavery around the necks of your children and grandchildren. Why would you stay and support such a pastor and church?”

See the column here:

Our Friends Are Killing Us

In response to my column, the pastor posted these remarks on a friend’s Facebook page: “A pastor’s call from God has nothing to do with fighting for any liberty guaranteed by any human government or document. I will fight and die for our Constitution, but that has nothing to do with my call as a pastor, that is my responsibility as an American, not a pastor. Nor is it the responsibility of any pastor in that calling. We are called to only one form of liberty, and it is not so frail as that offered by any human government. The liberty we are called to proclaim is the liberty that was purchased by the shed blood of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, at Calvary, the only liberty which can never be taken nor infringed. While I support the author’s passion and personally speak out defending the second amendment, he is absolutely wrong to accuse men of God of being enemies of liberty simply because they do not engage publicly in the fight for the second amendment. He clearly does not understand the spiritual calling responsibility of a pastor.”

Readers should readily recognize that this pastor demonstrates he is totally ignorant of Natural Law or he could not have said what he did. Unfortunately, it has been the better part of a century since seminaries, Christian colleges or universities (not to mention State schools and colleges) have taught the principles of Natural Law. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of today’s pastors share the sentiments of the pastor above.

The pastor suggests that, except for the soul’s spiritual freedom at salvation, all liberty is something given by government. He is wrong. Liberty (including the Natural right of self-defense) is given by God.

While most of America’s founders were Christians, not all were; but to a man, they understood the basic God-ordained principles of Natural Law. According to University of Houston political science professor, researcher, and historian, Don Lutz, the four most quoted sources of the Founding Fathers were (in order):

1. The Bible
2. Montesquieu
3. Sir William Blackstone
4. John Locke

Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England were, without a doubt, among the most influential writings upon America’s founders. In his commentaries (second section), Blackstone said, “Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. A being, independent of any other, has no rule to pursue, but such as he prescribes to himself; but a state of dependence will inevitably oblige the inferior to take the will of him, on whom he depends, as the rule of his conduct: not indeed in every particular, but in all those points wherein his dependence consists. This principle therefore has more or less extent and effect, in proportion as the superiority of the one and the dependence of the other is greater or less, absolute or limited. And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his maker for every thing, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker’s will.

“This will of his maker is called the law of nature. For as God, when he created matter, and endued it with a principle of mobility, established certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion; so, when he created man, and endued him with freewill to conduct himself in all parts of life, he laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that freewill is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport of those laws.”

In that same second section of his commentaries, Blackstone further said, “This law of nature, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other–It is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times; no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this: and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.”

One can easily discern the influence of men such as Blackstone upon the men who penned our Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson (the principal author), Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston. Listen to the Declaration:

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

See how Jefferson founded the Declaration of Independence upon “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.” Furthermore, America’s Bill of Rights is simply a foundational treatise respecting the Natural liberties that God breathed into man at Creation. Virtually every amendment in the Bill of Rights has its root in Holy Scripture–and that includes the Second Amendment.

Please understand that every “right” granted by God also entails a sacred duty. If God has granted men the right to life and liberty, He has also demanded of them a duty to protect life and liberty. From the earliest examples of Holy Scripture we see these fundamental tenets of Natural Law.

Before human government existed, God cursed the world’s first murderer. God then commanded the progenitor of the human race following the Flood (Noah) to protect human life by the pronouncement, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” (Genesis 9:6) Then again, hundreds of years before Moses, the man Abram rallied to the defense of his family in Genesis 14 by taking up arms against the “kings of the nations,” after which he brought the tithes of the spoils of war to the High Priest Melchizedek, who in turn blessed Abram for what he had done. And the Book of Hebrews tells us that Melchizedek was a type of Jesus Christ. If one were to remove from the Scriptures the examples of men and women of faith who fought for the Natural right of life and liberty–and who resisted those that tried to deny it–I dare say he or she would delete at least half of the entire Bible.

I must assume that this pastor has never read Blackstone or Locke or Hugo Grotius, et al. Listen to Grotius, “[Natural Law] may be called Divine also. And here may take Place that which Anaxarchus said, as Plutarch relates in the Life of Alexander, (but too generally) that GOD does not will a Thing because it is just; but it is just, that is, it lays on under an indispensable Obligation, because GOD wills it. And this Law was given wither to all Mankind, or to one People only: We find that GOD gave it to all Mankind at three different Times. First, Immediately after the Creation of Man, Secondly, Upon the Restoration of Mankind after the Flood, And thirdly, Under the Gospel, in that more perfect re-establishment by Christ. These three Laws do certainly oblige all Mankind, as soon as they are sufficiently made known to them.” (Grotius, Hugo, The Rights of War and Peace, Book One, Print, Liberty Fund, Pages 164-166)

The pastor said he was willing to “fight and die for our Constitution,” but he is unwilling to preach the divine Natural Law principles upon which our Constitution (including the Second Amendment) are based? Such is the height of ignorance and inconsistency.

Furthermore, whether he realizes it or not, the pastor’s stated philosophy is identical to that of the doctrine of “two spheres,” which was commonly taught in Germany’s churches under the Nazi regime. Hitler’s government instructed Germany’s pastors and churches to teach Romans 13 as requiring Christians to always submit to civil authority. It was taught that Christ has sovereignty over men’s hearts in the spiritual realm, but civil government has authority over everything else. This is exactly what the pastor is saying when he says, “We are called to only one form of liberty, and it is not so frail as that offered by any human government. The liberty we are called to proclaim is the liberty that was purchased by the shed blood of our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, at Calvary, the only liberty which can never be taken nor infringed.”

To say that we are only called to “one form of liberty,” meaning the spiritual liberty of the heart produced by a soul’s spiritual redemption, the pastor is relegating all other forms of liberty to the dominion of civil government. Whether he realizes it or not, the pastor is preaching the Hitlerian doctrine of “two spheres.”

Ladies and gentlemen, the doctrine of “two spheres” is blasphemous and heretical. “All authority is given unto me,” Jesus said. That means all human authority is subservient to His authority. When men (even pastors) cede to human government the sovereign authority of Jesus Christ, they have become idolaters–whether they realize it or not.

God’s men throughout history (Biblical and Ecclesiastical) have been the most outspoken opponents of the evils of civil government at every level. One cannot read virtually any book of the Old Testament without reading the stories of courageous champions of God who defied and resisted civil authority when that authority became oppressive and illegitimate. And, remember, the New Testament says that the Old Testament was written for our “learning.” (Romans 15:4) Are we New Testament believers to learn nothing from over 4,000 years of Biblical Natural Law teaching in the Old Testament? Do you mean to say that today’s passive and compliant pastors are more spiritual than the prophets Micaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel? Are they more spiritual than Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? More spiritual than Gideon, Barak, and Jephthah? Are today’s pastors who refuse to say anything controversial in the pulpit, who delight in offending no one, who have, for the most part, become the pathetic pawns of government more spiritual than Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin, John Robinson, John Peter Muhlenberg, James Caldwell, or Jonas Clark?

And I also must assume that the pastor doesn’t take Jesus literally when he COMMANDED His disciples to buy a sword even if it meant selling one’s clothes in order to afford it. (Luke 22:36) If that doesn’t make the right and duty to keep and bear arms a divine mandate, I don’t know what does.

And remember, too, that the sword Jesus told His disciples to buy was the same sword that the Apostle Paul said that civil government bore in Romans 13. Jesus was not talking about a pocketknife, folks. He was talking about the most sophisticated, efficient self-defense tool known to man at the time: the Roman sword. For us in modern times that would be the equivalent of an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the gift of liberty (in all of its forms) is as spiritual and godly as the gift of physical life or the gift of spiritual salvation.

Besides, does not the New Testament teach that everything a Christian does is spiritual in nature? Is a Christian not performing a spiritual work when he or she gets a job to provide for his or her family? Is he or she not performing a spiritual work when they sit around a table and partake of the provision and fellowship of the home? Is a Christian not performing a spiritual work when he or she protects their little ones by locking the doors at night or installing an alarm system or arming themselves against an intruder? Are we only spiritual when we are at church or when we are reading the Bible? Is not everything a Christian does thought to be spiritual? How then can pastors omit the Natural Law duties and responsibilities that God intends to govern our entire lives from their preaching and teaching? Does not the Scripture say, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel”? (I Timothy 5:8 KJV) The Apostle was speaking specifically about children providing for a widowed mother, but does not providing in the general sense include protection as much as it does provision? Therefore, can we not say that being capable and willing to protect our families against harm and danger is just as spiritual as putting food on the table or clothes on their backs? Regarding this verse, the famed Bible scholar, Albert Barnes, said, “According to our measure, we are to anticipate what will be the probable needs of our families, and to make arrangements to meet them.” Certainly, the “probable needs of our families” includes physical protection. You mean to tell me that this pastor is not going to preach this truth of the Gospel from his pulpit? How dare he not? Pastors MUST preach the Natural Law principles of liberty in order to fulfill their divine calling.

In my column last week I said, “If you attend a church and didn’t hear your pastor oppose the Obama/Feinstein gun control bills from the pulpit earlier this year, YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THAT CHURCH. The only thing holding this republic together is the people’s right to keep and bear arms–especially semi-automatic rifles with large-capacity magazines. By refusing to resist evil, your pastor has become an enemy of liberty. Wittingly or not, he is helping to put the chains of slavery around the necks of your children and grandchildren.” I think this pastor proves my point.

Sin Is At The Heart of What Is Wrong In Your Life

Bill and Beth (not their real names) are professing Christians.  Bill gave Beth a “promise ring” so she decided that God would be okay with them living together as man and wife.  If the arrangement works out, they’ll marry.  If it doesn’t work out they’ll move on to the next relationship. 
 
Beth’s mom is also a Christian.  Beth opened up to me that when her mom found out she had decided to live in sin her only concern was that she could become pregnant.  Both of Beth’s sisters have children out of wedlock and this understandably distresses Mom as she worries that her youngest may follow in her two older sisters’ footsteps.  To me what’s more troubling than the pregnancy issue is that this Christian mother isn’t all that concerned that by living together Beth and Bill are sinning against God!  In fact, she hasn’t even broached the subject with her daughter.
 
Except for Christmas and Easter, Beth and Bill haven’t attended church together.  According to Beth, Bill has a hang up about church that he prefers keeping to himself.  Since she doesn’t want to probe too deeply into her man’s past, she has decided that it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie (in bed on Sunday) and join her mother for the service.  What would happen, I queried, if Bill doesn’t get over his church hang up?  Beth replied sharply, “Well, he’d better!” 
 
I also asked what her pastor would say if he knew that she was living with her boyfriend without the benefit of marriage.  She appeared surprised and said with conviction, “Nothing!” 
 
Nothing? 
 
I pressed on.  “A minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has no problem with Christians living in sin?”  Her bemused expression spoke volumes:  “If he doesn’t like it, I’ll change churches,” she stated matter-of-factly.  In other words, Beth would shop around for a church with a more progressive thinker in the pulpit; a church that bends to her life-style choices, one that meets her needs. 
 
Therein lies the problem. 
 
By Beth’s way of thinking, the church she chooses will have to accept the sort of behavior that’s explicitly forbidden in Scripture or she’ll find one that does! 
 
After listening to Beth attempt to justify her sinful lifestyle for several agonizing minutes, I passed on the Apostle Paul’s instructions concerning how the Church body should handle those who indulged in overt sin. Briefly stated, Paul made clear that couples involved in sex out of wedlock (heterosexual or homosexual) must be counseled by church leaders to abstain forthwith.  Moreover, they had to repent of their sin and separate.  Unrepentant sinners were prevailed upon by their church family to leave.  This is known as “church discipline.”  Paul’s instructions still apply today.  In other words, God has not changed his mind.
 
Well, Beth was shocked.  “That’s ridiculous!” she gasped.  “They can’t make me leave my church, can they?” 
 
I assured her that church discipline is biblical and that this sort of confrontation and correction has been practiced all throughout Church history (; ;) and that the purpose is to bring the person to godly sorrow and repentance.  I reminded her that some folks need a swift kick in the pants to get them to turn away from sin.  However, punishment is never the goal; the aim is a fully restored relationship with God and other believers.
 
Beth wasn’t buying it.  She retorted, “There are other couples living together and my pastor knows it.  They haven’t been disciplined!”
 
It seemed Beth had already found a liberal pastor that had chosen to ignore the biblical teaching on “fornication.”  I had taken up the “sword of the Spirit” () to defend my position so I decided it was best to leave it at that and simply pray for the Holy Spirit to illuminate Beth’s mind and convict her of . 
 
Those of us who spend time reading the Bible are fully aware that from beginning to end sin is a major topic. When we read through the Old Testament we learn that our Creator was justifiably at odds with His people over their continual sin and their unrepentant hearts.   In our postmodern world, many of God’s people don’t realize that when we sin—no matter how big or how small it is—we are sinning against God.   makes this clear:
 
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
 
In his essay , Stephen Witmer wrote:  “The Bible consistently presents sin as mainly a ‘vertical’ (person-to-God) offence.” …  “The seriousness of sin is a function of the worth and value of the one who is sinned against.” (emphasis mine)
 
Consequently, the Lord deals harshly with sinners.  Take for example David and Bathsheba.  Most Christians are familiar with this story and the result of their adultery, which is first and foremost a sin against God.  So His punishment was harsh: 
 
The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.  David pleaded with God for the child.  He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground.  The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. (2 Samuel 12:15-18)
 
God’s judgment was that the child Bathsheba borne to David should die. Yes, David confessed his sin, he sincerely repented, and the Lord forgave him.  Still, there were grave consequences for what he did.  In the New Testament we have the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  ()  In a nutshell, the couple lied to the Holy Spirit and to God’s people.  His punishment for their hypocrisy was swift — He struck them dead on the spot.  Yes, our Heavenly Father is merciful and long suffering.  However, He will only toleratesin for so long.  Ananias and Sapphira paid with their lives!  Many believers fail to realize that an attribute of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is that He is “independently, infinitely, immutably holy.”   says:

Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

Thus, a holy God cannot tolerate sin in His presence!   reminds us:
 
Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
 
For those who wish to understand why sin is so egregious, read the following scriptures:
 
All humans have sinned, ; 
Devastating effects of sin, 
God will punish the world for its evil, 
Sin breaks our fellowship with God, ; 
Sin causes death, 
Three areas of sin: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life, 
 
When I first became a Christian,  hit me like a ton of bricks:
 
But your iniquities have separated you from God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
 
I was terrified to learn that sin separates us from God, that we can petition God until we’re blue in the face, but He may not be listening!  In other words, He hears our prayers but chooses not to act. At times He looks the other way.  To stand in God’s holy presence, our sins must be removed.  How is this accomplished?  By the blood of the Lamb that takes away (covers) our sins.  “And he [Jesus Christ] is the propitiation [turning away God’s wrath by an offering] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” ().  (See also ;  )
 
With all the willful unrepentant sin going on in the Body of Christ, one can’t help but wonder if God has indeed hidden His face from a whole host of believers who don’t seem to realize that sin is our mortal enemy, thus it shouldn’t be taken lightly.  So when we knowingly transgress we must sincerely .  Moreover, we must make every effort not to become repeat offenders.  “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” ()
 
Today when a pastor dares to preach on  (or ) it gets under the skin of the folks who go to church for sheer entertainment value.  (Read my column on church entertainment.)  For many church goers hearing the “s” word is downright offensive. In point of fact, sin isn’t in their vocabulary!  In an attempt to not offend their parishioners, sinner has been replaced with less offensive words such as wrongdoer.  And when wrongdoers misbehave they must be reassured that God will tolerate it.  These folks mustn’t be told that God severely punishes bad behavior.  Their image of God is the father who places his hands on his hips and says to his defiant child:  “That is not okay, Justin,” and simply walks away. No punishment.  No consequences.
 
Sadly, more and more Christians are choosing churches that offer contemporary praise and worship songs because, through music, they feel they can experience God on a much deeper level than simply reading and studying His Word.  These same people insist on hearing a message that’s positive and uplifting — not too preachy, thank you very much. About all they can handle is a sermonette that tickles the ears and makes them feel warm and fuzzy all over. 
 
Enter the false gospel of the Word of Faith movement.  Much of this sort of “feel goodism” found in the visible Church comes to us via popular name-it-and-claim-it/health and wealth gurus such as (here I go ) , , , , , , ,  – and a whole host of pastors (if you want to call them that) who preach the prosperity gospel in local churches.  Now, because someone has a regular time slot on God TV or TBN…has written a number one best-seller…has appeared on Oprah… speaks at Christian conferences…is the CEO of a megachurch…travels the globe giving aid to those who are less fortunate…and so on and so forth, doesn’t make that person biblically sound!   Sometimes just the opposite is true!  The luminaries mentioned above are not biblically sound, not even close.  All of these faith healers are .
 
Take heed: False prophets () have penetrated every nook and cranny of evangelicalism.  And because these men and women are wildly popular, many undiscerning believers hang on their every word, as if what they teach is the gospel truth.  I could go on and on about these wolves, but I am drifting from my point.
 
In today’s pop culture it’s all about a person’s “felt needs.”   So if a minister’s message fails to meet those perceived needs, disgruntled consumers, like the aforementioned Beth,go looking for a church where sin is swept under the rug.  Pastor Brent Riggs reminds us that “Sin is the essence of everything bad, wrong, ruined, spoiled, messed up and broken in your life.  Therefore, you should be educated about it.”
 
Riggs has is right when he suggests Christians should be educated about sin. 
 
Straightforward preaching from the pulpit on sin and  is essential.  As John Wesley so aptly put it:
 
Give me nothing but one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. 
 
Christians must become a people who fear God, not man.  “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me” ().
 
So starting today, brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s shake the gates of hell!
 
Recommended

—Edward T. Welch

The Cape of Good Hope

A talk at Rhodes Forum, October 5, 2013…

First, the good news. American hegemony is over. The bully has been subdued. We cleared the Cape of Good Hope, symbolically speaking, in September 2013. With the Syrian crisis, the world has passed a key forking of modern history. It was touch and go, just as risky as the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The chances for total war were high, as the steely wills of America and Eurasia had crossed in the Eastern Mediterranean. It will take some time until the realisation of what we’ve gone through seeps in: it is normal for events of such magnitude. The turmoil in the US, from the mad car chase in the DC to the shutdown of federal government and possible debt default, are the direct consequences of this event.

Remember the Berlin Wall? When it went down, I was in Moscow, writing for Haaretz. I went to a press-conference with Politburo members in the President Hotel, and asked them whether they concurred that the end of the USSR and world socialist system was nigh. I was laughed at; it was an embarrassing occasion. Oh no, they said. Socialism will blossom, as the result of the Wall’s fall. The USSR went down two years later. Now our memory has compacted those years into a brief sequence, but in reality, it took some time.

The most dramatic event of September 2013 was the high-noon stand-off near the Levantine shore, with five US destroyers pointing their Tomahawks towards Damascus and facing them – the Russian flotilla of eleven ships led by the carrier-killer Missile Cruiser Moskva and supported by Chinese warships. Apparently, two missiles were launched towards the Syrian coast, and both failed to reach their destination.

It was claimed by a Lebanese newspaper quoting diplomatic sources that the missiles were launched from a NATO air base in Spain and they were shot down by the Russian ship-based sea-to-air defence system. Another explanation proposed by the Asia Times says the Russians employed their cheap and powerful GPS jammers to render the expensive Tomahawks helpless, by disorienting them and causing them to fail. Yet another version attributed the launch to the Israelis, whether they were trying to jump-start the shoot-out or just observed the clouds, as they claim.

Whatever the reason, after this strange incident, the pending shoot-out did not commence, as President Obama stood down and holstered his guns. This was preceded by an unexpected vote in the British Parliament. This venerable body declined the honour of joining the attack proposed by the US. This was the first time in two hundred years that the British parliament voted down a sensible proposition to start a war; usually the Brits can’t resist the temptation.

After that, President Obama decided to pass the hot potato to the Congress. He was unwilling to unleash Armageddon on his own. Thus the name of action was lost. Congress did not want to go to war with unpredictable consequences. Obama tried to browbeat Putin at the 20G meeting in St Petersburg, and failed. The Russian proposal to remove Syrian chemical weaponry allowed President Obama to save face. This misadventure put paid to American hegemony , supremacy and exceptionalism. Manifest Destiny was over. We all learned that from Hollywood flics: the hero never stands down; he draws and shoots! If he holsters his guns, he is not a hero: he’s chickened out.

Afterwards, things began to unravel fast. The US President had a chat with the new president of Iran, to the chagrin of Tel Aviv. The Free Syrian Army rebels decided to talk to Assad after two years of fighting him, and their delegation arrived in Damascus, leaving the Islamic extremists high and dry. Their supporter Qatar is collapsing overextended. The shutdown of their government and possible debt default gave the Americans something real to worry about. With the end of US hegemony, the days of the dollar as the world reserve currency are numbered.

World War III almost occurred as the banksters wished it. They have too many debts, including the unsustainable foreign debt of the US. If those Tomahawks had flown, the banksters could have claimed Force Majeure and disavow the debt. Millions of people would die, but billions of dollars would be safe in the vaults of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. In September, the world crossed this bifurcation point safely, as President Obama refused to take the fall for the banksters. Perhaps he deserved his Nobel peace prize, after all.

The near future is full of troubles but none are fatal. The US will lose its emission rights as a source of income. The US dollar will cease to serve as the world reserve currency though it will remain the North American currency. Other parts of the world will resort to their euro, yuan, rouble, bolivar, or dinar. The US military expenditure will have to be slashed to normal, and this elimination of overseas bases and weaponry will allow the US population to make the transition rather painlessly. Nobody wants to go after America; the world just got tired of them riding shotgun all over the place. The US will have to find new employment for so many bankers, jailers, soldiers, even politicians.

As I stayed in Moscow during the crisis, I observed these developments as they were seen by Russians. Putin and Russia have been relentlessly hard-pressed for quite a while.

• The US supported and subsidised Russia’s liberal and nationalist opposition; the national elections in Russia were presented as one big fraud. The Russian government was delegitimised to some extent.
• The Magnitsky Act of the US Congress authorised the US authorities to arrest and seize the assets of any Russian they deem is up to no good, without a recourse to a court.
• Some Russian state assets were seized in Cyprus where the banks were in trouble.
• The US encouraged Pussy Riot, gay parades etc. in Moscow, in order to promote an image of Putin the dictator, enemy of freedom and gay-hater in the Western and Russian oligarch-owned media.
• Russian support for Syria was criticised, ridiculed and presented as a brutal act devoid of humanity. At the same time, Western media pundits expressed certainty that Russia would give up on Syria.

As I wrote previously, Russia had no intention to surrender Syria, for a number of good reasons: it was an ally; the Syrian Orthodox Christians trusted Russia; geopolitically the war was getting too close to Russian borders. But the main reason was Russia’s annoyance with American high-handedness. The Russians felt that such important decisions should be taken by the international community, meaning the UN Security Council. They did not appreciate the US assuming the role of world arbiter.

In the 1990s, Russia was very weak, and could not effectively object, but they felt bitter when Yugoslavia was bombed and NATO troops moved eastwards breaking the US promise to Gorbachev. The Libyan tragedy was another crucial point. That unhappy country was bombed by NATO, and eventually disintegrated. From the most prosperous African state it was converted into most miserable. Russian presence in Libya was rather limited, but still, Russia lost some investment there. Russia abstained in the vote on Libya as this was the position of the then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev who believed in playing ball with the West. In no way was Putin ready to abandon Syria to the same fate.

The Russian rebellion against the US hegemony began in June, when the Aeroflot flight from Beijing carrying Ed Snowden landed in Moscow. Americans pushed every button they could think of to get him back. They activated the full spectre of their agents in Russia. Only a few voices, including that of your truly, called on Russia to provide Snowden with safe refuge, but our voices prevailed. Despite the US pressure, Snowden was granted asylum.

The next step was the Syrian escalation. I do not want to go into the details of the alleged chemical attack. In the Russian view, there was not and could not be any reason for the US to act unilaterally in Syria or anywhere else. In a way, the Russians have restored the Law of Nations to its old revered place. The world has become a better and safer place.

None of this could’ve been achieved without the support of China. The Asian giant considers Russia its “elder sister” and relies upon her ability to deal with the round-eyes. The Chinese, in their quiet and unassuming way, played along with Putin. They passed Snowden to Moscow. They vetoed anti-Syrian drafts in the UNSC, and sent their warships to the Med. That is why Putin stood the ground not only for Russia, but for the whole mass of Eurasia.

There were many exciting and thrilling moments in the Syrian saga, enough to fill volumes. An early attempt to subdue Putin at G8 meeting in Ireland was one of them. Putin was about to meet with the united front of the West, but he managed to turn some of them to his side, and he sowed the seeds of doubt in others’ hearts by reminding them of the Syrian rebel manflesh-eating chieftains.

The proposal to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons was deftly introduced; the UNSC resolution blocked the possibility of attacking Syria under cover of Chapter Seven. Miraculously, the Russians won in this mighty tug-of-war. The alternative was dire: Syria would be destroyed as Libya was; a subsequent Israeli-American attack on Iran was unavoidable; Oriental Christianity would lose its cradle; Europe would be flooded by millions of refugees; Russia would be proven irrelevant, all talk and no action, as important as Bolivia, whose President’s plane can be grounded and searched at will. Unable to defend its allies, unable to stand its ground, Russia would’ve been left with a ‘moral victory’, a euphemism for defeat. Everything Putin has worked for in 13 years at the helm would’ve been lost; Russia would be back to where it was in 1999, when Belgrade was bombed by Clinton.

The acme of this confrontation was reached in the Obama-Putin exchange on exceptionalism. The two men were not buddies to start with. Putin was annoyed by what he perceived as Obama’s insincerity and hypocrisy. A man who climbed from the gutter to the very top, Putin cherishes his ability to talk frankly with people of all walks of life. His frank talk can be shockingly brutal. When he was heckled by a French journalist regarding treatment of Chechen separatists, he replied:

“the Muslim extremists (takfiris) are enemies of Christians, of atheists, and even of Muslims because they believe that traditional Islam is hostile to the goals that they set themselves. And if you want to become an Islamic radical and are ready to be circumcised, I invite you to Moscow. We are a multi-faith country and we have experts who can do it. And I would advise them to carry out that operation in such a way that nothing would grow in that place again”.

Another example of his shockingly candid talk was given at Valdai as he replied to BBC’s Bridget Kendall. She asked: did the threat of US military strikes actually play a rather useful role in Syria’s agreeing to have its weapons placed under control?

Putin replied: Syria got itself chemical weapons as an alternative to Israel’s nuclear arsenal. He called for the disarmament of Israel and invoked the name of Mordecai Vanunu as an example of an Israeli scientist who opposes nuclear weapons. (My interview with Vanunu had been recently published in the largest Russian daily paper, and it gained some notice).

Putin tried to talk frankly to Obama. We know of their exchange from a leaked record of the Putin-Netanyahu confidential conversation. Putin called the American and asked him: what’s your point in Syria? Obama replied: I am worried that Assad’s regime does not observe human rights. Putin almost puked from the sheer hypocrisy of this answer. He understood it as Obama’s refusal to talk with him “on eye level”.

In the aftermath of the Syrian stand-off, Obama appealed to the people of the world in the name of American exceptionalism. The United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional”, he said. Putin responded: “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.” This was not only an ideological, but theological contradistinction.

As I expounded at length elsewhere, the US is built on the Judaic theology of exceptionalism, of being Chosen. It is the country of Old Testament. This is the deeper reason for the US and Israel’s special relationship. Europe is going through a stage of apostasy and rejection of Christ, while Russia is deeply Christian. Its churches are full, they bless one other with Christmas and Easter blessings, instead of neutral “seasons”. Russia is a New Testament country. And rejection of exceptionalism, of chosenness is the underlying tenet of Christianity.

For this reason, while organised US Jewry supported the war, condemned Assad and called for US intervention, the Jewish community of Russia, quite numerous, wealthy and influential one, did not support the Syrian rebels but rather stood by Putin’s effort to preserve peace in Syria. Ditto Iran, where the wealthy Jewish community supported the legitimate government in Syria. It appears that countries guided by a strong established church are immune from disruptive influence of lobbies; while countries without such a church ­ the US and/or France ­ give in to such influences and adopt illegal interventionism as a norm.

As US hegemony declines, we look to an uncertain future. The behemoth might of the US military can still wreck havoc; a wounded beast is the most dangerous one. Americans may listen to Senator Ron Paul who called to give up overseas bases and cut military expenditure. Norms of international law and sovereignty of all states should be observed. People of the world will like America again when it will cease snooping and bullying. It isn’t easy, but we’ve already negotiated the Cape and gained Good Hope.

(Language edited by Ken Freeland)

Falling Stars, Damnable Heresy, And The Spirit of Evolution

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).

“And the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven upon the earth, and there was given to him the key of the bottomless pit.” (Rev. 9:1)

In his Concise Commentary Matthew Henry identifies falling stars as tepid, indecisive, weak or apostate clergy who,

“Having ceased to be a minister of Christ, he who is represented by this star becomes the minister of the devil; and lets loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ.”

John identifies antichrists, in this case clergy who serve the devil rather than Christ, sequentially.  First, like Bultmann, Teilhard de Chardin, Robert Funk, Paul Tillich, and John Shelby Spong, they specifically deny the living, personal Holy Trinity in favor of Gnostic pagan, immanent or Eastern pantheist conceptions.   Though God the Father Almighty in three Persons upholds the souls of men and maintains life and creation, His substance is not within nature (space-time dimension) as pantheism maintains, but outside of it.  Sinful men live within nature and are burdened by time and mortality; God is not.

Second, the specific denial of the Father logically negates Jesus the Christ, the Word who was in the beginning (John 1), was with God, and is God from the creation of all things (1 John 1).  In a pre-incarnate theophany, Jesus is the Angel who spoke “mouth to mouth” to Moses (Num. 12:6-9; John 9:20) and at sundry times and in many ways “spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all…” (Hebrews 1:1)  Jesus the Christ is the incarnate Son of God who is the life and light of men, who by His shed blood on the Cross died for the remission of all sins and bestowed the privilege of adoption on all who put their faith in Him. Therefore, to deny the Holy Father is to logically deny the deity of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, hence,

“…every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist . . . and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:3).

According to Peter (2 Peter 2:1), falling stars will work among the faithful, teaching damnable heresies that deny the Lord, cause the fall of men into unbelief, and bring destruction upon themselves:

“The natural parents of modern unbelief turn out to have been the guardians of belief.”  Many thinking people came at last “to realize that it was religion, not science or social change that gave birth to unbelief.  Having made God more and more like man—intellectually, morally, emotionally—the shapers of religion made it feasible to abandon God, to believe simply in man.” (James Turner of the University of Michigan in “American Babylon,” Richard John Neuhaus, p. 95)

Falling Stars and Damnable Heresy

Almost thirty years ago, two well-respected social science scholars, William Sims Bainbridge and Rodney Stark found themselves alarmed by what they saw as a rising tide of irrationalism, superstition and occultism—channeling cults, spirit familiars, necromancers, Wiccans, Satanists, Luciferians, goddess worshippers, ‘gay’ shamans, Hermetic magicians and other occult madness at every level of society, particularly within the most influential— Hollywood, academia and the highest corridors of political power.

Like many scientists, they were equally concerned by Christian opposition to naturalistic evolution.  As is common in the science community, they assumed the cause of these social pathologies was somehow due to fundamentalism, their term for authentic Christian theism as opposed to liberalized Christianity.  Yet to their credit, the research they undertook to discover the cause was conducted both scientifically and with great integrity.  What they found was so startling it caused them to re-evaluate their attitude toward authentic Christian theism.  Their findings led them to say:

“It would be a mistake to conclude that fundamentalists oppose all science (when in reality they but oppose) a single theory (that) directly contradicts the bible. But it would be an equally great mistake to conclude that religious liberals and the irreligious possess superior minds of great rationality, to see them as modern personalities who have no need of the supernatural or any propensity to believe unscientific superstitions. On the contrary…they are much more likely to accept the new superstitions. It is the fundamentalists who appear most virtuous according to scientific standards when we examine the cults and pseudo-sciences proliferating in our society today.” (“Superstitions, Old and New,” The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. IV, No. 4; summer, 1980)

In more detail they observed that authentic ‘born again’ Christians are far less likely to accept cults and pseudoscientific beliefs while the irreligious and liberalized Christians (i.e., progressive Catholics, Protestant emergent, NAR, word faith, prosperity gospel) are open to unscientific notions.  In fact, these two groups are most disposed toward occultism.

As Bainbridge and Stark admitted, evolution directly contradicts the Bible, beginning with the Genesis account of creation ex nihilo.  This means that evolution is the antithesis of the Genesis account. For this reason, discerning Christians refuse to submit to the evolutionary thinking that has swept Western and American society.  Nor do they accept the evolutionary theism brought into the whole body of the Church by weak, tepid, indecisive, or apostate clergy.

Over eighty years ago, Rev. C. Leopold Clarke wrote that priests who embrace evolution (evolutionary theists) are apostates from the ‘Truth as it is in Jesus.’ (1 John2:2)  Rev. Clarke, a lecturer at a London Bible college, discerned that evolution is the antithesis to the Revelation of God in the Deity of Jesus Christ, thus it is the greatest and most active agent of moral and spiritual disintegration:

“It is a battering-ram of unbelief—a sapping and mining operation that intends to blow Religion sky-high.  The one thing which the human mind demands in its conception of God, is that, being Almighty, He works sovereignly and miraculously—and this is the thing with which Evolution dispenses….Already a tremendous effect, on a wide scale has been produced by the impact of this teaching—an effect which can only be likened to the…collapse of foundations…” (Evolution and the Break-Up of Christendom, Philip Bell, creation.com, Nov. 27, 2012)

The faith of the Christian Church and of the average Christian has had, and still has, its foundation as much in the literal and historic meaning of Genesis, the book of beginnings revealed ‘mouth to mouth’ by the Angel to Moses, as in that of the person and deity of Jesus Christ.  But how horrible a travesty of the sacred office of the Christian Ministry to see church leaders more eager to be abreast of the times, than earnestly contending for the Faith once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1:3).  It is high time, said Rev. Clarke, that the Church,

“…. separated herself from the humiliating entanglement attending her desire to be thought up to date…What, after all, have custodians of Divine Revelation to do making terms with speculative Biology, which has….no message of comfort or help to the soul?” (ibid)

The primary tactic employed by priests eager to accommodate themselves and the Church to modern science and evolutionary thinking is predictable.  It is the argument that evolution is entirely compatible with the Bible when we see Genesis, especially the first three chapters, in a non-literal, non-historical context.  This is the argument embraced and advanced by mega-church pastor Timothy J. Keller.

With a position paper Keller published with the theistic evolutionary organization Bio Logos he joined the ranks of falling stars (Catholic and Protestant priests) stretching back to the Renaissance.  Their slippery-slide into apostasy began when they gave into the temptation to embrace a non-literal, non-historical view of Genesis.  (A response to Timothy Keller’s ‘Creation, Evolution and Christian Laypeople,” Lita Cosner, Sept. 9, 2010,creation.com)

This is not a heresy unique to modern times.  The early Church Fathers dealt with this damnable heresy as well, counting it among the heretical tendencies of the Origenists.  Fourth-century Fathers such as John Chrysostom, Basil the Great and Ephraim the Syrian, all of whom wrote commentaries on Genesis, specifically warned against treating Genesis as an unhistorical myth or allegory.  John Chrysostom strongly warned against paying heed to these heretics,

“…let us stop up our hearing against them, and let us believe the Divine Scripture, and following what is written in it, let us strive to preserve in our souls sound dogmas.” (Genesis, Creation, and Early Man, Fr. Seraphim Rose, p. 31)

As St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote, higher theological, spiritual meaning is founded upon humble, simple faith in the literal and historic meaning of Genesis and one cannot apprehend rightly the Scriptures without believing in the historical reality of the events and people they describe. (ibid, Seraphim Rose, p. 40)

In the integral worldview teachings of the Fathers, neither the literal nor historical meaning of the Revelations of the pre-incarnate Jesus, the Angel who spoke to Moses, can be regarded as expendable.  There are at least four critically important reasons why.  First, to reduce the Revelation of God to allegory and myth is to contradict and usurp the authority of God, ultimately deny the deity of Jesus Christ; twist, distort, add to and subtract from the entire Bible and finally, to imperil the salvation of believers.

Scenarios commonly proposed by modern Origenists posit a cleverly disguised pantheist/immanent nature deity subject to the space-time dimension and forces of evolution. But as noted previously, it is sinful man who carries the burden of time, not God.  This is a crucial point, for when evolutionary theists add millions and billions of zeros (time) to God they have transferred their own limitations onto Him.  They have ‘limited’ God and made Him over in their own image. This is not only idolatrous but satanic.

Additionally, evolution inverts creation.  In place of God’s good creation from which men fell there is an evolutionary escalator starting at the bottom with matter, then progressing upward toward life, then up and through the life and death of millions of evolved creatures that preceded humans by millions of years until at long last an apish humanoid emerges into which a deity that is always in a state of becoming (evolving) places a soul.

Evolution amputates the entire historical precedent from the Gospel and makes Jesus Christ unnecessary as the atheist Frank Zindler enthusiastically points out:

“The most devastating thing that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution.  Now that we know that Adam and Eve never were real people the central myth of Christianity is destroyed.  If there never was an Adam and Eve, there never was an original sin.  If there never was an original sin there is no need of salvation.  If there is no need of salvation there is no need of a saviour.  And I submit that puts Jesus…into the ranks of the unemployed.  I think evolution absolutely is the death knell of Christianity.” (“Atheism vs. Christianity,” 1996, Lita Cosner, creation.com, June 13, 2013)

None of this was lost on Darwin’s bulldog, Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1985).  Huxley was thoroughly familiar with the Bible, thus he understood that if Genesis is not the authoritative Word of God, is not historical and literal despite its’ symbolic and poetic elements, then the entirety of Scripture becomes a collection of fairytales resulting in tragic downward spiraling consequences as the Catholic Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation makes clear in part:

“By denying the historical truth of the first chapters of Genesis, theistic evolutionism has fostered a preoccupation with natural causes almost to the exclusion of supernatural ones.  By denying the several supernatural creative acts of God in Genesis, and by downplaying the importance of the supernatural activity of Satan, theistic evolutionists slip into a naturalistic mentality which seeks to explain everything in terms of natural causes.  Once this mentality takes hold, it is easy for men to regard the concept of spiritual warfare as a holdover from the days of primitive superstition.  Diabolical activity is reduced to material or psychological causes.  The devil and his demons come to be seen as irrelevant.  Soon ‘hell’ joins the devil and his demons in the category of antiquated concepts.  And the theistic evolutionist easily makes the fatal mistake of thinking that he has nothing more to fear from the devil and his angels.  According to Fr. Gabriele Amorth, the chief exorcist of Rome, there is a tremendous increase in diabolical activity and influence in the formerly Christian world.  And yet most of the bishops of Europe no longer believe in the existence of evil spirits….To the Fathers of the Church who believed in the truth of Genesis, this would be incredible.  But in view of the almost universal acceptance of theistic evolution, it is hardly surprising.” (The Difference it makes: The Importance of the Traditional Doctrine of Creation, Hugh Owen, kolbecenter.org)

Huxley had ‘zero’ respect for modern Origenists and received enormous pleasure from heaping piles of hot coals and burning contempt upon them, thereby exposing their shallow-reasoning, hypocrisy, timidity, fear of non-acceptance, and unfaithfulness.  With sarcasm dripping from his words he quipped,

“I am fairly at a loss to comprehend how any one, for a moment, can doubt that Christian theology must stand or fall with the historical trustworthiness of the Jewish Scriptures. The very conception of the Messiah, or Christ, is inextricably interwoven with Jewish history; the identification of Jesus of Nazareth with that Messiah rests upon the interpretation of passages of the Hebrew Scriptures which have no evidential value unless they possess the historical character assigned to them. If the covenant with Abraham was not made; if circumcision and sacrifices were not ordained by Jahveh; if the “ten words” were not written by God’s hand on the stone tables; if Abraham is more or less a mythical hero, such as Theseus; the story of the Deluge a fiction; that of the Fall a legend; and that of the creation the dream of a seer; if all these definite and detailed narratives of apparently real events have no more value as history than have the stories of the regal period of Rome—what is to be said about the Messianic doctrine, which is so much less clearly enunciated? And what about the authority of the writers of the books of the New Testament, who, on this theory, have not merely accepted flimsy fictions for solid truths, but have built the very foundations of Christian dogma upon legendary quicksands?” (Darwin’s Bulldog—Thomas Huxley, Russell Grigg, creation.com, Oct. 14, 2008)

Pouring more contempt on them he asked,

“When Jesus spoke, as of a matter of fact, that “the Flood came and destroyed them all,” did he believe that the Deluge really took place, or not? It seems to me that, as the narrative mentions Noah’s wife, and his sons’ wives, there is good scriptural warranty for the statement that the antediluvians married and were given in marriage; and I should have thought that their eating and drinking might be assumed by the firmest believer in the literal truth of the story. Moreover, I venture to ask what sort of value, as an illustration of God’s methods of dealing with sin, has an account of an event that never happened? If no Flood swept the careless people away, how is the warning of more worth than the cry of “Wolf” when there is no wolf? If Jonah’s three days’ residence in the whale is not an “admitted reality,” how could it “warrant belief” in the “coming resurrection?” … Suppose that a Conservative orator warns his hearers to beware of great political and social changes, lest they end, as in France, in the domination of a Robespierre; what becomes, not only of his argument, but of his veracity, if he, personally, does not believe that Robespierre existed and did the deeds attributed to him?” (ibid)

Concerning Matthew 19:5:

“If divine authority is not here claimed for the twenty-fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis, what is the value of language? And again, I ask, if one may play fast and loose with the story of the Fall as a “type” or “allegory,” what becomes of the foundation of Pauline theology?” (ibid)

And concerning Cor. 15:21-22:

“If Adam may be held to be no more real a personage than Prometheus, and if the story of the Fall is merely an instructive “type,” comparable to the profound Promethean mythus, what value has Paul’s dialectic?” (ibid)

After much thought, C.S. Lewis concluded that evolution is the central, most radical lie at the center of a vast network of lies within which modern Westerners are entangled while Rev. Clarke identifies the central lie as the Gospel of another Spirit. The fiendish aim of this Spirit is to help men lose God, not find Him, and by contradicting the Divine Redeemer, compromising Priests are serving this Spirit and its’ diabolical purposes.  To contradict the Divine Redeemer is the very essence of unfaithfulness, and that it should be done while reverence is professed,

“…. is an illustration of the intellectual and moral topsy-turvydom of Modernism…’He whom God hath sent speaketh the Words of God,’ claimed Christ of Himself (John 3:34), and no assumption of error can hold water in the face of that declaration, without blasphemy.”

Evolutionary theists are serving the devil, therefore “no considerations of Christian charity, of tolerance, of policy, can exonerate Christian leaders or Churches who fail to condemn and to sever themselves from compromising, cowardly, shilly-shallying priests”—the falling stars who “challenge the Divine Authority of Jesus Christ.” (ibid)

The rebuttals, warnings and counsels of the Fathers against listening to Origenists (and their modern evolutionary counterparts) indicates that the spirit of antichrist operating through modern rationalistic criticism of the Revelation of God is not a heresy unique to our times but was inveighed against by early Church Fathers.

From the scholarly writings of the Eastern Orthodox priest, Fr. Seraphim Rose, to the incisive analysis, rebuttals and warnings of the Catholic Kolbe Center, creation.com, Creation Research Institute, Rev. Clarke, and many other stalwart defenders of the faith once delivered, all are a clear, compelling call to the whole body of the Church to hold fast to the traditional doctrine of creation as it was handed down from the Apostles, for as God spoke and Jesus is the Living Word incarnate, it is incumbent upon the faithful to submit their wills to the Divine Will and Authority of God rather than to the damnable heresy proffered by falling stars eager to embrace naturalistic science and the devil’s antithesis— evolution.  But if it seem evil to you to serve the Lord,

“…you have your choice: choose this day that which pleases you, whom you would rather serve….but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Hate Power: Compelled To Act

“Most people today stand for nothing and hate nothing and as a result fight for nothing” ~ R. J. Rushdoony

It is widely assumed that love is “good” and hate is “bad”.  “Love” and “hate” could be the two most confusing words in the English language.  The dictionary contains multiple definitions for both.

Hate has been the subtle weapon used to push the Black agenda into American social life.  It bears an uncanny resemblance to Zionist policies of forcing acceptance by legal mandate.  Both Jews and Blacks have succeeded in gaining sympathy by skillfully describing past suffering and convincing a feckless contemporary Caucasian population that they are owed a debt.  Jews have used the Holocaust to gain sympathy and Blacks have used slavery in exactly the same way.  Reparations are a Jewish idea that has been co-opted by Blacks.  Black hate for Whites is centered on slavery while Jewish hate goes back to the Cross.

A recent email link showed Elbert Guillory, a Black Senator from the 24^th District of Louisiana giving a careful explanation of why he has switched to the Republican Party.  The sender hoped it would “go viral”.  .

Speaking from a softly darkened church sanctuary Senator Guillory maintains the Republican Party is a better friend to Blacks than the Democratic Party.  He believes Liberal Democratic programs have hurt Blacks by making them dependent and controlling them.  He says the government should preserve freedom and keep its nose out of the education of our children as well as our phone calls and emails. Guillory claims these proper ideas are the core of the Republican Party.

White Americans are seriously gullible.  They think that if a politician speaks the name of Jesus he or she must be a Christian.  When a Black politician claims to believe in Constitutional government he gains immediate attention.  The distortion of partisan support for Blacks is ignored and a naive assessment of the core of the Republican Party is overlooked.

Black leader Randall Robinson was recently featured on C-Span supporting reparations to Blacks. With his softly intellectual erudition Robinson is a convincing advocate for a program that would by immoral, larcenous, divisive, ineffective, and tragic.

Craig Steven Wilder, a professor at MIT, has put together an expose entitled “Ebony and Ivy” subtitled “Race, Slavery and the Troubled History of American Universities.  In an interview by Black radio personality Joe Madison, Wilder claims that his heavily footnoted record of slave ownership by Christian college leaders and slave money going to support universities is a factual account that should indict former White educators.  Wilder is a talented scholar but his book is a partisan attempt to keep the fires of racial hatred burning brightly.  See the interview here.

Guillory, Robinson, and Wilder are engaged in a rhetorical revolution but there are others who are more cogent.  Ayo Kimathi, a Department of Homeland Security employee, would like to start a world-wide race war between Blacks and Whites.  See the video .

Jews have exerted heavy influence on the Black agenda in America.  They directed the NAACP from its inception in the early Twentieth Century into the mid-Nineteen Sixties. See here and here.   They control the press and media and have used its immense influence to promote Black policies.  Jewish speech writers produced speeches for Dr. Martin Luther and many other Black leaders.

Though vehemently debunked by Jewish voices this statement attributed to Israel Cohen in a 1912 piece called “A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century” was read into the Congressional Record on June 7^th, 1957, Vol. 3, p8559:  “We must realize that our party’s most powerful weapon is racial tensions. By propounding into the consciousness of the dark races that for centuries they have been oppressed by whites, we can mold them to the program of the Communist Party. In America we will aim for subtle victory. While inflaming the Negro minority against the whites, we will endeavor to instill in the whites a guilt complex for their exploitation of the Negros. We will aid the Negroes to rise in prominence in every walk of life, in the professions and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige, the Negro will be able to intermarry with the whites and begin a process which will deliver America to our cause.”  In response to questions concerning the authenticity of this quote Canadian Jewish writer and inventor Henry Makow believes it is authentic.  Read here.

In 1858 Abraham Lincoln entitled a famous speech “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot

Stand”.  His source for this titular wisdom was Matthew 12:25 in the Christian Bible. His solution was dreadful but this concept is being successfully used by contemporary White haters to destroy the United States of America.

The case against George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin was justly adjudicated by Stamford police chief Bill Lee and would have been closed if the media had not intentionally distorted the facts and created an issue that has destroyed lives, exacerbated racial tensions and threatened justice.  Blacks are unwitting pawns for a Jewish agenda. Louis Farrakhan has noticed this manipulation but most Black leaders have not.

Hate is the driving force behind Jewish success in undermining White Christian culture.  Jewish hate is mostly covert while Black hate is mostly overt.  Jews use Blacks to disrupt White society. Contemporary White Americans have never owned slaves.  They generally treat both Jews and Blacks with respect.  Millions of Jews opt to live in the U. S. rather than Israel and Blacks do not emigrate to Africa because they live better here than anywhere else in the world.

Hate is used to create and support war.  It is created by skillfully propagandizing naïve citizens.  In the United States hate for Germans and Japanese was almost universal during WWII.  Song writers composed songs, the newspapers told of horrible atrocities, the government declared war, Germans became “Huns”, the Japanese became “Japs” and murder became the spirit of the day.  Young men joined the Army with the specific intent of killing Huns and Japs.

Hate is manipulated to conform to the latest government agenda. A new category in our cancerous legal system is called Hate Crimes.  Hate crimes are offenses committed against individuals or institutions because of their race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or religion.  Hate crimes involve victims under special government protection.  These laws are effective in creating anger and separation.

In the secular world people are forced to hate what the sovereign hates.  If the government is sovereign it will decide what should be hated.  Hate crimes force the population to grant special treatment to individuals protected by government mandate.

Freedom finds its zenith when the sovereignty of the One True God is recognized and His commandments are allowed to rule the society.  Secular governments always result in tyranny.   In a God fearing society evil is easily identified as disobedience to God’s Commandments.  Freedom cannot exist without hatred for evil.  When government attempts to rule a social order without the overarching Commandments of the God of the Bible, brutality is forthcoming.

Courts that seek adjudication through competing advocates subject their victims to a cruel gamble. The varied opinions of wicked men cannot produce justice.  Justice is produced by courts that seek righteousness and hate evil.

Contrary to prevailing opinion God’s Law was not given to Moses as an impediment to freedom but rather as a formula for producing peace, order, and prosperity for His creation. God seeks obedience because obedience produces the most joyful and productive existence.  Love is impossible without a healthy disdain for evil.

Pervasive New Testament Christianity is a cultish distortion of the full orbed religion God has given us in His Word. He gives us miraculous healings and prophetic blessings but when we fail to obey His Commandments He gives us and effete and useless confusion.  This confusion has marked American Christianity for at least the past half century.

The Devil is delighted when Christians busy themselves with predicting the Second Coming or work to arouse the Holy Spirit in order to obtain blessings.  He is delighted when preachers confine their preaching to the gifts God has for His people, when they use expository preaching to avoid addressing current issues, or when they emphasize love as if it is a warm emotional bath.

I receive innumerable requests from well meaning cultish Christians who want me to read a current prophetic utterance from their favorite prognosticator.  They are rapt with its truth.  Unfortunately, this waste of emotional energy has been going on for decades and if God’s Commandments were properly enforced the sources of these bogus prophecies would cease.

Our adversary, Satan, uses hate effectively as a weapon against Christianity.  Christians are an easy target because they are unable to hate an enemy they have failed to define.  The distorted, Pietism love of New Testament Christianity leaves them in open view without weapons and worse yet without understanding..

Love and hate are inextricably entwined with Christianity.  Hate for sin is an essential part of the Christian life.

Luciferian Occultism Overtaking The West

In “Why Some Scientists Embrace the ‘Multiverse,” Dennis Prager reports that he recently participated, along with 30 scholars, mostly scientists and mathematicians, in a conference on the question of whether the universe was designed, or at least fine-tuned to make life possible, especially intelligent life. Participants — from Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Berkeley and Columbia among other American and European universities — included agnostics, atheists and believers in God.  (Prager, Jewish World Review, June 18, 2013)

Though the clear scientific consensus was that, at the very least, the universe is exquisitely fine-tuned to allow for the possibility of life said Prager, many atheist scientists and fellow-travelers who insist there be no Creator God put forward the notion of a multiverse despite there being not a shred of evidence for the existence of these universes.  

The multiverse hypothesis is a desperate grasp at the fantasy theory first proposed by David Deutsch in his book, “The Fabric of Reality.”  Deutsch’s theory posits the existence of an infinite number of parallel universes in the vain hope that in at least one of them, conscious life and order arose by pure chance, meaning that living beings created themselves.

 Eminent quantum theorist John Polkinghorne utterly rejects the multiverse nonsense:

 “Let us recognize these speculations for what they are.  They are not physics, but….metaphysics.  There is no purely scientific reason to believe in an ensemble of universes….To my mind greater economy and elegance would be that this one world is the way it is because it is the creation of the will of a Creator who purposes that it should be so.” (Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny, Dave Hunt, p. 209)

 Multiverse speculations, as Polkinghorne pointed out, are not physics but metaphysics, and in fact are grounded in a two-fold neo-Gnostic vision.  First, that living beings created themselves from pre-existing or spontaneously generated matter, and second, the age-old technology of alchemy and its magical meaning: the ancient Egyptian Hermetic principle of the macrocosm’s correlation with the microcosm, “As above, so below” symbolized by the Ouroboros—the great chain of being, cosmic tree of life or with Darwin the tree of life.

In modern Luciferian theosophical thought for example, the Ouroboros ‘above’ corresponds to a number of different astral planes and sub-planes comprising the habitations,

“(of all) supernatural entities, the locale of gods and demons, the void where the thoughtforms dwell, the region inhabited by spirits of the air and other elements, and the various heavens and hells with their angelic and demonic hosts….With the help of ritual procedures, trained persons believe that they can ‘rise on the planes,’ and experience these regions in full awareness.” (“Beyond the Body: The Human Double and the Astral planes, Benjamin Walker, 1974, pp. 117-8)

The Ouroboros with its astral planes is well-known around the world in its’ many esoteric traditions:

“References to this reality are the Dreaming of the Australian Aborigines, the Spirit-world of Shamanism, the Duart of the ancient Egyptians, the Bardo (Intermediate State) of the Tibetans, the Imaginal world of Islamic Esotericism – e.g. the Barzakh (Interworld) or of Suhrawardi and the Mithal (Imaginal realm) of Ibn Arabi – the Universe of Asiyah of some Kabbalists, or of Yetzirah according to others.  Other descriptions are the Nervo degree of the Physical State of Theon, the Astral or 2nd Prakritic plane (corresponding to the Linga Sharira or Subtle or Astral body) and the Kama (Desire-Plane) of Blavatsky, the Astral Plane of the Adyar school of Theosophy and of popular occultism, Rudolf Steiner’s “Soul World”; and the Vital and Subtle Physical described by Sri Aurobindo and Mirra.  These are just a few of the innumerable descriptions of this plane of existence.” (The Astral Plane, kheper.net)

The Apostle Paul speaks not of cosmic trees, astral planes and the beings supposedly existing there but of fallen angels, the “spirits of wickedness under the heavens” (Eph. 6:12) and their chief, “the prince of the powers of the air.” (Eph. 2:2)  

According to Paul, fallen angels are dispersed in a multitude throughout the whole blue expanse of sky which is visible to us—the dwelling place for the host of fallen angels who have been cast down from heaven.    This means that in esoteric multiverse theories and occult cosmic tree of life conceptions, the whole blue expanse of sky under the heavens where fallen angels dwell is the Ouroboros/cosmic tree ‘above’ consisting of astral planes and sub-planes connected by the great chain of being up which the initiate spiritually ascends (evolves) by way of ritual (i.e., transcendental meditation, mind-altering drugs) as he traverses the occult Path of Life or Western Magical Way to reach divine status and gain psychic powers.  

Royal Astronomer Lord Martin Rees champions multiverse conceptions in the hope that in at least one or more of them living beings created themselves who are far more advanced than our own life-forms.  Rees believes that if this is the case, then super-intelligent aliens might be capable of simulating in their brains or in a super-computer the complex history of our universe, meaning the universe we inhabit is a simulation lacking real substance and existing only as a mental construction, a matrix, in the minds of highly evolved aliens who seeded our world with life and travel through time in order to control man’s evolutionary progress. (Scientific Mythologies, James A. Herrick, p. 216)

The idea that the universe we inhabit exists only as a mental construction is very similar to Hinduism’s Brahman. Brahman is the Great Cosmic Spirit— the Ultimate One Substance (prakriti matter) or Essence of material phenomena, meaning that the universe exists only as a mental construction in the mind of Brahman: brahma satyam jagan mithya, or “Brahman is real, the world is unreal.” (swamij.com/mahavakyas)

Rees proposal is also similar to the hypothesis presented by Olaf Stapledon, a scientist who has always kept one foot firmly planted in neo-Gnostic science fiction accounts and imagines our universe to be an artifact of the Star Maker.  Building off of Stapledon’s fantasy Carl Sagan suggests that we are “star folk” made of “star stuff.”    (Herrick, pp. 216-217)

Replace Star Maker with Brahman and “star stuff” with sarvam khalvidam brahma, or “All is truly Brahman” (swamij.com) and we have ayam atma brahmam: “The Self is Brahman.” (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.4.5)

In the caption of his book, “Just Six Numbers,” Rees reveals the ancient occult basis of his propositions:

“The ouraboros. There are links between the microworld of particles, nuclei and atoms and the cosmos.” (Rees M., Just Six Numbers, P. 9)

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field…” — Genesis 3:1

As a powerful occult symbol, the Ouroboros or Uroboros means the seething power, creative and/or evolutionary impulse or energy of the serpent figuratively depicted as either a serpent or dragon eating its own tail.  The serpent’s body is often depicted as the Great Chain of Being, Cosmic Tree of Life, or with Darwin, the Tree of Life.  

 The occult Tree of Life with its’ multiple dimensions and life-giving energy systems not only powers the universe but reaches into the psyche, stirring imagination, bringing psychic powers and even awakening pre-human memories of when the scientifically “enlightened occult elite,” the Gnostikoi, were fish:

“Remember when you were a fish….” suggested Jean Houston, the prophet of the possible, in a workshop to awaken ancient pre-human memories.  Nearly a thousand evolved life-forms (people) dropped to the floor and began moving their ‘fins’ as if to propel themselves through water.  “Notice your perception as you roll like a fish. How does your world look, feel, sound, smell, taste?”  Then you crawled up on land said Houston, so now you must, “Allow yourself to fully remember being a reptile….Then some of you flew. Others climbed trees.”   A zoo of beastly sounds erupted from the herd of pre-human birds, reptiles and apes. (America: The Sorcerer’s New Apprentice, Hunt and McMahon, p. 218)

From the time of the ancients serpent power has been important to religious and mythological symbolism all around the world. Within the Egyptian mysteries, serpent power was associated with,

…”the elemental forces that were in play before the creation of the world.” (Carl Teichrib, Gods of Ancient Egypt, p. 182)

 In China serpents were spiritually linked with earth and water while in Scandinavian myth a world serpent protected man from cosmic forces of chaos.  The self-described Gnostic Carl Jung interpreted the Ouroboros as having archetypal consubstantiality to the human psyche.    Serpent power is also associated with today’s occult New Age spirituality as well as Gnosticism, occult Hermetic Kabbalah, Roisicrucianism, Illuminati, Freemasonry and its’ blatantly Luciferian sister, Theosophy, where according to Helena Blavatsky, serpent power representsself-generation and evolution through its own creative power. 

In his book, “The Sign of the Serpent,” Mark Balfour relates how pervasive serpent symbols are within India and the Hindu religion:

 “Any observant traveler who moves from the snow-tipped Himalayas in the North to the sun-soaked sands of Cape Comorin at India’s southern tip, will encounter—particularly in the rural areas and at sacred centres of pilgrimage wherever Siva, God of both Divine Wisdom and regeneration, is the presiding Deity—the serpent motif sculptured within shrines, impressed on myriads of stone implants in the ground and depicted in art.” (A Short Guide to Occult Symbols: Serpent Power, Carl Teichrib, 2005, Kjos Ministries)  

Balfour elaborates on this belief:

“In Hinduism, the Cosmic Serpent—Ananta Sesha—symbolic of timeless eternity, carries the world on his 1000-fold [Cobra] hood…As the creative impulse stirs within the great Serpent in the Sky—when passive idea becomes active thought—the forces of attraction and repulsion come into play as ‘spirit’ begins its involution into “matter.” (ibid, Teichrib)

Moreover, Kundalini yoga, a discipline within Hinduism, teaches that latent serpent energy lies at the base of the etheric human spine, 

“…like a coiled serpent, ready to spring.” (Harper’s Dictionary of Hinduism, p. 156, ibid, Teichrib)  

Through strenuous yoga techniques, this Kundalini serpent power uncoils and rises through seven “chakras” or power centers within the human body. The Kundalini serpent force is considered,

“(to be a) concentrated field of intelligent cosmic, invisible energy absolutely vital to life beginning in the base of the spine as a man or a woman begins to evolve in their first incarnation.” (The Donning International Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary, p. 343, ibid, Teichrib)

The serpent power/Masonry connection is revealed by occultist Mason Manly Hall who says that when the Mason learns how to properly channel the power of the serpent he has learned the mystery of his Craft: 

“The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands and before he may step onward and upward, he must prove his ability to properly apply energy.” (New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies,William T. Still, p. 30)

In “Occult Theocracy,” Edith Starr Miller elaborates on the serpent power/Masonry connection:

“Luciferian Occultism controls Freemasonry (and) is therefore not a novelty, but it bore a different name in the early days of Christianity.  It was called Gnosticism…” (Occult Theocracy, p. 198, 1933)

 Free Masonry is grounded in occult Hermetic Kabbalah, the non-Jewish version of Kabbalah, a syncretic system that draws on Gnosticism, Western astrology, alchemy, ancient Egyptian drom which the alahnry connectionntherefore not a novelty, but it bore a different name in the early days of Chhermeticism, Greco-Roman nature religions, Eastern mysticism/reincarnation/karma, spiritual and biological evolutionary conceptions, neoplatonism, the Enochian system of angelic magic of John Dee and Edward Kelley, rosicrucianism, tantra, and tarot cards, which are seen as keys to the Tree of Life.  

Occult Hermetic Kabbalah is also the underlying philosophy and framework for Western magical societies such as the Golden Dawn, Thelemic orders, mystical-religious societies such as the Builders of the Adytum and is the precursor to the Wiccan, Neopagan and Luciferian New Age spirituality over-taking Western and American civilization.

Regarding the importance of occult Hermetic Kabbalah to Freemasonry, Albert Pike–the most influential Freemason that has lived—has this to say in his Morals and Dogma:

“The Kabalah is the key to the occult sciences; and the Gnostics were born of the Kabalists. (Morals and Dogma, p. 626) 

The famous scientist, engineer, religious writer and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) claimed to have been instructed by beings on other planets as well as by angels during his astral plane travels.  Swedenborg has influenced a long line of scientists, philosophers, modern science fiction writers and movie producers as well as Joseph Smith.  

Swedenborg described Masonry as a search after Light said Pike:

“That search leads us directly back, as you see, to the Kabbalah. In that ancient and little understood medley of absurdity and philosophy, the Initiate will find the source of many doctrines; and may in time come to understand the Hermetic philosophers, the Alchemists, all the Anti-papal Thinkers of the Middle Age, and Emanuel Swedenborg. (Morals and Dogma, p. 741)

The Gnostic Hermetic Kabbalah holds to the neoplatonic conception that the manifest universe (One Substance) of which material creation is a part, arose as a series of emanations or evolutions from the godhead or divine Cosmic Spirit. 

In his Dictionary of Mysticism and the Occult, Nevill Drury writes that the Hermetic Kabbalah’s Tree of Life consists of ten spheres, 

“…or sephiroth, through which—according to mystical tradition—the creation of the world came about. The sephiroth are aligned in three columns headed by the supernals and together symbolize the process by which the Infinite Light…becomes manifest in the universe.” (A Short Guide to Occult Symbols: The Tree of Life, Carl Teichrib)

 The sephiroth also have a role resembling that of the “…charkas [sic] in yoga.”

In other words, the sephiroth symbolize the consubstantiality or oneness of the initiate’s intellect with the Divine Substance (i.e., ancient Egyptian Nu, Chaos, Brahman, Omega Point, Singularity) as well as the seething evolutionary energies of Lucifer (Moshiach/Nachash/Gematria) while chakras refer to psychic centers that lie along the spine of the etheric body that awaken
by way of kundalini serpent power yoga.

For the initiate, the deeper meaning of the Hermetic Kabbalah is the Tree of Life (snake’s body) ‘above’ as well as the inward path ‘below’ in which the adept who has mastered the seething energies of Lucifer discovers and experiences the “inner light” (also called the divine spark and inner Christ). 

In short, Hermetic Kabbalah is a system of Luciferian teachings and evolutionary conceptions which open up the mind and the soul to a new level of understanding from the snake: salvation comes from within.

From the Renaissance to our own time, Gnostic Hermetic science packaged as biological and spiritual theories of evolution, various Tree of Life conceptions together with pre-existing or spontaneously generated matter theories, multiverse conceptions, Teilhard’s Omega Point and trans-humanism’s Technological Singularity for example, has swept the post-Christian West and America, even entering into the whole body of the Church.


Luciferian Occultism: Serpent Power

In “God and the Knowledge of Reality,” the Catholic philosopher and historian, Thomas Molnar (1921–2010), writes that during the Renaissance Christian mystics and scholars such as Emanuel Swedenborg discovered Hermetic magic and esoteric Jewish Kabbalah texts which they studied and translated resulting in Hermetic Kabbalah.  Then like Pico della Mirandola, they argued that occult hermetic science—the divine technology or Magic Way of reaching divine status and powers through ritual procedures (and for Swedenborg astral plane traveling) is the best proof of the divinity of Christ.    In other words said Molnar,

“…..by the time of the Renaissance the esoteric texts of the first centuries A.D. had acquired in scholarly and humanist circles an unparalleled prestige, confronting as equals the texts held sacred by the church.  In Pico’s estimation, ‘nulla est scientia que nos magis certificet de divinitate Christ quam magia et Cabala’ (there is no science that would prove for us Christ’s divinity better than magic and the Cabala.)”  (pp. 78-79)

From then till now, Luciferian occult science has been working steadily toward its’ goal to invert, pervert, and replace the living word of God (Matthew 4:4) beginning with the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings divinely revealed to Moses for our edification and salvation.   As a result, the majority of contemporary Christians no longer know that Genesis is the living Word of God because they have lost contact with the early Church Fathers, the living link between the ancient texts containing God’s revelation and today’s esoteric evolutionary imperative.

In their day, just as in our own, many people erroneously interpreted Genesis, especially the first three chapters, as an allegory, denying it has any literal and historic meaning.  Therefore the Church Fathers who wrote on Genesis made a specific point in saying it has literal meaning that we must understand correctly even while explaining that anthropomorphic statements about God describing Him as a man who sits on thrones for example, are to be understood symbolically.

Church Fathers regarded Genesis, especially the first three chapters, as divinely inspired text that tells of actual, historical events and people. St. Cyril of Alexandria for example, wrote that Genesis is divinely inspired and cannot be apprehended rightly without respect for its’ historical meaning:

“Those who reject the historical meaning in the God-inspired Scriptures as something obsolete are avoiding the ability to apprehend rightly, according to the proper manner, the things written in them…whenever some historical events are presented to us by the Holy Scriptures (a) useful search into the historical meaning is appropriate, in order that the God-inspired Scripture be revealed as salvific and beneficial to us in every way.” (St. Cyril, “Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah 1,4, PG 70, 192AB)

Church Fathers make the point that the whole of creation, including the soul of man, was brought into existence from non-existence (ex nihilo), not from eternally existing or spontaneously generated matter as ancient and modern evolutionary adherents and Luciferian occultists believe.

On the miraculous creation of the first man Church Father John Chrysostom writes:

“And God formed man of dust from the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul….the inbreathing communicated to the one created out of earth the power of life, and thus the nature of the soul was formed.  What does a living soul mean?  An active soul, which has the members of the body as the implements of its activities, submissive to its will.” (Genesis, Creation, and Early Man, Seraphim Rose, p.215)

Gregory of Nyssa adds:

“The body and the soul were formed at the same time—not one before and the other afterwards…” (ibid, p. 218)

Jesus Christ, the “angel” who spoke with Moses at Sinai, is the Creator.  Foremost of His miracles is creation out of nothing—six acts or days of creation rather than the billions of years of evolutionary alchemical process out of matter:

“The first moment of time is the moment of God’s creative act and of creation’s simultaneous coming to be.” (Philosopher and New Testament scholar William Lane Craig quoted in “If God created the universe, then who created God?’ by Jonathan Sarfati, Creation Ministries International)

With Irenaeus, the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo was well established. He also argued that the world (matter) was not coeternal with God:

“But the things established are distinct from Him who has established them, and what [things] have been made from Him who has made them. For He is Himself uncreated, both without beginning and end, and lacking nothing. He is Himself sufficient for this very thing, existence; but the things which have been made by Him have received a beginning… He indeed who made all things can alone, together with His Word, properly be termed God and Lord; but the things which have been made cannot have this term applied to them, neither should they justly assume that appellation which belongs to the Creator.” (“Is Creatio Ex Nihilo A Post-Biblical Invention? An Examination Of Gerhard May’s Proposal,” Paul Copan, Trinity Journal 17.1; Spring 1996)

The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 affirms creation ex nihilo:

“We firmly believe and simply confess that there is only one true God … the Creator of all things visible and invisible, spiritual and corporeal; who from the very beginning of time by His omnipotent power created out of nothing [de nihilo condidit] both the spiritual beings and the corporeal.” (ibid, Copan)

On creation ex nihilo, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) asserts:

“It pleased God … in the beginning, to create or make of nothing the world, and all things therein” (IV.I; ibid)

The divinely inspired Genesis account of creation ex nihilo is a great stumbling block for contemporary Westerners and Americans—including great numbers of Christian theologians— brought up with an evolutionary outlook, an antihuman, occult Luciferian/Gnostic materialistic worldview that has left them spiritually and morally impoverished.

“But in his estate shall (Antichrist) honour the God of forces.” Dan. 11:38

Today the Nachash, the occult planetary-elites God of forces has confused, deluded and mesmerized vast numbers of Westerners and Americans.  As the animated seething energy called evolution the God of forces is the principle miracle-producing power of the cosmos. Having transformed the consciousness of his followers, they are no longer the spiritual image-bearers of the living Triune God but evolution’s conscious products who can achieve ever higher levels of consciousness by directing their own evolution.

So complete has the transformation of consciousness been that the God of forces has successfully inverted the order of creation and for increasing numbers of deluded Christians, reversed the direction of Biblical theism. With creation ex nihilo virtually replaced by evolution, it is now believed that men have not fallen from perfection but instead are gradually evolving upward from their ape beginnings toward greater and greater spiritual perfection. Self-perfecting man no longer needs the living, supernatural God as the idea of “conscious evolution” means he can save himself, and perhaps even attain god-hood.

As the ‘Christ’ of the hugely popular “A Course in Miracles” the God of forces states that there is an “irresistible Force” within each person, a universal Force that when activated grants unimaginable psychic powers, even immortality.  The ‘Christ‘ tells New Age leader Barbara Marx Hubbard that on the day of Planetary Pentecost a Planetary Smile will flash across the faces of all people who have accepted the Luciferian Initiation.  There will be “uncontrollable joy” that the ‘Christ’ describes as the “joy of Force” that will “ripple”through the one body of humanity.  (“False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care? Warren B. Smith, p. 120)

The God of forces who is the serpent power worshipped by mankind from antiquity, the god of Gnostic Masonry, the seething energies of Lucifer, the serpent power of Kundalini yoga, the body of the occult Tree of Life, the Cosmic Spirit of the universe, the Singularity and the Collective who represents self-generation and evolution through its own creative power poses a question to his enthralled worshippers, 

“What if I am not a ‘man’ at all, but rather a Force, an ‘Energy” in the universe, that IS the universe, and that is, in fact, All That Is. What if I am The Collective?” (“God” in Conversations with God: Book 3, p. 125, Neale Donald Walsh, ibid Warren B. Smith, p. 122) 

Tragically, many people today, including growing numbers of Christians, are being seduced by an occult planetary mythology that grew out of the Renaissance and maintains that man is not fallen, that he is ultimately perfectible through a process of evolution and that through leaps of consciousness he can realize that he is God.   The common thread among all occult Hermetic science, secret societies and esoteric teachings since the Renaissance is a single mind directing the formation of the new religious consciousness.   It is the mind of the same fallen angel who tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden with the words, “Ye shall be as Gods.” (Gen. 3:5)

When finally the man of lawlessness arrives and appears to triumph for a time, in the end it is he whom the Lord Jesus,

“….shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, him,” (2 Thes. 2:8)

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