After You read this article you will simply know why I had to post it. I did not want to steal all of Coach Dave Daubenmire’s words here so you will have to read the full article to get the full impact of the new offensive line that he proposes. Too bad my home team, the Buffalo Bills, don’t get it, or most sissified Christians for that matter. Its time for Christians to march on all the left leaning houses in the land singing Hey Hey, Ho Ho, the far left radicals have to go!

• De-sissified Christians should be more like a Fox when it comes to presenting the good news.
• De-sissified Christians should place their money on God’s home team.
• De-sissified Christians need to take their churches back from the sissies that feminized Christianity.
• De-sissified Christians need to be Oath Keepers.
• De-sissified Christians need to get rid of the girlie tunes in their churches.
• De-sissified Christians need to get out of their comfort zone (the pews with their names on it)
• De-sissified Christians need to take a yard here and ten yards over there, maybe across their own street -  forget the Hail Mary.
• De-sissified Christians need to throw the bums out. That might start with your church leaders and your local politicians and end with the President.
• De-sissified Christians need to keep others accountable for their actions. WE DO NOT ALLOW PREDATORS to prey on our woman and children, sexual predators or otherwise!
• De-sissified Christians need to have an offensive line and I don’t mean just – Hey Hey, Ho Ho, the far left radicals have to go.

I could go on but I think you get the idea.

Dave Daubenmire — Let’s Try Something Different

By Coach Dave Daubenmire
October 22, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

WARNING: May contain language too harsh for sissified Christians.

Silence isn’t golden…it is yellow. –Zell Miller

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” — Martin Luther

From Timothy Leary to Jerry Ruben, Bill Ayers to the Beatles, Cassius Clay to The Chicago Seven, Harvard Divinity School to Journalism Schools, “leftists” pledged themselves to the “religion” that dominated their lives. “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Western Civ has got to go.” Our parents laughed them off as rebellious children…dirty misfits who would eventually come to their senses.

Some did, but many were true believers, committed to proving to the rest of us that “God is dead”, and proselytizing a moral anarchy called liberation. We couldn’t see it happening, or didn’t want to, as they infested America with the original swine flu that turned American children into hedonistic pigs.

The radical Left was a fringe movement in the 60s, comprised of politically marginalized and socially outcast hippies. Their joke-of-an army consisted of racial minorities, militant feminists, out-of-the-closet homosexuals, environmentalists, student radicals, atheistic intellectuals, counter-cultural revolutionaries and the antiwar movement. Now, four decades later, their once marginal far-left views are normal, mainstream, a cultural majority, and the philosophy of the Obama White House. How did they do it?

They were more faithful to no god than we were to our God. They gained power through persistence and resistance, perversion and conversion, indoctrination and inoculation, organizing and mobilizing, imitation and humiliation, elections and defections, associations and regulations, and infiltration and manipulation. While the “right” voted for candidates, the left became candidates. While the religious argued over Truth, the left re-wrote the truth. While “conservatives” gave to their kids, liberals gave to their causes. The election of Barack Hussein Obama symbolizes the long march of 60’s anti-Americanism sold as “change.” The radical left, birthed from the idea that you couldn’t trust those in power, have seized power.

In April of 2009, James Dobson of Focus on the Family admitted that the cultural war had been lost. “We are awash in evil and the battle is still to be waged. We are right now in the most discouraging period of that long conflict. Humanly speaking, we can say we have lost all those battles.” All one need do is view the evidence of the 60’s outcasts’ effectiveness.

Had enough yet? Are you ready to trade in the old defense for a new offense?

First, get our Christian leadership to get rid of the nicer-than-Jesus image. Clean out the pulpit and get rid of the hirelings who are more concerned about butts and bucks than they are about truth and justice. Demand that your churches begin to organize politically…across denominational lines and raise up, run, and support men of character and integrity who will put an end to the self-serving foolishness going on in America today. I say enough already of the effeminized Christianity.

Bring back the tell-it-like-it-is mentality. No more pussy footing around the issues for fear of “offending” somebody. Silence is the muzzle of dissent. Bring back that “old time language” because words are the weapons in this new “sanitized” warfare. Start speaking the words “homo, communist, pervert, liar, thief, border jumper, sissy, traitor, sodomite, idiot, bum, queer,” and the rest of the words that the NEA and their mafia has declared illegal. Do it often and in public.

Take it to the streets. Every anti-American deviant lifestyle proudly marches down our streets in their latest version of perversion on parade. It is time for the new “counter culture” to flood the streets with gun-toting concealed-carry holders, flag waving veterans, and home school moms chanting “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Political Correctness has to go.”

I appreciate Dr Dobson and his buddies and all that they tried to do. I’m sorry the team he was coaching lost. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

But I’ll be damn if I am ready to quit. Defeat only hardens my resolve. The way I see it the 2nd half kickoff is just getting ready to start and this time our offense is going to take the field. Let’s get rid of all of the Republican cheerleaders and their Pom Poms. The boys are back in town…

Full Article

I think the ELCA vote to allow active homosexuals to become ministers was finally the straw that broke the camel’s back  for me. I will no longer identify with what is today called the Evangelical movement.

Lets face it Satan first came in with his wolves in sheep’s clothing and so corrupted the mainline denominations with the doctrines of humanism that most true Christian left. Now Satan is well on his way of accomplishing the very same thing with those that identified with the evangelicals  that came out of those near dead Sardis mainline churches.

In reality I think over half of people who call themselves evangelicals today have gone off track and are now running on the road to Laodicea. Their worldviews are not from biblical doctrine because they are playing down Bible doctrine. They love to buy into the psychologies and philosophies of the age and more and more are going off into spiritualism influenced by leaders who knowingly or unknowingly are  in the occult. It is getting so bad that you often cannot tell the difference between the teachings and practices of post-modern evangelicals, World Faith heretics and certain demonic cults.

Even many churches that were once well known as Bible churches have drunk the post-modern Kool-Aid. Are you aware of the conflicts within the Nazarene’s, Baptists, EFree’s, etc. on this issues? It seems to me that many leaders have totally lost their Christian minds or at least their Christian worldview reflects that they do not have the mind of Christ.

Christians that believe the Bible is the only infallible reliable guide for Christian faith and practice and believe that truths taught in the Bible are absolute and that they cannot be twisted so they can be politically correct with the world, cannot continue to identify with these leaders calling themselves “evangelicals”.

So here is my quandary. What do we whom once called ourselves evangelicals now call ourselves? The post-modern evangelicals have split the movement and have now made the term “evangelical” meaningless. Worse yet, these people are now becoming the majority among those who call themselves “Evangelicals.

I have not yet heard a good title to identify those you cannot abide the redefining of Christianity from evangelicals. Some might say just call yourself a Bible believing Christian but that really does not work because they also claim to be be Bible believing Christians even though they twist the words to mean what they want or they pick and chose what part of the Bible they want to believe to support humanistic wordviews.

• Calling oneself a Christian is not the answer since 90 percent of people that identify with Christianity seem to be Christians in name only.
• Saying you believe in Christ does not mean much these days since many believe in some concept of Christ make in their own image.
• Saying your a born again Christian has lost its meaning since most who claim to be born again Christians can not even explain the spiritual concept. Some just think being born again just means they were once baptized in a church.  There is no spiritual change in most to indicate that were ever born again in a spiritual rebirth or that the Holy Spirit indwells them.
• If you call yourself one who believes in the absolute fundamental beliefs of the Christian faith you will be labeled a  fundamentalist and you mightl also be labeled  a simpleton who checks your brain at the door. Of course that is not true at all but it might not be wise to try to revive a vehicle that Christians already allowed the world to crash and burn.
• We could call ourselves “the elect” but many that are baptized as infants in liberal churches also claim they are the elect.
• We can say we are Wheaties, breakfast of champions, but the tares will claim we had a false start.

I know that if we do come up with a new name that Satan will soon try to ruin it. However, I think he may run out of time this time around. I see churches of many different denomination splitting into two camps. I think it will break down this way. There will be those that stay on solid biblical ground and there will be those who stand on the shaky ground of  humanism, spiritualism, subjective theories of men and emotionalism.

So what do we call the people who stand on solid biblical doctrine and truth compared to the others? As far as I am concerned they can keep their “Evangelical” title if they want because they already corrupted that word. We know the correct name for these would be more like “Laodicean Harlot’s for Jesus” but if they are the Harlots for Jesus who are we? I might suggest that we are the Bride and Body of Christ through bethrothal to the King (The two will become one flesh – This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.)

I guess we could call ourselves the Body of Christ but pseudo Christians today also claim to be part of the Body of Christ although they have no blood relationship with Jesus. So I guess that title is not exclusive enough.

What to do? Who knows? I am waiting for someone like you to come up with something. We need a one or two word description that fits and that will catch on with true faithful Christians. Like perhaps “Latter Day Philadelphians“.

What say you?

An interesting article was written by Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries. She talks about the 2009 leadership conference or summit lead by Bill Hybel’s Willow Creek Association. Two of the guest speakers for this “leadership” conference will be Tony Blair and Rock Star Bono.

Why would any Christian go to a Christian leadership conference to hear from Tony Blair and Bono? They both are all-paths pseudo Christian heretics. Seems to me that Bill Hybels job was to first dumb down Christianity with his seeker friendly program and then steer the pseudo Christians under his influence into the end time one world religion Harlot of Bible prophecy described in Revelation chapter 17.

Notice that Rick Warren is a board member of the Tony Blair’s Faith Foundation. Warren is even more influential than Hybels in the seeker movement. Also be aware that Tony Blair’s recent conversion to Catholicism was not just some coincidence it was for darn good reason. At some point that church will head this world harlot religion.  With Tony Blair and Bono as speakers this Willow Creek leadership conference ought to be named “The making of a Harlot.

If you count all the churches under the influence of Hybels Creeker Network and Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Movement we are talking about half of the so called evangelical churches in America!  So, in just two decades these two people destroyed the meaning of the term “evangelical Christian”.

So go ahead and continue to tell me that God is behind Rick Warren and Bill Hybels but anyone with an ounce of Christian discernment can see that these men are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

The article clearly points out the issues and gives links where you can get additional information. I hope you will read it.

When Evangelicals Dine with the Wicked

Here is a good follow-up article on Hybels and Warren’s agenda to sell religion as the hope of the world.

While some Christians still get upset enough with government to contract their congressmen and talk about throwing the bums out of office, it seems that many Christians do nothing about the wolves in sheep’s clothing that have infiltrated their own churches.

The threat comes from postmodern leaders with its redefining of Christianity and the Bible. The threat is also known as the Emergent Church. The Emergent Movement now threatens to subvert once evangelical denominations. The Emergent movement is now a major emerging threat in the Nazarene denomination and is also a big threat in Baptists churches and others.

If you do not know what the big deal is about from this Emergent threat click on the link above and read the articles from Eric Bager and find out. Here is also a fair article that generally explains the Emergent Church movement. Not everything about being relevant with the postmodern people of our culture is bad but we must never compromise on the essentials. The Bible must be the final authority for our faith and practice.

Just to point out one example how postmodernism subtly infects the church, I read an article today by Dave Welch on a conservative Christian website about how the Church should hate. The article was talking about the Church hating the same things that God hates. I agree with what Welch said in the article and I am sure Welch does not believe in emergent teaching at all. However, in the article where it quotes what God hates instead of using the Bible, Welch quotes from “The Message”. The Message might be the most postmodern relevant bad paraphrase of the Bible in existence today but it certainly is not the Bible. Are not the six things that God hates clear enough in a real translation that one has to resort to quoting from bad paraphrases of the Bible? Why would an astute Christian even quote from “The Message” anyway? Eugene Peterson the author of “The Message” has no discernment to interpret the Bible because if he had any biblical discernment he would not have endorsed the cover of the heretical postmodern book called “The Shack” ?

Seems to me that the great apostasy is well underway in our church buildings. The wolves in sheep’s clothing are standing in the pulpits and the sheep sitting in the pews do not have enough biblical knowledge to discern the difference between the true gospel and what these men preach. They just follow and approve of everything their pastors do.  After all, these are men of G–O–D.

One example of postmodernism in the seeker movement is Saddleback’s Rick Warren.  I guess he has not been wishy washy enough on all his national platform opportunities already, now he is now going to speak at a Muslim convention to forty thousand Muslims. Now, that would be a great opportunity for a real Christian to give the gospel of Jesus Christ but if Rick Warren gives the gospel at that Muslim convention I will repent and send his church a large donation. I wish he would do that but you know that he won’t, so why is he called America’s pastor? Does he reflect the American Church? Why are Christians even following him? What is our great commission? Seems that most Christians no longer know. What would Paul do (WWPD)? If Paul got the opportunity to speak to Muslims and the world would he talk about what Warren will?  Warren will probably speak on interfaith cooperation and how we all worship the same God. If that is true then why did millions of Christians die for the  gospel of Christ?

If the salt has lost its savior it is good for nothing but to be trampled down and that is why hate speech laws will be passed that will trample down the church in America. “Christians” can only blame themselves.

We need to throw the bums out of our churches and Christian leadership first. Then maybe we will deserve a better government. Don’t expect any grass roots movement to change America if we cannot even get the pew sitters in our churches to install biblical pastors that will preach the gospel of Christ.

One might wonder how this Emergent Church is reaching postmodern young people that they say their programs are designed for? It is not! Churches have lost their youth even with all their postmodern youth pastors and programs. Two thirds of teenagers in Britian now say they do not believe in God. What does that say about how the Church is reaching people with the gospel and the future of Christianity?

It is not that bad in America yet but all polls say it is rapidly heading in that direction. In fact, the majority of church youth that claim to be born again Christians lose their faith by the time they graduate from college. Any astute Christian should know that it is a sin for parents to willing send their kids to our government run schools where they will certainly be brainwashed with godless philosophies of humanistic and demonically inspired men. So why do most pastors not even realize this and teach this to their congregations and suggest alternatives? Could it be because they have become part of the problem with their own emerging postmodern moral relativism?

I quote below some snippets of what Marsha West had to say about what you will find in protestant Christian bookstores. You really need to read the full article to get the true drift into apostasy. Christian bookstores are a good reflection of Christianity in America today. So obviously we can see by what is selling that Christianity in America is becoming increasingly apostate. Is it any wonder then that our nation is also in great decline both morally and economically?

The Christian bookstores and airwaves are full of deception and the people of this nation cannot discern truth because they have become biblically illiterate. It is really getting hard to find churches that have not bought into one of the latest heresies. These are not minor secondary issues either because they address the very fundamentals of the Christian faith. If “Christians” do not believe the fundamental teaching of Christianity how can they even claim that they are Christians? They certainly have a different gospel and a different Jesus then the one found in the Bible.

Another point I think this article makes clear is that many of the books now found in “Christian” bookstores contain heresy. So do not just pick up any book and believe that because it came from a “Christian” bookstore that it is teaching Christian doctrine or concepts. Christians have to be very discerning about who they learn from because we live in very deceptive times.

Marsha West — Be Careful What You Buy in Christian Bookstores

False teachers and charlatans persist solely because Christian’s have become biblically illiterate. Many believers think studying the Bible is so dull and boring that they can’t be bothered anymore. So they’re ripe for the picking. And this is not the exception but the rule!

If it’s true that the Bible is God’s Word, shouldn’t what He says matter to those who believe in Him? Evidently not because many people who say they “love the Lord” have no clue what’s in the Bible – and clearly they don’t care to find out!

Let’s say the Gospels were made up, as the unbeliever claims, how, then, will the person who has given his or her life to Christ know anything at all about Him? Moreover, if the Bible is merely a book of fables, when Jesus was tested by the devil, why did He quote from Deuteronomy 6:6, 6:13, 8:3 and 10:20?

counterfeit Christians are relentless in their plan to deconstruct historical, orthodox Christianity. They want to mold Christianity into a one size fits all religion that appeals to everyone. To be successful they must refashion the Jesus of the Bible into a tolerant, all-inclusive Savior who condemns no one. Sound familiar?

Books that put a positive spin on the cults, the occult, New Age spirituality, Eastern mysticism, homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals transgenders, and what not are available through online Christian outlets as well as in walk-in stores. Here’s a point to ponder: So-called Christian publishing houses are the largest suppliers of outright heresy. Oddly, Christian publishers and outlets are responsible (or should I say irresponsible) for much of the apostasy because they give false teachers a platform for what simply equates to heresy!

It is amazing to see how these once faithful publishers of evangelical orthodoxy are now consistently and deliberately launching a massive but subtle attack against the “Fundamentals” for which Evangelicalism stood courageously against liberalism in the past.”

Visit just about any Christian bookstore (CB) and you’ll see display cases and shelves stocked with spiritual merchandise, including jewelry, figurines, framed pictures, greeting cards, calendars, posters, music – you name it they stock it. But what’s disconcerting about these stores is that they also stock books that not only attack the fundamentals of the faith, some of the books contain out and out heresy! Christian publishers and storeowners have a responsibility to examine the material they sell!

One of the most popular prosperity preachers is Joel Osteen. If you’re a fan of Joel’s, please don‘t stop reading — just hear me out. I realize that it’s hard to believe that Rev. Osteen would steer you wrong. But don’t be fooled by his humble demeanor, his neatly coiffed hair and dazzling smile. Listen to what he says about faith in his best-selling book, “Your Best Life Now”:

“You have to begin speaking words of faith over your life. Your words have enormous creative power. The moment you speak something out, you give birth to it. This is a spiritual principle, and it works whether what you’re saying is good or bad, positive or negative.” [1]

This so-called spiritual principle is “the law of attraction.” New Age guru, Rhonda Byrnes, author of “The Secret” believes “you create your life through your thoughts.” Joel believes the same thing! Those who choose to read his books, attend or watch his church service on TV are sitting under a false teacher!

Joel Osteen is not alone. The Rev. T. D. Jakes is a spiritual advisor to President Obama. He has been labeled a “black Billy Graham.” Yet Rev. Jakes teaches something Billy never taught:

“Jesus was a rich man. He had to have been, in order to have supported his disciples and their families during his ministry.”[2]

In her book “The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make” Joyce Meyer writes this heresy:

“During that time He [Jesus] entered hell, where you and I deserved to go (legally) because of our sin. He paid the price there. …no plan was too extreme. … Jesus said on the cross and in hell.” she continues…. God rose up from His throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless Son of God, ‘Let Him go.’ Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus. …He was resurrected from the dead – the first born-again man. [5]

Admittedly some of Joyce’s teaching is biblical, however her teaching on the Atonement, which is a central doctrine of the faith, is heretical. Why would Jesus Christ, who is God, need to be born again in hell?

Here is a partial list of other word-faith apostates:

Kenneth Hagin, Charles Capps, Oral Roberts, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Paul and Jan Crouch, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Todd Bentley, Paula White, Fred Price, Jerry Savelle, Robert Tilton, Marilyn Hickey, Morris Cerullo, Miles Munroe, Jesse Duplantis, Steve Munsey, Ken Clement and Ed Young

I would be remiss if I failed to mention William P. Young’s mega-selling book “The Shack.” Like ACIM, some church groups use it as a “Bible” study. But is “The Shack” based on sound biblical principles? I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but the answer is a resounding No!

Now, if the anti-Shack folks are right in their assessment of the book’s contents, wouldn’t it be prudent for CBs that choose to sell the controversial book to at least post a disclaimer?

A disclaimer should also be posted next to books by Emerging/Emergent Church (ECM) proponents as these men and women have been roundly criticized for their unorthodox views.

ECM does not hold to the authority of Scripture, hence they are careless in their handling of it. They’re all about political liberalism with a social gospel, pluralism, and universalism. As I pointed out in my article, “Emergent Church Spreading Spiritual Cancer”

Here’s a partial list of prominent voices in ECM:

N.T. Wright, John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas, Ryan Bolger, Wilbert Shenk, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Erwin McManus, Dan Kimball, Scot McKnight, Elizabeth O’Connor, Nancey Murphy, Leonard Sweet, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Donald Miller and Phyllis Tickle.

What I’ve covered here is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to be said about all the garbage sold by so-called Christian publishing companies and bookstores. My desire is not to condemn them; only to bring to light some disturbing trends and to expose a few apostates.

Full article

Many of the leaders of our churches are teaching people how to live a more sanitized life rather than a more sanctified life. One message appeals to the flesh and the other matures the soul. If your in a church that teaches sanitization rather than sanctification you are probably among the majority. Many people today love the sanitization message because the message appeals to their bodies of flesh.

Just because the message is popular with the world does not mean it gives people the truth they need to overcome this evil world or that it helps Christians to grow. In fact, sanitization teachings often encourage baby Christians and non Christians to feel good about living in their fallen nature of flesh. Do not confuse teaching like the prosperity message, the success message and the better living through postmodern religious chemistry message with biblical teaching given for the sanctification of your soul.

The sanitization message appeals to those who want to perfect a body of flesh that God has already condemned. The sanctification message matures the soul of those who will be given a new body perfected by God.

Bob DeWaay in this article aptly shows those with eyes to see the difference between the popular message of sanitization that is preached in many churches and modern movements, and the Biblical message of Sanctification that is increasingly becoming rarely heard.

Sanitization or Sanctification?

A reader phoned me recently and explained how he has seen churches depart from Bible teaching only to institute various programs for better living. He made an intriguing statement: “These programs do not sanctify, they sanitize.” And he was absolutely right about that. Let me unpack that idea and show from Scripture that this is the case.

It is possible to use human wisdom and good advice programs in order to help people achieve better living. It is possible to get an alcoholic sober, an abusive husband to be considerate and caring, a compulsive gambler to quit, a person driven to make money at the expense of family to change priorities, and to help an unhappy person become happy. All of this can be done without any special work of grace. In fact, it can be done without religion at all.

Dispensing human wisdom can produce many satisfied customers. A local pastor, known for preaching the prosperity gospel, was exposed in the newspaper for his lavish lifestyle and possible misappropriation of church funds. One of his members wrote a letter to the editor defending the pastor. The letter writer cited all of the positive changes that had happened since attending that church: a better family, better finances, freedom from addiction, and so forth. But he did not mention anything distinctive to Christianity. Some people who believe the health and wealth gospel actually are healthy and wealthy. But so are some atheists.

Many churches simply have given up salvation and sanctification and settled for sanitization-clean and happy “Christian” living without regard to holiness in the sight of God.

A church becomes filled with unsaved people when “better living through Jesus” teachings and programs become the norm rather than gospel preaching and Bible teaching. The people are there to find the sort of life the atheist bragged about having. They may get a nice, happy life through human wisdom dispensed in the name of Christianity.

But holiness is what such persons cannot find through human wisdom. Holiness comes from a work of grace, not a decision to change some things for the better. Sinners lacking the gospel but sanitized through a church program may end up in a worse condition than before. If, in the name of Christianity, the drunkenness or marriage problems go away, those who benefited may think they are saved when, in fact, they are lost. False assurance is dangerous and if not remedied will lead to eternal damnation.

The good advice approach assumes that humans possess the motivation and ability they need; that they simply need instruction on how to put what they already have to work. The real situation is that we are sinners without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). We do not have an engineering problem; we have a spiritual one. That spiritual problem is remedied by what God does by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8)-not what we do through human wisdom. The Bible tells us to “pursue” sanctification, because without it we will never see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Only sanctification through the blood of Jesus makes us fit to see the Lord. Sanitization through good advice cannot do that.

Full article

Robert Schuller’s mighty glass empire appears to be shattering and his hour of power seems to be on its final minute. Robert A. Schuller is a believer and teacher of Universalism (all will be no saved no human is condemned by sin). He is the father of the gospel of self-esteem and possibility thinking and was one of the top pushers of Christian pop psychology and was also a main figure in the Church Growth Movement,  and those redefining Christianity.

How the mighty have fallen over family feuds and secret sin!

Televangelism empire in chaos over family split (OneNewsNow.com)

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – Once one of the nation’s most popular televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life’s work crumble.

His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, has abruptly resigned as senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. The shimmering, glass-walled megachurch is home to the “Hour of Power” broadcast, an evangelism staple that’s been on the air for more than three decades.

The church is in financial turmoil: It plans to sell more than $65 million worth of its Orange County property to pay off debt. Revenue dropped by nearly $5 million last year, according to a recent letter from the elder Schuller to elite donors. In the letter, Schuller Sr. implored the Eagle’s Club members – who supply 30 percent of the church’s revenue – for donations and hinted that the show might go off the air without their support.

“The final months of 2008 were devastating for our ministry,” the 82-year-old pastor wrote.

The Crystal Cathedral blames the recession for its woes. But it’s clear that the elder Schuller’s carefully orchestrated leadership transition, planned over a decade, has stumbled badly.

It’s a problem common to personality driven ministries. Most have collapsed or been greatly diminished after their founders left the pulpit or died.

full article

Seems almost all of the popular Christian books today are still about “me“. But, for a Christian it should not be about me it should be about thee and Thee. It is time Christians departed from me centered churches and teaching in sake of Thee centered Churches and teaching.

The ‘Me’ Centered Church

The church today has gotten away from its purpose and identity as laid out in Scripture. Again, we do well to remember:

A local church is a group of baptized believers organized together to meet for the equipping of the saints for their ministry; for provoking one another to love and good works; for exhortation; for the exercise of spiritual gifts and the observance of the ordinances (Eph. 4:11-12; Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Cor. 11:18)[8]

The church is not for “seekers” or for “Me centered” people. It is for disciples and “He centered” people. The church can and should reach out to a dying world and that means engaging the culture with the truth that Jesus is the only Way, Truth and Life (Jn 14:6). It also means becoming more like Him daily, walking in faith and His strength. Paul sums this up well when he says:

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.Galatians 2:20

At the end of the day we are all simply beggars telling other beggars where we found bread. Let us bear witness then to this fact in our Culture so that we can change the “seeker sensitive” church of ‘me,’ back to the Bible based church of He.

Matt Smith
Pastor, Barabbas Road Church

Full article

At least three things are certain in life – death, taxes, and new Christian heresies. Seems some cannot endure the truth of scripture so they simply have to make up their own truth by twisting the scriptures and taking passages out of context. This article is a rebuttal of the growing Hebrew Roots movement and all the cults teaching the doctrine of soul sleep. If people would just study their Bible instead of following heretical teachers and their books they would not be sucked into every new damnable heresy. By the way, replacement theology is another of many heresies within this movement. Those in the Hebrew Roots movement are not Jews if they are not physically descended from Jacob. But like the Bible says,

2Tim 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

Newfound “Jews” in the Hebrew Roots Embracing Soul Sleep

There is a growing movement making inroads amongst Protestant churches and Christian homes called the “Hebrew Roots”. Akin to the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, it teaches in fringe studies a salvation based on keeping the Torah where one sleeps through an afterlife until bodies are physically resurrected. The Hebrew Roots movement appeals to Christians who are drawn to studying Israel and the Jews, so much that they are swayed to believe they are Jewish! Taking Scriptures out of context, the movement bases itself an array of unique interpretations for Scripture, making for a new “Jew”, one that was formerly known as “Christian.

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Tony Jones and many other Emergent Church Movement leaders continue to conform to the thinking of an increasingly demented world. If these ECM leaders cannot accept or understand the doctrines the Bible clearly teaches why should anyone in true Christianity even regard them as Christians? They are corrupting the youth of Christians but apparently some Christians think we should just accommodate them and allow them to continue. What would Paul say? It is time for Christian Church leaders to totally separate from these heretical leaders and to regard them as pagans.

1 Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
4  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
5  Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

Christian Worldview Network – Brannon Howse – Tony Jones’ continuous leftward slide into apostasy

Evidently Tony Jones doesn’t believe in God’s transforming power as he has now
concluded that Christians must embrace homosexuality:

“I now believe that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical
Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their
monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state.”

“Liberalism…is not Christianity at all, or, at best, a corrupt version. As J. Gresham Machen argued so eloquently in the last century, liberal Christianity has many appealing features, and much to commend it. In many ways it is a quite fascinating and alluring religion. It even uses all the language of Christianity and holds Jesus in high esteem. But for all that, liberal Christianity just isn’t Christianity. Indeed, Machen argued, it’s not even close.” [4]

Tony Jones’ version of Christianity is corrupt. What he professes is not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, the ECM has all the earmarks of a cult – what Dr. Walter Martin called the “cult of liberal theology.”

should conservative Christians worry about the ECM’s unorthodox teaching and their continual attacks against the historic fundamentals of the faith? Would it be better to just ignore these people and pray that the movement will soon fade away? Or should we fight it tooth and nail?

“Let’s not be confused here nor be too hasty to dismiss Tony Jones’ influence not only within the emergent church, but within the broader professing church itself. It’s easy to think; “Well, he’s only one guy and there is a lot of bad teaching out there”, but if you’re a discerning Christian you will have noticed by now that the post-modern vain philosophies of the emergent/emerging church are deeply infecting the Biblically illiterate youth of our day who are being fed a steady diet of spiritual poison while sitting under the teaching of hirelings. Men like Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, Rob Bell, Dan Kimball and Brian McLaren are influencing an entire generation to embrace vain traditions and a re-imagined theology that runs contrary to the historic, orthodox tenets which are fundamental to the Christian faith itself! This is nothing less than a Counter-Reformation!” [8]

I’ll close with a quote from renowned theologian, Dr. R.C. Sproul:

In every age the church is threatened by heresy, and heresy is bound up in false doctrine. It is the desire of all heretics to minimize the importance of doctrine. When doctrine is minimized, heresy can exercise itself without restraint.

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Its enough to want to make any true missionary of the gospel of Jesus Christ puke. Religious pluralism and world socialism is Rick Warren’s answer for the world not Jesus Christ.

Most “Christians” in this country just do not get it because I am not sure they understand the gospel of Jesus Christ themselves. Christians are told to give the gospel to the whole world so they can die to the bondage of this world and live for Jesus Christ. Instead, people like Rick Warren tell Christians to join with world demonic religions so they can be kept in religious bondage.

This is the number one critical issue in Christianity today. Many who identify themselves as Christians have drank the post-modern pluralistic pragmatic relativism Kool-Aid. They have actually become part of the harlot woman that rides the Beast into power. Notice how subtly the Harlot rides in with human good works but she denies that there is only one Lord. That is why God calls her a Harlot. She played the whore with all the religious of the world to bring in the Beast who will then turn on her and devour her.

Rick Warren=CFR globalism, Religious pluralism=one world harlot religion, Socialism=mans own efforts.

It is time to wake up!

This is not coming from God. That is why those who do not know Jesus Christ so easily embrace Rick Warren.

Spare me, but “Rick Warren says the right things when in Christian company”. So did Jim Jones at first. What is Rick Warren really leading the church into? That should be the real question!
Paul Proctor just wrote an article that goes more into the issues Christians partner with pagans for a better world. I did not known that Richard Land of the SBC was also in the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). What a fine worldly globalist outfit these “Christian” leaders are yoked up with.

Eboo Patel: Rick Warren, Interfaith Activist – On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Rick Warren is our new Billy Graham – at the center of not only his own Christian tradition, but of American civil religion as well. Churches follows his direction (most recently into Rwanda), and political candidates seek his blessing (Exhibit A: The Saddleback Forum).

There has been a lot of talk about the risks that Warren has taken – inviting the pro-choice Obama to address a decidedly pro-life gathering on the topic of AIDS, for example.

Another risk he is taking – more subtle, perhaps, but equally profound – is around religious diversity.

Last week at the Clinton Global Initiative, Warren was asked how “the church” could help to solve poverty. His response was to rattle off the numbers of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims and Christians in the world – in that order – and make a plea that the public and private sectors take seriously “the faith sector as the third leg of the stool of successful development”.

Warren consistently used the language of a religious pluralist. He spoke of “mosques, temples and churches” as central to the life of villages in the developing world. He underscored the fact that there are huge numbers of people of faith in the world, and huge numbers of houses of worship in places where clinics, banks and schools don’t exist. Those people of faith can be trained to be the arms and legs of any development plan, and those houses of worship can double as clinics, banks and schools.

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I ran across a couple of good articles on the postmodern emergent church movement. First Norman L. Geisler wrote a really brilliant article on this movement. This is probably the most informative article about the emergent movement that I have ever seen

Below is just the first paragraph of the article but the whole article is packed with Geisler’s brilliant logical way of presenting information

There is one key influence on the Emergent Church movement—postmodernism. While not all Emegents accept all premises of post-modernism, nonetheless, they all breathe the same air. Post modernism embraces the following characteristics: 1) The “Death of God”—Atheism; 2) The death of objective truth—Relativism; 3) The death of exclusive truth—Pluralism; 4) Death of objective meaning—Conventionalism; 5) The death of thinking (logic)—Anti-Foundationalism; 6) The death of objective interpretation—Deconstructionism, and 7) the death of objective values—Subjectivism.
From post-modernism Emergents devise the following key ideas: They consider themselves: 1)Post-Protestant; 2)Post-Orthodox; 3)Post-Denominational; 4)Post-Doctrinal; 5) Post-Individual; 6) Post-Foundational; 7) Post-Creedal; 8 )
Post-Rational, and 8)Post-Absolute. It is noteworthy that “post” is a euphemism for “anti.” So, in reality they are against all these things and more.
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Next Jan Markel wrote an article Will the Emergent Church submerge yours. Jan’s article puts together some bullet statements on the warning signs of a church that is buying into the Emergent movement. If your seeing them you need to do what you can to change the postmodern thinking and if you cannot get leaders in your church to stay on solid ground you may have to relocate.

I think one key point is what they believe about Bible prophecy if they think it all happened in the past and the Church is Israel and that you need to help bring in a socialistic kingdom on earth here and now, you probably are in a very liberal mainline Church or your in a postmodern emergent church or both.

What would you think if you went to a physician and he purposely make things up as he went along in regards to your medical treatment? He called himself a Board Certified Purpose Driven specialist. Whatever he think works is the best treatment.

What if you took a formal English course because it was a required course for your advancement and the professor taught you ghetto slang instead? He said you need to be able to be able to communicate with the underclass.

What if you were blind and the word scanner paraphrased the words out of your calculus text book because the program designer believed that truth is relative?

What if you go to Bible college to learn the Bible and they teach you how to do everything but learn proper biblical exegesis. Guess what, the latter is happening all over this country.

Christian Worldview Network – Brannon Howse – Pastoral Malpractice and the Visible Church

Suppose you were to contract a potentially serious medical condition and went to see a doctor. Upon asking him details about the diagnosis and medical consequences you found out that he does not take medical literature literally. In addition, he has not kept up on the latest medical research and has been out of medical school for several decades. He prefers to make his patients happy and comfortable rather than to force them to confront the truth about their health condition. Would you see such a doctor? Neither would I. Such a doctor eventually could be found guilty of malpractice.

I have assumed in Warren’s case that he indeed has the tools to perform sound exegesis. Some of the other leaders of large congregations—Bill Hybels, Robert Schuller, or Joel Osteen—likely are capable of doing sound Biblical exegesis and correctly applying the Bible to the lives of those who attend their churches. But sadly they often do not use sound exegesis—or even use the Bible as the main source of their messages.

Pastor Warren may be correct that you cannot do both—expound important Biblical topics and appear attractive to seekers at the same time. But I disagree completely with the idea that we must appear attractive to lost sinners. We need to preach Christ to lost sinners so that they can know the terms of the gospel. That is the only valid “diagnosis” that will do them any good. In the book of Acts this was done up front, and not through a back door after presenting an alternative that would seem attractive to people in their lost state.

The Bible does not give pastors the liberty to handle the Bible in a sloppy manner.

The issue of motivation to develop the skills and use the tools to perform Biblical exegesis also has reached seminaries. Because of a growing lethargy concerning Biblical interpretation and sound doctrine, many have turned to such sidetracks as “marriage and family therapy” or deceptive mysticism such as “spiritual formation.” Young people from around the country have written us stating that they want to go into the ministry but cannot find a school where they can gain a solid theological education without being subjected to postmodernism, mysticism, the therapeutic gospel, or church growth theory. If many churches are not looking for those who “labor in word and doctrine,” seminaries have little market to train people to do just that. So we find ourselves in the lamentable situation where young people who want to be godly pastors trained with the tools to accurately handle the Bible have difficulty finding a place to be educated, and those who actually do find such an education have difficulty finding churches that want them. As a result, our evangelical movement has grown accustomed to pastoral malpractice as though it were the norm.

The standards are strict and generally well observed for those who treat our bodies and cure our physical ailments. But the standards for those who care for our souls have fallen woefully short.

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According to Julia Duin evangelicals are fleeing their churches and not attending on Sunday. There are probably several things going on here besides Duin not counting some non denominational churches that are growing. Has anyone considered that maybe half of the people in the seeker friendly churches that are now so prominent across America were never Christians in the first place? They were brought in by hype and great expectation for a purpose driven life but they never believed or were given the gospel of Salvation that defines a Christian.

Let me make a few observations. I occasionally attended a large mega church in St Louis and the pastor realized that even through he was having alter calls and scores of people were emotionally coming to the alter each Sunday for salvation or renewal the church was no longer growing. He realized the people were going out the back door as fast as they went in the front door. He soon changed to follow the format of Willow Creek Church and adopted the seeker sensitive church growth model. He no longer gave alter calls and did not present a dynamic gospel message on Sundays but mainly presented an entertainment packed gospel light service that would appeal to young professionals. Now almost two decades later the Church still has about the same attendance numbers as it had before he switched to the Creeker format but the people in attendance today are almost a completely different membership. In others words in 15 or so years there has been a ninety percent turnover in the membership. He replaced a church of fervent believers with all Baby Boomer Evangelicals and seekers.

This has been going on in many seeker sensitive churches across the country. They cater to the unbelievers and lose their core Church membership. They pad their church board with those who will agree with the pastor’s seeker model and drive out the leadership that wish to retain biblical teaching on Sunday. In addition, the seekers are not going to the mid week services to learn the gospel of salvation like the leadership had hoped. So the seekers stick around for a little while and also leave out the back door seldom to be seen again

Even Bill Hybells the father of the Creeker Movement of churches has recently admitted that the seeker sensitive church growth model has been a failure. He said it did not produce mature Christians. He and others are now rethinking everything and probably looking for a new gimmick to bring people in and keep them in attendance. The whole Emergent Church movement is doing likewise.

The problem is that the Body of Christ is not grown through gimmicks and entertainment services. It is grown through conversion to Jesus Christ through hearing and believing the gospel and this does not happen unless the gospel is given and the Holy Spirit draws them (not Elvis impersonators). Gimmicks of the church might get people to attend on Sundays for awhile but that wears off and most soon leave.

Also, the local church spiritual health is not based on numbers. It is based on Spirit indwelt Christians with gifts of the Spirit that are using these gifts for the good of the whole Body. The Body does not even have to be in Sunday attendance for that to happen. The Church needs to work beyond the four walls that many assembly in on Sunday. Much too often those who do attend each Sunday think that have done their Christian service and their calling because they attended the Sunday gathering service. No. They have just attended a Sunday gathering service. If you want to do what Christians were called to do you need to be helping to fulfill the great commission using your gifts to build up the Body of Christ in order for the Body of Christ (the Church) to actually fulfill the great commission. Grow the membership in the Body of Christ and the Church will be attending and it will be doing its job. This does not happen just on Sunday but every day of the week and that job will never primarily be done under the roofs of church building.

The buildings are primarily there for the use of the Church not for the use of unbelievers. I have encountered many Bible believing Christians that will not attend a Church building because of what they feel goes on under these roofs and we all know that their arguments are often valid. So the solution might be for pastors to start looking more at third world models where the Church is actually living out Christianity daily rather than the latest Madison Ave westernized two hour Sunday media event model.

I believe if all the big Church buildings in America disappeared the Church in America would be much more effective and dynamic being a Church that goes out into the streets.

Sunday Morning, Staying Home

According to Julia Duin, a religion reporter for the Washington Times, more and more evangelicals are in fact fleeing their churches. Indeed, Ms. Duin regards church-quitting, at least among evangelicals, as nothing less than an epidemic. The problem, in her view, is not in the souls of the church quitters but in the character of the churches they choose to leave. “Something,” she observes, “is not right with . . . evangelical church life.”

The faults she points to–relying on her own reporting and survey data–are many. They are surprising, too, running counter to the stereotype of evangelicals bonding happily in their churches. She reports, among other things: a lack of a feeling of community among church members, inducing loneliness and boredom; church teaching that fails to go beyond the basics of the faith or to reach members grappling with suffering or unanswered prayer; pastors who are either out of touch with their parishioners or themselves unhappy, or who fail to shepherd their flocks, or who are caught up in scandal, or who try to control the lives of church members in a high-handed way. She claims that many churches have “inefficient leadership models” and that many, preoccupied with the care of families, neglect single people.

According to Ms. Duin, churches dedicated to making disciples will “do well in this era of dumbed-down, purpose-driven, seeker-friendly Christianity.” But is that really true? From a theological perspective, there is no guarantee that churches will prosper as they attempt to make disciples–if we judge prosperity by church membership alone. A church might conscientiously carry out its biblical tasks and yet, by measures of popularity, do poorly in this world. Such a church would not be doing right if it adjusted its mission for the sake of higher attendance records.

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Two Charismatic leaders question there own discernment and actions in regard to Todd Bentley. That is a good first step but it seems the initial corrections only comes from Christians outside their movement. Only after the circus act is exposed by secular reporters or the leaders fall from their own immoral lifestyles do the Word-Faith leaders claim to see the errors of their ways. These circus acts have been going on for over thirty years in the Charismatic Word-Faith arenas. I have witnessed one after another.

So don’t you Word-Faith Charismatics think it is about time to fix the problem by returning to knowledge of scriptures rather than relying on your tingly feelings and the words from your self appointed anointed? Remove the hucksters and profiteers from among you, and admit that the leaders that you have been putting on pedestals are just fallible people who should always be checked out against God’s Word. They are not a new wave of prophets, healers and apostles bringing new revelations signs and wonders. Until you face up to that fact, the three ring circus will just get a new ringmaster and move somewhere else. Just like it has for decades.

Christian Worldview Network – Brannon Howse – The Needed Closure on Todd Bentley

I dodged the questions about the revival in recent radio interviews I did in other parts of the United States. Finally, I refused to answer the hundreds of e-mails I got about the “revival” from other folks all over the world. In essence, I protected my flock from the three-ring circus and hoopla but did nothing to protect the Body of Christ as a whole.

Hindsight they say is 20/20. It now turns out that all of the rumors were true. It now turns out that the scriptural discernment was correct. It now turns out that this was the same craziness without accountability that the leadership of the sponsoring church is known for. The three-ring circus has been packed up, the tents have been taken down, and the moral failure has been announced. Everyone involved is pushing back, and thousands of hurting people are left questioning God and their salvation.

The question that I now have to ask myself and the question that will haunt me for quite a while is this. Did I sit on the sidelines while the playing field burned? Should have I blogged about it and spoken out about it publicly — done more to get the word out to the rest of the world that this whole thing was about Todd and not God? I took care of my own house — but should I have done more to take care of the entire neighborhood?

Charismatic leader Dutch Sheets also humbled himself stating, “My assignment from the Lord is to repent on behalf of the leadership of the Charismatic Body of Christ. We have failed the Lord and His people in many ways. We must repent if we are to be trusted in the future. We, the leaders of the Charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma, whether they can prophesy, or work a miracle.”

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