And then I realized that God just loved me the way I was

May 18, 2008

Jay Bakker says that God loves homosexuality. Jay is Emergent. He is a poster boy for what the lusts of the flesh can produce. He came to the conclusion that God told him that homosexuality is not sin. Jay is the pastor of a nightclub church in NYC, so he is well versed in scripture. But he’s not citing scripture as he defends homosexuality. It’s funny (sad) how that always seems to get left out when preachers justify sin.

Jay, brother, I have news for you. God hates homosexuality (Lev 18; Lev 20; Rom 1; 1Cor 6; 1Ti 1; and Jude). Read those passages, brother! The LORD puts homosexuality in the same category as infanticide, incest, beastiality, adultery, pornography, idolatry, witchcraft, covetousness, drunkenness, extortion, and theft.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (Joh 3:10-21)

The love of God provided the blood of the lamb, which is given to redeem you from the curse of sin. But you’re one of those Red Letter Christians who ignores half of the red letters. Aren’t you, Jay?

HT: Apprising Ministries

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Through The Lusts Of Their Own Hearts

May 18, 2008

How many so-called Christians think that the Bible is a good book with flaws? There must be quite a few. Consider the Moonies, the Mormons, the Anglicans, the Roman Catholics, the Quakers, the SDA’s, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Emergers… I’d better stop before I offend somebody.

Paul tells us, in Romans 1, that God gives people up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts.

We live in a sex-obsessed culture. Heterosexuals are just as guilty of sin as homosexuals. The flesh is exalted in our mega-churches. Corruption thrives everywhere else men add philosophy or tradition to the plain teaching of the Holy Bible. That guilt conditions people to turn their ears toward reprobates like Gene Robinson.

It’s interesting how nuanced attitudes toward sexual perversion can become. I was just reading an article on Wikipedia that cites the opinion of an ASPCA doctor. He said that no evidence exists to show that beastiality leads to sexual deviation. That’s right, what was once deviation has been reclassified. The Anglicans reclassified homosexuality a long time ago by reclassifying God’s Word prohibiting it. Those parts of scripture became errant and the deviation became acceptable.

The Bible says homosexuality is deviation. Gene Robinson says it is blessed.

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The Nine Cracks in the Emergent Pillars - Crack #2

April 14, 2008

We’re examining the Nine Pillars that the Emergent church is founded on. The list of foundational points comes from Brad Cecil.

2. Language is limited

I said that I agree with this point in my first post on this subject. I must now eat crow, because I don’t agree with this point at all. This second excuse is also a matter of pragmatism.

God seems to think language is sufficient enough. The Bible comes to us through words. The LORD used language as the primary means to communicate His will and purpose to men for the last 6,000 years. Take a simple phrase like “the LORD spoke”. That phrase appears 143 times in the Old Testament. Revelation came to men as “the word of the LORD” 242 times in the OT and that phrase can be found 13 times in the New Testament. Paul tells that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom 10:17).

Satan tempted Jesus after the LORD fasted in the wilderness, telling him to turn a stone into bread. Jesus answered him saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4).

Conversation, which Emergents seem to worship, is dependant on language! So, if we concede to this point about language being “limited”, then what is to be accomplished by conversation?

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Regressive Churchianity and Homosexual anti-Jesus

April 13, 2008

The Center for Regressive Progressive Churchianity Christianity represents an unbiblical view of Christianity. Their view of Christ is very low. They don’t mind promoting a homosexual anti-Jesus. How is that possible? Well, it’s like Tony Jones says in his latest book, it’s the theology. Tony ought to know, because his theology one of existentialism and doubt.

Let look at the 8 Points of Regressive Churchianity and see what they say about Jesus. Bear in mind that this crowd supports government sponsored abortatoriums and a homosexual anti-Jesus.

Point

Which Jesus?
1. Proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God Jedi Mind-trick Jesus

Rather than assuming that Jesus is a sacrificial savior, or “The Savior,” this first statement suggests that one can be a Christian by considering oneself a follower of Jesus’ teachings and using his life, as we know it, as a model. It can also be implied that for those Christians Jesus and Jesus’ teaching provide a way to experience, relate to or approach that Energy, that Force or that Presence we choose to call God.
2. Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God’s realm Space Cadet Jesus

Today with our awareness of black holes, post quantum physics, multiple dimensions and multiple and expanding universes, it is impossible to believe that any one religion could have the whole picture or the correct understanding of God, let alone have an exclusive path to that God. To suggest anything else would be at best, arrogant. More importantly, many Christians today find that learning about other religions and even encompassing some practices from these traditions has enhanced their understanding of their own religion, has augmented to their personal religious experiences and deepened their faith.
3. Understand our sharing of bread and wine in Jesus’s name to be a representation of God’s feast for all peoples Do This to Forget Me Jesus

Progressive Christians then assume that we are following the instructions and the model of Jesus when we practice open communion. We are acting out of a long tradition and a fundamental expression of God’s love, the heart of the original Jesus movement. Of course the real challenge is to continue to live our daily lives with that same attitude of openness, or in Dr. Crossan’s words, with radical egalitarianism, after we leave the safety of our sanctuaries.
4. Invite all sorts and conditions of people to join in our worship and in our common life as full partners, including (but not limited to): believers and agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics, homosexuals and heterosexuals, females and males, the despairing and the hopeful, those of all races and cultures, and those of all classes and abilities, without imposing on them the necessity of becoming like us Go and Sin More Jesus

Progressive Christians take a different approach. From our reading of the gospels, we have come to the conclusion that the followers of Jesus are to welcome all people without imposing on them the necessity of changing their attitudes, their culture, their understanding of the faith, or their sexual orientation. To take this position a step farther, we would also say that the established members of a church should always be alert to the possibility that they are the ones who must do the changing. They always must be ready to adapt themselves to the people they hope to welcome.
5. Think that the way we treat one another and other people is more important than the way we express our beliefs Whatever You Believe Jesus

Because progressive Christians do not demand that new members change to mirror the existing core beliefs of the membership of a church, some people have accused them of having no moral standards. Their accusers, however, may be confusing cultural norms with morality. By putting behavior ahead of belief in a hierarchy of values, progressive Christians are insisting that followers of Jesus are bound to treat their fellow human beings with kindness and respect. … The changes that are required in people who want to follow Jesus would include giving up greed, coercion, exploitation, and oppression as behavioral norms both in the church and in society.
6. Find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in the questions than in the answers Confucian Confusion Jesus

According to the gospels, Jesus rarely gave a straight answer to a straight question. Instead he responded with another question or told a puzzling story. At the risk of disappointing his questioners, Jesus put them in a position of having to think for themselves. Rather than offer his disciples answers to life’s most perplexing problems, Jesus introduced them to deeper and deeper levels of ambiguity. Matthew’s collection of Jesus’s aphorisms, known as the Sermon on the Mount, shows how Jesus confronted his disciples with contradictions.
7. See ourselves as a spiritual community in which we discover the resources required for our work in the world: striving for justice and peace among all people; bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers No Mercy for the Fetus Jesus

Jesus experienced God in a profoundly intimate way as the “Parent of all of creation.” As a result of this extraordinary relationship it seems that Jesus, like others who have had such experiences, had a clear vision about the interconnectedness of all life. As part of that reality, Jesus recognized every human being as a child of one God. For him, one’s identity began and ended by simply being God’s child. Any other identifying factor was secondary to this truth and likely a distraction (e.g., family, wealth, status, position). As a child of God, every human deserves dignity and justice regardless of status in this world. Anything less would be an affront to God or sin against God.
8. Recognize that our faith entails costly discipleship, renunciation of privilege, and conscientious resistance to evil–as has always been the tradition of the church Pick Your Evil Jesus

Genuine concern for other people includes resisting any forces that would drain them of energy, deny them sustenance, rob them of dignity, or destroy their hope. Progressive Christians believe that the resistance to evil in society, rather than the enhancement of our social position, has always been both an obligation and an opportunity for those who follow Jesus.

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Many False Christs

April 8, 2008

I am glad to see others talking about the heresy that Oprah is teaching. That hyperlink will take you to a YouTube video. Take note of what Oprah says at about 3:15 minutes in to it. Her spiel about “the absolute indescribable hugeness of that which we call God“. That statement parallels the Emergent church’s statement about the Gospel, that it “is the irreducible good news of God, ultimately delivered in the person of Jesus Christ“.

I hate to sound like a conspiracy nut, but the Gospel is being attacked in bold ways and with big money. Joel Osteen attacks it on TV screens across America every week from a crossless pulpit. Doyle Davidson, a drunken lecher, attacks it from his pulpit nightly. Osteen has a huge following. Davidson has a small cult. Osteen and Davidson have similar ministries.

Osteen leads people away from the cross by avoiding all discussion of sin. He focuses on prosperity, wealth, and opportunity. His weapons are a pleasing words, a nice smile, and lots of cash. Osteen has people close to him that prop him up and make apologies for his crossless brand of Churchianity.

Davidson leads people away from the cross by bringing every issue down to a matter of demon possession. He focuses on his own lusts, disappointments, and his own self-righteousness. His weapons are bottle of whiskey, endless prayers of repetition, and his own Jezebel-doctrine. Davidson has people to prop him up too, and they make apologies for his sickening presence and preaching.

One brand of churchianity is no better than the other.

Back to Oprah. At about 4:40 minutes into the video, she talks about a “search for something more than doctrine started to stir within” her. She relates this to a time in her late twenties. She was sitting in church and the pastor said, “And the LORD thy God is a jealous god”. Her response was, “God is jealous of me?” She says that she rejected that teaching because her inner spirit didn’t agree with it.

That makes sense, right? What does Exodus 20:5, Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24, Deuteronomy 5:9, Deuteronomy 6:15,and Joshua 24:19 have to do with the truth about God? No, Oprah says that God is love and God is in all things.

Back to the video again. She turns to Eckhart Tolle (about 4:50 minutes) for a critique of Christian faith…”Man made god in his own image. The eternal, infinite, and unnamable was reduced to a mental idol that you had to believe in and worship as my-god our our-god“. They go on to talk about Christ-consciousness, making false Christs out of everyone who will embrace their doctrine. The say that Christ is all about a feeling and not about a belief. How does Oprah’s New Age teaching parallel the teaching of Emergent leaders?

PS: Please note that Tolle is a pseudo Red Letter christian.

HT: Slice of Laodicea

UPDATE 04/09/2008: The video referred to above promotes a book and an author that I don’t wish to promote. That author is apparently a shameless plagiarist, and she does more harm than good to the name of Christendom with her unsavory methods. Nevertheless, the video does a great job of presenting the spiritual poison that Oprah is peddling.

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Sin in America

March 20, 2008

Albert Mohler has a recent post about opinions that my countrymen have on sin. A survey, by Ellison Research, reflects the increasing popularity of sexual sins.

The survey clearly demonstrates a double standard that Americans cling to. A little over half of the people said that homosexuality is sinful, but they don’t seem to think that other sexual sins are as bad.

That double standard is the grease that serves to hasten our downward slide toward total depravity. This also means that there is a lot of “secret” sexual sin in our churches. The collective conscience of America is seared daily by the filthy talk, nakedness, and lewd deeds that pepper our media and entertainment.

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