PENTECOSTALISM: Some needed questions are asked about Todd Bentley!

Life After Lakeland: Sorting Out the Confusion - Fire In My Bones

In his latest "Fire In My Bones" column, J. Lee Grady asks some needed questions of his faith family ... but I've grown weary of reporting on the embarrassing lives of the Pentecostals and the Episcopalians, so go to Grady's column and read it for yourselves.

I will, however, post the questions so you'll have them in your mind before you get there.

1. Why did so many people flock to Lakeland from around the world to rally behind an evangelist who had serious credibility issues from the beginning?

2. Why didn’t anyone in Lakeland denounce the favorable comments Bentley made about William Branham?

3. Why did God TV tell people that “any criticism of Todd Bentley is demonic”?

4. Why did a group of respected ministers lay hands on Bentley on June 23 and publicly ordain him? Did they know of his personal problems?

5. Can anything good come out of this?

Grady answers his own questions but they leave me as repulsed as did Bentley's original snake oil pitch.

The answers to these questions won't be found in Grady's article, they are simple answers and are found elsewhere! Do you know where?

Christianity, Heresy, Hubris,
Pentecostalism, Religion

SOTERIOLOGY: Did anyone catch Obama's heretical statement!

Obama's German presidential speech | American Thinker Blog

It is so hard to be perfect in our speech in this fallen world but leaders (sectarian or otherwise) who profess a religious element in their worldviews must be doubly vigilant with their words. Obama blew this one ...

The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand. The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand. These now are the walls we must tear down.

That's the key paragraph in BO's tear down those walls comment ... now answer these basic questions:

1. How will the Jews tear down the Mosaic Law wall - salvation by works? They rejected the One who offered to tear it down; what makes Obama supporters believe he can do what Christ alone can do?
   
2. How will the Mohammedans tear down their own peculiar salvation by works wall? War, deprivation, oppression, and the Crusaders couldn't get it torn down; so now a young American politician from Chicago has the answer?
   
3. And, how will we Christians tear down the wall of the blood of Jesus Christ? [Luke 22:20] No flesh has the power to do that; yet does Obama have the temerity to tell us all to tear it down?
   

These simple questions are only three of many that come to mind. Then consider this ...

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD." [Matthew 10:34-36]

That sounds like a pretty indestructible wall to me!

What arrogant carelessness is it to treat profound articles of religious conviction as mere human constructs.

What simple-minded foolishness to assume religious doctrines, established by centuries of faithful adherents, are common religious conventions ... created by human will, ergo eradicated by human will!

Name one individual mentioned in Scripture capable of deceiving the masses all at once?

Christianity, German speech,
Obama, Religion, Soteriology

MEGA-ANGLICAN ANGST: A family reunion that's not!

Quarter of world's Anglicans boycott conference - Yahoo! News

When 25% of a royal family's princes stay away from a once each century family reunion ... you've got a regal knot in your imperial breeches!

Church officials said that 230 of the 880 bishops in the Anglican worldwide communion were staying away from the Lambeth conference being staged in the English cathedral city of Canterbury, spiritual home of the deeply divided church.

Referring to Gene Robinson, the queer Bishop from New England, who was forced to stay away from Lambeth, and remains the catalytic issue for the boycott, Reuters said ...

Robinson, whose decision to be open about his homosexuality provoked so much Anglican angst, agreed it was time for the church to stop being so self-obsessed.

"With young men knifing each other in the streets of London [a reference to the "growing knife" culture of the capital city] and a billion or more people going through life on less than a dollar a day, what a shame , what a waste it is for the Anglican communion to be tearing itself apart over two men or two women who want to make a Christian family together," he told Reuters.

How magnanimous!

Your denomination has just certified you a heretic in the least offensive and most unofficial-official way possible (like a director of a corporation being excluded from the firm's annual meeting by the other directors) and you wax eloquent about their corporate failure to stop English violence and global poverty. Not a word about the cause of it all: your personal failure.

Simultaneously, you reveal an extremely low opinion of Scripture's infallibility and inspiration, dissing (by extension) the Creator of the Living Word, thus disparaging the nature and magnitude of it, and ignoring two thousand years of biblical scholarship, as-well-as the collective wisdom of the men and women who were motivated to that scholarship.

Wow! What arrogance!

Apparently Robinson and the Reuters reporter did combine to forecast one likely outcome ...

... it will end with a typically fudged Anglican consensus, [the Gay cleric] said "It will drive the press crazy. There will be no resolutions, no proclamations, no lines drawn in the sand."

And this is a once in a century conference ... ho-boy! Forgive us all sweet Jesus, Your heart must be heavy these days.

Anglican, Christianity, Heresy,
Gene Robinson, Lambeth, Religion

CHARISMATICS: I see, since we fail at Spiritual War let's have Civil War!

Can We Avoid a Charismatic Civil War? - Fire In My Bones | J. Lee Grady - Charisma Magazine

Some leaders say the controversial Lakeland Revival is forcing us to choose sides. But I don’t believe God wants to split our movement.

Not too long ago I posted on a Charismatics meeting in Florida ... at the time I smelled a rat in the grain silo. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was clearly waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Charisma's Grady not only drops the other white buck but raises the curtain on the slain bearded lady, fills our teeth with genuine pyrite, stops the spin on Pentecostal unity, and pricks Elmer's bubble while he's at it.

Speaking of his personal experiences and convictions concerning false teachers and prophets (my terms), Grady reveals all is not well with the white patent leather crowd.

I was jolted into reality in May after I wrote an online column [CRIB link] in which I raised honest questions about some of Bentley’s teachings and techniques. Even though I celebrated his passion and zeal, and praised God for the healings that were reported in Lakeland, I was immediately branded a revival critic and banished to the [enemy] camp.

I became the bad guy because, by asking questions, I was “relying on my intellect.”

I think many of us have been in that frying pan ... yet Christ's experiences with truth-telling exceed ours by an infinite measure.

Surely, I imagined, my Christian brothers and sisters do not really think it is wrong for a Spirit-filled believer to test the spirits (which we are instructed to do in 1 John 4:1), discern truth (see 2 Pet. 3:17) or evaluate prophecies and angelic encounters (see 1 Cor. 14:29, Gal. 1:6-8).

But now I realize that some people really want a war.

Grady recommends both sides consider three alternatives to a war ...

1. Let’s accept one another. “so that there may be no division in the body” (1 Cor. 12:25, NASB).
2. Let’s admonish one another. Anything I say, even if it is corrective, must be said in love (see Eph. 4:15).
3. Let’s pray for one another (see James 5:16).

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma Magazine

This is admirable but falls horribly short of God's glory. Words like rebuke, repudiation, curse come to mind ... but then I'm a fallen man, just like them, who am I to point fingers.

Apart from a direct intervention of God, this can't end well.

Charismatics, Christianity,
Pentecostals, Religion

CHURCH: The Late Great Body of Christ!

Recent survey results show a pitiful and putrefactive body of "christians" in the good ol' USA ... a kilometer wide and and a millimeter deep.

One thing is clear, as Billy Graham is given credit for saying,

"on Sunday mornings, the church is the richest mission field on earth."

Like Bambi, the people in our churches are some of the loveliest in the world, truly a joy to know. Yet again, like Bambi, when looking out of their darkness into the bright light of the Word of God, they stare, open-eyed, unblinking, not knowing whether to fight or flee.

Ironically, the pew people (plumbers, housewives, lawyers, mechanics, clerks, the unemployed, the dysfunctional, school teachers, and high-school dropouts) truly believe they know more about pastoring than pastors ... and they also believe it is their job in life to tell us.

How would it be if we dropped in on them, during the day, and waxed on about what they are doing and the way they are doing it?

Pastors were not to be their people's friends, they are to be their shepherds; they are to preach the Word, in season and out!

If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew. Billy Graham

All these visitation and relational programs are nothing but worldly human waste. The clergy is not better than the laity but they sure as h___ weren't intended to be tied up in an interpersonal touchy-feely wasteland.

Face it my peers, bringing the mulch of the world into the garden of God has produce weeds, not fruit! On any given Sunday morning, over half the people listening to you are lost ... LOST!!! What good is your new series on parenting to them? What good does it do to proclaim a "green" series them? What good does it do to preach the Ten Commandments to them? They need to know the meaning of the bronze serpent on the staff before they can comprehend the Manna from heaven.

What they need, and are not getting, is a message concerning their being "sinners in the hands of an angry God." [For a sad commentary see Yale's intro to this great message.]

Apostates, Christianity,
Church, Religion, Sinners

END TIMES: Convergence of the unrelated!

Two unrelated stories got me thinking:

first, the revelation that, in a Pew Forum survey, nearly 60% of those who indicated an evangelical worldview believed there are many roads that lead to heaven and,

second, an offer to sell an original, first edition copy of George Orwell's seminal ditty "nineteen eighty-four" with an accompanying quote, "He loved Big Brother."

How thought provoking that quote is in light of the sad condition of the Bride of Christ. Everywhere I turn, people are open to and looking for authentic Christianity ... but the visible church (including me) has done its best to conceal the real thing from the unsaved masses.

I'm not surprised the people (searching for real truth) love Big Brother and buy into his lies. Bottom-line, however, the church, like Peter, will soon hear the cock crow for her virtual denial of Christ.

Big Brother, Bride of Christ,
Christianity, Church, Religion

PROPHETIC VOICE: Unless we repent ... !

Chuck Colson is wincing at the message of a ...

... new book, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity . . . And Why It Matters.

And what people think is what they believe ... until they are shown otherwise.

[David] Kinnaman and [Gabe] Lyons spent three years polling young, unchurched Americans to find out what they thought about Christianity. Millions of young people, they discovered, see us as judgmental, hypocritical, anti-homosexual, too political, insensitive—and boring. Ouch!

I know what they mean; many believers (myself included) see contemporary Christians in this same way. Why?

Because they are! (Let me qualify my opinion by narrowing the sample size to "western" Christianity.)

As the authors write, “Many of those outside of Christianity . . . reject Jesus because they feel rejected by Christians.”

And it's not just unbelievers who feel rejected by believers; far too many believers feel rejected by believers.

Not more than a half an hour ago I was discussing (with a member of my church) the Christian wounded found lying on the highway of Christian service. I told him it wasn't non-believers passing them by that bothered me, but the believers who walked by pretending not to notice (I can't bring myself to admit they actually do not notice; consider the implications if true).

I have an opinion about this ... I believe it is a direct result of two aberrant lay-theologies: Hop-a-long and Get-a-long theology.

The former refers to that theology among lay Christians which says, "I'll visit here, but not get involved, that way I can hop-a-long when I see something I don't like." These are your pew sitters and church hoppers.

The latter refers to that theology among moderately committed church-goers; which says, "Why can't these church leaders just go-a-long to get-a-long? Why do they have to take the bible so seriously? Who are they to judge? People don't want that." These are your self-righteous, stealth-liberals; the ones who surprise everyone when they vote to throw the pastor out based on unfounded accusations.

Colson has his own opinion ...

Sometimes we do come across as judgmental, anti-homosexual, and excessively politicized. And all too often, when others misrepresent Christianity, we do not know enough about our own doctrines to explain the truth. Yes, we draw millions into our churches on Sunday, but let’s face it: We draw them in by offering therapeutic services that make them feel better, but not be better.

It's the same coin, just the other side.

Colson says, the book ...

unChristian providentially challenges us at the very moment many are waking up to the need to clean up our own house. Once we do this, we will be able to reach out to those outside the faith and—in a loving, non-judgmental way—offer them the glorious Truth.

I agree with that assessment, only it too is too weak. I read "loving, and non-judgmental" as more compromise and subtle doctrinal capitulation: he is basically suggesting we treat our brethren with velvet gloves so we can all get-a-long.

Where is the doctrine of body discipline in the western church today? Where is the dctrine of chastisement and correction in the church today? Is there no place for these?

If not, perhaps we should take the scissors to ...

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3:16-17

I don't know where you are on this milquetoast bell-shaped curve but I'm fairly certain of where Peter and Paul would be ... not to mention Jesus.

BLOGGERS BLOGGING:

No one yet!

Christianity, Church decay,
Chuck Colson, Discipline,
Religion, Unchurched

FUNDAMENTALS: What They're Not!

Al Mohler's got it right! In a recent address the young (soon to be President) SBC leader pointed to the dangers of religious conciliation at the practicing level.

[Mohler] expressed concerns this week about the recent Christian response to a historic Muslim letter in which signers appeared unclear about their Christian identity and different beliefs of God.

Geopolitics aside, faith is a serious business and not truly of this world. If the world is in trouble it is not the first time, nor will it be the last time!

[Mohler pointed out, correctly, that the response to the Muslim missive] failed to clearly define the Christian understanding of God as the trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Muslims and Mormons are in the same barrel concerning the object of their faith; their deity is not remotely similar, let alone equal to, the God of Scripture. As much as mankind wants reconciliation and peace on earth, Christian's must not allow a common humanity to define the object of their faith.

Mohler explained that Muslims also believe in Jesus but only as a prophet, not as the son of God. Therefore, Christians must distinguish what kind of God they believe in when responding to the Muslim letter, which emphasized love for a common God.

We do not have "a common God"! Concerning Jesus Christ, specifically, Mohler said ...

He is the incarnate Son of God. He is the second person of the Trinity. He is the Lord over all. Any minimization of that is a huge problem.

Amen! And Amen! The full-page letter, "endorsed by nearly 300 Christian leaders," ...

... appeared in a December issue of The New York Times. The letter was drafted by scholars at Yale Divinity School’s Center for Faith and Culture in response to an October letter signed by 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and leaders that encouraged Muslims and Christians to work more closely for world peace.

At the heart of the Muslim letter was the “common ground” that believers of both faiths share – love for God and love for neighbors.

There is no common ground with Muslims, or any other belief system ... for has God not said and does He not mean ...

[We must] not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

When Christian leaders such as ...

Rick Warren, founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., and author of The Purpose Driven Life; Bill Hybels, founder and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill.; Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and David Neff, editor-in-chief and vice-president of “Christianity Today” Media Group ...

... sign on to such a regretful document the cause of Christ and the furtherance of the Kingdom are seriously damaged.

This effort on the part of well-meaning, but misguided leaders, is nothing like the document addressing issues concerning American morality, signed awhile back by evangelical leaders ... this document is an offer of capitulation to an avowed and prophetic enemy of Jehovah God.

Mohler goes on to comment on the event in some detail, it's worth clicking over to and get the full text.

Apostasy, Christianity, Religion