Article: Avoiding Doomsday Hype and Hysteria

It has taken more than 30 years, but the government of Guyana has erected a memorial plaque at the site of the Jonestown cult massacre, a dark episode the South American country had long sought to downplay.

A simple, white stone plaque was unveiled with little fanfare Wednesday at the jungle clearing where more than 900 members of the cult led by the American preacher Jim Jones died in a night of mass murder and suicide on Nov. 18, 1978.

(more at USA Today)

One tragic piece of history I’ll never forget living through.

I saw this story posted on a number of websites today, and to be honest, I don’t understand what this action is suppose to accomplish.

Recognizing two names and organizations associated with this, (Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and  Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family) causes me to wonder if its not just a case of public posturing.

NYTimes,

Citing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to civil disobedience, 145 evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they will not cooperate with laws that they say could be used to compel their institutions to participate in abortions, or to bless or in any way recognize same-sex couples.

“We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence,” it says.

The manifesto, to be released on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, is an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the administration of President George W. Bush.

They want to signal to the Obama administration and to Congress that they are still a formidable force that will not compromise on abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage. They hope to influence current debates over health care reform, the same-sex marriage bill in Washington, D.C., and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

They say they also want to speak to younger Christians who have become engaged in issues like climate change and global poverty..

“We argue that there is a hierarchy of issues,” said Charles Colson, a prominent evangelical who founded Prison Fellowship after serving time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. “A lot of the younger evangelicals say they’re all alike. We’re hoping to educate them that these are the three (*abortion, homosexuality and religious freedom) most important issues.”

They convened a meeting of Christian leaders in Manhattan in September to present the document and gather suggestions. The 4,700-word document is called the “Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.”

The document says, “We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent.”

I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. ~ I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. ~ I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. ~ God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. (Psalm 3:4, Psalm 34:4, Psalm 142:1-2, Psalm 46:1)

Tonight my heart overflows with gratitude and love  — for the Lord heard and answered the many prayers which were sent up for my 39 year old son Richard. He suffered a sudden heart attack late last night; but after surgery is now resting comfortably in Cincinnati’s Christ hospital.

Thank you Helen, Libby, Samantha, Wayne, and Pastor Charles; plus all the others, who after receiving the call immediately stopped what you were doing and went before the Lord on behalf of Richard.

And most of all, thank you Jesus… for when all I could do was to call out your name, you comforted me with your peace which passes all understanding.

A fascinating post by Steve Lumbley at Apostasy Watch

We received this email recently from a friend of the ministry,

You mentioned the TBN praise-a-thon and I have to tell you this story of direction from the Lord. I was flipping through the channels and saw Paul Crouch. He had one of his people holding a miniature model of a satellite he had purchased and was asking for more money to buy more satellites. Here’s the strange thing about the whole scenario. He said to the group and the TV audience

“I’m reading from Zechariah 5:1 and 2. 1 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll. 2 “What do you see?” the angel asked me. “A flying scroll,” I replied. “It’s 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.”. Paul said let me tell you people something, this satellite I’m sending into space is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide, the space shuttles cargo bay has enough room to fit two of these satellites to send up into space to circle the earth for the word of God….give the Lord a great sound of praise.

I tell you Steve at that very moment I felt the need or the Lord told me to read Zechariah 5, I thought to myself, wait a second I know about this scroll in Zechariah and it’s not good,

I looked up again and saw a scroll flying through the air. “What do you see?” the angel asked. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied. “It appears to be about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”  Then he said to me, “This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land. One side says that those who steal will be banished from the land; the other side says that those who swear falsely will be banished from the land. And this is what the LORD Almighty says: I am sending this curse into the house of every thief and into the house of everyone who swears falsely by my name. And my curse will remain in that house until it is completely destroyed–even its timbers and stones.” Zechariah 5:1-4

I believe the Lord was describing Paul’s satellite, I believe that the prophecy that was being given from the Lord through Zechariah was for this very day. I could be wrong, but it seems to me to ring so true. Could I be wrong?

Wayne C

I suppose the most shocking thing about this is the fact that Crouch would use the first two verses in reference to his TBN satellites yet ignore the very next verse which says the flying scroll is a curse sent by the Lord. That tells me that Paul Crouch is either a.) illiterate, b.) willfully blind, or c.) purposely deceiving his audience for financial gain. I suspect the latter. It seems too that Crouch has successfully deceived his partners for so long that he’s not the least bit worried that one of them might actually open a Bible and read this passage for themselves.

What do you think? Could this be an example of that strong delusion God promised to send upon those who refuse the truth.

2Thess 2:10-12
“…because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be damned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Here we have a bunch of people who claim to be ‘born again Christians’ and they are so blind they can’t even see the truth when it’s right in front of them. This level of blindness can only be God sent. You see I don’t condemn anyone. Their own words condemn them.

Mat 12:37
“For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Thank you Paul Crouch for admitting with your own mouth that TBN spreads a curse over the whole earth.

Now hear the word of the Lord to you and all who follow TBN.

That curse has entered the house of all who receive it. All of you who swear falsely by the name of the Lord by practicing heretical doctrines like ’seed faith giving’. You who think that your self righteous efforts are pleasing to God. You who are covetous of the riches of this world, you are thieves at heart just like the TBN prophets to whom you submit. All of those who follow TBN are under the curse and that curse will remain in your house until you and your family are destroyed, unless you repent.

Isaiah 29:10-13
“For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which [men] deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it [is] sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:”

Mark 7:6-7
‘He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with [their] lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.’

Tonight while browsing through old posts I came upon one from almost 2 years ago which caught my attention. Perhaps it was meant for me to find it, for a sister in the Lord came by today and the topic of conversation turned to what God had been teaching us recently and it centered around this topic. It’s amazing to get together with a brother or sister in Christ, and in talking, come to the realization the Holy Spirit has been showing you (both) the very same thing.

The post I’m speaking of is concerning, An Open Letter to the Modern Day Pharisees.

“I am filled with disgust yet openly weeping for those of you who have become the modern day version of the Pharisees of Jesus’ days on earth. I am also weeping and praying for those who have been deeply wounded by you. Do you truly care that many souls have been harmed by your arrogance…” (more here)

Its not pleasant reading. But truth isn’t always pleasant.

After stumbling upon this old post, I recalled a similar one:

Are you familiar with a group of religious people who were alive at the time of Jesus’ ministry? They were called the Pharisees.

Their name implies “the separated ones.” They lived in separate communities, not fellowshipping with sinners. Most of the scribes were Pharisees and these people were interpreters of the law and their tradition. They gave detailed regulations for just about everything.

The Pharisees were quite vocal in their opposition to the ministry of Jesus and his disciples. Their emphasis on the oral law, along with their self-righteousness, contributed to their attacks. The oral law explained as well as supplemented the law and was added with the intention of helping people keep God’s commandments. In other words, they were trying to help God by adding some rules and guidelines which they felt would be beneficial. They claimed that the oral law came from Moses, just as the written law.

Perhaps the most striking example that could be selected of the manner in which the Rabbis developed a Biblical ordinance is the Sabbath.

Whereas scrupture merely lays down the general law that no manner of work is to be performed on that day, a whole Talmudic tractate is devoted to the study of what does or does not constitute a desecration of the Sabbath.

The Rabbis defined 39 categories of actions which would be forbidden on the Sabbath.

Let’s look at the extent to which they took their rules relating to the transfer of an object from one domain to another on the Sabbath.

The beggar, for example, stands outside and the householder inside, and the beggar stretches forth his hand into the interior and places something in the householder’s hand or takes it from his hand and draws it outside. In that event the beggar is guilty (of an infraction of the Sabbath law) and the householder is free of guilt. If the householder stretched forth his hand and put something into the beggar’s hand or drew from it and brought it into the house, then the householder is guilty and the beggar is free of guilt. If the beggar stretched forth his hand into the interior, and the householder takes something out of it or puts something into it, they are both free of guilt. If the householder stretched forth his hand outside and the beggar took something from it or put something into it which the former draws into the house, both are guilty.

They may have had good intentions, but as a result of their strictness in this area, they lost sight of the real meaning behind the law.

For all their piety, they placed great burdens of religious obligation on the ordinary people. They had lost the spirit of the law and turned devotion into a system. God became to them almost a machine, bound to bless the person who carried out the right rituals at the right time. Jesus’ concept of God, however, was of a loving Father who cared for people and provided for their needs, and who asked to be loved and obeyed from the heart and not simply to be recognized by outward and often empty ritual.

They were so intent on following the letter of the law that they neglected to see or understand the spirit behind it.

“And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward; Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

Why is it important to understand the Pharisees? How does this pertain to Christians today?

Smith’s Bible Dictionary puts it well when it states,

“A knowledge of the opinions and practices of the Pharisees at the time of Christ is of great importance for entering deeply into the genius of the Christian religion. …To understand the Pharisees is by contrast an aid toward understanding the spirit of uncorrupted Christianity.”

Sometimes we forget that the Pharisees were not practicing a foreign religion. It is important to realize that they were the religious of the time. They were not heathen. They should have welcomed Jesus with open arms, as his arrival was prophesied in their sacred text, yet they didn’t. Instead, they fought with Jesus, tried to trap him in his words and plotted to kill him.

What went wrong?

Jesus taught his disciples to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees.

He had much to say against them. One may have expected Jesus to come and expose the false gods of that time. On the contrary, he made a point of exposing the Pharisees and scribes. He gave sharp rebukes which cut to the heart, inciting them even more.

Why, he said the harlots would make it to heaven before them! What an insult this must have been to the Pharisees. So pious and religious; so concerned about God’s law. They appeared to be a wonderful example of one who was living a pure and holy life before God. They prayed on the street corners. They fasted twice a week for all to see. Their phylacteries were bigger and their fringes were more evident.

Yet, it was yet another example of ostentation, an attempt to project an image of holiness and goodness to the world. Jesus called such people ‘whitewashed tombs’, painted on the outside but inwardly rotten.

They should have known better; their own scriptures reminded them that “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Why did Jesus rebuke these people? Who would ever think that they were so far from God?

Throughout the ministry of Jesus the Pharisees never stopped in their attacks against his character and works. After his death, they continued their efforts to stop the spread of his Gospel by persecuting the disciples, causing some to blaspheme and killing others. There were even ones who became believers and later caused a division in the church by insisting that the Gentiles be circumcised, wanting to remain under the law instead of living by grace.

There were many areas where they disagreed with Jesus. They considered him a sinner and accused him of blasphemy when he healed and forgave the sins of a man with palsy. They certainly didn’t approve of people equating Jesus with the Christ. They asked Jesus to rebuke his followers because of their praises during his triumphant entrance to Jerusalem.

They requested more than once for a sign and were refused and equated with a wicked generation. Jesus’ disciples were criticized when they picked and ate corn on the Sabbath. Jesus was accused of casting out demons through demons, which brought about his teaching on blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

They could not understand how or why he would eat and associate with tax collectors and sinners.

The best examples to show this group’s attitude deal with healing. Their reaction is incredible! Here comes Jesus into the synagogue, the Pharisees watching him, waiting for an opportunity to accuse (Luke 6:6-11).

Think about this:

A man with a withered hand was attending the service. Eyeing Jesus suspiciously and with malicious intent, they waited to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. “No work is allowed on the Sabbath,” one may have said to the other. “And healing is definitely a work!” another agreed. It looks to me as if the Pharisees may have deliberately brought this man to the synagogue, not that he would be healed, but to have some evidence to use against Jesus! They were not concerned with this man’s condition.

Perhaps Jesus looks at them in anger, seeing such hardness in their hearts. He poses a question: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or evil; to save life or destroy? At this, the room becomes quiet. He tells the crippled man to stretch out his hand and it is instantly healed and restored as the other. Oh, how happy they were! A miracle occurred! A deformed hand has been healed! The Pharisees broke out in spontaneous, wonderful praise to God….

NO!, they were not happy. It was wrong of Jesus to do this! It was the Sabbath! He broke the law! How dare he! There was no joy here as the Pharisees became absolutely infuriated and enraged. They left and you can imagine them talking amongst themselves, trying to devise some way to kill Jesus.

What is wrong with this scene? Where is the excitement that someone was healed? Where are the praises to God for his intervention? Where is any concern for this man?

We can only guess at how long he had the condition or what pain he might have endured. It didn’t matter to the Pharisees. They knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was wrong for him to be healed on that day. [I guess it must have been lawful to plot someone's death on the Sabbath; that must not have been considered a work]

Another example is the man born blind who was healed…on the Sabbath (John 9:1-41). This incident shows a misconception that some believers have. Jesus and his disciples are walking on the Sabbath and pass a man who was blind from birth. The disciples ask who sinned to cause his condition; was it the parents or the man? Some Christians are quick to lay the blame on a person when tragedy strikes, as the story of Job and his “friends illustrate. So Jesus replied that neither was the case and that it was for God’s power to be shown. He proceeds to spit on the ground, making some mud, and places this on the eyes of the blind man. Instructed to go and wash in a certain pool, the man obeys and is healed.

Everyone knew him, so the news spread quickly of his healing. The people wanted to know how it happened. He replied that it was someone named Jesus and they wondered where he was. He had no idea.

They proceeded to take him to the Pharisees, where he was greeted with smiling faces and shouts of joy that he could now see!

NO!, they wanted to know how he was healed and so he proceeded to tell the story. Not Jesus again! And on the Sabbath!

The Pharisees argued amongst themselves. Some felt he broke the law and was a sinner; others said a sinner was incapable of such a miracle.

So they ask the former blind man what he thought of the one who healed him. He replies that he is a prophet. “Oh, this man is not telling the truth! He wasn’t born blind! one says. The parents are then called in and grilled. “Is this your son? Was he born blind? How is he now healed? The parents were afraid of the Pharisees and told them they didn’t know how he was healed; they should ask their son as he was old enough to speak for himself.

The man is called back and told to give praise to God for his healing because they know that Jesus is a sinner. He responds that he can’t say if he’s a sinner, but he does know that he once was blind but now can see. “How did it happen? he’s asked again. I guess by this time the man was getting impatient and fed up with these people. “I already told you and you didn’t listen! Why do you want to hear it again? Will you then be his disciple?

That did it! Now the Pharisees are even more angry.

“We follow Moses! You’re this man’s disciple! We have no idea who this guy is, but we know that God spoke to Moses. The man said that this was really something! Here someone makes him see and they have no idea who he is. “And furthermore, God doesn’t hear sinners and we know this. But if one follows God and does his will, God hears him. Jesus could do nothing if he were not of God!

Needless to say, the Pharisees weren’t interested in being taught by an obvious sinner and threw him out.

They were not happy that a man born blind was healed. A great miracle had taken place and they were infuriated.

Later overhearing Jesus tell the man that he came so they which were blind would see and those who saw would be blind, they knew he referred to them. Oh, how they hated Jesus! Jesus proceeded with a parable to show that if anybody tries to enter into heaven any other way than through the door, he was the same as a thief and robber. Jesus is the door and one must go through him to be saved. The Pharisees were trying to enter in another way.

They were sure their added rules would do it and make them righteous.

PHARISEES EXPOSED

When it came to the Pharisees, Jesus did not mince words. He was straightforward in his response to them and their doctrine. During Jesus’ ministry he gave many names to the Pharisees.

He called them a brood of vipers (who would want to spend time with them?!), evil, hypocrites, blind fools and guides. He told them that they didn’t know God, that they worshipped him in vain, and that the kingdom of God would be taken from them.

Jesus exposed them for wanting to be seen and justified in the sight of men and that they caused people to be lost because of their teachings. He spoke several parables against them, including the man who had two sons, the householder who planted a vineyard, letting it out to husbandmen, and the king who made a marriage for his son (Matthew 21-22).

He had much to say in judgment of the Pharisees (John 8:26). Even John the Baptist called them vipers (Matthew 3:7). Read Matthew 23 for a scathing judgment against them:

“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matthew 23:13-33 (KJV-See also Luke 11.)

Why was Jesus so upset with these people? What had they done that so angered him? To answer these questions, one must study the remarks made against them.

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE PHARISEES

In Matthew 5:20, Jesus makes a statement about the righteousness of the Pharisees:

“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (KJV)

What was wrong with the righteousness of the Pharisees?

The answer is that they stood in their own righteousness and not God’s. The Bible tells us that our righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God (Isaiah 64:6). Man cannot justify himself. No matter what good deeds he does, no matter how many rules he keeps, he cannot make himself righteous.

Examine a few verses dealing with the subject of righteousness. Deuteronomy 6:25 says:

“And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.” (KJV)

By obeying the law and keeping the commandments one would then be considered righteous. There was a problem here in that it wasn’t necessarily an inward righteousness but rather one which was granted to them by obedience to the law. You could have been obedient in your outward actions, yet the condition of your heart could show differently.

For Jesus ethics was fundamentally a matter of a person’s character rather than of his activity. What he is, is more important than what he does, for his character will determine his actions. It is no wonder, therefore, that Jesus insisted that the righteousness of the members of his kingdom must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees… Righteousness for the latter took no account of why a person conformed to the law, only that he did so in an outward manner. …It explains at once why he never legislated over ethical issues and never expected his disciples to do so.

No one was able to keep the law because if they broke just one small part, they broke ALL the law (James 2:10). Galatians 2:16 tells us that we are not justified by the works of the law and nobody can be. Paul goes on to state in verse 21, “…for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”

In other words, Christ died for nothing if we could be made righteous by the law. His death would not have been necessary.

David in Psalm 143:2 shows that in God’s sight, no man shall be justified. We are a people born into sin. There is nothing we can do on our own to overcome this state. Any attempt at righteousness on our part, no matter how great, would fall far short of the holiness of our God. Left on our own, we’d have no hope.

In Philippians 3:9 Paul goes on to say :

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. (KJV)

Paul certainly knew what he was talking about as he’d experienced both sides, having been a Pharisee persecuting the Christians before meeting Jesus on the way to Damascus.

If anyone tries to appear righteous through the letter of the law, they will miserably fail. If anyone, like the Pharisees, add commandments which God did not give and set them up as God given, they will fall into the same fate of the Pharisees. Instead of accepting the righteousness of God by faith, they will walk in their own self-righteousness.

The Pharisees had lost sight of the law’s meaning. In Matthew 9:12-13, when the Pharisees complained that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus had this to say:

“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (KJV)

God did not delight in the sacrifices made by Israel. It was a continual reminder of the sins of the people. These sacrifices could not take away sin. They just atoned for the time, pointing ahead to when Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, would be slain once for all mankind. Hebrews 10:5-10 puts it this way:

“Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body thou hast prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (KJV)

Consider also Hosea 6:6:

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (KJV)

and Isaiah 1:11:

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. (KJV)

David, confessing his sins in Psalm 51, states this in verses 16-17:

“For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (KJV)

The Pharisees were so swept up in their self-righteousness that they did not offer the true sacrifices of God, as explained by David.

Remember the prayer of the Pharisee as he went into the temple to pray? A publican was there as well. The Pharisee approached God in prayer, thanking him that he wasn’t as other bad people or the publican who was praying in the same room. He then proceeds to parade before God the good deeds he has performed. Why, he tithes everything he has and fasts two times each week! God must be pleased and impressed! Where is the broken spirit; the broken and contrite heart? Out of the abundance of his heart he spoke words of pride and arrogance. He thought that because he didn’t sin like one in adultery that he was saved.

Now look at the publican who wouldn’t even go up front, nor look toward heaven. He asked God for mercy because he was a sinner. He humbled himself and didn’t try to hide or cover up his sins. This account is recorded in Luke 18:9-14 and the ninth verse starts:

“And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.”

Can you see where this parable applies to some even today?

We are warned in I Corinthians 10:12:

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

The Pharisees were trying to make themselves righteous. They ended up by only trusting in their own righteousness.

Smith’s Bible Dictionary says, “It was a leading aim of the Redeemer to teach men that true piety consisted not in forms, but in substance, not in outward observances, but in inward spirit. The whole system of Pharisaic piety led to exactly opposite conclusions. …Indeed the whole spirit of their religion was summed up, not in confession of sin and in humility, but in a proud self-righteousness at variance with any true conception of man’s relation to either God or his fellow creatures”

All the law revolves around two commandments (Luke 10:25-37).

The first is to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. (Even a lawyer tried to get around the latter by asking who was his neighbor, thus trying to justify himself.) Perhaps we’ve forgotten this truth. If we spent more time following these two principles, we might learn what God means by desiring mercy and not sacrifice.

It is one thing to love with words. Words come easy and may not reflect true love. I John 3:18 admonishes us not to love in word, but rather in our actions. James emphasized this in chapter 2, a good chapter to study. Verse 18 reads:

“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. (KJV)

James was speaking about our actions of love; how we treat our brothers, sisters and neighbors. He was not referring to the works of the law or religious dos and don’ts.

He understood the two commandments upon which all the law rested; principles which are still in place today.

The works of the law were done away in Christ, yet the principles, or spirit, that the law rested upon was not. You cannot see my faith if I don’t have any actions to back it up. If I have faith, I will help others in need; I will help my neighbor even if it’s someone I don’t particularly like. My faith will lead me to action.

Belief in God is not enough as James points out that the devils also believe. Unfortunately, the Pharisees did not comprehend this as they were not truly concerned with the well-being of people. Numbers and rules were more important, hence their intense anger when Jesus healed on the Sabbath.

The tradition of the Pharisees trapped them in a world far from God.

In Matthew 15:1-20 they approach Jesus, asking why his disciples broke their tradition by not washing their hands before eating. Jesus replies in verse 3 with a powerful truth, “Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Study this carefully. Jesus was telling them that their traditions were causing them to break God’s commandments.

How could that be? They only expanded on what God himself had ordained. Just some guidelines to put the finishing touches on what God had written.

They were self built fences to stop them from sinning, yet these same fences were keeping them from God. These added rules, which God never gave, caused them to worship God in vain. It made them blind leaders of the blind with the end result being an eternity in hell.

They did not understand that it is what comes from the heart that matters. All their self imposed outward rules profited them nothing. Disobeying them did not defile, but rather what was in the heart.

Even after Jesus showed them their error they would not repent. They would not acknowledge the truth of the matter.

There is a parable about a man with two sons. One son was asked to work in his father’s vineyard but refused. Afterward, realizing he was wrong, he repented and went to work. The other son was asked the same and said he would go, but did not. Jesus showed that the first son, though he had initially refused, was the one who did his father’s will. The other agreed to the work in lip service, having his heart far from the job. It ends with a thought provoking statement which we should consider today in Matthew 21:32:

“For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.“

In other words, after being shown the truth, they chose not to believe and change their ways.

I believe that this applies to some within today’s churches.

• They bind heavy burdens on the people. They distort the beauty and truth of God’s Word and make serving God a hardship with long lists of rules to keep. Though they are shown that their rules and by-laws have no biblical foundation, they continue to embrace and teach them.

• They despise those who do not walk as they do.

• They barely fellowship with those not in their particular group.

• They change the attitudes of their converts from one of love to that of pride and self-righteousness and even fear.

• They shun or judge those who do not follow the letter of their law.

• They refuse to see the harm they have caused.

Thus the spirit of Phariseeism continues.

(author unknown)

Apostasy can take on many forms. Apostasy concerns not only false doctrines.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” Matthew 7:21

Happy to hear this young man is doing better. You may recall the story back in early 08 of Ami Ortiz, a messianic teen living in Israel, who opened a basket  left on his family’s doorstep which contained a bomb. I followed the story for awhile, but wasn’t aware an arrest had finally been made.

It comes as no surprise the perpetrator, also charged with murdering two Palestinians, is an extremist. They are popping up every-where today.

From BosNewsLife:

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (BosNewsLife)– Israel has charged a Jewish-American extremist with shooting to death two Palestinians and trying to kill others, including a Messianic Jewish family, who received a booby-trapped package in March 2008 that left their son critically injured.

Jack Teitel walked, smiling, into the courtroom, last week where he raised his manacled hands and flashed a “V for victory” sign at news cameras before listening to the charges against him.

Among several attacks, Teitel is charged with sending a gift basket around the annual Purim festival to the Ortiz family in the Israeli town of Ariel. When Ami Ortiz, then 15, opened the basket, it exploded and he was severely wounded.

Family members said the blast severed two toes, damaged his hearing and eyesight, and seemed to have harmed a promising basketball career. He was reportedly covered with blood, burns and full of the needles and screws contained in the bomb when he was rushed to hospital. Doctors even reported that his “spirit is leaving the body,” but were apparently stunned that he survived.

Twenty months later, he is back at school and playing basket ball, his family said in comments monitored by BosNewsLife Sunday, November 15. The explosion was linked to Teitel’s apparent anger that the Ortiz family believe Jesus is the Messiah as promised by Jewish prophets in the Bible.

Ami’s father, David Ortiz, has reportedly said he hopes one day to sit down with confessed killer Jack Teitel and talk. “There is something inside him that makes him want to kill people. If God has mercy on me, maybe he’ will have mercy on others.”

Jack Teitel told reporters at a Jerusalem court that he had no regrets for shooting the pair and trying to kill the others with explosives and poison, and that God would approve of his actions.

“It has been a pleasure and an honor to have served my God,” said Teitel, an ultra-Orthodox Jew originally from the U.S. state of Florida.

Teitel faces up to life in prison if convicted for murder.

OK, I’m strange, but this struck me funny.

Received this in my mailbox tonight:

“The 7 Dollar Seven Mountains DVD Closeout Sale“

Lance Wallnau and company must be looking to unload overstock before the end of 09–most likely so they can start off 2010 “fresh” with another load of new DVD’s, full of “7 Mountain” apostasy teachings.

website

Elijah List has also began to push their 09 over-stock. They refer to theirs as “ElijahShopper Stocking Stuffers“

(I always get a kick out of their mid-year calender sale)

This was in a local Cincinnati publication (the Examiner).  I liked it so much I wanted to share it.

Be thankful in this moment; keeping your eye on the goal

In a Dear Abby column years ago, Jason Lehman wrote the following poem:

It was spring…but it was summer I wanted,
the warm days, and the great outdoors.
It was summer, but it was fall I wanted,
the colorful leaves, and the cool, dry air.
It was fall, but it was winter I wanted,
the beautiful snow, and the holiday season.
It was winter, but it was spring I wanted,
the warmth, and the blossoming of nature.
I was a child, but it was adulthood I wanted,
the freedom, and the respect.
I was 20, but it was 30 I wanted,
to be mature, and sophisticated.
I was middle-aged, but it was 20 I wanted,
the youth, and the free spirit.
I was retired, but it was middle age I wanted,
the presence of mind, without limitations.
My life was over. But I never got what I wanted.

The young man was only 14 when he wrote it. Which, in itself is rather astounding. I have never been able to get this poem out of my head.

But how many people do you know, perhaps even yourself, who go through their lives wishing away the present for the memories of the past, or the hope of something different in their future?  To wish for something different from what we have right now seems to be the cry of the human heart, no matter what our age.

It’s in our human make-up to be discontent.  But God didn’t put that discontent in our lives for the here and now – He wanted us to keep looking forward to eternity. Paul said in Philippians 3:12-16:

“Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. So let those [of us] who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and hold these convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also. Only let us hold true to what we have already attained and walk and order our lives by that.” -  (Amplified)

He’s talking about making it to Heaven – to meet our Savior! For all Christians, that is our eventual goal – and we should be avidly trying to make sure we take as many with us as we can.

There are many times in my life, I’ve wished I was somewhere else, doing something else, anywhere but where I was, with anything else happening than what was happening right then. but our goal is to meet Jesus. And everything else in this life is a temporary hurdle to achieving that goal.

This season, be content where you are, don’t wish for tomorrow or you may just end up an old person who “never got what they wanted”.

What is your “Beautiful Ending” going to be?

source and video

“..I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” - Philippians 4:11-12

The Anti-Defamation League issued an interesting special report. This is indeed a report–as it covers various sub-topics. At the end I’ll post the titles and links to the various sub-topics covered in the report, which all fall under the heading, “Rage Grows In America”

(I agree its rage, and have pointed that out in a number of posts over the past 18 months. What the ADL leaves out, is something I have believed for some time: its been brought about by a strong delusion, which has affected those with hearts to receive it.)

Introduction:

New York, NY, November 16, 2009 … Rumors about gun confiscations.  Angry protests about the government’s tax policies, replete with Nazi comparisons.  A resurgent militia movement.  Rage at the election of a president deemed to be illegitimate and threatening.  Distrust and anger toward the government fueled by paranoia and conspiracy theories.

They are among the crosscurrents of anger and hostility that have swept certain sectors of the country since President Barack Obama took office nearly a year ago.  And they are contributing to “a toxic atmosphere of rage in America,” according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which today issued a report looking at the various sources that have given rise to a climate of anti-government fervor in the United States.

Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies examines the groups and individuals behind this upsurge in anti-government anxiety, from the “birthers” who claim the president is not an actual citizen of the U.S., to militia groups fearful that the government plans to forcibly disarm American citizens, to those who suggest that the health-care reform movement is akin to the Nazi policies that led to the Holocaust.

“While not all of America has bought into these conspiracies, they seem to be seeping more and more into the mainstream; And since many of these expressions are interconnected in some significant ways, we wanted to try and connect the dots and ask the basic questions of why the anger, why now, and where might it lead.”

From the anti-government “Tea Parties,” where protestors have made explicit Nazi comparisons or suggested that the president is subverting the Constitution, to anger-filled town hall meeting disruptions over health care, the wave of anti-government animus has manifested itself in many forms, according to ADL.  It has played out across a spectrum of groups, from mainstream groups and politicians to more extreme organizations and individuals.

“The fact that these anti-government sentiments are coming from such a broad spectrum makes it more likely that some individuals will become so inflamed with anger that they will move farther toward the fringes,” said Robert G. Sugarman, ADL National Chair.  “This could result not only in the swelling of the ranks of anti-government extremist groups and movements, but might give rise to more individuals who are willing to act on their anger.”

The ADL report looks at various sources of anti-government anger, including:

• Conspiracy Theories: One of the most disturbing trends in the rise of anti-government sentiment has been the resurrection and proliferation of conspiracy theories alleging dark, violent designs on the part of the federal government to “declare martial law” and end democratic government, to confiscate firearms from American citizens and to build hundreds of concentration camps to house “dissidents.”  These theories have spread far and wide on social-networking sites.

• The Resurgence of the Militia Movement: The rise of anti-government sentiment has paralleled a resurgence of the militia movement, an anti-government extremist movement that has a long history of criminal activity and violence.  Within the past two years, the movement has almost quadrupled in size, growing to more than 200 groups in the United States.  It is the most receptive audience for the extreme anti-government conspiracy theories and their radicalizing potential.

• Town Hall Meeting Disruptions: In the summer of 2009 a variety of anti-government protests and disruptions occurred at town hall meetings organized by senators and representatives across the country to discuss health-care reform.  These events became a fertile ground for anti-Obama protests and stunts, with some individuals angrily launching verbal attacks against the president and other office holders.  Some protestors compared the administration and its proposed health care reform policies to those of Nazi Germany.

• Government Resisters: Since Obama’s election, an increasing number of people have urged that he and his administration must “be resisted.” Some groups have implicitly or explicitly urged armed resistance.  Many of these groups have appropriated an idealized version of Revolutionary War history for their own purposes.  ADL’s report looks at the activities of several resistor groups, including The Oath Keepers and The Three Percenters.

• The Tea Parties: At these events and later sequels organized by conservative groups and grassroots activists, anti-government sentiments and conspiracy theories proliferated, with a common theme being that Obama had “stolen” the country from Americans.

• Media Influence: Some segments of the mainstream media have played a surprisingly active role in generating anti-government sentiment.  Though a number of media figures and commentators have taken part, the media personality who has played the most active role has been radio and television host Glenn Beck, who along with many of his guests have made a habit of demonizing the Obama administration and promoting conspiracy theories about it.

The Influence of the Mainstream Media

Although much of the recent anti-government anger has been generated by a combination of partisan politics, grass-roots activists, and extreme groups and movements, the mainstream media has also played a role in promoting anti-government anger and pandering to people who believe that the Obama administration is illegitimate or even fascistic.

The most important mainstream media figure who has repeatedly helped to stoke the fires of anti-government anger is right-wing media host Glenn Beck, who has a TV show on FOX News and a popular syndicated radio show.

While other conservative media hosts, such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, routinely attack Obama and his administration, typically on partisan grounds, they have usually dismissed or refused to give a platform to the conspiracy theorists and anti-government extremists.

This has not been the case with Glenn Beck.

Beck and his guests have made a habit of demonizing President Obama and promoting conspiracy theories about his administration.On a number of his TV and radio programs, Beck has even gone so far as to make comparisons between Hitler and Obama and to promote the idea that the president is dangerous.

• On an August 2009 radio program, after claiming that President Obama was lying about his health-care plan, Beck told his audience to read Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Beck said that Hitler told Germans what he was going to do but no one listened. Beck then urged his audience not to make the same mistake with Obama: “Please America…take this man for what he says.”

• That same month, David Bellavia, a former army staff sergeant who wrote a book about his experiences as a soldier in Iraq, appeared as a guest on Beck’s TV show. Bellavia discussed the claim that President Obama was trying to create a “civilian national security force” and compared this to the efforts of Hitler and Saddam Hussein to create sinister military forces composed of political loyalists that answered only to them.

• On a July 2009 TV show, Beck has said that President Obama is a “dangerous” man.

• In March 2009, as a guest on another FOX News show, Beck also promoted an anti-government conspiracy theory popular among right-wing extremists—that FEMA is building concentration camps to house “dissidents.” Beck declared that he could not debunk the theory. Before introducing the topic of FEMA camps on that show, Beck claimed that the United States was “headed towards socialism, totalitarianism beyond your wildest imagination.” Later, he also promoted the FEMA camps conspiracy theory on his own show. After much controversy, Beck later backed away from the FEMA camps theory. The FEMA episode, however, is a good example of Beck’s key role as a “fearmonger-in-chief,” using constant laments such as “I fear for my country” to create a sense of anxiety about and hostility towards the government in his audience.

These kinds of claims from Beck create an intersection between the mainstream and the extreme. They play an important role in drawing people further out of the mainstream, making them more receptive to the more extreme notions and conspiracy theories.

About The Anti-Defamation League: The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Now the nation’s premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all.

Topics covered in other sections of the report:

Part One: Anger in the Mainstream

Anti‑Government Conspiracies: A Building Anger

The Tea Parties

Town Hall Meeting Disruptions

The “Birther” Movement

Part Two: Anger on the Fringe

Alex Jones, the Conspiracy King

Conspiracy Theories Imagine Government Plots

Conspiracy Theories Prompting Action: The Iowa National Guard

Conspiracy Theories Prompting Action: Richard Poplawski

Resisting the Government

The Oath Keepers

The Three Percenters

The Resurgence of the Militia Movement

Steve Lawson at the 2009 Shepherds Conference.

In my lifetime Presidents have always been attacked by those who either don’t agree with them on issues, or by people who just ‘plain’ don’t like them personally. That’s fine–it comes with the job I’m sure.

But I never recall a sitting President’s Mother being smeared.

It’s no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of “the 57 states” is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World.. (The Washington Times – columnist Wesley Pruden)

How sleazy, offensive, and xenophobic.

Wesley Pruden needs his mouth washed out, his mind and heart renewed, and a few lessons on civility and manners.

Disgusting…

All these folks are running around crying they ‘don’t recognize their country anymore’–well you know what? I don’t either–but it’s not for the same reasons they give.

Enough said..

Perhaps its mere coincidence, but in the last few days I’ve noticed a renewed trend within the words questionable or false prophets are putting out. One which (again) speaks of Portals, Spiritual DNA, Angels, etc. Not that these false teachings ever completely disappeared, but they did seem to slacken off somewhat, in the past year.

Maybe these folks are just gearing up for Bentley’s return to center stage. I noticed Adam posted a link under the latest Bentley thread tonight:

Yesterday Rick Joyner (and Todd Bentley) officially announced Todd’s return to ministry. Apparently, Todd has developed a new “Healing School,” curriculum, etc. And Rick says it’s just in time too, because people are desperate for healing, and Todd has such “an obvious gift and anointing.” Todd listed the Revival Alliance members who are working with him for his full “restoration”:

Heidi Baker
Che Ahn
Bill Johnson
John Arnott
Georgian & Winnie Banov (SERIOUSLY??)

The video is here

Rick Hiebert also notified me of two new posts tonight at Bene Diction blog, concerning Todd’s come-back and the recent video: “Lakeland was just a foretaste” and Todd Bentley with fingers in ears: “La la la, I’m not listening to you…”.

I hope you will watch the video Adam kindly posted the link to: It will give you a good idea where Bentley is heading. Rick’s articles are a must-read also. He writes about a recent meeting between Bentley and members of the Revival Alliance.

My intent is not only to offer updates on Todd and what I’ve perceived as a renewed interest in ‘words’ about portals, Angels, etc etc…but to share portions of a very good message by Robert M. Bowman Jr. titled-

“A Biblical Guide to Orthodoxy and Heresy”

If we are going to get bombarded (once again), in the same manner as Lakeland any time in the near future, its time to stir up the gift of spiritual discernment; To be reminded of  Biblical guidelines for Doctrinal Discernment.

On a personal note: don’t expect an exact duplicate of Lakeland. We wouldn’t need discernment if all false teachings, movements, etc, were exact carbon copies of the one which came previously.

This is a two part message you can access in its entirety at apologeticsindex.

The excerpts below are taken only from part (2).

How do we discern truth from error, sound doctrine from unsound doctrine, orthodoxy from heresy?

How do we discern when a doctrine is fully heretical and when it is only aberrational?

Kinds Of Heretical Doctrine

The Bible — what kinds of heretical doctrine does it discuss and forewarn us about? The Bible makes frequent reference to false teachings and it is often within the context of refuting heresy that its positive doctrinal material is cast. The Old Testament contains solemn warnings against anyone who prophesies or proclaims teachings in the name of any god but the LORD, Jehovah (Deut. 13:1-5; 18:20-22). This is the assumed context in which the New Testament teaching about heresies is framed. In the New Testament, there are warnings about false prophets (Matt. 24:11, 24; 2 Pet. 2:1) — that is, those who make predictions in the name of God and whose predictions turn out to be false (cf. Deut. 18:22). There is also a warning about false apostles (2 Cor. 11:13). There are warnings about those claiming to be the Christ, or claiming that Christ has come, or that the Day of the Lord has come, or that the resurrection has occurred — when all these events will be so plain and conspicuous that no one will miss them (Matt. 24:5, 23-27; 2 Thess. 2:1-2; 2 Tim. 2:16-18). There are also warnings about those who proclaim another Jesus or a different gospel, or who introduce a spirit other than God’s Spirit (1 Cor. 15:3-5; 2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:6-9). The teaching that circumcision and keeping the Law are necessary for salvation is condemned (Gal. 5:2-4; Phil. 3:2).

On the other side, teaching that liberty in Christ gives us excuse for licentiousness is also condemned (Jude 4).

The denial of Jesus Christ’s coming in the flesh is regarded as from the spirit of antichrist (1 John 4:1-6). There are warnings about people who cause dissensions by teaching doctrine directly opposed to what Christians already know to be true (Rom. 16:17; Tit. 3:10-11).

There are warnings about those who claim to love God but do not love God’s people (1 John 4:20; 5:1), and who deliberately break away from the church on the basis of perverted doctrine (1 John 2:19). Finally, there are warnings against adding to or taking away from the words of prophetic Scripture (Rev. 22:18-19) or twisting the Scriptures (2 Pet. 3:16). Looking over these warnings from Scripture, we may classify heresies into six major categories:

1. Heresies about revelation — teachings that distort, deny, or add to Scripture in a way that leads people to destruction; false claims to apostolic or prophetic authority.
2. Heresies about God — teachings that promote false gods or idolatrous distortions of the true God.
3. Heresies about Christ — denials of His unique Lordship, His genuine humanity, His true identity.
4. Heresies about salvation — teaching legalism or licentiousness; denying the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection; and so forth.
5. Heresies about the church — deliberate attempts to lead people away from the fellowship of true Christians; utter rejection of the church.
6. Heresies about the future — false predictions for which divine authority is claimed; claims that Christ’s return has taken place; and the like.

Note that errors in any one of these six categories tend to introduce errors into the other five.

Take, for instance, the heretical view held by many groups that the church became totally apostate in the early centuries and thus had to be “restored” in the last days. This doctrine implies (1) that Scripture is not a sufficient revelation, but needs supplementing or “explaining” by some authoritative teacher or publication. It also almost always serves as a basis for rejecting the early church’s views of (2) God and (3) Christ. Since the Reformation is rejected as falling short of the needed restoration, (4) the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is likewise rejected. And the doctrine of a restoration comes to dominate the group’s views of (5) the future, as it requires them to view many or most biblical prophecies about the future as finding fulfillment in their own group.

We find then that an error in any area of doctrine can affect every other area. Therefore, although heresies tend to fall directly into one or more of these six major categories, heresies can in fact occur on virtually any doctrinal subject. For example, someone who teaches that angels should be worshipped is teaching a heretical view (Col. 2:18), even though the subject matter is angels. This is because worship of any creature completely cuts the heart out of any confession of God as the one God. Nor should it be thought that the New Testament gives us a complete catalogue of all possible heresies.

In our day there are literally thousands of clever distortions of Christian theology that deserve the label heresy, and they can be seen as such apart from being explicitly anticipated and identified as heretical in the Bible. The Bible teaches us what is absolutely essential, enunciates principles as to what is basic to sound Christian faith and what is nonessential, gives us a wide variety of examples of heresies, and expects us to exercise discernment in evaluating new and controversial teachings when they surface.

Furthermore, it must be realized that as the church progresses through history and deepens its understanding of Scripture, heresies in general are becoming more subtle, more deceiving, more easily mistaken for authentic Christianity.

In short, heresy is any doctrine which the Bible explicitly labels as destructive, damning error; or a doctrine which the Bible instructs is not to be tolerated in the church; or any doctrine which, even if not mentioned in the Bible, utterly contradicts those truths which the Bible indicates are essential for sound Christian faith.

Aberrational views can also be classified according to the above six categories. In each case, the aberrant doctrine seriously compromises the Bible’s essential teaching in one or more of those six areas, although not outright denying it.

For example, the practice of speculating on the precise date of the return of Christ can often be an aberration that stops short of heresy. The practice is certainly unbiblical, and in the context of heretical systems of doctrine such date-setting can itself be regarded as heretical.

But in some cases, teachers have argued more modestly that Christ might return on a certain date, admitting the very real possibility of error, and urging only intensified obedience to God’s Word. Even this sort of teaching should be regarded as more or less aberrant, since it compromises the biblical warnings against making predictions of this sort; but it is not of itself heretical.

How shall the identification of heresy be carried out in practice? And who shall be involved in the process of identifying and responding to heresy?

Here I wish simply to give some brief suggestions as guidelines that seem to me to be in keeping with the teaching of Scripture.

I have already argued in Part One that the Christian church as a whole is responsible for exercising discernment or judgment concerning heretical teachings, and that such judgment should not be left solely in the hands of trusted religious leaders, no matter who they are. Here I wish to sharpen this point somewhat. Ultimately, only God can judge human hearts, since only He knows infallibly what people are thinking and feeling. We do not even know our own hearts infallibly (Jer. 17:9-10). Therefore, when we speak about judging heresy, we are not claiming to know the hearts of those espousing the heresy. We are not setting ourselves up as arbiters of their eternal future, deciding who will be saved and who will not. What the church is called to judge is whether certain teachings should be allowed to be propagated in its midst, whether certain practices should be condoned, and whether certain individuals espousing heretical teachings or immoral practices should be allowed to remain in the community of faith. This kind of judgment is to be exercised by the whole church, although some persons in the church will play a more direct role in the process than others.

There are commands in the New Testament directing all Christians to exercise discernment (1 Cor. 5:9-13; 14:29; 1 John 4:1). Yet, some Christians are more gifted or skilled in such discernment than others. God gives some Christians special gifts of discernment concerning spirits (1 Cor. 12:10). God gives some Christians gifts enabling them to be teachers (Rom. 12:6-7; 1 Cor. 12:28-29; Eph. 4:11; James 3:1). God has also called some Christians to be in positions of leadership in the church — such as pastors, elders, overseers, deacons — and they will clearly have a more direct role in carrying out the judgment of the church concerning heresy (Acts 20:28; Phil. 1:1; Eph. 4:11; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; Tit. 1:5-9; Heb. 13:17; 1 Pet. 5:1-3). For this reason, such Christian leaders should inform themselves and consult with gifted Christian teachers to make sure that mature discernment is exercised in their congregations. And the leaders and teachers should work together to instruct the church body as a whole in sound doctrine and in the practice of discernment, so that the whole body will indeed be of one mind in its discernment.

At last we come to the “nitty-gritty” of discernment. Just what should we do in order to exercise sound doctrinal discernment? How should we go about becoming more mature and skilled in discernment?

The following guidelines are not exhaustive, but they are especially critical.

1. Learn to exercise discernment while growing as a Christian in faith, love, and holiness. I would like to assume this is obvious to everyone, but it bears emphasizing and even placing first on the list. The Christian life is not an intellectual game in which the object is to prove that you are right and to ferret out everyone who is wrong. Discerning orthodox from heretical teaching is only one aspect of the Christian life, though it is an important one. Moreover, doctrinal discernment itself should involve prayer, fellowship with other Christians, ministry to other Christians and to the lost, as well as doctrinal study. May I also say that I am preaching to myself here more than to anyone else! As one whose lifetime ministry and career is concentrated in the practice and communication of doctrinal discernment, I (and my colleagues in discernment ministry, as well) am more apt to forget this than other Christians.On the other hand, let me also emphasize the word “growing” in the above statement. There is not some minimum standard of spiritual achievement that must be reached before one may begin exercising discernment. Rather, the exercise of discernment is one function in the Christian life in which all believers should be growing throughout their Christian experience.
2. Develop a thorough and sound grasp of Scripture. Other things being equal, the better one understands the Bible, the better one will be able to discern truth from error. Not every Christian can be a Bible scholar, but virtually every Christian can study the Bible in depth and gain a profound understanding of its teachings. There are various ways in which one can study the Bible, and all of them are important. Read the Bible itself — read whole books of the Bible, and read the whole Bible (though not necessarily in any particular order). Commit portions of Scripture to memory. Study the Bible topically, searching through Scripture and reading what it says on particular subjects (see Acts 17:11). Use study aids, theological textbooks, and the like (though discernment will be needed in choosing and using such works). Study the Bible by yourself and in groups. Find competent teachers and learn as much as you can from them. The point is to use every resource possible to increase your understanding of Scripture.
3. Study Christian doctrine from a variety of traditions within orthodox Christianity. As you become fairly clear on the essentials of the faith, you should seek to become familiar with some of the different perspectives on Christian doctrine within the household of faith. You will want to acquaint yourself with different views held by Christians on such controversial doctrinal matters as baptism, the Millennium, spiritual gifts, predestination, and the like. Understanding the different perspectives held by orthodox Christians on these doctrinal matters will enable you to appreciate better the difference between essentials and nonessentials of the faith, as well as to gain a more mature and biblical position on them.
4. Learn as much relevant information as possible about a questionable teaching or religious group before making any judgment. Scripture says, “He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him” (Prov. 18:13). It is sin for Christians to judge someone’s beliefs as heretical on the basis of less than adequate information. There are a variety of strategies you can use to gain information about a group. You can inquire about religious affiliations — the denomination or religion of a teacher or group — though in some cases certain organizations or persons may deny their controversial religious affiliations. You can ask for information about their history or leaders, as sometimes this is illuminating. You can consult standard reference works, dictionaries, or encyclopedias that list religious groups and organizations and describe their beliefs. In most cases, except with very new or small groups or teachings, these strategies will give you adequate information.
5. Base your understanding of a questionable doctrine on what those who espouse it say about it themselves. This follows directly from the above principle and from the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12). Just as we would not want someone to label us heretics or accuse us of other evils (Matt. 5:11) on the basis of what others say about us, so we should not criticize others’ views without being sure that we have heard them firsthand. This does not mean that every Christian must personally read the primary literature of a heretical group before concluding that it is indeed heretical. Rather, a Christian critique of a supposedly heretical group should be considered less than adequate to the extent that the accusations made are not backed up with accurate quotations from the authoritative leaders of the group. In questionable cases where no adequate Christian analysis or evaluation has yet been done, it is very important to gain primary source information about the group’s doctrines. One approach that is often helpful is to ask for a doctrinal statement. However, keep in mind the following two observations: (1) Some groups that have no doctrinal statement are nevertheless orthodox. (2) Doctrinal statements of heretical groups are often kept as orthodox-sounding as possible to avoid easy criticism. Other publications may be more revealing of the group’s true colors.
6. Do not assume that the use of orthodox language guarantees orthodox beliefs. As I have just suggested, unorthodox and aberrant groups are often not straightforward and honest about the true nature of their beliefs. They will frequently use biblical language and sound very evangelical in order to avoid criticism. This is exactly what the New Testament warns us about (e.g., 2 Cor. 11:4). In the case of groups that are dishonest about their true beliefs, gather as much information about their beliefs as possible and compare what they say to the public with what they say to one another. This may involve attending their meetings and asking questions without seeming critical (see Matt. 10:16) or obtaining in-house literature normally available only to members. Generally, such investigations should be carried out by those with some experience and training in doctrinal discernment, such as those involved in discernment ministries. In some cases, ex-members may be the best source of such information and materials.
7. Treat the information supplied by ex-members with respect but due caution as well. Every heretical group eventually begins generating ex-members in greater or lesser quantities, and these persons can be invaluable resources. Often their most important contribution is their access to publications and recordings unavailable to the general public. Their personal testimonies can also be very informative and helpful. One of the marks of a heretical or aberrant group is that its ex-members are all dismissed as disgruntled or envious or immoral persons with an axe to grind. Of course, this may be true of some ex-members. Yet, if a religious group loses a large number of people, and these ex-members consistently tell the same story, their testimony should be given due credence. If an ex-member can back up his (or her) story with documentation or corroborative testimony from other ex-members, that will serve to reinforce his testimony. Occasionally, certain individuals will present themselves as ex-members of a group and tell sensational stories about their involvement. Great caution must be exercised in such cases, as increasingly there are instances of persons doing this who either were never part of the group in question, or were never as deeply involved as they claim. Whether such individuals perpetuate such deceptions for financial gain, media attention, personal antagonism toward the group, or for more subtle reasons, may not always be clear. In any case it is important that sensationalistic accusations against a group not be accepted on the basis of the testimony of one person or couple apart from corroborative evidence.
8. In uncertain or borderline cases, give the benefit of the doubt to the person or group in question. The principle of “innocent until proven guilty” applies here. Some Christians involved in discernment ministries raise “red flags” or, to change the metaphor, “cry wolf” whenever there is the slightest hint of possible heresy. Such a practice brings reproach upon discernment ministries and divides Christians.
9. Begin with foundational matters. In inquiring into the orthodoxy of a religious group, much time and energy can be saved and mistakes prevented by asking foundational questions about the group’s attitude toward the Bible and religious authority. Do they regard the Bible as the absolutely infallible, unerring Word of God? Do they regard the Bible as the final authority in religious matters, or do they look to something else (their leaders, a modern prophet, another book, etc.) as an indispensable authority by which the Bible is interpreted? If their answers to these questions are satisfactory, then in most cases they will be orthodox; if not, they will usually be heretical. Keep in mind that some heretical groups profess complete confidence in the Bible and appear to have no other doctrinal authorities; thus, this guideline should be treated only as a rule of thumb.
10. Consult with reputable discernment ministries who honor biblical principles of discernment. No human being is infallible, nor is any organization, including Christian discernment ministries. Nevertheless, if you agree that the principles discussed in this article are biblical, then you should consult with discernment ministries who seek to base their work on these principles.

A Biblical Guide To Orthodoxy And Heresy – Part Two: Guidelines For Doctrinal Discernment by Robert M. Bowman

Copyright 1994 by the Christian Research Institute (CRI)

The Christian Research Institute (CRI), is a Christian organization devoted to apologetics (the logical presentation and defense of the Christian faith), and counter-cult ministry.

Founded in 1960 by Dr. Walter Martin (1928 – 1989), CRI has grown into what is billed as the largest and oldest cult apologetics and evangelism organization in the world. The organization is currently headed by Hank Hanegraaff.

JERUSALEM: Yehuda Glick is a 44-year-old American-born Jew who spends most of every day preparing for the arrival of the Messiah in Jerusalem.

Since he became the executive director of the Temple Institute, Mr Glick’s main task has been to supervise the manufacture of the utensils the high priests will need when the day arrives.

Crowns and other instruments made of solid gold fill glass cases in the Temple Institute museum in Jerusalem’s Old City. Other artifacts include an array of copper urns, trumpets made of silver and garments to be worn by the High Priest, woven from golden thread. Musical instruments, including hand-made harps and lyres, lie ready to be brought to life upon the Messiah’s appearance.

The Temple Institute has become a fixture on American evangelical tours of Israel. Thanks largely to their donations, it has so far spent $US27 million ($29 million) on preparations.

”We started with $US100,” Mr Glick said. ”There are 70 million evangelical Christians around the world, and most of them have become Israel’s strongest supporters.” (source)

Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”  Acts 17

“Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; as the prophet says, “Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?”  Acts 7

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 1 Corinthians 3

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God…And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Revelation 21