Heresy

The posts below deal with various kinds of heresy which may be direct or indirect due to the implications of a belief as it relates to the Christian faith.

Angry Apostles and the Trinity

On the Trinity First, Pastor Tom Chantry has provided a actual transcript of T.D. Jakes words on the Trinity from The Elephant Room 2, session 4.1 Chantry then made a follow-up post in which he shares his thoughts in the following five points.2 1. Jakes masterfully deconstructs the entire practice of theology. 2. Driscoll and [...]

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God is Doing Amazing Things!

God is going to do something awesome. God is going to do something amazing. God is doing something incredible. God is doing something awesome. God is doing something amazing. God is doing amazing things. It’s going to be awesome. Let’s change the world. God will prosper you. Fly with the eagles. Listen to the Spirit. [...]

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On Public Rebuke

As far as I know, being rebuked is not something to which most Christians look forward, especially, being publicly rebuked. However, Scripture says it is good for rebuke (2 Tim. 3:16). Scripture even includes the well-known example of one Apostle publicly rebuking another Apostle (Gal. 2:11, 14). Today, there is no shortage of Christians rebuking [...]

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What God is This? Osteen on Oprah

This clip is riddled with unbiblical conclusions. Toward the beginning, in reference to Osteen’s prosperity preaching, Oprah asks, “What god would want you to be poor and miserable?” Osteen does say that prosperity includes peace of mind and a healthy body rather than just material wealth. Osteen also says that there is a belief that [...]

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Kicking Off the Atheist

The clip below shows atheist Dan Barker of the “Freedom from Religion Foundation” appearing on Fox Business Network’s “Follow the Money” with host Eric Bolling. First, Barker made some unfavorable comments about Christianity. Then, Bolling stopped the conversation and kicked Barker off the show for “denigrating the name of Jesus Christ.” Would you have kicked [...]

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Servetus Asked for Calvin’s Death

Geoff Ashley of The Village Church recently wrote an article on John Calvin’s role in the death of Michael Servetus.1 Ashley gives seven points to consider before “harshly judging Calvin a heartless tyrant.” While not absolving Calvin of any and all wrong doing for his role in Servetus’ trial it may be pointed out that [...]

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Did Mark Dever Withdraw from Elephant Room 2?

I my previous post I shared that I leaned toward Mark Dever withdrawing from participating in Elephant Room 2(ER2) due to T.D. Jakes scheduled participation.1 A commenter on that post informed me that Dever’s bio, pictured above, is missing from the ER2 website. If Dever does or did withdraw from the event it should not [...]

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TD Jakes: Association Lacking Discernment?

It has been recently revealed that T.D. Jakes will be a participant in Elephant Room round 2.1 Elephant Room is hosted by James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. Its format is for influential pastors to have “blunt conversations” around “differing approaches to ministry” with the purpose of modeling “loving confrontation and gracious disagreement that honors relationship [...]

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Israel, A Christian Idol?

In the following video Mormon Glenn Beck sits with Evangelical David Barton who introduces hyper-dispensationalist, prosperity preacher John Hagee1. These men are together for the sake of supporting the modern day state of Israel. Supporting Israel is not a bad thing, but are they supporting Israel in a biblical sense? For starters, Hagee, a professing [...]

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A NASCAR Prayer, Parody or Blasphemy?

Below is a transcript and video of the invocation “prayer” that Pastor Joe Nelms of Family Baptist Church in Lebanon, TN (near Nashville) recently gave at a NASCAR event. I’m not sure how to respond other than to scratch my head and think of this in light of the state of American Christianity. Of course, [...]

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News Show Host: Mitt Romney Is Not a Christian

“Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt made a passing remark about Mitt Romney’s faith when talking about viable fund raising avenues for Republican presidential candidates. She said that that “Romney, obviously not being a Christian” would not be able to raise money from the Christian Coalition. Interesting and presumably accurate if Romney hold’s to his [...]

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Atheist Hopes for Brokeback Mountain Moment

Steve Walsh on the CNN religion blogs reports that New atheist movie ‘The Ledge’ evangelizes godlessness. The film is written and directed by outspoken atheist Matthew Chapman. Apparently, Chapman wants to make an an atheist character into a Hollywood hero with a Christian being the bad guy. Chapman is pushing for a form of atheist evangelism [...]

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Ironic Church Sign of the Week

The above picture was taken by one of my pastors right down the road from our church building. Can you spot the irony?

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Did the Gay Clergy Lie?

The StarTribune reports that Presbyterians to allow gays to be ordained ministers. Note: Those Presbyterians would be of the PCUSA branch. I’m sure many would call them PiNO’s (Presbyterian in name only.) Thankfully, some in the PCUSA spoke against the newly affirmed policy which will now allow openly gay and lesbian members to be ordained [...]

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Camping Missed It: Judgement Day is Everyday

Unfortunately, by now Harold Camping is probably a household name. A household name that is probably not widely cherished among households. Camping will most likely be known as that false Christian Judgement Day teacher until the day he dies. Since he is approaching 90 years old he probably will not be with us much longer. [...]

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Universalism: Rob Bell and Paul Dean

Even before the release of his latest book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Rob Bell set the blogosphere ablaze. The biggest charge against Bell is that of him being a universalist. In a recent interview with Newsweek’s Lisa Miller, Bell first states, with qualifications, [...]

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Is T.D. Jakes Now Trinitarian?

In light of the recent concerns over Modalism and the SBC Pastors’ Conference, it has been said that T.D. Jakes no longer holds to a form of Modalism or to a Onesness Pentecostal view of God. There are plenty of resources (I don’t have time to note them here) online and in books that document [...]

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Open Email: SBC Pastors’ Conference 2011 Doctrinal Concern

Please note: Mr. Jones’ name and the link to the Potter’s House website have been removed from the Pastor’s Conference website. On Feb. 17th I sent an email to Vance Pitman, President of the 2011 Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference about a doctrinal concern. The email is posted below and contains within it the first email [...]

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Rick Warren, John Calvin and Quoting Heretics

What ever your theological position you will find other positions that just make you squirm. And the people that make statements supporting those other position might make you squirm even more. I get that. For example, I get nervous when Protestants quote Chesterton, a man who championed the Papacy. In my mind the reader of [...]

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Thoughts on Moore on Glenn Beck and the Gospel

Glenn Beck as been a recent driving force for (neo?) Conservative politics in America. His big push is to bring God back to the center of American life both politically and socially. I understand his sentiment. There is a sense in which I agree. In recent times when Glenn Beck has spoken on the issue [...]

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Christoga: Christian Yoga?

So, I’m browsing Netflix. I search the term “Christian” just to see what comes up. One of the results that comes up is Christoga: Christian Yoga. Apparently, I missed the boat on this by a few years. It’s dated 2007. I’m sitting there wondering if I had been transported to bizarre-o land. Well, maybe I [...]

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Liberty University, Glenn Beck and the Gospel

On April 23, 2010 Liberty University announced that Glenn Beck would deliver the Commencement speech for Liberty University’s Class of 2010. The graduation took place on Saturday, May 15. Beck’s speech can be viewed online at The Rightscoop. Success came early for Beck when just before his speech, Liberty conferred an honorary Doctorate of Humanities [...]

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Heresy Two-step

On a recent Fighting for the Faith radio program host Chris Rosebrough had Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller as a guest to help with a sermon review. During the sermon review Wolfmueller mentioned something he called a heresy two-step. It’s a process that some might use to preach heresy or some position/doctrine that that is not from [...]

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True aim of Roman Catholic ecumenism

Ecumenism today can be seen in social/political change in the name of the ‘greater good’. Or in doctrinal statements drafted and signed by different “Christian” sects. When dealing with such issues many Protestants speak up when it seems the Gospel is at stake. Other Protestants don’t always take to kindly to this. It seems no [...]

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Convert or die?

I’ve often wondered if Christians in the USA have freedom to their detriment. There are so many churches that they can leave one for another for whatever reason they like. Many start campaigns and stand against national department stores for not saying Merry Christmas. It is easy to complain about the world not holding to [...]

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Do Scott Hahn’s Book Endorsements Offer Protestants Validity?

Covenant and Communion: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI by Scott Hahn has a few Protestant endorsements. The biggest stir was caused by Michael Horton’s endorsement. People are asking – Why endorse such a book? Would the Apostle Paul have endorsed a book on metaphysics by Aristotle? Dr. Horton has responded in his post [...]

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Happy Reformation Day 2009

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther kicked off the Protestant Reformation. His purpose was to reform the church. That did not work, however, and the Catholic church instead responded with the Council of Trent. Today the protest continues as Trent stands in opposition to the biblical and Protestant understanding of the Gospel. Many of us [...]

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Trent: Let Me Be Anathema

The sixth session of the Council of Trent,the Canons Concerning Justification, anathematizes me how many times? Else where in the meta Dan Phillips mentioned to me that we should have a contest. “How many Romish anathemas can you rack up?” I decided to count the number of anathemas that I am under from the 33 [...]

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Book Review: Christianity in Crisis The 21st Century

Christianity In Crisis: The 21st Century By Hank Hanegraaff. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2009. 432 pages. Hank Hanegraaff has updated the 1993 edition of Christianity in Crisis to keep up with the “Word of Faith” movement and its teachers. The author exposes the continued growth and danger of these teachings. The book is divided into seven [...]

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Westboro Baptist Revealed: Evangelized, Interviewed, Reviewed (Updated)

If the messages on the signs are not disturbing enough, how about the people holding them? They are children! My heart breaks to see a picture like this just hoping it is a photo-shopped picture. Unfortunately, it is not. Last week I wrote Westboro Baptist To Share Hate In Atlanta to give folks a heads [...]

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Michael Horton Interviews Robert Schuller

A Conversation with Dr. Robert Schuller* The following are highlights from a two hour discussion between Dr. Robert Schuller and Dr. Michael Horton on the White Horse Inn radio broadcast, Nov. 1992. Michael Horton: Would you be willing to address your congregation as a group as sinners? Robert Schuller: No I don’t think I need [...]

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De-baptism Thoughts

The title of a recent USA Today article says it all Atheists choose ‘de-baptism’ to renounce childhood faith. I’m not sure that Hemingway could have said it better. When a person becomes a Christian they repent and believe the Gospel. There is a renunciation of the previous life and a proclamation that we belong to [...]

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Angels and Demons A Novel Idea

The folks at Westminster Seminary have shined some light for truth. They’ve put together a great new site responding to the movie “Angels and Demons” based on Dan Brown’s novel. The site is The Truth About Angels & Demons.

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LifeWay Reads With Discernment

Update: The Baptist Standard reported that LifeWay backs off ‘read with discernment’ label for books. Apparently the label was irrelevant to their customers. So all of the links below have been removed since they were dead. LifeWay, the Christian bookstore of the Southern Baptist Convention, has a new warning label out. It’s called Read With [...]

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The Shack On Issues Etc

This week Pastor Todd Wilken took some time to review much discussed book The Shack. He plays the sounds clips from the audio version of the book and comments. I’ve provided the audio below. It’s definitely worth listening to Pastor Wilken’s excellent comments. While Pastor Wilken mentions a few good aspects of the book he [...]

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Christless Christianity Q and A With Michael Horton

On October 31 Michael Horton appeared live on washingtonpost.com’s Viewpoint. Horton was answering questions about his new book Christless Christianity that was released on November 1. The book has been doing well selling over 7,000 copies and the live chat at Viewpoint was the best so far. This is great news! It would be nice [...]

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Reformation Day 2008: Protestant Courage

I remember several years ago while talking to a Roman Catholic about doctrine. Though she had just left the convent and would no longer be in process to become a nun, she was a devout Roman Catholic as far as I could tell. She left the convent and married a friend of mine. We were [...]

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Roman Catholic Evangelism

My last post was to make folks aware of Michael Horton’s forthcoming book Christless Christianity. I believe this will be an important book for evangelical churches. This post is about another forthcoming book that I am not excited about. One that Horton’s book should be in opposition to. Frank Beckwith’s Return to Rome: Confessions of [...]

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The Metaphorical Safety of The Shack

So far I have two reviews of The Shack posted. One, The Shack Review, by a dear brother and fellow church member Wayne Elliott. The other, Uncovering The Shack, by local yet widely known Pastor Michael Youseff. Now, I have another dear brother who I recently had a good Southern Baptist dinner with. For folks [...]

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Flew Names Dawkins A Secularist Bigot

The God Delusion by the atheist writer Richard Dawkins, is remarkable in the first place for having achieved some sort of record by selling over a million copies. But what is much more remarkable than that economic achievement is that the contents – or rather lack of contents – of this book show Dawkins himself [...]

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Uncovering The Shack

My fellow church member bro. Wayne whose review of The Shack I recently posted informed me of another review of The Shack. Michael Youssef, pastor of Church of the Apostles, one of our neighboring churches, has reviewed The Shack in a recent sermon. Dr. Youseff’s review, Uncovering The Shack, can be downloaded directly on mp3 [...]

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Roman Catholic Baptist?

Peter Smith of the courier-journal out of Louisville gives us an interesting story morning Married, ex-Baptist minister to become Catholic priest. Sad, but interesting story about former baptist pastor David Harris converting to Catholicism. So why the question “Roman Catholic Baptist?” Smith’s story begins. David Harris never considered his conversion to Catholicism six years ago to [...]

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The Shack Review

A friend from church wrote a brief review of The Shack that touches on some key points as to why we should be cautious about this book. Or maybe even disregard it all together. He gave me permission to share this review. SHACK ATTACK – OR A CALL TO DISCERNMENT? “Discernment is not simply a [...]

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Beckwith The Protestant Roman Catholic

The much awaited book by both Roman Catholics and Protestants is here. It is none other than former President of the Evangelical Theological Society, Dr. Francis J. Beckwith’s new book Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic. Quite the title, huh? This is the reason this book will appeal to both Catholics and [...]

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Proper understanding of Roman Catholic salvation?

Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete He reads Paul in his context? On Buddhist salvation, the Buddhist will get to heaven “probably faster than I will.” How about an atheist? Just watch. Not sure what it’s worth… Mark

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Courage to Be Protestant: Marketing the Gospel

“That is where this gospel really parts company from the way in which products and services are marketed in our modernized world. These products and services are nothing more than products and services. They are simply there for our use. The gospel is not. The gospel calls us not to use it but to submit [...]

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Pope Says No More Pedophiles

In an AP news story Pope Benedict XVI is quoted. “It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the Church in general and for me personally that this could happen,” Benedict said. “It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way [...]

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Straight Answers from a Mormon

Today many Mormons in the public eye answer theological questions using phrases that sound evangelical. Such as referring to Jesus using phrases like “personal Saviour” as Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney did in a recent press conference. This has caused at least one uninformed mega-church leader, Joel Osteen, to say he accepts Mormons as Christians. [...]

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Rome and Evangelicalism: Cults with the Same Gospel?

On a recent program of Issues, Etc. that is worth listening to host Todd Wilkin said something very interesting. The show is from Tuesday, July 25 entitled “Audio Open Lines: The Journey Home Broadcast Featuring a Roman Catholic Convert from Lutheranism”. Actually he said many true and interesting things. I want to quote one here [...]

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Grace No More

In a recent Barna Group article the title One-Quarter of Self-Described Born Again Adults Rely On Means Other Than Grace to Get to Heaven says it all. It’s an interesting read. The article states Overall, 80% of adults in the U.S. call themselves “Christian.” In comparison, the phrase “a committed Christian” is embraced by two [...]

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Moore, Pearce, Camp and a Lecture

I read through Steve Camp’s The Top Ten Turkey Awards of 2005 and his post Double standards. Number eight on the list is Russell Moore (the Henry Institute and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) for having Roman Catholic Joseph Pearce speak at the Gheens Lectures. Dr. Moore is, however, a very solid theologian. These lectures are [...]

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Through the Maze of the Roman Catholic Plan of Salvation

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Islamic Calvinists: Flattery through imitation?

First, I want to say that this is truly not flattery as they are not imitating Calvinism merely stealing the name. Second, I am glad, but surprised that the anti-Calvinists out there haven’t used this information to try and discredit Calvinism. Give them time though. III. ISLAMIC CALVINISTS A. Max Weber in Kayseri No visitor [...]

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Thanks Dave Hunt. Glad I was a Calvinist afterwards! Whew!

In Dave Hunt’s recent Berean Call newsletter we find the question and the end of the answer below. Question: In the July ’05 Letters section,“TF of Ireland,” a self-proclaimed “Calvinist,” acknowledged that Tom and Dave are saved. Is it possible for someone who believes only in the soteriology of Calvin to be saved? Specifically, that [...]

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Interesting statements by Marvin Wilson

In light of recent interest and discussions of Marvin Wilson and “block logic” I have been looking around for some info on Dr. Wilson. I have his book Our Father Abraham. Before getting to the interesting statements I found here are a couple examples of block logic that Wilson gives in this book. The prophets [...]

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