Most professing Christians in America are infected with at least some measure of the health and wealth gospel, said one theologian.
John Piper - Why I abominate the prosperity gospel
That is, believers have no concept of a love and a joy that does not eliminate hardship and heartache, Sam Storms of Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City said at a pastors conference this week.
“For most professing believers if God is love He must promise to minimize my struggles and maximize my pleasure,” he lamented. Many believe it’s their spiritual birthright to experience comfort and prosperity and that it’s God divine obligation to provide it.
It’s a disease that’s rampant in the culture and in the church. People are inundated with messages from powerbrokers, media, entertainment, TV evangelists and bestselling authors that say joy is inextricably bound up in material prosperity, physical health, relational success and all the comforts and conveniences Western society provides.
For most people, joy and suffering are incompatible, Storms noted.
Thus preachers have a difficult task at hand in communicating to such a culture a genuine joy found in Christ.
The so-called prosperity gospel that teaches wealth and good health is a sign of God’s favor and blessing is prevalent in the church, Storm lamented. Underlining the seriousness of the problematic theology many preachers have picked up, the Oklahoma City pastor called it a “corrosive and disintegrative pox” on the church and “a disease far more infectious and ultimately fatal to the soul than the worst bubonic plague and the affects it might have on the human body.”
“We have to fight this infection in the body of Christ,” he emphatically told pastors at the Desiring God conference in Minneapolis.
But the blame for the rampant “disease” shouldn’t fall on the TV evangelists, Storms noted.
“I want to lay it (the blame) at our feet,” he said.
“It’s the pastors and leaders of the church today who fail to explain from the biblical text how hardship and tribulation are actually used by God to expose the superficiality of all the human material props on which we rely,” he explained. “We failed … to show … how hardship and persecution and slander compel us to rely on the all-sufficiency of everything God is for us in Jesus.”
That failure has left most professing Christians unable to grasp “the simple truth” that “infinitely more important and of immeasurably greater value than our physical comfort in this world is our spiritual conformity to Christ,” Storms noted.
And conformity to the image of Christ is orchestrated through trials and hardship.
“If I suffer it is because God values something in me greater than my physical comfort and health that He in His infinite wisdom and kindness knows can only be attained by means of physical affliction and the lessons of submission and dependency and trust in Him that I learn from it,” he said.
“That’s how suffering serves joy.”
Everyday people are hearing about a joy less durable and far inferior than the one offered by God. Yet, Storms asked pastors, when was the last time you expounded on the nature of the fullness of joy, … the superior beauty of God?
Citing the work of 18th century theologian Jonathan Edwards, Storms advised pastors on how a “Christian hedonist” should preach on the pursuit of joy.
Arab voices were fanning Middle East war fever Wednesday night, Feb. 3. debkafile’s military sources report that not only are Syrian leaders beating war drums - Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said in Damascus: “Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities” - but Egyptian military sources have put out information purporting to outline Israel’s preparations to strike Iran.
They report that the Israeli Navy together with the US Fifth Fleet have for some weeks been charting Persian Gulf waters and Iranian shorelines in preparation for attacks by Israeli naval and special operations forces.
IDF intelligence and special forces officers, they also say, have been marking out routes for their air and ground forces to drive into Iran and hit its nuclear installations.
According to these Egyptian sources, Saudi Arabia has demanded clarifications from Washington about reported US-assisted Israeli preparations to strike Iran and asks why they were not brought to the notice of Riyadh and the Gulf Arab governments.
The Saudis added that several Gulf intelligence and naval units had tracked Israeli movements and gathered documentary evidence.
Some of this information was leaked in Cairo Wednesday night to Shorouk, a publication which Egyptian intelligence often uses as an outlet for information held to be credible.
Shorouk was first out with the story of the Israeli Air Force attack on Iranian arms convoys in Sudan in January 2009.
JERUSALEM — Archaeologists said on Wednesday they have found a 1,500-year-old Jerusalem road that was once a bustling throughfare used by throngs of Christian pilgrims and which is depicted on a famed mosaic map of the Holy Land.
The small segment of road was found in a dig conducted before Jerusalem authorities carry out infrastructure rehabilitation just inside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate.
“After removing a number of archaeological strata, at a depth of 4.5 metres (14.80 feet) below today’s street level, much to our excitement, we discovered the large flagstones that paved the street,” said excavation director Ofer Sion.
The single, central thoroughfare is clearly visible on the Madaba Map, a floor mosaic in the Byzantine church of Saint George in Jordan which is the oldest surviving map of the Holy Land, said Sion, standing on scaffolding above the cracked flagstones.
“In those days, thousands of pilgrims from across the Christian world would be using that road,” he said.
Sion recounted that an eminent scholar of the Byzantine period, whom he wouldn’t name, was close to tears when he saw the flagstones, which are over one metre- (3.2-foot) long.
But, because it is below a busy street, the dig will have to be covered up again in a few weeks, Sion told journalists.
The excavation led by the Israel Antiquities Authority also uncovered remains of buildings from later periods as well as a a water cistern measuring eight by 12 metres and five metres deep (26 X 39 x 16 feet.)
In addition, the archaeologists found numerous pottery vessels and coins and five small square bronze weights.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Presbyterian Church USA’s statement of faith says God through Jesus Christ delivers followers “from death to life eternal.”
But one in three members of the nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination seem to believe there’s some wiggle room for non-Christians to get into heaven, according to a recent poll.
The Presbyterian Panel’s “Religious and Demographic Profile of Presbyterians” found that 36 percent of members disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: “Only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.” Another 39 percent, or about two-fifths, agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.
“There seems to be some universalist streak in Presbyterianism, where some Presbyterians are open to the idea of other paths that folks in other faiths might be taking,” said Perry Chang, administrator of the Presbyterian Panel, which convenes every three years.
The Presbyterian Church USA, with about 2.1 million members, is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country. A total of 3,450 Presbyterians responded to the study, which was mailed in October 2008. The panel issued the religious and demographic report last month.
Polls asking similar questions about views on salvation have provided a wide range of results.
A 2005 national survey funded by Baylor University found that 53 percent of the 1,721 adults who were polled agreed with the statement, “Many religions lead to salvation,” and another 19 percent said “My religion is the one true faith that leads to salvation.”
A 2007 poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation believe many religions can lead to eternal life.
Another study found that evangelical Christians may adhere to a much stricter interpretation of salvation. The 2008 report by Lifeway, the publishing and research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, found that 75 percent of Protestants who hold “evangelical beliefs” strongly disagreed with the statement, “If a person is sincerely seeking God, he or she can obtain eternal life through religions other than Christianity.”
The Rev. Dirk Ficca, a Presbyterian minister in Chicago, said a majority of Presbyterians feel that “the God they know in Jesus” can bring salvation to non-Christians.
“I’m a Christian. And so I can’t think about God or about the nature of salvation apart from Jesus of Nazareth,” said Ficca, executive director of the Chicago-based Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. But “that God I know in Jesus, I find at work in people who aren’t Christians.”
” … Some other traditions would say, ‘No, God is only at work in us,’” said Ficca, who was not a part of the Presbyterian Panel’s study. “And that is a big divide in the Christian community.”
Chang said the panel has been asked the salvation question in the exact same way since 1996. He said in that time, there’s been virtually no change in the way Presbyterians have responded.
The study broke down responses in four categories: members, elders, pastors and specialized clergy. The panel found that 45 percent of elders agree or strongly agree that “only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved,” while 31 percent disagreed or strongly disagreed. More pastors disagreed (45 percent) than agreed (35 percent) and a majority of specialized clergy (60 percent) disagree.
Evangelicals and Pentecostals are more likely to claim they have had a “personal experience with a divine kind of healing” than Presbyterians, which may help explain the Presbyterian church’s divide on beliefs about salvation, said Candy Gunther Brown, a religious studies professor at Indiana University in Bloomington.
“They don’t generally tend to expect in Presbyterian churches that there’s going to be a miraculous response to that prayer,” Brown said. “And I think that does get related to theological questions about salvation.”
Questionnaires were mailed in the Presbyterian study and recipients could choose not to respond. The report says 59 percent of members and 79 percent of elders responded. Response figures for pastors and specialized clergy were not available.
It also asked a key question about the ordination of openly gay ministers. Last year, the denomination’s presbyteries rejected an effort to undo a 1996 policy requiring gay clergy to be chaste.
When asked if the church should allow sexually active homosexuals to be ordained as ministers, 53 percent of members and 60 percent of elders responded, “no, probably not,” or “no, definitely not.” More pastors opposed the ordination of gays as ministers than supported it, 48 percent to 44 percent, while 64 percent of specialized clergy supported it.
The following clarified some things for me… Pastor, What say you!
Question: “What is the Latter Rain Movement?”
Answer: The Latter Rain Movement is an influence within Pentecostalism which teaches that the Lord is pouring out His Spirit again, as He did at Pentecost, and using believers to prepare the world for His Second Coming. The Latter Rain Movement is anti-dispensational and amillennial, and many leaders of the movement embrace aberrant teachings.
The term “latter rain” was first used early in the history of Pentecostalism, when David Wesley Myland wrote a book called Latter Rain Songs in 1907. Three years later, Myland wrote The Latter Rain Covenant, a defense of Pentecostalism in general.
The name comes from Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” Pentecostals interpreted the “rain” in this verse as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The “latter rain” (the end-times outpouring) would be greater than the “former rain.”
In 1948, a “revival” broke out in Saskatchewan, Canada, and the teachings of the Latter Rain movement were clarified. Those involved in the revival were convinced that they were on the verge of a new era, one in which the Holy Spirit would demonstrate His power in a greater way than the world had ever seen. Not even the age of the apostles, they said, had witnessed such a movement of the Holy Spirit.
Latter Rain teaching is characterized by a highly typological hermeneutic. That is, the Bible is interpreted in a symbolic, extremely stylized manner. An emphasis is placed on extra-biblical revelation, such as personal prophecies, experiences, and directives straight from God. Latter Rain doctrine includes the following beliefs:
- the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, are received through the laying on of hands
- Christians can be demonized and require deliverance
- God has restored all the offices of ministry to the Church, including apostle and prophet
- divine healing can be administered through the laying on of hands
- praise and worship will usher God into our presence
- women have a full and equal ministry role in the Church
- denominational lines will be destroyed, and the Church will unify in the last days
- the “latter rain” will bring God’s work to completion; the Church will be victorious over the world and usher in Christ’s kingdom
Many “apostles” in the Latter Rain Movement also teach the doctrine of “the manifest sons of God.” This is a heretical doctrine which says that the Church will give rise to a special group of “overcomers” who will receive spiritual bodies, becoming immortal.
It is important to note that the Assemblies of God deemed the Latter Rain Movement to contain heresy from the very beginning. On April 20, 1949, the Assemblies of God officially denounced Latter Rain teaching, nearly splitting the denomination in the process. Other established Pentecostal groups have passed similar resolutions.
Today, the term “latter rain” is rarely used, but the theology of Latter Rain continues to exert an influence. Most branches of the Charismatic Movement adhere to Latter Rain teaching. Modern movements such as the Brownsville/Pensacola Revival, the Toronto Blessing, and the “holy laughter” phenomenon are a direct result Latter Rain theology.
Christ’s church has never been approved or accepted by the world. And it never will be. If you live for Jesus, you won’t have to separate yourself from other’s company; they’ll do it for you. All you have to do is live for him. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself reproached, rejected, called evil: “Men shall hate you, and…they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake” (Luke 6:22).
Yet, Jesus adds, this is the path to true fulfillment. “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25). In other words: “The only way you find meaning in life is by selling out your all for me. Then you’ll find true joy, peace and satisfaction.” Christ tells us, “My church is without spot or wrinkle. So, when you come to me, you must be willing to lay down all sins. You must surrender all to me, die completely to self, ungodly ambition and ego. By faith, you’ll be buried with me. But I will raise you up into new life.”
Think about what it means to be without spot or wrinkle. We know a spot is a stain. But what about a wrinkle? Have you ever heard the phrase, “a new wrinkle”? It means adding a new idea to an existing concept. A wrinkle, in that sense, applies to those who try to improve on the gospel. It suggests an easy way to attain heaven, without full surrender to Christ.
That’s the kind of gospel that’s being preached in many churches today. The sermons are aimed only at meeting people’s needs. As I read Jesus’ words, I see that this kind of preaching will not work. It doesn’t accomplish the true work of the gospel.
Don’t misunderstand: I’m not against preaching comfort and strength to
God’s people. As a shepherd of the Lord, I’m called to do exactly that. But if I preach only to people’s needs, and ignore Christ’s call to lay down our lives, then true needs will never be met. Jesus’ words are clear: Our needs are met by dying to ourselves and taking up his cross
Christians were shocked last week after learning that Benny and Suzanne Hinn are divorcing. Do ministers owe us an explanation for their failures?
Judging by the calls and e-mails I received last week, charismatic Christians were confused and dismayed when the Los Angeles Times broke the news that healing evangelist Benny Hinn and his wife, Suzanne, are getting divorced. The comments I heard were mostly sympathetic: “I am so grieved.” “This is a wake-up call.” “This is heartbreaking.” “I’m praying for the Hinns.”
And a few people were angry: “What is happening?” “Here we go again.” “This is why the secular world looks at us and laughs!”
“Every Christian has access to God’s mercy when he makes mistakes. But a leader is held to a higher standard of accountability and disclosure.”“
Hinn’s ministry, based in Texas, eventually posted an official statement online to quell the public outcry. It says:
Pastor Benny Hinn and his immediate family were shocked and saddened to learn of this news on February 17 without any previous notice. The couple has been married for more than 30 years, and although Pastor Hinn has faithfully endeavored to bring healing to their relationship, those efforts failed and were met with the petition for divorce that was filed without notice.
Both Pastor Hinn and the board of directors of the church ask for the prayers of ministry partners and friends as the Hinn family walks through this difficult season. Pastor Hinn also wants everyone to know that he remains firmly and unquestionably committed to God’s calling—as he continues in his thirty-sixth year of ministry—to take the life-saving and miracle-working Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations through crusades, broadcasts, and mission outreaches.
I’m grateful that Hinn released this statement, but I hope he plans to say more soon. He has influenced far too many people around the world to keep us wondering why his marriage is ending.
The charismatic segment of the church has endured a long string of divorces, moral failures and embarrassing scandals among high-profile ministers. The most recent wave began in 2006 with Ted Haggard’s fall (which did not end in divorce, thanks to Gayle Haggard’s tough decision to forgive Ted). Megachurch pastors Randy and Paula White of Tampa, Fla., announced their break-up in 2007; then came similar news from Juanita Bynum and Thomas Weeks III in Atlanta, followed by Jamal Bryant and his wife, Gizelle, of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore. And on and on it goes.
Part of the fallout of these scandals was the widespread disillusionment among people who follow these leaders. We naturally expect ministers to be models of Christ-like behavior, and they have a solemn charge to do so. When shepherds fail, the sheep often faint.
We’ve even seen this in the secular world. When politicians or celebrity athletes experience personal failure, the public wants an explanation. Tiger Woods, for example, waited three long months before finally hosting a press conference last week to admit what he called “irresponsible and selfish behavior.”
Of course no minister is perfect, and every Christian has access to God’s mercy when he makes mistakes. But a spiritual leader is held to a higher standard of accountability and disclosure. Those who assume a public ministerial role incur a “stricter judgment,” according to James 3:1. That means a leader can’t have a moral or ethical breakdown and then just hide it, ignore it or laugh it off.
It also means he can’t spin the statement to his advantage. The church, of all places, should be a No Spin Zone. We must take full responsibility, and that includes publicly owning up to our failures—and stepping down from the pulpit, if necessary, for however long it takes to find healing.
Please understand that I am not attacking a brother in Christ. I honor Benny Hinn for the fact that many people have come to the Lord in his evangelistic events around the world. I also know that leaders often are hit with the worst spiritual attacks because they are on the front lines. I believe we owe it to Benny and Suzanne to pray that their marriage can be restored.
Yet in this season of moral and spiritual crisis we must appeal to all those in public ministry to handle their charge with care. Of all people on earth, those who preach the Gospel of Truth must tell the truth.
by Maayana Miskin(IsraelNN.com) Even as Muslim spokesmen try to deny Jewish claims to the Holy Land, archaeological discoveries have recently been coming in fast and furious proving the veracity of the Biblical account of history.HebrewUniversity archaeologists have revealed an ancient path in Jerusalem believed to date back to the time of King Solomon, along with structures including a gateway and the foundation of a building. Dr. Eilat Mazar, the leader of the archaeological dig, said the findings match finds from the time of the FirstTemple.
Arutz Sheva TV’s Yoni Kempinski visited the archaeological dig where the ancient wall was revealed and heard from Dr. Mazar about the importance of the find and its connection to the Biblical description about the time of King Solomon.
The latest find includes a 70-meter long and six-meter-high stone wall, a small house adjacent to a gateway leading to what was once the royal courtyard, a building that served city officials, and a tower that overlooked the Kidron river.According to Mazar, the wall is likely to be the wall built by King Solomon. “This is the first time a building has been found that matches descriptions of the building carried out by King Solomon in Jerusalem,” she said.The third chapter of the Biblical book of Kings describes King Solomon building “his own house, and the house of the L-rd, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.” The wall testifies to relatively advanced engineering capabilities, archaeologists said. It runs through historic Jerusalem, between the City of David and the TempleMount.The remnants of a public building discovered along the wall contained shards of pottery that allowed researchers to estimate the date at which the building was in use – the 10th century BCE. One of the shards was engraved with Hebrew writing saying “For the chief…” Mazar believes the shard, part of a jug, belonged to the royal baker.
Other jugs bore a seal saying “For the king” in Hebrew. Dozens of seals were discovered using a water sifting technique. The building was ravaged by fire, researchers said, but the jugs that were found at the site were the largest discovered in Jerusalem to date.
The discoveries were made during a months-long dig run by HebrewUniversity in cooperation with the Israel Antiquities Authority, East Jerusalem Development Ltd, and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The dig is sponsored by Daniel Mintz and Meredith Berkman of New York.
An Open Letter to Peter Wagner, Dutch Sheets & Other “Apostles”.
I recently received a report of a new “Apostolic Network” headed
up by Dutch Sheets which held a gathering in Florida last week to
“carve up” territories for it’s ‘apostles’, etc. I need to put in writing
what I believe the Lord would say to these men.
But first I need to remind us all of something. On June 23rd, 2008,
a group of “apostles and prophets” under Peter Wagner’s headship
stood on a stage in Lakeland at the Todd Bentley revival - to lay
on hands and commission him, etc. But it was far more than that.
Peter Wagner called it an “apostolic alignment.” He made the
following statement before all the TV cameras and all the people:
“I take the apostolic authority that God has given me and I decree
to Todd Bentley:
-Your power will increase.
-Your authority will increase.
-Your favor will increase.
-Your influence will increase.
-Your revelation will increase.
I also decree that:
-A new supernatural strength will flow through this ministry.
-A new life force will penetrate this move of God…”
Onlookers might have thought that Wagner was ‘prophesying’ the
above statements. But actually what he felt he was doing was
“decreeing” these things over Todd - since he was the ‘head
apostle’. In a letter the following day, Wagner called this a
“groundbreaking event” and stated that, “We are now in a place
in what I see as the Second Apostolic Age…” (In other words,
a “new era” of real apostles).
So how did that work out for you, Peter? Well, literally within
weeks we found out that many of the “miracles” at Lakeland had
no foundation, and then Todd Bentley’s wife separated from him
apparently over an affair he was having - and the entire ‘revival’ fell
to pieces in the worst way possible. That’s how it worked out.
All the big Charismatic leaders that had stood on that stage hardly
knew what to do with themselves - they were so embarrassed.
And none more so than Peter Wagner - after making an “Apostolic
decree” like that. -Probably the most colossal disaster of his life.
So who pulled the rug out from under your “apostolic alignment”,
Peter? I need to tell you that there are two responsible parties.
One is ‘yourself’ - clearly. And the second is GOD - because He
is now pitted against you and your so-called “apostles”. He is the
one who did this to you.
You and your friends have presumed to an office and a place over
the Body that is simply not yours, and God is in the process of
taking you ‘apostles’ down - and all your “networks” with you.
Dutch Sheets - can I ask you please, what gives you the right to
carve up the Body of Christ in North America and parcel it out like
McDonalds franchises to all your buddies so they can be ‘apostles’
over their own “territory”? Do you have any idea what you are
playing with? Don’t you know that if your buddies are not real New
Testament Apostles then all they are doing is painting huge
targets on themselves and begging for the judgment of God?
How dare you treat the Body of Christ like a piece of Real Estate
that you can carve up for your own aggrandizement?
Because of men like you, God is about to judge the leadership
of the church. Do they call themselves an “apostle”? Well, God
is going to put them to the test. If they are not the real thing, they
make themselves His ‘enemy’ because they are blocking His
real Reformation. Every self-proclaimed “apostle and prophet” is
about to be put to the test. Oh, you call your group an “Apostolic
Council of Elders” or something similar? Expect God to come
calling, and if you are not the real thing, expect Him to take you
down. The Lord God is coming to take back His church with great
violence. And you guys are standing directly in His way.
I’ve heard that one of these big “apostles” in Canada once told his
network that their “apostle-ness” would be judged by the ‘noses
and nickels’ that they represented. (In other words, their “numbers”
and their reaping of money). Hmmmm. If I didn’t know better, I
would call those the words of a hireling and a wolf.
As Lee Grady wrote about this ‘Apostle-Mania’:
“In some circles apostles demanded total allegiance from the
leaders who were “under” them. Some required a policy of “tithing
up,” creating a monstrous organizational structure similar to a
spiritual Amway. So-called apostles with huge “downlines” made
exorbitant amounts of money. One leader even offered pastors the
opportunity to become “spiritual sons” by contributing $1,000 a
month to his ministry.”
And yet here is what the TRUE apostle Paul wrote: “I think that
God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to
death… we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are
buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace… we are made as the
filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things…” (1 Cor 4:9-13).
Now THAT is true apostleship. Tell me, Mr. Modern Apostle, do
you match up to the New Testament apostles? If not, what on
earth do you think God is going to do to you if you claim that title falsely?
I believe that many true Apostles, when they do arise, will simply
REFUSE to carry such titles in any way. They will “minimize”
themselves, not exalt themselves. That is the heart of a true leader of God.
In closing, let me again warn those who have titled themselves
“apostle” or ‘prophet’ in the modern church. God is coming to
“clean house” and if you are not the real deal, expect Him to start
with you. It is as simple as that. You need to repent urgently of
your utter presumption. You have been warned.YES! - You have permission to post these emails to friends
or other groups, boards, etc - unless there is something
different written in the Copyright notice above.
The church of Jesus Christ lacks spiritual authority in society because it lacks spirituality.
Why are our government leaders and the media so condescending to Christians?
Why has the church lost all meaning and purpose in the world’s eyes?
Why have young people written off Christianity as totally irrelevant to their lives?
It’s because, for the most part, the church is no longer a light. Christ isn’t ruling in our society because he doesn’t reign in our lives. As I look around today, I see few in God’s house who are truly in union with Christ. There is so little fellowship with heaven. And few ministers refuse worldly methods to trust God for their direction. We have lost our light because we have lost Christ’s life. For God’s authority to have any impact, it must be lived out in yielded, obedient vessels.
Consider the kingdom of Babylon during the time of Nebuchadnezzar. This was the mightiest empire on earth. Daniel prophesied that every succeeding king would be inferior, less powerful, less influential. Why? Because Nebuchadnezzar was not the real ruler in Babylon. The power behind the empire wasn’t in the golden statue he erected. No, Babylon’s authority rested in the hands of a small group of God-possessed men. The Lord had set up a secret, heavenly government and it was ruled by Daniel and the three Hebrew children. These men were God’s governing instruments, because they operated in the heavenly realm.
They refused to have anything to do with the world system. Instead, they shut themselves in with God.
As a result, these holy men knew the times. They could tell the people what God was up to at any given time. They were bright, shining lights to the whole nation, because they had the life of God within them.
In 2 Kings 6, we read of Syria making war against Israel. During this conflict, the prophet Elisha sat at home communing with the Lord. This man was God’s secret government, and he ruled with authority. Elisha heard from the Lord, and sent messages to Israel’s king, warning him of every move the Syrian army made.
When the Syrian king found out about Elisha’s thwarting messages, he surrounded the prophet’s hometown with a battalion of troops. But God blinded the Syrians, and Elisha ended up leading them captive into the Israelites’ camp. Elisha had the light—and he knew Satan’s every move—because he had the life.
Something beautiful happens when an individual surrenders his will to Jesus Christ. Our Creator has a sovereign plan for each of our total lives, and that design is so spectacular and heavenly that nothing can compare. He has predestined us from the foundation of the world to His glory. His Word declares that He alone is the foundation on which we must build. After we surrender to this single foundation, then He begins the beautiful process of revealing the rest of His story plan to us. The Spirit said to the Ephesus church family, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (Ephesians 1:9). He cannot, and will not, reveal His will until we surrender our will to Him.
Jesus Christ was our perfect example. The Gospel of John reveals His absolute subordination to His Father. He never spoke of His own ideas or plans. In fact, He had no other plan but His Father’s. “Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7:16-17). I love this divine statement. First, He said, “I have no will but the Father’s.” Then, He said, “If you will surrender to His will, then you will have the enlightenment of knowing in your heart that My doctrines are pure and divine.” Something supernatural happens in our very spirit and mind once we surrender our will to the Heavenly Father. The Son of God was plain-spoken. “If any man will do his will he shall ‘know’…”
This is divine revelation. Multitudes are asking, “How can I know the will of God?” Multiple books are being written on “finding God’s Will.” All of the searching and hand wringing could end quickly if each person would totally surrender their will to Him. No book but the Holy Bible can reveal the will of God for you. But the one addition to that Book is God’s readiness to apply the truth of that Book when you give up your own will. Only the Spirit of God can reveal in your heart all the plans for your life. Your profession, your partner of a wife or a husband, your time, and every aspect must be discerned as you are totally yielded and free of all your preconceived plans.
We live in a religious world that says you can bring all your talents, plans, decisions, etc., into your Christian walk. Some would even suggest that there are many different paths to serving God and God wants you to just be yourself. This concept is not only wrong, it is terrible. The eternal God knows your name, your abilities, your sins, and your thoughts. He has the perfect solution for all your needs and the perfect plan for all your life. He wants you to surrender your will totally and submit to His revelations for your life.
Our nature is depraved. The most eloquent and cultured person among us has a wicked heart that must be washed in the Blood. This is the greatest struggle in the present church world. Multitudes are willing to profess Jesus Christ as long as it is on their own terms. Salvation is not just the redeeming of the old nature but the renewing and transformation of that nature. It is the miracle of being “born again.” He does not sanctify my will but totally changes my will to His will at my surrender.
A man, who was born blind, was seated by the path where Jesus and His disciples ministered. His disciples ask Jesus, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:2-3) Every situation of every individual soul on this earth has been allowed or designed for God to reveal Himself in that life. Your worst nightmare is an ordained opportunity for God to change your life. He is sovereign over His universe. Nothing that happens is meaningless. Whatever your situation or heartbreak, surrender your will to Him and He will begin the process of miracles.
When you give up all your will and great plans to the “Master Designer of Human Lives,” He will reveal His design and you will discover a glorious life. He awaits somewhere beside the path you are struggling to navigate. His plans may not always take you through a flower garden, but it will always end in one.
“I need to talk to you about your book,” a mother of one of the young people at the youth center I was involved with told me one night when I was busy losing to one of the kids on a videogame. My book, Nobody’s Angel, chronicled my involvement in the occult world before being delivered by Jesus. We got into a back part of the building where it was quiet. “Fire away,” I said, not knowing what to expect. “Talk to me about Edgar Cayce,” she asked. Now, there was someone I could discuss. Along with Bishop Albert Pike, Edgar Cayce was a man whom I followed, read all of his teachings and his writings had convinced me that being a Christian and a medium were not incompatible. Only after I became a Christian, learned the scriptures, and was delivered from the demonic forces that had deceived me, did I come to know Cayce was a false prophet. Nice, yes. Sincere, yes, but nevertheless a false prophet. False prophets rarely know that is what they are. “Edgar Cayce was an occultist,” I told my friend’s mom. “But he taught the Bible!” she exclaimed. I paused. “But, he was an OCCULTIST.” I restated. “But he HEALED people!” she said, with a look of desperation in her eyes. I paused again. “BUT HE WAS AN OCCULTIST,” I said very deliberately. “Oh dear God,” she said as her face turned ashen white. “I’m in big trouble.” She proceeded to tell me about attending a ladies’ Bible study at a good, solid church whose pastor I had known for years. The study was held by the wife of one of the oldest and most solid elders in that church. After a number of months, the elder’s wife invited my friend and a handpicked few other ladies to a more private, “deeper life” kind of group study. They went eagerly. But within a short while, she realized something wasn’t right. The teacher began to introduce Edgar Cayce’s teachings to them. She taught them that the Bible contained the words of God, but wasn’t perfect. Soon she was teaching reincarnation. In fact, she told them that she had been married to the High Priest Melchizidek over a million years ago on Jupiter. When I spoke truth to my friend, the terrifying reality of how deceived she had been hit her with full force. She immediately made plans to cut all ties with this woman and her “Bible Study” group. How did she end up in that place? One, her knowledge of the Bible’s clear teachings about reincarnation and the occult practices God forbids was nearly non-existent. It wasn’t really her fault; it isn’t taught in most churches, and hasn’t been for quite some time. But more importantly, she was ensnared because she trusted her teacher. The lady was well-respected, in her sixties, and she and her husband had a sterling reputation. And she was so sincere. And nice. Who was SHE to question someone with credentials and history, someone who had taught the Bible for decades? Maybe, she reasoned, it was just her problem, not her teacher’s. Maybe, she thought, she just wasn’t deep or mature enough to get these “greater truths.” This is how error and spiritual deception grows in the church unchecked. I have a rule with the youth I teach. If I am wrong, if I misquote, or if I am teaching a half- truth or a lie, I make it clear that they are responsible to CALL ME ON IT. It is their duty to do so, not just for them, but to protect others. I will not be like some who say, “Who are you to question me? The Bible says to ‘touch not Mine Anointed.’” Truth supersedes my position, my power and my pride. I am glad my friend woke up and left her “teacher.” But what disturbed me most was that her teacher was a woman who was well-known in church circles throughout the entire city. She was deeply involved in the intercessory prayer movement. And she had laid hands on and prayed for nearly every pastor in our city! And yet, she had not been discerned, nor discovered, nor confronted, nor stopped. Where is our discernment? If we cannot discern and deal with such a blatant matter, how can we ever hope to deal with the little foxes, the little tampering with truth that are seeking even now to unravel the whole tapestry of truth within the church? And how then can we expose the bigger lies that even now are beginning to wrap their tendrils around the Body of Christ? Gregory R Reid
Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?- I Kings 3:9
I like Paul Young. Having heard him speak about his life and book three times recently in Portland, Oregon I found him to be passionate, witty and funny. While at Young’s alma mater (Warner Pacific College), I was able to spend a few moments with him privately during which time I asked him to personally respond to several criticisms and concerns that I and other Christians are raising about the theological contents of his book. I wish I could report that he allayed my apprehensions but instead, I went away convinced that The Shack is more than just a little offbeat but is, as Dr. Albert Mohler pegged it on his radio program, “blatant heresy.”
Yes, The Shack is indeed a novel. And many will wonder what could be wrong since it is identified as a Christian book and authored by a man who claims to be a Christian? After all, The Shack is heralded by many seasoned Christian leaders. Pastors are preaching from it. Sunday School classes and small groups are reading and discussing it. Many Christians are buying it by the case to give as gifts. Some Christian Schools are even sanctioning and encouraging the reading of the book. But this is not just a benign story of man overcoming life’s challenges. Make no mistake, the book presents doctrine throughout its clever and gripping story - something the author clearly intended to do. Therein lays the problem.
Trading the Kingdom for a Shack
For those unaware of the book’s storyline, here is the description of The Shack from Amazon.com.
“Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness.
Four years later in the midst of what he refers to as ‘The Great Sadness,’ Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.
Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.
In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant ‘The Shack’ wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?”
The Shack is a publishing phenomenon but you may ask “is it really any big deal?” This self-published book has sold 4+ million copies since its May 2007 release. It debuted at #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List and has remained there for the past 25 weeks as of this writing. It has also held the #1 position on many other bestseller lists including Amazon.com, USA Today’s Top 150 Books, Barnes and Noble, Borders Books and is the #1 book of 2008 at ChristianBook.com. According to the author, the book is currently selling 87,000 copies a week in the secular book stores alone. All of this has allowed Young and his two publishing partners the luxury of holding out for just the right major motion picture deal as well. But there is a reason why several dozen publishers turned this book down. Here are a few of my observations - and objections.
The Shack’s Trinity
Several chapters into the book, a most unorthodox version of the Holy Trinity is revealed. Young’s tale diminishes Almighty God from His rightful position as a supernatural being. Instead of speaking by His Word and His Spirit, He is morphed into a feminine figure reduced to passing notes to those whom she wants to communicate with.
God is portrayed in The Shack as a large African-American woman named “Papa” also called “Elousia.” (Talk about gender confusion!) Jesus is a Jewish carpenter complete with a tool belt and the Holy Spirit is depicted as an Asian woman named after “Sarayu,” a mystical river in ancient India related to the Hindu deity Kali. Clearly, there is a trinity in The Shack but it is absolutely not the Trinity.
From my first glance at The Shack, it struck me that the idea of God in human form - even in the pages of a novel is more than just theologically questionable. It is forbidden by several passages from both the Old and New Testaments not the least of which is the Second Commandment (Exodus 20: 4-5). The Apostle Paul proclaims, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man…” (Romans 1:21-23a)
Of The Shack, Chuck Colson’s BreakPoint contributing editor Travis McSherley wrote, “This is the root of the book’s problems. In the course of the biblical narrative, God the Father never reveals Himself in the form of a human. In fact, Christ rebukes His disciples for even suggesting it. (See John 14:5-10)
The Shack would not dispute these limits of understanding - it dedicates many pages to chastising believers who cling too tightly to traditional views of God’s nature. Yet, instead of expanding our thinking and our appreciation for divine mysteries, the book shrinks them quite dramatically by creating a deity so clearly influenced by human expectations of what God should be.”
Sin, Hell, Judgment, Salvation, the Incarnation,
Hierarchy and Authority in the Godhead, a Polynesian
Goddess and other assorted problems
Here are just a few of the many issues raised by The Shack:
- Young’s Papa character insists that sin is its own punishment. This distorts the reality of Hell and discounts eternal retribution for sin.
- Readers of The Shack are told that Jesus is only the best way to know God – not the only way.
- The Shack teaches that when Jesus went to the cross, God Almighty died there too. This is a heresy known as patripassianism. (In our private conversation I challenged Young about this but to no avail.)
- The Shack states that there is no structure or hierarchy within the Trinity and that the three personages of God are all equally subject to one another and to humans as well. I challenge fans of The Shack to open a Bible and try to make that square with the Scriptures!
- Young’s “Papa” character is suspiciously akin to a Polynesian/Hawaiian goddess who also happens to be known as “Papa.” When I quizzed Young on this he denied any knowledge of such a deity. However, the similarities with The Shack’s God character are stunning.
Now lets move on to perhaps the biggest concern.
Is Paul Young still a “Reconciling Universalist?”
I have noticed that in nearly every electronic or print media interview Paul Young volunteers that he is “not a universalist” and does so without ever being asked about it. But is he merely parsing words? Young is obviously nervous about the Christian world becoming convinced of any such thing. That said, it strikes me as odd that on a web page intended to answer critics of the book one of his editors, Wayne Jacobson, acknowledges that Young had previously embraced a form of universalism known as “universal reconciliation” and that this belief indeed appeared throughout the original manuscript. (Jacobson refers to it as “ultimate reconciliation” to avoid using the dreaded “U” word, universalism.)
Jacobson’s website states: Does The Shack promote Ultimate Reconciliation (UR)?
“It does not. While some of that was in earlier versions because of the author’s partiality at the time to some aspects of what people call UR, I made it clear at the outset that I didn’t embrace UR as sound teaching and didn’t want to be involved in a project that promoted it. In my view UR is an extrapolation of Scripture to humanistic conclusions about our Father’s love that has to be forced on the biblical text.
Since I don’t believe in UR and wholeheartedly embrace the finished product, I think those who see UR here, either positively or negatively are reading into the text. To me that was the beauty of the collaboration.” (See: http://www.windblownmedia.com/shackresponse.html)
It is obvious that Young, Jacobson, and partner Brad Cummings all have a great deal to lose by not doing their best to debunk the book’s critics. They are very aware of where Young was theologically when he wrote the book. And that is the point isn’t it? It is the contents of the book (and presumably that of the forthcoming motion picture) that is being criticized here.
In the very beginning, I began to smell universalism in The Shack by simply reading it. These thoughts were more than confirmed through a very scholarly paper critiquing The Shack written by Dr. James De Young. Other leaders who have been critical of the book including Dr. Michael Youssef, Janet Parshall, Jan Markell and Dr. Larry DeBruyn have quoted Dr. De Young’s research - and for good reason.
Dr. De Young is a conservative professor at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He is fluent in Greek and Hebrew and also teaches an elective on the early Church Fathers. He is well equipped to expose universalism from both biblical and historical perspectives. Perhaps equally important to our discussion here, is the fact that for several years both Dr. De Young and Paul Young were members of a theological discussion group or “think tank” known as the M3 Forum. In response to the bountiful amount of universalistic ideas found in The Shack, Dr. De Young has published a well-documented 39 page paper which can be accessed at: http://theshackreview.com. Once on the website you will also find several shorter documents and a discussion forum with remarks from readers, many of which defend The Shack. These comments serve to illustrate the tremendous confusion and lack of biblically thinking we see abounding inside the Christian community today.
After having Young tell me face to face that he was not a universalist, I asked him about Dr. De Young’s paper. He bristled at me and made several accusations about De Young which I now understand to be unfounded. Since the meeting with Paul Young, I had the opportunity to meet personally with Dr. De Young for several hours. In our meeting he shared another yet-to-be-released paper with me which he has written exposing Paul Young’s very bold defense of universal reconciliation. I can best describe the information in it as shocking. In fact, in the Spring of 2004, Paul gave one of the most complete defenses of universal reconciliation imaginable and reiterated this position on at least two occasions - the latest being in May-June 2007 - after writing The Shack.
Having had no previous indication that a staunch believer was in their midst, Paul Young’s revelations heralding universal reconciliation came as a complete blind-side to the M3 Forum members. After the group contested Young’s ideas, Dr. De Young gave a lengthy rebuttal to all of Paul’s points, branding Young’s position as heretical, citing a church council decision from the 6th century. After this event in 2004, Paul Young ceased participating in the M3 Forum.
In reflecting on my personal conversation with Young at Warner Pacific in October 2008, I wish I had asked specifically “Are you now or have you ever been an advocate of universal reconciliation?” (Note that classical universalists believe that all religions lead to the same place where as those who hold to universal reconciliation believe that all men <read that “ALL”> are already saved because of Jesus’ work on the cross.) This position purports that there is no penalty for sin, no literal hell and no need to accept Christ and repent of one’s sins. It dramatically undermines the work of the Church, evangelism and the core teachings of the New Testament. It is a satanic trap denying essential beliefs taught by Jesus, the Apostles and Bible believers throughout the Church Age. It is also exactly what Young believed in 2004. It is what he believed when he wrote The Shack and whether he believes it today or not you can be fairly certain that with millions of dollars at risk he is not about to re-edit The Shack to try and make theological corrections - at least without an act of God anyway. Again, it is not how skillfully Young may craft his words in denial of being a universalist or even what he may actually believe today that is the real question. It is the theological contents of The Shack that orthodox Christian critics are concerned with. Besides, universalism is but one of the many glaring unbiblical aspects of the book.
The REAL Problem
The bottom line concerning books, movies, television shows and other input like The Shack is that if our emotions rule and we fail to use scriptural discernment we can be taken captive by “evil imaginations”
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit… - Colossians 2:8
Knowing that the author actually portrayed himself as both Shack characters Missy (the violated-then-murdered six year-old) and her father, Mack (the one searching for God in a painful world) one’s heart surely breaks for what Paul Young has evidently endured in his lifetime. However, if readers fail to think biblically and allow only The Shack’s emotional storyline to grip them, they chance becoming prey to the very thing that I believe has duped many Christians into accepting and even endorsing the book. Empathy towards the author or his characters or becoming enamored by what many testify to as the positive real-world outcome of reading the book cannot trump one’s biblical analysis of the work. Young plays upon emotions constantly in the book and also as he lectures publically equating that because hearts are allegedly being touched that God must be giving approval to The Shack. When speaking to me personally, he emphasized the concept that results are all that matters. I responded that just because people testify that the book is somehow helping them, this does not necessarily mean that it is actually ordained by God. After all, God can use many means to reach people. God regularly uses disasters, accidents and tragedy of all sorts - even unorthodox or cultic books for His glory. This however doesn’t mean that God somehow deems heresy or terrible events as somehow good or positive in and of themselves.
The Nicest Heretic
Paul Young is perhaps the nicest heretic I have ever dealt with personally. That may sound flip but it’s true. He is a very nice guy who is presenting and defending some very dangerous even seductive heresies. As one who wears his emotions on his sleeve and who found himself being swayed by the heartbreaking storyline of The Shack, I must again caution. To allow a gripping story to cloud our ability to detect even the subtle theological errors strewn throughout its pages is exactly what Dr. Michael Youssef meant when he described The Shack as “a deep ditch that’s covered by beautiful landscape.”
The disturbing truth is that books like The Shack would never become a bestseller in the Christian world if Christians were on guard, thinking biblically and were willing to follow the Scriptures! In these dangerous days it is paramount that we actively develop “eyes of understanding” which constantly check everything by the Word of God - especially the stuff that claims to be of God. The Scripture implores us to prove or test all things (I Thessalonians 5:21-22) and this test can only be accomplished one way - by knowing the Bible and then utilizing what we know from it. Every Believer needs to be alert to the reality that in these last days deception is going to come at a rate never fathomed before. Mark my words, as time passes Satan is preparing to use unheralded and brazen trickery that will look and sound very spiritual, even Christian. The only hope we have to successfully avoid the traps is by prayerful, dedicated and aggressive study of God’s unchangeable Word. Otherwise, sooner or later we’ll find ourselves amongst a growing number from previously trustworthy evangelical circles that are heading straight for apostasy.
Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 that if the end days were not shortened by His return even the very elect would be deceived. Can we not assume that many who currently hang around the Church - and even some who preach or write books now popularly accepted in Christian circles - may in reality never endure to the end and are thus actually wolves in sheep’s clothing?
Entries (RSS)