Has Purpose Driven Taken Over Your Church?

If Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church has taken over your church then watch this video. This video is the best infomation out there to help you and your church.

Church should be Spirit Driven no Purpose Drivel

Why We MUST Name Names If We Love Jesus Christ and His Bride!

Is it negative and unbiblical to name false teachers? The Bible is filled with examples of Jesus and others naming false teachers by name.
 For example, the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy names numerous people by name.

2 Timothy 1:15: Phygellus and Hermogenes
2 Timothy 2:17: Mymenaeus and Philetus
2 Timothy 3:8: Jannes and Jambress
2 Timothy 4:10: Demas
2 Timothy 4:14: Alexander the coppersmith
In III John 9, John named Diotrephes.
Jesus called out the false teachers in Matthew 23 and Luke 11.
I truly believe that one reason why God allows false teachers is to provide believers with a test of whether they will be faithful in their Biblical mandate to expose false teachers and thus protect the sheep from the spiritual poison of wolves in sheep's clothing.


Ephesians 5:11 makes it clear we are to expose false teachers; "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them."


If a shepherd/pastor will not point out the wolves that are among the sheep then this should be a clear warning to the flock that the shepherd/pastor does not have their best interest in mind. Such a hireling is not called of God but is simply involved in an occupation for personal gain as revealed in I Timothy 6:5.


In addition, such non-shepherds are revealing that they are more interested in their reputation and being seen by the larger community as tolerant and non-judgmental as defined by the unsaved world.


False teachers also give the sheep the opportunity to test the commitment of their shepherds/pastors. If the pastors/shepherds on your church staff fail this Biblical test then it is time for the leaders of the church to replace such hirelings with real shepherds. If this Biblical action is not taken, then it is time for you to find a new flock that has a shepherd that will alert the sheep to the spirituality immature and even wolves in sheep's clothing that are on his own church staff.


Show me a shepherd/pastor that will not name false teachers and I will show you a false teacher.

Pastor Jim Bublitz gives further insight into the positive results that come when we name false teachers by name:
From those words it is clear that God allows teachers of error for the same reason as He does persecutors of His people: to test their love, to try their fidelity, to show that their loyalty to him is such that they will not give ear unto His enemies. Error has always been more popular than the Truth, for it lets down the bars and fosters fleshly indulgence, but for that very reason it is obnoxious to the godly.

The one who by grace can say "I have chosen the way of Truth" will be able to add "I have stuck unto Thy testimonies" (Psalm 119:30, 31), none being able to move him therefrom.


"For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." (1 Corinthians 11:19).


Committed Christians must publically name false teachers because it is impossible to privately correct public false teaching.


This fall  an e-mail  [was received] from a young lady that is a junior in high school near Atlanta, Georgia. In her e-mail she stated that because she had attended two Worldview Weekend Rallies in Atlanta and [heard about] the false teaching of emergent Pastor Rob Bell, she had been equipped to reject his false teaching when a Bible study group at her Christian school decided to read one of his books. She [wrote in her email] that she immediately recognized the name of Rob Bell.  This young lady had the courage and conviction to politely hand the book back to the group and to warn them of Bell's false teaching.


This young ladies testimony has come to my mind  and has been a real source of encouragement to me to continue to speak truth no matter how negative or offensive it may be to the non-discerning.


If  the name of Rob Bell [wasn't named], how would this student had known to reject his book and false doctrine? If the name of Rob Bell [wasn't named] would this student now be spiritually deceived? If  Rob Bell [wasn't named] by name would she have been able to warn her peers to this spiritual poison?


The late Pastor Vance Havner wrote, "We live what we believe; the rest is religious talk." Living what we believe includes our willingness to name the name of false teachers and to endure the criticism and persecution that will surely follow. To do any less would be treason to our calling, to our mandate, to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


When we expose false teaching and false teachers we are proclaiming and defending the authority, accuracy, and application of God's Word; the very thing that false teachers seek to undermine.


Living what we believe requires speaking Biblical truth and Biblical warnings no matter how negative or offensive it may be to the spiritually immature, non-discerning or wolves that crept in among the sheep.


Jude 3:1-4 commands all believers to contend for the faith that is under attack from false teachers.


Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Truth is never negative to those who seek to serve The Truth


(for the article in its entirety click here:)
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/worldview-times/article.php?articleid=6684

Another Example of Revisionist History: The History Channel Rewrites Middle East History

The History Channel posts a reminder, Nov 29, 1947 U.N. votes for partition of Palestine but their article is pure Arab propaganda and gives the lie to history.

"Despite strong Arab opposition, the United Nations votes for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an ."independent Jewish state.
"The modern conflict between Jews and Arabs in Palestine dates back to the 1910s, when both groups laid claim to the British-controlled territory. The Jews were Zionists, recent emigrants from Europe and Russia who came to the ancient homeland of the Jews to establish a Jewish national state. The native Palestinian Arabs sought to stem Jewish immigration and set up a secular Palestinian state

This is wrong historically on so many levels. At that time, the Arabs in Palestine were referred to as Arabs and not Palestinian Arabs. A huge percentage of the Arabs that were there had emigrated to the province known as Palestine because of the commercial activity of the Jews. They had no intention of setting up a "secular Palestinian state." This was the invention of Arafat.


"Beginning in 1929, Arabs and Jews openly fought in Palestine, and Britain attempted to limit Jewish immigration as a means of appeasing the Arabs."


How the History Channel in writing the history of the conflict, can leave out the Balfour Declaration, the San Remo Resolution of 1920 giving all the land, including Jordan, to the Jews and the Palestine Mandate passed by the League of Nations in 1922 reaffirming the Balfour Declaration and the San Remo Resolution, is beyond me. The Mandate obligated Great Britain to enable close settlement of the land, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, by Jews and ultimately to allow independence of the Jews.


"As a result of the Holocaust in Europe, many Jews illegally entered Palestine during World War II. "


This sentence ignores virtually everything that led to Jewish emigration. The first blame goes to the Nazis who rounded up seven million European Jews and put them in Ghettos. The second blame goes to Britain and the US who wouldn't let the Jews emigrate to their countries or Palestine with or without visas. This policy lead to the destruction of six million Jews by the Nazis. The small remnant who survived had to wait until 1947 to be allowed into Israel. A small number of Jews came to Palestine during the war. Such entry was legal according to the Palestine Mandate. Great Britain in 1937 instituted a policy in contravention of the Mandate to limit the number of Jews entering. Only in this sense was their entry "illegal."


At the same time, also in contravention of the Mandate, Great Britain facilitated enormous Arab immigration from surrounding lands

"Radical Jewish groups employed terrorism against British forces in Palestine, which they thought had betrayed the Zionist cause."


It is not a matter of what they thought. It is a fact. Britain violated international law and their obligations under the Mandate. Thus the Jews fought to chase them out of Palestine.


"At the end of World War II, in 1945, the United States took up the Zionist cause. Britain, unable to find a practical solution, referred the problem to the United Nations, which on November 29, 1947, voted to partition Palestine. The Jews were to possess more than half of Palestine, though they made up less than half of Palestine's population."

Wrong again. The US did not take up the Zionist cause after or before 1945. The US was not in favor of creating a Jewish state at all and intended to vote against it. Fortunately, Pres Truman overruled the State Dept and ordered that the US vote in favor. Even so, the US maintained an arms embargo on Israel throughout the War of Independence and expected Israel to be destroyed. To everyone's surprise, Israel was victorious and gained more land as a result.

Had Britain not prevented Jewish immigration and favored Arab immigration, both contrary to her mandate, the Jews would have been in majority and would have been entitled to the entire country.


"The Palestinian Arabs, aided by volunteers from other countries, fought the Zionist forces, but the Jews secured full control of their U.N.-allocated share of Palestine and also some Arab territory. On May 14, 1948, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed by Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded."


The Mandate didn't expire. Just Britain's role did. Jewish rights pursuant to the Mandate continued.

"The Israelis, though less well equipped, managed to fight off the Arabs and then seize key territories, such as Galilee, the Palestinian coast, and a strip of territory connecting the coastal region to the western section of Jerusalem. In 1949, U.N.-brokered cease-fires left the State of Israel in permanent control of those conquered areas. The departure of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs from Israel during the war left the country with a substantial Jewish majority."

Another thing that the History Channel fails to mention is that during and after the war, 900,000 Jews were expelled from Arab countries and their land holdings and wealth accumulated over many hundreds of years, was confiscated. Most of these Jews went to Israel and were absorbed.

New Apostolic Reformation C Peter Wagner's Connection To Rick Warren and Bill Hybels

In 1999 C. Peter Wagner, chief architect of and salesman for the New Apostolic Reformation, lists two significant members of this group. From Wagner's 1999 book Churchquake: how the new apostolic reformation is shaking up the church as we know it (Regal) comes these two statements:

"Bill Hybels, new apostolic pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Barrington, Illinois, and a longtime friend of Robert Schuller, agrees that pastors have the responsibility of determining the purpose of each corporate gathering." (p. 179)

"New apostolic churches, like Rick Warren's, turn this [leadership and ministry] around 180 degrees, as he explains in his best-seller, The Purpose Driven Church (Zondervan)." (p. 213) [emphases added]

It is significant that C. Peter Wagner identifies Hybels and Warren as New Apostolic Reformation pastors. C. Peter Wagner oversaw Rick Warren's doctoral thesis at Fuller Theological Seminary, which later became his first book, The Purpose-Driven Church. A September 8, 1989 Christianity Today "had a picture of Hybels with Dr. Robert Schuller and C. Peter Wagner at Schuller's Crystal Cathedral, according to John Ashbrook in New Neutralism II, an excellent book critical of the neoevangelical movement. Dr. Schuller is the granddaddy of the Church Growth models utilized by Warren and Hybels.

For more information on the New Apostolic Reformation see

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com, which includes further documentation on the interconnections between these men.

An Important Snippet from "Lukewarm No More" Worth Watching

How Much Witchcraft Is Okay? It's Time For Christians to Be HONEST!

The final installment of the Harry Potter series opened nationwide on Friday, 11/19/10, with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This has been one of the most highly anticipated movie openings in cinema history, with many theaters playing the movie on multiple screens and adding midnight showings.

Christians, too, have been caught up in reading the Harry Potter books and watching the movies:


courtesy: The Sola Sisters
http://solasisters.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-much-witchcraft-is-okay.html
"I have read and fallen in love with these books. There is no element of witchcraft to be found in them."



"This is an area of liberty for me."


"I've read the books and there is no witchcraft."


"It's all in good fun. This is all fantasy and the magic has no basis in reality. But the movies are exciting and fun to watch.
Now, speaking as someone who has done Wicca/witchcraft before, I can attest that the Harry Potter books DO contain actual spells and witchcraft. But don't just take it from me that the Harry Potter books contain actual witchcraft:

In her own words in an interview, author J.K.Rowling admitted that she studied witchcraft and mythology in order to write her books more accurately. She said, "I do a certain amount of research, so when I'm mentioning a creature, or a spell, I will find out exactly what the words were, and find out exactly what the characteristics of that creature or ghost were supposed to be." She went on to say that about one-third of what she had written is based on actual occultism. (J.K. Rowling interview on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU, NPR, 10/20/99)

So according to the author of the Harry Potter books, one third of the Harry Potter books are actually occultic. Is this really okay for our Christian children? As Christians, just how much "occultism" should we allow into our spiritual diets? One half? One third? One teaspoon? Perhaps this short story will help illustrate my point:
Brownies With a Difference

Many parents are hard put to explain to their youth why some music, movies, books, games, and magazines are not acceptable material for them to bring into the home to see or hear. One parent came up with an original idea that was hard to refute.


He listened to all the reasons his children gave for wanting to see a particular PG-13 movie: it had their favorite actors, everyone else was seeing it, even church members said it was great, it was only rated PG-13 because of the suggestion of sex-they never really showed it, the language was pretty good-they only used the Lord's name in vain three times in the whole movie, the video effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed. Yes, there was the scene where a building and a bunch of people got blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff, it wasn't very bad. Even with all these explanations for the rating, the father wouldn't give in. He didn't even give them a satisfying explanation for saying, "No." He just said "No."


Later that evening, this same father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had prepared. He explained that he had taken the family's favorite recipe and added something new. They asked what it was. He calmly replied that he had added dog poop. He stated that it was only a tiny bit and that all the other ingredients were gourmet quality. He had taken great care to bake it at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.


Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the teens would not take one. The father acted surprised. There was only one little element that would have caused them to act so stubbornly. He assured them that they would hardly notice it at all. But they all held firm and would not try the brownies.


He then explained that the movie they wanted to see was just like the brownies. Satan tries to enter our minds and our homes by deceiving us into believing that "just a little bit" of evil doesn't matter. With the brownies, just a little bit makes all the difference between a great brownie and a totally unacceptable product. He explained that even though the smallest amout of dog poop makes the brownie totally unacceptible, they seemed to having no problem consuming a movie movie of similar ingredients. The movie people would have us believe the movies which are coming out are acceptable for adults and youths to see, they are no more so than dog poop brownies are edible!


Now when this father's children want to do something or see something they should not, the father merely asks them if they would like some of his special dog poop brownies and they never ask about that item again.


Now, I can't say what it should look like in your family as you work through this issue. To make hard and fast rules in this area is to fall into legalism. But shouldn't we wrestle through these issues with much thoughtfulness and prayer, rather than just mindlessly allowing our children to consume what is cultural and popular?


I can say for myself that giving up my own attachment to these occultic types of books (including Harry Potter) was in some ways hard, because it's true, the characters are often magnetically compelling and the story-lines, of course, are designed to draw the reader in. I prayed and prayed about it, and truly God did a work for me that I could not have done myself (this was when I was a very new Christian). I began to be almost physically ill and was emotionally/spiritually very unsettled when I would try to read these books. My new "spiritual eyes" just refused to cooperate with me when I tried to read these books! I ended up going through the library in our home and filling 3 large garbage bags with stuff of this genre. Up to that point, I truly had no idea how much of this stuff I had consumed and "enjoyed".....it was rather sobering, to say the least. (Again, I'm not saying that's going to be everyone's experience, but I really encourage Christians who think of this as an area of liberty to pray through this issue, and if they come under conviction, I would suggest beseeching the LORD for help in being free from the bondage to these things.)


The passage that God really used to bring conviction for me was this:

"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God." Deut 18:10-13


Unfortunately for those who would claim this as an "area of liberty" for them, there is no caveat at the end of the above passage which says:

"However, if you are a mature Christian and relish stories of an occultic nature, you may indulge your mind in them at your discretion."

Didn't Jesus teach us that harboring sinfulness in our minds (lust, anger) was the same thing as actually committing the sins themselves (adultery, murder)? So the question must be asked: If Christians harbor the sinfulness of occultism in their minds through what they read, what would that mean, according to the standard that Jesus has given us? (Matthew 5:21-30)

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

Bad VBS Theme Idea

Sadly, that’s not all that far from the truth. Certainly makes the transition to youth groups in many churches that much easier where pizza parties abound and Bible studies are all but non-existant.

Beware of "The Bridge People"

CLICK HERE - for CrossTalk Radio Broadcast- A MUST Hear!!

Deborah Dombrowski is the Editor in Chief for Lighthouse Trails Publishing.

This Crosstalk looks at Dan Kimball, an author and pastor who has been part of the emerging church movement since its beginnings with Leadership Network.
Dan Kimball has an orthodox doctrinal statement, yet he continues to participate with the major false teachers of the emergent church movement. Is an orthodox doctrinal statement enough when assessing the truth of a spiritual leader? How can someone who claims an orthodox doctrinal statement participate with, fellowship with and point others to those teaching doctrines of demons? Should biblical Christian leaders "dialog" with emergent leaders? These questions are addressed in part one of this two-day series on Bridgers - teachers who work to bridge the gap between biblical Christianity and the mystical doctrines of contemplative spirituality.

A look at the "bridge people" of spiritual deception. The work of subverting the Gospel can't occur without those who attempt to bridge the gap between biblical Christians and emerging spirituality teachers. "Bridgers" are the authors and leaders with well-polished doctrinal statements who cannot be faulted on paper (or their websites) for believing heresy. Their role is different than that of the obvious Wolf that openly stalks its prey.


The role of the Bridger is that of the Judas Goat, famed for attracting sheep to slaughter. The Judas Goat is not the actual instrument of death. It attracts the sheep to the place where it will be slaughtered. So while a Bridger will not stand in a church and teach from his pulpit or at conferences that there is no literal hell or that the substitutionary penal atonement of Christ was Divine child abuse, he will favorably quote from the books of those who do teach that. Or he might ask a Wolf to endorse his latest book on the back.


The Bridger will speak at conferences with these same Wolves and have photos taken with them. He will quote, selectively, from the Wolves and throw in the qualifier that he "doesn't agree with everything the guy teaches or writes", but he has found so and so's book on leadership really helpful.


When you go to the Bridger's website, however, and click on his doctrinal statement, confusion begins. The Bridger is Trinitarian. He believes in salvation through the work of Christ on the cross. He believes we all have sin. He believes in God's grace. He ascribes to the Apostle's Creed. The Bridger doesn't fit on the heterodoxy chart. He must be OK after all.


This is increasingly the way error is disseminated. Flagrant heretics like Brian McLaren are not difficult to spot. His open denial of cardinal doctrine raises red flares to anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of Scripture and belief in its authority. The enemy of souls is not so stupid as carry error forward only on the backs of the ravening Wolves. He needs the Bridgers. He helps them find useful dupes among Christian apologetics leaders whose egos are flattered by a sense of importance in being chosen to "dialog" with a them. Chummy photos are taken. Credit is given where none is deserved. Warm handshakes occur, private late night phone calls are exchanged, remarks are made over coffee…and another Bridger is given credibility publicly, successfully providing a gateway to error for those who are taken in.


I believe that just as believers are called to specific jobs in the church, the enemy of souls has assigned jobs to those in the hierarchy of spiritual darkness. There are high level roles and less visible roles. The end result for which they work is the same: the destruction of the biblical Gospel and the promotion of a spirituality that is anti-christ.


We cannot afford to be naive in this hour of growing spiritual delusion. We who are believers in Jesus Christ and who hold fast to the bedrock truths of Scripture cannot afford to give an inch to the Bridgers. Satan works in the area of pride and Christian leaders who have not checked that impulse in their hearts and who lust after credibility as bloggers, apologists, speakers, authors or teachers can unwittingly become the dupes of the Bridgers.


In the book of Nehemiah, we see the response recorded when Sanballot and Tobiah came to "dialog" with God's people. Several times they sought to stop the work of wall building that was underway. The response sent back by Nehemiah to the troublemakers down below was short and clear: "We are building a wall. We cannot come down."

That must be the response of bloggers, podcasters, radio broadcasters and authors when they are invited to "dialog" about spiritual things with emerging church teachers. Truth is not to be debated with false teachers, it is to be proclaimed. That is our role, like the Apostles of old, in the the middle of this encircling spiritual darkness. May God keep all of us faithful.

Sometimes You Just Need A Good Song Like This To Lift Your Spirit.

Resisting the Green Dragon

Resisting the Green Dragon full promo from Cornwall Alliance on Vimeo.


For a free 12 minute preview click here and type in password RESIST
http://www.vimeo.com/15849648

Freedom or Surrender

Watch live streaming video from thestraightway at livestream.com

The Kingdom of God and a Man of Peace

Stand AGAINST Interfaith Ecumenicism!!

by Understand the Times with Roger Oakland
http://www.understandthetimes.org/commentary/c78.shtml


Most people with any common sense and compassion want to see a planet without poverty, disease, and illiteracy. I thank God for all the organizations working to help the suffering, the sick, and the poor. Jesus made it very clear that we are to care for and reach out to those in need. However, working to bring about utopia on earth through global and religious unity is futile. My saying this might make some people angry, and they may accuse me of being fatalistic. But nowhere in Scripture is the notion supported that there will be a kingdom without tears, pain, poverty, and suffering until Jesus Christ physically returns and establishes it Himself.


A question needs to be considered: Can those who don’t know the King establish the kingdom of God?


Rick Warren believes that God has shown him not only the boundaries (or lack of them) of this coming global kingdom, but also the strategy to bring it about. Before Warren came up with the plan, he says he asked Jesus to show him how to reach the world. He explains:


Then I said, “How did You do it? You wouldn’t have left us without a strategy.” And I found the answer in a passage in Matthew 10 and Luke 10 where Jesus sends His first followers out… He says, “When you go into a village, you find the man of peace.” Find the man of peace. There’s a man of peace in every village, in every government, in every business, in every church.1


Warren further inquired of Jesus to find out just who this man of peace is. Here is the answer he got:


And so I said, “What is the man of peace?” He said, “When you find the man of peace, if he’s open and he’s willing to work with you, you bless him and you start your work there. If the guy’s not open to working with you, you dust the dust off your shoes and you go to the next villages, ’cause you can always find someone to work with.” The man of peace is open and influential….


The man of peace does not have to be a Christian believer. Could be Muslim. Could be Jewish. Because, when Jesus said, “Find the man of peace,” there were no Christians yet. Jesus hadn’t died on the cross. There was no resurrection. He’s just saying, go out and find somebody to work with.2


While Warren believes that a conversation with Jesus inspired his plan to establish the kingdom of God on earth, it would be important to check out the words of Jesus written in the Bible. Ironically, Jesus said much the opposite of what Warren is proposing. In view of the fact that Jesus had not died and resurrected yet, Warren suggests that Jesus sent out His disciples proclaiming peace because there was no other message yet to proclaim; but Jesus did send His disciples out with a Gospel of repentance in proclaiming, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7). This is the same Gospel of repentance John the Baptist proclaimed in preparing the way for the Gospel of justification by faith. Jesus did not say they were to look for a “man of peace” in every town. Rather, He said, “whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence” (Matthew 10:11).


Now Jesus did tell His disciples to use the greeting, “Peace be to this house” whenever entering a house, and if a “son of peace” is there, to remain in that house (Luke 10:5-7). However, it is important to realize that the criterion for staying in a house was not the greeting of peace itself but whether those in that house received their message:


And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. (Matthew 10:14)


In fact, Jesus makes it very clear that the disciples were sent out to proclaim a message many would reject, saying, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). With all diligence, Jesus warns His disciples that they will be hated for preaching the Gospel. Yet Rick Warren has turned these two passages around, suggesting that Jesus sent out His disciples to proclaim peace because at that time they had no other message to proclaim.


Let me speak very boldly here: if we are going to link hands with those who believe in another gospel or no gospel at all for the sake of establishing an earthly, unified kingdom, we will not be building the kingdom of God. (from Faith Undone, chapter 9, “The Kingdom of God on Earth”)

Joel Osteens NEW AGE Life Now??

     by Brannon Howse
WorldviewWeekend.com 

                                  "Whatever you conceive you can achieve."

With this favorite karma-changing promise, New Agers believe you need only use the "unlimited" power and consciousness of your mind to bring about all your dreams, desires and wishes.

Cloaked in a "Christian" package, Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now, bears an uncomfortable and dangerous similarity to this most popular of New Age claims. Sample a few of the Osteen versions:


• "You will produce what you're continually seeing in your mind. If you foster an image of defeat and failure, then you're going to live that kind of life. But if you develop an image of victory, success, health, abundance, joy, peace, and happiness, nothing on earth will be able to hold those things from you." (page 5)
• "You must conceive it in your heart and mind before you can receive it." (page 6)
• "You must look through your 'eyes of faith' and start seeing yourself as happy, healthy and whole." (page 15)
• "What you will receive is directly connected to how you believe." (page 22)
• "We receive what we believe." (page 72)
• "Learn how to conceive. Keep the image of what you want to become in front of you. You're going to become what you believe." (page 81)


Osteen now travels the country, packing out stadiums with his happy-talk. But I'd like to see Osteen pay a visit to China, preach his "your best life now" drivel, and see how Christians there respond. Let Osteen look into the eyes of Pastor Lei who has been repeatedly arrested and beaten for preaching the Word of God in his church-a church not licensed by the Chinese government. How would the American's best life work out for Pastor Lei and his congregation? Perhaps their jail time for the Gospel would give them time to assess Rev. Osteen's claims.


Have these and countless other persecuted Christians been beaten, jailed and murdered because they "received what they believed," or did these terrible things happen to them because they did not "develop an image of victory, success, health, abundance, joy, peace, and happiness"?


Were eleven of Jesus' disciples martyred because, "they received what they believed"? Were the disciples living under a "curse of poverty and defeat" as Osteen says of so many? Here's a role call of questions I'd like to ask Mr. Osteen. Why is it, Joel, that:

• Paul and Matthew were beheaded?
• Barnabas was burned to death?
• Mark was dragged to death?
• James, the less, was clubbed to death?
• Peter, Philip, and Andrew were crucified?
• Thomas was speared to death?
• Luke was hung by the neck until dead?
• Stephen was stoned?

How would these disciples take to the best-life message?


Yes, I know. Joel's promises sound so much better to American ears than all those warnings of Jesus about being hated by most people for His sake. But it remains that in large measure, Joel's offering can be described as nothing less than blasphemy. On page 36, he claims, "God has a big dream for your life." On page 56: "God sees you as a champion. He believes in you even more than you believe in yourself!" And on page 110: "God has confidence in you."


Osteen does not provide a single Bible verse to back up these statements…because there are none. Nowhere in the Bible do we read that God believes or has confidence in us. He loves us, but does not believe in us. On the contrary, He knows all too well how unbelievably fickle and untrustworthy we humans actually are. It's not like Joel describes on page 57: "Believe it or not, that is how God sees you, too. He regards you as a strong, courageous, successful, overcoming person."


Furthermore, God does not define our success in materialistic terms as Joel does. God is interested in our obedience above all. On page 63, Joel writes:

As long as you are pressing forward, you can hold your head up high, knowing that you are a "work in progress," and God is in the process of changing you. He's looking at your last two good moves.


Joel, where in the Bible do you read that God is not looking at our last two bad moves but our last two good moves? Isaiah 64:6 says that even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags or wickedness to God because He is so holy. Even if God did look at our last two good moves, He would still see filthy rags.

Or how about this Osteen gospel gem from page 95:
"Be the best you can be, then you can feel good about yourself."


Where in the Bible do we find this teaching? What if your best is getting drunk just once a week instead of twice a week? Should you still feel good about yourself?


But wait. I've saved Joel's most outrageous statement for last (drum roll please). On page 144, Joel elevates us to the heavenlies by pointing out that "You may even need to forgive God."


Whoa! And exactly what would we be forgiving God for? As I recall, forgiveness is for sins-or at least mistakes. But which of those has God made? Not a one according to any Bible I've ever read.


Oswald Chambers offers a perspective on the kind of thing the Osteens of the world do to Christians: "Satan's great aim is to deflect us from the center. He will allow us to be devoted to the death to any cause, any enterprise, to anything but the Lord Jesus."[1] Hebrews 13:9 instructs us to not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings (deflected from the center) but sadly, that is exactly what is happening for many at the hand of Joel Osteen.


Instead of pursuing our best life now, we should pursue the things of the Lord so we can have our best life later. I fear that for many who follow Joel's false teaching, this life is the best they will get. The false gospel proclaimed by Joel Osteen and accepted as truth by millions may allow many to achieve what they can conceive of the things in this world, but true to Jesus' promise, they may lose their souls in the pursuit.


 www.worldviewweekend.com

PETER SCAZZERO BRINGING ROME HOME TO HIS CHURCH

Peter Scazzero And Rick Warren Are Spreading Contemplative Spirituality

As part of the online apologetics and discernment work being done here at Apprising Ministries we’ve been covering the upgrading of the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church into a full blown neo-liberal cult—an Emerging Church 2.0—now pushing its new form of postmodern Progressive Christianity as “big tent” Emergence Christianity. Already part of its legacy is creating the current fad of Protestant evangelicals practicing corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard.

read the rest EXTREMELY informative article here:
http://apprising.org/2010/10/01/peter-scazzero-bringing-rome-home-to-his-church/

Exposing the Apostate Church - R U Sure U Want to Do Yoga or Contemplative Prayer??

Part One

Part Two

Part Three