Christian Research Net

From One News Now:

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama acknowledged Sunday that he was probably too flip when he said it was “above my pay grade” to answer a question about when is a baby entitled to human rights… Obama gave his answer last month at a nationally televised religious forum sponsored by minister Rick Warren at his megachurch in Orange County, Calif…

Here are a couple of political-evangelical stories from this morning’s news.
First, this one re: conservative evangelicals and the IRS.

We then have this piece that gives us a papist perspective on Sarah Palin.

What’s wrong with this picture?
God help us!

Apprising Ministries has already shown you in Joel Osteen and John Osteen that he also shares his late dad’s corrupt Word Faith teachings and prosperity gospel as well. The fact is that Osteen believes and quietly preaches the same Word Faith doctrine as John Avanzini Word Faith Wolf and Prosperity Preacher and that of Kenneth Copeland, which begs the question: Do Regenerated Christians Really Teach Jesus Christ Is A “Born Again Man”?

In this piece using a September 5, 2008 puff piece on America’s smiling pastor from The Washington Times we look at the tragic issue that by Joel Osteen ”preaching” his pseudo-Christian message with no “sermonizing on sin” and which appeals “to people of all or no faith” he isn’t really lifting people up at all. No, here we have a man who claims to be a pastor-teacher sent by Christ Jesus who is consciously withholding the Truth from these packed-out crowds, which then leaves them right in their sin.

HT: Slice of Laodicea

See also:

JOEL OSTEEN: SMILE WHEN YOU LIE

JOEL OSTEEN: APPRISING HIS WORD FAITH TEACHINGS

JOEL OSTEEN WITH WORD FAITH MOVEMENT

James White is debating three times on Islam in a matter of two days. These debates will be hosted at two different locations. Here’s the information on them. CRN highly recommends attending these if you can. A while back Dr. White changed his emphasis to Islam and even set out to learn Arabic. These debates should be quite helpful. (Click the link to zoom in.)

The first session of Dr. James White’s presentation at the Men’s Conference at the First Southern Baptist Church of Cottonwood

[HT: Alpha and Omega Ministry]

Having previously posted on the topic of the Sabbath with a broader look at the theme of the Law of God, I have been receiving some flak from the Legalists, both from a Seventh-day adventist apologist and prophecy ‘expert’ Charlene Fortsch and advocates of a particular form of Israelism (or new Jews) calling their group ‘the Israel of God’. While they have proven incalcitrant in refusing correction by the Word of God, and instead seek to place believers under the yoke of slavery to the Law (cf Gal. 5:1), interaction with them has indeed helped in clarifying my thoughts on the topic of the Law with respects to the Gospel. [more]

In this short post over at Apprising Ministries we bring to your attention the link to an audio clip from a sermon by D.A. Carson called “Keeping Up With The Conversation” posted over at Reformation Underway. Within Dr. Carson shares his educated view concerning popular Emergent Church pastor and emerging icon Rob Bell.

Perhaps we’ll dedicate this to smilin’ Joel Osteen who is quite obviously confused as evident when he said that practicing Mormons are Christians, which you can see for yourself in Joel Osteen Blesses The Mormon Church. Who knows, maybe it’ll help him out a bit with the Jesus Who’s supposed to have sent him as a pastor.

Apprising Ministries now invites you to a very special spiritual edition of To Tell The Truth. As a part of our celebrity panel you will be hearing the claims of a few of the more predominate Jesuses you are likely to run in to during your lifetime; they may even come knocking on your door. At the end of this message, after you’ve heard from each of our guests and have the chance to compare them to Christ Jesus as He’s revealed in the Bible, we’ll then ask the crucial question: Will The Real Jesus Please Stand Up? Let’s see how you do.

The Truth Matters blog shares an excellent article by Pastor Bob DeWaay, Pastoral Malpractice and the Visible Church

Pastor Warren may be correct that you cannot do both—expound important Biblical topics and appear attractive to seekers at the same time. But I disagree completely with the idea that we must appear attractive to lost sinners. We need to preach Christ to lost sinners so that they can know the terms of the gospel. That is the only valid “diagnosis” that will do them any good…

…The standards are strict and generally well observed for those who treat our bodies and cure our physical ailments. But the standards for those who care for our souls have fallen woefully short…

…pastoral malpractice will be dealt with in eternity, making it even more serious. In the meantime, pray that God will raise up pastors who will take seriously their sacred duty to interpret and apply the Bible accurately—and pray for churches that want such pastors to lead them.

Deceived On Purpose by Warren Smith When former New Ager Warren Smith began reading Purpose-Driven Life, he was shocked to discover language, ideas, terms and philosophies that he learned as a New Ager. If you have ever wondered what really lies beneath the surface of the Purpose-Driven agenda, then Deceived on Purpose is a must-read. A stunning and thought-provoking testimonial.

It is clear that Robert Schuller is tied in with New Age leaders and philosophies—now the question: Is Rick Warren connected to Robert Schuller? Warren Smith believes he is, and that puts the majority of the Christian church at risk!

Visit Deceived On Purpose Ministries for other discernment titles by former New Ager Warren Smith.

Many years ago when I was a young man I made a commitment to become fit enough to run one mile in under 5 minutes, run 5 Kilometers in under 18 minutes, run 5 miles in under 30 minutes, run 10 Kilometers in under 37 minutes, and run 10 miles in under an hour. By the time I was 33 years old I had accomplished the first three. I had missed my goal for the 10K by less than a minute, however, my best time for a 10 mile race was 1 hour and 4 minutes. These times are no where near competitive at the highest level, but in the Oklahoma City Running Club it was. It took a great deal of commitment. I had to train by doing a great deal of long road work and then compliment that with speed work. I had to work on my upper body strength and had to eat right. Some of my friends and relatives accused me of becoming obsessive. I couldn’t have done any of this without commitment. When God saved me in 1986 I remember my mother saying, “Watch out! Michael will get into the Bible just like he did running…” I wasn’t exactly sure what she meant by that, but I have found that commitment to the Word of God is just part of becoming the Christian God wants all of us to be. It also takes commitment to obedience to our Lord’s commandments, God’s glory, denying self, dying to self, submitting to others, and loving our Lord foremost.

(click here to read this post)

In Christianity Today Promoting The Cult of Richard Foster at Apprising Ministries we point out that the current September 2008 issue of CT features an interview embracing Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster as a teacher of proper Christian spirituality.

In this short piece we show you from Martin Luther, one the leaders of the Protestant Reformation, what he thought about what’s been revived by Richard Foster in these so-called spiritual disciplines of Spiritual Formation, which is really simply a reimagined form of semi-pelagian pietism

Over at Pyromaniacs Phil Johnson shares some thoughts on recent goings on around the landscape of the Emergent Church. Among other things Johnson says:

I think the old “emerging” movement is collapsing on itself. (See also Scot McKnight’s current CT article titled “McLaren Emerging.”) That doesn’t necessarily mean better things are on the horizon, because I don’t think all the recent scrambling, repositioning, and redefining really represents any significant change of thinking among any of these leading figures in the erstwhile “movement”…

Douglas over at Contemplations of a Young Calvinist has released his short, informal and non-academic paper refuting the erroneous and fallacious reasoning behind Dr. Gary Greig’s article which attempted to defend the now-discredited Lakeland ‘revival’. Although the ‘revival’ is over, at least it is over as far as Todd Bentley is concerned, the Third Wave Neo-Gnostic and Neo-Apostolic principles behind it still remain. This paper interacts with some of the underlying principles of the Third Wave movement, and bring the Scriptures to bear in a critique written in an informal and interactive style.

Earlier today on CRN my friend Mike Ratliff wrote:

When God drew me out of the seeker-sensitive darkness, one of the men God used to assist me with His wisdom and discernment was Jim Bublitz. I thank God for this man and his ministry. In any case, he is very ill. Here is a note from his website Old Truth.

To which I added that I was blessed to get to know Jim Bublitz when we served together on the original Slice of Laodicea website. Jim became a friend and he has always been dear to me. He’s been there to assist me when needed at Apprising Ministries through tech work and suggesting excellent study materials for my research. Jim, may the Lord heal you quickly and grant you complete health. Get well my dear brother as we all miss you very much and never stop thinking about and praying for you.

Beloved, a little while ago I received the following email and it only seems right in the Lord to share it with the Body of Christ that Jim served so faithfully:

Hi Ken,
You don’t know me but we both know Jim Bublitz. He is in the hospital right now and is not doing very well. His family is struggling and desperately needs prayer. I was wondering if you would write a post asking people to pray for him. You have a large audience and influence. Please consider him in his time of need. Thank you so much, a friend.

As I said when I sent this request out to the Apprising Ministries Update email list may God comfort Jim’s wife and show Himself strong on their behalf; completely heal Jim, guide the hands of the doctors and raise Jim up so that he can continue to minister to the Lord’s Church. And may God strengthen us all because there is very rough spiritual waters ahead as 1 Peter 4:17 judgments will be coming upon the Body of Christ. Let us never stop encouraging one another.

A few years ago I had a fellow with whom I work, when he found out that I was a Christian, demand that I listen to his “reasoning” why “everything is relative.” I told him I would listen to him if he could refute the following statement, “Aren’t you making an ‘absolute statement’ when you say, ‘there are no absolutes’?” He chuckled nervously and left my cubicle. I still pray that God will save him. My brethren, the scourge of relativism is a blight within the visible Church. It causes people to flee from the absolute. When truth is seen as relative then in what or whom can anyone have faith and trust? Do we read the words of our Lord in Sacred Scripture ever saying, “Well, it depends?”

(click here to read this post)

From the Christian Post:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has added his voice to calls for an immediate end to the violence being waged against Christians in India’s Orissa state. 

“I hope that Christians and people of faith around the world will make known their horror at this violence, their support for the rebuilding of lives and the churches, orphanages and schools destroyed, and for work towards future reconciliation,” Williams said in a letter sent to the Most Rev. Joel Dal, moderator of North India…

In Christianity Today Promoting The Cult of Richard Foster you will see Apprising Ministries point out that the current September 2008 issue of CT features an interview embracing Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster as a teacher of proper Christian spirituality.

However, as you’ll see in Spiritual Formation: Just Say No, with an able assist from Foster’s spiritual twin Dallas Willard, under that guise neopagan so-called “spiritual disciplines” have now slithered into the heart of evangelicalism.  But the the truth is that the core practice of this Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), which is Contemplative/Centering Prayer is actually a type of meditation that’s virtually identical to that practiced in Eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism and the transcendental meditation of Hinduism.

And this kind of spurious spiritual formation, so-called “Christian” mysticism, which really developed in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism is now showing up in more and more evangelical youth groups. Ingrid Schuleter begins this Crosstalk program discussing this fascination that some young evangelical Christians have with Roman Catholic mysticism. AM gives you the link to this program here.

When God drew me out of the seeker-sensitive darkness, one of the men God used to assist me with His wisdom and discernment was Jim Bublitz. I thank God for this man and his ministry. In any case, he is very ill. Here is a note from His website Old Truth.

Dear Readers:
After three years of posting, the blog will be closing, though the Old Truth site will remain up and you will still find past postings, videos, and resources.
I’ve enjoyed interacting with many of you and posting on so many of the issues that effect today’s church. I have, as of late experienced some medical problems that make it impossible for me to continue blogging at this time. I recently learned that I have “Non Alcoholic Cirrhosis of the Liver” which will require a liver transplant in order to survive beyond the next several years. For the past month I’ve spent a double-digit number of hours per day sleeping and have lost over 60 pounds in water retention. As some of you know, I’ve also been battling broken bones this last year, several of which are still giving me some problems.
Through all of this, my family and church in Milwaukee have been incredibly supportive, and I’d like to thank them all. A special thanks goes out to Chad who has not only helped me with blogging through the months, but has also been a loyal friend and brother in the Lord. I am looking to the Lord through all of this and know that he has good that comes from these things (Romans 8:28). I’m at a loss as to how unbelievers are able to make it through these types of things without looking to the Lord for strength.
I would love to return to blogging one day, perhaps after I receive a transplant, but that may be months or even a couple of years. For right now, I’ve been told to expect to get more sick as the months go on, so needless to say - I have some big challenges ahead of me. I do hope that the Old Truth website will continue to be a valuable resource for people. Until I get the site reorganized, use the menus in the left and right margins of this page to navigate your way around, or use the Google search box to the left to search this site. Commenting has been turned off.
Though I am currently very behind in answering emails, you can feel free to send me a message. Thanks again to all of my regular readers and participants on the blog; I’ve learned more from you over the years than you have from me; you have been a blessing to me.
–Jim B.
7/22/08

My brethren, this is has caused a great deal of stress to Jim and his family. Please lift them up in prayer for encouragement and healing.
In Christ

Mike Ratliff

Gen. Ed. Note: I was blessed to get to know Jim Bublitz when we served together on the original Slice of Laodicea website. Jim became a friend and he has always been dear to me. He’s been there to assist me when needed at Apprising Ministries through tech work and suggesting excellent study materials for my research. Jim, may the Lord heal you quickly and grant you complete health. Get well my dear brother as we all miss you very much and never stop thinking about and praying for you.

Apprising Ministries has been warning you that Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster is hands down the leading proponent of spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism, which flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism and has now slithered its way deep into evangelicalism from its den in the Emerging Church.

In Christianity Today Promoting the Cult of Richard Foster I talk a bit about the so-called “spiritual disciplines” of the spurious Spiritual Formation taught by Foster along with his spiritual twin Dallas Willard. Then this article at AM also features much information concerning the Quaker mystic from Gary Gilley’s excellent “Mysticism” series.

Ray Comfort would like you to know that he and Kirk Cameron “were were taped this afternoon for a program on TBN called ‘Behind the Scenes.’” Now apparently this particular appearance on the Trinity Blasphemy Broadcasting Network ”was [originally] to air tonight at 5:00 PM Pacific time,…”

Well, at least the one with Ray and Kirk “has been rescheduled” but Kirk himself was actually on BtS this evening plugging his latest movie Fireproof. So be advised that the edition of BtS with both Cameron and Ray Comfort is now set to air:

• September 10th at 5:00 PM Pacific time
• September 11th at 10:00 AM Pacific time

Thanks for your prayers,
Ray

There are many ministries in our time that are run by people who have either forgotten that friendship with the world is a sin or they are deliberately overlooking it. If a ministry operates in such a way that the world loves it then there is at least one missing component in it. That of course is obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture is clear that Christians cannot be friends of the world. Why? Satan is the one who dominates the evil world system, which is in rebellion against God (John 14:30). Therefore, the world not only hates Jesus, but also those who follow Him. This hatred is also focused toward the Father because He sent Jesus to testify against it. Now, since this is true and clearly taught in Sacred Scripture, what does this say about those ministries who work overtime to accommodate the secular and to appeal to temporal ways and means?

(click here to read this post)

The following is a letter we just received from our friends Ryan & Nicole Richie. They are friends of ours who are missionaries in the mountains in Peru with Heartcry. Please read this,  and pray for them.

May God Bless

Click HERE to continue reading…

This post introduces you to a continuing series Apprising Ministries which seeks to help the Body of Christ be able to “question” various teachers so often appealed to as “expert witnesses” for what I see as a counterfeit form of Christianity introduced through their neo-pagan “spiritual disciplines” of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM), e.g. Contemplative/Centering Prayer as “Christian” Meditation and Delusions of Dallas Willard. It’s my contention that this CSM is a growing and corrupt spiritual blight, which is currently spreading apostasy under the guise of Spiritual Formation throughout the evangelical camp as explosively as an Oklahoma wildfire.

And if you think I exaggerate then consider Christianity Today Promoting The Cult of Richard Foster where I show you that the current September 2008 issue of CT features an interview embracing Quaker mystic Richard Foster as a teacher of proper Christian spirituality. Consider that a few pages later in the same issue there’s a puff piece on Emergent Church Guru Brian McLaren by Emerging Church theologian Scot McKnight and you should see that this postliberal cult will now be cemented within the mainstream of the evangelical community.

“For the first time in Australia” Joel Osteen, his wife and co-pastor Victoria, “the whole Lakewood Church team” and Word Faith wolf Jentezen Franklin will be bringing their shows to Hillsong Conference 2009. Those paying attention will remember Hillsong Church has been in the habit of promoting dubious ministries for quite some time now as it continues its drift.

For example in 2007 Hillsong featured Oneness Pentecostal T.D. Jakes, who has recently implied that Ruth and Naomi were lesbians and that King David and Jonathan may also have been lovers. And for those who may not know this yearly conference at Hillsong is the largest one in Australia bringing in people from over 70 countries averaging around 30,000 attendees per conference.