Exposing the Lie Behind the "Coexist" Movement

Each time I see a "coexist" bumper sticker on a car, I think about how naive such a person must be in order to think such a cohesion of views (some often being violent, threatening, and damaging to a person's spiritual destiny) would ever be possible to be achieved in this fallen world.  Don't get me wrong - perhaps the sentiment of the person posting such a message intends to mean well. 

But the truth of the matter regarding the obvious and continuous increase of sin, evil, and death in our current world (all of which, unfortunately, contains a plethora of views that tend to reject God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ) does not allow the "coexist" mantra to lead anyone to absolute truth, salvation of the soul, reconciliation with God, or eternity with our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

My blogging friend Neil over at Eternity Matters has a good post up and at the end of it I noticed the following graphic that explains the truth of the lie behind the "coexist" movement:




The graphic below and to the right, further explains the contradictions of the coexist movement. [Right click on graphic to enlarge.]

John 14:6 explains why they can't all be true:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. - John 14:6 (NKJV)

Hat tip:

Eternity Matters

Recognizing Spiritual Delusion

While checking my stats this morning, I noticed that a visitor came to this blog to read a post that I did way back in 2007.  The visitor typed, "end days will bring about a spirit of spiritual delusion" into the Bing search engine, and my blog post appeared on the second page.

Thought that I would re-post here today.  People are under the influence of all kinds of delusions these days.  They include emotional delusions, mental delusions, educational delusions, physical delusions, sexual practice delusions, and even political delusions.   But spiritual delusion is the most dangerous.

Why?

Because once someone is under a spiritual delusion, many of the other delusions also enter in and wreak havoc upon their lives!

Read the post and find out for yourself!

~ Christine

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Saturday, July 07, 2007

Recognizing Spiritual Delusion

When it comes to studying and understanding the "shadow of coming events" predicted and prophesied in the Bible, no one does a better, more accurate job of communicating exactly what Scripture reveals than Dr. Ed Hindson. If you go to that website and read his impressive resume', you will, without a doubt, see how knowledgeable he is regarding end times events, Scriptural truth, and biblical prophecy.

One chapter, in Dr. Hindson's book Antichrist Rising, has stood out in my mind over the past few days. It is the chapter called, "Rise of False Prophets." The Bible informs us that false prophets and teachers have always been with us. Knowing God's Word is essential to being able to spot them. We are warned, however, that as the end times draw closer and closer, there will be a rise of false prophets in the world. So, how do we recognize them and most importantly, avoid being caught up in their deception?

According to the Old Testament (OT), we are told that true prophets of God must do three things in order to be considered genuine:

1. must speak in the name of the Lord, not some other god.

2. must have a message that is in accord with God's revealed truth in Scripture.

3. must give predictions of future events that come true exactly as stated.

Ed Hindson writes:

One of the most scathing denunciations of false prophets in all of Scripture is delivered by the prophet Jeremiah. In his time, Jeremiah had to deal constantly with false prophets who opposed his ministry, contradicted his message, and even conspired to have him killed. They kept telling the leaders of Jerusalem that the people had nothing to fear from the Babylonian invaders, but Jeremiah knew differently. Jerusalem was on the verge of destruction, and the people were about to be taken into captivity for 70 years.

"My heart is broken within me," Jeremiah confesses in his agony over these false prophets who "...follow an evil course and use their power unjustly" (Jeremiah 23:9,10). "Both prophet and priest are godless," the Lord responds (23:11). Then He tells Jeremiah His opinion of these false prophets:

Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD (verse 16).

I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied (verse 21).

I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, "I had a dream! I had a dream!" How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? (verse 25)

Yes...I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues....Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams....Because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God (verses 31, 32, 36).

Jeremiah could not make his complaint any clearer or his case any stronger. God is against those false prophets whose spiritual delusion causes them to invent their own message apart from God's truth. The Bible presents these people in seven categories...

Before I post those categories, I want to mention a few things that are crucial to this message.

In OT times, the Holy Spirit of God would "come, minister, and then depart from" the prophets of old. Any basic study of the Bible would bear this fact out. The fact that God is depicted as "being with a prophet or person," but then "leaving that prophet or person" shows this to be true. He is often called, "The Spirit of God" for "The Spirit of the LORD." For example:

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Jdg 3:10 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war: and the LORD delivered Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed against Chushanrishathaim.

Today, the Holy Spirit works both outside, in the world to influence the unsaved towards repentance and acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior; as well as inside each saved believer. When a person is born-again (see John 3) , the Holy Spirit resides within the hearts of those believers. According to the Bible, Jesus told us that on the day of Pentecost, He would send a Helper for the disciples (and for us today as well):

Luk 11:13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Notice that Jesus mentions we must ask for the Holy Spirit to indwell us. After repentance of our sins, we ask Jesus Christ into our hearts and he resides there in the form of the Holy Spirit. Jesus refers to Him as "another Comforter."

Jhn 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;



Jhn 14:26 But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.


Jhn 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:



Jhn 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

When Jesus was here, physically on earth during his 3 year ministry, he could only be present in one place at a time. After defeating evil, sin and death on the cross for the sins of the world, and His subsequent resurrection to life, he ascended to the Father and now resides at the right hand of the Father in heaven. The Comforter (Holy Spirit) can be in all places at all times and thus indwells each believer in Christ.

We are then promised that He will never leave nor forsake us.

Hbr 13:5 [Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

This is why, no matter what happens to us on this earth, we can have the peace that surpasses all understanding precisely because we belong to Jesus! We can have absolute faith in Him! He's such an awesome Savior and Lord!

Now, back to the topic of this post.

I left off just before sharing the seven categories that false prophets and teachers can fall into:

Hindson:

1. Self-deceived. Some false teachers may be sincere, but they are still wrong. They have deceived themselves into believing their messages are true. As Jeremiah points out, their messages come psychologically from within their own minds and are not from God.

This is why I have stressed the point that the Holy Spirit of God will not lead you into thinking that contradicts Scripture! The "messages" may come "psychologically" from within one's own mind, (or, even worse from demons), but they are not from God if it contradicts God's Word!

Hindson:

2. Liars. Some false prophets are deliberate liars who have no intention of telling the truth. The apostle John says, "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the anti-christ - he denies the Father and the Son" (1 John 2:22).

Now, admittedly, deliberate liars are easier to spot. However, sometimes the lie is so subtle, that even Christians can be fooled if they don't have a firm foundation in the truth of the Bible. Notice in Ed Hindson's second definition of a true prophet, he states:

2. [A true prophet] must have a message that is in accord with God's revealed truth in Scripture.

God's revealed truth in Scripture is the operative phrase. Anyone can read, study and even teach from the Bible. But if their ideology does not match up with God's revealed truth in the Scriptures, then beware! You may be led astray from a false teacher!
Hindson:

3. Heretics. These are those who preach heresy (false doctrine) and divide the church. Of them John said, "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us" (1 John 2:19). The apostle Peter said, "There will be false teachers among you. they will secretly introduce destructive heresies....These men blaspheme in matters they do not understand" (2 Peter 2:1, 12).

The phrase, "blaspheme in matters they do not understand" could refer to those under delusion and/or deception. We can all recall several examples of blatantly obvious heretical movements. The Jim Jones cult, the Heaven's Gate group, and David Koresh. However, there are more subtle groups that would qualify as being called "heretical."

Hindson:

4. Blasphemers. Those who speak evil of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, the people of God, the kingdom of God, and the attributes of God are called blasphemers. Jude calls them godless men who "speak abusively against whatever they do not understand....They are clouds without rain...trees, without fruit....They are wild waves of the sea...wandering stars" (Jude 10,12,13).

We even have a recent example of these types of people! Look no further than This debate between the "Rational Response Squad" and two Christian evangelists.

However, some examples of "blasphemers" are not always as obvious as the atheists who participated in that debate. The ability to subtly "speak abusively against whatever they do not understand." can apply to false converts, as well. They are often referred to as "sheep in wolves clothing."

Hindson:

6. Seducers. Jesus warned that some false prophets will appear with miraculous signs and wonders to seduce or deceive the very elect, "if that were possible" (Mark 13:22). Our Lord's implication is that spiritual seduction is a very real threat even to believers. This would account for the fact that a few genuine but deceived believers may be found among the cults.

Did you catch that? It bears repeating:

A few genuine but deceived believers may be found among the cults!

Now, I am often accused by gay theology proponents of "being judgmental," or "displaying hate," or "not being willing to discuss our differences," or "not living in harmony with," or "not being willing to accept that which they are preaching," or "not being willing to compromise," etc. I could go on and on, (as one well-known blog is named).

But now, we have an example of someone in the gay christian movement who demonstrates, through his own words, his unwillingness to compromise. Besides, it is not written in the Bible anywhere that we should compromise on any issue regarding the Gospel of Christ!

Here's Mel White's "gospel":

“I will sit down with anyone who comes to the table with certain basic positive assumptions about us: that we are here, millions of us, and have the right to be; that our sexual orientation, too, is a gift from our Creator who is pleased when we accept the gift with gratitude and pride; that on average we live productive and responsible lives; that we are perfectly capable of loving, committed relationships and are as equipped as heterosexuals to have families of our own; that uncounted millions of us are people of faith who serve our faith communities with creativity and commitment and patriotic Americans who serve our nation with courage and with honor; that we don’t seek “special rights” just the rights and protections guaranteed all Americans by the Constitution. Our dignity, our integrity, our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, our unqualified acceptance by our Creator are not up for debate.”

Gcmwatch quote:

Our bold. What is there to discuss, when he demands 100% concession from us?

Can you see, now, why groups like the "Equality Riders" cannot possibly reconcile with Bible-based Christian believers? Their leader unequivocally states that in order for us to do so, it would require 100% concession (a.k.a. compromise) to his ideology.

It ain't gonna happen...people.

Why? Because there will always be a remnant of the faithful who will never compromise God's Word! That's why!

Hindson:

7. Reprobates. This term means "disapproved," "depraved," or "rejected." Paul refers to those who have rejected the truth of God and turned to spiritual darkness. Consequently, God has given them over to a "reprobate mind" (Romans 1:28 KJV). They have so deliberately rejected God that they have become "filled with every kind of wickedness" (verse 29). As a result, they are "God-haters" (verse 30), whose behavior is "senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless" (verse 31). These people are so far gone spiritually that they know it and don't care. In Jesus' own prophetic message, the Olivette Discourse, He warned, "Watch out that no one deceives you....Many will turn away from the faith....And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people....For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles" (Matthew 24:4, 10, 11,24). Our Lord warned His disciples of the possibility of spiritual seduction by false prophets.

There are different levels of re probation going on out there. From the most severe kinds of re probation to the more subtle, and perceived "harmless" type like Mel White's Equality Riders.

Hindson writes:

The Bible describes Satan as the "father of lies" (John 8:44) and pictures him as the ultimate deceiver. His name means "accuser," and he is depicted as the accuser of God and His people (Revelation 12:10). he is opposed to God and seeks to alienate people from the truth. He misled the fallen angels (Revelation 12:3,4). He tempts men and women to sin against God's laws (Genesis 3:1-13; 1 Timothy 6:9). He denies and rejects the truth of God and deceives those who perish without God (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Ultimately, he inspires the false prophets and the very spirit of Antichrist (1 John 2:18-23).

The Bible clearly warns us that in the last days people will "abandon the faith and follow deceiving ['seducing,' KJV] spirits and things ['doctrine,' KJV] taught by demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). These false teachings will come through hypocritical liars whose minds have been captured by Satan's lies (1 Timothy 4:2). Thus, the process of spiritual deception is clearly outlined in Scripture:

1. Satan - Father of lies
2. Demons - Doctrines of Devils
3. False Teachers - Messengers of Deceit

The term angel (Greek angelos) means "messenger." God's angels are His divine messengers (Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 1:1), and His true prophets and preachers are called the angels of the churches (Revelation 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). By contrast, Satan is pictured as a fallen angel, the leader of other fallen angels, who deceives the world (Revelation 12:9). He is revealed as the ultimate power behind the Antichrist and the False Prophet who deceives mankind with false religion (Revelation 13:14, 15). Thus, the messengers (angels) of deceit are Satan-inspired false prophets and teachers whose messages are the very spirit of Antichrist.

A century ago, A.T. Pierson, the Bible teacher who often spoke for Charles Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, wrote,

"Evil spirits acquire their greatest power from their subtlety. They are masters of the art of deception, and aim to counterfeit that which is good rather than suggest what is obviously and wholly evil."

A learned and spiritually mature Christian friend of mine, Susan Smith, once said something that was quite simple, but extremely profound!

She wrote something like this (paraphrased):

"The greatest deception is not believing that we can be deceived."

So, as Christian believers, how can we be guaranteed not to fall into deception?

1. The first step, of course, is through repentance for all sin and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior over our lives.

2. The second step is to read and study Scripture; but the most important point in this second step is what Dr. Hindson stated, "we must have a message that is in accord with God's revealed truth in Scripture."

3. This leads to the third step. It is knowing and recognizing, the seven categories (discussed above), and types of people that could lead one into spiritual deception and delusion.


Hindson shares why we must be spiritually discerning:

The lure of false doctrine is that it presents itself as the truth. It appears as a corrective measure to established doctrine. It is propagated by those who are certain they have discovered some new revelation of truth or a better interpretation of old, established truth. Either way, they are convinced they are right and everyone else is wrong.

This is Satan's oldest trick. He appeals to our self-conceit and leads us into self-deceit. When he first approached Eve, Satan questioned the integrity of God's command and appealed to her selfish desire to be like God - the same desire that led to his own fall. And there is something selfish enough in all of us to want to believe that we can know what no one else knows. C.S. Lewis said,

"What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could "be like gods."...Out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we can call human history...the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

Today, the seduction is even more subtle than Hindson states here (IMHO). We could take one line from above and add to it:

"Either way, they are convinced they are right and everyone else is "intolerant," or "hateful," or "uncompromising," or "out of harmony with," or, as Mel White stated above regarding his non-biblical view that 'that our sexual orientation, too, is a gift from our Creator who is pleased when we accept the gift with gratitude and pride,' and 'our unqualified acceptance by our Creator are not up for debate.' "

In the second post on this topic, I will cover warnings that once spiritual deception sets in, it leads, ultimately, to spiritual darkness.

Some thoughts to preview:

1. Pride and arrogance are the sins that lead a person to become spiritually deceived.
2. Satan tempts us with our own self-centeredness and lures us into spiritual darkness with the bait of our own pride. The Bible calls this the "pride of life" (1 John 2:16 KJV).
3. Having been hooked by our arrogance, we are reeled in by our ignorance.

I know. All of this is so devastating and heart-breaking to read. However, there is hope!! It is found in none other than Jesus Christ and His Word, the Bible. Anyone can come out of spiritual deception and darkness! It's happening every single day!!
I sincerely believe that some people just don't even realize that they are being deceived. Others, however, know it full well. But for those who may be currently studying under any number of 'sincere' preachers who have gotten off the theological track because they don't know enough theology to realize their errors, you can give them a "test" to see if they are worthy to be in the mission of preaching the Gospel message of Christ.

Just ask them if they are willing to be checked, according to the absolute truth of God's Word, on the accuracy of a certain doctrine, point, sermon or message that they have preached.

As my pastor has told us several times, he is only human and can make mistakes. That is why our "plumb line" to stay on track when it comes to sharing the gospel and God's Word, is to stay true to it (utilizing the proper apologetics tools of exegesis, hermeneutics, Sola Scriptura, and Scripture interprets Scripture), to the best of our ability.

If a preacher or leader says that they are not willing to do this, (and/or are also not willing to back up what they have said with Scripture) that could be a good indication that they may be in danger of being off of the proper theological track.

Bottom line? My faith has to be anchored in the truth if it is going to do me, and others, any good. The same is true for you!

In the next section, Hindson mentions that "once theological error falls into 'ecclesiastical cement' it is virtually impossible to eliminate it."

Once a false doctrine is accepted, it can be organized and perpetuated by a religious body, then perpetrated by a false defense (apologetic) which is based upon a false premise. It is then when we see such groups fall down that slippery slope as they accept false doctrine [no matter how much biblical Scriptural truth has been shown to them and has exposed their error(s)] as their "new truth." They can organize it, categorize it, debate it, systemize it, teach it, and/or demand it; but that doesn't make it true!!

When it comes to false teachers, the real problem is that the love of their own, skewed, erroneous teaching may drive them to the point where they will refuse to repent of it, even when their error is exposed!

The Bible says, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts" (Ephesians 4:18).

Quotations Source: Antichrist Rising by Ed Hindson Copyright 2003 Ed Hindson; Published by 21st Century Press, Springfield, Missouri U.S.A. pp. 40-48 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever or stored in any database or retrieval system without written permission except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews.

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6/9/07 Update:

GCM watch July Monument Award goes to Darlene Osborne of The Christian Online Magazine . Darlene has written an excellent article called, Has God Changed His Mind About Homosexuality?

HT: Gcmwatch

Pluralism and Interfaith Consciousness? Or THE TRUTH!

In the comment thread section of my previous post, "Anonymous" came along and wrote the following:

Anonymous said...
Eboo Patel's placement is no accident. He has direct ties with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and Rick Warren. Patel is founder and Executive Director of the Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based institution building the GLOBAL interfaith youth movement.


Now check over
http://interfaith2010.naz.edu/
Notice again Obama's Eboo Patel who sits on his Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Eboo is working to realize the President's priority of interfaith cooperation.(coming in through faith-based initiatives and youth community service) Listed speakers have all the connects. There is BeliefNet , owned by Rupert Murdoch. TED talks and-the (New Ager) Karen Armstrong, Bill Gates (population control), Amy Gutmann (transgender sex change funding college), etc. the whole futurist platform. Mentioned also is the Charter for Compassion and The Clinton Global Initiative...How fast can you list the UN's Millennium Goals?

Last April's conference covered:

4/11 - "The Art of Dialogue: Interfaith Dialogue Across the Generations"
4/11 - "The Divine Feminine: The Foundation of the Abrahamic World"
4/12 - "Acts of Faith: Interfaith Leadership in a Time of Global Religious Crisis"

Listen to the words of Patel himself speaking at the radically left Tides Foundation(which features a Buddhist-type altar and hosts other environmental, spiritual, educational, and governmental organizations sharing a common crusade of building a unified, earth-friendly GLOBAL civilization based on "new" universal beliefs and values. Listen carefully to his diversity speech on "democracy and pluralism" and "interfaith consciousness."

http://www.momentumconference.org/speaker-presentation/speaker/eboo-patel/presentation/religious-pluralism-in-a-democracy/index.html

As the world quickly moves towards the one world religion and interspirituality decide for whom you will serve. Our youth are being seduced away. Have you warned them to beware? How many are in God's word to discern truth and error? Who will stand fast for Jesus Christ, LORD and Savior?

Ephesians 5:6-11

July 27, 2010 12:38:00 PM PDT

If you visit those links, you will find out much more information about Eboo Patel and his involvement with the Obama Administration's Advisory Council of the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

In response to Anonymous's post and links I wrote:

Christinewjc said...
Checked this one out: http://interfaith2010.naz.edu/
and the symbols of different religions in the avatar at the top of the page reminds me of the "coexist" symbols I have seen on cars. The word starts with the symbol of Islam (crescent and star) for the "c" in coexist, and ends with the "t" for the cross at the end of the word. Hmmm...kinda shows which one is valued more - doesn't it? The letters in between represent other religions.

I know. Non-Christians who often post here and hate my religious beliefs of Biblical Christianity will surmise that I'm intolerant - or worse. Well - Jesus was certainly intolerant and CLEAR when he said:

Jhn 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

People can be namby-pamby about religion all they want. But the truth is - not all religions can possibly be correct. That's the truth of the matter! The "can't we just all get along" ideology doesn't work when it comes to the decision on faith and salvation.

Jesus asks each of us, "Who do you say that I am?" Each of those other religions could only answer that he is a "good teacher," or "a great prophet," or "a good man" etc. In order to believe in an interfaith type of gobbledy-gook. Are you thinking what's so wrong with that? I will tell you. They will lead people astray! They would need to leave out what Peter (correctly) answered:

Mat 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Why?

Because if they did include that answer - then all of the other religions would be proven false!

God is not a God of confusion! He gave us His Written Word - the Bible, and His Living Word - Jesus Christ and I believe that Jesus is who He says He is! The Holy Spirit of God brings back to our minds what God has told us in His Word - and leads us into all understanding of the Scriptures. Those who are born-again in Christ will not be fooled by those who preach a different gospel - a false gospel which only leads the hearer into spiritual oblivion.

We were warned that the closer we get to the end times, there will be:

Mat 24:24 "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

You will notice that "the elect" WON'T be deceived! And we aren't deceived by groups like the one at that link!

July 27, 2010 3:55:00 PM PDT

Apparently, Kevin didn't like my response and he wrote:

Kevin said...
Hi Christine,
You state: "Hmmm...kinda shows which one is valued more - doesn't it?"
Actually Christine, being the first C in the word Coexist does not mean that the religion is more important! It is a symbol of all the religious symbols and the hope that we can all get along without killing each other. There is no conspiracy theory here.
Wouldn't it be nice if all the various religious would just let people make up their own mind which religion they wanted to follow? Just think how many lives would be saved if we stopped fighting over that.

July 27, 2010 5:26:00 PM PDT

So I replied:

Christinewjc said...
Kevin,

The various religions do already [have the opportunity] to all get along here in the U.S. But when one religion chops off the heads of the "infidels" and straps bombs to their bodies and blows themselves up at a Jewish wedding, market, or school; and when that same religion hijacks planes and crashes them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and one that was aimed for either the White House or Congressional building but landed in a field in Pennsylvania because some brave passengers charged the cockpit and wouldn't let the radical Muslims carry out their evil deed; then the "wouldn't it be nice" mantra that you obviously believe in doesn't recognize an evil religious belief when it is right before your very eyes!

People CAN make up their own minds which religion they want to follow in America. But just think how many lives would be saved if we stopped radical Islam from fighting their jihad and forcing their Sharia law and hard-core beliefs upon the world?

July 27, 2010 7:28:00 PM PDT

Kevin hasn't responded yet, but as I awoke this morning several verses came to my mind. I have expanded upon them here:


Isa 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD.

Isa 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Although secular man values "pluralism" and "interfaith consciousness," the Lord God requires truth. Those two so-called values may sound nice to the ear, look pleasant to the eye, and satisfy the flesh, but they are worthless spiritually.

Earlier verses in Isaiah give those who have strayed from God through "pluralism" and "interfaith consciousness" the way of return:

Isa 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.


Isa 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

It is important to read all of Romans 1, however, for the purpose of this particular discussion, I have selected certain verses that can be applied here:

Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."


Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,


Rom 1:19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.


Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,


Rom 1:21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.


Rom 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,


Rom 1:23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Rom 1:24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,


Rom 1:25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

The "pluralism" and "interfaith consciousness" is a form of "exchanging the truth of God for the lie." What the people who are doing this are actually accomplishing is "worship and serv[ing] the creature" [i.e. man, beast, idol (like the golden calf of the Old Testament), false prophets (Muhammad), false christs (eg. making Christ in their own image like the homosexual "bishop" Gene Robinson and other do)], etc.

In the following list of those who "God gave over to a debased mind" we see examples of those that could be applied to the ideas of religious pluralism and interfaith consciousness:

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;


Rom 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, [fn] wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,


Rom 1:30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,


Rom 1:31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, [fn] unmerciful;


Rom 1:32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
[Note: Bold mine]

Oftentimes, people focus on the sins that aren't in bold. However, notice that according to the righteous judgment of God - those who practice any or all of those things are deserving of death. What's more, Paul mentions that "those who approve of those who practice them" are also deserving of death. This reiterates that all sin is punishable by death. That is why Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross at Calvary and subsequent resurrection from the dead is the ONLY way to be forgiven and reconciled back unto the Father.

These people can dance around their religious pluralism and interfaith consciousness, celebrating it in their own minds (just like the Israelites danced around the golden calf "god" of their own making while their leader out of captivity - Moses - was away receiving the Ten Commandments from God); but as the previous verses point out, "their thoughts are not God's thoughts."

Since every word of the Bible is for reproof and correction, those who would violate God's Word with their own humanistic wisdom are guilty of "exchanging the truth for the lie."

Notice that the word "the" is before the word "lie." What is the lie? Why, it's the same lie from old that Jesus warns us about time and time again in the Scriptures:

Jhn 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

1Jo 2:4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Hat Tip:

Blue Letter Bible

A Letter to Refute

Dear Friends,

I found this awful, riddled-with-biblical-interpretation-errors "letter of the week" over at WorldNetDaily and decided to post it here so that we can contribute to the refutation of it.

I will be working on my response, but please feel free to address any, or all of the statements that you feel led and prepared to refute!

In Christ,
Christine

*******

The Bible is a house of cards

Posted: April 04, 2008
1:00 am Eastern

© 2008 (WorldNetDaily)

I read and enjoy WND every day, but I'd like to respond with a critical view to Jonathan Falwell's "Was Jesus a liar?" commentary.

Mr. Falwell criticizes Barack Obama because Mr. Obama said something that implies he believes non-Christians can be "children of God."

But, Mr. Falwell opines, the problem is that "such sentiment is not what the Bible teaches. According to God's Word ...," etc., etc., etc.

News media recently reported that Mr. Obama mentioned in a speech that he is not impressed with certain "obscure" passages from Paul's epistles. Therefore, Mr. Obama cherry-picks verses from Scripture. That is, he believes some Bible passages that seem reasonable to him; he decides not to believe verses that don't seem reasonable to him.

Combine these two stories – 1) Mr. Obama's sentiments about parts of the New Testament that St. Paul wrote and 2) his remarks that Jews and Muslims can be children of God – and we see Obama marching to a different drum.

That is, he is apparently not marching in step with fundamentalist Christians.

Further, not surprisingly, Mr. Falwell exhibits fundamentalist tendencies in his editorial.

For example:

He declares that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Why? Because the Bible says Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.


He says the counsel of the Lord stands forever. Why? Because a verse in the book of Psalms says the counsel of the Lord stands forever.


He notes that "if we follow Christ, we cannot then mold the Bible to fit our needs; treat Jesus as simply a 'good man'" or "embellish the Gospel with man's ideas."

My bottom-line question for Mr. Falwell: Why not? Of course we can do those things. I do at least two out of three of them every day.

There is life beyond fundamentalism. God exists beyond (and in spite of) fundamentalist Christianity.

The Achilles' heel of fundamentalist Christianity is the Bible itself and the long and convoluted history of its coming to be considered (by Bible literalists) the infallible writing of God himself.

The fundamentalist assumes something that is in no way a proven fact: that the Bible is the error-free Word of God.

A study of the origins of Scripture reveals that – contrary to fundamentalists' hope against hope – it is little more than a house of cards.

Indeed, the Bible contains writings that are inspirational and uplifting. But it as well includes accounts of murder, mayhem and immortality by supposedly righteous and godly folks and even God himself. In other words, it paints a picture of God (and followers of God) that makes him out to be a petty, jealous, irascible tyrant.

I do not doubt God's existence. But, when I began to wake up to the precarious state of the "proofs" of the veracity of the Bible, a startling thought slapped my consciousness upside the head:

Does the real God, the one who stands quite apart from the nonsense of the Old and New Testaments (and the nonsense of the tenets of any religion), care if we think he is the self-contradictory, ill-tempered Yahweh? Does it make any difference if we hold onto a distorted, perverted view of the One Infinite Creator?

Yahweh's counterpart in the New Testament is sometimes better behaved, but not always. Yes, Jesus commendably advises loving one's enemies and turning the other cheek. But, especially in the book of Revelation, the Savior will blast you with supernatural nuclear force after the pre-millennial Second Coming if you dare to cross him, if you fail to believe and follow the precise formula that conservative Christians hold to in the name of the Christ of the Apocalypse, Gospels and Epistles.

Here's an interesting exercise for people who are not afraid to travel where the quest for eternal truth leads them:

Investigate the mess that is the biblical canon and listen in on the many interesting debates (readily accessible via the Internet) of conservative Christians with Bible skeptics.

Yes, you can read Josh McDowell or N.T. Wright and their reasonable-sounding standalone arguments apart from any reasonable context. But read their debates with Bible critics instead. The conservative Christians have an abysmal success rate during such professionally moderated discussions.

Mr. Falwell's method of arriving at conclusions is properly to be called circular reasoning.

If you want to prove the veracity of the Bible, you simply cannot credibly do it by citing only the Bible in your arguments. You must do it by relying on your God-given powers of reason, the existence of the universe itself and logical philosophical arguments based on premises that originate outside the Bible. Otherwise your arguments do nothing but run around in circles. Otherwise we can prove that any book is the one and only Word of God that happens to make that outrageous claim on one of its pages.

I want to close by saying that I have not written this letter with the purpose of criticizing Mr. Falwell. I'm sure he is a genuinely compassionate man who has an obvious desire to do what God wants him to do.

But what if God is less than happy with the way Falwell and many others have blindly followed, and then enshrined and worshipped, a collection of writings that – if we can back up from them a moment – can easily be seen to be myth, legend, mistakes and, in many cases, outright hoaxes.

A good place to start: Bart Ehrman's excellent books, such as "The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture," and Albert Schweitzer's series on the quest for the historic Jesus.

My reply to Mr. Falwell's question "Was Jesus a liar?":

Probably not. But we can't know for sure because we have no reliable record of what he did and said or even credible proof that he was an actual historic figure. (Maybe he was; maybe he wasn't.)

J.D.
*******
HT: WorldNetDaily

Some Evangelicals Dumping Sola Scriptura??

A fellow Christian blogger and good internet friend (Mark at Chester Street) has made me aware of a recent controversial essay written by J.P. Moreland which was delivered at The 59th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society held November 14-16, 2007 in San Diego, California.

Herescope has a blogpost that shares a link to Anton Bosch's website. Bosch writes some pertinent comments about this rather blatant shift in focus.

Why have I given so many link that contain so much information about this topic? Because I wanted to demonstrate that Mark and I are not the only ones who are concerned about what Moreland has written.

My analysis?

Here's a copy of a comment that I posted at Mark's blog:

Hi Mark,

Thanks so much for sharing Moreland's paper with me. I agree with your analysis! I really got worried when I read:

"Today, I am more convinced of inerrancy more than any time in my Christian life, but the charge of bibliolatry , or at least a near, if not a kissing cousin, is one I fear is hard to rebut. To be more specific, in the actual practices of the Evangelical community in America, there is an overcommitment to Scripture in a way that is false, irrational, and harmful to the cause of Christ. And it has produced a mean-spiritedness among the over committed that is a grotesque and often, ignorant distortion of discipleship unto the Lord Jesus."

Everything after the word "but" sounds so similar to what the gay christian movement would claim in order to continue in its rebrobate theology! Doesn't it?? It also sounds "emergent-church-ish."

Perhaps I could be misinterpreting Moreland's meaning when he wrote:

"...a mean-spiritedness among the over committed that is a grotesque and often, ignorant distortion of discipleship..."

To me, it sounds eerily similar to what gay christians often use as an excuse to lay claims of "hate" against orthodox, biblical, Christian
believers...doesn't it?

This can be very dangerous.

Dare I mention that he almost sounds like he is countering what Isaiah says here?

Isa 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

Of course, that portion of Scripture is talking about Jesus. Judgment belongs, ultimately, to Him alone. However, as followers of Jesus, aren't we supposed to share the entirety of the Gospel (including the bad news of judgment) and point to Him? We are supposed to point out that His judgment will befall all of those who do not repent and accept Christ as Savior and Lord of their lives!

As Matthew Henry states in his commentary on Isaiah 42:1 -

"Let our souls delight in Christ, rely on him, and rejoice in him; and thus let us be united to him, and then, for his sake, the Father will be well pleased with us."

Unlike Anton Bosch, I don't think that Moreland is a false teacher in this. I just think that he is in error about this particular opinion that he holds. Fellow Christians will let him know about it, too!

As I read through the article I have to admit that Moreland did a good job revealing the history of what has transpired in the educational realm at the university level (i.e. drifting away from God, the Bible and teachings of Jesus Christ towards total secular humanistic ideas) quite well.

However, I don't think he made his case for his initial premise very well at all. The accusations (in that quoted paragraph above) were not, IMHO, addressed correctly nor proven to be true. Maybe I need to read it again. But my first impression was, as Mark had pointed out in an email message to me, "him making a mountain out of a molehill."

My first thought regarding blogging about this was to be hesitant. Sometimes, it's just not smart for a female "layperson" to counter a well-educated male, Christian scholar who is so highly regarded in most Christian circles. But it appears that he has raised the ire of many people. Ted Olsen (writing in Christianity Today) and Anton Bosch, for example.

This is good. It goes to show that when a person attempts to trump the wisdom and knowledge of God's revelation to us through the Scriptures with his/her own, fleshly and prideful form of education; the Holy Spirit's guidance upon our hearts, minds, souls and spirits will not allow us to be fooled.

Plus, other Christian brothers and sisters can (and should!) call us out on such errors in thinking.

I am always grateful when people correct me! None of us are perfect.

However, God's Word IS PERFECT!. It is the plumbline of Scripture that allows imperfect Christians to share HIS PERFECT WORD with an imperfect, sinful, rebellious, and evil world!

What was missing from Moreland's analysis, was that he should have said that if Scripture is not used as the sole source of knowledge and authority on any given topic, it should still remain as the "plumbline" to determine the ultimate source of relevant knowledge and authority. In other words, the additional sources that one might want to use (which, in some cases, like the archaeological finds case example in Moreland's paper) which doesn't appear to need Scripture to determine what the find reveals, none-the-less, should not go against what is written in Scripture. If it does, then the person doing the interpretation is in error; not Scripture.

The Bible informs us that the Holy Spirit of God reveals the infallibility of Scripture to the mind of the believer. Therefore, what we, as Christian believers preach and teach should never counter what God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit reveals in said Scripture.

Again, it is that plumbline that keeps us straight and out of the error realm of interpretation (which can happen at times because we are fallible whereas God and His Word is infallible).

It's just my opinion, of course, but on this subject, I think that Moreland may be relying more on his fleshly thinking rather than on the mind of Christ that Paul speaks of in Scripture.

1Cr 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

*******
HT's: ChesterStreet, Herescope