Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘idolatry’ Category

from Herescope:

Recent events in the world have jump-started some of the old intentions of the Latter Rain movement to create a false revival. In southern California at Huntington Beach a new uprising is identified as “Saturate 2020” and it is attempting to invoke a “great awakening” or a second Jesus movement. It is getting quite a bit of press attention. Characteristic of these types of stage-managed productions, there is a great deal of hoopla and frenzied commotion, conscious altering music, and a hefty dose of Latter Rain/New Apostolic Reformation doctrine, including about building the 7 mountains of Dominionism. It also significantly highlights false prophetess Heidi Baker and several new ones on the scene, Jen Miskov and Jessi Green.

Rather than reinvent the wheel to write about this, we encourage you to read Sandy Simpson’s latest comprehensive post “Saturate 2020” detailing the problems with this event and providing key links to documentation. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utbvEcLxuHs. Sandy writes:

The fact that some formerly Biblical churches have joined this circus is a testament to their lack of teaching discernment. Some of these denominations were warned repeatedly about the Latter Rain, Word of Faith and the New Apostolic Reformation yet they apparently wanted to remain “willfully ignorant”. The people advertised as being involved with this latest “revival” are almost all associated with Bethel in some way and promoters of what they teach. This is not a true Biblical revival but rather a revival of the occult and New Age among Christians. This meeting is actually hurting the cause of Christ…

Apologist Jackie Alnor produced an important video documentary on Saturate 2020 a few weeks ago. Watch her report because in it she names the names of men who seem to falling for this new revival:

Saturate 2020 and several other evidences of a striking increase in false prophetesses has given rise to deep concerns that godly evangelical men may be lured into their lair. The other day we received an email from a discerning friend who was very grieved, asking us how it is that seemingly godly men, respected and mature in the Lord, could possibly fall for these delusions. Below is our reply, which we post for our readers’ edification.

Why Men Fall for Jezebel 

To answer your earlier questions about how and why seemingly godly men would follow after false prophetesses, here are our observations after our many decades in the trenches with the Lord.

We have always considered the term “Jezebel” and the term “false prophetess” to be synonyms. The Scripture is clear that there are attributes of Jezebel in both the Old and New Testament that identify a false prophetess quite specifically.

Over the years Lynn and I have counseled many Christians trying to repent of all of their previous occult involvements. We have observed that there is a fallible “soft spot” in the hearts of certain vulnerable Christian men who lean sympathetically towards a false prophetess, epitomized by the women called Jezebel in Scripture. Worse, there is a “fear of man” (or, should we say, “fear of woman”) that is also a fatal loophole in men who fall into abject submission when confronted by the nasty side of false prophetesses. Every man of God needs to be exhorted to stand firm against such women. They persecute (threaten, intimidate, bully, verbally or physically abuse, etc.) the true prophets of God, meaning those men who are teaching the Word and standing for Truth. Jezebel literally killed godly men in the Old Testament!

There is also the seductive side to a false prophetess. She preys upon the sensory and/or emotional weaknesses in men — hooking them in where they have a “soft spot” for her. She massages their lusts — sexual, money, power, fame, etc. Or she makes them somehow dependent upon her, they feel that then “need” her or her machinations, or that they are somehow indebted unto her. She may even blackmail them. Or she may position them to “choose” between her and some godly woman (including possibly his wife!). She supplants the place of Christ in their hearts and minds with these clever methods. So if there is any weak spot in a man that has not been repented of? — This is precisely where she seizes control to wield and manipulate them. This is psychic, it is occult, it is satanic, it is idolatry. She stabs into the heart and it is deadly. It is a tragedy when we see her operate in a marriage. And this is how she destroys a church and/or a ministry.

We have observed that there is a darkness of vision that accompanies a false prophetess deception. Many men do not even realize they are under the spell of a false prophetess. We’ve known pastors who permitted an out-of-order heresy-prone woman to wreak havoc upon his congregation — either terrified to confront her, or wooed by her many elaborate ruses, or in a few cases, physically seduced by her.

At its most basic level there is a psychological weakness we humans all have for those whom we love and respect. Sometimes we have great tolerance for the sinful errors of others close to us, hoping we can lead them back to Truth. Indeed, the Lord Himself says He gave the Jezebel in Thyatira (Rev. 2) “space to repent” — therefore so must we. The Lord also gave those who committed adultery with her time and space to “repent of their deeds.” But, if there is no repentance, and when we find that we are actually having to justify our convivial relationship to the point of excusing flagrant transgressions or participating in her sins, heresies, errors and deceptions, then we are headed into deep trouble. And it behooves us to be continually on guard against any “desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9) “soft spots” we may harbor in our hearts towards her that leave us vulnerable to her deceptions.

There is a notable sign of our times regarding this “prophetess” danger which we should be aware of. It may apply to men prophets, too. Our longtime friend Jack Morlan, who repented radically and came out of the homosexual movement 40 years ago (he got married, had children, and is now a grandfather) claims that certain men may wield this same Jezebel-ish psychic/occult power over other men, particularly if they are prone to homosexual sins (either known or in the closet). He has warned us of men who acted like Jezebel both within and without the church. Godly men need to guard against this sort of man as well.

As for women and their weaknesses — the many who desire to emulate Jezebel — this is another tragic story. Women prophetess-wannabes exhibit both a seductive and a nasty side. Many of them are trying to fill a void in their hearts — but not with Jesus Christ. They have left their first love, if they even ever held to Jesus Christ in the first place. These are women who crave power, fame, accolades, money, beauty, lust and sensuality on the path to emulating Jezebel. Often they come from broken homes or abusive background. There is an aspect of control as they look to build an empire, their own spiritual kingdom. Our heart grieves for them while they are lost in the depths of their depravity because only Jesus Christ can save them from their sins.

We once attended a church where the chief elder’s wife visited the New Age bookstore once a month to learn about the latest “spirituality.” She was a prophetess-wannabe, hoping for TV type stardom. This undiscerning lady became deeply involved in Kundalini — she even attempted to lay hands on ladies’ chakra points at a church women’s retreat. Discerning women attempted to warn the pastor. But because her husband donated large monies to the church the minister was reluctant to confront her. The church quickly fell apart in a series of disasters.

Some false prophetesses come to Christ out of the occult. But if they never fully repented of their occult “spiritual gifts” they are tempted to use them in Christianity. They can then wield great power over others with these false gospel gifts. It is far worse when a woman claims to be the voice of prophecy, or even the voice of God. At this point she’s become a full-blown dangerous false prophetess and people need to be warned of her dangers. The extent to which these women become public figures, acclaimed and renowned, sitting on platforms with or standing in the place of men, exhibiting their false gifts, poses a danger to the entire church at large. Can such a woman be saved? God gave space and time for the apparently high profile Jezebel and her followers to repent in Thyatira. But if no such repentance becomes evident — which should include not only a public repentance but an open renouncing of specific sins, errors, heresies, misleadings and false teachings — she should then be warned against publicly.

We will warn that there is a backlash to any Gospel dealings with Jezebel/false prophetesses. Just ask Elijah. Some of the most vicious persecution we have experienced in our Christian life has come from them or their minions.

Read Full Post »

Seeing an increasing number of so-called “Christian” groups and individuals lining up with the BLM movement which is indicative of how apostate most of those in the U.S. who call themselves Christian have become.

The article below lays out some great reasons why Christians should flee from this Marxist organization. did I say Marxist? Yes it is a Marxist Organization so says it’s co-founder: Patrisse Cullors

from Radiance Foundation:

Every life unjustly killed deserves justice. In the cause to make things right, I will not join a movement that has nearly everything wrong. More innocent lives have now been killed (#BlueLivesMatter, too) since these predominantly violent protests began over George Floyd’s horrific death. What about the black lives killed in this nationwide chaos? Do they matter?

“Well, you don’t have to agree with everything. Just pick out the good things in the #BlackLivesMatter movement,” I’m told. Really? Let’s apply that same logic to another example. I’ve been repeatedly approached to partner with New Black Panthers in anti-abortion billboard campaigns. We agree on the violent injustice of abortion, and that’s it. Our worldviews are diametrically opposed. But, but, but they believe unborn lives matterThat doesn’t matter. Their mission is not my mission. I cover all of this in-depth in my new podcast, Life Has Purpose. 

Yes, #BlackLivesMatter. But Truth matters. As a Christian, the Church should be leading on these issues instead of sheepishly following a movement hostile to the Gospel.

The founders of the movement, the #BlackLivesMatter Foundation (BLMF), created it to radically shift culture. The far-left Ford Foundation, the world’s largest population control organization, vowed in 2016 to raise $100 million for the Movement for Black Lives (MFBL)—a nationwide coalition of BLM groups (including BLMF). MFBL released a shocking manifesto of policy positions that are deeply political and deeply disturbing. 

Drawing mostly from those positions, here are the top ten reasons why I will never support the #BlackLivesMatter movement. 

1 – The premise isn’t true. According to the FBI’s latest homicide statistics, I’m eleven times more likely to be killed by someone of my own brown complexion than a white person. Also, a comprehensive 2019 study concluded: “White officers are not more likely to shoot minority civilians than non-White officers.” Every loss of life is tragic, but Washington Post’s database on police-involved deaths puts things into context. In 2020, among those killed were 76 black males and 149 white males (whose deaths are don’t get reported by national mainstream media). Only nine black individuals were actually unarmed.

2 – There is no goal of forgiveness or reconciliation. None. It’s never mentioned on their sites. You can’t talk about the sins of the past and expect to move forward if there is no intention of forgiveness. I’m tired of the color-based oppressed/oppressor critical race theory paradigm. It’s not Gospel-centered. This should, immediately, be a deal-breaker for Christians.

3 – It’s all about Black Power. It’s plastered all over the MFBL website. BLMF founders explain their “herstory”: “It became clear that we needed to continue organizing and building Black power across the country.” I don’t promote social colorblindness; I love all of our diverse hues of skin. But I’m so much more than my pigmentation. Martin Luther King promoted “God’s power and human power.” I’m with him.

4 – They heavily promote homosexuality and transgenderism. “We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking.” I’m not embracing confusion. The Bible is unambiguous about sexuality. Loving every human being is not the same as loving every human doing. 

5 – They completely ignore fatherhood. From BLMF“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.” Well, every “village” that has fatherless families is a village that suffers higher crime rates, higher drug usage, higher abortion rates, higher drop-out rates, higher poverty rates, and so much more. #DadsMatter.

6 – They demand reparations. Ok. Sooooo, I guess the white half of me will have to pay the black half of me? If progressives want to push reparations, start with the Party of Slavery and Jim Crow—the Democrat Party! Let them ante up. But the #BlackLivesMatter movement bizarrely demands“Reparations for…full and free access for all Black people (including undocumented and currently and formerly incarcerated people) to lifetime education…retroactive forgiveness of student loans, and support for lifetime learning programs.” Uhhh, good luck with that. 

7 – They want to abolish prisons and police forces. And…cue utter chaos. MFBL asserts“We believe that prisons, police and all other institutions that inflict violence on Black people must be abolished…” Defund and remove the police have been rallying cries. That would be anarchy in any community. I advocate some needed police reforms, including more accountability and better community/police relations, but this is just foolishness. 

8 – They are anti-capitalism. Oh the irony of this declaration made by a movement that is the result of capitalism: “We are anti-capitalist. We believe and understand that Black people will never achieve liberation under the current global racialized capitalist system.” The videos that make us aware of police brutality are captured on phones that are a result of capitalism. The best way to elevate people out of material poverty? Capitalism. This system is why the United States is the most charitable nation. 

9 – Colin Kaepernick supports it. A “biracial” adoptee, Kaepernick is now obsessed with his “blackness.” He idolizes the late murderous Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and worships Malcolm X (just see his social media feeds). Malcolm X was anti-integration, pro-violence and a member of the virulently racist Nation of Islam (who forced him out). Kaepernick makes millions from Nike—a company whose entire Executive Leadership Team is white (isn’t this white supremacy???)—that makes its shoes in the most murderous regime in the world. Kaepernick, of course, is completely silent on that. But you know, #SocialJusticeWarrior.

10 – Apparently, not all black lives matter. Pro-abortion BLMF declared: “We deserve and thus we demand reproductive justice [aka abortion] that gives us autonomy over our bodies and our identities while ensuring that our children and families are supported, safe, and able to thrive.” Aborted children don’t thrive. BLM groups announced “solidarity” with “reproductive justice” groups back in February 2015 (see the solidarity statement). You cannot simultaneously fight violence while celebrating it.

Read Full Post »

from Reformation Charlotte:

CRU — formerly Campus Crusade for Christ — has been exposed as a social justice political organization with the sole intention of turning young, Christian-minded students into progressive activists. Ranging from LGBTQ activism to Cultural Marxism and intersectionality, CRU has hosted a number of events with the intent of advancing both political and theological liberalism.

Sojourners is an ecumenical publication founded by the progressive political activist and theological mystic, Jim Wallis, who has admitted to — along with SBC leader, Russell Moore — receiving funding from George Soros to advance an open-borders agenda in the US. Sojourners hosts a number of Roman Catholics and mystics — among them, Kaitlin Curtice.

Curtice is described on her website as,

… a young, Native American Christian mystic who portrays the sacredness of the human condition in everyday language through her writing.

Curtice promotes the heresy of contemplation (contemplative prayer and meditation) and writes of her experiences with “other realms” of life,

By contemplation, I am basically referring to the work of creating and sustaining an inner life of peace, quiet, listening to the Divine/Mystery/Higher Power/God , and letting the overflow of that love stretch into other realms of life.

She is a climate change activist who worships the creation over the creator,

Perhaps if we returned to loving the land, waters, and all beings that live and breathe around us, we might learn how to love our human relatives again.

Nowhere in any of Curtice’s works or writings does she show one iota of understanding of the biblical gospel. Of course, we should not expect a Catholic to understand the gospel as the Catholic Church’s gospel is false. Yet, even in the spiritual blindness of the Roman Catholic Church, many Catholics still have a good grasp on general revelation, morality, and general common sense. This common grace is a gift from God to all creation — not just Christians. Yet, Curtice has not only suppressed the truth of the cross, but the truth of God and his revelation altogether.

Yet, for some reason, the Evangelical organization CRU — who is closely tied to the Southern Baptist Convention and The Gospel Coalition — sees a need to partner with people like this. Why? Because CRU, as outlined in Romans 1, has exchanged the truth about God (the gospel) for a lie (social justice activism).

By the way, did you know Reformation Charlotte has a Christian gear and apparel store? Check it out at ReformedGear.com.

Matt Mikalatos, a CRU leader in Portland Oregon desperately tried to invite Curtice to speak at one of CRU’s events. Thankfully, she declined and thousands of students did not have to be exposed to her spiritual poison. As seen in the screenshot below, Curtice did not want to sign the contract that was required.

When Mikalatos was asked about her up and coming presence at the event, Mikalatos was seemingly ecstatic that they were trying to get more Roman Catholics — including a priest who does idolatrous paintings of Jesus — involved in their work.

20190929_1409146123474437059293183

It is safe to say that CRU has largely apostatized from its original biblical, gospel-centered founding. What used to be a mission-focused evangelistic organization centered around biblical truth has now become an ecumenical gospel-less social justice and progressive political activist crusade.

If you were to die today, where would you go? Heaven? Hell? Not sure?

Read Full Post »

He is in for a very rude surprise, massive wealth sometimes creates a fatal blindness!

from NWO Report:

Billionaire Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg believes that he is definitely going to heaven, no matter what God says on the matter. According to Bloomberg, when he gets to heaven, he’s not stopping to be interviewed. He’s “walking straight in.”

I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close,” Bloomberg told the New York Times in a wide ranging interview in 2014 in which he explained he has “earned” his place by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on liberal causes.

In the interview, the billionaire claimed that spending $50 million to battle the NRA on gun control during the Obama administration, as well as millions spent on other liberal causes, will guarantee him a seat in the afterlife.

Bloomberg, a Trilateral commissioner who was appointed UN Envoy for Climate Action just last year, will one day find out one day that he has not “earned Heaven”, but rather will receive the just wages for his actions that he is entitled to.

The Former New York City mayor broke American political records when he ploughed $31 million into a first-week ad spend to launch his presidential campaign last week. It is clear this member of the global elite is planning to buy his way into the White House, just as he has bought his way in and out of anything he wishes in his life thus far.

Bloomberg kicked off his presidential run by barring his eponymous and influential media company from investigating him or reporting on his campaign negatively.

Per the Guardian:

While Bloomberg outlets will cover the day-to-day of the presidential contest, they will not be conducting in-depth investigations into their boss. Nor will they investigate his Democratic rivals. They will, however, continue to engage in journalism vis-a-vis Trump’s campaign.

Just last year Bloomberg promised to divest from his media empire if he ran for president. “The company would either go into a blind trust or I would sell it,” he told Radio Iowa. “Quite honestly, I don’t want the reporters I’m paying to write a bad story about me. I don’t want them to be independent. So you’re going to have to do something.

It seems now Michael Bloomberg is a Democrat and a presidential candidate, he feels he no longer has to honor his promises to the American people or respect his God.

 

Read Full Post »

Update: Pope Francis’s apology over Amazon statues theft

from The American Spectator:

Tourists in Rome are long familiar with the image of Romulus and Remus suckling the teats of a wolf. But this week visitors to the Pan-Amazon Synod encountered a new image: an Amazonian mother suckling a dog. That picture hangs in a church next to the Vatican: Santa Maria in Traspontina. I wandered into it the other day and was struck by the jarring contrast between its stunning Baroque interior and the bonkers propaganda plastered on and near its walls. Much of the church had been turned into a shrine to the plight and nature-worship of Amazonians. Beneath the picture of the woman nursing a dog (while carrying a baby), a poster declares fatuously, “Everything is Connected.”

The poster captures the sheer obnoxiousness of the pope’s “ecological” kick. What a dismal devolution Rome has suffered under him. What will he do next? Turn the Pantheon back into a pagan temple? Why not? If Amazonian pantheism is a “religious experience” worthy of Catholic respect, why not revive ancient paganism, too? Perhaps the pope’s next synod can rehabilitate Nero.

Stripped of all of its pious cant, the pope’s Pan-Amazon Synod is nothing more than a bald violation of the First Commandment. Pope Francis is placing strange idols before the Triune God — in this case, Amazonian ones. Last week, he had a contingent of Indian activists — some of whom I have heard were flown over to Rome first-class by the German bishops — perform pagan rituals in the Vatican gardens. In that moment, every prediction of his anti-modernist predecessors came true: they all said that if the Church adopted the subjectivism of the “Enlightenment,” it would end up blessing false religions.

But more is at work here than simply the pope’s usual religious relativism. Why did he select the Amazon as his pretext to undermine doctrine and discipline? He could have chosen other remote regions. Why that one? I am told by a seasoned Vatican observer that the answer lies with the German bishops, who are largely financing this farce and its accompanying propaganda.

“This is about bringing the Vatican and the United Nations closer together,” he says. “The German bishops don’t care about Amazonian Indians, and they certainly don’t care about people not receiving the sacraments. Just look at Germany and how few people even frequent the sacraments there. What the German bishops care about is that the Church is more and more incorporated into the work of the United Nations.” The subject of suffering Amazonians is just an excuse, he says, for the “United Nations to treat the Church as one of its instruments,” with the complete backing of the Vatican.

Before the synod started, the pope had been babbling on about the binding quality of UN pronouncements. It is no coincidence that his silly gathering is crawling with UN observers, such as Jeffrey Sachs, whose consulting racket includes trying to convince dioceses and religious orders to “divest from oil companies” and the like. I have seen a number of these UN creeps self-importantly jump out of gas-guzzling SUVs near the Vatican. They don’t appear too worried about their own carbon footprint. Indeed, they always seem to be accompanied by a raft of superfluous security guards and flaks.

The Vatican is looking awful these days — graffiti, ugly cattle barricades, and a paramilitary presence, as if it is waiting any moment for an outbreak of the kind of Islamic terrorism the pope assures us doesn’t exist. At times, I feel like I am in the middle of an Italian farce. The other day I was eating next to an African priest and nun who appeared to be on a date. Sure enough, her hand slid over to his hand.

Architecturally and artistically, Rome remains a treat. But religiously, it is depressing as hell. Just stand by one of the Vatican gates and watch priests whip off their collars the moment they step outside, as if the priesthood is nothing more than a 9-to-5 job. Or sit in a café and listen to their pathetically worldly banter.

The street Borgo Pio, not far from one of the Vatican’s gates, is where many of the ecclesiastical heavies hang out. Last Sunday I saw Cardinal Seán O’Malley, Cardinal Joseph Tobin, and Bishop Robert McElroy eating dinner at one of the restaurants on the street. Here was my chance to ask them about the synod and related matters. As they ambled back to the Vatican, I caught up with them and tried to conduct a brief interview. They disdainfully begged off, with Tobin, who no doubt remembered my article about the soap actor living in his rectory, saying laughingly, “Oh, George, oh, George.” O’Malley called my questions “hostile.” McElroy, the most darkly ideological of the three, just broodingly and quietly walked away. For all their talk about “dialogue,” the last thing they wanted to do on the eve of the synod was to speak with a journalist critical of it. The synod is in effect a raised middle finger to orthodox Catholics — a declaration that everything they hold dear no longer exists at the highest levels of the Church.

The Vatican is under enemy occupation and will remain so for many years to come. There is much chatter among Vaticanistas about a “Francis II,” now that the composition of the next conclave is largely liberal. By the time his pontificate ends, Francis will likely have selected two-thirds of the cardinals. The current secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is thought to be the leading Francis clone. I have been told that Pope Francis is waiting for Benedict to die so that he can “then pass the pontificate to Parolin.”

Parolin is just a circumspect version of Francis. He holds the same batty views but presents them more diplomatically. Here and there one hears grumbles about the pope’s bumptiousness, but for the most part the Catholic Left is thrilled with him. The mask of modernism has been ripped off, only to reveal, in the words of Francis, an “Amazonian face,” beneath which is a UN body.

Read Full Post »

from 828 Ministries:

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. — Romans 16:17-18 (ESV)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. — Galatians 1:6-10 (ESV)

Only let your manner of life be worthyof the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, – Philippians 1:27 (ESV)

https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/77917-join-kenneth-copeland-and-lou-engle-in-these-healing-prayers-for-the-body

The bible prophesies in Revelation the state of the world leading up to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. While the date cannot be known, the birth pains can be felt, and one area of Eschatology experts agree on is the establishment of a one world religion. We need to be ever vigilant against the calls for false unity, which are heard nearly every day from the purpose driven industrial complex. To them, a unified church means more suckers to sell their wares to. To Satan however, it means unifying the people of God in something other than His Gospel and we need to make sure that the true remnant stays unified in Christ. The above link is to the most recent call for false unity. So, let us reason together once more and be reminded what we need to be watchful for.

This week, we are in the midst of praying through the 40-day Jewish season of repentance, Teshuvah. The word “Teshuvah” literally means to return to the presence of God. It is a season of introspection and repentance for Christians to come into unity with God, as Jesus prayed in John 17:21. However, as Jesus prayed, unity with God also requires unity with each other in Christ (John 17:20-23). Yet, almost since the beginning of Christianity, believers have quarreled about Christian doctrine and church government. The first Jerusalem Council served as an example of a favorably resolved dispute (Acts 15). However, other disputes resulted in division and treatment of opponents as non-Christians. As Ralph Martin famously said, “The body of Christ is broken.” Today there are many denominations and doctrines which create a great diversity within the body of Christ. Yet, we can still be united in Christ. Lutheran theologian Oscar Cullmann said, “Unity in the church … is unity in diversity … recognizing others in all their variety as true Christians.” — Ron Allen

Would it surprise you to learn that there is no Christian season called Teshuva? Or that the word actually means to simply repent? When scouring the Jewish calendar, we see no such record of the season of Teshuva. The only Christian referent we could find was to the wildly heretical ministry of Perry Stone. So, the notion that this Jewish word for repentance is secretly a season for Christians to return to the presence of God, be introspective, and come into unity is absolutely made up. The entire thing is a work of fiction. Christians have quarreled since the beginning because God is so clear about being careful to avoid false doctrine. Paul only tells Timothy to guard two things. His life and his doctrine. His doctrine because the eternal lives of his listeners is at stake. Our first key verse is crucial to understanding unity because disunity is sown in the body through the admission of false teaching. Most charlatans point to discernment ministries or people criticizing what is false as the source of disunity but it is their false teaching that divided the body to begin with. The second key verse is crucial to remember that only the Gospel, the true Gospel, has the power of God to save someone. What does that mean preacher? That means without the preaching of the uncompromised Gospel of Jesus Christ, no one gets saved — period, full stop. I have had well intended people ask me if people can get saved through a heretical ministry such as Joel Osteen’s and the answer is no. Not according to the bible anyway. Now, can Osteen force someone to seek the truth and thus get saved by someone else presenting the Gospel? Of course, but that person is saved in spite of Osteen, not because of him.

read the full article here.

Read Full Post »

from Vox:

A new priest named Mindar is holding forth at Kodaiji, a 400-year-old Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Like other clergy members, this priest can deliver sermons and move around to interface with worshippers. But Mindar comes with some … unusual traits. A body made of aluminum and silicone, for starters.

Mindar is a robot.

Designed to look like Kannon, the Buddhist deity of mercy, the $1 million machine is an attempt to reignite people’s passion for their faith in a country where religious affiliation is on the decline.

For now, Mindar is not AI-powered. It just recites the same preprogrammed sermon about the Heart Sutra over and over. But the robot’s creators say they plan to give it machine-learning capabilities that’ll enable it to tailor feedback to worshippers’ specific spiritual and ethical problems.

“This robot will never die; it will just keep updating itself and evolving,” said Tensho Goto, the temple’s chief steward. “With AI, we hope it will grow in wisdom to help people overcome even the most difficult troubles. It’s changing Buddhism.”

Robots are changing other religions, too. In 2017, Indians rolled out a robot that performs the Hindu aarti ritual, which involves moving a light round and round in front of a deity. That same year, in honor of the Protestant Reformation’s 500th anniversary, Germany’s Protestant Church created a robot called BlessU-2. It gave preprogrammed blessings to over 10,000 people.

Then there’s SanTO — short for Sanctified Theomorphic Operator — a 17-inch-tall robot reminiscent of figurines of Catholic saints. If you tell it you’re worried, it’ll respond by saying something like, “From the Gospel according to Matthew, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Roboticist Gabriele Trovato designed SanTO to offer spiritual succor to elderly people whose mobility and social contact may be limited. Next, he wants to develop devices for Muslims, though it remains to be seen what form those might take.

As more religious communities begin to incorporate robotics — in some cases, AI-powered and in others, not — it stands to change how people experience faith. It may also alter how we engage in ethical reasoning and decision-making, which is a big part of religion.

For the devout, there’s plenty of positive potential here: Robots can get disinterested people curious about religion or allow for a ritual to be performed when a human priest is inaccessible. But robots also pose risks for religion — for example, by making it feel too mechanized or homogenized or by challenging core tenets of theology. On the whole, will the emergence of AI religion make us better or worse off? The answer depends on how we design and deploy it — and on whom you ask.

Some cultures are more open to religious robots than others

New technologies often make us uncomfortable. Which ones we ultimately accept — and which ones we reject — is determined by an array of factors, ranging from our degree of exposure to the emerging technology to our moral presuppositions.

Japanese worshippers who visit Mindar are reportedly not too bothered by questions about the risks of siliconizing spirituality. That makes sense given that robots are already so commonplace in the country, including in the religious domain.

For years now, people who can’t afford to pay a human priest to perform a funeral have had the option to pay a robot named Pepper to do it at a much cheaper rate. And in China, at Beijing’s Longquan Monastery, an android monk named Xian’er recites Buddhist mantras and offers guidance on matters of faith.

What’s more, Buddhism’s non-dualistic metaphysical notion that everything has inherent “Buddha nature” — that all beings have the potential to become enlightened — may predispose its adherents to be receptive to spiritual guidance that comes from technology.

At the temple in Kyoto, Goto put it like this: “Buddhism isn’t a belief in a God; it’s pursuing Buddha’s path. It doesn’t matter whether it’s represented by a machine, a piece of scrap metal, or a tree.”

“Mindar’s metal skeleton is exposed, and I think that’s an interesting choice — its creator, Hiroshi Ishiguro, is not trying to make something that looks totally human,” said Natasha Heller, an associate professor of Chinese religions at the University of Virginia. She told me the deity Kannon, upon whom Mindar is based, is an ideal candidate for cyborgization because the Lotus Sutra explicitly says Kannon can manifest in different forms — whatever forms will best resonate with the humans of a given time and place.

Westerners seem more disturbed by Mindar, likening it to Frankenstein’s monster. In Western economies, we don’t yet have robots enmeshed in many aspects of our lives. What we do have is a pervasive cultural narrative, reinforced by Hollywood blockbusters, about our impending enslavement at the hands of “robot overlords.”

Plus, Abrahamic religions like Islam or Judaism tend to be more metaphysically dualistic — there’s the sacred and then there’s the profane. And they have more misgivings than Buddhism about visually depicting divinity, so they may take issue with Mindar-style iconography.

They also have different ideas about what makes a religious practice effective. For example, Judaism places a strong emphasis on intentionality, something machines don’t possess. When a worshipper prays, what matters is not just that their mouth forms the right words — it’s also very important that they have the right intention.

Meanwhile, some Buddhists use prayer wheels containing scrolls printed with sacred words and believe that spinning the wheel has its own spiritual efficacy, even if nobody recites the words aloud. In hospice settings, elderly Buddhists who don’t have people on hand to recite prayers on their behalf will use devices known as nianfo ji — small machines about the size of an iPhone, which recite the name of the Buddha endlessly.

Despite such theological differences, it’s ironic that many Westerners have a knee-jerk negative reaction to a robot like Mindar. The dream of creating artificial life goes all the way back to ancient Greece, where the ancients actually invented real animated machines as the Stanford classicist Adrienne Mayor has documented in her book Gods and Robots. And there is a long tradition of religious robots in the West.

In the Middle Ages, Christians designed automata to perform the mysteries of Easter and Christmas. One proto-roboticist in the 16th century designed a mechanical monk that is, amazingly, performing ritual gestures to this day. With his right arm, he strikes his chest in a mea culpa; with his left, he raises a rosary to his lips.

In other words, the real novelty is not the use of robots in the religious domain but the use of AI……..

Read the full article here.

Read Full Post »

from Yahoo:

Witchcraft is thriving in the US, with an estimated 1.5 million Americans now identifying as witches – more than the total number of Presbyterians. As Christianity declines across the country, paganism has swung to the mainstream, with witchcraft paraphernalia for sale on every high street and practices normalized across popular culture. In the past two years, it has also become darkly politicized.

Dakota Bracciale, a 29-year-old transgender/queer witch and co-owner of Catland Books and witch shop in Brooklyn, is pleased with the outcome of the ritual hex placed on US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in October. The curse, carried out from Catland Books, was well attended by witches, atheists ad humanists – and was followed around the country on social media.

Millennials, says Bracciale, are looking for spiritualism outside traditional religion. “The hex centres on the notion that we live in a universe of chaos, entropy, destruction, death, decay with a final ending of oblivion – scientists are telling us. So the witch does everything for themselves – there is no other help in this universe of decay and chaos. If you don’t get in the driver’s seat things will just get worse,” the witch said.

In a wide-ranging discussion with the Telegraph, Bracciale, who described the interview questions as “sensationalist”, talked about political hexes and witchcraft in general.

Bracciale is “absolutely” willing to cause physical harm through a hex – “no issue with that”. And while Bracciale would have been just as pleased with the new Supreme Court Justice’s death, resignation or physical disfigurement, the main goal of the Kavanaugh hex, and the three hexes on President Donald Trump from Catland Books this summer, was to “let them be exposed for who they are – especially as impotent men”. The curse began with a recitation of the Biblical scripture Psalm 109: 8: “let his days be few, let another take his office.”

Catland Books is replete with Christian images including the Archangel Michael, Christian defender against the demonic, and the Virgin Mary. Bracciale, a self-described sexual abuse survivor, who grew up in a born-again-Christian evangelical cult in Arizona, takes umbrage at the notion that witchcraft and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Witchcraft “has a ton of roots in Christianity”, the Brooklyn witch says. Indeed, in Bracciale’s view, the Bible is a spell book, particularly the Book of Psalms.

Witchcraft is powerful, according to Bracciale, because of the “intersectionality of feminism, sexuality, gender, the fight for freedom, eschewing the patriarchy and having sort of a vitriolic response towards it”.

Read Full Post »

You are seeing an ever increasing number of humanistic thought and ideologies overwhelm virtually all of Christianity today. It is at the point where a majority of pastors and leaders have basically given up believing what the Bible says verbatim! This includes other topics such as suicide, an increasing number of confessing Christians have no problem with believing that a Christian who commits suicide goes straight to Heaven!!

from Pulpit and Pen:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

John Piper, a longtime figure in the New Calvinism movement, has proven himself in recent years to handle even the most basic doctrinal aspects of the Ordo Salutis clumsily. After butchering the doctrine of Justification almost beyond the point of recognition, being accused of holding to a modified form of Federal Vision or denying Sola Fide altogether (the accusations are not without merit), Piper’s Desiring God has now denied the heart and substance of the doctrine of Sanctification. While claiming that there is a “final justification” that is based on increased holiness, Piper’s website now argues that homosexuals cannot expect to be made holy, leaving them damned in their sins as a tragic and ironic result. Written by guest contributor, Jackie Hill Perry, and posted by Desiring God, an article on September 4 argues that we should stop telling gay people that God can make them straight.

To make the point of the insane levels of Downgrade in this argument, let me illustrate it in the following ways:

“Stop telling murderers that if they come to Jesus, he will keep them from killing people.”

“Stop telling thieves that if they come to Jesus, he will keep them from thieving.”

“Stop telling blasphemers that if they come to Jesus, he will keep them from profaning his name.”

“Stop telling idolaters that if they come to Jesus, he will keep them from idolatry.”

The argument from Perry is sinister, sick, and perverse. That Desiring God would post the refuse is beyond incomprehensible. It is irresponsible, detestable, and destructive. In order to craft her narrative, Perry operates under the presumption that so-called  “Same-Sex Attraction (SSA)” – the Bible would call this the desire for sodomy from a depraved and fallen heart – is not a sin. Although a shocking proposition to many evangelicals who haven’t been paying attention, the line of thought that SSA is not a sin has become a common one, advocated for mostly by the same New Calvinists who are a part of the new “woke” Social Justice movement and they speak in terms of “gay Christians” and “sexual minorities.” Even more shockingly, Perry says that telling gay people that God can reorient their sinful hearts is a “different Gospel.”

She writes:

I know, I know, some of us Christians believe that we are only pointing our gay and lesbian friends to the miraculous. To the power of God to make all things and them new. Well-meaning believers, in an effort to encourage or cast vision to their same-sex attracted (SSA) friends or family, preach this gospel often. This gospel is not the good news of Jesus however, but another gospel. A gospel that I call “the heterosexual gospel.”

Calling something “another Gospel” is a damning accusation from Perry toward anyone who believes in the doctrine of Sanctification, the belief that the Holy Spirit will continue a work in us after salvation, giving us a new heart with new desires. Paul says that anyone who is preaching another Gospel is “accursed” (Galatians 1:8). Essentially, Perry places all right-thinking and orthodox Christian believers (who have always identified homosexual desire as a sin) under the Galatian curse.

The woman continues:

The heterosexual gospel is one that encourages SSA men and women to come to Jesus so that they can be straight, or it says that coming to Jesus ensures that they will be sexually attracted to the opposite sex.

Clearly, mortifying sin and becoming like Jesus is one of the reasons one should want to come to Christ. New Calvinists should have no problem looking to Owen’s Mortification of Sinto examine this point further.  In fact, a hatred of sin is a sign of the Holy Spirit’s work in conversion. Anyone with homosexual desires who God wants to save will want to come to Jesus to be straight (and to put to death the rest of their sin as well). Furthermore, we should rightly reject Perry’s claim that coming to Jesus won’t ensure they’ll be sexually attracted to those of the opposite sex, and we should clarify in the strongest terms that what the Scripture teaches (from the verse at the top of this article) is that if they don’t stop lusting after those of the same sex, they will have no part of Heaven.

Perry goes on to call heterosexuality “idolatry” and creates a false dilemma between “being straight” and “being made right with God.”

When the gospel is presented as “Come to Jesus to be straight,” instead of “Come to Jesus to be made right with God,” we shouldn’t be surprised when people won’t come to Jesus at all. If he is not the aim of their repentance, then he will not be believed as the ultimate aim of their faith. They will only exchange one idol for another and believe themselves to be Christian because of it.

While there are plenty of heterosexuals who are right with God, we can say with all the authority of Holy Scripture that there is no homosexual on Earth – anywhere – who is right with God. Romans 1 presents that sin in particular as a demonstration of lostness. Paul says that homosexuals will not inherit the Kingdom of God. In other words, while heterosexuality doesn’t make us right with God in and of itself, everyone right with God will be a heterosexual and their sexual desires will be properly oriented toward that which is natural and not grossly deviant.

Again, Perry’s argument doesn’t make any sense when applied to any other list of sins not championed by the religious left. At no point would you (or should you) hear Christians claim that the Holy Spirit’s work in our heart should not be expected in the life of a believer. Only in the most recent of days has homosexuality received a privileged, special status among evangelicals and the deviant desire seen as an exception to the power of the Spirit’s transforming work.

What the gay community needs to hear is not that God will make them straight, but that Christ can make them his.

First, there is no such thing as a “gay community.” Communities are built around shared values, not shared deviancies. We would not classify pedophiles, necrophiles, or murderers as a “community.” The nomenclature itself is compromised. Secondly, when Christ “makes them his,” he makes them straight. God has no homosexual children. That is the Scripture; deal with it.

God has not come mainly to make same-sex attracted men and women completely straight, or to get them hitched. Christ has come to make us right with God. And in making us right with God, he is satisfying us in God. That news is good for a reason. For it proclaims to the world that Jesus has come so that all sinners, gay and straight, can be forgiven of their sins to love God and enjoy him forever.

If the Spirit’s transformative work can’t make the sinner whole in Christ, then the news is not that good. What is missing from Perry’s article and John Piper’s Desiring God is any indication whatsoever that the doctrine of Sanctification even exists. It appears not even to be an afterthought or speedbump on her way to apostasy.

Perry claims that God has saved her out of the gay lifestyle, but uses her unique position as one of evangelicalism’s growing chorus of “gay Christian” voices to minimize the abomination of Same-Sex Attraction and preach against the work of the Holy Spirit to fully redeem sinners.

Read Full Post »

No this is not a satirical article. It is actually true! This is what happens when you cast yourself adrift from eternal truth, and into subjective truth along with a society that is concentrated on self! The unending selfishness of “me” constantly grinds against others subjective truth and everyone winds up destroying the ability to have a civil and stable society. Then an evil power that is united in hatred and a lust for power comes in and destroys what is left of the society and imposes an iron totalitarianism!  Do not believe me read human history and read God’s word!

from Metro:

Rejoice, Halloween lovers, the much-awaited day is almost within sight. And of course, that means lots of ‘spooky’ merchandise and retailers peddling anything related to pumpkins, ghosts, and witches. Beauty Brand Sephora is kicking off the season with its ‘witches starter kit’ which includes perfume, tarot cards, sage, and a rose quartz crystal. But witches, who identify with the pagan religion of Wicca (or simply practice witchcraft), are not happy with the French company making a quick buck out of their beliefs.

‘Sephora is definitely guilty of culture appropriation,’ Indigo, who practices witchcraft, told Metro.co.uk.

‘I don’t think they’re doing it to spread awareness about the craft, they’re doing it just for profit in my opinion.

‘Although most witches do use what’s in the Sephora box, most of us feel that it’s wrong for just anyone to grab those things and be like “oh hey I’m a witch now” because it’s sacred to us.’

Other followers of the faith had similar views on Twitter.  ‘My religion is not a trendy overpriced aesthetic’, said one. This sentiment was shared by Siera who identifies with Pagan Witchcraft. She said: ‘Sephora selling “witch kits” actually makes me really upset. ‘Witchcraft isn’t something you just throw around, people put their entire being into this way of life and work so hard at it.

I’ve been made fun of way too much for being a witch for it to just become another trend.’ Another user, Katie, felt the same: ‘Witchcraft is a sacred and personal religion, not something to turn pastel and profit off of (sic),’ she said. ‘If you want to exploit my religion like this, you better make Tumblr aesthetic “entry-level kits” for all of the major world religions.’

Another Witchcraft follower. who was ‘appalled’. urged people to support local spiritual shops rather than a large chain retailer like Sephora.

But the backlash opened up other important discussions. Many online said Sephora was benefiting off parts of Wicca is akin to brands culturally appropriating other existing religions and cultures. Witches were criticised for not speaking up for other instances of appropriation whereby individuals or companies benefit from a minority group, usually without consent. Some also mentioned the use of white sage which is significant to Native Americans who use it for medicinal purposes and cleansing ceremonies. They were concerned that Sephora’s use of the sacred herb could make it difficult for indigenous Americans’ to perform their rituals (as a result of fewer sources).

 

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »

%d bloggers like this: