How Jezebel’s False Doctrine Distorts God’s Grace and Truth

Jesus clearly warned His church against Jezebel’s false doctrines, but this ancient evil has succeeded in hiding behind the mask of control and manipulation while few recognize its deeper agenda. Indeed, most do not see Jezebel as the propagator of false doctrines that give the saints a license to sin.

The Greek word for Jezebel in Rev. 2:20 is actually a synonym for false teacher. Jezebel is teaching false doctrines. I believe one of the false doctrines Jezebel is pushing is a distorted message of God’s grace.

Here’s how it works: Jezebel first seduces you into immorality and idolatry—or drunkenness or homosexuality—by telling you it’s OK. After you’ve fallen into the trap, Jezebel's doctrine eases your conscience by telling you your past, present and future sins are already forgiven—that there’s no need to repent. In fact, Jezebel would not repent (Rev. 2:21)—and neither do those who are seduced by this spirit’s false doctrine. This is a dangerous, even damnable error.

Jezebel Would Not Repent

Despite its good works, love, service, faith and patience, Jesus had a few things against the church at Thyatira because its leadership allowed a false prophetess named Jezebel to teach and seduce His servants to commit sexual immorality and idolatry (Rev. 2:20). Jesus said:

“And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works” (vv. 21-23).

Jesus went on to give an encouraging word to the rest in Thyatira: “As many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden” (v. 24). That confirms that Jezebel was guilty of teaching false doctrines. But for those who did not embrace Jezebel’s false doctrine, Jesus encouraged them, “Hold fast what you have till I come” (v. 25). In other words, don’t give into this false doctrine—don’t be deceived.

Satan’s Twisted Scripture

Some argue that the spirit of Jezebel does not exist because it is not named specifically in Scripture, but it’s clear that the same demonic force was influencing both the Thyatira Jezebel and Old Testament Queen Jezebel. A study of Scripture shows the influence of this wicked spirit running from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation. (I dive deeper into this study into my book, The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel.)

Suffice it to say that Jezebel has, for thousands of years, seduced God’s servants, in part, with false assurances that God’s grace is sufficient without repentance. The Bible clearly states that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). But we have to confess our sin. When we sin, we also need to repent to maintain an intimate relationship with God.

The devil doesn’t have any new tricks. The Jezebel spirit perverts God’s Word, just like Satan did when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Satan told Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, 'It is written again, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God"’” (Matt. 4:6-7). Satan also tried to get Jesus to idolize him, and Jesus told Him, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve’” (vv. 9-10).

Much the same, Jezebel works to seduce you into sin by twisting Scripture. Jezebel’s teachings give you a license to commit immorality and idolatry. Jezebel will tell you that it’s OK to fornicate if you love one another because it doesn’t violate the one new commandment Jesus gave us (John 13:34). Jezebel will set you up to idolize your favorite preacher, possibly while working behind the scenes to seduce him into sexual immorality.

Much of the church is so fascinated with this demonic rock star’s mask of control and manipulation that it misses the subtle deceptive doctrines. And much of the church denies the existence of the Jezebel spirit. Jezebel is like the Lady of Kingdoms whom no one sees (Is. 47). But the Jezebel deception is slowly eroding, as spiritually discerning saints begin to see behind the mask of control and manipulation to the deeper agenda—false doctrines that pave a highway to God’s judgment.

Sitting Under Wrong Teaching

Jezebel would not repent—and she doesn’t want you to, either. With regard to Jezebel, the late David Wilkerson put it this way: “I want to say, in no uncertain terms, that it is dangerous to sit under the wrong teaching. False doctrine can damn you more readily than all the lusts and sins of the flesh. False preachers and teachers are sending more people to hell than all the drug pushers, pimps and prostitutes combined. That is not an overstatement—I believe it. Multitudes of blind, misled Christians are singing and praising the Lord in churches, enslaved by false doctrine. Thousands are sitting under teachers who are pouring out the doctrine of demons—and they come away saying, ‘Wasn't that wonderful?’”

Wilkerson wrote those words in relation to Jezebel’s false doctrines in 1988. It’s been 25 years since he sounded the alarm, and yet more believers today are being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine than ever before (Eph. 4:14). The Jezebel deception is real, whether you want to believe that a spirit of Jezebel exists or not. God’s people are indeed selling out to Satan with a distorted message that some so staunchly defend that they work to publicly assassinate the character of anyone who speaks against it, labeling them Pharisees and legalists—and worse.

Make no mistake: "I love the grace of God, but grace must stand on truth to be true grace".

Beloved, be not carried about with different and strange doctrines (Heb. 13:9). Set your heart to endure sound doctrine rather than heaping up for yourself teachers that tickle your itching ears (2 Tim. 4:3). Stay true to the doctrine of Christ. It’s been said that the devil’s greatest deception is convincing people he doesn’t exist. If that’s true, Jezebel’s greatest deception is convincing people she’s all about control and manipulation while she’s subtly perverting God’s grace, even as a loving God longs for them to repent. Amen.

Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior's Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at jennifer.leclaire@charismamedia.com or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

The Great Evangelical Disaster By Jan Markell

Dr. Frances Schaeffer correctly summed things up years ago when he said, "Here is the great evangelical disaster -- the failure of the evangelical church to stand for truth. The evangelical church has accommodated the spirit of this age. First there has been the accommodation of Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all that it teaches."

How did we get here?

Paul Smith -- brother of Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith -- brilliantly documents the decline and fall of evangelicalism in his new book, New Evangelicalism:

Purchase this book for $11 + S/H in our online store

The New World Order. He confirms that the church today is in a state of crisis and confusion. Terms like fundamentalism, evangelicalism, new evangelicalism, and Emergent Church, have clearly created conflict in the church's beliefs, perceived self-identity, and approach to fulfilling Jesus Christ's Great Commission.

The huge paradigm shift has its roots in a 1905 meeting in a Manhattan, New York restaurant. The players were a group of intellectuals committed to Karl Marx. They established a goal of a "fundamental transformation" of America's culture away from its Christian roots to Marxist/Socialist ideology. They would infiltrate everything from learning centers to the media to churches.

They succeeded. E-mails into this ministry document the carnage that has happened and that continues to unfold in our churches today. People write to this ministry stating that they have visited every single option for a church in their town and that all have such serious problems that now they just stay home. They have given up. Church is no longer recognizable. People are heartbroken and disconnected. The Bible warns of the great end-time falling away and yet no one was prepared for this. We all thought we would be exempt.

While Smith hits the target on many issues from Purpose-Driven to Emergent to postmodernism, he takes careful and extended aim at Fuller Seminary. In 1971, C. Peter Wagner became a professor of church growth at Fuller. The emphasis upon social sciences, not the Bible, was the focus of Wagner and others influenced by the "science" of church growth. This has resulted in four decades of church dilemma and carnage around the world.

While Fuller Seminary cannot be blamed for all the wreckage, young men were being trained there -- including Rick Warren -- to learn how to do church in unconventional ways. Some of those ways were productive but other gimmicks produced the "new evangelicalism" which would not be recognized by our grandparents. Smith documents the alarming degenerative process which has confused many evangelicals. His documentation is sobering. The subtle progression of unbiblical details is shocking.

Smith records the fact that Fuller Seminary no longer says that the Bible 'is the infallible Word of God.' They simply state that the Bible is the word (lower-cased) of God, and then adds that infallibility is limited to matters of faith and practice.  

Contrast the rapid growth of the "Jesus people movement" of the 60s and 70s that had absolutely no marketing gimmicks implemented in it to today's marketing-saturated approach.  

As one book reviewer states, if he had to run into his burning home to save certain items, Paul Smith's book, New Evangelicalism, would be one of the items!

While no one wants to give up on the church -- including its Shepherd, Jesus Christ -- the conclusion is that the compromise in the church of the last 100 years is setting the stage for the one-world religion that will reign triumphant in the future Tribulation. You can read how all of this is harmonizing with the new world order in these prophetic last days. 

Purchase this booklet for $5 + S/H

We also carry Eric Barger's new 45-page booklet, Where Are Evangelicals Heading?  It contains similar information in a shorter form, but is still heralding a warning that if we are not careful, evangelicals will go the route the Mainline Protestants did between 1880 and 1920. They caved to liberalism and today they are a social gospel-based band of denominations that are quickly losing relevance. Eric takes a close look at all evangelicals including the National Association of Evangelicals. They're not your grandma's brand either!   

Is there hope? We must always cling to the fact that disasters can be turned around. But people have to see the need for this to happen. Since deterioration began over 100 years ago, the process has been slow and many have adjusted to "new ways of doing church." Leaders now are comfortable with what doesn't work! Steering them back to the truth found in the Scriptures is no easy task.

Pat Robertson Says Alzheimer's Makes Divorce OK

By KATIE MOISSE and JESSICA HOPPER
Sept. 15, 2011

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson stunned "700 Club" viewers Tuesday when he said divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's disease was justified.



Robertson, chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network and former Republican presidential candidate, said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on someone for divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's disease, calling Alzheimer's itself "a kind of death."

The remarks sparked outrage throughout religious and medical communities.

"I'm just flabbergasted," said Joel Hunter, senior pastor of the 15,000 member Northland Church in Orlando, Fla. "I just don't know how anyone who is reading Scripture or is even familiar with the traditional wedding vows can come out with a statement like that. Obviously, we can all rationalize the legitimacy for our own comfort that would somehow make it OK to divorce our spouse if circumstances become very different or inconvenient. ... That's almost universal, but there's just no way you can get out of what Jesus says about marriage."

Hunter, who is also a presidential appointee to an advisory council on faith-based and neighborhood partnerships, said Robertson's words could lead people to interpret typical marital woes as proof that the spouse they married is symbolically dead, and they are therefore free to move on.

"Obviously, you could do this for anything. ... My husband watches and plays video games, and so he has left the marriage and it's kind of like a death," he said. "It's not death, and so we can't start describing things as death that are really not death, and we have to stop trying to mischaracterize what Scripture says for our own convenience."

Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman that calls for faithfulness in the best of times and the worst of times. Quoting Corinthians, Anderson said, "The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. You can't quit your own body with Alzheimer's, so you shouldn't quit your husband's or wife's body either."

Doctors and social workers who work with families affected by Alzheimer's disease were similarly dismissive of Robertson's advice.

"To condone abandoning one's spouse in the throes of this mind-robbing illness is absurd," said Dr. Amanda Smith, medical director at the University of South Florida Health Alzheimer's Center in Tampa. "While Alzheimer's certainly affects the dynamic of relationships, marriage vows are taken in sickness and in health."

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease – a figure expected to rise sharply as baby boomers enter their older years. And about 80 percent of Alzheimer patients who live at home are cared for by family members.

Robertson's comments came after a viewer asked what advice he should give a friend who had been seeing another woman since his wife had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

But the Rev. A.D. Baxter, a social worker with Cole Neuroscience Center at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, said care from a loved one is irreplaceable.

"When being cared for by a spouse, the love of that spouse is often what enables a person with Alzheimer's disease to continue on and not feel abandoned," said Baxter, adding that caregivers need support, too. "Many believe a true friend does not abandon in the time of need."

Alzheimer's Strains Relationships

The progressive symptoms of Alzheimer's can put stress on relationships, leaving caregivers to cope with the loss of intimacy and other aspects of adult romantic relationships, said Dr. Jason Karlawish, a professor of medicine and medical ethics and assistant director of the Penn Memory Center in Philadelphia.

"There's no question that this is an issue," said Karlawish. "But to a spouse who's struggling with this kind of issue, I would want to say after the patient has left this world, you want be able to look back and say you treated that person with dignity."

Zaven Khachaturian, president of the Maryland-based Campaign to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease by 2020, said that Robertson's logic could have parents abandoning newborn babies.

"After all, a newborn presents to the caregiver exactly the same set of caregiver burden," said Khachaturian. "Both the infant and the person with Alzheimer's must be fed, cleansed, they are highly emotional, sleep a lot, they have wrinkled skins. If neglected, they will die. Does this mean caregivers must abandon newborn infants because it is not convenient to take care of them?"

New technologies are making it possible to diagnose Alzheimer's disease earlier, while patients have the ability to understand the road ahead of them.

"I think this highlights the need for couples and families to have discussions early in any illness, and preferably before illness strikes so that person's decisions and preferences are known and respected," said David Loewenstein, a clinical neuropsychologist at University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine.

Robertson's advice was for a male caregiver. But sometimes it's the patient who wants to start a new relationship.

"I have seen both caregivers and patients enter into new relationships during the course of dementia. How they choose to handle it is up to them. All parties dealing with this disease suffer to some extent and deserve to find happiness," said USF's Smith. "Ultimately, the decision for any couple to divorce, for any reason, is a private and difficult one."

Some couples stay married but form new relationships, too.

"There are many spouses who are devoted to the affected person with Alzheimer's, and yet form new relationships as they also care for their spouse," said Sandra Weintraub, professor of neurology and a neuropsychologist at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "It's hard to negotiate living with Alzheimer's disease but dictating what's good and bad is not useful.

"Every person needs to make their own decisions and to consider all parties involved. I sincerely hope the good reverend never has to have Alzheimer's to experience his advice first hand."

Tim King, spokesman for the Christian organization Sojourners, said Robertson's controversial statement was encouraging in at least one regard.

"I'm actually encouraged to hear someone like Pat Robertson say we're not really in a position to judge another person," King said. "I can't imagine the difficulty that a spouse would have to see someone go through that type of change and transformation. ... I don't know anyone who is in the position to judge another type of person who is having to make those type of decisions. It should never be taking lightly; it should never be an easy decision. Dealing with marriage is serious and making a big decision like that should be hard."

A representative for Robertson's network told the Associated Press that there would be no further comment on the matter.

The Lost Doctrine - Paul Washer

Paul Washer preaching on regeneration, a doctrine that is so lost in the modern church. The sermon excerpt does not go into great detail with scripture. We would recommended anyone who has not read Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter to get a copy of it. It is a great blessing and was foreword by Paul Washer.

Victimizing Christians

Martin & Deidre Bobgan - PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries

Psychological counseling theories and therapies have given Americans a new way of thinking and have turned our country into a therapeutic culture of the self—where the self and how it feels about itself are at the center of meaning. People from coast to coast have embraced a psychological mindset that puts emotional deprivation and woundedness as the root cause of nearly every personal and social problem. This mindset has the potential to make everyone into a victim needing the services of the ever-expanding mental-health system. Fifteen years ago Charles Sykes wrote a book titled A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character, in which he says:

The ethos of victimization has an endless capacity not only for exculpating one's self from blame, washing away responsibility in a torrent of explanation—racism, sexism, rotten parents, addiction, and illness—but also for projecting guilt onto others.1

Sykes also says, "The impulse to flee from personal responsibility and blame others seems far more deeply embedded within the American culture."2 In fact, he declares, "The National Anthem has become The Whine," and explains, "Increasingly, Americans act as if they had received a lifelong indemnification from misfortune and a contractual release from personal responsibility."3

Psychological Mindset

The psychological mindset evolved out of the fairly recent development of clinical psychology (including psychotherapy, counseling psychology, and marriage and family counseling), which was birthed in colleges and universities around 1950 and expanded through politics and money.4 Since that time, it has exploded to the extent that Dr. Ellen Herman describes psychology's popularity and impact on the Western world this way in her book titled The Romance of American Psychology:

Psychological insight is the creed of our time. In the name of enlightenment, experts promise help and faith, knowledge and comfort. They devise confident formulas for happy living and ambitious plans for dissolving the knots of conflict. Psychology, according to its boosters, possesses worthwhile answers to our most difficult personal questions and practical solutions for our most intractable social problems

Herman also says:

In the late twentieth-century United States, we are likely to believe what psychological experts tell us. They speak with authority to a vast audience and have become familiar figures in most communities, in the media, and in virtually every corner of popular culture. Their advice is a big business.6

The kind of psychology that carries this power to turn people into victims is psychotherapy with its underlying psychologies, such as Sigmund Freud's theory of the unconscious and Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, along with an estimated 500 different counseling systems and their theories. After all, who has a perfect life, certainly none of the theorists, all of whom developed their systems out of their own personal lives and creative imagination?7

In her book Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry Is Doing to People, Dr. Tana Dineen reveals what the so-called caring profession has become. She begins her book with the following words and the rest of her book proves her point:

Psychology presents itself as a concerned and caring profession working for the good of its clients. But behind the benevolent facade is a voracious, self-serving industry that proffers "facts" which are often unfounded, provides "therapy" which can be damaging, and exerts influence, which is having devastating effects on the social fabric.8

Dineen also says:

It is not news to say that psychology has become an influential cultural force or that society is becoming more and more filled with people who consider themselves victims who are psychologically needy in one way or another.

What is news is that psychology is manufacturing most of these victims; that it is doing this with motives based on power and profit (emphasis hers).9

While, indeed, there are real victims, the psychotherapeutic mindset has trivialized the horrors that some people have experienced by so expanding the meaning that now everyone qualifies if they want to. The role of victim can actually be quite enticing. Besides qualifying for sympathy from friends, engaging in endless psychological therapy centered on self, and gaining exoneration from responsibility and guilt, being a victim provides a new identity of being the hero or heroine in one's own drama of overcoming horrendous obstacles in the grand quest for psychological healing. Rather than having to face the ugly fact of their own sin without excuse or reason or blame-shifting, they choose to be victims. Dr. Carol Tavris and Dr. Elliot Aronson describe the usefulness of victimhood that comes from recovered memory therapy in their book titled Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. They say:

Why would people claim to remember that they had suffered harrowing experiences if they hadn't, especially when that belief causes rifts with families or friends? By distorting their memories, these people can "get what they want by revising what they had," and what they want is to turn their present lives, no matter how bleak or mundane, into a dazzling victory over adversity. Memories of abuse also help them resolve the dissonance between "I am a smart, capable person" and "My life sure is a mess right now" with an explanation that makes them feel good and removes responsibility: "It's not my fault my life is a mess. Look at the horrible things they did to me."10

Psychological Mindset Christianized?

Yes, we are surrounded by a nation of victims with a therapeutic mindset, but wait—we are Christians! How does this affect those of us who have been given new life through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross? What does this have to do with the Gospel and with living the Christian life? Plenty!

Almost as soon as the romance of psychology took hold of Americans, it was embraced by Christians who believed psychological counseling theories and therapies would be useful for helping Christians. These psychological counseling ideas were brought into pastoral counseling classes in numerous seminaries. Next came the "Christian psychologists" who devised a plan to integrate counseling psychologies theories and therapies with Christianity, both for counseling believers and for instructing the saints about how to live the Christian life. And now, what is the advice people hear when they are struggling with emotional distress and problems of living? "You need counseling." And, what they mean is professional counseling, psychotherapy and its underlying theories of the self. Why? Because they believe a lie that, in essence, says that the cross of Christ, the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the fellowship of believers are not enough for people with emotional or relational problems of living and that Christians need what only psychological theories and therapies can do. This is because of what Sykes calls:

The triumph of the therapeutic mentality ... which insisted upon seeing the immemorial questions of human life as problems that required solutions. The therapeutic culture provided both in abundance: The therapists transformed age-old human dilemmas into psychological problems and claimed that they (and they alone) had the treatment.11

This lie about the Word of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the fellowship of the saints not being sufficient for dealing with so-called psychological problems of living is promoted by numerous leaders and believed throughout the church. One of them is Dr. Bruce Narramore, Distinguished Professor at Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University, who says: "I think the critics [of psychology] need to ask, 'Why are people so interested in psychology?' The thought is that we ought to go back to the old way. But the old way wasn't working."12 Narramore says this without proof or evidence and thereby implies that for nearly 2000 years God failed to supply His children with the means of dealing with problems of living.

The integration of the theories and therapies of counseling psychology has succeeded in turning the body of Christ into a bunch of victims. If this were a book title, the subtitle could be "The Demise of Biblical Ministry." In its eager embrace of this kind of psychology, the church has left its first love and fallen for the wisdom of man and "philosophy and vain deceit" (1 Cor. 2; Col. 2:8). That this kind of psychology is now regular fare in churches across America can be seen in the observation of Dr. Frank Furedi in his book Therapy Culture, in which he says: "A study of 'seeker churches' in the US argues that their ability to attract new recruits is based on their ability to tap into the therapeutic understanding of Americans."13 He sees this as a preoccupation with the self, and, indeed, that is what it is all about—self!

All About Self

The focus of psychological therapy is on self and its problems from the perspective that the self is essentially good, but wounded emotionally by circumstances and other people. Therefore more and more Christians are seeing themselves as innocent victims with their "mistakes" and problems of living being due to other people and circumstances beyond their control. Worse yet, some, who have been convinced that the source of their problems is what happened to them as young children, spend months and years in therapy and/or in so-called inner healing. Some are trying to gain insight by remembering real events and some are searching for supposedly forgotten memories of abuse and neglect. Others are encouraged to see a figure of Jesus add something to the memory to heal or change it, but, since this is all in their imagination, they end up with a false Jesus. The idea in all of this kind of counseling and inner healing is that self has been harmed in some way and must be helped and healed.

Psychotherapy thus attempts to fix the self so that its so-called essential goodness can be experienced and expressed. The psychological mindset sees the problem as on the outside. The solution is found within the self, albeit with the help of those who have special psychological knowledge. Self is central and must be nurtured with self-love, self-esteem, and self-worth, all of which are supposed to lead to self-fulfillment, but which generally increase self-absorption, self-centeredness, and self-indulgence.

In contrast, the Word of God presents the truth about mankind, that we are sinners by nature and therefore not essentially good in ourselves. Romans 3:10 says: "There is none righteous, no not one" and verse 23 says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The problem of sin comes from within and the solution comes from outside ourselves, from God Himself through the cross of Christ, who bore our sin, and purchased our new life, which is received by grace through faith and lived by grace through faith.

Victim or Sinner?

One of the main goals of much counseling psychology is to relieve guilt so that individuals can feel better about themselves and thereby supposedly handle their lives more effectively. Helping an individual see himself as needy, emotionally wounded, and having been harmed or disappointed by others is one convenient way to sidestep personal responsibility, sin, and guilt. This is the opposite of the Bible, which provides the true remedy for sin and the only remedy for the human condition through Jesus Christ and all He accomplished to rid one of sin and guilt.

The whole of Scripture points to the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. Its focal point is Jesus Christ satisfying God's wrath against sin and procuring forgiveness and new life for believers. Christianity is all about living the new life and reckoning oneself dead to the old life. Christianity is not about focusing on problems and on other people's sins and shortcomings, and it is not about dredging up the past to fix the present. The Christian life is about confessing one's own sin, walking according to the new life in Christ, and "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before" towards the goal of the "high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13,14).

The early church had the one remedy for everyone's present problems and past circumstances: the cross of Christ! The magnitude of each person's sin against God from the cradle to the grave is more than anyone could bear to imagine, but Jesus took it all upon Himself so that he could give every believer new life. He, who knew no sin, died in the place of those who were by nature sin. He did not just come to fix the flesh (the old nature). He came to put it on the cross so that believers, by identifying with Him, could reckon themselves dead to the old and alive to the new.

Everyone has been adversely affected by the sins of others to some degree, but the adverse effects or the sinful tendencies from parents or sinful ways learned from them reside in the flesh (old nature). Our flesh is therefore the problem, not something outside ourselves, either past or present. Therefore, the Bible does not teach people to nurture their so-called "inner child" or to develop self-esteem or to probe their early childhood years to look for ways that adults failed them in any way. The Bible does not advise anyone to remember and re-experience past pain, disappointments, or even abuse for the sake of personal or spiritual growth. The Bible does not suggest that people must be healed emotionally before they can believe God or before they can grow spiritually.

Considering the grievous circumstances and the childhoods of many of the Gentile Christians, the early church had plenty of potential "victims" (many born and raised in slavery with the accompanying sexual and physical abuse and being treated as less than human). But, did the church treat them as victims needing to heal their emotional wounds or to remember the pain of the past in order to know God and to grow spiritually? No! The Bible does not portray mankind as victims, but as sinners. Jesus died for sinners, not victims!

The Way of the Cross

The way of the cross is a totally different way of dealing with serious life issues and problems of living. Rather than trying to remember the past and somehow rework painful memories through therapy or so-called inner healing, Christians need to reckon themselves dead to the past by identifying with Christ's death and to live according to their new life in Christ. Everything needs to be taken to the cross instead of relived and talked about. Nevertheless, many of the people who promote this senseless return to the past agree that Christ died for our sins, but insist that many Christians still need healing from the past. However, digging up old memories for the purpose of changing one's present life is counterproductive to the cross and in effect denies the finished work of Christ.

Jesus said, "It is finished." So we say to fellow Christians: Identify with those words when you bring sin to the cross, your own sin and the sins committed against you. Recognize that Jesus suffered the pain and eternal consequence of those sins. He felt the pain and agony of every sin you have committed and the pain of every sin committed against you. He took it all and said, "It is finished." If a memory with its pain comes back, treat it as a temptation from the enemy, who wants to rob you of the truth of what Christ did and to undermine your identification with Him, both in His death and resurrection. Satan always works to keep Christians struggling in the flesh, because that is where they are the most vulnerable and because he hates the life of Christ in every believer. He is most pleased when Christians walk according to the flesh or their old nature. Therefore, the devil is pleased with all forms of psychological therapy and related forms of inner healing, including Theophostic Prayer Ministry.14

Think Biblically, Not Psychologically

Christians need to think biblically when they read books about how to live and deal with problems of living. They need to guard their thinking when watching or listening to believers or unbelievers talking about how to deal with the issues of life and about what it is to be a Christian. They need to be alert to such expressions as: felt needs, rejection, broken lives, repression, denial, defense mechanisms, inferiority complex, sublimation, projection, transference, maladjustment, low self-esteem, the unconscious, hidden reservoirs, hidden memories, emotional wounds, emotional healing, codependence, addiction, compulsion, trauma, stress, identity crisis. Every behavior imaginable has the possibility of a psychological maldescription.

Utilizing psychological therapies or inner healing blinds Christians to the glory of the cross and the great love that was poured out for them. Those who are willing to face their own depravity and the sins they continue to commit after they have received new life and who honestly look at what Jesus bore in their place have a greater realization of God's love. Jesus said, "To whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little" (Luke 7:47). Thus, by seeing the magnitude of what Christ forgave them, believers know His love, and by knowing and receiving His love, are enabled to love Him back and His love in them flows out to others. The cross is the answer to all the pain of the past, and Jesus is the answer for every present problem of living. Here is the victory won by Christ and worked into the fabric of believers' lives as they reckon themselves dead to their old life and alive unto Him. No wonder the enemy of our souls has invented such an enticing trap into victimhood!

Believers do not transform their lives through looking at the sins of others or by revisiting the past, but by confessing their own sin and believing that Jesus took it all. Believers need to leave their own sin and the sins committed against them on the cross and not try to remember, reconstruct, fix or transform the so-called inner child, which is actually the old nature or flesh. They are to live by the new life Jesus has procured for them, the new life that stretches forward into eternity. Colossians 2:6-10 says:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

The Word of God continually calls believers back to their source of new life, back to faith in Christ and all he accomplished for living the new life. Believers are not called to be victims of their present circumstances or their past or of a powerful motivating unconscious supposedly formed during early life. They are to be walking by faith, growing in faith, and "abounding therein with thanksgiving." That does not sound like the whine of the victims.

Furthermore, Paul warns believers not to be robbed of what they have in Christ through "philosophy and vain deceit" that turns them into victims. Psychological counseling theories are not science. They more aptly fall into Paul's category of "philosophy and vain deceit." Indeed, they resemble religion more than science. Dr. Thomas Szasz states the case very clearly in his book The Myth of Psychotherapy: "Herein lies one of the supreme ironies of modem psychotherapy: it is not merely a religion that pretends to be a science, it is actually a fake religion that seeks to destroy true religion.Ó15 Psychological counseling theories are collections of human opinions arranged in theoretical frameworks. They are human inventions based on the perception and personal experiences of the theorists themselves. They are "profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith"(1 Tim. 6:20-21).

Even when Paul was beaten and left for dead, he did not see himself as a victim, but as a recipient of the very life of Christ by grace through faith. Therefore he declared: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). Rather than victims forever seeking to be healed of emotional wounds, Christians are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), fully equipped for challenges, trials, disappointments, dangers, and all sorts of calamities. Christ has won the victory and "ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power."

Victimization shifts the attention away from one's own responsibility for what is thought, said, and done. Victimization shifts attention away from one's own sin and onto the sins of others committed against them. Victimization diverts believers away from the cross of Christ. Victimization robs them of gratitude for God's unspeakable gift and thereby robs them of a close walk with Him. Turning Christians into victims weakens their faith and stunts spiritual growth. Every choice to walk according to the Spirit by grace through faith brings spiritual maturity. The choice is up to every believer, whether to be a psychologically defined and created victim or to be a biblically defined sinner saved by grace and growing into the likeness of Christ.

(PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, May-June 2008, Vol. 16, No. 3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Endnotes
1 Charles J. Sykes. A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character. New York: St. MartinÕs Press, 1992, p. 11.
2 Ibid., pp. 14,15.
3 Ibid., p. 15.
4 Rogers H. Wright and Nicholas A. Cummings, eds. The Practice of Psychology: The Battle for Professionalism. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker & Theisen, Inc., 2001.
5 Ellen Herman. The Romance of American Psychology. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1195, 1996, p. 1.
6 Ibid.
7 Harvey Mindess. Makers of Psychology: The Personal Factor. New York: Insight Books, 1988; Linda Riebel, ÒTheory as Self-Portrait and the Ideal of Objectivity,Ó Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Spring 1982.
8 Tana Dineen. Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry is Doing to People. Montreal, QB: Robert Davies Multimedia Publishing, 1996, 1998, 2000, p. 15.
9 Ibid., pp. 17,18.
10 Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2007, p. 94.
11 Sykes, op. cit., p. 34.
12 Bruce Narramore, Christianity Today, May 17, 1993, p. 26.
13 Frank Furedi. Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age. New York: Routledge, 2004, p. 18.
14 See Martin and Deidre Bobgan. Theophostic Counseling: Divine Revelation? Or PsychoHeresy? Santa Barbara, CA: EastGate Publishers, 1999.
15 Thomas Szasz. The Myth of Psychotherapy. Garden City: Anchor/Doubleday Press, 1978, p. 28.

Related articles:
Perilous Times
"...men shall be lovers of their own selves..."
Self-Esteem for Christians? Part 1 and 2

Evander Holyfield & Creflo Dollar - Proof That You Can't Buy God

by Preacher Bureau of Investigations

Atlanta Bureau - If there was ever proof that giving 10% of your income to a Prosperity Preacher is not a good idea then all anyone has to do is look at Evander Holyfield. In a climatic legal setting that once featured Evander Holyfield, Janice Holyfield (his 2nd wife), Judge Miller, and Creflo Dollar, the actual battle was over the amount of money that was donated to one church.

For those in the church community who may have missed this story, listed below you will find a brief summary of the legal battle that ensued over donations made to Creflo Dollar Ministries as reported to us.



Act 1 -Attorneys for Mrs. Holyfield requested a deposition from Creflo Dollar in order to determine the exact amount of donations made to Creflo Dollar Ministries by former Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield. Creflo Dollar refused to comply with the court order stating that the order was it in fact a violation of constitutional provisions for the separation of church and state and pastor-parishioner privilege. With Creflo Dollar’s refusal to comply with a court order, Judge Miller found the minister in contempt of court.

Act 2 – Creflo Dollar makes an appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia but his case was eventually dismissed by the court. As part of a divorce and paternity case, Mrs. Holyfield's attorneys sought a line item explanation for the donations (tithes) that Evander Holyfield gave to Creflo Dollar during their marriage which totaled close to $7 million. Holyfield claims in an interview with ESPN that he will tithe before any other obligations such as paying his mortgage. The interview was from a show ESPN produced about the relationships between stars and televangelists.

Act 3 – In February off this year Candi Holyfield (Evander Holyfield’s 3rd wife) accused him of a violent act against her in the presence of the couple's two children. Candi Holyfield filed for a protective order against her husband. The protective order states that Mr. Holyfield is not allowed within 500 yards of Candi Holyfield, and that he have no contact with the couple's two children. The incident allegedly began because the heat was cut off in the couple's home, and Candi Holyfield attempted to discuss it with her husband. During this same time frame Evander Holyfield faced a foreclosure auction of his famous mansion which could have added to the problems during his brief marriage to Candi Holyfield.

The good news for Evander Holyfield is that he was able to get his house off in the auction block as confirmed by the lender. Despite the fact that Evander Holyfield’s 54,000-square-foot home is no longer in foreclosure it still brings into question the claims made by prosperity preachers that giving large sums of money to their ministries will gain you favor with God.

Whether Mr. Holyfield is actually flat broke is not the question. What really is at stake is the truth behind the prosperity gospel propaganda that your blessing is connected to the amount of money you give to the ministry. According to the top three prosperity preachers (Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, and Benny Hinn) if a believer faithfully gives 10% of their income to the church then blessings will start to pour in.

As we examine the Evander Holyfield story in which he has donated millions of dollars to Creflo Dollar ministries, it has many people asking where are the returns on investment for Mr. Holyfield.

Evander Holyfield's home = 54,000 Square FT

Evander Holyfield is just one in a long list of faithful members of prosperity preachers who donated millions of dollars only to discover that the only person who prospered was the Pastor of the Church. Ron Collins a spokesperson for the Church Folk Revolution says that prosperity preachers are doing more harm than good when it comes to the issue of tithes & offerings.

“This idea that you can buy your way into heaven by donating large sums of money to prosperity preachers has left the door open for all sorts of scams and cons. On one hand you can't claim that God is sovereign and powerful but on the other hand you present him as broke and in desperate need of money. We believe that God values our time in worship and charity far more than the money we donate to a charismatic preacher. “

The Church Folk Revolution’s website www.PimpPreacher.com, has experienced a nonstop flow of unique visitors to the site ever since the Bishop Eddie Long Scandal made breaking news. Ron Collins says that many of the people that visited the site had no idea that prosperity preachers were indulging themselves in lifestyles that many members could only dream of.

“If you really want to do something for the Kingdom of God then take the money that you would normally send to one of these prosperity preachers and pay the light bill for an elderly person within your own community. When you give money to these mega-churches you are actually funding their lavish lifestyles.”

If the claims of the prosperity preachers were actually true then Evander Holyfield would be a poster child for peace, prosperity and tranquility but based on recent court filings we now know that's far from the truth. Evander Holyfield has given over $20 Million to date to Creflo Dollar’s World Changers Ministries as reported by John Barr of ESPN.

The Beleaguered Christians: Campus Crusade drops Christ

by Michael Youssef.com

Many faithful Christians feel that Campus Crusade for Christ’s announcement to drop Christ from their name is one more confirmation that there is a wholesale departure from the bedrock foundation of their faith. A woman recently asked me, “Where will this end?” Certainly, she is not alone in feeling overwhelmed and confused at the changes taking place today.

While I am not one who questions the motives of CCCI’s current leadership’s decision to drop “Christ” out of their name, I do question the wisdom of their timing. In a time when political correctness has run amuck and the name of Christ has been eliminated from many Christian organizations (like The Christian Children’s Fund which is now ChildFund International), the faithful feel that Campus Crusade’s decision is yet another rug pulled out from under them.

Some Christians are rightly skeptical of CCCI Vice President Sellers’ words assuring them that, “…the ministry will still be committed to proclaiming Christ around the world.”

Sadly, these Christians have history on the side of their skepticism. When organizations in the past have found it necessary to downplay their Christian roots, for whatever reason, they always assured everyone that, “Our mission will remain the same.” Unfortunately, it oftentimes does not.

Take, for example, an organization known as The Fellowship Foundation. It was founded in 1935 by godly men who realized that politicians in the nation’s capital were in desperate need of Christ and His power. The current leaders have slowly but surely moved far away from this founding purpose. Today, they feel compelled to include Jewish and Muslim elements in their annual National Prayer Breakfast held in Washington, D.C. Yet, the changes began by saying that they just did not like the term “Christian.”

As a pastor, I hear the pain in the words of many Christians when they talk about how one super mega church pastor, when squeezed by a non-believer on secular television on whether Christ is the only way to salvation, ended up waffling. Another super mega church pastor apologized to homosexuals and Muslims for biblical stands that he previously held. As the lady said to me, “Where will this end?”

Every few weeks it appears that some super-duper mega church pastor who built his ministry and his reputation on biblical orthodoxy grabs the headline news by denying the very things that he once claimed to believe.

The tragedy of all tragedies is that the reason Campus Crusade for Christ was successful around the world was precisely because they overtly identified with Christ. When Mr. Sellers declared that the name of Christ was hampering their effectiveness, he placed “expedience” above the supernatural power that Christ promised to those who identify with His name. It was not CCCI’s methods or clever techniques that blessed them in the past, but the very Christ whose name they now have removed.

It leads me to wonder if the current leadership feels so secure with their sizeable endowment that they no longer feel wholly dependent on Christ, trusting Him alone to accomplish His mission through the ministry and provide for their needs. Clearly it is a question that we all need to ponder. Jesus taught that money (mammon) rivals for the allegiance and affections of His followers. This is why all Christians and Christian institutions must be extremely careful lest mammon move us away from our foundation, Christ, the very reason for our existence.

I say a daily prayer that has intensified in my life the older I get: “Lord, keep me more faithful in my latter days than in the previous ones, and if I am not…take me home to glory.”

Everyone is welcome to join me in this prayer.




Related: Campus Crusade Drops 'Christ' in New Name after 6 Decades

Campus Crusade Drops 'Christ' in New Name after 6 Decades

CBNNews.com 

Campus Crusade for Christ International is planning to change the name of its U.S. ministry, including nixing the use of "Christ" in its title.

Starting early next year, Campus Crusade for Christ's work in the United States will be done under the name "Cru." The new name doesn't apply internationally. "In the U.S., 20 percent of the people willing to consider the gospel are less interested in talking with us after they hear the name. We are changing the name for the sake of more effective ministry," the group explained on its website.

CCC leaders said the word "campus" in the group name doesn't "adequately represent" all of its ministries in the U.S., and is even confusing to potential partners. They added that "crusade" is also offensive to some Christians and now carries "negative associations." "There's only one reason we'd change. We want to do a better job of connecting people to God's love and forgiveness," they said. "It's all about helping people experience the good news that Jesus offers."

The ministry insists "Cru" is not to eliminate "Christ" from its name.

"Our mission has not changed. Cru enables us to have discussions about Christ with people who might initially be turned off by a more overtly Christian name," the group added. Leaders say "Cru" was already a popular shorthand for the ministry. Many campuses have already dropped the "crusade" language from their chapters.

"The chief danger of the church/ministry today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world, instead of turning the world upside down. Our Master expects us to accomplish results, even if they bring opposition and conflict. Anything is better than compromise, apathy, and paralysis. God give to us an intense cry for the old-time power of the Gospel of the Holy Ghost!" - A.B Simpson

Getting in Christ's Way

Michael S. Horton

What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city? The first frames in our imaginative slide show probably depict mayhem on a massive scale: Widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshipers dragged off to City Hall. Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took control of a town in America. He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and sidewalks would be occupied by tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The kids would answer "Yes, sir," "No, ma'am," and the churches would be full on Sunday ... where Christ is not preached.

"Only in Christ is discipleship the consequence of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, rather than its own contribution to human redemption"

Not to be alarmist, but it looks a lot like Satan is in charge right now. The enemy has a subtle way of using even the proper scenery and props to obscure the main character. The church, mission, cultural transformation, even the Spirit can become the focus instead of the means for "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2). As provocative as Barnhouse's illustration remains, it is simply an elaboration of a point that is made throughout the story of redemption. The story behind all the headlines of the Bible is the war between the serpent and the offspring of the woman (Gen. 3:15), an enmity that God promised would culminate in the serpent's destruction and the lifting of the curse. This promise was a declaration of war on Satan and his kingdom, and the contest unfolded in the first religious war, between Cain and Abel (Gen. 4 with Matt. 23:35), in the battle between Pharaoh and Yahweh that led to the exodus and the temptation in the wilderness. Even in the land, the serpent seduces Israel to idolatry and intermarriage with unbelievers, even provoking massacres of the royal family. Yet God always preserved that "seed of the woman" who would crush the serpent's head (see 2 Kings 11, for example). The story leads all the way to Herod's slaughter of the firstborn children in fear of the Magi's announcement of the birth of the true King of Israel.

The Gospels unpack this story line and the epistles elaborate its significance. Everything is leading to Golgotha, and when the disciples-even Peter-try to distract Jesus away from that mission, they are being unwitting servants of Satan (Matt. 16:23). "The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers"-not simply so that they will defy Judeo-Christian values, but "to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:4-5).

Satan lost the war on Good Friday and Easter, but has shifted his strategy to a guerilla struggle to keep the world from hearing the gospel that dismantles his kingdom of darkness. Paul speaks of this cosmic battle in Ephesians 6, directing us to the external Word, the gospel, Christ and his righteousness, faith, and salvation as our only armor in the assaults of the enemy. In Revelation 12, the history of redemption is recapitulated in brief compass, with the dragon sweeping a third of the stars (angels) from heaven, laying in wait to devour the woman's child at birth, only to be defeated by the ascension of the promised offspring. Nevertheless, knowing his time is short, he pursues the child's brothers and sisters. Wherever Christ is truly proclaimed, Satan is most actively present. The wars between nations and enmity within families and neighborhoods is but the wake of the serpent's tail as he seeks to devour the church, employing the same tried and tested methods: not only martyrdom from without, but heresy and schism from within. In the rest of this article, I want to suggest a few of the ways we are routinely tempted toward what can only be called, tragically, "Christless Christianity."

Continue reading @ Modern Reformation

Wolves in Shepherd's clothing by Thomas Lee (My Sinchew)

The popular American religious author Philip Yancey once told a story about one of his friends who does charity work among homeless people in Chicago.

His friend told him that one woman he was helping was a cocaine addict who was so desperate that she would prostitute her two-year-old daughter to men to earn money for her drug addiction. The woman was homeless, had bad health, and had no one to turn to for help. Yancey’s friend was overwhelmed and shocked by her pathetic and piteous condition.

Being a pastor, Yancey’s friend asked the woman why she didn’t seek help from a church.
The pastor said that he would never forget the look of absolute ingenuous horror in her expression as she exclaimed scornfully, “Church! Why would I ever go there? I am already feeling bad enough, they would just make me feel worse!”

The woman’s contemptuous reaction to the pastor’s suggestion that she could seek help from the church may seem unwarranted and unjustified by many church goers, particularly those living a comfortable upmarket lifestyle, but the sad unfortunate truth is that the church is often thought of being insensitive, insusceptible and immune to what is happening in the world, even by many of its own members, especially the poorer ones.

The church is often perceived as being so wrapped up within itself, with its leadership concerned only with mega building projects, organizing overseas holidays masquerading as “mission trips”, usually with the pastor and his family going for free, and often pandering to some of its members’ baser instincts of greed for materialism by preaching a gospel of prosperity.

The church, and its pastor and leaders, in other words, have no compassion on, or time for a world that is suffering and perishing. The poor and underprivileged, even in their midst, are ignored and disregarded or even looked upon with disdain. Rules are bent to accept the rich as members and leaders although they may not meet the requirements of the church constitution. These rich people are given preferential and favoured treatment, notwithstanding their questionable morality and unethical practices in their business, so long as they give big donation to the church and big fat lovc gifts to the pastor.

According to Philip Yancey, there are many people in need outside the church who would rather turn anywhere for help then to the church.

Why are people, including many sidelined and neglected poor church members, having such a negative perception of the church? What is wrong with the church?

The answer, I believe, is perhaps that the church and its pastor and leaders have strayed from their spiritual faith and sidetracked into the modern-day materialism of large budgets, fancy church complexes with swimming pools, and impressive acoustic worship auditorium with great entertainment environment.

Many modern mega churches are no more the kind of church where people in dire situation can come and find help and comfort, a place where the widows, the orphans, the lonely, the sick, the poor, the jobless, the desperate can come and find a home and hope for their lives. Instead, many of those who go to church today go for the entertainment in the music, songs and drama, and for the motivational talks camouflaged as sermons, and smirched with fanciful stories of outlandish experiences, mostly fabricated or exaggerated. If the pastor makes the congregation laughs, he is a good preacher!

It is no doubt that many local churches are increasingly becoming irrelevant to those who truly need help. This is simply because they have evolved into a sort of corporate commercialized institutions, where the pastor behaves and dresses like a CEO, working in a posh office, driving a luxury car, and exercising supreme authority over his exclusive church empire, the equivalent of the Little Napoleons in the civil service. It was reported in The Star recently that one such pastor sacked 400 church members for questioning his accountability in the financial management of the church.

The abuse of religious authority in such churches is generally covered up even by those who know it is wrong and unacceptable, simply because of the deceptive teaching and misconceived idea that it is wrong to question “God’s anointed” which many pastors claim to be. This spiritual blackmail is used by many recalcitrant and hypocritical pastors to seize control over the intellectually deficient, emotionally weak, and gullible church members to maintain and preserve their status and power in their churches.

I have done some extensive study and research over the last few years on many churches, and one significant thing I discovered is that most of the churches under the grip of the wolves in shepherd’s clothing have pastors who have made church work a career or profession, and they mostly start church work straight from secondary schools. These pastors have no secular professional qualification or job experience, and are totally at a loss if they have to work in the marketplace outside the church.

The stable and decent churches are usually pastored by those who have given up promising and well-paying professions and jobs to serve God. These people could easily have become successful and rich in the corporate world, but chose to give up the good life to serve God and people. We have many of these truly godly people in our midst, like NECF chairman Pastor Eu Hong Seng, Methodist Church Bishop Dr Hwa Yung, DUMC senior pastor Dr Daniel Ho, Malaysia Bible Seminary principal Dr Jason Lim, etc.

Thank God, there are still many faithful and honest persons serving the churches but, increasingly, there are also many who are using the church to make a fast buck, deceiving those theologically illiterate and gullible. Some of these wolves in shepherd’s clothing are calling themselves anointed apostles and prophets, and organizing and holding all sorts of conferences and seminars almost every weekends, with big fat fees of course, to deceive those attending their conferences and seminars to give, give, and give, while these false apostles and false prophets laugh all the way to the bank.

So, what is an ideal church?

Let me narrate a story that Philip Yancey told about a leper colony in India. A visitor was being shown around the leper colony when he saw a group of people laughing at a prank played by two young men, one riding on the other's back, pretending to be a horse and a rider. They were having loads of fun, and the crowd was certainly amused by their jocosity. But what amazed the visitor was that he saw that the man who carried his friend was blind, and the man on his back was lame. The one who could not see used his feet; the one who could not walk used his eyes. Together they helped each other, and they found great joy in doing it.

This, I believe, in essence is what a church should be -- each member using his or her strength to make up for another's weakness.

The Apostle Paul told the Galatian church to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the purpose for which it was established. And in his letter to the Corinthian church, Paul describes the church as a body of which every part is important, with its own special function. An African proverb says that when a thorn pierces the foot, the whole body must bend over to pull it out. This kind of interdependence is a basic characteristic of the church.

This is what the modern church should be, not having mega complexes with swimming pools, not auditorium that looks like a disco, not prosperity teaching.

When a person goes to a church, he or she should be able to feel he or she is wanted, is a part of a loving and caring group. It is the place where the widows, the orphans, the lonely, the sick, the poor, the jobless, the desperate can come and find a home and hope for their lives.

[NOTE: This Weekend Reflection column deals with issues concerning religion, ethics and universal values. If you have anything you want Thomas to write on, you can e-mail him at tomlee48@gmail.com]
( The opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of MySinchew ) MySinchew 2010-08-20

Christianity in Crisis Part 1 to 4

Don't Sell the Gospel (Gospel Peddler)

By: Abraham Piper / John Piper Ministry



Two things show if someone is selling the Gospel, and two things should be preached in order to avoid it: Only in Christ is there satisfaction and only in Christ is there justification.

What Are the Signs of a Gospel-Peddler?

1.Craves earthly pleasure
2.Dreads earthly pain

What Does a Gospel-Peddler Preach?

1.Human prosperity is the gift of salvation. This appeals to the desire for earthly pleasure and replaces God’s worth with money.
2.Human obedience is the price of justification. This appeals to the desire for earthly achievement and replaces God’s grace with morality.

Paul Did not Peddle the Gospel.

Paul renounced the pursuit of money as the goal of ministry and so received fewer physical pleasures. And he renounced the pursuit of morality as the way to be justified and so he received more physical persecution. He preached Christ and let the chips fall where they would, whether he received money or beatings.

We, too, should not be in the ministry in order to make money or avoid trouble. Regardless of the consequence, let us preach Jesus as the only satisfying treasure and the only sufficient obedience.

What Should We Preach?

1. All the money in the world cannot replace Jesus as our treasure.

Remember Lot’s Wife.

Luke 17:26-33 vs. 31-32: On that day, let the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in the house, not come down to take them away, and likewise let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife.

Do not try to hold onto this world when there is a choice between Christ and things.

Remember the Rich Young Ruler.

Luke 18:18-23 v. 22: When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Jesus tells him he lacks one thing and then tell him to do three things: sell, give, and follow. The one thing he lacks is Christ himself. Christ is all he should hold onto. And when he takes hold of the one thing he lacks, the three things he must do will follow. When he opens his hand to grab hold of Jesus, his earthly riches will fall out of his clutches and land on the poor. Then he will be a follower of Christ.

2. All the obedience in the world cannot replace Jesus as our righteousness.
Remember the Obedient Servant.

Luke 17:7-10 v. 10: So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

When we have done everything we are supposed to, we should still acknowledge that it won’t suffice. We are still unworthy.

Remember the Obedient Pharisee.

Luke 18:9-14 v. 11: The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

The Pharisee acknowledges that his obedience is from God. But it still doesn’t justify him. No amount of obedience in us, then—even God-worked obedience—is sufficient to save us.

We need Jesus above all for satisfaction and justification.

Our own money, even if it filled the earth, would not satisfy us. Our own obedience, even if it were perfect and God-given, would not justify us. Therefore we have every motivation to say with Paul, “We are not peddlers of God’s Word.” Peddlers are driven by greed for money and fear of pain. But let us preach Christ as the all-satisfying treasure and God-satisfying obedience.

Prosperity teachers are getting bolder and bolder these days. Many smaller timers are follow suit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

Psychology and the Doctrines of Devils

McMahon, T.A.

October 1, 2006

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” —1 Timothy 4:1

In my two previous TBC articles this year (Mar and Apr ’06), I addressed the destructive influence psychological counseling is having on the evangelical church. Simply put, the church has turned from God’s Word to man’s bankrupt theories in attempting to resolve mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. The greater part of the church no longer believes what the Scriptures proclaim: that God, in His Word, has given us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). The results, sadly, are what one might expect: there is often little statistical difference between those who profess to be Christians and those who do not, regarding the number of divorces, the reliance upon psychological counseling theories and methods, living together outside of marriage, illegitimate childbirths, pornography, sexual and physical abuse, and so forth.

Although such consequences are shocking, they shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who believes the Bible. Twice in the Book of Proverbs we are told, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). Death throughout Scripture implies separation, whether of the soul and spirit from the body in physical death or, in another sense, the separation of light from darkness and truth from error—and ultimately, from God eternally. Just as the body without life corrupts, so do one’s life choices result in corruption when they are separated from God’s truth.

Psychology, with its psychotherapeutic counseling, has been embraced by evangelicals more than almost any other unbiblical endeavor that has entered the church in the last half-century. “Christian psychologists” are generally more popular and influential than preachers and teachers of the Word. What evangelical in America doesn’t know of psychologist Dr. James Dobson? The psychologically oriented American Association of Christian Counselors boasts 50,000 members. The evangelical church is one of the leading referral services for secular counselors (whether they claim to be Christians or not!). Like their secular counterparts, the second-most popular career choice for students at Christian colleges is psychology. What makes this information truly shocking is the fact that the roots, concepts, and many of the psychological counseling practices come from “seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

First Timothy 4:1 is a prophetic verse. It foretells that “in the latter times,” that is, the time near the return of our Lord, “some will depart from the faith.” This is supported by other verses such as Luke 18:8: Jesus asked, “...when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” The implied answer is no. Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, declares under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that a “falling away” from the faith will characterize the Last Days. But haven’t many professing Christians departed from the faith since the time of the Apostles? Yes. The rest of the verse, however, indicates a condition that is unique to our present day. Those who profess to be Christians will give “heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

Doctrines of devils are designed to undermine what is taught in the Scriptures. They reflect the strategy that Satan instituted in the Garden of Eden when he seduced Eve into disobeying God. The chief of the seducing spirits began his direct communication with Eve by raising doubts in her mind as to what God had commanded: “Yea, hath God said...?” (Genesis 3:1). The serpent’s dialogue with her led her to believe that God had lied to her: “And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die.” Although God instructed Adam and Eve that the punishment for disobeying Him by eating the fruit of a certain tree in the Garden would be death (Genesis 2:17), Satan twisted that around, making God not only a liar but also the one who was withholding what they needed for their self-improvement and for realizing a supposed higher potential.

Genesis 3:1-5 contains Satan’s basic strategy for the seduction and destruction of mankind. His deception began by questioning God’s Word, and offering tempting alternatives. Eve responded by believing Satan, rejecting God’s Word, and turning to her own self-interests. The enticements were so desirable to the flesh, including immortality, enlightenment, godhood, and knowledge (Genesis 3:5), that she eagerly embraced the lie. At that tragic moment in the history of mankind, self became a god, an autonomous rebel bent on doing its own thing. What Satan offered to Eve, he likewise has presented to all of her descendants, with similar success. His deadly allurements—immortality, enlightenment, godhood, and knowledge-—comprise the foundational teachings of “doctrines of devils.”

Even in a cursory review of psychotherapeutic concepts, Satan’s primary lies are clearly revealed. Teachings (i.e., doctrines) such as the following are found in nearly all psychotherapeutic theories. Immortality: There is no death in the sense that it should be feared. Materialist psychotherapists teach a judgment-free mortality; spiritually oriented counselors claim that we either evolve to a higher consciousness or reincarnate to improve our next temporal state of being. Enlightenment: Knowing the self, who we are, why we do what we do, and how we change, all open the critical gate to establishing our mental wellbeing. Some systems teach that our problems of living are determined by traumas related to our past (including past lives), our parental upbringing, our environment, or our having been oppressed by religious dogmas. Godhood: The solution to humanity’s problems is found within the self. Self is deified, whether directly or indirectly. For instance, psychology’s “self-actualization” is a process that leads to self-deification, which ultimately replaces any need for salvation outside humanity. Knowledge: The deification process for humanity involves methods of plumbing the depths of the unconscious, which is alleged to be the infinite reservoir that holds all mysteries of life.

Sadly, these doctrines of devils now permeate “Christian psychology.” Few evangelicals realize that these demonic teachings were introduced to the “founding fathers of psychological counseling” literally by “seducing spirits.”

It was Sigmund Freud who declared that “religion is the universal obsessional neurosis of humanity.” Furthermore, there is evidence that Freud hated Christianity, which he erroneously regarded as anti-Semitic. How then would this atheistic rejecter of organized religion advance doctrines of devils? By founding the “religion” of psychoanalysis. None of Freud’s theories, whether psychic determinism or psychosexual development or belief in the unconscious, have any scientific validity; moreover, they are religious beliefs that are antithetical to the doctrines of the Bible. Research psychiatrist Thomas Szasz had Freud primarily in mind when he declared, “...modern psychotherapy...is not merely a religion that pretends to be a science, it is actually a fake religion that seeks to destroy true religion.”1

Given the fact that psychoanalysis and its associated concepts are so diametrically opposed to biblical Christianity, there’s no doubt that Freud’s “fake religion” is the product of “doctrines of devils.” Furthermore, a strong case could be made that Freud’s theories came both directly and indirectly from “seducing spirits” through the techniques he employed in analyzing his patients. He put them into altered states of consciousness through hypnosis and the highly suggestible technique of “free association.” Early on, when he was formulating some of his theories, Freud was a regular user of the mind-altering drug cocaine for his bouts with depression.2 Calling it his magical drug, “he pressed it on his friends and colleagues, both for themselves and their patients.”3

Psychiatrist and historian Henri F. Ellenberger’s classic work, The Discovery of the Unconscious, reveals, “Historically, modern dynamic psychotherapy derives from primitive medicine, and an uninterrupted continuity...through the exorcists, magnetists, and hypnotists that led to the fruition of dynamic psychiatry in the systems of Janet, Freud, Adler, and Jung.”4 Psychotherapy is a modern form of shamanism, which explains why psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey rightly observes, “The techniques used by Western psychiatrists are, with few exceptions, on exactly the same scientific plane as the techniques used by witchdoctors [medicine men and shamans].”5

Shamanism is all about contacting spirit entities to gain their help, wisdom, insights, and so forth. In an interview with a former Yanamamo shaman who resides in the Amazonian rain forest of Venezuela, I was told rather bluntly that his spirit guides were liars and deceivers, from his first contact with them through ingesting hallucinogenic drugs until they left him when he turned to Christ. Their lies reinforced what he wanted to hear. It seems the same for Freud, whose concepts were a reflection not of science but rather removing his own guilt and satisfying his flesh. Freud’s theories were based mainly upon his own personal problems, most of which were sexual perversions.

In Freudian thought, the “unconscious” is a God-replacement realm without laws and judgment; morality is an oppressive neurosis-generating structure imposed by society and organized religion; sexual freedom (including adultery, homosexuality, incest, etc.) is paramount for normal mental health; dreams are symbolic messages from the unconscious and can be scientifically interpreted through psychoanalysis. These beliefs represent doctrines of devils. Although a materialist, Freud acknowledged the existence of spirit entities. He was influenced from that source, either indirectly, through his patients, or directly, through his own drug use, the ancient statuettes he used to help him write,6 and other techniques he used to explore the unconscious.

The life and works of psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung clearly reveal that his psychological theories came directly from the “seducing spirits” Paul warns about in 1 Timothy 4:1. Jung is far more popular today among professing Christians than Freud (the atheist) because of his perceived affinity for religion and things spiritual. However, though his father was a Protestant pastor (who seriously doubted his professed faith!), Jung was anti-biblical and resentful of organized Christianity from his youth. His early symbolic visions revealed Jesus as a Dark Lord and God defecating on a cathedral. His mother’s side of the family was heavily involved in spiritualism. His grandfather, pastor Samuel Preiswerk, conducted ongoing séances to commune with his deceased first wife, with his second wife and daughter (Jung’s mother) participating. The latter, who had bouts of insanity, reserved two beds in the Jung home for visiting ghosts. Jung’s doctoral thesis (published in 1902) was based upon séances conducted by his 13-year-old cousin, whom he placed in an altered state of consciousness through hypnosis in order to contact his and her dead ancestors.

In 1916, Jung’s household experienced an assault by demonic beings who claimed to be dead Christian Crusaders from Jerusalem. They were seeking counsel on redemption and were greatly distressed that their Christianity had left them in a hopeless condition. They would not leave Jung’s home until he began writing advice to them, which he received from one of his many spirit guides, his mentor Philemon, the “old man with horns of a bull.”7

Richard Noll, a lecturer in the History of Science at Harvard University and a clinical psychologist (who declares that he “is not a Christian of any sort”), makes some stunning observations in his book on Jung titled The Jung Cult. He argues that Jung’s “psychological theories of the collective unconscious and archetypes are essentially masks, a pseudoscientific cover to hide the practices of what was essentially a new religious movement in which Jung taught people to have trance visions and to contact the ‘gods’ directly.”8

Jung’s teachings are doctrines of demons, gleaned directly from seducing spirits: the unconscious and the collective unconscious represent an impersonal form of God; archetypes are viewed as psychological rationalizations for demons, the anima and animus are terms for the female and male entities within each person; psychological “types” are determined characteristics within our make up. Jung promoted all things occult, including astrology, alchemy, the I-Ching, mysticism, necromancy, visualization, dream interpretation, the active imagination, yoga, meditation, etc. Incredibly, his theories and recommended practices are endorsed in the teachings of some of the most influential people in evangelical Christianity. In many cases, ignorance is the principle reason, yet the demonic lies are nevertheless readily promoted and accepted among the sheep.

Rick Warren’s 30 million copies of The Purpose-Driven Life include Jungian concepts, such as psychological “types.” Saddleback Church’s “Celebrate Recovery” program (see TBC Oct ’05), which has been exported to 4,500 churches and Prison Fellowship Ministries, is based on A.A.’s 12-Step principles. A.A. co-founder Bill Wilson received the 12 Steps during the time he was in contact with spirit entities. He later wrote a personal letter to Carl Jung thanking him for his influence:

...[A.A.] actually started long ago in your consulting room, and it was directly founded upon your own humility and deep perception....You will also be interested to learn that in addition to the “spiritual experience,” many A.A.s report a great variety of psychic phenomena, the cumulative weight of which is very considerable. Other members have—following their recovery in A.A.—been much helped by [Jungian analysts]. A few have been intrigued by the “I Ching” and your remarkable introduction to that work.

Warren is not the only witting or unwitting promoter among evangelicals of what Jung learned from demons. He is just the most successful and the best known. Others include Christian psychologists, inner healers, and pastors. Jung’s occult methodologies, especially his demonically inspired techniques of visualization, guided imagery, meditation, and working with spiritual directors, are foundational to the Emerging Church interests of evangelical youth and the contemplative movement supported by Richard Foster, Eugene Peterson, and a multitude of others.

This astonishing development in the evangelical church is symptomatic of the abandonment of God’s Word. The result will be the advancement of the apostate “Christian” church. The antidote is found in Isaiah 8:20: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Endnotes

1.Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy (Doubleday, 1978), 27-28.

2.Martin Gross, The Psychological Society (Random House, 1978), 234-36.

3.Ernest Jones, The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud, Volume I (1856-1900) (New York: Basic Books, 1953), 81.

4.Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious (Basic Books, 1970), 48; back cover.

5.E. Fuller Torrey, The Mind Games: Witchdoctors and Psychiatrists (Emerson Hall, 1972), 8.

6.Shirley Nicholson, Shamanism (The Theosophical Publishing House), 58, as cited in Martin and Deidre Bobgan, The End of “Christian Psychology” (East Gate Publishers, 1997), 105.

7.C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Pantheon Books, 1963), 190-92; 182-83.

8.Richard Noll, The Jung Cult: Origins of a Charismatic Movement (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), xi-xii.

Source:  http://www.thebereancall.org/node/2431