Hiding behind a Statement of Faith

Yesterday I received this comment on another blog which I allowed to post to a recent Lighthouse Trails commentary about Greg Laurie and his recent teaming up with Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard as they launch The New York Leadership Center.
Here is a link to the original article on Lighthouse Trails-
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?p=1212&more=1&c=1


Don’t believe everything you read. Here is the Statement of Faith from this organization:

OUR TENETS OF FAITH & DOCTRINE

We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential. The express mandate of the Church is to fulfill the Great Commission.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost that they are saved unto the resurrection of life.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ."

This is very typical of many undiscerning believers that are in the Body of Christ today. Folks looking at a statement of faith or belief and not being fruit checker's on those involved in a project.

The Bible states in Matt 7:20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them".

Lets look at all the verses that lead up to this verse starting at verse 15.

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

This verse shows that they may look like Christians which means they may sound like Christians as well espousing orthodox belief's.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

As discerning Bereans we need to be wise and check their association's and who they gather and group together with.

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Someone who is corrupt and compromised will always bring forth bad fruit in the end

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

If a Christian follows Gods Word and not his own ambitions as well as letting the Holy Spirit guide him/her into all truth you cant help but bring forth good fruit. That all depends on you following Gods will through scripture.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Sooner or later judgement will come on the evil false shepherds that have infiltrated the Body of Christ. And we will know them and who they are as we compare what they do in the light of scripture with The Holy Spirit guiding us.

These days its harder to see the wolves (like Rick Warren) coming because they hide behind espoused orthodox belief's and statements of faith. Do I think they believe what they profess to believe?

Not a chance . I dont believe it because you have to examine Rick Warrens fruit and its bad.(Read all the article's here and other places on Rick Warren his connections and associations)

Ken Blanchard has shown us time after time that he will continue to ignore godly council, repent and turn from his evil ways and continues to endorse new age books and teachers.

We need to of course separate error fro apostasy and heresy.

Calvinism is error. Pretty bad error at that because I believe it misrepresents the God revealed to us in scripture. BUT it does not mean that i will separate from my Calvinist friends of stop reading John MacArthur or Francis Schaffers wonderful books.

Just like I dont argue and fuss about Calvinism because of course man has free will and Jesus did not die for a elect few.

Just a snippet on this and no I will not be drawn into a tulip debate here on this post. I do not need to defend my position on this error. Please do that on your own website's

What God has given to every man is conscience. We are told in the

Bible that after Adam and Eve sinned they knew both good and evil.8 They and their

descendants now had an inward knowledge of right versus wrong. The Bible calls this

conscience, and explains that every person shows the work of the law written in their

hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.9 Conscience literally means with knowledge

or perception.10 Conscience is the moral compass that God has given to every person.

The Holy Spirit’s main ministry to the lost world is to convict each conscience –

revealing to every person his or her need for the Savior. “And when He [the Holy Spirit]

has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”11 The

Holy Spirit convicts the entire world of sin against God, of Christ’s righteousness, and of

God’s coming judgment.

Scripture also explains that God commands all men everywhere to repent.12 Repent

means to change your mind. When the Holy Spirit convicts each man of his sin, he can

choose to resist the Holy Spirit, or acknowledge his sin. Concerning salvation, this is

where man’s free will is exercised. Throughout the Bible we find many examples of

1 Genesis 1:1; 1 Timothy 6:15; 1 John 3:20; Genesis 17:1

2 Psalm 3:8; 68:20; Jonah 2:9; Revelation 7:10

3 Jeremiah 17:9

4 1 Corinthians 2:14

5 Psalm 19:1-3

6 See also: Romans 10:18; Colossians 1:6, 23; Job 12:7-10; Isaiah 40:21-26; Acts 17:26-30; Revelation

14:6-7; etc.

7 Romans 1:19-20

8 Genesis 3:22

9 Romans 2:15. See also: Job 38:36; Psalm 40:8; Proverbs 1:20-33; Acts 9:5; Romans 1:32; John 8:9; etc.

10 In the New Testament conscience is derived from the Greek word sundeido meaning: to see completely,

to understand or become aware, and to be conscious or informed of: consider, know, be privy, be ware of.

11 John 16:8

12 Acts

source http://www.eternal-productions.org/PDFS/articles/Free%20Will%20or%20Calvinism.pdf



Just like I dont argue about different beliefs on the Rapture or if there is going to be a Rapture before the tribulation period. I personally think we will go through the tribulation but if the pre tribbers have that one right thats great Im not looking for adventure of that sort.

Rick Warren, his followers as well as his associations are bringing in and accommodating that One World religion of the antichrist spoken of in the book of Revelation. It doesnt take a rocket scientist or theologian to figure that out because every day Warren keeps revealing his real intent. I dont think slick Rick is even trying to hide or cover his real intentions because many Christian's are not being discerning and are not reading their Bibles.

You only need to look to scripture to see what Rick promotes does not ad up to scripture.

That started with Warrens book "Purpose Driven Church", continues with "The Purpose Driven Life" and all of Ricks associations.

And actually this all started when Rick sought the council of the unsaved on how to build a church on his way to seeking power and influence in the world.

We all really need to take to heart the following scripture because there will be a time in this time of great deception that there will be no turning back.



7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He[a] who now restrains will do so until He[b] is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.



So dont be fooled by double minded men like Rick Warren who are unstable in all their ways as they hide behind their statements of faith.

Matt 15:8-9

"8 ‘ These people draw near to Me with their mouth,

And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,

Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Blessings

Tim

Todd Friel on heretic Brian Mclaren

Another great video exposing Brian McLaren who has wormed his way into many denomination most of all the Nazarene denomination who feature this heritic at many of their colleges and seminaries. Enjoy and discern-Blessings Tim

The Emergent Church exposed

Another great U Tube video from my brother in the Lord Todd Friel enjoy
Blessings Tim

Rob Bell exposed

My latest focus is going to be on the Emergent Church. This is not a movement of God more so it is a movement that wants to take you away from Gods word in scripture. The Nazarene denomination has been all but overtaken by this false movement. So I am going to focus on the leaders of the Emergent Church (yes there are leaders this movement was and is a very calculated drive of the Leadership Network - more to come on this).
First lets talk about Rob Bell who has infiltrated the church through his Nooma videos. Rob is a great communicator but is he a godly communicator?
I dont believe so.

You want to talk about some screwed up theology you need to look at Rob Bell. Rob has made his way into the homes of many undiscerning Christians.Lets take a look at the very excellent expose of Rob Bells warped view of scripturel and beware.
Here is a video I found on U tube It is a very good expose enjoy-Tim Wirth

The Shameful Social Gospel By T.A. MaMahon

From my brothers and sisters in Lord from The BEREAN CALL


The Shameful Social Gospel
T. A. McMahon

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Romans 1:16

For various reasons, Christians of different sorts have tinkered with "the gospel of Christ" as though it needed adjustments. Not major alterations, most will tell you, but just some minor tweaking here and there. The changes often begin by one's declaring that there is no real change involved, simply a shift in emphasis. Yet, no matter what the rationale may be, the end result is being "ashamed of the gospel of Christ."

To be "ashamed of the gospel" covers a number of attitudes from being totally embarrassed by it to thinking one can improve upon it a bit to make it more acceptable. One example of the former is the recent claim by an Emerging Church author that the teaching regarding Christ's paying the full penalty for the sins of mankind through His substitutionary death on the Cross is irrelevant and viewed as "a form of cosmic child abuse." More subtle examples include trying to make the gospel seem less exclusive, and the "softening" of the consequences from which the gospel saves mankind, such as the wrath of God and the Lake of Fire.

Prevalent among many religious leaders who profess to be evangelical Christians (i.e., Bible-believing Christians) is the promotion of a gospel that is acceptable to, and even admired by, people throughout the world. Today, the most popular form of this is the social gospel.

Although the social gospel is common to many new movements among evangelicals, it is not new to Christendom. It had its modern beginning in the late 1800s, when it developed as a way to address the various conditions in society that caused suffering among the populace. The belief was, and is, that Christianity will attract followers when it demonstrates its love for mankind. This could be best accomplished by helping to alleviate the suffering of humanity caused by poverty, disease, oppressive work conditions, society's injustices, civil rights abuses, etc. Those who fostered this movement also believed that relief from their conditions of misery would improve the moral nature of those so deprived.

Another driving force behind the introduction of the social gospel was the eschatological, or end times, views of those involved. Nearly all were amillennialists or post-millennialists. The former believed that they were living in a (symbolic thousand-year) time period in which Christ was ruling from heaven, Satan was bound, and they were God's workers appointed to bring about a kingdom on earth worthy of Christ. Post-millennialists also believed they were in the Millennium, and their goal was to restore the earth to its Eden-like state in order for Christ to return from Heaven to rule over His earthly kingdom.

The social gospel, in all of its assorted applications, helped to produce some achievements (child labor laws and women's suffrage) that have contributed to the welfare of society. It became the primary gospel of liberal theologians and mainline denominations throughout the 20th century. Although its popularity alternately rose and fell as it ran its course, it was often energized by the combination of religion and liberal politics, e.g., Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Midway through the last century and later, the social gospel influenced developments such as the liberation theology of Roman Catholicism and the socialism of left-leaning evangelical Christians. It is in this present century, however, that the social gospel has gotten its most extensive promotion. Two men, both professing to be evangelicals, have led the way.

George W. Bush began his presidency by instituting the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. His objective was to provide government funding for local churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious ministries that were providing a social service to their community. Bush believed that programs run by "people of faith" could be at least as effective as secular organizations in helping the needy, and perhaps more so because of their moral commitment to "love and serve their neighbor." As he prepares to leave office, he has declared that he considers his Faith-Based program to be one of the foremost achievements in his tenure as president. Presidential candidate Barack Obama stated that, should he win the election, he will continue the Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Rick Warren, the mega-selling author of The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life, has taken the social gospel to where it's never been before: not only worldwide but into the thinking and planning of world leaders. Warren credits business management genius Peter Drucker with the basic concept that he is executing. Drucker believed that the social problems of poverty, disease, hunger, and ignorance were beyond the capability of governments or multinational corporations to solve. To Drucker, the most hopeful solution would be found in the nonprofit sector of society, especially churches, with their hosts of volunteers dedicated to alleviating the social ills of those in their community.

Warren, acknowledging the late Drucker as his mentor for 20 years, certainly learned his lessons. His two Purpose-Driven books, translated into 57 languages and selling a combined 30 million copies, reveal the game plan for what Drucker had envisioned. Warren had local churches implement this vision from his books through his enormously popular 40 Days of Purpose and 40 Days of Community programs. To date, 500,000 churches in 162 nations have become part of his network. They form the basis for his Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

What is his P.E.A.C.E. plan? Warren's presentation of the plan to the church is found at www.thepeaceplan.com. On video, he identifies the "giants" of humanity's ills as spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy, which he hopes to eradicate by (P)lanting churches, (E)quipping leaders, (A)ssisting the poor, (C)aring for the sick, and (E)ducating the next generation.

Warren uses the analogy of a three-legged stool to illustrate the best way to slay these giants. Two of the legs are governments and business, which have thus far been ineffective, and, just like a two-legged stool, cannot stand. The third very necessary leg is the church. "There are thousands of villages in the world that have no school, no clinic, no business, no government-but they have a church. What would happen if we could mobilize churches to address those five global giants?" Warren reasons that since there are 2.3 billion Christians worldwide, they could potentially form what President Bush has termed a vast "army of compassion" of "people of faith" such as the world has not yet experienced.

In addition to the Christian version, Warren has an expanded inclusive version of the P.E.A.C.E. plan that has drawn support and praise from political and religious leaders and celebrities worldwide. At the 2008 World Economic Forum, he declared, "The future of the world is not secularism, but religious pluralism...." Referring to the ills besetting the world, he declared, "We cannot solve these problems without involving people of faith and their religious institutions. It isn't going to happen any other way. On this planet there are about 20 million Jews, there are about 600 million Buddhists, there are about 800 million Hindus, there are over 1 billion Muslims, and there are 2.3 billion Christians. If you take people of faith out of the equation, you have ruled out five-sixths of the world. And if we only leave it up to secular people to solve these major problems, it isn't going to happen" (http://www.youtube.com).

To accommodate working with people of all faiths Warren has revised the "P" in his P.E.A.C.E. from "planting evangelical churches" to "(P)romoting reconciliation" and the "E" from "equipping [church] leaders" to "(E)quipping ethical leaders." Warren has elsewhere acknowledged his practical shift to pluralism: "Who's the man of peace in any village-or it might be a woman of peace-who has the most respect?...They don't have to be Christian. In fact, they could be Muslim, but they're open and they're influential, and you work with them to attack the five giants [to which he has added global warming]." He quotes a secular leader who affirms what he's doing: "I get it, Rick. Houses of worship are the distribution centers for all we need to do."

Warren has joined the advisory board of Faith Foundation, established by former British prime minister and recent Roman Catholic convert Tony Blair. The Foundation's goal is to further understanding and cooperation among the six leading faiths: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jewish. How does the Cross fit into this ecumenical gathering? It doesn't. Critical to achieving that ecumenical goal is the elimination of the problem of exclusive religions, a concern articulated by one of the World Economic Forum panelists: "There are some religious leaders in different religious faiths who, in seeking to affirm their own faith and its authenticity and legitimacy...deny other people their faith with its legitimacy and authenticity. I don't think we can keep going like this without...spawning the kind of hatred we are all here to try and solve. I think it's up to us to hold the clergy's feet to the fire of whatever faith. That we insist that we affirm what is beautiful in our own traditions while at the same time refusing to denigrate other faith traditions by suggesting that they are illegitimate, or consigned to some kind of evil end."

The Bible declares all the religions of the world to be "illegitimate" and "consigned" not to "some kind of evil end" but to their just end. Only belief in the biblical gospel saves humanity: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name [Jesus Christ] under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved;...He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (Acts 4:12; John 3:36).

The history of the social gospel is, in nearly every case, a sincere attempt by Christians to do those things that they believe will honor God and benefit humanity. In every case, however, the practical working out of "benefiting humanity" has compromised biblical faith and dishonored God. Why is that? God's Word gives no commission to the church to fix the problems of the world. Those who attempt to do so are starting out under a false premise, "...a way which seemeth right unto a man," not God's way. So where can it go from there? "The end thereof are the ways of death," i.e., destruction (Proverbs 14:12). Furthermore, the problems of the world are all symptoms. The root cause is sin.

What percentage of the "people of faith," who comprise all religions and make up five-sixths of the world's population, understand and accept the gospel-the only cure for sin? Or how many of the 2.3 billion "Christians" in the world believe the biblical gospel? The numbers tumble down exponentially. "Yes, but...they are a massive volunteer force and distribution outlet of resources for slaying the giants of world suffering!" What does it profit the billions of "people of faith" who may alleviate some of the world's symptoms yet lose their very souls?

The social gospel is a deadly disease for "people of faith." It reinforces the belief that salvation can be attained by doing good works, putting aside differences for the common good, treating others the way we want to be treated, acting morally, ethically, and sacrificially-and that doing so will endear humans to God. No. These are self-deceptive strivings that spurn God's salvation, deny His perfect standard, and reject His perfect justice. Salvation is "not of works, lest any man should boast." In fact, it is "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8,9). Jesus declared Himself to be condemned humanity's only hope for reconciliation with God: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). There is no other way, because God's perfect justice demanded that the penalty for sin for every human ("for all have sinned"-Romans 3:23) be paid. Only the perfect, sinless God-Man could and did pay that infinite penalty in full by His death upon the Cross. Only faith in Him reconciles a person with God.

The shameful social gospel today not only promotes "another gospel," it helps prepare a kingdom contrary to the teachings of Scripture. "For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). He will return from heaven (John 14:3) to "rapture," or catch, those who believe in Him (His bride) up into the clouds and take them to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The kingdom that remains on the earth will be the kingdom of the Antichrist.
Consistent with its amillennial/postmillennial beginnings, the efforts of the social gospel are earthbound in their attempted restoration of the kingdom of God. Eugene Peterson has infiltrated that heresy into his Message Bible: "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again" (a perversion of John 3:17).

Rob Bell, in his book Velvet Elvis, reflects the "fix the earth" eschatology of nearly all Emerging Church leaders: "Salvation is the entire universe being brought back into harmony with its maker. This has huge implications for how people present the message of Jesus. Yes, Jesus can come into our hearts. But we can join a movement that is as wide and as big as the universe itself. Rocks and trees and birds and swamps and ecosystems. God's desire is to restore all of it....The goal isn't escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. And God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work."

For Emerging Church leader Brian McLaren, this is the future way of life for the Christian. In an interview July 28, 2008, on ChristianPost.com, he said: "I think our future will also require us to join humbly and charitably with people of other faiths-Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, secularists, and others-in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for all people, things that matter greatly to the heart of God." No, what matters to the "heart of God" is "that all should come to repentance" and believe the gospel.

Anyone who puts his hope in this social gospel, which employs "people of faith" to make "this world the kind of place God can come to," needs to heed the words of Jesus in Luke 18:8: "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" People of all faiths, yes, but certainly not "the faith," for which Jude exhorts true believers to earnestly contend. Lord, help us all not to be ashamed of Your gospel! TBC