A Little Leaven

The Gospel-less Gospel Presentation

Not too long ago Christians used the "4 Spiritual Laws" to explain the Christian faith. Today we now have an Emergent influenced witnessing tool that utilizes 4 circles to try to explain the Christian faith (this 4 circles presentation is all the rage among college students). The big problem with this new tool is that it completely misses the point about Biblical Christianity and sinful man's need for a savior and Christ's death on the cross for the sins of the world. Instead, this is some squishy eco-friendly Jesus presentation where you can choose to make Jesus the leader of your life so that He can work through you to bring healing and restoration to the world.

Here is a You Tube video of this new Emergent Gospel-less Gospel presentation:

***The Last Word*** - Chris Rosebrough, the curator of the Museum of Idolatry, reviewed the Gospel-Less Gospel Presentation on the Fighting for the Faith radio program.
Click Here to Listen

The Apostolic Birdie!?!

Warning: This video is shocking, sad and EXTREMELY offensive. We are posting this here because it shows the true nature of the people promoting the Tokin' the Ghost heresy. (Remember we post this type of stuff because this is the Museum of Idolatry).

The man in the video is Brandon Barthrop and he has a "ministry" website called Red Letter Ministries that promotes getting high and whacked in the 'Holy Spirit'. Brandon has also made the rounds with John Crowder and Benjamin Dunn promoting the Tokin' heresy in churches.

This video exposes the true satanic nature of this heresy better than anything else we've witnessed.

Do you think Jesus behaved in this manner or taught his disciples to do anything even closely resembling this? Of course not, yet there are people who call themselves Christians and churches that claim to be Christian that listen to and follow this man and his teaching.

The Shack's False Godhead

The Shack is being advertised as THE book that will help you "see God as you never seen him before". (that's an understatement!)

Below is a simple graphic that shows you the unholy trinity at the heart of The Shack.

In The Shack 'god' the father is an African American WOMAN called Papa (a goddess!), 'god' the son is a plain looking Middle Eastern man with a big nose and 'god' the spirit is a small, delicate little Asian girl (another goddess!). The Shack also teaches the heresy of modalism and is chock full of other serious doctrinal errors.

Sadly, Christians are buying this book in droves and claiming that it's changed their lives or opened their mind to new ideas about God. But, this book teaches false doctrine, false theology and a false triune godhead and the author has publicly rejected the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.

This is not the one True God of the Bible. This is an idolatrous picture of God that contradicts what God has revealed about Himself. Christians should not read this book in their quest for finding spiritual truths because the false teaching is so bad and so dangerous that this book can only be classified as 'spiritual poison'.

Heed the warnings of scripture.

2Th. 2:9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

---

Further Resources

YouTube Video Exposing the False Doctrine of The Shack as it relates to the doctrine of the Trinity.

Tim Challies Review of The Shack

Lakeland Healing Revival

Beware another false "prophet" is on the loose and his name is Todd Bentley and he's in the middle of 'healing revival' in Lakeland Florida. This man is nothing more than a new TBN type false prophet and minister. He blathers on about seeing angels and seeing Jesus and receiving personal revelations directly from Jesus. This man is dangerous and deceptive. When he's done with you, your wallet will be empty and your soul will be in hell.

A "Church" That Doesn't Want to Rescue Individuals from Hell

The mission page from St. Mark's Presbyterian "church" in Newport Beach, California states:

"Our emphasis is not on converting souls to Jesus so that individuals will be rescued from hell. Our emphasis is on partnership with Jesus Christ"

Umm...since Jesus Christ said that He came to seek and save the lost. (Luke 19:10) then how on Earth can this church be in partnership with Jesus? Jesus' agenda and mission is different than theirs.

Living Life Abundantly Board Game

Here is the description of this heretical game taken directly from their website.

"This is not just another game to be placed on the shelf with all other games after playing it a few times. This game is one that families, friends, church groups or schools will play over and over for a life time! Why? Because, the more they play this game, the more they will prosper in all areas of their lives.

Living Life Abundantly is a game for families, friends and church groups or schools to:

1. Have fun interacting with each other

2. Learn how to use the laws of prosperity

3. Enhance and develop their prosperity consciousness

4. Stop expressions of lack and limitation and

5. Promotes expressions of abundance such as this: I willingly see myself as God sees me, whole, complete and perfect, lacking nothing!

To live life abundantly according to God's prosperity laws, you shall prosper in all areas of your life, experiencing a balance and harmony in areas."

HT: Tithe Stewardship & Church Tithing

Will it Preach? - A Photographic Art Exhibit

We've created our first photographic art exhibit. It looks at the messages of Joel Osteen and Paula White and takes them out of their American context and asks the question "Will It Preach?". Each photograph has either Paula's or Joel's "message artwork" super imposed over a photo from another part of the world.

Below is an example. Click Here To See The Rest of Our Exhibit.

The 'Deeds Not Creeds' Challenge - Are JW's Now Christians?

Below, we've reproduced the marketing piece the Jehovah's Witnesses put together for this year's JW District Conventions. Notice anything interesting about their messaging??

JW's are now claiming (just like every other purpose-driven/seeker-sensitive church) that Jesus will help them "improve their family life, deal with life's difficult problems, draw closer to God, oppose the devil and gain everlasting life". The JW's even have a big friendly picture of Jesus smiling at you on their flyer.

So, here's the challenge. We'd like you to answer a question. Here it is:

Since JW's are now preaching the EXACT same messages that you can hear at famous mega-churches like Saddleback, Willowcreek and Granger, shouldn't we welcome them into the 'Christian Fold' and stop treating them as cultists and embrace them as fellow Christians?

We really want to hear what you have to say on this. But,... we have one rule for those of you who want to comment... If you attend a church where the lead pastor believes in "Deeds NOT Creeds" (like Rick Warren) or your pastor openly attacks the preaching and teaching of sound doctrine (like Steven Furtick), or your church's pastor only preaches seeker-sensitive self-help sermons like the ones listed above, then you are forbidden from pointing to any doctrine or creeds as a means of distinguishing 'True Christians' from 'False Christians'. If your pastor does not value sound doctrine and creeds enough to promote them and teach them from the pulpit and you keep attending a church like that, then you haven't earned the right to use doctrine and creeds as a means of distinguishing your version of Christianity from the JW's version. In other words, we won't let you get away with being hypocritical. You can't treat doctrine and creeds with contempt one minute then use them to help you the next minute. Therefore, if you attend any church that fits the above descriptions, you will be limited to proving your points using ONLY deeds. Good luck.

Jesus Died for 'Climate Change'?

Did Jesus die on the cross to 'save' us from global warming? According to Emergent leader and neo-liberal Brian McClaren apparently he did.

Last week McLaren spoke at a homiletics festival in Tennessee (homiletics is the art of preaching) and McLaren had much to say about what topics pastors should and shouldn't be preaching about. In McLaren's view, sermons about doctrine, sin, and salvation through Jesus alone create factions and should be replaced with messages about global issues.

Here is how one paper covered the story.

Brian McLaren, an author and Christian activist who spoke Thursday, said many television and radio evangelists had delivered to their listeners the kind of fear-mongering and finger-pointing messages that promote factionalism.

In his lecture at First Baptist Church, McLaren proposed that preaching should remedy, rather than incite, controversial issues.

These include poverty and climate change, and he encouraged his audience not to shy away from such global issues.

"We can't really afford to waste too many Sundays with so much at stake," he said.

"If instead we play it safe, in a true sense we have switched sides from being part of the solution to being part of the problem."(Online Source)

Did you catch the part about wasting Sundays? Since when is preaching on a Biblical passage or Christian doctrine, or proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus for sinners a 'wasted Sunday'?

What problem does McLaren think that Jesus was solving while suffering on the cross? Since there weren't any epistles written by Ralph Nader or Al Gore we can say with confidence that Jesus' death wasn't about climate change. Therefore, that is not what our sermons should be about . Instead, the Bible tells us that the Church of Jesus Christ is supposed to preach a message of repentance from sins and belief in the gospel.

Luke 24:46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

According to the Bible, what is at stake is salvation from the eternal judgment and wrath of God.
The message that Jesus gave us to preach is more urgent, more pressing and more important than the highly dubious issue of man-made global climate change. And there is the rub. Mclaren doesn't believe the Bible is God's word nor does he believe its exclusive claims and message.

The news report was right in describing McLaren as an activist. But, his denial of the substitionary attonement, the innerancy of scripture, and his denial of hell all disqualify him from being called a 'Christian' Activist.

The False Gospel of 'Gay Affirmation'

Jesus Metropolitan Community Church in Indianapolis, Indiana has posted a bunch of controversial billboards like the one that you see on the left all over their town.

In each and every case, the billboard mis-quotes or mis-uses scripture in order to convey the message that being gay is ‘okay with Jesus’.

This is truly sad and tragic because the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus loves homosexuals. He loves them so much that he died on the cross to pay the penalty for their sins; just like he died to pay for the sins of heterosexuals.

Scripture is so clear on this. 


1 Cor. 6:9   Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Notice how diverse and inclusive this list is. It says that sexual immorality, adultery, theft, greed drunkenness AND homosexuality are sins that bar people from the Kingdom of God.

This verse nails heterosexuals and homosexuals alike.

But, Jesus loves all of us too much to leave us in our sins. So HE tenaciously fought to keep all of us from having to face his judgement by dying on the cross for all of us.

1 Cor. 15:1   Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved... 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures...

1 Pet 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

John 3:16   “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The gospel of the Christian church is not that Jesus affirms homosexuals in their sin, but rather that Jesus died to pay the penalty for the sins of all homosexuals.

This is the real good news that we should be sharing with homosexuals. These billboards present a cheap and phony gospel that cannot save a single person, straight or gay from the fires of hell.

The Christian message to homosexuals is the same as the message to heterosexuals: Repent and Believe the Gospel.