The Heretical “Hyper-Grace” Message

Michael Brown speaks with clarity in this Charisma extract concerning the ancient heresy that Jude warned about, yet is  now being re-packaged by high-profile ”charismatic ministers” who are deceivingly attempting to give it contemporary plausibility.

Some people have secretly slipped in and wormed their way into your churches. They are ungodly, “perverting the grace of our God”  into that which excuses immoral and sinful living. By doing this,  they deny Jesus Christ  our Lord and Master!    [Jude 4]

Please consider watching this video http://vimeo.com/59298991 to  hear Dr. Michael Brown as he articulates a powerful polemic against this exaggerated error and expose it as the great deception of the 21st century.

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“The biblical message of grace is wonderful, glorious and life-transforming. We can’t live without it for one second of our lives. But there is a message being preached today in the name of a new grace reformation, mixing powerful truth with dangerous error. I call it hyper-grace.

One of the foundational doctrines of the hyper-grace message is that God does not see the sins of his children, since we have already been made righteous by the blood of Jesus and since all of our sins, past, present and future, have already been forgiven.

That means that the Holy Spirit never convicts believers of sin, that believers never need to confess their sins to God, and that believers never need to repent of their sins, since God sees them as perfect in his sight.”

It is easy to see how such teaching can be dangerous, especially to a believer being tempted to compromise.

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/38297-confronting-the-error-of-hyper-grace

For further  reading on the subject:

http://www.gty.org/resources/articles/A100

http://www.reformationtheology.com/2006/03/response_to_the_free_grace_mov.php

If Anyone Destroys God’s Temple, Him God Will Destroy!

In the 1 Corinthians 3:17 context, this sober warning is God’s covenant promise  issued toward those responsible for building the church upon the historic gospel  foundation laid by the Apostle Paul. The meaning of the warning is understood by credible scholars:

>Barnes Notes: “If any man by his doctrines or precepts shall pursue such a course as tends to destroy the church, God shall severely punish him.

>Clarke’s Commentary:”If any man injure, corrupt, or destroy the Church of God by false doctrine, God will destroy him..”

>Jaimeson-Fausset-Brown:”the destroyers…assail the foundation with false teaching, and so subvert the temple itself, and shall therefore be destroyed.”

Not only are churches like Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral experiencing the fulfillment of the words of Jesus through the Apostle Paul, but  entire apostate denominations are coming under the sway of this righteous promise of God. Long having rejected the historic gospel and the authority of inscripturated revelation for nominal or cultural “christians”. These ministers and their denominations now flagrantly affirm homosexuality, lesbianism, and same-sex marriage.

The consequences of God’s righteous judgment is now coming to full fruition. To which I heartily sing the words written by John the Revelator regarding the Song of Moses and the Lamb, “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.”

For at the same time, attendance for “Word based-Christ centered-Gospel oriented” churches is on the rise.

Somebody shout!

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“An October poll from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life drew attention to the rise of the religiously unaffiliated—now 1 out of 5 adults and 1 out of 3 adults under 30. Because the survey also found a precipitous fall in Protestant affiliation—the first time it’s ever dropped below 50 percent—it looks like bad news. But the decline is almost entirely among people who had identified as Christians culturally. Even among 18- to 29-year-olds, evangelical identity and church attendance are up, according to the General Social Survey.”

http://www.christianpost.com/news/the-latest-pew-survey-christianity-losing-secularism-winning-83325/

htthttp://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htmp://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/content/pdf/121201_spot_protestantism.pdf

Denomination Refuses To Discipline Lesbian Pastor

 

An attorney says that In failing to discipline a clergywoman who “married” her lesbian partner, the Presbyterian Church USA is sending a clear message to the denomination.

Laurie McNeil, at that time a pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Newark, New Jersey, married her partner in Massachusetts before an Episcopal priest. Afterwards, charges were filed and reached the denomination’s highest court, which ruled that the facts of the case do not justify disciplinary action.

Attorney Whit Brisky of Mauck & Baker represents some of the Presbyterian churches who object to the inaction.

“The ruling of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission effectively said that there were really no rules for what Presbyterian pastors can do outside of Presbyterian worship,” he details.

“So they’re free to get married in some other church with no repercussions at all,” even though same-sex “marriage” is banned by church law, notes Brisky.

He contends this ruling sends a message to members of the denomination.

“Well, I think this certainly at the very least makes our message garbled and confused,” the attorney offers. “Or at worst, in effect, the denomination now approves of homosexual conduct and same-sex marriages.”

Brisky further suggests it also conveys the end of the line for any future litigation on the same issue.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/church/2012/11/07/lesbian-pcusa-pastor-wont-be-disciplined

Glenn Beck Defends Mormonism

Many Evangelical Christians today are advocating  that TV personality, Glen Beck, a Mormon,  is actually a closet “evangelical Christian”.

Like others who heard this report, and news that reputable evangelical Pastors were having him speak in their churches, I was hoping this to be true and waited for Beck to publicly renounce the theological heresies of Mormonism, openly profess Christ in the public domain and seal that profession by publicly entering the waters  of Christian baptism.

However, that is not to be. Reality hit this week when Beck took to the airwaves to explain the Mormon faith that  he embraces by attempting to dispel what he believes are myths often associated with Mormonism.  During this time, Beck confessed his strong commitment to Mormonism and unashamedly declared the Mormon faith  inherently  informs everything that he does in life.

So be warned saints, Glen Beck fully embraces and  publicly advocates  the “Mormon Worldview of life”  as it is defined by Joseph Smith in the book of Mormon.

Sadly, Beck concluded with this declaration, “It’s not weird to be a Mormon”.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/beck-dispels-biggest-mormon-myths-in-blazetv-special-polygamy-magic-underwear-secretive-temple-activitie

Biblically Based Confession

Русский: Исповедь. Бернардинский собор во Львове (Церковь Святого Андрея УГКЦ) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Paul Tripp explains the difference between admission and confession,and in doing so, presses christians to “dig deeper” and “confess bigger” so that grace can effect true heart-based repentance. His principles are most appropriate in their application to our relational  sins as well.

While reading this, I was reminded of  situations I have encountered where these  principles were seriously ignored and compromised, in an attempt to cover a corrupt heart. In one case, a brother was caught secretly recording a  confidential meeting in order to try to entrap me. When confronted by multiple ministers, he responded with  a shallow admission that he merely had a lapse in judgement. 

Tripp on the other hand, points us to emulate the depth and bigness of David’s heartfelt confession that brings forth redemptive turnaround in our lives. Scripture calls that the fruit of repentance.

Here is an excerpt:

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“Last week I wrote you about the subtle, yet significant, difference between the admission of wrongand true confession. Admission of wrong has two potential flaws. First, we might admit only because we were caught. And second, we might admit to only our behavior – not the heart motives behind it.

Now please, don’t mistake me. Admitting wrong and confessing behavioral action is good and necessary. Bu we need to go deeper. Our confession needs to be bigger.

Take the example of David in Psalm 51. When he prays for a pure heart and a steadfast spirit (v. 10, 11), he’s acknowledging that his struggle runs deeper than just behavior. He’s not only confessing to the physical acts of adultery and murder, but also to the reality of a heart that’s corrupt.

He’s confessing that his heart loves personal pleasure more than it loves the Lord. When he talks of God’s desire for a truthful and wise heart (v. 6), he’s confessing to a heart that has craved what was impure and that has loved what was foolish.

It’s only when you confess that your heart is corrupt that bigger things begin to happen. You turn…really turn. You don’t just turn from that specific sin pattern, but your heart turns to God in new and deeper ways.”

http://www.paultripp.com/wednesdays-word 

Brian McLaren Leads Same-Sex Ceremony

Brian McLaren is an author, speaker, pastor, and networker among innovative Christian leaders, thinkers, and activists. Brian has been active in networking and mentoring church planters and pastors. He is a popular conference speaker and a frequent guest lecturer at seminaries and denominational gatherings,nationally and internationally

His Bio is important since Christianity Today  posted the following  blog concerning Brian McLaren leading a marriage commitment ceremony absent a bride.

In fact, McLaren is simply advancing his  pro-homosexual agenda while demonstrating his wholesale apostasy from authentic Christianity.

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“Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian and a prominent Christian speaker, led a non-traditional marriage commitment ceremony this weekend, according to The New York Times.

Held at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this ceremony included “traditional Christian elements,” but no bride. And the groom—one of them—was McLaren’s son, Trevor McLaren. The Times reports that Trevor McLaren wed Owen Ryan Saturday in Washington, D.C., followed by the afternoon commitment ceremony.

Brian McLaren, who formerly was chair of the board for Sojourners, is among a minority of evangelical progressives who advocate that the church should abandon heterosexism and move toward reconciliation with homosexuals.”

 

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2012/09/brian_mclaren_l.html

http://apprising.org/2012/09/24/brian-mclaren-leads-ceremony-at-sons-same-sex-wedding/

Joel Osteen Confronted By Soledad O’Brien On CNN

If you haven’t watched this interview, you missed a great opportunity to see Joel deceptively squirm, crab crawl, slyly dodge, waffle, then bob and weave. To say that Osteen was uncomfortable is putting it mildly.

Personally, I was embarrassed and righteously infuriated to watch such ill-equipped handling of life’s hard questions from unbelievers. Joel’s anti-biblical clichés, soft shoe anecdote’s, and selective abstraction of biblical texts simply were no match for the CNN panel.

Osteen’s uncharactered ethos of “lifting up” resulted in him encountering full force “smack down”. Think that’s to harsh, watch it for yourself!

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/20/joel-osteen-explains-stance-on-homosexuality/comment-page-3/

No She Didn’t Say “Jig-A- Boo!”

All I can say is Powerful!  Profound!  Penetrating!   PHENOMENAL!

Tim Challies called this “Gospel Thunder!”

I call it a much-needed rebuke of biblical proportion!

Jackie Hill delivers her thundering  ”Jig-A-Boo” poem unflinchingly  in front of an audience of nearly 3,000 people.

I implore you to listen to her “gospelized rebuke” and then have your pastor do the same.

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Rob Bell Affirms Practicing Homosexuals As Authentic Christians

During a Livestream Q/A, Rob Bell is asked to comment on the negativity  christians demonstrate  toward the gay community. Bell’s answer is simply predictable.

Below is an excerpt of the Q/A posted over at  Apprising Ministries.  But even better,  click on the Apprising site below and scroll down to the video so you can  to actually watch  Rob Bell respond to the question in his own words. His body language is quite interesting. 

Please notice Bell never compassionately shares the gospel in any shape,form or fashion. He remains absolutely silent about Christ salvific work that provides grace based repentance unto redemptive life  transformation. 

Nope, Ole Bell just can’t manage to articulate anything of biblical revelation as the answer to  fallen man’s human condition.

To that I say,”Anathema!”

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Man in audience: On a more serious note. You’re here in West Hollywood.

Bell: Yes.

Man: [Kind of] the epicenter center of the gay community in southern California.

Bell: Yes. Yeah.

Man: A lot of the words that Christians have for us have been very negative.

Bell: Yeah.

Man: What do you think about that?

Bell: Yeah. Thank you for asking that. We’re here in West Hollywood, epicenter of a lot of gay culture and you’re asking—some people are gay (pause) and you’re our brothers and you’re our sisters, and we love you.

We love you. (audience applauds) And it’s really, really, really, important that we’re clear. I had a good friend—when I was in my teens—who was gay. And hadn’t told anybody. An’ I was the first person he told.

And (pause) probably the most loving, generous, holy—one of the most—he was extraordinary, is extraordinary. But at an early age I was like, some people are gay; an’ God loves them just like God loves me.

And they’re passionate disciples of Jesus, just like I’m trying to be. So, let’s all get together and try to do something about the truly big problems in our world; that I believe Jesus would us to band together, and tackle together.

So there you go.

http://apprising.org/2012/07/26/rob-bell-comes-out-gay-affirming/

Episcopal Denomination Is Anathema!

“Bishops can begin using “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant” on December 2, when same-sex couples can exchange vows and rings. Each bishop will decide whether to allow the rite within each local diocese, and a conscience clause bars penalties for bishops who oppose the rite.

“… Proponents offered stories of gay friends who would benefit from the rites, while opponents suggested the denomination was contradicting its own doctrine.”

“…the Episcopal Church approved new anti-discrimination language for transgendered clergy candidates and church members. Some Episcopal dioceses already ordain transgendered people or elect them to positions of parish leadership.”

“By adding “gender identity and expression” to its nondiscrimination canons, those who are transgendered shall not “be denied rights, status, or access to an equal place in the life, worship, and governance of this church.”

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/julyweb-only/episcopal-church-approves-same-sex-blessing-rites.html