Is the Jehovah’s Witness religion Christian?
by

Matt Slick

The answer to the question is, “No. It is not Christian.” Like all non-Christian cults, the Jehovah’s Witness organization distorts the essential doctrines of Christianity. It denies the deity of Christ, His physical resurrection, and salvation by grace.  This alone makes it non-Christian.  To support its erring doctrines, the Watchtower organization (which is the author and teacher of all official Jehovah’s Witness theology), has even altered the Bible to make it agree with its changing and non-Christian teachings.

Typical with cults that use the Bible to support its position is a host of interpretive errors:

•Taking verses out of their immediate context.
•Refusing to read verses in the entire biblical context.
•Inserting their theological presuppositions into the text.
•Altering the Biblical text to suit their needs.
•Latching onto one verse to interpret a host of others.
•Changing the meanings of words.
•Proclaiming some passages to be figurative when they contradict their doctrines.
•Adding to the Word of God.

The Jehovah’s Witness organization requires of its members regular weekly attendance at their “Bible Study” meetings where they are repeatedly indoctrinated with anti-Christian teachings. This is done by reading the Watchtower magazine, following along with what it says, reading the questions it asks, and reciting the answers it gives.  In other words, the Watchtower Organization carefully trains its members to let the Organization do their thinking for them.

The Witnesses are told they will be persecuted when they go door to door teaching their doctrines.  They are further told that this is simply the enemy fighting against God’s organization because they are in “the truth.”  So, when someone disagrees with them, they are conditioned to reflect on what the Watchtower has told them.  They then feel confirmed in being in God’s true organization on earth (like all cults claim).  They are strongly encouraged to have friends and acquaintances that are only JW’s, thereby keeping outside examination to a minimum. They are told to shun those who leave their group, for in this way there is no way to see why someone has left and no way to find out that they are in error from those who have found the truth in Christ. They are conditioned to shy away from any real biblically knowledgeable person.  An example of this is frequently found on the Internet.  I was once banned from a Jehovah’s Witness chat room after I not only answered their objections to the Trinity and deity of Christ, but challenged them in return. Subsequently, my name was passed around to all other Jehovah’s Witness rooms where I was banned from them as well.  This is a frequent occurrence on the Internet where the Jehovah’s Witnesses are alive and well.  It is obvious that critical examination of their doctrines is not encouraged by the Watchtower Organization.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses consider themselves to be Christians because they believe they are serving the true and living God.  Like many cults, they think they are the only true church on earth.  Yet, they deny the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the personhood of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ physical resurrection, and salvation by grace through faith.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses are discouraged from looking into Jehovah’s Witness history or old Watchtower literature which is replete with contradictions, altered doctrines, and false prophecies.  Instead, they are indoctrinated repeatedly against basic Christian doctrines (Trinity, deity of Christ, etc.) and into the notion that they alone are the true servants of God and that all others are either in “Christendom” or simply unbelievers.

Primarily, the Jehovah’s Witness organization is a mind-control organization that uses its people to pass out literature and send in “donations” to the headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.

“Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible.”

The Watchtower organization of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is a non-Christian organization that uses its people to promulgate false doctrines, and collects “contributions” for distribution of a multitudinous amount of literature, and expand its grip into the lives of its members and their families.

It is a non-Christian cult.

—www.carm.org

 PRESS RELEASE

(Photo of Mike Murdock’s Mansion and Compound)

Mike Murdock: Born on April 18, 1946 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, is a televangelist and pastor of  The Wisdom Center ministry based in Fort Worth, Texas.

Murdock has slipped in and out of the public’s attention. He made a splash in the early 1980s on The PTL Club television program with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Murdock, untouched by PTL’s collapse in scandal, developed his own television ministry. Today, he still frequents the programs of more-successful televangelists, such as faith healer Benny Hinn.

As of 04/11/2011, two of Murdock’s books Wisdom for Crisis Times and 7 Laws You Must Honor to Have Uncommon Success (Discover the biblical keys for unlocking the supernatural favor of God in your life. Get ready to become an uncommon achiever!), were available on Benny Hinn’s web site.

The following is an excerpt from a 2003 article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram by Darren Barbee. The article has been reprinted in it’s entirety on the Trinity Foundation web site.

President and director of the Mike Murdock Evangelistic Association, has had several luxury vehicles at his disposal. Some belong to him, and some are owned by the ministry. The BMW, worth at least $69,000, was a gift, Murdock says, while the ministry bought the Jaguar. He says he got an idea that allowed him to buy the Cessna Citation 500, worth $300,000 to $500,000. Federal Aviation Administration documents show that the jet belongs to the ministry.

Murdock likes to describe himself as a “Wal-Mart guy.” But a $25,000 Rolex adorns his wrist. And he can shoot hoops on the “NBA-style” basketball court at his estate or take notes with a $4,500 fountain pen.

 Details of Murdock’s lifestyle were pieced together from documents obtained by the Trinity Foundation, a televangelist watchdog group in Dallas; Denton County property-appraisal records; a report of a burglary at his home; interviews; and excerpts from his broadcasts and books. They show a man living a Hollywood lifestyle.

Murdock says he drives a BMW 745, which typically sells for $69,000 to $75,000. He used to prefer driving a Porsche to the ministry. He has had at his disposal a ministry Corvette, Jaguar and Mercedes, Lincoln Continentals and, since August, a corporate jet valued at $300,000 to $500,000.

Murdock lives in a Spanish-style, 3,177-square-foot adobe house that he calls Hacienda de Paz – or “House of Peace.” He, not the ministry, owns it. Also on the grounds is a 1,660-square-foot building whose use is unclear. The 6.8-acre estate, east of Argyle, was valued at $482,027 by the Denton Central Appraisal District in 2002, documents show.

Few get a good view of the estate. It is protected by a black wrought-iron fence. The gates are monogrammed with two M’s – his initials. On the well-kept grounds, a path winds near a tennis court and two of at least four gazebos on the property. At various times, Murdock has had a camel, an antelope, a donkey, ducks, geese, a lion and dogs. Near one edge of his property, he once kept llamas in a paddock. He has also had koi and catfish at the estate. He had 24 speakers wired in trees so he could hear gospel music everywhere on the grounds, he said during a 1998 broadcast.

Inside his home, Murdock has had several fish tanks, including a large saltwater aquarium. In the gym, Murdock can work out with his personal trainer. He can relax in front of his home theater or in a Jacuzzi. And he can enjoy the fountains in his pool and living room.

Murdock once kept coin and jewelry collections valued at $125,000. He reported the information to the Denton County Sheriff’s Department after a theft. Sheriff’s spokesman Kevin Patton said investigators dropped the case because Murdock would not list what had been stolen.

Murdock has a second Rolex watch, besides the $25,000 one he often wears, he said during an appearance Oct. 19 in Grapevine. He didn’t state its value.                 

Murdock has said he was given the watches, expensive suits, several Chevrolet Corvettes, the BMW and a rare Vetta Ventura sports car – one of 19 made.

From 1993 to 2000, IRS records show his compensation package averaged $241,685 a year, or about 9 percent of the $21,040,299 the ministry took in during that period.

And by way of comparison

From 1997 to 1999, he drew from a $138,000 annual expense account, although records show that the ministry directly paid some of his expenses, including some travel.

By comparison, in 2000, the combined expense accounts for the chief executive officers or directors of the five largest Christian nonprofit organizations – who oversaw a collective $1.5 billion in revenue – was $25,671.

In 2000, Millard Fuller, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity, oversaw an organization with $165 million in revenue and was paid $79,800 – $76,000 in salary and $3,800 in contributions to a benefit plan.

If he had taken home the same percentage of revenue that Murdock did that year, Fuller would have earned an extra $10 million.

—www.inplainsite.org

Administrator’s Comment:  Well, Mike, is this the lifestyle of the one you claim to follow?  What would Jesus do? How about selling some of your “stuff” and giving more money to the poor or how about building a hospital?  Oops, someone else already tried that, sorry.

Topic:

The Mormon teaching is that the “stick of Joseph” is the Book of Mormon  according to

Ezekiel 37:16-17

Dear Mormon Friend:

Let me first start with the Scripture before I reply to what you have been telling me is taught by the Mormon church regarding this proof text for the validity of the Book of Mormon.

Ezekiel 37:16-17, ”Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘For Judah, and the people of Israel associated with him’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated  with him.’  And join them one to another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand.”

 You have been arguing that the ancient prophets wrote on papyrus, leather, or other writing material, and wound this material on a piece of wood or stick. You said that these sticks are also known as scrolls or books.  According to Ezekiel 37:16-17, the scriptures are speaking of the Bible (Judah) and the Book of Mormon (Joseph)—-two “sticks.”  The two records have now been joined togetherand they are both accepted as Scripture.

I have seriously considered you argument, which has prompted questions that I have regarding this teaching and the supposed meaning of Ezekiel 37.  Can I outline what I see from this portion of Scripture and also ask you some questions?

As I have read through the entire chapter 37 of Ezekiel, it seems that it is impossible that these verses can mean what you say it does.  Scripture always interprets Scripture.  So using this principle I cannot agree with your interpretation of this passage.  In fact verse 22, clearly identifies the “sticks.” 

Ezekiel 37:22, “And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.  And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.”

Obviously, the “two sticks” mentioned in the above Scripture cannot be the Bible and the Book of Mormon.  This passage is talking about two nations and two kingdoms.

 After Solomon died the nation of Israel split.  The Southern Kingdom was known as Judah and the Northern Kingdom was known as Israel or sometimes Ephriam. 

 Israel was taken into captivity by Assyria and Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon. 

Ezekiel is clearly showing that the uniting of the “sticks” is picturing the restoration and reuniting of these two nations.  God’s people are pictured as one nation living in the land God promised as an Everlasting Covenant.  They had backslide from God and they were dispersed and allowed to undergo punishment in order to cure them of their backslidding and bring them to a point were God would “be their God.” 

Please consider the following Scriptures:

Ezekiel 11: 19-20, “And I  will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezekiel 14:11, “…that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves anymore with all their trangressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 36: 28, “You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Eziekiel 37:27, “My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Here are some of my questions:

• Wasn’t the Book of Mormon written on golden plates and not on papyrus that could be wound around a stick?
• Please read Ezekiel 37: 22 and then please tell me what this verse says about the true idenity of the two sticks?
• Can you see and are you willing to admit after reading Ezekiel 37:22 that the Mormon church has definately read their own interpretion into this passage ?
•  Can you see that the Mormon church’s explanation is not what the Scripture says when taken in context and compared with other Scriptures? 

Thank you, dear friend, for allowing me to respond to your belief in the Mormon teachings that you have expressed to me.  I pray that you will consider the Scriptures that have been given in this short reply to your letter. 

Sincerely,

Sandy

—All Scripture references were quoted from the ESV translation of the Bible

I have received many comments from readers of this blog regarding Joseph Prince and his teachings. For the most part, I have been told that I shouldn’t be “picking” on Prince because his teaching has really “helped” various people who have problems in their lives. 

Since when does subjective feelings determine Truth?  

Truth isn’t determinded by how you or I “feel” about a person or his teaching. Our guideline is the Word of God.  That is stable and doesn’t change.  Your feelings and mine are subject to change. 

In my previous blog, I outlined some of his teachings that are a deviation from biblical christianity regarding ”Effortless Grace.” 

I decided to contact the Christian Research Institute and find out what their biblical opinion is of Joseph Prince’s teaching. Please note that their opinion is based on direct quotes from Prince’s own books and his own words.  Prince is clearly in the  Word of Faith Movement and teaches aberrant doctrine.  Below is their reply:

Dear Sandra,

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and thank you for contacting the Christian Research Institute!

Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church located in central Singapore. After taking over as the senior pastor in 1990 he has grown the church from 150 to 3,000 members by 1997 and 16,000 members presently (2008). [1]

Although Prince and his church affirm essential doctrine such as the Trinity, Christ’s deity and salvation by grace through faith[2], there appears to be a big emphasis in his ministry on healing and prosperity.

The statement of faith for New Creation Church states, “We believe that God wants to transform, heal, and prosper us, so that we can live blessed and victorious lives that will impact and help others”[3] The church’s history page moreover purports that once God started to multiply the church to 16,000 that “the people began to experience breakthroughs in the area of finances. Miraculous healings of cancers, tumours (sic), kidney conditions, Aids, and much more took place.”[4]

The belief in power of your words is evidenced in the resource section for Prince’s Ministry in that it has selected scripture passages under the heading of “Confess the Word” for Faith[5], Favour (sic)[6], Prosperity and Provision[7], Health and Healing[8], and Protection.[9] Prince’s book entitled Your Miracle is In Your Mouth purports “faith will spring up in your heart to speak His Word and receive your miracle.”[10] In what is considered to be one of his classic sermons from 2005, Prince declared:

You have double anointing, double speaking power, Christian business man you have an edge over the sinners out there. Amen. You know what, they can depend on all their doings and God says doings count for nothing. And God says to you, you have an edge, your edge is your mouth. You are righteous by faith, so speak. God’s favor is all over my business. God’s favor is all over my work. God’s favor is all over me, whatever I do prospers. Amen, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Whatever I do prospers. I prosper in my work. Hallelujah. I call in the sales in Jesus name. Amen. I call in the sales in Jesus name. Amen. We have more than enough in Jesus. Amen. I mean there was a time I mean I call in the finances and I would call and I thought calling in 1000 dollars was big back then. You know we’ve come some ways. We’re calling it in Jesus name. Amen. That’s what we do. I speak prosperity into your life.[11]

Prince’s sermon CD’s entitled “God’s Guarantee For Your Prosperity” claims, “The more you feed on His word, the more you will experience the blessedness of this truth and expect your health, finances, marriage and all that you do to prosper, [12] and the promotional statement for a sermon CD entitled, “The Link Between Righteousness and Health” reads, “Discover how your position as the righteousness of God in Christ actually affects your healing if you are sick, and your everyday health. Our heavenly Father didn’t provide us with the everlasting righteousness and place His Spirit within us for nothing—He meant for us to be protected and walking effortlessly in divine health![13]

Prince’s message that believers can speak health and prosperity into their own life recapitulates the same aberrant doctrines propagated by the Word of Faith movement. To this end, we believe the following resources will be helpful:

CP1100 – What’s Wrong with the “Word-Faith” Movement?

CP1102 – Can We Have Whatever We Say?

CP1104 – Does God Always Heal?

JAW455 – Christianity Still In Crisis: A Word of Faith Update

JAW755-1 – What’s Wrong With the Faith Movement (Part 1): E. W. Kenyon and the Twelve Apostles of Another Gospel

JAW755-2 – What’s Wrong With the Faith Movement (Part 2): The Teachings of Kenneth Copeland

DF030 – The Misunderstanding of Faith

DH018 – Healing: Does God Always Heal?

DH022 – Is There Healing In This Application?

DP076 – Faith in Faith or Faith in God?

JAT260 – Answering Questions about Televangelists

We also recommend the following books from our store:

Christianity in Crisis 21st Century
B995/$22.99

Our redesigned Web site is continually being updated. If you cannot locate a document through our search engine, you may be able to locate it by accessing www.equip.org/categories and www.equip.org/perspectives.

The above mentioned items are available for purchase through our Web site. You can also order via phone at 1-888-700-0274. To order by mail, please send in payment along with a written request for the book. CRI accepts credit cards, checks, money orders, and cash. Please also include with each purchase an additional $4.99 for shipping and handling.

Canadian residents please call 1-800-665-5851 or mail payments to: CRI Canada, 56051 Airways PO, Calgary, AB T2E 8K5

This response was made possible by the sacrificial gifts and prayers of people who have been helped by the ministry of the Christian Research Institute. We ask that you prayerfully consider sending a donation, which will allow CRI to pass life-changing resources along to someone else, giving you the direct opportunity to touch a life for Christ.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you always!

In Christ,

Warren Nozaki
Research Consultant
Christian Research Institute

——————————————————————————

1.        New Creation Church, About Us, History (http://www.newcreation.org.sg/aboutus/history/history.htm). All Web address endnotes accessed on June 17, 2008.

2.        Joseph Prince Ministries, About Us, We Believe (http://www.josephprince.org/aboutus/webelieve/webelieve.htm)  and New Creation Church About Us, We Believe (http://www.newcreation.org.sg/aboutus/we_believe/webelieve.htm)

3.        Ibid.

4.        New Creation Church, About Us, History (http://www.newcreation.org.sg/aboutus/history/history.htm).

5.        Joseph Prince Ministries, Resources, Faith (http://www.josephprince.org/resources/confesstheword/faith.htm).

6.        Ibid, Favour, (http://www.josephprince.org/resources/confesstheword/favour.htm

7.        Ibid. Prosperity and Provision  (http://www.josephprince.org/resources/confesstheword/prosperity_provision.htm

8.        Ibid. Health and Healing (http://www.josephprince.org/resources/confesstheword/healthhealing.htm

9.        Ibid. Protection (http://www.josephprince.org/resources/confesstheword/protection.htm

10.     Joseph Prince Ministires, US/Canada Online Store, Books, Your Miracle Is In your Mouth (https://www.josephprince.org/onlinestore/US/pc-1187-84-your-miracle-is-in-your-mouth.aspx

11.     Joseph Prince, Christian Television Network, November 18, 2009.

12.     Ibid. Sermons CD’s God’s Guarantee for Your Prosperity (https://www.josephprince.org/onlinestore/US/pc-1349-93-0047-gods-guarantee-for-your-prosperity.aspx).

13.     Ibid. Sermons, CD’s The Link Between Righteousness and Health  (https://www.josephprince.org/onlinestore/US/pc-1327-93-0029-the-link-between-righteousness-and-health.aspx).

One of the central tenets of Christianity is that creation requires a Creator.  Declared biblical truth revolves around the fact that the world and mankind were both created by God, are overseen by Him and will one day be restored by Him in the form of a “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:1-3)

In spite of that, there are those who believe that man created himself.  Of these, one of the most notorious of late, is Klaas Hendrikse, a Dutch pastor who can only be called an atheist.  He proclaims that God is not a real being. . . that what we call God was essentially invented over the years by imaginative human beings.

As reported by BBC New Europe August 5th of this year, “The Rev. Klaas Hendrikse can offer his congregation little hope of life after death, and he’s not the sort of man to sugar the pill.”

“An imposing figure in black robes and white clerical collar, Mr. Hendrikse presides over the Sunday service at the Exodus Church in Gorinchem, cental Holland.

“It is part of the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), and the service is conventional enough, with hymns, readings from the Bible, and the Lord’s Prayer.  But the message from Mr. Hendrikse’s sermon seems bleak—’Make the most of life on earth, because it will probably be the only one you get.’

“‘Personally I have no talent for believing in life after death,’ Mr. Hendrikse says.  ‘No, for me our life, our task, is before death.’

“Nor does Klaas Hendrikse believe that God exists at all as a supernatural thing.

” ‘ When it happens, it happens down to earth, between you and me, between people, that’s where it can happen.  God is not a being at all. . . it’s a word for experience, or human experience.’

“Mr. Hendrikse describes the Bible’s account of Jesus’ life as a mythological story about a man who may never have existed, even if it is a valuable source of wisdom about how to lead a good life.

“His book, Believing in a Non-Existent God, led to calls from more traditionalist Christians for him to be removed.  However, a special church meeting decided his views were too widely shared among church thinkers for him to be singled out.”

This last statement is a shocking reminder of where humanity is headed today.  In a Europe whose Christian population often comes in at less than five to fifteen percent of the population, we now discover that even that small percentage is comprised of congregrants who don’t believe in God’s real existence!

The BBC report continues:

“A Study by the Free University of Amsterdam found that one-in-six clergy in the PKN and six other smaller denominations was either agnostic or atheist.

“Henrikse stated, ‘You don’t have to believe that Jesus was physically resurrected.’

“The Rev. Kristen Slettenaar, Exodus Church’s regular priest, also rejects the idea —widely considered central to Christianity—that Jesus was divine as well as human.

“I think  ’Son of God’ is a kind of title,’ she says.  ‘I don’t think he was a god or a half god.  I think he was a man, but he was a special man because he was very good in living from out of love, from out of the spirit of God he found inside himself.’

“Mrs. Slettenaar acknowledges that she’s changing what the Church has said, but, she  insists, not the ‘real meaning of Christianity.’

“She says that there ‘is not only one answer’ and complains that ‘a lot of traditional beliefs are outside people and have grown into rigid things that you can’t touch any more.’ “

Paul’s final epistle contains a prophecy that cuts across the Church Age like a knife.  Originally addressed to the young preacher, Timothy, its poignant words speak to our present world with profound eloquence:

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

“Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

“For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” 

 (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

Klaas Hendrikse, take heed of these words.  It’s not too late to repent, and return to the sound doctrine of the Apostles.  God exists, and Jesus is coming to judge the world.

—Gary Stearman, Prophecy in the News

On January 1, 1990,  Hinn attempted to delude devotees into believing that God spoke to him and revealed the fate of Castro in Cuba and homosexuals in America:  “The Spirit tells me Fidel Castro will die in the 90′s.”  Not only so, asserted Hinn, but “he will not stay in power.”   (As of this writing [2009] Fidel is alive and his repressive regime continues unabated.)  Regarding the homosexual community in America, Hinn alleged the Almighty revealed to him both the timing and the means of their demise.  Said Hinn, “The Lord also tells me to tell you in the mid-90′s, about ’94, ’95, no later than that, God will destroy the homosexual community of America.  But He will not destroy it with what many minds have thought Him to be [sic].  He will destroy it with fire.”

In 1993, Hinn pointificated that because Jesus promised that He would return within a generation of Israel’s restoration in 1948 and because a generation was “51.4″ years—six years remained before Christ would come back to rapture His saints.  Seven years later, on March 29, 2000, Hinn predicted Jesus would “appear physically in one of our crusades in the next few months.”  According to Hinn, the Lord had spoken audibly to the now-deceased Ruth Heflin, saying, “Tell Benny I’m going to appear physically on the platform in his meeting.”  A month later Hinn reiterated his assertion that Jesus was going to make physical appearances prior to His second coming.  Said Hinn, “I’m prophesying this, ‘Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is about to appear physically in some churches and some meetings and to many of  His people for one reason: to tell you He’s about to show up.’”

What is particularly noteworthy about this prophecy is that Hinn here is prophesying that “Jesus God’s Son, is about to appear physically in meetings” and that this supernatural event was to take place in Nairobi, Kenya.

I’m careful in how I am saying it now because I know that people in Kenya are listening.  I know deep in my soul something supernatural is going to happen in Nairobi, Kenya.  I feel that I may very well come back—and you  [Paul] and Jan are coming; Paul and Jan are coming to Nairobi with me—but Paul, we may very well come back with footageof Jesus on the platform. 

  —Benny Hinn, Praise the Lord; Praise-a-Thon, TBN, 2 April 2000.

Why is this worthy of particular note?  Because scarcely weeks before Hinn’s prophecy, a Florida newspaper drew attention to New Age guru Benjamin Creme’s prediction that the second coming of Christ had taken place in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1988.   Florida Today reported that in a photograph utilized  by Creme , “a dark-skinned, heavily bearded man in a white head dress and white robe seems to float above the crow of worshippers” at a healing service in Nairobi.  Florida Today not only noted the mass healings that allegedly took place but reported that even though Christians present “firmly believe that Jesus Christ appeared to them that day,”  Creme held that Maitreya—-the fifth and final incarnation of Budda—-had materialized.

In any case, another seven years have come and gone since the prophet Hinn predicted that Jesus would appear physically in churches and crusades.  As 2008 fades (it’s now 2011) into history, his prophecy remains unfulfilled.  As the apostle Peter wrote two thousand years ago, “[Jesus]  must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything.”  (Acts 3:21).

As the Master Teacher tarries in heaven, misguided teachers continue to proliferate on earth.

—Hank Hangraaff

Christianity in Crisis 21st Century

Administator’s Note:

Jesus Christ is proported to have appeared on the wall in Benny Hinn’s Orlando Church in 1983.  The video below is a clip of the actual appearance of Jesus.  Tell me what you think?

Deutronomy 18: 20-22 “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.  And  if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be aftraid of him.” (NKJV)

Entering the local Koorong Christian bookstore yesterday, I immediately noticed a book with an attractive looking young Asian man on the cover. The picture was of Joseph Prince, the title of the book, “Destined to Reign”, and the subtitle went as follows: “The secret to effortless success, wholeness and victorious living “The secret to effortless success, wholeness .”

Wow!  Effortless Success! Amazing! And this young man can teach me the secret to this! Folks, there’s one born every minute. Even the front cover of this book should tell you that something is wrong.

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 4 the following, and I used it for the biblical basis of why I would take the time to write an article like this:

“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”  (2 Timothy 4:1-5) (NKJV)

The apostle Paul tells us here to convince, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. So by the grace of God we will do that.

Now, Joseph Prince uses the writings of the apostle Paul, in particular verses like Romans 5:17 and other verses about God’s mercy and grace to establish his position. If Joseph Prince and his followers wish to quote the apostle Paul as a source of true inspiration, they should be willing to listen to everything he said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and not just construct something pleasing to the ear out of selected portions of the Scripture. If Prince is a lover of truth, he has to deal with all the New Testament Scriptures and not just some favorite ones.

The warning here is a prophecy given by God. It says that the time will come when God’s people will  begin to heap for themselves teachers  who will speak to them according to their desires, according to what their itching ears want to hear. Now I don’t know about you, but the idea of “effortless success”  kind of appeals to me. And before I learned to love righteousness and hate wickedness, the idea of unconditional forgiveness and acceptance from God while I serve my own desires was also kind of appealing. It was something I could believe in, because I wanted to, and so did many of the people I knew. If you read my testimony, you will know that I thought I was a Christian because I believed certain doctrines about God’s forgiveness being available to me through the cross of Christ – and I thought I could live for myself while still receiving these benefits. The idea of needing to REPENT of sin seemed way to narrow for us. We would have called it “legalistic”.

If you and I can have “effortless success”, then why did Jesus Christ make the following statement?

Luke 13:24:  “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to“. (NIV). In the New King James: the“Strive to enter through  the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will anseek to enter d will not be able.”

Jesus, if I can have “effortless success”( Joseph Prince tells me in a top selling book in a respected Christian bookstore and around the world) then why do you tell me to “make every effort” to enter salvation, or even worse, to “strive”?

And Jesus, if you were so keen to do away with the moral requirements of the law, why did you seem to make it even tougher when you said:

Mat 5:27  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.’

Mat 5:28  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Mat 5:29  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Mat 5:30  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Jesus, is that teaching really for us today, or were you just being a bit tough on the Jewish people of the time because they were under the law anyway, and you wanted to rub it in until your servant Paul could come and change the message for you?

There are hundreds of passages which don’t fit in nicely with the idea of effortless success or salvation without repentance, but we live in a biblically illiterate age, where church people are too busy pursuing wealth and material success to have time to study the Bible. [emphasis mine]  So for this reason, people flock to charismatic pastors like Joseph Prince whose theological education is limited to get their feel good message for the week to keep them motivated and upbeat about the week ahead. I understand that, but I see it as idolatrous nonetheless. We MUST study God’s Word for ourselves at some stage in our lives, and heavily, if we are going to avoid being pulled into the Last Day’s Deception which the Bible promises us and which in fact seems to be upon us now also in the charismatic, full gospel church scene.

I first heard about Joseph Prince from my pastor at the time on the Gold Coast who heard him speak at a Hillsong Conference. This pastor told me he considered Joseph Prince to be a false teacher, that he teaches salvation without the need for repentance or godly living, and that to preach the Ten Commandments at all makes you a “preacher of death”. Hearing this report made me lose more respect for Brian Houston, the leader of the Hillsong Megachurch. For you see, Brian Houston must be very appreciative of the teachings of Joseph Prince. This is evidenced firstly by the repeated invitations to minister at the huge Hillsong Conferences, and secondly by the glowing endorsement Houston wrote on the back of the book I just referred to. But rather than focus at this stage on names, I would like to look at the actual ideas that Joseph Prince is promoting, and compare them with Scripture. In the end it will be for my readers to decide which doctrine they will believe, and which doctrine conforms most to the spirit and intent of the Scriptures as they are written.

I hope to write more on this subject later and soon, because the situation can’t be properly addressed in a short blog post like this one. But it should be addressed as it relates to the very core of what our faith is about, and the issue of what God requires for those who wish to be reconciled to Him and saved. And because there is a real dearth of courageous pastors in the Pentecostal movement who are willing to rebuke false teachers, I, even I, will have a go. If the Lord should reveal further truth to myself or others in this process, may His Name be praised. We need a love of the truth to even make it into Christ’s Eternal Kingdom these days. The love of the truth is going to cost us something. Its NOT going to be effortless. Yes, Christ’s grace DOES empower us in the fight, and without Christ’s grace we would be utterly inadequate. It is to the true grace of God I look in order to be saved in these last days.

Let us remember the words of Jesus Christ:

Matthew 7:21  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven”.

Matthew 7:22 “ Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?”

Matthew 7:23  “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you;’ depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

—-Mike Fackerell

www.christian-faith.com

]]> http://wheresgodinallofthis.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/0005mike-are-all-forms-of-occultism-ungodly/ Sun, 25 Sep 2011 03:16:54 +0000 sandyvanasch http://wheresgodinallofthis.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/0005mike-are-all-forms-of-occultism-ungodly/  

 A few weeks ago, I posted an article on what the Bible has to say regarding horoscopes.  Since then, I’ve become more aware that several Christians I’m acquainted with seem to be depending upon what their daily horoscope says.

They take in a daily dose, as their “sign” and guide, for making many of life’s decisions.

Some of those decisions concern everything from what kind of clothes and jewelry to wear, our emotions and feelings, our moods, acting on hopes and dreams, how to go about dating, what to look for in a marriage partner.  Even things like how to start a new business.  It’s enough to give you vertigo.  But, I already have that and can’t seem to get rid of it.

The old saying that even a broken clock can be correct twice a day comes to mind.

While it all sounds so obviously out there looking at it from a Biblical perspective, I suppose I can somewhat understand why non-Christians—those without Christ and lacking any true current and future hope—might look to horoscopes for their guidance.  But Christians ( those claiming to truly be followers of Jesus) that I can not understand.

For those claiming to believe the Bible and following Jesus read these Scriptures: Leviticus 19:31; 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:11; 1 Samuel 28:7 and Isaiah 19:3.  Come to understand through reading them, how God not only hates the occult and a person’s involvement with it, but how His judgment rests upon all those who participate in the various forms of occultism.

Today, countless people, even Christians, seek to know the future, through reading newspapers and magazines which carry horoscope columns.  Theaters show the latest psychic thriller.  Television networks advertise psychic hotlines. Bus stop benches post ads for palm readers.  Magazine racks beside grocery store checkout counters offer paperback books on astrology, numerology, and other occult subjects.  Today’s technology offers occultism on the internet, twitter, facebook—you name it.   The occult in all of it’s forms has permeated every sector of our society.

To many, this may sound like sheer, silliness.  It may even appear to be nothing more than harmless fun.  After all, what’s so bad about reading your daily horoscope?  But listen-up—this is enemy territory!  It is anything but silliness or harmless fun.  Like the wood and stone idols of Ekron, these present-day seers and sayers are nothing but demonic substitutes for placing our trust in the true and living God.

God is displeased with any occult involvement.  No matter what the motive, no matter how great the need, dabbling with the occult is sin.  God’s Word is crystal clear on this subject.  All the way back in the book of Leviticus, God gives His people this direct command:  “Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them.  I am the Lord your God.” (NIV)  (Leviticus 19:31).  Beyond that, God is dishonored by any specific pursuit of the future that does not find its source in Him and His Word.  Most people who begin dabbling in astrology, fortune-telling, or Ouija boards don’t take it all that seriously.  Astrology, for example, has a captivating appeal.  Most do it for fun or out of curiosity.

But these seemingly simple, harmless-looking games begin a process that many cannot handle and they open doors that should remain closed and locked.  Once unlocked and opened, it’s only a matter of time before the demonic forces of darkness begin slowly sucking them in and they soon find themselves ensnared.

God is delighted, however, when we fully acknowledge and place our trust in Him alone.  The Lord strengthens those who place their faith and trust in Him.

If we are not grounded in the Word of God, and seeking Him daily as our source of strength, knowledge and future guidance, we too, can easily fall prey to the lure of the occult.

Learn a lasting lesson from Elijah.  As you stand strong for the truth, watch out for the enemy.  He not only plays dirty but he plays for keeps.  And he’s playing for your very soul.  Don’t open yourself up to the demonic activity of the occult, open yourself up to Godly activity of Christ.

—Mike Connolly (Guest Contributor)

Many people are eager to embrace the increasing strange phenomenon that they see at work in the world today. Some believe that alien (nephilim) entities are already living among us because they have been conducting a special breeding program to “create the perfect human.”  Their goal is to bring us into the next stage of our evolution (claimed by a former abductee). 

The New Age Movement is deeply involved in the Alien phenomenon and refer to them as “Ascended Masters”  who are here to bring us into “Christ Consciousness.”

We are in the last days before the coming of Christ and the end of this age.  There is increasingly strange phenomenon occuring worldwide.  Christians need to be aware of this important information.  These events will usher in the “great deception” that will take the world by storm. It’s coming. Be prepared by watching these two videos.

Can you anwer those who say that the earth is being visited by space aliens?  What about time travel? What about different dimensions of time?  How does this fit with what the Bible teaches?  Are we to expect these phenomenon? Are they from God or Satan? Are aliens visiting earth from another solar system? What about animal mutilations and human abductions?

2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.  Let no one deceive you in any way.  For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.  Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.  Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.  And then, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing , because they refused to love the truth, and so be saved.  Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”  (ESV)

I was shocked when I found out who the biggest failure in the Bible actually is. . . The biggest one is God. . .I mean, He lost His top-ranking, most anointed angel; the first man He ever created; the first woman He ever created; the whole earth and all the fullness therein; a third of the angels, at least—that’s a big loss, man. . . Now, the reason you don’t think of God as a failure is He never said He’s a  failure.  And you’re not a failure till you say you’re one.                     —-Kenneth Copeland

Not only does Copeland espouse concepts common to cultists, but he often throws around reckless remarks that make even the deviant doctrine of the cults seem tame by comparison.  Consider for a moment the striking similarity between Copeland’s assertion that “Adam in the Garden of Eden, was God manifested in the flesh” and Mormon prophet Brigham Young’s teaching that “Adam is our father and our God.”

Or compare Copeland’s teaching that God is six feet two inches to six feet three inches tall, weights around two hundred pounds, and has a hand span of about nine inches with Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s statement that if you were to see God today, “you would see him like a man in form—like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man.” If that doesn’t shock you, consider how Copeland’s claim—that Adam was an exact duplicate of God, and not even  subordinate to Him—parallels Joseph Smith’s statement that “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man.”  Not only does Copeland teach that Adam and God were exact duplicates, but he also perpetuates the myth that earth is an exact replica of the mother planet on which God lives.

All this, however, is but the tip of the iceberg.  As will be duly noted, Copeland blatantly pronounces God to be the greatest failure of all time, boldly pontificates that “Satan conquered Jesus on the Cross, and brashly proclaims that Christ went to hell as an “emaciated, poured  out, little wormy spirit.”

Copeland appears to be as at home in the world of the occult as he is in the kingdom of the cults.  As a case in point, he is clearly committed to the magical concept that intangible words, imbued with the force of faith, can take on tangible reality.  As docummented in chapter 6, he insists that a believer can speak an eighty-two-foot yacht into existence.  That Copeland advocates a method of occult visualization is incontrovertible.  Says Copeland, “Any image that you get down on the inside of you that is so vivid when you close your eyes you see it, it’ll come to pass.”   He is well aware of the fact that occultists do similar things, going so far as to say,  “The visualization they do in meditation and metaphysical practices. . . is the perverted form of the real thing.”  Referring to creative visualization and positive confession, Copeland claims that “New Age is trying to do this; and they’d get somewhat results out of it because this is spiritual law, brother.”

In addition to tantalizing his converts with the possibilty of creating wealth through occult practices, Copeland also tempts them with the dangerous doctrine that they can create health as well.  He suggests to scores of suffering saints that when “you get to the place where you take the Word of God and build an image on the inside of you of not having crippled legs and not having blind eyes, but when you close your eyes you just see yourself just leap out of that wheelchair, it will picture that in the Holy of Holies and you will come out of there.  You will come out.”

As though this is not bad enough, Copeland’s wife, Gloria, attacks the reputation of the Apostle to the Gentiles.  With shrill voice she claims that the apostle Paul did not receive the healing he asked for in 2 Corinthians 12:8 because he asked God to heal him when in reality he could have done it himself!”

If the Copelands are anything, it is brassy.  In a November 6, 2007 letter, Senator Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the Copelands “to provide detailed accounting of their compensation, housing allowances, credit card statements and a list of bank accounts, the tax-exempt purpose of layovers in Hawaii and Fiji on the church’s Citation X  jet and information on a 40th anniversary ‘gift’ of $2 million from other ministers.”  In a minister’s conference broadcast January 22, 2008, Copeland shot back, “You can go get a subpoena, and I won’t give it to you. . . It’s not yours, it’s God’s and you’re not going to get it and that’s something I’ll go to prison over.  So just get over it. . . And if there’s a death penalty that applies well just go for it!”  With Bible in hand, Copeland added, “You wanna get in a fight with me?  Why, just come on.  But, I’m gonna warn you, I fight dirty.”

Long before Grassley’s probe into Copeland’s finances, Benny Hinn. . . ominously warned an international audience, “Those who attack Kenneth Copeland are attacking the very presence of God.”

—Hank Hanegraaf

Christianity in Crisis 21st Century

Let us put an end of this Christian chatter that “all the Jews are lost” and can’t be in the will of God until they convert to Christianity!               —John Hagee       

John Hagee, as a leading Christian Zionist, routinely castigates those who do not share his “two-people of God” theory as “Replacement theologians” who are carring Hitler’s anointing and his message.”  This despite the fact that it is he —not those he impugns—who holds that Israel will soon replace the church as the focus of God’s plans.  Indeed, in his view in the not-too-distant future, two-thirds of the Jews he is now helping to herd into the Holy Land will suffer a holocaust that will make the Nazi astrocities pale by comparison. Not only so, but it also is truly tragic that Hagee places far greater emphasis on returning Jews to the land than turning Jewish people to the Lord.  Says Hagee, “Let us put an end to this Christian chatter that ‘all the Jews are lost’ and can’t be in the will of God until they convert to Christianity!”  Incredibly, Hagee goes so far as to take the onus off the Jewish community and place it squarely on the Jewish Christ: “If Jesus refused by his words or actions to claim to be the Messiah to the Jews,” asks Hagee, “then HOW CAN THE JEWS BE BLAMED FOR REJECTING WHAT WAS NEVER OFFERED?”  Hagee goes so far as to say that the Jewish people “wanted [Jesus] to be their Messiah but he absolutely refused. . . the Jews were not rejecting Jesus the Messiah, it was Jesus who was refusing to be Messiah to the Jews!”

Anyone who has read through the gospels even once knows full well that Jesus emphatically contradicted such sentiments.  Who can forget the emotionally charged words uttered by Jesus as He was leaving the temple: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing”  (Matthew 23:37, emphasis added).  Or as the apostle John explains: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).  It was the Jews who rejected Jesus, not the other way round (Mark 12:1-12).  Plainly put, Hagee’s spin is historical revisionism pure and simple.

To suggest as Hagee does that the Jews are somehow entitled to building settlements in Gaza and yet excluded from the blessed salvation of the gospel might well be the height of anti-Semitism.  Worse still, the notion that Jews in the twenty-first century will endure a holocaust for the first-century sins of their fathers is an unbiblical as it is unthinkable.  Indeed only a gospel of peace and justice through faith in the one who died for both Jew and Gentile is potent enough to break the stanglehold of anti-Semitism fueled in large part by bad theology.

 —Hank Hanegraaff

Excepted from Christianity in Crisis 21st Century

A friend recently told me, that if I didn’t keep the Sabbath, I would be going to Hell and not Heaven.  “Only” the Seventh Day Adventist are the “true Christians and true Church”.

Recently, I found that a reader of the Messianic Perspectives newsletter, August 2009, asked a question about the Seventh Day Adventist/ Sabbatarians that has helped me a great deal. 

 Dr. Gary Hedrick (CJF Ministries) answers this inquiry and sheds much light on the topic.

QUESTION:  An acquaintance of mine is a member of a Sabbatarian group that worships on Saturday and believes Sunday worship is the “mark of the beast,” which the Book of Revelation forewarns.  He says he doesn’t understand how we can claim to obey the Ten Commandments while violating the fourth commandment—because (he says) if we break one of them, it’s the same as breaking all of them (see James 2:10).  this fellow is relentess and I really need some help here.

ANSWER:  First of all, sabbatarianism includes not only groups that worship on the seventh day (Saturday), but also some groups that worship on Sunday and try to treat it like the Sabbath.  Many Puritans, for instance, strictly limited their activities on Sunday and punished people who violated the Sunday “Sabbath.”  Among the seventh-day variety, though, there’s a broad spectrum of beliefs, including some legalistic sects whose leaders make the claims you mentioned.

The late Ellen G. White, founder of the Seventh Day Adventist movement, taught that the “two great errors” of the end-time apostate church are (1) the immortality of the soul, and (2) Sunday worship (The Great Controversay, p. 588).  And yes, some sabbatarians claim that Saturday worship is the mark of the New covenant, much like circumcision was the mark of the Old Mosaic Covenant—and they conclude that “Sunday-keeping” is the mark of the beast.

However, not all seventh-day groups go to such aberrant extremes.  For example, there are Seventh Day Baptists today who are quite orthodox in their beliefs—and their congregations have gathereed on Saturday for worship since 1671.   And in Israeli culture, Saturday is the day of rest and worship (from Friday night to Saturday night) and Sunday begins the workweek (like Monday does in our culture.)  Virtually every religious group in Israel conducts Sabbath services (on Friday night or Saturday), including the Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, and others—in addition to their traditional Sunday services.  So there is a cultural component to all of this, as well.

You should remind your friend that no one—on even Orthodox Jewish people in Israel—keeps the Mosaic version of Sabbath today.  That would require the sentence of captial punishment for anyone who did any sort of work on that special day (see Exodus 31:14).  People couldn’t leave their homes on the Sabbath (see Exodus 16:29-30). They weren’t allowed to kindle a fire ( see Exodus 35:3; and rabbinic authorities have ruled that an electrical spark—something that happens when you flip a light switch or turn on an appliance, for example—qualifies as a “fire).  So, we are all in a lot of trouble if salvation requires observing the Mosaic commandment (as some of the extremist groups claim), because no one keeps the Sabbath in the manner prescribed by Moses.

Even the Lord Jesus himself angered some of His Jewish contemporaries because He didn’t adhere to the Mosaic proscriptions. He kept the Sabbath in a more general way and didn’t give much weight to some of its trational, rabbinic trappings (see Matthew 12:1-12; Luke 13: 10-16; 14: 1-6; John 5:5-16).

On the other hand, there’s a rub for Christians who insist that Sunday is the only acceptable day for worship—and that is the fact that the Sabbath has never been changed. You will search the Scriptures in vain for any mention of such a change.  The Sabbath has always been the seventh day of the week, not the first day (Sunday), and it still is.

Yes, the Early Church met on the “first day” of the week to collect offerings (see 1 Corinthians 16:2), but let’s not forget that the first day actually began on Saturday night (see Acts 20:7), not on Sunday morning.  Those same early believers also met on the Sabbath (see Acts 13:14, 42) and on other days, as well (see Acts 2:46; 17:11).

It’s true that very early in church history, there was a largely successful “Christian”  effort to replace Saturday with Sunday, Passover with Easter, and Israel with the Church (these were the roots of “replacement theology”); but not everyone (including yours truly) accepts the legitimacy of those sweeping changes.  What we cannot avoid is that the Sabbath is described  as “perpetual” (see Exodus 31:16).  In fact, the OT prophets tell us that the Sabbath (and other feasts of the Lord) will be observed worldwide during the future Millennium (see Ezekiel 36:1-12).

Some non-sabbatarians point out that the Sabbath command was directed to Israel, not to the Gentiles—and that is true (see Exodus 31:16).  However, it should be noted that the New Covenant itself was also directed to Israel (acutally, to the houses of Israel and Judah; see Jeremiah 31:31). But I doubt that anyone would suggest that the New Covenant therefore has no applicability to the Church!  Just because a promise or requirement was directed originally to Israel certainly does not preclude the subsequent participation of non-Jewhish believers who have been grafted into the “tree” of Abrahamic faith (see Romans 11:17-24).

People who claim that the fourth commandment is the only one of the ten that’s not carried over into the NT are in error. The writer of Hebrews carefully weaves the Sabbath (Gk., sabbatismos) into a discussion where he says that salvation involves “resting” from our own works and relying wholly on what Jesus has done (see Hebrews4:1-11; especially verse 9).  The highest and noblest expression of Sabbath-keeping, then, is the simple act of resting in the Lord Jesus for salvation.  In this sense, then, it is impossible for a NT believer to break the fourth commandment!

Notice the striking OT–NT parallelism in this Hebrews passage.  In the OT, the Lord God accomplished His work of creation by the power of His word—and then He rested and decalred that it was finished (see Genesis 2:1-2).  And in the NT, the Lord Jesus completed His work of redemption by shedding His blood—and then He rested and said, “It is finished” (see John 19:30).

This is really what the fourth commandment is all about.  It symbolizes the central theme of the NT—redemption through the death of Yeshua the Messiah.  That’s why the OT Sabbath requirements were so strict and inviolable.  God was protecting the symbolism (or typology) of redemption.  Nothing could have been more important than that.

What all of this means is that if we had to select just one day of the week to devote to prayer and worship, that day woudl be the ancient Sabbath or Saturday.  However, the NT nowhere demands such a choice.  Instead, it assumes that the believing community is praying, serving, and worshipping God full-time, every day of the week.  It also assumes that we understand the necessity of keeping the Sabbath by “resting” from our own works and trusting in the finished work of the Messiah on Calvary.

If a believer wants to try to observe a strict “Sabbath rest,” and he’s willing to stay close to home on Saturday and refrain from cooking, the use of electricity, and everything else that goes with it, I think that’s harmless enough—as long as he doesn’t feel compelled to impose this practice on others who may not agree with him.

In the NT, the Apostle Paul acknowledges that some believers (most likely those who are Jewish, although he doesn’t actually say that) consider one day more holy than the other six, while other believers (perhaps those who aren’t Jewish) view every day as the same.  His conclusion is that these “camps” should respect each other’s cultural backgrounds and opinions (see Romans 14:5 and Colossians 2:16).  That’s good advice for us today!

Many Christians are being taught from this book every Sunday and churches by the score are joining Rick’s organization.  If you are a pastor, you can purchase the “Church-in-a-Box” program and Warren will “guarantee church growth if the program is followed exactly.”  You will not have to prepare a weekly sermon because Warren will supply you with that and everything else that is needed.   That seems to be the big lure—Success.  Success is determined by the number of people that attend your church.  Oh? really?  Is that God’s standard?

So whatever happened to Pastors waiting on God in prayer and Bible study for a word from the Lord to deliver on Sunday mornings? 

We just had a church in our area go “Purpose Driven.”  It was an evangelical church that preached the gospel.  This church hired a new pastor who has now taken the “Purpose Driven Trail” and if church members don’t like it they are told emphatically to “leave and use your spiritural gifts somewhere else.”.  This of course is part of the instructions and requirements that Warren insists upon if your church is to be part of this movement. 

Of course, when this Pastor interviewed for the job, he didn’t reveal his plans to the church board.  If the church board would have known they would not have hired him.

Please take 3 minutes to watch this video and contemplate what John MacArthur has to share. 

Mark Chironna is the Founder and Senior Pastor of  The Master’s Touch International Church in Orlando, Florida.  He is known as an American evangelist, faith healer, motivational speaker and author. He is also a frequent host on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network).

Chironna teaches that Jesus was spoken into existence by God. This is the same “anointed one”  that Oprah Winfrey and the NAM movement refer to as the “Christ Consciousness” and “Anointed one.”

In this video,  Chironna  claims that Jesus was spoken into existence by God the Father. He did not exist as God in the beginning.

Scripture contradicts his teaching:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning, All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.  Life was in Him, and the life was the light of men.”  John 1: 1-4 (HCSB)

The Scriptures go on to tell us this about Christ: 

 ”He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.  He is also the head of the body the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.  For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross—whether things on earth or things in heaven.”   Colossians 1: 15-20 (HCSB)

Mark Chironna is a false teacher and this teaching is heresy.  Folks, this is the same type of teaching that goes on in the metaphysical world and the New Age world—no different. The Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses cults also teach that God created Jesus.   However, Chironna will tell you he is teaching the Bible and is a Christian.  Be warned about this man’s Scripture “twisting” in order to make his message exciting and keep the people coming back for more. 

Christ was fully God and fully man and he came into this world to redeem mankind on the cross. The Son was part of the Godhead which existed before the creation of the world. (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) ( Genesis Chapter 1)  “Let us make man. . . “

This is typical of the type of doctrines being taught by the W0rd of Faith ministers on TV. 

Do you know your Bible well enough to see the error in his teaching?  Here is what Christ tells us:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  2 Tim. 3:16-17. (NKJV)

Here is God’s charge to every Christian: 

 ”I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom; Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, and exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”  2 Tim. 4:1-2 (NKJV)

2 Timothy 4:3-5  “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (NKJV)

Don’t Beleive Mark Chironna’s Fable!

There is no hope for anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting.  You cannot go to heaven uless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell.”

—Joyce Meyer

Like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer is a rising star in the Faith galaxy.  As noted on her Web site, Meyer “has authored over 80 books,” and as of 2008, “more than 12 million of her books have been distributed worldwide.”  Moreover, her Web site claims, “Joyce also has a television and radio program, Enjoying Everyday Life, that is broadcast worldwide to a potential audience of 3 billion people.  Though she boasts “an earned PhD in theology from Life Christian University,” her teachings lack in scriptural credibility in much the same way that LCU lacks in scholastic accrediation.  (Other notable faith luminaries who have receive “earned” PhD’s from LCU include Dr. Benny Hinn, Drs. Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and Drs. Adonica and Rodney Howard-Browne—aka the Holy Ghost Bartender.)

Meyer made this explicit, saying, “Words are containers for power.  They carry creative or destructive power, positive or negative power.  And so we need to be speaking the right things over our lives and about our futures if we expect to have good things happen.   Because what you say today is what you’ll probably end up having tomorrow.”  In other words, the words we speak will create the future realities we experience.

According to Meyer, the words you speak not only create future realities but are the means by which you “keep the Devil under your feet.”  In sharp contrast to the archangel Michael—who “did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against [the devil], but said, ” The Lord rebuke you!” (Jude 9)—Meyer is quite comfortable rebuking the devil.  In person and in print, she teaches devotees to “talk back to the devil.”  For the apostle Paul, exercising spiritual disciplines is the key to becoming Christlike.  For Meyer “speaking forth the truth to the devil. . . is the only way to see a mindset changed.”  As such, she habitually rebukes demons, ranging from the spirit of accidents to the spirit of lust.

Like Osteen, Meyer believes in generational curses.  As such, she confides that “a spirit of incest” has been passed down through her family bloodline.  In a sermon titled “Trophies of God’s Grace,”  she explains what she believes to be the spirit of incest passed from her grandparents to her father. Thus, her father abused her sexually and opened the door for the spirit to be passed on to her children.  Meyer confessed that she does not know why God would allow a spirit to be passed down through the generations but is nonetheless confident that He does.

As such, she employs personal anecdotes to convince followers that the problems they encounter in the present may be pawned off on proclivities of past generations.  As previously noted, however, Scripture clearly communicates that consequences—not curses—are passed down through the generations.  Thus, Meyer suffered the horrors of sexual abuse solely as a consequence of her father’s incestuous behavior, not as the result of “a spirit of incest” that passed down through her family bloodline.

In a publication titled The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make, Meyer proliferates another hallmark  of Faith theology—namely, Jesus not only had to suffer on the cross, but He had to suffer in hell in order for you and me to be born again.  Says Meyer, Jesus “was in the grave three days.  During that time He entered hell, where you and I deserved to go (legally) because of our sin.  He paid the price there.”

After three days of torment, continues Meyer:

God rose up from His throne and said to demon powers tormenting the sinless Son of God, “Let Him go.”  Then the resurrection power of Almighty God went through hell and filled Jesus. On the earth, His grave, the tomb where they had buried Him, filled with light as the power of God filled His body, and He was resurrected from the dead—the first born-agian man.  The Bible calls Him “the first-born among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).  He was the first so that now you can be one of the many brethren.”

In sharp contrast  to Meyer’s assertion, the Bible never says that Jesus Christ was born again.  Indeed, the biblical concept of being born again (John 3:3)  applies only to sinful humanity.  While the Bible says that Jesus was begotten, it does not say He was born again.  When John refers to Christ as “the One and Only, who came from the Father” (John 1:14), he was emphasizing the unique nature of our Lord.  As such, Jesus alone is fully God and fully man, the unique and eternal Son of the Father.  Jesus had no need to be born again in hell, for Jesus is and always has been the eternal Son of God.

Ironically, Meyer has a habit of denying what she affirms.  As previoously mentioned, in The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make: A Complete and Through Understanding of What It Means to Be Born Again, Meyer dogmatically affirms the notion that after suffering in hell for three days, Jesus emerged as the first born-again man.  Yet, in an internview with Charisma magazine, she denied teaching the born-again Jesus theory, contending it was “a doctrine she does not believe and has never taught.”

Meyer is convinced that God would not allow her to lapse into error without first sounding an alarm.  In her words, “If I’m accidentally, or any other  way, getting into error, I’m going to have a bell go off in the inside of me that is going to be so loud that not only am I going to hear it, but so is everyone else.” 

 If Meyer had been truly tethered to the text of Scripture, she would most certainly have heard the tolling of the bell. 

—Christianity in Crisis 21st Century, Hank Hanegraaff

www.equip.org

There seems to be another false teaching and problem among evangelicals. 

It’s called the “Satanic Jewish Conspiracy.” teaching.  

 I saw that Gary Hedrick had given a very concise answer to a question that was asked of him.  I reprint it here for your consideration.

Dr. Gary Hedrick is President of the Christian Jew Foundation, Texas, USA

Question: My mother-in-law is on the mailing list of [a preacher from Texas] who claims that there’s a “satanic Jewish conspiracy” to control the world.  This conspiracy, he says, is spearheaded by “elitist” groups like the Illuminati and the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in concert with an international Jewish cabal.  For ducumentation, he cites The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and other sources that we consider dubious.  Our concern is that Mom is buying into this man’s conspiracy theories—and I mean that literally.  She’s bought just about everything he sells.  She’s elderly, lives on a fixed income, and cannot afford this.  What should we do?

Answer:  As long as your mother-in-law is mentally sound and can think for herself, the best approach is to pray for her while appealing to her own powers of logic and common sense.

Also, don’t be too hard on her.  There merchants of madness and purveyors of paranoia can be very convincing!  Their newsletters are slick and they’re adept at manipulating (even manufacturing) facts to “prove” their theories.  A good start would be to point out that this preacher is making claims he can’t prove.  If she insists that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion constitute proof, get her a copy of Norman Cohn’s book Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy (London: Serif Publishers, 1967).  This is the definitive work on Protocols and other conspiracy-related themes.  It’s been translated into nine languages since it first appeared in the 1960′s.

If your mother-in-law says the Holocaust never happened (a typical claim), the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles (www.wiesenthal.com) is a good source.  Or better yet, take her to visit one of the numerous Holocaust memorials in North America.  There are dozens of them—we even have one right here in San Antonio, Texas—and a visit can be a life-changing experience.

Bottom line: The best way to combat deception and falsehood is with the truth.

A few years ago, I found myself seated at a broadcaster’s banquest with on of these conspiracy guys.  We spoke during the meal and I was surprised at how cordial and likable he was.  I finally said, “Come on now, you don’t really believe all of the crazy stuff that’s in your books, do you?”  He chuckled and said, “Of course not.  What can I say? It’s a living.”  He explained that there’s a huge industry built on fear and suspicion.  So the way this fellow looks at it, he’s providing a fictional product some people crave—and they line up to give him their Visa and MasterCard numbers.  So he’s a businessman.  If he doesn’t take their money, somebody else will.  That’s his perspective.

However, anti-Semitism is no game.  It’s a serious matter.  It can fester in a society and take root among certain ignorant and gullible (and sometimes sinsiter) individuals, often with disastrous consequences.

In Russia, for example, in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s, multitudes of Jewish people were murdered in the pogroms.  These persecutions of Jewish people were fomented by the same lies and deceptions that are found in Protocols.

The Nazi propaganda machine made extensive use of Protocols during the infamous 1930′s and 40′s Holocaust in which six million Jewish people—including men, women, children, and the elderly—were systematically exterminated (search “the protocols of the elders of Zion” online at wikipedia.org).

Again, you should pray for your mother-in-law.  Anti-Semitism isn’t merely a function of the mind—there are also spiritual dynamics.  Its orgins are in hell itself.  The forces of darness despise the Jewish people and will stop at nothing to slander and destroy them (Eph. 6:12; see also Rev. 12).

It’s important to understand the danges associated with anti-Semitism:  “For thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches Israel touches the apple of His eye.”  (Zech. 2:8).

What is wrong with Joel’s teaching?

Many people say: “His teaching makes me feel so good.”

Watch this short video and find out how Joel Osteen measures up to the biblical standard.

Not only do some Faith teachers victimize the poor and downtrodden by promising what they cannot perform, but they also blame these trusting souls when the results they had expected do not materialize.

In his book, It’s Not Working, Brother  John!   John Avanzini uses every strategy imaginable to lead hapless followers to believe that a failure to receive means that something is wrong with them.  He writes, “The problem is, something is wrong with the saint. . . Without fail I find something wrong in their lives.”

Azanzini then postulates “twenty-five things that close the windows of heaven.”  One reason Avanzini cites is double-mindedness.  He explains that we  each have two minds—a conscious mind and a subsconscious mind.  The subconscious mind has been conditioned by pastors and teachers to believe that Jesus was poor.  Therefore, when the conscious mind is introduced to the prosperity gospel, it is rejected because we believe subsconsciously that we ought to be poor.

Avanzini’s answer to this dilemma is to have the subconscious mind reprogrammed to believe that Jesus was rich, wore designer clothes, and lived in a big house.  And Avanzini has just the ticket to reprogram your mind: for a price  will sell you his videotape Was Jesus Poor?

Another reason advanced by the Faith teachers to explain why people are not getting rich is improper thinking.  As Avanzini puts it, “You Are What You Think . . . Thoughts Are A Creative Force.”  Drawing from the false premise that “the way you think in your heart will create what you say, ” Avanzini concludes that “Proper Thinking Produces Finances.”  He sums it up like this: “We can believe and receive, or we can doubt and do without.”

Interestingly enough, way back in 1919, Ernest Holmes, the founder of the Church of Religious Science, communicated the same sentiment when he said, “Man is just what he thinks himself to be.”  Although Avanzini claims that the words in his book were inspired by the Holy Spirit, it is remarkable how closely they mirror the teachings of the metaphysical cults.

Another of Avanzini’s explanations for his followers’ lack of prosperity is that they do not trust their “man of God.”  He  attempts  to use 2 Chronicles 20:20—”Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper” (KJV)—as a pretext to argue that “if you don’t trust God’s prophets, you will not prosper.”  In context, however, this passage does not promise financial prosperity.  It is a promise of military success to the nation of Israel at a time of great danger from the Moabites and Ammonities.

But Avanzini complains that some people will not even allow their man of God “to have a copy of [their] complete financial statment.”  In an attempt to drum up a biblical precedent for this outrageous demand, Avanzini refers to the account of the widow’s oil in 2 Kings 4:1-7:

When the widow went to Elisha for help with her back-breaking debt, the first thing the prophet asked for was a financial statment.  He asked , “What do you have in your house?”  Thank God this widow was able to trust her man of God . . . Her relationship of trust with him set her free from debt as well as funded her retirment!

Such an irresponsible handling of the sacred text is by no means uncommon.  Nor has it been throughout the church age.  Just as the pope used Johann Tetzel to pillage the poor in order to build St. Peter’s, so prosperity teachers mislead the flock in order to build their empires.

–by Hank Hanegraaff

Christianity in Crisis 21st Century

Administrator’s Note:  Avanzini and others who teach similar doctrines could not continue to live in luxury and fleese the unsuspecting if many Christian’s would quit giving them their money.  Quit donating to these False Teachers!  You will be held accountable before God.  As a Christian, its your duty to STUDY and INVESTIGATE to see if these things are so or not.  There is nothing biblical about these teachers and what they promote!!  They are clearly false teachers according to the Bible.

What do you need? Start creating it.  Start speaking about it.  Start speaking it into being.  Speak to your billfold. Say, “You big thick billfold full of money.”  Speak to your checkbook.  Say, “You, checkbook, you.  You’ve never been so prosperous since I owned you.  You’re just jammed full of money.”                                                        —Marilyn Hickey

Marilyn Hickey, much like [Robert ] Tilton, uses a wide range of gimmicks to get  her followers to send money.  Among her many tactics are anointed prayer cloths and ceremonial breastplates that can be used as a “point of contact” for miracles.

In one letter, Hickey promised to send a special anointing if the enclosed prayer coth, along with money, was sent back to her immediately.  Hickey promised that if it was returned “right now,” she would have it “anointed with an Acts 19 kind of anointing for ‘special,’ ‘unusual’ and ‘extraordinary’ miracles.”  Hickey assured the reader that the Holy Spirit had been dealing with her about the entire matter and that she was excited about it.

Hickey then suggested that the prayer cloth was the perfect remedy for those who are sick, those who need to sell something, and those who need to break a spirit of rebellion.  So that the point would not be missed, Hickey explained that the prayer cloth is so powerful that when a mother slipped it under the pillow of a rebellious child, the spirit of rebellion was broken.  Not only that, but with a mere touch of the prayer cloth, a tumor the size of a small grapefruit vanished in just five days.

Hickey then promised that anyone suffering from an extreme financial crisis need only carry the prayer cloth in a purse, wallet, or checkbook to receive a financial breakthrough.  There was one small catch: before the cloth could work, it had to be sent back to Hickey.  The cloth according to Hickey, presently “does not carry or contain any special  anointing qualities.  It is just a simple piece of plain cloth. . . but in a few days (if you act in faith RIGHT NOW) it can become a miracle prayer cloth.”

But Hickey had one more suggestion: when you return the cloth, be sure to send money.  As Hickey puts it, “receiving follows giving.”

In another of her appeal letters, Hickey promised that she would slip into a ceremonial breastplate, “press your prayer request to [her] heart,” and “place your requests on [her] shoulders” (donation suggested).”

Hickey also teaches people to speak to their wallets and checkbooks.  Says Hickey:

What do you need? Start creating it.  Start speaking about it.  Start speaking it into being.  Speak to your billfold.  Say “You big, thick billfold full of money.”  Speak to your checkbook.  Say, “You, checkbook, you. You’ve never been so properous since I owned you.  You’re just jammed full of money.

So that you, too, can experience big miracles, Hickey will send you tiny mustard seeds to remind you to sow a seed in her ministry.  Sowing a seed, of course, is another way of saying, “Please send me money.”  When you send the seed, Hickey promises to send you her booklet titled, “God’s Seven Keys to Make You Rich,” and assures you that “God will bless and multiply your gift.”

In response to a critic who said that Faith teachers were “always following after prosperity”  Hickey retorted, “No, we’re not. It’s following after us.”  While prosperity may not be following all of Hickey’s followers, success is certainly following Hickey. 

 If you can’t see her in person, you can encounter Marilyn and her daughter, Sarah, on scores of television and radio stations.  Their teachings are for the most part a blend of the theologies of Tilton, Hagin, Copeland, and other “prosperity personalities.”  The message is peppered with such Faith jargon as “the God-Kind of faith” and “confession brings possession.” 

Hickey’s theology has been influenced not only by the kingdom of the cults but by the world of the occult as well.

—by Hank Hanegraaff

Christian Research Instiutite

www.equip.org

Administrator’s Note: It is clear from the teachings of the most popular “Word of Faith” teachers that what they teach is cultic.  It is metaphysical in nature. They employ gimmicks and manipulation of the listening public.  They have a theology of their own imagination and making.  They are clearly after the viewer’s money to maintain their lavish lifestyles.  They will employ psychology or any other methods that will work for them. 

 Beware!  If you are one of their followers, they are not only fleecing you but leading you down the wrong path—the occult and New Age pathways for sure. There is NO Biblical basis for speaking to your checkbook, other than to employ the same principles of the Metaphysical/New Age world and to make Marilyn Hickey richer!!!

Now when God begins to speak to you, you get up and go to the phone, because God is telling you [to give] $68.19 for the next 12 months, which happens to be $818–Deuteronomy 8:18 says that God will give you the power to get wealth.

—Paula White

Another self-proclaimed prosperity preacher who feeds “Faith Food” to “millions around the world” is Paula White.  White claims “a divine visitation in which God gave her a vision of multitudes of millions of people as far as her eyes could see.  In the vision, every time she opened her mouth and began to declare the Word of the Lord, there was a visible manifestation of the power of God–souls were saved, the sick were healed, and the broken were restored.  Conversely, when she was silent, people began to fall into utter darkness.”

The message Paula was commissioned to proclaim is that “God does not want us to live in poverty or lack for he wants you to be prosperous.”  Indeed, says Paula, “God wants you to have it all.”

To have it all God requires the sowing of seeds.  “For the next 12 months I am sowing $68.19, based on Psalm 68:19 that daily God will load me up with benefits.”  The magic in the numbers is breathtaking.  As noted by Paula, $68.19 times 12 equals $818, and Deuteronomy 8:18 says that God will give you the power to get wealth.”  What is even more astounding than the numerology is how many find merit in White’s message. On one occasion White says she “was in prayer and fasting seeking God” when the Almighty spoke to her saying, “Challenge the people to give $66.12 according to Psalm 66:12.”  White went on to promise devotees, “The Word cannot return void. When you put your faith in the Word, then you have mandated results.”

Like other Faith teachers, White’s formula for success involves speaking right words and thinking right thought.  Speaking of the power of words, White says, “Oh come on, Paula…are you actually saying that just because my mouth says it, that makes it true?  Well I am here to tell you, yes, that’s just what I am saying: Your words create your world” (emphasis in the original).  Paula’s justification is that “if God can create something out of nothing, and we are created in his image, then if we can image it, or imagine it, then so it can be for us.”

White garners support not only through claims of revelations, visitations, and prophecies (including the revelatory prophecy that a child would be saved by a thirteen-foot angel) but through specific claims of prophetic healings.  Her healing claims rival those of Jesus Christ Himself.  According to White whe has seen everything from the blind receiving sight to resurrection from the dead. 

Tragically the devil is in the details.  To date White has not provided even basics to buttress her boasts.

 by Hank Hanegraaff

Christian Research Institute

www.equip.org

Administrator’s Note: Isn’t there any shame in Paula when confronted with her lavish lifestyle? I would have like to see a little humility. Under investigation by Senator Grassley? The book is about finding your idenity? Where is the gospel, Paula?  Divorce and face lifts?  Jets?  Multiple homes?   So, who is paying for all this, Paula?

Deception will always be exposed by Truth. Have you ever realized that you could be deceived and not even be aware of it? Those who are deceived will never know it unless they are confronted with the truth. Many go to their grave deceived about the most important issue we all face, and that is, locating the narrow road that leads to eternal life. Who are you trusting to show you the way and the truth to eternal life? What is your source for truth? Is it absolutely trustworthy? Will it protect you from the schemes and lies of the master deceiver? The prophet Jeremiah gave us wise counsel for choosing whom we should trust. He said if you trust in man you will be cursed liked a bush in the parched places of the desert. But if you trust in God you will be blessed. You will be like a tree planted by water always bearing fruit, whose leaves are always green. No worries or fears will come upon you in a year of drought or when the heat comes (Jeremiah 17:5-8).

Who will you trust? Many people disregard Jeremiah’s advice and put their trust in religious leaders. Catholics believe that the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church accurately teach what Jesus and His Word reveal. This can be a fatal mistake. Those who disregard the objective truth of the Bible and rely only on the subjective teachings of men leave themselves open to deception. We know God would never deceive anyone because He wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (l Timothy 2:3). He gave us His Word so we could know, understand and believe the truth (John 17:17).

 Would the Pope have a person believe what is not true? Maybe not intentionally, but what if he was deceived by previous popes who were also deceived? How do we know if any of the pope’s teachings or dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church are true? The only way we can be 100% sure is to do as the Bereans did — check everything with the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). If the apostle Paul’s teaching had to be verified for its truthfulness, it stands to reason we must use the same standard for any religious leader. Unfortunately the elevation of tradition along with infallible teachings of popes to the same authority as Sacred Scripture has allowed deception to go unabated in the Roman Catholic Church. Popes and their teachings constantly change, whereas Jesus and His Word are constant and never change.

The Apostle Paul revealed the source of all deception, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). You may be familiar with some common deceptions taught by religious leaders today: heaven is a reward for those who live good lives…water baptism is necessary for salvation…purgatory purges and removes sin…the sacrifice of the Mass can turn away God’s wrath on sinners…God’s grace can be earned and purchased. Satan has used lies like these to become the greatest “soul winner” in human history. For two thousand years, the master deceiver has perverted the Gospel of salvation by grace. His ferocious wolves, disguised in sheep’s clothing, preach counterfeit gospels that seduce people who are ignorant of God’s word (Matt. 7:15). A counterfeit Christianity is Satan’s ultimate weapon, so he can, one day be worshipped as Christ. His worldwide religious system is taking shape and unfortunately it includes many people in our churches today.

 All this should come as no surprise to those who know the Scriptures. For this scenario was revealed by Christ and the apostles as a warning of things to come. Jesus announced that right before His second coming the deception will be so convincing that even the elect might be deceived (Matt. 24:4,11,24). The deceit will come from false prophets, false teachers and false Christs, who will snare people from both inside and outside the church. Peter warned people of spiritual deception, “There will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies…and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” (2 Peter 2:1-2).

 Satan uses deception to prevent people from being saved. God uses the truth to proclaim salvation to all who believe it. Man is either saved by believing God’s truth (Ephesians 1:13) or condemned by believing Satan’s lie. Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers by perverting God’s truth through false religious systems (2 Corinthians 4:4). Any religion that teaches salvation is obtained through human effort and merit is nullifying the grace of God to its followers. We are saved by grace, “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works, if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6).

 The truth will set you free. How can we avoid falling prey to these subtle and scheming impostors? Our only defense is to experience the emancipating truth of Scripture (John 8:32). We must know and live the truth. All teaching must be filtered through God’s Word. We are to use the Bible to lovingly correct and rebuke all teaching that contradicts God’s inspired word (2 Tim. 3:16). The Scriptures must become our ultimate authority in all areas of our faith. We must cling to Jesus who came to testify to the truth (John 18:37) and who is the truth (John 14:6). We are to stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around our waists (Eph. 6:14). It is through living the truth that we are sanctified (John 17:17). Does the church where you worship submit to the truth of the Gospel? It is of vital importance to God that you worship Him in truth (John 4:24).

 There are consequences for those who do not seek God’s truth through His Word. Those people who blindly put their faith in religious leaders are most susceptible to deception. Many assume that religious leaders would never seduce anyone with a false plan of salvation. Yet Luke warned, “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30).

 Other people choose not to let truth interfere with their lives. They turn away from it and listen to teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Tim. 4:2-4). Truth demands a response. The choice is to believe it and conform, or reject it and go our stubborn way.

 There are people who are devoted to God, but do not know Him personally because religious leaders conceal the source and authority of truth. People who have been indoctrinated with false teaching have difficulty believing the truth. They are always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth (2 Tim. 3:7). Acknowledging the truth requires a “turning away” from all unbiblical doctrines.

 It was a lack of faith in God’s purpose, plan and word that separated Adam and Eve and their offspring from God. They chose to put their faith in the deceiver, which brought spiritual and physical death to us all. How divine for God to use the very instrument that separated us from Him–faith, to restore us back to Him. It is now through faith in God that we receive His gift of spiritual and eternal life (Ephesians 2:8).

 The object of our faith determines who we are — a child of the devil (John 8:43-45) or a child of God (John 1:12); how we live — as slaves to sin, or slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:16-18); and how we will spend eternity — under the wrath of God or in his loving presence (John 3:36). Faith in anyone other than Jesus, and in anything other than His Word will allow deception to creep into our lives. Those who follow the traditions, opinions and philosophies of men and reject Christ and His Word will be condemned on the last day (John 12:48). By contrast how wonderful are the words of Christ that those who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

 Jesus and His Word teach…

■You are saved by faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
■All who rely on observing the law (commandments) are under a curse (Galations 3:10).
■Salvation occurs at the moment you believe the Gospel (Ephesians 1:13).
■Jesus purifies sin (Hebrews 1:3).
■You can know for sure you are saved (1 John 5:13).
■The sacrifice of Jesus is finished (John 19:30).

The Pope and his church teach…

■You are saved by faith plus works.
■Obedience to the commandments is a condition for salvation.
■Salvation is a process from baptism through purgatory.
■Purgatory purifies sin.
■You are condemned if you claim to be saved.
■The sacrifice of Jesus continues in daily Mass.

As you can see these two teachings directly oppose one another. You must make the choice as to which is true and which is deception. Your choice will determine your eternal destiny.

Article by Proclaiming the Gospel

The first and most obvious is because we are commanded to defend the faith:  1 Peter 3:15 says, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

Second, we need apologetics because it helps Christians know their faith. This is something that is sadly lacking among believers.  Most don’t know much about their faith, let alone be able to describe the Trinity, the two natures of Christ, His physical resurrection, or even to tell the difference between justification and sanctification.  Apologetics helps to define and defend what the truth of the gospel is.

Third, apologetics is an attempt to keep people out of hell.  God takes sin very seriously, and He will punish those who have rebelled against Him and are not covered in the blood of Christ.  As Christians, we should be motivated to present the truth of salvation in Jesus.  We should not sit idly by and ignore the dilemma of the unbeliever.  We need to tell them that sin is real because God is real, and that breaking God’s law has a consequence.  Since we have all sinned, we cannot keep God’s law perfectly.  Also, we cannot undo the offense to an infinitely holy God because we are not infinite or holy; the only thing left for us is to fall under the judgment of God.  But God has provided a way for us to escape that judgment.  That is why God became man in Jesus.  He claimed to be God, (John 8:24,58; compare with Exodus 3:14).  Jesus bore our sins in His body on the cross, (1 Pet. 2:24).  By trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, we will be spared from the rightful judgment of God upon the sinner.  Salvation is not found in Buddhism, Islam, relativism, or in one’s self: It is only found in Jesus.  We need to not only defend God’s word and truth, but also present the gospel to all people so they can escape the judgment to come.

Fourth, we need apologetics to counter the bad image that Christianity has received in the media and in culture.  Televangelists and their scandals—both sexually and monetarily—are a disgrace to Christianity. The Catholic church hasn’t helped with its scandals involving priests.  On top of that, the media is very biased against Christianity, and you will see negative opinions of Christianity promoted everywhere.

Fifth, we need apologetics because there is a constant threat of apostasy in the visible Christian church.  Such is the case with the Metropolitan Community Church denomination, which openly advocates the support of homosexuality in violation of scripture (Rom. 1:18-32).  Also, as of 2002, the Evangelical Lutheran Church is in risk of apostasy by entertaining the idea of accepting homosexual relationships into church.  “The United Church of Christ set up a $500,000 scholarship fund for gay and lesbian seminarians Friday and urged wider acceptance of homosexuals by other denominations.” (United Church Makes Gay Scholarship, CLEVELAND, June 16, 2000, AP Online via COMTEX).  Or “The supreme court of the United Methodist Church was asked Thursday to reconsider the denomination’s ban on gay clergy.” (Church court of United Methodists asked to decide on gay clergy ban, NASHVILLE, Tennessee, Oct. 25, 2001, AP WorldStream via COMTEX).  Such examples are demonstrations of the incredible need for defending biblical truth within those churches that claim to be Christian.

Sixth, another reason we need apologetics is because of the many false teachings out there.  Mormonism teaches that God used to be a man on another world, that he brought one of his goddess wives with him to this world, that they produce spirit offspring that are born into human babies, and that you have the potential of becoming a god of your own world.  The Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that there is no Trinity, that Jesus is Michael the Archangel, that there is no hell, and that only 144,000 people will go to heaven.  Atheism denies God’s existence, openly attacks Christianity and is gaining ground in public life and schools.  Islam teaches that Jesus was not God in flesh, that Jesus did not rise from the dead, and that He did not atone for our sins.  It teaches that salvation is partly based on one’s works and partly based on Allah’s grace.  It teaches that the Holy Spirit is the angel Gabriel (Surah 2:97; 16:102); that Jinn are unseen beings created (51:56) from fire (15:27; 55:15); and that Muhammed was greater than Jesus. Even within the Christian church there are false teachings.  We can see that from both within the Christian church and outside of it, false teachings are bombarding believers (and nonbelievers) all over the world.

Seventh, the rise of immorality in America is a threat not only to society but also to Christianity.  This is a serious issue because an immoral society cannot last long.  The Barna Research group statistics show that 64% of adults and 83% of teenagers said moral truth depends on the situation that you are in.  19% of the adult population believes that “the whole idea of sin is outdated.”  51% believe that “if a person is generally good, or does enough good, he will earn a place in Heaven.”

When a society’s morals fail, the society fails. Just look at history and think of Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece or present day Enron, Watergate, and White House interns. Immorality seeps down into all areas of our culture. Consider this:  In the New York Times, online, of May 12, 2002, in the article “With Games of Havoc, Men Will Be Boys,” the author, Warren St. John, interviews some players of what he says is a very popular video game.  One young man says, “What I like to do is get in the car and drive around and do drive-by shootings.  You can haul someone out of their car and beat on them and steal their money and their car.  It’s kind of amusing that you have that ability.” ….  A publicist from Long Island says the game’s allure comes down to “just going on killing sprees.”   Not all video games are violent, but the fact that it is so popular and that the youth are being trained up by them is very disturbing.

I am not advocating a theocratic socio-political rule administered by stern Christians wearing black-and-white outfits and tall hats.   But these kinds of social trends are disturbing, and they reflect a moral decline in America, where what is good is called evil and what is evil is called good.   God tells us in Phil. 4:8, Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.  We cannot ignore God’s word without a consequence.

The eighth reason we need apologetics is because schools are not friendly to Christianity.  My own experience in non-Christian schools was a strong awakening to the unprovoked hostility that exists in school, where the philosophy teachers, history teacher, and even the art teacher all took shots at Christianity.  Don Feder in the Conservative Chronicle, in his article of Sept. 22, 1993, titled “Fighting Censorship, PAW Does it Its Way,” said that in some junior high libraries, book titles included The Joy of Gay Sex and How to Make Love to a Single Woman. There is an impressions series for grades one to six which promote the New Age and the occult; a controversial drug education program called Quest, which tells students that they alone can decide whether or not it’s OK to use drugs; as well as texts that direct students to fantasize about suicide, attack religion and undermine family authority.   Following is an email I received that represents the hostility of secular schools.

Our daughter had acquired an atheist’s heart since leaving home and attending college. It seems that the books in college breed atheists because they are full of the philosophy of anti-God thinking.  She has been in college for four years now, and one of the last times we had a chance to talk to her, she said that she doesn’t think about sin, or heaven, or hell anymore because, according to her, they do not exist. She said that when she was young and asked the Lord to come into her heart, she did not know what she was doing because children do what they are told.

The fact is that Christianity is under attack in the world, and we need to fight the good fight of the faith without shrinking back.  We need apologetics to give rational, intelligent, and relevant explanations of Christian viability to the critics and the prejudiced who would seek to undermine the teachings of our Lord Jesus.

If there was ever a time that apologetics is needed, it is now.

–Mark Slick, CARM

Science was my whole life. I was a third-generation mem­ber of both a local church and the Mother Church in Boston. As well, I was “class taught” — that is, I received special advanced instruction. I whole­heartedly practiced Christian Science by reading my lesson every day, by not going to doctors or taking medicine when I was sick, and by serving on vari­ous committees. I even served as presi­dent of the Executive Board.

 During this time, I did not know my religion was a cult, or that it was not considered Christian. I was convinced Christian Science had the truth — that God is Infinite Mind and all is mental. I believed that Jesus was simply a human being who demonstrated the “Christ Truth,” just as you and I can when we become as spiritually advanced as He was. Jesus was not so unique, I thought; He was simply a Way-Shower.

 In 1969 I went (alone) to hear Billy Graham preach in the Anaheim Stadium in California. I was curious about him because he was so famous. I don’t know why I did it, but at the end of the service I went forward and received prayer.

 After I sat back down, an evil pres­ence came to me. It told me I would be dead before the night was over. I nearly panicked. I asked God to forgive me for my being there and for my disloyalty to Christian Science. The evil thing left me, and I blamed it all on Billy Graham. After that, I forgot the whole affair.

 Since my religion was supposed to be based on the Bible, I tried to read the Bible and understand it, but I found much of it too difficult. Then, in 1975, it occurred to me to form a Bible study group using Christian Science materials. I proposed this to my church, but noth­ing came of it.

 By this time I was old enough to be a grandmother, yet I had never been invit­ed to a Bible study. So I was pleasantly surprised when two women, whom I did not know, knocked on my door one day and invited me to a home Bible study with the Christian Women’s Club. I later learned that God had prompted these two women (separately) to go door-to-door in my neighborhood. I was the only one to accept their invitation.

 After many months of study, I started seeing verses in my Bible that I had read and yet had never really been aware of. My conception of God and His plan for man started to change. It began to dawn on me that Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder and leader of Christian Science, had taken the place of Jesus for those involved in her religion.

In the Christian Science Church Manual, Mrs. Eddy had said she was the only one to be called Leader. In Matthew 23:10 (NAS), however, Jesus said He was the only one to be called Leader. I was faced with two different individuals — both claiming to be my only leader.

 I had been taught that Christian Science was the “Revelation,” that Mrs. Eddy was the “Revelator,” and that we cannot know the Revelation unless we know the Revelator. And, of course, we have to know the Revelation in order to know God. What this ultimately meant was that the only way we could know God was by going through Mrs. Eddy.

 Contrary to this, I saw in my Bible study that Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). So, Mrs. Eddy and Jesus both claimed to be the way to God.

One day during our home study, we came to Matthew 16:15 where Jesus asked His disciples who they said He was. The disciples answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Jesus responded, “This was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (v. 17).

 After the women in the home Bible study left, those words kept ringing in my mind. It was as though Jesus was asking me personally. “Who do you say I am?” He seemed very stern about it. Poring over Mrs. Eddy’s statements, it became clear that she denied that Jesus is Christ (see, for example, her book entitled Miscellaneous Writings, p. 84). But Jesus said He is Christ. Jesus was asking me in my heart, Do you believe her or Me?

 At first, I didn’t know. I cried. I threshed it about in my mind. I came to the decision that if Jesus could do the miracles He did, He certainly should know who He is. I concluded that Jesus must be the Christ.

 The Holy Spirit also revealed to me through Scripture that Jesus, far from being just a man (as Christian Science teaches), is, in the Incarnation, God in human flesh. John’s gospel proclaims, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….[and] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:1, 14). In the Incarnation, Jesus was perfect humanity and perfect deity.

 After Jesus was crucified for our sins and gloriously resurrected from the dead, “doubting” Thomas put his hand in Jesus’ side and called Him, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). If Thomas had been wrong in his assess­ment of Jesus’ true identity, Jesus cer­tainly would have corrected him. Thus, through my Bible study, I had learned that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is God — something that is denied by Mrs. Eddy.

 Another issue I had to grapple with is the Christian Science teaching that man is perfect and sinless. When a per­son dies, Christian Science teaches, only his belief of matter dies. Man is spiritual, and at “death” he goes on doing whatever he was doing, for death is simply an illusion. Moreover, since all is “mind,” hell and heaven are only states of mind.

The Bible, however, repeatedly affirms that all men are sinners. They cannot come to God without a blood atonement. And, according to Scripture, Jesus — the Lamb of God — became the perfect and final blood sacrifice for the atonement of man’s sins (Matt. 20:28).

 If man is sinless, like Mrs. Eddy taught, then Jesus suffered on the cross for nothing. In fact, it would appear as if Jesus was too stupid to know why He died. I read in my Bible, however, that when Jesus was eating with the disciples, He took a cup and handed it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28). I cannot believe that Jesus was either stupid or a liar. He knew what He was saying and He meant it.

 I also read in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” So death is real, and sinful men will one day appear before God at the judgment seat and be judged for sins and cast into eternal damnation (hell) — unless they trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 16:31).

 I hated the thought of anyone going to hell. As a Christian Scientist, I didn’t think it could possibly be true. But as disturbing as I felt it was, I now realized that Jesus Himself had taught it. I also realized that if it were true, it would be even more disturbing if Jesus didn’t warn people about eternal damnation. Though I had had trouble believing that a good God could allow such a condi­tion to exist, I also realized that I didn’t make the rules and God didn’t ask me my opinion. As God said in Isaiah, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isa. 55:8).

 I came to see more and more clearly that Christian Science flatly contradict­ed what Jesus said about the state of our existence after we pass on from this life. Up until now, I had always read past Jesus’ words about hell, thinking that He was speaking in a parable, and that Mrs. Eddy’s spiritual interpretation explained it all. It suddenly occurred to me, as chills ran up and down my spine, that maybe the Bible actually meant what it said.

 From a human viewpoint, some of Mrs. Eddy’s ideas may sound appealing (e.g., there is no sin, no death, no judgment day, and no hell). But a study of Scripture shows that her teachings are permeated with error. The more I stud­ied, the more I found this to be true.

I had been believing in Mrs. Eddy to guide me for my eternal life, and I came to see that she didn’t know any more (really) than I did. She was only another mortal. Moreover, when she died, her body stayed in the grave. She didn’t come back. Therefore, she can’t really testify as to what goes on after death because she had never been there when she wrote her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Jesus had been to the grave and back; He resurrected from the dead. To me, that gives Him a lot more credibility than Mrs. Eddy.

 Mrs. Eddy had said that she based her teachings on revelation, reason, and demonstration. Her “revelation” was Christian Science, which I discovered to be neither Christian nor scientific. She didn’t “demonstrate” very much because she didn’t overcome death (like Jesus did). As for “reason,” Isaiah 55:9 says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my (God’s) ways high­er than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” I would not want to gamble my future in eternity on one woman’s reasoning.

 I read in the Bible that in the end times false prophets and false Christs would arise (Matt. 24:23-28). Mrs. Eddy had denied that Jesus is the Christ and put herself in His place as being the only Leader and the only way to God. So, I concluded, Mrs. Eddy was a false prophet.

 I resigned from the Christian Science church. As a result of my Bible study, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and my God. He is the only way to salvation. (And let me emphasize, He did not come to show the way; rather, He is the way.) I will confess Him and Him alone as Lord and Savior.

 There is so much more to say. But I pray that the Holy Spirit will use this brief testimony to show people involved in the Mind Sciences — whether it be Christian Science, Religious Science, Divine Science, Unity, or one of the others — that Jesus is truly God come in the flesh, and that He died for us on the cross. If we do not believe in Him, we will not spend eternity with God; rather, we will be cast into outer dark­ness (2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 1:13).

 I now belong to a group of ex-­Christian Scientists who are all born again Christians. We have a ministry called “Christian Way.” Our primary goal is to share the salvation message with those in the Mind Sciences. If we can help you, please don’t hesitate to write.

 Carolyn Poole may be contacted by writing to Christian Way, P.O. Box 1675, Lancaster, CA 93539.

I Am A Witness

by Leonard A. Chretien

 As a baptized member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I knew I had the “truth.”  I was baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness in 1960 at age 26 with my wife, Marjorie.  I served as an appointed congregation Elder during the mid-1970′s and did all the Watchtower Society requires.  Marjorie and I even raised our child as a Witness and looked forward to surviving “Armageddon” into endless life on paradise earth.

From the mid-1960′s the Watchtower publications, studies, and teachings clearly predicted that Armageddon would in 1975–the conclusion of the present world system.

Understandably, many Witnesses were disappointed and disllusioned when there was no Armageddon in 1975.  Surprisingly, Watchtower leaders denied responsibility for the Armageddon predictions, and instead they blamed “over enthusiastic members.”

LOOKING DEEPER

My concerns about the Watchtower denials led me to study the Society’s history.  Amazed, I discovered other times when the organization had falsely prophesied the end of the world.  Needing more time for research, I resigned as Presiding Overseer of my Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation.  In my odyssey of study into past prophecies and teachings, my wife and I discovered some incredible Watchtower claims.

The founder and first President of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Charles Taze Russell, was born in 1852.  Troubled by various Christian doctrines, such as teachings on hell, he became a skeptic at age 17. 

In 1870 Russell heard the teachings of William Miller, who originally taught that Christ would return in October 1843.  When this event failed, Miller’s followers continued to set new dates, each a failed prophecy of  “things to come.”  But the Millerites did provide Russell with (1) a religious denial of hell, and (2) stimulating studies in end-of-the-age prophecies.  These became foundations for the new religious organization that Russell would later establish.

Russell gradually popularized his end-time studies and founded the International Bible Students Association.  On December 18, 1884,  Zion’s Watchtower Tract Society became a publishing subsidiary of the Association.  By 1886 Russell had published The Divine Plan of the Ages,  projecting that in 1914 Armageddon would occur along with the dawn of  Christ’s thousand year rule on earth.  When 1914 came and went without event, Russell changed the date of his prediction to 1915, which also proved false. 

ANOTHER PRESIDENT, ANOTHER PROPHECY

After his failed prophecies, Russell died on October 31, 1916.  Joseph (“Judge”) Rutherford then emerged as the new head of the Watchtower.  Reworking Russell’s chronologies, he predicted Armageddon would be in 1918.  When that failed, he predicted that in 1925 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and other “ancient worthies” would be resurrected to usher in the new world.

By 1929, Rutherford was still convinced of that resurrection of “ancient worthies” and built a mansion for them in San Diego, calling the house Beth Sarim, “House of the Princes.”  He died in the house in 1942, shortly after proclaiming that the end of the world was only months away.

The 1914 prophecy is a good example of how The Watchtower has covered its failures by modifying its predictions afterward.  After the first failed prophecy in 1914, it taught that the world only entered its time of the end in that year.  Later it said that the “generation” that saw the events of 1914 would see the end of the world.  By 1995, time for Armageddon was running out.  So the Witness leadership changed the meaning of the word “generation,”  stripping it of any reference to a set number of years.  Thus the “end” could be postponed indefinitely…and the Watchtower could avoid embarrassement.

The failed 1975 Watchtower prophecy that Marjorie and I experienced was just one of many it has predicted.  All of this made us realize that the Watchtower Society fits the biblical definition of a false prophet in Deuteronomy 18: 21-22:

You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord? If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.  That prophet has spoken presumptuously.  Do not be afraid of him.”

ANOTHER CHRIST, ANOTHER GOSPEL

In addition to the Watchtower’s failed prophecies, I learned that many of their basic teachings disagree with the Bible.  For instance, according  to the Watchtower teachings Christ the Son was originally the first created being of Jehovah God and He was the incarnation of Michael the archangel.  According to them, Christ resumed the name Michael when He ascended to heaven after His resurrection.

However, the Bible clearly teaches that Christ the Son is eternal, creator, God.  Nowhere does it say that Michael became Christ or vice versa.  In fact, the Bible sharply distinguishes between created angels and the eternal Christ.

Jehovah’s Witnesses also teach that one’s soul is inseparable from one’s body, so when a person dies there is no continued existence of the soul.  In contrast, Christ taught that there is life after death.  In fact, Christ promised continuing life the same day after death.  Other Bible passages confirm the soul’s continuing existance after physical death.

Jehovah’s Witness teachings about spiritual salvation and peace with God differ from the Bible also.  The Witnesses teach that Christ’s death only provides an opportunity for a person to attain eternal life through obeying God’s laws.  There is no assurance of eternal life.  They believe that one can live in God’s paradise only through (1) studying the Bible, (2) associating with Jehovah’s Witnesses, (3) changing living habits from the former way to God’s way (requiring baptism as a Jehovah’s Witness), and (4) being a preacher and a witness of God’s kingdom.

However, the Bible clearly teaches that Christ’s death alone provides salvation from sin for all who trust in His sacrifice alone on their behalf.  In fact, God grants salvation only when one trusts Jesus Christ as Savior.  The eternal life given by grace to believers is also protected forever by God Himself. 

Following Charles Russell’s original teachings, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in a hell where those who reject Christ go after death.  However, Jesus Himself taught about the reality of hell for those who reject Him as Savior.

FINDING PEACE

After our research, Marjorie and I turned in our formal letter of disassociation from the “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.”  Afterwards, I experienced a peace of mind and freedom that I had never known in my 22 years as a Jehovah’s Witness.  Jesus Christ had personally come into my life, and I knew for certain that my salvation did not rest on my worthless works.  God had given it to me as a free gift of His grace.

The Watchtower organization taught us that we had to go through them to get to God the Father, but we are witnesses to the truth in Jesus Christ.  He said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Jesus Christ alone is the “one mediator between God and men…who gave Himself as a ransom for all men.”

Marjorie and I are witnesses of the marvelous salvation Jehovah freely offers in Christ. I invite you to stop trusting in your good works and ask the Lord Jesus alone to save you.

“Whoever believes in the Son [Jesus Christ] has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

Yes, the living Lord extends this invitation to Jehovah’s Witnesses today: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 

If you have any questions about what you have read, you can contact:

Leonard Chreiten at P.O. Box 8007, La Jolla, CA 92038, USA.