"For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those WHO DID NOT BELIEVE. And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of ETERNAL fire. Yet in the same way these men, also by DREAMING, defile the flesh, and REJECT AUTHORITY..........But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like UNREASONING animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them!.....These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you WITHOUT fear, caring for themselves;….doubly dead,……casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved FOREVER….These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak ARROGANTLY, flattering people FOR THE SAKE OF GAINING AN ADVANTAGE.”
--Jude 4-16
Hey this is Ben, and I am writing this post because the past several weeks God has really just opened up my eyes about how much falsehood there is in His church. I realize that there have always been false teachers in the church for as long as Christianity has been around, as evidenced by this letter written by Jesus' own brother, Jude, about 2000 years ago, but it just seems like today it is an epidemic. This truly is a problem in our churches and it truly is a cancer. Many false teachers are leading their followers straight to hell. That may not sound like a nice, popular, or politically correct thing to say, but it is true. I for one am sick of it. I am sick of reading error and seeing the skin of truth stuffed with a huge lie, and I am sick of Christians not actually studying God's Word to see what it says, and not speaking against these teachers, but rather embracing them, and their lies. One such well known, well liked, very popular teacher and author is Brian McLaren. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that he is a false teacher. If I did have a doubt I would not write this, but the best way to tell if someone is a false teacher is to look at their fruits and to look at how their teachings match up with God's Word. I am convinced that Brian McLaren's teachings are far from God's word, and even opposed to it. If you don’t believe me just read a few of his quotes below (underneath his quotes I have put answers). I also just wanted to put in bold how much he likes to say things like “I think”, “I don’t think”, “I suppose” and other things like that, that show his arrogance and belief that scripture is not correct, and that orthodox Christian doctrine that has been around for 2000 years is not correct unless it matches up with his Mystic Gnostic, “original” thoughts.
“I don't think we've got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be 'saved'?.... I don't think the liberals have it right. But I don't think we have it right either. None of us has arrived at orthodoxy."—McLaren
Answer—to be saved means that you have confessed and repented of your sins, and have accepted by faith that God by his grace sent His only son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins and that He rose again physically from the dead. If you have not done, or do not believe all of those things then you are not saved and you are going to hell. That is what it means to be saved. For more on this see The Bible.
"Frankly, many of us don't know what we should think about homosexuality. We've heard all sides but no position has yet won our confidence so that we can say "it seems good to the Holy Spirit and us."—McLaren
Answer-Homosexuality is a sin, and just like every other sin, it leads to death, and God hates it. God specifically refers to homosexuality as an abomination. Scripture cleary says that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. What is “good to us” does not matter, that is not truth. The only thing that matters is what God said about it, that is truth. For more on this see The Bible.
"What if Jesus' secret message reveals a secret plan?".... What if he didn't come to start a new religion--but rather came to start a political, social, religious, artistic, economic, intellectual, and spiritual revolution that would give birth to a new world?"—McLaren
Answer—if this is the case then He would be no different that Buddha, Muhhammed, Gandhi, Stalin, or Hitler. He would just be another man, spouting off his worthless opinions about life, and what he considers to be “utopia”just like any of these other men. Also how did Brian McLaren become so “blessed” that he seems to know what this secret message is? Any fool can ask an ignorant question like this. For example, what if Jesus came to show us that the secret to true happiness in marriage is found when you live in adultery? This clearly is not in scripure, but anyone can say such a statement and say that it is a secret that only God has revealed to him. For more on this see The Bible. His message is no secret.
The Christian faith, I am proposing, should become (in the name of Jesus Christ) a welcome friend to other religions of the world, not a threat”—McLaren
Answer-Certainly, and if we are going to be a welcome friend of all religions then we must also welcome those who sacrifice humans (there are still many religions of the world that practice this). We must also welcome those individuals that like to strap bombs to their chests and go stand in a crowd of civilians blowing their brains and bodies to shreds. We must also embrace those who say that Jews, African Americans, and any non-white person is below an animal, and we must also welcome every other false teaching, and abominable lie, no matter how grotesque or insane. Jesus never welcomed other religions of the world. Sure He loved people and tolerated them and so should we, but we must never tolerate falsehood; it is non-tolerable. For more on this see The Bible.
That’s good for now. I am going to be making more posts on this later. Also for those of you who think that I am being rude, intollerant, mean, or judgemental, then please read Jude, 2 Peter, Revelation 17, Jeremiah 23, Mark 9:42, Matthew 15:1-12, Luke 11:37-53, and the rest of The Bible and its entirety. God hates false teaching, and leading of His people astray, regardless of what one’s motives are.
3 years ago
3 comments:
hi, i don't know you. i wish i did, because maybe i'd appreciate more the words you have to say. i sure hate to read things like this, calling out our brothers and using words like this. what is your purpose? when i read his book, a new kind of christianity, it was like his words were meant for me to hear. there are many christians who are jaded with conservative christianity that preaches salvation of the soul but does nothing to talk about a redemptive life, a redemptive culture. he is one of the "emerging" teachers/authors/thinkers that is trying to break down walls and start a conversation with the world. that's exactly what Jesus did. maybe he's wrong on some points, really, maybe he is. but, you gotta be careful. we need to build each other up, encourage the body. i guess if you think that it's your job to rebuke him, and encourage me to NOT believe him, then go ahead. but, i can assure you that his words and others like him are encouraging many disillusioned christians and seekers like myself. be careful man. be really careful. i don't have a blog, so if you'd like to reply to me, you can send me an email to casey.hoskins@gmail or a message to me on facebook.
The truth is in Gods word.
Good blog Ben
Hey! I full heartedly agree with you. And I full heartedly disagree with the Hoskins. What sounds like wonderful ideas and wonderful virtues, what is underneath is undoctrinal heresy. How we love to hear this new "Emergent" lingo that embraces a more reletivistic approach to Christianity in regards to denying the exclusivity of the gospel.
Oh how it sounds so lovely but in the end, people will not want to hear the harsh realities of the truth, but will turn to what is false and pleasing to the ear.
The war is raging for the truth, and clearly the Hoskins do not see how far from scripture these authors are willing to go. they also must not realize that we are to cast out the false teachers who are among us, not embrace them and build them up.
The walls that McLaren is trying to break down come at the expense of usurping the authority of scripture to the SUBJECTIVE interpretations of man.
It grieves me to see that truth now is being sacrificed on the alter of Christianity to satisfy a postmodern relativistic heretical group of people.
I would rather die (and possibly will) than ever see us place the authority in the hands of man in place of the Bible.
"Here I stand."
Christopher Sommer
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