I agree with most that the editors of The
Berean Call have to say, but every once in awhile I disagree with
something. If you
have any comments or questions please write
me.
"When the Lord put it upon my heart to write a book about my
concerns regarding Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ,
little did I know I would face a new kind of opposition. I was
compelled to address the subject because of my background as a
devout Roman Catholic, a former Hollywood screenwriter, and my
experience in Christian apologetics. The "passionate" reaction I
received was very different from other controversial issues I had
written about in nearly three decades of ministry; in this case some
who were very much opposed to the book were those whom I greatly
respect.
"To a man, their response to my long list of substantial criticisms
(multiple distortions of and additions to Scripture, the use of the
film medium to manipulate emotions, the false Catholic gospel of
physical sufferings to expiate sins, story content taken from a
mystical nun, Gibson's goal of reproducing the Stations of the Cross
ritual and exalting Mary, etc., etc.) was: "Yes, but God can still
use this."
"At the time it was seen by many evangelicals as an exciting
opportunity to witness worldwide to those unbelievers whose
curiosity the popular movie piqued. Although predictions abounded
that the film would bring about great revival, no such thing -- even
on a local scale -- materialized.
"I was told by sincere friends that the value of a book explaining
the problems with The Passion of the Christ would very likely be
short-lived because movies come and go and are soon forgotten.
Generally speaking, yes; but not in this case. The evangelical
church, credited for making The Passion an overwhelming box-office
success, has lionized this movie. Churches not only purchased
tickets for their congregations -- they bought The Passion DVDs for
their libraries, Sunday schools, adult and young-adult groups, Bible
studies, outreach programs, and so forth.
"Four years since the release of the film, its showing has become an
annual Easter event for thousands of evangelical churches. This week
Hank Hanegraaff's Bible Answer Man program is having actor
and conservative Catholic James Caviezel discuss his
experience of playing Christ in "the making of the epic film."
Moody Bible Church has encouraged its congregation
to register for Saturday's free showing of "this powerful depiction
of the last days of Jesus' life on earth." Other examples abound.
"The most grievous aspect of all this is that this
very Catholic production (Gibson calls it his "very Marian movie"),
with all of its anti-biblical characteristics (see Showtime for the
Sheep?), has become a permanent teaching tool within evangelical
churches. This is certainly a major addition to the rapidly
developing apostasy.
"T.A. McMahon
"P.S.- Let me know what The Passion of the Christ events are taking
place in your area. "
MAN SAYS: "[Beginning November 30], the Global Summit
on AIDS and the Church [was] held on the Saddleback campus. It is not a
church service, but an international summit for pastors and world leaders.
Leaders from churches, denominations, health, NGOs, Christian
organizations, governments, businesses, and entertainment will meet
together to discuss how they can work with churches to end AIDS.
Participants will hear messages from Laura Bush, Sen. Bill Frist, Sen. Sam
Brownback, Bill Gates, Bono, the doctor who discovered AIDS transmission
heterosexually, Franklin Graham, the President of
World Vision, the President of World Relief, the President of Compassion,
and about 30 other speakers who are concerned about AIDS. [Pro-homosexual,
pro-abortion] Sen. Obama is one speaker at a
conference which includes Republicans and Democrats, Christians and
non-Christians, pastors, business leaders, and all kinds of races from
around the world. Yet the vitriol and unChristlike slander was over the
top." (Rick Warren, Purpose Driven
network, November 25, 2006)
GOD SAYS: "Be ye not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he
that believeth with an infidel?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15)
[TBC: More recently, Warren and Saddleback released a
follow up statement: "We do not expect all participants in the Summit
discussion to agree with all of our Evangelical beliefs. However, the
HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by Evangelicals alone. It will take the
cooperation of all government, business, NGOs and the church. That is the
purpose of this Summit -- to marshal the policy of the government; the
finances of business; the expertise of the health organizations; and the
compassion, volunteerism and reach of the church in order to care for the
sick and save lives."
Saving of lives is certainly paramount, but saving of
souls is greater yet. We have seen enough examples that demonstrate whenever
evangelicals join hands with the world, the real "good news"
will be set aside. That is part of the demands of the world.]
This is an important message about the many ways
professing Christians and the Evangelical subculture have become
corrupt and deceived.
This message includes serious warnings about the following:
President Bush and Condoleezza Rice, D. James Kennedy, R.C. Sproul,
Bob Finley, Christian Aid Mission, Mennonite Central Committee,
World Vision (WV), Timothy George, Jack Hayford, Duane Litfin, Brian
McLaren, David Neff, Ron Sider, Jim Wallis, Rick Warren,
Thomas Wang, John Stott, Billy Graham, John Ankerberg, James Dobson,
Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible, J.I. Packer, Zondervan, Rupert
Murdoch, Rick Warren, The Roman Catholic Church, Richard Land, the
Southern Baptists' Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission,Pat Robertson, Jack Van Impe, Bishop Fulton Sheen, Chuck Colson,
Paul Crouch, TBN, Benny Hinn, Jerry Falwell, Robert Schuller, the
Chrysostom Society, Richard Foster, Calvin Miller, Karen Mains,
Eugene Peterson
<<Dr. Tony Wright, a dentist in South Africa, musing on his
website how the prophecies of the Bible incontrovertibly point to Jesus as
the expected and manifested Messiah:
"As groups such as Answers in Genesis point out, there is an
increased reliance upon what is called Ultra-Semitic translations of the
Scriptures. What this means is that such translations are opposed to any
literal understanding of such passages as Genesis 1. There is a reason for
this as the following commentary points out:
"Most of [the prophetic scriptures] point directly or indirectly
at Jesus Christ, who fulfilled 371 Tanaach Messianic prophecies. 371
Coincidences? Surely not.....!!!
"We read in the TALMUD (Sanhedrin 97b):That the Sanhedrin wept and
said, "Woe to us! Where is the Messiah? He had to have come by
now." Even the Holy leaders of Israel realized the fact that,
according to the Tanakh, they had missed their Messiah! To cover up their
error, they banned Jews forever from reading or interpreting Daniel 9 -
because Daniel 9 gives the date, to the day, that the Messiah was supposed
to have come. According to Judaism (the midrash Bereshith on page 243 of
the Warsaw edition), the Messiah was to exit in 33 AD.">>
"Is Emerging Church Leader,
Brian McLaren, Turning His Back on the Cross?"
[From TBC Today 3/22/05]
"March 20, 2005
"Is Brian McLaren becoming an enemy of
the Cross of Jesus Christ? While his signature and endorsement on
the back of such books as Tony Campolo's Speaking My Mind and Dave
Fleming's The Seeker's Way, was horrible enough, that was mild
compared to what he has now done.
"In the midst of Purpose Driven mania
and an apparently sleeping church, Brian McLaren has endorsed a book
that calls the doctrine of the Cross a vile doctrine.
"That book? None
other than Alan Jones' new book, Reimagining Christianity. Alan
Jones in an interspiritualist and mystic in every sense of the word.
Take a look at the Living Spiritual Teachers Project, of which Jones
is involved. This group of about twenty-five includes Zen and
Buddhist monks, New Agers and even Marianne Williamson and her
Course in Miracles. The goal of this group is to destroy the belief
that Jesus Christ is the only way for redemption and to integrate
other world religious beliefs into Christianity.
"Not only does Alan Jones believe the
Cross to be vile, he says that the spiritual practice of
contemplative prayer will draw Christians into the realms of all
other world religions. Now on this point, we have to agree with Mr.
Jones. He couldn't be more right.
"Right now there are two groups of
people who are rushing interspirituality and contemplative prayer
into the world's midst.The first group consists of those who are not
afraid nor do they keep secret the beliefs they hold. They include
such as Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, Wayne Teasdale, Bede
Griffiths, Robert Schuller, Tilden Edwards, Alan Jones, Marcus Borg
and the list goes on.
"The second group, and in a sense a
far more dangerous group because they outwardly wear the clothing of
sheep, are nothing more than disciples of the first group. They
include, to name a few: Richard Foster, Brennan Manning, Bruce
Wilkinson, Eugene Peterson, John Ortberg, John Eldredge, Bill Hybels,
and yes Rick Warren and Brian McLaren.
"In time,we believe this second group
will merge with this first group, proudly and openly. With Brian
McLaren's help that task will be accomplished far sooner than some
had expected.
"Man Says: "Messianic Muslims, who
continue to read the Koran, visit the mosque and say their daily prayers
but accept Christ as their Savior, are the products of the strategy
which is being tried in several countries." A YWAM staff writer
wrote: "They continue a life of following the Islamic requirements,
including mosque attendance, fasting and Koranic reading, besides
getting together as a fellowship of Muslims who acknowledge Christ as
the source of God's mercy for them... YWAM is also adopting this
approach in India, where a team is working with a Hindu holy man."
(YWAM in Foundation, May/June 2000, p. 39).
"God Says: "It is a faithful saying: for
if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we
shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny
us."" [2 Timothy 2:11, 12]
"Los Angeles Times (USA), Sep. 20, 2004, excerpted from
www.religionnewsblog.com/8717-.html
"By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer
Excerpts, Part 2
"Ole E. Anthony, founder of the Trinity Foundation in Dallas,
a televangelist watchdog, said he knew people who had given the last
of their savings to TV preachers, hoping for a windfall that never
came.
""The people on TBN are living the lifestyle of fabulous
wealth on the backs of the poorest and most desperate people in our
society," Anthony said. "People have lost their faith in God
because they believe they weren't worthy after not receiving their
financial blessing."
"Thomas D. Horne, of Williford, Ark., a disabled Vietnam-era
veteran, said that in 1994 he was swept away by the rhetoric of TBN
pastors and donated about $6,000 in disability benefits.
"Time went by and he did not receive the promised surfeit of
money. Last year, he found out that TBN had purchased a Newport Beach
mansion overlooking the Pacific. He wrote to the network, asking for
his money back. "I want to recoup my hard-earned disability money
I sent to these despicable people," said Horne. He said he has
received no reply.
"Philip McPeake is another donor for whom God's economy of
giving did not deliver. Out of work and out of luck in November 1998,
McPeake heard the Rev. R.W. Schambach make an impassioned plea for
donations on TBN's Kansas City television station, KTAJ. Schambach
promised that if viewers sent $200 as a down payment on a $2,000
pledge, God would give them the rest within 90 days -- with a bonus to
follow.
"McPeake sent in his money and waited for his luck to change.
When it didn't, he complained to the Missouri state attorney general's
office and the Federal Communications Commission. TBN refunded his
donation.
"Carl Geisendorfer, who runs a low-power Christian television
station in Quincy, Ill., offered TBN programming for 19 years --
until, he said, he grew disgusted by the televangelists' financial
appeals. He said he pulled TBN off the air in 2002 after watching a
preacher tell viewers that they should pledge $2,000 -- even if they
didn't have it -- in order to receive a financial miracle from God.
"I should have canceled TBN several years earlier, but I thought
Paul Crouch would finally see the light on how foolish and prideful
that false gospel is," said Geisendorfer, president of Believer's
Broadcasting Corp., a small media group. "I'm sorry I waited as
long as I did . . . ."
"[TBC: God¹s Word says: "And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of
a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not" (2
Peter 2:3]."
"A Christian group is asking an Assemblies of God
Bible college in Pennsylvania to drop a frequent guest chapel speaker
because of his heretical beliefs. But the school's president is
defending his decision to invite a man who holds to universalist
theology and an unbiblical view of homosexuality.
"Dr. Don Meyer says he is not backing down from
his decision to once again welcome Dr. Tony Campolo
to preach in chapel...at Valley Forge
Christian College, a small four-year college located northwest of
Philadelphia. Campolo, a well-known media commentator on religious,
social and political matters, often preaches with his wife in
homosexual-affirming churches, where he has stated that the homosexual
"did not choose homosexuality," but is rather "a victim
either of biological accident or someone else's folly" (Jim
Brown, AgapePress http://headlines.agapepress.org)."
"[TBC: If what Campolo teaches is true
(that people do not choose to favor homosexual attraction, but are
born "wired" that way) then how can he preach that God is a
loving Father? What kind of loving God would clearly condemn
homosexual behavior, while at the same time predestining certain
beings to be born as homosexuals?]."
