I have believed for a long time that the best way to debate atheism is not on the level of evidence, but presuppositions. This excellent article by Dr. Jason Lisle addresses one of the best arguments against atheism.

This column from Phyllis Schafly points out what should have been obvious to generations of parents. Putting your Christian kids in a hard core secularist environment for 35 hours a week in school is a bad idea. Another way to put it is, letting the Assyrians of humanism train your child’s thinking will produce more Assyrians of humanism.

Yesterday on Crosstalk, attorney Bruce Shortt of Exodus Mandate explained the “Call to Dunkirk” project designed to get Christian parents to wake up to the need for Christian education for their children. It’s the last call, I feel, for parents to reclaim their God-given responsibility to educate their children in a manner rooted and grounded in God’s Word.

As Schlafly points out, it’s little wonder huge percentages of evangelical young people voted for Barack Obama. Their ideology was laid out years before when they were put in schools that were at war with the teachings of God’s Word. Ideas have consequences.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dinesh D’Souza’s account of his two debates with Princeton professor, Peter Singer. Singer is the infamous neo-Nazi of the Ivy League who has made a name for himself calling for the right to kill infants up to 27 days old if they are sick, or deemed a burden. Men like D’Souza are the last bastion of truth in the halls of these schools where God has been thrown out. As Singer demonstrated at the debates, the only way he could save face was to run away from his own views. As D’Souza puts it, run, Peter Singer, run!

Watch as John MacArthur faithfully stands up for the authority of the Bible.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA8-PbU2Elc[/youtube]

This is an important point in discussion concerning spiritual formation: No one credible writing in the area of criticism of contemplative spirituality is saying that spiritual growth is unnecessary nor are we saying “discipline” is bad thing.

More at Apprising Ministries.

Pastor Larry DeBruyn has published a three-part series on the popular book, The Shack, and its teachings of universal reconciliation before God. These teachings underlie the whole emerging church heresy.

Here is:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Pastor DeBruyn writes:

Writing from the standpoint of being a one time “theological buddy” of Paul Young, author of The Shack, James De Young notes that the “the most serious error is Paul’s embrace of Universal Reconciliation which lies imbedded in the book.”[15] When applied to Christianity, Universal Reconciliation (UR) behaves like a computer virus that first invades, and then infects the whole body of biblical Truth. Contradicting distinctive Christian teachings, UR proposes a dialectic that changes biblical beliefs about God’s love and justice, Jesus’ atonement, heaven and hell, and the balance between divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

This hasn’t, of course, stopped evangelical pastors from buying this book by the crateload and handing it out to parishoners as though it were another scripture text. That’s because doctrine and theology don’t matter any longer. If a book makes you feel good, it must be Christian teaching, right?

A reader writes to ask if we’re familiar with the New Perspective on Paul. Apprising Ministries supplies some helpful links concerning NPP of which The Master’s Seminary says, “It’s an insidious heresy that on the surface might look like it has some sense of scholastic splendor but, once you poke through the veneer, it’s nothing more and nothing less than theological poison.”

My friend, Doug Eaton, weighs in on what may be the most misquoted, misunderstood verse in all of Scripture (Matt. 7:1 - “Judge not lest ye be judged…”)

In the post below, don’t miss the video clip posted by Ravi Zacharias who talks of homosexuality and the Christian. At 6:05 he calls Henri Nouwen “one of the greatest saints of recent memory.” The only problem is that Henri Nouwen was an eastern mystic who endorsed the work of Hindus and who believed that all paths lead to God. In this article by Ray Yungen, you can read further what Ravi’s “saint” really believed about salvation, mantra meditation and the rest. Does any of this matter, fellow believers?  I say it does matter, and it’s time to point out that the apologetic emperor in some cases is without biblical clothing. It’s time to stop the idolatry of talented men, and start being Bereans in the church once again.

I’ve been getting press releases for the last few weeks about the latest whiz bang apologetics conference at Southern Evangelical Seminary. The world’s “leading” apologists will be there and “apologists” will be talking about how to defend a “Christian worldview”. Maybe they should just apologize and go home. These “apologists” are talking about advancing traditional marriage, fighting abortion, defending God in the public square and so forth. But keynoter, James Dobson, who is called an “apologist”, is really a cultural activist in a battle that we’re losing, big time. Why? Christians are largely lampooned today, not because of Jesus Christ, but because of the garbage done in His name. With months long freak shows like the one Todd Bentley just completed, with televangelists jetting around at donor expense so the Senate has to investigate, with men like John Avanzini handing out lucky rubbing stones so people can get rich, with cussing pastors and churches handing out cards with ideas to jazz up your sex life, with pastors getting arrested for trying to hook up with 13-year-old girls online, etc, maybe they shouldn’t call this a National Apologetics Conference. I think it should be called a National Apology Conference. They could line up Christian “leaders” and lay people who could spend hours apologizing.

1. We’re sorry for treating Jesus Christ as a life-enhancement product.

2. We’re sorry for funding and listening to crooks and liars on TV and sending them money.

3. We’re sorry for attending churches where live motorcycle stunts are performed onstage.

4. We’re sorry for having 3rd rate ethics while claiming to follow Christ.

5. We’re sorry that neighbors had to call the police because our church sound system blew out their windows.

6. We’re sorry for supporting a deranged “evangelist” who kicks people in the stomach to cure their cancer.

7. We’re sorry for wearing/selling/buying stupid T-shirts that blaspheme God and thinking that would impress non-Christians.

8. We’re sorry for spending billions of dollars on music downloads and CD’s of our favorite Christian pop stars and funding their demise.

9. We’re sorry for blowing off Sola Scriptura and returning to medieval mysticism.

10. We’re sorry for buying books from heretical wolves like Brian McLaren who deny hell, the substitutionary atonement and the Second Coming.

11. We’re sorry for adopting hindu worship practices as a Christian means of encountering God.

12. We’re sorry for buying trash like The Shack that redefines the Trinity and introduces goddess theology to evangelicals.

13. We’re sorry for following the Rupert Murdoch-sponsored Pied Piper into his latest church campaign because we refuse to think biblically.

You get the idea. Maybe the National Apology Conference idea will catch on. I won’t hold my breath.

I can hear all the gasps of horror from fans of Dr. Ravi Zacharias, premier Christian apologist and A-List speaker for Christian conferences. “What audacity! How dare she suggest in her headline that brilliant Ravi needs to rethink anything?” Well, it doesn’t take a Th.D. to know that Jesus didn’t come to save us from our low self-esteem. It doesn’t take years of seminary or studying at Cambridge or Oxford to know that in biblical theology, sin is not having a low self-image. But it bothers Ravi not at all that his host for the 2009 ReThink Conference will be none other than Heretic Emeritus, Robert Schuller, who has spent his entire career teaching just that. Sometimes, what you really need in the church today is someone like the child in the Emperor’s New Clothes who cried out, “The King’s not wearing anything at all!” So I’ll say it. Ravi is aiding and abetting one of America’s most senior false teachers, the father of the modern seeker-sensitive movement that has so perverted the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ravi Zacharias has been on a long downhill slide as witnessed by his Salt Lake City misadventure at the Mormon Tabernacle back in 2004, his Jesus-free prayer at the Capitol Hill National Day of Prayer event in May, and now his being staged by Robert Schuller who tells us we need to “rethink” everything. If you’re interested in defending the faith, Ravi, the best place to start would be with your host at the Crystal Cathedral. Here’s more from the Slaughtering the Sheep blog.

Lane Chaplin has posted another Crosstalk clip on YouTube. This one is from a recent program that addressed the statements by Richard Abanes that online discernment ministries are xenophobic, cult-like, paranoid, and are a few steps from the compound of David Koresh. The video is a ten-minute clip. The complete interview can be heard here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB4o-CNbz10[/youtube]

I’ll start by saying what a privilege it is for me to serve our Lord by posting on Slice this week, along with Samuel and Lane, whilst Ingrid is away.

Justin Peters excellent A Call for Discernment - A Biblical Critique of the Word of Faith (or the Health, Wealth & Prosperity) Movement, is now on Sermon Audio, having been uploaded by GCC, San Antonio (who also put the Paul Washer sermons on the same site)

Originally Ingrid posted a link to the You Tube videos of Justin I posted at Puritan Fellowship, but you can now watch online or download both the full length video and mp3 audio.

It is my firm belief that many underestimate just how far Word of Faith/God TV is from true Christianity, due to a lack of education and warning. It is not just another denomination with a few erroneous teachings, but it is another Gospel with another Jesus.

I think it’s a good idea to put Justin’s message on CD to give to other Christians you know (or email them). There is also a request at the end of the message to ask your pastor to get Justin to speak at your church. What a good idea.

Here John Avanzini declares that God told him that morning that His eternal purpose is duplicating Himself in the earth. Avanzini is one of the speakers at the Word Faith conference where Ray Comfort will be speaking. Ray has no choice but to expose this blasphemy to the people attending.

Here’s Kenneth Copeland claiming that God the Father is from another planet.

Here Paul Crouch and Kenneth Copeland question that Jesus was God.

Here Benny Hinn teaches that God made us little gods.

Here Copeland lays the foundation of Word of Faith teachings–Adam was God.

Those who are further interested in learning about the roots of the Word of Faith teachings should read this excellent article on how the Word of Faith teachings came out of the mind sciences.

As Christians does it matter at what conferences we speak? In the unlikely event that I’m asked to speak at a white supremacist conference, a lesbian pride rally, a wiccan convention, or a feminist gathering, should I accept the invitation? Would it be Christ-honoring for me to allow my grinning mugshot to appear alongside that of the First Grand Wizard of some KKK terrorist in a white hood? How about my photo next to the President of NARAL, the abortion rights group? In the spiritual realm, how about me appearing at a New Spirituality gathering? After all, I would share the Gospel, right? I could stand there at the podium amidst all the unicorn horns strapped on people’s heads, all the turbans of the muftis and the yogis and share my Bible-based views on spirituality along with theirs. Would that be a great opportunity or a great confusion to those who hear I am speaking along with the Dali Lama ? I’m talking about organized events here, gatherings of people of one religious belief or another.

Ray Comfort is a brother in the Lord who I have greatly appreciated. He has made, however, the decision to participate in conferences with Word of Faith heretics. He has done this more than once. His claim is that he will go anywhere to speak. In theory, that sounds great. “I’ll go anywhere with the Gospel.” But in reality, when there is so much confusion and so many false teachers today, that philosophy in practice can be problematic. Take, for example, Ray’s speaking at this upcoming conference, July 13-20, with health and wealth heretics, Jesse Duplantis, Rod Parsley, John Avanzini, and several others. Here are some quotes from the same.

“I’ve never had the Lord say, ‘Jesse, I think that car is a little bit too nice.’ I’ve had vehicles and the Lord said, ‘Would you please go park that at your house. Don’t put that in front of my house. I don’t want people to think that I’m a poor God.’” (Jesse Duplantis, “When Will We Yield To The Anointing of Wealth II,” April 10, 2005)

Jesse Duplantis: “People told me, ‘Well, they say, Jesus was poor.’ When was He poor? I would like to know when He was poor. Well, He was born in a stable. Why? Why was He born in a stable? Because that short, deaf lady lost their reservation. He couldn’t get into the inn. Think about that for a minute…And He had 12 full time people on His staff. Some were married and He took care of them. He had 70 part timers. You don’t gamble for rags Marcus.”
Marcus Lamb: “Yeah.”
Jesse Duplantis: “You don’t gamble for rags. You gamble for some clothes that cost. Don’t you? He wanted a donkey that had never been rode. As I said earlier, ‘You might want a car that has never been drove.’
Marcus Lamb: “He had a full time treasurer on staff.”
Jesse Duplantis: “That’s right! And stole for three years and the other guys didn’t know about it.”
Joni Lamb: “And wise men came to see Him.”
Jesse Duplantis: “That’s right! I mean He wasn’t three minutes on the ground and the three wise guys are looking for Him with what? Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Let me tell you something, this concept that Jesus was in poverty is totally wrong!” (Jesse Duplantis, Marcus Lamb, and Joni Lamb, Daystar Fall, “Share-A-Thon,” September 15, 2004)

“If I give $1,000 dollars I deserve to get back $100,000 because I am just, that’s not greed!” (Jesse Duplantis, December 19, 2003 TBN, “The just shall live by faith.”)

“With fierce prayers and determination to see my mother healed, I started talking to God. “What is going on here?! I’m praying! Dad’s praying! Why isn’t she healed? You cannot allow death to defeat me, God. You made a covenant with me through Jesus’ blood! And that covenant says by His stripes we were healed! Where is that healing? If you break this covenant with me, you’ll have to cease to be God! You must keep covenant with me. You must obey your Word!” I was honest with God. He knew how I felt, so what was the point in hiding it? I was confused. I was hurt. I didn’t know what else to do. That is when God spoke up, “Jesse, I have a covenant with you, yes. However, I have one with your mother as well. You are praying for her healing. She is praying in her heart for Me to take her home. Now, I will obey My Word. But you and your daddy are battling your mother’s will. It is her life at stake. You have Me in a hard place, Jesse. Someone has got to give in. Get yourselves together and tell Me what I am to do! (Jesse Duplantis, “My Experience Doesn’t’ Change God’s Word,” Article C-Faith)

Here are some quotes from John Avanzini. I wonder where he found this in the Scriptures?

“Jesus had a nice house, a big house.”
(Believer’s Voice of Victory, (TBN) 1/20/91)

“Jesus wore designer clothes.”
(Believer’s Voice of Victory, (TBN) 1/20/91)

“Paul had the kind of money that could stop up justice.”
(Believer’s Voice of Victory, (TBN) 1/20/91)

“Jesus was handling big money.”
(Praise the Lord (TBN), 9/15/88)

“[The Spirit of God]…declared in the earth today what the eternal purpose of God has been through the ages…that He is duplicating Himself in the earth”
(John Avanzini, “The End Time Manifestation of the Sons of God,” Morris Cerullo World Evangelism tape).

That last quote is the teaching of these Word of Faith heretics that we are all little gods.

Justin Peters has a complete seminar that he does, exposing the heretical doctrines of the Word of Faith teachers. I strongly recommend it. These teachers don’t just teach that God wants us rich and healthy, they also have heretical, Arian doctrines on Christ and His equality in the Godhead. These lies are the seedbed for the rest of their teachings.

Just as I have strongly disagreed with Rob Bell and Doug Pagitt for their participation and tacit endorsement of the pagan religious leaders at the Seeds of Compassion InterSpiritual event, I also strongly disagree with Ray Comfort’s tacit endorsement of heretical teachers who are leading millions astray. Ray is endangering the considerable respect he and his ministry have generated over the years by failing to expose these false teachers and by his willingness to cooperate at their events. The webpage with his photo on it, along with the other false teachers, wordlessly articulates the problem. The Apostle Paul said that if he or an angel from heaven proclaimed any other gospel than the true gospel, “let him be accursed.” He did not consort with these false teachers. He did not appear at their get togethers to share the truth. He said these false teachers were to be accursed. It’s really that serious.

One of the dangers in parachurch ministry today is a narrowness of focus that sometimes blinds leaders to what is going around them. One group focuses on lost patriarchy in the church. Suddenly, strange doctrines, found nowhere in Scripture, start emerging, such as father worship, extreme courtship views, the denial of education to females, etc. Another group focuses only on legislative issues. Before long, they’re forming coalitions with Mormons and others who really need the Gospel more than anything, yet the Gospel falls by the wayside. Another group focuses only on protesting homosexuality. One such pastor in our state became so obsessed with protesting homosexuality, that his church became nothing more than an itinerant picketing crew. It’s helpful to sometimes stop and realize that while we are all called to work in different areas of ministry, we can’t be so absorbed in it that we fail to notice and respect what other parts of the Bible have to say, or what other legitimate concerns are facing the church.

I hope and pray that Ray Comfort will listen to those in the body of Christ who respect the work he has been engaged in, and will realize the seriousness of legitimizing, in any way, the false teachers on the roster at his upcoming conference. These false teachers have left a trail of victims behind them, and Christ’s warnings about those who cause little ones to stumble include those little ones in the faith who believed the Word of Faith lies and got burned.

I just received this press release moments ago from Monkfish Publishers. My comments follow.

Rhinebeck, NY May 14, 2008

Mormons and Evangelicals Cross Religious Barriers

More than 500 Mormons and Evangelicals met last month at the Tempe Institute of Religion at Arizona State University to participate in an interfaith dialogue hosted by Greater Phoenix Latter-day Saints Interfaith Council and the Arizona Ecumenical Council. “A Conversation Between a Mormon and an Evangelical” was led by the Reverend Gregory Johnson, founding pastor of Ogden Valley Baptist Church in Utah, and Robert Millet, dean emeritus of religious education at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The two have been leading similar “conversations” since 2001. Last November they published the book “Bridging the Divide: The Continuing Conversation Between a Mormon and an Evangelical” which contains excerpts of the public dialogues.

Millet and Johnson, both headstrong in their faiths, spent two and half hours questioning each other’s religions and sharing their own spiritual journeys. As reported in the East Valley Tribune, “The two men repeatedly implored people of all faiths to engage in thoughtful, nonjudgmental dialogue. “Love is the ultimate apologetic,” Johnson said. ‘The ultimate defender of your faith as a Christian is how you love people.’ ”

“We are not in conversation just to make points with one another,” said Johnson, founder and president of Standing Together, a ministry “to advance biblical unity and spiritual transformation in Utah.” He said they have engaged in intense dialogue to share “truth as we best understand it.”

“Once in a while, we need to ask ourselves the hard question, ‘Am I sometimes too proud, maybe even arrogant, to suppose that someone of another faith can actually teach me something - that I can learn something from him?’ ” asked Millet

Often, he said, when people have contrasting religious beliefs and disagreements, “we say, ‘flight or fight,’ ” Johnson said. It is manifested by family pledges to not discuss religion at Thanksgiving meals, for example. He recounted how often families have been “split right down the middle” when, for example, someone has left an evangelical church or the Mormon church and joined the other.

“It has severely tested marriages, it has put children opposite their parents, it has broken some families up,” Johnson said. “That breaks our hearts to think there are people, in the context of loving family relationships,” who let religious choices break bonds among loved ones. It runs counter to Christ’s purpose on earth, he said. “Jesus died on the cross because he loved a lost world.”

Johnson offered a litany of issues commonly raised with Mormons: whether Jesus and Lucifer were spirit brothers, the ban of black males from the priesthood before the doctrine was changed in 1978, the practice of polygamy until it was banned in 1890, and blood atonement whereby it was once taught that certain sins required the blood of the sinner to be shed to gain forgiveness.

“People are down on what they are not up on,” Millet said. “And not many people are up on what the central teachings of the Latter-day Saints happen to be.” The BYU professor said those topics and others are “peripheral teachings.” He said there is a “tendency and the temptation on the part of people outside my faith to define me and to define my faith for me and tell me what I believe and what I don’t believe.”

About the authors

Reverend Gregory C.V. Johnson is founder and President of Standing
Together, a ministry that exists to advance biblical unity and spiritual
transformation in Utah. Though raised in the Mormon Church, Reverend
Johnson became an evangelical in his mid teens. After graduating with
Honors and a Masters of Divinity from Denver Theological Seminary he has
served as a Baptist Pastor in Utah since 1992. He was the founding
Pastor of the Ogden Valley Baptist Church. Reverend Johnson’s passion
for Christian unity led him to create Standing Together in 2001 to
foster Evangelical/Mormon dialogue.

Greg and his wife Jill Johnson have four children and live in Utah. This
is his first book.

Dr. Robert L. Millet is professor of Religious Education, Outreach,
and Interfaith Relations and emeritus Dean of Religious Education at
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Millet is a distinguished
Latter-day Saint author and speaker with more than 50 published books
and 140 articles on virtually all aspects of Mormonism. He appears
frequently as a commentator on BYUTV and in other visible roles at
assorted media outlets as Manager of Outreach and Interfaith Relations
for Church Public Affairs. His recent books include /A Different Jesus/
(Eerdmans, 2005), and /Grace Works/.

Please note these words here from Greg Johnson:

“It has severely tested marriages, it has put children opposite their parents, it has broken some families up,” Johnson said. “That breaks our hearts to think there are people, in the context of loving family relationships,” who let religious choices break bonds among loved ones. It runs counter to Christ’s purpose on earth, he said. “Jesus died on the cross because he loved a lost world.”

As an evangelical, Johnson should have remembered Christ’s clear words:

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

Luke 12:51-53

Love is the whole defining reason why we share the truth of the Gospel with Mormons. We love the souls of those who are lost and without Christ and we desire to bring glory to God’s Son by faithfully sharing the Gospel, but the truth divides. Jesus Christ stated that is the case. Does Greg Johnson know more than Christ? Deciding to follow Jesus when you are in a Mormon family or a Muslim family, or any other family may cost you all of your relationships. That’s what Jesus was talking about when he said to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Him.

What’s needed is not everlasting “dialogue” but bold sharing of the truth, for it is the truth that sets men free. Greg Johnson and Robert Millet were not participating in a rare and one time event. Their Mormon/Evangelical road show has been presented 55 times in different places. Millet never converts and neither does Johnson. They just keep talking away. Here’s a news story that covers the event.

“We have a history of either giving up on the culture or trying to take it over,” said Dr. Richard Mouw, president and professor of Christian Philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary. “Instead, we should do what we are capable of doing for the common good alongside others who have a sincere commitment to the common good. We need to develop a more adequate theology, not impose our will on society.”

–Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, today at the National Press Club, unveiling the new Evangelical Manifesto with his cohorts.

“I know that I have learned much in this continuing dialogue, and I am now convinced that we evangelicals have often seriously misrepresented the beliefs and practices of the Mormon community. Indeed, let me state it bluntly to the LDS folks here this evening: we have sinned against you. The God of the Scriptures makes it clear that it is a terrible thing to bear false witness against our neighbors, and we have been guilty of that sort of transgression in things we have said about you. We have told you what you believe without making a sincere effort first of all to ask you what you believe.”

–Richard Mouw, “Mormon/Christian Evening of Friendship”, Salt Lake Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, November 14, 2004

My Response: Yes, Dr. Mouw, we do need a “more adequate theology” for evangelicals, something you have been unable to provide in your tenure at Fuller Theological Seminary, one of the biggest contributors to spiritual error within evangelicalism. An “adequate theology’ will only be found when evangelicals get back into the authoritative Word of God and stop jetting around trying to find common ground with those in cults and false religions. And you can pass that on to your friend and Mormon enthusiast, David Neff, as well.

Additionally, Dr. Mouw, at a time when anyone can claim the credential “evangelical”, the creation of what you term an “Evangelical Manifesto” seems a tad presumptuous. The term evangelical now can mean anything from a homosexual and his lover at an Evangelicals Concerned support group in New York City, Jim Wallis waving around Karl Marx’s Das Kapital , Shirley Dobson and her Reform Jewish universalist Rabbi, Greg Boyd and his hand-wringing semi-God, Brian McLaren and his hell-free, atonement-free, New Age Shift crusade, Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven madness, Rob Bell and his “human-product” Bible, Mark Driscoll and his toilet mouth pastorate, Doug Pagitt and his Desperate Housewives theology, and so forth and so on. Why don’t you call this document, “An Evangelical Manifesto: Whatever Evangelical Means”. It might clear things up. Sort of.

The live webcast of the NDP event is underway at the NDP site. See post below for link. I’m posting comments as they come in here.

Why did Shirley Dobson not correct the Rabbi Bruse Lustig that she just introduced and even thanked after he prayed. He just said whether Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim or some other religion we are EQUAL in prayer before God. No way! The Lord is against our nation. I cannot believe any Christian could stand at a function led by Christians and remain silent.

Now this Catholic priest said “in that name”. What name?The Lord will not hear these prayers! No wonder the Lord would want to vomit us.

Stephanie Tyndall
Alabaster Boxes

A European Slice reader wrote to me a couple of days ago in support of the stand for Jesus on the National Day of Prayer. She wrote to me this morning and linked to a YouTube video she has created that takes viewers through the issue of the use of Jesus name in the official prayer by Dr. Ravi Zacharias. She did a beautiful job. My warm thanks to Natasa for this effort. It’s already generating comments.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txDEZ42tLM0#GU5U2spHI_4[/youtube]

I have never had quite so much email on a subject. This National Day of Prayer issue really touched a nerve among Christians. Yesterday I was asked to speak by phone to a group of top evangelical leaders of large ministries who were meeting in Florida. By speaker phone, I was questioned about the National Day of Prayer’s official prayer leaving out the name of Jesus Christ for pragmatic reasons. I did the best I could to succinctly explain that it is wrong for evangelical leaders who are so fond of battling for the right to pray in Jesus name, to discard that same name in public on the National Day of Prayer.

These leaders are on the horns of a dilemma. If they say anything, they risk alienating themselves from the National Day of Prayer Task Force and the Dobsons. If they don’t say anything, they realize they are Scripturally in the wrong. Now they do know about it, and they are responsible for what they know. I will let you know what, if anything, comes out of this group of men. Unfortunately, courage, the willingness to be unliked, the willingness to lose something for standing up for the Lord Jesus, is in extremely short supply. I have had so many “Nicodemus” leaders call or email me—they come to me by night—saying, “Go, Ingrid! What you’re doing is right. We think it’s great. Go, Ingrid, Go.” But you will never see them take a public stand. They’re all hiding in the tall grass while a woman takes the flak for a position that they know is right. I must take a stand, but I’m going to say this bluntly—it’s to the shame of these men that I have to do this with so little support. Here is another email I received. The Christian in the pew does care about this!

Ingrid,
Thanks for taking a bold stand for Jesus. If a Muslim was given the opportunity to say a prayer in a public arena, he would start with a ‘Shahada’ which says “there is no god except for Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Why are we as Christians supposed to self-censor? I bet Peter and Paul who suffered so many persecutions for Jesus are figuratively ‘rolling in their graves’.

I admire Ravi Zacharias a lot but this is unacceptable.

J.

I, too admire Ravi and his brilliant mind. But standing up for Jesus doesn’t take a brilliant mind, it takes a faithful heart. Thank you to all of you with faithful hearts who will not discard the name of Jesus when it’s convenient to do so.

The National Day of Prayer website claims that Ravi Zacharias will “lead the nation in prayer” on May 1st with his carefully chosen, Jesus-free words. National Day of Prayer Task Force Chairwoman, Shirley Dobson, was on the Hour of Power this weekend with the apostate Dr. Robert Schuller—the same Schuller who called New Age teacher Jerry Jampolsky’s books, “marvelous” on his TV show and the same Schuller who carried Jampolsky’s book in his store, forwarded by occultist Neale Donald Walsch. This is the same Schuller that has stated the following in his book, Self-Esteem: The New Reformation.

“What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of His children of their right to divine dignity. … I can offer still another answer: ‘Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem‘” (p. 14).

“Classical theology defines sin as ‘rebellion against God.’ The answer is not incorrect as much as it is shallow and insulting to the human being. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity even if he or she is a ‘rebellious sinner” (p. 65).

“The core of original sin, then is LOT — Lack of Trust. Or, it could be considered an innate inability to adequately value ourselves. Label it a ‘negative self-image,’ but do not say that the central core of the human soul is wickedness. … positive Christianity does not hold to human depravity, but to human inability” (p. 67).

“Any analysis of ’sin’ or ‘evil’ or ‘demonic influence’ or ‘negative thinking’ or ’systemic evil’ or ‘antisocial behavior’ that fails to see the lack of self-dignity as the core of the problem will prove to be too shallow” (p. 68).

“… the core of sin is a lack of self-esteem. … Sin is psychological self-abuse. … the most serious sin is one that causes me to say, ‘I am unworthy. I may have no claim to divine sonship if you examine me at my worst.’ For once a person believes he is an ‘unworthy sinner,’ it is doubtful if he can really honestly accept the saving grace God offers in Jesus Christ” (pp. 98-99)

“And what is ‘hell’? It is the loss of pride that naturally follows separation from God – the ultimate and unfailing source of our soul’s sense of self-respect. ‘My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?’ was Christ’s encounter with hell. In that ‘hellish’ death our Lord experienced the ultimate horror-humiliation, shame, and loss of pride as a human being. A person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem. Can you imagine any condition more tragic than to live life and eternity in shame?” (pp. 14-15, 93).

This heresy bothers Shirley Dobson not at all. Biblical truth, biblical doctrine, you see, doesn’t matter. If you are a good culture warrior and only care about waving the American flag, electing conservative Republicans, protecting “Judeo-Christian” values and supporting the idea of the traditional family, that’s all that matters. Whether you are an orthodox Jew, devout Mormon, Roman Catholic, or whatever, as long as you subscribe to the above and make a donation to your favorite Culture War organization, you’re good to go.

The problem is, Jesus didn’t come to “save America”. Jesus came to earth a long time before America existed, and He will be reigning on His throne long after America is in the dustbin of history. Jesus didn’t come and die for “Judeo-Christian” values. He didn’t come to restore Mayberry or to force store clerks to say ‘Merry Christmas’. Jesus Christ came to earth to die a bloody death on a Cross, to be suspended between heaven and earth on a tree, to die an accursed death to take the penalty we deserved as corrupt and hopeless rebels. The fact is, we as humans didn’t suffer from a loss of self-esteem like Dobson and Schuller have taught. That wasn’t our core problem. Our problem is that we were utterly vile and dead in our sins. God sent His only begotten Son to bear the terrible penalty of our sins for us so that we could be forgiven, restored to a right relationship with our holy God and so that we could have eternal life with Him.

But none of this is apparently of any interest to Shirley Dobson and the National Day of Prayer Task Force. They have denied this precious Savior by removing His name from Ravi Zacharias’ prayer on May 1 so Jewish participants who reject Jesus won’t be offended. As such, they have rendered their prayer worthless in God’s sight. It is now a mere formality, a show, a religious ritual, designed to make everyone think something powerful has been done for America, when in reality they have committed a crime against heaven.

The fact that Shirley Dobson in her position as Chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force would go to an apostate church like Schuller’s to promote her Task Force’s meaningless “Judeo-Christian” prayer says everything we need to know about her organization. God is increasingly separating those faithful followers of His Son, Jesus Christ, from the vain, unbiblical practices of big and powerful evangelical organizations. The lines are getting clearer all the time. These organizations long ago sold out biblical truth in order to have the money to stay in business. When the money flows from Mormons, Jews and other groups that reject the Scriptures, how do you keep the donations coming if you become biblically precise? Answer: You don’t. The solution is to compromise everything that matters eternally just so you can stay in the black here and now. Such is the nature of many big modern evangelical “ministries” today.

Stay faithful to Jesus, friends. Donate your money carefully. Don’t throw it away on organizations that have no biblical doctrinal standards and who are only interested in fighting liberals. Our calling as believers is to proclaim Christ and to let our light shine for Him in the time we have left here in earth. The church has been distracted by the culture wars, not realizing that the ever darkening culture is the direct result of the church losing its Holy Ghost power. So Christians are out there shaking their fist at the liberals in the streets who want to take away our rights, and in order to sustain our task forces, we have to compromise basic biblical doctrine, further destroying the church. No wonder enemies of the Cross have gotten in the doors of God’s house while Christians were out fighting in the flesh. This is the reason Brian McLaren can deny hell, the atonement and the Second Coming at Willow Creek and nobody cares. They’ve all been trained: Sound doctrine doesn’t matter.

God help us all to keep our priorities straight in these times. There is going to be a continuing separation between God’s faithful flock and the rest of evangelicalism, which in many cases has completely departed from biblical Christianity. Don’t let the division scare you. Truth always divides. We need to listen for that comforting voice of our Good Shepherd.

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

–Luke 12:32