beth moore – Page 3

beth moore, john hagee, judge not, prophecy, sarah young

Thoughts about the judge not crowd, fringe prophecy, use of photos, my friend bronchitis

Posted on March 12, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Here are a few updates and thoughts about the blog.

Last October I got the flu. By November it had left me with bronchitis. I’ve been struggling with bronchitis ever since. In November I went to the walk-in clinic and got a course of antibiotics, but it did not defeat the bronchitis. By December, the flu season was in full sway and it was impossible to get seen at the local clinics. I tried three times in person, and once I called for a renewal of the antibiotics. No go. Packed.

In January and February it subsided to manageable levels, and I coughed only infrequently, but was still dragging. The daytime work takes it all out of me and at night it’s only through the strength of the Holy Spirit that I write and study and complete my personal chores around the house. Last week, I got a cold and it revived the bronchitis totally. Yesterday I coughed non-stop. I am home on a sick day today. Even though the course of drugs in November didn’t help, nothing else since has helped either. (Rest, fluids, over the counter remedies, home remedies…) I will likely have to go back to the clinic. I do not like the clinic.

If you notice the photos on the blog, some are labeled “EPrata photo”. I have lots of photos and I like to use them. However you may see other photos with no attribution. It is not that I am failing to attribute, but these photos are Creative Common, license-free photos that require no attribution. Here is a snippet of a photo I used earlier and the CC statement:

Here is the terms of use:

Via download provided Images on Pixabay are bound to Creative Commons Deed CC0. To the extent possible under law, uploaders of Pixabay have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to these Images. You are free to adapt and use the Images for commercial purposes without attributing the original author or source. Although absolutely not required, a link back to Pixabay would be nice.

Pixabay is a nice site and I appreciate the donated photos.

I monitor comments and when warranted, I ruthlessly delete. However for the most part, I do try to give people their say and I enjoy that it gives me an opportunity to engage with folks, and to share insight and verses with them and from them. However I am getting impatient with the plethora of comments that incorrectly use the “judge not lest ye be judged” verse from Matthew 7:1.

It seems that it is the go-to response of everyone who wants to criticize. I appreciate criticism, but when a person uses the ‘judge not’ chestnut, I know they have no biblical understanding of sin, of studying the bible correctly and are simply parroting the one verse they have learned, bless their heart. Most don’t even to add the chapter and verse, but simply and out of context say ‘judge not’ as if that solves everything. It is the religious equivalent in a debate to Godwin’s Law.

Godwin’s Law (or Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an Internet adage asserting that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches— that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism. … there is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress. This principle is itself frequently referred to as Godwin’s law. (Wikipedia)

We can say the same about “Judge Not”. It is the religious Godwin’s Law. Let’s call it the UnGodly Law.

‘UnGodly Law is a new Internet adage asserting that “As an online discussion about sin, especially homosexuality, grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving judgment approaches— that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will trot out the misused verse from Matthew 7:1 and say “judge not!”. … there may be a new tradition forming in many newsgroups and other Christian discussion forums (OK, just on this blog) that once such a statement is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the judge not chestnut has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress and will be deleted without mercy or second thought.’

I decided that if anyone uses the ‘judge not’ verse in the incorrect way from now on it will be a trigger for automatic delete. In the past, I’ve attempted to reason with the judge not crowd, but their gross lack of understanding is too weighty to overcome in the space allowed in the comment box, and too deep to instruct in the time a life can be lived. So. Delete.

Back when I started the blog 8 years ago, I enjoyed posting some of the more speculative prophetic passages such as Nephilim, or cryptids, or sinkholes, or the changing behavior the animal kingdom is exhibiting, and musing on them in light of contemporary news. The autistic brain excels at seeing patterns, and with the Holy Spirit inside, and the bible to show all of human history, detecting a pattern is made even easier.

I still enjoy seeing today’s news, knowing history, and looking back to see where the current news fits in to the past pattern. However I haven’t posted about that for a while. Here’s why.

— I don’t want to go beyond scripture. I don’t think I have done that in the past, but I don’t want to even creep off the yellow center line by an inch because the longer I go on in sanctification the less I trust myself,

— I don’t want to cause someone else to stumble,

— Mainly because it seems that even a mere mention of such things nowadays opens the floodgates. In the last 5 years, people have gotten both stupid and irrational about the scriptures. Not that people weren’t before, but like interest that compounds, the stupidity and irrationality has compounded to levels unmanageable by me. Spiritual discernment is at an all-time low (a record which will likely be broken tomorrow) and biblical literacy is at an even all-time lower level. People don’t know their bible, they don’t quote their bible, they don’t use the bible as a basis for discussion, and they go off the deep end into conspiracies at the drop of a hat.

The acceptance of demonic proclamations by Beth Moore and Kim Walker Smith in visions and Sarah Young’s declarations in book form attest to this. So does the popularity of Johnathan Cahn’s books in 2012 such as The Harbinger and the Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America’s Future, the World’s Future, and Your Future!, and John Hagee’s Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change book published a year later.

I mean, come onnn. The hubris of Cahn’s proclamation that he knows the future of all persons on earth (who would buy his book) and the world’s future ‘unlocked’ nearly equals satan’s when satan promised to unseat God from the throne.

And as bad as Edgar Cayce and Jeanne Dixon were, at least they were more specific in their false prophecies than Hagee, who simply subtitles his book, “something is about to change.” Really? I’d never have guessed that. Let me know when it happens.

That people accept these ‘Christian’ books and visions and attempt to learn from them is saddening. In stepping to the fringe, people nowadays seem to more easily hurl themselves off the edge of solid biblical foundations. They gleefully run toward the latest prophetic fad, and in so doing, give real prophecy a bad name. It makes many people not want to study prophecy and the times, but that is not good either. As my friend and pastor in Maine said,

My brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of the Lord not to dismiss current events or to become discouraged by them.

We don’t live under a rock. We live in the world, and that means we are living in biblical prophecy because prophecy is always current. World events are important, and when understand the times and we point to the Lord it ignites our fervor for His soon return, which grounds us in our work until He comes.

However today’s superficial, nominal, or false Christian doesn’t get to the end of the last sentence. They focus on current events as if they are the be-all and end-all of truth. When I try to turn their head to Jesus, the author of these events, they balk. When you try to say that some of these things go beyond scripture and we should be careful, they scream ~~judge not!~~ ‘men of Issachar!’

Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command. (1 Chronicles 12:32)

As the Treasury of Scripture says of the Men of Issachar verse,

understanding of the times That is, as the following words indicate, intelligent men, who understood the signs of the times, well versed in political affairs, and knew what was proper to be done in all the exigencies of human life; and who now perceived that it was both the duty and political interest of Israel to advance David to the throne.

If I may be allowed to paraphrase, we have understanding of the times, That is, as the following words indicate, intelligent men, who understood the signs of the times, well versed in political affairs, and knew what was proper to be done in all the exigencies of human life; and who now perceived that it was both the duty and spiritual interest of the church to advance Jesus on His throne.

I have been remiss. I have not thanked you, the readers, in a while. I do thank you and am energized by you and I do love you. The Holy Spirit fills me with strength and insight and for the sake of the Name I want to share what He does in my mind and heart when I open the bible. That people out there would read and respond and as some of you have said, pray for me, is simply lovely. It is the expression of the Kingdom on earth, the church glorious and invisible, worldwide and intimate. Thank you friends.

beth moore, encouragement, reading, worldview

The moment Jesus entered heaven, Reading as parenting, A Prophet for an Un-discerning Church, Worldview

Posted on February 24, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Mark Jones at Reformation 21 wrote a tremendously uplifting essay. Tremendous. Christ’s Entrance into Heaven speculates on the scene in heaven, after Jesus ascended to heaven. Here is how it begins:

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like when Christ entered heaven after having ascended? This was a unique moment in redemptive history, and one that we should probably meditate upon a lot more than we do. At the risk of being occasionally speculative, here are some thoughts on Christ’s entrance into Heaven as the glorified God-man.

The effect upon those in heaven must have been incredible. We are told that there is much joy in heaven when a sinner repents (Lk. 15:7). But what about the joy when Jesus, who saves all who enter heaven, arrived to take his seat at the right hand of the Father?

Please read his short piece. You will be glad you did.

A reader sent the following, JC Ryle on 8 Symptoms of False Doctrine. Here it is in its entirety. It was posted at the link in 2013 but written in 1967 and published in the excellent Banner of Truth. His list is as true or truer today than ever.

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.

There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their ‘earnestness’ makes many think they must be right.

There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.

There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.

There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.

There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.

There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.

There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself ‘as an angel of light’ (2 Cor. 11:14).

There is a wide-spread ‘gullibility’ among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.

All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, ‘Do not be carried away!’

From J. C. Ryle’s Warnings to the Churches [Banner of Truth, 1967], ‘Divers and Strange Doctrines’, pages 76-77, with slight editing.

As someone whose profession is education and whose specialty is literacy, I appreciated this post from The Christian Pundit regarding Reading As Parenting

Reading as Parenting

When we think about parenting, the word “books” probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But reading to our children is a fundamental aspect of parenting little people, though we rarely talk about it in the context of raising children.

Here is something I’ve posted before but am doing again. Todd Pruitt at the Mortification of Spin, on Beth Moore, A Prophet for an Un-discerning Church

But those who don’t much care about popularity or physical safety have in recent years been willing to challenge some of the outrageous claims and troubling teachings coming from Beth Moore. It would be one thing if Beth’s claims of direct revelation, sloppy exegesis, and squishy ecumenism were confined to a small corner of the church. The trouble is that Beth Moore is hugely popular which means she has a lot of influence.

What is your worldview?

Barna noted that substantial numbers of Christians believe that activities such as abortion, gay sex, sexual fantasies, cohabitation, drunkenness and viewing pornography are morally acceptable. “Without some firm and compelling basis for suggesting that such acts are inappropriate, people are left with philosophies such as ‘if it feels good, do it,’ ‘everyone else is doing it’ or ‘as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, it’s permissible.’ In fact, the alarmingly fast decline of moral foundations among our young people has culminated in a one-word worldview: ‘whatever.’ The result is a mentality that esteems pluralism, relativism, tolerance, and diversity without critical reflection of the implications of particular views and actions.”

This Barna study quoted above was conducted in 2002, thirteen years ago as of this writing. He noted that the study and survey was aimed partly at young people, and it is to be strongly noted that the young people who expressed such a world-view thirteen years ago are now the adults of today. And these adults are having children of their own, and passing the worldview on to them.

beth moore, discernment, encouragement

Discernment: Flatteries of false teachers

Posted on January 15, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

We are told in many verses about the false prophets and false teachers coming to deceive the people. They use false words, flatteries, and smooth speech. The antichrist will be the most full version of a false prophet ever, being full of sin. His name will be Man of Sin. (2 Thess. 2:3)

All the false prophets and teachers that come before the Man of Sin will be less potent, but no less dangerous. They use the same methods. Satan sticks with what works.

Sometimes I discuss false teachers with friends. I might mention Beth Moore or Billy Graham etc. One thing that I hear most often when I discuss this with people is “But they talk about Jesus!”

This tells me we need to look at how false teaches deceive by using rhetoric, oratory and speech. Earlier this week I looked at false teachers’ motivations. Now let’s look at their methods.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (Romans 16:18)

In Greek smooth talk means a kind speech, from the word chrēstologias
In Greek flattery means praise and adulation, from the word eulogias. It’s our word eulogy, the kind and flattering speech given at funerals for the dearly departed.

Gill’s Exposition says,

“by good words and fair speeches”; either by making use of the words of Scripture, and a show of arguments taken from thence; … by using words and phrases that faithful ministers of Christ use, such as the grace of God, the righteousness of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, but in a different sense…or by an elegant style, a set of fine words, a flow of rhetorical expressions, great swelling words of vanity, which such men generally affect, and so work themselves into the admiration of the common people.

And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)

Here the term false words is from the Greek plastois, meaning made up, contrived, something artificial; from which we get our word plastic.

Gill’s Exposition says,
made words, words of their own devising, and not which the Holy Ghost teacheth…new words and phrases are always to be suspected and guarded against, great swelling words of vanity, having men’s persons in admiration

As Gill’s says, “they make use of scripture”. They use it, to further their own ends and satisfy their own appetites and to get money. Those are the motivations of the false teachers. They use scripture. That know scripture but they use it by twisting it, ripping it from context, referring to it but stripping the meaning from it.

Gill’s said, “They use words and phrases that faithful ministers of Christ use”. Every group has jargon. Christianity does too. False teachers will talk the same talk that pastors and ministers use. “Praise the Lord!” they’ll say when someone has a breakthrough,. “Bless your heart!” “I’m missional.” “You’ll receive a blessing.” “Gifted for ministry.” In other words, as wolves come in sheep’s clothing, they will imitate the sheep, right down to adopting the same phrases and terms we use every day. This makes them blend in.

Gill’s said they will use these terms but in a different sense. When a prosperity preacher talks about sending money to him or her, he or she will use the word blessing. ‘Sow a seed and get a blessing’ they will say. In the eternal words of Inigo Montoya, “You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means”.

Gill’s says also of the Romans 16:17-18 verse, false teachers will have an elegant style. They are good at what they do. Salesmen are salesmen because they’re talkers. If you’re not a talker, you’re usually a writer or a hermit, lol. False teachers’ apply their gift for talking to their dastardly work inside a church. Or within Christianity, as is the case with so many of them these days. Many are not even associated with a church. They’re smooth, plausible, facile with words and skilled at linguistic nuance.

People sometimes speak of sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission are those sinful actions that are proactively done. Lying or stealing are examples of sins of commission. A sin of omission is a sin that takes place because of not doing something that is right. Examples could include not praying, not standing up for what is right, or not sharing Christ with others. James 4:17 is often used as a key verse regarding sins of omission: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” This overarching theme provides the basis for the concept of a sin of omission. Read more: source

There is one sort of sin that is a half-kind of sin of omission. It is not a sin of commission. It’s called being disingenuous. Here’s the definition:

The definition of disingenuous is: “not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does. …giving a false appearance of simple frankness … Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated“

A “good” example of smooth speech designed to flatter and praise is rife in Beth Moore’s Heresy Hunting article and also in her emails to the woman she was writing about. Remember, compare what they say with what they do. Do not be deceived naively by smooth words. Moore said of the 22 year old woman she was writing negatively about,

Anyway, the odd thing of it is, I loved her immediately. My calling is discipleship and my focus is women.

But the actions didn’t match up. Moore condescended about the woman’s age, her ability to discern, her ability to think for herself, and blocked her from commenting on Moore’s twitter stream, not to mention the entire article was uncalled for to begin with. That’s not love. But it is smooth speech.

Let me share one small example of how a false teacher can be disingenuous, by performing a half sin of omission. Let’s look at how a false teacher uses smooth language to present a different appearance to the naive. This is from Beth Moore’s recent blog essay about heretic hunting. Moore wrote:

I only have one small desk from which to watch our world so I miss a lot but, among the things in my eyeshot…

Not Beth Moore. However, it’s the impression Moore’s scene sets
in your mind. Just a small desk and a sliver of a view. Source.

Really think about the words here. This is the woman who has a 2000+ square foot home in a nice subdivision in Houston. Her corporate office is three floors and 8000 square feet. The first floor is where the workers pack and ship. There is also a conference room with candles and pillows and tissues. Moore’s private office is on the third floor. (source) The entire property, including the 18,000 sf land, is worth $673,397.

This is the woman who travels the country on a constant basis. She is President of a multi-million dollar corporation, one which employs 16 people (or did in 2010.) Perhaps her desk is small in fact. Likely not. Her ‘eyeshot’ is certainly not small. However, think about the picture Moore’s sentence creates in your mind – and then compare it to the reality. It’s the exact definition of disingenuous.

BTW here is the reality.

Actual property at Living Proof offices

Another example of being disingenuous, by using speech to appear to be transparent but actually obfuscating, was Diana stone from the She Reads Truth Editorial Board. I also wrote about this recently.

With a sweet daughter in tow, Diana clings to God’s Word daily through the struggles and beauty of being a woman who loves her Lord. You can find her in the mornings with a cup of coffee and her Bible flung open, preparing for the day ahead.

The website She Reads Truth is a mommy oriented site, lots of bible studies and devotionals for ‘busy moms’. (I do NOT recommend their studies or devotionals). The impression the women want to give is they’re harried moms just like you. Just like you! doing the mommy thing and trying to get the laundry done and making sure to read our bible every day. And all that is no doubt true. Except in order to have enough time to write about all this stuff, Diana drops her kids off at daycare first. A stay at home mom with out of the house kids. Now, she didn’t lie, she wrote about switching from having a nanny to to using daycare (First world problems!) on her blog. But the disingenuous impression put forth, especially in the bio, is the overwhelming mommy appearance. The nanny-day care appearance…you have to dig for it.

This is what it means by having sheep’s clothing. Sheep’s clothing is not skin. You’ll see frays, tears,

it might be ill-fitting. Sheep’s clothing is a disguise. At some point, their mask slips.

The Romans 16:18 verse also said that false teachers use language to deceive the naive. The Bereans were not naive. They listened to Paul but then eagerly went home and compared what Paul said to scripture to see if it was so. He was an effective speaker, certainly knowledgeable. The Bereans were called noble, because they checked it out. There were lots of apostles in Paul’s day, some true and many false. What if the Bereans did not check to see if it was so, but instead were impressed with his speaking ability, his ability to connect with audiences, his charisma or his sincerity.

Now let’s say that next comes along Hymenaeus and Philetus. (2 Timothy 2:1). They preached that the resurrection had already taken place. The duo had gone astray from the truth. No doubt they were also effective speakers, charismatic, plausible, sincere. Failing to check against scripture meant that they easily upset some in the faith. Titus wrote that in Crete, whole families were being upset by the false teachers over there.

Check any teacher’s words against the bible! Dig! Pray! Check again! Look at their lives to see if it is above reproach!

No matter how many scriptures they use, no matter how long they carry a bible around in their hand, no matter how charismatic and fervent ‘for the Lord’ they may sound, don’t be deceived by being naive. Not all who claim Christ are one of His. Beware. As Matthew Henry said, “it is an easy thing to be godly from the teeth outward.”

But do you know what else is easy? Praying to the Holy Spirit for discernment after hearing a teacher. Opening the bible to check. Asking a trusted elder for advice on the credibility of teacher so-and-so.

The Lord’s glorious Word is so precious, wonderful, filling, and good. When a false teacher USES God’s word to deceive, get money, destroy people, or lie about Jesus, it is one of the very worst things I can think of. What a terrible thing to do, take the holy word and pollute it for carnal gain.

But we can use it for its intended purpose- to point to Christ, to edify , encourage, build up, and train. We can use it to know Jesus better. We can use it to cut a heart to the quick, unto salvation. (Acts 2:37).

As precious as the word is, O joyous day when we see Him glorified, in person, in holy heaven! No more false teachers. His blessings are manifold.

beth moore, false teacher, heretic, tony miano

Beth Moore’s heretic hunting article and its fallout

Posted on January 13, 2015May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Beth Moore

On Twitter one day, a young woman mentioned John Piper and Beth Moore in a negative light. She’d said,

“just watched an interview with @johnpiper saying he supports false teacher @bethmoorelpn #sosad”

The young woman’s name was Jessica Lam. Mrs Moore was apparently disturbed by Mrs Lam’s Twitter comment, so Mrs Moore wrote a long essay at her popular blog accusing Jessica of various things.

The title of Mrs Moore’s blog essay about Jessica was “It’s Hunting Season for Heretics“. This implies, of course, that Jessica Lam is a heretic for calling Mrs Moore a false teacher. Please keep in mind that Mrs Moore is pushing 60 years old, and Mrs Lam is 22.

In Jessica’s own words, here is what Mrs Moore accused Jessica of-

“Beth Moore wrote a blog about me because she didn’t agree with what I said about her. In it she put me down because of my age and implied that I don’t know what I’m talking about because I’m only 22… I’m not experienced enough.. I’m not thinking for myself.. And then she blocked me.”

The bible says, “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Titus 2:3-5).

As sometimes happens (due to the Holy Spirit, I’m convinced) this particular interaction blew up. Mrs Moore’s supporters flooded her blog with hundreds of comments. (364 as of today). The interaction was widely circulated and discussed on Twitter and Facebook. Preacher Tony Miano emailed Mr Lam, and Pastor Justin Peters called Mr Lam to offer support and encouragement.

Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness (Titus 2:2)

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, (1 Timothy 5:1)

At this point, Mrs Moore began to backtrack, at one point even asking someone to post Jessica’s phone number so Mrs Moore could personally call Jessica. Moore promised to “quickly delete it.” This brought out the protective husband instinct in Mr Lam. The couple have been married only 4 months, by the way. Mr Lam didn’t feel it was wise or safe to post their home phone number on a blog with hundreds of angry supporters just so Moore can “quickly delete it.”

Anyway, somehow the two women connected via email. Mrs Lam asked her readers for prayer so that their conversation on both sides would be biblical. Lots of people were praying that would be so.

Mrs Lam has posted the email conversation between herself and Mrs Moore. It can be accessed here.

Several men have commented on this situation. Here are their links.

Beth Moore Confronts Pastors Wife for Criticizing her Direct Revelation

Beth Moore rebukes Articulate, Discerning Young Women: Here is the Fascinating Exchange that Followed

Beth Moore: A Prophet for an Undiscerning Church

I am going to include this into my “All Beth Moore Critiques Here in One Place” essay

And sadly, though this next link has nothing to do with the current brouhaha, the legacy Beth Moore is leaving is this: one of rebellion. Witness this article from Christianity Today published just a few days ago.

What Happens when We See a Woman Teaching the Bible

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. (Revelation 2:20)

beth moore, fortune telling, glory cloud, labyrinth, mark batterson, repent, sorcery, witch

Reason #2,543 not to be a Beth Moore follower (or Bill Johnson, Kim Walker Smith, Ken Hagin etc…) Divination!

Posted on November 26, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Phil Johnson

I was listening to Pastor Phil Johnson preach an Old Testament passage this morning. Pr. Johnson is the Executive Director of John MacArthur’s site, Grace to You. I love when Johnson preaches the Old Testament and also the Psalms. He adds quite a bit of context from history, culture and even topography so the listener fully understands the scenes passing through our minds so as to picture it with detail.

The passage this morning was an overview of 2 Kings 1, “Fire From Heaven.” A short synopsis is that King Ahaziah is on the throne of Judah. Ahaziah is a descendant of King Ahab, and the LORD had already spoken that eventually, no descendant of Ahab’s would live. He would wipe them all out. No mean feat, as Johnson said, Ahab had 70 sons.

There was a battle, and Ahaziah stayed behind in his castle. His castle was not so safe after all, for Ahaziah fell through the lattice from a high place, incurring critical injuries. Though God is still God is Israel, and Elijah is still prophesying, Ahaziah’s apostasy, or worse, ignorance of the One True God, was so deep that “he sent messengers, telling them, ‘Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness.'”

Therein lay the crux of the matter.

First, let’s see the LORD’S response:

“Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore thus says the LORD, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.‘” (2 Kings 1:3-4)

Ahaziah was not so ill that the LORD could not have healed him if He chose, prolonging his life until His prophecy would be fulfilled at a later time. Alternately, Ahaziah could have died instantly upon falling through the lattice.

The reason Ahaziah was going to die at that time was because he sought an oracle from another god.

God is deadly serious about not indulging in oracles, divination, predictions, sorceries, or anything similar. Consulting mediums is the major reason of what cost King Saul his kingship, his dynasty, and his life. (1 Chronicles 10:13–14). Consulting another god is what cost King Ahaziah his life.

EPrata artwork

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

An abomination. In the Hebrew the word abomination used here also means detestable and loathsome. In that verse, the LORD hates 9 things in particular:

offers child for sacrifice
diviners
tells fortunes
interprets omens
sorcery
charmers
medium (King Saul’s sin, 1 Samuel 28)
necromancer
inquires of the dead

Offering a child in sacrifice refers to the biblical practice of Molech worship where parents would cast their child into the belly of Molech which was an oven, and the child would be burned alive. Parents who did this wanted a better life. Today some have likened Molech-sacrifice to abortion.

Divination is having implied power to learn secret things via various methods such as hydromancy (through water), cast bones, cast arrows, divining rod (Ezekiel 8:17 alludes to) & etc. Hepatoscopy is divining via the liver (of a dead animal), which Ezekiel 21:21 says the King of Babylon engaged in. Today occult practitioners use Tarot Cards, chicken bones, crystals, crystal ball, palm reading, Ouija boards, horoscopes and the like.

The International Bible Dictionary says of divination,

“The word “divination” itself, from deus, “god,” or divus, “pertaining to god,” carries with it the notion that the information obtained came from deity.” Astrology is a kind of divination, via peering into secret things of ‘god’ via the alignment of the stars.

Mediums AKA Fortune tellers AKA witchcraft AKA soothsayers AKA necromancers (Leviticus 19:31) are persons who act as go-betweens from this world to the world of spirits. These occult practitioners claim ability to communicate with the dead or with spirits or familiars, bringing messages back and forth between the two realms. The ‘spirits of the dead’ are actually demons impersonating Grandma, and thus are lying spirits. In Luke 16:18-31 we are given information that the dead stay in their abode, a great gulf is fixed between Hades and Paradise, and it is alluded to that none escape from either location to return and commune with the living. (The Witch at En-Dor’s conjuring of dead Samuel is a sole exception- to drive home the point that if you do this, you will die.) As an aside, remember the 1960s TV show “Bewitched” Samantha the witch’s mother was named En-dora.

Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker book is a modern practice of the ancient art of witchcraft. I explored that issue in-depth here. Contemplative prayer is another re-packaged mystical-occult practice.

Charmers, #6,is an interesting occult practice. Psalm 58:5 Jeremiah 8:17; Ecclesiastes 10:11 and mention them. Charmers are occult practitioners who are also known as are whisperers, who by their voice engage in spells so that the hearer becomes spellbound and will do as the charmer wishes. Snake charmers would play their instrument, usually a flute or other high-pitched sound and the snake wold be drawn to the charmer, stop about two feet from him, rear its head, and sway in time to the music. Afterward they would lay docile at his feet. (Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 9, by McClintock & Strong).

In the bible the intended audience was a snake, in modern times it could be any person who uses his voice to cast a spell over his audience. For example, many women attending Obama’s speeches became spell-bound, swooned or fainted at the sound of his voice.

An interpreter of omens, according to the Holman Bible Dictionary, is defined-

The Israelites were prohibited from interpreting omens (Deuteronomy 18:10). Pagan prophesy employed reading of omens (Numbers 24:1, Ezekiel 21:21). As Lord of history, God frustrates the plans of “liars” who interpret omens … The faithful witness of Christians in the face of opposition is likewise an omen or sign pointed to the salvation of believers and the destruction of God’s enemies (Philippians 1:28).

Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. (Acts 19:18-19)

An interpreter of omens would be the same as a diviner. For example, a person would sacrifice at a pagan temple, and an interpreter would divine the meaning of the way the person’s animal burned, the way the bones lay and such.They would extract secret meaning from these ‘omens.’

Modern examples of ancient pagan/occult practices may be seen today on CBN, when one of the hosts says “I’m getting a word of knowledge from the other side that someone listening is going to be cured of a backache.” Or channeling, which seems to be very popular with Neale Donald Walsch of Conversations with God, Saran Young of Jesus Calling and Beth Moore of When Godly People Do Ungodly Things, whereupon they allow their bodies to be possessed for a time by a spirit which delivers information that the authors translate into a book allegedly full of extra-biblical spiritual insights from the other side. Circle makers are engaging in witchcraft. Prayer labyrinth walkers are doing something pagan, ritualistic, and unbiblical. People like Bill Johnson of Bethel Church and Kim Walker Smith and Beth Moore and many others who say they have entertained God Himself or Jesus in other dimensions through astral travel or visions, and returned with information or predictions to give the body of believers are diviners, witches, soothsayers, fortune tellers. ~~Inviting~~ conjuring glory clouds, gold dust falling, feathers drifting down is nothing more than people practicing wizardry.

Source Pixabay free photos

I have written about these practitioners of the demonic occult before, and we can take no pleasure in knowing that though God’s hand has mercifully stayed their execution, eventually they will face Him and the consequences of their sins. Saul did. Ahab did. Jezebel did. Ahaziah did. I am sorry for these people that they will more than likely be one of the many saying on His Day, “Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ (Matthew 7:22). And He will say to them depart from m, I never knew you…

However in returning to the 2 Kings passage, let’s turn from the practitioners to looking at Ahazia’s followers. His subjects, army men whom Ahaziah sent to meet Prophet Elijah to hear Elijah’s message.

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” 10But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. (2 Kings 1:9-10)

Pulpit Commentary:

Now, Ahaziah, the son of the wicked Jezebel, had challenged Jehovah to a trial of strength by first ignoring him, and then sending a troop of soldiers to arrest his prophet. Was Elijah to succumb without an effort, or was he to vindicate the majesty and honor of Jehovah?

This happened again, so that 100 men, followers of Ahaziah were consumed.

Phil Johnson:

But Elijah’s fire from heaven was meant by God as a public display of divine vindication, and a public judgment against an evil regime that sat on Israel’s throne, opposing Jehovah and all He stood for. Such extreme wickedness called for a breathtaking, awe-inspiring judgment.

The judgment fell upon Ahaziah but it also fell on Ahaziah’s followers, whose who followed the king, supported the king, and were an arm of the king in evil deeds.

But the third company of 50 men acted different than their predecessors.

Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him, “O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. (2 Kings 1:13)

Here the men have an attitude not of command but of submission. Phil Johnson:

But the third group of soldiers is a reminder that “God . . . gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). God’s mercies are never exhausted, and those who humble themselves before Him and confess their sins can always find mercy.

In today’s Age of Grace, I am not saying that Beth Moore or Sarah Young or any of the modern occult practitioners will be consumed by fire. Jesus came not to destroy but to save. It is a different age. Final judgement is coming and until then, His mercies are manifold and opportunities for repentance are many. The same is true for these “teachers'” followers. Those who participate in their evil deeds, who buy Beth Moore books hoping to gain insights into the knowledge of God apart from the bible, or listen to Kim Walker Smith’s visions about Jesus apart from the bible, or believe CBN’s ‘word of knowledge’ are participating by proxy with the practitioners’ occult evil deeds.

The first two groups of fifty men believed the king to be the highest authority and took to arrest the man of God. The third group of fifty men believed Elijah as the proxy for the highest authority and submitted to God.

God always looks favorably on humility and repentance. He looks unfavorably to the proud and stiff-necked.

Do not practice divination-by-proxy by following those who practice it. If you have been doing so, if you repent, God gives grace to the humble. Amanda Bowers repented, publicly, of her Beth Moore and Henry Blackaby following.

Harold Camping, predicter of the end of the world by specific date (fortune telling), did.

Sunny Shell did, too, not so much for following a diviner but publicly repented for something else.

You don’t have to repent publicly if you haven’t taught anything publicly to be repenting of, but the glory here is pointing to several real and recent examples of where the Spirit showed these people the error of their ways and in repenting gave glory to Him, just as the third group of 50 soldiers did. The idea is that God awaits a contrite heart, a seeking heart, a submissive heart. He is a great God who is literally a consuming fire -to the men of Ahaziah- but he is a loving Father to His children who seek to practice not occultism, but righteousness.

beth moore, blind, guide, pharisees, truth

Blind leading the blind, having eyesight problems and finding the Good Guide

Posted on November 5, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

The bible says we will be guided. We all need a guide. When we go to places where we have never been, we need a guide to help us get there. Do they know the trail? Will they take the correct fork in the river? Do they have experience with the terrain?

In the bible there are blind guides. They lead their followers into a pit.

Janet Fong. Share alike

Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:14)

Both teachers and taught are alike ignorant of the truth. The people had no spiritual light, and, applying to their appointed pastors, they learned nothing profitable from them; for these were as much in the dark as themselves. (Pulpit Commentary)

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says

“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch—Striking expression of the ruinous effects of erroneous teaching!”

Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray. And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion. (Isaiah 9:16)

But God sends His Spirit to guide us into all truth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)

Gills Exposition again,

He is as a guide, he goes before, leads the way, removes obstructions, opens the understanding, makes things plain and clear, teaches to profit, and leads in the way men should go, without turning to the right hand or left, which, without such a guide, they would be apt to do.

Yes, we do go astray, don’t we. It is grace abounding that we have a guide. Though we are no longer blind, we do have eyesight problems. Though we are saved by grace we still dwell in our flesh. The flesh obscures the full vision of truth. Our desires, our sins, our temptations all cloud our vision. The Spirit is there to guide us into all truth. He sees perfectly and He knows the way. He illuminates the bible for us, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:5)

Praise the Lord we have a guide who will draw us along the path, until finally, FINALLY, at the glorification, we can fully see. Our guide will be Jesus in the flesh, with us and never leaving us.

Until then, follow the bright, holy, pure Guide: The Spirit of Truth. His path leads upward. The paths of the blind guides only lead downward, into a pit.

The blind leading the blind. The pit awaits them and their followers

beth moore, discernment, doctrine, false teacher, Joyce Meyer, unity

Discerning Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer’s discussion on "Enjoying Everyday Life" about "unity"

Posted on November 2, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

On August 18, 2014 I published an essay regarding the joining of Beth Moore and Joyce Meyer on Meyer’s television program, “Enjoying Everyday Life”. Moore and Meyer, along with friend Christine Caine, had tweeted excitedly about Moore’s interview on Meyer’s program and upcoming broadcast of that interview. The topic was “unity.”

Most discerning Christians know and understand that Meyer is a false teacher. She does not preach the same Jesus as revealed in the bible. Some discerning folks know and understand that Moore is also false, but many more were until lately reluctant to declare her so, instead of being just wayward, misguided, or temporarily mistaken.

Wheat or tare? Emmer wheat, Persian, darnel?
A skilled eye can tell. Public domain

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-18)

It takes time for fruit to ripen. And so Moore’s has ripened to the point where we can now detect whether her fruit is bad or good. For the record, it’s bad.

When Moore joined Meyer on Enjoying Everyday Life, it was another nail in the coffin, so to speak.

The actual program aired yesterday, October 31. It is currently available here.

I watched it, and here is a review of the program.

Meyer opened the show by saying “Today we’re going to talk about unity and peace and getting along, what could be accomplished if we could all get along and work together? How can we avoid allowing our differences to hinder us in bringing the gospel to a lost and hurting world?”

Meyer included Moore’s bio in her opening introduction, saying in part, “She ministers to women of all faith backgrounds. She has a heart for unity in the body of Christ and a vision to reach women of all denominations.”

This sounds very good, and is actually fairly biblical – unless you know that Moore includes Catholics as a regular Christian denomination. This fact is not stated in the video.

Joyce Meyer gave a personal anecdote to start, beginning the discussion of unity as unity within the home. Meyer said she has learned to “Keep the strife out of your life. I’ve discovered Jesus works in an atmosphere of peace, not turmoil and anger. What have you discovered [Beth Moore] along these lines in your walk with God?”

For those who may be anticipating an essay full of biblical debunkings of plainly heretical or false statements either or both ladies made during the interview, you will be disappointed. They made no outward heretical or false statements, except the one above and perhaps one other.

Rather, they alluded to things, they skirted issues, they were cloaked and guarded, they were non-specific; so that if one was unaware of the previous contexts in which they taught, or previous situations in which they had been called to account, nothing untoward seemed to be said. This is even more dangerous than plainly speaking heresy, because satan is subtle. (Genesis 3:1)

This will be a discernment lesson on how to be discerning not with what a false teacher says, but on what a false teacher does NOT say. False teachers have to be right some of the time. Even a broken watch is right twice ever 24 hours.

As for the ridiculous opener from Meyer stating that Jesus worked in an atmosphere of peace, it can be plainly seen from scripture that Meyer is totally wrong.

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. (Matthew 10:34-3).

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. (Luke 12:51)

The “atmosphere” in which Jesus worked was filled with anguish, strife, perplexity, anger, and death. The Pharisees tried to kill Jesus a number of times. They even tried to kill Lazarus. (John 12:10). Even though Jesus healed the terrible demoniac the Gadarenes were all so afraid of, they asked Jesus to leave town! Meyer’s assertion is biblically unfounded and patently ridiculous.

The first part of the discussion the two women had was about their own coming to terms with how to biblically nurture peace and unity within the home, as wives. Moore said that she harangued her husband (who had come from “a different background spiritually” and “accepted Christ” when he and Beth were dating) to go to church, and it was when she prayed and left it to Jesus that her husband started coming around. She said that she stopped trying to control him and quit trying to change him and began respecting the man God had sent to her life. Meyer said the same, that when she concentrated on being a godly wife instead of trying to change her husband, peace reigned in the home. These are good thoughts and actions for women to take. I agreed with them.

The second part of the interview was when the two women began to discuss unity in the body of Christ. However, they never defined the body of Christ. We know from following Moore that Moore considers Catholics part of the body of Christ. A person who came in cold to the broadcast or was otherwise unaware of this belief of Moore’s would never know this.

After the break Meyer asked, “How can we have more unity in the Body of Christ? Or even unity within one church?”

A good question. There is nothing wrong with and everything right with unity among the brothers. 1 Corinthians 1:10 makes an appeal for unity among the brothers. Psalm 133:1 promises blessings for those who dwell in unity.

Moore replied: “Even the topic of unity causes division! Disunity is not the heart of Christ, it is the will of God to be unified.”

Sometimes the topic of unity does indeed cause division, lol. However neither woman biblically defined unity. Meyer said that though she married a Lutheran and was involved in the Lutheran church for years, and Moore is a Baptist, and they might not agree on “every little point of doctrine” they would still consider themselves loving sisters in the faith.

There was only vague talk of denominations, but no declaration of the biblical standard under which someone would be considered in the body of Christ.

Here is where they strayed from the center line of biblical truth, though. Meyer said even though she might disagree with Moore over doctrine,

“I agree with your heart and your spirit and with your teaching in the Body of Christ. People disagree over little things.”

Doctrine isn’t a little thing.

Moore replied, “The witness of our disunity is deplorable. Throw down those denominational lines. It is insulting to Christ to be separate. … We love the same Jesus. We love the same scriptures. … Even if we did not have that in common, if we could say our salvation is found in Christ if He died and rose again and how to be saved and Jesus sits at right hand of God, then that is my sister, my brother.” “I would serve anywhere and anybody even if they didn’t have close to the same belief system.”

And here is the danger. Mormons claim Jesus is the source of salvation and that He died and rose again and is sitting at the right hand of the Father. So do Jehovah’s Witnesses. So do Catholics. Their discussion alluded to the fact that we must be united at the expense of doctrine. They intimated that we must have harmony with anyone who simply claims Jesus. Even if they “don’t have close to the same belief system.”

So one wonders, how far afield does one go in order to unite, and where does one draw the line? Does one even draw a line? One could not tell from their discussion. The bible is clear, there MUST be divisions. There must not be an unequal yoking in service. Neither woman made that distinction which of course is totally unhelpful. The statement of Moore’s that she would serve alongside anyone even if they don’t have close to the same belief system is unbiblical. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says,

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

There are supposed to be divisions along doctrinal lines. It is what makes us Christians. The women taught during their discussion that the only doctrinal line is whether someone mumbles the magic password: ‘Jesus’ and that’s it. The Pope invokes Jesus. Muslims invoke Jesus. Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, even Presbyterian USA denomination invoke Jesus. But it is not the same Jesus.

There are many who “claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:16)

Good fruit? Bad fruit? Worm in fruit? Inspect before ingesting!

Over the years, both Meyer and Moore have made unbiblical statements, and they have been soundly criticized for it. Neither woman likes that. For a while the pair discussed rebukes they’ve received and they condemned these rebukes as disunity within the body. Using cloaked and non-specific language, Meyer said,

“How can we possibly say we love one another if all we do is find fault and differences and be judgmental and critical and say things about people when we have no knowledge of what they’re talking about? I know of you, I know your reputation, but I don’t know YOU yet, in order for that to happen time has to be spent together. It’s unfair for people to have an opinion when they haven’t spent time. People have so many opinions they don’t know anything about me or even you and they know nothing about. They don’t know me at all. They’ve never asked me a question. They think something that is uninformed and they pass it along from person to person. God doesn’t agree with me about everything but we have a good relationship.”

The context for her comment was that people see her on TV or read her books or see something she said and are critical of it and she believes this unfair. Why is this unfair, according to Meyer? Meyer used the verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:12 Amplified Bible, which says,

Now also we beseech you, brethren, get to know those who labor among you [recognize them for what they are, acknowledge and appreciate and respect them all]—your leaders who are over you in the Lord and those who warn and kindly reprove and exhort you.

Her point was that unless one has “gotten to know” her, they cannot and should not reprove her. Of course, the standard translations do not translate it “get to know.” They all say, honor, or respect, or acknowledge or appreciate or know or recognize. The commentaries explain:

Matthew Henry: The people should honour and love their ministers, because their business is the welfare of mens’ souls. And the people should be at peace among themselves, doing all they can to guard against any differences. But love of peace must not make us wink at sin.

Meyer’s statement is even more ridiculous considering that she is NOT submitted to a pastor and does NOT attend a church where a pastor could get to know her and rebuke her if differences in doctrine arose. The only church she ever attended was a Lutheran church for a few short years, then shortly switched to a non-denominational church where she taught a bible class, and then became associate pastor. We know from the bible that women pastors are unbiblical. When her class grew large, she quit the church and founded her own ministry, first on radio then took it to TV. Her statement about getting to know someone and spending time before criticizing was hypocritical in the extreme. Why? She has insulated herself from being able to be gotten to personally, and therefore has added a barrier over which no one would ever be able to reach in order to even begin to criticize. A neat trick. (Source below)

“We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you stay apart from every brother who leads an unruly life, not according to the tradition which you received from us.” (2 Thessalonians 3:6) If you have someone in your church who is teaching error, you cannot have unity with that individual. If you have someone who is leading an unruly or sinful life, you cannot have fellowship with that individual. So what we’re talking about here is the pursuit of the true unity of the Spirit, that belongs to those who surround the truth, and affirm it, and who live godly lives. ~John MacArthur

Moore agreed with Meyer. She said, “I get weary at things taken out of context, that people have quoted me about…even when WE choose to love one another and unite together people in those camps will be disunified. This is the time on the kingdom calendar to come together.”

Matthew 18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:12 have no application to a public leader and his or her public writings. Whatsoever.

Both women are public teachers, and their teaching must be examined. Both teach unbiblical things, and both have been reproved, rebuked, judged, and criticised. This is biblical. However, in their pursuit of unity, they include themselves under the overly-large doctrinal and denominational umbrella, and claim that to even criticize at all is ‘unfair’ and promotes ‘disunity.’

Moore and Meyer discussing the ‘unfairness’ of being criticized

“If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain” (1 Tim. 6:3-5).

Their discussion was pointed about including any and all ‘denominations’ (and we know they mean Catholics) into the fold, disregard doctrinal differences, and claim that love will triumph over all.

Here is what John MacArthur said about the kind of false unity Meyer and Moore promoted:

There is a drive today in evangelicalism – and what a bland term that has become. But there is a drive in evangelicalism for an ecumenism that ignores sound doctrine, that overlooks error, and accepts even what we would deem as heresy. There is a kind of evangelical ecumenism that says we’re all one, and we need to enjoy one another without regard for any of our doctrinal differences. That is a false, and unbiblical, and displeasing unity, if indeed it is unity at all, in the sense that it dishonors and displeases the Lord. There is another kind of striving for unity that wants to disregard iniquity, and embrace everybody no matter whether they are walking in obedience to the Word of God or not, overlooking their sin and their iniquity.

But quite the contrary – the Scripture says if there is someone in your midst, according to Titus chapter 3, teaching error, if there is a heretic there, admonish him once, admonish him twice, and then put him out. He’s forfeited a right to lay any claim to acceptance within that unity.

The discernment lesson comes where we understand that in their televised discussion, Meyer and Moore taught unity through love, but not in doctrine. They failed to mention that there are many scriptures, and the above is just one, where the one preaching a different doctrine is to be put out…not tolerated…called to repent…confronted…handed over to satan. They failed to mark their discussion by presenting scripture on both sides of the scale. The failed to define unity, did not define the Body of Christ, and did not warn listeners about the dangers of overlooking sin and false doctrine. Discernment is about what false teachers say and what false teachers don’t say. That is the true both sides of the scale.

For example, both women talked about Luke 10, where Jesus sent 72 disciples out two by two. They said that if the disciples came to a town and were received, that was good. But it was so peaceful if they were not received because all they had to do is shake the dust off their feet. How peaceful and non-confrontational … but they did not read to the end of the passage, where Jesus said, “I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”

Not so peaceful after all, when Jesus said that those who reject Him and His doctrine will be judged more severely than the town that was burned to the ground in fire and brimstone.

Matthew 11:20-23 expounds more:
Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.

Jesus was warning those towns that failure to accept His doctrine and truths by repenting of sin and believing on Him would result in hell and permanent cursing of their town. Jesus was drawing the lines of division: who would be cursed and who would be blessed and which behavior results in both. The townspeople had accepted the miracles but rejected Jesus. Standing with one foot on both sides is not unity. Jesus was all about one or the other. Yet Moore and Meyer taught that love while overlooking doctrinal differences is all one needs to be unified. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In conclusion, Moore and Meyer taught that unity above doctrine was paramount, blindly accepting anyone who says “Jesus” is our duty, serving alongside anyone even if they have a wildly divergent belief system is OK, pursuing peace and love across all denominational lines without regard to the nuts and bolts of a person’s adherence to the bible is a given, and that to criticize one’s doctrine without spending time to get to know them is unfair.

All of the above was cloaked in loving language and even some tears at times. It seemed Christian-y, it was kind of bible-ish. But it wasn’t. It was what they did not say that was the problem.

How can a person know what someone is not saying? Know what the bible says. And listen for the whole story from your teachers.

At the end of the discussion, Moore laid the syrup on Meyer. Moore said,

“I’m astounded at the magnitude of what you’ve done, through God. I asked God how to bless you, Joyce, in my hotel room this morning. I offer you my respect. I offer you my esteem. I say to you, you are a mighty woman of God, you have run a race well.”

This should nail it for those who still may be unsure of Moore’s proclivities. Meyer is an obvious, rank heretic. For Moore to publicly lay on her esteem, respect, and proclaim Meyer a woman of God shows a massive lack of discernment or else a massively pragmatic conscience in unbelief. (2 Peter 2:3).

As an aside, we know that the last few years Moore has been reaching out to Catholics. I got curious as to what the Catholics think of Moore. There are many women Catholic forums and there is often a question from one Catholic woman to another as to the value of Moore’s studies or as a Catholic, whether one should partake of Moore’s studies. The verdict from most forums I scanned? Catholic women see Moore as biblically shallow, overly sentimental, given to emotionalism with not much bible. Their general consensus was that Moore is a motivational speaker but in no way a bible teacher. That is pretty discerning for women who aren’t even saved. Here is what one Catholic woman wrote:

Let me stress, her underlying message seems okay, but her delivery bothers me. She could write some great self-help books from a Christian perspective but her Bible study method is lacking. What bothers me: She comes up with a theory and then searches for scripture to back-up her theory. Seems backwards, but whatever. At the end of lesson 5 she asks everyone to stand up and repeat a pledge/prayer. If I’m going to make a pledge before the Lord I’d like to know what I’m pledging.

Interesting. Would that all women who are genuinely saved be so diligent about who they should follow into studies and so discerning about Beth Moore.

Another lady said Moore taught that,

“The Bible is Complete and Fully Sufficient.” Ironically, she can’t make this point without referencing 8 sources outside scripture.”

One Catholic woman on a forum inquisitive about Moore and whether her study would be profitable for her, a Catholic, said “I looked her up on Google, and found that she is a Southern Baptist speaker. The Statement of Faith of her organization was quite encouraging, as she does not include a “Bible is the Sole Source of Authority” point.”

And that says it all. If a teacher’s statement of faith page encourages people outside the faith, the teacher is doing something wrong. What is NOT there in a person’s teaching is just as important as what is.

—————————-

To gain discernment, just ask!

Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. (Psalms 119:66)

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From a news article about Joyce Meyer from 2003:

It was while at Life Christian that Meyer began one of the more unusual chapters of her early ministry.

In an audiotape series called “How to Fight the Devil and Win,” Meyer recalled how she read a book on freeing people from demons. She saw the book as a revelation from God and began what she called a “deliverance ministry,” much of it out of the family’s home on Codorniz Lane in Fenton.

“I had every person, I think, anywhere within 10 miles who had a demon come knocking at my door wanting deliverance,” she said. “And I was staying up half the night, almost every night, Dave and I were, casting out devils.”

She said she got on people’s backs and rode them “all over the house, with these demons of anger and fear and violence … you know our kids are back there sleeping and we’re in the living room screaming at demons half the night. …

In November 1998, Meyer made the big time with a cover story in Charisma & Christian Life magazine, one of the nation’s leading publications for followers of the charismatic movement. On its cover, the magazine called Meyer “America’s most popular woman minister.”

———————————————-

For Further Reading:

At what point does one declare a teacher like Beth Moore false? Here’s some help.

John Stackhouse: Why I Criticize in Public

automatic writing, beth moore, channeling, deception, discernment, jesus calling, sarah young

The church is rapidly accepting occult, channeled books as divinely inspired

Posted on September 23, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Here is a definition of automatic writing, or spirit writing from the Free Dictionary,

Writing performed without conscious thought or deliberation, typically by means of spontaneous free association or as a medium for spirits or psychic forces.

Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. It differs from inspired scripture in that in inspired scripture,

The process of inspiration was not a mechanical dictation where the apostles heard a voice and wrote down what they heard. Nor does it mean that they went into some sort of a trance and God wrote through them without their knowledge. Instead, the writers were free to write what they wanted as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In fact, the writings reflect the personality and style of the various writers. Yet, the personality and style of the writers did not degrade the quality or authority of the biblical writing.(source)

Automatic writing is Ouija Board with a pen. Some of the more remarkable things about automatic writing is that the people through which these written products emerge describe a very similar experience. No matter which millennia or decade they participate in their writings, they describe similar sensations, similar feelings, and the same process. Where I quote their descriptions of their own process, I put in bold type the similar phrases they use to describe it.

You would be surprised at how many people have produced written works of novel, poetry, plays and even music by this occult process. It is an old, old practice. I suppose because fascination with the “other side” by pagans is also a constant throughout time. It is a fascination for the Christian, too, but we are fortunate to have THE authoritative and perfect, inerrant, infallible bible. It is God’s revelation of Himself to us, and it in its entirety is profitable for reproof, correction, training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16).

For those without a relationship with God and an inability to understand the bible, they still long for eternity. So they seek it anyway, but unknowingly through satan.

Hildegarde receiving a writing,
tentacles from the other side, reaching into her brain

Hildegarde of Bingen was a Catholic mystic. (1098 – 1179). Her visions became important content for the Catholic Church and eventually were accepted as theological works. In one vision she wrote of her process, “And it came to pass … when I was 42 years and 7 months old, that the heavens were opened and a blinding light of exceptional brilliance flowed through my entire brain. And so it kindled my whole heart and breast like a flame, not burning but warming… and suddenly I understood of the meaning of expositions of the books…”

You hear the automatic writers use the word “suddenly” quite often.

William Butler Yeats is an infamous occultist, participating in automatic writing for a decade, having been introduced to it by his wife Georgie. His famous poem Second Coming (Slouching Toward Bethlehem) was written in 1919. During the first years of his marriage, he and his wife Georgie experimented with automatic writing, and he and George contacted and were contacted by many spirits and guides they called “Instructors”. The pair also experienced flashing lights, cracking sounds and breaths of warm air as signals of the entity’s presence.

Automatic writer Rudyard Kipling said circa 1915, “My Daemon was with me in the Jungle Books, Kim, and both Puck books and good care I took to walk delicately, lest he should withdraw. I know that he did not because when those books were finished they said so themselves… When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait and obey.”

The main difference between holy inspiration of the bible writers, and occult practice of automatic writing, is that in the former, hard thinking was required. Study, thought, and knowledge was demanded of the men and is still demanded of all Christians today. In Galatians 6:11, Paul wrote,

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

Pulpit Commentary says,

Through some cause or other, we know not what the cause was, writing with his own hand was not a welcome employment to him; so far unwelcome that he generally devolved the actual penning of his letters upon an amanuensis, merely authenticating each letter as his own by a postscript added in his own hand (see 2 Thessalonians 3. fin.). Perhaps Philemon forms the only’ exception (see ver. 19), apart from this letter to the Galatians. We may, therefore, imagine the apostle as painfully and laboriously penning one portion after another of the Epistle; often pausing weariedly in the work as he came to the end of each γράμμα, that is, to the end of each section of his argument, each seeming to him a long and toilsome effort. And now at last he exclaims,” Look, what long, laborious performances of handwriting I have achieved in writing to you! And from that learn how deeply I am concerned on your behalf, and how grave your present spiritual peril appears to me to be!” Ordinarily it was only a brief “piece of writing” that he wrote with his own hand; here, long pieces, added one after another with painful effort.

The bible writers prayed, and then used their minds to produce what the Spirit wanted them to produce. Today, preachers, writers, commenters, seminary students, bloggers, and theologians do the same. (Though their words are not inspired). Their minds are completely engaged, because the Spirit transforms the mind. How many times we are urged to think, study, wrestle, renew your mind, do not be double minded but single-minded, etc. See the verses here that speak to the thoughts and mind of a Christian:

93 verses about Thoughts And The Mind

Contemplative prayer is to automatic writing as marijuana is to crack. It is the beginning of a practice that, seemingly benign or innocent, will drag you down to the depths of Sheol and ultimately to death. In contemplative prayer and automatic writing, the directive is the opposite. Rather than engage the mind with the text of the bible, we are told to “Drift, Wait, and Obey.” Clear your mind. Be still. Be quiet. GotQuestions describes the process,

Contemplative prayer begins with “centering prayer,” a meditative practice where the practitioner focuses on a word and repeats that word over and over for the duration of the exercise. The purpose is to clear one’s mind of outside concerns so that God’s voice may be more easily heard. After the centering prayer, the practitioner is to sit still, listen for direct guidance from God, and feel His presence.

In Occult writing, and in Contemplative-meditative prayer (which I mentioned is a precursor for deepening occult activities), the point is to DISengage from the process, free the mind, and let someone or something else take over.

Leaving Catholic Hildegard of Bingen in the 1100s behind, we now shoot up to the 1820s. Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon from an alleged holy angel named Moroni. In his 2002 book, “Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon“, Scot C. Dunn wrote,

“In this essay, automatic writing refers to the ability to write or dictate text in a relatively rapid, seemingly effortless and fluent manner with no sense of control over the content. A consideration of this phenomenon is important for Mormons since a number of authors have asserted that this was the method through which Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon. Such a claim, if correct, can have important implications for the way Latter-day Saints approach their scriptures.” … It is clear that Smith’s translation experience fits comfortably within the larger world of scrying, channeling, and automatic writing.”

“Scriptures”. You see that yet again, as Hildegarde’s writing was taken as theological treatises, Smith’s are also taken for theological treatises, going so far as to call them ‘scriptures’. Just because the heathen senses an other-worldly presence, it does not mean it is a holy presence. The holy presence for the Christian is the Spirit dwelling inside us, a presence we usually cannot feel but know by faith is there. For unsaved people any presence they feel will be an evil, demonic presence.

There is a whole slew of writers throughout the 1900s who channeled their books. You would be surprised at how many. The famous writer, Richard Bach who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull got his book from channeling an entity through the practice of automatic writing. Bach was influenced by by occultist Jane Roberts,

In late 1963, Roberts and Butts, living in the Elmira, New York area, experimented with a Ouija board as part of Roberts’ research for a book on extra-sensory perception. According to Roberts and Butts, on December 2, 1963 they began to receive coherent messages from a male personality who eventually identified himself as Seth. Soon after, Roberts reported that she was hearing the messages in her head. [inner voice] She began to dictate the messages instead of using the Ouija board, and she eventually abandoned the board. Roberts described the process of writing the Seth books as entering a trance state. She said Seth[the entity] would assume control of her body and speak through her, while her husband wrote down the words she spoke. They referred to such episodes as “readings” or “sessions”. Ten volumes of “Seth books” emerged.

That’s the way it goes. One person gets a piece of writing from the spirits on the other side, and a friend says, ‘hey, that’s cool, I want to do that too’, and the first occultist becomes a mentor to the second. Yeats was a student who became a mentor/teacher in His occult club known as Golden Dawn. Roberts taught Bach. In a circle of friends, a little leaven spoils the whole lump. Occult practices don’t stay politely to one side, but soon permeate the entire sphere of friends, and then soon goes looking for other spheres to pollute.

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44″Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45″Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45)

Like Hildegarde heard an inner voice, so did Bach. Richard Bach was on a walk one day when he heard an inner voice declare, “Johnathan Livingston Seagull.” There was more. He went home and began writing immediately, furiously, trying to keep up with the flow of words that were coming spontaneously to mind.” He said his book came in one sitting.

In 1923, AJ Russell “authored a book called “For Sinners Only.” One day, he was gardening. He wrote,

“I worked on, thinking of nothing in particular. Suddenly a strange experience came to me. There seemed to be a faint electrical crackling in the clear air about me. There was positively nobody else in the garden, but someone or something spoke to me: a voice that was audible and yet (paradoxically enough) quite soundless. That seems the only way to express what I shall always believe was a supernatural experience. I felt a message impinge on my brain from the air. It alighted softly like the caress of a leaf or the touch of a gentle zephyr. It was accompanied by a sense of exaltation both pleasurable and unforgivable.

Russell’s experience sparked the interest of two ladies in the 1930s, who were curious to try Russell’s recommended method of “Quiet Time”. (AKA Automatic writing). Russell had recommended sitting down with pencil and paper, letting the mind go blank, cleared of thought, and then allowing any entity to impinge a message to it and through the listener writes it down.

The two ladies did so and God Calling was the result. God Calling is yet another book received by an unknown entity from the other side via automatic writing. The people being used for this channeling were unknown, only calling themselves Two Listeners, because they wish to remain anonymous. All we know is that they are women, one Catholic and one Anglican. They sent their manuscript to Russell and so impressed, he published it.

The For Sinners Only book caused the Two Listeners to write God Calling and God Calling caused Sarah Young to do some automatic writing of her own, and Jesus Calling was the result.

“I began reading God Calling, a devotional book written by two anonymous “listeners.” These women practiced waiting quietly in God’s Presence, pencils and paper in hand, recording the messages they received from Him. The messages are written in first person, with “I” designating God…this little paperback became a treasure to me. It dovetailed remarkably well with my longing to live in Jesus’ Presence. (Sarah Young)

Sarah Young wrote the pseudo-Christian book Jesus Calling in exactly the same way as all the other automatic writers. Young describes her process:

“One night I found myself leaving the warmth of our cozy chalet to walk alone in the snowy mountains. I went into a deeply wooded area, feeling vulnerable and awed by cold, moonlit beauty. … Suddenly I felt as if a warm mist enveloped me. I became aware of a lovely Presence, …When I prayed for myself, I was suddenly enveloped in brilliant light and profound peace. Yearning to hear the Lord’s voice isn’t complicated. But it does require some discipline to find a quiet place and to allow some time just listening. Perhaps the hardest part is clearing your mind. With all the noise of life regularly cascading through your mind, it can be hard to hear God’s voice.”

A Course In Miracles is another pseudo-Christian book gotten through automatic writing. Author Dr. Schucman said,

“That was my introduction to the Voice. It made no sound, but seemed to be giving me a kind of rapid, inner dictation which I took down in a shorthand notebook”. And, “I call it a voice, but “a voice” has sounds…or sounds as though it has something to do with hearing. And I didn’t hear anything. I think it’s the sort of hearing that you can’t really describe.” (A Course in Miracles, Schucman)

In 2008, William P. Young wrote a story for his kids about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that his wife encouraged him to publish. It became the runaway bestseller The Shack. Christian apologist Norman Geisler wrote of The Shack‘s origins by quoting from The Shack‘s afterword,

“In the final section of the book titled “The Story behind THE SHACK,” he reveals that the motivation for this story comes from his own struggle to answer many of the difficult questions of life. He claims that his seminary training just did not provide answers to many of his pressing questions. Then one day in 2005, he felt God whisper in his ear that this year was going to be his year of Jubilee and restoration. Out of that experience he felt lead to write The Shack. According to Young, much of the book was formed around personal conversations he had with God, family, and friends (258-259).” Toward the end of writing the book, Mr Young had said that he spent one weekend writing four chapters, and one chapter, came out whole and he never edited it.”

Neale Donald Walsch wrote a trilogy called Conversations with God. In this interview with Walsch, we learn that it is also is a book born from hell through automatic writing.

Interviewer: Since your original “Conversations With God,” has your communication with God continued, and if so, is your experience akin to channeling or automatic writing?
Neale: Yes, although sporadically, the communications do continue. The process is quite simple. First, it must be absolutely quiet because I can’t do this work with anything or anyone distracting me, even in the slightest way. So generally, these communications occur at 4:00 in the morning, when there is no sound of any kind. It’s not channeling or automatic writing, but more like taking dictation. [automatic writing IS dictation & vice-versa]. What it feels like is someone is whispering into my right ear. There is a voice inside my head, a voiceless voice saying things to me, and I write down what’s being said, literally one sentence at a time. It’s as if I were listening to a voice that doesn’t have a voice.

Neale: The feeling is always a physical warmth, and a kind of joy that makes me want to cry. I find myself often moved to tears by what is being written in front of me. Sometimes, I just sit on the couch and write the words down and cry because the beauty of the thoughts and how exquisitely they are being expressed. It’s 5:00 in the morning, and there’s no one around, mind you. I feel like I’m being embraced in the kindest, gentlest way one could even hope to imagine.

Interviewer: What are some of the ways each of us can begin to strengthen our personal communication and rapport with God?
Neale: One way is to sit and be absolutely still and quiet, and go to a wonderful secret place. I don’t necessarily mean sit in meditation, but be somewhere absolutely quiet.

Beth Moore wrote When Ungodly People Do Ungodly Things, or rather, God wrote it for her. Moore was only the channel for it. Moore describes her process-Moore says-

In conscious writing it is the writer who moves the pencil; in automatic writing it is the pencil that moves the writer. Source
“When the message for this book was complete (in His estimation — not mine!), [just like Kipling’s Daemon said, too] God compelled me to ink it on paper with a force of the Holy Spirit unparalleled in my experience. He whisked me to the mountains of Wyoming where I entered solitary confinement with Him, and in only a few short weeks, I wrote the last line.”

Screen shot from Moore video where Moore describes her vision
of a coming outpouring, a vision she says God gave directly to her.
In my opinion, Moore does not look too stable there.

Whisked her? Like He did to Philip? “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:39). Moore continues,

“Oddly, the concept for this book came complete, God delivering the title to me in full. My Bible was open to these verses for the first time in a long while, and the instruction from the Lord came so unmistakably that I dated it in the margin: April 19, 2000. My pen still didn’t touch the paper until almost exactly a year later when I knew His Spirit was saying to me, ‘Now.’ I headed to the mountains, and within a few weeks it was done.”

Not so odd, as we have learned. Just satanic.

We have learned that any heathen in any era can be used for automatic writing. We know that the bible says,

No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

Automatic writing is one way the unholy angels masquerade as righteous, delivering the age-old satanic promise of wisdom from beyond.

For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. (Genesis 3:5-6).

It goes without saying that the work-product received always, ALWAYS is at contradiction to one or more doctrines of the bible. Invariably. Including Beth Moore’s books. These so-called godly books are from satan, who is the father of lies. The only book from the other side worth trusting is the bible. Period.

Brethren, gain your wisdom from the perfect Word. If you read Jesus Calling, or Beth Moore’s ungodly channeled books, or The Shack, or any of these supposedly divinely delivered books and writings, then aren’t you, too, eating the fruit of the tree from which you were commanded not to? Do not ingest poisonous fruit from a subtle schemer such as satan. Stay in the pure word, a lovely and wonderful holy book given to us by our precious Jesus. It is good fruit from the Firstfruit of all. (1 Corinthians 15:23)

CONCLUSION-

1. Automatic writing is an occult activity,
2. Automatic writing is an occult activity encroaching into the true church,
3. Automatic writing is an occult activity rapidly being accepted by the true church,
4. Now you know the buzz words regarding automatic writing,
5. Do not purchase, read, or accept automatic writers, including Sarah Young, Beth Moore, and William P. Young, Marianne Williamson, etc.,
6. Do not do automatic writing yourself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Catholicism: "the most pernicious system of error the world has ever known"; last days church forming quickly before our eyes

Posted on September 1, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

INTRODUCTION

This is long. Settle in.

I have come to a conclusion based on both what the bible says about the last of the last days, and on the evidence I’ve seen and gathered over the last few years. Though this essay is based on the bible, the conclusion I am coming to is speculation. It is opinion. I cannot be dogmatic about it. And neither can you.

Source

It is crystal clear to me that the Tribulation church is forming before our eyes. The Tribulation Church in my opinion may be mainly Catholic in some form. All false religions will be part of the final, Babylon church. But the most recognizable portion, the foundation, will likely be Catholic. Allow me to lay out why I believe this. This will be in three sections. First, let’s get an introductory understanding of that the final church is.

In Revelation 17 we read of a whore, the Whore of Babylon.

And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Rev 17:3-6)

That tremendous chapter describes the fall of the final religion, the Tribulation ‘church’ of which I speak. Here is John MacArthur:

Since the fall of man recorded back in the third chapter of Genesis when he rebelled against God, God cursed man. And because man was cursed, because he is now by nature sinful, his nature has been perverted and so that innate longing to know God has been twisted. Man still reaches out for the supernatural but no longer does he long for the true God. In fact the Bible says no man seeks after God. His residual religiosity makes him long for some deity, but it’s usually a deity that accommodates somehow his sinfulness.

Satan, as you well know, has spawned all the false religions. They’re really one and the same, they just have different names and a few different rites and ceremonies, but they’re basically all the same. They fit in and out of varying cultures for varying purposes and reasons in Satan’s enterprise, but ultimately they are all the same. They are systems that attach themself to non-existent deities, systems that teach that man can save himself by his own works and his own achievement and his own self-righteousness, that the way to God is through ceremony, ritual, rite, things like that. It’s all the same. And it will come together in one great world final form of religion in the very end.

Source

As the 2000’s have seen the rise in power of the Muslim religion, many people have said that they believe the last days church will be Muslim. They make a connection between the future beheadings prophetically reported in Revelation 20:4 and the Muslim’s favorite method of execution. They tie Islam’s rise in power and terror to the antichrist, and speculate the antichrist will be from Islam.

The Muslim end times eschatology is eerily similar to the Christians’, except the opposite. Their Jesus is our false prophet. Their Mahdi is our antichrist. Their outcome is that Islam will win, and of course, God has already won, through His Son. Christianity will prevail in the end, and all Christians already have prevailed.

Though of course Islam is satanic, I’ve always thought that Islam is to extreme and too violent to be the winner of the Tribulation religion last days false religion trophy. After all, satan is the most subtle creature in the Garden (Genesis 3:1). Islam is not subtle. I have always believed that satan’s most successful, his most crowningly subtle dark achievement, has been Catholicism.

In a piece I quote in lengthier form below, RL Dabney (1820-1898) said in “The Attractions of Popery,” that Catholicism is “the most skillful and pernicious system of error which the world has ever known.”

I firmly agree.

There are three pieces to the final Babylon church puzzle I am seeing in the wide scale, of which Catholicism is taking a major role.

~~~~~~~~~~~~SECTION 1~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pixabay: Public Domain

Here is reason #1 why I believe the final Babylon religion will be most recognizably Catholic. In 1990, Pope John Paul II initiated a “new evangelization.” Since nothing at the Vatican moves quickly, it wasn’t until 2010 that the new evangelization began in earnest, and then boy, did it leap forward with light speed. Pope Benedict’s creation in 2010 of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, the installation of the first officers to this council in 2011, in 2012 the Year of Faith so as to get ready to evangelize, and the three year plan being issued in 2013 all have hurtled Catholicisim into the forefront again.

We are seeing much movement and energy from the Bishops regarding this initiative. It is all the talk in Catholic circles.

There are three aspects to the Catholic new evangelization,

Evangelization as a regular activity of the church, a lifelong process directed at practicing Catholics;
The mission ad gentes, meaning the first proclamation of Christ to non-Christian persons and peoples;
“New Evangelization,” meaning outreach to baptized Catholics who have become distant from the faith.

As the article explains in plain terms, the Catholic New Evangelization means

In the United States, there are now 22 million ex-Catholics, big enough to be the largest religious denomination in the country. The church drops four members for every one member it gains, and if it were not for Hispanic immigration, it would have been declining for decades. Yet the Catholic church in America also holds on to almost 70 percent of its members into adulthood, a higher retention rate than any other Christian denomination.

Pixabay: Public Domain

The Vatican is aggressively doing something about this. If you think this has nothing to do with Protestants, you are quite wrong. If you think for one moment that Catholics won’t poach Protestants, you are absolutely wrong. That uneasy truce with Catholics on one side of the Reformation and Protestants on the other is shrinking every day. More about that in part 3 below.

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4)

~~~~~~~~~~~~SECTION 2~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is reason #2 why I believe the final Babylon religion will be most recognizably Catholic.

Informally since Constantine, and formally since Pope Gregory I (pope from 590-604AD), the Catholic Church has practiced something called interpretatio christiana.

A notable strategy for Christianization was interpretatio christiana – the practice of converting native pagan practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses…Reformatting native religious and cultural activities and beliefs into a Christianized form was officially sanctioned; preserved in the Venerable Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a letter from Pope Gregory I to Mellitus, arguing that conversions were easier if people were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditions, (source Wikipedia)

So for example, a missionary priest entering the jungle of South America would tell the local indians there, that sacrificing to the jaguar god was no longer acceptable, but if they sacrificed to the sky God Yahweh, it would be all right. Their fertility festival was no longer acceptable, but Mardi Gras-type bacchnalias were all right. The Catholics simply renamed the pagan practices, encouraged the locals to continue them, and melded Catholicism to the locals’ already established pagan religions. In this way, Catholicism has a centuries-old head start on syncretism. Renaming is not converting.

So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:31)

Interpretatio christiana in the secular world is known as syncretism,

the combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs, while melding practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merger and analogizing of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths

The Catholic leaders have syncretized most other religions into Catholicism in some way and they are working on Islam. In his Evangelii Gaudium (Apostolic Statement) on November 24, 2013, in the section on interfaith dialogue, Pope Francis said of Muslims,

We must never forget that they “profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, who will judge humanity on the last day”.[198] The sacred writings of Islam have retained some Christian teachings; Jesus and Mary receive profound veneration and it is admirable to see how Muslims both young and old, men and women, make time for daily prayer and faithfully take part in religious services. Many of them also have a deep conviction that their life, in its entirety, is from God and for God.

Pope Francis has also said that “inside every Christian is a Jew“. And so on with Catholic attitudes toward Hinduism, Buddhism, Charismaticism, paganism, animism, and the rest of all the other world religions. Catholicism has had almost two millennia of organized practice of melding the local religion into its own. They have a head start at laying the local infrastructure to absorb it, the organization to execute it, and the will, money and tradition to sustain it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~SECTION 3~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is reason #3 I believe the final Babylon religion will be most recognizably Catholic in some form. The chasm between Conservative Protestantism and Catholicism is closing rapidly, with frightening speed. With such speed it must have been supernaturally induced.

Since the Reformation when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the All Saints’ Chapel door at Wittenberg, there has been a chasm between Protestants and Catholics. The twain did not ever meet. There was no common ground. There was only split and more distance. One side cast a wary eye at the other but mostly the two sides have left each other alone.

Except…now that chasm is shrinking. It’s as if God had held the Protestant and Catholic apart until His timing, and is now allowing satan to bring the chasm together at warp speed. One “evangelical” leader after another is caving in to the popery of Rome. The unification of the two sides is rapidly occurring, so rapidly it seems to me it is directly supernatural in its origin.

For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.(Philippians 3:18)

The other day I wrote about a Franklin Graham crusade in Pittsburgh. In that piece I’d mentioned in 2011 I was shocked to find an Episcopal congregation in Maryland voted to return to Rome and become Catholic. The church had been Protestant for 100 years. However, unbenownst to Protestants, there were new rules that had been issued by the Vatican, the article revealed, that deliberately propose to reach out to disaffected Protestants. Father Dwight Longenecker wrote of the mass conversion,

The way to understand this more dynamic possibility is to see the ordinariate as a new bridge across the Tiber for a whole range of Protestant Christians.

The bridge across the Tiber is a reference to the Tiber River which surrounds Vatican City in Rome. The Father continues,

Already, conservative, liturgically minded Lutherans are asking why there isn’t a Lutheran ordinariate, … And if Lutherans may come across the ordinariate bridge, why not Methodists? … The way to a very exciting future for the Anglican ordinariate is for the new Anglican-style Catholics to set out with missionary fervor. They might begin with American Evangelicals.

And they have. They have set out to unite with, partner with, ‘dialogue’ with American evangelical leaders. And they have been successful. In 2011 Fr. Longenecker wrote that Rome should begin seeking American Evangelicals. In 2014, done. Check that one off the list.

2014: Pope Francis with evangelicals (Life Outreach)

And if Lutherans and Methodists…why not Baptists? You see there is no end to the Pac Man gobble. Not until Mystery Babylon is slain by a returning, wrathful Christ.

Later, James Robison telecasted the video of his meeting with Pope Francis on his daily TV program, Life Today.

“The pope, in the video, expressed a desire for Protestants and Catholics to become what Jesus prayed for — that Christians would become family and not be divided,”

I am hearing more and more of this plea to “unite”. For example, Beth Moore has said she believes the Reformation was a mistake. She discussed it in a segment on the 2006 Catholic-influenced Contemplative DVD “Be Still,”

“You know, one of the things that time gives us is that it erases the lines in between people so many different sections of the people of God. Because many years later it doesn’t matter any longer that this person was of this practice in the Christian faith and this person of another. Time somehow blurs those lines and we are profoundly moved by the historical narratives of all their lives, of so great a cloud of witnesses; that we can look back on and see what kept them running the race, what kept them running toward the face of Christ at the end of that finish line.”

So, ‘all that messiness’ was so long ago it doesn’t count anymore? All the martyrs burned for daring to oppose the Catholic Church’s authority can be dismissed, while we embrace the forefathers of this perpetration of evil because we’re moved by their historical narrative?

Why do I mention James Robison and Life Today ministries? Because by their own account, they are in 50 nations over 6 continents. Because Beth Moore, monetary anchor of LifeWay Books and member of the conservative the Southern Baptist Convention, partners with Robison which airs her program, Wednesdays in the Word.

Joel Osteen Meets with Pope Francis at Vatican: ‘He’s Made the Church More Inclusive’

Because Joel Osteen regularly speaks to 16,000 people at his stadium and broadcasts to over 100 million homes in the U.S. and tens of millions more in 100 nations. Each week more than one million people download Osteen’s heresies on their audio and video podcast, by Osteen’s accounting, “making our podcast consistently one of the top five in the world.”

That is quite a bit of heresy spread around and I’ve only mentioned three people. What of Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, when he partners with Pittsburgh’s Bishop Zubik? When Graham set the venue for Graham’s crusade/festival next door to Epiphany Catholic Church so that Crusade seekers can enter there and be counseled? So said Zubik, exultantly, here,

Those who respond to Rev. Graham’s invitation to make a decision for Christ, and who identify as Catholic, will be given the opportunity to go to Epiphany Church — adjacent to the Consol Energy Center — for the sacrament of reconciliation, or confession. ”We’re right next door,“ Bishop Zubik said. Bishop Zubik said Catholics don’t share all of Rev. Graham’s controversial political statements but added: “That’s not what this is all about. The whole point is to bring people back to Jesus.”

Google map, with stickies ‘finger of death’ & ‘black hole’ added

This makes me cry. Which Jesus? I weep with pain for those who are delivered back to darkness, with the Light so near. You can see the end of all this, the very end, when the ones who were deluded into thinking Catholicism was faith, who cry,

“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. 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?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’(Matthew 7:21-23)

Since the DVD ‘Be Still’ was published in 2006 with Moore’s cloaked language, Moore now openly teaches that Catholicism is part of denominational Christianity. Below are stills from a video in which she was teaching this, and below that, the actual video. She wasn’t using the bible as her basis, either. Moore was teaching from a directly revealed vision.

Vatican. Pixabay: Public Domain

Moore said that “Jesus” sent her a vision which included lifting her into a dimension in which He dwells, to see the global church through His eyes, and which included Catholics. We know her vision is not from Jesus. Firstly, because Jesus is not giving personal and direct revelation any longer. And second, because He would never teach that the blasphemous doctrines of Rome are part of His church. Beth Moore is NOT hearing from Jesus. She is having satanic visions.

Here are the denominations Moore was using in her lesson as representations of this ‘global interdenominational church’ “Jesus” showed her.

“First United Methodist Church”, & “Christ Redeemer Lutheran Church”

“Mt Zion Missionary Baptist Church”

“St Anne’s Catholic Church”

//www.youtube.com/get_player

Transcript: “Right back here, I want you to meet St Anne’s Catholic Church of Lessthanland. These ladies, although they attend different Catholic Churches, all attend a Catholic church, right here in Houston, and I am so thrilled they are here.”

Babylon is to be better understood as the sort of the archetypical head of all worldly resistance to God. It is a trans-historical Babylon. It is the Babylon of idolatry. It is the eschatological symbol of worldwide satanic deception and power. ~John MacArthur
The Puritans always thought a future Pope would be antichrist. In one sense, the general sense, all popes are antichrist, because they do not believe the truth. (1 John 4:3). But we all know (or should know) that there will be one final man who will embody the totality of the antichrist spirit. Just as there was one last Adam, the Son of Man, embodying all of God’s Spirit (Jesus), there will come one man who will perform all the perdition there can be, and thrust it onto the world, which will accept it. This one will be the Beast, the antichrist, a man, later indwelled by satan. One of his very names is “Son of Perdition.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Here is a piece written in 1894 which portends much,

The Attractions of Popery
R.L. Dabney
Appeared In The Presbyterian Quarterly, April, 1894.

Dr. John H. Rice, with the intuition of a great mind, warned Presbyterians against a renewed prevalence of popery in our Protestant land. This was when it was so insignificant among us as to be almost unnoticed. Many were surprised at his prophecy, and not a few mocked; but time has fulfilled it. Our leaders from 1830 to 1860 understood well the causes of this danger. They were diligent to inform and prepare the minds of their people against it. Hence General Assemblies and Synods appointed annual sermons upon popery, and our teachers did their best to arouse the minds of the people. Now, all this has mainly passed away, and we are relaxing our resistance against the dreaded foe just in proportion as he grows more formidable. It has become the fashion to condemn controversy and to affect the widest charity for this and all other foes of Christ and of souls.

Prophetic words, those. The feature of the distant past time was to speak against Rome’s Popery/Catholicism. Active and organized vigilance against it. How refreshing. But now, vigilance has thoroughly decreased in the face of those who vociferously condemn “controversy” and command speaking only of “charity” (niceness). The piece continues,

The popish system of ritual and doctrine was a gradual growth, which, modifying true Christianity, first perverted and then extinguished it. Its destructive power has resulted from this: that it has not been the invention of any one cunning and hostile mind, but a gradual growth, modified by hundreds or thousands of its cultivators, who were the most acute, learned, selfish, and anti-Christian spirits of their generations, perpetually retouched and adapted to every weakness and every attribute of depraved human nature, until it became the most skillful and pernicious system of error which the world has ever known.

How I long for strong, clear words today condemning “the most pernicious system of error the world has ever known”! Instead, ‘Christian’ leaders partner with it! There will be a dire price to pay for this. Roger Oakland of Understanding the Times wrote:

The purpose of the New Evangelization is to promote the Roman Catholic gospel by reaching out to all religions as well as the separated brethren and introducing them to the Eucharistic Christ. … Evangelicals who believe there will be a great revival (rather than a great apostasy) in the last days centered around the outpouring of the Holy Spirit are candidates for this delusion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~CONCLUSION~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While American evangelicals have been distracted by the shadow Muslims crouching at the door, the Vatican has been intentional, missional, and aggressive in aiming for our most conservative Protestant remaining pockets of resistance to pollute the minds of those who are supposed to be leading us. Muslims have been loudly storming the front door, but Rome has silently infiltrated the back. (Jude 1:4; Galatians 2:4; 2 Timothy 3:6). There are so few religious battlegrounds left for Rome to conquer.

Therefore, because of the “new evangelization”, because of a centuries of interpretatio chrstiana, and because of the rapid absorption of so many leading ‘evangelicals’ into Catholicism and so much infusion of Catholicism’s traditions into Protestant life, the final days church is nearly formed. This is my opinion.

They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. (Titus 1:16)

~~~~~~~~~~~~ENCOURAGEMENT & ACTION~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pixabay: Public Domain

I appreciate that you read this lengthy opinion essay of the last days church. I think the pieces of it are coming together quickly. It is significant that Rome, not known for speed, is moving so fast. It is important to be careful and measured when speaking an opinion though, that is why I laid it out so thoroughly, with examples and many quotes. However, far be it for me to analytically present the pieces without encouragement to your soul, and suggested actions.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:7-8)

We are all familiar with this next verse. For these times especially when so much prophetic activity is occurring, that which we see, and that which we sense, lean not on our own understanding. Trust in Him and His word. He has told us beforehand!

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

No matter what is happening in the world, we are not of this world, but of the world where Jesus dwells,

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 31:8

Meanwhile we can take actions.

1. Do not partner with darkness, including Rome. (2 Corinthians 6:14). Not even for a moment. Do not let anyone fool you, Catholicism is not Christian. (2 Corinthians 11:4).

2. Because Catholics need the true faith, evangelize them. (Matthew 28:16-20)

“What was at stake? I’ll tell you what was at stake. What was at stake is whether or not we evangelize Roman Catholics, that’s what’s at stake. One billion of them in the world. Are they a mission field? Or are they our co-laborers for Christ? That changes everything, everything. On the other side, one of the leading evangelicals said, “I think it’s so wonderful that we can now see Catholics as Christians because that means millions and millions of people are Christians.” As if somehow by them deciding they were Christians they became Christians. I was absolutely incredulous, almost fell off my chair.”

Reclassifying the Pope, reclassifying the Roman Catholics as believers isn’t that simple. It has massive implications. It has implications that literally overturn centuries of missionary effort. It has massive implications that overturn centuries, if not millennia of martyrdom. In the long war on the truth, the most formidable, relentless and deceptive enemy has been Roman Catholicism. It is an apostate, corrupt, heretical, false Christianity, it is affront for the kingdom of Satan. The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ has always understood this. And even through the Dark Ages from 400 to 1500, prior to the Reformation, genuine Christian believers set themselves apart from that system, and were brutally punished and executed for their rejection of that system. ~John MacArthur

3. Do not be afraid to name names. We must declare ones like Joel Osteen false so that when he promotes the Pope we will not be confused by his doctrinal error. As Tony Miano said, “Any man who declares a Roman pope to be a brother in Christ is, himself, an enemy of Christ.”

When Apostle John wrote, he said,

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them
that are causing the divisions
and occasions of stumbling,
contrary to the doctrine which ye learned,
Romans 16:17a

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. (3 John 1:9-11)

John did not say, “Love Diotrephes and do not criticize him, and neither will I.” No, John said he will bring up what Diotrephes was doing, because Diotrephes was doing evil.

Paul wrote to warn of Alexander the coppersmith:

Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. (2 Tim 4:14-15).

Today’s Christians would chastise Paul for “gossiping” and “criticizing”. When they tell you not to name names (after prayer and if you have evidence), don’t fall for it. Name them! (Romans 16:17).

How will we know to beware of anyone if Christians refuse to say who to avoid? Who to guard against? Who to refuse into their homes? (2 John 1:10).

3. Pray. Pray for all the ones mentioned in this article. They need Jesus too. Pray for the ones who follow the ones mentioned in this article (Robison, Osteen, Moore, Graham, etc). Pray against antichrist.

It is the bounden duty of every Christian to pray against Antichrist, and as to what Antichrist is no sane man ought to raise a question. If it be not the popery in the Church of Rome there is nothing in the world that can be called by that name. …

Popery is contrary to Christ’s Gospel, and is the Antichrist, and we ought to pray against it. It should be the daily prayer of every believer that Antichrist might be hurled like a millstone into the flood and for Christ, because it wounds Christ, because it robs Christ of His glory, because it puts sacramental efficacy in the place of His atonement, and lifts a piece of bread into the place of the Saviour, and a few drops of water into the place of the Holy Ghost, and puts a mere fallible man like ourselves up as the vicar of Christ on earth; if we pray against it, because it is against Him, we shall love the persons though we hate their errors: we shall love their souls though we loath and detest their dogmas, and so the breath of our prayers will be sweetened, because we turn our faces towards Christ when we pray. ~Charles Spurgeon

beth moore, evil, Joyce Meyer, mark driscoll, mother teresa, pope francis

What is evil? You would be surprised.

Posted on August 28, 2014May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Here are a few links for you. There is a theme.

This was a great analysis of Mark Driscoll’s “Update Apology”. The author parsed Driscoll’s words and translated into plain-speak. And it isn’t good.

An analysis of Mark Driscoll’s update to Mars Hill Church

Because we can do that, you know. We can analyze the words of Driscoll personally, and we can analyze the words as an articulation of Mars Hill Church’s attitudes and intentions. So we can dissect these words to discern what they are really saying to us, the abused. We can listen to what Driscoll is saying and what the church is saying. What is in their heart? Here’s what I’m hearing:

The spiritual abuse Driscoll has heaped on the sheep, and the reproach he has brought to Jesus’ name, is heinous in the extreme. It’s evil.

Once I wrote on Twitter and this blog that if Hitler had repented, he’d be in heaven, and that “Mother Teresa” was in hell. I got a lot of flak. But I wanted to point out two things: Jesus’ work on the cross and His resulting grace covers ALL sins- except the sin of rejecting Him. Secondly, most people don’t know what an evil pagan Mother Teresa was. When they think ‘evil’ the go-to poster boy is always Hitler and when they think ‘nice’ they always think Mother Teresa. But theological rejection of Christ and a lifetime of working against Him is evil. Let’s call it what it is. Here is one author who does.

Here’s What We Learned From Mother Teresa and Why We Should Reject It

Speaking of calling evil, evil, here is Denny Burk on that very topic. Let’s not get so inoculated with the times that we forget what evil is- opposing Christ in any form. Here, Burk uses ISIS terrorists as the example. In his essay at the top is a photo of a black hooded ISIS terrorist holding a knife.My point is that the ones who terrotize in Allahs’ name are not the only evil ones. The smiling pseudo Christians are actually worse.

Refusing to call evil “evil”

This next essay is about apathetic Christians who have emerged from a generation of decisional acceptance of Christ and the prevalent lazy attitude toward obeying Him. We are reaping the ‘rewards’ of a generation as this author says, of “Millions upon millions of content and confident, flesh-obsessed walking dead who think like the world, act like the world, love what the world loves and hate what the world hates…all in Jesus’ name.”

The (church built) Zombie Apocalypse is upon us…

If you haven’t caught on to the theme of this essay with links, it is evil, but not Hitler evil. Not ISIS evil. It’s pseudo-Christian evil, in my opinion, the worst kind. I expect terrorists like ISIS to be ferocious, bloody knife wielding lawbreakers. But the true Christian world forgets that a Beth Moore, a Mother Teresa, a Mark Driscoll, a sin-avoiding preaching pastor, a lazy pseudo-Christian, are also terrorists. They’re terrorists, lawbreakers, spies, and destroyers.

Do you think one of these images is worse than another? You’re right, it’s Beth Moore who is the more evil.

An ISIS terrorist’s gun kills the body. Moore’s weapon, the bible, (the way she uses it), kills the soul. (Matthew 10:28)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:15)

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)

James Robison and wife Betty.
Their program on Wednesdays features Beth Moore

This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. (Galatians 2:4)

Just because we can see that ISIS terrorists are maniacal, foaming at the mouth unthinking dogs doesn’t make them more evil than a Beth Moore or a James Robison. It actually makes them less evil, because they are easy to spot. The true terrorists of earth are the ones who creep in to church in order to destroy the name of Christ and hinder the witness of the sheep.

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves. (2 Peter 2:1)

One of the faces of today’s evil

Jesus knows we find it hard to bear the evil done in His name. He understands the teeth-grinding righteous grief we feel when we see what is done in His name by those calling themselves His children-

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. (Revelation 2:2)

A preacher like Mark Driscoll is actually more dangerous than an ISIS terrorist. Same with Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, James Robison, Mother Teresa, Pope Francis…They have one thing in common, they are all part of satan’s system and are his trophies of evil.

Let’s call it what it is.