focus on the family

doctrine, emergent church, false christians, focus on the family

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian; Part 3

Posted on July 8, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

Bono on his Co-Exist tour wearing his Co-Exist headband

Last week, President of the Christian organization Focus on the Family Jim Daly sat down with U2 rocker Bono. Mr Daly emerged from that interview trumpeting Mr Bono as a Christian, and write a glowing piece for Focus on the Family’s website and also published in the Washington Post called “Why Orthodox Christians Should Appreciate An Unorthodox Bono“.

In parts one and two of the series of three parts, I looked at–

1. Focus on the Family’s increasing apostasy
2. Whether Bono is a Christian

And now in part 3 we’ll look at the lack of discernment in Christians today. Not everyone who claims Jesus is a Christian and it is important to understand that. I’ll tell you why.

–Accepting unquestioningly all people who claim Christianity but who obviously are not, blurs the lines of the faith.
–We are supposed to share truth to a lost and dying world. Non-Christians, including false Christians we accept as genuine, do not have that truth to share.

As GotQuestions states, “The evidence of a true Christian is displayed in both faith and action. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). James says, “I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Jesus put it this way: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). A true Christian will show his faith by how he lives. Despite the wide variety of beliefs that fall under the general “Christian” label today, the Bible defines a true Christian as one who has personally received Jesus Christ as Savior, who trusts in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins, who has the Holy Spirit residing within, and whose life evinces change consistent with faith in Jesus.”

We are supposed to care who says they are a Christian because Christians are supposed to have the truth of Jesus in us and abide by the Spirit. If we do then we’re brethren, and we build each other up, pray for each other, and help each other. If they are not, we know to evangelize them with our words, witness to them with our lives, and separate from them in our spirit. Mindlessly accepting everyone who utters “Jesus” like a magic password, blurs those lines and foils the notion that we are supposed to be separate, holding onto the only truth in a dying world of relativism. This unwillingness to engage in what is at root a problem of discernment is the number one problem in the church.

John MacArthur said, “People ask me this all the time, “… What do you see as the biggest problem in Christianity? The biggest problem in the church? It’s simple for me to answer that. The biggest problem in the church today is the absence of discernment. It’s a lack of discernment. It’s the biggest problem with Christian people, they make bad choices. They accept the wrong thing. They accept the wrong theology. The are prone to the wrong teaching. They’re unwise in who they follow, what they listen to and what they read.”

He continues, “I’m afraid that is pretty typical of the contemporary evangelical scene. There is a lack of precision in thinking, there’s a lack of consistency, there’s a lack of integrity. It’s just a hodgepodge, listening to anybody and everybody, reading anything, making no particular judgments. In fact, to make a judgment may be seen as unchristian. Boundless, endless credulity, anything and everything except there’s got to be good in all of it, how dare you question anybody’s view on anything. And I really believe that because of this pervasive attitude, evangelical Christianity, biblical Christianity as we know it is fighting for its life. Amazing to think about.”

Bertrand Russell had a lot to say about our lack of consistency and lack of integrity to the truth, as we’ll see below.

The reason biblical Christianity is fighting for its life is related to something that Martyn Lloyd Jones predicted 40 years ago. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote in his 1970 book ‘Romans: An Exposition of Chapters’:

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Disapproval of polemics in the Christian Church is a very serious matter. But that is the attitude of the age in which we live. The prevailing idea today in many circles is not to bother about these things. As long as we are all Christians, anyhow, somehow, all is well. Do not let us argue about doctrine, let us all be Christians together and talk about the love of God. That is really the whole basis of ecumenicity. Unfortunately, that same attitude is creeping into evangelical circles also and many say that we must not be too precise about these things. If you hold that view, you are criticizing the Apostle Paul, you are saying that he was wrong, and at the same time you are criticizing the Scriptures. The Scriptures argue and debate and dispute; they are full of polemics.”

Polemics defined is: contentious arguments that are intended to establish the truth of a specific understanding and the falsity of the contrary position. (source). That is Christianity in a nutshell, isn’t it! Jesus is the only way to heaven…you must repent or die…Jesus is God and there is no other… These are polemical arguments. A polemic is one definite controversial thesis. Debate is the second cousin to polemics. Debate is not so definite, debate allows for common ground between the two disputants. A polemic is intended to establish the truth of a point of view while refuting the opposing point of view. In polemics, there is one truth only. In debate, there is compromise and common ground. That is why we cannot debate and compromise in Christianity.

The problem today is that people debate. They don’t engage in polemics. A polemicist says, “There is only one truth and here it is, there is no other name by which you many be saved than that of Jesus. If you do not claim that name in repentance, you will go to hell.” (Acts 4:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Saying that truth today is becoming increasingly radical. Also radical is marking the boundaries of Christianity and claiming that such and such a person is outside of it.

Christianity is itself a polemic. The book of John establishes right and wrong, good and evil, light and

Source

dark. There is either or. Jesus is either God or He isn’t. You are of this world or you are not. Yet today there is a refusal to state the one truth, polemically, and this has allowed all manner of untruths to creep in. For example,

“But there are some things in the Word of God that are very clear and those are the things that are at the heart of our faith. And one of them is to understand who is a true Christian. And it’s astonishing to me how confused people are. I talked to one of the students at the college who went to Amsterdam 2000 this summer, this convocation of thousands of evangelists. And he is a college student, he said to me, “I couldn’t believe what I heard. The thing was opened by a Roman Catholic priest, and there was a man there who denied the resurrection of Jesus Christ and they all received applause and a standing ovation.” By evangelicals? And when somebody steps in and says, “Stop this charade, this pretense of Christianity, let’s get down to who’s really a Christian,” you get vilified and marginalized and alienated. But that’s okay because what matters is the truth. So we’re trying to deal with the truth.” (source)

Christianity by nature of its polemical stance, is divisive. It is supposed to be. I am not saying that people are supposed to be divisive on purpose by being disagreeable for the sake of being disagreeable. However, stating the truth divides. Didn’t Jesus say,

Source

“The Sword of the Gospel”
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36).

So no, Bono by believing in other religions is not a Christian. It is important to say these things. So how do you tell who a Christian is, here is MacArthur again:

“And the way to understand who a Christian is, I’ve concluded after a long time trying to get to this point, is to understand deliverance, the theology of deliverance. You can tell a Christian because they’re delivered. That’s what the Bible teaches.”

“The first category of deliverance is those who are really Christians have been delivered out of error into truth. Now listen to what I say. No one is a Christian who does not understand, believe, embrace and love the truth. What truth? The truth that we call the gospel. …When the Spirit of truth regenerates, He moves people from error to truth. He brings the sinner the understanding of, belief in, embracing of, and total commitment to the truth.”

You can tell a Christian because they know the truth and a non-Christian doesn’t. Simple.

It is important if we are a Christian be clear about any interlopers in our midst. Look at poor Bertrand Russell. The philosopher Bertrand Russell gave a lecture in 1927 in London, called “Why I am Not a Christian.” In it, he bemoans the watering down of what the definition of Christianity is, and mocks those of us who are holding the hose.

Bertrand Russell

“As your chairman has told you, the subject about which I am going to speak to you tonight is “Why I Am Not a Christian.” Perhaps it would be as well, first of all, to try to make out what one means by the word “Christian.” It is used in these days in a very loose sense by a great many people. Some people mean no more by it than a person who attempts to live a good life. In that sense I suppose there would be Christians in all sects and creeds; but I do not think that that is the proper sense of the word, if only because it would imply that all the people who are not Christians — all the Buddhists, Confucians, Mohammedans, and so on — are not trying to live a good life. I do not mean by a Christian any person who tries to live decently according to his lights. I think that you must have a certain amount of definite belief before you have a right to call yourself a Christian. The word does not have quite such a full-blooded meaning now as it had in the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. In those days, if a man said that he was a Christian it was known what he meant. You accepted a whole collection of creeds which were set out with great precision, and every single syllable of those creeds you believed with the whole strength of your convictions.”

Having certainty and conviction of clear doctrines was something that atheist Russell could respect, even get behind. Ultimately, so can Jesus.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16).

Russell says our definition of Christian is too elastic, and he is right to wonder about the whole shebang of Christianity when we let so precious a truth become elasticised and stretched beyond recognition! It is his way of saying, “If they don’t care what Christianity is, why should I?” And when the false professors we have allowed into our midst fall away, and they always do, then what?

Phil Johnson

Phil Johnson of Grace Community Church and Executive Director, Grace to You, was assigned the task of explaining and critiquing the emerging church movement in one of the 75-minute sessions at the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference The resulting paper is titled, “Exposing the Postmodern Errors of the Emerging Church”. (a .pdf).

Pastor Johnson said the emerging church movement is an “irrational agglomeration of unorthodox ideas”, and of Bono, Johnson said he is one of the prime leaders of it. “This may help you more than anything I have said so far to understand the flavor of the “emerging church movement”: Bono—the Irish rocker and politico of U2 fame—seems to be the unofficial icon of the movement. If you’ve been tuned into pop-culture at any time over the past two decades and know anything about Bono, that might help you to grasp something about the look and feel of the movement”. … emergent types seem to quote Bono all the time. I would say that he sometimes seems to be the chief theologian of the “emerging church movement,” but in all fairness, that honor belongs more to John R. Franke and Stan Grenz. .. But he and Franke are the two academic theologians who have done more than anyone else to blend postmodernism and theology into a kind of quasi-evangelical doctrine”.

And that is what we have today. We have a long-standing organization such as Focus on the Family promoting an icon in Bono who represents a false movement which is bringing quasi-evangelical doctrine to quasi-evangelical Christians. On the other side we have an elder of the faith in Pr. Johnson who says that movement Bono represents is full of irrational agglomeration of unorthodox ideas, has contempt for biblical authority, breeds doubt about the perspicuity of Scripture, and sows confusion about the mission of the church.

At the January 2013 Convocation of the Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine, Rev. Steven Lewis noted that there are indicators that the religious landscape of North America has radically changed. “That landscape change includes a spiritual revival and renewal afoot but it is not religious, the Rev. Steven Lewis, academic dean of Bangor Theological Seminary, said in January in the opening session of Convocation. He called it “humanitarian spirituality.”

Who wouldn’t be confused about who’s really a Christian when seminaries are graduating theologians who are told these terrible things? It is exactly this ‘humanitarian spirituality’ which Bono exemplifies-that Jesus will vomit out His mouth. As blogger Elliott Nesch said of the Daly-Bono meeting and the resulting version of Christianity which was unfortunately validated through it, “Philanthropy is no substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! … Bono is embraced and given the upper-hand in both religious and political spheres of influence. Many are following Bono in social justice but throwing the Gospel out the window. Bono’s hip Christianity will inspire many Christians to embrace ecumenism and apostasy in the cloak of philanthropy. This is a politicized social Gospel which is contrary to the doctrine of Christ.”

And THAT’S why we care about who is a Christian.

————————–
Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian Part 1

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian? Part 2

focus on the family, genuine faith

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian? Part 2

Posted on July 3, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This series of posts will look at one issue divided into three parts:

1. Focus on the Family’s increasing apostasy
2. Whether Bono is a Christian
3. Lack of discernment in Christians today/ not everyone who claims Jesus is a Christian

Part 1: looked at Focus on the Family. In that part, I’d mentioned that the Christian organization Focus on the Family (FOTF) interviewed the Irish rock singer Bono this week, and was impressed with Bono’s Christian walk. Interviewer and FOTF President Jim Daly had written an opinion-editorial response to the show which was published in the Washington Post and also on FOTF blog.

I’d also mentioned that previously FOTF had displayed less than discerning attitudes when hosting occultist Roman Catholic Anne Rice on their show and refusing to call Roman Catholic apostate. They had also partnered with Catholic Mystic Roma Downey and New Age husband Mark Burnett to oversee the theology and then promote the History Channel miniseries The Bible. All these comments with links and bible verses can be seen at part 1.

Part 2: Is Bono a Christian?

The title of Mr Daly’s op-ed piece about Bono is called ““Why Orthodox Christians Should Appreciate An Unorthodox Bono“. This is not to be taken lightly. A mature male elder of my faith is telling me, a fellow Christian, to pay attention to the faith and works of a certain person. Therefore I do two things: I pay attention, and I test all things by comparing what this recommended person says, against the word of God.

The test came up short. Bono is not a Christian.

But what if I had not tested against the word of God? And, why is a mature elder of the faith not exhibiting more discernment? That is the problem.

Let’s go to the beginning. Bono is a multi-million dollar rock star who says he is a Christian, and has for many years been involved in good causes, particularly ending poverty and bringing awareness to preventable diseases such as AIDS and malaria. The current campaign that Bono and his associates are involved in is an organization Bono started called ONE and it aims to end extreme poverty, especially in Africa, in this generation.Here is the link to the interview between FOTF and singer Bono.

U2’s Bono Discusses Faith, Helping Others With Focus on the Family’s Jim Daly
“Bono told Daly that he has chosen to put so much time and energy into the ONE Campaign because to him, “love is to realize the potential of others.”

I’m sorry, but love is not to realize potential, because the only potential we have is to do evil. As unsaved sinners all that we do is filthy rags in the sight of God. (Isaiah 64:6). Augustine said, “Good works, as they are called, in sinners, are nothing but splendid sins.” Spurgeon said, “good works come from a real conversion, brought about by the Spirit of God. Until our conversion, there is not the shadow of goodness about us. In the eye of the world we may be reputable and respectable, but in the eye of God we are nothing of the sort.” (source)

Even saved sinners must do righteous works in the Spirit and not of our own motivations. The works of saved will be tested at the Bema seat. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10). So even as saved people, we have potential to do works that are in the flesh! As a Christian, Bono should know about our potential. It is utter depravity. (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9).

Love is telling people the truth about sin and the salvation from wrath for those sins through Jesus.

The article continues, “In an op-ed for The Washington Post following his broadcasted interview with Bono, Daly wrote that although many Christians may find the musician unorthodox, he believes Bono truly lives his Christian values through his love for others. Bono “chooses to go out and serve alongside other people consumed by the desire to help others” instead of “easily [enjoying] the spoils of his fame and fortune,” Daly wrote.”

I’m thrilled that someone who by sweat of his brow and long years of work has amassed a fortune and is willing to use it to advance causes in philanthropy. But that cannot be confused with saving faith. But I am reminded of the rich young ruler, found in Matthew 16:19-23 and explained here.

Daly is impressed with Bono’s use of a verse from Luke which Bono says is the foundation of why he does what he does, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).”

That verse in context is Jesus reading the Messianic prophecy from Isaiah, and it refers to Himself. It is Messiah’s four-fold mission, not ours. Jesus isn’t even talking about the economically poor in that passage, but the spiritually poor. The oppressed are the sinners, captured in sin, not the politically oppressed. The blind means Jesus will be a light to the nations to open blind eyes. Yet Bono says,

“If you’re not actively embracing this theology – “in little or large ways, you’re simply not catching the vision of how Jesus wants us to engage our world.”

How Jesus wants us to engage the world is through Matthew 28:16-20,

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That is the theology we are told to cling to.

Here are more specifics on what Bono believes. Bono said in an interview with his unbelieving friend Michka Assayas:

“It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma. You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so you will sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.”

It sounds Christian, and it almost is. I understand that Bono is referring to the law of what you reap, you will sow (Galatians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 9:6). Sowing and reaping is a law of the spiritual world, but it is not karma. It confuses people to use a Buddhist & Hindu term for the sowing and reaping. If Bono wanted to discuss sowing and reaping, he should have used the bible verse and explained it.

Equating this law to all religions is unwise. Other religions have nothing to commend themselves to God. Other religions in the bible are spoken of by God as false, gangrenous, pagan, adultery, spiritual prostitution, and a whore. (Ezekiel 16:28, Revelation 19:22 Timothy 2:17, Lamentations 1:10, Hosea 4:12 Ezekiel 43:9). Christians strive to be different and peculiar, not to spread Christianese laws like butter over other religions’ philosophies to blend them together. The Christian religion is distinct from and different than all other religions.

Jesus is the center of the Universe. (Colossians 1:16-17). Not karma.

“Interviewer: “I was wondering if you said all of that to the Pope the day you met him.”

“Bono: Let’s not get too *** the Holy Roman Church here. The Church has its problems, but the older I get, the more comfort I find there. The physical experience of being in a crowd of largely humble people, heads bowed, murmuring prayers, stories told in stained-glass windows.”

“Assayas: So you won’t be critical.”

“Bono: No, I can be critical, especially on the topic of contraception. But when I meet someone like Sister Benedicta and see her work with AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa, or Sister Ann doing the same in Malawi, or Father Jack Fenukan and his group Concern all over Africa, when I meet priests and nuns tending to the sick and the poor and giving up much easier lives to do so, I surrender a little easier.”

Bono equates Catholic good works with salvation. This is incorrect. Catholicism adheres to a works-doctrine of salvation. Seeing others’ works is not the basis upon which we should surrender our lives to Jesus. Belief and faith in Him is the reason we surrender.

Bono describes himself as a “half-Catholic”, and in visiting the Pope (in 2002) he said “I was very glad to be in his presence”, and “I felt he has very sincere beliefs. And even if they’re not popular, at least they’re sincere.”

At one of his concerts, Bono called out the name of the Pope , – “John Paul” to the crowd and described him as “an Italian who knew the right person to get into heaven.”

“Bono said in his NAACP award acceptance speech, “God is with the poor and God is with us if we are with them…we can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.” He founded ONE, and advocacy organization to end extreme poverty, and says ONE is “proud to work alongside incredible allies in the faith community – NGOs like World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, American Jewish World Service and Bread for the World; churches like Willow Creek, and leaders like Rick and Kay Warren and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.”

All those that Bono mentioned are not in the faith community because they are not Christian. A Christian with discernment should see that.

What is confusing about Bono is that he claims Jesus as Savior and then mixes familiar Christian-ese language into his statement of faith. Like this: In his book-length conversation with friend and unbeliever Michka Assayas, Bono said, “I wish to begin again on a daily basis. To be born again every day is something that I try to do. And I’m deadly serious about that.”

I can’t “try” to be born again. Being born again is a one-time event which the Savior performs after the Spirit drew the person to the Father. (John 3:3-7). It is also known as justification, where God declares a certain sinner righteous, and sees them as so through the imputed righteousness of Jesus. (Romans 5:1). It has nothing to do with my efforts. After the one time justification enacted by Jesus (born again) we spend our lives in Holy Spirit empowered sanctification, seeking it fervently. (1 Peter 1:15; Hebrews 12:14). Perhaps this is what Bono meant. But we cannot be born again more than once.

Bono freely talks about Jesus’s death on the cross was to atone for His sins and that without that atonement Bono would reap an obvious death, and that he believes Jesus is the Son of God. He quotes the bible, then says “But the one thing we can all agree — all faiths, all ideologies — is that God is with the vulnerable and poor” and then he quotes the Quran.

Bono is not a Christian.

God is God on one faith. All other ‘gods’ are false.But that is not what Bono believes.

Vertigo Tour, U2/Bono, Source

Bono/U2’s Vertigo Tour was built on the theme of CoExist, the people in the ‘three Abrahamic faiths’, that is. Kevin Hutchinson wrote in 2005, “The stringing together of three religious icons to spell out the word “coexist” has been a crucial part of the Vertigo Tour since its opening night. …The sign is a crucial element of one of the most emotional and memorable portions of the Vertigo show: U2 concludes the heart-wrenching “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own,” and with the show’s mood growing increasingly intense, a white headband appears on Bono’s forehead for the opening chords of “Love and Peace or Else.” The headband bears the handwritten message “COEXIST” with the Muslim crescent symbol representing the “C;” the Jewish Star of David, the “X;” and the Christian cross, the “T.” As the next few songs progress, Bono kneels down, wrists crossed above his head, conjuring images of a hostage, now blindfolded with the CoeXisT band covering his eyes. In the European shows, the CoeXisT sign dominates the giant screen behind the band. And in the midst of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (which, according to Bono, doesn’t just belong to Ireland anymore) Bono points to each religious icon and declares:

“Jesus, Jew, Muhammad, it’s true…All sons of Abraham. Father Abraham, speak to your sons. Tell them, No more!”

Wikipedia notes, “He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger.”

And Mr Jim Daly of Focus on the Family is promoting Bono as a Christian? Where is the discernment?

The thing that mixes people up in the case of Bono is that most folks acknowledge God but live lives devoid of fruit. Those are easy to tell are not Christian. (Matthew 7:16). Some people mention sin. A very few talk about Jesus. So when they do mention Jesus people get all excited, thinking that this must mean the person is a believer! Jesus is so marginalized in culture by now and excluded from church so often (Revelation 3:20) that when someone says they believe in Him, their discernment goes out the window and they cling to their statement as if it is a mantra or an abracadabra magic word and they are welcomed with open arms.

Bono’s ONE organization believes in social justice for the poor, and later on down the page on their website, likens social justice with equality. This is socialistic wealth redistribution, and communism at its root, and it shows a flawed attitude toward Jesus. The poor will always be among us, He said. (“Mark 14:7 The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.”)

Worse, Bono’s ONE organization admits that ONE is not about charity. It’s not charity, it’s justice, their website says. Jesus said to be charitable but focus on Him, as stated in Mark. He said to be charitable and leave the justice to Him.

Source

Social justice for the poor makes a flawed secular assumption. It assumes the poor got that way because the wealthy oppressed them. Not so in every case. Our energies are to share the gospel so that when this vapor of a poor life is over, they will enjoy an eternal inheritance.

Did you know that the ONE organization only sent one percent of its total donations to intended destinations? (also reported here). Imagine if the amount donated to ONE in 2010 (£9.6m/$8M) went to support missions!!! Gideons!!!! Bible translation efforts for unreached peoples!!!

Can a man who claims to be half-Catholic, lauds the pope, substitutes Karma for Jesus as the heart of the universe, quotes the Koran, says that all religions are a faith community, wants to eradicate extreme poverty in this lifetime by redistributing wealth in a carnal act of self-proclaimed justice, and builds his life on a misunderstood piece of scripture, be a Christian? No.

How can this be so?

Many, many believe by mental assent, not heart-repentance and faith in the invisible God. Their works stem from an intellectual acceptance of and agreement with some scriptures.

Jesus said that many who do works in His name are not believers. Matthew 7:22 says, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’”

“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19).

The blending of Christianese into people’s faith statements is increasingly difficult to parse. It did throw me for a loop to read in an interview that Bono believes Jesus died for his sins…but then I read that he believes Jesus’s sacrificial act broke the karma on his life and we share the same root of faith as Muslims. It will only get harder from here on out, as the one world religion blends itself into a amorphous ball of clay that hides the corrupt center.

The lesson for us … will be discussed in part 3.

christian, focus on the family, genuine faith

Focus on the Family, Bono, & who is a Christian?

Posted on July 2, 2013May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This series of posts will look at one issue divided into three parts:

1. Focus on the Family’s increasing apostasy
2. Whether Bono is a Christian
3. Lack of discernment in Christians today/ not everyone who claims Jesus is a Christian

Part 1: Focus on the Family

When the History Channel’s miniseries “The Bible” came out in the spring of 2013, many individuals, pastors, and churches recommended the series to their flocks, most notably, the Christian organization Focus on the Family (FOTF). Lots of Christians who should have known better declared the series pretty good, or almost good, or nearly good, or good enough… to eat as holy food.

They were wrong. The Bible miniseries was shown to have omitted foundational portions of the Gospel, twisted scripture, presented Jesus incorrectly, and over-or-under dramatized important passages. It was created by people who have shown they do not know Jesus as savior. This kind of half-hearted, casual approach to presenting the Word of God is not acceptable but is inevitable when written by people who don’t know Jesus. More on that below.

However, let’s begin nearer the beginning. FOTF’s downward slide away from the purity of the cross has been going on for a while. No apostasy is sudden. Their eyebrow-raising involvement with The Bible miniseries and the apostates who created it was not the beginning of and obvious lack of discernment. It just takes a while for its sins to arise from the heart and mind and be noticed externally.

In 2008, controversy arose when FOTF interviewed Mormon Glenn Beck and appeared to be endorsing Mormonism. They later pulled the interview down from their website as the heat rose.

Mr. Dan Gilgoff of God & Country was disappointed in FOTF’s retraction of the Beck interview, saying that the long-standing pattern of interfaith dialog FOTF had evidenced was squandered in this case. He wrote of then-FOTF President James Dobson, “Dobson deserves credit for helping the evangelical movement build political alliances with other faith traditions, including the Mormons, or Church of Latter-day Saints. … Focus could have used the Beck episode as another opportunity for interfaith bridge-building, perhaps by leaving the interview up, even if it meant adding a clarification that the organization doesn’t endorse Mormonism. Another setback for interfaith dialogue, which seems to be all too rare these days.”

If I was an evangelical I would be very worried if I was named as having built political alliances, because that is not our calling.(James 4:4, John 15:19). I would be equally worried about having been identified as engaging in interfaith dialog and being unequally yoked in activities with those who are not of the faith. (2 Corinthians 6:14).

In 2009, FOTF endorsed a book published by Zondervan which promoted the practice of contemplative spirituality. Contemplative spirituality has been amply demonstrated on this and other blogs as a mystical practice originating in the apostate Romans Catholic Church.

In 2008, FOTF hosted Roman Catholic occult writer Anne Rice on the show. Way of Life writer David Cloud wrote at the time, “The spiritually-dangerous nature of Focus on the Family (FOF) was evident in a reply that was given to a Christian who wrote to them about having Anne Rice, the Roman Catholic author of occultic horror novels, on the Focus radio program. In a reply dated December 3, 2008, Timothy Masters wrote the following for Focus on the Family: “It’s worth adding that anti-Catholic sentiments like those you’ve expressed are more than just uncharitable and un-Christlike. They’re also harmful to the richness of your own Christian experience. … To dismiss the Roman Catholic Church wholesale is to obliterate the first fifteen centuries of Christian history.”

Mr Cloud rightly noted of FOTF’s response to the concerned listener, “This statement reflects gross ignorance both of the Bible and of church history. The Bible plainly teaches that it is impossible to be saved apart from the one true gospel of the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:8-9). Since the Roman Catholic Church teaches a false gospel of sacramentalism (e.g., the Council of Trent, which has never been rescinded, cursed those who say that salvation is by God’s grace alone), it is impossible to be saved if one believes what Rome teaches.”

Later, Mrs Rice publicly quit Christianity. Of course, being a Catholic she already showed she was not a Christain, something the FOTF interview should have been clear about. (1 John 2:19).

In 2011, FOTF declared that they had lost their fight against homosexual marriage, blaming the culture as being too overwhelming. FOTF President Jim Daly said at that time, “We’re winning the younger generation on abortion, at least in theory. What about same-sex marriage? We’re losing on that one, especially among the 20- and 30-somethings: 65 to 70 percent of them favor same-sex marriage. I don’t know if that’s going to change with a little more age—demographers would say probably not. We’ve probably lost that. I don’t want to be extremist here, but I think we need to start calculating where we are in the culture.”

The world is a system which satan rules and therefore we must be in it but apart from it, that’s “where we are in the culture.” (John 17:14-15)

Source

Yet the article’s author says “Daly has taken a more conciliatory approach to to traditional hot-button issues than his predecessor at Focus, James Dobson, so perhaps it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to see him speak so candidly.”

Again, I would be very worried if the ultra-liberal publication Mother Jones was saying if I, someone who declares myself and my organization as evangelical, was being conciliatory on hot-button issues.

In early 2013, the FOTF organization took part in the History Channel miniseries development and promotion of “The Bible” as I mentioned at the start. This raised many eyebrows.

As a matter of fact FOTF was one of the organizations behind the series on the consulting level. They were supposed to be overseers of the theology. The problem was, that oneness pentecostal believer TD Jakes and prosperity/word of faith promoter Joel Osteen, and rabbis and Catholics were also theological overseers. Mr Jakes & Mr Osteen are not known for their solid preaching of the whole counsel of God, and Catholics and rabbis do not subscribe to a saving doctrine of Jesus Christ alone.

Devastatingly, Matt Kaufman of Focus on the Family’s blog wrote that “Part of the reason for the ratings is that viewers have a degree of trust in the people behind the series. Producer Mark Burnett (Survivor) and his wife, Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel), are Christians who consulted with ministry leaders (including Focus on the Family President Jim Daly) during its development. So going in to the series, Christian viewers got strong signals of the producers’ good intentions. That’s not something they normally can expect from Hollywood.”

Good intentions mean nothing. Proper execution is all. Preaching the whole counsel of God in spirit and in truth is what matters. (Acts 20:27, John 4:24, Philippians 3:3)

It also matters that FOTF lent its credible name to a project that blasphemed Jesus, yet many people took their endorsement and watched a program that did more harm than good. That is why it is especially devastating when a formerly credible organization becomes unequally yoked with unbelievers. Downey and Burnett are most certainly not Christians. I can say that with biblical confidence because neither Downey nor Burnett evidenced the fruit of the spirit in their production. I say this also because they adhere to doctrines which do not save, including Catholicism and New Age spirituality. For FOTF to bring them and their false doctrines under the umbrella of our faith is devastating to the faith and shows a massive lack of discernment.

Doing this also muddies the waters on who a Christian IS.

In mid-2013, FOTF did it again. They had already brought in Anne Rice, Roma Downey, and Mark Burnett under the umbrella of our faith, and this week, they brought Irish singer Bono under the umbrella.

Bono is not a Christian, despite what FOTF President Mr Daly asserts. Bono is well-known for his well-intended work on many social activist causes, including HIV awareness and reducing poverty. However, despite naming Jesus as atoning savior, the blend of beliefs that Bono has stated in this week’s interview as well as previous interviews unfortunately demonstrates more confusion than belief.

Obviously impressed with Bono, FOTF President Daly wrote a piece in the Washington Post subsequent to his interview with Bono, titled, “Why Orthodox Christians Should Appreciate An Unorthodox Bono“. Her is how Focus on the Family presented Mr Daly’s piece on their blog, accompanied by this week’s Time Magazine cover: (click for larger)

FOTF has swallowed the blue pill of “social justice” as being the proper expression of Christianity, and lost their discernment of who is a Christian. It is Jesus who saves the world, not a confused Irish rock star.

Next up, looking at why Bono is not a Christian, and why it matters.

Part 2 here
Part 3 here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~