By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I discuss the decline of Jen Hatmaker’s faith, comparing it to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Hatmaker’s shift towards affirming same-sex relationships and her promotion of faith deconstruction have led to her obvious departure from Christianity. I urge discernment and warns against false teachers who undermine true faith.
Continue reading “Discernment in Christianity: Learning from Jen Hatmaker’s Fall”By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
I discuss the importance of discernment for Christians and the need for training to distinguish between good and evil. I reflect on instances of well-known figures like Billy Graham and Aimee Byrd, who initially appeared sound but later showed false teachings. I emphasize the necessity for ongoing vigilance in spiritual matters.
Continue reading “Spotting False Teachers and Scrubbing Old Blogs”By Elizabeth Prata
Hannah Hurnard (1905-1990) wrote a book that became famous. As time went on it settled into a classic in Christian publishing. The book is “Hind’s Feet in High Places”. It is a 1955 Christian allegory in the vein of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Hurnard’s main character even has the same name as one of Bunyan’s characters, ‘Much Afraid’. Hinds’ Feet was inspired by Habakkuk 3:19 and explores a young woman’s spiritual journey and God’s faithfulness, discussing the importance of trusting in God even during difficult times. It is still in print, and new editions are being issued even today. It is a beloved book, along with its sequel, Mountain of Spices. A cottage industry has sprung up around Hurnard’s book Hinds’ Feet, with merchandise such as devotionals and calendars based on it.
And yet Hurnard was apostate. She held to wildly unorthodox heresies. While not immediately evident in her first book Hinds’ Feet, or her second book Mountain of Spices, her upbringing before she wrote the book and her writings afterward confirm that her apostasy seed became fully bloomed in the end.
How can this be? You may have heard of the idioms ‘a broken clock is right twice a day’ or ‘throw spaghetti at the wall and some of it sticks.’ All false teaching has truth mixed into it. Indeed, Hurnard herself may have thought she was truly saved when she wrote Hind’s Feet. But though she rose a bit, she eventually sank back into her Quaker upbringing and again believed what she should not believe.
Hurnard later in life believed in and taught reincarnation. She even claimed that Jesus taught this and it’s found in Exodus 34:6-7 and also in John 9. This aberrant and mystical view of reincarnation is expounded in her book The School of Earth Experiences.
Hannah repudiated the notion that God would ever condemn his created creatures to an eternal hell. She wrote in Unveiled Glory, a book about her conversion and testimony, that “I am now fully persuaded that as God is Love there can be in Him no wrath such as we conceive of wrath, or any possibility that He will condemn His own creatures to unending destruction, but I must still ask, What am I to do with all the passages of Scripture which seem to assert the very contrary? The Scriptures, of course, do teach that there is a hell…yet there are many other passages which most emphatically state that, in the end, God will completely triumph over evil. I discovered that there is not one single verse in the Scriptures which uses the words “everlasting,” “eternal,” or “for ever and ever” in connection with hell.”
This belief is obviously wrong, but the nature of apostasy is that people are endlessly creative with the scriptures in seeing in them what they want to see, or twisting them into that they want to believe. Acts 20:30 and 2 Peter 3:26 warn that people would come along and distort and twist the scriptures.
In the end, Hurnard believed that hell’s purpose was a sort of purgatory, forcing people through pain to repudiate their sin. She thought that since death and hell are to be thrown into the Lake of Fire, that hell is to be destroyed and thus is only temporary for those souls inside of hell.
Her view of the Fall of Man is oddly stated too. In her book “Eagles’ Wings to the Higher Places” she wrote that “Mankind fell from God-consciousness and awareness of goodness only into self-consciousness and awareness of evil in the most frightful and agonizing forms.“
Yet in Romans 1 we know that all humankind continues to have a ‘consciousness’ about God, but we suppress it in unrighteousness. Our ‘self-consciousness’ is due to the fact that the Fall plunged us wholly (spiritually and bodily) into sin.
She advocated for vegetarianism, because she said, God is immanent, which to her meant He is IN every living thing, The Lord and Savior “is actually immanent, by His Spirit, in all the living creatures we wrong [eat]. What is done to them is done to Him, too, and nails Him with them to their cross of suffering.” Eating a hamburger does not nail Jesus to the cross again. All food was declared clean (Acts 10:9-16). If God is immanent (actually IN everything) would it not also mean He is in plants and shellfish and insects? By Hannah’s account we should not eat anything. We know the unsaved’s thinking is futile (Romans 1:21).
Hannah also returned to her Quaker roots toward the end of her life, believing in universalism. Universalism, or universal reconciliation, teaches that in the end, everyone will be saved and dwell in heaven.
Christianity Today did a short bio of her life. They ended with this paragraph:
Despite this awesome witness, later in her life Hannah showed the ever-lurking danger of trusting inner voices. She veered away from sound doctrine, embracing universalism (denying God’s wrath), pantheism (God is everything) reincarnation and many new age ideas. Her last book is sold in New Age stores.
Here is a longer treatment of Hannah’s life, “FROM HIGH PLACES TO HERESY: Evaluating the Writings of Hannah Hurnard“, by G. Richard Fisher.
I remember purchasing, reading, and enjoying Jen Wilkin’s first book in 2014, Women of the Word. However she soon became a rebel, preaching and usurping and advocating for female preaching.
It was the same with Aimee Byrd. I was surprised and delighted when her first book in 2013, Housewife Theologian, was well-received and she was subsequently invited to become a co-host on the Alliance of Professing Evangelicals’ Mortification of Spin podcast with Todd Pruitt and Carl Trueman. However it was only a few short years later Aimee apostatized, showing her true colors in her book Recovering From Biblical Manhood and Womanhood which was a painfully tortured explanation of why God didn’t really mean that men and women have different roles. Aimee rejected the female role, and was fired from the podcast. She then parted loudly with her denomination the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and wound up joining a liberal Methodist church with a female pastrix.
Again, we are familiar with the idiom “A broken clock is right twice a day”. It’s a witticism that makes sense…until you give a gift of a broken clock to someone and expect them to use it to tell time. It is the same with an apostate author. Just because Hurnard wrote two books that resonated with what we know to be Christianity, they are only right twice a day. The rest of the time, Hurnard’s beliefs are just plain wrong. We do not read or follow someone whose emergence into apostasy became fully formed, because her heart was not right even as she wrote earlier things that seemed OK. The apostasy was always in her heart, poisoning it, even while on the surface she said and did and even wrote a book containing ‘good’ things.
Apostasy is serious. If a person is actually saved, he or she can never be lost. If they spout error, it will be only for a time, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in them will correct it.
However, a person can wrongly believe she is saved, write a good book or two, and eventually adopt unorthodox views and stray from Jesus, to their eternal woe. It happens. Sadly that was case with Hannah Hurnard and her Hinds’ feet, her theology eventually most likely brought her to low places.
Further Reading
Apostasy from the Gospel, book by John Owen
Apostasy and how it Happens, essay by Sinclair Ferguson
What is an Apostate? short answer by John MacArthur
By Elizabeth Prata
I wrote 2 weeks ago that @aimeebyrdPYW seems to be apostatizing. You can read it here: We say Goodbye to Aimee Byrd
More bad news confirming Aimee’s drift has emerged. In her newest essay published October 10, Aimee lauds Catholic mystic Teresa of Avila. According to the Roman Catholic Church, Teresa was a bridal mystic; this is a woman who so intensely desires God she has bodily ecstatic experiences she later writes about, using language of erotic passion.
THE ECSTASY OF SAINT TERESA. RENAISSANCE: ITALY, this is a description of a sculpture from the artist Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini done in 1645-1652 AD.
“Saint Teresa’s love of God and her desire for spiritual union with him found expression in a vision in which an angel pierced her heart with a golden spear and sent her into a trance. The erotic intensity of her vision is vividly suggested in this image by Teresa’s swooning expression and languid pose, and by the deep folds of drapery, which convey her agitation.”
If that kind of language makes you uncomfortable, as it should, then by all means refrain from reading any of Teresa of Avila’s actual writing because the descriptions of her mystical and ecstatic unions with her Groom get more obvious.
Teresa was a female ascetic, and a female version of a monk, and a mystic bride. This means not only does she swoon with erotic passion for her god, but also has constant visions and visitations from ‘him’.
That Aimee Byrd is reading one of Teresa of Avila’s books and is entranced with the notion of this heretic’s outlook on religion is more proof that this once solid Bible teacher is apostatizing.
In her essay, Aimee promotes Teresa of Avila, says she is enjoying reading Teresa’s book, then Aimee talks of our ‘souls’ deepest longing’. No. Avoid Aimee!
Tim Challies wrote a series on the False Teachers, and included Teresa of Avila as one of the more famous false teachers of history. You can read his essay here. And let us not believe that the influence of these female mystics has waned. Challies noted, “We can also spot her direct or indirect influence in the works of bestselling authors like Sarah Young (Jesus Calling) and Ann Voskamp (One Thousand Gifts).”
I wrote about Bridal Mysticism here: What is bridal mysticism?
And I did a 4-part series on some of these mystics, not Teresa, but others, including-
Introduction
Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416) Book: The Showings of Divine Love
Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380). Book: The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena
Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179). Book: Scivias
Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303 – 1373) Book: Celestial Revelations
As for Aimee, I read in her writings a longing, one that she herself claims to possess. That she longs for the One True God is obvious, and also obvious is that she does not have Him. If you feel led, please pray for Aimee, that her soul’s deepest longing will be satisfied by having been given the gift of repentance, that her soul will be saved, and that Jesus would get the glory.
By Elizabeth Prata
There’s no such thing as an ex-Christian. Look at 1 John-
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1 John 2:19)
John is saying here that people who ‘backslide’ and then fall away from the faith entirely, a symptom of the end times by the way, never really were saved to begin with. “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him,” (Titus 1:15).
So what do we say to the verse in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 which states that many will fall away?
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. (1 Tim 4:1-3)
Again those who fell away were never really one of Jesus’ elect to begin with.
And before the person started falling away, in came sneaky heresies they began listening to. They enjoyed these false teachings and heresies because their darkened heart had never experienced the light.
But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)
So the progression is: profess Christ by mouth… but since there was no visible fruit to show the state of grace they were claiming on the inside, they were never really saved & regeneration never occurred; fail to walk closely with Jesus by procrastinating in discipleship, Bible study, prayer, and/or worship, furthering the distance between themselves and Jesus; (OR, faithfully attending church and Bible study but due to hard heart always were learning but never able to come to knowledge of the truth); listen to or promote destructive heresies that either they knowingly or unknowingly begin to believe, start doubting Christ’s sufficiency; doubt more, and then slide into apostasy’s full blown renunciation and end up in a state of atheism.
Peter says “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.” (2 Peter 2:20)
Notice the words that both Jude and Peter use to describe the heresies what will infiltrate the church in the last days; “secretly” and “crept in”. The heresies don’t come into the church by way of aggressive men bellowing a ‘new doctrine’ to the delight of followers who joyfully jump their pews and run out the door to his new church.
No, they come sneakily, secretly, subtly. And no wonder, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made…” (Genesis 3:1) so satan isn’t going to capture hearts with bellicose attitudes or flagrantly detectable bad doctrine. Many of the preachers and teachers will not even openly pronounce their heresies, they will be secret within their heart and only after a while, introduced slyly. Jude’s words “crept in” also indicate something that also isn’t readily detectable and is subtle at the start.
These teachers will have a big, white smile, open their lecture with a warm joke, and tell you that Jesus was a good, moral teacher and that you deserve the best life now. They will never tell you that your best life is later and that Jesus didn’t come to be a moral leader but to seek and save the lost- And that you are lost.
Others will tell you that we are all one universal consciousness, we are our own gods, and then, they will give you a car. They will tell you that if you believe in Jesus, He will make your life better, while you are seeking Him from comfy ampitheatre watching a techno-sermon with a cappuccino in your hand. Seeker-sensitive churches are false on its premise because in Romans we learn that no one seeks God.
The end result of a Christian in name only – that is, one who claimed Jesus but never really believed – and is one who is at risk of being tempted by destructive heresies, and ultimately of apostasy. What comes next is atheism.
Atheism is a natural cul-de-sac in the road away from the cross. Gotquestions.org writes:
“At the same time, it takes just as much faith to believe in atheism. To make the absolute statement “God does not exist” is to make a claim of knowing absolutely everything there is to know about everything and of having been everywhere in the universe and having witnessed everything there is to be seen. [I]t cannot be proven that God does not exist. It takes just as much faith to be an atheist as it does to be a theist.”
Which, I suspect, could be one of the reasons Peter said it makes a person worse off from what they were before. After apostasy settles in and atheism rears its head, a person is well and truly now in the dangerous pits of despair, misplacing their burgeoning faith in Something for a faith in Nothing that will last forever.
An interesting article appeared in Maine Family Policy Council’s online publication, The Record:
“While there may be a diversity of opinion about the nature of God, no one in state government has stepped forward to doubt His existence. Atheism remains a strong taboo in political circles, in part because of the widely-held belief that faith in God is the mainstay of civil society. Eight state constitutions explicitly forbid atheists from holding public office. Tennessee’s state constitution gives the clearest statement in this regard:”
“No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.” –end article
It all starts with destructive heresies, ungodly men creeping in unnoticed. And why aren’t they noticed? Because Christians today all too often fail to be familiar with the real thing. They abandon Bible study, quiet time, prayers, and worship, so that when the counterfeit shows up, being only subtly different from the Truth, it goes unnoticed.
What today’s Christian needs is larger doses of the above, not smaller. As times get tougher and stress makes a person weary, as work loads increase and family strife abounds, people fall away from the paving stones of a faith that lead from the cross to glory. This process separates the Christians In Name Only from the true believers. Are you worried about your salvation? Are you unsure? Has there been no visible fruit in your life for a while? You are at risk. Repent. Take it to the cross, and make sure you are saved. Apostasy is a ‘subtil’ thing, as subtle as satan. Has he crept into your heart?
Kay Cude is a poet whose sensitivity to the glorious salvation of Jesus Christ is uniquely expressed through poetry and picture. Here is her latest offering, in which she explains her thought process. Enjoy. Used with permission. Right-click to see larger in new tab.
—————————–Kay Cude—————————–
If you look closely at the tower, you’ll see a tiny figure of someone, which refers to the statement, “As gazed I o’er the valley fair, to there below from tower high.”
That little figure caught my eye, as well as the city lighted up and the storm approaching from the left (approaching spiritual death). So I began to write. The city represents the safety of true salvation in Christ and understanding His Gospel.
The people represent those captured by a “different gospel” suggested as the “real” place of safety. Even though they “know” God’s truth — they are persuaded to run to false teaching and reject Christ.
Christ’s refuge is known to them and still stands in its truth, but when extreme peril approaches, they are convinced by someone’s whim (spiritual deception), to flee to eternal death and separation. Even the donkey digs in his heels against the “unknown” way,” and the dog barks at their sudden rejection.
Their end is eternal separation and eternal living death because they quickly deserted Christ’s truth for a distorted gospel.
Kay Cude is a Texas poet. Used with permission
By Elizabeth Prata
Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren made headlines again this past summer 2022 when he opined at the Southern Baptist Convention about how wonderful he is, listing alleged spiritual and ecclesiastical accomplishments for which he took credit, not giving glory to the Lord at all.
In May 2021, he made headlines again, when he, at his church, ordained three women pastors.
I dug this one out of the 2015 archives, when Warren co-preached at a Catholic Conference. The Bible says not to be unequally yoked with false religionists in spiritual pursuits.
We should also not forget that in 2008 Warren prayed the prayer at the US Presidential Inauguration, praying in the name of the Muslims’ false god ‘Isa’, and had been partnering with Muslims in spiritual pursuits, even claiming they worship the same god as our God. Warren has been false for a long time.
Continue reading “SBC pastor Rick Warren was always false: Exhibit A, co-preaching with archbishop at Catholic convention in 2015”Kay Cude is a poet whose sensitivity to the glorious salvation of Jesus Christ is uniquely expressed through poetry and picture. Here is her latest offering, in which she explains her thought process. Enjoy
—————————–Kay Cude—————————–
If you look closely at the tower, you’ll see a tiny figure of someone, which refers to the statement, “As gazed I o’er the valley fair, to there below from tower high.”
That little figure caught my eye, as well as the city lighted up and the storm approaching from the left (approaching spiritual death). So I began to write. The city represents the safety of true salvation in Christ and understanding His Gospel.
The people represent those captured by a “different gospel” suggested as the “real” place of safety. Even though they “know” God’s truth — they are persuaded to run to false teaching and reject Christ.
Christ’s refuge is known to them and still stands in its truth, but when extreme peril approaches, they are convinced by someone’s whim (spiritual deception), to flee to eternal death and separation. Even the donkey digs in his heels against the “unknown” way,” and the dog barks at their sudden rejection.
Their end is eternal separation and eternal living death because they quickly deserted Christ’s truth for a distorted gospel.
right click to open larger in new tab
By Elizabeth Prata
I am not a fan of the SBC. I’ve been member of churches who were part of the Convention. I’ve watched the denomination for some time now. I don’t like the direction they are going and I haven’t for a while. But I haven’t said much about it because ultimately it’s 1) for my pastors or elders to decide, and 2) it doesn’t affect me much in spiritual life, my ministry, or my daily routine.
This will be my only blog on the SBC Annual Meeting.
Continue reading “Is it time to leave the Southern Baptist Convention? And, what’s a secondary issue?”By Elizabeth Prata
Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church is full of superlatives. The ‘biggest’ church”? Saddleback Church in Orange County, California. The ‘best-selling’ Christian book in the world for years and years in a row? Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. ‘America’s pastor‘? Rick Warren.
Warren with his wife Kay, founded Saddleback Church in 1980 and held its first service on Easter Sunday with 200 in attendance. He has been its pastor ever since, but not for much longer. Warren announced his retirement, his successor, and his transition timing of stepping down in September of this year after a period of a few months’ transition in his megachurch.
Continue reading “Rick Warren: Apostate; and here’s why”
the-end-time.org 