TBN’s Rogues’ Gallery

I don’t watch a lot of television, but when I channel surf, I usually scoot right past channel 50, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The cable channel is a cesspool of heterodoxy with its stable of prosperity gospel and Rome-friendly televangelists. The other day, I got the idea in my head to list all of the TBN “entertainers,” so using my limited Microsoft Excel spreadsheet skills, I copied and sorted all of the shows scheduled on the cable channel during a week’s time span and came up with the list below. Based upon my own knowledge and/or with a little Google research, I categorized each televangelist as to whether they were propagators of the prosperity gospel and/or supporters of ecumenism with Rome. A “Y” means Yes, an “N” means No, and a “?” means I could not determine the status. Generally, prosperity gospelers are too busy picking out their next Mercedes or airplane to care about doctrinal differences with Rome. There are also several on the list who, while not flagrant prosperity gospelers themselves, make a habit out of hanging out in prosperity gospel circles.

A quick glance reveals this list of TBN’s 60 televangelists is heavy with prosperity, word-of-faith shysters and Rome-friendly ecumenists. BTW, Father Cedric on the list is, in fact, Roman Catholic priest, Cedric Pisegna. There are only a few on this list who I could recommend, like Charles Stanley and Ray Comfort. Several I have never heard of.

This listing is obviously not set in stone so any challenges or help with the “?”s will be appreciated. Forgive the wide columns, but incorporating an Excel spreadsheet into a WordPress post is a little messy.

	Prosperity	Ecumenical
Mark Batterson	?	?
Irvin Baxter	?	?
Reinhard Bonnke	Y	Y
John Bradshaw	?	Y
Jonathan Cahn	Y	?
Christine Caine	Y	Y
Ron Carpenter	Y	?
Alicia Britt Chole	?	Y
Ray Comfort	N	N
Kenneth Copeland	Y	Y
Gregory Dickow	Y	Y
Creflo Dollar	Y	?
Jesse Duplantis	Y	Y
Tony Evans	N	Y
Karl Faase	?	Y
Jentezen Franklin	Y	Y
Steven Furtick	Y	?
Louie Giglio	?	Y
Billy Graham	N	Y
Jack Graham	?	Y
John Gray	Y	Y
John Hagee	Y	?
Allen Jackson	?	?
T. D. Jakes	Y	Y
Robert Jeffress	N	Y
David Jeremiah	N	Y
Mark Jeske	?	?
Daniel Kolenda	Y	?
Greg Laurie	?	Y
Hal Lindsey	?	?
Max Lucado	N	Y
James MacDonald	?	?
Guillermo Maldonado	Y	?
James Merritt	?	?
Joyce Meyer	Y	Y
Beth Moore	?	Y
Robert Morris	Y	?
Joel Osteen	Y	Y
Father Cedric	N	Y
Fred K. Price	Y	?
Joseph Prince	Y	?
David Rives	?	?
Pat Robertson	Y	Y
James Robison	Y	Y
Samuel Rodriguez	Y	Y
Sid Roth	Y	?
Rabbi Kirt Schneider	Y	?
Bobby Schuller	?	?
Jay Sekulow	Y	?
Priscilla Shirer	?	Y
Kerry Shook	N	N
Erick Stakelbeck	?	?
Charles Stanley	N	N
Perry Stone	Y	?
Tommy Tenney	?	?
Holly Wagner	?	Y
Don Wilton	N	?
Andrew Wommack	Y	Y
Ed Young	Y	Y
Michael Youssef	N	?

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Rome: Opponent or Partner?

The Rochester/Monroe County library system only has a small number of books which critically examine Roman Catholicism. I thought that this volume, which was published during the final year of Vatican II, might be an interesting historical example of mainline Protestant attitudes towards “dialogue” with post-conciliar Rome.

Rome: Opponent or Partner?
By Rudolf J. Ehrlich
The Westminster Press, 1965, 296 pages

At its Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Roman Catholic church declared that it would be changing direction with regards to Protestantism. Militant opposition and confrontation would be replaced by rapprochement and ecumenical dialogue towards the goal of eventual reunification.

The results of the council were met with great enthusiasm by many Protestants. In this book, published during the last year of the council, Church of Scotland pastor and theologian, Rudolf J. Ehrlich, examines the major differences between Rome and Protestants (although most of the discussion is focused on justification) and ponders whether unity is a realistic possibility.

Ehrlich begins by examining the writings of Catholic theologian, Louis Bouyer (1913-2004), who in his pre-Vatican II book, “The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism” (1956), defended the Tridentine Catholic gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit and attacked the Biblical Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone that had been recovered by the Reformers.

In brief, Catholicism teaches that its sacraments infuse grace into the supplicants soul, giving them the ability to obey the Ten Commandments (impossible!) and to become increasingly intrinsically/subjectively holy so as to hopefully merit Heaven at the moment of their death. Biblical Christianity teaches man is totally depraved, but by repenting of sin and trusting in Jesus Christ as their Savior, Jesus’ perfect rightousness is imputed to a believer. They are extrinsically/objectively righteous because of Christ. A genuine believer will then strive to follow the Lord in obedience, albeit imperfectly. A Christians’ good works won’t save them, but are the fruit of their faith in Christ.

Throughout his presentation, Ehrlich cites “Neo-Orthodox” Protestant theologian, Karl Barth (1886-1968), as the “true heir of the Reformation,” which is problematic from a conservative evangelical point of view. More on that later.

The author then presents the writings of Catholic theologian, Hans Küng (1928- ), who takes a much more conciliatory approach to Protestant belief than Bouyer. He argues that the Reformers and the Council of Trent basically had the same view on justification, but they approached it from different paradigms. Ehrlich politely concludes that Küng is employing sophistry and that the issue of justification still divides Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Additional thoughts:

• Ehrlich’s Church of Scotland was already drifting into modernism when this book was written. Fifty-years later, we wonder if the genuine Gospel is preached in any of its churches? John Knox would grieve if he could see the Church of Scotland today.
• Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, was considered at the time of this book’s writing a conservative in comparison to most European Protestant theologians, but he was a Universalist and disagreed with Biblical inerrancy.
• Liberal theologian-priest, Hans Küng, was a rising star in Catholicism before he became a persona non grata within the church in the late-1960s when he publicly challenged the notion of papal infallibility.
• In answer to the book’s title, Ehrlich identifies post-Vatican II Catholicism as a Christian entity and the “partner” of Protestantism. However, he also concludes that post-conciliar Rome’s teaching on justification via sacraments and merit is the same as was propagated at Trent and is anti-Biblical. So if Rome still preaches a different gospel, how can it be a partner of Gospel-preaching churches? It’s frustrating to have the irreconcilable issue of justification/salvation sidestepped in the pursuit of false unity. Today, we have people like Geisler, Zacharias, Strobel, and Lane Craig holding to the same impossibly dichotomous view.
• This book was a difficult read with much more theological jargon than I’m comfortable with. There is also a plethora of Latin quotations with no translation, which I view as a blatant form of intellectual snobbery. Argh!

Pop-evangelicalism’s sorry infatuation with Catholic contemplative prayer

In her latest book, “Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again” (June, 2018), popular liberal (c)hristian millennial, Rachel Held Evans, cites the Catholic practices of “Lectio Divina” and “Ignatian Meditation” as important rituals in her “spiritual life.” Held Evans is not alone. Many pop-evangelicals have recommended or sponsored “Lectio Divina,” “Ignatian Meditation,” or some other form of Catholic “contemplative spirituality,” including Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Beth Moore, Tim Keller, and Priscilla Shirer.

If you’re out of the pop-evangelical loop, you might be wondering what exactly are “Lectio Divina” and “Ignatian Meditation”? Let’s take a brief look:

Lectio Divina (Latin for “Divine Reading”) is a monastic, contemplative practice with roots going back to the 6th century and “saint” Benedict (above photo, left). The basic steps of Lectio Divina are as follows:

• Read – Read a very short passage of Scripture
• Meditate – Ruminate deeply upon the text, seeking to take from it what God wants to teach.
• Pray – By gently repeating a “prayer word” or brief phrase (aka “centering prayer” aka “mantra”) over and over, leave thinking aside (my italics) and communicate with God on a mystical level.
• Contemplate – Listen to God as He speaks with a still small voice and become gradually transformed from within.

Ignatian Meditation is a contemplative practice developed in the 16th Century by founder of the Jesuits, “saint” Ignatius of Loyola. The steps of Ignatian Meditation include:

• Prepare for the meditation by becoming aware of the presence of God, asking for God’s help to pray well.
• Visualize in-depth the mystery (e.g., a scene from one of the Gospels) on which you are meditating in your imagination.
• Considerations – Stop and ponder any particular thought that strikes you during the meditation, for as long as necessary.
• Affections – Either during or after the considerations, pause to experience any emotions that may result. These emotions, called “affections,” take priority over the considerations. (my italics)
• Resolutions – You may wish to form some resolution as a result of the affections. In this way, you take advantage of the inclination of your will that has been produced through meditation as an opportunity to clarify and commit yourself to the actions that should follow.

We see that in both methods, the supplicant is encouraged to experience in their mind, an altered “mystical” state, in the first case through the repetition of a prayer mantra, in the second case through visualization and the contemplation of the imagined “sights, sounds, tastes, smells, movement, and tactility” of specific scenes from the Gospels. This kind of visualization and sensory imagination is known as “affective meditation.”

Through either method, the supplicant seeks an experience, a “spiritual high,” that is beyond normal knowledge and cognizance.

Prior to accepting Jesus Christ as my Savior in 1983, I dabbled in Eastern spirituality including the practice of Yoga and Transcendental Meditation (TM). Cardiologist, Herbert Benson, brought the “benefits” of Hindu guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s (above photo, right) transcendental meditation to the American masses via his book, “The Relaxation Response” (1975). By following Benson’s simple instructions, a practitioner was able to quickly learn, through the use of a simple, repetitive mantra, to enter a meditative state; an altered state of consciousness. Once learned, it’s like riding a bike. Forty years later, I am still able to consciously elicit the meditative/relaxation response in my brain in only a matter of minutes or even seconds. Even talking or writing about the phenomenon triggers a partial response.

What are the spiritual benefits of Lectio Divina and Ignatian Meditation? I believe we should be asking about the dangers rather than any alleged benefits. Practitioners indulge in these meditative experiences to feel amazingly pleasant sensations, both physical and psychological, but they have nothing to do with a relationship with Almighty God based upon faith in Jesus Christ and His Word. The practice of contemplative prayer is a “spiritual” drug and practitioners are in a sense, junkies. God’s Word admonishes us not to chase after mystical experiences and sensualism, but to be sober and vigilant.

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” – 1 Peter 5:8

“So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8

Contemplative prayer is an ecumenical tool, drawing unwary evangelicals away from true knowledge of God through His Word and closer to Roman Catholicism and its false gospel of sacramental grace and merit with its heavy emphasis on mysticism and experientialism. By repressing their reason and mental focus and surrendering themselves to sensualism, undiscerning evangelicals are inviting calamity into their lives and into the church.

Main references:

http://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/what-lectio-divina

https://www.osv.com/RSS/365DaysToMercy/TabId/2752/ArtMID/21013/ArticleID/10344/What-Is-Ignatian-Meditation.aspx

The Lighthouse Trails Research Project discernment ministry, link below, specializes in exposing pop-evangelicalism’s dalliance with Catholic contemplative prayer and is a great resource, although I do not endorse all of their views in regards to some secondary beliefs.

https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

For a review of the introduction to “Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again” by Rachel Held Evans, see SlimJim’s post here.

25 most viewed posts from the past twelve months

Today marks the third anniversary of this blog and, by coincidence, this is the 1000th post. So I’m marking the occasion by listing the 25 most viewed posts for the past twelve months. Praise the Lord for His blessings including the ability to to keep plugging away at this blog for another twelve months! Thank you, Jesus! And thanks to all the friends and readers out there for taking the time to read my humble posts, for the re-blogs, and for sending in your comments!

Click on the title to read the post.

Rank	Rank Last Year	Title		Views	Posted	Comment
1	–	Mr. Tambourine Man: The Byrds take flyte and Dylan and the Beatles take notice		630	1/7/2018	A Bob Dylan fan posted a link to this article on his website resulting in many hits.
2	4	Walter Martin was no admirer of Catholicism but dropped the ball in “Kingdom of the Cults”		578	10/7/2015	Deceased evangelical apologist, Walter Martin, continues to be googled quite often.
3	–	Question: When George Harrison was singing, “My Sweet Lord,” who was he singing to?		382	8/31/2017	Most thought “My Sweet Lord” was harmless fun.
4	–	All hail, Ganesha! Elephant god worshiped in a Catholic church		381	8/30/2017	One of my strangest posts; a statue of the Hindu god, Ganesha, worshipped inside a Catholic church
5	6	James White: What goes through Ravi Zacharias’s head?		339	7/14/2016	Zacharias propagates ecumenism with Rome.
6	7	Does Jorge “pope Francis” Bergoglio wear a “cilice”?		301	9/23/2015	Many googling “cilice” end up here.
7	–	♫ Don’t you write her off like that, she’s a real fine lady, don’t you see. ♫		257	8/21/2017	Many searching for McGuinn end up here.
8	–	Why did Jesus use mud salve to heal the blind man’s eyes?		249	5/3/2017	Evidently, a lot of people had the same question.
9	20	“If I take off my scapular prior to surgery and die on the operating table, will I still go to Heaven?”		239	1/17/2017	The rules associated with the scapular reveal the futility of sacramentals.
10	–	“I certainly don’t need to be saved. I’m a good person.”		239	2/20/2018	Got a boost from SlimJim’s social media.
11	8	Sorry, no unbaptized babies allowed!		226	12/17/2015	Heartbreaking post on Catholicism’s cold indifference.
12	16	Ravi Zacharias impersonates Fred Astaire while compromising the Gospel		189	10/29/2015	Zacharias propagating ecumenism with Rome again.
13	–	Rules about “holy water.” Who knew?!?!		187	6/16/2016	This post attract pious Catholics searching for holy water etiquette.
14	2	Why is it so important to Catholics that Mary remained a virgin?		170	7/21/2015	Marital relations were seen as evil by Catholics, which necessitated Mary remaining a virgin.
15	–	How Walter Martin sowed the seeds for the current Hank Hanegraaff controversy		164	8/7/2017	Martin’s ambiguous views on Catholicism led to all kinds of confusion.
16	–	A bullet in the crown of the “Queen of Heaven.”		149	4/7/2017	The curious look for information on the bullet that struck pope John Paul II.
17	–	“Catholicism Under the Searchlight of the Scriptures” by John Carrara		148	7/31/2017	It was gratifying to see many searching for deceased evangelist, John Carrara
18	–	Catholic calisthenics: Sit, stand, kneel, sit, stand, kneel…		143	2/27/2017	I believe most of these posture changes at mass are incorporated to keep people awake.
19	–	Popular Evangelical, Joni Eareckson Tada, endorses ecumenical “First Things”		141	10/8/2015	Interesting how this old post on Joni Eareckson Tada’s ecumenical compromise still has legs.
20	–	Angels carried Jesus’ house from Nazareth to Europe!?!?		136	7/31/2015	People continue to google the fallacious “Holy House” of Loreto.
21	–	Catholicism’s “three-legged stool” – Broken for all the world to see!		127	12/8/2017	Pope Francis has deflated Catholic boastings regarding the papacy.
22	–	“Roman Catholicism” by Martyn Lloyd-Jones		121	1/23/2018	The notable English pastor dissects Catholicism
23	1	“Risen,” the book		121	2/12/2016	This was last year’s #1 post with 983 views.
24	–	Don’t you dare try to correct me! I’m a priest!!!		120	4/18/2017	Former radio priest, Rick Poblocki, was quite a blusterer.
25	–	Whatever happened to St. Christopher medals?		116	10/2/2015	These medals used to be a Catholic staple until the church admitted Christopher was fictitious.

See last year’s Top 25 post here.

A good example of how ecumenism with Rome is even seeping into the Protestant “bulwarks”

Ulster Bulwark
The Magazine of the Evangelical Protestant Society
April-June 2018 Edition

Back in early-May, I included a news story in the Weekend Roundup about an article in a Northern Irish evangelical publication that was creating some controversy in the Irish press. An evangelical pastor had written an article for the “Ulster Bulwark,” which warned of the blasphemous nature of the Roman Catholic mass. See the story here.

I sincerely appreciated that the publication was standing up for the Gospel of grace, so I searched for the Ulster Bulwark web site, submitted my subscription to the publication, and received my first copy a short time ago, which included the following short articles:

• Don’t Despise the Days of Small Things: Some Reflections on Zechariah 4:1-10.
• The Protestant at the Mass – The article which generated all of the controversy. Excellent!
• Lessons from Luther – A discussion about Marin Luther with Carl Trueman who teaches at Westminister Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. In light of the other excellent articles in this issue about the mass and Billy Graham, it’s sadly ironic that the Ulster Bulwark chose to interview Trueman who advances the cause of ecumenism with Rome as a regular featured writer for the Catholic ecumenical journal, “First Things.”
• News – Short bits of news of interest to evangelicals in Ireland.
• The Legacy of Billy Graham – A critique of Graham’s ecumenism and Universalism.
• Book Reviews – In this edition, “Pierre Viret: The Angel of the Reformation” by R.A. Sheats and “A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Mary” by Leonardo de Chirico (see my review of that book here).

I enjoyed this small (20 pages) publication although the discussion with Trueman was puzzling. Perhaps the interviewer and editor weren’t aware of Trueman’s connection to “First Things”? Ecumenism’s talons are so deep into the church these days that it’s difficult to keep track of who’s in Rome’s back pocket and who’s not.

You can receive a free subscription to the “Ulster Bulwark” via the website below:

http://www.evangelicalprotestant.org/the_ulster_bulwark/

A pope venerated during an evangelical worship service and nobody says a word?

I’ve mentioned before that my wife and I are both big ol’ square pegs when it comes to evangelical church membership. We’re too “liberal” for flag-waving fundamentalist churches where we started out as new believers decades ago, and too “conservative” for progressive mega-churches, which are generally well-on-the-way to ecumenical compromise and betrayal.

Two-and-a-half-years ago, we began attending a large non-denominational church, which leans much more towards a contemporary than a traditional worship-style, but, and this is huge for us, politics are never mentioned from the pulpit and there have been no overtures toward Rome. Phew! Until now. What?!?!

A couple of Sundays ago, we were sitting in the “sanctuary” and listening to the pastor finish a fine sermon on resting in the Lord. Immediately after the sermon, the worship band came out and performed a song called “Rest In You.” As the band played, a video was displayed in the background, which included both exterior and interior shots of what would clearly be manifested to be a Roman Catholic church. The video scenes included among other things:

• A statue of a smiling pope wearing the three-tiered papal tiara (photos above and below)
• Votive candles being lit (votive candles are often used in connection with prayers to Mary and the “saints”)
• Statues of unidentified Catholic saints
• A statue of Jesus exposing his “sacred heart”
• The church interior showing the Catholic altar

The above images looped through the video twice while my wife and I sat there with our mouths wide open in disbelief. Watch the very same 5-minute video for yourself far below.

We went home and composed a letter to the pastor expressing our deep dismay and emailed it Monday. The pastor responded the next day. I don’t wish to publish the details of our private correspondence other than to say we were pleased with the pastor’s gracious reply.

But one has to ask oneself, how does a big evangelical church with a large staff and many eyes permit something like that video to slip through? C’mon! A statue of a pope?!?!?! Forty years ago, if such a video had been shown at an evangelical church service, the entire congregation would have rightly demanded an explanation from the elder board. But in this era of ecumenism and growing doctrinal ignorance, at a church with an average Sunday attendance of over 2000, we were told we were the only ones who raised a concern.

I did a little research and found out the song, “Rest In You,” and the accompanying video were created by a now-defunct band named All Sons & Daughters, which was led by Leslie Anne Jordan and David Alan Leonard, the former worship co-leaders at Journey Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Their final album, “Poets & Saints” (2016), includes the song in question as well as “You Are Love & Love Alone,” which the band claimed was inspired by Catholic nun and saint, Thérèse of Lisieux. An article (see here) from a Catholic news source triumphantly cites “Poets & Saints” as a “Protestant album” that “finds some very Catholic inspiration.”

The Gospel is getting very muddied out there, brothers and sisters! Why don’t these accommodating and compromising Judas ecumenical evangelical ministers just padlock their church’s doors and send everyone a mile down the road to the local Catholic church?

“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” – Luke 18:8

 

“You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!” – Galatians 5:7-12

Rampant ecumenism in the news

Accommodation, compromise, and tolerance are sometimes good things, but not in connection with fidelity to the Gospel. The four recent news stories below illustrate how Protestants are being pulled deeper and deeper into the ecumenical vortex.

• German bishops to meet with Vatican officials on intercommunion topic

Emboldened by pope Francis’ lifting of the ban on communion for remarried divorcees, cardinal Reinhard Marx (photo left) and other liberal German prelates announced a couple of months ago that they were preparing to allow communion to Lutheran spouses of Roman Catholics. Frazzled conservative bishops sent a letter of objection to the Vatican. Today, Marx and others will meet with archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to discuss the advisability of intercommunion with Protestants at this time. Make no mistake, Francis would gladly welcome intercommunion with Protestants, but it may be too much, too soon with the controversy still raging over his lifting of the ban on communion for remarried divorcees. Stay tuned.

Personally, I have absolutely no desire to partake in the anti-Biblical sacrifice of the mass or to receive the allegedly transubstantiated Jesus wafer. The Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone is not preached in Catholic churches. If any Roman Catholics are saved, they are saved in spite of their church, not because of it. Roman Catholics are a mission field, but I’m sure there are many Judas evangelicals who would gladly partake of the Jesus wafer from a Catholic priest.

• Ecumenical ‘Pulse’ hopes to draw Catholics May 18

“Evangelical,” Nick Hall (photo middle with pope Francis), brokered the Together 2016 ecumenical “happening” in July 2016 in Washington D.C., which featured a video greeting from pope Francis along with speeches from unabashed ecumenists like Ravi Zacharias, Francis Chan, and Ronnie Floyd. Catholic Matt Maher was one of the featured musical performers. Hall is planning another one of his many ecumenical “Pulse” events for St. Paul-Minneapolis on Friday, May 18th, which has the enthusiastic support of the local Catholic diocese (see article). Hillsong Young & Free will be one of the performers. Hall is also planning the Together 2018 ecumenical “happening” this coming October 20-21 at Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Scheduled speakers include Zacharias, and TBN regulars, Priscilla Shirer, Tony Evans, Brian Houston, and Banning Liebscher from the aberrant Bethel Church of Redding, California, along with music from Hillsong United and Jesus Culture from Bethel Church. Will pope Francis also be sending a message to Together 2018?

• Andy Stanley: Church Unity Is More Important Than ‘Being Theologically Correct’

Andy Stanley (photo right) ranks right up there with Bill Hybels and Rick Warren as a pioneer of the burgeoning seeker-sensitive, mega-church movement. Right doctrine is not only expendable in the eyes of the church-growth guys, it’s seen as a negative. I may disagree with my blood-bought, born-again brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ over doctrinal secondaries, but we are united in the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Messrs. Stanley, Hybels, Warren, and their disciples are so antagonistic toward right doctrine in the cause of false unity that just about anyone who names the name of Christ is fine with them, including the Gospel-defying pope of Rome.

• Geneva visit a sign of Pope’s emphasis on ecumenism

Pope Francis will be visiting the headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland on June 21st to participate in the commemoration the 70th anniversary of that organization. None of the 348 denominations affiliated with the WCC preach the Gospel any longer. The Roman Catholic church is not a member of the WCC but the two entities maintain warm relations.

National Day of Prayer?

Next Thursday, May 3rd, is the annual National Day of Prayer, so I thought it would be appropriate to trot out the archived post below.

The National Day of Prayer advances the causes of ecumenism and Civil Religion (see here), NOT the Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

Please read the rest via National Day of Prayer?

Quasimodo pleads for “Sanctuary,” but finds none at Notre Dame

As I’ve related several times before, I had walked away from the Lord for a very long “season” after we left our first church in 1991. But the Lord is merciful and patient beyond measure and kept drawing me back to Him. Toward the end of that pitiful “journey,” my wife had reconnected with old friends, an evangelical Christian couple from our old neighborhood. They invited us to their church for Sunday worship four years ago and it was at that service that I returned to my Abba Father who had been watchfully and lovingly waiting for His prodigal son. But we didn’t consider attending our friends’ church following that Sunday because it upholds several secondary doctrines that we don’t believe are Biblical, which I mention in all humility.

We have spent a lot of time with this sweet couple over the last four years: sharing meals at our homes and at restaurants, traveling, seeing movies, visiting each other during sickness, and just hanging out together. They love the Lord and try to serve Him with their lives. However, one of the things that we don’t see eye to eye on is in regards to ecumenism. They are of a viewpoint that Roman Catholicism is a Christian entity and that it preaches the genuine Gospel. Argh! I’m sure this is what they unfortunately receive from the pulpit of their church. We have had many brief, polite discussions about this, but they attribute our “attitude” to being disgruntled, former members. No, Rome’s gospel of salvation by sacramental grace and merit is NOT the genuine Gospel of salvation by God’s grace through in Jesus Christ alone. Despite what Billy Graham and other ecumenists say, it’s impossible to fit the square Roman peg through the round Gospel hole. Our discussions on this issue have been brief and polite, but I’ve noticed their eyes tend to glaze over when we present our arguments.

Last Saturday, we went out to dinner with this couple at an Italian eatery (linguini and red clam sauce is one of my go-to dishes) and then attended a local high school production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”* The musical dramatization is based on Victor Hugo’s famous 1831 novel. Hugo (1802-1885) was a French politician and one of country’s most celebrated writers. He was a deist and strongly anti-clerical and anti-Catholic. The villain of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” is the pathologically conflicted character, Archdeacon Claude Frollo, who represents the rigid, legalistic religiosity that Hugo abhorred. Is there a sadder figure in fiction than the forlorn hunchback, Quasimodo,** rejected by all? Too bad Hugo did not know the Lord.

We all enjoyed the show. The high school kids put on a tremendous performance far beyond their years. As we were all riding home in the car together, I half-jokingly mentioned that the moral of the play was never to trust a priest. Everyone shared a good guffaw, but then the wife friend commented with something to the effect of, “It’s just too bad the good priests have to deal with all the bad publicity from the bad-apple pedophiles.”

Huh? Good priests? Again and again we encounter this unscriptural understanding from our friends. Over and over. Patience, Lord, patience.

My wife quickly responded by saying that, according to Scripture, there is no longer any need for priests or sacrifice.

[Crickets]

That was the end of that particular exchange, but the debate is never-ending as evangelicals and evangelicalism continue to march onward toward Rome.

“And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” – Hebrews 10:11-14

*Notre Dame in Paris is probably the second-most famous Catholic church in the world after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Many Americans don’t know that “Notre Dame” means “Our Lady.”

**The GIF clip above shows Charles Laughton as Quasimodo in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,”  RKO Radio Pictures, 1939. The name, Quasimodo, comes from a Latin phrase, “quasi modo,” which translates as, “Almost merely” or “Merely almost.” The name refers to Quasimodo’s several deformities and that he supposedly “almost” looked like a human or was an approximation of a human. The meaning “half-formed” isn’t correct, but that’s the right idea. Society has gone backwards in many respects recently, but at least there is much more respect shown to those with disabilities and disfigurements. Quasimodo, you are not alone! We are all spiritually disabled and disfigured by sin and we all, every single one of us, need salvation by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus Christ is REAL sanctuary for sinners!!! Why won’t you repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior today? What are you waiting for?

“Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.” – 1 John 3:13

I said I wasn’t going to write anymore posts about Billy Graham, but this is what happens when you walk through a bookstore…

This past Saturday, I stopped in at our local Barnes and Noble bookstore and checked out the (c)hristian section. I rarely buy any of the books on display there because I would guess that around 80% are written by either TBN prosperity gospel types or by Roman Catholics. Anyway, I happened to spot the newly published, updated version of “A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story” by William Martin (Zondervan, February 20, 2018, 832 pages).

I have no desire to read this entire biography, but I did spend about fifteen minutes at the store reading about a pivotal situation in Graham’s ministry that’s described in the book.

Here’s a couple of thoughts I have on this book:

>It’s interesting to me that the title is, “A Prophet with Honor.” The genuine, God-ordained prophets of the Old Testament and apostles of the New Testament were despised by the general population and eventually murdered because they proclaimed God’s unwelcomed rebukes, admonitions, and Narrow Way of salvation.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!” – Luke 13:34

In contrast, Billy Graham was one of the most widely respected and honored men in the entire world; the friend of American Presidents and religious and political leaders across the globe. Why wasn’t Graham despised and rejected like the genuine prophets of the Bible? While Graham did preach the Gospel at his crusades, the bottom-line message of his ministry was one of ecumenism, which even eventually devolved into Universalism. Graham’s foundational philosophy of tolerance and inclusiveness was well received and offended no one.

>Pages 223-227 of “A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story” describe Graham’s split with Christian fundamentalism. Graham started his career as a separated believer and fundamentalist, but over time, he changed his philosophy. Graham’s organization began seeking and accepting support from liberal Protestant (i.e., affiliates of the National Council of Churches (NCC)) and Roman Catholic church leaders. Fundamentalist leaders, including such men as James Bennet, Bob Jones, Charles Woodbridge, Jack Wyrtzen, Robert Ketcham, and Carl McIntire, saw some of the warning signs of Graham’s compromise as early as 1954 and tried to dissuade him from his new course. Graham’s ministerial mentor, John R. Rice, met with him twice but was not able to change Graham’s mind. The last straw was Graham’s 1957 New York City crusade, which included 120 NCC clergymen on the organizing committee (Graham would enlist Roman Catholic clerics in organizing future crusades). All fundamentalist leaders subsequently withdrew their support from Graham. Graham’s compromise broke the heart of John R. Rice. Author Martin writes of Graham’s break with fundamentalism as a very positive development, but Graham’s compromise laid the groundwork for the full-scale ecumenism and betrayal of the Gospel that we see in the evangelical church today.