Thursday, September 18, 2008

"The Idolatry of Talented Men"

Ingrid Schuelter at Slice Of Laodicea ends her post on the further apostasy of Ravi Zacharias, saying,

"It’s time to stop the idolatry of talented men, and start being Bereans in the church once again."

We can apply this across the board, whether its John Piper and his approval of foul-mouthed "pastors", singer Ray Boltz being brazen in his sodomy, or Ravi Zacharias  (video here)embracing error(he can't answer the question if a person can be a sincere Christian AND a homosexual with a simple "no"--he takes nearly ten minutes to answer "yes" as long as you don't "act" on it; and he quotes in an admirable way Roman Catholic Eastern Mystic Henri Nouwen who was apparently an admitted homosexual ).

Its time Christians stop having the Magisterium Mentality and test all people and teachings and behavior according to Scripture, and be willing to leave behind those who fall short of biblical truth. If you aren't willing to let go of your favorite author or teacher, there's no point in testing him. The reason we are to test them is so that we stay away from such false teachers and not imitate their error.

The Magisterium Mentality is summed up here:

RCC Cat. # 85 "The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."

Scripture says, however:

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Mat 7:18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 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?'
Mat 7:23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

2Pe 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
2Pe 2:2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
2Pe 2:3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

5 comments:

Prodigal Knot said...

Denise,

I agree wholeheartedly that you should and must expose blatant sin and compromise among those who claim to be the "church".

We must keep in mind a few things though. Ray Boltz may be an admitted homosexual, but he is no worse than the many thousands of "christian" couples who have divorced, remarried, and cheated on their spouse with other people or even indulged in adultery via porn. All who pratice sin willingly and defiantly will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven until they repent and forsake their rebellion against God.

I get really tired of people who berate a man for claiming to be a Christian when he has obvious sin in his life, but forget about the big log that is in the church's eye as a whole. Why is the church so quick to judge the world when the church has more sin than many of those they attack? Evangelicals have the highest divorce rate of any group of people, including atheists. This is the result of preaching too much g5ace and not enough about fruits worthy of repentance.

Joshua said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joshua said...

edit: robertmorey.wordpress.com

Baptist Girl said...

Hi Denise,
This is Cristina. Have you heard anything from debi? I keep checking paltalk to see if she is on and ok and I have not seen her?
Thanks Surp...havent seen you either?

Cristina

Denise said...

Hey Cris =)

Just got an email a few days ago, but haven't seen her before or since.

=(