The Sins of Silence and Partiality

This could be said today of public men who are silent against the heretics right under their noses:

1Sa 3:11 The LORD said to Samuel, "Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

1Sa 3:12 "In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.

1Sa 3:13 "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them.

1Sa 3:14 "Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever."

1Sa 3:15 So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

My point is that while this had to do with Eli's house and particularly his two blaspheming sons,who were priests in the temple of God, God BLAMED Eli for the sin of silence. God's anger burned against Eli because Eli was a mature believer, a priest no less, and refused to rebuke his sons. I recently posted on the problem with Chuck Smith Sr. and Jr. and this also applies to them as well.

When a person comes on to your "radio" show, your church, your conference, and starts promoting heresy or twists Scripture, its not only sinful to remain silent, its sinful to let them continue! People care way too much about not offending others, they they seem to not care about offending the Holy Holy Holy God and His sheep that actually DO love His Truth.

I'll add here too, is the sin of favoritism that James speaks of, because this too, is related to what I've seen (or not seen) with online Big Boy Bloggers of late (insert "the one who writes books" or "the one who has degrees behind his name" or "the famous one" for "rich" and you see exactly the problem):

Jas 2:1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

Jas 2:2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,

Jas 2:3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, "You sit here in a good place," and you say to the poor man, "You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,"

Jas 2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

Jas 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

Jas 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

Jas 2:7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

Jas 2:8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF," you are doing well.

Jas 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Jas 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

Jas 2:11 For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

Embracing Heretics Is Not a Lack of Discernment Or Wisdom: Its Treason Against the King

Just how much "lack of discernment and wisdom" type of benefit of the doubt are people going to continue to give to men who are supposedly "mature" in the faith when they embrace (literally or spiritually) heretics?

Folks, this is an excuse which is inexcusable. Piper and Horton have repeatedly shared the pulpit with heretic Rick Warren, yet we're told this is merely a lapse in judgement, a mere lack of discernment.

I say it proves they are guilty of mutiny against the King of kings and need to examine themselves to see if they are in The Once For All Faith. It is this very thing that Jude had to write about--as did Peter---that certain men, false teachers, will sneak in among YOU. Folks, just HOW would a false teacher be able to sneak in among you? I'll tell you one way: by gaining the ear and whispering sweet nothings of flattery in the ears of men of influence.

Such is not the behavior nor heart of a shepherd of the flock of God. Nor is it the heart of one that loves God, His Word, and the souls of men.

For other concerns of the White Horse Inn go here.

The Descent of Unbelief: the folly of Chuck Smith Jr. and Chuck Smith Sr.'s Disloyalty to Christ Jesus

Be careful of what you hear and read. When you start to read and consider "Hath God said?" you are already displaying unbelief. Continue in this unbelief will have eternal consequences and will start you on a road of increasing unbelief. Here's a case in point: Chuck Smith Jr., son of Calvary Chapel's Chuck Smith Sr.

Excerpts from a Los Angeles Times article on the two from 2006:

There was no shattering epiphany, no Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus moment. It was a slow drift from his father's booming certainties to a universe of questions with murky answers.

About the time he opened a church in Dana Point in 1975, Smith Jr. began reading widely, making friends with Christians of different backgrounds. He began to consider that when Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven, he was referring to the rewards of a selfless life, here and now -- that the Gospels' core message was real-world compassion, not preparation for the afterlife.

For years, Smith Jr. said, he had preached about hell uncomfortably, half-apologetically, because he couldn't understand why a loving God would consign his children to eternal flames. It felt like blackmail for a pastor to threaten people with hell-scapes from the Middle Ages to induce piety.

Now, he came to believe that the biblical images used to depict hell's torments -- such as the "lake of fire" and the "worm that does not die" -- were intended to evoke a feeling rather than a literal place.

He also grew disillusioned with the Rapture, the notion that believers in Jesus will be whisked to God's side during Armageddon. His father had predicted the end of the world would arrive in the 1980s, based on his reading of the Book of Revelation. He has continued, year after year, to announce its imminence with absolute confidence....

The father on homosexuality: "It is the final affront against God."

The son: "I met homosexuals who were trying to live celibate lives or be heterosexual, and I heard all about their struggles, and I never wanted to exacerbate that. My heart went out to them. Listening convinced me that homosexual orientation is not something people chose."

One by one they fell away, the doctrinal pillars of the house his father built. Yet Smith Jr. remained under the Calvary Chapel roof, not wanting to embarrass dad by leaving.

Smith Jr. weeps before his congregation, making no secret of his ongoing battle with depression that took him to the brink of suicide after his 1993 divorce. At the time, he stood before his congregation explaining that his wife of 18 years, the mother of his five children, was leaving him despite his effort to save the marriage.

A friend got him a psychiatrist, and the psychiatrist got him antidepressants. A local pastor called for his resignation, but his congregation sent hundreds of letters of support.

"My vulnerability allowed them to love me in need," he said.

Still, his condition alienated him further from his father's church, where depression is widely viewed as a spiritual problem bespeaking flawed faith....

He stresses how much he loves his son, regrets that he didn't spend more time with him as he grew up: "Surely he's not a clone, and I respect and admire him for that. There's nothing shoddy about his ministry at all."

Reminded of the memo he issued cracking down on his son's views, the father replies, calmly and amiably, that he and his son are just aiming for different audiences, and he doesn't want to alienate the one he has. He says their relationship is stronger than ever, even deepened by the controversy.

"I don't feel that he's an apostate at all. If he would begin to question that Jesus is the son of God, then I would be concerned...."

In just a few minutes, his conversation can veer energetically from Russian religious painters, to his upcoming visit to African orphanages, to his belief that Christianity and evolution are compatible...."It's sad to me that a man passionate about God's creation should have his education stunted at some level by a narrow vision of creationism," Smith Jr. said. "Because the universe is no less fascinating for being 15 billion years old than being 10,000 years old."

His relationship with his father, he agrees, is tighter than ever. He will even write his dad's biography some day. His challenge, he says, is extricating himself from his dad's fundamentalist evangelical community without traumatizing his parents.

End quote.

Of course, Smith Jr. has revealed himself to be an apostate, but look at the downgrade. It started slowly, reading books, and making friends with people who are outside the Once Delivered Faith. This IS what Jude was talking about.

Consider the talk about emotions, feelings, relationships. It is these that dictate what he believes, and therefore disbelieve God's Word. Compromising truth for relationships. It is a relationship too, that of his son, that Smith Sr. refuses to see his son who is a pastor, as an apostate and call him to repentance. By his own admission, he'd rather see Truth as optional than be severed from his son. What does Scripture say?

Mat 10:34 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

1Ti 5:19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. 21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

Gal 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

2Jo 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

1Jn 2:18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.

19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

This is what happened with Chuck Jr. Start to question Scripture, start to consider the

philosophies of the world as valid, start to embrace the religion of Evolution, start to deny

Hell and Heaven, the Broad Road is your home. Its only a matter of time before you deny the

sin of homosexuality and instead see it as a "natural" thing that people can't help, when God

clearly states they can (Romans1).

If he repents of his unbelief and false teaching, and turns to Christ Jesus alone for eternal life

and forgiveness, he will be saved. But if he has stayed in this state, especially as a "pastor", he

is under God's condemnation as Gal. 1 and 2John 1 says. Smith Sr. is shameful for not only

not calling his son to repentance, but refusing to see him as an apostate and would rather be

loyal to his wayward son than to Christ Jesus. Follow Christ Jesus means we must be loyal to

Him for His is King of kings and Master of all masters. Smith Jr. has committed treason, but

his father has committed mutiny by aiding and abetting a false brother and false teacher.

Be careful of what you read and hear. Be careful who you listen to. Be careful who you make

friends with.

1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."

Hear and heed the Word of God.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

Universalist Rob Bell: Embraced by NYT and Huffington Post

Considering the Tree of knowledge of good and evil as good to eat when God said it will bring death (It should be noted how the liberal secular media is coming to defend Rob Bell. This should be a red flag.) :

New York Times states:

One leading evangelical, John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, wrote, “Farewell Rob Bell.” R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a blog post that by suggesting that people who do not embrace Jesus may still be saved, Mr. Bell was at best toying with heresy. He called the promotional video, in which Mr. Bell pointedly asks whether it can be true that Gandhi, a non-Christian, is burning in hell, “the sad equivalent of a theological striptease.”

Others such as Scot McKnight, a professor of theology at North Park University in Chicago, said they welcomed the renewed discussion of one of the hardest issues in Christianity — can a loving God really be so wrathful toward people who faltered, or never were exposed to Jesus? In an interview and on his blog, he said that the thunder emanating from the right this week was not representative of American Christians, even evangelicals. According to surveys and his experience with students, Mr. McKnight said, a large majority of evangelical Christians “more or less believe that people of other faiths will go to heaven,” whatever their churches and theologians may argue.

End quote.

Then those McKnight interviewed were not Christians. But I digress.

Then there's the horrid views of Huffington Post's Christopher Latondress:

Quote:

We won't know for sure how Rob Bell answers these questions until the book comes out. Nevertheless, this controversy offers an important opportunity for Christians to reflect on a few principles that should inform this debate as it moves forward:

1. Christians should hope that all people can be (and will be) saved.
Hell: Population 0

Those who believe God modeled the ultimate example of true love in the person of Jesus -- and who, therefore, aspire to love their fellow humans as they love themselves -- should also believe that, in the end, God's love will win the day. So is it really that radical to suggest that this belief should accompany the earnest hope that it is actually within the scope of God's sovereign power and unrelenting grace to reconcile all things to himself?

For biblical passages alluding to this idea, read: Colossians 1:19-20; 1 Corinthians 15:22,28; Romans 5:18, 11:33-36; and Philippians 2:10-11. This is just a limited digest.

I haven't read Bell's book, but I suspect that this is one of the ideas he explores. This would put him in good company. Far from being unorthodox, this idea has captured the imaginations of theologians since the early days of Christianity. In 2001, Richard John Neuhaus -- founder of First Things, a religion and policy journal, and (though a Lutheran convert to Catholicism) featured onTime Magazine's list of The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America -- reflected on this idea and its long Christian history in an articled titled, "Will All Be Saved?"

“Rob Bell is tapping into a younger generation that really wants to open up these questions,” he said. “He is also tapping into the fear of the traditionalists — that these differing views of heaven and hell will compromise the Christian message.”

End quote.

Why even bother with the question? There's nothing to question. God said the road to eternal life is narrow and hard and few that find it, the rest are on the Broad road that leads to destruction. Its that simple. To ask the question or to deem it valid to debate the issue and consider the "options" is to rebel against God and say what the Serpent said: "Hath God said?" YES HE DID. The question is actually an attack to deconstruct and destroy the authority and clarity of Scripture and therefore God. There is no question, there is no ambiquity, there is nothing to wring our hands over. God is just and holy and therefore will send unbelievers to hell for their sins. God is also merciful and full of grace and therefore will save some of the unbelieves and make them believers that glorify Him forever for His mercy and grace. The rest will stay in their eternal unbelief and rightly stay in eternal torment. That is just. That is fair.

There is nothing valid to any arguement that sets itself up against Christ and the Scriptures. NONE. It should be slammed down, thrown out and thoroghly rejected as the heresy it is, not considered on any level as having any validity whatsoever.

2Co 10:5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Hell is just as real as Heaven, and God's justice is just as real as His mercy. God chooses to whom He will give justice and to whom He will give mercy.

Rom 9:11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,

Rom 9:12 it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."

Rom 9:13 Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."

Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!

Rom 9:15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."

Rom 9:16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."

Rom 9:18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

Rom 9:19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?"

Rom 9:20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?

Rom 9:21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

Rom 9:22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

Rom 9:23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

Rom 9:24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

There are two groups of people in this world: the elect that God chose to save and then does save, those are the vessels of mercy prepared for glory, and the unsaved who are the vessels prepared for wrath.

God doesn't will all to be saved and therefore keeps the veil over their eyes and closed ears closed:

Mat 13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

Luke 8: ^9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ^10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ”‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’

Luk 18:34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Rom 11:8 as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and

ears that would not hear, down to this very day."

Matt. 11: ^27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and

no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

1Sa 3:12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house,

from beginning to end. 13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house

forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and

he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of

Eli's house SHALL NOT BE ATONED FOR by sacrifice or offering FOREVER."

And without atonement, there is no salvation: Heb 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Joh 10:26 but you do not believe because you are not part of My flock.

Only those who are part of Jesus' flock believe in Him and will see eternal life.

Joh 17:9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you

have given me, for they are yours.

Jesus doesn't pray for the whole world therefore not all the world is being interceded for nor will be

saved. He is the intercessor for His own only (1John 2:1-2; Romans 8)

Luk 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is

pleased!"

Notice in Luke 2:14 God's peace isn't with all people but its qualified to be with people on

whom His favor rests.

Act 1:16 "Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by

the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested

Jesus.

1Peter 2: ^8 and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were DESTINED FOR.

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

2 Thes. 2: ^3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness ^is revealed, the man DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION.

John 17: ^12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

Phil. 3: ^19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

We know this is the second death, eternal destruction, because eternal unbelief (the state they die in) earns eternal punishment. There is no second chance after death (Hebrews 9:27)

Isa 66:24 "And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

Matt. 25: ^41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

2 Thes. 1: 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power

Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Mat 25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal

life."

Mat 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the FIERY FURNACE. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Rev 19:20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

And in stark contrast:

Rev 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Any person who denies a literal Hell and therefore by necessity a literal Heaven (see the passage I posted above), anyone who is a universalist, is not a Christian. Jesus taught on both Heaven and Hell. He also taught there are two kingdoms; that of the devil and that of God. Jesus taught two roads; one leads to eternal life which is narrow and few find, the other is broad on which many are on and this leads to destruction. Fear of a metaphorical hell is nothing and is no fear at all. Instead its a call to a metaphorical fear of a metaphorical God, which is no god at all but rather a liar.

Luk 12:5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Darwin and Islam

Darwin sailed the ocean blue--and spent some time in Africa too. No Christopher Columbus was he, but I have to ask, just what did he learn there? I'm trying to find out if he was influenced by Muslims because his view of women is very similar to that of Islam's.

Darwin:

As Dr. Jerry Bergman states in his article, "Darwin's Teaching of Women's Inferiority" (excerpts):

In a telling indication of his attitude about women (just before he married his cousin, Emma Wedgewood), Darwin listed the advantages of marrying, which included: ". . . constant companion, (friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, object to be beloved and played with—better than a dog anyhow—Home, and someone to take care of house . . ." (Darwin, 1958:232,233)...

Darwin concluded that adult females of most species resembled the young of both sexes and from this and the other evidence, "reasoned that males are more evolutionarily advanced than females" (Kevles, 1986:8)....

One reason nineteenth century biologists argued for women's inferiority was because Darwin believed that "unchecked female militancy threatened to produce a perturbance of the races" and to "divert the orderly process of evolution" (Fee, 1979:415)....

Darwin used examples of cultures that require the men to fight competitors to retain their wives to support this conclusion. Because "the strongest party always carries off the prize," the result is that "a weak man, unless he be a good hunter . . . is seldom permitted to keep a wife that a stronger man thinks worth his notice" (1896:562).

Islam:

Surah 4:34: Men are the managers of the affairs of women...those you fear may be rebellious admoinsh; banish them to their couches, and beat them.

Hadith - Burkhari vol. I, no. 301: Allah's Apostle...said, "O women! Give alms, as I have seen that the majority of the dwellers of Hell-fire were you women...I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religion than you."

"Men are superior to women on account of the qualities which God hath gifted the one above the other, S. 4:34 …. and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for them. Virtuous women are obedient, careful, during the husband's absence, because God hath of them been careful. But chide those for whose refractoriness ye have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, AND SCOURGE THEM: but if they are obedient to you then seek not occasion against them: verily, God is High, Great!" S. 4:34

Rick Warren Is Not the Problem Now: Its Reformers Who Claim To Be Solid and Discerning Yet Are Anything But

Joh 7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."

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

wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs

from thistles? Mat 7:17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

I acknowledge the legitmacy of the concern over Rick Warren using the Reformed circle to gain credibility. I have stated this as one of my concerns as well. However, I have also stated, and think its worth repeating again, that the real issue isn't Rick Warren. Warren has not changed. He is what he is and has always been: a fake Christian, a wolf in sheep's clothing, a huckster dying for popularity.

The issue is why anyone who considers himself mature in the faith, educated, knowledgeable, and discerning would even consider that Rick Warren is one of us? The dellusion of these Reformers is what is the problem, because they have gained a wide acceptance in the last several years as being biblically solid. The reality is, they are liberal. They are the problem now. While claiming TULIP and the 5 Solas, they embrace men who reject these things, therefore proving that they see these as merely an option, not actual biblical truth.

If Justification is by faith alone, then any other claim (that is, adding works to it) is damnable.Therefore the man who brings another gospel himself is accursed by God. He is not to be greeted, let alone paraded about as a brother in the Lord, and used as someone to whom you should listen to, as Piper did at the Q&A after Warren's teaching at DGC.

If Justification is by faith alone, not of works, as Romans 4 clearly states, then Rome and Luther were both wrong when they said baptism saves:

Luther’s Larger Catechism

#24] Therefore state it most simply thus, that the power, work, profit, fruit, and end of Baptism is this, namely,TO SAVE. For no one is baptized in order that he may become a prince, but, as the words declare, that he be SAVED. 25] But to be saved, we know, is nothing else than to be delivered from sin, death, and the devil, and to enter into the kingdom of Christ, and to live with Him forever.

# 83] Thus it appears what a great, excellent thing Baptism is, which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God's own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens the new man; and is and remains ever efficacious until we pass from this estate of misery to eternal glory.

RCC Catechism:

#978 "When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them.

#1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. RCC #1213 Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."

This salvation by works is no different than what Rick Warren teaches. Works is works. Grace is opposed to works. That is why salvation is by grace NOT works, so NO ONE can boast; it is a GIFT of God (Eph. 2:8-10). If someone sees the Doctrine of Justification as optional on any level with any one, then they will embrace someone like Rick Warren. To see legitimacy in Rome will lead to seeing legitimacy with Warren or Paul Tripp or Mark Driscoll for that matter.

We need to be biblically consistant. Whoever brings a false gospel should be rejected entirely for that man is accursed by God (Gal. 1:7-9). That may mean we reject a dead man we thought was a Christian teacher or it might mean we reject a teacher who is living among us today, or it might mean we reject an entire church or movement if its based upon the validity of a false gospel and illegitimate authority like the RCC.

Is. 8 ^20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

2Jo 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not

have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

2Jo 1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

Mat 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and THEN you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

1Jo 2:21 I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.

No Tolerance of False Teachers Or Apostates

Here comes Jesus at His Second Coming and it is a massacre of all the ungodly on the face of the earth. And they are all together at that point judged and executed physically. And then...and we'll say more about this in a little bit. There is a kingdom of a thousand years. At the end of that kingdom is the tribunal to which all those spirits in torment are brought and the judgment is made final and they receiving a body suited for eternal punishment are then cast into their eternal torment. That is a picture of judgment.

Let's go back then to Jude and what turns out to be a rather provocative reference that Jude uses to this judgment. Black darkness, divine judgment awaits these false teachers. In fact, verse 14 begins, "And about these, also Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied saying, 'Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment.'" About these...these refers back to the hidden reefs of verse 12, the clouds without water, the autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead and uprooted, the wild waves of the sea, the wandering stars, the false teachers, the apostates for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever, about these, Enoch prophesied the Lord would come to execute judgment. This then is the final touch on their portrait. And this really is the most important component because not that we might know the fact of judgment, but that we might understand that the fact of judgment gives us God's view of these false teachers.
How severe are we to deal with them? How severe does God deal with them? You cannot be accommodating. You cannot be tolerant. You cannot be accepting. You cannot be open. You cannot be welcoming. We remember, don't we, from John's epistle that if you bid, "God's speed" to a false teacher, you become a partaker in his evil deed. Any deceiver fits into this category, any false teacher, any apostate. And this is how God Himself feels about them and therefore it's about how we must feel about them, not that we can execute judgment on them, not that we want to burn them at the stake, as has been done in the past, not that we want to string them up or crucify them. Not that we want to take them to the guillotine. Not that we want to take vengeance into our own hands, but we must view false teachers the way our Lord God views them.

~ John MacArthur on Apostates and their Judgment

Definitly NOT what many "Christians" say we should do--listen to the "good" parts of false teachers nor are we to "throw out the baby with the bath water" even though God commanded we shouldn't even GREET such a person.

Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

1Jn 2:22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. ..26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
2Jo 1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
1Co 5:11 But now I am writing to you NOT TO ASSOCIATE with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one.

Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Mat 7:17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.