A Muslim Is A Muslim, And There Is No Such Thing As A "Moderate" Muslim

Report:

Excerpts:

The school originally was founded as the International Muslim Brotherhood, which boasted of educational input from a radical cleric who was an associate of Osama bin Laden.

The institute's website promotes jihad "in the context of self-defense or guarding the sacred, holy lands of Islam."

The school is allied with a Muslim student association known for hosting anti-American extremists.

No, the school is not in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. It's based in Philadelphia...

Quba, meanwhile, has maintained a close, 40-year relationship with the Muslim Student Association, or MSA, at the University of Pennsylvania. Quba works with Penn students, including lessons for ethnomusicology graduate students to study Quranic recitation.

The MSA is the largest Muslim college student group in the U.S.

"We are not Americans," shouted one speaker, Muhammad Faheed at Queensborough Community College in 2003. "We are Muslims. [The U.S.] is going to deport and attack us! It is us versus them! Truth against falsehood! The colonizers and masters against the oppressed, and we will burn down the master's house!"

The Saudi-funded MSA in 1981 founded the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA. The two groups are still partners.

According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, ISNA "is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation" that publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Islamic Horizons, that "often champions militant Islamist doctrine.

End quote.

Read more at Worldnet Daily

The Almost Christian

by George Whitefield (1714-1770)

Excerpts

Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian," Acts 26:28

I. What Is Meant By An Almost Christians

An almost Christian, if we consider him in respect to his duty to God, is one that halts between two opinions; that wavers between Christ and the world; that would reconcile God and Mammon, light and darkness, Christ and Belial. It is true, he has an inclination to religion, but then he is very cautious how he goes too far in it: his false heart is always crying out, Spare thyself, do thyself no harm. He prays indeed, that "God's will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven." But notwithstanding, he is very partial in his obedience, and fondly hopes that God will not be extreme to mark every thing that he willfully does amiss; though an inspired apostle has told him, that "he who offends in one point is guilty of all." But chiefly, he is one that depends much on outward ordinances, and on that account looks upon himself as righteous, and despises others; though at the same time he is as great a stranger to the divine life as any other person whatsoever. In short, he is fond of the form, but never experiences the power of godliness in his heart. He goes on year after year, attending on the means of grace, but then, like Pharaoh's lean kine [cow?], he is never the better, but rather the worse for them.

If you consider him in respect to his neighbor, he is one that is strictly just to all; but then this does not proceed from any love to God or regard to man, but only through a principle of self-love: because he knows dishonesty will spoil his reputation, and consequently hinder his thriving in the world.

He is one that depends much upon being negatively good, and contents himself with the consciousness of having done no one any harm; though he reads in the gospel, that "the unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness," and the barren fig-tree was cursed and dried up from the roots, not for bearing bad, but no fruit.

He is no enemy to charitable contributions in public, if not too frequently recommended: but then he is unacquainted with the kind offices of visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the naked, and relieving the hungry in a private manner. He thinks that these things belong only to the clergy, though his own false heart tells him, that nothing but pride keeps him from exercising these acts of humility; and that Jesus Christ, in the 25th chapter of St. Matthew, condemns persons to everlasting punishment, not merely for being fornicators, drunkards, or extortioners, but for neglecting these charitable offices, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, he shall set the sheep on his right-hand, and the goats on his left. And then shall he say unto them on his left hand, depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also say, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or a-thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto me: and these shall go away into everlasting punishment unto me: and these shall go away into everlasting punishment." I thought proper to give you this whole passage of scripture at large, because our Savior lays such a particular stress upon it; and yet it is so little regarded, that were we to judge by the practice of Christians, one should be tempted to think there were no such verses in the Bible.

But to proceed in the character of an ALMOST CHRISTIAN: If we consider him in respect of himself; as we said he was strictly honest to his neighbor, so he is likewise strictly sober in himself: but then both his honesty and sobriety proceed from the same principle of a false self-love. It is true, he runs not into the same excess of riot with other men; but then it is not out of obedience to the laws of God, but either because his constitution will not away with intemperance; or rather because he is cautious of forfeiting his reputation, or unfitting himself for temporal business. But though he is so prudent as to avoid intemperance and excess, for the reasons before-mentioned; yet he always goes to the extremity of what is lawful. It is true, he is no drunkard; but then he has no CHRISTIAN SELF-DENIAL. He cannot think our Savior to be so austere a Master, as to deny us to indulge ourselves in some particulars: and so by this means he is destitute of a sense of true religion, as much as if he lived in debauchery, or any other crime whatever. As to settling his principles as well as practice, he is guided more by the world, than by the word of God: for his part, he cannot think the way to heaven so narrow as some would make it; and therefore considers not so much what scripture requires, as what such and such a good man does, or what will best suit his own corrupt inclinations. Upon this account, he is not only very cautious himself, but likewise very careful of young converts, whose faces are set heavenward; and therefore is always acting the devil's part, and bidding them spare themselves, though they are doing no more than what the scripture strictly requires them to do: The consequence of which is, that "he suffers not himself to enter into the kingdom of God, and those that are entering in he hinders."

II. The Reasons Why So Many Are No More Than Almost Christians

And the first reason I shall mention is, because so many set out with false notions of religion; though they live in a Christian country, yet they know not what Christianity is. This perhaps may be esteemed a hard saying, but experience sadly evinces the truth of it; for some place religion in being of this or that communion; more in morality; most in a round of duties, and a model of performances; and few, very few acknowledge it to be, what it really is, a thorough inward change of nature, a divine life, a vital participation of Jesus Christ, an union of the soul with God; which the apostle expresses by saying, "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit." Hence it happens, that so many, even of the most knowing professors, when you come to converse with them concerning the essence, the life, the soul of religion, I mean our new birth in Jesus Christ, confess themselves quite ignorant of the matter, and cry out with Nicodemus, "How can this thing be?" And no wonder then, that so many are only almost Christians, when so many know not what Christianity is: no marvel, that so many take up with the form, when they are quite strangers to the power of godliness; or content themselves with the shadow, when they know so little about the substance of it. And this is one cause why so many are almost, and so few are altogether Christians.

A second reason that may be assigned why so many are no more than almost Christians, is a servile fear of man: multitudes there are and have been, who, though awakened to a sense of the divine life, and have tasted and felt the powers of the world to come; yet out of a base sinful fear of being counted singular, or contemned by men, have suffered all those good impressions to wear off. ...

A third reason why so many are no more than almost Christians, is a reigning love of money. This was the pitiable case of that forward young man in the gospel, who came running to our blessed Lord, and kneeling before him, inquired "what he must do to inherit eternal life;"....

Nor is the love of pleasure a less uncommon, or a less fatal cause why so many are no more than almost Christians. Thousands and ten thousands there are, who despise riches, and would willingly be true disciples of Jesus Christ, if parting with their money would make them so; but when they are told that our blessed Lord has said, "Whosoever will come after him must deny himself;" like the pitiable young man before-mentioned, "they go away sorrowful"" for they have too great a love for sensual pleasures. They will perhaps send for the ministers of Christ, as Herod did for John, and hear them gladly: but touch them in their Herodias, tell them they must part with such or such a darling pleasure; and with wicked Ahab they cry out, "Hast thou found us, O our enemy?" Tell them of the necessity of mortification and self-denial, and it is as difficult for them to hear, as if you was to bid them "cut off a right-hand, or pluck out a right-eye." They cannot think our blessed Lord requires so much at their hands, though an inspired apostle has commanded us to "mortify our members which are upon earth." And who himself, even after he had converted thousands, and was very near arrived to the end of his race, yet professed that it was his daily practice to "keep under his body, and bring it into subjection, lest after he had preached to others, he himself should be a cast-away!" But some men would be wiser than this great apostle, and chalk out to us what they falsely imagine an easier way to happiness. They would flatter us, we may go to heaven without offering violence to our sensual appetites; and enter into the strait gate without striving against our carnal inclinations. And this is another reason why so many are only almost, and not altogether Christians.

The fifth and last reason I shall assign why so many are only almost Christians, is a fickleness and instability of temper.

It has been, no doubt, a misfortune that many a minister and sincere Christian has met with, to weep and wail over numbers of promising converts, who seemingly began in the Spirit, but after a while fell away, and basely ended in the flesh; and this not for want of right notions in religion, nor out of a servile fear of man, nor from the love of money, or of sensual pleasure, but through an instability and fickleness of temper. They looked upon religion merely for novelty, as something which pleased them for a while; but after their curiosity was satisfied, they laid it aside again: like the young man that came to see Jesus with a linen cloth about his naked body, they have followed him for a season, but when temptations came to take hold on them, for want of a little more resolution, they have been stripped of all their good intentions, and fled away naked. They at first, like a tree planted by the water-side, grew up and flourished for a while; but having no root in themselves, no inward principle of holiness and piety, like Jonah's gourd, they were soon dried up and withered. Their good intentions are too like the violent motions of the animal spirits of a body newly beheaded, which, though impetuous, are not lasting. In short, they set out well in their journey to heaven, but finding the way either narrower or longer than they expected, through an unsteadiness of temper, they have made an eternal halt, and so "returned like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the more!"

More...

Universalism? Not even!

(J.C. Ryle)

Settle it firmly in your mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself has spoken most plainly about the reality and eternity of Hell. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus contains things which should make men tremble! But it does not stand alone. No lips have used so many words to express the awfulness of Hell--as the lips of Him who spoke as never any man spoke:

Hell,
Hell-fire,
the damnation of Hell,
eternal damnation,
the resurrection of damnation,
everlasting fire,
the place of torment,
eternal destruction,
outer darkness,
the worm that never dies,
the fire that is never quenched,
the place of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth,
everlasting punishment--

these are the words which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself employs!

Away with the miserable nonsense which people talk of in this day, who tell us that the ministers of the gospel should never speak of Hell! They only show their own ignorance, or their own dishonesty--when they babble in such a manner! No person can honestly read the four Gospels, and fail to see that those who would follow the example of Christ, must speak of Hell!

White Horse Inn Promotes Fuller Theological Seminary and Westmont College Lecturer

The White Horse Inn strikes again, promoting Fuller Theological Cemetary as well as Westmont College.

Quote:

J. Todd Billings, who wrote an appreciative critique of the idea of incarnational ministry for our March/April 2009 issue, has recently given a lecture on the same at Fuller Seminary and Westmont College.

For more, see this article and podcast from Fuller and this videoand podcast (number 23) from Westmont.

End quote.

Typical Post-modern nonsense...follow but question, agree but disagree.

Considering the spiritual filth that comes from that graveyard called a "seminary" or "Christian" college (both promote Eastern mysticism), one wonders why the WHI would post anything from it at all and why Billings, a "Reformer" would be a lecturer at such a place....unless they believe "truth in everything" and therefore will never be able to completely reject a school, a program, a book, a ministry, a church, a movement, or a man. And of course this is the situation. Go here for an example.

This is what Arminianism and pragmatism looks like. Seems to me that the 5 Solas and TULIP are merely an optional view, not a biblical one in these Calvinists' minds. Biblical truth is never an option, especially when it comes to the doctrine of salvation, Christ, Scripture, sin, and God. It doesn't honor Christ in the least.

Jas 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Rev 3:15 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

My Vote Is Too Precious To Waste On Adulterous Lying Politicians

This is the best the GOP has? Is this not an indictment on our leadership?

"ATLANTA (AP) -- Newt Gingrich says his passion for his country contributed to his marital infidelity. In an interview posted Wednesday by The Christian Broadcasting Network, Gingrich - who recently converted to Catholicism - said he had sought God's forgiveness for mistakes in his past....

The twice-divorced former U.S. House speaker has admitted he had an affair with Callista, a former congressional aide, while married to his second wife. It happened at the same time he was attacking President Bill Clinton for his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky."

~AP

Just like the GOP's "best" last time: McCain, in his 2002 book, has admitted to several cases of adultery and his current wife Cindy was one of those--while his wife then, Carol, was recovering from an accident that left her partially crippled to this day.. ~Source

According to the report, Gingrich will have Democrat Gov. Zell Miller as his co-chairman for his national campaign.

Men who can't stay married, men who have adulterous affairs, men who find common ground with Democrats (McCain is an expert at doing this too)....this is who you think can run a country with honor and integrity? Seriously? They can't even manage their own marriages well (McCain's wife and daughter are FLAMING liberals), yet "Christians" and "Conservatives" think this is "better" on some level?

Since when is divorce, adultery, and political compromise considered "better"? Better than what? And when you vote for a man without integrity, why then do you sigh and complain or act surprised?

Sorry, but my vote is worth a lot. My forefathers died to give me this privilege to vote, so I refuse to waste it on a bunch of corrupt, immoral men who are very good at lying to their wives, their children, their staff, their friends, and their votes and the media (all adulterers are liars). Nope, a candidate must EARN my vote. Its too precious to waste on men who have no integrity.

Tim Keller: The Broad Jesus For the Broad Appeal For the Broad Road of Destruction

5 Salt has a short but good article and video of Tim Keller promoting his "Kings Cross" book on MSNBC (complete with the mockers).

Keller said:

...Truth bearers are not very kind. He [Jesus] brings together Mother Theresa [who is kind] and truth [Jesus is God].

.... every branch of Christianity has lost its cultural credibility

...why Jesus is so popular.

Here are my thoughts:

Just how "kind" was Teresa of Calcutta? She didn't seek healing for the suffering. That wasn't her goal. Where did the millions people throughout the world go when they gave to her charity? Did the lives improve? The facilities? No. Theresa's "kindness" was this: suffering is good for the soul.

On another note, Keller claims there is still a "Jesus Appeal", that people find Him "interesting." WHAT? Is this man serious? His "Jesus", maybe--the one who doesn't hold to absolutes, the one seeking for social justice, the one that is in Eastern mysticism and Romanism. THAT Jesus is appealing, sure. To the world. He doesn't tell people of their sin, His wrath against them, the reality of Hell and their earning their place there, the need to repent from their sins and foresake everything to follow HIM. No, that's what the REAL Jesus did.

Yes, he wrote the book with a "broad appeal" (time mark:24). That's because his fake Jesus is an idol, an imposter, one the world CAN embrace. The one that seeks common ground with the wicked.

Keller's Jesus loves everybody. But God said He hates the wicked:

Ps 5: ^5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; You hate all who do wrong. ^6 You destroy those WHO tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful MEN the LORD abhors.

Ps. 11: ^5 The LORD examines the righteous, but THE WICKED^ and THOSE WHO love violence His soul HATES. ^6 On THE WICKED He will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.

The Jesus of Scripture was direct, bold, and the world hated Him so much, they murdered Him. What did Jesus teach and what was the enormous crowd reaction to Him?

After feeding the 5,000 + people, He started to teach doctrine--the Gospel. Watch:

Joh 6:56 "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

Joh 6:57 "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.

Joh 6:58 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever."

Joh 6:59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Joh 6:60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"

Joh 6:61 But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, "Does this cause you to stumble?

Joh 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

Joh 6:64 "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.

Joh 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

Joh 6:66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.

They ceased to follow Jesus. They never went back. How utterly sad. Jesus was GREAT when He was healing them and feeding them, but when He told them they were dead, unspiritual, and without life and that they needed HIM to save them, that He is the ONLY way to heaven, they couldn't bear such teaching, got up, and walked away.

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.

Joh 15:18 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Joh 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

He didn't seek social justice for anyone. He came with ONE PUROSE: to save wicked sinners from their sins, as a purchase by the Master, to make new men by His hand and for His glory.

So is this the Jesus of Keller? Jesus of Scripture did NOT have a "broad appeal".

2Co 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

Keller, your own words condemn you: your "broad appeal", your easily accepted Jesus is not of God at all. Rather, you are helping masses of people on the BROAD ROAD TO DESTRUCTION. You are under God's wrath. Repent.

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!