Underground Exiles

Before more folks go out to vote, I thought I should post this link; I hope that you will read it and take it into consideration.

There are some things for Christians that should be absolute deal-breakers. For me, abortion and the stance that Sen. Barack Obama has taken on it was just too much.

Please, think about this before you cast your vote.

Augustine Refuting A Heretic

Since I’ve been on the subject of heresy in the last few days, I thought I’d dig a little deeper - to explain where heresy originates.  In order to do that, I’m going to have to cover some basics to start out.

The entire body of revealed truth, as contained in the Bible, which is inspired and God-given, is the great bulwark against all wicked power and evil supernaturalism.  Implicit faith in its teachings and approval of its precepts constitute the only, but all-sufficient, guarantee against Satanic subtlety and demonic cunning.  As long as Scriptural truth is accepted and followed, Satan and his minions are stripped of their power to harm or lead the child of God astray.  It is only when revealed truth is neglected or rejected, either in whole or in part, that the powers of darkness have opportunity to inflict damage and work havoc upon the Christian.

It’s not surprising, with that in mind, to find that Satanic and demonic assault is directed particularly and relentlessly against the Word of God, nor is it amazing to discover that attack against the veritable citadel of revealed truth is perhaps the most conspicuous and potent role played by demons.

There are two great mistakes that are made by the majority of Christians.  The first is to refuse to believe that there is any such thing as demons; for me, it brings to mind the great quote from The Usual Suspects “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”  Satan and demons are real, and that must be kept in mind.  The other great mistake is to go the route of the extreme charismatics, and blame everything on demons and the Devil.  Hence the reason I’ve put “biblical demonology” in the title; our goal is to be biblical in how we view the work of Satan and demons.  Which brings us back to our subject.

Read more…

After this comment on the T.D. Jakes post I decided that maybe some theology needed to be explained.  I would like to point out that heretic isn’t a title I throw out lightly.  Charging a shepherd with heresy is a serious thing - and “Bishop” Jakes meets the definition with his denial of the Triune nature of the Godhead.

He gives lip service to belief in the Trinity, but embraces Sabellian modalism, a very old heresy that denies that there is one God who exists in three co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Instead, “Bishop” Jakes teaches that there is one God who exists in three manifestations or modes—not three eternal Persons.

On the T. D. Jakes Ministries Web site, an older but still accessible version of their Statement of Faith reads, “There is one God, creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and existing in three Manifestations: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”¹ The position taken by T. D. Jakes Ministries is problematic. The problem lies in the word “manifestation.”  Manifestation is a modalistic term often used by Oneness Pentecostals.  Modalism views Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as different modes of God’s activity rather than three separate persons.

Read more…

1. T. D. Jakes Ministries, Doctrinal Statement for T. D. Jakes/Potters House Ministries, 18 March 1999 (http://www.tdjakes.net/ministry/doctrine.html [↩]

Beliefwatch: The Osteens As Spiritual Midgets | Newsweek BeliefWatch: Lisa Miller | Newsweek.com.

Yes, I too am going to join the folks with guns taking shots at Joel Osteen.

I don’t dislike Joel Osteen because he smiles a lot, or because he’s apparently happy all the time; maybe his spiritual gift is encouragement.

I don’t dislike Joel Osteen as a person; he’s created in the image and likeness of God.

I absolutely abhor Joel Osteen’s theology - which if you read the above article, you’ll see that even his wife thought was weak at one point!

Joel is another one of the Word-Faith guys that has just blown up, primarily because he’s preaching an Americanized Christianity.  The problem I have with the Word-Faith / Prosperity Gospel teaching, is that it is quantifiably no different whatsoever from what you’re being told by the rest of American society.  Not to mention the fact that it’s unbiblical…

But I’ll blog a series on it later.

CalvinTeacherOfEvangelism.pdf (application/pdf Object).

While doing some research, I stumbled across this PDF file on John Calvin and Evangelsim.  Worth reading, and afterwards I highly doubt you can still make the argument that Calvinism and evangelism are mutually exclusive, as many well-meaning but ultimately wrong-headed individuals are doing.