Beware of False Prophets: The Case Against Charles G. Finney

Here is a link to an article and series of articles on Finney and his heretical beliefs.

"Almost Saved"

Voddie Baucham: What is the Gospel?

Are you under the wrong yoke? Do YOU really know the Gospel? Are you sure? Do you think or often say "we just need to live the Gospel"? Maybe it is more than just cleaning up your language. Maybe you need to clean up your theology. Maybe those who are so eager to share the Gospel need to understand the Gospel. Then understand how to proclaim the Gospel, biblically that is!

Repentance and the Health-Wealth Doctrine. (Health, wealth, and heresy: part 1)

Hi my name is Charlie and I’m a redeemed health, wealth, and prosperity doctrine addict-idiot-possible heretic. I guess that’s as a good a way to start this as any. Before I became “reformed” in my thinking (I might have even been lost…I just know I’m saved now) I was a follower/partner to one Andrew Womack who endorses a name-it-claim-it/health-wealth/prosperity type doctrine. But by the grace and mercy of God through prayer and Justin Peter’s ministry I was pulled out of this.

Let me explain what “name-it-claim-it” or “health-wealth-prosperity” doctrine is. In a nutshell, it states that Christ is not willing for anyone to suffer either physically or financially and through the atonement He provided the believer with the ability to heal others and himself and/or alter his/her situation by speaking reality to change in the name of Jesus. If one has enough faith, it will change. I know this sounds clinical and somewhat silly when I write it out but make no mistake it is a sly form of heresy because there are moments when it seems very close to the truth. This doctrine emphasizes grace (which is true). Implicitly it states that Christ did it all and we do not earn our salvation (which is also true.) BUT the problem is that the Christ that the “health-wealth” preaches is not the Christ of the Bible and the walk they put a believer on is not the narrow path but a delusion winding down to destruction.

Since I was a partner in Andrew Wommack’s ministry and am therefore knowledgeable with his doctrine, I will use him as an example (but I could just as easily insert the name Benny Hinn, Jessis Duplantis, Kenneth Copeland etc into this spot.) In doing so, please understand that I mean the man no ill will, however his error needs to be shown, not only for the sake of those he is misleading but for himself as well for he will be judged more harshly on the Day of the Lord because he is a preacher. Here is the summation of the Gospel according to Andrew Wommack’s website:

It’s the Gospel—the nearly-too-good-to-be-true news that God has provided. It’s
salvation for us by grace that empowers men to receive the forgiveness of their
sins, the healing of their bodies, the deliverance from Satan’s oppression, and
more. We don’t need to convince people they are sinners; we need to show them
the way out. That’s the Gospel!

What’s wrong with that statement? The Gospel is salvation through the grace of God and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. But how can a man truly repent if he does not recognize that he is a sinner? How does a man truly understand his state with God if he is not aware of God’s holiness? Sin is put tritely in the health wealth doctrine. Mr. Wommack says that a man must repent to be saved but then gives no picture of what it means to repent. Like many today, the health-wealth folks say “repentance” because they read it in the bible but have no definition. Grudem’s systematic theology states repentance as this:

a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncement of it and a sincere commitment to
forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.

One cannot do this without being convicted of one’s sin through the Holy Spirit. It is the turning away from sin and the turning toward faith in Christ that are man’s responsibility and the supernatural awakening from the Holy Spirit that makes this even possible. The following are list of versus in which we are commanded to repent:
Matthew 3:11, Matthew 9:13, Mark 1:4, Mark 2:17, Luke 3:3, Luke 3:8, Luke 5:32, Acts 2:37-38, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30, Romans 2:4, 2 Cor 7:10, 2 Peter 3:9

Why is “repentance” taken so lightly in the health-wealth doctrine? Because they God take lightly. Here is the heart of the matter. God is seen as a servant of man, subject to our finite whims and plans instead of a sovereign God in absolute control. This is contrary to a God who is interested in His glory. He is holy, holy, holy and we are fallen and deserving punishment. Instead of punishment we get Christ, the God-man, the son who left the throne to do what we could not. He became our substitute on the cross, drank the wrath of God that we deserve and atone dfor our sin. What can we add to the that….nothing. All we bring to the table is our wretched selves in repentance. Turning from sin, not to good works but to Christ. This is the almost-too-good-to-be-true news. This is the gospel.

Ok…if we’re saved by grace than why should we continually repent? Because we continually sin and in asking for forgiveness it is not to get resaved but to grow in Christ. Mr. Wommack would say things on his radio show like, “I never pray, I just speak to God.” Or “God has already forgiven my sins so there is no need to ask for forgiveness over and over.” Yes, God has forgiven your sins and you are not asking for re-salvation or re-regeneration, you are humbly coming to your Father and admitting you have erred so that you can grow in your walk with him. Because health-wealthers don’t get repentance right they have no concept of sanctification. Sanctification is conforming to Christ likeness and that is what God truly wants for you, not momentary wealth or health or a life without suffering. Lets look at Romans 8:28-29:

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom he
forknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son so that
He would be the first born among many brethren;”

All things (good and bad) work together for the good (being conformed into the image of His Son.) If sickness or being broke-as-a-joke or suffering an affliction helps draw us closer to God than glory be to God and praise Him for the transient inconvience!

I bought into this health, wealth lie hook line and sinker. If I was broke, I would tell my check book to have money. The fact that I was sick was obviously because I lacked faith and should simply be telling my body to be healed in “the name of Jesus”. Instead of trusting in that Jesus is Lord over every aspect of my life, I was trusting in myself and what I needed to do to add to what he did and was doing. I constantly said things like “What would Jesus do?” instead of resting in what Jesus did. Here is the ultimate problem with the health-wealth doctrine, it glorifies man and not God and in a not-so-subtle way make us into objects of worship and God into a worshiper. It doesn’t get much more heretical than that.

Next week part 2 (How I Watched my Dad die because he Lacked Faith and other Lies OR Good Suffering?)

If In This Life Only WE Have Hope

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” I Cor. 15:17-19  “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”  Heb. 6:19 

“HOPE” – such a simple word thoughtlessly spoken by vast multitudes that have so very little perception of the depths of God’s grace that preserves and illuminates the eternal state of the redeemed within this one simplistically little word.  All of the redeemed’s passions and visions of their future state in eternity are encapsulated in this soft delicate utterance. All that we are and all that we anticipate to be in and with our blessed Lord Jesus is expressed in the blossom of “HOPE.”  Destroy hope in Christ Jesus and even our very spirit weathers into emptiness.  If He be not raised from the dead and alive forevermore, we have but a fragile shell barren of life after death.  Mankind would be no more privileged than a decaying tomato on its bush.  “HOPE” must inevitability be occupied with fulfillment or as empty as the breath of death.

Thanks be unto God that we have a hope that is anchored securely beyond heaven’s veil in the Holy of Holies, embedded in the blood of the Lamb sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat of the Most High God!  The hope of the redeemed is as full and alive as Christ the Lord of Glory is.  It would be easier to empty the heavens of its stars and galaxies than to drain dry the promises of the Father’s gift of hope.  Shall He that saves to the uttermost be found incompetent to fill up so great a salvation?  Shall fleshly death make void the royal decree of eternity’s Sovereign?  God forbid that we should harbor the horrid disease of unbelief in the Father’s ability to have raised Jesus His Christ from the dead and will in the same power of His might raise up all those He has given to His blessed Son. 

Would we not be pitiful creatures indeed drowning in the depths of unfathomable miseries if there be no heavenly hope for the redeemed of the Lamb?  Let the heavens and the heaven of the heavens hear the voices of our rejoicing praises, for there is no god like unto our God and our Eternal Life-giver!  Hope!  Sweet Hope! 

 

From the Pastor:  Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

A Weed In The Church

I am currently reading this book on the kindle by Scott Brown. The book is about the age segregated youth ministry in the local church. Scott is part of the The national center for Family Integrated Churches. Since I don't know much about this subject, I decided to check it out. Wow!!! I think he makes some strong arguments. 

Proverbs 18:17

A Weed in the Church can now be purchased for the Kindle ($2.99) and the Nook($6.99). Also, the hardcopy edition is just $9.99 a copy. 

John MacArthur: The dangers of moralism (excerpt)

........ this cultural morality thing is dangerous because it makes those we are commanded to lovingly reach with the gospel into the enemy rather than the mission field. Have you noticed that? The unbelievers, the immoral people, the pornographers and the homosexuals, and the abortionists, and whoever else become vilified and hated. They become the enemies. They aren't the enemies, folks, they're the mission field. They're the mission field. I think again about Jonah. The Ninevites were wretched people. I mean, they were really wretched. They were pagans. They slaughtered their enemies and they piled their skulls in pyramids. They damned up rivers with dead bodies. They would cover pillars in buildings with the flayed skin of a conquered ruler. That's ugly stuff. Wicked, haters of God, enemies of Israel and God tells Jonah, "Jonah, go preach to them." He says, "Ah, no chance." And he heads two thousand miles in the opposite direction. That is a repulsive thought, preach forgiveness to a Ninevite.

Eventually after being swallowed and vomited, frankly any fish would have vomited up a bitter prophet like Jonah, he went to Ninevah and he preached, six hundred thousand people, probably, and the whole place repented. And then he was really mad. He was. He was miserable. He was so mad he wanted to die. That's the severe danger in moralism. He was...he was sort of a racist, Jonah was. He was a legalist. He didn't want any of these wretched wicked Gentiles that he had grown to hate honing in on forgiveness.

John MacArthur

Christ vs. Moralism by John W. Hendryx

Death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) and Jesus Christ had none (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5; 2 Cor 5:21). Death, therefore, had no rightful claim on Him thus Jesus died an unnatural death. This means that Jesus, the true remnant of Israel, alone fulfilled the covenant from our side, pleasing God. And all who are united to Him share in His distinction that death has no rightful claim on them (6:23b). So Jesus alone is our focus, our religion, our righteousness. Yet we still, as Christians often get caught up in our own spirituality. That is, we focus incessantly on how we are doing, whether reading the Word, praying, involving myself in a body of like-minded believers, being a witness,. etc. We often do this in a way where we expect to win God's approval and somehow become more spiritual. While all these things are all good and helpful when done in the right spirit, it is not exactly what is meant by giving oneself fully to the Lord, or being spiritual.

To give oneself to the Lord means that you begin align yourself with God and his redemptive plan for the world. It means to lose all confidence in oneself and recognize Jesus as the all in all. The gospel remains our only hope as a Christian. All of these other activities don't make you in any way more pleasing to God. He is already pleased with you in Christ and the covenant he has made with you in Him. When we realize this, these other activities are overflow, not duty driven acts to put on our spiritual resumé. Our delight is in the Lord and the story of His redemptive activity through history culminating in his finished work in Christ on the cross. It is not about our piety ... instead we work out of salvation in fear and trembling before the Lord. The more we look at Him the more we are transformed into His likeness (2 Cor 2:18). As long as we view the core of spirituality as some morbid self-introspection and practice of disciplines then we fall into the danger of taking our eyes off of Jesus.

Sinclair Ferguson aptly said, "from the New Testament's point of view, those who have almost forgotten about their own spirituality because their focus is so exclusively on their union with Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished are those who are growing and exhibiting fruitfulness. Historically speaking, whenever the piety of a particular group is focused on OUR spirituality that piety will eventually exhaust itself on its own resources. Only where our piety forgets about itself and focuses on Jesus Christ will our piety nourished by the ongoing resources the Spirit brings to us from the source of all true piety, our Lord Jesus Christ."

So the question often arises to me about how much spiritual activity is enough? The answer is the same every time: what Jesus has accomplished for you is already sufficient. God is as pleased as He can be with you and could not be more pleased with you because of Jesus. Preach this gospel to yourself every day and you will begin to see a new world open before you. You will rest in Christ's completed work and out of the overflow of the new life you have in Him, you will do all things filled with the Holy Spirit. He becomes greater while you become less. The most mundane, banal activity then becomes spiritual ... not simply when you are reading your Bible. You don't curry God's favor or earn more points in heaven by your activities. God has set his affection on you. You are his son - this is a reality to those who are in Christ. Recall in the parable of the prodigal son where the older brother is angry with God because he said, "I have worked all my life for you and never given me a slaughtered calf." He saw his relationship with his father as a servant rather than a son. First, you must know that you are worse than could ever be imagined and are impotent to do anything on your own. Such despairing in oneself is necessary to true spirituality. Yet God is more gracious than you imagined and adopts you as his very own son. When you know you are thus loved then all of what you do will reflect that. You will forgive others, and delight in good works not because God needs to be appeased, but because you are loved by him and that overflows in your life to others. Oh, but how easy it is to forget this and slip back into perfectionism. The Apostle Paul waned against this tendency in Galatians 3:3 when he said, "having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Here we clearly see Paul's frustration in persons who think that we start with grace in the gospel but then move on to perfection through other means.

A common religion of our time is one of moralism, and many evangelicals tend to moralism without even realizing they are. Moralism seeks to achieve perfection through behavior modification. It often accompanies the religion of "family values" that we hear about each day on the radio. This kind of religion risks self-righteously looking down on unbelievers by putting our supposed morality in a comparison with theirs. It is as if we believe our entrance into Christianity is by grace but that our lives in Christ are due to our maintained by some kind of moralism. Those who believe this fall into the trap of (at least subconsciously) believing that is not grace alone that make us to differ with others. But we must always remember that God's commands to us to be holy and love our neighbor etc. are not there to show our ability, but to reveal our inability (Rom 3:19, 20). So instead of spending our time gazing at our navels in the hope that we become more spiritual and can attain some kind of perfection, true Christianity recognizes and faces up to our sinful imperfection. We can never obey God's commands no matter how hard we try. Anyone who thinks that they could possibly live sinlessly for an hour or a day has not yet come face to face with God and his utter holiness. We flatter ourselves to think this way but the apostolic assertion is that if a man shall keep the whole law and yet offend at one point he is guilty of all.

The good news is that we do not need to ascend to God via human effort (an impossible supposition) because He has descended to us. The philosophy of the age, even among Christians who should know better, is to focus on what we human beings can do to be saved. True Christianity, I believe, teaches that there is nothing we can do... we must despair of ourselves, because what we could not do for ourselves, Christ has done for us. Unfortunately a large percentage of Christians think moralism, avoiding wrongdoing of every kind, is what Christianity is all about, (otherwise why so much effort to get our morals put into law) not realizing that we need to repent of trusting in our good deeds and bad ones. Paul, says to the Philippians that all his good works are but rubbish compared to Christ. But even though we know this, our remaining corruption still deceives us sometimes into thinking that God wants something from us other than Christ. It is easy to see that much of Christianity has slipped into this error because the barriers and differences with Roman Catholicism seem to be coming down everywhere I look. Even in Peter Jennings interview with member's of Ted Haggard's church people were saying that they don't see that much difference anymore. I am not saying that unity would not be a good thing, but this unity is not based on truth but on family values, political alliances and morality, all of which are not the gospel.

But none of us can live up to the high standards we impose upon ourselves and often hide it when we fail, thinking that we must put on a good face to other Christians. That is called hypocrisy. Our many attempts at perfection often lead to immoral behavior, especially when it makes us feel superior to others. Rather, we should lead with our weaknesses and admit our sinfulness which points each other and the world to Christ. The world would believe us much more if we simply stopped pretending and boasting about being so much more moral than we really are. Real humility would go a long way in opening eyes for the problem with humanity is not simply our committing various sins, but with our very natures which we desperately need to be delivered from, something only Christ can do, not only at the beginning of our salvation, but each day. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be good, it is God's command, but when we are honest, not one is able to even come close to achieving this goal.

All ways which consist of human effort to reach God, whether it be through the will, intellect or emotions, are futile. We have no hope to reach God this way, for not only do we utterly fail to live up to God's holy law, but we have no desire to do so, except by God's grace. True Christian piety begins with God's decent to us in Christ and our ascent to Him through Christ. This leaves zero room for human pride. It is all about what God does for us. Only Christ fulfilled the covenant and achieved the moral perfection that a holy God justly requires. And his death bore the punishment for our willful rebellion and sinful passions. The Scripture requires perfection of you, but you don't have the moral ability to do it. God commands us to be righteousness then turns around and says that we have none (Isaiah 64:6). All self-righteousness is, therefore, out the door. We are guilty of sin against a holy God and therefore, justly deserve God's wrath. Agreeing with this reveals that the Holy Spirit has begun doing a work of grace in you and is the first step in conversion. God law, therefore, must be preached to the proud but the gospel to the broken-hearted, as Martin Luther says. When the Law breaks our pride, autonomy, self-sufficiency and the belief in the utter impotence to save ourselves, then and only then does the gospel become good news (and understandable). Any pulpit or gospel presentation that leaves out God's wrath presents an incomplete and incomprehensible "gospel", but many are doing it. Only in Christ are God's holy demands toward us fully satisfied. The Scripture testifies that believing that this is accomplished, not by our will, but by the grace of God (Rom 9:16; John 6:65). The preachers job, therefore, is to continually place the law and the gospel before Christians.
May the Lord Jesus richly bless you.

Why Moralism Is Not The Gospel

 Albert Mohler's  sermon at the 2011  Gospel Coalition conference, on Christ in the old testament was very eye opening. About the 34 min mark he was discussing what many preachers tend to do with the biblical characters in the Old Testament. The problem he underscores is  not only privy to pastors but also is problematic for all born again parents and believers, including yours truly. 


The problem of only moralising the text. The problem of impressing on the hearer of his Old Testamernt oratory  that the main thrust of the text is to show us a moral example. An example of morality in the negative or positive. A moral example yes, but not a moral example only that is devoid of the Gospel. An example that  is devoid of Christ. That is an injustice to the word of God and  possibly damaging to the hearer.

Here is an article By Dr. Mohler on this very subject.

                                                               Dr. Albert Mohler

             Why moralism is not the gospel- and why so many christians think it is

                                                            

One of the most amazing statements by the Apostle Paul is his indictment of the Galatian Christians for abandoning the Gospel. “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel,” Paul declared. As he stated so emphatically, the Galatians had failed in the crucial test of discerning the authentic Gospel from its counterfeits.

His words could not be more clear: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, he is to be accursed!” [Gal. 1:6-7]

This warning from the Apostle Paul, expressed in the language of the Apostle’s shock and grief, is addressed not only to the church in Galatia, but to every congregation in every age. In our own day — and in our own churches — we desperately need to hear and to heed this warning. In our own time, we face false gospels no less subversive and seductive than those encountered and embraced by the Galatians.

In our own context, one of the most seductive false gospels is moralism. This false gospel can take many forms and can emerge from any number of political and cultural impulses. Nevertheless, the basic structure of moralism comes down to this — the belief that the Gospel can be reduced to improvements in behavior.

Sadly, this false gospel is particularly attractive to those who believe themselves to be evangelicals motivated by a biblical impulse. Far too many believers and their churches succumb to the logic of moralism and reduce the Gospel to a message of moral improvement. In other words, we communicate to lost persons the message that what God desires for them and demands of them is to get their lives straight.

In one sense, we are born to be moralists. Created in God’s image, we have been given the moral capacity of conscience. From our earliest days our conscience cries out to us the knowledge of our guilt, shortcomings, and misbehaviors. In other words, our conscience communicates our sinfulness.

Add to this the fact that the process of parenting and child rearing tends to inculcate moralism from our earliest years. Very quickly we learn that our parents are concerned with our behavior. Well behaved children are rewarded with parental approval, while misbehavior brings parental sanction. This message is reinforced by other authorities in young lives and pervades the culture at large.

Writing about his own childhood in rural Georgia, the novelist Ferrol Sams described the deeply-ingrained tradition of being “raised right.” As he explained, the child who is “raised right” pleases his parents and other adults by adhering to moral conventions and social etiquette. A young person who is “raised right” emerges as an adult who obeys the laws, respects his neighbors, gives at least lip service to religious expectations, and stays away from scandal. The point is clear — this is what parents expect, the culture affirms, and many churches celebrate. But our communities are filled with people who have been “raised right” but are headed for hell.

The seduction of moralism is the essence of its power. We are so easily seduced into believing that we actually can gain all the approval we need by our behavior. Of course, in order to participate in this seduction, we must negotiate a moral code that defines acceptable behavior with innumerable loopholes. Most moralists would not claim to be without sin, but merely beyond scandal. That is considered sufficient.

Moralists can be categorized as both liberal and conservative. In each case, a specific set of moral concerns frames the moral expectation. As a generalization, it is often true that liberals focus on a set of moral expectations related to social ethics while conservatives tend to focus on personal ethics. The essence of moralism is apparent in both — the belief that we can achieve righteousness by means of proper behavior.

The theological temptation of moralism is one many Christians and churches find it difficult to resist. The danger is that the church will communicate by both direct and indirect means that what God expects of fallen humanity is moral improvement. In so doing, the church subverts the Gospel and communicates a false gospel to a fallen world.

Just as parents rightly teach their children to obey moral instruction, the church also bears responsibility to teach its own the moral commands of God and to bear witness to the larger society of what God has declared to be right and good for His human creatures.

But these impulses, right and necessary as they are, are not the Gospel. Indeed, one of the most insidious false gospels is a moralism that promises the favor of God and the satisfaction of God’s righteousness to sinners if they will only behave and commit themselves to moral improvement.

The moralist impulse in the church reduces the Bible to a codebook for human behavior and substitutes moral instruction for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Far too many evangelical pulpits are given over to moralistic messages rather than the preaching of the Gospel.

The corrective to moralism comes directly from the Apostle Paul when he insists that “a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus.” Salvation comes to those who are “justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” [Gal. 2:16]

We sin against Christ and we misrepresent the Gospel when we suggest to sinners that what God demands of them is moral improvement in accordance with the Law. Moralism makes sense to sinners, for it is but an expansion of what we have been taught from our earliest days. But moralism is not the Gospel, and it will not save. The only gospel that saves is the Gospel of Christ. As Paul reminded the Galatians, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” [Gal. 4:4-5]

We are justified by faith alone, saved by grace alone, and redeemed from our sin by Christ alone. Moralism produces sinners who are (potentially) better behaved. The Gospel of Christ transforms sinners into the adopted sons and daughters of God.

The Church must never evade, accommodate, revise, or hide the law of God. Indeed, it is the Law that shows us our sin and makes clear our inadequacy and our total lack of righteousness. The Law cannot impart life but, as Paul insists, it “has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” [Gal. 3:24]

The deadly danger of moralism has been a constant temptation to the church and an ever-convenient substitute for the Gospel. Clearly, millions of our neighbors believe that moralism is our message. Nothing less than the boldest preaching of the Gospel will suffice to correct this impression and to lead sinners to salvation in Christ.

Hell will be highly populated with those who were “raised right.” The citizens of heaven will be those who, by the sheer grace and mercy of God, are there solely because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Moralism is not the gospel.

The Story (Flipping The Switch)

The Story (Flipping The Switch)

Thou Art The Christ!!!!

Gospel Rhyme in Five Minutes

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.