Warnings

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Charismatic Chaos – John MacArthur

Charismatic Chaos Part 1

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Avoiding Empty Philosophies – Tearing Down Strongholds

Bible Q & A With John MacArthur

2 Corinthians 10

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:4–5)

To successfully fight the spiritual war requires weapons from the heavenly arsenal. Only those divinely powerful weapons are suited for the destruction of the enemies’ fortresses. That term would convey to the New Testament reader the thought of a formidable stronghold. Corinth, like most major cities in Greece, had an acropolis. Located on a mountain near the city, the acropolis was a fortified place into which the inhabitants could retreat when attacked. Ochuroma (fortresses) was also used in extrabiblical Greek to refer to a prison. People under siege in a fortress were imprisoned there by the attacking forces. The word was also used to refer to a tomb.

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Confronting Error with Condemnation, Not Conversation

Grace to You – John MacArthur

And now we come to the Word of God again, and Luke 20 is our text…Luke 20. We have arrived at the end of this chapter and we’ll look at the final three verses…Luke chapter 20 verses 45 through 47. Let me establish them in your mind, follow as I read. Luke chapter 20 beginning at verse 45.

“And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses and for appearances sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

Strong words. Unmistakable words. Backing up a little bit from this text and approaching it from afar off, we need to be reminded that the Bible warns us about false teachers from beginning to end. There have always been and there always will be false religious leaders who operate for Satan. They operate out of the kingdom of darkness, but they operate as if they are messengers from God.

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WIDE IS THE GATE: The Emerging New Christianity

Bob DeWaay, Roger Oalkand, Mike Gendron, Ray Yungen, Tom Mc Mahon  and more ……..

A look into the Invasion of the old New Age Movement in today’s Post Modern Church.

FROM THE BACK COVER

Once there were two Church choices, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, but in recent decades Christianity has been redefined giving rise to unprecedented quasi-Christian spiritual philosophies and practices. Claiming to be “revivals” are these the counterfeits Jesus warned would occur before His return? (Luke 18:8)

Many so-called Christian leaders are introducing innovative teachings based on new Bible translations and paraphrases that alter the timeless truths of Holy Scripture. A more progressive spirituality, with roots in eastern mysticism, is replacing faith in God’s Word. This “New Christian Spirituality” poses as a more relevant “New Gospel” for today’s Postmodern culture that prefers subjective and emotional feelings, rather than absolute truths.

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A Survey of Heresies

I have worked through all these sermons/teachings and have found them very informative and detailed. I am sharing here for you the reader and my hope is you gain better Biblical understanding about false teachings and their origins.

By Phil Johnson

It’s important for Christians to have a grasp of heresies that the church has battled over the centuries, because they often return with new clothing, and the unprepared Christian is likely to fall into these old pits. Phil does an excellent job of looking at some of the major heresies that are revisiting the church today: Socinianism, Arianism, Pelagianism, Gnosticism, and Judaizing. This is an excellent 6 part series that will shore up some weak points in the church today.

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How is the Church like the moon?

Dr Paul M Elliot

Like the moon, the Church shines with reflected light – is bigger than it looks – is the “lesser light to rule the night” – affects the world greatly but silently – has different phases – and at times, has its eclipses!

Just as God “appointed the moon for seasons,” He has appointed the Church for His eternal purpose. Commenting on Psalm 104:19, Dr. J. Sidlow Baxter draws some pithy parallels between the moon and the Church:

A scoffer who was as empty of truth as he was full of bluff derisively remarked, “Religion is all moonshine.” Unwittingly he came close to uttering a remarkable similitude. The moon and the Christian Church have much in common! What the one is to the physical world the other is to the spiritual; and we should be dark indeed without either! Trace the parallel.

The moon shines with reflected light. It has no light in itself. It shines with the reflected light of the sun. So the Church reflects the light of Christ. Apart from Him it has no light to give. In these days when the ecumenical movement gives large prominence to the so-called “world church”, and talks more about it than about HIM, it is well to remember that the Church was never put into the world to witness to itself. It can only give light as it forgets itself in reflecting Christ….

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Spiritual Deception, Revival and Angus Buchan (South Africa’s Charismatic “Hajj”)

Prof. Johan Malan, South Africa (May 2010)

Spiritual deception and apostatising keep on proliferating as we are moving deeper into the end-time. We know that the Spirit of truth wants to guide us into all the truth of God’s Word – including the correct understanding of end-time prophecies (John 16:13). On the opposite side there is the spirit of error who is intent on deceiving people spiritually with a view to preparing them on the coming of the Antichrist (1 John 4:1-6). More than ever before we need discernment to be able to observe the full counsel of God and to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us and keep us from all forms of deception.

It is not always easy to keep our ways pure in all respects by correct discernment of these two spiritual influences since there is, by the devil’s doing, a grey area between them. Satan has the ability to present himself as an angel of light, thereby also deceiving Christians with noble intentions (2 Cor. 11:13-15; Matt. 24:4-5,24). It is one of his main objectives to confuse   believers by inciting them to entertain erroneous views on Christ and the Bible. There are many examples of such satanic influence in the Bible.

Peter was conscious of the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God and honestly thought that he made a very positive statement when he expressed himself against the idea of Christ’s crucifixion. However, it was clearly evident that he was deceived by Satan to take this stand (Matt. 16:14-23). Maybe Peter can be excused for this action since he did not yet have the full enlightening of the Holy Spirit.

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What the Bible Says about The DOCTRINES OF GRACE

Taken by Avalon - Vernelle Imaging

Romans 9:20-24

(20) But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”  (21)  Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?  (22)  What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  (23)  in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory–  (24)  even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Nathan Pitchford

“Ever since the Serpent first tempted Eve in the garden by casting doubt on God’s word and his character as he had revealed himself to her, mankind has always been engaged in the idolatrous pursuit of fashioning a god after his own imagination…There is no cure for this, but to cast off all our prior ideas of who we think God should be, or what we think he should mean when he speaks of his love, his grace, his justice, and his salvation, and to go to His Word for all our answers.” (from the Introduction)

DOCTRINES OF GRACE – CATEGORIZED SCRIPTURE LIST

God has recently given us the opportunity to discuss some theological issues with other Christians who believe differently than we do on a number of points, most notably the doctrines of grace. In such a circumstance, given the overwhelming supply of scriptural evidence that comes to bear on the topic, it seemed to me that the best approach would be a simple categorized scripture list: the fact that the entire paper would be scriptures, with the exception of a few brief explanatory notes, would underscore the truth that this is God’s own word and teaching; and the fact that it would be categorized would facilitate the ready comparison of scripture with scripture so as to lead one to a full-orbed understanding of the biblical teaching. Although I found a few good scripture lists of that nature available online, none of them was laid out in quite the progression that I was looking for, and so I developed my own. I’m posting it

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The Modern Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

John MacArthur – Grace to You

October 23, 2011

Selected Scriptures

Well now that I don’t have to preach on anything but what I want to preach on since I finished the New Testament, I find myself all over the place trying to decide what to preach on in sequence…a new kind of experience for me and I’m working on some kind of sequence that makes sense over the future. But I am sort of at the liberty point of my life where whatever is on my heart is where I can go, and this is a wonderful opportunity for me. And there is a subject that has concerned me for a long time and I have wanted to address this subject but it hasn’t been a part of preaching through the gospels in the way that it can be now and that is the subject of the Holy Spirit…the Holy Spirit.

After all the emphasis of so many years, 25 years of preaching through the four gospels, and much emphasis, of course, on the person of Christ as it should be, much emphasis on the character of God, and the nature of God as manifest in Christ and is seen elsewhere in Scripture, it is time now to give honor to the third member of the Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the most forgotten, the most misrepresented, the most dishonored, the most grieved, the most abused and I might even say the most blasphemed of the members of the Trinity. That’s a sad thing.

When our Lord cleansed the temple in John 2, He said that He was, in a sense, fulfilling the attitude of David from Psalm 69, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up, the reproaches that fall on you are fallen on Me.” And what our Lord was saying was when God is dishonored, I feel the pain. “You have taken My Father’s house, which is to be a house of prayer, and turned it into a den of robbers. You’ve corrupted My Father’s house. You’ve blasphemed My Father’s name. You’ve dishonored My Father.”

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Urgency and Necessity of The Truth War

Contend Earnestly for the Faith!

Why We Must Contend Earnestly For The Faith – Pastor Bob DeWaay

By Elmarie Swart

I am currently reading John MacArthur’s book, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception , I was going to do another post on the pages 66-65 (I will still write about this)  of John MacArthur’s  book when I found this very good and relevant piece written about Chapter 3 .  I have found it very relevant and necessary to share this with all. Out in the Cyber world between Christians I do detect alot of important disagreements. Most of the time it would be because those who are into a false teaching or church have no real knowledge of the Word. Why ? Because true Biblical expository teachings are fading away. We are told to test every thing we are told by teachers and hold fast to that which is good,  and also to test because many false teachers will lead many on the wide road to destruction.  1Th 5:21  but test everything; hold fast what is good.   1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

I  am in full agreement with this good piece of writing as to why we must fight the truth war in all earnest while still here on earth and we need to contend earnestly for the faith now even more than before. Daily more and more sheep are led astray to the slaughter house by the false winds and doctrines bellowing across the the world now more than ever. As we come to know the Word of God ,we will find that nothing of the false teachings today are really new, they  were there while Jesus and the Apostle’s walked the earth. We are given the commandment by Jesus to spread the Gospel and surely the warnings against false teachings forms part to earnestly contend for the faith!!  Jesus also said he came not to bring peace but a sword.  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. Paul also said for Jesus’s namesake we will suffer, Php 1:29  For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

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Does God Still Heal?

John MacArthur – Grace to You

(Part 9 of 13 of the Charismatic Chaos (Sermon Series)

Well as you know, we are involved in a study of the Charismatic movement, the contemporary movement, and tonight we come to a section entitled, “Does God Still Heal?” Now in the messages that I have been giving we have intersected with the thoughts about healing, and we have said some things about that in some of our prior studies and we’re not going to repeat those things, but there is much more that needs to be said tonight as we evaluate a movement that advocates healing. In fact, if there is anything that would be typically Charismatic or typically characteristic of the modern Pentecostal movement, third wave movement, or Charismatic movement, it would be a major emphasis on healing, and we need to understand that.

Let me begin with some illustrations that set the scene for us. A familiar name to anybody who studies the Charismatic movement and delves into the issues of healing is the name of a man, Hobart Freeman, a very interesting man, at one time a professor of Old Testament at Grace Theological Seminary, from which our own Dick Mahue graduated, and when he was a professor there in Old Testament, he was considered to be the finest communicator, the finest teacher there. In fact, Hobart Freeman wrote a very significant book entitled, “An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets,” which in 1969, was published and printed by the Moody Bible Institute. So he was considered by everybody to be a mainline evangelical professor, one who not only understood but could adroitly teach the truth of Scripture.

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What Is The New Apostolic Reformation? (And Why Should We Be Concerned About It?)


By Christine Pack

A Personal Note: Please-please-please send this article to your loved ones so that they can be on the look-out for this dangerous movement sweeping through Christianity. I consider this to be one of the most important articles I have ever written, and I regret not having written it sooner. And please understand that I have only scratched the surface in this article. Unfortunately, the NAR is such a massive movement, with so many tentacles, and so many people involved, that it was almost impossible to talk about it concisely. It is almost unfathomable to me how many people have been affected by this dangerous movement. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t hear from at least one person who has personally had to flee a once solid church because this teaching has suddenly swept in, or someone who has watched a loved one be seduced by it, or someone who has even been unwittingly swept up in this movement themselves.

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Why is The Message (Bible) not safe ?

By Justin Peters

A Brief (and by no means exhaustive) Summary of Passages Contained Within “The Message” by Eugene Peterson Which Directly Compromise Fundamental Tenets of Orthodox Christianity.

What follows is a comparison/contrast and analysis of several well – known passages as found in major translations such as the KJV, NASB, and NIV as well as these same passages as found in The Message authored by Eugene Peterson. Any intellectually honest assessment of the following notes leads to the inescapable conclusion that The Message compromises some of the fundamental doctrines of orthodox Christianity.

I began this study when I was made aware that the high school seniors of a nearby church were given copies of The Message as graduation gifts. I did not at the time own a copy of The Message nor had I read it. My exposure to it at that point was seeing it cited in other works. I purchased a copy and began to read and study this paraphrase more in depth. What I discovered stunned me. The Message is not only a poor paraphrase, but it is, in fact,heretical.

Matthew 6:9

New American
Standard Bible : 1995
Update

9 “Pray, then, in this
way: ‘Our Father who is
in heaven, Hallowed be
Your name.

The King James Version

9 After this manner
therefore pray ye: Our
Father which art in
heaven, Hallowed be thy
name.

The New International
Version

9 “This, then, is how you
should pray: “‘Our Father in
heaven, hallowed be your
name,

The Message

9 With a God like this loving
you, you can pray very
simply. Like this: Our Father
in heaven, Reveal who you
are.

This is a passage from what is commonly referred to as “the Lord’s Prayer.” There are two problems with Peterson’s rendering of this familiar passage. The first is that Peterson includes an imperative from Jesus to the Father that is not in the text. The second, and much more serious, problem is the nature of His imperative – Reveal who you are. Why would Jesus Christ who is the revelation of God (Heb. 1:1-3) ask God to reveal  Himself? The Revelation of God is the One Who is praying the prayer! This imperative by Jesus certainly strongly implies that Godhas yet to reveal Himself. I beg to differ. Also, notice the room which is implicitly provided for a later revelation of the antichrist who will, of course, claim to be the revelation of God.

John 10:30

New American Standard Bible
: 1995 Update

30 “I and the Father are one.”

The King James
Version

30 I and my Father
are one.

The New International
Version

30 I and the Father are
one.”

The Message

30 I and the Father are one
heart and mind.”

This is another familiar passage. The NASB, NIV, and KJV are all practically identical, save for the insertion of a personal pronoun found in the latter. Not so The Message’s rendering. The Message denigrates the uniqueness and deity of Jesus. Let us remember that David was a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) but he was not God.

1 Timothy 4:1-5

New American Standard
Bible : 1995 Update

1 But the Spirit explicitly
says that in later times
some will fall away from
the faith, paying attention
to deceitful spirits and
doctrines of demons,

The King James Version

1 Now the Spirit speaketh
expressly, that in the latter
times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed
to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils;

The New International
Version

1 The Spirit clearly says
that in later times some will
abandon the faith and
follow deceiving spirits and
things taught by demons

The Message

1 The Spirit makes it clear
that as time goes on, some
are going to give up on the
faith and chase after
demonic illusions put forth
by professional liars.

Of the passages which I have cited in this letter, this is the least worrisome but is worrisome nonetheless. Paul is clearly referring to demonic powers but note the unmistakable human spin which Peterson employs. He diminishes the demonic powers by referring to them as mere “illusions” which are forwarded not by demons but by “professional liars.” Such a reference could encapsulate a carnival barker.

Matthew 5:5

New American Standard
Bible : 1995 Update

5 Blessed are the gentle, for
they shall inherit the earth

The King James
Version

5 Blessed are the
meek, for they shall
inherit the earth

The New International
Version

5 Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the
earth

The Message

5 You are truly blessed when
you are content with just who
you are – no more, no less.

Not only does this not have anything to do with the passage at hand, it is stunningly un-biblical. What if a homosexual is reading this? Should he be content with “just who he is?” What about an agnostic? A Hindu? What about one who believes himself to be a “Christian” but is living in sin? This is not even true for a Biblebelieving, committed Christian! There should never be a time when we are “content with just who we are.” This is a profoundly unbiblical statement.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

New American Standard
Bible : 1995 Update

9 Or do you not know that
the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of
God? Do not be deceived;
neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor
homosexuals,

10 nor thieves, nor the
covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers,
will inherit the kingdom of God.

11 Such were some of you;
but you were washed, but
you were sanctified, but
you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in the Spirit of
our God.

The King James Version

9 Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not
inherit the kingdom of
God? Be not deceived:
neither fornicators, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves
with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor
extortioners, shall inherit
the kingdom of God.

11 And such were some of
you: but ye are washed,
but ye are sanctified, but
ye are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus,
and by the Spirit of our
God.

The New International
Version

9 Do you not know that the
wicked will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived: Neither the
sexually immoral nor
idolaters nor adulterers nor
male prostitutes nor
homosexual offenders

10 nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of
God.

11 And that is what some of
you were. But you were
washed, you were
sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God.

The Message

9 Don’t you realize that this
is not the way to live? Unjust
people who don’t care about
God will not be joining in his
kingdom. Those who use
and abuse each other, use
and abuse sex,
(Guess what’s missing!)

10 use and abuse the earth
and everything in it, don’t
qualify as citizens in God’s
kingdom.

11 A number of you know
from experience what I’m
talking about, for not so long
ago you were on that list.
Since then, you’ve been
cleaned up and given a
fresh start by Jesus, our
Master, our Messiah, and by
our God present in us, the
Spirit.

This one is serious. One of the sins to which the Apostle Paul is clearly referring is that of homosexuality. Notice that The Message completely omits the word. In its stead, Peterson inserts the phrase “those who use and abuse the earth.” The earth? From where in the world (or the text as the case may be) did he get the earth? There seems to be an environmental agenda at work here. One could not read this passage in a real Bible and come away believing that homosexuality was permissible under any circumstances. One would never know from reading The Message, however, that it was a problem in any sense.

Romans 1:26-27

New American Standard
Bible : 1995 Update

26 For this reason God
gave them over to
degrading passions; for
their women exchanged
the natural function for that
which is unnatural,

27 and in the same way
also the men abandoned
the natural function of the
woman and burned in their
desire toward one another,
men with men committing
indecent acts and receiving
in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

The King James Version

26 For this cause God gave
them up unto vile affections:
for even their women did
change the natural use into
that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the
men, leaving the natural use
of the woman, burned in
their lust one toward
another; men with men
working that which is
unseemly, and receiving in
themselves that recompence of their error
which was meet.

The New International
Version

26 Because of this, God
gave them over to shameful
lusts. Even their women
exchanged natural relations
for unnatural ones.

27 In the same way the men
also abandoned natural
relations with women and
were inflamed with lust for
one another. Men committed
indecent acts with other men,
and received in themselves
the due penalty for their perversion.

The Message

26 Worse followed.
Refusing to know God,
they soon didn’t know
how to be human
either—women didn’t
know how to be women,
men didn’t know how to
be men.

27 Sexually confused,
they abused and defiled
one another, women with
women, men with men—
all lust, no love. And
then they paid for it, oh,
how they paid for it—
emptied of God and love, godless and loveless
wretches.

This passage dealing with homosexuality is quite a bit more problematic for Peterson. In 1 Cor. 6:9-11, he had only to omit one word. Here, he has two entire verses with which to wrestle. What to do here? Well, Peterson provides a loophole: all lust, no love. The not-so-subtle insinuation is that ‘Well, if these people had just done this out of love, then it would have been ok.’ There is clearly in The Message room for a ‘committed, loving’ homosexual relationship. In Peterson’s rendering of the Bible, it is not the nature of homosexuality in and of itself that is the grievous sin, it is simply the absence of love.

1 Timothy 1:10

New American Standard
Bible : 1995 Update

10 and immoral men and
homosexuals and kidnappers
and liars and perjurers…

The King James
Version

10 For
whoremongers, for
them that defile
themselves with
mankind, for
menstealers, for
liars…

The New International
Version

10 for adulterers and
perverts, for slave
traders and liars and
perjurers…

The Message

10 but for the irresponsible, who
defy all authority, riding
roughshod over God, life, sex,
truth, whatever!

The Message again simply leaves out the reference to homosexuality and replaces it instead with the generic “sex.” Inexplicably, the NIV appears to do the same. There are 3 passages in the N.T. that deal with homosexuality and The Message utterly fails on all three.

Note: The Message does, in fairness, appear to be relatively on track in regards to Leviticus 18:22. This, though, does not excuse its abject failure in the N.T. Let’s be honest, how many people (teenagers especially) are realistically going to do devotional reading from Leviticus? They are far more likely to spend their time in the New Testament

Romans 8:35

New American
Standard Bible : 1995
Update

35 Who will separate us
from the love of Christ?
Will tribulation, or
distress, or persecution,
or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or
sword?

The King James
Version

35 Who shall separate
us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulation,
or distress, or
persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril,
or sword?

The New International
Version

35 Who shall separate
us from the love of
Christ? Shall trouble or
hardship or persecution
or famine or nakedness
or danger or sword?

The Message

35 Do you think anyone is going to
be able to drive a wedge between us
and Christ’s love for us? There is no
way! Not trouble, not hard times, not
hatred, not hunger, not
homelessness, not bullying threats,
not backstabbing, not even the
worst sins listed in Scripture:

This one really is troublesome. Notice that all of the elements which Paul rightly asserts will never separate us from Christ are very earthly and temporal (tribulation, persecution, famine, etc.). Paul is basically talking about hard times. Eugene Peterson brazenly inserts into the passage: not even the worst sins listed in Scripture. Wow. This should trouble any clear thinking believer. Sin IS what separates us from God! That is why we need a Savior! For the one who is lost, sin separates from God positionally. For the believer, sin separates from God relationally. Sin is not even remotely in view in this passage. This is heresy.

Conclusion:
Pick up a copy of The Message and you will see on its front cover “The Bible in Contemporary Language.” The Message is NOT the Bible. It is one man’s commentary on the Bible, and an extraordinarily poor one at that. Some object to criticism of Peterson’s work by saying The Message is not a literal translation but rather a paraphrase. True. But even paraphrases should be an accurate thought for thought rendering of the original biblical text. We are not talking here about a paraphrase of “Green Eggs and Ham.” We are talking about the Word of God. God holds His name and His word above all things (Psalm 138:2). His Word must be rendered and handled accurately. What we believe about God is derived from what we read in His Word. If one reads an erroneous Bible, then it logically follows that what one believes about God will also be in error.

The Message is, in large part, marketed toward teenagers, young adults, and young believers – the most impressionable among us. Youth ministers are reading this to their students and teaching from it. Many preachers are, sadly, quoting it in their sermons. Hopefully, much of this is being done in ignorance. The question must be asked, ‘Would Jesus Christ approve of this rendering of His word?’ Certainly any honest intellectual assessment would have to lead one to the answer of “no.” If Christ would not approve then certainly we must not either. In a concluding thought, it is not Mr. Peterson’s intentions or sincerity which is important. In fact, they are irrelevant entirely. Peterson may well be sincere. Sincerity, though, is not the issue – Truth is the issue. Misplaced sincerity is a profoundly dangerous commodity.

In Him and for His Truth

Most respectively submitted,

Justin Peters

Source : 

http://justinpeters.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=15&Itemid=26

DOWNLOAD THE FULL PDF :  The_Message[1] beware

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What is the Meaning of Anathema? Can a Church Pronounce an Anathema Upon Me?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Our series on the subject of how Christians should deal with false teaching in the church generated some followup questions from readers. We take up the first today: “What is the meaning of anathema? Can a church pronounce an anathema upon a person or group?”

Several Related Questions

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Is Your Church a Spiritual Titanic?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part 12 of a series. Read part 11

In our current series we’ve been addressing these questions: “My church is no longer true to the Word of God on essential Christian truths. What should I do? Should I leave? Should I stay and try to fight error? Will I be guilty of schism if I do either one?”

Presently we’re dealing with some of the un-Biblical responses that are common today. In this installment we focus on the untenable position of those who say that there is safety in remaining in a larger church or denomination despite its errors, rather than becoming part of the remnant that comes out and separates from apostasy. Today many Evangelical and Reformed church-goers believe it is safer to remain on a large but apostate sinking ship, rather than trust their lives to the safety of a small but sound Gospel lifeboat.1

The Safety of a Large But Sinking Ship?

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