The news headline: Evangelist Oral Roberts dead at 91
How about we stop calling him an ‘evangelist’ and start calling him what he actually was: A Charlatan.
I hope, I really hope, he had repented and put his trust in Jesus for his salvation.
As for the charismatic movement he helped foster, I hope it realizes its own chicanery dies the death it should.
On travel this week, I was up having coffee and the Today Show was on TV. Katy Perry is performing ‘Thinking of You’. I find it so strange as the camera pans about looking at the crowd and focusing in and out on kids whose ages range from 6 – 13, mouthing along with the lyrics as Katy Perry sings. Not many think it wrong for these kids to have the words to a song memorized about a girl who’s been dumped and is thinking of the guy who just broke up with her while sleeping around and ‘testing the waters’.
Dr. Bruce Wilkinson has written a new book: You Were Born for This; 7 Keys to a Life of Predictable Miracles. He’s now running his promotional campaign, showing up in churches, leading seminars, pimping group study materials and the like for 7 keys that will give a life of predictable miracles. I don’t like Bruce Wilkinson’s teaching as it aligns itself way to close to the word-faith/name it and claim it/blab it and grab it prosperity gospel nonsense. His teaching is a sham and leads people down the road of disappointment. It’s a mockery of the satisfaction we have in Christ, through faith (ie Trust) in Him alone. The moment we try to add to it a step here or a step there to get or give something else we take away from His completed work on our behalf.
John Piper has been on a campaign against this kind of teaching for a few years now. This 2 and a half minute clip should really set the mood for the farce that books like the Prayer of Jabez and now You Were Born for This dance around so casually.
A man like Dr. Bruce Wilkinson should know better. As a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, this type of rubbish is really without excuse. The same school that produces alumni like J. Vernon McGee, John F. Walvoord, Hal Lindsey, David Jeremiah, Chuck Swindoll and so on, has managed to produce Bruce Wilkinson as well. It’s a bit bizarre to read Bruce’s name among these guys. Holding up any of the more layman friendly books by David Jeremiah next to the Prayer of Jabez and it’s likes choosing between steak and watery oatmeal.
So what’s wrong with the Prayer of Jabez that will likely be wrong with the yet to be released You Were Born for This? I’ve collected a few links that should really bring to light why this type of Christian publishing is best avoided altogether. Walk into any Christian bookstore and you’re going to find the shelves littered with books like this.
God, Prayer and the American Evangelical by Mark Talbot
Praying Like Jabez? by Mike Oppenheimer
The Prayer of Jabez and the Prayer of James by Sandy Simpson
I’ve added a segment from Fighting for the Faith: Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God below. This link however will go to the page where you can get the entire episode. The segment is: Bruce Wilkinson, author of the Prayer of Jabez has a new book coming out in September entitled You Were Born for This: 7 Keys to a Life of Predictable Miracles. This book is heretical and dangerous and we’re warning the Church in advance of Wilkinson’s deceptions.
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In the message at church this morning, Pastor Allen Jackson talked a few minutes about the history of Isaiah 53. I’ve been accused of puporting a conspiracy when talking about this and so often, the accuser seems intent on not informing him or herself of the facts, let alone really reading my comments.
So for those who run into this sort of problem themselves, here is a 3 and a half minute talk about this, putting it as simply as can possibly put. Sometimes we have to make these as short and sweet as possible, and how great it is that in these 3 and a half minutes, a brief encounter with the Gospel is had.
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Google Trends is currently showing that the term ‘Laodicean Definition’ is the number 2 search after last nights final word ‘Laodicean’ won the Spelling Bee.
For a clip and pertinent commentary, see the Peering Into Darkness post: ‘Laodicean’ is winning word in Spelling Bee
Revelation 3:14-22 ESV:
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
The Constitution Party has issued a response to the MIAC Report that labeled at least 50% of American citizens as potentially dangerous militia members. Give their response a read and follow their advice of a letter to the governor of Missouri. The MIAC issued an apology stating that they’ll be removing references to those in support of 3rd party candidates.
However, you might still be a member of a threatening militia movement if you have certain political leanings. I think it’d be nice if every person who is against gun control, illegal immigration, abortion, the UN, the NAFTA super highway, the federal reserve, the IRS or mandatory service programs would boycott the state of Missouri. Let Missouri be given over to the depraved and see whom governor Jay Nixon would rather have in his state. Missouri could become the capital for all things wonderful such as:
- Rampant crime since no one would carry a gun except the criminals
- Illegal immigrants with no desire to render to the government their share
- Murder on demand, since the babies left butchered in dumpsters don’t cry, you don’t have to worry about a thing, that is until your in the hospital seeking medical care from the same doctor who slaughtered your child.
Yes, Missouri could be that beacon of hope, just make a mass exit if you’re already there and don’t bother driving through. If you’re in one of the surrounding states, it’s not too hard to get around it. The government doesn’t want you there and you run the risk of being politically profiled as a member of a threatening militia if you show up. Missouri has nothing worth showing me. So much for a commitment to simple common-sense.
The violation of the function of the spirit by asserting the supremacy of his soul is the basic fallacy of humanism. It’s this reversal of man’s nature that has tried to make his reason superior to revelation, that’s the hallmark of humanism ever since.
–Chuck Missler, session 6 in his Esther commentary discussing the fall of Adam
Reading piles of books on philosophy will only confuse matters. A Biblical worldview not only answers the most basic and probing questions, it does so in the simplest of ways. Every problem on the face of this earth can be summed up in one word: Pride
Here is the actual document. Thanks to Dr. Michael Heiser’s Every Thought Captive post.
The Modern Militia Movement-Missouri MIAC Strategic Report 20Feb09
The report ” ‘Fusion center’ data draws fire over assertions” claims there is a document that was recently compiled by state and federal agencies to combat terrorism titled “The Modern Militia Movement.” In it are some pretty impressive ‘red-flags’ that law enforcement agencies should take note of.
You might be a terrorist if:
- You have a political bumper sticker supporting Ron Paul (US Representative, Texas)
- You speak of conspiracy theories
- You raise an eye-brow to the plan for the NAFTA super-highway.
- That’s the mega-highway from Canada to Mexico… or,
- You possess subversive literature.
Well, state law enforcement officials are saying the report is being misinterpreted. That should help us sleep easier at night. Unless you get pulled over, as Tim Neal noted:
Neal, who has a Ron Paul bumper sticker on his car, said the next time he is pulled over by a police officer, he won’t know whether it’s because he was speeding or because of his political views.
“If a police officer is pulling me over with my family in the car and he sees a bumper sticker on my vehicle that has been specifically identified as one that an extremist would have in their vehicle, the guy is probably going to be pretty apprehensive and not thinking in a rational manner,” Neal said. “And this guy’s walking up to my vehicle with a gun.”
