Author Archives: takeheed

Joel Osteen and Rick Warren ‘The heretics are pastoring the church’

The subtitle of this article ‘The heretics are pastoring the church’ is really a parody on another well-known expression, namely ‘the lunatics are running the asylum’. Asylums were built to protect the general public from those who were mentally disturbed and so posed a threat to them but the public at large often think that those running such regimes, by their actions and attitudes, pose just as much, if not an even greater danger to the public they are supposed to be protecting.

God has ordained that His people gather themselves together in local churches and to such assemblies He gifts men who are skilled in “rightly dividing the word of truth” – this expression “rightly dividing the word of truth” according to Vine’s expository dictionary means “teaching Scripture accurately”.

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Mother Teresa – a lost soul? – Richard Bennett

In many countries, Gonhxa Agnes Bojaxhiu, better known as the highly esteemed Mother Teresa, is being presented as a role model. Since many people now accept the notion that all religions are legitimate ways to God, for them Mother Teresa is currently one of the best standards. She believed that all people can go to heaven by way of their own religious beliefs. People rationalize that if good deeds made Mother Teresa acceptable to God, some good deeds in their own lives will help secure their confidence that they, too, will one day reach heaven. Mother Teresa can easily become a reputable, across-the-board role model for those who hold these kinds of assumptions. Moreover, people are very reluctant to state anything against a person so recognized for an extraordinarily devoted life full of many good deeds. Consequently, examination of her life and her message can be a very sensitive issue. Mother Teresa’s life and message, however, must be measured against what our Lord Jesus Christ has said in His written Word, particularly because she finished her life spiritually bankrupt, as she from her early life on admitted to walking in spiritual darkness.[1] This repeated admission must be acknowledged for what it is in the light of Bible truth.

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News From The Front – December 2007

Dear praying friends,

As each year passes it seems that as a ministry we are regularly confronted by the next BIG ‘Evangelical Initiative’ that we are told is assuredly going to change the spiritual landscape and sweep hundreds or even thousands into the Kingdom of God. In recent years I can think back on local initiatives like ‘Power to change’ and ‘Kingdom Come’ and then nationally and globally there has been and still is all the hype about ‘The Passion Movie’ and ‘The Alpha Course’. Rev William Smylie, General director of Slavic Gospel Association in his editorial for their April-June 2007 newsletter wrote about ‘The Importance of Little Things’ and said ‘In general people are switched on by BIG things…In the area of mega churches there are those who will travel half-way around the world to see if they could copy the same method…BIG projects whether they are humanitarian or of a spiritual nature grip many and move them to get on board…The Christian is called to be faithful in the little things…The Christian life is about how we perform ALL the time…Our Lord Jesus Christ is our great example of faithfulness in the simple duties of life…In this issue we are covering…many areas where God’s servants are being faithful in the little things’. In this issue I will once more be sharing concerns about an upcoming BIG initiative called HOPE 2008 and sadly once more BIG does not equal FAITHFUL. As 2008 unfolds may we be ever ready to give a faithful answer for the hope that is in us [1 Peter 3:15].

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Willow Creek connection to the foul-mouthed ‘Jersey Boys’

In a recent email [1st November 2007] from the ministry of Lighthouse Trails they identified some results from a survey carried out by the leaders of the Willow Creek Community Church [Senior Pastor – Bill Hybels]. Herewith are some extracts from that email –

The headlines on a Townhall.com article this week certainly catch the attention…The article talks about a survey Willow Creek performed and the findings of the survey. Townhall columnist Bob Burney explains:

Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You? co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong. The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments: “Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into, thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much…”

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Alpha Endorsers

‘Protestant’

  • Rowan Williams – Archbishop of Canterbury

‘What Alpha has to offer is a unique mixture of Christian content and Christian style. I recommend it to all the Christian family as a very special tool of evangelism’

  • Richard Chartres – Bishop of London

‘Real education…Christian companionship…a living experience of the mystery of God. I am so grateful for Alpha courses’

  • Alister McGrath – President Oxford Centre

‘The Alpha Course has now become one of the most reliable and important means of drawing people into the church. It has enormous potential’

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‘BBC Trust’ complicit in Islamic misinformation

In this article I will be sharing with you exchanges that took place between myself and the BBC following a complaint lodged by me with them in July 2006. My complaint related to a ‘Pause for Thought’ contribution on the Wogan programme [hosted on the day in question by Johnny Walker] by a Muslim spokesman called Faris Badawi. Before coming to the exchanges I want to ‘set the tone’ for everything that follows by firstly quoting a short item written by an Australian called Paul Christopher that is located on this website – http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/3518

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‘Hope 2008’ – not “that blessed hope” of Titus 2:13

In January of this year I received an email from a Christian couple in England who had attended a meeting In Birmingham in October 2006 at which they were introduced to an initiative that would be called ‘HOPE 2008’. In their own words they wrote of ‘something called “HOPE 2008” the theme of which is “Redeeming Our Communities” – this was pioneered by Gerald Coates’.

In my reply to them I wrote this concerning “HOPE 2008” – “You mentioned the involvement of Gerald Coates so on that basis alone I would steer well clear of it”. Very briefly, Gerald Coates has promoted many charismatic deceptions such as the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’ and with his track record of failed ‘prophecies’ he should be thankful that he doesn’t live in Old Testament times [see Deuteronomy 18:20].

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News From The Front – September 2007

Dear praying friends,

One of the enclosures with our March 2007 newsletter related to ‘2 matters for prayerful and practical consideration’. Thanks to the generous response of God’s people, in relation to one matter mentioned I was able to purchase a laptop computer and the PowerPoint programme. Over the summer months I have been trying to get to grips with this new technology – I wouldn’t claim to have fully ‘cracked it’ but I have been able to put together a number of presentations on current issues [such as Scientology, and Islam] and already a number of churches/fellowships have made arrangements for me to come to make these presentations. I am truly grateful to all who contributed and am also grateful to the Lord for opening up these opportunities to utilise these gifts for the sake of His truth. The second matter related to a possible ministry trip to Kenya in 2009. After much prayerful consideration both Margaret and I felt that this matter should not be pursued any further and we have informed the Kenyan Pastor accordingly. Again I am grateful to those who prayed for us as we considered this possible trip. One trip we shall be making will be for 10 days to Illinois and Ohio in October [DV] when I will be speaking in 4 churches during that time. Again I will be addressing matters that are very much in the news and so we would covet your prayers for provision for our travel and protection as we travel. As ever we covet your ongoing prayers as we sound the warning of ‘Take Heed’.

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Email sent to David Cameron MP

Dear Mr Cameron,

I have just watched the Channel 5 news interview that you gave to John Suchet and in the course of it you declared that you were ‘a Christian’.

I must confess that this came as somewhat of a surprise to me for one particular reason. In a speech you declared your support for ‘the family’ but you did not restrict ‘the family’ to God’s ordained family standard of ‘one man and one woman’ but you broadened it to ‘man with man’ or ‘woman with woman’.

These latter 2 views of ‘the family’ are regarded by God as a sinful abomination as can be read in Romans chapter 1. The only sexual intimacy sanctioned by God is between a man and a woman who are married to each other as we read in Hebrews 13:4. Continue reading →

The ‘Labyrinth Experience’ in South Belfast

When Pastor Gary Gilley was our guest here in March 2006 to address a number of issues, including what has come to be known as ‘The Emerging Church’; he highlighted how in many instances churches and fellowships are now ‘supplementing’ or in some cases virtually ‘replacing’ the reading and preaching of the Word of God with more visual, sensory-based experiences designed to somehow induce an almost mystical ‘experience’ of ‘God’.

In recent times a couple of Methodist Churches in South Belfast have hosted what were termed as ‘The Labyrinth Experience’. In each case those presenting this ‘experience’ have ‘dressed up’ rooms in the church complexes in such a way as to appeal to and address the senses and to supposedly ‘picture’ some aspect of a spiritual relationship with God. Ideas such as ‘the journey so far’, ‘the God who knows and loves’, our ‘relationship’ and what He ‘reveals’ will hopefully be ‘conjured up’ by the use of partitions and curtains, devotional aids such as the well-known ‘Footprints’, photos of people and communities, water bowls, pebbles and an open Bible.

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