Introduction
The Christian world today is saturated with popular and charismatic authors/speakers/preachers. The problem is that popularity is neither an indication of Biblical accuracy nor spiritual reliability. Rank heresy is often delivered well sprinkled with Biblical verses, carefully chosen to make it appear that that the teaching is Scriptural. Many do nothing but cater to what the listeners wish were true or their insatiable quest to be entertained. These men and women are not Christians, but wolves in sheep's clothing who lead people away from salvation and life. Sadly, although the New Testament repeatedly warns against deception, a very gullible Christian community rarely seems to bother to thoroughly check that what they are being fed is Scriptural. In fact they completely ignore passages in Scripture that disagree with or even completely contradict what is being claimed. As long as it sounds reasonable, and said spiritual leader/pastor/author can pull out a few ‘proof texts’ that appear to substantiate their theories, the hearer/reader remains perfectly content. This is one of the factors that has led to false and dangerous doctrines become not only accepted and embraced, but spread like particularly deadly viruses. Remember the verses in Scripture that speak of The “Falling Away” when some will give “Heed to Deceiving Spirits And Doctrines Of Demons? Well THAT DAY IS ALREADY HERE. We have lost all rights to call ourselves Christians by our wholesale adoption of doctrines and practices DIRECTLY derived from the occult - Tongues, Word of Faith, Labyrinths, Contemplative Prayer, Slain In The Spirit and Santa Claus. which means the man of sin isn’t far behind. May God, in His mercy send us a Nathan to accuse, a Jonah to warn, and an Elijah to threaten before it is too late. See Doctrines of Demons Below are some of the wolves alive and well in the 21st century church who exalt themselves and their beliefs above the Word of God, leading thousands of believers away from salvation and eternal life. ( Please remember that the Apostle Paul, not only publicly confronted Peter, but called down God's curse on anyone who preached a different gospel. See Judge Not?)
Wealthy Celebrity Pastors and Their Shallow Self-serving Theology Who Have Made Entertainment The New Way of Doing Church HERE
Welcome to the new breed of wealthy, charismatic, dynamic, and very convincing celebrity preachers who pastor mile wide and inch deep flashy mega churches. Capitalizing on Christianity has proved to be far more lucrative than starting a new religion especially since they get countless millions to support their lavish lifestyle by...
Prophets Or Deluded Charlatans HERE
The Bible tells us that that false prophets are ferocious wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15) and if a prophet presumes to speak a word in God's name that God has not commanded him to speak, that prophet shall die. Yet false prophets abound and thrive in the Christian world. When someone "senses" something is God's will or has words form in their heads, they may sincerely believe they have a prophetic gift. However, it is entirely possible that what they believe to be from the Father has actually originated in their own imagination. Therefore any prophet that says "Thus saith the Lord", has to be willing to be put to death if it doesn't come to pass. Also See The Anointing - Link at the end of this page
C. Peter Wagner’s New Apostolic Reformation -
Apostles Or Deluded Impostors HERE
Although not a single soul alive today meets ANY of the Biblical qualifications of a true apostle, yet, there are an astonishing number of men who not only claim the title of "apostle", but believe they get their authority directly from God. Many of them they hold that they are equal or even superior to the New Testament Apostles. What is truly reprehensible is that because these faux apostles are fully aware that no one today makes the grade they have attempted to alter the criteria. The tragedy is they have succeeded in fooling vast numbers of people who also seem to ignore the Biblical warnings about "false apostles". It will not go well for either group whose end will be according to their deeds (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
Bill Hamon, John Wimber and C. Peter Wagner
Were Very Instrumental in The Spread of Dominionism
The Prosperity and Word of Faith Teachers HERE
The Prosperity Doctrine is the belief subscribed to by millions of Christians that although Christians should keep one eye on Heaven, God doesn't want His people to wait until then to have the best of everything. God wants believers to be healthy, wealthy, and happy in this life. A shallow, self-serving and completely erroneous interpretation of certain passages have led to this conclusion.
However, the Word-Faith movement has added a very dangerous dimension to this belief. Word of Faith teachers go the extra mile teaching that words themselves have 'creative power', thus what a person believes and says determines his future. It is deeply alarming that most Christians seem to be blissfully unaware of the fact that this teaching being trumpeted from pulpits across the land, not only stems from the same occult sources as the spiritual movement known as New Thought, but uses exactly the same terminology and techniques. The only difference being that the Word-Faith movement has sprinkled in a few Christian terms to keep it believable. This is a not an honest doctrinal difference among orthodox believers, but a confrontation between the gospel preached by the Lord Jesus Christ and another gospel.
Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, and Thomas Keating HERE
are four influential and very popular teachers of contemplative prayer who fraternized with Eastern mystics, embraced the spiritual philosophies and religious practices of Buddhism, Hinduism etc. even incorporating them into Christianity. They also endorsed various pagan 'spiritual' books that flatly contradict the Bible. Yet, multiple thousands of people all over the world, including many well known church leaders, have seen fit to suspend all common sense, ignore the many, many warnings in Scripture, and blindly follow the teachings of these wolves who could not even see through Rome’s foundational heresies. So why are we not insisting that our teachers at least be Christians?
Rick Warren HERE
Judging by how many copies it sold, The Purpose Driven Life was immensely popular. However, after more than a decade, I presumed that the church must have long moved on to the next new thing therefore, needed no time wasted on it. I couldn't have been more wrong. It was recently brought to my attention that, in January 2011, Thomas Nelson announced that The Purpose-Driven Life was 16th on their list of 100 Best-selling Christian Books. Although Rick Warren apparently believes that "The Purpose Driven paradigm is the Intel chip for the 21st century church and the Windows system of the 21st century church", it has much going against it. The non believer will be given little or no information as to how he, or she, can be included in the coming kingdom, and will certainly not be told anything about the necessity of repentance from sin and holiness. The reader, both Christian and non-Christian alike, will be introduced to a wide variety of, potentially, very dangerous people, ideas, and practices. And since they have been told, in no uncertain terms, that the most important thing is “unity”, they will never hear a word about discerning between true and false teachings, nor how the Bible instructs them to deal with those who practice and teach untruths. Both below.
The Emerging Church - An Overview
The emerging/emergent church is a faith movement that questions many of the beliefs of traditional Christianity, while radically redoing centuries-old worship practices. The movement started in the late 20th and early 21st century and partially due to apostate leaders like Brian McClaren seems to have gained a lot of traction in recent years. It was born due to the fact that so many people are far from satisfied with the organized church (and rightly so). However, rather than going back to the Scriptures to find out where we have deviated, they attempt to reinvent the church from within. In doing so they have strayed even further from Biblical truths - many member barely distinguishable from the secular society they live in.
Brian McLaren
Brian McLaren, founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church in Spencerville, Maryland was listed by Time magazine as one of American's 25 most influential evangelicals. He is a prominent Christian pastor, author, and speaker (who has assisted in the development of several new churches), a popular conference speaker, and a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs. His work has been covered in Christianity Today, Christian Century, the Washington Post, Huffington Post etc. Yet, he teaches that Christians have been "brainwashed" to read Genesis through Greco-Roman bifocals, but "these stories aren't intended to be taken literally". Salvation emphatically does not automatically mean "save from hell" and “eternal life” means does not mean life without end. God's “will” actually means the “dream” God has for this world. The message of Jesus was good news- not just for Christians, but also for people of other religions, including New Agers, agnostics, and atheists (In other words, unbelievers and pagans can be saved without explicit faith in Christ). (Also See The Message of the Bible and Salvation Also See Ken Blanchard
There is a wealth of evidence that shows that Ken Blanchard sits on the New Age/mystical/contemplative bandwagon, has no trouble associating himself with Napoleon Hill’s “unseen watchers” and few, if any, qualms about borrowing from Buddhism and New Age ‘spirituality’. Jon Gordon’s popular book The Energy Bus largely flowed from the occult work.. The Secret. Yet, the foreword was written by Blanchard Also See The Fad-Driven Church
The dictionary defines a fad as "a practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal." This could just as well be a description of congregational life of many Christian churches today. There is a new book, a new program or a new emphasis every year or so. It's all anyone can talk about; it's all the preacher preaches about - for a while. Then, as quickly as it came, it's gone. As eagerly as it was received, it's abandoned and forgotten. As Leonard Ravenhill very aptly said concerning one of the new “movements” in the church ... “There’s also a stir when the circus comes to town.” Why Christians Are Deceived
There are numerous reasons so many modern day Christians are deceived. Too many of them believe they should be "united", and that they have been commanded to "love". Most do not want to be accused of quenching the spirit, labeled "heresy hunters" or found guilty of 'touching' the Lord's anointed etc. etc. Besides which, Christians seem to be very addicted to 'spiritual highs'. However, the reason deception is so rampant in the church can be primarily attributed to just one underlying fact ... The vast majority of Christians today are Biblically illiterate. The Four Most Common Mistakes Made by Christians
1) Believe That We, Or Our Pastor/Denomination/Spiritual Leader, Cannot Be Fooled. 2) Attribute Every Personal Testimony and "Sign" as Being From, God. 3) Take Bible Verses Out of Context. 4) Believe That We, As Christians Are Not To Judge Anything Or Anyone How the Bible Instructs Us to Deal With Those Who Practice and Teach Untruths.
It is a two step process. The heresy has to be actively confronted and, if not repented of, has to be shunned. The bounden duty of a true believer towards men who profess to be Christians, and yet deny the Word of the Lord, is to come out from among them. Leaving, or separating oneself from apostasy and heresy is not optional, but commanded. It is an integral part of the holiness without which none of us will see God. True and False Unity
Although doctrine has often been allowed to divide people in disgraceful ways, division is not something that can be avoided. In fact, what passes for "unity" is often nothing but compromise of the truth. What few realize is that Christians are commanded to separate themselves from those that believe and teach false doctrine. They are to refuse to have fellowship with those who cross over the line. It is far better to be divided by truth than united in error The Anointing
It would be difficult to find a charismatic/evangelical service/program/tract/book that is not liberally sprinkled with the word 'Anointed, which has become arguably the most overused, overworked, misunderstood, misinterpreted term in the Pentecostal and Charismatic arenas. In fact, many Charismatic celebrities today often issue stern warnings of “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” and “touch not the Lord’s anointed” to anyone who opposes their unscriptural doctrine and practice. These warnings often have a residual effect upon their devotees. So the question is what exactly does the Bible mean when it says not to touch God’s anointed? [Section] | 
