The article below, written by Dave Hunt of Berean Call ministries, references many of the false teachings that have come to the forefront of todays Christianity. It is worth the read.
http://www.raptureforums.com/FeaturedCommentary/whatshappeningtothefaith.cfm
My response, first posted on www.RaptureForums.com, is reiterated below:
In reading this and in knowing of the many "other" so-called evangelical leaders (not my mentors) I have to believe that the root of all of this false teaching and disbelief and distrust of the Scripture goes back to the lie in the garden:
Genesis 3:1, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
The lie of course being to question God. All of the above in Bro, Hunts article, question the Scripture, thereby question God.
I just finished reading a book by a very prominent scholar, John H. Walton, "Covenant." He goes to great lengths to walk the middle ground between two poles of OT interpretation - Replacement theology and dispensationalism. His thesis is that the Covenants were Revelatory. i.e. they truly only existed to reveal more about who God is and His holiness. Israel was nothing more that an arm of the revelation of God. At the onset, to the casual reader it sounds fine. But it is only part of the picture. Redemption or soteriology according to Walton was never really of import until the new covenant of Jesus, yet Israel still has a claim to Land promises. Again, sounds true, however, where the rub lies is that he never once expounds on redemption in the OT. One is left feeling that the whole world was lost until Jesus came. He never once speaks positively about redemption in the OT and completely ignores Genesis Chapter 1 to 11.
What I am saying is that Gods word reveals His redemption from the fall of man to the end of the coming Millenium. Never once in the history of the world has mankind ever been without a chance to be saved. The salvation story from Eden till now has always been the responsibility of the saved to propagate the true way, through the Lord alone, to our families and friends.
Sure, God raises Pastors and teachers and some are given differing gifts. But the true responsibility to proclaim truth is placed upon the shoulders of believers. We are told as disciples to go into all the world and make disciples. We are all ministers of the gospel and it has always been that way. The family unit existed to be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth. But not just with people--But with the truth of Redemption. Satan has always attacked the family unit because it is there that the gospel was first propagated. Adam to Abel and Cain. Abel believed and Cain did not. Cain kills Abel, God raises up Seth. Seth propagates the gospel of redemption. Cain spawns a family unit of disbelief that Satan goes wild with.
Why this rant? Because all of the teachers Dave Hunt exposes and many more are listening to the same lie of Satan that got us into this mess in the first place. They are questioning God's Word. In doing so, in pseudo compassion they must teach there are many ways to God.
NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a blatant lie. Do not listen to to the drivel of these tools of Satan. There is one way to heaven and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ-alone! That is God's way. Faith, trust, and thanksgiving go all the way back to Adam-Abel-Seth and after the flood, Noah, Shem and his heritage which includes Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to David to Christ.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the righteous requirements the Law revealed under the Mosaic Covenant-visualize. Abraham "believing God" even before Moses. In the OT men and women were saved by faith in God and they showed their faith in acts of obedience that reflected God's original covering of sin in the Garden. In the NT we are saved by faith in Jesus the final fulfillment of that sacrifice in the garden.
That is the truth. If there are many false religions and legions of souls going to hell it is not because true salvation was never revealed or that is was revealed in different ways to different races or cultures, it is because men and women of God forgot Him and did not pass His love down to their children and childrens children. Cain knew the way of salvation but he rejected it even though God told him he could still do what was "well" but he refused. He went out into the world as a marked man. He is the true picture of the seed of rebellion in man. God is truly "just," in that He made the way of salvation clear. After the flood, the truth was propagated through Noah. Again, souls go to hell because they believe Satan's lie, "...And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
He got Eve to question God and he appealed to her self gratifications.
God said to Cain in Genesis 4:6-7, "So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
There inlies the the choice in rebellion. Trust God through Christ and you will be accepted, deny Him and you will die in your sin. There is no other alternative.
All false religions go back to ancestries that never knew the truth of redemption as God revealed to the world. But it was not always so. At some point in their ancient ancestry a family unit did know God, but a child rebelled as Cain did or another child refused to propagate the truth to his children. How many have heard the lie from so-called believers, "well, I will raise my children to make their own choice on whether to be Christian or what church to go to." That is a parent under the deception of Satan. Sorry if that hurts, but sometimes the truth hurts. Think it cannot happen to a believer? Jesus to Peter:
Matthew 16:23
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Thus we fight not with false religions but with demonic deceptions. When witnessing, remember the root of error. Pray for God to bind it and then tell the truth in Christ.
In Acedemic world too much education and the acceptance of peer pressure has caused many Pastors and Professors to fall for the lies of higher criticism, which is nothing more than questioning God as revealed in Scripture. So they rebel against the Word and in so doing lead many astray.
May God open our eyes. God bless you all.
http://www.raptureforums.com/FeaturedCommentary/whatshappeningtothefaith.cfm
My response, first posted on www.RaptureForums.com, is reiterated below:
In reading this and in knowing of the many "other" so-called evangelical leaders (not my mentors) I have to believe that the root of all of this false teaching and disbelief and distrust of the Scripture goes back to the lie in the garden:
Genesis 3:1, Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
The lie of course being to question God. All of the above in Bro, Hunts article, question the Scripture, thereby question God.
I just finished reading a book by a very prominent scholar, John H. Walton, "Covenant." He goes to great lengths to walk the middle ground between two poles of OT interpretation - Replacement theology and dispensationalism. His thesis is that the Covenants were Revelatory. i.e. they truly only existed to reveal more about who God is and His holiness. Israel was nothing more that an arm of the revelation of God. At the onset, to the casual reader it sounds fine. But it is only part of the picture. Redemption or soteriology according to Walton was never really of import until the new covenant of Jesus, yet Israel still has a claim to Land promises. Again, sounds true, however, where the rub lies is that he never once expounds on redemption in the OT. One is left feeling that the whole world was lost until Jesus came. He never once speaks positively about redemption in the OT and completely ignores Genesis Chapter 1 to 11.
What I am saying is that Gods word reveals His redemption from the fall of man to the end of the coming Millenium. Never once in the history of the world has mankind ever been without a chance to be saved. The salvation story from Eden till now has always been the responsibility of the saved to propagate the true way, through the Lord alone, to our families and friends.
Sure, God raises Pastors and teachers and some are given differing gifts. But the true responsibility to proclaim truth is placed upon the shoulders of believers. We are told as disciples to go into all the world and make disciples. We are all ministers of the gospel and it has always been that way. The family unit existed to be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth. But not just with people--But with the truth of Redemption. Satan has always attacked the family unit because it is there that the gospel was first propagated. Adam to Abel and Cain. Abel believed and Cain did not. Cain kills Abel, God raises up Seth. Seth propagates the gospel of redemption. Cain spawns a family unit of disbelief that Satan goes wild with.
Why this rant? Because all of the teachers Dave Hunt exposes and many more are listening to the same lie of Satan that got us into this mess in the first place. They are questioning God's Word. In doing so, in pseudo compassion they must teach there are many ways to God.
NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a blatant lie. Do not listen to to the drivel of these tools of Satan. There is one way to heaven and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ-alone! That is God's way. Faith, trust, and thanksgiving go all the way back to Adam-Abel-Seth and after the flood, Noah, Shem and his heritage which includes Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to David to Christ.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the righteous requirements the Law revealed under the Mosaic Covenant-visualize. Abraham "believing God" even before Moses. In the OT men and women were saved by faith in God and they showed their faith in acts of obedience that reflected God's original covering of sin in the Garden. In the NT we are saved by faith in Jesus the final fulfillment of that sacrifice in the garden.
That is the truth. If there are many false religions and legions of souls going to hell it is not because true salvation was never revealed or that is was revealed in different ways to different races or cultures, it is because men and women of God forgot Him and did not pass His love down to their children and childrens children. Cain knew the way of salvation but he rejected it even though God told him he could still do what was "well" but he refused. He went out into the world as a marked man. He is the true picture of the seed of rebellion in man. God is truly "just," in that He made the way of salvation clear. After the flood, the truth was propagated through Noah. Again, souls go to hell because they believe Satan's lie, "...And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
He got Eve to question God and he appealed to her self gratifications.
God said to Cain in Genesis 4:6-7, "So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
There inlies the the choice in rebellion. Trust God through Christ and you will be accepted, deny Him and you will die in your sin. There is no other alternative.
All false religions go back to ancestries that never knew the truth of redemption as God revealed to the world. But it was not always so. At some point in their ancient ancestry a family unit did know God, but a child rebelled as Cain did or another child refused to propagate the truth to his children. How many have heard the lie from so-called believers, "well, I will raise my children to make their own choice on whether to be Christian or what church to go to." That is a parent under the deception of Satan. Sorry if that hurts, but sometimes the truth hurts. Think it cannot happen to a believer? Jesus to Peter:
Matthew 16:23
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Thus we fight not with false religions but with demonic deceptions. When witnessing, remember the root of error. Pray for God to bind it and then tell the truth in Christ.
In Acedemic world too much education and the acceptance of peer pressure has caused many Pastors and Professors to fall for the lies of higher criticism, which is nothing more than questioning God as revealed in Scripture. So they rebel against the Word and in so doing lead many astray.
May God open our eyes. God bless you all.
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