Leaving On a Jet Plane

Here I am on a plane over the Atlantic flying to the USA for three weeks of intense evangelism experiences. First stop Atlanta where I’ll be attending the Deeper conference featuring speakers like Paul Washer, Ray Comfort, Ken Ham, Todd Friel, Johnny Hunt, Marshall Foster, Kirk Cameron, and Emeal “EZ” Zwayne. There won’t be a dull moment.

It will culminate on Saturday night with 500+ evangelists converging on the streets of downtown Atlanta to open air preach. The big Rap/Hip Hop awards night is happening in Atlanta on that night so who knows??!! Maybe I’ll get heckled by Eminem (sorry my computer doesn’t do back to front letters) and P Doggy and Snoop Daddy and Puff Diddy and Diddy Doggy and Puff Snoopy and ummmm . . . ok so I’m not so “jiggy with it”! What I mean is there’ll be lots of droopy drawers in downtown Atlanta on that night. Can’t wait!

Is there anyone out there who knows neutral gang colors for downtown Atlanta. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about the USA it is that “Drive Thru” trumps “Drive By” every time. Mmmm I can taste that Chick Fil A already!

Bullhorn Guys Cameron Buettel and Rob Hughes appearance on Revelation TV

Here it is . . . at least the first 52 minutes of it. I'll try and get the whole interview up later.

Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 5)

Wow, it has been spicy lately. I find it interesting and quite surpising that criticising Rick Warren or Tony Campolo or Brian McLaren draws little or no response but daring to criticize Rob Bell is like walking into a hornets nest. Can someone tell me why he is such a sacred cow especially in the light of his patently unbiblical teaching. This may highlight why there has been a large focus concerning Rob Bell in my series titled "Foxes Book of Emergents with Hurt Feelings".

While heretical, he is not even in the same league as Brian McLaren. But it is his popularity and influence that warrants such a focussed response - especially among youth. His Nooma series is very seductive with enough truth mixed in to smokescreen the real agenda. Sure there is truth there but even a broken clock gets it right twice a day. Here is a clip of Rob Bell's disgusting Nooma video called "Bullhorn Guy" where he rebukes open air preachers for preaching the true Gospel. It is very alarming that many modern church goers cannot exercise enough biblical discernment to see through this rubbish.




Here is a wonderful send up of the Bullhorn video called "Bullwhip Guy". These guys nail the sheer unbiblical lunacy of what Rob Bell is passing off as "Christianity"


My series on the emergents is not yet finished because there is so much more that must be said particularly in the light of their extreme activism in rallying behind pro murder Presidential candidate Barack Obama.

There is also many other things more important than the financial crisis to discuss at the moment including the plight of the persecuted church in India right now as they face horrendous hindu violence. Please pray for them.

I am leaving for the USA tomorrow to attend some evangelism conferences and training. I will be attending the "Deeper" conference in Atlanta (Oct 17-18) and the Way of the Master Ambassadors Academy in LA (Oct 30-Nov1). I hope to see some blog readers at these events - keep an eye out for me. My posting may be sporadic over the next four weeks. Please hang in there - there's more to come.

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The True Biblical Gospel - Examine Yourself!

There has been a lot of discussion in recent posts concerning true and false gospels. I have decided to put on the table the Gospel message I have prepared for my e-cards I am sending out this Christmas. By True Gospel I don't mean style of writing or personality. Both of these are extensions of myself. By true Gospel I am talking about the theology of the message which must NEVER change.

Please read on and take the time to do what the Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Church in his second letter "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!" (II Corinthians 13:5). (The numbers represent corresponding Bible verses that you will find at the bottom of the post).

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

I wish to extend warm greetings to you and your family this Christmas. This is a time of year when people often stop and reflect on the big questions in life. As a Christian it is a time of year that has great significance to me and this year feel greatly convicted to articulate what Christmas is all about. I hope and pray that you would take the time to consider these eternal truths that concern each and every one of us.

The Christmas Carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” really captures the true message and meaning of Christmas. You have probably heard this Christmas Carol sung many times throughout your life. It often seems that when we sing songs as ritual or tradition we fail to stop and reflect on the words we are speaking and what they really mean. Would you be so kind as to take the time to journey with me for several minutes and examine the meaning and the message of this timeless song.

God rest ye merry, gentlemen

A modern reading of this line could say “God make you mighty, gentlemen”. It is an uplifting statement of good news. The message of Jesus Christ is often referred to as the “Good News”. This song actually explains what this unbelievable good news is. But the “good news” makes no sense without understanding the “bad news” and so it is with this song.

Let nothing you dismay

Nothing lasts forever and sadness and grief will inevitably come our way. For many, our joy comes from the relationships we have with those we love. But the truth of the ultimate statistic (that one out of one people die)1 will ultimately track us down during the course of our lives and bring to an end that which we cherish most. The line “let nothing you dismay” is telling us that this “good news” can override any disaster or tragedy that will strike us in this life. In a world where everything good seems only temporary, the joy of this song is built on something everlasting that death can never take away.

Remember Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day

In a festive season now overrun with commercialism, many people have forgotten the first six letters of the word Christmas. Christ is the reason for the season. Jesus Christ was and is God, the creator of the universe, appearing in human form.2 That’s right, God walked on this planet over just over 2000 years ago. This song describes Him as our Saviour. This should prompt the question “save or rescue us from what?” A surf lifeguard is sometimes referred to as a rescuer. Even though he is a rescuer, the person who needs rescuing usually has to realise they are in trouble before they call for help. The same goes for us as people. We all need to have our eyes opened to the very serious problem that faces each and everyone of us before we too can cry out to be rescued or “saved”. So what is this serious problem?

To save us all from Satan’s power

Many of us have heard about the story of Adam and Eve. You may think of it as an amusing fairy tale. But Jesus spoke of Adam as a real person3 who set in motion a disastrous chain of events. The Bible tells us that God made everything perfect in the beginning here on earth and He made Adam and Eve as the very first people to rule over this perfect world.4 There was no death or suffering and EVERYTHING WAS GOOD. But Satan (or the Devil) was able to deceive the very first man and woman into rebelling against God and surrendering their rule here on earth.5 This rebellion is what is sometimes called original sin. Sin is the breaking of God’s moral laws6 that He has set in place and written on our consciences.7 This sinfulness became mankind’s nature and was passed on from generation to generation. It is the virus that contaminates the whole human race including you and me.8 It is revealed when our thoughts, words, and actions violate our own conscience. Even one of Jesus’ well known followers said “why is it that I continually do what I know is wrong and continually avoid doing what I know is right”.9 The problem of the human heart is the heart of the human problem. The Bible tells us that sin is the reason that we all die.10 Jesus came to save us from Satan’s power which is the curse of sin and death.

When we were gone astray

Please bear with me as I labor this point because it is so important that we grasp what this line is saying.

People often ask the question that if there is a loving God then why is there so much evil in the world today? The problem with this question is that it is built upon a wrong view of humanity. The Bible tells us that many men “proclaim their own goodness”11 and are “clean in their own eyes”12 but that we have all “sinned and fallen short”13 of God’s standard. This is far more serious than most of us realise. God, being good, is a just and righteous judge and He must punish the Hitlers, Stalins, and Bin Ladins of this world, otherwise He would be corrupt. Because we are all made in God’s image we crave justice to be done with the wrong things we see in this world. An infinite God must punish infinitely and that is why there is a Hell, and why Jesus warned so much about it.14

But when God’s judgement comes to this earth it won’t stop with murderers, rapists, and paedophiles. He must also deal with liars, thieves, blasphemers…… even every wrong thought. As painful as it is, it is always good to examine ourselves in the light of God’s justice system. Martin Luther said that we should hold up the mirror of the Ten Commandments15 so we can see ourselves as we really are and what our real need is.

Have you ever lied? The Bible says that all liars will end up in Hell.16 If that seems overly harsh then consider this: If I lie to my daughter there is nothing she can do to me. But if I lie to my wife then my sleeping arrangements are likely to shift from the bedroom to the garage. If I lie to my employer then I’ll probably get fired. If I lie to the government then I can end up in jail. Though the crime never changed in each situation, the level of punishment did in proportion to the level of authority being dealt with. How serious is it then to lie to an infinite and perfect God?

Have you ever stolen anything? The Bible says that no thief can inherit God’s kingdom.17

Have you ever used God’s name as a swear word? The Bible tells us that God will not hold anyone guiltless who blasphemes His Holy Name.18 God will judge every word spoken.

Have you ever committed sexual immorality outside of the confines of marriage? Jesus took it even further to tell us that even a lustful thought makes us guilty of adultery of the heart.19 God will even judge our thought life. Nothing is hidden from Him.20

If you are anything like me and have broken those four commandments then you are a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer at heart. And that is just four of the Ten Commandments. And here’s the killer punch, if you break just one commandment then you are guilty of all of them anyway.21 The line of the song “when we had gone astray” means that every single person has strayed from God because of our own exceeding sinfulness.22

It was when I examined myself in the light of God’s standard that I realized that if God is good then He should send me to Hell for my crimes against Him. I stopped asking why there is so much evil in the world, and started asking why God has not yet poured out His judgement and justice on me already. And this is why, because it is not God’s will to send anyone to Hell.23 God is holding back His judgement because He is merciful and giving us time to repent of our crimes against Him. He loves us so much that He made a way for us to be reconciled to Him and be “Saved” from His judgement.24 This is the amazing “good news”.

O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy

It is the “good news” that brings us tidings of comfort and joy. At Christmas 2007 years ago, God appeared in human form as a baby born in Israel. Jesus Christ came on a mission to fulfill the law that we had broken and then pay the penalty for our crimes with His own blood.25 The cross He died on was meant for you and me. The only way God could make reconciliation possible was by living a perfect sinless life as a human and then paying for our sin with His own blood.26 He then rose from the dead defeating the curse of sin and death because of His own righteousness27 and ascended up into heaven to prepare a place for those who follow Him.28 God showed us His love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.29 To receive God’s free gift of payment for our sin and inherit eternal life we must repent of our sin and put our complete trust in Him to save us30 from His terrible day of judgement.31 To repent is to turn away from our sin and apologise to God with genuine sorrow. To trust in Him means to put our complete hope in Jesus work on the cross because no other prophet or religious leader has done that for you. Trust in Him like you would in a parachute when jumping from 10000 feet. If we confess our sin He is faithful to forgive us and clean us from all unrighteousness32. That is tidings of comfort and joy.

I hope and pray that you would consider these things as we approach the season when Christ was born.

You are in my prayers
Cameron

PS The greatest gift you’ll find this Christmas won’t be under a shiny tree with pretty lights. You’ll find it at the foot of a blood stained wooden cross.

1 Hebrews 9:27
2 John 1:1,14
3 Mark 10:6
4 Genesis 1
5 Genesis 3
6 I John 3:4
7 Romans 2:15
8 Romans 3:23
9 Romans 7:15
10 Ezekiel 18:4
11 Proverbs 20:6
12 Proverbs 16:2
13 Romans 3:23
14 Matthew 10:28
15 Exodus 20:1-17
16 Revelation 21:8
17 I Corinthians 6:10
18 Exodus 20:7
19 Matthew 5:28
20 Ecclesiastes 12:14
21 James 2:10
22 Isaiah 53:6
23 II Peter 3:9
24 John 3:16
25 II Corinthians 5:21
26 I Peter 1:18-19
27 Romans 4:25
28 John 14:2
29 Romans 5:8
30 Acts 20:21
31 Romans 5:9
32 I John 1:9

Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 4)

ROB BELL'S DODGY HERMENEUTICAL PRACTICES

Unlike many of the other emergents Rob Bell attempts to approach Scripture in a scholarly way. The problem is that he completely abandons the historic grammatical approach to interpreting Scripture that has been common practice through church hstory. The end result we get in many cases is a complete ignorance of the obvious meaning of a text as I discussed yesterday. God is so kind that He made much of Scripture explicit so that people as thick as myself could understand it. Granted there are difficult and mysterious passages, but God's message to man of reconciliation could not be clearer. Rob Bell, however, continually gets new perspectives on how to understand the Gospel. He reveals things that the early Church, Church fathers, Reformers, Puritans, and Revivalists never discovered. Rob Bell is a very intelligent man but I doubt he is that smart.

In this video Todd Friel from Wretched Radio takes a closer look at Rob Bell's hermeneutical practices and the lens through which he approaches Scripture. There are many theological problems with what Rob Bell teaches and his far reaching influence demands a response. This audio examines what I believe to be the root of many of these problems.


I know there are some people who are responding to these posts who either attend Rob Bell's church or strongly support his teaching. If you want to respond again I would like to ask you to explain how you define the Gospel and how you articulate it. I think that would be a good starting point as we try to reason. As some of you have rightly said we should not go to war over the issues of tongues and eschatology. But the means by which a man is born again we can NEVER compromise on and must have unity. So let's see if we preach the same Gospel?

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Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 3)

On Monday I posted the letter I sent to the innapropriately named fellowship Rob Bell pastors (Mars Hill Bible Church). The response was disappointing to say the least. In fairness to them they probably get a lot of questions and may be short on time. But the following response seems like a fairly standard response that ignores the reason for the questions that I asked. They pointed me to the "narrative theology" when the lack of answers therein was the reason I wrote the e-mail.

Thank you for contacting us. We hope you'll find this response helpful, although it might not answer all your questions or concerns. With the high volume of questions and comments we receive, we hope you understand it's difficult for us to reply specifically in each instance.

We care deeply how Scripture is interpreted and how to discern living the way of Jesus, and in encountering differing viewpoints it is our aim to agree or disagree in love, keeping central a shared desire to know God and serve Jesus Christ. Regarding your comments or questions, we'd like to direct you to our mission, Narrative Theology, Directions [shared values], and serving focus, available at marshill.org. You might also find our recent audio teachings and archived series as well as Rob Bell's recommended reading list to be beneficial.

More compelling than anything we might say is the power of Christ displayed when we love well.

Grace + Peace
Michelle Garvelink | Mars Hill Communications

Pay close attention to this sentence "We care deeply how Scripture is interpreted and how to discern living the way of Jesus, and in encountering differing viewpoints it is our aim to agree or disagree in love, keeping central a shared desire to know God and serve Jesus Christ."

This is spin doctoring that I'm sure Barack Obama would love to add to his campaign. They care more deeply about interpreting Scripture (ie imposing their own liberal ideas on the text) than what Scripture actually says.

Here are some examples:

On the authority of Scripture:
"The Bells started questioning their assumptions about the Bible itself—"discovering the Bible as a human product," as Rob puts it, rather than the product of divine fiat. "The Bible is still in the center for us," Rob says, "but it's a different kind of center. We want to embrace mystery, rather than conquer it." (Christianity Today November 2004).
In contrast to Bell's iterpretation we'll let Scripture speak for itself - IITimothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

On repentance:
(from Rob Bell's "the god's aren't angry" speaking tour):
Bell mangled the definition of repentance, stating that repentance is not turning from sin. Rather, he says it is a “celebration” of life in Christ. He further stated that anyone who tells you that you need to repent is not talking about Christianity. If he is right, then John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2), Peter (Acts 3:19), Paul (Acts 20:21) and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 4:17; 9:13) weren’t preaching Christianity. In order to come to this conclusion, Bell has to ignore all of the Old and New Testament evidence that repentance is turning from sin and turning to Christ alone in faith. He has to ignore the Jewish conception of repentance (which was not lost on the Jewish believers of the early church) which was turning from sin to turn to God (Ezekiel 18). (comment courtesy Jon Speed who attended one of the meetings)

Rob Bell On Hell:
“Now if there is a life in heaven, and we can choose it, then there’s also another way. A way of living out of sync with how God created us to live. The word for this is hell: a way, a place, a realm absent of how God desires things to be. We can bring heaven to earth; we can bring hell to earth. For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one because he understood that the life beyond this one is a continuation of the kinds of choices we make here and now" (Velvet Elvis p147)
Jesus on Hell:
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. (Luke 12:4-5)

How about a verse like John 14:6 where Jesus says "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." You would think that leaves no room for reinterpretation. Not with Rob Bell, listen to the number he does on John 14:6, "“Jesus at one point claimed to be ‘the way, the truth, and the life’. Jesus was not making claims about one religion being better than all other religions. That completely misses the point, the depth, and the truth” (Velvet Elvis p.21). Bell continues on "“I don’t follow Christianity because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me’, he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence” (p. 83).

Contrast that with Acts 4:11-12 "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

A basic grasp of the biblical text shows Rob Bell to be heretical. It is a scary inditement on biblical literacy among church goers that Rob Bell gains wide acceptance and Christian bookstores are willing to stock his material.

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Washer Wednesday - Q & A With Paul Washer

This is a Question and Answer session with Paul Washer that was given at the True Disciple Conference a while back. It is a great opportunity for those who love Paul's preaching to hear him discuss very interesting issues made all the more provocative whenever brother Paul is in the mix.

The sound quality improves after the introduction...

This Question & Answer session covers questions about: prayer, revival, fasting, quiet times (devotionals), evangelism, how Paul ended up in Peru, and what the hours of a Pastor's schedule should look like.

The audio for this sermon was provided by The Spurgeon Baptist Association of Churches: www.sbaoc.org

For more info about Paul Washer go to:
www.heartcrymissionary.com

This sermon was preached at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Manhattan, KS.

Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 2)

10 QUESTIONS FOR ROB BELL.
I have received many accusations concerning my Rob Bell expose video for not attempting to dialogue personally with Rob Bell, even though these people never dialogued with me to find out whether their accusation was true or not. To satisfy their curiosity I am now posting the letter (e-mail) I sent to the fellowship he pastors - Mars Hill Bible Church. This was my attempt to try and get a response to the many bizarre, cryptic, and disturbing things that have been uttered by Rob Bell in recent years.

This was never a Matthew 18 discipline issue anyway and did not require an attempt to contact Rob Bell personally (as difficult as that is). Rob Bell's false teachings are publicly marketed and demand a public response, Scripture mandates it (Romans 16:17), and Rob Bell even invites it on the back cover of his book Velvet Elvis. It is Rob Bell who should have consulted with credible theologians before publishing his book, committed open air preachers before slandering them in "Bullhorn Guy", and the biblical text before making a hash of the Gospel whenever he preaches.

Nonetheless I wrote to Mars Hill church (Grand Rapids) in the hope of getting some clear answers. Their website requested I read their "narrative theology" before writing as it would possibly answer my questions. Well the "narrative theology" did not answer any of my questions it just raised a whole lot more. What follows is the letter I wrote.

To whom it may concern
I have read through your theology page but many questions remain unresolved. I would be so grateful if you could clearly answer the following 10 questions:

1. Could you explain what Mars Hill (MH) teaches concerning how an individual can be "born again" as Jesus spoke about in the John 3:3?

2. If a person is"born again" or "saved" - what are they saved from?

3. Is there a such thing as eternal conscious punishment (ie Hell or the Lake of Fire) - and if so who will end up there?

4. Do you hold to the doctrine of the Trinity - and if so how do you describe it?

5. How do you define sin (it only seemed to be described in the sense of social responsibility on your theology page)?

6. What happens to people who aren't Christians when they die, what is their eternal destiny? For example what would happen to a devout muslim, devout buddhist etc

7. Is it necessary to repent of sin in order for an individual to recieve salvation -and if so how would you define this repentance?

8. Do you believe that the Cross of Jesus Christ was about or mainly about God pouring out His wrath on His Son as a penal subsitutionary payment for human sin?

9. How would you teach people in your congregation to witness or proclaim the Christian message and what are the essential elements of this message?

10. Would you agree or disagree with the following statement - The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.

I very much appreciate you taking the time to read this mail and consider these questions.

Yours sincerely
Cameron Buettel

They did respond and I'll post it on thursday - be prepared for disappointment.

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Foxes Book of Emergents With Hurt Feelings - Rob Bell (Part 1)

Yersterday I posted the youtube video that has caused a lot of furore among many within the emergent crowd. It is an expose of Rob Bell's humanistic teaching found in his Nooma video called Dust. In reality this video only scratches the surface of the many "robellian" heresies and false teachings.

The video I posted was a biblical critique that questioned only Rob Bell's teaching and not his motive or character. It's a shame that many emergents could not afford me the same courtesy and continually pretended to know my motives, resorted to name calling, and failed to reason from Scriptures. There were many supportive comments as well. But what surpised me was how judgmental many people are within the emergent movement - the very thing I was continually accused of. Out of the hundreds of abusive comments there were only three people I can recall who were willing to reason from Scripture. Though we disagreed I have genuinely enjoyed dialoging with them.

Most of the criticisms have been as repetitive as a scratched record so I have decided to post responses to many of the criticisms over the coming days. I have been continually surprised by the number of people who have rebuked me for not taking the matter up with Rob Bell privately without een knowing if this was the case. The truth is that I have written to Rob Bell's church and I will post that letter tomorrow. But it is not a matter that demands private dialogue (and it is very hard to get a private hearing with Rob Bell anyway) because I am criticising publicly marketed material and it warrants a public response. Furthermore Scripture madates the testing of teaching (Romans 16:17) and Rob Bell even invites it on the back cover of Velvet Elvis (“We have to test everything... Test it. Probe it. Do that to this book”). So in reality I was only taking up Rob Bell's offer.

Tomorrow - My letter to Rob Bell's church.

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Sacred Cow Saturday - Episode 11 - Rob Bell

I'm going to be continuing in exposing a lot of the emergent deception over the coming days. I thought I would post the video that started all the furore. It is my biblical critique of Rob Bell's man centred theology as explained in his Nooma video Dust. I've had a lot of critical comments about it. See what you think!



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