The False Teaching Food Chain

The scary thing about living in Denmark and becoming well acquainted with a typical "danish evangelical" is that we must be close to the bottom feeders in the false teaching food chain. The foul emergent postmodernism and church growth philosophy that filters out from mega church suburbia seems to be manifold worse by the time it reaches our shores.

It is scary to listen to Paul Washer's caricature of the state of modern evangelicalism in America as he lays out in his "Shocking Youth Message". What is even more scary is that Paul Washer's caricature would be a vast improvement on the state of the supposed gospel preaching that goes on over here.

Places like Willow Creek (Bill Hybels) and Saddleback (Rick Warren) have created a monster of sorts with no seeming way of domesticating it. Here is the lay of the land as I see it and I welcome your feedback as to whether you think I'm onto something or not.

With people like Robert Schuller pioneering the consumer driven church (where we survey pagans to see what they want in the church) we saw the trend of dumbing down of biblical teaching. A culture of biblically illiterate consumer minded church goers emerged. Smaller churches with little entertainment became the catchment areas for seeker sensitive mega churches. The continual influx of these people concealed the high number of people going out the back door who were bored with the same shallow entertainment week in week out. Making the narrow gate into a wide gate by focussing more on self esteem, success, and sensuality, and less on sin, self denial, and sanctification was certainly one way to draw large crowds.



These large crowds drew attention from leaders in places like Denmark where they sat in the ruins of the reformation pondering how to "revive" their non-existant congregations. Biblical theology had been abandoned on both sides of the Atlantic leading to liberal heresies in Europe and pragmatic methodology in the US. Enamored with the perceived success of the seeker sensitive gurus in the America, people outside the USA have gravitated towards this methodology at the expense of sound theology.

Biblical discernment has become unbelievably low paving the way for people like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell to step out of the church growth trojan horse and say "hey, we've got some new ideas about what the Gospel really means but don't worry, trust us we're orthodox!" William P Young can write a blasphemous book about the Trinity (The Shack) and get rave reviews.

There are still many good and faithful preachers in the USA who are continually proclaiming the truth and turning on the light. But I want to put forward my contention amidst the woeful biblical discernment I'm experiencing here in Europe. I beleive it may be time to preach with greater and greater focus on exposing darkness. The civility Rick Warren longs for is actually becoming the problem over here. Civility coupled with a complete lack of biblical discernment is producing a sub culture of people who say amen to John Macarthur and Joel Osteen. Who download Paul Washer and read the Shack. Who can't tell the difference between the teaching of Rob Bell and Ray Comfort.

I come from Australia, and when I take my five year old daughter there I don't spend time discussing with her the best way to handle snakes - I tell her to stay a million miles away. When we talk about Hitler we don't try and balance the death of 6 million Jews with all those great roads that he built. We call evil what it is. If someone is preaching a false gospel, don't spend time trying to write an even handed review pointing out the virtues as well as the short comings - even a broken clock gets it right twice a day! The Apostle Paul said:

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).

If a shepherd loves the sheep he will protect them from wolves. A key responsibility for pastors in a time of severe biblical illiteracy is to provide clear lines of demarkation between truth and error, as well as remove the fog of seeming semi-approval that rests between each end of the spectrum. How dare any other gospel come along and try to replace the precious blood of our wonderful Savior. Be like Paul and totally slam any other gospel that tries to pass itself off as the real one; all the while persevering in the true biblical Gospel that God is good, man is evil, God must judge, heaven and hell, Christ the penal substitutionary atonement, and the need for all men everywhere to repent from sin and trust in Jesus!

Thirteen Heresies in the Shack

There is a book on the market called "The Shack" which masquerades as some sort of "Christian" message about the Trinity. It is infiltrating so many churches and seducing so many undiscerning church goers that it needs to be exposed for the disgrace that it is. Eugene Petersen had this to say “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ did for his. It’s that good!” It should scare any Christian that Eugene Petersen is somehow allowed to teach in any Bible college let alone command respect as a commentator on anything Christian. I'm still scratching my head as to how his pathetic "The Message" gets passed off as a Bible translation. But Petersen isn't the only one buying into the multitude of heresies propogated by William Young's bogus work of fiction. Michael W Smith is another of several high profile people to endorse "The Shack".

To be clear from the outset, the god of "The Shack" is not the God of Scripture and is an imposter of the worst kind. Preacher and Scholar Dr Michael Youssef preached a sermon recently which exposed 13 major heresies taught within the pages of "The Shack".

Here they are listed below:

1. God the Father was crucified with Jesus (p96).

Because God's eyes are pure and cannot look upon sin, the Bible says that God would not look upon His own beloved Son as He hung on the Cross, carrying our sins (Habakkuk 1:13; Matthew 27:45).

2. God is limited by His love and cannot practice justice (p102).

The Bible declares that God's love and His justice are two sides of the same coin — equally a part of the personality and the character of God (Isaiah 61:8; Hosea 2:19).

3. On the Cross, God forgave all of humanity, whether they repent or not. Some choose a relationship with Him, but He forgives them all regardless (p225).

Jesus explained that only those who come to Him will be saved (John 14:6).

4. Hierarchical structures, whether they are in the Church or in the government, are evil (122).

Our God is a God of order (Job 25:2).

5. God will never judge people for their sins (p120).

The Word of God repeatedly invites people to escape from the judgment of God by believing in Jesus Christ, His Son (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 4:1-3).

6. There is not a hierarchical structure in the Godhead, just a circle of unity (p122).

The Bible says that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. This doesn't mean that one Person is higher or better than the other; just unique. Jesus said, "I came to do the will of Him who sent me. I am here to obey my Father." Jesus also said, "I will send you the Holy Spirit" (John 4:34, 6:44, 14:26, 15:26).

7. God submits to human wishes and choices (p145).

Far from God submitting to us, Jesus said, "Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life." We are to submit to Him in all things, for His glory and because of what He has accomplished for us (Matthew 7:13-15).

8. Justice will never take place because of love (p164).

The Bible teaches that when God's love is rejected, and when the offer of salvation and forgiveness is rejected, justice must take place or God has sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for nothing (Matthew 12:20; Romans 3:25-26).

9. There is no such a thing as eternal judgment or torment in hell (p248).

Jesus' own description of hell is vivid ... it cannot be denied (Luke 12:5, 16:23).

10. Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God, and it doesn't matter which way you get to Him (p182).

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one will come to the Father but by me" (John 14:6).

11. Jesus is constantly being transformed along with us (p182).

Jesus, who dwells in the splendor of heaven, sits at the right hand of God, reigning and ruling the universe. The Bible says, "In Him there is no change, for He is yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 11:12, 13:8; James 1:17).

12. There is no need for faith or reconciliation with God because everyone will make it to heaven (p122,192).

Jesus said, "Only those who believe in me will have eternal life" (John 3:15, 3:36, 5:24, 6:40).

13. The Bible is not true because it reduces God to paper (p65,66,134,198).

The Bible is God-breathed. Sure, there were many men through 1,800 years who put pen to paper (so to speak), each from different professions and different backgrounds, but the Holy Spirit infused their work with God's words. These men were writing the same message from Genesis to Revelation. If you want to read more about the place of Christ in the Scripture, read "We Preach Christ" (2 Timothy 3:16).

Here is some audio of Michael Youssef's sermon courtesy of Way of the Master Radio (commentary: Todd Friel)



Mark Driscoll wasn't backward in coming forward either



Just stay away from this book, arm yourself with a few facts about the heresies contained within, and warn others about it.