That’s a question I get from a lot of “non-blacks” when I mention that I’m studying reformed theology. Martin Luther(the man pictured above) essentially lit the match of the Protestant Reformation Movement when he penned his “95 Theses” and shined the light of truth on the wicked Roman Catholic Church. I became interested in reformed theology when I fled my former plantation (and my pimp) and returned to the Word of God instead of the heresies I held dear in my past.
Since I don’t speak for my entire race (a notion I’ve had to argue against many times in my professional career, particularly since I’m usually the only black man in my company), I can only speculate that they don’t find it as riveting as the traditional black church – the mega church, specifically. As I’ve said on many occassions, expository preaching isn’t as glamorous as the motivational speeches and “sing/talk” sermons that you hear in churches across the country (no matter the race), but it is the sorely-needed foundational method of properly exegeting the Word of God to keep the focus on God through Jesus Christ and OFF of self-centered man.
One of the people on the front-line in exposing more blacks to reformed theology is Anthony Carter. Carter is an assistant speaking elder at Southwest Christian Fellowship Church in Atlanta (a reformed assembly I’ve had the pleasure of visiting a few times recently), – where Robert Benson is the speaking elder. From what I’ve seen and heard during my few visits to SWCF, the assembly is built on firm biblical doctrine, and the speaking elders preach expositorily with no shame.
Q. Why are African-Americans attracted to mega-churches preaching the prosperity gospel?
A. That type of preaching is experiential—it has a very practical element to it, and it draws upon the experiences of both the preacher and the congregant. This message tells them that they can have what they desire, what they see around them. Many are socially and economically outcast, and this teaching allows them to rejoin the economic stream. It says, This is what God wants you to have. And that’s very appealing. African-Americans have a high view of church, the preacher, Scriptures. When you couple that with the prosperity message, it’s very appealing.
Click the title to read the article in it’s entirety. I also encourage you to take a closer look at reformed theology – and it’s adherence to the infallible Word of God and not the “get rich” schemes and “live your best life now” fallacies of modern “theology”.
I’m grateful to God to be able to look back on another year.
This blog has been in existence since February 2008, and more than 460,000 visits later I’m thankful that God has sent you here to comment, criticize, to be enlightened, to be angered, and to be informed.
Most of all, I thank God for allowing me to continue to speak (or write) His truth.
I’m not particularly nostalgic, nor do I make new year resolutions, so I wish you all Godspeed in 2011 – and God’s best for your lives according to His Will and good pleasure for you.
So (as has been the “tradition” for the past few years) here are the top 20 articles viewed on the blog for 2010:
Well, God through His infinite wisdom (and through the Shed Blood of His Son) saw fit to allow me to see another year – and I am eternally grateful.
Subsequently, God has ordained that this blog continue to expose His enemies and draw all men to Him through His Son, and I am humbled that he would use a wretched man like me to labor on His behalf.
I’d love to be as wistful and deep as I was last year, but I used up all my pretty words – so I’ll simply draw your attention to the top 25 articles read on the blog this year (in their respective order):
For 2010, I will be just as indignant with false teachers and their pimpistries, but I will not be incendiary just for show. I will write as the Lord allows and only what He allows.
I pledge to piss off more comfortable Christian’s for the sake of getting them to read the Word of God for themselves.
I will stoke the anger of pimp and wolve apologists even more, hopefully prompting more death threats than I got in 2009.
I will go even further into the Word (for my own study and in articles that I will write) to exalt the Word of God even higher than I did in 2009 (providing even more antidote to the false gospel that permeates the airwaves today).
I will not entertain those who attempt to use this blog to spread their false and viscous distortions of God’s Word…there are plenty of bootlicker blogs that will let you fawn all over the pimps de jour, so go visit them instead.
I will continue to wave the Blood-stained banner of Christ. Period.
One of the common misconceptions about us Reformed Christians is that we abhor passionate preaching (and that expository preaching has to be “boring”). I tried to debunk that assertion a few months ago, yet many still don’t equate passionate preaching with Reformed preaching.
Even further, although I’ve written about Blacks in Reformed theology in the past as well, many still can’t fathom a Black preacher who can exposit God’s Word without “huckin’ and buckin'” and begging for money in the process.
Thank God through Jesus Christ that my brother @RaeWhitlock tweeted about a video that should (hopefully) continue to redefine the stereotypes of Reformed theology – and Blacks in Reformed theology, specifically (as if Voddie Baucham, Anthony Carter, Michael Leach, and many other Black Reformers haven’t already proven the contrary).
The man pictured above is Dr. Eric Mason, Lead Pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. “Pastor E” is a prolific bible teacher and pastor. His delivery is in your face and unashamedly biblical. The video below is a succinct walk-through-the bible lesson on Christoncentrism – the belief that Christ is the central theme upon which most doctrine is built. Grab your bible and follow along with the video (oh, and note Pastor E’s indignation at the hirelings of the day starting at the 31:30 mark – a disdain I also share):
OK Philly readers, I’ve just given you another fellowship to go and visit!
There certainly is liberty in Christ – through prayer, worship, and more. There is also common sense and overall reverence for the House of God, particularly because of the weight of the Gospel message that should emanate from the pulpit.
Believers should always rely on 1 Corinthians 14(and sound judgement) where matters of church conduct are concerned.
That said, what do you do with a pulpit: Preach about the Doctrines of Grace? Expound on the state of unregenerate sin? Exhort believers in the hope only found through Christ?
Nah, you have a “Holy Ghost Dance Off”!:
A tip of the hat goes to Ann over at the blog The Old Black Church. Notice Gospel artist (and now “Bishop”)Hezekiah Walker getting jiggy with it at the 1:18 mark.
🙄
Ann gives a great commentary, so I won’t add anything else…I’ll turn the comment thread over to you folks. Personally, I’m grateful that God led me to historically biblical Christianity through Reformed Theology, and away from such theatrics.
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Pastor Tony preach a few times – and I’ve met him once. He is truly a man after God’s heart – not in the “word of faith/mand of gawd” way, but the true discipling of God’s people by presenting truth line upon line. Pastor Tony was nice enough to take time away from his schedule to talk to me about his latest work:
ST: Why this book?
Carter: Well, one of the great deficiencies in the church today is spiritual discernment. It seems people are open to anything that gives the slightest indication of being Christian, or just even spiritual. I wrote this little booklet in hopes that people would realize that when Jesus said that there would be wolves in sheep clothing among the flock of God, he was not just referring to the church in his day, but was declaring an ongoing threat in the church. Likewise, the Apostle Paul picked up on this teaching and warned those in the church in his day of the same threat. So this booklet is just taking the warnings of our Lord and his apostle seriously and seeking to make application of this truth in our day.
ST: Your current book seems to diverge from your earlier works “Experiencing the Truth: Bringing the Reformation to the African-American Church” and “On Being Black and Reformed”. Is there a sense of urgency with this book?
Carter: The urgency is to declare the gospel and the full counsel of God. In doing so, we must not only declare the truth, but also be prepared as our Lord was to refute falsehood and guard the people of God with the word of God. My other books are more comprehensive than this booklet. They sought to address a broader subject and with more in-depth analysis. This current booklet is meant to be a brief, but clear clarion call to God’s faithful people to beware and not get duped by the fancy-talking, high-living, but self-promoting so-called prophets of our day.
ST: The book is pretty direct in exposing the motives and tactics of the wolves of today – why not mention some of them by name?
Carter: Actually, the tendency is to want to mention them by name. Living here in Atlanta where many of their voices are so prevalent, calling names would surely invoke a reaction. And if a reaction was all I wanted to get out of the booklet, then calling their names would have been the way to do it. However, I am not after a reaction, but rather to encourage biblical thinking and discernment. Thus, rather than an emotional reaction to a certain bishop or pastor, I hope people will read the book and make application as the Spirit leads them. Furthermore, in calling names you run the risk of people focusing the discussion just on the one or two individuals you call rather than the broader application that is really required. There are more than just one or two wolves out there.
ST: I presume that many who flee false doctrine seek you out because of your honest and heartfelt delivery of the true Gospel message. How do you minister to those who have been hurt by the modern day “Church, Inc.”?
Carter: When people come to our church from these false prophetic ministries, I am always moved by the faithfulness of Christ to call his sheep and how they hear his voice – just as he said they would. And so, when they come to us we are reminded that Christ calls us to feed them. We seek to give them the only food that really satisfies a true child of God, namely the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the gospel that binds up wounds and give spiritual sustenance in order to strengthen weary souls. We try to do as our motto says, and “point people to Jesus.”
Praise God that He stills sends men like Carter into the mission field to minister to the lost and deceived. Be sure to get your copy of “Wolves Among The Sheep” (it’s free, remember?) and be equipped with the words and Spirit of Christ in spreading His truth.
The title of this article is taken from one of my favorite hymns, “Come Thou Fountain of Every Blessing”:
“Here I raise my Ebenezer, Here by Thy great help I’ve come.
And i hope by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God.
He to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.”
Within that simple verse lies the crux of the impasse that the church finds itself today. My heart breaks daily when I see and hear scriptural molestation and murder at the hands of the minstrels and hirelings performing in pulpits on stage every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. First, we were told that we were “little gods” – able to command blessings, influence events by “binding and loosing”, and even controlling God Himself at the whim of our mortal words. We were sold the erroneous claim that we choose to “surrender our lives” to God – again, claiming our own power in the direction of our eternal souls.
Continuing in this misguided philosophy – after we “stopped running” and “surrendered” to Him, we were told that the only way to assuage His Righteous indignation was to pay him…heartily…so that His grace would be upon us, we’d walk in His divine favor, and we’d be spared from all manner of calamity.
The church has perilously wandered away from “the fold of God”, and they don’t even know it. Worse, we have rejected God’s Holy Word and accepted a distorted substitute from the mouths of liars – and God’s judgement is being poured out before our very eyes (emphasis added):
Romans 1:18-25 (New American Standard Bible)
18For (A)the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who (B)suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19because (C)that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20For (D)since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, (E)being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21For even though they knew God, they did not [a]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became (F)futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
23and (H)exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [b]crawling creatures.
24Therefore (I)God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be (J)dishonored among them.
25For they exchanged the truth of God for a (K)lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, (L)who is blessed forever. Amen.
Not only are the hirelings who purport this false gospel fools who profess to be wise, but the sheep (who are proving themselves to really be goats – Matthew 25:31-46) are eagerly joining them in their rejection of the Word of God, and defending the vile hirelings tooth and nail,all the while ignoring the TRUTH of the Gospel they profess to embrace. We might not worship animals and birds (yet), but man-worship is in full effect and expanding at every turn. Sheeple will quote their pimp hireling with far greater fervor than they will the Word of God – IF they quote the Word at all.
All of this is born out of our twisted view of our place in God’s soveriegn plan. When we stray from historical biblical Christianity, we stray from sound doctrine and God’s Word. As a Monergist, I recognize that the Holy Spirit is the ONLY agent who initiated and effected regeneration in me. Apart from the Blood of Christ, there is no good in me (Romans 7:17-19), so how can I – in my natural mind – make a decision to live for Christ and yield to Him?
John Hendryx wrote an article regarding Monergism that neatly explains the working of the Holy Spirit in regeneration (emphasis added):
[…] Monergistic regeneration is a redemptive blessing purchased by Christ for those the Father has given Him (1 Pet 1:3, John 6:37, 39). This grace works independently of any human cooperation and conveys that power into the fallen soul whereby the person whois to be saved is effectually enabled to respond to the gospel call (Acts 2:39, 1 Cor 1:2, 9, 24, Rom 8:30 John 1:13, Acts 13:48). It is that supernatural power of God alone whereby we are granted the spiritual ability and desire to comply with the conditions of the covenant of grace; that is, to apprehend the Redeemer by a living faith, to come up to the terms of salvation, to repent of idols and to love God and the Mediator supremely. The Holy Spirit, in quickening the fallen soul, mercifully illumines the mind and renews the heart, giving God’s elect the capacity and inclination to exercise faith in Jesus Christ (John 6:44, 1 John 5:1). This instantaneous and intensely personal work of God is the means by which the Spirit brings us into living union with Him.
In my not so humble opinion, one of the precipitating events to the downward spiral we see in Christianity today is the denial of the sovereignty and supremacy of God in all things. We have relegated God to the role of both Cosmic Slot Machine and Puppet, all at the same time. By degrading His sovereignty, we elevate our own foolish pride and knowledge, and we begin to tell the potter how we are to be fashioned (Isaiah 29:15-16). This task is made far more simple when we do so from the posture of “little gods” who can “decide” to step away from our sin-sick fate and “come to Jesus”. Of course, this logic makes it easier to vacillate back and forth between sin and holiness because after all, “it is our decision”, right?
I implore you by the power of the Holy Spirit – reject the men and women who puff themselves up as modern day idols. Reject any and all new-age philosophy that equates you with God in power and might. Abhor mockery of God’s Holy Word at the hands of pimps, vipers, wolves, et al. Flee false doctrine and wicked assemblies. Systematically READ GOD’S WORD FOR YOURSELF (page by page) and stop relying on 3rd and 4th hand hack exegesis from impostors. Don’t be afraid to sit on a wooden pew in a small church (full of people who are not the same race as you are) and listen to a preacher who rightly divides the Word just because they don’t entertain you like the minstrels do. Meditate on God’s Word – and buy credible reference material and books that help you dig even deeper for His truth. Learn to hear the Voice of God for yourself so that you don’t run from the arms of a wolf into the clutch of a viper.
Above all, I pray to God through His Precious Son that you would trust in Christ alone for your salvation and your hope, and that you will be built up in Him Who does not dissappoint (1 Peter 2:4-6).
’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise, And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!
Oh Precious Father, humble us to return to Your fold.
I’ve written previously about the need for serious biblical teaching from pulpits today. For too long, the church has been “entertained” by flashy showmen who have the stage presence of a Broadway performer and the speaking cadence of Muhammad Ali in his prime (you know, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”…).
The bottom line is this: there are too many minstrels in the pulpit today.
Call me a stoic legalist if you wish, but you can hardly distinguish the pulpit of the church from a stage in a nightclub these days. While the sheep are rolling in the aisle laughing at the minstrel’s latest joke (based on a movie he saw last night) or nodding their heads in agreement with the blatant scripture-twisting that goes unchallenged because of the lack of biblical astuteness in the pews, their souls continue to lack the very meat of the Word of God that can sustain them during perilous times.
I know, I know…the sheep are supposed to read the Word BEFORE they get to church, but since they rely SOLELY on the minstrel to “feed them”, they end up starving – and many of them don’t even know it.
I have become an ardent supporter of expository preaching, specifically because expository preaching is different from topical preaching in that it concentrates on a specific text and discusses topics covered therein. Conversely, topical preaching concentrates on a specific topic and references texts covering that (or those) topic(s).
There is nothing wrong with topical preaching, or even narrative storytelling for that matter – even Jesus spoke in parables when encountering those who couldn’t understand the clarity of His Gospel message. My concern, however, is that most minstrels use topical preaching or storytelling to support their flawed eisigesis(generally taking half a verse from various parts of the bible to support their personal philosophy) instead of exegeting the text by succinctly and objectively uncovering what God has already said about a matter.
I can hear the minstrel’s ardent supporters now:
–“My pastor is relevant. He preaches on current events so that we can apply the Word in our daily lives”
So a pastor should preach a “relevant” sermon using popular movies as the foundation of his text so you can see the relevance of the Gospel in your everyday life?
–“That deep preaching takes too long. Pastor says you don’t have to be deep to get the Word in your heart”
No, your pastor wants to entertain you and then get you out of the “sanctuary” because he has 2 more services he has to “preach”. He doesn’t want to “get too deep” because (in most cases) he can’t. He doesn’t want you to learn the Word so that you can be sustained by God alone, he wants you to get “just enough” so that he can sustain you from week to week. So rather than taking several months to walk through the Book of Job verse by verse, he introduces a new topic every Sunday and Wednesday (supported by 1 or 2 scriptures taken out of context).
–“You gotta go to seminary to learn how to get deep like that, and pastor said that ‘seminary ain’t nothing but a cemetary’! Our spiritual daddy was called to ministry by Apostle Jones, and he speaks what God puts in his heart!”
No, your pastor has (yet again) puffed up his own “street credentials” by completely dismissing formal seminary study. While seminary attendance doesn’t make you “more holy”, it does school you in important aspects of study and structure of ministry service. In fact, courses like Homiletics, Hermeneutics, Apologetics, Systematic Theology and others are vital components of any teaching preachers experiences.
Traditionally Protestant churches have focused on expository preaching in which pastors would seek to exposit the Word of God to their congregations. They would often preaching through a book of the Bible verse-by-verse, seeking to illuminate the words of the text to their congregation and then apply the Scripture to their lives. The greatest benefit to expository preaching is that it forces a pastor to open his heart before God and allow Scripture to change him. Every week he must dig deeply into the Bible to see what it truly says in a given passage. When research and exegesis is done properly, it is difficult to present false teachings.
Yeah, it’s hard to lie on God when His Word is clearly laid out for all to see.
Having said all of that, I present these videos to highlight a few sound expository preachers (I know, these videos are not as exciting as those of your local minstrel, but these teachers painstakenly present the core of the Word):
Are you still awake? Have you opened another tab and started cruising another blog while playing the videos above? Alright, alright – since you want to be entertained, here are a few minstrels to keep you awake:
Please note, I am not against reverently expressive worship sessions. I am, however, against empty emotionalism that comes from the pulpit. The lady sitting next to you in church can scream and roll all over the floor while singing Peaches & Herb’s classic hit “Reunited” all she wants – she’s not the elder who is accountable for the flock.
The elder, however must be soberly vigilant to ensure that he presents the mystery of the Gospel as though he will be accountable for the souls of the sheep in his care – because he will! An elder cannot rely on his “showmanship” to teach the word:
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (New American Standard Bible)
1And when I came to you, brethren, I (A)did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you (B)the [a]testimony of God.
2For I determined to know nothing among you except (C)Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3I was with you in (D)weakness and in (E)fear and in much trembling,
4and my message and my preaching were (F)not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of (G)the Spirit and of power,
5so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on (H)the power of God.
The sheep must not rest on the flawed “wisdom” of a preacher – the preacher should simply open up the Word of God and preach it as it is. The minstrels in the pulpit should stop relying on their keen ability to entertain, and start relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you sit under a minstrel who likes to keep serving milk on Sundays and Wednesdays (Hebrews 5:13), then you might need to find a sound bible teacher who is serving the true meat of the Word (Hebrews 5:14).
As a student of Reformed Theology, I adhere to the principal of Sola Scriptura, or scripture alone as the infallible, clear & concise, rational, and self authenticating Word of God in all matters of faith. My colleagues over at the blog A Little Leavenpenned an excellent article last month on the Emergent Church’s assault on Sola Scriptura:
Phyllis Tickle, author of the Great Emergence and recent conference speaker at the Great Emergence Conference is on record predicting the demise of Sola Scriptura. At the conference she said “it’s not if Sola Scriptura ends but when” and her books includes this quote against Sola Scriptura:
Always without fail, the thing that gets lost early in the process of a reconfiguration is any clear and general understanding of who or what is to be used as the arbitrator of correct belief, action, and control… The Reformation,…was to answer the question… Sola Scriptura, scriptura sola… While we may laugh and say the divisiveness was Protestantism’s greatest gift to Christianity, ours is a somber joke. Demoninationalism is a disunity in the Body of Christ and, ironically, one that has a bloody history… (The Great Emergence 45, 46, 47,)
Now, some five hundred years later, even many of the most die-hard Protestants among us have grown suspicious of “Scripture and Scripture only.” We question what the words mean – literally? Metaphorically? Actually? We even question which words do and do not belong in Scripture and the purity of the editorial line of decent of those that do. We begin to refer to Luther’s principle of “sola scriptura, scriptura sola” as having been little more than the creation of a paper pope in place of a flesh and blood one. And even as we speak, the authority that has been in place for five hundred years withers away in our hands.
Click the title to read the article in it’s entirety, and check out the “Proposed Alternatives to Sola Scriptura” for a laugh. And for further exploration of the attack on Sola Scriptura, our brother Doug over at Wired4Truth has an excellent 3 part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
In His infinite wisdom and sovereign grace, God through Jesus Christ saw fit to allow the cloud of delusion to be lifted from my eyes for a literal moment – long enough to see that I was in submission to a scripture-twisting pimp who got more and more wealthy (and brazenly heretical) as his congregation grew poorer and more hopeless.
As I fled the plantation with my family and the remains of my self-respect, I developed and insatiable thirst for the TRUE Word of God, and I committed to reading His Word for myself instead of being spoon-fed by those with malcontent in their hearts. Through God’s grace, the gelatinous mass between my ears began to thaw – transforming me from a subservient drone to a student of the Word – and a walking, breathing BS detector with the ability to spot a false teacher a mile away.
Thus, the inception and development of the blog you read today.
Along the way, my mind has been exercised – and I’ve learned quite a few things, namely that you folks enjoyed reading these top 8 articles I posted in 2008:
I learned that there are some excellent blogs out there defending the Gospel of Jesus Christ (just take a gander at my blogroll on the right column of this page) – including some of the newest additions to my personal reading list:
I learned that no matter how the wolves, vipers, false teachers, pulpit pimps et al deceive the sheep, there are legions who will defend their shenanigans to the fullest – as evidenced by the countless hate emails and death threats I have received this year (although the hate has been tapering off for the past few months…I guess I need to poke the vipers with a bigger stick in 2009).
I learned that as detached as I try to make myself appear, I get vehemently upset when I read of/hear/am informed of a pimps assault on God’s people – and I weep when I receive a note of thanks from those who gather the strength to flee. I know that I am a wretched man apart from the Blood of Jesus Christ – and that my daily surrender of my sinful flesh to the Will of God is a just enough to keep me from becoming one of the dolts I blog against. I am not stupid enough to think that I am anything more than a pawn in God’s plan – and I am ever humbled that He would find me worthy of His service.
I learned that there are still thoughtful pastors out there who care for the sheep more than they do their own wallets – and I am fortunate enough to have them read and comment on this blog.
I learned that there are awesome men and women of God who agree and disagree with me throughout the comment threads here. They admonish, chastice, and encourage me publicly and privately, and agree to disagree without being disagreeable. They bless me with their wit and insight, and pray for me when I teeter close to “the edge”.
Finally, I learned that what started out as one man’s public venting space has in fact become a ministry. No, not a building fund money begging, 3 services a day having, pastor & 1st lady Bently driving ministry – an earnest, grassroots call to a return to traditional, historical, biblical Christianity.
I invite you to join me as I venture down this “blog road” in 2009. I can’t guarantee that I won’t use harsh (yet not vulgar) language, that I won’t call out one of your favorite ministers, or that I won’t get so angry that I nearly toss my computer across the room while revealing the latest blow to the Body of Christ.
I can guarantee, however, that I will remain as humble as I can (through God’s grace) – and that I will without hesitation always honor God through His Son Jesus Christ…and I will continue to speak truth as the Lord wills – and leads.
I’m taking a moment to interupt the conversation on reformed theology in the black community because I read an interesting article from Christianity Today magazine. The article took a closer look at the new-age warlock Tolle from a Christian perspective:
Popular spiritual author and Oprah favorite Eckhart Tolle quotes Jesus a lot. Is he a Christian?
James A. Beverly | posted 7/23/2008 09:50AM
Oprah Winfrey’s recent promotion of Eckhart Tolle has put the German-born author’s latest work, A New Earth, on the bestseller lists with the largest reprint run in the history of Penguin Books. Tolle, in turn, has given Oprah a new sense of purpose. She calls her work with him the most important and exciting thing she has ever done. This spring she hosted 10 Monday-night web seminars with him. As many as one million people watched them live, and 27 million more downloaded them afterward.
Tolle claims no specific religion and states that his teaching fits with the essence of all spiritual paths. While he quotes freely from Jesus, Buddha, and others, he focuses on the divinity in all beings. “How ‘spiritual’ you are has nothing to do with what you believe but everything to do with your state of consciousness,” he writes in A New Earth.
Click the title to read the article in it’s entirety. James Beverly (the writer) goes on to discuss that although Tolle may quote Christ’s words (even the Devil quoted scripture to Christ, remember Matthew 4:1-11?), he mixes Hinduism, Buddhism, and various tenets of New Age garbage. Come to think of it, maybe this is what attracted Oprah to him in the first place.
Anyway, Beverly closes the article with an interesting observation:
For Tolle, ascribing any unique significance to Jesus of Nazareth is ultimately wrong-headed. The Power of Now states: “Never personalize Christ. Don’t make Christ into a form identity. Avatars, divine mothers, enlightened masters, the very few that are real, are not special as persons.” In Tolle’s system, “Jesus” is little more than a cipher for “awakened consciousness.” The particular God-man Jesus and his saving acts in history are of no concern to Tolle. In fact, Jesus only becomes “the way” when the crucified, risen, and exalted Lord of history is put aside.
At least Tolle is playing his role well – what else would we expect from someone who can’t accept the Deity of Christ or that He is the Only Begotten Son of God the Father?
Whenever I read of the latest New Age philosophical garbage, I’m reminded of Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill – specifically addressing the “religious philosophers” of his day. Read Acts 17 for the full context, but take a look at the overarching statement:
Acts 17:22-23 (New American Standard Bible)
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of (A)Athens, I observe that you are very (B)religious in all respects.
23 “For while I was passing through and examining the (C)objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD ‘ Therefore what (D)you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.
And Paul goes on to explain the consequences of mixing God with all other manner of “religion” and philosophy:
Acts 17:30-31 (New American Standard Bible)
30 “Therefore having (A)overlooked (B)the times of ignorance, God is (C)now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
31 because He has fixed (D)a day in which (E)He will judge (F)the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has (G)appointed, having furnished proof to all men by (H)raising Him from the dead.”
Yet more evidence that every biblically sound Christian should avoid Oprah…and ANYBODY that she recommends.
I usually get a concession that reformed theology isn’t a cult or a radical fringe of Christianity, but the next questions rolls off the lips of the inquiring party every time: “Yeah, they’re biblically sound, but how do they worship?”. I suppose that most folks (especially us black folks) imagine that “praise and worship” at a reformed church consists of stoic hymns sung in the King’s English to the tune of an old piano.
The reality is that reformers adhere to reverent worship – not mundane worship. The words of most songs in gospel and contemporary Christian music have reverent lyrics – it’s just that the delivery of those lyrics sometimes creep over into “man worship”. You know, the vocal gymnastics, extended LP version of the chorus (that’s a reference to wax records for all of you 17 year old reformers out there 🙂 ) and “drop it like it’s hot” body gyrations.
Our brother Pastor Anthony Carter over at the blog Non Nobis Domine penned an excellent article dispelling the notion that reformers can’t freely praise God during church services:
…We must remember that Christianity is a “forward remembering” faith.In other words, while we are always looking forward to what God has promised us in the grand consummation, we are always remembering what He did for us at the cross.While we are always proclaiming the glories of the returning King, we are also remembering the glories of the resurrected King.Therefore, let us not jettison the past in favor of the present, and let us not neglect the present in favor of the past.Rather let us embrace them together, even in our worship.How enhanced our worship would be if we made sure that we included such songs as Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee sung to the magnificent arrangement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, as well as Fred Hammond’s Bread of Life, with its irrepressible urban beats.How glorious and worthy of our God and reflective of heavenly realities would our worship be if we were more diligent in making sure we have something old, something new, yet always careful to maintain all things true.
Click the title to read the article in it’s entirety. And while you’re at it – break out that old Commissioned cassette and get to worshipping God!
I'm Speaking Truth... 
You Said…