When Your “Favorite” Christian Leader Is In Serious Error, How Do You Respond?

Scripture teaches over and over that we are to separate from error.  We are told to “have nothing with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11).  2 Cor. 6:14 says to not be yoked together with unbelievers. 

I am continually amazed, but also not surprised, at the fast pace of compromise in the Christian world, year after year.  We are watching once solid leaders ignoring biblical principles of separation as they turn to hold hands with almost anyone who declares themselves Christian, in spite of clear evidence of apostate behavior.  As Ken Silva points out in his recent article (David Barton Controversy), one leader after another is becoming involved in various joint ventures to unite all “Christians” with the goal of making the world a better place.

 

The latest compromise is the Under God Indivisible Leadership Conference.  It was held on July 27 and was described as “people of faith across the nation come together to call on God for the next Great Awakening.”  In Pastor Ken’s article excerpt below, you will see what I mean by the compromise that has happened with such prominent and supposedly solid Christian leaders such as Ravi Zacharias, David Jeremiah, and Franklin Graham. 

 

Concern #1: The Leaders Who Compromise

Ravi Zacharias has shown signs of compromise in the past, so it is not the first.  I was first taken aback when Ravi shared the stage with leaders of the Mormon church at their conference, and never once made it clear that that the Jesus of Mormonism is not the same Jesus of true Christianity.  Then there was the time where he made a reference to Henri Nouwen as “one of the greatest saints of recent memory.”  (video, at 5:45).
Nouwen was a Roman Catholic monk who blended Eastern mysticism with Christianity.  Ravi also spoke at New Age heretic Robert Schuller’s ReThink conference.  How hard has Ravi fallen down?  And how much more compromise will he make in the direction of apostasy?

David Jeremiah is another who has made a terrible mistake by joining hands with this group.  Jeremiah already has compromised in the past.  He wrote a great book that exposed the New Age, but now he himself is promoting contemplative mysticism.  Then there are well known evangelicals like Tony Evans, James Robison, and David Barton.  They all decided to join the bandwagon of this ecumenical movement alongside false teachers such as John Hagee, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, and also with Roman Catholic leaders such as Jonathan Morris and Robert Sirico.  The lineup also included prominent political commentator Glen Beck, a Mormon who is fast becoming accepted as a fellow “Christian” by evangelical Christians.  Why is this happening, and why are they sharing the stage with Beck?

 

There are many others.  The full lineup of speakers who compromised that evening is listed at the end, and you can listen to each of them here.  Although the video is nearly three hours long, you will be able to jump any section to listen to a specific speaker.  

 

Concern #2: Christians Who Do Not Like It When Their “Favorites” Are Called Out

From time to time, I get a disapproving email from someone when I mention a favorite of theirs who has compromised the Gospel.  I have been criticized for mentioning such popular folks as Beth Moore, for instance, who has been shown to not only be biblically unsound, but who is favorably promoting contemplative spirituality.  I’ve been told not to “go there”  as I continue my investigation of popular evangelist Dan Bohi and some of his teachings and associations, which I will be reporting on soon.  As I bring to light information on what he is preaching, and what he is claiming to have done, and who he associates with- I wonder, what will you say?

I have no doubt… in fact I am certain to lose some friends after that comes out.

Yet, as Christians we are not to show favoritism towards any teacher or preacher if they start to teach anything that is contrary to God’s word.  We should not overlook someone’s error and give them a free pass if it contradicts Holy Scripture.  No one is above scrutiny except the One who is above scrutiny.

Most of you would in principle agree with what I just said, but in practice, some of you fail at following this principle when your own “ox is being gored.”  In other words, it depends on whether the criticism of that teacher goes against your own interests or not.  This is dangerous territory, and is an indication of clouded judgment at best, and worse, an indication that you are experiencing deception that could continue to get worse and worse for you.  What in the world is going on, when so many of these “great” leaders are continuing to fall by the wayside, and at the same time, so many of you cannot see the obvious right in front of your noses?

 

I shudder to think how much worse it will get, but I believe it is going to get much worse.  We are seeing signs all around of a widening apostasy, and it seems the true Christian church will be comprised of small groups scattered around the world, while the majority of “Christians” will become part of a worldwide unity of false Christians and other religions under the leadership of the Anti-Christ.  There are certainly no indications in Scripture that the end times will bring a great revival in the church, as so many are saying will happen.  Rather, Scripture clearly tells is that many will fall away from the truth, and the love of many will grow cold.

 

Beware of making idols of your favorite preacher, teacher or pastor.  It could come back to bite you very hard, and in turn could cause damage to those closest to you.

 

Manny Silva

 

Additional References:

 

http://apprising.org/2012/06/29/under-god-indivisible-and-joined-with-apostates/

You will be able to listen to each speaker by jumping to their own section at this video of the conference:  http://www.christianpost.com/news/evangelical-pastor-ken-hutcherson-i-am-the-gayest-man-i-know-74390/

Speakers: David Jeremiah, Fr. Jonathan Morris, Betty Robison, Ravi Zacharias, Dr. Tony Evans, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, James Robison, Dr. Richard Land, Dr. Frank Pavone. Ken Hutcherson, Kenneth Copeland, Dr. Jim Garlow, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, Rev. Robert Sirico, John Hagee, Robert Morris, Jay Richards, Gloria Copeland, Bishop Harry Jackson, Chris Hodges, David Uth, Mark Gonzalas, Dean Nelson

Who Are We To Judge? Answering The Question

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 27:6

“I would rather tell you the hurtful truth, than pretend that all is well and good.”  A pastor friend recently responded to an article I posted by David Cloud, Being A Friend To Sinners: The Emergent Way.  (Original source)

I wanted to share my response to him, as his thoughts reflect what many other pastors and laypeople believe. It is vital to keep providing facts and evidence to our Christian brothers and sisters, even as they continue to be shocked by what they see as uncaring and hateful words, improper judgmentalism, and “divisiveness.”   we have been called haters by such as “pastor” Steve Furtick.  My objective is to show them the truth even if it hurts, and to show that what we are doing is the most loving thing we can do in the face of apostasy today: expose and call out the false teachers, and warn the believers of the danger they are facing, dangers that threaten their very spiritual well-being.  We do this as friends, and because it is a biblical mandate.  As always, I am open to correction from the word of God.

From A Pastor Friend:

    “Wasn’t Jesus accused of the same behavior: being a friend of sinners and publicans? He befriended multitudes, but most of them did not come to repentance.   There is a time, a place, and a way for everything. We need to stop this war against the Church just because some choose to do things differently.  Who are we to be judging others? Are we so full of ourselves that we cannot see that we are hurting the Church rather than heal her? What we need (all of us without exception) is an infilling of the Holy Spirit. Shorter than this is just nonsense.”

Dear Brother, thanks for the comments.

Yes, Jesus was indeed a friend to sinners.  The stark difference is this: He befriended them, BUT He always pointed them to their only real need; their need for spiritual re-birth.  Not so with the emergent crowd and the man-pleasers of today in our denomination and others.  These people focus on becoming friends with unbelievers, and emphasize following “the way of Jesus” by doing good deeds, and practicing the “let’s all get along philosophy” of the emergents, ecumenists and New Evangelical crowd.

So here is the problem.  For all their good intentions of living “in community”, of being a friend to the world, of being non-judgmental and accepting of everyone, they lose sight of the “main thing.”  They ignore the most important thing that Jesus ALWAYS did: He showed the sinner his need of a Savior to pull him out of the miry clay of sin.  That is what is so wrong with the church today, as David Cloud pointed out in the article.  Too many in the church are focusing solely on being friends to sinners, to the detriment of their real need.  I quote from the article again:

“Gurganus is saying we should befriend the unsaved, but he is not saying what the emerging church is saying.  Gurganus is saying that the objective is not merely to befriend the unsaved but to win them to Christ!”

I hope you read that article again by brother Cloud.  It is so right on and biblically solid, I don’t see what objection you have to it, but I am open to biblical correction, as I am sure brother Cloud is also.  Many in the Nazarene church today and other denominations are failing to emphasize the Gospel.  Not the social gospel; not the environmental gospel; not another Jesus; but the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which teaches that nothing is more important in our lives than to repent, confess our sins, and turn to Jesus Christ, the only way to the Father.  Anything that pushes aside this message, or waters it down to a works-based gospel, is not the true gospel; it is doctrines of demons.  And I am sorry to say, but this is being disseminated in the Church of the Nazarene by our leaders and many university presidents, and by many district superintendents and pastors who are byproducts of Nazarene Theological Seminary, a school which is shamefully condoning the teaching of occultism and contemplative spirituality.  (Please refer to Proverbs 27:6 again before you get offended at what I just said).

You said:  “There is a time, a place, and a way for everything. We need to stop this war against the Church just because some choose to do things differently.”

It is not that some are doing things differently; it is that those different ways are contradictory to biblical principles. You must realize that we are fighting a war against Satan, and not against the Church.  We are in the middle of what looks like the end times apostasy.  The true Church is composed of obedient Nazarenes, Baptists, and Christians from many different denominations.  The true Church is not composed of those who are attacking the Church and its biblical foundation; the true Church is composed of those who are standing up to defend the truth of God’s word. The war against the Church will only stop when Jesus Christ returns and puts Satan away for good; in the meantime, please do not mistake me and others for being those who wage war against the Church!  We are defending the faith, we are defending the Church.  We cannot continue to ignore the cancer that is spreading within the church, and much of it is being spread by the corrupt shepherds in many of our pulpits.  As Roger Oakland said in his article on end times apostasy:

“No denomination or fellowship of churches is immune to this delusion. Even those who once stood on the simple Word of God, warning of deception and teaching the Bible  verse by verse, have fallen in the trap. The pressure is too great not to go with the flow. Even when well-respected pastors and leaders see the signs of apostasy happening in their own circles and proclaim a warning, most refuse to listen. They go on their merry way for the sake of popularity and success.”

You asked, “Who are we to be judging others?”

Answer: In the same chapter in Matthew where Jesus CLEARLY shows to us that we are to judge, He later gives us another command that, if we do not judge- we cannot keep that very commandment!  He said:

“Watch out for false prophets.   They come to you in sheep’s clothing.  But inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”  Matt. 7:15

How can we watch out for false prophets?  We judge them by their fruits, and whether their teachings line up with the word of God.  So we are expected by the Lord Jesus Christ to judge; but we are to judge righteously.  It is biblical; it cannot be refuted; and it is an act of disobedience to refuse to judge, because if we do, then we are disobedient to a whole bunch of other scriptures which we cannot truly obey, unless we judge!  I will point you again to a more thorough presentation on whether we should judge or not, as I have posted before, in Yomi Adegboye’s biblical answer to the question: Judge Not?

Finally, you said: “Are we so full of ourselves that we cannot see that we are hurting the Church rather than heal her? What we need (all of us without exception) is an infilling of the Holy Spirit. Shorter than this is just nonsense.”

First, what is hurting the church is not the biblical Christians who are faithful to God’s word; it is the purveyors of false doctrines, including many of our leaders, as I have documented many times.  These are hurting the Church, not folks like me.  We must put away this continuing habit of unity at the cost of compromising God’s word.

It is ironic that you mention the Holy Spirit.  I was speaking to a new sister in the Lord the other night.  She was expressing the heartbreak she and her husband are experiencing, as they see the slow infiltration of emergent ideology into their own church.  She spoke of certain things she felt inside as she listened to sermons, and heard things that just did not sound right.  I have felt the same things, as have many others.  We believe that much of that “gut feeling” that something is wrong, comes from the prompting of the Holy Spirit in us.  Much of that “feeling” has then been validated by the testimony of others, and ultimately, by the testimony of Holy Scripture.

Believe me, the Holy Spirit has led us to where we are now.  We take ridicule from our very own friends and family, and from people we know for years, who have remained blind to the truth for the sake of preserving their “fellowship.”  Worst still is the fact that many know the truth, but are deliberately compromising for their comfort, friendships, or even positions of power.  At what cost, and who will they answer to someday?

I challenge you once again to look at the facts I report on every week, and come to a conclusion based on God’s word, and nothing else.  I challenge you to come and join the many other pastors, laymen and leaders who have joined with us in the same biblical principle: that we are to please God first, and not men.

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”  Gal 1:10

They Exchange The True Gospel For A Lie

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.  Isaiah 8:20

I received this yesterday from a friend in California in response to my last post:

“The pure unadulterated sanctified Gospel of Jesus Christ in all its power has been replaced by the ‘social gospel’ of our day in our churches. They have lost sight of where to draw the line between reaching out and helping others… and that of giving them the Gospel message. So much emphasis is placed on the thousands of entities that meet the human materialist needs of the lost….yet so much so that man’s pride says, “I did a wonderful deed so that’s all that counts. I was “Jesus” to  them.”  But then ….as I said to my former pastor:  because, I like others, was hearing the lack of the Gospel but much about serving others – we are no different than goodness-based cults and religions. Many of them LOOK like Christians.  However, the often used phrase taken from St. Francis of Assisi* where the message is to BE… not to necessarily speak the Word of God… I feel has been overstated.

I have no problem giving to a poor street person – whether he is spending it on drugs or whatever, as long as I do it in the name of the Lord.. I will tell him after giving him money, that I also want him/her to know about the ‘food that feeds the soul’. If he uses the money for drugs, it is not my business if I am giving in the name of the Lord; the power of the Gospel message not only saves but is able to free him from his bondages.

 

How sad that the Gospel has been so tainted by all the ‘ingredients added to it’ by the church. When this happens it dilutes, twists, discounts, and waters down the wonderful powerful message of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross. The Gospel needs nothing else as it stands on its own because of who God is and who His Son is.”

I appreciate what has been said here because it reflects accurately our Christian denominations of today, whether Nazarene or any other group.  Instead of preaching the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, apostate “Christians” at festivals such as Wildgoose spend their time carousing and partying in “community” in their beer and wine tents. They invite anyone to come and share whatever they have, and they downplay doctrinal differences and embrace everything under the sun that is spiritual.  Leaders look the other way in fear of criticizing their fellow colleagues, or perhaps because they approve of it all.  Any kind of spirituality is good for them now, not whether beliefs and doctrine is soundly based on Scripture or not.

The emergent church emphasizes a defective and false gospel, focusing on such things as: community and relationships in place of doctrine, rejecting the fact that there are absolute truths that are found in absolutely clear doctrine as taught through God’s infallible word.  But that is the key problem and what has led to this watering down of the gospel.  These rebellious pseudo-Christians believe they are doing a good thing by embracing the “big-tent” philosophy.  They open up soup kitchens and food pantries, feed and cloth the poor in the neighborhood, and at the same time never present a clear gospel message that those people are headed to hell on a full stomach.  Oh, they may very well say to these people something like “God bless you” as they walk out the door, but that’s about it.  And of course, there are community food pantries whose policy is to not even mention Jesus Christ, or which prevents Christians from witnessing to those to whom they serve food.  Yet they do it the name of Jesus.  How sad, but I guess it makes them feel good to feed someone.

We see General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene and presidents of major evangelical and holiness denominations holding hands with social justice advocates, thinking they are doing a wonderfully spiritual act that will please God.  They stand up for the “rights” of illegal aliens, saying it is the Christian thing to do, while at the same time they step on the rights of those who, whether Christian or not, are waiting patiently to come into our country, or who are being deprived of jobs in favor of lawbreakers.  Instead of proclaiming the real gospel, they get tangled up in social and environmental justice pursuits that do nothing to show the sinner what they really need.

We must continue to send out warnings to those who are perverting the gospel and spreading poison in our churches and universities.  But it also needs to go out to those Christians, especially pastors and others in leadership positions, who are standing apathetically by while the church is being corrupted.  Pastors, if you think that all you need to do is protect your little church by insulating your congregation from emergent ideology and never teaching them about what is going on, what will you do then after you leave, and your replacement is a wolf in sheep’s clothing?  You’ll probably see your church end up being a social club that does a lot of community good, but does nothing to feed the people the real food: the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  By then, it may be too late, but you will still have to answer to God.

Manny

*Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words. (attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, this phrase sounds nice, but is contrary to what Scripture teaches)

The Road To Catholicism In The Nazarene Church: Mindless Retreats

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  2 Thess. 2:11-12

The following are descriptions of two upcoming retreats that emphasize “silence” (emptying the mind), which will probably become the norm throughout the Nazarene denomination.  Since our General Superintendents have never publicly spoken out against these types of retreats, we must conclude by default that they support it (and I have asked them about these issues).  We are becoming a mini- Roman Catholic Church within what claims to be a holiness church.  This is no longer the church of my father, who God rescued from the bondage of apostate Roman Catholic religion and became a missionary to the Catholics, NOT a partner with them.  Our leaders continue with their silence on these matters; it will be interesting to see for how long.  We are now only 17 months away from the next General Assembly.  It is clear to me that the denomination is splitting internally between the Bible believers, and those who are pushing or accepting the radical agendas of the emergent/missional/ecumenical movement.

Richard Bennett, former RCC priest, says about these types of activities:

“Communion with God is a participation in eternal life by grace through faith. Such communion is not achieved by imagination, visualizations, solitude, or mystical formulas. Christ Jesus the Lord warned that, “many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.” The present day Emerging Church movement is full of deceitful, contemplative practices. Only by taking heed to the counsel of the Lord can His followers escape ruin. The danger of the Emerging Church’s type of spirituality is that it replaces the certainty of the written Word with subjective experiences. True coming to God is by trusting on the perfect life and sacrifice of Christ that includes repentance and forsaking of sin.” (Emergent Church Indoctrinates With Catholic Style Eastern Mysticism, Richard Bennett)

 

Retreat #1: St. Gertrude’s Monastery

Northwest Nazarene University is sponsoring a women’s retreat at St. Gertrude’s: http://www.stgertrudes.org/
Title: A Place to Satisfy Your Hunger For God: A Monastic Immersion Experience
The contact for this retreat is NNU professor, Julene Tegerstrand, at jtegerstrand@nnu.edu

What is the vision of St. Gertrude’s?  “We are monastic women who follow the ancient Rule of Benedict.”

What is the Rule of Benedict?  This Rule teaches salvation and sanctification through asceticism.  This system, created by St. Benedict, directed every aspect of a monk’s life: his clothing, relationships, travel, duties, schedule, meals, worship, reading, habitat, sleep. (1)  This is legalism, in other words.  This is works based salvation, which now many of our Nazarene leaders are promoting and our General Superintendents are apparently doing nothing about, thus giving it their stamp of approval by default.

What is a monastic immersion experience?   It includes experiencing monastic prayer (i.e. contemplative spirituality, centering prayer, silence).  It’s open to women of all faith backgrounds as well.  Interspirituality in other words, or interfaith, which is another growing trend.  Right at the start of their YouTube video, they urge us to “come and listen with us”, the typical wording that describes practicing the silence, a contemplative mystical experience whose goal is to empty the mind.

So those who attend this retreat sponsored by NNU will learn new (unscriptural)  things which we as Bible believing Christians have rejected for years.  Now it appears to be acceptable, and not only that, appears to be what these people want the church to look like!  The wolves have entered the sheep pen already, don’t you think?  And the shepherds are still sleeping.  You must ask yourself: why are Nazarenes and other evangelical denominations encouraging others to incorporate Roman Catholic practices into their lives, when these practices are false, legalistic, works-based?  In other words, this is teaching another gospel, another Jesus, and negates what Christ has done on the Cross once and for all.

Retreat #2: Spiritual Formation

Trevecca Nazarene University is sponsoring a spiritual formation retreat at the Loretto MotherHouse in KY
Title: Silence And Listening For The Voice of God
The contact for this retreat is Brent Tallman (btallman@trevecca.edu)

I have previously written about this retreat (Trevecca Leaders Continue Indoctrination of Heresy).  Here are some quotes from the website (bold emphasis is mine):

So the goal of this retreat will be to help us minimize distractions and noise, so that we might gain a better understanding of how to be silent and how to truly listen for the voice of God.

“Union with Godin prayer requires us to learn to quiet ourselves–yes, from the noises which surround us, but also from inward noises (restlessness, fears, our agenda’s, etc.)It is this stillness and emptiness which allows us to be open to hearing the voice of God.”

There will be no agendas, no meetings, and no requirements–just being quiet before God and listening for His voice.

“

Upon looking at their agenda, the attendees will be doing the following:
1. Arriving at the site on Friday in immediate silence.
2. Then, going to dinner in total silence.
3. Having breakfast and lunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday every day in total silence.
4. Practicing silence throughout the day.
5. Going through an (optional) tour of the Motherhouse- and Meet at the Church following Mass!
6. On Sunday night, they will finally have a service with testimonies and reflections on a “Wesley Covenant renewal”.  I have no idea what that has to do with anything else here.
7. And… they are encouraged to join the sisters daily in their “hours of prayers”, Roman Catholic style.

I have warned President Dan Boone of this many times, to which his responses have not reflected what the title of one of his books implies, “a charitable discourse.”  He is promoting false practices to young people, and he is responsible, thus I fear for his soul.  God’s word say that  “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”  Heb. 10:31  This  is why I cannot recommend Trevecca for any Bible believer to send their children.  Neither can I recommend NNU anymore as well.  They are both schools which are promoting contemplative mysticism, which is unbiblical.

Conclusion: The lines are being blurred, and yet the worst delusions are yet to come, and soon, it will all look the same, it will all look good, and discernment will be gone from even more Christians.  By that time, many will have fallen for this blending of good with bad, and their hearts will be hardened even more.  It will then be to late for them.

Beware, life as a Christian will most likely get more difficult, and the persecution and ostracizing will be far more serious from within, not without.  Your choice is either for the easy road, or the hard road.  I remind you that the hard road is the way of the genuine Christian believer, and it will be narrow as well.  At least our Lord said so, and who is to argue with Him?

Manny Silva

Footnotes:
(1) Contemplative Mysticism: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond, David Cloud, p. 328

For additional research:

http://reformednazarene.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/trevecca-nazarene-university-promoting-mysticism-and-pagan-practices/

http://reformednazarene.wordpress.com/2010/09/06/false-teaching-in-a-christian-university-a-shocking-example/

http://reformednazarene.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/is-lectio-divina-and-mysticism-the-future-of-nazarene-theolog/

Does Nazarene Theological Seminary Support The Interfaith Movement?

Buddhists, Muslims, Native American religions, Hindu, Sufi, Unitarian Universalists, Taoism, Confucianism, Wiccans, and Zoroastrians. 

Would you or your church be comfortable with working closely with these religions as part of an interfaith group whose goal is unity with all religions?  Well, the center for Religious Experience And Study (CRES) is based in Kansas City, KS, states the following on their website:

“Beyond superstition, narcissism, sef-righteousness and violence, we uplift the wisdom of the world’s faiths to heal the three great crises of our desacralized culture- in the environment, in personhood, in society.…  “CRES envisions the greater Kansas City area as a model community honoring interfaith relationships
•  where interfaith relationships are honored as a way of deepening one’s own tradition and spirituality, and
•  where the wisdom of the many religions successfully addresses the • environmental, • personal, and • social crises of our often fragmented, desacralized world.“

When you read through much of the website, you will see it is a love fest in ecumenicalism and interreligious and pluralistic cooperation, with the idea that only working together with other religions can we bring healing to the world’s problems.  One would think any Bible believing Christian school or denomination would stay far away from associating with this kind of thinking and philosophy.  We are commanded in Scripture:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”  (2 Cor. 6:14).  And we are also told to: “… have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Eph. 5:11

We are not told anywhere in Scripture to come together and hold hands and “dialogue” with other religions, and rightly so, because all other religions are lies, and thus their origin is from Satan, the father of lies.  Yet here on this list of recommended groups and universities is Nazarene Theological Seminary.  I also noted that the site goes out of its way to make sure we know that Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is to be avoided… “as its approach to non-Christian faiths is unreliable and hostile.“  As I suspected, after looking at what MBTS stands for, it seems that it might be the only Christian school worthy of recommending to Bible believers in that area.  I was particularly impressed by their clear, unambiguous statement that the school will reflect AND teach the core biblical principles of their sponsoring denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, including teaching biblical inerrancy.  Would that our schools could only be so bold to do the same!

The question now we ask is, why?  Why is Nazarene Theological Seminary listed as part of a group of approved organizations that CRES has on their website?  That is a question I asked Dr. David Busic last month, in an email to him dated Nov 18.  He is the newly installed President of the seminary, and I thought surely he will correct this error and ask CRES to remove NTS from the approved list.  Furthermore, I would hope that not only would he ask for NTS to be removed from the list, but also that he would clearly distance the seminary from any kind of association and promotion of interfaith or ecumenical gatherings, in accordance with God’s standards as written in Holy Scripture.  I have yet to hear from Dr. Busic, and because of the history of NTS in recent years, I am concerned, and perhaps you should be too.  Perhaps the email got lost, or perhaps he is working on this now.  Perhaps you can send him an alert regarding what could be a misunderstanding.  That is why I am re-sending this to him, in hopes of getting an answer.

I am also concerned about NTS because of what it has promoted in the past.  The previous NTS president, Dr. Ron Benefiel, is directly connected with a group that promotes ecumenical “dialogue.”  The Christian Research/Voice Institute states: “While representing a particular theological tradition (Wesleyan), the goal of CRI/Voice is ecumenical and global.”  The Executive Director is Professor Dennis Bratcher, formerly from Point Loma Nazarene University and a proponent of Open Theism and Process Theology.  Dr. Benefiel is now at Point Loma and head of the Theology School.  Dr. Roger Hahn, a theology professor at NTS, is also on the board of this ecumenical group.

In a recent post (Phyllis Tickle and The New Seminary President), I pointed out how Dr. Busic referred to extensive material from Phyllis Tickle of emergence Christianity fame, in part of his inauguration message.  It is very troubling when you read about her ideology, and when you listen to her in this dialogue with false teacher Tony Jones at Fuller Theological Seminary.  (She starts at around the 27:00 minute mark).
Then there is the seminary’s promotion of contemplative spirituality and ecumenism, not only to adults (pre-General Assembly retreat) but also to young children of middle school age.  Then there is the occultic course being taught by Doug Hardy (Celtic Spirituality), and Dr. Hardy also is heavily involved with another interfaith group, Spiritual Directors International, where he is listed as a “spiritual director”, and is on the editorial board of the Presence Journal.  His bio says that “Doug’s fundamental calling is to come alongside others to help facilitate their alignment with God.”  Not to preach the gospel, but alignment with God, whatever that means. (Note also that the first person on the list is Lauren Artress, who was instrumental in popularizing prayer labyrinths in the United States.)  Oh, but who really cares about all this?

I could go on, but there seems to be a troubling trend at our top Nazarene seminary of promoting interfaith dialogue, ecumenism, emergent church ideology, and contemplative mysticism.  Is this the new face of the main seminary which is training perhaps your future pastor?  How will that bode for you and your congregation?  And what do our General Superintendents (our denomination’s spiritual leaders and interpreters of our doctrine) say about these issues?  Well, in a recent meeting on Dec. 8 with the leaders of NTS and Nazarene Bible College, I quote the article: “in the meeting, the general superintendents expressed their confidence in [Presidents] Busic and Graves and assured them of their unwavering support for the schools.”  The Generals also made the following statement:

“The Board of General Superintendents is deeply and unwaveringly committed to NTS and NBC. They are worthy of the confidence of the entire denomination.”

Unwavering?  Worthy of confidence?  Was this statement made with the knowledge of all these things going on at NTS?  Do the Generals support interfaith dialogue, and contemplative mysticism, and the teaching of occultism?  They have clearly have been informed of these troubling trends at both seminaries and are silent at this point.  One can make a strong case that the Board of General Superintendents may be supporting the very things I mentioned which run contrary to God’s word.  I pray that they will prove me (and others) wrong, but at this point, neither of these seminaries are worthy of the confidence of the entire denomination, that’s for sure.

Manny Silva

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Addendum:  EMAIL TO DR. DAVID BUSIC, PRESIDENT OF NAZARENE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY:

Below is my email to Dr. Busic.  It seems he has a lot on his hands.  Does Dr. Busic accept or tolerate these things?  Either view would be wrong.  I will FOLLOWUP as these trends develop, and let you know if NTS continues to be listed on the CRES website.  So far, it is not encouraging to see the road that this Nazarene seminary is going down, and I do not at this time recommend future pastors going to the seminary, nor do I recommend any church to consider for pastor anyone graduating from NTS unless they are thoroughly scrutinized and questioned as to their ideology.


11/18/2011

Dear Dr. Busic,

Congratulations on your appointment as President of NTS.  It is my prayer that God will guide you in leading NTS in upholding biblical truth at the school.  I and other Nazarenes have had concerns in the past regarding some things sponsored by, promoted by, or taught at the seminary.

I was concerned about something I ran into the other day, and wondering if you were aware of it.
At the CRES website, the Seminary is listed favorably as a recommended institution friendly to the CRES organization.  My concern is that it is an interfaith group that works closely with practically any kind of religion in the world.

Here is the link to the site where it mentions NTS favorably:  http://www.cres.org/pubs/KCInterfaithOps.htm

Just an observation, I thought that it was really strange that they said this about another school: “We cannot recommend Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as its approach to non-Christian faiths is unreliable and hostile.”  Funny, I went to their website and so far have not seen anything about this Baptist school which would be over the top, unless they have a very consistent biblical approach that CRES cannot accept.  I am not Baptist, but certainly do agree with the core values as stated by that school, so I wonder why CRES would not recommend them.  I’ll have to ask CRES of course, not you.

On their vision statement page, they say this: “CRES values the contribution of each distinctive faith in healing the crises of our age — and finds it important to honor and preserve their distinctions. “  These faiths include: Buddhists, Muslims, Native American religions, Hindu, Sufi, Unitarian Universalists, Taoism, Confucianism, Wiccans, and Zoroastrians!

They also say: “CRES envisions the greater Kansas City area as a model community honoring interfaith relationships
•  where interfaith relationships are honored as a way of deepening one’s own tradition and spirituality, and
•  where the wisdom of the many religions successfully addresses the • environmental, • personal, and • social crises of our often fragmented, desacralized world.“

Does NTS have any kind of real connection with CRES?  If so, on what basis?  And if not, would it not be prudent to ask this group to remove any reference to NTS as a good resource?  If this is not the type of group NTS wants to associate with, that would certainly remove any appearance of an endorsement of this organization.  If this is the kind of group that NTS wants to associate with, then I humbly will say that it would be a serious problem that all Nazarenes should be aware of.

Looking forward to your response.  I have CC’d this to a few close friends so they are aware of the same issue regarding CRES and the reference to NTS.

Sincerely in Christ,

Manny Silva