Author Of Heretical Book “Proudly” Welcomed At Northwest Nazarene

The press release reads at the beginning like this:

“Northwest Nazarene University Alumni Association is proud to welcome William Paul Young, author of The Shack, to campus Sept. 22, 2011. The Shack is one of the top 70 New York Bestsellers of all time.”

This school continues on a path of reckless invitations to just about anyone who claims that they are Christian.  A few years ago, it was universalist and panentheist Dr. Jay McDaniel promoting his version of the gospel, to the apparent delight of NNU professors and leaders.  (False Teaching In A Christian University: A Shocking Example).

There have been other very dubious speakers at the school.  Brennan Manning was a guest speaker on the college campus church. He was quoted favorably at a chapel service in 2008 by the college president.  Manning promotes contemplative mysticism, practicing “the silence”, mantras, centering prayer and other forms of New Age occultism and Eastern meditation.  In his book Abba’s Child, he refutes the Cross of Christ as the only way to salvation.  He mocks Bible-believers and calls them bibliolaters.  He believes that homosexuality is acceptable.  He is ecumenical and embraces other religions as valid.

Another false teacher welcomed in 2008 was Brian McLaren in his famous “Everything Must Change” tour.  McLaren and his friends wants to change EVERYTHING about Christianity, because in his wisdom, we have not learned a thing right in 2,000 years.  He is free to make that judgment, but then turns around says he has no clue if homosexuality is a sin.  In this video, Eric Barger describes some of the bizarre goings on at that conference at NNU with McLaren.

You can read more on the school’s bad decisions in this article I posted, Northwest Nazarene University: Symbol Of What’s Wrong In Our Christian Schools.

Will Northwest Nazarene leadership ever learn anything about proper discernment?  The Shack is one of the most heretical novels ever plied to Christians, yet so many have shown lack of biblical discernment with this novel.  If you have a pastor who promotes this book, he has a serious lack of discernment.

It promotes the most heretical concepts of God and His nature, and is blasphemous just on the basis of depicting God (called Papa) is depicted as a tall African-American woman, the Holy Spirit (Sarayu) as a small Asian woman, and Jesus as a Jewish carpenter.   It promotes the modalistic view of the Trinity that is taught by TD Jakes and other.  Modalism is the belief that God manifest Himself in three different ways, instead of what scripture teaches, that God is One, but three Persons in one.

The God of The Shack is also absolutely non-judgmental, which fits in with the ideology of the emergent church, of the ecumenical movement, of the New Evangelicals, and other aberrant movements that hold holds with just about anything.

In the novel, Jesus also tells Mack that he is “the best way any human can relate to Papa or Sarayu.” The best way, NOT the only way.

Papa also says to Mack, “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.”
That is wrong.  God is a holy judge, and He will clearly punish us for our sin against Him.

In his review of the book, David Cloud notes:

In “The Shack,” Young presents traditional Bible-believing Christianity as hypocritical and hurtful. The book’s main character grew up under “rigorous rules,” and his father, who was an elder in the church, was “a closet drinker” and treated his family with cruelty when drunk (p. 7).

Young’s god is the god of the emerging church. He is cool, loves rock & roll, is non-judgmental, does not exercise wrath toward sin, does not send unbelievers to an eternal fiery hell, does not require repentance and the new birth, puts no obligations on people, doesn’t like traditional Bible churches, does not accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God, and does not mind if the early chapters of the Bible are interpreted as “myth.

Another foundational problem with “The Shack” is its denial of the Bible as the absolute and sole authority. Note the following quote:

“In seminary he [the book’s main figure, Mack] had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred Scripture, properly interpreted, of course. God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. … Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that guilt edges?” (pp. 65, 66).

Not only is “The Shack’s” god suspiciously similar to the one described in the books of the more liberal branch of the emerging church (e.g., Rob Bell, Donald Miller, Brian McLaren), it also has a strong kinship to the New Age god promoted by John Lennon and Oprah Winfrey.

Additional quotes from the book:

“Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. … I have no desire to make them Christian” (p. 182).

There is so much more wrong with this book, and yet NNU is proud to have William Paul Young on campus.  This is just one of the many reasons I do NOT recommend anyone to send their child to this school.  You do so at their peril.

Additional References:

The Shack’s Cool God (David Cloud)

The Shack — The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment (Dr. Al Mohler)

A Look At The Shack (audio) Dr Al Mohler
Matt Slick interview the ‘Shack’ author Paul Young:
http://www.imcnews.org/dow​nloads/videos/MattSlickInt​erviewsTheShackBookAuthorP​aulYoung070908.wmv

Anthony Harper’s interview with the ‘Burning Down The Shack’ author Dr. James DeYoung – link below:
http://www.imcnews.org/dow​nloads/audio/IMCNH%2009-09​-10BurningDownTheShackAuth​orDrDeYoung.mp3

Rejecting The Bible’s Authority And Inerrancy

2 Peter 1:20-21 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Although the Point Loma homosexuality controversy recently was a big story, I was afraid it would distract us from the fact that there is a bigger problem in the church, of which this is only one of the symptoms.  What has led many Christians to welcome and embrace the emerging church movement?  What has led our evangelical denominations to bring in mysticism, Roman Catholic and pagan practices?  What has led us to compromise the gospel message and create a new gospel of social justice mixed with environmentalism and ecumenicism?  What has led us to usher in secular music during worship, soaking prayer and word-faith phenomema?  What has led us to embrace the thinking that “it’s all about God’s love”, while losing sight of the fact that while He is a God of love, He is also a God of justice, and that the wrath of God will come down on all who walk in willful disobedience?  (Rom. 14:10-12) What has led so many, pastors included, to be blinded to the obvious heresies of Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo and others?  What has led Nazarene Theological Seminary to allow the teaching and practice of the occultic-based Celtic spirituality?  What has led us to be more concerned about membership rolls and financial health, than about preaching the gospel?

It is the rejection of the Bible as the inerrant, infallible word of God. It is the rejection of scripture as the only and sufficient authority for Christians.  It is the arrogance of some of our leaders in the church and our universities, to dare to tell us that they know better than what is written in God’s word.  It is the oft repeated belief that the common man who has no theology degree does not have the understanding to know what the Bible teaches, until the enlightened leaders tell us what it means.  These people forget that the power of God’s word is such that it does not need man’s help to reveal the sinner’s fallen nature, and bring him to his knees in repentance, and grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.

If the leadership in the church, and many of the professors at our Christian schools, actually held uncompromisingly to the inerrancy of scripture, we would not see heresies like open theism and process theology taught at some of the universities.  We would also not see the promotion of theistic evolution, which clearly contradicts scriptural revelation.  These teachings, when held up to scripture, fall like a deck of cards.  Yet why do so many fail to understand, and choose to reject what the Bible teaches, and instead invent their own explanations of what God’s word is really saying?

My recent post on Northwest Nazarene, which was published at Intermountain Christian News, was visited so much yesterday that it passed the previous high that was set when the Point Loma homosexuality story came out.  Many of these comments are never approved, because they repeat the same old accusations or imply facts that were not in the article.  Here is a sample:

“the author of this article is extraordinarily ill-informed”; “At best it is simply hearsay and unfortunately poor research; at worst, it is blatant fear-mongering.”

“an article like this one that lacks truth”

These folks rejected, but did not correct any facts that I wrote in the post.  And they apparently ignore the fact that there are NNU alums, parents and students alike, who share the same concerns I have.

Then:

“When it comes to the inerrant Word of God, you will not find a single professor in our religion department who will tell you that the Bible has errors when it comes to the Salvation story, but they will say that the Bible contains errors/contradictions on numbers (such as warriors for battle) or on timing issues (Jesus spoke to John and then Mark vs. Jesus spoke to Mark and then John) but I have never heard of an NNU professor saying that there are contradictions beyond these trivial things.”

There’s the problem.  And this person apparently is not familiar with Professor Tom Oord and his selective choosing of what is reliable.  Dr. Oord was the same professor who told me he disagreed about Adam as being the source of what brought on sin and death to man.  That is a rejection of what Romans 5:12 says, and what Jesus said also.  Professor Oord also is a big proponent of open theism and process theology, both heretical teachings.

What these people fail to do in their arguments with me and others, is to point out the specifics of the “errors” in our statements.  They cannot argue or reason from a biblical perspective, because they are rejecting that viewpoint.  They are probably arguing from a humanistic or ecumenical perspective, which says we should embrace or live happily with every kind of doctrine that comes down the pike!  If they could only believe the Bible completely, these problems would eventually go away.  But they choose to believe only what they want to believe, and only what tickles their ears.

And then there are the examples of what some students have come to believe:

“Love with no judgments, means….. not only can you not tell someone they are wrong in their faith, but to even believe it, is a judgment. Which is absolutely opposite of what Jesus taught.”

“Over the years it has become apparent to me that the fullness of God was expressed through Christ and not through the Bible.”

“Just because the bible is written whereas “god” is referred to as he, you can’t assume god is male.”

“No one has any divine revelation here. We decide either by reason or emotion.”

So to all who have posted recently amid the furor over Point Loma, and Northwest Nazarene, I am sorry, but your comments will not be accepted, unless you can actually correct the “errors” and refute what has been said about your school.  It’s all there right in front of you.  You just refuse to see it, because most likely, you do not respect the word of God.  You do not believe that God’s word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is completey trustworthy in all that it teaches.

Thus, as our attitude towards God’s Holy word goes, so goes the church.

Additional Resources on Scriptural Authority and Inerrancy:

Inerrancy and Wesleyanism (Pastor Joe Staniforth)
Do Not Reject God’s Infallible Word (Grant Swank)
Biblical Inerrancy (Dr. Darryl McArthy)

[1: Sign the Petition, Nazarene Desiring a Return to Solid Biblical Publications of NPH, Barefoot and The House Studio]

[2: Support and pray for publishers like Dr. Anthony Harper and Lawrence Lepore, who do not compromise their biblical principles for money]

Northwest Nazarene University: Symbol Of What’s Wrong In Our Christian Schools

Note: This post is also on the latest issue of Intermountain Christian News, serving Colorado, southern Idaho, Montana, northern Nevada, eastern Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.  You can subscribe to the monthly newsletter (tax-deductible) either vie e-newsletter or printed copy.  Dr. Anthony Harper is the publisher of this voice of Christian truth on vital issues in our time.

In the last several years, there has been a growing body of members in the Church of the Nazarene who are very concerned about the direction of the denomination. In the United States and Canada, 10,000 Nazarenes have left the denomination in the last four years.  Our research in the past few years has shown that the influence of the emergent church and other unbiblical ideologies is widespread, with its various forms including Roman Catholic monastic mysticism, liberal social justice and environmental programs, and post-modern philosophy promoted by emergent leaders such as Brian McLaren.  All this, with a very low view of scripture and denial of biblical inerrancy has brought a once great holiness church into crisis, right alongside most evangelical denominations today.  And this crisis includes universities such as Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.

One of the warning signs about NNU was in early 2008 when Brian McLaren was at the school for his “Everything Must Change” Tour. In a video excerpt of Christian apologist Eric Barger’s visit to the three day event, Eric describes some of the thinking of McLaren that goes against the teachings of orthodox Christianity. One of his basic premises is that after 2,000 years, we just have not gotten it right, and we need to re-discover Christianity all over again.  McLaren truly means it when he says, “everything must change.”  He decries those of a fundamentalist persuasion and believes they are intolerant.  He wavers on the issue of homosexuality, and has likened the Cross to “false advertising for God.”  He supports the contemplative spirituality movement, and recently joined his Muslim friends to participate in Ramadan with them. Yet NNU and other Nazarene schools have celebrated this man as a visionary in Christian teaching.  Instead of solid Bible based teachers, Nazarene universities like NNU are bringing more and more emergent teachers who reject the authority of God’s word and deny its inerrancy.

The school has at least one professor who teaches or promotes open theism and process theology.  Open theism says that God cannot know the future, thereby rejecting biblical prophesy as something we can trust.  Process theology teaches that God makes mistakes and learns from them, refuting what scripture teaches about God’s nature. The theistic evolutionist believes in: (a) an old Earth; (b) wholly natural processes responsible for life as we see it, once the initial matter was brought into existence by God, and; (c) a figurative (non-literal) interpretation of the Genesis account of creation.  But do these ideas fall in line with what scripture teaches about the nature of God?

There have been other very dubious speakers at the school.  Brennan Manning was a guest speaker on the college campus church. He was quoted favorably at a chapel service in 2008 by the college president.  Yet he is a big promoter of contemplative mysticism, practicing “the silence”, mantras, centering prayer and other forms of New Age occultism and Eastern meditation.  In his book Abba’s Child, he refutes the Cross of Christ as the only way to salvation.  He mocks Bible-believers and calls them bibliolaters.  He believes that homosexuality is acceptable.  He is ecumenical and embraces other religions as valid.  So why would a Christian school invite such a speaker who promotes unbiblical practices?

Another recent speaker was Dr. Jay McDaniel, an ordained Methodist who is a self professing panentheist (God is in all).  In his one hour presentation to students and faculty, he promoted a universalistic gospel, making the argument that his Buddhist friend would be welcome in heaven without ever accepting Jesus Christ, and that Christians can learn and apply truth from other religions.  He was well received by the faculty who were present.  I have listened to the entire presentation, and was shocked at the kind of heretical teaching that was being allowed to go unchallenged.

Another popular leader in the post-modern movement is Leonard Sweet, and he was a featured speaker at the PALCON (pastors’ conference) in 2010.  He has been described as a New Age sympathizer and written several books that heavily promotes that kind of thinking, and endorses authors who promote contemplative spirituality.  Although he has recently denied his New Age leanings, his book Quantum Spirituality still remains available on his website.  He continues his influence, appearing at a leadership conference in January at European Nazarene College.

Northwest Nazarene has been on a path of emergent ideology, contemplative spirituality and secularization for some time now.  In June of 2009, along with Nazarene Theological Seminary, the school sponsored a spiritual formation retreat at the Nazarene General Assembly in Orlando.  This term sounds nice enough to the unawares, but it is the catchall term used today that now means the teaching of contemplative spirituality practices.  And recently, the Wesleyan (The Bible Tells Me So) conference was just held at NNU, resulting in the end with very weak statements on scriptural authority.

In NNU’s theology courses, you will find emergent leaders, Roman Catholic mystics, and modern day mystics such as Richard Foster in the textbooks used.  The Master’s in Spiritual Formation program uses books by Henri Nouwen, Richard Foster, Donald Miller, Rob Bell, Steve Chalke, Brother Lawrence, Eugene Peterson, Brian McLaren, and Dallas Willard.  There are two Nazarenes on the list, but they both support open theism, process theology, and do not believe in biblical inerrancy.  The M.A. in Missional Leadership, and M.A. in Pastoral Leadership, also are stacked with books from the same kind of writers.  It makes one wonder, is there a severe shortage of textbooks by Bible believing teachers?  Even the M.A. in Christian Education is filled with textbooks from emergent authors such as McLaren, Sweet, and Phylis Tickle.

But not all professors or students at the school are happy with what is going on, and NNU is not the only school in trouble.  The school is just one example of the retreat from biblical principles that many of our Nazarenes schools have taken.  Our very own seminary, Nazarene Theological Seminary, has a course this Spring called Celtic Spirituality, which is giving pastors-to-be the opportunity to practice what amounts to an occultic type of Christianity that is not based on scripture.  Point Loma Nazarene University has been going the way of contemplative spirituality for quite a while, and also has brought false teachers consistently to the school, most recently an appearance by Rob Bell, where he spoke on Pastor’s Day.  Trevecca Nazarene University still has a prayer labyrinth on campus, and sends its students on retreats to a monastery to practice the silence.  Even Nazarene Bible College has brought in spiritual formation.  And Eastern Nazarene College has a prominent professor who believes in evolution and open theism, and the school is helping to introduce Roman Catholic ideology to the students.

We have only scratched the surface here.  At some of these schools you will find professors teaching a view of God as being gender neutral, or even describing God as having a feminine side.  You will find more and more emphasis on environmentalism, and social activism or social justice, to the exclusion of strong, biblically sound preparation of students. You will even see the “psycho-babble” that is prevalent at so many Christian schools and churches, where licensing with secular agencies is encouraged in their counselor education programs (unholy alliances) and given more weight and importance than solid Christian counseling for those who want to go into counseling ministries.

All this amounts to what is a serious problem that is resulting in schools losing students, as more and more parents and students are turning to biblically sound schools, instead of the slowly deteriorating schools in the Nazarene denomination.  Will even more than 10,000 leave the denomination in the next four years?  Will there be more and more pastors graduating from seminary who do not believe and trust all of scripture?  Will the denomination recover from this damaging trend away from Biblical soundness?  Will the leadership in the church speak out boldly, clearly, without ambiguity?

Only time will answer these questions.  True revival- and the fruits that bear witness of true revival- will only come through much prayer, and the work of God’s Holy Spirit to move the hearts and minds of leaders at the schools and in the churches.

** If an official representative of any of these schools I mentioned would like to post a rebuttal or defense of any of the facts written here, I am willing to post their response.

Symptoms Of A Great Apostasy In Our Christian Schools And Seminaries

Acts 20:28-31 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

There are still some good Christian colleges out there, you just need to search hard, find them, and verify what they profess to stand for.  You cannot simply trust the fact that a school labels itself Christian anymore.  This has been obvious to me in my last two years of investigation, and the facts are appalling and shameful.  We need to stop being a little less polite or politically corrent, and be more honest and upfront about the dangers facing our youth today.  Souls are at risk!

I just cannot see myself sending my son to a “Christian” university someday simply because it claims to be a Christian school.  Some folks say that they would rather send their child to any “Christian” school rather than a secular school. Imagine the horror, however, if your child goes to a “Christian” school, and after four years, comes home having learned and incorporated all sorts of pagan practices and unbiblical ideas into his life, or doubting the truthfulness of the Bible, after you entrusted him into the hands of supposedly solid Christian teachers and administrators.  My friends, many of these schools are all marching down the road of one-worldism, and ecumenical false unity, and an the incorporation of personal mystical experiences over the sufficiency of the word of God. And I have noticed over the last few years that many Christians are either not aware of, or just don’t care about, the signs of a great apostasy invading our Christian schools.

There is hardly a Christian university around anymore that can be trusted with your son or daughter’s spiritual well-being.  It is getting harder to recommend a school that you can be confident has a strong biblical foundation.  With the usual lame excuse of offering a “healthy liberal arts education”, this problem is showing up in all denominations, and in my particular denomination, the Nazarenes, it is a horrendous problem that I never dreamed would happen.  But it is, and it is a nightmare of “biblical proportions.”  And many Nazarenes are still stubbornly refusing to acknowledge this problem and deal with it according to scripture.  But deal with it we must.

One of the nightmares for instance is occurring at Point Loma Nazarene University.  I do not advise parents to send their children there at all. Point Loma proudly welcomed heretical emergent leader Brian McLaren- again- to speak there in February of 2009.  McLaren is a false teacher who considers the Cross like false advertising for God; who as a pastor does not understand what scripture clearly teaches about homosexuality; who cannot come to say that Jesus Christ is the only way to God.  Yet, Point Loma’s leaders either have no clue, or have bought into the lies and are deceived.  Students are being led like lambs to the slaughter, spiritually, at this school.  And having heard from alumni and concerned parents, these leaders have done nothing as of yet, as far as I know.

Point Loma has been promoting mysticism for a while now.  They have no problem bringing in Richard Foster to their school, to teach our young people the ways of occultic mysticism.  And they have shown their continued lack of discernment by hosting a bizarre conference called Nurturing The Prophetic Imagination.  Here, in this video, Dr. Peter Jones describes this conference as well as the school’s connection with Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, an occultic organization.  Dr. Jones also mentions how several feminist professors at Point Loma are promoting a radical blurring of male-female roles that is unbiblical, as well as the radical social justice that is plaguing many Nazarene colleges.  One of their professors, Dennis Bratcher, teaches process theology, a heresy that says that God learns from His mistakes.  And Professor Darrel Falk is a leading member of BioLogos and is a promoter of evolution as being compatible with the Bible.

Then there is Northwest Nazarene University, which is just about as bad as Point Loma. I would also strongly advise against sending your child to this school without investigating.  The classic example I have on my blog is the horrendously pagan lecture given by Dr. Jay McDaniel in front of NNU students, with the approval of leadership and faculty, including Dr. Tom Oord.  What a disturbing display of pagan and universalistic thinking that was indoctrinating our college Christian students, with not a word of protest from those who are teachers of our young people.  To this day, we have heard only excuses and pitiful explanations for this sad exhibition.  And there’s more of course, as NNU also hosted Brian McLaren and his ridiculous worship of mother earth and mis-translation of John 3:16 as meaning that Jesus came to save planet earth (see Eric Barger’s video).  Their theology curriculums are filled with books by mystics and emergent heretical authors.  Many (not all) of their teachers reject the Bible as the infallible word of God, and consider much of it as only myths.

Trevecca Nazarene University is in bad shape as well.  They have been going on field trips every year now to the Abby of Gethsemane, home to the late mystic Thomas Merton.  They have been indulging in the pagan practice of the prayer labyrinth, and when they were exposed, they changed the name of this practice to “prayer walk.”  They promote books by emergent church leaders, heretical mystics and contemplative spirituality proponents to their students.  In practice, this school is rejecting solid biblical principles by bringing in the ways of Roman Catholic monastic mysticism and emergent church heresy.

My own alma mater, Eastern Nazarene College, is exhibiting many signs of poor judgment.  The school is now also getting onto the social justice bandwagon.  They have a new social justice program with connections to a Marxist.  Can we also remember the hosting of Tony Campolo, in spite of my warnings to the leadership a few months before?  Campolo did not fail us in our expectations, as he promoted his occultic mysticism to a chapel full of young students, and perhaps more sadly, to also a good number of Nazarene pastors and leaders that day.  How sad that as far as I know, none have spoken out against this travesty. ENC is also home to Karl Giberson, a professor who does not believe the entire Bible, but insists that we came from evolutionary processes.  And he also promotes the heresy of open theism (God cannot know the future).  Their bookstore is full of books by heretical emergent leaders, and also promotes Roman Catholic bibles, including one with a prayer rosary inside.  In February, they will be hosting a speaker, Rachel Held Evans, who will be taking part in the Big Tent Christianity Conference and apparently has no problem associating with heretical speakers such as Marcus Borg and Brian McLaren.    A quote of her latest blog post gives us some insight into her thinking (emphasis mine) :  “My tradition teaches that all non-Christians will be damned to hell for eternity, which can be supported with some interpretations of Scripture, but which violates every compassionate instinct God gave me as a human being and follower of Jesus.”

It seems that discernment has disappeared at my old school.  I would not recommend it at this time for any discerning parent to send their child.

Just because I did not mention the other Nazarene schools, does not necessarily mean they don’t have problems.  Nazarene Theological Seminary is frankly no better.  It is shamelessly promoting mysticism, including a Spring course taught by Dr. Doug Hardy called Celtic Spirituality, an occultic belief system that is nothing but paganism pretending to be Christian!  They have even promoted mystical and Roman Catholic practices to our young children of middle school age!  I dread to think of what future pastors will be preaching and promoting, as many of them buy into the unbiblical teachings that are being taught at our top seminary.

Oh, there are others schools besides Nazarene.  You will need to do some serious homework and ask some hard questions while demanding clear answers, before deciding where to send your child.  There are many universities once trusted for years, but no longer.  Fuller Theological Seminary is more aptly now called a cemetery.  Baylor University, Biola University (known for its apologetics!); Dallas Theological Seminary, George Fox University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and many more, are delving into contemplative spirituality, emergent church ideology, social justice tinged with Marxism, worship of the creation, and post-modern theological ramblings that go nowhere but to confuse already confused young people.

Am I crazy that I don’t want my son to go to a “Christian” school where the theology professors don’t even believe in the inerrant, infallible word of God?  Am I crazy that I don’t want my son to be taught that you can have “an experience” with God, unlike anything taught in the Bible?  Or that he is going to have a social justice ideology rammed down his throat at the expense of solid biblical foundations?  Or that he is being introduced to Roman Catholic mysticism, prayer beads, and mantra style prayer?

Apostasy is here in our Christian universities and seminaries.  Some of us just need to stop being in denial.

Don’t Show Them the Money: Maybe They Will Listen

Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Galatians 4:16 (NKJV)

I watched a Charles Stanley sermon several months ago, entitled “What You Believe- Does It Matter?”  Here is a short excerpt towards the end in regards to sending your child to college:

“And I want to say it again to parents.  You owe it to your children to teach them the truth of the word of God….It’s your responsibility as a parent to find out what does that school teach.  Do you want to spend 60 to 100,000 dollars getting your child educated in things that destroy them, instead of educating them in things that build them up and strengthen them and make them godly? Where you send your kids to school is a very important thing….they want freedom to choose.  But freedom that is knowledgeable, freedom that is intelligible, freedom that knows the truth about a school, and about the president, and what they teach and what they don’t teach.”

This reminded me of what I had mentioned in a post last year, which was not well received by some, including a few pastors.  That article I wrote ended up leading to a major turning point for the future of me and my family.  It was a critique of Dr. Tom Oord and his lecture at Eastern Nazarene College.  Dr. Oord teaches the heresy (yes, heresy) of open theism, and as a Christian parent with a future college child or two, I did not take kindly to this ideology he is indoctrinating students with, nor to the fact that he was speaking at Eastern Nazarene, nor to the fact that the leadership at the school welcomed him and apparently agree with, or at least tolerate with, this heretical teaching.

I recall that I made some people very unhappy just for simply suggesting that they call or write, and ask questions of the ENC leadership, if they were concerned.  It continues to amaze me, how those who claim to be the “understanding ones”, the ones open to all ideas and beliefs, the so-called “Big Tent” people, are the very ones who try to silence or intimidate any Christian who has serious concerns about a school’s teachings and who ask questions and want straight answers!  These “understanding ones”, the post-modern types, are the very people who one minute promote an open dialog and an embrace of tolerance for all viewpoints, but then turn around and slander you!  But there is no doubt that these tolerant ones are really the intolerant ones.  And they are like that simply because they are trying to defend their biblically indefensible ideologies that they espouse at our Christian universities.  They know who they are, and I expect at least a few of them will get a little meaner and nastier if they manage to finish reading this.  I can understand it, however, because they have no other substantive defense for their ideology.

But I think we need to go a step further beyond just continually asking questions, which most likely will not be answered, or answered adequately.  I have concluded that the power of the checkbook is the only way to get some heads turning at these schools that are letting in all sorts of aberrant teachings whose source is clearly not God, but from satan.  They are apparently comfortable with the idea that it’s more important to expose our kids to false teachers and teachings, than to protect them from what might lead them away from the faith.  Hence  barely a word said about guest speakers like universalist Jay McDaniel (at Northwest Nazarene University) who claims to be a Christian.  Or Tony Campolo who is shamelessly embraced at ENC by Nazarene pastors and school leaders while he spouts his mysticism, his support for the homosexual lifestyle as compatible with Christianity, and his occultic doctrines of demons.  And our premier theological seminary, NTS, reflects the same occultic tendencies as Campolo does, by providing a course in Celtic spirituality, which is a system that is nothing but a perversion of true Christianity.  There is Point Loma Nazarene University, with its ill-advised support and promotion of Richard Foster and his contemplative mysticism; and Trevecca Nazarene University and its promotion of prayer labyrinths, Roman Catholic monastic mysticism, and practicing the silence.  I could go on and on, including the teaching of theistic evolution, which is totally incompatible with biblical teaching, and contradicts the words of Jesus Christ Himself!

For the Nazarenes who know what’s going on and support all this stuff, you cannot with a straight face tell me that some of what is happening is from our heritage of Nazarene holiness teaching, or even from a Wesleyan tradition, which you often reference, but which you often misquote and twist.  So perhaps more parents, alumni, and even churches and districts, may need to start sending a message, that their dollars will no longer go to these schools, until they straighten their act out.  I believe some have already done this.  I also have heard testimony that some individuals have paid a price for standing up against these practices and ideas.  So, if asking questions politely does not even merit a substantive response, perhaps politely but firmly telling them that enough is enough, and they won’t get a dime anymore, might work.

Perhaps some parents might want to demand a refund from these schools, because of false advertising.  “Prayer labyrinths, monastic mysticism, practicing the silence, evolution, open theism is not what I signed up my daughter or son to learn!  Please return my money.”

Unless you don’t see any problem with any of the things I and others have clearly reported on and documented, I believe it is Christian negligence and disobedience to God if you DO know there is a serious problem, and do absolutely nothing and turn a blind eye to this.  If someone knows that their child’s future or current Christian college is allowing or promoting false teachings, or allowing false teachers to come into the school unchallenged, to brainwash their children, they have a Christian obligation to say or do something about it.

And if you are willing to risk your child’s eternal salvation, just because it’s always been the school you supported, I think you need to pray about this.  If you are very worried about these things, ask God for the strength and the words to challenge the leadership, and the board of directors at these schools, until they start listening to you, until they do something about the heresies being welcomed and embraced.  If that does not work, perhaps we need to start asking the Lord to shut down these schools, for the sake of our children.

There is hope for some of these schools that have not gone too far off the deep end yet.  But some of these others that I have mentioned apparently have swallowed the poison cup of apostasy and are in critical condition, on spiritual life support.  And they will not care a bit no matter how much you complain, unless the threat of loss of money is hanging over their heads.  Oh, they may send you a nice form letter back, thanking you and stating that the school is committed to the ideals of our denomination and the “stated” mission of the school. Then they turn right around again and continue with the transformation of the school into something that is a breeding ground for future pastors that do not even believe in the entire word of God.  So I believe that the only practical weapon remaining is the power of the checkbook, in addition to the ultimate power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts and minds.  Saying  “God is in control, don’t worry, let Him take care of it”, does not absolve us of our Christian responsibility to do and say something.

Each one of us- individually, not collectively- is accountable to God.  And one day, each and every one of us will answer to God in His presence, for all the things we did or DID NOT DO.  If anyone thinks that it is only the overt acts of a Christian that will be judged by God, heed the words of Ezekiel 33:7-9.

Some of you remember the movie with Tom Cruise and his famous line: “Show me the money.”  You see, the bottom line for him was the money.  Well, some of us have come to the conclusion that the bottom line for these universities and colleges is the money.  And what will assist in improving their hearing is a good old fashioned statement from a lot of parents, or from an entire church or district:

“Change your ways.  Enough is enough.  You will not get a dime from us until your school reflects the true values and doctrines of the denomination whose name you carry.  Otherwise, we will not show you the money, and we will not send our children to this school.”

“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night.

You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent.” (Isaiah 62:6)

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Below is a 10 minute summary of Dr. Jay McDaniel speaking at Northwest Nazarene University in 2008.  Please watch it.  Contrary to objections that have been made, I saw no evidence that this lecture was for nothing else than to further indoctrinate students into a pluralist and universalistic type thinking, and this should be a sober reminder of what will continue to happen at our Christian universities, if we stay silent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9GgRy741A8