What's On TV? Sex, Violence or Bad Theology?

What's On TV?  Sex, Violence or Bad Theology?

What's worse, worldly filth or false teachings about Christ? At least if you tune into most TV shows, you know that what you're going to see is not coming from a Christian worldview. The morals are bad, the language is bad, but at least you know what you're getting. But the trouble with so-called Christian TV is that a lot of people really don't know what they're getting. They see a preacher, maybe even holding a Bible, maybe standing in front of a cross, and they think they've found something that's safe to watch. But most of the time they're getting something that's absolute spiritual poison, and they have no idea what they're consuming.

Just for an example, I just went to the website of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and pulled up their program schedule, arbitrarily starting at 3:00 AM.  So, who's on first? None other than Word of Faith uber-star Joyce Meyer. First of all, I always feel compelled to explain Word of Faith, as many people who watch Joyce don't even know the term. To be extremely brief, Word of Faith is a belief system that promotes a whole host of unbiblical doctrines, like that we are little gods, that we can speak our desires into existence, that the hand of God is moved by our spoken words, (something like a genie in a bottle) and then the worst of it is their notion that Jesus had to go to hell and be born again, the first human to do so.  I'm not going to go into much more detail, as I did that in depth in my blog, Learn To Discern. You can read a much more detailed discussion on Word of Faith doctrines here:

LEARN TO DISCERN

Then of course, she's known for promoting the unbiblical fantasy that God wants us all perfectly healthy and wealthy, and if we're not, it's because we must have said negative things and brought it upon ourselves. None of this is biblically true, so let's see who's on next...

3:30 AM; Andrew Wommack. Oh no. Everything I said about Joyce Meyer can be said of Wommack. More Word of Faith nonsense, and if he's got a specialty, it's his insistence that God is not sovereign; we are by the words we speak. You see, in Wommack's world, God is ready and willing to do great things for us, but his hands are tied until we say the magic words and permit Him to act. Totally unbiblical, so let's move on and see if it gets any better..

4:00 AM; Joel Osteen.  Great. More health and wealth nonsense, no better or worse than the previous two. More insistence that our words will become our destiny and we can have whatever destiny we speak out. It's also worth noting that Joel never does the main thing a preacher is supposed to do; preach the gospel. Biblically illiterate folks will leave his broadcasts happy that God's not mad at them and wants them to have a great destiny. The sad part is that a lot of folks will go on believing all that, as well as believing they're saved while skipping right down that broad road to hell. Next.

4:30 AM; Joseph Prince.  Ugh. More health and wealth, more prosperity along with Prince's specialty - hyper-grace. In his world, we get a Holy Spirit that never wants to be bothered with unpleasant things like convicting us of sin. Apparently, Prince uses a Bible that omits some well known verses the rest of us have. Next.

5:30 AM. Joyce Meyer again. Lord help us...

6:00 AM. Creflo Dollar. More Word of Faith with a special emphasis that relates to Creflo's name - Dollars! Creflo's all about the money; send him your tithes and offerings and God will make you rich. Not biblical, not the gospel; this is getting painful.

6:30 AM. John Hagee.  At first glance, Hagee might sound like a breath of fresh air. He often comes across as an old-fashioned fundamentalist, properly exalting our Lord. But pay close attention and you'll discover he's also neck deep in Word of Faith heresies, health and wealth, name it and claim it, God wants you rich, etc. And most disturbing is when you discover his belief that Jesus never claimed to be the Jewish Messiah and that the Hebrew people will be saved by the law, so don't waste time witnessing to them. No thanks, John, I'll stick with preachers who teach what scripture actually says rather than butcher it like you are doing. Is there any chance of finding a solid Bible teacher on TBN? Who's next...

7:00 AM. Joel Osteen. Again? This is just getting too painful. We need to stop.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Besides, I don't know if I could stomach discussing any more uber-heretics like Benny Hinn, Mike Murdock, Rod Parsley, etc.  Networks like TBN are usually a hotbed of heresy, with no redeeming spiritual value. Yes, you might hear some encouraging words that  lift you up, but often times those words are based on, and laced with lies. Yes, God wants to save your eternal soul and offer you an eternity of blessings, but there's no guarantee of rainbows and unicorns all throughout this life.  If you really scout around Christian TV, you may find an occasional preacher who offers the true gospel. Most likely, such folks will be given the least desirable time slots, where few people will see them. For the most part, I'd say that Christian TV is a vast spiritual wasteland that one should generally stay away from....as far as possible. 

Once again, you can read up on a much more detailed discussion on such issues here...

LEARN TO DISCERN

DELIVERED FROM BENNY HINN; AN ACTUAL MIRACLE!

DELIVERED FROM BENNY HINN 

AN ACTUAL MIRACLE!

by Daniel Plunkett

Benny Hinn slaying a victim

Fans of faith healing evangelist Benny Hinn claim to have seen all kinds of miracles; the miraculous remission of cluster headaches, lower back pain, depression, and even the lengthening of half-inch shorter legs.  Benny Hinn allegedly operates in the same healing gifts as Jesus and the Apostles, so none of this should come as a huge surprise. What is surprising - at least to me, is the noticeable absence of miracles that actually resemble those recorded in scripture.  There is a very good reason for that, and that reason is that Benny Hinn is a fraud, false teacher, and charlatan.

I'm not going to spend time here documenting the fact that Hinn is a fraud. All of that information is out there in the public record. Even a lot of charismatics will admit that Hinn is a high profile con man.  Besides his faux healings, (which generally only work on conditions susceptible to suggestion and / or hypnosis) there is his unbiblical prosperity gospel, which no serious student of scripture can ever find credible.  In a 2016 video  on YouTube entitled, Your Financial Miracle Is At The Door, he tells his faithful that the money they need is already there. It's waiting to be claimed in the name of Jesus, but there's a little ritual one must perform in order to take hold of the cash. And of course, that ritual would be to send a seed gift of money to him, a pretty good amount of it.  If you're looking to live in abundance, you need to send $1000. If you're merely looking for a new season, that'll just be $120.  And the truly miraculous, transcend-your senses fact is that people buy it - literally. What I can't buy is how the man sleeps at night.

But I digress. What I'd like to talk about is a confirmed report of an actual bona fide miracle; the deliverance of Benny's nephew, Costi Hinn from this cesspool of deceit, fraud and lavish living at the expense of the gullible. Yes, Costi Hinn was a part of his uncle's con game for years until he actually put his faith in Christ and came out of that mess to proclaim the real gospel!

I'm not going to rehash Costis's entire story as it's already all over the internet, but I'd just like to bring attention to it, because if any member of the Benny Hinn circus can come to the truth, there's hope for anyone.

Prior to his college years, Costi worked as a catcher for his uncle, catching those who had been slain in the spirit (read that as succumbed to hypnosis) lest they become injured crashing to the floor. He recounts the lavish lifestyle he enjoyed, sleeping in $25,000 per night hotels in Dubai as well as other luxurious stops around the world. No expensive was too high, no accomodations too lavish.

As time went on, Costi recounts becoming dismayed at the fact that he didn't speak in tongues. The people surrounding him made him feel as thought there was something wrong with his faith if he couldn't speak in tongues. But praise God, he soon met the woman who would become his wife, and God used her to turn his life completely around by simply pointing out in scripture where Paul wrote, do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak in tongues?  That simple verse led him to rethink everything he had been told about the Christian life.  And one by one, the idols began to fall harder and faster than the faithful victims of his uncle's magic powers.  His eyes were opened to the fact that being a Christian actually had nothing to do with being guaranteed health, wealth and material happiness; it was about the gospel, something you'll never hear an accurate version of from Benny Hinn.

Soon, Costi stepped into his own ministry, where one of his first assignments was to preach on the passage in John where Jesus healed the man at the Pool of Siloam. This further opened his eyes to the fact that Jesus healed actual crippling ailments in an instant, and the results were visible and verifiable. Jesus did not need for that man to have any faith, either. The man didn't even know who Jesus was! And so more and more elements of truth became crystal clear to Costi. Jesus went to where the sick were. He didn't need to have two hours of repetitive songs and testimonies to create an "atmosphere for faith."

And this, my friends is an actual miracle. A lost and regenerate soul who was being groomed to fleece the flock in the same way as his uncle Benny, was truly born again, repented of his chicanery and is now growing in his own desire to spread the real gospel to a lost and dying world.  Costi claims to have attempted reaching out to Uncle Benny. As of this writing, Benny has not responded. Why am I not surprised?

For a more detailed discussion on the errors of the Health and Wealth gospel and more, click below:

LEARN TO DISCERN

Costi Hinn

AN OPEN LETTER TO FANS OF JOYCE AND JOEL

AN OPEN LETTER TO FANS OF JOYCE AND JOEL

by Daniel Plunkett

If you've read my previous blog series, LEARN TO DISCERN,(click link to view) you may have been offended by some of what was said, and reasonably so. I wish there were a way to relate what's on my heart without offending anyone, but sometimes the truth hurts.   I've found that fans of people like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer are extremely fond of them, and I understand why.  They both offer very positive messages and much of what they say is encouraging. And yes, they do talk about God and Jesus but, as I said in my previous articles, it must be stressed that what you think they are saying is not what they are really saying.

Confusing? I know it is, so please bear with me. Most people who listen to Osteen and Meyer have no idea about the theology and doctrines upon which their messages are based.  Many people who have been listening to them for years have never heard the term Word of Faith, yet that is the belief system they believe and promote.  In Learn To Discern, I go into much greater detail about Word of Faith, so here I'll just summarize.

Did you know that like all Word of Faith teachers, Osteen and Meyer both believe and teach the following doctrines:

- God created man out of a desire to reproduce Himself, therefore we are little gods?

- God lost control of our world when man sinned and therefore can't do anything for us unless one of us speaks it into existence?

- God sent Jesus to redeem mankind, but Jesus left His divinity (His Godhood) in heaven and lived His life doing miracles and raising the dead as just an ordinary man? (In other words, He was not God incarnate!?)

- Jesus actually became a satanic being on the cross, and therefore had to be tormented in hell?

- Jesus was the first man to get born again in hell and regain His divinity, therefore when we get born again we become just as divine as Jesus?

Friends, this isn't just doctrinal confusion; it is blasphemy. Worse yet, to uphold such beliefs, these people have to add to scripture, which is a serious sin. They claim these beliefs come from divine revelation, either to them or to their forerunners like Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland.  But please remember that no true revelation of God will contradict what's already been revealed in His Word.

Scripture has stern warnings about anyone who would preach "another Jesus;" "a different gospel."  And there is the problem. The God of scripture is not dependent on our words to act. Just ask Paul or Jonah.  The God of scripture did not reproduce little gods.  The Jesus of scripture never at any time ceased to be both fully God and fully man. Jesus never ceased to be divine, never had to go to hell and never had need to become born again.  Therefore, the God, Jesus and gospel of Word of Faith teachers are not the same as those of scripture. They truly are guilty of preaching another Jesus and another gospel.

Those are some main points. Secondarily, both Joel and Joyce tell us that scripture instructs us to "call those things that be not as though they are," to speak our desires into existence. Scripture actually tells us no such thing.  They are referring to Romans 4:17, which merely describes God as the only One who can do that!

I'm sure some of you will doubt that Osteen and Meyer actually teach all the things I've said they do. However, you can learn the truth the same way I did, by researching them. Their statements regarding all the doctrines listed above are not the product of word of mouth. Everything is in the public record. Their books and CD's, etc. contain all the teachings I listed.

Furthermore, their teachings on the Christian life blatantly contradict scripture. It is not always God's will for all of us to be perfectly healthy and wealthy. God is not pacing around in heaven hoping you'll say the right words to permit Him to bless you. Jesus guaranteed His followers that they would have trials, hardships, and persecutions in this life, but that He would be with them. 

Can you see now why the preaching of Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen is a different gospel from that of scripture? I hope so. I am truly sorry if I offended anyone but how cold hearted would I have to be to know that these people are lying to you, and not give you a warning? Stick with the Bible. The gospel within it is the truth.

As I've said, you can learn a lot more about these topics in my previous blog series, LEARN TO DISCERN.  It is the product of over three years of intense research, prayer and Bible study, triggered by my own encounter with another Word of Faith teacher. The Bible tells us to test the spirits. I did, and what I learned was shocking. If you read what I learned, I think you'll agree.

ANATOMY OF A WEBSITE; CHARLATAN SPOTTING MADE EASY!

ANATOMY OF A WEBSITE 

CHARLATAN SPOTTING MADE EASY!

In previous blogs, I drew some much needed attention to rising star - and charlatan - faith healer, Billy Burke. I had also mentioned that taking a look at someone's website could reveal a lot of red flags for heresy. In this article, we're going to look at Billy Burke's website, as it is a perfect example of how to spot a charlatan heretic. You may reasonably ask why I'm picking so much on Burke; do I have some sort of axe to grind? Well, yes, and I'll tell you why. I have seen firsthand how this man deludes and deceives his followers, and I consider him rather dangerous.  His star is rapidly rising among charismatics, and it should be thoroughly doused before he damages any more vulnerable souls.

His website is practically a textbook guide to heresy, so let's see what we can learn from it. First of all, it looks like a virtual shrine to himself. I don't see much that glorifies God, but I do see a lot of glorification of self, with pictures like those here:

Like I've said, in other posts, who's getting the glory?  At any rate, his self-aggrandizement is the least of the disturbing elements of his page. The next thing one might notice is the ads for where he'll be "ministering."  One large banner enthuses about his upcoming return to the Hawaiian Islands!  How nice. You might think someone with the gift of healing would visit places like Haiti, where there is no shortage of impoverished and diseased folk, but Billy Burke prefers to offer his miraculous gifts in much more luxurious settings. 

The next banner you see let's you know who he associates with. If you can judge a man by the company he keeps - and you can, this speaks volumes.

Just look at who he's partnering with here; Bill Winston and Jesse DuPlantis, both Word of Faith and Prosperity heretics, and none other than then virtual "Pope" of Word of Faith deceivers, Kenneth Copeland!  In my previous blog, Learn To Discern, I go into much greater detail about the Word of Faith movement, and the many heresies these people teach. You can read some of that here

WORD OF FAITH

The next thing you might notice is his itinerary. He has a pretty routine schedule of flying back and forth between posh hotel banquet rooms in Toronto and Tampa...and of course, that impoverished, disease ridden place known as Maui.

BILLY BURKE'S SCHEDULE

Strange how his busy traveling schedule never seems to find time for visits to hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, etc. But it's not that strange after all, because he has no ability to actually heal anyone, unless you consider relieving backaches, headaches and other discomforts highly susceptible to hypnosis to be miracles of apostolic import.

Next, you might notice his ad for "healing music," with the following claim: "The healing power of anointed music is irrefutable. 

Some songs release the presence of God, while some songs release 
the presence and the power of God."

Hmmm.....I won't deny that music can have power to soothe and comfort but I would say that it's power to heal is not an irrefutable fact. But of course, you can buy the anointed music in his merchandise section.

Next, you might notice his prayer and ministry section, where one link is entitled, Five Hindrances To Answered Prayer. Items two through four are not too troubling, but item one is a huge red flag for Word of Faith heresy, "The prayer is not spoken."  So, if there were any truth to that - and there's not, a mute person would have a very big problem communicating with God. This idea is so offensive, it actually makes me angry. It reflects the typical Word of Faith blasphemies that our God is limited, that He can't act unless someone down here speaks something out loud, which both commands and permits God to act. I'm sorry, Word of Faithers, but God is not limited by anything. He is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  He knows the prayers of a mute person just as well as those that might be shouted through a bullhorn.

Next item of interest is his section on communion, where he has a few interesting things to say. He says Jesus knew that people would need something tangible to connect them to physical, emotional and mental healing. Okay, Jesus can do all of those things but the disturbing part is that Burke is saying that taking communion is some sort of ritual that "opens a door to your miracle." I've heard him teach that in person many times.  And of course, he sells communion sets on his site. Such a surprise.

The next item is where he offers anointed prayer clothes, as many charlatan faith healers are prone to do. But let's look at the claims he makes regarding them, and consider them in the light of scripture:

The anointing of the Holy Spirit can be transferred to a piece of cloth or any tangible object.

Okay, I do know where he's getting this idea from in scripture, but it bears some examination. Yes, there is an account in the book of Acts where items belonging to Peter were brought to the sick and they were healed, but nothing in scripture indicates that this is something that would always happen. Also, this brings up the fact that Peter was an Apostle, and the Apostles were given specific gifts that set them apart as Apostles. No one today meets the biblical requirements for Apostleship and therefore, we can reasonably question the notion that anyone today carries that kind of anointing. You can read an in-depth discussion of these topics, plus my personal encounters with Billy Burke here:

LEARN TO DISCERN, PART 4

The next item we'll look at is his Statement of Faith. Anyone interested in discernment needs to know right up front that virtually anyone can make their statement of faith look legit. No one wants to advertise the fact that they are heretics, so we have to look for red flags, and Burke's definitely has a few.  The first big one would be his implication about divine healing being provided in the atonement. It's not. The Hebrew word that often gets translated as healed, more accurately refers to being made whole spiritually, and thus, by His stripes we are healed does not mean what the faith healers want you to think it means.  He also covers the fact that most of his own so-called healings look like non-events by stating that sometimes healing is gradual, or sometimes God heals through doctors and medications. There is some truth in those statements, but when Jesus and the Apostles healed, the healings were instantaneous, obvious, and required no graduality or medication.

Next, he claims that the Bible endorses prosperity for believers; another red flag for health and wealth nonsense. The Bible teaches no such thing. God may bless some folks materially but His Word has more warnings against seeking wealth than it has positive statements about it.

The next major problem on his website is his Mission Statement and it's disconnect with his actual practice. He claims it is his mission to bring the message of salvation to the world, but in actual fact, he definitely does not do this. I've done the research on this one, been to many of his services and watched many online; never heard the gospel preached, not even once! His services are all about his own self-glorification and his alleged ability to perform miracles, which I saw no evidence of being real.

Also telling is what he calls his so-called church; The Miracle Center World Outreach.  I know I may be biased, but if I were starting a church, I would make sure it's name had at least something to do with God, Jesus, the Gospel. Miracles in scripture served to point people to the gospel, but Burke has it the other way around.  Also disturbing is his tagline, Bringing Healing To The Nations...Again, a real church would emphasise bringing the gospel to the nations. Healing may or may not be a by-product of that, but it should never be the main focus.

There's a very real reason why the gospel is not the focus with people like Burke.  The gospel he promotes is secondary to self-promotion and phony signs and wonders. His is the Word of Faith gospel, where Christ is not preeminent, but rather a genie in a bottle waiting to serve us at our command.  In my previous blog, Learn To Discern, I go into great detail about why Word of Faith is a false gospel and the specifics of what they believe. You can read the whole series here:

LEARN TO DISCERN, PARTS 1-6   

If I were to cover every reason why Billy Burke's website demonstrates his status as a bona-fide heretic, this article could go on forever.  This has just been an overview of things to look for when checking a person out.  From his shameless self-promotion to his sale of anointed merchandise, his site exposes him as someone who cares little for the gospel, and is more concerned with making people think he's something special. As I like to say, when checking out anyone, try to get a feel for where their focus is. If it's anything other than Jesus Christ and the gospel of salvation, be afraid. Be very afraid.