IS
TED HAGGARD REALLY THE ISSUE? I recently read an article
concerning the recent scandal of Ted Haggard, which was in the news.
The basis of the article was the fact that sin and repentance is not
preached from the pulpits in America, and that it is even ignored.
The article touched on the true need of for all of us, not just Ted
Haggard, to turn from our sin, and the condemnation thereof, and put
our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall be saved.
To which I responded by stating that the writer of the article was right on the money by saying “This is the true heart of the Gospel!” I received a response to my response from another reader, of the same article. Seems I upset him, or her, a bit! I will share this with you here.
Reader's response to my original post “This is the true heart of the Gospel!”
Are you saying that the heart of the gospel is the utter condemnation of people who are trapped in sin? No is it for freedom that Christ set us free. We are to walk in freedom and not sin, but we get caught up in that sin at times. The heart of the gospel is not condemnation. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not die, for God did not sent his Son to the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him John 3:16-17. That is the heart of the gospel.
My reply to this reader was this:
No that is not what I am saying! You need to go back and read the article. What people need to understand, and this is the difficult part, is that mankind is lost in sin, hopeless and yes... condemned! That in and of itself would be a gospel of condemnation. Condemnation is not the heart of the Gospel, but it is a part of it, and that is what the author was pointing out.
But most in Christianity wants to put that part aside. We don't wish to offend anyone by telling the truth; your reply to my post is a good example of this. We only tell people what they want to hear by tickling their ears. Saying things like: "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life", giving people a touchy-feely message without warning them of their true sinful condition before a thrice Holy God!
If I am made aware of my lost and sinful condition, then I stand condemned, and have no excuse! We all know John 3:16 and 17, but do you notice it says at the end of verse 17 - but that the world through him might be saved. Yes, I agree, God did not send His Son to condemn the world, because the world was already condemned (see John 3:18-19, which you left out by the way!) That is why it says through Him the world might be saved... saved from what? Eternal separation from God because of our rebellion against Him and the condemnation we deserve because we are guilty and without excuse, that's what!
Knowing all this, that I stand condemned makes the Gospel message all the more precious to me! I come to the full realization that I have no other hope of escape from eternal hell, which is what I so richly deserve, apart from Jesus Christ! That is how I heard the Gospel more than 20 years ago. Nobody told me that God has a wonderful plan for my life, or any kind of fluff like that. I was given the cold hard facts about my lost soul and the trouble I was in when I stand before God in my rebellion against Him because of my sin!
When I was told Jesus died and rose again so that my sins were forgiven and that I now have eternal life in Heaven, and I'm no longer guilty, and under that very condemnation of sin, I rejoiced with joy! All these years later I still rejoice that God so loved a wretched sinner like me, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that I may not perish, but through Him I have everlasting life!
People that are under utter condemnation, as you put it, do not have to be trapped in sin! But how would they know that they were trapped if we didn't tell them? If you saw a house on fire in the middle of the night, and the people inside were sound asleep, not knowing the danger they are in, would you not risk your own life to warn them to get out, even if you had to wake them from a sound sleep to pull them out?? Would you worry about offending them?
Jesus did just that! He came to this earth, God in the flesh, leaving the Glory of Heaven and gave His own life for us so that we would not suffer the ultimate penalty for our sin, when that is what we deserved! THAT is the heart of the Gospel!!
You see, this is the problem! This is the real issue, not Ted Haggard, as bad as that was! The real problem with the Church today is THAT THE GOSPEL IS NOT BEING PREACHED!! This is pretty evident from that readers reply to my posting. As soon as I mention condemnation with the Gospel, I was a target of hostility! That person was upset that I would even mention the two in the same sentence! So what do I mean that the Gospel is not being preached?
On the TBN Praise the Lord program, I tuned in to see Phil Munsey preaching, and he said something that caught my attention. This is why Christians today have this kind of mentality, because the preachers on “Christian” TV perpetrate this kind of watered down message. Munsey stated:
"We need to change our paradigm just a little bit. Somehow we've got this pressure, this political correctness pressure on preachers and ministries, that somehow you need to quickly tell people that they're sinners and that they're going to hell. That's like describing water to someone drowning. That's really not our job"(TBN Praise the Lord Program – 12/01/2006)
This is nothing new. Robert Schuller is a big proponent of a “hell-less gospel” message. Schuller wrote in an October 5th, 1984 letter to Christianity Today:
"I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and hence counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition".
So with a big name like Robert Schuller making comments like this, it’s no wonder why so many people accept it. Even though Schuller made these comments over 20 years ago, he still believes this today!
Here’s another big name making the same statements:
I was flipping through the channels early this morning and saw Benny Hinn on his “This is Your Day” TV program. I was floored by something he said. Benny stated:
“You and I do not receive Jesus to escape hell. Jesus Christ is not a fire escape. You don't receive Him so you can escape punishment, you receive Him on the basis of love”. (This is Your Day – TBN 12/04/2006).
He went on to say that Jesus will fill the emptiness in your life, meet your felt needs and so on...then he said you will go to heaven if you receive Jesus, in other words, you will be saved! How can Benny Hinn say one minute that we don't receive Jesus to escape hell, then the next minute say that by receiving Jesus we will be saved! Saved from what?? Benny's latest motto is “souls, souls, souls”. He also says “Salvation is the greatest miracle”! Does Benny even know what salvation means?
Webster's Dictionary defines salvation as such:
1. The act of saving; preservation from destruction, danger or great calamity.
2. Appropriately in theology, the redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation.
I recently read an article in Worldview Weekend by Ingrid Schlueter, from Slice of Laodicea, her website can be found here: http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com. The title of the article was: “When a Megapastor Denies Christ”, you can read it by going to this link:
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?&ArticleID=1296
It was about Rick Warren speaking at a technology conference to a group on non-Christians. In the article there is a link to a twenty-one minute video in which Warren was addressing the crowd all about himself and his “Purpose Driven” books. The article addresses the fact that not once did Rick Warren mention the Gospel, nor did he even mention the cross of Jesus Christ. I watched the entire video and Ingrid Schlueter was right on! Not once did he even mention salvation!
Well, that is to be expected from Rick Warren, but what frightened me even more was a certain post in response to the article by a man who claimed to be an “evangelist”. This is what the response stated (emphasis in bold letters):
“Ingrid, I am an evangelist. My passion is to win souls to Jesus Christ. Consequently, I evaluate nearly everything through that filter. If I had been in Rick Warren's position at that conference, I would have certainly desired to win all of those attending to Christ. However, I understand that before they will listen to me, I must have rapport with them. The goal is not to share the Gospel. The goal is to win them to Christ. Yes, Rick could have preached salvation to that crowd, but I deeply doubt it would have moved anyone closer to a real saving relationship with Jesus. By developing relationships, Rick will have an opportunity to share Jesus with many.”
I never in my life thought I would see the day where a preacher would say, “ the goal is not to share the Gospel!” Did we ever see the apostle Paul every try to “have a rapport” with people, by not sharing the Gospel? How in the world do you move anyone closer to a real saving relationship with Jesus without sharing the Gospel? Paul stated:
1 Corinthians 9:16 (King James Bible) - For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
How tragic it is to see the results of this “Purpose Driven” lie spread throughout the local churches of America where preachers feel the need NOT to preach the Gospel! This “evangelist” believes that before he can even talk about Jesus with people, he must first have a “rapport”, or build a level of trust with them, just like a friendship, hence the term “friendship evangelism”. This is a man-centered, rather than God-centered message because the Holy Spirit is not working here; rather it’s man trying to “build” rapport with sinners.
The Holy Spirit Himself will do the converting, we just need to be obedient to scripture and preach the Gospel. You may say, but this way of “friendship evangelism” works! Well, I am not concerned if it works, I am more concerned if it is biblical!
So, you see, it is really not about Ted Haggard. This problem has been widespread in the Church for a long time. Preachers don’t want to offend anyone, so the mere mention of hell would decrease the membership numbers, and thus would decrease the dollar amounts! That’s why preaching of judgment and wrath is hated in the Church today. It just does not have the appeal as a “purpose driven / your best life now” message would, and it does not bring in the dollars either.
If you don’t believe me, read through the book of Acts. There are numerous occasions where the apostle Paul causes so much division because of the preaching of the Gospel. But it is the very thing that pleases God:
1 Corinthians 1:21 (King James Bible) - For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
Sadly, what pleases God is irrelevant and, for the most part, that is the state of the Church in America today.
“The Number One Damnable Heresy of 2006”
Well, let’s get to it! The number one damnable heresy of 2006! No, it is not the Da Vinci Code, that was bad…this is worse! Are you ready? Here it is:
The Number One Damnable Heresy of 2006 dishonor goes to none other than:
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda – the self proclaimed second coming of Jesus Christ!
That’s right! I am giving this title to the self proclaimed “Jesus Christ man.” This man has claimed that he is the second coming of Jesus Christ and is spreading his damnable heresy all over the world! The news media loves him!! He has a growing following of thousands and thousands of people, and that number is growing by the day!
His website declares:
“The Man Christ Jesus Dr Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, is coming to the USA! The King of kings and Lord of lords has arrived in America!”
He has also made the claim that “sin does not exist anymore” and he bases this on Hebrews 9:26, which states:
Hebrews 9:26 (King James Bible) - For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
If this man knew the scriptures, he would know that this passage speaks of Christ being the better sacrifice than that of the sacrifices under the law, in which the law could not pardon us from sin, nor give the power over it. But Jesus Christ and his sacrifice at the cross gave us pardon from sin forever, and also power over it! Anybody in his or her right mind would know that sin does still exist in this world! All you have to do is pick up the newspaper, or turn on the news channels!
Miranda also claims, “The devil does not exist anymore” and bases this on Hebrews 2:14, which says:
Hebrews 2:14 (King James Bible) - Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil
Again, this passage of scripture talks about the power of sin being broken by Christ. The word “destroy” in this verse means to render useless, not annihilate, but rather to make of none effect. If this man is “Jesus” he sure does not know his Bible!
How did Miranda know that he was the “Jesus Christ Man” in the first place? He claims “Jesus” appeared to him in 1973 and told him he is “imparting or integrating Himself” into Miranda, in other words...”Jesus Christ” came the second time in the flesh... in the form of Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda . Is that how scripture shows the second coming of Christ?
Matthew 24:27 (King James Bible) - For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Does that sound like He will “integrate Himself” into anyone? Jesus Himself gave us clear warning:
Matthew 24:5 (King James Bible) - For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
He also warned us not to believe those who say they have seen the Christ:
Matthew 24:26 (King James Bible) - Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
There is much more I can say to refute this heretic, but Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda and his blasphemous claims has won the title as “The Number One Damnable Heresy of 2006”
SOLA SCRIPTURA – THE SCRIPTURE ALONE!
Brethren, we need to look to God’s Word ALONE! There is no other standard by which we measure truth, other than the Holy Scripture! I have had people send hostile emails simply because I live by this, not just talk about it! Many people are falling prey to these heresies and false prophets and teachers because they are ignorant of scripture and will believe any Tom, Dick or Harry that comes along with a new formula or program that will give them what they want to hear! That is a tragedy!
The scripture alone is enough! What more does a believer need? God has given you His Son, He has given you His Spirit and he has given you His Word, there is nothing more you need!
Till next year 2007! May you all have a Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Joyous New Year!
Search the Scripture for yourself! SOLA SCRIPTURA! The Scripture ALONE! May the Lord bless you!
If you would like to respond please send your comments to: email@thenobleberean.org. Copy write 2006 The Noble Berean. This may be used in its entirety for non-commercial personal use. Any changes/edits are not permitted without the express permission of The Noble Berean.