Returning once again to the KI teaching “The Spiritual Disciplines” with Joe Focht, the fifth and last hour in the teaching deals with some of the more modern and nearly sacrilegious “new versions” of the Word. “The Message” is perhaps one of the worst offenders.
Mr. Focht also brings out the non-biblical teachings of many of the mega-church pastors such as Rick Warren and Joel Osteen. As Mr. McGee says, “Preachers are a dime a dozen and teachers are what is needed for true revival.” The “name it and claim it” prosperity advocates are gaining a far wider audience than the pastors who teach the true word of Jesus of “Pick up your cross and follow me.” Not only do most of today’s preachers neglect any mention of the cross, the very concept is being denigrated. As an example, the cross was called a vile doctrine by Brian McLaren.
With “The Emergent Church,” preachers are a dime a dozen and seem to have inherited their teachings from their father who CM likes to call “Mr. big mouth.”
For example, a Text Comparisons between the KJV and The Message is Revelation 3:13:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. - KJV
"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches." The Message
Although the emergent church is a fairly recent heresy, even in the first century there was some wandering from the true path of The Way. A few centuries later the church was married to the world and for at least another millennium the church gained great authority over the common man as well as the state. Even in the darkest days of the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church there was always a segment of believers who adhered to the truth. The Catholic Church was responsible for the torture and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of believers, some even before the time of the Reformation.
In this day of electronics, Bibles are readily available, often carried as I do on my iPhone. it seemed beyond any form of reason that people could be burned at the stake for possessing and reading a Bible not that many hundreds of years ago. Now the people that brought us the Inquisition are working very hard at reconciliation with all faiths including Islam. Not to get too political, however, the ultimate goal is for the Vatican is to have control of Jerusalem in my opinion. This will would be a prerequisite to a one world religion, an even greater apostasy.
As we in the United States drift further and further away from the Word, people in other countries under extreme persecution are turning to Jesus by the thousands. Hopefully that teaching is not what’s necessary to facilitate revival here.
Added later:
I’m usually greeted with a rolling of the eyes when I attempt to share the following quote: “The Word was written by 40 individuals, over 1600 years, in three Different languages; different backgrounds, different strata in their social structures and yet with a single commonality with all claiming to be inspired by One True Living God.”
The apostle Paul could always say it so succinctly. 2 Timothy 4:2-4, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."
It seems that the time has come in many have turned their ears from the truth. Mass media has replaced quiet time when people would reflect and even read the Bible. I pray that it’s not too late for revival, however, I have an uncomfortable feeling that the clock is ticking, is ticking, is ticking...
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