"The Most Dangerous Cult" and GOD's "Amazing Grace"

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."2 Timothy 4:3-4

"But HE was wounded for our transgressions, HE was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon HIM; and with HIS stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on HIM the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:5,6

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

When my husband was enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Ft. Worth, back in the mid to late 80's, he and i had the wonderful opportunity to travel with a group from there to take classes at Oxford University, in England. As we found out during that time, Oxford University is made up of many colleges, and the one he took classes at was Regent's College, the Baptist college. As Johnny's wife, i was welcome to attend the classes too, which i did some of them, and i got to go on all the "field trips" with them to inspiring places like John Newton's church, who wrote "Amazing Grace. Near the church where John Newton pastored was William Cowper's home, who suffered greatly from depression, and wrote the great hymn "There is A Fountain Filled with Blood." William Cowper(1731-1800) and John Newton (1725-1807) together wrote the "Olney Hymns" of which "Amazing Grace" was included. For some reason, i remember William Cowper ( i think pronounced Cooper) particularly liked rabbits. We also went to William Carey's tiny workshop where he made shoes, and Johnny stood in the pulpit of the church where he preached. William Carey was the first Baptist foreign missionary and he and his reluctant wife went to India, where he faithfully preached the gospel of JESUS CHRIST. We saw where C.S. Lewis would visit with his friends and discuss religion, politics, and other events in a pub there in Oxford. We visited where John Wesley (1703-1791) , the founder of the Methodist Church, met with the "Holy Club", for the mutual purpose of helping one another lead CHRISTian lives. We saw other many wonderful places of our CHRISTian heritage while we were in England and Scotland, like John Knox who was a Scottish clergyman, leader of the Protestant Reformation and considered the founder of the Presbyterian church. I could go on and on...but this is where the sadness of my heart sets in, as i also share the other side of our trip.

As our group was traveling on the bus to get to our destination after we had flown for several hours across the ocean, it became apparent to me that one of the professors on the trip from Southwestern did not hold to the inerrancy of the Scriptures. This was during the time when the Southern Baptist Convention was undergoing changes for more conservative leadership in the pulpits, churches, and teachers in the seminaries and colleges. In fact there was a split of the Southern Baptist Convention and a group of "moderates," formed their own association. I don't remember the specifics of the things the professor spoke of on the bus, but i do remember it sure made me angry and not like the guy. I guess i was naive and though i had heard of professors like this, I had never been around any. There is no telling how many students were led astray by this professor's false teachings through the years because he and his wife were such likeable people.. it would be easy to be deceived by them if you weren't grounded in your beliefs.
After we arrived in Oxford, it wasn't long before my simple faith was in for a rude awakening, and an all out assault on my beliefs was about to take place as we sat in classes where the professors there at the Baptist College, which had a bar in the "Common's Room," taught such things as the first five books of the Bible not being written by Moses... and were perhaps even a myth. It didn't take me long to get my fill of this teaching and others that thankfully i can't remember, and since i wasn't attending for credit as Johnny was, i started using that time for writing letters back in our room, instead of attending class. Johnny didn't condone this teaching at all, but he was familiar with some of these false teachings from attending Southwestern, where there were "wolves among sheep's clothing" on the faculty at the seminary, and he knew not to believe it. Thankfully, he was not deceived by these false teachers and held firm to the "infallibility of all the Scripture," and other false teaching that had crept into the seminary and the church.
During that time almost 25 years ago, England was a dark country spiritually and even darker now. Once rich in CHRISTian history, with the likes of preachers like Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the "Prince of Preachers," Martin Lloyd Jones, and John and Charles Wesley, only a remnant of true believers remained there. As we tried to find a place to worship on Sunday morning...we went to church after church where the pulpit was filled with women preachers...and most of those churches were empty. The culture, especially in London, was shocking, and i couldn't help but wonder if the things we saw out in public, on TV, and in the parks would be America in a few more years, and i am saddened to say, they are found here today.


This past week, as i listened to a podcast, called "The Most Dangerous Cult-Liberal Protestantism,"http://www.worldviewradio.com/episode.php/episodeid-10857/Brannon-Howse/Jan-Markell, i was reminded of our trip to England many years ago. Jan Markell, www.olivetreeviews.org was interviewing Eric Barger,http://www.ericbarger.com/ and he was talking about how churches in America, who were once solid in their teaching of the gospel of JESUS CHRIST, have become "The Most Dangerous Cult" http://www.ericbarger.com/mdcult.htm, very reminiscent of what happened in England. Men want to have their "ears tickled" instead of the hearing the truth of the gospel that sets them free from their sins. "And you shall know the TRUTH and the TRUTH shall make you free."John 8:32 We use to hear the terms "New Age Movement," ...today we hear "the emergent church", (http://www.crossroad.to/News/Church/emergent.html,), and "new spirituality," http://www.crossroad.to/charts/new-spirituality.htm- the same false teachings, packaged in new terms. These new terms for false teachings, "doctrines of demons," are abounding in once sound denominations that once were lighthouses for proclaiming the salvation of JESUS CHRIST to shipwrecked souls. In I Timothy 4:1, Paul warns his young disciple Timothy, "But the HOLY SPIRIT explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." How did we in America, with such a godly heritage arrive at this point in our churches and society? The same way it happened in England...by the creeping in of false teaching among our higher education institutions which influenced what was being taught in our churches and inevitably our families and culture.

This week as i read in Hannah Beth's Abeka American History book, it reviewed some of the causes of the French Revolution that i wrote about a couple of weeks ago. In her book, it shared how the time building up to the French Revolution was the "Age of Enlightenment,"(1700-1789) where a number of French thinkers, especially Voltaire, the Father of the Enlightenment, and Jean -Jacques Rousseau, the Father of French Romanticism, were most influential in leading the people to reject the Bible, the sin nature of man, and the deity of CHRIST for the first time in modern history on a large scale. Voltaire openly attacked CHRISTianity, and declared that "chance," not GOD rules the world. Rousseau called for a new order of society, and believed that man is naturally good but society is bad, and men should not be allowed to own private property. These philosophies fueled the fire in 1789 when the French people rebelled against their established government and a blood revolution began (remember the Huguenots, the French CHRISTians had fled the country because of persecution by this time leaving a vast hole of spiritual darkness).

Many other countries followed France on the road to revolution. At a time when liberal philosophies were stirring up a desire for popular rule, they were also tearing away the religious foundation that makes popular rule possible...wow does that ever sound familiar. During this time of revolution, some extremely influential philosophers and theologians continued the destructive thought processes. These false teachings were especially prevalent in Germany, the land of Reformation. They soon turned the CHRISTianity that Martin Luther had worked so hard to reform from the false teachings of the Catholic church, into a cold, intellectual process through the state church. Rationalism and romanticism became firmly entrenched in the Germany universities, and students from Scandinavia, Great Britain, and the United States, flocked there to learn new German ideas about philosophy, literature, music, and religion. This "higher criticism," which was first developed in German universities, became an increasing challenge to Protestantism in the 19th century as it departed from a literal acceptance of the Bible. The false philosophies of modernism, religious liberalism which originated in German universities in the 19th century when German theologians began to exalt their own reason above GOD's WORD, taught that the Bible was a collection of myths, legends, and a few historical facts (reminiscent to me of what was being taught at the liberal Baptist college in Oxford 25 years ago). This led to denying the existence of Heaven, Hell, the sin nature of man, and the deity of JESUS CHRIST. These "modernists," false teachers of the gospel, insisted that JESUS was only a great man whose teachings could help men evolve into perfect beings. When American ministerial students attended these German schools, they were filled with doubt and disbelief about the Bible. Many brought these false teachings back to American seminaries and universities. These false teachings quickly took root in Europe with devastating consequences, and now we see the "fruit" of these false teachings in our churches, universities, and seminaries.

Along with modernism, came the false teachings of Darwinism, where Charles Darwin proposed that all life on earth, including man, evolved. Many people embraced evolution because believing man is basically an animal frees him from his responsibility to GOD. A natural result of Darwinism is materialism, which reduces man to a machine "whose personality is merely an interrelation of chemical and physical properties." Another natural consequence of Darwinism is socialism, the "materialistic view that all economic, political, and social life must be planned, controlled and regulated by the state to insure "the greatest good for the greatest number." As Darwinism grew in Europe, the focus shifted from the individual to society. The man most responsible for the rise of modern socialism was Karl Marx (1818-1883), the Father of Communism. He gladly embraced the false philosophies of Darwinism and socialism and believed the cause of all past conflicts in society was the struggle between the wealthy and the poor and blamed private property as the cause of the conflict. Marxist philosophy would have a tremendous impact on the world including the United States where Marxists infiltrated our universities and seminaries during World War II and taught their false teachings here. This greatly contributed to the false teachings we see infiltrating our churches today, deceiving sinners into thinking that they can obtain salvation by their good deeds and contributed to the moral collapse that we see abounding in our society today.

There is nothing new under the sun, as Solomon penned in Ecclesiastes 1:9.
9 What has been will be again,

what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.


As the prophet, Elijah confronted the false prophets of Baal in the Old Testament, as Paul confronted the false teachers in the New Testament, as Martin Luther confronted the Roman Catholic leaders during the Protestant Reformation, we continue to live in a day and age when false teaching is everywhere, including the church, to lure men away from the pure gospel of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. In Jude we are warned, "In the last times will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the SPIRIT." Jude 18

It grieves me to say, "The Most Dangerous Cult" is not just one denomination...it is probably a part of most denominations, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, anywhere where liberal teaching, or false teaching has been allowed to take root and bring devastating consequences...consequences to the souls of men, women and children for all eternity.

John Wesley, Founder of the Methodist Church, and hymn writer was steeped in CHRISTianity as a son of an Anglican minister, and homeschooled by a very disciplined Mom. She was very committed to JESUS CHRIST and taught her children the Scriptures at home. http://wesley.nnu.edu/john_wesley/methodist/ch2.htm He was the grandson of two minister's, a student of CHRIST College, Oxford, and a member of the "Holy Club," a very close "Circle of Friends," that met several times a week for mutual encouragement in CHRIST. Though he was very self disciplined , rising early to spend time reading the Bible, pray, eat, and careful not to waste any time, it wasn't until John Wesley was 35, ten years after he became a deacon, that he came to know JESUS CHRIST as his LORD and SAVIOR. Until his conversion to CHRIST, John Wesley believed that:

the only way to avoid the flames and torment of Hell was to win God's approval
by doing good works in this life. He believed people had to earn Heaven and deserve God's

favor. He did believe that people struggling to do this would be helped by prayers, and grace coming through the church.
Although people saw John Wesley as a good man he was very
unhappy, feeling that whatever he did, sin was holding him back and he could never get away
from it.
John's own conversion did not come until May 24, 1738 at the age of 35 (about 13 years

after deciding to serve God as a deacon). As God promised in Deuteronomy, "But if from there
you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with
all your soul," so it came true in the life of John Wesley. Wesley had been somewhat depressed
for several days. Very unwillingly he went to a meeting of Christians in Aldersgate. There he
heard a reading of Martin Luther's preface to the book of Romans. Martin Luther was a great
German Christian from the 16th century who had led the Protestant Reformation. He was the
founder of the Lutheran Church of today. In his book, Luther was explaining the change which
God works in the heart through faith in Christ. Wesley wrote about his experience in this way, "I
felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt that I did trust Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an
assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law
of sin and death." For the first time in his life, Wesley felt free forever from the domination of
sin. He knew he would still struggle with sin but he also knew he would win. He became utterly
convinced that every man and woman who was aware of their own sin and misery who turned to
Christ and relied completely on his love would be saved from Hell and sin. He was filled with a
holy desire to spread this joyful news and became a great preacher, who carried the message of
hope throughout the land. Dr. Dorothy Marshall said about Wesley's conversion, "What happened
then released such a force of explosive Christianity in him that the Methodist movement, which
has brought hope and comfort to millions of people ever since, was born."


http://www.studentorg.umd.edu/ubf/msg/wesley.htm



GOD used John Wesley to began the Methodist church in England, and it was founded on the solid teaching of trusting in CHRIST alone to save men from their sins. As time marched on, into the 1920's and 30's and false teaching from the strands of modernism (religious liberalism), socialism, secular psychology and pragmatism (the belief that an idea or action should be judged solely by its results, regardless of any moral or Scriptural considerations) influenced more and more seminaries and universities in our country,the pure truth of the gospel of JESUS CHRIST saving us from our sins was taken out of the preaching of these once sound churches. Sadly, in a poll conducted in 1999, 51% of the Methodist church did not believe in the historical event of the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST in a poll conducted in 1999.

Methodism isn't the only church invaded by liberal teachings, as i have shared in my opening. American Baptists weren't far behind in the 1999 poll, followed by Presbyterians http://www.ericbarger.com/mdcult.htm. In a 2008 survey, 57% of evangelicals did not believe JESUS CHRIST is the only way to GOD, according to Brannon Howse, "Worldview Weekend Digest," vol. 6....wow.

I was raised in a United Methodist church and though parts of the Bible was taught there in Sunday School, through loving teachers, and we sang hymns about JESUS, I don't remember hearing the gospel of JESUS CHRIST preached from the pulpit. It may have been, i just don't remember it. I do remember GOD putting a longing in my heart as a child that i yearned for "Something More." That "Something More," was a personal relationship with JESUS CHRIST. It was from a dear neighbor who went to another church that taught me about "getting saved" and trusting in JESUS to forgive me for my sins. She loved me, fed me plenty of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at her house and reached out not just to me but my whole family. She invited us to go to VBS, youth camps, and church with them. I prayed the "sinners prayer" at 8 years old at their VBS, but it wasn't until i was 19 that CHRIST opened my blind eyes, made me "a new creature in CHRIST," and i became "born again." "If any man is in CHRIST he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold new things have come," II Cor. 5:17. In John 3:3, JESUS, told Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, who came seeking JESUS at night, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of GOD unless he is born again." I am amazed when i think of CHRIST saving me and my brothers and sisters one by one as we grew up. HE brought us to HIMself through lovingly convicting us of our sins, bringing us to repentance, and giving us the faith to believe that CHRIST died for our sins. I told my husband as i wrote this, and reflected on all that i've written here, the older i get in CHRIST, the more amazed i am that CHRIST saved me.

So what do you do if you're reading this and realize that you have been deceived by false teaching? The same thing i did when CHRIST drew me to HIMself with HIS HOLY SPIRIT, opened my eyes to who HE is, and made me a new creature in HIM. Confess your sins to HIM, repent, and believe on the LORD JESUS CHRIST. "For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believeth on HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Ask the LORD to direct you to a BIBLE believing and teaching church to help you grow in the "grace and knowledge of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST." I am becoming more and more aware that churches that teach true doctrine are difficult to find these days. GOD is faithful and HE will direct you to one when you diligently seek and search...they are out there. Please feel free to contact me, and i will be more than happy to do what i can to help you find a Bible believing church home that teaches JESUS CHRIST as the only WAY to experience forgiveness and peace with GOD.

JESUS answered, "I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. No one comes to the FATHER except through ME."
John 14:6

It was an amazing privilege to sit in John Newton's church, who I think was among John Wesley's "Circle of Friends," when we were in England and sing "Amazing Grace," with the group from the seminary. John Newton, a wanton sinner, left home at 11 to work on a ship, and was involved in the African Slave trade for 10 years... he was saved by GOD's amazing grace, and penned probably the most famous hymn in the our hymn books, "Amazing Grace."

That grace is amazing to me, and how i thank GOD for pursuing me with HIS unconditional love, convicting my heart of my sins, and setting me free from the bondage of my sins. He wouldn't let me go and I'll never forget that wonderful night at Central Baptist Church when at 19 years of age, HIS amazing grace reached down to save me and set me free from my chains of my sin. I was a wretched sinner that "once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."

This week, I've included 2 videos of Chris Tomlin singing "Amazing Grace," (My Chains are Gone). In the first one, as he sings, scenes from the movie "Amazing Grace," is being shown. It depicts the battle that William Wilberforce (1759-1833), a recipient of GOD's amazing saving grace, and member of John Wesley's "Circle of Friends," fought for 20 years in the British Parliament to abolish the African slave trade throughout the British Empire. William Wilberforce was saved along the journey by GOD's "Amazing Grace," and GOD used him to set the African slaves free from their chains of slavery. The second one, is depicting our dear LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, whom GOD sent from heaven to set us free from our chains of bondage...sin. Praise the LORD," my chains are gone, I've been set free, my GOD, my SAVIOR, has ransomed me, and like a flood HIS mercy reigns, unending love, Amazing Grace!"

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of GOD; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV6HJxUebg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFxArMeRDI&NR=1

"Amazing Grace" by John Newton

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come.
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing GOD's praise
Than when we first begun.
With all HIS love,

mitzi