J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Sweety-pie emergent church hugs a smiley Jesus. That’s it. NazNet moderators Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff along with former moderator chaplain Barbara Moulton agree. So obviously does NazNet founder/owner Dave McClung.
But there is no only-smiley-Jesus in the Bible. That is a figment of the adolescent imagination of theological liberalism.
However, one cannot actually have a Jesus unless He is the historical Jesus as recorded in holy writ. That is the Jesus one must deal with if one is going to say his life is committed to actual Jesus. A huggy, smiley, make-believe Jesus is legendary, to start with.
Therefore, to surrender one’s existence to the historical Jesus is to surrender to the God of the Bible—the whole Bible, Old Testament included. And that God is the perfect eternal balance of mercy and justice.
The emergent church NazNet only wants the mercy. They don’t want the justice part. This is particularly so in the posts typed by Deventer and Cundiff. They are sappy posts, yes. But they are sappy because they won’t own up to the just God of Scripture.
The just God of Scripture must be just if He is going to be merciful. A lopsided God is a deity one does not want to commit to.
In Scripture, God can be merciful. God can also be angry. The angry parts include Noah’s day flood. Scores of mortals drowned because an angry God doomed them to their punishment. They had rejected His call to holiness, living in sin purposefully; therefore God wiped them off the planet.
Read YES, YOU CAN BELIEVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD at http://www.michnews.com/J_Grant_Swank_Jr/jgs021010.shtml
So that is the God of the Bible. That same God appeared in Jesus, dying murderously on the cross in our place as our substitute sacrifice. Jesus took our sins upon Himself, washing them away via His blood when we repent of our wrongdoing.
There are countless other examples of divine mercy and anger throughout the Bible, of course. But the point is that if one is going to believe in the God of mercy, one must also hold to the God of justice.
What is interesting today is that these emergent church NazNet disciples of the huggy Jesus don’t seem to get that God is angry right now. It is part fulfillment of biblical prophecy. For instance, the Jesus of Scripture predicted that in End Times there would be an increase of earthquakes and pestilence.
Sin would increase. People would turn against one another, even within families. True believers would be martyred. And so forth.
All of this happens present-tense. The earthquake part in particular is evidence of God’s anger at the tolerated disobedience throughout the world. One does not have to tally those sins for the moralists already are quite sensitive to the list.
But the point is this: God is angry now. But right now is the time frame that emergent church willy-nillys are declaring a deity who only hugs and kisses, snuggles and cuddles. Their deity does not get angry, will not tolerate Noah’s day
flood, and surely will not permit an eternal hell.
These are surely intriguing times to live in. While biblical prophecy is unfolding before our newsfeeds’ eyes, a lame brain segment of religionists proclaim that their god is lovey-
dovey sweetcakes.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
NAZNET FORBIDS ME TO READ ITS CODE OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
The Internet provides the Code of Ethics subscribed to by Christian web sites, NazNet being one of them.
But when I try to get into that site to read the NazNet Christian Code of Ethics, I am forbidden.
“Forbidden” in large bold letters is in the left hand corner of my screen. All I want to do is read NazNet’s agreement to live by the Christian ethics code; however, I cannot get to that segment.
What does NazNet have to hide? Why are the owners and moderators keeping me from reading their commitment?
As far as I can reason, NazNet knows it is not living up to that Christian code of ethics for it describes itself as a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene while cutting right through the Nazarene doctrinal fundamentals.
The Church of the Nazarene preaches biblical truth from Genesis to Revelation. NazNet posts moderators’ statements that they do not believe in the Bible or doubt parts of the Bible as being divinely inspired.
Further, NazNet touts heresies as reported in NAZNET DISTORTS where these heresies can be researched in exceptional detail: http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
With that, what comes through loud and clear to me is that since I have exposed NazNet to world readers via the Internet, I am not privy to their unethical standing as related to the Christian ethics code on cyberspace.
These readers include headquarters’ personnel at the denominational offices in Kansas City as well as spiritual leadership on the South Texas District where moderator Scott Cundiff, Pastor, Alvin Texas Church, preaches one thing while posting heresies on NazNet.
In addition, faculty and administration at the Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO, and Nazarene Bible College, Colorado Springs, CO have been informed of these heresies on NazNet. Moreover, countless district superintendents throughout the world church have received this data.
With this particular post, it is my hope that these persons will read the Christian Code of Ethics as related to NazNet and posted on the Internet. In that, they will see the huge ethical gap between NazNet and the code.
Read NazNet.com's Christian Internet Code of Ethics” at http://freechristiancontent.org/NazNet.coms_Christian_Internet_Code_of_Ethics.htm
Also, For more information visit the Christian Internet Code of Ethics home page. I am forbidden to reach this site because NazNet has cut me off from reaching it.
I receive this message:
“Forbidden
“You don't have permission to access /ethics/ on this server.”
The Internet provides the Code of Ethics subscribed to by Christian web sites, NazNet being one of them.
But when I try to get into that site to read the NazNet Christian Code of Ethics, I am forbidden.
“Forbidden” in large bold letters is in the left hand corner of my screen. All I want to do is read NazNet’s agreement to live by the Christian ethics code; however, I cannot get to that segment.
What does NazNet have to hide? Why are the owners and moderators keeping me from reading their commitment?
As far as I can reason, NazNet knows it is not living up to that Christian code of ethics for it describes itself as a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene while cutting right through the Nazarene doctrinal fundamentals.
The Church of the Nazarene preaches biblical truth from Genesis to Revelation. NazNet posts moderators’ statements that they do not believe in the Bible or doubt parts of the Bible as being divinely inspired.
Further, NazNet touts heresies as reported in NAZNET DISTORTS where these heresies can be researched in exceptional detail: http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
With that, what comes through loud and clear to me is that since I have exposed NazNet to world readers via the Internet, I am not privy to their unethical standing as related to the Christian ethics code on cyberspace.
These readers include headquarters’ personnel at the denominational offices in Kansas City as well as spiritual leadership on the South Texas District where moderator Scott Cundiff, Pastor, Alvin Texas Church, preaches one thing while posting heresies on NazNet.
In addition, faculty and administration at the Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City, MO, and Nazarene Bible College, Colorado Springs, CO have been informed of these heresies on NazNet. Moreover, countless district superintendents throughout the world church have received this data.
With this particular post, it is my hope that these persons will read the Christian Code of Ethics as related to NazNet and posted on the Internet. In that, they will see the huge ethical gap between NazNet and the code.
Read NazNet.com's Christian Internet Code of Ethics” at http://freechristiancontent.org/NazNet.coms_Christian_Internet_Code_of_Ethics.htm
Also, For more information visit the Christian Internet Code of Ethics home page. I am forbidden to reach this site because NazNet has cut me off from reaching it.
I receive this message:
“Forbidden
“You don't have permission to access /ethics/ on this server.”
Friday, February 26, 2010
CAN NAZNET FIND THE HOLINESS HERITAGE?
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Can the advertised Nazarene-friendly NazNet website discover once again its holiness heritage that sparked its start at Pilot Point, Texas in 1908?
Some would have it today that the biblical call to the holy life is too difficult to understand. That is unfortunate in that for decades preachers, teachers and evangelists have given forth on the holiness lifestyle over and over again.
There are still those faithful to the holiness truth set forth in Scripture. May NazNet and all those into biblical research uncover this marvelous divine provision, proclaiming it without apology or compromise.
The nearly l20 gathered in the Upper Room were “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4)!
When the Holy Spirit comes upon a disciple, there are various occurrences which are primary and wonderful.
First, the infilling is a GIFT, not an achievement. All that God does in a believer’s life, from alpha to omega, is provided by divine grace. There is nothing which is trophied as an accomplishment by the human vessel.
When one receives salvation, it is by divine grace. Even the prevenient grace which precedes saving grace is emptied out upon the human heart by God Himself. So it is with the infilling. It is an act of grace executed by heaven’s powers so that the homo sapien may enter into the holy of holies provided here on earth.
Second, the infilling is bestowed by a PERSON, not an institution nor ritual nor ecclesiastical title. The origins of the sanctifying presence are from Him—the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, one may be filled by the Holy Spirit anywhere and at any time the Spirit deems it appropriate.
Consequently, no attention is focused upon churchly leaders nor rites nor liturgies nor assemblies. All of these are extraneous to the marvel of the infilling presence. God is a jealous God; therefore, He deserves all focus—totally so—for He is the fount of the sanctifying experience.
Third, the infilling is an introduction to the HOLINESS of God. It is a holy come-upon by the divine. Why? Because the Indweller is nothing but holiness. There is no sin nor carnality within the divine nature; consequently, when He sets up residence within the human life, that housing is evidenced in the holy life. “Be holy, even as I am holy.”
Therefore, the competing spirits of this existence are left to their unholiness. These spirits are the spirits of self, worldliness, Satan, carnality, bigotry, hypocrisy, and so on. No other spirit in planetary sphere can compare with the HOLY Spirit, for all others spirits are less than holy; in other words, they are of this fallen scope.
Fourth, the infilling is MULTI-DIMENSIONAL in splendor just as the Holy Spirit is infinitely creative in power, peace and purity. These many facets of the Holy Spirit’s personality have no allowance for evil; however, within the eternal awareness of His being, the Spirit is everlastingly imaginative—far beyond human speculations.
Consequently, when the Holy Spirit explores the human personality for kingdom fulfillment, there are endless doings which the Spirit will come upon. That is why it is faulty to circumscribe the Spirit’s work within the consecrated life. That is why it is unbiblical to narrowly define what and how the Spirit is to achievement His plans for and through the dedicated soul.
One must permit the Spirit His perfect freedom to do what He wants to do, how He wants to do it, and when He wants to perform it. Openness is the anticipatory key which opens up the infinite possibilities to the loving Spirit’s chartings for good.
Fifth, the infilling is DURABLE for the Holy Spirit is God! There is no start nor finish to God. There are no boundaries to God except those which would contradict His holy nature, such as wickedness. There are no “wearings thin” with God.
Therefore, when the holy work is begun in the consecrated heart, durability can see
through the experience to heaven’s gates. There is the possibility that one can remain true to the indwelling Spirit if one wills such tenacity to be lasting. It is true that the human still deals with foibles, shortcomings, eccentricities, mistakes in judgment and performance—but one does not have to backslide into sin if one determines holiness to be set. It is a matter of persevering with one will in control—that is, the DIVINE will only.
Sixth, the infilling is ADEQUATE for the Holy Spirit is all-sufficient. His chief historical proof of such is His raising Jesus from the dead. If there is a power who can raise the dead, then there is nothing which is impossible to that mighty presence. Yes, the Spirit of God is a match and more for any trial in this existence. There is nothing too difficult for Him to conquer—again, in His time and manner.
Consequently, in the indwelt soul, “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose”. What is His purpose? It is holiness. That is the chief desire of a holy God for His children of grace. Therefore, there is no testing which God cannot overcome. It is then a matter of faith on the part of the indwelt. One simply believes in the adequacy of the divine, no matter what may arise to threaten, even martyrdom.
Seventh, the infilling is ATTRACTIVE in that the Holy Spirit is handsome in His nature and evidence. All the beauty of creation is from the workings of the Spirit who first brooded upon those creation waters. All that is good, clean, delightful and happy finds its source in the Holy Spirit.
It is the unholy spirits which are violent, ugly and repulsive. They promise fulfillment, peace, prosperity and all the other human desires for this world. But they cannot produce lastingly any of these offers. That is why Satan is a deceiver, the Father of Lies. Therefore, when one is indwelt with the spirits of worldliness, self, lust, avarice and so forth, one is overcome with the grip of emptiness, finally controlled by these spirits.
Eighth, the infilling is HUMBLE in that all focus is upon the Provider. That is why the sermons and testimonies following the Day of Pentecost all point to Jesus, the One whose death upon the cross made Pentecost presence possible.
“Wait…until you are overcome from on high,” Jesus commissioned His own when ascending into heaven. It was Jesus who purchased our salvation and sanctification upon Calvary. It was Jesus who breathed His last by taking our sins upon His sacrificial head, becoming scapegoat for rebellious humanity. It was Jesus who rose from the grave. It was Jesus who returned as our Intercessor to the right hand of the Father in glory. It was Jesus who predicted that the disciples would be indwelt by holiness. It was Jesus who then was lifted up by the Early Church as the Supplier of the Pentecost Spirit.
Consequently, all self-glory in the work of the holy kingdom is anathema to the truth of Christianity. It must be abhorred. It must be exposed and put away immediately. There is no room for pomp and circumstance when it comes to the fleshly leadership of any Christian institution. All of that will pass as dust. Therefore, only the adorable beholding of the Sanctifying Savior is tolerable in any labor for God.
Humility is the most rare gift to be found in any generation. Yet it is absolutely imperative that believers come upon that gift in order for all ego attention to be driven from our midst. It must be a conscious effort. It must be prayed over. It must be set forth more publicly from every pulpit. It must be written across our hearts daily. We are nothing; He is everything. “For without Me, you can do nothing.” And without Him, we indeed are nothing.
Can the advertised Nazarene-friendly NazNet website discover once again its holiness heritage that sparked its start at Pilot Point, Texas in 1908?
Some would have it today that the biblical call to the holy life is too difficult to understand. That is unfortunate in that for decades preachers, teachers and evangelists have given forth on the holiness lifestyle over and over again.
There are still those faithful to the holiness truth set forth in Scripture. May NazNet and all those into biblical research uncover this marvelous divine provision, proclaiming it without apology or compromise.
The nearly l20 gathered in the Upper Room were “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4)!
When the Holy Spirit comes upon a disciple, there are various occurrences which are primary and wonderful.
First, the infilling is a GIFT, not an achievement. All that God does in a believer’s life, from alpha to omega, is provided by divine grace. There is nothing which is trophied as an accomplishment by the human vessel.
When one receives salvation, it is by divine grace. Even the prevenient grace which precedes saving grace is emptied out upon the human heart by God Himself. So it is with the infilling. It is an act of grace executed by heaven’s powers so that the homo sapien may enter into the holy of holies provided here on earth.
Second, the infilling is bestowed by a PERSON, not an institution nor ritual nor ecclesiastical title. The origins of the sanctifying presence are from Him—the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, one may be filled by the Holy Spirit anywhere and at any time the Spirit deems it appropriate.
Consequently, no attention is focused upon churchly leaders nor rites nor liturgies nor assemblies. All of these are extraneous to the marvel of the infilling presence. God is a jealous God; therefore, He deserves all focus—totally so—for He is the fount of the sanctifying experience.
Third, the infilling is an introduction to the HOLINESS of God. It is a holy come-upon by the divine. Why? Because the Indweller is nothing but holiness. There is no sin nor carnality within the divine nature; consequently, when He sets up residence within the human life, that housing is evidenced in the holy life. “Be holy, even as I am holy.”
Therefore, the competing spirits of this existence are left to their unholiness. These spirits are the spirits of self, worldliness, Satan, carnality, bigotry, hypocrisy, and so on. No other spirit in planetary sphere can compare with the HOLY Spirit, for all others spirits are less than holy; in other words, they are of this fallen scope.
Fourth, the infilling is MULTI-DIMENSIONAL in splendor just as the Holy Spirit is infinitely creative in power, peace and purity. These many facets of the Holy Spirit’s personality have no allowance for evil; however, within the eternal awareness of His being, the Spirit is everlastingly imaginative—far beyond human speculations.
Consequently, when the Holy Spirit explores the human personality for kingdom fulfillment, there are endless doings which the Spirit will come upon. That is why it is faulty to circumscribe the Spirit’s work within the consecrated life. That is why it is unbiblical to narrowly define what and how the Spirit is to achievement His plans for and through the dedicated soul.
One must permit the Spirit His perfect freedom to do what He wants to do, how He wants to do it, and when He wants to perform it. Openness is the anticipatory key which opens up the infinite possibilities to the loving Spirit’s chartings for good.
Fifth, the infilling is DURABLE for the Holy Spirit is God! There is no start nor finish to God. There are no boundaries to God except those which would contradict His holy nature, such as wickedness. There are no “wearings thin” with God.
Therefore, when the holy work is begun in the consecrated heart, durability can see
through the experience to heaven’s gates. There is the possibility that one can remain true to the indwelling Spirit if one wills such tenacity to be lasting. It is true that the human still deals with foibles, shortcomings, eccentricities, mistakes in judgment and performance—but one does not have to backslide into sin if one determines holiness to be set. It is a matter of persevering with one will in control—that is, the DIVINE will only.
Sixth, the infilling is ADEQUATE for the Holy Spirit is all-sufficient. His chief historical proof of such is His raising Jesus from the dead. If there is a power who can raise the dead, then there is nothing which is impossible to that mighty presence. Yes, the Spirit of God is a match and more for any trial in this existence. There is nothing too difficult for Him to conquer—again, in His time and manner.
Consequently, in the indwelt soul, “all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose”. What is His purpose? It is holiness. That is the chief desire of a holy God for His children of grace. Therefore, there is no testing which God cannot overcome. It is then a matter of faith on the part of the indwelt. One simply believes in the adequacy of the divine, no matter what may arise to threaten, even martyrdom.
Seventh, the infilling is ATTRACTIVE in that the Holy Spirit is handsome in His nature and evidence. All the beauty of creation is from the workings of the Spirit who first brooded upon those creation waters. All that is good, clean, delightful and happy finds its source in the Holy Spirit.
It is the unholy spirits which are violent, ugly and repulsive. They promise fulfillment, peace, prosperity and all the other human desires for this world. But they cannot produce lastingly any of these offers. That is why Satan is a deceiver, the Father of Lies. Therefore, when one is indwelt with the spirits of worldliness, self, lust, avarice and so forth, one is overcome with the grip of emptiness, finally controlled by these spirits.
Eighth, the infilling is HUMBLE in that all focus is upon the Provider. That is why the sermons and testimonies following the Day of Pentecost all point to Jesus, the One whose death upon the cross made Pentecost presence possible.
“Wait…until you are overcome from on high,” Jesus commissioned His own when ascending into heaven. It was Jesus who purchased our salvation and sanctification upon Calvary. It was Jesus who breathed His last by taking our sins upon His sacrificial head, becoming scapegoat for rebellious humanity. It was Jesus who rose from the grave. It was Jesus who returned as our Intercessor to the right hand of the Father in glory. It was Jesus who predicted that the disciples would be indwelt by holiness. It was Jesus who then was lifted up by the Early Church as the Supplier of the Pentecost Spirit.
Consequently, all self-glory in the work of the holy kingdom is anathema to the truth of Christianity. It must be abhorred. It must be exposed and put away immediately. There is no room for pomp and circumstance when it comes to the fleshly leadership of any Christian institution. All of that will pass as dust. Therefore, only the adorable beholding of the Sanctifying Savior is tolerable in any labor for God.
Humility is the most rare gift to be found in any generation. Yet it is absolutely imperative that believers come upon that gift in order for all ego attention to be driven from our midst. It must be a conscious effort. It must be prayed over. It must be set forth more publicly from every pulpit. It must be written across our hearts daily. We are nothing; He is everything. “For without Me, you can do nothing.” And without Him, we indeed are nothing.
EMERGENT CHURCH NAZNET PREACHER Xs OUT THE BIBLE
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Scott Cundiff fits right in with the emergent church foolishness.
God is a “violent and genocidal child killer.”
God is deranged when he calls for “Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites.”
The Old Testament deity is anathema to this Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene pastor who serves as moderator on “friend”-to-Nazarenes web site NazNet.
I wonder if Scott Cundiff preaches the above disconcerting suspicions regarding the Bible to his Sunday morning congregation. Of course, it is a small church so maybe those few don’t care what they get for a message.
And when it comes to Cundiff’s Sunday evening evangelistic messages, how can he present the biblical God when there are questions buzzing all around his head concerning the scriptural authority? Perhaps God messed up throughout the entire writ.
Cundiff writes on NazNet that perhaps there is an “’otherness’” to God. What that means is anyone’s guess. Surely God has declared His persona throughout Scripture for us to get the basic point that He is the perfect eternal balance between justice and mercy. However, Cundiff does not seem to get hold of that.
But I would wager that when it comes to preaching biblical sermons in Alvin he sticks to the Word. After all, there is a pastor’s salary check plus parsonage and benefits at stake here. So keep the old holiness preaching going full force. There’s money in it.
But on NazNet, Cundiff changes to a kiss up for liberals on site—some young, others older. And of course he can always depend on Netherlands’ favorite Hans Deventer to back up his agnosticism. And then there is NazNet founder/owner Dave McClung who permits the
two heretics to post anything they please on NazNet.
So there is an “’otherness’” to God that Cundiff can’t understand. Perhaps Cundidff should realize that mortal brains cannot grasp the wholeness of God. Perhaps Cundiff should also conclude that the Word is a divine revelation that will only be totally grasped in eternity when our understanding apparatus is perfect.
In the meantime, believers read the Word by faith. They live the Word by faith. They evangelize concerning the Word by faith.
And those who have not given up on the Word get to see more clearly the God of Scripture as the Holy Spirit gives understanding to the humble. For instance, read the footnote to understand how God can do what He did in the Old Testament time frame. There is reason to it all; but Cundiff gives up too quickly—as does Deventer and McClung plus their clique on NazNet.
Cundiff writes on NazNet: “Writing from a devotional point of view my take away is that there’s that about God, an ‘otherness’ that is beyond us and that passages like that (Old Testament verses) are reminders of that fact.”
However, Cundiff’s suspicions are okay for they keep him in line with his Wesleyan theology. He states that outright. As soon as someone can tell me how agnosticism with such disbelief in the God of Scripture lines up with holiness Wesleyan doctrine, let me know. But Cundfif has come upon the twosome wedding one another quite nicely.
“I find a solid Wesleyan perspective that helps me deal with the issue.” Again, what is the issue? It is that Cundiff cannot believe in the God of the Bible. Yet that baseline brings him closer to his Wesleyan understanding.
Truthfully, there is no tie between John Wesley’s teaching concerning the Bible’s God and Cunciff’s “’otherness.’” None.
Cundiff continues: “And van de Beek is right. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to reconcile the many commands to kill enemies in the Old Testament with the commands to love our enemies in the New.
“Even more difficult is the portrait painted of God as a violent and genocidal child killer in the Old Testament (Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites), and in Christ the lover of children in the New.
“Van de Beek admits as much. He confesses that ‘The more one wants to let all of Scripture speak for itself . . . the more unclear the Bible becomes. The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’”
Cundiff states his belief in this Bible-throw-away. Sad, but true. And he’s right there in the Texas Bible belt (South Texas District/Church of the Nazarene) supposedly ministering the gospel to the unsaved.
So there you have the bottom line: Don’t read the Bible. Don’t study it. If you do, God dies on you.
FOOTNOTE: YES, YOU CAN BELIEVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD
In the Old Testament, God commanded the death penalty in twenty-some cases. This was not because God was barbaric, but because God was civil. The Israeli twelve tribes had no law enforcement agencies. Further, they were surrounded by barbarisms of strange magnitudes exhibited by neighboring pagan nations.
Consequently, for God to establish an Israeli civil community, He set forth stringent punishments--some being the death penalty. He Himself became, in other words, the Law Enforcement Agency for the new nation of Israel. That chosen community thereby was to model morality / civility to the surrounding nations.
Extremely severe penalties then were commanded by God in order to bring in line an Israeli community which tended to be unruly like its neighbors. If God had been lax in penalties, human nature, being what it is, would have tested gladly the boundaries. But when penalties were severe, human nature thought twice before testing the boundaries, hence the death penalty prescribed by God in some instances.
However, once Israel lost its nationhood by "going a-whoring after other loves", Israel's civil structure disappeared. Israel as a nation lost its temple, its government--that is, its two primary components of culture--religion and politics. Pagan nations then ruled over the heretofore nation of God. In this loss was the disappearance of death penalties previously prescribed by God. The death penalty period as dictated by divine revelation, in other words, ended near the close of the Old Testament era.
That is why when Jesus appeared as flesh-and-bones divine revelation, He pronounced, "You used to say, 'An eye for an eye', but now I say to you: Love your enemies." Jesus pronounced a civility of love toward one's enemies. "Love your foes, pray for your foes." This was the New Testament for it was now a new way of dealing with others--all others.
Government was now established primarily within the believer rather than under Israeli kings. "The Kingdom of God is within you." Law was now primarily of the heart. "My law will be written on your hearts." That was the new politic. Further, the tabernacle was now primarily the human frame: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." That was the new religion.
Therefore, for the New Testament Church Age, it is the law of love toward all--friends and foes. Jesus provided a simply stated ethic. He refused to garble it with amendments. But, one may ask: "What about these atrocious crimes and the death penalty?"
The biblical answer is still the same: love your friends and foes in Jesus. What kind of Christian love then can be shown to a multiple-murderer / rapist / arsonist / child molester? What kind of Christian love can be meted out to a Hitler?
It is a Christian tough love. Tough love keeps
the exceptional criminal alive but consigns that one to supervised environs without parole. Hopefully, even that exceptional criminal then may come upon redemption through Christ, yet never be placed in tempting circumstances whereby he again may do others and Himself harm.
Keeping the individual alive also allows the possibility that, realizing human justice systems to be flawed, that person in truth may be found innocent though originally pronounced guilty. Indeed, the future may prove this to be fact if new evidence is forthcoming. History has case files on those in the aforementioned category.
Reason this moral / ethical situation from God's perspective: Adam and Eve slew God's love when they played loose with Eden's snake. However, God did not slay them. Instead, God banished them to their own solitary isles of remorse, hoping at least for their eternal redemption.
You once slew God's love by going your own stubborn way. In reality, you pronounced yourself Lord of your life. It is a hurtful truth to you now that you are a believer; nevertheless, living once in sin and for sin, you were once that callused toward your own loving Creator. However, did God obliterate you? No, instead God searched you out, loved you even while you were enemy, in hopes of redeeming what was left of your destiny.
He now invites each Christian to live out that same kind of persevering, at-times-tough love toward all others--especially those who are Enemy. God has already walked for us the path of love-for-foes. We, of all creatures, should know this for sure. Praise be to a loving, merciful God!
He then invites us to join Him on that love path. He has walked it for us. He asks us now to walk it for others.
Scott Cundiff fits right in with the emergent church foolishness.
God is a “violent and genocidal child killer.”
God is deranged when he calls for “Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites.”
The Old Testament deity is anathema to this Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene pastor who serves as moderator on “friend”-to-Nazarenes web site NazNet.
I wonder if Scott Cundiff preaches the above disconcerting suspicions regarding the Bible to his Sunday morning congregation. Of course, it is a small church so maybe those few don’t care what they get for a message.
And when it comes to Cundiff’s Sunday evening evangelistic messages, how can he present the biblical God when there are questions buzzing all around his head concerning the scriptural authority? Perhaps God messed up throughout the entire writ.
Cundiff writes on NazNet that perhaps there is an “’otherness’” to God. What that means is anyone’s guess. Surely God has declared His persona throughout Scripture for us to get the basic point that He is the perfect eternal balance between justice and mercy. However, Cundiff does not seem to get hold of that.
But I would wager that when it comes to preaching biblical sermons in Alvin he sticks to the Word. After all, there is a pastor’s salary check plus parsonage and benefits at stake here. So keep the old holiness preaching going full force. There’s money in it.
But on NazNet, Cundiff changes to a kiss up for liberals on site—some young, others older. And of course he can always depend on Netherlands’ favorite Hans Deventer to back up his agnosticism. And then there is NazNet founder/owner Dave McClung who permits the
two heretics to post anything they please on NazNet.
So there is an “’otherness’” to God that Cundiff can’t understand. Perhaps Cundidff should realize that mortal brains cannot grasp the wholeness of God. Perhaps Cundiff should also conclude that the Word is a divine revelation that will only be totally grasped in eternity when our understanding apparatus is perfect.
In the meantime, believers read the Word by faith. They live the Word by faith. They evangelize concerning the Word by faith.
And those who have not given up on the Word get to see more clearly the God of Scripture as the Holy Spirit gives understanding to the humble. For instance, read the footnote to understand how God can do what He did in the Old Testament time frame. There is reason to it all; but Cundiff gives up too quickly—as does Deventer and McClung plus their clique on NazNet.
Cundiff writes on NazNet: “Writing from a devotional point of view my take away is that there’s that about God, an ‘otherness’ that is beyond us and that passages like that (Old Testament verses) are reminders of that fact.”
However, Cundiff’s suspicions are okay for they keep him in line with his Wesleyan theology. He states that outright. As soon as someone can tell me how agnosticism with such disbelief in the God of Scripture lines up with holiness Wesleyan doctrine, let me know. But Cundfif has come upon the twosome wedding one another quite nicely.
“I find a solid Wesleyan perspective that helps me deal with the issue.” Again, what is the issue? It is that Cundiff cannot believe in the God of the Bible. Yet that baseline brings him closer to his Wesleyan understanding.
Truthfully, there is no tie between John Wesley’s teaching concerning the Bible’s God and Cunciff’s “’otherness.’” None.
Cundiff continues: “And van de Beek is right. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to reconcile the many commands to kill enemies in the Old Testament with the commands to love our enemies in the New.
“Even more difficult is the portrait painted of God as a violent and genocidal child killer in the Old Testament (Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites), and in Christ the lover of children in the New.
“Van de Beek admits as much. He confesses that ‘The more one wants to let all of Scripture speak for itself . . . the more unclear the Bible becomes. The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’”
Cundiff states his belief in this Bible-throw-away. Sad, but true. And he’s right there in the Texas Bible belt (South Texas District/Church of the Nazarene) supposedly ministering the gospel to the unsaved.
So there you have the bottom line: Don’t read the Bible. Don’t study it. If you do, God dies on you.
FOOTNOTE: YES, YOU CAN BELIEVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD
In the Old Testament, God commanded the death penalty in twenty-some cases. This was not because God was barbaric, but because God was civil. The Israeli twelve tribes had no law enforcement agencies. Further, they were surrounded by barbarisms of strange magnitudes exhibited by neighboring pagan nations.
Consequently, for God to establish an Israeli civil community, He set forth stringent punishments--some being the death penalty. He Himself became, in other words, the Law Enforcement Agency for the new nation of Israel. That chosen community thereby was to model morality / civility to the surrounding nations.
Extremely severe penalties then were commanded by God in order to bring in line an Israeli community which tended to be unruly like its neighbors. If God had been lax in penalties, human nature, being what it is, would have tested gladly the boundaries. But when penalties were severe, human nature thought twice before testing the boundaries, hence the death penalty prescribed by God in some instances.
However, once Israel lost its nationhood by "going a-whoring after other loves", Israel's civil structure disappeared. Israel as a nation lost its temple, its government--that is, its two primary components of culture--religion and politics. Pagan nations then ruled over the heretofore nation of God. In this loss was the disappearance of death penalties previously prescribed by God. The death penalty period as dictated by divine revelation, in other words, ended near the close of the Old Testament era.
That is why when Jesus appeared as flesh-and-bones divine revelation, He pronounced, "You used to say, 'An eye for an eye', but now I say to you: Love your enemies." Jesus pronounced a civility of love toward one's enemies. "Love your foes, pray for your foes." This was the New Testament for it was now a new way of dealing with others--all others.
Government was now established primarily within the believer rather than under Israeli kings. "The Kingdom of God is within you." Law was now primarily of the heart. "My law will be written on your hearts." That was the new politic. Further, the tabernacle was now primarily the human frame: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." That was the new religion.
Therefore, for the New Testament Church Age, it is the law of love toward all--friends and foes. Jesus provided a simply stated ethic. He refused to garble it with amendments. But, one may ask: "What about these atrocious crimes and the death penalty?"
The biblical answer is still the same: love your friends and foes in Jesus. What kind of Christian love then can be shown to a multiple-murderer / rapist / arsonist / child molester? What kind of Christian love can be meted out to a Hitler?
It is a Christian tough love. Tough love keeps
the exceptional criminal alive but consigns that one to supervised environs without parole. Hopefully, even that exceptional criminal then may come upon redemption through Christ, yet never be placed in tempting circumstances whereby he again may do others and Himself harm.
Keeping the individual alive also allows the possibility that, realizing human justice systems to be flawed, that person in truth may be found innocent though originally pronounced guilty. Indeed, the future may prove this to be fact if new evidence is forthcoming. History has case files on those in the aforementioned category.
Reason this moral / ethical situation from God's perspective: Adam and Eve slew God's love when they played loose with Eden's snake. However, God did not slay them. Instead, God banished them to their own solitary isles of remorse, hoping at least for their eternal redemption.
You once slew God's love by going your own stubborn way. In reality, you pronounced yourself Lord of your life. It is a hurtful truth to you now that you are a believer; nevertheless, living once in sin and for sin, you were once that callused toward your own loving Creator. However, did God obliterate you? No, instead God searched you out, loved you even while you were enemy, in hopes of redeeming what was left of your destiny.
He now invites each Christian to live out that same kind of persevering, at-times-tough love toward all others--especially those who are Enemy. God has already walked for us the path of love-for-foes. We, of all creatures, should know this for sure. Praise be to a loving, merciful God!
He then invites us to join Him on that love path. He has walked it for us. He asks us now to walk it for others.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
NAZNET ZAPS JESUS’ ACCEPTANCE OF SCRIPTURE
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
NazNet posts the Bible thrown out in favor of sweet-Jesus-only. No place for moral absolutes.
NazNet posts that when believers study Scripture God blurs out.
NazNet posts the Word error-riddled.
NazNet posts hope that all souls go to heaven—Unitarian’s universalism.
NazNet posts no hell but unsaved souls being burnt up at death.
NazNet posts an “intermediate state” after death.
NazNet posts writing your own religion according to your subjective whatevers, in other words “situation ethics” / moral relativism.
Question: What did Jesus believe about Scripture? Answer: He believed none of the above NazNet positions.
Jesus never questioned the divine inspiration or accuracy of Scripture.
On the Road to Emmaus, Jesus informed two travelers about Himself according to the Old Testament record.
Jesus warned more about hell than providing detail about heaven.
Jesus never spoke of an “intermediate state.” Jesus referred only to heaven and hell as the options for souls upon death.
Jesus accepted the historicity of Old Testament detail. For instance, Jesus accepted the reality of Abel’s existence. Further, He accepted Noah and the flood as having existed. He never questioned the existence of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Lot, Jonah, Daniel, and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jesus accepted the fact that Moses wrote the books of law.
Jesus stated that Scripture was penned by mortals but inspired by God. Note Matthew 19:4, 5; 22:31, 32, 43; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.
Jesus castigated those who remained ignorant of the Divine Word. Note Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24.
Jesus warned against slicing and dicing Scripture. He taught that one accepted by faith the Word of God as is. Note Matthew 5:17; 15:1–9; 22:29; (cf. 5:43, 44); Mark. 7:1–12.
Jesus Himself lived out Old Testament prophesies regarding Himself. In other words, Jesus personified the accuracy of Scripture. One cannot go further than that—living out via one’s own bodily existence the eternal truth of holy writ.
Jesus Himself IS the Word. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
Is Jesus the Word errant? Is Jesus the Word prone to mistake? Is Jesus the Word riddled with suspicion? No. Jesus is the perfect image of God. He is the incarnation of deity.
Yet emergent church gurus as Brian McLaren want to toss out Scripture in favor of a love hug with Jesus alone. That cannot be done without coming under divine wrath. One cannot have Jesus without Scripture for Jesus is the Word in flesh and bones.
How clever of Satan to fool such individuals as McLaren and hysteriacs who follow him as the new Pied Piper. The fact is that the emergent heresy is nothing other than the old-line theological liberalism that has been around for centuries.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
ADDENDUM: JESUS THE WORD AS GOD
Jesus calls Himself God
Matthew 12:8
For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Mark 2:5-12
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee'; or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?' But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) "I say unto thee, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.'" And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw it on this fashion.'
John 5:17-18
But Jesus answered them, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, 'Before Abraham was, I am'." [compare with Exodus 3:14 - And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.'"]
John 10:30-33; 36-39
[Jesus said,] "I and my Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" The Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." [Jesus said,] "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, 'Thou blasphemest'; because I said, 'I am the Son of God?' If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand...
John 13:13-14
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Revelation 1:8
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," saith the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Jesus is called God by others or by the Bible
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, "God with us".
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 20:26-29
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." Then saith he to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas answered and said unto him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus saith unto him, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
John 21:17
[Peter said to Jesus], "Lord, thou knowest all things."
Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Romans 9:5
Of [the Israelites] as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.
Revelation 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
All things created through Jesus (and thus He existed before everything)
John 1:1-5,9-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Colossians 1:12-20
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Hebrews 1:1-8
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?' And again, 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?' And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, 'And let all the angels of God worship him.' And of the angels he saith, 'Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.' But unto the Son he saith, 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.'
NazNet posts the Bible thrown out in favor of sweet-Jesus-only. No place for moral absolutes.
NazNet posts that when believers study Scripture God blurs out.
NazNet posts the Word error-riddled.
NazNet posts hope that all souls go to heaven—Unitarian’s universalism.
NazNet posts no hell but unsaved souls being burnt up at death.
NazNet posts an “intermediate state” after death.
NazNet posts writing your own religion according to your subjective whatevers, in other words “situation ethics” / moral relativism.
Question: What did Jesus believe about Scripture? Answer: He believed none of the above NazNet positions.
Jesus never questioned the divine inspiration or accuracy of Scripture.
On the Road to Emmaus, Jesus informed two travelers about Himself according to the Old Testament record.
Jesus warned more about hell than providing detail about heaven.
Jesus never spoke of an “intermediate state.” Jesus referred only to heaven and hell as the options for souls upon death.
Jesus accepted the historicity of Old Testament detail. For instance, Jesus accepted the reality of Abel’s existence. Further, He accepted Noah and the flood as having existed. He never questioned the existence of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Lot, Jonah, Daniel, and Sodom and Gomorrah.
Jesus accepted the fact that Moses wrote the books of law.
Jesus stated that Scripture was penned by mortals but inspired by God. Note Matthew 19:4, 5; 22:31, 32, 43; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.
Jesus castigated those who remained ignorant of the Divine Word. Note Matthew 22:29; Mark 12:24.
Jesus warned against slicing and dicing Scripture. He taught that one accepted by faith the Word of God as is. Note Matthew 5:17; 15:1–9; 22:29; (cf. 5:43, 44); Mark. 7:1–12.
Jesus Himself lived out Old Testament prophesies regarding Himself. In other words, Jesus personified the accuracy of Scripture. One cannot go further than that—living out via one’s own bodily existence the eternal truth of holy writ.
Jesus Himself IS the Word. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
Is Jesus the Word errant? Is Jesus the Word prone to mistake? Is Jesus the Word riddled with suspicion? No. Jesus is the perfect image of God. He is the incarnation of deity.
Yet emergent church gurus as Brian McLaren want to toss out Scripture in favor of a love hug with Jesus alone. That cannot be done without coming under divine wrath. One cannot have Jesus without Scripture for Jesus is the Word in flesh and bones.
How clever of Satan to fool such individuals as McLaren and hysteriacs who follow him as the new Pied Piper. The fact is that the emergent heresy is nothing other than the old-line theological liberalism that has been around for centuries.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
ADDENDUM: JESUS THE WORD AS GOD
Jesus calls Himself God
Matthew 12:8
For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
Matthew 28:19
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Mark 2:5-12
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, "Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, "Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?" And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, "Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee'; or to say, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?' But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) "I say unto thee, 'Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.'" And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw it on this fashion.'
John 5:17-18
But Jesus answered them, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 8:58
Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily I say unto you, 'Before Abraham was, I am'." [compare with Exodus 3:14 - And God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 'I AM hath sent me unto you.'"]
John 10:30-33; 36-39
[Jesus said,] "I and my Father are one." Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, "Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?" The Jews answered him, saying, "For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." [Jesus said,] "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, 'Thou blasphemest'; because I said, 'I am the Son of God?' If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand...
John 13:13-14
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Revelation 1:8
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending," saith the Lord, "which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Jesus is called God by others or by the Bible
Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Matthew 1:23
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, "God with us".
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 20:26-29
And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be unto you." Then saith he to Thomas, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas answered and said unto him, "My Lord and my God." Jesus saith unto him, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."
John 21:17
[Peter said to Jesus], "Lord, thou knowest all things."
Acts 20:28
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Romans 9:5
Of [the Israelites] as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.
Revelation 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Colossians 2:9
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
All things created through Jesus (and thus He existed before everything)
John 1:1-5,9-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Colossians 1:12-20
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Hebrews 1:1-8
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, 'Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?' And again, 'I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?' And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, 'And let all the angels of God worship him.' And of the angels he saith, 'Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.' But unto the Son he saith, 'Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.'
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
NAZNET’S SWEET JESUS EMERGENT CRUCIFIES JESUS AFRESH
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Emergent mess-up guru Brian McLaren says that “objective truth” is to be discarded for a Jesus all-in-all love fest.
Does McLaren think this kiss up to Jesus is pleasing to Jesus?
McLaren stands on extremely dangerous ground when he makes Jesus is to be the Nice Guy Max so that Jesus’ own divine revelation can be canned. In other words, someone needs to warn McLaren that there’s a hell.
To make this whole diabolical scheme worse, a holiness denomination is in danger of imploding via NazNet, a web site founded by a political opportunist named Dave McClung.
NazNet, unofficial “friend” to the holiness Church of the Nazarene, endorses via moderators Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff in particular the sidelining of Scripture. Deventer states outright that he does not believe the Bible. What then is important to Deventer? Jesus only.
Does Deventer do Jesus a kindness with that devil’s doctrinal blasphemy? Obviously not.
Cundiff goes so far as to state on NazNet that the more he reads the Bible, the less God comes into focus. God fades out the more biblical research is engaged. In other words, invite dust to cloak the Scriptures while God goes fish.
Both Deventer and Cundiff disparage Scripture to such a hellish degree. And all the while McClung baptizes these moderators as legitimate.
From what I read in the Bible, McLaren and clique sidelined, Jesus does not like that kind of religiosity. In fact, Jesus considers it hypocrisy.
Jesus is, frankly, angry this moment because of the McLaren crowd, including Deventer, Cundiff and McClung.
Judgment Day is coming down on this wayward crew. They will burn and burn some more forever, though none of them admit even the existence of an eternal hell. Deventer dismisses hell completely, unabashedly. The others do so by companionship with the heretics.
There is no Sweet Jesus apart from Scripture. There is no Nice Guy Jesus apart from divine revelation.
And for McLaren, who claims all religions are under the Jesus umbrella if one wants them to be, Jesus is not in agreement with that “exegesis.” It was Jesus who stated no one goes to God the Father but by Jesus, that HE is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Holding to Jesus is an exclusive cling, not a swing-and-sway your way with Jesus and Buddha and Confucius.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Emergent mess-up guru Brian McLaren says that “objective truth” is to be discarded for a Jesus all-in-all love fest.
Does McLaren think this kiss up to Jesus is pleasing to Jesus?
McLaren stands on extremely dangerous ground when he makes Jesus is to be the Nice Guy Max so that Jesus’ own divine revelation can be canned. In other words, someone needs to warn McLaren that there’s a hell.
To make this whole diabolical scheme worse, a holiness denomination is in danger of imploding via NazNet, a web site founded by a political opportunist named Dave McClung.
NazNet, unofficial “friend” to the holiness Church of the Nazarene, endorses via moderators Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff in particular the sidelining of Scripture. Deventer states outright that he does not believe the Bible. What then is important to Deventer? Jesus only.
Does Deventer do Jesus a kindness with that devil’s doctrinal blasphemy? Obviously not.
Cundiff goes so far as to state on NazNet that the more he reads the Bible, the less God comes into focus. God fades out the more biblical research is engaged. In other words, invite dust to cloak the Scriptures while God goes fish.
Both Deventer and Cundiff disparage Scripture to such a hellish degree. And all the while McClung baptizes these moderators as legitimate.
From what I read in the Bible, McLaren and clique sidelined, Jesus does not like that kind of religiosity. In fact, Jesus considers it hypocrisy.
Jesus is, frankly, angry this moment because of the McLaren crowd, including Deventer, Cundiff and McClung.
Judgment Day is coming down on this wayward crew. They will burn and burn some more forever, though none of them admit even the existence of an eternal hell. Deventer dismisses hell completely, unabashedly. The others do so by companionship with the heretics.
There is no Sweet Jesus apart from Scripture. There is no Nice Guy Jesus apart from divine revelation.
And for McLaren, who claims all religions are under the Jesus umbrella if one wants them to be, Jesus is not in agreement with that “exegesis.” It was Jesus who stated no one goes to God the Father but by Jesus, that HE is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Holding to Jesus is an exclusive cling, not a swing-and-sway your way with Jesus and Buddha and Confucius.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NAZNET’S DAVE MC CLUNG’S CRONYISM UPS EMERGENT DEVILMENT
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
NazNet’s founder Dave McClung furthers the emergent church fracas by way of his ongoing ecclesiastical power cronyism within the Church of the Nazarene.
McClung is wealthy as a successful businessman. At the same time, he has been a stroked layman placed on denominational prestigious boards, even serving as past-president of Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy MA.
That political opportunism permits McClung his favored status as NazNet founder in upping the emergent evil. McClung’s web site states he wants to foster “community.” He says NazNet is a “friend” to the holiness church.
Bosh.
NazNet squashes holy community within an evangelical church that is founded upon God’s call to the holy life.
NazNet does not enhance holiness of heart and life. The site disclaims biblical holiness by endorsing the emergent church’s claim that the Bible is sidelined while sweet Jesus is all that’s necessary. One can even bring under the Jesus tent all world religions, embracing whatever in Jesus love.
This is a blatant prostitution of the Jesus reality.
Do you see how far flung McClung’s cronyism within the Church of the Nazarene has brought the denomination into heresy via NazNet? It is blasphemy. It is diabolical.
Will the denominational leadership bring McClung to a “come to Jesus” agreement to expunge NazNet of heresies posted especially by moderators Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff? If those denominational leaders do not do that, God will take care of the Church of the Nazarene in a most severe disciplinary manner. God being God, He is justice as well as mercy.
The emergent mess says that eternal absolutes are foolish, in the way, a nuisance. Emergent fuzz guru Brian McLaren states: “I believe people are saved not by objective truth, but by Jesus. Their faith isn’t in their knowledge, but in God.”
By “objective truth” he means “eternal, biblical absolutes.” In other words, McLaren and disciples believe in moral relativism—situation ethics. There are no “object truths.” None. Religion is all about being subjective—whatever you make “truth” to be, it is.
That is anti-Bible, antiChrist, anti-scriptural Christian theology. That is in-your-face old-time theological liberalism believed by Unitarians and all others disclaiming the Bible as the Word of God.
McClung’s site actually encourages this widespread devilment. How does he get by with it to this very moment? Why has he not been brought to task?
Remember: He is one of the power structure’s cronies. It’s politics, not truth, that counts with McClung and his clique.
That is being Pharisee groupie present-tense. McClung and colleagues stubbornly stand fast against God’s divine revelation.
I think there will be numerous Nazarenes standing quite stark naked, frosted in fear, at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Yet today they claim to be “holiness people.”
Such is the confusion of the times when it comes to holiness as defined by Scripture.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NazNet’s founder Dave McClung furthers the emergent church fracas by way of his ongoing ecclesiastical power cronyism within the Church of the Nazarene.
McClung is wealthy as a successful businessman. At the same time, he has been a stroked layman placed on denominational prestigious boards, even serving as past-president of Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy MA.
That political opportunism permits McClung his favored status as NazNet founder in upping the emergent evil. McClung’s web site states he wants to foster “community.” He says NazNet is a “friend” to the holiness church.
Bosh.
NazNet squashes holy community within an evangelical church that is founded upon God’s call to the holy life.
NazNet does not enhance holiness of heart and life. The site disclaims biblical holiness by endorsing the emergent church’s claim that the Bible is sidelined while sweet Jesus is all that’s necessary. One can even bring under the Jesus tent all world religions, embracing whatever in Jesus love.
This is a blatant prostitution of the Jesus reality.
Do you see how far flung McClung’s cronyism within the Church of the Nazarene has brought the denomination into heresy via NazNet? It is blasphemy. It is diabolical.
Will the denominational leadership bring McClung to a “come to Jesus” agreement to expunge NazNet of heresies posted especially by moderators Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff? If those denominational leaders do not do that, God will take care of the Church of the Nazarene in a most severe disciplinary manner. God being God, He is justice as well as mercy.
The emergent mess says that eternal absolutes are foolish, in the way, a nuisance. Emergent fuzz guru Brian McLaren states: “I believe people are saved not by objective truth, but by Jesus. Their faith isn’t in their knowledge, but in God.”
By “objective truth” he means “eternal, biblical absolutes.” In other words, McLaren and disciples believe in moral relativism—situation ethics. There are no “object truths.” None. Religion is all about being subjective—whatever you make “truth” to be, it is.
That is anti-Bible, antiChrist, anti-scriptural Christian theology. That is in-your-face old-time theological liberalism believed by Unitarians and all others disclaiming the Bible as the Word of God.
McClung’s site actually encourages this widespread devilment. How does he get by with it to this very moment? Why has he not been brought to task?
Remember: He is one of the power structure’s cronies. It’s politics, not truth, that counts with McClung and his clique.
That is being Pharisee groupie present-tense. McClung and colleagues stubbornly stand fast against God’s divine revelation.
I think there will be numerous Nazarenes standing quite stark naked, frosted in fear, at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Yet today they claim to be “holiness people.”
Such is the confusion of the times when it comes to holiness as defined by Scripture.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
NAZNET’S GURU BRIAN MCLAREN = ALL RELIGIONS OK
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
When a NazNet moderator posts that the Bible is not important, that’s apostasy.
Read NAZNET DEBUNKS SCRIPTURE at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-rejects-gods-infallible-word.html
When that moderator claims Jesus is The Only Item, downplaying Scripture, that’s apostasy.
Further, it is also old-fashioned theological liberalism, the type that I was taught long ago when a student at Harvard Divinity School.
Therefore, when NazNet moderators adopt Emerging Church Brian McClaren as their prime guru, they are embracing Unitarianism, the foundational theology that governs Harvard Divinity School.
Read NAZNET = MORE UNITARIAN THAN NAZARENE at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-more-unitarian-than-nazarene.html
How far then a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene, namely NazNet by its own advertisement, attempts to swing this holiness church into blasphemy.
Read DISASTER AREA: NAZNET DAVE MCCLUNG AXES COMMUNITY at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/disaster-area-naznet-dave-mcclung-axes.html
If Nazarenes go for the blasphemy, God will level His wrath upon the denomination. It will crumble. If Nazarene leaders do not weed out this demonic intrusion, the structure will disintegrate globally in short order.
Read NAZNET SNUBS GOD'S BIBLE TRUTH at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-snubs-gods-bible-truth.html
McClaren states: “. . . help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish contexts. . .”
That is theological liberalism—plain and obvious. It is not what evangelical biblical disciples hold to. Liberalism’s anti-Bible dogma is at the very opposite end of the evangelical spectrum.
Therefore, when NazNet claims moderators Hans Deventer’s and Scott Cundiff’s pro-McClaren conclusions as posh doctrine, NazNet betrays God, the Bible and the Church of the Nazarene.
Read NAZNET’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH EMERGING CHURCH at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznets-love-affair-with-emerging.html
Not only does Deventer betray his own church, but Cundiff betrays his own pastoral vows for he is the minister at the Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene.
His church’s web site portrays Cundiff as a “holiness preacher;” however, his NazNet Unitarian-type doctrinal positions are just the opposite of Nazarene teaching. In other words, Cundiff lives theologically a “double life” kept secret from his small congregation.
Read NAZNET PASTOR SCOTT CUNDIFF’S ‘DOUBLE-LIFE’ EXPOSED at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-pastor-scott-cundiffs-double_15.html
Garbled McClaren continues his mix-and-match beliefs with such nonsense as the following: “To help Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and everyone else experience life to the full in the way of Jesus (while learning it better myself), I would gladly become one of them (whoever they are), to whatever degree I can, to embrace them, to join them, to enter into their world without judgment. . .”
Do you get the wishy-washy feel of this swing-and-sway McClaren give-forth? It is gibberish. It is whatever-makes-you-feel-fuzzy religion. This infantile approach to doctrine is mirrored by the likes of Deventer and Cundiff on NazNet.
It is, however, more than that. It is a collection of belief statements that will damn McClaren’s soul, a popular false prophet in these confused times.
NazNet moderators who adopt McClaren’s false teachings are likewise in danger of damning their souls for they have wedded into his apostasy. They do more than that, however. They proclaim same on the Internet for the world to read, hoping the readers will agree with their devilment.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
When a NazNet moderator posts that the Bible is not important, that’s apostasy.
Read NAZNET DEBUNKS SCRIPTURE at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-rejects-gods-infallible-word.html
When that moderator claims Jesus is The Only Item, downplaying Scripture, that’s apostasy.
Further, it is also old-fashioned theological liberalism, the type that I was taught long ago when a student at Harvard Divinity School.
Therefore, when NazNet moderators adopt Emerging Church Brian McClaren as their prime guru, they are embracing Unitarianism, the foundational theology that governs Harvard Divinity School.
Read NAZNET = MORE UNITARIAN THAN NAZARENE at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-more-unitarian-than-nazarene.html
How far then a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene, namely NazNet by its own advertisement, attempts to swing this holiness church into blasphemy.
Read DISASTER AREA: NAZNET DAVE MCCLUNG AXES COMMUNITY at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/disaster-area-naznet-dave-mcclung-axes.html
If Nazarenes go for the blasphemy, God will level His wrath upon the denomination. It will crumble. If Nazarene leaders do not weed out this demonic intrusion, the structure will disintegrate globally in short order.
Read NAZNET SNUBS GOD'S BIBLE TRUTH at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-snubs-gods-bible-truth.html
McClaren states: “. . . help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu or Jewish contexts. . .”
That is theological liberalism—plain and obvious. It is not what evangelical biblical disciples hold to. Liberalism’s anti-Bible dogma is at the very opposite end of the evangelical spectrum.
Therefore, when NazNet claims moderators Hans Deventer’s and Scott Cundiff’s pro-McClaren conclusions as posh doctrine, NazNet betrays God, the Bible and the Church of the Nazarene.
Read NAZNET’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH EMERGING CHURCH at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznets-love-affair-with-emerging.html
Not only does Deventer betray his own church, but Cundiff betrays his own pastoral vows for he is the minister at the Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene.
His church’s web site portrays Cundiff as a “holiness preacher;” however, his NazNet Unitarian-type doctrinal positions are just the opposite of Nazarene teaching. In other words, Cundiff lives theologically a “double life” kept secret from his small congregation.
Read NAZNET PASTOR SCOTT CUNDIFF’S ‘DOUBLE-LIFE’ EXPOSED at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/2010/02/naznet-pastor-scott-cundiffs-double_15.html
Garbled McClaren continues his mix-and-match beliefs with such nonsense as the following: “To help Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and everyone else experience life to the full in the way of Jesus (while learning it better myself), I would gladly become one of them (whoever they are), to whatever degree I can, to embrace them, to join them, to enter into their world without judgment. . .”
Do you get the wishy-washy feel of this swing-and-sway McClaren give-forth? It is gibberish. It is whatever-makes-you-feel-fuzzy religion. This infantile approach to doctrine is mirrored by the likes of Deventer and Cundiff on NazNet.
It is, however, more than that. It is a collection of belief statements that will damn McClaren’s soul, a popular false prophet in these confused times.
NazNet moderators who adopt McClaren’s false teachings are likewise in danger of damning their souls for they have wedded into his apostasy. They do more than that, however. They proclaim same on the Internet for the world to read, hoping the readers will agree with their devilment.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NAZNET’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH EMERGING CHURCH
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
NazNet’s guru is Brian McLaren who states: “I believe people are saved not by objective truth, but by Jesus. Their faith isn’t in their knowledge, but in God.”
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer parrots this apostasy by stating Deventer does not believe the Bible, only the part about Jesus forgiving sins. Deventer, opportunist maximum, wants Jesus’ forgiveness to get into heaven. That’s all. Figures.
Deventer commits blasphemy by following Pied Piper McLaren rather than God’s infallible Bible. Deventer will pay at the Judgment Seat of Christ, as will all others who discount the divine revelation for their own egocentric “theologies.”
For McLaren to say he rejects “objective truth” is to state that he discards moral absolutes. That is exactly what the adolescent emergent church is built upon—the sand of their own situation ethics.
One does not throw away God’s absolutes in Scripture for a sweety notion of Nice Guy Jesus. That is anathema, yet McLaren and NazNet disciples fold right into such heresies.
NazNet founder Dave McClung does nothing to discount this on his web site. Instead, McClung along with other moderators such as Scott Cundiff and former moderator Barbara Moulton say Amen to it.
Do not these mortals factor in the Judgment Seat of Christ? They were all reared in the Scripture; now they throw the Bible to the winds for their own moral relativism.
McLaren states: “I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion.” McLaren espouses one world religion, as does NazNet.
Yet NazNet claims to be a “friend” to the holiness Church of the Nazarene. What will the Board of General Superintendents, Nazarene Theological Seminary, Nazarene Theology School, Nazarene Bible College and Nazarene college religion department heads do about such heretical intrusions?
Time will tell.
Thus far, McClung and clique have relied on their political cronyism to keep them intact with the power structures throughout the denomination. Will that continue? If so, God’s wrath will descend upon the church. God will not tolerate blasphemy.
Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff in particular is enamored by the likes of McLaren. Cundiff posts on NazNet that the more he studies Scripture, the less he knows God. He states that when meditating on this concept, it keeps him more in line with his Wesleyan theology.
Is that not crazy? Is that not evil? Wesleyan theology siding up to discounting the Bible as divine revelation? Wesleyan teaching a companion to moral relativism?
NazNet is one of the most dangerous web sites on the Internet in that it slices and dices the biblical call to heart holiness—the highest calling from the divine.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at [url=http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/]http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/[/url]
FOOTNOTE: JUDGMENT DAY
Hebrews 9:27:
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment.
Matthew 7:21-23: the words of Christ:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 12:36-37: the words of Christ:
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Romans 2:6-11:
God who will render to every man according to his deed: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immorality, eternal life; But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honor and peace to every man that worked good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
Romans 14:10-12:
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
I Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
II Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Numbers 32:23:
Be sure your sin will find you out.
NazNet’s guru is Brian McLaren who states: “I believe people are saved not by objective truth, but by Jesus. Their faith isn’t in their knowledge, but in God.”
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer parrots this apostasy by stating Deventer does not believe the Bible, only the part about Jesus forgiving sins. Deventer, opportunist maximum, wants Jesus’ forgiveness to get into heaven. That’s all. Figures.
Deventer commits blasphemy by following Pied Piper McLaren rather than God’s infallible Bible. Deventer will pay at the Judgment Seat of Christ, as will all others who discount the divine revelation for their own egocentric “theologies.”
For McLaren to say he rejects “objective truth” is to state that he discards moral absolutes. That is exactly what the adolescent emergent church is built upon—the sand of their own situation ethics.
One does not throw away God’s absolutes in Scripture for a sweety notion of Nice Guy Jesus. That is anathema, yet McLaren and NazNet disciples fold right into such heresies.
NazNet founder Dave McClung does nothing to discount this on his web site. Instead, McClung along with other moderators such as Scott Cundiff and former moderator Barbara Moulton say Amen to it.
Do not these mortals factor in the Judgment Seat of Christ? They were all reared in the Scripture; now they throw the Bible to the winds for their own moral relativism.
McLaren states: “I don’t believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion.” McLaren espouses one world religion, as does NazNet.
Yet NazNet claims to be a “friend” to the holiness Church of the Nazarene. What will the Board of General Superintendents, Nazarene Theological Seminary, Nazarene Theology School, Nazarene Bible College and Nazarene college religion department heads do about such heretical intrusions?
Time will tell.
Thus far, McClung and clique have relied on their political cronyism to keep them intact with the power structures throughout the denomination. Will that continue? If so, God’s wrath will descend upon the church. God will not tolerate blasphemy.
Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff in particular is enamored by the likes of McLaren. Cundiff posts on NazNet that the more he studies Scripture, the less he knows God. He states that when meditating on this concept, it keeps him more in line with his Wesleyan theology.
Is that not crazy? Is that not evil? Wesleyan theology siding up to discounting the Bible as divine revelation? Wesleyan teaching a companion to moral relativism?
NazNet is one of the most dangerous web sites on the Internet in that it slices and dices the biblical call to heart holiness—the highest calling from the divine.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at [url=http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/]http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/[/url]
FOOTNOTE: JUDGMENT DAY
Hebrews 9:27:
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment.
Matthew 7:21-23: the words of Christ:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 12:36-37: the words of Christ:
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Romans 2:6-11:
God who will render to every man according to his deed: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immorality, eternal life; But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honor and peace to every man that worked good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
Romans 14:10-12:
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
I Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
II Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Numbers 32:23:
Be sure your sin will find you out.
NAZNET NIXES THE SAVED = PRONTO HEAVEN
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Apostle Paul writes: “We are confident. . .to be absent from the body (is) to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer states that when one dies the soul goes into an “intermediate state,” whatever that means. The saved soul, per Deventer, does not go “to be present with the Lord.”
Deventer does not mind discounting the Bible. When in his whim, he does so frequently on NazNet.
Yet NazNet is represented as “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene, per web site founder Dave McClung. That church does not teach an “intermediate state” upon death.
The Church of the Nazarene has always held to the biblical data of the saved going immediately to heaven and the unsaved going immediately to hell.
Deventer makes up his anti-Bible “theology” as he goes along his moderator trail. He posts that he does not believe the Bible, for instance. What he does believe in that Book deals only with Jesus’ mercy for obviously Hans wants to go where Jesus is when Deventer dies.
However, because Deventer contradicts himself throughout NazNet, upon death he cannot go where Jesus is until Deventer first passes through his “intermediate state.”
By the way, Deventer posts on NazNet that the unsaved souls are annihilated. However, once again confusion reigns. Does the unsaved soul first go to an “intermediate state” before being annihilated?
Deventer discounts such biblical warnings concerning hell: Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 7:13; 10:28; 13:38-42, 49-50; 23:15, 33; 25:28-41, 46; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; 16:23-26; II Thessalonians 1:9; James 3:6; II Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 9:1-2, 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10, 13-15; 21:8.
Does McClung do anything about Deventer’s heresies? No. McClung permits them to remain on NazNet.
Yet McClung is esteemed by the Church of the Nazarene as an outstanding wealthy layman, even appointing him to prestigious denominational boards as well as one-time President of Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, MA.
The sad picture then comes into focus: McClung has ingratiated himself politically into the ecclesiastical machine so as to be permitted trashing the Bible as well as destroying the denominational foundations.
In short, politics counts more than biblical truth. Just another travesty of these confusing religious times.
FOOTNOTE: HEAVEN
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. II Corinthians 5:8
Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25:34
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. I Corinthians 2:9
Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:l6
Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. John 11:25
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. II Corinthians 5:1
If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
This is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life. I John 2:25
He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:8
Jesus said: My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. . . John 10:27-28
Apostle Paul writes: “We are confident. . .to be absent from the body (is) to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer states that when one dies the soul goes into an “intermediate state,” whatever that means. The saved soul, per Deventer, does not go “to be present with the Lord.”
Deventer does not mind discounting the Bible. When in his whim, he does so frequently on NazNet.
Yet NazNet is represented as “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene, per web site founder Dave McClung. That church does not teach an “intermediate state” upon death.
The Church of the Nazarene has always held to the biblical data of the saved going immediately to heaven and the unsaved going immediately to hell.
Deventer makes up his anti-Bible “theology” as he goes along his moderator trail. He posts that he does not believe the Bible, for instance. What he does believe in that Book deals only with Jesus’ mercy for obviously Hans wants to go where Jesus is when Deventer dies.
However, because Deventer contradicts himself throughout NazNet, upon death he cannot go where Jesus is until Deventer first passes through his “intermediate state.”
By the way, Deventer posts on NazNet that the unsaved souls are annihilated. However, once again confusion reigns. Does the unsaved soul first go to an “intermediate state” before being annihilated?
Deventer discounts such biblical warnings concerning hell: Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 7:13; 10:28; 13:38-42, 49-50; 23:15, 33; 25:28-41, 46; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; 16:23-26; II Thessalonians 1:9; James 3:6; II Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 1:18; 6:8; 9:1-2, 14:10-11; 19:20; 20:10, 13-15; 21:8.
Does McClung do anything about Deventer’s heresies? No. McClung permits them to remain on NazNet.
Yet McClung is esteemed by the Church of the Nazarene as an outstanding wealthy layman, even appointing him to prestigious denominational boards as well as one-time President of Eastern Nazarene College, Quincy, MA.
The sad picture then comes into focus: McClung has ingratiated himself politically into the ecclesiastical machine so as to be permitted trashing the Bible as well as destroying the denominational foundations.
In short, politics counts more than biblical truth. Just another travesty of these confusing religious times.
FOOTNOTE: HEAVEN
To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. II Corinthians 5:8
Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Matthew 25:34
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. I Corinthians 2:9
Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:20
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:l6
Jesus said: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. John 11:25
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. II Corinthians 5:1
If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11
This is the promise that He has promised us — eternal life. I John 2:25
He who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. Galatians 6:8
Jesus said: My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. . . John 10:27-28
Sunday, February 21, 2010
NAZNET DEBUNKS SCRIPTURE
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
God Himself attests to His Word being perfect:
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.”
The Holy Spirit cannot provide an imperfect revelation. Those who regard the Bible as error-prone are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, the Scripture’s Author.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
Note that the word “all” is used. “All Scripture is God-breathed. . .” Yet mortals would breathe upon the Bible to disregard what they don’t like and keep what they do like. That is the height of hubris and will answer at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”
Note the words “every word” are used. “Every word of God is flawless. . .”
John 12:47-50 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."
Note: “. . .whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” The Father cannot be mistaken, though some mortals claim Him to be in His ability to communication divine revelation.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Note that “. . .the word of God. . .judges the thoughts. . .” Those discounting the divine revelation set forth in the Scriptures will regret the moment they ever started on that course.
Jeremiah 23:29 "’Is not My word like fire?’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock?’”
John 12:48 "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”
Rejecting the inerrant Word of God will convict the rebellious one at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Psalms 12:6: ". . .the words of the LORD are flawless."
Can God speak more clearly than that?
Psalms 119:89: "Your word, O LORD, is eternal, it stands firm."
Dare one earthly mortal contest the eternal truth of divine revelation?
Matthew 5:18: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
Christ is most efficient in His overview of the divine inspiration. “. . .one jot or one tittle. . .”
John 10:35: "...and the scripture cannot be broken."
Those who break the Word of God will be broken by it at the Last Day.
Revelation 22:18-19 “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
What applies to this divine revelation by extrapolation applies to any divine revelation throughout the Word of God.
What about the severe passages in the Old Testament?
In the Old Testament, God commanded the death penalty in twenty-some cases. This was not because God was barbaric, but because God was civil. The Israeli twelve tribes had no law enforcement agencies. Further, they were surrounded by barbarisms of strange magnitudes exhibited by neighboring pagan nations.
Consequently, for God to establish an Israeli civil community, He set forth stringent punishments--some being the death penalty. He Himself became, in other words, the Law Enforcement Agency for the new nation of Israel. That chosen community thereby was to model morality / civility to the surrounding nations.
Extremely severe penalties then were commanded by God in order to bring in line an Israeli community which tended to be unruly like its neighbors. If God had been lax in penalties, human nature, being what it is, would have tested gladly the boundaries. But when penalties were severe, human nature thought twice before testing the boundaries, hence the death penalty prescribed by God in some instances.
However, once Israel lost its nationhood by "going a-whoring after other loves", Israel's civil structure disappeared. Israel as a nation lost its temple, its government--that is, its two primary components of culture--religion and politics. Pagan nations then ruled over the heretofore nation of God. In this loss was the disappearance of death penalties previously prescribed by God. The death penalty period as dictated by divine revelation, in other words, ended near the close of the Old Testament era.
That is why when Jesus appeared as flesh-and-bones divine revelation, He pronounced, "You used to say, 'An eye for an eye', but now I say to you: Love your enemies." Jesus pronounced a civility of love toward one's enemies. "Love your foes, pray for your foes." This was the New Testament for it was now a new way of dealing with others--all others.
Government was now established primarily within the believer rather than under Israeli kings. "The Kingdom of God is within you." Law was now primarily of the heart. "My law will be written on your hearts." That was the new politic. Further, the tabernacle was now primarily the human frame: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." That was the new religion.
Therefore, for the New Testament Church Age, it is the law of love toward all--friends and foes. Jesus provided a simply stated ethic. He refused to garble it with amendments. But, one may ask: "What about these atrocious crimes and the death penalty?"
The biblical answer is still the same: love your friends and foes in Jesus. What kind of Christian love then can be shown to a multiple-murderer / rapist / arsonist / child molester? What kind of Christian love can be meted out to a Hitler?
It is a Christian tough love. Tough love keeps the exceptional criminal alive but consigns that one to supervised environs without parole. Hopefully, even that exceptional criminal then may come upon redemption through Christ, yet never be placed in tempting circumstances whereby he again may do others and Himself harm.
Keeping the individual alive also allows the possibility that, realizing human justice systems to be flawed, that person in truth may be found innocent though originally pronounced guilty. Indeed, the future may prove this to be fact if new evidence is forthcoming. History has case files on those in the aforementioned category.
Reason this moral / ethical situation from God's perspective: Adam and Eve slew God's love when they played loose with Eden's snake. However, God did not slay them. Instead, God banished them to their own solitary isles of remorse, hoping at least for their eternal redemption.
You once slew God's love by going your own stubborn way. In reality, you pronounced yourself Lord of your life. It is a hurtful truth to you now that you are a believer; nevertheless, living once in sin and for sin, you were once that callused toward your own loving Creator. However, did God obliterate you? No, instead God searched you out, loved you even while you were enemy, in hopes of redeeming what was left of your destiny.
He now invites each Christian to live out that same kind of persevering, at-times-tough love toward all others--especially those who are Enemy. God has already walked for us the path of love-for-foes. We, of all creatures, should know this for sure. Praise be to a loving, merciful God!
He then invites us to join Him on that love path. He has walked it for us. He asks us now to walk it for others.
FOOTNOTE: JUDGMENT DAY
Hebrews 9:27:
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment.
Matthew 7:21-23: the words of Christ:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 12:36-37: the words of Christ:
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Romans 2:6-11:
God who will render to every man according to his deed: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immorality, eternal life; But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honor and peace to every man that worked good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
Romans 14:10-12:
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
I Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
II Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Numbers 32:23:
Be sure your sin will find you out.
God Himself attests to His Word being perfect:
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.”
The Holy Spirit cannot provide an imperfect revelation. Those who regard the Bible as error-prone are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, the Scripture’s Author.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”
Note that the word “all” is used. “All Scripture is God-breathed. . .” Yet mortals would breathe upon the Bible to disregard what they don’t like and keep what they do like. That is the height of hubris and will answer at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”
Note the words “every word” are used. “Every word of God is flawless. . .”
John 12:47-50 "As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."
Note: “. . .whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” The Father cannot be mistaken, though some mortals claim Him to be in His ability to communication divine revelation.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Note that “. . .the word of God. . .judges the thoughts. . .” Those discounting the divine revelation set forth in the Scriptures will regret the moment they ever started on that course.
Jeremiah 23:29 "’Is not My word like fire?’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock?’”
John 12:48 "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.”
Rejecting the inerrant Word of God will convict the rebellious one at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Psalms 12:6: ". . .the words of the LORD are flawless."
Can God speak more clearly than that?
Psalms 119:89: "Your word, O LORD, is eternal, it stands firm."
Dare one earthly mortal contest the eternal truth of divine revelation?
Matthew 5:18: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
Christ is most efficient in His overview of the divine inspiration. “. . .one jot or one tittle. . .”
John 10:35: "...and the scripture cannot be broken."
Those who break the Word of God will be broken by it at the Last Day.
Revelation 22:18-19 “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”
What applies to this divine revelation by extrapolation applies to any divine revelation throughout the Word of God.
What about the severe passages in the Old Testament?
In the Old Testament, God commanded the death penalty in twenty-some cases. This was not because God was barbaric, but because God was civil. The Israeli twelve tribes had no law enforcement agencies. Further, they were surrounded by barbarisms of strange magnitudes exhibited by neighboring pagan nations.
Consequently, for God to establish an Israeli civil community, He set forth stringent punishments--some being the death penalty. He Himself became, in other words, the Law Enforcement Agency for the new nation of Israel. That chosen community thereby was to model morality / civility to the surrounding nations.
Extremely severe penalties then were commanded by God in order to bring in line an Israeli community which tended to be unruly like its neighbors. If God had been lax in penalties, human nature, being what it is, would have tested gladly the boundaries. But when penalties were severe, human nature thought twice before testing the boundaries, hence the death penalty prescribed by God in some instances.
However, once Israel lost its nationhood by "going a-whoring after other loves", Israel's civil structure disappeared. Israel as a nation lost its temple, its government--that is, its two primary components of culture--religion and politics. Pagan nations then ruled over the heretofore nation of God. In this loss was the disappearance of death penalties previously prescribed by God. The death penalty period as dictated by divine revelation, in other words, ended near the close of the Old Testament era.
That is why when Jesus appeared as flesh-and-bones divine revelation, He pronounced, "You used to say, 'An eye for an eye', but now I say to you: Love your enemies." Jesus pronounced a civility of love toward one's enemies. "Love your foes, pray for your foes." This was the New Testament for it was now a new way of dealing with others--all others.
Government was now established primarily within the believer rather than under Israeli kings. "The Kingdom of God is within you." Law was now primarily of the heart. "My law will be written on your hearts." That was the new politic. Further, the tabernacle was now primarily the human frame: "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit." That was the new religion.
Therefore, for the New Testament Church Age, it is the law of love toward all--friends and foes. Jesus provided a simply stated ethic. He refused to garble it with amendments. But, one may ask: "What about these atrocious crimes and the death penalty?"
The biblical answer is still the same: love your friends and foes in Jesus. What kind of Christian love then can be shown to a multiple-murderer / rapist / arsonist / child molester? What kind of Christian love can be meted out to a Hitler?
It is a Christian tough love. Tough love keeps the exceptional criminal alive but consigns that one to supervised environs without parole. Hopefully, even that exceptional criminal then may come upon redemption through Christ, yet never be placed in tempting circumstances whereby he again may do others and Himself harm.
Keeping the individual alive also allows the possibility that, realizing human justice systems to be flawed, that person in truth may be found innocent though originally pronounced guilty. Indeed, the future may prove this to be fact if new evidence is forthcoming. History has case files on those in the aforementioned category.
Reason this moral / ethical situation from God's perspective: Adam and Eve slew God's love when they played loose with Eden's snake. However, God did not slay them. Instead, God banished them to their own solitary isles of remorse, hoping at least for their eternal redemption.
You once slew God's love by going your own stubborn way. In reality, you pronounced yourself Lord of your life. It is a hurtful truth to you now that you are a believer; nevertheless, living once in sin and for sin, you were once that callused toward your own loving Creator. However, did God obliterate you? No, instead God searched you out, loved you even while you were enemy, in hopes of redeeming what was left of your destiny.
He now invites each Christian to live out that same kind of persevering, at-times-tough love toward all others--especially those who are Enemy. God has already walked for us the path of love-for-foes. We, of all creatures, should know this for sure. Praise be to a loving, merciful God!
He then invites us to join Him on that love path. He has walked it for us. He asks us now to walk it for others.
FOOTNOTE: JUDGMENT DAY
Hebrews 9:27:
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after that the judgment.
Matthew 7:21-23: the words of Christ:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 12:36-37: the words of Christ:
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Romans 2:6-11:
God who will render to every man according to his deed: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immorality, eternal life; But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honor and peace to every man that worked good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.
Romans 14:10-12:
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
I Corinthians 4:5:
Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsel of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
II Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Numbers 32:23:
Be sure your sin will find you out.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
NAZARENE LEADERS CONCERNED RE NAZNET HERESIES
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
Many within the Church of the Nazarene have not been aware of NazNet heresies on founder Dave McClung’s web site. This site says it is a “friend” to the denomination, though it is a prime enemy to Nazarene theology and practice.
Now Nazarene leaders have been informed concerning the NazNet undermining.
The Church of the Nazarene Board of General Superintendents, General Secretary and Department Heads have received the data.
The Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas
City, Missouri, administration and staff likewise have specifics concerning the site’s blatant posts advocating, for instance, the annihilation of unsaved souls at death.
These posts state there is no eternal damnation for the unsaved; instead, there is universal salvation. In other words, all souls go to heaven though the Bible warns just the opposite.
So have the Nazarene Bible College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, administration and faculty now been informed of numerous anti-Bible posts debunking faith in the Scripture as the Word of God. NazNet is openly suspicious of holy writ, concluding one’s doubt is a virtue rather than total faith in divine revelation.
Numerous Nazarene District Superintendents received explicit detail relating NazNet statements advocating, for example, that upon death souls go to an “intermediate state.” The Church of the Nazarene has never preached such a Catholic teaching. Yet that is posted on NazNet.
Apparently countless Nazarenes have believed NazNet’s byline that it is cordial to the holiness church. It is not. Instead, McClung and moderators have taken advantage of the Nazarene’s trust in order to propagate anti-Bible inroads.
Now Nazarene leaders and academicians know that NazNet cannot be blindly accepted as a companion to the church. McClung, having built up a personal trust politically and socially within the denomination, has done the church a grave disfavor. He has misused his relationships within the Church of the Nazarene.
McClung should have expunged these heresies a long time ago. He should have appointed only moderators who were biblically faithful in agreement with the Wesleyan holiness doctrines.
In that, McClung has failed miserably. And now we have in these confused times a site that undermines the very fundamentals upon which the Church of the Nazarene was built upon since its inception in 1908.
One of the most blatant intrusions focuses on Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff. On his church’s web site he makes his pastorate appear as a congregation in tune with the “classic southern gospel style.”
Nazarenes reading that would assume that Cundiff’s preaching and teaching are loyal to the traditional Nazarene understanding of Wesleyan theology.
However, when moderator on NazNet, Cundiff changes from Alvin Texas web site Nazarene loyalist to cavalier theological liberal.
He is one of the most adamant in posting suspicions concerning the Bible as God’s infallible Word. He does not trust the Scriptures to be without error. In fact, he holds that the more one reads the error-prone Word, the less one knows God.
This is heresy. It is blasphemy.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Many within the Church of the Nazarene have not been aware of NazNet heresies on founder Dave McClung’s web site. This site says it is a “friend” to the denomination, though it is a prime enemy to Nazarene theology and practice.
Now Nazarene leaders have been informed concerning the NazNet undermining.
The Church of the Nazarene Board of General Superintendents, General Secretary and Department Heads have received the data.
The Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas
City, Missouri, administration and staff likewise have specifics concerning the site’s blatant posts advocating, for instance, the annihilation of unsaved souls at death.
These posts state there is no eternal damnation for the unsaved; instead, there is universal salvation. In other words, all souls go to heaven though the Bible warns just the opposite.
So have the Nazarene Bible College, Colorado Springs, Colorado, administration and faculty now been informed of numerous anti-Bible posts debunking faith in the Scripture as the Word of God. NazNet is openly suspicious of holy writ, concluding one’s doubt is a virtue rather than total faith in divine revelation.
Numerous Nazarene District Superintendents received explicit detail relating NazNet statements advocating, for example, that upon death souls go to an “intermediate state.” The Church of the Nazarene has never preached such a Catholic teaching. Yet that is posted on NazNet.
Apparently countless Nazarenes have believed NazNet’s byline that it is cordial to the holiness church. It is not. Instead, McClung and moderators have taken advantage of the Nazarene’s trust in order to propagate anti-Bible inroads.
Now Nazarene leaders and academicians know that NazNet cannot be blindly accepted as a companion to the church. McClung, having built up a personal trust politically and socially within the denomination, has done the church a grave disfavor. He has misused his relationships within the Church of the Nazarene.
McClung should have expunged these heresies a long time ago. He should have appointed only moderators who were biblically faithful in agreement with the Wesleyan holiness doctrines.
In that, McClung has failed miserably. And now we have in these confused times a site that undermines the very fundamentals upon which the Church of the Nazarene was built upon since its inception in 1908.
One of the most blatant intrusions focuses on Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff. On his church’s web site he makes his pastorate appear as a congregation in tune with the “classic southern gospel style.”
Nazarenes reading that would assume that Cundiff’s preaching and teaching are loyal to the traditional Nazarene understanding of Wesleyan theology.
However, when moderator on NazNet, Cundiff changes from Alvin Texas web site Nazarene loyalist to cavalier theological liberal.
He is one of the most adamant in posting suspicions concerning the Bible as God’s infallible Word. He does not trust the Scriptures to be without error. In fact, he holds that the more one reads the error-prone Word, the less one knows God.
This is heresy. It is blasphemy.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Thursday, February 18, 2010
NAZNET EXPOSED TO NAZARENE LEADERS
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
The following has been sent to Church of the Nazarene headquarters General Superintendents, General Secretary, Clergy Office as well as Presidents of Nazarene Theological Seminary and Nazarene Bible College.
Also, this data has been sent to numerous Nazarene district superintendents as well as pastors on the South Texas District on which NazNet moderator Scott Cundiff pastors at the Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene:
NazNet is laden with heresies.
NazNet claims to be a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene but in fact posts heresies contrary to the teachings of the Church of the Nazarene.
These include the Bible as not reliable, annihilation of unsaved souls at death, the “intermediate state” upon death, and so forth.
Please click onto http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/ to read detail regarding this crucial matter.
Thank you and blessings.
NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
The following has been sent to Church of the Nazarene headquarters General Superintendents, General Secretary, Clergy Office as well as Presidents of Nazarene Theological Seminary and Nazarene Bible College.
Also, this data has been sent to numerous Nazarene district superintendents as well as pastors on the South Texas District on which NazNet moderator Scott Cundiff pastors at the Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene:
NazNet is laden with heresies.
NazNet claims to be a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene but in fact posts heresies contrary to the teachings of the Church of the Nazarene.
These include the Bible as not reliable, annihilation of unsaved souls at death, the “intermediate state” upon death, and so forth.
Please click onto http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/ to read detail regarding this crucial matter.
Thank you and blessings.
NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
NAZNET HANS DEVENTER’S BOSS ‘WILL DISCUSS QUESTIONS’
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
That’s correct.
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer’s district superintendent in the Netherlands will dialogue with Deventer regarding serious issues conveyed to the boss.
It is about time that this avant-garde non-Nazarene Nazarene, more like unto Unitarian, is confronted with his apostasy posted on the supposed “Nazarene friendly” NazNet founded by supposed “Nazarene friendly” Dave McClung.
Neither Deventer nor McClug are in fact doctrinal companions to the holiness denomination. Instead, they tolerate heresies posted daily.
How do they get by this?
Deventer no doubt has a track record of ten years-plus with NazNet, such time frame making him feel quite comfortable in spewing forth anti-Bible “stuff” from right to left.
McClung is a cozy political crony with scores of high-powered personages in the denomination over years. He also has money, being a wealthy businessman.
However, a third heresy push elitist, Alvin Texas Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff, has now been exposed as denomination-loyalist at home base small church but high-powered theological renegade as NazNet moderator.
Now his little flock knows about his double life. His South Texas District leadership knows as well. The Nazarene General Superintendents, Kansas City, Missouri, likewise have been informed.
Finally, truth is getting out regarding the apostasy rampant on NazNet, let loose over years with young posters in particular being sucked into this leftist anti-Scripture profile.
As one NazNet reader emailed me, when analyzing the site’s bowing and scraping to anti-Bible theses, the diabolical data “cuts like a knife.”
Indeed.
To think that the denomination begun in 1908 in Pilot Point, Texas, has sludged into such doctrinal depths is horrific. God, however, being the Omega as well as Alpha, will bring His final say to the wayward site.
McClung, Deventer, and Cundiff in particular will answer severely before the Judgment Seat.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
That’s correct.
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer’s district superintendent in the Netherlands will dialogue with Deventer regarding serious issues conveyed to the boss.
It is about time that this avant-garde non-Nazarene Nazarene, more like unto Unitarian, is confronted with his apostasy posted on the supposed “Nazarene friendly” NazNet founded by supposed “Nazarene friendly” Dave McClung.
Neither Deventer nor McClug are in fact doctrinal companions to the holiness denomination. Instead, they tolerate heresies posted daily.
How do they get by this?
Deventer no doubt has a track record of ten years-plus with NazNet, such time frame making him feel quite comfortable in spewing forth anti-Bible “stuff” from right to left.
McClung is a cozy political crony with scores of high-powered personages in the denomination over years. He also has money, being a wealthy businessman.
However, a third heresy push elitist, Alvin Texas Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff, has now been exposed as denomination-loyalist at home base small church but high-powered theological renegade as NazNet moderator.
Now his little flock knows about his double life. His South Texas District leadership knows as well. The Nazarene General Superintendents, Kansas City, Missouri, likewise have been informed.
Finally, truth is getting out regarding the apostasy rampant on NazNet, let loose over years with young posters in particular being sucked into this leftist anti-Scripture profile.
As one NazNet reader emailed me, when analyzing the site’s bowing and scraping to anti-Bible theses, the diabolical data “cuts like a knife.”
Indeed.
To think that the denomination begun in 1908 in Pilot Point, Texas, has sludged into such doctrinal depths is horrific. God, however, being the Omega as well as Alpha, will bring His final say to the wayward site.
McClung, Deventer, and Cundiff in particular will answer severely before the Judgment Seat.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NAZNET = MORE UNITARIAN THAN NAZARENE
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
NazNet lauds itself on being the “friend” to the holiness, evangelical, Wesleyan Church of the Nazarene.
Not so.
NazNet is more Unitarian/Episcopalian/Catholic than Nazarene.
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer believes the Bible is just another book. He states he does not believe the Scriptures to be the infallible Word of God. Unitarians believe the same.
NazNet moderator Scott Cundiff agrees with Deventer. NazNet founder Dave McClung permits those positions to remain on his Nazarene-friendly site.
NazNet also permits the belief in an “intermediate state” upon death. Roman Catholic teaching states the same.
NazNet permits the annihilation of the unsaved souls at death. Liberal theologians hold to the same.
NazNet espouses infant baptism for all Nazarenes worldwide. There is no record of an infant baptized in Scripture. Liturgical denominations such as Episcopalians and Roman Catholicism believe the same.
NazNet delights in referring to the Lord’s Supper, not as “communion” in the traditional Nazarene manner, but “the Eucharist.” That term is Episcopalian, Catholic, and other liturgical church verbiage. NazNet thrills as being “high church.”
NazNet permits the belief that all souls eventually go heavenward, that is, no souls are damned. If there is an eternal bliss we all find our ways there. Unitarian-Universalists believe the same. Most theological liberals concur.
NazNet considers it posh to promote the emerging church that holds to no moral absolutes. One writes his own religion in the emerging church. Unitarians in particular hold to that. Liberal theologians in general claim that as a staple.
If NazNet is such a friend to the Church of the Nazarene, why does it not provide more dialogue regarding Nazarene heritage emphases? Why does not NazNet accent more fully the biblical call to a holy life, the sanctified experience?
NazNet is wanting in its serious exploration of Wesleyan history and teaching. And when it does refer to Wesleyan teaching, as Scott Cundiff did in his profession of disbelief in the Bible as inerrant, he was wrong. The context of his statement had nothing to do with Wesleyan teaching; in fact, it countered Wesleyan teaching.
Nevertheless, Cundiff must have felt it opportunistic to use the term “Wesleyan” when discounting Scripture as divinely inspired. Did he really know that the word “Wesleyan” in that context was totally contrary to the context?
NazNet has a perfect opportunity to provide posters with in-depth Wesleyan doctrine, biblical holiness and the real-life sanctified experience.
But seemingly all that is “old hat” to the elitists on NazNet. Who, after all, would want to go back to all that bygone stuff when we can knock the Bible as God’s Word, say that all souls end up in paradise, and debunk an eternal hell?
NazNet lauds itself on being the “friend” to the holiness, evangelical, Wesleyan Church of the Nazarene.
Not so.
NazNet is more Unitarian/Episcopalian/Catholic than Nazarene.
NazNet moderator Hans Deventer believes the Bible is just another book. He states he does not believe the Scriptures to be the infallible Word of God. Unitarians believe the same.
NazNet moderator Scott Cundiff agrees with Deventer. NazNet founder Dave McClung permits those positions to remain on his Nazarene-friendly site.
NazNet also permits the belief in an “intermediate state” upon death. Roman Catholic teaching states the same.
NazNet permits the annihilation of the unsaved souls at death. Liberal theologians hold to the same.
NazNet espouses infant baptism for all Nazarenes worldwide. There is no record of an infant baptized in Scripture. Liturgical denominations such as Episcopalians and Roman Catholicism believe the same.
NazNet delights in referring to the Lord’s Supper, not as “communion” in the traditional Nazarene manner, but “the Eucharist.” That term is Episcopalian, Catholic, and other liturgical church verbiage. NazNet thrills as being “high church.”
NazNet permits the belief that all souls eventually go heavenward, that is, no souls are damned. If there is an eternal bliss we all find our ways there. Unitarian-Universalists believe the same. Most theological liberals concur.
NazNet considers it posh to promote the emerging church that holds to no moral absolutes. One writes his own religion in the emerging church. Unitarians in particular hold to that. Liberal theologians in general claim that as a staple.
If NazNet is such a friend to the Church of the Nazarene, why does it not provide more dialogue regarding Nazarene heritage emphases? Why does not NazNet accent more fully the biblical call to a holy life, the sanctified experience?
NazNet is wanting in its serious exploration of Wesleyan history and teaching. And when it does refer to Wesleyan teaching, as Scott Cundiff did in his profession of disbelief in the Bible as inerrant, he was wrong. The context of his statement had nothing to do with Wesleyan teaching; in fact, it countered Wesleyan teaching.
Nevertheless, Cundiff must have felt it opportunistic to use the term “Wesleyan” when discounting Scripture as divinely inspired. Did he really know that the word “Wesleyan” in that context was totally contrary to the context?
NazNet has a perfect opportunity to provide posters with in-depth Wesleyan doctrine, biblical holiness and the real-life sanctified experience.
But seemingly all that is “old hat” to the elitists on NazNet. Who, after all, would want to go back to all that bygone stuff when we can knock the Bible as God’s Word, say that all souls end up in paradise, and debunk an eternal hell?
Monday, February 15, 2010
MY TRUTH-TELL SCARES NAZNET
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
I scared NazNet. NazNet shut me down so that I cannot access NazNet via my server.
Why did NazNet shut me out?
Truth.
NazNet has got by with deceit for so long that NazNet’s founder Dave McClung and staffers Scott Cundiff and Hans Deventer along with former staffer Barbara Moulton thought their lie-trail could go on forever.
It has not. Their trail has been exposed as heretical. NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/ has set forth in detail the outrageous anti-Bible claims on NazNet.
That scares McClung in particular. He has ingratiated himself as a politician among ecclesiastical politicians throughout the Church of the Nazarene. He is also wealthy as a businessman. McClung believed that he then could get by with his heretical web site without discipline.
In truth, McClung as a cyberspace Pied Piper was creating an Internet “church” in competition with the Church of the Nazarene. That gave McClung some sort of jollies kick, evidently.
However, I am not a part of any political network in the denomination. I don’t believe in that kind of egocentric opportunism for it opposes the Christian ethic.
Therefore, I exposed heresies on NazNet and so cut through the NazNet heretical deceit trail.
For instance, NAZNET DISTORTS reports on such NazNet heresies as these:
The unsaved do not go to hell when they die. They are annihilated. A loving God would not permit eternal punishment for the damned though Jesus stated such. This is per Hans Deventer in particular. Cundiff agrees.
The unsaved go into an “intermediate state,” the details not defined on NazNet but defended by moderator Hans Deventer. Question: how does an intermediate state, such as believed by Roman Catholics, mesh with Dementer’s annihilation of the wicked at death?
Deventer is a master at such contradictions. They do not bother him. He spins contradictions on one point on NazNet and then spins others elsewhere on the web site. That is no problem to Deventer as he cavalierly weaves his so-called theological yarns as biblical truth.
Further heresies: The souls of all mortals hopefully will go to heaven, none going to hell. Deventer says that he hopes God believes in universal salvation, that is, that all souls end up in eternal bliss, none excepted. That is nowhere found in the Bible; however, Deventer created his own doctrines contrary to the Word of God.
Again, how does universal salvation mesh with an intermediate state upon death and the annihilation of the wicked? Obviously, none of this poses problematic to Deventer, the end-of-the-line when it comes to theological certainty.
More heresies: The Bible is fallible. It has mistakes in it. It has errors throughout its pages. Deventer states boldly that he does not believe the Bible, except for Jesus passages that provide salvation. In other words, Deventer wants heaven when he dies and so he wants Jesus as Savior; all else can be dismissed.
Regarding suspicions about the Bible, who can believe in a literal flood in Noah’s day in which scores of humans were drowned under the directive of God? What kind of loving God could see that through?
Further, who can have faith in a believable God instructing Israelites to wipe out pagan peoples? That must not be accepted as historical. Therefore, it must be folklore.
Cundiff accents especially that the more one researches Scripture, the less one knows anything about God. So don’t study the Bible over a lifetime for it will lead you to a fading God. Deventer concurs.
The more one reads on NazNet the dictates of Deventer and Cundiff, the more one realizes they are more Unitarian than Nazarene. McClung counters none of this theological liberalism on his own site.
NazNet moderator Deventer also champions infant baptism throughout the Church of the Nazarene. Nowhere in the Bible is an infant baptized; yet Deventer presses for it to be embraced globally.
The emergent church’s infantile glob with no moral absolutes believed in is enthusiastically embraced by NazNet moderators Deventer and Cundiff, thereby countenanced by founder McClung.
For more heresies, click onto NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NazNet does not want any more heresies uncovered. Therefore, NazNet is afraid of me and my truth-telling. Consequently, my server has been shut down from a bridge build to NazNet, as if I cannot get access elsewhere.
The bottom line is evident: NazNet is frightened of my truthful investigative quest to expose NazNet as a prime enemy to the Church of the Nazarene. McClung states his site as a “friend” to the Nazarenes; but the facts prove otherwise.
I have stayed true to the facts on NazNet. I have cut through NazNet’s deceit. NazNet cannot tolerate any further exposures and therefore, playing the coward, NazNet has shut me out.
NazNet is afraid of me.
But it won’t work. I will continue to investigate and report the truth.
Read YES, YOU CAN BELIEVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD at http://www.michnews.com/J_Grant_Swank_Jr/jgs021010.shtml
I scared NazNet. NazNet shut me down so that I cannot access NazNet via my server.
Why did NazNet shut me out?
Truth.
NazNet has got by with deceit for so long that NazNet’s founder Dave McClung and staffers Scott Cundiff and Hans Deventer along with former staffer Barbara Moulton thought their lie-trail could go on forever.
It has not. Their trail has been exposed as heretical. NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/ has set forth in detail the outrageous anti-Bible claims on NazNet.
That scares McClung in particular. He has ingratiated himself as a politician among ecclesiastical politicians throughout the Church of the Nazarene. He is also wealthy as a businessman. McClung believed that he then could get by with his heretical web site without discipline.
In truth, McClung as a cyberspace Pied Piper was creating an Internet “church” in competition with the Church of the Nazarene. That gave McClung some sort of jollies kick, evidently.
However, I am not a part of any political network in the denomination. I don’t believe in that kind of egocentric opportunism for it opposes the Christian ethic.
Therefore, I exposed heresies on NazNet and so cut through the NazNet heretical deceit trail.
For instance, NAZNET DISTORTS reports on such NazNet heresies as these:
The unsaved do not go to hell when they die. They are annihilated. A loving God would not permit eternal punishment for the damned though Jesus stated such. This is per Hans Deventer in particular. Cundiff agrees.
The unsaved go into an “intermediate state,” the details not defined on NazNet but defended by moderator Hans Deventer. Question: how does an intermediate state, such as believed by Roman Catholics, mesh with Dementer’s annihilation of the wicked at death?
Deventer is a master at such contradictions. They do not bother him. He spins contradictions on one point on NazNet and then spins others elsewhere on the web site. That is no problem to Deventer as he cavalierly weaves his so-called theological yarns as biblical truth.
Further heresies: The souls of all mortals hopefully will go to heaven, none going to hell. Deventer says that he hopes God believes in universal salvation, that is, that all souls end up in eternal bliss, none excepted. That is nowhere found in the Bible; however, Deventer created his own doctrines contrary to the Word of God.
Again, how does universal salvation mesh with an intermediate state upon death and the annihilation of the wicked? Obviously, none of this poses problematic to Deventer, the end-of-the-line when it comes to theological certainty.
More heresies: The Bible is fallible. It has mistakes in it. It has errors throughout its pages. Deventer states boldly that he does not believe the Bible, except for Jesus passages that provide salvation. In other words, Deventer wants heaven when he dies and so he wants Jesus as Savior; all else can be dismissed.
Regarding suspicions about the Bible, who can believe in a literal flood in Noah’s day in which scores of humans were drowned under the directive of God? What kind of loving God could see that through?
Further, who can have faith in a believable God instructing Israelites to wipe out pagan peoples? That must not be accepted as historical. Therefore, it must be folklore.
Cundiff accents especially that the more one researches Scripture, the less one knows anything about God. So don’t study the Bible over a lifetime for it will lead you to a fading God. Deventer concurs.
The more one reads on NazNet the dictates of Deventer and Cundiff, the more one realizes they are more Unitarian than Nazarene. McClung counters none of this theological liberalism on his own site.
NazNet moderator Deventer also champions infant baptism throughout the Church of the Nazarene. Nowhere in the Bible is an infant baptized; yet Deventer presses for it to be embraced globally.
The emergent church’s infantile glob with no moral absolutes believed in is enthusiastically embraced by NazNet moderators Deventer and Cundiff, thereby countenanced by founder McClung.
For more heresies, click onto NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NazNet does not want any more heresies uncovered. Therefore, NazNet is afraid of me and my truth-telling. Consequently, my server has been shut down from a bridge build to NazNet, as if I cannot get access elsewhere.
The bottom line is evident: NazNet is frightened of my truthful investigative quest to expose NazNet as a prime enemy to the Church of the Nazarene. McClung states his site as a “friend” to the Nazarenes; but the facts prove otherwise.
I have stayed true to the facts on NazNet. I have cut through NazNet’s deceit. NazNet cannot tolerate any further exposures and therefore, playing the coward, NazNet has shut me out.
NazNet is afraid of me.
But it won’t work. I will continue to investigate and report the truth.
Read YES, YOU CAN BELIEVE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT GOD at http://www.michnews.com/J_Grant_Swank_Jr/jgs021010.shtml
NAZNET PASTOR SCOTT CUNDIFF’S ‘DOUBLE-LIFE’ EXPOSED
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
To read the Alvin, Texas Church of the Nazarene web site, one would conclude that Pastor Scott Cundiff ministered in the old-fashioned Nazarene way.
Cundiff states on the site that he cares for his people in the “classic gospel southern style.” His services and daily devotional offerings are characterized in that fashion as well. In other words, to belong to Cundiff’s church family is like being “down home holiness” folk.
“Classic gospel southern style” would convey that Cundiff’s preaching focused on inviting worshipers to be saved. Then he would preach sermons on believers being sanctified. All this is standard in that holiness denomination since its inception in 1908.
Cundiff’s sermons would be based solidly on the Bible as the trustworthy Word of God; that is, if one believed his “classic gospel southern style” of sermon preparation and delivery. The Bible would be considered the Word of God—entirely, without doubt.
One would then assume that Cundiff’s exegesis of Scripture would be carefully focusing on holy writ as divine revelation—no question. That’s the “Nazarene way.” The Bible is God’s infallible, inspired communication.
After all, is not God capable of providing a revelation that is perfect? If God is God, then His Book is without error.
John 17:17: “Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.”
However, Cundiff has lived a theological double life now exposed to his South Texas District colleagues and the General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene.
Also, this exposure has been communicated to his NazNet colleagues for Cundiff is one of founder Dave McClung’s long-time moderators on NazNet. However, these NazNet colleagues have known of Cundiff’s double life all along for they are a part of it.
While giving the impression to his Bible belt congregation that he is an honest biblically faithful preacher, Cundiff espouses disbelief in the Bible on NazNet. He is joined by fellow moderator Hans Deventer from the Netherlands. Both of these NazNet staffers are permitted their heresy push by McClung—over years. NazNet is in fact a prime enemy to the Church of the Nazarene.
Cundiff and Deventer have posted often on NazNet their conclusion that the Bible is laden with errors. Deventer goes so far as to state that he does not believe in the Bible, except for passages related to Jesus. After all, believing the sections about Jesus provide Deventer with salvation and heaven. The rest of the Book can be discarded.
Cundiff holds basically to the same.
Cundiff witnesses on his church site to being a trustworthy biblical preacher and teacher. But in fact on NazNet he is a cavalier theological liberal who shunts the Bible as a take-it or leave-it. In truth, on NazNet Cundiff comes across as being more Unitarian than Nazarene.
Note this on NazNet as posted by moderator Scott Cundiff:
“In a devotional I dealt with the command given by God to wipe out entire people groups as part of the occupation of Canaan. Writing from a devotional point of view my take away is that there’s that about God, an ‘otherness’ that is beyond us and that passages like that are reminders of that fact.
“Van de Beek is right. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to reconcile the many commands to kill enemies in the Old Testament with the commands to love our enemies in the New.
“Even more difficult is the portrait painted of God as a violent and genocidal child killer in the Old Testament (Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites), and in Christ the lover of children in the New.
“Van de Beek admits as much. He confesses that ‘The more one wants to let all of Scripture speak for itself . . . the more unclear the Bible becomes. The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’”
Read that again: “’The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’” That is provided by Cundiff on NazNet, the latter allowed by NazNet founder McClung.
To the above quotes, Deventer exclaimed his ecstatic approval related to Cundiff’s skepticism concerning the Bible’s trustworthiness.
So there you have it: NazNet moderator Cundiff believes that the more we research the Bible, the “less we know who God is.” At the same time, Cundiff plays “holiness, Bible-believing” preacher to his Texas worshipers.
With all this deception, McClung repeatedly states on NazNet that his web site is a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene.
Not so.
Read more about Cundiff at NAZNET: STUDY BIBLE, WATCH GOD FADE at http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5187366-naznet-study-bible-watch-god-fade
Read still more about NazNet heresies at NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at http://www.michnews.com/J_Grant_Swank_Jr/jgs021010.shtml
To read the Alvin, Texas Church of the Nazarene web site, one would conclude that Pastor Scott Cundiff ministered in the old-fashioned Nazarene way.
Cundiff states on the site that he cares for his people in the “classic gospel southern style.” His services and daily devotional offerings are characterized in that fashion as well. In other words, to belong to Cundiff’s church family is like being “down home holiness” folk.
“Classic gospel southern style” would convey that Cundiff’s preaching focused on inviting worshipers to be saved. Then he would preach sermons on believers being sanctified. All this is standard in that holiness denomination since its inception in 1908.
Cundiff’s sermons would be based solidly on the Bible as the trustworthy Word of God; that is, if one believed his “classic gospel southern style” of sermon preparation and delivery. The Bible would be considered the Word of God—entirely, without doubt.
One would then assume that Cundiff’s exegesis of Scripture would be carefully focusing on holy writ as divine revelation—no question. That’s the “Nazarene way.” The Bible is God’s infallible, inspired communication.
After all, is not God capable of providing a revelation that is perfect? If God is God, then His Book is without error.
John 17:17: “Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.”
However, Cundiff has lived a theological double life now exposed to his South Texas District colleagues and the General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene.
Also, this exposure has been communicated to his NazNet colleagues for Cundiff is one of founder Dave McClung’s long-time moderators on NazNet. However, these NazNet colleagues have known of Cundiff’s double life all along for they are a part of it.
While giving the impression to his Bible belt congregation that he is an honest biblically faithful preacher, Cundiff espouses disbelief in the Bible on NazNet. He is joined by fellow moderator Hans Deventer from the Netherlands. Both of these NazNet staffers are permitted their heresy push by McClung—over years. NazNet is in fact a prime enemy to the Church of the Nazarene.
Cundiff and Deventer have posted often on NazNet their conclusion that the Bible is laden with errors. Deventer goes so far as to state that he does not believe in the Bible, except for passages related to Jesus. After all, believing the sections about Jesus provide Deventer with salvation and heaven. The rest of the Book can be discarded.
Cundiff holds basically to the same.
Cundiff witnesses on his church site to being a trustworthy biblical preacher and teacher. But in fact on NazNet he is a cavalier theological liberal who shunts the Bible as a take-it or leave-it. In truth, on NazNet Cundiff comes across as being more Unitarian than Nazarene.
Note this on NazNet as posted by moderator Scott Cundiff:
“In a devotional I dealt with the command given by God to wipe out entire people groups as part of the occupation of Canaan. Writing from a devotional point of view my take away is that there’s that about God, an ‘otherness’ that is beyond us and that passages like that are reminders of that fact.
“Van de Beek is right. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to reconcile the many commands to kill enemies in the Old Testament with the commands to love our enemies in the New.
“Even more difficult is the portrait painted of God as a violent and genocidal child killer in the Old Testament (Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites), and in Christ the lover of children in the New.
“Van de Beek admits as much. He confesses that ‘The more one wants to let all of Scripture speak for itself . . . the more unclear the Bible becomes. The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’”
Read that again: “’The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’” That is provided by Cundiff on NazNet, the latter allowed by NazNet founder McClung.
To the above quotes, Deventer exclaimed his ecstatic approval related to Cundiff’s skepticism concerning the Bible’s trustworthiness.
So there you have it: NazNet moderator Cundiff believes that the more we research the Bible, the “less we know who God is.” At the same time, Cundiff plays “holiness, Bible-believing” preacher to his Texas worshipers.
With all this deception, McClung repeatedly states on NazNet that his web site is a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene.
Not so.
Read more about Cundiff at NAZNET: STUDY BIBLE, WATCH GOD FADE at http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/5187366-naznet-study-bible-watch-god-fade
Read still more about NazNet heresies at NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at http://www.michnews.com/J_Grant_Swank_Jr/jgs021010.shtml
Sunday, February 14, 2010
NAZNET SNUBS GOD'S BIBLE TRUTH
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
John 17:17: “Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.”
That is one of the chief verses that the Church of the Nazarene has been based upon since 1908, its founding year in Pilot Point, Texas.
The Nazarenes have proclaimed holiness of heart and life. The Nazarenes have preached without apology that a mortal can not only be saved from sins but saved from the carnal nature—sin.
How can one come to know about this divine grace potential? Through the entire Word of God—from Genesis to Revelation. God’s Word is truth.
The Church of the Nazarene has given forth faithfully the glad tidings that the Bible can be trusted. God’s Word is “truth.” All of God’s Word is “truth,” not just parts of it.
However, NazNet site founder Dave McClung says just the opposite. It states through such staffers as Scott Cundiff and Hans Deventer and cheered on by such former staffers as Barbara Moulton that the Bible is error-laden.
In other words, one must be careful when reading the Bible for there are landmines in it that can lead one astray. Therefore, one must be clever enough to pick and choose what is to be believed and what is not to be believed.
Cundiff goes so far as to state that the more one reads the Bible the more God fades. The more one researches the Scriptures, the less one knows about God. Deventer states on NazNet that he concurs.
This is exactly what the NAZNET DISTORTS site exposes about NazNet. NAZNET DISTORTS lays bare the heresies propagated by NazNet and permitted by founder McClung.
Why is NazNet up to this? Who knows? But it is there on the Internet for anyone to research. NAZNET DISTORTS has done much of the homework for the wise and discerning.
Click onto http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
It is part of the “great falling away” for the Church of the Nazarene to be attacked by its own. The General Superintendents have been informed of this intrusion. What have they done about it? I don’t know but I have at least informed them.
I have also informed the District in which Cundiff’s Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene resides. What that officialdom does about it is under God’s surveillance. The last move they should make is to turn upon the truth giver—NAZNET DISTORTS.
God’s Word is reliable from cover to cover. Christians have witnessed that to be practical truth throughout their lifetimes.
Now come along doubters McClung, Cundiff, Deventer, Moulton and naïve posters who have lauded their positions on NazNet. It is a shame. It is blasphemy. It must be exposed far and near.
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/100209
John 17:17: “Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.”
That is one of the chief verses that the Church of the Nazarene has been based upon since 1908, its founding year in Pilot Point, Texas.
The Nazarenes have proclaimed holiness of heart and life. The Nazarenes have preached without apology that a mortal can not only be saved from sins but saved from the carnal nature—sin.
How can one come to know about this divine grace potential? Through the entire Word of God—from Genesis to Revelation. God’s Word is truth.
The Church of the Nazarene has given forth faithfully the glad tidings that the Bible can be trusted. God’s Word is “truth.” All of God’s Word is “truth,” not just parts of it.
However, NazNet site founder Dave McClung says just the opposite. It states through such staffers as Scott Cundiff and Hans Deventer and cheered on by such former staffers as Barbara Moulton that the Bible is error-laden.
In other words, one must be careful when reading the Bible for there are landmines in it that can lead one astray. Therefore, one must be clever enough to pick and choose what is to be believed and what is not to be believed.
Cundiff goes so far as to state that the more one reads the Bible the more God fades. The more one researches the Scriptures, the less one knows about God. Deventer states on NazNet that he concurs.
This is exactly what the NAZNET DISTORTS site exposes about NazNet. NAZNET DISTORTS lays bare the heresies propagated by NazNet and permitted by founder McClung.
Why is NazNet up to this? Who knows? But it is there on the Internet for anyone to research. NAZNET DISTORTS has done much of the homework for the wise and discerning.
Click onto http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
It is part of the “great falling away” for the Church of the Nazarene to be attacked by its own. The General Superintendents have been informed of this intrusion. What have they done about it? I don’t know but I have at least informed them.
I have also informed the District in which Cundiff’s Alvin Texas Church of the Nazarene resides. What that officialdom does about it is under God’s surveillance. The last move they should make is to turn upon the truth giver—NAZNET DISTORTS.
God’s Word is reliable from cover to cover. Christians have witnessed that to be practical truth throughout their lifetimes.
Now come along doubters McClung, Cundiff, Deventer, Moulton and naïve posters who have lauded their positions on NazNet. It is a shame. It is blasphemy. It must be exposed far and near.
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/100209
WHY DOES NAZNET SHUT DOWN SITE TO ME?
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
As of February 14, 2010, NazNet forbids me to get into NazNet. Why?
Every avenue to the site has been cut off to me.
Logic says NazNet Founder Dave McClung and staffers Scott Cundiff and Hans Deventer do not want me to expose their heresies any further.
Moreover, NAZNET DISTORTS http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/ exposes detail upon detail regarding NazNet’s anti-Bible, anti-God postings.
In addition, NAZNET DISTORTS has exposed former NazNet staffer Chaplain Barbara Moulton’s refusal to witness publicly concerning God’s abhorrence of homosexual practice. Moulton stated she would not perform “wedding ceremonies” for same-gender duos but she would not witness publicly to the biblical prohibitions of same either.
Since that exposure, Moulton has left NazNet as a staff member and her name and email address no longer appear on the NazNet masthead; however, she continues to post comments throughout NazNet.
The latest revelation regarding NazNet has been Alvin, Texas Church of the Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff’s refusal to accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God. He, a NazNet moderator, has stated that the more one researches the Bible, the less one knows God. Deventer agrees. McClung does nothing to expunge this anti-Church of the Nazarene position from NazNet.
As soon as Cundiff’s lack of faith in the Bible was posted on the Internet on February 13, 2010, NazNet was cut off to me. I have been forbidden access following that exposure.
Nevertheless, as of February 14, 2010, South Texas Church of the Nazarene District officialdom has been informed of Cundiff’s NazNet statements concerning his disbelief in the entire Bible as divine revelation.
One wonders how far NazNet will go in its splintering of the Church of the Nazarene before McClung as Founder will apologize to the Church of the Nazarene for propagating heresies.
Then Cundiff needs to confess at least to his local congregation that he does not have faith in the entire Bible as God’s error-free Word.
Deventer needs to make exit from NazNet for he is exceptionally brash in his forthright denial of eternal damnation. He does not believe the Bible per his own confession on NazNet. Yet McClung permits this moderator to continue posting anti-Scripture opinions.
All the while McClung repeats that NazNet is a “friend” of the Church of the Nazarene. It is not. It is a prime enemy and has been for some time.
Read NAZNET DAVE MCCLUNG IS IRRESPONSIBLE AS ‘CHRISTIAN’ at http://truthinconviction.us/weblog.php?id=P3472
In addition, the denomination’s General Superintendents have been informed all along of NazNet’s heresies push. Specific details have been sent to the Superintendents every time NazNet heresy exposures have been placed on the Internet.
I have sent to McClung, Cundiff and Deventer the following article detailing faith in the Bible as the infallible Word of God; however, NazNet’s power clique continues to hold to the Bible being laden with errors.
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at RenewAmerica.com http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/100209
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
As of February 14, 2010, NazNet forbids me to get into NazNet. Why?
Every avenue to the site has been cut off to me.
Logic says NazNet Founder Dave McClung and staffers Scott Cundiff and Hans Deventer do not want me to expose their heresies any further.
Moreover, NAZNET DISTORTS http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/ exposes detail upon detail regarding NazNet’s anti-Bible, anti-God postings.
In addition, NAZNET DISTORTS has exposed former NazNet staffer Chaplain Barbara Moulton’s refusal to witness publicly concerning God’s abhorrence of homosexual practice. Moulton stated she would not perform “wedding ceremonies” for same-gender duos but she would not witness publicly to the biblical prohibitions of same either.
Since that exposure, Moulton has left NazNet as a staff member and her name and email address no longer appear on the NazNet masthead; however, she continues to post comments throughout NazNet.
The latest revelation regarding NazNet has been Alvin, Texas Church of the Nazarene Pastor Scott Cundiff’s refusal to accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God. He, a NazNet moderator, has stated that the more one researches the Bible, the less one knows God. Deventer agrees. McClung does nothing to expunge this anti-Church of the Nazarene position from NazNet.
As soon as Cundiff’s lack of faith in the Bible was posted on the Internet on February 13, 2010, NazNet was cut off to me. I have been forbidden access following that exposure.
Nevertheless, as of February 14, 2010, South Texas Church of the Nazarene District officialdom has been informed of Cundiff’s NazNet statements concerning his disbelief in the entire Bible as divine revelation.
One wonders how far NazNet will go in its splintering of the Church of the Nazarene before McClung as Founder will apologize to the Church of the Nazarene for propagating heresies.
Then Cundiff needs to confess at least to his local congregation that he does not have faith in the entire Bible as God’s error-free Word.
Deventer needs to make exit from NazNet for he is exceptionally brash in his forthright denial of eternal damnation. He does not believe the Bible per his own confession on NazNet. Yet McClung permits this moderator to continue posting anti-Scripture opinions.
All the while McClung repeats that NazNet is a “friend” of the Church of the Nazarene. It is not. It is a prime enemy and has been for some time.
Read NAZNET DAVE MCCLUNG IS IRRESPONSIBLE AS ‘CHRISTIAN’ at http://truthinconviction.us/weblog.php?id=P3472
In addition, the denomination’s General Superintendents have been informed all along of NazNet’s heresies push. Specific details have been sent to the Superintendents every time NazNet heresy exposures have been placed on the Internet.
I have sent to McClung, Cundiff and Deventer the following article detailing faith in the Bible as the infallible Word of God; however, NazNet’s power clique continues to hold to the Bible being laden with errors.
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at RenewAmerica.com http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/100209
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
Saturday, February 13, 2010
TEXAS PASTOR SCOTT CUNDIFF HIDES NAZNET HERESY
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
NazNet Moderator Scott Cundiff hides his disbelief in the Bible when presenting himself as a Church of the Nazarene pastor in Texas.
Check it out here: http://www.pastorscott.com/
Cundiff and wife are pictured as a sweet couple furthering the gospel message. In fact, that is exactly what Cundiff states. One would think that he is an old-fashioned Nazarene loyalist preaching scriptural truth. In other words, Cundiff fits right in with the Bible belt where he ministers.
He describes himself as a hard-working local pastor and web site master. He states he’s on NazNet staff. And so forth.
Cundiff invites readers to click on to his daily devotions. His site is chummy enough to ask friends to view his clan’s photo album. He describes his ministry as in the “classic gospel southern style.”
However, there is no inkling on his church’s site that Cundiff does not believe in the Bible.
Yet Cundiff has severe suspicions about the reliability of the Scriptures. He really does not accept the Bible as trustworthy; in fact, the more one researches the Word, the less one knows God. That’s Cundiff’s final conclusion on studying the Book.
However, no hint of that agnosticism is on Cundiff’s Texas church site. None.
Cundiff on NazNet encourages readers to fall right in line with those suspicious of biblical detail. He chooses what he wants from the Bible; he discards what he considers not palatable.
In that, Cundiff is a cohort with NazNet staffer Hans Deventer. Further, Cundiff is theological companion to NazNet Founder Dave McClung. In reality, these three plant repeated blatant suspicions regarding Scripture, thus undercutting the faith in the Christian’s holy writ.
Cundiff poses as a kind local pastor and web site connoisseur while at the same time slicing and dicing the very God he claims to defend. In other words, Cundiff does not tell the truth; he lies. He does lie. There is no kinder way to state it but that Cundiff lies.
He witnesses on his pastoral site to being a trustworthy biblical preacher and teacher. But in fact on NazNet he is a cavalier theological liberal who shunts the Bible as a take-it or leave-it.
Note this on NazNet as planted by Moderator Scott Cundiff:
“In a devotional I dealt with the command given by God to wipe out entire people groups as part of the occupation of Canaan. Writing from a devotional point of view my take away is that there’s that about God, an ‘otherness’ that is beyond us and that passages like that are reminders of that fact.
“However, in the open letter (of Dr. C. S. Cowles of Point Loma Nazarene University), I find a solid Wesleyan perspective that helps me deal with the issue, not from a devotional point of view, but rather from a theological one. I appreciate this insight.
“And van de Beek is right. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to reconcile the many commands to kill enemies in the Old Testament with the commands to love our enemies in the New.
“Even more difficult is the portrait painted of God as a violent and genocidal child killer in the Old Testament (Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites), and in Christ the lover of children in the New.
“Van de Beek admits as much. He confesses that ‘The more one wants to let all of Scripture speak for itself . . . the more unclear the Bible becomes. The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’”
Read more about Cundiff at NAZNET: STUDY BIBLE, WATCH GOD FADE at http://zenithmax.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/naznet-study-bible-watch-god-fade/
Read still more about NazNet heresies at http://zenithmax.wordpress.com/
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/100209
NazNet Moderator Scott Cundiff hides his disbelief in the Bible when presenting himself as a Church of the Nazarene pastor in Texas.
Check it out here: http://www.pastorscott.com/
Cundiff and wife are pictured as a sweet couple furthering the gospel message. In fact, that is exactly what Cundiff states. One would think that he is an old-fashioned Nazarene loyalist preaching scriptural truth. In other words, Cundiff fits right in with the Bible belt where he ministers.
He describes himself as a hard-working local pastor and web site master. He states he’s on NazNet staff. And so forth.
Cundiff invites readers to click on to his daily devotions. His site is chummy enough to ask friends to view his clan’s photo album. He describes his ministry as in the “classic gospel southern style.”
However, there is no inkling on his church’s site that Cundiff does not believe in the Bible.
Yet Cundiff has severe suspicions about the reliability of the Scriptures. He really does not accept the Bible as trustworthy; in fact, the more one researches the Word, the less one knows God. That’s Cundiff’s final conclusion on studying the Book.
However, no hint of that agnosticism is on Cundiff’s Texas church site. None.
Cundiff on NazNet encourages readers to fall right in line with those suspicious of biblical detail. He chooses what he wants from the Bible; he discards what he considers not palatable.
In that, Cundiff is a cohort with NazNet staffer Hans Deventer. Further, Cundiff is theological companion to NazNet Founder Dave McClung. In reality, these three plant repeated blatant suspicions regarding Scripture, thus undercutting the faith in the Christian’s holy writ.
Cundiff poses as a kind local pastor and web site connoisseur while at the same time slicing and dicing the very God he claims to defend. In other words, Cundiff does not tell the truth; he lies. He does lie. There is no kinder way to state it but that Cundiff lies.
He witnesses on his pastoral site to being a trustworthy biblical preacher and teacher. But in fact on NazNet he is a cavalier theological liberal who shunts the Bible as a take-it or leave-it.
Note this on NazNet as planted by Moderator Scott Cundiff:
“In a devotional I dealt with the command given by God to wipe out entire people groups as part of the occupation of Canaan. Writing from a devotional point of view my take away is that there’s that about God, an ‘otherness’ that is beyond us and that passages like that are reminders of that fact.
“However, in the open letter (of Dr. C. S. Cowles of Point Loma Nazarene University), I find a solid Wesleyan perspective that helps me deal with the issue, not from a devotional point of view, but rather from a theological one. I appreciate this insight.
“And van de Beek is right. No matter how hard one tries, it is impossible to reconcile the many commands to kill enemies in the Old Testament with the commands to love our enemies in the New.
“Even more difficult is the portrait painted of God as a violent and genocidal child killer in the Old Testament (Noah’s flood, the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the slaughter of the Canaanites and Amalekites), and in Christ the lover of children in the New.
“Van de Beek admits as much. He confesses that ‘The more one wants to let all of Scripture speak for itself . . . the more unclear the Bible becomes. The more we believe that the whole Word is revelation, the less we know who God is.’”
Read more about Cundiff at NAZNET: STUDY BIBLE, WATCH GOD FADE at http://zenithmax.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/naznet-study-bible-watch-god-fade/
Read still more about NazNet heresies at http://zenithmax.wordpress.com/
Read “Yes, you can believe in the Old Testament God” at http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/swank/100209
DISASTER AREA: NAZNET DAVE MCCLUNG AXES COMMUNITY
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
NazNet Founder Dave McClung states this on his site: “The only goal I have ever had for NazNet is to build community.”
As I reread that one sentence, I could not help but wonder who this double-speak McClung really is?
He has come across as a sweet gentleman who loves people and wants to help them. However, now that he has set up his web site, he has come across as a major disaster area.
McClung’s site, advertised as a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene, is anything but. The Church of the Nazarene, birthdated in 1908 in Pilot Point, Texas, has preached biblical holiness.
It is in the Wesleyan theology tradition. The church has brought countless souls to Christ as Savior and Sanctifier.
The Church of the Nazarene has a heritage of teaching biblical truth without compromise or apology. Its educational institutions have brought the denomination in a high level of academic recognition.
I for one graduated from Eastern Nazarene College, then was immediately accepted into Harvard Divinity School. That small Nazarene college in Quincy, Massachusetts, had an outstanding academic standing with Harvard.
But now this church is under attack from one who claims that all he has wanted to do is create community, specifically within the Church of the Nazarene.
How can one acknowledge this while reading on McClung site’s his staffers championing outright heresies?
For instance, NazNet sets forth that there is no
eternal hell for the unsaved. Hans Deventer aggressively, repeatedly leads the march on that one.
That kind of carnage on NazNet does not create biblical community; it fosters confusion and dissension. It can even lead theological novices into blatant untruths. For that, Deventer will answer at the Judgment Seat of Christ; however, reading Deventer on the site makes one wonder if he actually believes in a Judgment Seat of Christ.
Further, NazNet proclaims that the Bible is not to be believed from cover to cover. Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff endorse this heresy with gusto. Flippantly they dismiss the Word of God is grossly suspect. They apparently have no qualms about scuh blasphemy.
Surely McClung knows of these two staffers cutting through Scripture with their coy suspicions. Further, when Deventer and Cundiff post these suspicions, posters are persuaded to follow their doubts. That is apparent in the comments following. Not all, but even one led astray is one too many for a site that is supposed to be a “friend” to a holiness church.
Read NAZNET DAVE MC CLUNG = LIBERAL PIED PIPER at http://truthinconviction.us/weblog.php?id=P3475
Deventer states that he does not believe the Bible except the part about Christ as Savior. That unreasonable approach to scriptural study is so exegetically moronic that it does not deserve retort.
However, Deventer and Cudiff cavalierly delight in picking and choosing what biblical passages they believe deserve acceptance and which ones are to be discarded. Such hubris.
McClung knows of this. McClung does nothing about it. McClung thereby does not build community. He implodes it.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS for numerous other intrusions on biblical truth. Conclude for yourself whether or not McClung is the kind, gentlemanly Christian he poses for others to believe him to be.
The fact is that he is just the opposite. In these confused theological times the last person a holiness denomination needs is a splinter fitter named Dave McClung.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
NazNet Founder Dave McClung states this on his site: “The only goal I have ever had for NazNet is to build community.”
As I reread that one sentence, I could not help but wonder who this double-speak McClung really is?
He has come across as a sweet gentleman who loves people and wants to help them. However, now that he has set up his web site, he has come across as a major disaster area.
McClung’s site, advertised as a “friend” to the Church of the Nazarene, is anything but. The Church of the Nazarene, birthdated in 1908 in Pilot Point, Texas, has preached biblical holiness.
It is in the Wesleyan theology tradition. The church has brought countless souls to Christ as Savior and Sanctifier.
The Church of the Nazarene has a heritage of teaching biblical truth without compromise or apology. Its educational institutions have brought the denomination in a high level of academic recognition.
I for one graduated from Eastern Nazarene College, then was immediately accepted into Harvard Divinity School. That small Nazarene college in Quincy, Massachusetts, had an outstanding academic standing with Harvard.
But now this church is under attack from one who claims that all he has wanted to do is create community, specifically within the Church of the Nazarene.
How can one acknowledge this while reading on McClung site’s his staffers championing outright heresies?
For instance, NazNet sets forth that there is no
eternal hell for the unsaved. Hans Deventer aggressively, repeatedly leads the march on that one.
That kind of carnage on NazNet does not create biblical community; it fosters confusion and dissension. It can even lead theological novices into blatant untruths. For that, Deventer will answer at the Judgment Seat of Christ; however, reading Deventer on the site makes one wonder if he actually believes in a Judgment Seat of Christ.
Further, NazNet proclaims that the Bible is not to be believed from cover to cover. Hans Deventer and Scott Cundiff endorse this heresy with gusto. Flippantly they dismiss the Word of God is grossly suspect. They apparently have no qualms about scuh blasphemy.
Surely McClung knows of these two staffers cutting through Scripture with their coy suspicions. Further, when Deventer and Cundiff post these suspicions, posters are persuaded to follow their doubts. That is apparent in the comments following. Not all, but even one led astray is one too many for a site that is supposed to be a “friend” to a holiness church.
Read NAZNET DAVE MC CLUNG = LIBERAL PIED PIPER at http://truthinconviction.us/weblog.php?id=P3475
Deventer states that he does not believe the Bible except the part about Christ as Savior. That unreasonable approach to scriptural study is so exegetically moronic that it does not deserve retort.
However, Deventer and Cudiff cavalierly delight in picking and choosing what biblical passages they believe deserve acceptance and which ones are to be discarded. Such hubris.
McClung knows of this. McClung does nothing about it. McClung thereby does not build community. He implodes it.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS for numerous other intrusions on biblical truth. Conclude for yourself whether or not McClung is the kind, gentlemanly Christian he poses for others to believe him to be.
The fact is that he is just the opposite. In these confused theological times the last person a holiness denomination needs is a splinter fitter named Dave McClung.
Read NAZNET DISTORTS at http://naznetdistorts.blogspot.com/
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