Thursday, November 28, 2019

Kanye West Issues and Concerns

Kanye West (AP photo)
I would like to share some issues and concerns regarding Kanye West, who is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur, and fashion designer.

Earlier this year he announced to a fellow rapper that he was now born again after initially turning to God in 2016, when he was hospitalized and ultimately diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In September 2019,  he announced that from now on, spirituality would be his only true theme, and that he would no longer be producing secular music. In October 2019 he announced that he had been saved. Meanwhile, he had begun holding star-studded events known as the "Sunday Service" following the release of his album called Jesus is King. He has even applied for a trademark on the name "Sunday Service". Kanye seems to be the leader of these exclusive events that typically have A-list celebrities in attendance, revolve around music, and sometimes include informal prayer.

Recording spiritual music is nothing new for him. His 2013 album Yeezus included the song “I Am a God." In case you don't see what's wrong with that song title, I need to let you know that Kanye is not a God and we are not gods. (For more on this, please see my article, Are We Really Little Gods?
Kanye West (Rolling Stones photo)
And the title of that album was derived from combining Kanye's nickname "Ye" with the variant spelling of "Jezus" to come up with the name Yeezus. In other words, he was saying, "I am a God," and calling himself Yeezus. During that Yeezus tour, he even had a Jesus impersonator come on stage. This was after he had already appeared in 2006 on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine wearing a crown of thorns. That background information is important, since he has a history of associating himself with God or Jesus. While we could simply write those things off as a part of his sinful, pre-Christian past, we do need to factor them into our consideration of what he is currently doing, which has some of the same self-aggrandizing elements to it.

Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) News had headlines about Kanye on a daily or near daily basis in October and November 2019. If you do a search on "Kanye West" on that site, you will find 75 results, many of which appear to be articles they have written about him. While I didn't read the articles (except for a couple of them), the headlines (in my opinion) often made him appear to be the one who would save this generation with his Sunday Services; and based on the headlines, at times it seemed as if some people might have thought that he could single-handedly reach the whole world for Christ. The Christian media need to be careful not to put him up on a pedestal, as if he is the savior of the world or the Messiah of this generation. It's a mistake to put anyone up on a pedestal, because it will lead ultimately to their destruction, if they allow you to do it.

According to the news reports. thousands of people were flocking to his Sunday Service performance, and thousands of people even reportedly got saved at one of those shows. There's nothing wrong with people getting saved, as long as they truly did get saved through repentance and faith in Christ. And Kanye does speak about a lot of things that are biblical like the love and fear of God, grace, repentance, and being set free by Jesus Christ. He also says that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will be granted eternal life. He also says that the only superstar is Jesus. That's all well and good.

However, there are numerous red flags that you need to be aware of, and sadly none of them were raised by CBN News. In November 2019 he appeared on stage with prosperity preacher and mega church pastor Joel Osteen for an interview in front of the  Lakewood Church congregation. During that interview, Kanye said that the Lord is now going to use the cockiness and arrogance, for which his fans have always known him. Since cockiness and arrogance are sins, God cannot and will not use those sins for His glory. Kanye also referred to himself as "the greatest artist that God ever created." That would be pride, which is also a sin in God's sight.

When a man seated in the crowd off-stage was speaking while Kanye was speaking, he stopped and publicly asked the man to stop speaking, because Kanye said that when he is in certain "streams of consciousness," he must not be distracted, in order to allow God to speak through him. He then asked that every single person in the church auditorium, which holds over 16,000 people, be completely silent while he spoke. In my thinking, the term "streams of consciousness" is basically New Age terminology, although it does have other usages, so Kanye's use of it could indicate some mixture there.

In his closing prayer, Kanye also referred to Joel Osteen as "one of the strongest voices in the Christian community," who "has led hundreds of thousands of people to Christ." He referred to Osteen's words and mission as being anointed. If you have listened at all to Osteen, you will know that he preaches a Christianity-light, prosperity gospel message. He keeps it positive and doesn't want to offend anyone or appear to be judging them by preaching against sin. This is contrary to the Lord Jesus and His apostles who definitely preached against sin and offended plenty of people along the way.

Kanye told Osteen that when he was at UCLA hospital for a mental breakdown, he was sitting there drawing a picture of a church, and writing "to start a church," which apparently meant that he felt God had called him to start a church. So while some may not be sure if "Sunday Service" is a church or not, we at least know that Kanye thinks he is supposed to start one.

The problem is that if he is in fact a new believer, the Scripture clearly warns against such a person being an overseer of a church. Paul the apostle warned "He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil." (1 Tim 3:6, NIV).

The Sunday Service choir wears a uniform from West’s Yeezy clothing line, which seems to be a direct form of advertising. His fans can even purchase “church clothes” from his website, including $50 socks that say “Jesus Walks,” and $225 hoodies that say “Holy Spirit.” Our Lord taught against this sort of merchandising in the Church, as I have written in my article The Sale of Christian Music and Art -- A Robbers' Den?

Since Kanye himself has battled with opioid addiction, he speaks about addictions. He said, "Those addictions are on us even when you are saved and fully delivered. We are all human and fall short of the glory. Christians are not going to be Christ - we are going to follow Christ and be Christ-like and repent for our sins. It's that constant repentance. People who don't accept the Bible don't want to accept that they’re wrong.”

I agree with most of what he said, except the part that addictions remain on us as disciples of Christ, even when we are saved and fully delivered. That is incorrect, and there is no biblical basis for it. Once a person is delivered, they are truly set free.

As Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free....So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (Jn 8:31b-32,36, NIV).

Another concern I have is that he can be seen during his Sunday Service show singing and dancing with his hand over his crotch as rappers typically do. This is certainly immodest and improper for God's holy people, and some might say it is suggestive or even obscene. (See Instagram video).

According to his wife Kim Kardashian, the Sunday Service is open to all faiths and does not include preaching. However, that is more like ecumenism or New Age religion than Christianity. The Christian faith is exclusive. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father, except through Me." (Jn 14:6).

It has also been reported in September 2019 that those who attend his Sunday Service have to sign an NDA, which is Non-Disclosure Agreement saying they won't disclose what happened at the event. That seems quite strange -- even cult-like -- and doesn't have any biblical basis at all.

Kanye West and Family dressed as fly and larvae
Oddly enough, Kanye appeared with his wife on Halloween in October 2019 dressed in a demonic Beelzebub costume, as reported in an article by "Now the End Begins" called Lord Of The Flies: Kanye West And Kim Kardashian Dress As Fly Larvae And Worms In Demonic Beelzebub Family Portrait Session On Saturday. He was a giant fly, while she and the children were larvae. Was he supposed to be Beelzebub? For those who don't know, Beelzebub, translated literally as "lord of the flies," is another name for the devil, similar to satan.

Regarding the music he produces and performs, let me just say this. There are many forms of popular, worldly music, including rap, rock, and reggae, that are commonly used by people to communicate Christian messages. However, God does not condone worldliness and He does not need worldly music to accomplish His purposes on earth. (For more on this, please see my article Rock, Rap, and Reggae Music -- Five Divine Revelations).

Finally, as pointed out by "Now the End Begins," Kanye's Sunday Service performances feature the all-seeing eye of Horus, which is clearly a New Age occult symbol (See here).

Kanye Headlines the Awaken 2020 Event
I should also mention that Kanye West was chosen to headline the Awaken 2020 event on January 18, 2020 at Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona. Of all the places in America that they could have chose for the event, they chose Sun Devil Stadium. They also chose red as their predominant theme color on their website, logo, and promotional videos.

The self -proclaimed purpose of the event was to "open the womb for the third Great Awakening in America." Yet the two different promotional videos on the event's site (see here) and on Facebook (see here) had many antichrist, immodest, impure, and seductive images that have no place among God's holy people. The apostle Paul wrote:

"But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people." (Eph 5:3)

Suffice it to say that this event had many New Age and antichrist images and words associated with it. The fact that Kanye was the featured performer at this event is one more piece of evidence that shows his New Age and antichrist connections.

One last thing about the event that was very strange was that Lou Engle was originally listed as one of the speakers for the event, and he is prominently featured in both of their promotional videos linked above. Lou Engle is connected with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), and while he loves homosexuals, he has spoken out against homosexuality as a sin. The event organizer, David Herzog, issued a press statement prior to the event, stating that Engle would not be an event speaker, nor was he affiliated with the event in any way. Herzog stated:

"...we want to make it specifically clear that: Lou Engle is not affiliated with, nor is he an organizer or partner of or a speaker at Awaken 2020...If any of our past potential or current event participants, speakers, and collaborators were affiliated with any such harmful platforms in any way or at any time, we do not support any view points as such. Awaken 2020 is a new opportunity for the Christian community to reset and align its message with respect for the people, especially the youth who are experiencing a time of revival and renewal in the wake of the new works of Kanye West and The Sunday Service Collective." (emphasis added). The focus on Kanye as opposed to Lou Engle is glaringly obvious.

Herzog further stated that he "would like to emphasize that our message is of Love and Unity." Although this event was being billed as a revival and a spiritual awakening, he didn't say anything about repentance, which is central to any revival.

Closing Words
Let's take a step back and prayerfully consider the issues and concerns that I have raised here, remembering the words of our Lord that we must be on guard against false prophets who come as wolves in sheep's clothing. He said:

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Mat 7:15-23)

In these last and evil days, when false prophets abound, let's not be deceived by anyone, no matter how attractive, talented, famous, or sincere they may seem, and no matter how well they can talk the talk. Let's examine their fruit, because by their fruit we will recognize them. In my opinion, Kanye does not pass the simple fruit test of Scripture, but that is something that each person must personally evaluate, and a decision they must make on their own.

Footnotes:
'The Only Superstar Is Jesus': Kanye West Speaks to Joel Osteen About Faith and Family

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the Toly Bible NIV,  copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Images may be subject to copyright and are used per the Fair Use Act for commentary and education purposes only.

Author's note I also recommend reading The Forgotten Sin of Worldliness, Separated from the World, Avoiding Worldly Worship, Rock, Rap, and Reggae Music - Five Divine RevelationsNew Age-New World Order, Testing the Spirits of False Prophets, Popularity of the Gospel, What's Wrong with the Prosperity Gospel?The Sale of Christian Music and Art -- A Robbers' Den?, and Pope Establishes One World Religion. I also recommend my daughter's poem, The Dazzling Wine of Deception. You can access the Home page of this blog for more articles on Truth and heresy, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Andy Stanley's Disconnect from the Old Testament

Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point
Dr. Charles Stanley's son Andy is the pastor of perhaps the second or third largest church in America. As a mega church pastor in Atlanta, he has a great deal of influence. Yet he has been teaching people incorrectly that they should "unhitch" from the Old Testament. Here are some of his heretical statements:

Unhitched
“(First Century) Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures. Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.”

“When the Church launched, the foundation of the faith of the early Christians was not a book (they didn’t have one), it wasn’t the Bible (there wasn’t one), and it wasn’t the Old Testament – what they called the Law and the Prophets – because that didn’t tell the story of Jesus. The foundation of the early church was an event – the resurrection.”

“If you were raised on a version of Christianity that relied on the Bible as the foundation of faith, a version that was eventually dismantled by academia or the realities of life, maybe it’s time for you to change your mind about Jesus. Maybe it’s time for you to consider the version of Christianity that relies on the event of the resurrection of Jesus as its foundation. If you gave up your faith because of something about or in the Bible, maybe you gave up unnecessarily. His message for them is simple: 'Start with Jesus! He came to introduce something totally new.'”

“What Jesus meant when He said He had not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) was that He came to 'replace it.'" Stanley's interpretation of that verse is: “I am in fact replacing. I’m not going to change what you’ve always been taught. I’m going to challenge you to abandon what you have been taught.”

The Law and the Prophets, the old covenant, had an expiration date.”

The Gospel of Jesus “is completely detached … from everything that came before."

Every one of these statements made by Stanley is refuted by Scripture. Jesus, who is the Word of God (Joh 1:1,14), quoted the Hebrew Scriptures extensively during His ministry; in fact He quoted from a total of twenty-four different books of the Hebrew Bible, and He is the foundation of the Church. "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor 3:11, NIV). The only Scriptures they initially had in the first-century Church were the Hebrew Scriptures. And as the apostles and their companions wrote the Gospels, Acts, and the epistles, they quoted extensively from those Scriptures. In fact, they quoted from all but five books of the Hebrew Bible (for a full list of all Old Testament Scriptures cited in the New Testament, see here).

When the apostle Paul preached to the Bereans, they searched the Hebrew Scriptures to verify that everything he said was true. "Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Ac 17:11, NIV). This practice of the Bereans was considered noble, since they checked to see if everything the apostle preached agreed with the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the ones he was quoting. It was Paul who wrote that God's household is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." (Eph 2:20, NIV). Let me quote to you from three different men commenting on this passage.

Matthew Henry stated: "In Ephesian 2:20 the church is compared to a building. The apostles and prophets are the foundation of that building. They may be so called in a secondary sense, Christ himself being the primary foundation; but we are rather to understand it of the doctrine delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New. It follows, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone."

John Wesley stated: "As the foundation sustains the building, so the word of God, declared by the apostles and prophets, sustains the faith of all believers. God laid the foundation by them; but Christ himself is the chief corner - stone of the foundation."

Albert Barnes stated that when the apostle Paul wrote "...And prophets..." in Ephesians 2:20, he was referring to "The prophets of the Old Testament, using the word, probably, to denote the Old Testament in general. That is, the doctrines of divine revelation, whether communicated by prophets or apostles, were laid at the foundation of the Christian church."

Therefore, when Stanley says that "the foundation of the faith of the early Christians...wasn’t the Bible...and it wasn’t the Old Testament...the Law and the Prophets," he is contradicting the Word of God itself. They most certainly had the Scriptures in the first century. There can be no doubt that the apostles of the New Covenant and prophets of the Old Covenant are the foundation of the Church.

Unleashed
Stanley’s new book is called, “Irresistible: Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World." In it he writes: “Participants in the new covenant (that’s Christians) are not required to obey any of the commandments found in the first part of their Bibles. Participants in the new covenant are expected to obey the single command Jesus issued as part of his new covenant: as I have loved you, so you must love one another." Moreover, in the final part of a 2018 sermon series, Stanley explained that while he believes that the Old Testament is "divinely inspired," it should not be "the go-to source regarding any behavior in the Church."

However, contrary to what Andy teaches, Scriptures like "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex 20:2) are still valid and applicable to us today as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Obedience to God's commandments is clearly taught throughout the New Testament by Christ and His apostles (Mt 5:17-20; Lk 8:21; Jn 14:15-31; 1 Cor 7:19; 1 Jn 3:4). To deny that is to deny the very foundation upon which the Church is built. Yet that is precisely what Stanley is doing. He is not preaching the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus and His apostles preached. He is preaching another gospel -- a replacement theology.

God changes not (Mal 3:6). Jesus is God, and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). He doesn't need to repeat Himself in order for us to know that what He has said is true. What was evil in the days of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Moses, Saul, David, Solomon, Ahab, Elijah, and the prophets is still evil today. What was pleasing to God then is pleasing to Him now, although we are under a New Covenant and are not bound by the specific terms and regulations of the Mosaic Covenant.

The Bible is not just "a collection of ancient documents," as Andy calls them. The sixty-six books of the Bible are the inspired Word of God. "ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Ti 3:16). We must declare the whole counsel of God (Ac 20:27), not only the things that Jesus reiterated in the Gospels. Andy says that nothing in the Old Testament should have any bearing on the behavior of a Christian, but since it is all the inspired Word of God useful for training us so we might be thoroughly equipped for every good work, then obviously ALL Scripture including the Old Testament has relevance to our behavior.

Rather than rewrite all my previous articles about the importance and significance of obedience to God's commandments, including those found in the Law and the Prophets, I would like to provide links to those here for you to read. They provide ample proof from Scripture that Stanley is teaching heresy. If you really care about this and want to get to the truth of the matter that is found in God's Word, then I recommend taking the time to read all of these articles, in order to get the full and balanced message that I am teaching as found in the Bible. I challenge you to do as the Bereans did with the apostle's teaching and search the Scriptures to see if these things are really so.

Is Obedience Optional?
The Law of Christ 
The Law Fulfilled in Us
The Law Established Through Faith
The Cost of Discipleship
Faith Works!
Deleted Scriptures in the Bible?
Did Jesus Nail the Law to the Cross?
The Obedience of Faith
Righteousness by Faith not Law
Listen to Jesus, Who Upholds Moses and the Prophets 
The Spirit's Law of Life
The Law of Love in the New Testament
Striving to Enter the Kingdom of God
Wesley and Henry on the Gospel Law
Righteous Deeds and White Robes
Doing What is Right
Partaking of the Divine Nature
Walking in the Perfect Will of God
Obedience by the Spirit
The Law is Good if Used Lawfully
What Then Must We Observe?
Remember the Eternal Law of God
The Flesh vs. the Spirit

The Bible De-emphasized 
Andy Stanley says that if he were an evangelical Pope, who had the authority to issue a decree that all evangelical Christians must obey, he "would ask preachers and pastors and student pastors in their communications to take the spotlight off the Bible." Apparently he undervalues the Word of God, since he would use his papal authority to de-emphasize it. This man-made rule of his essentially nullifies the Word of God (Mk 7:13), which instructs the Lord's messengers to preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2). Through His inspired apostle, the Holy Spirit clearly charged Timothy -- and effectively all men of God -- to devote ourselves to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching (1 Tim 4:13). Jesus also warned us, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him, when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Lk 9:26).

In addition, Andy disparages expository preaching through the Scriptures one verse at a time. He says, "Guys that preach verse-by-verse through books of the Bible -- that is just cheating. It's cheating because that would be easy. First of all, that isn't how you grow people." This preposterous statement of his proves that the enemy hates expository preaching from the Bible, explaining it one verse at a time. Andy says this doesn't grow people, perhaps because he is interested in growing the numbers of people. But while expository preaching may not draw huge crowds, it has the potential to grow individuals into disciples of Christ and eventually result in the multiplication of disciples, like what happened in the first century Church. "The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith." (Ac 6:7).

What preachers need to do is preach the Word exactly as it is written, drawing out the meaning that is already in Scripture, which is a practice called exegesis, rather than reading their own meaning into it, which is known as eisogesis. When preachers take license to practice eisogesis, they are free to twist the Scriptures, which they do to their own destruction (2 Pe 3:16). If we had more Spirit-filled, expository preaching today, we would have fewer people taking Scriptures out of context and making them say whatever they want them to say. Instead they would have to explain what the Scripture means when it is understood in its proper context, and people would receive the undiluted, unadulterated message of God's Word. Their faith would grow, since faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of God (Rom 10:17).

Open Homosexual Baptized at Northpoint
In a video posted on Youtube, an open homosexual proudly announced that he was going to be water baptized at Northpoint Church. Your can see the video at this link. Let me remind you that Scripture clearly teaches against the sin of homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. To cite just one of them, the apostle Paul stated:

"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1Co 6:9-10)

For more a more complete discussion on this topic, see Pope Frances Supports Homosexuality.

The Fruit Test Reveals Apostasy
As I explained in my previous article, Testing the Spirits of False Prophets, we are supposed to test men's fruit to determine whether or not they are false. When we do a fruit test on the North Point Community Church that Andy Stanley pastors in Atlanta, we find that there is apostasy. That church of around 38,000 people is engrossed in worldliness, rather than being separated from the world as the Scriptures teach that we should be. The following video is just one piece of evidence that reveals their worldly practices. The video is titled The Andy Stanley Show: North Point Ministries Worldly Satanic Synagogues Fully Exposed!!!. It shows, among other things, rock bands in the church singing secular rock music like Journey's song Don't Stop Believing with it's lyrics about seedy nightlife in the big city. Another example is a group on stage during a Sunday service singing, "Baby, love the way you turn me on," while several men perform a choreographed break dance. In yet another service the band is singing a medley of Michael Jackson's hit songs including Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, which has been criticized for its sexual references. Take a look at this and see for yourself:



Closing Words
Be careful whom you listen to, because if they are in error on important issues like this, then your very soul could be in danger. We live in the days when men do not put up with sound doctrine, but instead, to suit their own desires, they surround themselves with a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Tim 4:3). We live in the days of great apostasy in the Church, which some call the Laodicean Church age (Rev 3:14-21). These are the days of mega churches like Stanley's North Point Community Church in Atlanta, where people flock in large numbers to be entertained by the abundance of worldliness that takes place there, and to listen to another gospel (Gal 1:8-9). They prefer a pop-culture, Christianity-lite message like the ones Andy preaches, and they are itching to unhitch from our Scriptural foundations.

We the Church are not "unhitched" from the Hebrew Scriptures, the gospel is not "detached" from them, and we are not unleashed from obeying God's sacred commandments. On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it (Lk 11:28). Jesus' mother and brothers are still those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice (Lk 8:21). The Word of God is still the seed that we must receive in order to produce fruit (Lk 8:11). The Bible is still our sole rule of faith in Christ. It is still not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God (Ac 6:2). Indeed, we must still speak the Word of God with boldness (Ac 4:31), and continue to declare the whole counsel of God (Ac 20:27), because all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). Therefore, let us not be moved off of our Scriptural foundation, but let us continue holding fast the faithful Word (Tit 1:9). Beware of Andy Stanley. He is a false teacher. As I have written elsewhere, just because a church is large and prominent, that doesn't mean they are preaching the truth. The way of life is narrow and few are they who find it (Mat 7:14).

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright Lockman Foundation, used by permission. Other Scriptures from The Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Image may be subject to copyright and are used per the Fair Use Act for commentary and education purposes only.

Author's note I also recommend reading Andy Stanley's Unbiblical Views on HomosexualityThe Forgotten Sin of Worldliness, Separated from the World, The Bible is the Word of GodScripture Alone (Sola Fide), The Ways of LifeAvoiding Worldly Worship, Is Secular Music for Christians?, Rock, Rap, and Reggae Music - Five Divine RevelationsSins That Will Keep You From Heaven, The Top Ten Things Jesus Taught, Ask for the Ancient PathsHolding Fast the Faithful WordAvoid Becoming a Corrupted Christian, Exposing Heresy, and Popularity of the Gospel. I also recommend my daughter's poem, The Dazzling Wine of Deception. You can access the Home page of this blog for more articles on Truth and heresy, as well as my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org