A New Earth - Part 4

(Continuing a page by page critique of Tolle's book "A New Earth.")

This chapter is long and tedious - I'll post the critique in stages...honestly folks, there's only so much of this stuff that I can take in...

P85: Tolle refers to the ego as psychic energy – that will please some New Agers.
The ego does not seek the formless attention which is presence – Buddhism.

P86 Tolle writes about the fear of not being good enough. Paul would talk about this as falling short of God’s glory.

He also writes about the ego’s constant need of feeling superior – so why does this book attack and dismiss religion, especially the church?

P87 Eckhart writes about children wanting attention – he’s writing to his readership. Very clever. He’s identifying with their identity – which goes against what he is supposed to be proclaiming.

Talks about victimization which leads to complaining, being offended, and outraged. Somehow I get the feeling he is going to strap this one onto the Church.

P88 – Complainers feel they are being treated unfairly by life, fate, or God – this is interesting. Perhaps Tolle should have quoted some psalms of complaint, or verses from the Book of Job.

Talks about role play in relationships and how partnerships fail – this makes me wonder about Tolle’s failed relationships – is he making general observations, or is this coming from his own egoic experiences?

P89 Finishes with absurd argument about the Spanish form of “te quiero”, as opposed to “te amo”. True love is rare according to Tolle…in his life?

He suggests that Jesus saw the ultimate irrelevance of caste or social class – so how does this explain Jesus saying that soldiers should not complain about their pay, or how people should pay their taxes to Caesar, etc.

People are confused about who they are and how they fit in today’s world – this is true…but it always has been.

P90 Tolle rambles on about confusion and comes up with the idea that if we accept that we don’t know who we are, we will find peace – this is sophistry – it sounds mysterious and enlightened, but it’s really just a delusion. It kind of reminds me about a James Thurber story…

Tolle says our roles are unimportant and we should resist becoming identified with this – what about doctors, surgeons, paramedics, etc…what about Oprah? Talk show host?

P91 Don’t take ourselves seriously, if we want to be free of our roles. Which begs the question: if you are seriously ill, do you want a surgeon who is serious about his skills, or one that couldn’t care less?

Tolle insists that authentic human relationships can exist when we adopt role identities. Yes they can…doctor – patient, teacher – student; shopkeeper – customer…

Social archetypes…Tolle uses these to connect with his readers…which is another relationship…writer – readers!

P92 Playing roles leads to less spontaneity, light-heartedness, and joy – (Tolle is hitting upon the main heartfelt wishes of housewives…)

Talks about hippies as refusing to play stereotypical roles…but they became rebels…Talks about collective insanity of 1950s society…but wasn’t the hippie movement based upon insane collectives??? (Charles Manson…) Hippie movement degenerates because they had to feed their drug ridden habits…Eastern wisdom introduced by hippy culture…but it was mainly the Beatles who did that.

P93 We speak to people in different ways – Tolle suggests this is inauthentic….but most of the situations are perfectly natural. He suggests that we are playing roles, but he misses the point: we are communicating and sometimes deference to someone in authority is the only way to accomplish this.

P94 Tolle suggests that we are not relating to people when we play roles; here’ a key question: how is Tolle writing/relating to his readers???? Is it inauthentic?

A lot of what Tolle is teaching in the part of the chapter is borrowed from Martin Buber’s I-Thou theories.

He tells the tale of Kasan’s sweaty palms, in deference to his superiors. In the end though, Kasan still becomes master to his students…

P95 “Just Fine” – a lot of people live in denial with their unhappiness…true.

Tolle writes that unhappiness has nothing to do with who you are. This is absurd. Unhappiness has everything to do with how you feel, therefore it has everything to do with who you are at any given time.

P96 Separate yourself from unhappy thoughts – this is a bit like Tinkerbelle in Peter Pan.

Don’t seek happiness – if you do, you wont’ find it. This is Tolle’s opinion…What does he think about the Declaration of Independence…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…

P97 Tolle writes about parents and their roles. He’s reaching out to mothers stuck in their role…this is very clever targeting.

Tolle cautions parents about being overbearing and controlling…this obstructs kids from exploring and finding out for themselves. But parenting is about setting safe boundaries, as well as ethical ones for our children.

P98 Role of parent can become compulsive and ruins relationship with child. This section makes me wonder if Tolle has ever been a parent. Is he speaking from theory or practice?

The ego motivates itself to enhance itself and look after its self interest. This used to be called ambition. Is Oprah not one of the most ambitious women in the world?

P99 Tolle writes about manipulative parents using guilt trips to get what they want. Did Tolle have a bad childhood?
Awareness is the greatest agent for change – but change for what?

He also suggests that egoic patterns miraculously dissolve when you don’t oppose them. What does he mean by miraculous?
P100 Tolle describes the generational conflict between parent & child. He writes about old thoughts and old ways…is he subtly using this as a continuing argument of breaking from the past?

A New Earth - Part 2

Continuing a page by page critique of Eckhart Tolle's book "A New Earth", which Oprah is promoting. Christians should be aware of the unChristian theology and heresy that is being presented throughout this book.

A New Earth: Critique on Chapter Two

Page 25: Tolle suggests that words are mere labels, and totally ineffective when it comes to knowing something truly. It fascinates me that Tolle insists in using words to describe this. I think he is beginning to use this for a later argument that the words we use to label God are useless because God is totally unknowable.

We know something of this from scripture: God’s ways are mysterious, yet because His thoughts and ways are not our own, He uses scriptural words and sacred history to reveal Himself to us. Tolle also forgets that God (Genesis 2) gives man the gift of naming animals, thus the source of these ‘labels” comes from God.

Tolle is using this line of argument to show us that there can be no absolutes, i.e. we only know the tip of the iceberg, so therefore we cannot be certain of anything.

Page 26: Tolle talks about the Source of all life (this is an oblique form of Deism), however he then talks about objects pointing back to this Source, to God, to yourself. This is new Age stuff…of equating ourselves with God ( which, BTW, was the original sin in the Garden of Eden).

Talks about essence being communicate from all types of objects. Tolle should perhaps read Isaiah 46!

Uses an illustration of Van Gogh feeling the Beingness of the Chair in his painting…but the painting is about VG’s genius and artistic talent, not the chair!

Tolle talks about us becoming obsessed by thoughts and words, and losing our transformational spirituality in the process…but the intricacy of our language is what makes us distinctly human!

Talks about our essential self, which can only be discovered if we disentangle ourselves from all labels and images….this sounds very like Buddhism.

Page 27: Tolle insists that labels make us shallow; we may know words but lose wisdom. This is absurd. Almost all of human wisdom has been saved with words. Without the words of previous generations, we would have lost wisdom! E.g. Renaissance occurs when Greek literature is rediscovered.
We also establish relationships with others through the knowing of our names.

Tolle is beginning to say that we are imprisoned by words…he’s going to use this as a means for rejecting scripture. He also says that the human mind does not amount to much…as compared to the mind of God perhaps, but to other planetary species, the human mind is amazing.

Tolle starts to talk about the “primordial error,” which is too much of a focus on “I.” This is what we would call original sin.

Page 28: Tolle quotes Einstein and follows his thoughts upon being isolated from the whole of existence – that we are aware of everything around us as part of an optical illusion of consciousness. But the writer of Psalm 8 went there before Einstein and Tolle – “when I consider that stars & the heavens, the works of your fingers, what am I…?” It’s called ontology – why do we exist?

Tolle suggests that everything is an illusion and that when we recognize this, the illusion will cease to exist. This is classic Buddhism – Nirvana
Paul however would suggest that now we see through a glass darkly, but then face-to-face…the illusion will not dissolve, but that which we poorly see will become more real. Calvin talks about this with regard to sunflowers – people look at them and see the glory of the flowers, but they forget to look above and see the actual sun!

Tolle continues to insist that using the book will lead to enlightenment – I can hear Obi wan Kenobi saying it: “Use the Book, Luke!”

Tolle suggests that when we use the word “I” we are not talking about ourselves – then who are we talking about? This could have moral consequences of personal disassociation e.g. George Washington: I cannot tell a lie, father. It was I (but not really who I am)????

Page 29: Tolle begins to talk about the I-thought as something separate from ourselves. This may be something similar to Martin Buber’s teaching in I-Thou.

Tolle states that we built up our identities through the things we claim as our own. This is called materialism. Jesus would teach against this as follows: “Where your heart is, there your treasure lies.”

He talks about our I-dentity as being precariously bundled together to form an illusory sense of self. But this is not precarious at all; all of this is natural.

Page 30: Tolle talks about a new awakening, a deeper sense of “I” – this is self-centered spirituality, which once again displaces God for ourselves.

Talks about materialistic “I” superseding the deeply, spiritual “I.” There is almost something Jungian in this. Thought begins to possess the mind, heart, and soul. The “I” takes over everything – Greek Orthodox mysticism has something similar – the eo?

Tolle writes about the process of dis-identifying from your thoughts. Instead of being thought-entangled, you experience peace. This is Buddhism, compartmentalism, or border-line schizophrenia. I’m beginning to wonder if Tolle suffers from this.

Pages 30-33: After arguing against being identified with the ego “I,” Tolle then proceeds to give an autobiographical account of an event in his life…isn’t he arguing against himself here?????

Page 33: Tolle writes about experiencing a detachment from his mind. “Life isn’t as serious as my mind makes it out to be.”

Jesus would say: Come to me, all of you who are burden and rest in me.”

Tolle talks about three years of anxiety, depression, and suicidal tendencies….uh oh! He becomes free of compulsive thinking and of the false, mind-made I. This could be psychologically serious, folks.

Page 34: Tolle doubts the absolute validity of the human intellect – here it comes: there are no absolutes. Thinking is only a tiny aspect of the consciousness that we are…???? And yet, isn’t Tolle using his tiny thinking capacity to write this book?

Egoic mind conditioned by the past – subtle implication that if religion drives the mind, then it is out-dated too.
Page 35: The mind unconsciously wants to identify with something other than itself – whereas Christians would say that we strive for completion, but will only find it when we discover God.

Tolle writes that people do perceive the success of themselves through the objects they possess. True.

Page 36: We buy things to enhance our identity – build our esteem…true. The egoic mind unconsciously wants to identify with structure (Tolle will use this to reject institutionalized religion).

Ego-satisfaction is short lived – keep looking for more, something better: but couldn’t the same be said for Tolle’s followers? Aren’t they looking for something better than the past? Is it the novelty of this philosophy that is driving millions towards it? He’s arguing against himself.

Page 37: Each thing has beingness and origin in the formless one Life – Buddhism. Again, read Isaiah 46, Tolle.

Most people don’t inhabit a living reality, but a conceptualized one. This is Buddhism – why doesn’t he call it this?

The unchecked striving for more, for endless growth is a dysfunction and a disease. Anti-materialistic. Also Hinduism. Christians would call this the sin of avarice and greed.

Pages 38-41: Tolle’s first person story about the Lost Ring. Letting go of the things we possess, or that posses us.

Page 40: Tolle now calls beingness “I AM-ness” This is highly controversial. “I AM” is the sacred Name of God. Tolle is discarding God for himself. Christians should understand what is happening here. God is being replaced totally. Instead of being Christo-centric, Tolle is, funnily enough, urging his readers to become ego-centric!

Page 41: Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness…Paul would say that troubles lead to endurance, and in turn to faith in Christ. Tolle is advocating that our life experiences are meant to give us a higher spirituality, whereas, for the Christian, we go through experiences to lead us closer to Christ. It’s not about us; it’s about glorifying Jesus.

Page 42: Tolle insists that the ego isn’t wrong: it’s just unconscious. He is absolving us from accountability and responsibility for our sins. We’re all absolved from our greed…this isn’t Christian. This is self-centered pandering to our pride which doesn’t want to be humbled by any divine absolutes.

Page 43: Tolle suggests that on our death bed everything falls away and that no thing has anything to do with who we are/were. However, to Christians, this is not true. It’s what we do with what we have that is very important to who we are to God. NB – Christ’s Parable of the Hidden Talents.

Tolle again quotes Jesus and insists that the poor in spirit are those with no internal baggage, no “identifications.” Once again he is twisting Christ’s words to suit his theory. When Jesus mentions the poor in spirit he is referring to those who are spiritually poor and sincerely faithful – it’s nothing to do with what Tolle alludes. He also describes the kingdom of heaven as being the “simple but profound joy of Being” – this is so trite and diminishes what Christ means by the Kingdom of God – once again it’s not about us or our existence, it’s about God.

Page 44: Tolle states that the egoic mind patter sees itself as right and others wrong. He is trying to disarm his opponents, whilst at the same time bolstering his followers with the old argument of “they’re out to get us” type of cult mentality.

Mentions absurdity of land ownership & talks of the “white” settlement – isn’t this racist? Also, how much “land” does Oprah possess? And what about Tolle himself with the success of his books? Is this a barb of land-envy, or will it lead to a one world, one belief, one path viewpoint?

Page 45: Ego = the more I have, the more I am…Oprah: the more I have, the less I need to believe in God????

Collective delusion and chasing after things…anti-materialism, Buddhist??? Christian vow of poverty???

Page 46: “I am the awareness that is aware…” ego-centric theism. Tolle should read Daniel 4 – Nebuchadnezzar’s awareness story….

I don’t have enough yet…= I am not enough yet. Parallel with Christ’s parable about the successful farmer who wants to build bigger barns.

Ownership is a fiction – delusion which is Buddhist. However, you could argue Psalm 24…”the earth is the Lord’s and all that is contained therein”

Greed is an addictive need – but people like Tolle can also be spiritually greedy – I want more than Christ can give me…

Page 47: Tolle has a few good paragraphs about bulimia – is he trying to connect with women who have eating disorders? Is this a sincere example or a way of exploiting the problems of his readers????

Unfulfilled wanting leads to unease, restlessness, boredom, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. Paul would counter these with the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians.

Page 48: Tolle rants against the large corporations which is ironic because his patron, Oprah, has managed to market herself into becoming a corporation….

He talks about the egoic structures never satisfying you…will he transfer this onto the Church???

Page 49: gender = identity: fulfilling our gender identity is the means of fulfilling our lives. Talks about good looks, strength, and appearance…and how we have become obsessed with such. Appealing to his readers and the pressure they put themselves under????

Page 50: Talks about Bulimia and anorexia addicts having egoic dysfunction…healing can only come from within. Self transformation.

Tolle starts to express his view of the body not being important…this is both Buddhist and Gnostic.

Page 51: As the body weakens, the light of consciousness begins to shine – Buddhism and Gnosticism again. Also Hinduism. Whereas Christianity – the resurrection of the Body.

When ego finds an identity, it doesn’t want to let it go…same could be said about Tolle’s philosophy & Oprahism.
Page 52: You can go beyond body-identification – this is classic Gnosticism

Body is just an appearance – our outer forms are intensely alive energy fields. Too much Star Trek here…NB genesis – we have the breath of God within us…not on the outside.

Tolle does the hand imagining thing…Sci Fi writer Frank Herbert wrote about this in Dune decades ago. Tolle is borrowing from Herbert!

Page 53: Inner body & life energy are the same. When we are in touch with the inner body, we move away from form…we are no longer imprisoned by the body ( Gnotsicism). This awareness strengthens our immune system…this is dangerous for anyone who is seriously ill. Also, this is like theories practiced by Church Scientists.

Ego causes us to lose ourselves…Christ asks us to lose ourselves in order to find God.

Page 54: Tolle talks about other forms of consciousness – but there is no scientific data for this…it’s his ideas, something similar to what Uri Geller described about 20 years ago talking about Brahams.

Page 55: Tolle talks about Descartes “I think, therefore I am.” If there were nothing but thought in you, you wouldn’t even know you are thinking…C.S. Lewis writes something similar in either mere Christianity or the Problem with Pain.

An emerging new dimension of consciousness…but how can it be new if it is already there????

Page 56: Tolle ends the chapter with a discourse on peace – an elusive, ethereal, transformational peace. He backs up his opinion by quoting Paul, but he only half quotes the verse (Philippians 4:7)…Tolle calls this transformation a peace that passes all understanding, using Paul’s words, but what he deliberately cuts from the verse is the following phrase…the peace of God which passes all understanding…will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus!...in other words, Paul is talking about a peace that leads us to Christ, not Tolle’s transformation consciousness! This is one of the worst usages of scriptures in the book.

Page 57: Spirit is released from the its imprisonment through death….Buddhism & Gnosticism together. This leads us to this great self-awareness, this I AMness which is the peace of God. But this is not what Paul states…this peace of God can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Talks about the old ego becoming contracted, more rigid, impenetrable, bitter and resentful. He’s laying the groundwork for identifying Church and Christianity with this ego. Clever move by Tolle.

Page 58: Resistance means you are closed to the transformation and that the universe will not be on your side. Has Tolle suddenly become God? How does he know what the universe will or won’t do?????

Starts to talk about creative intelligence…is this back door theism/ Deism????

You rest in God when you surrender. God = peace. There is no need for confession or conviction, judgment or absolution – just the right transformational awareness. For Tolle, this is the equivalent of being justified through faith…but not faith in Christ, faith in our own awareness, beingness, and I AMness.

A New Earth - Part 3

Tertullian Revisited: Chapter 7: Modern Heresy is only paganism revisited.

Chapter 7: Heresy is paganism revisited.

The world is wise in its own eyes. It has always chosen to be blinded by its own reason and to shut out God. The world is man’s attempt to build for himself a Garden of Eden. If he can shut out God, he thinks he can be happy; but all that he will become is isolated and deluded – in other words, man’s Eden becomes a living hell.

Man uses his mind to sever himself from God. He concocts words and makes mighty manuscripts to rid himself of God’s penetrating presence. Sadly, he forgets that God is both the Original Spirit and the Progenitor of the Living Word. No matter how excellently man crafts his words and creates his ideas, he can never separate himself from the One, True and Living God, for man’s existence and thought is dependent upon the benevolent sovereignty and favor of God.

Each generation produces its unholy band of heretics. Today’s world is not protected from the foolish prognostications of false prophets and deluded philosophers. As each century passes, the attempts of universalists and atheists to attack the Church become more puerile, belligerent, and bellicose. They attempt to lure the masses away from Church by talking of the death of God, the decline of Christianity, and the irrelevance of Christ. But this is the mere buzzing of flies and biting of gnats. Their personal philosophies will not outlive them by more than a few decades. The Church, however, will grow stronger each day until the promised end of Time.

Rational modern and post-modern men are both the same: existentialists who dream that their own generation is the finest and most able to pull apart the Church. They do not believe that the soul can be eternal and that death extinguishes everything. Were they to admit to the immortality of their souls, they would have to accept that a Higher Being exists. Were they to accept a Higher Being, then they would have to admit that their own reasoning is limited. Thus they opt to believe that the soul dies, but they cannot say how it decays unless the soul is actually the mind, in which case it dies with the brain, but where and when does the soul begin or end, they do not know.

Heretics deal with the same questions that the Church provides answers: why is there evil in the world? Why is it permitted by God? Where did Man originate? What is His purpose? What is the meaning of Life?

Rather than accept the Church’s teaching on these matters, the heretic pursues his own answers. He does not ask for discernment, but expects enlightenment. He does not seek God’s guidance, but believes he is following a godly path. He rejects the wisdom of the Church and the ancient wisdom of God; instead he embraces popular myths, superstitions, and philosophies in order to be embraced by the world in return. In other words, the heretic is no prophet; he is a populist.

Heretics are stimulated by debate and seek to glorify words and phrases, ideas and opinions that enhance their reputations. Modern heretics of prosperity gospel reject humility gospel and squander their talents on gaining gain and making more. Any who confront them are treated as idiots and any who contest their sincerity are vehemently attacked. The Christian who stands up to these enemies of the Church may experience hatred and venom, especially from those heretics who abide within the Church.

Using sweet words and respected research, heretics maintain that their ideas and interpretations of scripture are the ones that current man should adopt. The past is treated as being non-essential and traditional history is meaningless. They seek to find the historical Christ, bleeding Him dry of His words and diminishing His ministry. They reinterpret scripture to fit their own lifestyle choices and brand Christ the Great Universalist, whose toleration and compassion knew no exclusivity. In other words, they reinvent the Gospel by becoming modern day Marcionites and Theological termites.

To the heretic, truth is no longer absolute and Christ’s words have no absolute meaning. Christ’s ministry is localized to those who believe Him in certain areas of the world. Salvation is found all over the earth in the purity of religious fervor. Whoever believes sincerely in what he or she sincerely believes is saved by their sincere desire to believe in their own god. This is not Gospel, for in Gospel Christ says “Believe in me and also in God.”

What is there that separates Christians from heretics? Both believe in truth: for the Christian, truth is found in Christ; for the heretic, truth is found inside himself.

Christianity is too simplistic for the heretic. He wants to rationalize, complicate, and complement his faith and uses his own mind to do so. He does not realize that he is idolizing his own insights, instead of Christ’s teachings.

The Church’s role is to remain true to Christ: all others goals are incidental.

To be possessed by Christ is to know His endearing and eternal love. To be possessed by heresy is to callously reject Christ’s embrace, and instead, to choose to be seduced by spiritual narcissism.

Our faith in Christ should be enough. If it isn’t, then we haven’t faith in Him, only in ourselves.

Tertullian Revisited: Chapter 6: Heresy is sinfully chosen over the will of Christ.

To reject a heretic is to disarm him of any credibility. The task of the Church is not only to neutralize the ideas and opinions of heretics, but also to enhance and edify orthodox beliefs. The unity of the Church across the centuries depends upon its ability to confront heresy and maintain the authority of Christ’s message at the same time. Too harsh a condemnation will result in people rooting for the underdog and taking up with heresy. Too much indifference and heresy will grow like a theological tumor on the body of Christ.

A person chooses to be heretical and accepts false teachings because of the power, esteem and assurance it gives him. The teachings of Christ are diminished and His sovereignty is questioned. A typical heretic will not be able to give Christ the proper respect and authority that He has. Christ’s sovereignty is denigrated by the heretic through not being able to express Christ’s absolute power of salvation. The heretic chooses to not believe that Christ is the Only Savior of the world, despite what the Bible reveals to us. Rather than accept the traditions of scripture and the historical authority of the Church, the heretic chooses to accept the false utterances of his teachers, or his own voice.

Heretics are therefore self-condemned because they individually choose to defy God’s Word and accept their own understanding. They allow the secular culture to mold their views and will not accept the unchangeable truths of the Gospel values. Heretics contend with the church and advocate on behalf of the world. They have forgotten once again that the Church is not empowered by their wishes, beliefs or ideas. The Church is established and rooted in the total word of God.

Our example comes from the words of the first disciples and apostles of the Church. They chose to simply accept Christ’s words and ways. Their devotion to Him after the resurrection was absolute. Their words are witnesses to who Christ was and what He still is today. Heretics put themselves above the witness of the disciples. They believe that their own life experiences are more relevant to their beliefs today. They refuse to accept the simple truth – that the first apostles expressed an absolute confidence in the message of the Gospel and pledged their total allegiance to Jesus Christ.

Any gospel which is contrary to the true Gospel is heresy. Religious Universalism, prosperity gospel, divine entitlement and pluralistic salvation are common heresies in the Church today. And remember, heresy exists in the Church, not outside of it!

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to reveal to us the truth of Christ’s Gospel. When we spurn the Living Words of Christ and denigrate His sovereignty, we oppose the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus heresy is a direct confrontation with God. The Bride of Christ needs to appear before Christ as worthy and unblemished. The rooting out of heresy has to come from within the Church.

Tertullian Revisited: Chapter 5 - Every Generation in the Church needs to be aware of Heresy

Chapter 5 - Every Generation in the Church needs to be aware of Heresy.

Apart from confronting heresy, the Church also needs to use it as a means of fortifying the faith. The Gospel message has to be purely preached in every generation, otherwise the values of the past, which belong to Christ, will degenerate and faith will diminish. Popular slogans such as “getting back to the basics” or “what would Jesus do?” have lost their appeal because they have been used too often and treated glibly by Christians. What the Church requires is a long term plan for each generation to be nurtured and grown in the faith from birth to death. Biblical ignorance feeds heresy; Christian education destroys it.

Heresy seeks out the young and the lost. It looks for immaturity of faith and disappointment in the Church. It preys upon dissension and division, uncertainty and unholiness. It is cultic and tantalizing, hypnotic and intriguing. Souls are lost to heresy in people that seek flattery, importance and esteem, instead of humility, service, and devotion to God.

The degrees of heresy manifest themselves in arrogance, petulance, belligerence, and indifference. Instead of supporting the life, work, and mission of the Church, heretics have their own agenda to which all else must submit. They thrive on the silent and impassive nature of the sheepish majority. Where churches seek to keep the peace amongst the faithful, heresies abound because courtesy builds a hedge around confrontation. Where churches seek to make peace with God, heresy is confronted and exposed.

The real damage that heresies make in the Church is the amount of divisions that can occur in any one group. Fragmentation of the faithful community and severing traditional ways are given a high priority by heretics. They don’t want to be chained to the past, because this would make them mere servants of God. They want to emerge as a dominant force amongst the faithful, instead of merging with past generations. In short, they seek to glorify themselves and be exalted above all past generations. They see their movement as essential to the Church of tomorrow, forgetting that Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Past leaders of the Christ’s Church have tackled heresy by pointing out its failures to submit to the will of God and be subservient to Jesus. The tragedy of today’s Church is that it wants to be all inclusive at the expense of being faithful to God’s Kingdom. The Gospel values of the past are jettisoned, whilst the ever-present culture is engaged. Instead of being wed to Christ, the Church wants to be wooed by the world. Heresy, therefore, is a departure from all that has been revered in the past. It seeks to be falsely revered for its own sake, instead of being willing to be scorned for Christ’s sake.

Preaching Heresy - Mega Churches & the Prosperity Gospel

Luke 12:31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. (NIV)

A lot of Americans are buying into what has been coined as “the prosperity gospel.” Its message goes something like this: God will be good to you, if you believe in His promises; God will make you successful, if you ask Him. It ties up the American dream with the Christian faith, and a lot of mega-churches are promoting this rags-to-riches, gospel-to-glory type of message.

It sounds like a good idea and certainly makes for great marketing, but it’s not what Christianity is all about. The promoters of the ‘prosperity gospel’ are actually peddling a heresy. In other words, they’re twisting the truth of the gospel into something that it was never meant to become. I mean think about it: can you imagine Jesus telling the folks of His day that their debt would be taken care of, just by giving money to His Galilean ministry? Do we really think that Christ, who told the rich young man to give up all of his possessions, would preach a message saying that God would supply everything we ever wanted? If we all read the Gospels properly, we find that Jesus talks more about giving than getting.

It’s very easy to get caught up in a cycle of fulfilling our desires and meeting our wants than it is to sacrificially give and be content with what we need. The world tells us to fulfill our goals and not to deny our dreams. Jesus, on the other hand, tells us to seek God’s kingdom and find all that we need in Him. Instead of a prosperity or property gospel, Christ preaches and teaches an uncomplicated, uncompromising message about self-denial, self-sacrifice, and selflessness. The old adage of “God helps those who help themselves” was never spoken by Jesus. You won’t find it in the Bible either; it was first uttered by Benjamin Franklin.

The danger of this prosperity heresy is that we can become envious of those who succeed in life by applying this false teaching. And that in itself becomes a subtle temptation to give up on what we know to be the truth, and turn to populist teachings to fulfill our lives. If you take time to read all of Psalm 73, you will discover how one person goes through this temptation, but eventually turns away from it and seeks God’s presence instead.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, there are many who preach Your words today and use them for their own profit. Help us to discern between those who remain faithful to Your lessons for life, as opposed to those who peddle Your Gospel and Holy words for their own wealth and success. In Your Sacred Name, we pray. Amen.

Tertullian Revisited: Chapter 4: Tolerating Heretics destroys the Church

Some people find it difficult to call others in their midst, “heretics.” We live in a culture where tolerance is the panacea to all our troubles, and intolerance is anathema to peace and unity. But it was Jesus Himself who pointed out that heretics would be in our midst. We delude ourselves if we believe that He is totally tolerant of those who would twist His words and bend the truth of the Gospel. Heresy happens because we are phobic about being called “intolerant.” We have believed the world’s propaganda that we are narrow-minded, conservative reactionaries instead of faithful servants of Christ. We are not Torquemada and the Inquisition; we are followers of Christ and of His Kingdom. The world crucified Christ – are we so deluded that we think it will deal with us without hostility?

Those who are heretics often present themselves in the noblest of terms. They are seeking to be inclusive and non-judgmental. They want peace in the world and equality for everyone. They preach a message of tolerance, yet beneath their words there is a deep intolerance of those who keep to the old ways, the lasting virtues, and Gospel values. They want to devour the Church and make it bend to their universalistic will. They forget that the Church is Christ’s Bride – it submits to no will but His own.

It is both sad and shocking to realize that most heretics come from the ranks of the clergy. They have their own personal agenda to make the Church what they want it to be. They lead with deceit and seek to make more followers of themselves. They preach their own gospel and set aside Christ’s words, work, and ways. They look for weak-minded people and lovers of selves, hoping to bring them into their pack by disguising it as a flock. On the outside, their congregations look like a church, but on the inside false teaching, narcissistic nurturing, and worldly views are treated and presented as being Christian.

The heretics proclaim a rosier future where all people can live in peace throughout the world – a utopian place where all thoughts are acceptable, all notions are tolerated, and all religions are the same. They seek a perfect world, but not the perfect kingdom; they want a united world, but not a united faith; they seek the glory of God for themselves and look to plunder the Church. Heretics are dangerous teachers – they contaminate souls and dismember the body of Christ.

The object of heresy is to make as many disciples as possible to strengthen their ideas and to bolster their opinions. They denounce their opponents as uncaring, unloving, and unchristian people. They seek to divide and conquer. They gloat when some sheep leave the fold. They glory in apostasy and revel in the moral ambivalence of the people. Heretics abound where Biblical ignorance exists. They confound the faithful by willfully misinterpreting the scriptures and questioning Biblical authority. They are more interested in the present times than the past. They are more concerned with things happening now, than those which are still to come. They judge people today, forgetting about the judgment that awaits all of us tomorrow.

The ability of heresy to camouflage itself in the life of the Church is what makes it so dangerous, and needs to be exposed. The choosing of Church leaders needs to be carefully scrutinized; the positioning of teachers in our seminaries needs to be fully recovered by the Church; and the publishing of heretical works under the guise of being academic needs to be halted. Gospel values are undermined when the Church neglects to uphold traditional beliefs and to promote the Gospel. If the Church has become a channel for promulgating Christless studies and false teachings by our preachers, doctors, and professors, then we have become apostate in nature and need to repent. And remember, heretics do not see the need for repentance, nor do they wish to humble themselves before God.

Just because a heretic can present his or her false teachings in a sound and studious manner, does not mean that their heresy is any less. The arch advocate for apostasy eloquently argued with Christ in the wilderness, using scripture and doctrine, flattery and logic to present his case. Christ, however badly He was tempted, did not succumb to the heretic from hell’s words. Christ resolutely remained loyal to God and stuck to the Truth. He did not compromise His beliefs; He did not yield to false arguments in order to be accommodate His opponent, nor did Christ respect the devil’s research and knowledge. In order to remain faithful to Christ, we must be ready to do the same.

Tertullian revisited; Chapter 3 - Heretics Makes Themselves Unwelcome in the Church

Chapter 3: Heretics make themselves unwelcome in the Church

False assurance and a smug attitude bedevil the heretic. He is so enchanted by his own twisted logic that he loses the ability to doubt his feelings, turning his faith into a fierce fanaticism that seeks to devour the weak and make more converts to his side.

The Church must ask itself: how does this happen? How could faithful people be so beguiled by their own thoughts that they give up on Christ and set aside Gospel values? What has caused them to fail God?

The shame of the Church is this: that those who once espoused a faithful life are now inclined to berate Christ’s followers and subvert the Gospel. The heretic now has his own agenda to destroy the Church from within, looking to corrupt the body of Christ with a disloyal, agitated, and unloving heart.

The Bible is full of fallen servants, whose desires overcome their devotion to God. They are plagued with envy, guilt, and pride. In order to be restored to God’s community, they need to seek mercy and grace, forgiveness and pardon.

The heretic cannot bring himself to do this. His false integrity and uncompromising pride makes him withhold his contrition and repentance, leading him into the path of perdition.

Only Christ persevered through life to overcome doubt and temptation, selfishness and sin. Christ’s followers, however, cannot claim the same. Christians from all sacred stations and in all walks of life fall from grace. In doing so, does this invalidate the Gospel? Does their hypocrisy diminish Christ’s authority?

Is faith proven only by our avoidance of sin? Is our grasp of God important to others who want to believe in Him? Have we wrested away God’s sovereignty by our inability to remain true at all times? Are we in danger of losing the Faith by losing our faith? Those who complete the journey of life are true Christians. Those who are still on the path to glory are called pilgrims.

We look for evidence of faith on the outside of a man. We judge his faith by his deeds, not his motives. We are blind to the inward struggle that people of faith often experience. We can only see what we want to see, but God sees further still. All hearts are disclosed to His gaze. All thoughts are known by Him alone.

God knows those who are His and He embraces those who belong to Him, even if they have fallen from grace. God loves the sinner without embracing the sin. And the faithful fallen one seeks His clemency and benevolence, favor and restoration.

Not so the heretic. He remains pure in his own eyes and does not seek the Lord’s favor. He makes his own restitution and belittles those who acknowledge their weaknesses. The heretic wallows in his own thoughts and bathes his soul in his own understanding.

Even amongst Christ’s own company, of those who walked and talked with Him, were some who chose to go another way. His message was too hard to endure; His demands were too high to achieve. They chose to make their own religion and follow an easier way. But not all of Christ’s disciples chose this. Some remained with Him until His arrest. The way was hard, but they kept their hope in the Lord.

In every generation, they are those who start on the Lord’s company, but end up taking their own sides. No church, no community of faith, no congregation of the faithful is without its critics or heretics. Even in the Lord’s solemn and sacred company of apostles was one who would choose to betray Him.

We are naïve if we believe that the Church is perfect and free from heresy. The sad thing to note is this: the Church is the breeding ground for heresy. It strikes from within and causes trouble amongst the faithful. Shepherds of the sheep must always be vigilant and look for leaders of the wolf pack.

In the end, heretics choose schism over sanctification, and division instead of devotion. They are not forced out of the church; they separate themselves from the body of Christ. They enforce their own anathema.

Tertullian Revisted: Chapter 2: Heresy is a Virus that Attacks the Church in Every Generation

Chapter 2: Heresy is a Virus that Attacks the Church from Within.

Heresy’s existence in the church is not a cause for alarm, but of pity. Just like a computer virus, the heretic has been contaminated with bad theology and wayward faith. He or she has supplanted humility with pride, faith with arrogance, and belief with obstinacy. The heretic believes that he or she is expressing their freedom and free will. The trouble is this: they become ensnared by their own folly; they become captive to their own confused hearts.

Heresy’s power lies in its ability to intrigue the dilapidated soul into thinking it has discovered a mysterious secret. It entwines the spirit by seducing thought, suppressing doubt, and casting God aside. All answers to life’s mysteries are found from within and each time a spiritual solution is uncovered, Christ is diminished whilst the heretic is glorified. It is a pleasant process of self-idolization and personal enlightenment. The soul is hypnotized by the merest flicker of light from within. The utter grandeur of God is forgotten and the obsession to fuel the heretical spirit with spiritual self-devotion is no longer a temptation. The heretic, therefore, cannibalizes his or her own spirit, not realizing that he or she is emptying their precious soul.

Christian heresy, if there is such a thing, is not to be admired nor accepted. Its power to deceive is subtle and over the years a gradual loss of traditional Gospel values gives way to a flood of inconsistent standards and self-deceptive doctrine. To guard against it, the Christian believer needs to daily bathe his or her spirit in prayer, meditation, thanksgiving, and supplication. Surrendering to God’s authority and reminding oneself of being a creature, guards against a multitude of heresies and protects the believer from wandering off the true path.

Curiosity and a morbid fascination with heresy, disrespect for boundaries and an over indulgent self can lead one down the path to heresy. What begins as an intriguing journey ends up in an entangled wilderness of abandoned faith and lost hope. The heretic deludes her or himself that everyone else is wrong and that they are ultimately right, forgetting that the Only One who is completely right is God.

To counter heresy, the believer has to avoid its charms. All heresies begin with a kernel of truth that becomes warped and worms its way into the heart and soul of a spiritually shallow person. Most heretics are unaware that they are toying with heresy or that their spirits are endangered. They spurn all help to set them on the right path and end up down a blind alley. What begins as a journey to discover the secret of truth and light becomes a pathway to self-delusion and an inward darkness of the soul.

Heresies have no power of their own. Like the demons of the past, they are only empowered by what credence or acceptance we give to them. Superficiality, superstition, and slothfulness are key ingredients in perpetuating heretical myths, theories, and doctrine. Short cut theology and cultic behavior attract infantile spirits and shallow souls.

Heresies abound where dogmatic confrontation is avoided. Heresies slowly smother traditional values by displacing long held components of the Gospels and Christian beliefs. Heretics bully people into adopting their ways and attack the Church in order to create disorder. A Church divided is easily invaded. A Church that is weary is easily won over.

Heresy worms its way into the Church through the weakest walls and over broken boundaries. The Church must ever be vigilant in every generation, for without having sentinels, the sacred will be usurped, faith will be depleted, and the people will be dispersed.

Erin Church Daily Devotional: Tertullian - A Braveheart Warrior in Heretical Times

Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. (NIV)

For a long time, I have wanted to read the works of an ancient presbyter called Tertullian. He lived during the second century AD and spent most of his life fighting the heresies that were prevalent in the Early Church. His writings laid the foundation of much that we believe in the church today. He was a warrior for the faith and he influenced a whole new generation of church leaders, who went on to strengthen Christianity and protect it from the false teachings of the Gnostics.

In my heart, I feel that there is something gravely wrong with the Western Church today. We have gone down a path that leads to a dead end. For decades, I have heard people say that the church needs to be more inclusive, politically correct, and tolerant of other people’s life styles in order to be accepted by the world. But if this is the case, then why is Western Christianity dying?

Even in our own denomination, the PCUSA, diversity is worshipped and glorified as the best way to keep us relevant in society. But if this is true, then why has our denomination declined by over 15% in the last ten years? If embracing the new culture is meant to be the panacea to keep us strong, then why are PCUSA congregations diminishing in size, influence, and relevance?

This is why I am reading Tertullian. He was a man of his times who confronted the heretical threats to the church. In reading his works, I personally hope to find a way to counter our Christless culture and find the right path for the church to grow, be more influential, and make a positive impact in society.

I am working on an online study series of Tertullian’s works, as well as a parallel 21st century apologetic to confront the new heresies in the church today. If you would like to sign up for the online study, then send me an email at Traqair@aol.com . Write Tertullian in the subject line and I will get you signed up via the church’s webmail. If you would like to see what the apologetic looks like, then please visit my wordpress blog at

http://stushie.wordpress.com/

Prayer: Lord Jesus, these are confusing and conflicting days for Your Church. We are being crushed by society and ignored by our culture. We are trying to please everybody, forgetting that we should only please You. Forgive us for taking the wrong path and help us to return to Your Highway. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Tertullian Revisited: Chapter 1 - Heresy in the Church

Tertullian Revisited

Chapter 1: Heresies Exist

The character of the beginning of the 21st century is such that people everywhere declare their own truths to be self-evident in their own lives. Institutional truth is rejected, but individual truth is revered. Traditional values are mocked, whilst brazen boldness is idolized. In his search for ultimate pleasure and unrestricted delight, 21st century man leaves himself wide open to fascist extremes and oppressive regimes. Unless the Church is willing to confront and check this sordid tide of unfettered secularism, humankind is doomed to enter into another Dark Age.

Heresy in the Church manifests in an uber-utopian view that all religions are the same. Inter-faith dialogue becomes a vehicle of un-vetted tolerance and acceptance which leads to a diminishing of Gospel values. The relentless pursuit of inter-faith narcissism causes many to syncretise their beliefs into a melted mush of manufactured meanderings, where the Christian beliefs of the pilgrim are set aside in order to welcome a New Age of Christless cooperation and godless junk.

The existence of heresy in the 21st century Church has occurred because of the blurring of boundaries and the slothful surrendering of sacred values by its leaders. Instead of being gatekeepers and shepherds, they have become innkeepers and goatherds. Their lack of faithful parameters has permitted a wide diverse community to penetrate the Church and destroy it from within. The old ways have folded and the new ways have been anointed. Everlasting Titles of Father, Savior and Lord are being hedonistically set aside because they reduce humankind to helpless, servile children. God no longer has the monopoly over omnipotence and omniscience – 21st century man seeks to steal both those apples and claim them for his own.

Body Talk

Matthew 16:21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (NIV)

There’s a pastor in the neighboring Presbytery who preached yesterday that he believes Christ’s body decayed like any other human being’s. In other words, he doesn’t affirm the Apostles’ Creed, nor does he subscribe to the faith point that Jesus’ crucified body was actually raised from the dead by God. I guess he won’t be preaching about Thomas’ disbelief and the nail prints in Christ’s hands next week either.

I feel sorry for the guy because I think he has lost his faith in Christ, in the scriptures, and in God. He’s preaching an old message that was rejected by the Church sixteen centuries ago, which was called Docetism. The Docetists believed that Christ’s body never existed during the crucifixion and that His resurrection was a spiritual one. Strangely enough, that’s what Muslims believe about Jesus today.

The resurrection of Christ – the bodily resurrection of Jesus – is central to our faith. If Christ’s body hadn’t been resurrected by God, then only His Spirit would have been raised. That happened to Samuel way back in the Old Testament when King Saul got the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28) to raise his spirit from the land of shadows. If it was just Christ’s spirit alone that had been raised, then God would not have been doing anything new.

But the Gospels make it clear that it was Christ’s body that was raised from death. And this sets Christ apart from any other human being in history. This is what makes Him uniquely our Lord and Savior. This is what puts Him above all the other historic religious leaders – Christ was raised from the dead – body and all.

Easter is a beautiful time of year, not just because it is full of new life all around us in creation, but because a human body that was mutilated, maimed, and murdered was raised to life again. This is what we mean when we say “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” and this is what Christ Himself means when He says to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." (John 20:27)

If we say and believe otherwise, we’re calling Christ a liar. And that’s heresy.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we can get trapped into thinking that our own thinking is more sophisticated, knowledgeable, and superior to the first Gospel writers. We forget that they were heavily influenced by people who had first-hand experiences of all that the Gospels express. Keep us free from those who would pervert and subvert Your words and Your ways. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.