"Most of us began our journey into faith with trusting hearts. Yet incidents of abuse, media accounts of perverted religion, personal disappointment, loss, betrayal, and even unrealistic expectations of God can cause us to develop a warped or damaged view of faith. Too often, what began as an authentic relationship with God deteriorates into a defective faith with an incomplete or poisoned view of God — one that allows the religion, not the relationship with God, to control our life." Stephen Arterburn
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"Spiritual abuse occurs when someone in a position of spiritual authority, the purpose of which is to 'come underneath' and serve, build, equip and make God's people MORE free, misuses that authority placing themselves over God's people to control, coerce or manipulate them for seemingly Godly purposes which are really their own." Jeff VanVonderen
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“The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” Mark Noll in The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind
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Joshua Harris, C.J. Mahaney’s successor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has risen almost as fast in reformed circles as his mentor. Josh has learned how to play the SGM game well as he follows in C.J.’s footsteps. The first endorsement in Mahaney’s masterpiece Living the Cross Centered Life is written by Josh.
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As I mentioned in the post “How I Discovered Mahaney Mania”, I purchased C.J. Mahaney’s so-called masterpiece when it first came out in 2006. Had I read it back then, I probably would have concluded: well, at least the author focuses on the cross, which has been shunned by so many mainline churches. Then I would have put it away — out of sight, out of mind. However, that’s not what happened… Having acquired considerable knowledge about C.J. Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries, and their connections to the “Reformed Big Dogs” over the past year and a half, I have a much different perspective on Mahaney’s book.
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“MAHANIACS” – Read at your own risk… What follows may challenge what you’ve been taught.
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“The hallmark of an authentic evangelicalism is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions, but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny and, if necessary, reform.” — John Stott Ever wonder where our contemporary church practices come from? Authors Frank Viola and George Barna in their book Pagan Christianity (Tyndale 2008) take a hard look at the roots of our church practices and traditions. They pose the simple question “how do these [current church] practices square with Scripture and the practices of the first-century church.” Surprisingly, many of our typical church traditions are rooted historically in pagan practices. Read the rest of this entry »
"The essence of legalism is trusting in religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is placing our confidence in a practice rather than in a Person – and, without fail, this will lead us to love the practice more than the Person."
http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/181223-what-legalism.html
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"Midway this life, I came to myself in the midst of a dark wood."
-Dante in The Divine Comedy
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The Wartburg Watch received this “private” communication. Presumably, he didn’t want to embarrass us in public. But, we don’t mind in the least. We have withheld his name to…..well, read it and you will understand. Needless to say, he is not a guest blogger. OK, Lydia and gang, we are posting this in order to show the world how some people think. I promise, I did not change one thing in this note except for his name. Yep, we are poor mentally imbalanced souls along with Tom Rich who also published a letter from this silly boy.
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"Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they "own" their bodies – those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another!"
C S Lewis
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So, C.J Mahaney, the self-professed “Head Apostle” of Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM) has decided to teach the rest of us egotistical Christians how to be humble. What is so alarming about his book is that many churches are buying hundreds of copies and distributing them to their pastoral staff, church leaders, and congregants. Why alarming? Are we being a bit over the top? Absolutely not and we intend to prove it.
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Jeremiah 5:26 (The prophet speaking for God):…” for wicked men are found among My people…they set a trap, they catch men.” Then, “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority.” (vv. 30-31)
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