The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his125/cibnov87.lzh/CIBNOV87.TXT

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PER:Christian Information Bureau November 1987  by Dave Hunt

   Dear Praying Friends;

   This is a follow-up to last month's discussion of the Reformation.
It is staggering to see that in the so-called (we have largely
forgotten or consider unimportant what was "protested") Protestant
Church of today there are many parallels to what the Reformers
complained about in the Catholic Church of Luther's day. Moreover, many
of those who promote these false teachings have been elevated to
pedestals of Protestant infallibility as lofty as the Pope's and the
Catholic priesthood. To be a simple Berean and check the doctrines of
Christian leaders against the Bible is not only unthinkable today, but
is condemned as strongly as daring to question the Pope and Catholic
dogma was in Calvin's day and still is.

   It was and is the Pope's great authority, the huge Church he heads,
the fact that it has been around for so long, and as some insist, "the
great good (in spite of the evil) it has accomplished," that are used
to brush aside any questions of doctrinal purity that are raised. In
this manner any actual discussion of the issues and the merits of the
arguments for or against biblical accuracy are avoided. The same is now
true among evangelicals and charismatics. The popularity of a certain
leader, size of his church or ministry, how long it has been
established, and the great good he or she may have done become the
basis for deciding issues rather than the Bible.

   Two major foundation stones of the Reformation were: the sole
authority of the Bible and the priesthood of all believers. The Bible
teaches that neither man nor organization can add to or take from
Scripture or interpret it for others. The response of the Council of
Trent in 1545 was to reject the Reformer's cry of "Sola Scripture!" and
to declare that the Bible was not enough for life and doctrine; that in
addition there were the pronuncements of the Pope, of the Congress of
Cardinals and the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Clearly, the
situation is very similiar among Protestants today.

   There are, of course, the Earl Paulks and other "prophets" who claim
to have "new revelations" that cannot be judged by anone and even deny
the right and responsibility of each believer to check what he has been
taught against the Bible. Paulk says, "When we take our Bibles home,
get on our knees and make our own decisions concerning the preacher's
sermon, we decide the truth of God's anointing [upon a preacher or
ministry] according to our own private interpretations." (That The
World May Know, p.144.) He condemns this Berean activity, although the
Bible calls it "noble."

   Similarly, todays' Christian psychologists," a new infallible
priesthood unknown at the Reformation but accepted among both
Protestants and Catholics for several decades now, also reject the cry
of "Sola Scripture!" with their own slogan, "All truth is God's truth!"
One can no longer be a simple Berean and "search the scriptures daily"
to see whether what is being taught is biblical. No longer is all of
"God's truth" pertaining to "life and godliness" (2 Pet.1:2-8) to be
found where the Bereans looked but in a new source unknown not only to
the early church but all down through history until this century. New
"revelations" have been given through the godless, antichristian
apostles and prophets of psychology (Freud, Jung, et al) and accepted
by the church as of equal authority with the Bible. (Please see Beyond
Seduction, chapters 6-9 for a more detailed discussion.)

   The reformers objected to the images of the Catholic Church, which
they considered to be a form of idolatry. In its rejection of the
reforms that were so desperately needed, the Council of Trent justified
the retention of images, which remain an important part of Catholicism
today. The fact so many of the "saints" had used this method and that
so many had found images helpful for prayer and worship was sufficient
justification to override biblical prohibition. That was bad enough.
But now, largely throught the influence of Jungian psychology, both
Protestants and Catholics have lately embraced an even deadlier form of
idolatry: visualized images in the imagination that come alive and even
speak! Contact has clearly been made with the spirit world, but not
with God or Christ.

   Christian psychologists justify visualizing "Jesus" as a necessary
"inner healing" therapeutic technique for dealing with "traumas"
allegedly buried deep in the unconscious and which biblical methods
such as prayer, repentance, obedience, faith, and being filled with the
Spirit etc. supposedly cannot reach. Thus we have diagnoses and cures
which cannot be found in scripture and which the church did not need
for 1900 years, but which we are now told are essential. This is all
justified because it "works" so well for so many; and because it is
taught in a part of "God's truth" that somehow was left out of the
Bible, although that Holy Book claims to have given all that is needed
for the man or woman of God to be "throughly furnished unto all good
works" (2 Tim.3:16-17).

   It is astonishing enough that the secular world has embraced
shamanism (witchcraft) in modern form and is training itself to be
demonized through visualizing "inner guides" as part of the new
transpersonal psychological, medical and sef-improvement techniques
that have recently become so popular. It is more than astonishing,
however, that the evangelical church (not just the liberals and
modernists has accepted and is promoting the same techniques among the
unsuspecting sheep of our Lord's flock. And again today's Protestants
and Catholics have joined together in the same unbiblical practice,
which is far more dangerous than the images of wood and stone that the
Reformers criticized. Those Protestant "inner healers" who justify
their practice because the visualized "Jesus" performs so well must
explain how it is that the "Mary" being visualized by the Catholics has
no less power to heal. And of course both must explain how it is that
all manner of "guides" visualized by occultists (from "space brothers"
and Ascended Masters to coyotes) perform just as well as "Jesus" or
"Mary."

   We have to agree with A. W. Tozer that a revival of today's
Christianity would set the cause of Christ back at least 100 years.
What we need is a new Reformation!

   In Christ's love, Dave Hunt

   This has been put up on the board by the kind permission of the
staff of CIB, and I would encourage you to write to the address that
was at the beginning of this message to order their monthly newsletter
for $12.00 U.S. per year. Make sure that chegues are on a U.S. money
order and payable to:

   Christian Information Bureau

   PO Box 3120

   Camarillo Ca 93011