Jude 4  Fighting False Teachers Pt C: Mystics, Osteen, Myers, Moore 

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4 Certain men have crept in unnoticed...ungodly, who turn the grace of our God into lawless caprice - deny the only Lord God  and JC

I. Truth best explains all the facts; found at the convergence of Revelation -understood in context, Reason -logical consistency, and Reality -sets free from sin reproductive rlshp w/ God thru transformed mind/values/feelings/actions. Mt 28:20 2Tim 2:2 are u a T or F teacher?

II. Worship=Response to Revelation Abe-Gen 22  not just emotion, but cognitive, volitional, sacrificial action heart/mind/soul/strength-Lk 10:27  Fruit of lips that praise name...do good and share God pleased -Heb 13:15-16;  Why call me Lord and don't do what I say-Lk 6:46 

III. Uncritical Unity;  Crazy crowd (ecumenical or everybody OK; seeker pleasing vs holy Body of Christ/priesthood, 1Pt 2 bound together Eph 4:15;  same mind and judgment 1Cor 1:10 one accord-mind Phil 2:2   Jesus came to bring sword and separation; Denomination dominion 

IV. Material vs Spiritual. Prosperity; Broadway-populist  worth and value and goals from material , no weak, worldlings 

Pr 22:4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches and honor and life.  1Tim 6:10 the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves thru with many sorrows.

V. IrResponsible Grace (lawless-legalism)  Reformed Fatalism (Cov't vs Biblical Theology) vs HS led Responsibility – Rm 8; work out salvation Phil 2:13,  free will -whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely Rev 22:17;   know teaching if willing/determined to do it -Jn 7:17

2Cor 6::1 as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2Pt 3:18 grow in grace;  grace is power 2Cor 12

1Cor 5:10 by grace..am what I am, His grace toward me was not in vain; I labored more abundantly than..yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me

Mysticism, subjective experiences/feelings, ecstatic speech, mystery religions. Cx contemplative prayer vs contemplate word and obedience 

Charismatic, emotional concert; trips to heaven, direct revelation/prophecy from God; Faith in faith vs in Word in context. Cognitive.

Lord teach us to pray -Lk 11:1;  Watch & pray worthy to escape -Lk 21:36; let your requests be made known to God Phil 4:8; Be still and know  Ps 46:10

A.Teresa of Avila teaches that as one progresses in contemplation, there is a “suspension of the faculties,” i.e., an end to the ordinary operation of the intellect whereby we think, reason, formulate ideas, etc.; at this point God sovereignly infuses a transrational awareness of himself, what Dubay calls “a divinely bestowed absorption in knowing and loving and seeking” (Fire Within, 87)  crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/10-things-you-should-know-about-mysticism

The so-called beatific vision of God is the goal of virtually all forms of mysticism. This is the consummation of the mystic's earthly experience and growth; it is the face-to-face encounter with God that will come in heaven (1Jn 3:2; Rev 22:4; Mt 5:8). 

...experience of spiritual ecstasy or rapture, also referred to as “enthralling immersion in God,” “spiritual inebriation...”  Teresa of Avila describes it as “a glorious foolishness, a heavenly madness,” being “bewildered and inebriated in [God's] love;” such ecstasy rarely lasts for more than an hour, but is always indelible and unforgettable. With this experience one's inner life of loving and knowing is so intensified that sense perception of the external world is proportionately diminished, often altogether obscured.   Mystics would often speak of visionary experiences of angels, saints, and especially the Virgin Mary. However, many of the mystics insist that God's indwelling presence is evidenced not by visions but by his prompting virtuous actions within us. Some mystics (such as Teresa) also speak of transport of the soul (out of body experiences) and levitation of the body.

B. Since God lies beyond human expression, any attempt at naming him is doomed to failure; silence was viewed as a remedy for sinful uses of the tongue; it was a form of attentiveness to God; quiet recollection and rest in God; and the inevitable consequence of religious awe.  The mystic's experience of god's presence is so intense and personal that it can't be described in merely cognitive terms, i.e., in terms of knowing or understanding; in other words, mystical experience is ineffable; it is thus described either by means of metaphors drawn from the five senses  

BC cx God revealing himself to Moses in form and speech showing glory, using words.  Where is loving God with all our minds. Or praise or thks or glorifying Him????    Ex 33:18 Please, show me Your glory. 19 He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD/YHWH before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." 34:1 write the words...5 Now YHWH descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of YHWH. 6 And YHWH passed before him and proclaimed, "YHWH, YHWH God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in hesed and truth,7 keeping hesed for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."

C.Mystics insist that their mode of access to God is radically different from traditional forms such as prayer, the sacraments, Word, and other religious rituals; they argue that God does indeed become present in/through these activities, but not in any direct or immediate way: God's presence for the mystic is unmediated and direct. Finite realities (whether verbal, concrete, visual, etc.) are inadequate means to communicate the infinite. Genuine contact with God, therefore, requires relating to him in/through a new dimension that transcends the created order. Dubay explains: “This is what the Christian mystic means when he says that we reach God thru unknowing: we penetrate into the divine by a divine gift, not through an oriental process [such as Buddhist meditation] or set of techniques. We enter into God through no human means, no methods, no ideas [what is occasionally referred to as idealess knowing]” (54). The true experience of God's presence and love is not something attainable by utilizing human reasoning (such as observation, deduction, induction, inference, implication, or any form of intellectually based proofs); rather it is by a direct infusion from God himself that engages the spiritual (rather than mental) center of the individual

D. Mystics tended to interpret Scripture allegorically. They were thus often given to fanciful ideas about the meaning and application of the written Word. Mysticism often fails to place proper emphasis on divine transcendence (Isa. 55:8-9; 66:1-2  by placing extreme emphasis on God's immanence.   

BC: How about abiding in the Vine and His Words abiding in us Jn 15 The mystical emphasis on the love relationship between God and man can often lead to a neglect of divine holiness. It is also possible, in the mystic's pursuit of intimacy with God, to overemphasize the subjective fruit to the exclusion of the objective foundation. This is often the result of excessive introspection, of which some mystics were clearly guilty. We must be careful lest we become so infatuated with the internal experience of nearness to God that we forget the external work of the cross on which it is ultimately based. Our nearness to God is free to us, but it cost God everything: his only-begotten Son. Our focus is first and fundamentally outward, towards Calvary.

Joel Osteen: The atonement of Christ provides us with healing and the abundant life, acc to Osteen, but apparently receiving forgiveness from a holy God is not necessary. In numerous interviews and writings, Osteen has failed to proclaim that Jesus is the only way to heaven. He has repeatedly refused to agree with the teachings of the Bible that certain behaviors are sinful. This is not a new convert being interviewed; it’s the leader of a church of tens of thousands. Osteen can’t bring himself to support fundamental doctrines of the faith he claims to preach. His words communicate relativism and demonstrate a profoundly poor understanding of the Bible.
When you don’t talk about sin—and Osteen purposefully does not—you’re not preaching the whole gospel. When you barely, if ever, call sin what it is, you’re not helping anyone, least of all the sinner who is enslaved to sin (Jn 8:34; 2Cor 4:3; Mt 1:21 call His name Jesus, for Hw will save His people from their sins). Joel Osteen teaches that we are being saved from unhappiness and failure in life, not from sin and God’s wrath. Osteen does not teach that we need a divine rescue from judgment, but rather simply a self-improvement plan.  Osteen writes. “If you don’t think you can have something good, then you never will. The barrier is in your mind. . . . Your own wrong thinking can keep you from God’s best. . . . To experience [God’s] immeasurable favor, you must rid yourself of that small-minded thinking and start expecting God’s blessings, start anticipating promotion and supernatural increase. You must conceive it in your heart before you can receive it. In other words, you must make increase in your own thinking, then God will bring those things to pass” (from Your Best Life Now, chapter 1). There is nothing biblical about such teaching. There is no power inherent in positive think .  Tithing is the first key to financial prosperity.”  !!!!  https://www.gotquestions.org/Joel-Osteen.html 

Beth Moore’s most blatant heresy is undoubtedly her claims to have received a direct vision from God— a vision that contradicted the Scriptures entirely. In this vision, God supposedly told her that Roman Catholicism is one of God’s true Christian denominations and that he desires unity among the various denominations, including Catholicism. thekingsdale.wordpress.com/2013/09/03/beth-moore-false-teacher/ 

1. Personal non-Biblical revelation 2. False gospel of pragmatism, self-improvement and prosperity 3. Legalism 4. Glorification of humanity  5. Roman Catholicism as a Christian denomination

” I’d like to replay it to you in the form of a dialogue because when it occurred, it was as if God spoke every word concretely and audibly to me. In reality, what I’ll describe was expressed in my spirit rather than in my physical hearing. After spending years in relationship with God, seeking what He’s like and how He operates in Scripture, I, like many people, can get a sense of something He’s strongly impressing upon me without “hearing” precise words. When thoughts come to me out of the blue that I’m convinced did not originate in my own mind, if they’re consistent with God’s character and sound like something He would say in Scripture, I usually assume it’s Him. Ultimately, time proves whether or not I discerned the voice correctly. If it produces substantial fruit, I know it was God and I was on target. If nothing comes of it, I probably misunderstood or accidentally ascribed it to Him. None of us are beyond confusing our own thoughts with God’s, no matter how many times we’ve been around the bend with Him (Moore, “So Long,” pp. 325-326).

Joyce Meyer falsely teaches that : 1. Jesus went to hell to pay for our sins (Jn 19:30 it is finished); [If you don't believe Jesus went to hell, you cannot be saved:   "His spirit went to hell because that is where we deserve to go… There is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth." -The Most Important Decision You'll Ever Make, by Joyce Meyer, May 1993, page 37) ]

2. stopped being the Son of God at the cross (Father) and needed to be born again (firstborn?born-again); claims to get her teaching from direct revelation. 3. ***said that she is no longer a sinner.  4. teaches that we are now little gods 2Pt 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, thru the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that thru these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,.. longfortruth.com/2014/07/6-reasons-you-should-stop-listening-to-joyce-meyer/ 

False teachers who denounce false teachers (as well as truth teachers) https://cicministry.org/commentary/issue72.htm

ie objecting to Bruce Wilkinson's Prayer of Jabez “How much better to learn from the prayer of one of the more godly?? and exemplary characters in the Bible than from an obscure man who uttered a one sentence prayer“ BC Isn't all Scripture inspired and profitable? 

Three avenues to which we must be especially alert are the desire to find some new and interesting teaching or doctrine, an overreaction to other teaching errors in the church, and a desire to avoid criticism, particularly criticism from the world around us. 

It is hard to think of a biblical topic about which hundreds of books have not been written. On the most controversial of topics, such as baptism or eschatology, virtually every theological position has been staked out. Not every teacher is satisfied with describing various historical interpretations or presenting historically biblical truth in a clear and convincing fashion. For some, there is a need to blaze a path where no one has gone before, teaching the Bible in a way that is not dependent on any predecessor. 

One example of this was John Nelson Darby, whose desire to organize the Bible and its prophecy into a single definitive system produced what is now known as dispensationalism. His teachings led to deviations from historical understandings of the church, the sacraments!!!!! and, in some ways, original sin. BC Sacramentalists are Sacrilegious