Solomon asked for discernment and the LORD was greatly pleased

Reblogged from the-end-time.blogspot.com    

Posted: 04 Sep 2013 02:58 PM PDT

Everyone knows Solomon asked God for wisdom. However people forget that he actually asked God for two things. The second thing was discernment. Here is the verse:  
"Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9)
So Solomon asked for an understanding mind to govern and discernment to distinguish between good and evil, or right and wrong as some translations go.
Solomon's request was not only spiritual, for he already had a measure of discernment given his relationship with God and having learned from David, his father. But Solomon's request also related to civil and governing capacities. A total package- he was to be able to judge people rightly in matters, to solve controversies, and to be fair to one and all.
Solomon didn't consider himself and ask for a long life or wealth or health. He asked God for the tools to help him help God's people.
The LORD was greatly pleased with Solomon's request.

Rodin, The Thinker, Wikipedia photo

James says that if anyone lacks wisdom, he should ask God and He will give it without reproach. (James 1:5). God was pleased with Solomon's request, because at root, it honored God and served His people. The Spirit breathed inspiration to James that anyone could and should ask for wisdom. The Lord is not stingy with handing out wisdom or discernment. If you do not have the particular gift from the Spirit of discernment, you can simply ask for more discernment/wisdom in your daily life, and He will increase you. The intent is, you'll use it for God's glory and to help His people.
There is a flip side to this also. Solomon dissipated. When it was time for Solomon to build the Temple, the LORD had told Solomon in 1 Kings 6:12 that IF Solomon "will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father."
The glory that was Israel's military might, wealth, protection, and increase were onerously placed on Solomon's shoulders. As Matthew Henry said, "None employ themselves for God, without having his eye upon them. But God plainly let Solomon know that all the charge for building this temple, would neither excuse from obedience to the law of God, nor shelter from his judgments, in case of disobedience."
Luke 12:48b says, "Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required,"
Gill's Exposition says, "For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall, much be required: the more knowledge a man has, the more practice is expected from him; and the greater his gifts are, the more useful he ought to be, and diligent in the improvement of them"
The LORD reiterated the condition when Solomon prayed the dedication prayer at the newly built temple.
"But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins." (1 Kings 9:6-9)

photo credit: jinterwas via photopin cc

So with all Solomon's wisdom, he still backslid. With all his discernment, he allowed paganism into his heart in marrying over 700 women and having over 300 concubines. They were from foreign lands and they persuaded him to turn away from God and commit spiritual fornication with false gods.
Having wisdom and discernment is no guarantee that without all due purity in public and private life, you won't be turned away from God.
But do ask God for wisdom. If you dare! Wisdom is knowing how to apply your knowledge. Discernment is detecting not just right from wrong or good from evil, "but right from almost right" (Charles Spurgeon).
It goes without saying the discernment and wisdom that we yearn for and live by are God's truths, not man's. Live by His statutes and His paths, and ask for the wisdom and discernment to always remain there, walking uprightly in His wise ways. Discernment is a bestowal from the Lord which honors Him and serves the brethren. And it greatly pleases the Lord when we ask for it.

Discerning The Circle Maker's advertising techniques and how they match Genesis 3

 Reblogged from Elizabeth´s Prata´s the-end-time.blogspot.com

Just two days ago, I published a piece about the book, The Circle Maker, written by Mark Batterson and released in 2012. I'd left the issue alone until then, choosing not to do a book review or a discernment essay on it because it seemed so obvious that this was something Christians should not be involved in. But at the end of 2012 it became clear that Batterson's concept of casting a circle to claim God's promises to unleash our dreams was saturating even the most stalwart bastions of the faith, when the organizers and participant of the True Woman conference including Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Joni Earicksen Tada, promoted it. These are elder woman who should be leading us women into a deeper faith, not into occult and pagan practices that originate from outside the bible. I was pretty shocked.

Many other fine essays exist on the internet that show you in biblical terms why Batterson's circle making is unwise and even dangerous, including a review by pastor and Christian book reviewer Tim Challies. In the piece I linked to above, there is a set of links at the bottom to some of those writings.

So I developed a piece from an angle that demonstrated in pictures that the practice Batterson promotes is not new and it is not Christian.

However I'd like to write about it one more time, this time as a discernment piece to unpack the way he presented it. Something that Mr Batterson said sticks in my craw, and though I'd planned a piece today examining an uplifting verse from Matthew, I am switching to get this down first. It's like what Jude said,

"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3)

I am contending. Hopefully this will help someone be discerning, not just of The Circle Maker but in general and armed for the future by unpacking the techniques used to attract people to the book and its premise, and how they are the same that satan used in the Garden against Eve.

See, in his promotional video and in the book's advertising blurb, Mr Batterson said:

"Do you ever sense that there's far more to prayer, and to God's vision for your life, than what you're experiencing?"

This is how successful advertisers always begin their pitch.

It is how satan began his pitch. He approached Eve and made her doubt what she knew, so she would be open to hearing a solution to a problem she didn't know she had.

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)

Then satan, taking a cue from Ron Popeil, said, 'but wait, there's more!' And satan presented to her a solution to her problem she didn't know she even had until satan pointed it out.

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5)

Eve wanted to fill the lack that she now understands she has in her life,

"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate", (Genesis 3:6a)

And like all false doctrine, it spreads quickly, corrupting others right away.

"and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." (Genesis 3:6b)

So there was Eve, the only sinless woman to ever live and she dwelled in utter perfection. The air temperature was perfect. Her surroundings were beautiful. Her body was perfect inside and out. The animals were perfect. She was never hungry or cold or angry or had any ache whatsoever. She had perfect harmony with her husband and perfect unity with God.

And yet satan was able to convince Eve that somewhere out there, there's more. He told her that her life lacked something, and she believed it. Taking the fruit, she ate, rationalizing all the way. Now read Mr Batterson's pitch again:

"Do you ever sense that there's far more to prayer, and to God's vision for your life, than what you're experiencing?"

I mourn daily that so many Christians forgo the praise that is due the Lord and forget how glorious a life we are actually living. Though we do not dwell in perfection like Eve did, we have perfection inside us.

First, let's stop a moment and thing of how full our lives really are. We have been saved by grace. This is monumental! As Dr MacArthur preached, we should be "adoring God for our eternal inheritance." When did we become discontent with the universe's most glorious act, the salvation of a sinner to the holy breast of God!?

But wait, there's more! God dwells inside us!! Wow! What a gift!

"But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." (Romans 8:9)

Jesus Himself deemed that He would send us a comforter, teacher, friend, and guide. Jesus said,

"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you."... (John 16:7). "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26).

But wait, there's more! If all that wasn't enough, we have the opportunity to pray to Him, and He listens. Have we become inured to the fact that God is God, He who calls Himself I AM, will listen to our petitions and pleas? Far from being disinterested or inattentive, Jesus is monumentally interested in bringing about Good for our sakes. He didn't save us just to wander off and sit on another planet contemplating His navel. He is involved with His people. He accepts praise and worship, and He ordains good for us. He listens to our prayers!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." (Romans 8:26).

But wait, there's more!

Jesus sent the Spirit to inspire men to write His words down, so that we could always have its wisdom and comfort to guide us also. The Spirit makes the words come alive and since they are eternal and come from the holy place, the words in the bible are eternally good.

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16).

There is so much more, too. We are justified, sanctified, have the privilege of prayer, have the incredible word, have the daily opportunity to serve Jesus, have treasures stored up in heaven, have an eternity awaiting us in glory...and yet satan comes along and says-

"Do you ever sense that there's far more to prayer, and to God's vision for your life, than what you're experiencing?"

My answer is no. No, I don't sense there is far more to prayer. I trust that there is and I trust the Lord to take care of things whether I "sense" it or not. No, I do not sense there is far more to God's vision for my life, I know there is. I trust Him to unfold it in His timing and in His way. No, I do not sense there are more experiences to have, I know that there are. I trust the Lord to bring me along in sanctification whether I 'feel' it or not. I trust the promises in the bible about what my daily life will be like.

I trust what God hath said.

I get sad when adults are so undiscerning. I get upset undiscerning adults taint the children.

Jesus is very protective of the children. They are the means by which the successive generations carry the faith. (Joel 1:3).

"It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin." (Luke 17:2)

"but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)

And yet on August 6, 2013, The Circle Maker for Kids will be released. An undiscerning generation will be teaching the next generation to rely on sensing, personal experience, and wiccan circle casting for their worship.

Within two years of the original book's release, do you see how quickly we have been made merchandise of? For kids, for students, the daily journal, the curriculum, prayer challenge, it goes on and on.

Do you see the original book's cover in hardback, 'the solution to 10,000 problems"? Did you know there were 10,000 problems that Mark Batterson can help you solve? I thought the bible was the solution to 10,000 problems!

A classic advertising technique- you have a problem, and here is the solution. My prophet's heart cries out, why, o why, aren't the bible's solutions good enough for people?

The blurb says "The Circle Maker will help you bring your God-given dreams into being through tenacious prayers that honor God and make the impossible come true."

You...your... my prayers will make my dreams come true...let's cut the middle part from the sentence and just say what is really his truth: "The Circle Maker will ... make the impossible come true."

It is God who answers prayer a God who does the impossible. Not my prayers, not my faith in my prayers not my method of prayer, and not my tenacity.

Jesus, please come soon and save the children from this ruinous generation!

Below I've pasted "Efficient Advertising Techniques". Be aware when you are being sold a bill of goods and being made merchandise out of. It begins with a question, and intimating you have a problem you didn't know you had.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Advertising techniques can be of many kinds. All creative advertisers use some of the following techniques and tricks to grab the potential consumer's attention and turn it to sales."

Arouse Curiosity
"Nothing works better than this technique. Humans, by nature are always drawn towards the unknown, or in this case something new and advanced. Arousing curiosity with words, prints, images or visuals will definitely make an impact. On an average, an individual spends less than 5 seconds to go through an entire ad. If your subject does not arouse curiosity immediately, it is a lost opportunity. A well-crafted ad should be eye-catching, and difficult to ignore."

"Do you ever sense that there's far more to prayer?"

Hath God really said?

Promise a Benefit
"Most brands are associated with some pre-defined character, and they need to be re-emphasized with every new service advertised. The headline must promise a benefit for the consumer, because in most instances it is the headline that sells the product more than the copy, images or the celebrity. Advertisements should also carry general information about the service center address, phone numbers, credit cards that the business accepts, and the name of a person to ask for when calling for more information."

"In this powerful booklet, excerpted from THE CIRCLE MAKER, Batterson helps you uncover your heart's deepest desires and God-given dreams and unleash them through the kind of audacious prayer that God delights to answer."

Emotional Appeal
"Many advertisers attract attention by pulling at the heart stings and triggering emotions. An emotional response is by far the most powerful reason for making decisions. Emotional and rational thoughts are interdependent, as the ability to decide rationally is determined by issues that drive the emotions. We get more attracted to products and services that make us feel good and safe. The concept of emotional appeal are best seen in insurance ads made world over, and also companies that associate their sales with social upliftment causes."

"How big is your God? Bigger than a positive MRI or a negative evaluation? Bigger than your secret sin or secret dream? Is He big enough to heal your marriage or your child?"

Children
"In most houses, children have a say in every big or small purchase made. Most parents just give in to the tantrums, a fact well-known to the advertisers. Out of ten commercials one sees through any medium, 8 have children featured in them who are generally a little more perfect than the target audience. These perfect children then go on to become role-models that have to emulated by other children."

"The Circle Maker for Kids: Basing this story on his adult bestseller The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson shares the ancient Jewish legend of Honi the Rainmaker with children to teach them about the power of prayer. Ages 4-8."

The latest Catholic craze: praydreaming, and discerning why it is false

Today I woke up and read a devotional a friend and pastor wrote on his Facebook page. It was filled with gratitude. It reminded me that it is refreshing to read of gratitude and to be grateful all the day long. The main thing that jumped out at me though was his phrase "pray for wholesome desires." That hit me.

Not that I haven't been praying along those lines, but the succinctness of the phrase was tremendous. It brought clarity to my mind of good desires and bad desires. It was a wonderful thing to meditate on. And meditate I did. No, I didn't go 'OHM' in front of lit candles, I turned to the bible. When you want to read about proper desires and how to slay the old man, where else are you going to go but to the Psalms and Romans? I did a word search on the word desire, I read widely about desires in context, and I prayed. Then I wrote a response to the initial devotional, and it appears here:

Praying for Wholesome Desires

In the midst of that, a blog commenter wanted to know what I thought about the blending of New Age and Roman Catholicism into the world's prophesied final religion. I researched about the RCC Mystics, and put together a long response. It got me thinking about Catholicism and its patron saints, mysticism and how mysticism really points the person back to one's self, the opposite of what praying for wholesome desires does. I did some more thinking on good desires vs. evil desires.

As I finished both the blog entry and the long comment back to the commenter, I started to web surf. Immediately I saw an essay from AmericanCatholic.org by Mark E. Thibodeaux, S.J., "a spiritual director, retreat director, high school teacher and Jesuit priest. He holds a Master of Divinity from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the author of Armchair Mystic: Easing Into Contemplative Prayer". The essay is called,

Praydreaming: Key to Discernment

Praydreaming? And what does that have to do with discernment? It sounds New Age. It seems like Mysticism.

It turns out that praydreaming is the exact opposite of what I had been researching and thinking of all morning. THAT is how the Spirit works. He is amazing!

Now I will write about "praydreaming". I am writing this to you so that when you hear of this practice, and you will, just like you have by now heard of contemplative prayer, you will know what it really means.

The blog entry I wrote earlier today is an examination of how our internal desires are bad. When we read in the bible the word desires, it is usually spoken of in a negative way. Our heart's desires are only bad and bring us into judgment. (Ecclesiastes 11:9).

As depraved people we have no hope of changing our desires to good ones that will please the Lord. The only hope we have is first salvation, and then, sanctification. We aid the Spirit in His sanctifying work by relying on HIM and HIS desires for us. We ask Him to instill in us wholesome desires and the strength to resist our own evil ones. This is what it means to be conformed to His likeness. (Romans 8:29). We are gradually transformed by the renewing of our minds and the rejection of being conformed to the pattern of this world (Romans 8:22) with all its evil desires.

Praydreaming is the opposite. The. Exact. Opposite. In this way, it is a component of a successful false religion (Catholicism) because it turns our mind and heart from Jesus back to the sinful desires of our own selves. It offers the false notion that our desires are good and we can instill them into our selves by ourselves by searching deep within ourselves. This lie forms the basis of every false doctrine. To be clear: avoid praydreaming like the gangrenous infection that it is. (2 Timothy 2:16-17). Here is why-

Praydreaming comes from St. Ignatius of Loyola, a Catholic priest in the 1500s and a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation. The counter-reformation was the push-back to the rejection of the Pope's absolute authority that Martin Luther and others began in the reformation. Loyola's devotion to the Catholic Church was characterized by absolute obedience to the Pope. Ignatius was a Catholic's Catholic. The article in American Catholic about praydreaming explains Loyola's teaching on praydreaming and it begins like this:

"We Christians don’t just decide things, we discern them. That is, we do our best to figure out what God is calling us to in every situation. We do our best to say yes to that divine invitation. But how do we discern God’s will for us? That’s the tricky part."

1. Catholics are not Christians.
2. We do decide things.
3. God's will for us is not tricky to discern. Discernment comes from being in His word, not from any other source, because no other source can be trusted. Within the first sentence he sets up a straw man.

But look how the article goes on.

[Loyola's] insight was this: “Good discernment consists of prayerfully pondering the great desires that well up in my daydreams.”

See how already the Catholic pushes upon us the notion that discerning what is good and what is evil comes back to ourselves? And that what we spontaneously think of in our hearts is worthy? It is a false path he is leading you down. Good discernment prayerfully ponders the WORD, not our desires. The article continues:

"Are desires good or bad? Many spiritual writers of Ignatius’ day spoke of desires as obstacles to God’s will. One solution was to suppress one’s desires—to eliminate them whenever possible. Ignatius, on the other hand, held the radical notion that God dwells in the desires of a good person."

Good people do not exist. "There is no one good, no, not one." (Romans 3:10, Mark 10:18).

The article continues, "Not only are desires not evil, but they are one of God’s primary instruments of communicating his will to his children. God enflames the heart with holy desires, and with attraction toward a life of greater divine praise and service. Ignatius did not seek to squash desires, but rather sought to tap into the deepest desires of the heart, trusting that it is God who has placed them there."

The primary way God communicates His will is the Word who is Jesus Christ. The primary way He communicates to us is the bible, that is where we find His will. It is written down in the bible. Blindly trusting that any particular desire we have comes from God- whatever it is- is a false notion. Satan inflames our hearts with desires, too.

"For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come--sexual immorality, theft, murder..." (Mark 7:21)

Now look how the author redefines what evil desires ARE.

"A teenager may want badly to have sexual relations with a girlfriend or boyfriend. Spouses may become sexually attracted to people outside of their marriage. Are these evil desires? No, they are merely disordered desires. Why do any of these people want intimate sexual relations? Because each craves oneness with another—each is created by God, for the experience of unity."

By his definition, a priest's desire to have sex with an altar boy is not evil, merely disordered.

Yet those are evil desires- they are fornication. They're evil because they do not honor Jesus. The lust of the heart breaks a commandment and that is evil. (Matthew 5:28, Exodus 20:17). Colossians 3:5 says to put to death what is evil in us, and sexual immorality is one of those evil desires. What's more, it is idolatry! "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry."

Nowhere does it say that all desires are good but some are disordered, to just discern the desire under the desire, and praydream it! The bible is clear in describing what evil desires are, because it lists them. Then we read commands to slay these desires, not coddle them by peeking under them to find more and granting them light of day in God's name.

Anything that does not honor Jesus is evil. There is good, and there is evil. It is an old trick to call evil good and good evil. Isaiah spoke of this in Isaiah 5:20-

"Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!"

Pulpit Commentary explains, "This is the fourth woe. There are persons who gloss over evil deeds and evil habits by fair-sounding names, who call cowardice caution, and rashness courage, niggardliness thrift, and wasteful profusion generosity. The same men are apt also to call good evil; they brand prudence with the name of cunning, call meekness want of proper spirit, sincerity rudeness, and firmness obstinacy. This deadness to moral distinctions is the sign of deep moral corruption, and fully deserves to have a special "woe" pronounced against it."

Doesn't that say it all? The Catholic essay about praydreaming promotes a deadness to moral distinctions, and woe will be upon him. In the article, after giving a couple more examples of how what is clearly sin is not really sin, the article continues,

"We fall into sin when we are ignorant of the desires beneath the desires. Consider this way of understanding personal sin: We sin, not because we are in touch with our desires but precisely because we are not in touch with them! This is one of Ignatius’ most profound insights."

Well he is right- now it is getting tricky. According to praydreaming methods promoted by Loyola, first, I have to discern my desires. Then I have to discern whether the desire is holy by mulling it over within myself. Then if it is unholy I have to discern the desire underneath that desire. How do I do all this? Via praydreaming, as we read next.

"How, then, do I tap into these great desires? I daydream, that’s how! I fantasize about great and beautiful futures. I let God dream in me and I sit in silent awe and wonder as these holy dreams come to life before the eyes and ears of my soul. Now that’s a different approach to prayer than most of us know. But that’s what St. Ignatius taught."

He goes on at length in a teaching manner of how to praydream, by giving many different examples of life scenarios. I don't recommend you read it because it will cause confusion and there is no profit in learning how to praydream. The author unwittingly reveals that Loyola's method always brings a person back to themselves. The phrase "my dreams" occurs a lot. The upshot is, it is a method for dreaming what you want to do in the flesh and using God as a method of permission to accomplish them.

Finally, he says that when you praydream and discern properly what decision to make, a sweet inner peace will be "the telltale sign" that it is the right decision.

I have warned against a so-called 'inner peace' as a tell-tale sign before. There is a difference between confidence in God and an inner peace. Often, I have to do things that are outside my comfort zone, or are difficult, and I have a lot of angst about it. Feeling a sweet inner peace for me often means that I am making a wrong decision, because the calm feeling leads me to my own comfort zone which exists inside the circle of my own desires. Though sometimes I do have an inner peace, I do not have a sweet inner peace about many things I must do, but I do them anyway because I am a slave to Christ and I know that He is with me to help during the hard times.

As an example, do we think that any of the martyrs as they were led to their doom, had what Loyola says is a feeling of "sweetly, lightly, gently, as a drop of water that enters a sponge”? Tradition says that Peter's wife was crucified before his eyes. Do we suppose that Peter's decision to remain true to Jesus at that moment gave soul his gentle drops of water on his heart? Even Paul agonized over doing the right thing, and asked that the thorn in his side be taken from him because it was painful. Paul certainly felt peace, and he certainly felt angst, but neither of those feelings are a telltale sign of proper discernment for any given decision he made.

Beware of relying on feelings as the sole arbiter of discernment. Our feelings usually lead us falsely.

Even at the end of the article as the author explains how Ignatius urges the person to pray for confirmation of their decision, the method once again points the person to their own selves.

"Once we feel that we have reached a point of decision, Ignatius suggests we place that decision before God and await his confirmation. How will this confirmation come? In the same way that our initial discernment came. It will be through pondering the stirrings of our heart as we begin to take the first tentative steps toward our new option."

The stirrings of our hart is the sign that I have made a right decision? But the bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

Not once is the authority of scripture mentioned. Not once was the Catholic person urged to consult the word to see what it has to say implicitly or explicitly about a situation.

However, we born-again believers must believe in sola scriptura, the doctrine that "sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture. ... it means that everything necessary, everything binding on our consciences, and everything God requires of us is given to us in Scripture." (Scripture, Tradition, and Rome")

Discernment comes by knowing the word of God from the bible alone, and obeying it. Jesus is called the Word, and He is The Word of God. (John 1:1, Revelation 19:13). We discern it by reading the word of God and by submitting to that as our sole authority. Not daydreams, not desires, not feelings, not the heart. We are called to be holy, in fact, to be patterned after Jesus who is Holy (1 Peter 1:15). If we can't imagine that Jesus had a certain desire, then it is an evil desire.

There is a famine in the land and is it because of methods like praydreaming that we are hungry. Rev. Matt Slick writes,

"Spiritual discernment is lacking in the Christian community. Though there are faithful pastors and Christians who take the word of God seriously, there is an increasing number of Christians who are abandoning the clarity and commands of Scripture and substituting political correctness, feelings, and tolerance for biblical truth and its sometimes difficult revelations. They want to make Christianity more palatable so that the gospel offends no one, but they fail to realize that the gospel that offends no one is not the gospel of the Bible. Though we are not to purposely offend, in the name of truth offenses will come and we are not to shy away from them."

"So, what do we do to develop better spiritual discernment? First and foremost, you must be born again (John 3:3; 2 Cor. 5:17) so that you may have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). Second, you must study the Word of God and believe it. Third, you need to develop a proper biblical theology that includes the sovereignty and holiness of God found in both the person of Christ and in the Bible. Proper theology is the bedrock of discernment."

Kundalini Warning

Discernment: Why is it important?

Reblogged from Elizabeth Prata´s: the-end-time.blogspot.com

Justin Peters is an ordained minister and preacher, but is more well-known for his creation of the seminar "A Call for Discernment". It is an in-depth, biblical critique of the Prosperity Gospel/Health-Wealth false gospel. This false gospel is also known as a Word Faith Movement, perpetuated by Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer and many others.

His bio says that as a teenager, Justin himself attended faith-healing services in hopes of being delivered from his Cerebral Palsy. Though the potential was there to shake his faith in the Lord, in the long run, these experiences had the opposite effect. He says he has learned that his CP is a blessing because it keeps him dependent on God in his own weakness.

What is Discernment and why is it important? Are we supposed to "judge" or not? Are we told to discern even if we do not have the spiritual gift of discernment? In this seminar, Peters shows that discernment is a duty for all Christians, not only to detect issues in Word-Faith preaching, but in all aspects of a Christian's life.

You might have heard people say, "I don't need to know doctrine. I am not a theologian. I just loooove Jesus." Peters says, that is a foolish statement. You cannot know someone unless you study them and know who they are. If you want to love Jesus, become a student of Him, and study His word. It is a false humility to say you don't need doctrine.

Here is a link to the session's .pdf outline that you can read along with the seminar clip below.



If you don't want to or don't have time to watch the entire video above, here is Todd Friel of Wretched Radio & TV, interviewing Justin Peters, discussing the Word of Faith movement in this 7-minute clip.




The Lord is gracious and kind. He gave us His word in the bible so we would not be unaware of satan's schemes (2 Corinthians 2:11). I believe the battle is growing more deep and fierce. Satan is scheming mightily to make the unwary drift away (Hebrews 2:1-4). Keep your anchor dug in- the anchor is Jesus. He is the rock, the foundation of our faith. There is no greater joy than in clinging to Him. Never fear: no one can ever snatch us out of His hand. (John 10:29).

Love Jesus by getting to know him, in His word. Doctrine matters. So does discernment. Ultimately the scriptures tell us why doctrine and discernment are important:

"For whatever was written was given to us for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4 KJV)

HOPE! What a blessed word in dark days! Light shines and hearts melt and love reigns. Hope! Hope in Him, learn about Him, He is the treasure!

Discernment: How two seemingly opposite doctrines can actually be the same

Reblogged from Elizabeth Prata´s the-end-time.blogspot.com 

 

I think it's interesting that Legalism and Gnosticism are really one and the same. A great lesson for me last year was learning how all the false religions and the false doctrines are drawing closer to one another. Those which seem like polar opposites are really the exact same thing, just a different flavor. Here is another example of how two opposing doctrines are really one and the same: Antinomianism and Legalism.

In the wonderful series, "Drive By Discernment", short lectures on the topic of discernment edited by Todd Friel, Pastor RW Glenn is speaking of this exact thing. He is talking about how Antinomianism and Legalism are the same, and clearly shows how.

First, CARM.org defines Antinomianism:
"The word antinomianism comes from the Greek anti, against, and nomos, law. It is the unbiblical practice of living without regard to the righteousness of God, using God's grace as a license to sin, and trusting grace to cleanse of sin."

And CARM.org defines Legalism:
"In Christianity, legalism is the excessive and improper use of the law (10 commandments, holiness laws, etc). This legalism can take different forms. The first is where a person attempts to keep the Law in order to attain salvation. The second is where a person keeps the law in order to maintain his salvation. The third is when a Christian judges other Christians for not keeping certain codes of conduct that he thinks need to be observed."

So how can living in excessive license and living in excessive restriction...be the same? Here is Pastor RW Glenn: [excerpts]

There are people who embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior and people who avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior. And what’s interesting is that you can avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior either by being bad, OR by being good. Religious moralists avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior by developing a system of moral righteousness to put God in their debt. In other words, my obedience and religious devotion is going to beef up my spiritual resume such that I don’t need Jesus to rescue me anymore. And where there are gaps in my resume I use Jesus to fill them in. By and large I don’t need rescue, all I need is a boost. They avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior by relying on their own righteousness. They avoid him by being “good”. ... [Thus] Rule keepers and rule breakers are all identical because they avoid Jesus as Lord and Savior and are on the broad road to destruction.

See, Pastor Glenn explains that there is a demand of the Gospel, and there is a comfort of the Gospel. Legalism over-emphasizes its demand, while Antinomianism over-emphasizes its comfort. Over-emphasizing one or the other dilutes the Gospel. Paul said He had not hesitated to preach the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:27). Of that important balance in keeping the Gospel whole, Barnes' Notes says:

"I have not shunned - I have not kept back; I have not been deterred by fear, by the desire of popularity, by the fact that the doctrines of the gospel are unpalatable to people, from declaring them fully. The proper meaning of the word translated here, "I have not shunned", is "to disguise any important truth; to withdraw it from public view; to decline publishing it from fear, or an apprehension of the consequences." Paul means that he had not disguised any truth; he had not withdrawn or kept it from open view, by any apprehension of the effect which it might have on their minds. Truth may be disguised or kept back:

(1) By avoiding the subject altogether from timidity, or from an apprehension of giving offence if it is openly proclaimed; or,

(2) By giving it too little prominency, so that it shall be lost in the multitude of other truths; or,

(3) By presenting it amidst a web of metaphysical speculations, and entangling it with other subjects; or,

(4) By making use of other terms than the Bible does, for the purpose of involving it in a mist, so that it cannot be understood."

How does one keep back one part of the Gospel at the expense of the other? Pastor Glenn finishes:

Legalism over-emphasizes the demand of the Gospel. Matthew 5:48 – Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. That is a gospel demand that legalism overemphasizes. Antinomianism overemphasizes the very real comfort of the Gospel. Matthew 6:26- You are more valuable than many sparrows. The challenge of the Gospel is that there needs to be an equal emphasis on both the demand of the Gospel and the comfort of the Gospel. As Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.” Equal emphasis. I do not condemn you, go and sin no more. If you don’t eventually emphasize both of those you lose the Gospel.

Glenn said that there are three tests to determine if a teacher is false. The character and conduct of the teacher (Colossians 1:28, Titus 2:2, Matthew 5:1-12) the complexion of their followers (Luke 6:40, 2 Timothy 4:3), and the content of their teaching (Matthew 12:33, 2 Timothy 4:2-3).

With this information in mind, now think of pastors who preach one at the expense of another. Or perhaps, do you preach or teach one at the expense of the other?

Remember two things. First, all other doctrines except the Gospel are false, and thus are the same, no matter how different they look on the outside. And second, satan is the most subtle creature in the Garden (Genesis 3:1). It is not hard for him to come up with different flavors of the Gospel and lots of false doctrines. I mean, if Baskin Robbins can come up with 31 flavors of ice cream... the most crafty creature in all the garden can certainly come up with enough false doctrines!

This week the Christian Post (which increasingly should be called the Post-Christian) reported on Joel Osteen's Night of Hope in Las Vegas. It is reported,

"Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, who along with wife, Victoria Osteen, will be leading "A Night of Hope" in Las Vegas, Friday night, has said that he avoids speaking on controversial issues because he doesn't want anyone to feel excluded from his messages."

However, Osteen's definition of 'controversial issue' is really code for "sin." Sin is always controversial. Preaching the whole counsel includes passages such as 1 Timothy 1:10. Yet Osteen declares that he avoids it. Avoid 1 Corinthians 6:9. Revelation 21:8? Avoid. Titus 1:16, Galatians 6:20, 2 Peter 2:6...the list is endless of 'things to avoid' so that 'all will feel included.' But we're all sinners. If Osteen wants to preach so that all will feel comfortable, he either needs to preach to no one, because the flavors of sin are endless and odds are someone will feel 'excluded' (i.e. convicted), or Osteen needs to preach only the comfort of the Gospel, which is not the whole counsel. You see how devastating the imbalance is?

Osteen maintains that his style of preaching is consistent with the bible. Christian Post says, "His messages of hope and encouragement, as well as his trademark smile, also draw criticism among Christians who feel he fails to address sin and suffering, but Osteen shakes off such criticism. "I believe there needs to be more joy in the world..." But it is not true that this style is consistent with the bible.

Jesus spoke hard sayings. Not everyone felt included! On the contrary. However, Jesus did not alter the Father's message in order to make it easier for fleshly ears to hear. In John 6:60-62, 66 we read,

"When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?" ... After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him."

So we see that false teachers are not true ambassadors (Ephesians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:20). In both those verses, the word ambassador means one who is authorized to speak as God's emissary, representing His kingdom. Osteen takes it upon himself to alter the message of God. He cannot be a true ambassador, because he brings an unauthorized message. This is what all false teachers do. Jesus knew the hearts of men and He still preached a message that fell on hard hearts, in obedience to the Father. Osteen, and all false teachers, dare to disobey delivering the Father's message and the example of Jesus in preaching it. This 'daring' will have terrible consequences:

Tim Challies dealt with this issue in his essay "Smilingly leading you to hell."

In Drive By Discernment, Pastor Glenn did a good job of explaining how false teachers subvert the Gospel by preaching only half. As always, the most important thing is to check ourselves, first.

Do we preach all demand and no comfort? "Do more, be better, try harder"? Or maybe our Gospel is all comfort and no demand. "My sin isn't a big deal...I'm forgiven anyway." Or is your Gospel, "neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more?!" If you want to be an expert on false teachers, you need to be an expert in the Gospel. The more familiarity you have in the Gospel, the more familiarity you will have with the genuine article. When those counterfeits come your way - and they will - you will be able to say, 'counterfeit!' Why? because you're resting in the Christ who says "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more." (John 8:11).

The Lord is Great, isn't He?!?!

--------------------
More on Osteen:

A true knowledge of the true God
Apostasy in the church: Angels of light
Can Christians live their best life now?

And here is an essay on the opposite problem,

 Legali

Evil men and impostors

Reblogged from Elizabeth Prata´s  the-end-time.blogspot.com

 

"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:12-13)

There is a lot packed into these two verses! Our Lord is truly great in the way He speaks in such depth in so few words!

The verse is connected with a comma and the word "while". It is plain- Christians are going to be persecuted. And persecution is going to happen because evil men and impostors flood the world and the church in ever increasing numbers. So no, it is not your imagination that things are getting worse. It is because they are getting worse.

The verse says evil men "and impostors" will go on. The word impostors is Greek, "goētes". This is translated as "shameless cheat pretending to use supernatural power; an actor (cheap impostor), looking for self-gain, i.e. posing to be someone he isn't...'a charlatan', used only in 2 Tim 3:13, refers to a seducer (properly, a wailer) – a fraud who "sounds off" like a whining enchanter. This person uses their verbal spells and incantations to give the (false) impression they can do miracles."

The entire comment is linked to the description at the start, a long list Paul records for Timothy, and us, to be warned by. He'd  mentioned Jannes and Jambres, two of Pharaoh's sorcerers who (for a while) copied God's miracles He performed through Moses. What we should be wary of is the fact that we're being told that these aforementioned evil men are going to use their verbal skills to deceive, and I'm not just talking about the obvious ones like Benny Hinn or Joyce Meyer. Or even Joel Osteen. These were sorcerers who can charm you and deceive you like no others. Remember, the two that Paul mentioned copied God's miracles one for one during the first few plagues! They are powerfully deceptive.

Paul had said that the deceivers are evil. MacArthur wrote, "They are evil. That's poneros, it's used of Satan in Matthew 13:19, they're as malicious and wicked as he is."

OK, so that's pretty evil.

And they are going to get worse and worse. Each individual man will wax worse and worse, and the general deceptions will get worse and worse. Attendant with the deceptions will come persecution.

Barnes Notes explains,

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse - That is, it is the character of such men to do this; they may be expected to do it. This is the general law of depravity - that if men are not converted, they are always growing worse, and sinking deeper into iniquity. Their progress will be certain, though it may be gradual, since "nemo repente turpissimus." The connection here is this: that Timothy was not to expect that he would be exempt from persecution 2 Timothy 3:12, by any change for the better in the wicked men referred to. He was to anticipate in them the operation of the general law in regard to bad men and seducers - that they would grow worse and worse. From this fact, he was to regard it as certain that he, as well as others, would be liable to be persecuted. The word rendered "seducers" occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It means, properly, a "juggler, or diviner;" and then, a "deceiver, or impostor." Here it refers to those who by seductive arts, lead persons into error."

The Latin phrase 'nemo repente turpissimus' is translated "No man becomes a villain all at once."

And the last part of the verse, 'being deceived" is explained thus by Barnes Notes,

And being deceived - Under delusion themselves. The advocates of error are often themselves as really under deception, as those whom they impose upon. They are often sincere in the belief of error, and then they are under a delusion; or, if they are insincere, they are equally deluded in supposing that they can make error pass for truth before God, or can deceive the Searcher of hearts. The worst victims of delusion are those who attempt to delude others."

MacArthur wrote,

These are dangerous times...dangerous times. The closer we come to the time of our Lord's return, the worse men get. And the worse their influence gets and the accumulation of all the lies and false teaching mounts and escalates and we're in dangerous times. And dangerous times call for strong people."

Are you strong? Jesus said in Matthew 12:29

Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house."

You ARE strong! Barnes tells us, "A man could not break into the house of a strong man and take his property unless he had rendered the man himself helpless. If he had taken his goods, it would therefore be sufficient proof that he had bound the man. So I, says he, have taken this "property - this possessed person" - from the dominion of Satan. It is clear proof that I have subdued "Satan himself," the "strong" being that had him in possession."

Jesus is the strong One in you! He has busted satan out of your house (your body) and delivered you from the dominion of darkness! There is no one more strong that Jesus, and it is He that is in you. He is the best,t he top, the most, the superlative among all superlatives. There is no possible way you could be stronger than to rely on the Strong One who is inside you and loves you and made you His child. It is He that is in us who resists satan and overcomes that old serpent. No charms or deceivers can come if you rely on Jesus because even though things on the outside of us go from bad to worse, HE IS ALWAYS THE SAME. (Hebrews 13:8)

Victory in Jesus!

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 15:57

End Times Truth: Avoiding Deception

 Nathan Jones - http://www.lamblion.us/2013/01/end-times-truth-avoiding-deception.html

 Reblogged from Prophecy Update

How do we avoid deception in these last days?

This question was put to me recently by Doug Harris from Britain's apologetics television program "Simply the Truth." In this first episode of Doug's new show "End Times Truth," he sought along with me and other guests to define what the Last Days are and how we should live in them. The following is an excerpt of that program.

The Last Days Interview

Doug Harris: First Timothy 4:1 warns the believer to pay attention so as not to be deceived by deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. It becomes very obvious if people pay attention to these things that sooner or later they will want to communicate with these evil spirts and will want to draw closer to that which is deceitful - the doctrine of demons.

Just how can we test out what is truly from God and what is taught by demons when things are spoken of concerning the End Times. How can we begin to test these things out? What can we do to insure that we are not led astray?

The answer is clear - we certainly need to bring everything back that we've heard to the Word of God. If what's being said is clearly found within the Word of God, then there is absolutely no problem with that end times teaching.

If, however, what you've learned is not found within the Word of God, but it's also not denied by the Word of God, well we might not be able to be so sure. We end up holding those teachings up and conclude they're probably true, but debatable.

Stand strong on the belief that anything that is not clearly taught within Scripture, or is clearly denied by Scripture, means we cannot build our future upon it. We need to be discerning. The Bible advises us to be diligently seeking. I hope that's something we always do from the Scriptures and with others.

However, even at this point we are not left helpless, because 1 Timothy 4 goes on to give the antidote to avoiding deception and the accepting of wrong teachings. The answer is that we are to be nourished by the words of faith and of sound doctrine. Just how vital is that today? How should we be living in these days?

Nathan, what do you have to say? In 1 Timothy 4:6, we get in the King James this phrase about being "nourished." I'm very interested in that phrase. Just how are we to be nourished in these last days? When I think of nourishment, I'm reminded that nourishment always gives you strength. Nourishment always gives you the ability to do things. We as believers in Christ are going to face difficult days. We are in fact even now facing difficult days, knowing that we are going to face even more difficult days to come. How do we get nourished and be able to face them?

Nathan Jones: The Apostle Peter gave us a great description of what being nourished looks like. Second Peter 3 is an entire chapter dedicated to talking about living in the "last days" or "latter days." Peter gives us ten points that we can follow to be nourished and to exist wholly in these last very difficult days.

1. Peter tells us to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the commands given by our Lord and Savior through the Apostles. We should remember the words of Jesus. Remember the words of the Apostles. In other words, read your Bible!

2. Understand that in the last days scoffers will come. Peter was telling us that in the last day people would declare that Jesus isn't coming back. They'll claim such a belief is nonsense and not to believe in it. They'll scoff at the Bible. They'll scoff at God even existing. And, they'll scoff at primarily the Creation story. In other words, Peter is prophesying the advent of the teaching of Evolution.

3. Peter warns us not to forget God's promise that He'll return. We are to abide in His salvation and model His patience. That Jesus is so patiently waiting for everybody who is supposed to in this age come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and get saved demonstrates God's amazing love.

4. Peter reminds us to live holy and godly lives. While we are here on this earth, as Christians we are to live holy and godly lives while we wait for Christ's return.

5. Look forward to the day of God. Look forward to the time when we live with God up in Heaven with dwell with Him forever. That's really something to look forward to! And, it will give you hope and perspective.

6. Speed the Lord's coming, Peter says. In other words, get the Gospel out. Share the Good News with people so they may hear the Word of God and get saved. Time is short, so be active in evangelism.

7. Look forward to the New Heaven and New Earth, which is the home of the Righteous. We are here in this world only temporarily. This here is a temporary home. Our real home, though, is the New Jerusalem. That's Heaven! Heaven will come down to earth one day so that God will dwell with redeemed Man. Such knowledge gives us believers great hope and something to look forward to.

8. Peter says we are to be found spotless and blameless and at peace with God. Again, live those holy and spotless lives, but strive to live at peace with one another. Christians are an ornery bunch, but we need to practice peace with one another now, for we'll be spending eternity with each other later.

9. We need to be on guard so that we may not be carried away by the error of lawless men. During the Last Days, one of the main signs that Jesus gave is that we would know His soon return is coming due to the proliferation of false prophets and false teachers. That's why Peter warns the Christian to be on our guard and be prepared for battling doctrinal error. To be able to do that, we need to know our Bible so that we can refute the false doctrines that are being taught.

10. The last nourishment Peter gives us is the directive to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in the grace of God and become more Christlike.

That there is the ten "nourishments" Peter gives.

Doug Harris: Brilliant, brilliant info! Two points came out to me there. It's sort of like you almost were talking about both a looking back and looking forward. We are to look back to what God has said in His Word; never forgetting what He said, never forgetting what's written down, and never forgetting what's there. But, also, wherever we are, we're to be looking forward to what is yet to come. As Paul had said, this difficult time that I am going through now is nothing compared to what glory is to come. So, Peter is giving us two directions to pay attention to: looking back and looking forward. That's very important.

Nathan Jones: Amen! As difficult as the world is now for Christians to live in and growing worse every day with the massacres in Nigeria, the concentration camps for Christians in North Korea, and the loss of our freedoms in the Western world; it's going to get worse. Conditions are going to get worse because evil hates God. Evil hates the thought that we represent God and so wants to destroy our belief in Christ. But, Jesus says that even as bad as it is now and how tough our last days' time period is, it's nothing compared to the last of the last days, which is the coming Tribulation.

Doug Harris: Wonderful words! I hope all believers understand the need to be nourished by the Bible's words of faith and sound doctrine.

 In the third part of this interview on End Times Truth, we will discuss what worldly fables lead us away from the truth of Jesus Christ.

Pssst -- Wanna Know a Secret?

In Defense of the Faith
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Reblogged from Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor

One of the more interesting phenomena of the last days is the sudden "discovery" of all kinds of new truths of Scripture that have somehow eluded theologians and scholars for thousands of years.

The internet is crowded with "startling new views" on traditional interpretations of the major Prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel, the date of the Rapture, the length of the Tribulation and so forth.
It is startling, really. Especially when one starts hearing these internet perspectives being echoed from the pulpit. The study of eschatology touches on a number of different disciplines, but being schooled in one discipline does not make one an expert in another.

Eschatology is future history, and like history, it is constructed on an edifice of interconnected events that cannot be fully understood outside of the overall context.

For example, one cannot fully understand the historical assassination of Abraham Lincoln without a thorough understanding of the context in which it occurred.
Each event from the opening salvo on Fort Sumpter that started the Civil War, on through Gettysburg, Antietam and Sherman's rapacious march to Savannah played a role in the assassination.
Booth's triumphant cry, "Sic semper tyrannis" ("thus always to tyrants") makes no sense devoid of the context of the Civil War. Americans revere Lincoln as a great liberator and hero.

Context is everything when examining history, and as already noted, Bible prophecy is simply the history of events that have not yet taken place.
And because much of Bible prophecy has not yet taken place, some of the context in which prophesied events will unfold has not yet been established.
And so the old adage, "a proof text without a context is a pretext" applies.

Have you ever watched a short-change artist at work? He'll ask for change for a twenty, give the clerk a ten, take it back, hand the clerk two fives or five ones, changing and rechanging the currencies until the clerk is hopelessly confused and the short-change artist leaves with both the change for the twenty and his original ten.

Some of the "I know a secret nobody else does" theology puts me in mind of that. There used to be a guy who every year would warn me that the Rapture would take place this year, accompanied by page after page of complicated calculations that "proved" it.

When I asked him about Jesus' admonition that the Rapture was incalculable, he agreed that it was there, but immediately challenged me to show him "one more place" in Scripture that CLEARLY showed the timing of the Rapture was incalculable. Once was evidently not enough.

I got an email the other day from someone asking me about the length of the Tribulation. He had run across a website arguing that the traditional understanding of seven years was all wrong. To prove it, he quoted Daniel 9:24 which he claimed was "the only place in the Bible that can be twisted by the theologians to indicate a seven year tribulation."

"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."

Apart from wondering why theologians would want to "twist" Scripture, the Bible couldn't really make it much clearer. Especially in this case.
The Tribulation is the 70th Week of Daniel. The first sixty-nine "weeks" are demonstrated by history as well as linguistics as "weeks" of years. Daniel says the remaining week is reserved for "the prince that shall come".

"Once again we are confronted with a decision to make; shall we continue to believe what our priests, pastors, teachers, scribes, scholars, luminaries, dignitaries and theologians TELL US it means, or shall we listen to what the bible (sic) says?"

(In other words, "Can you give me change for a twenty?")
Then he goes on to quote three verses that clearly indicate that the Tribulation is divided into two periods of 1,260 days, (which is precisely half of seven years) before arguing that isn't what it really means at all!

I looked around a little more at the website and discovered it was dedicated to a "new" look at all kinds of doctrines. It turns out that theologians "twisted" Scriptures about hell. It isn't really eternal.
Oh, and the Bible tells us 24 times that we should celebrate the new moon. And of course, there is the usual Rapture "challenges".

The problem with all of this is that it is true that in the last days, the Scriptures will become more clear and many of the traditional views actually will fall as more pieces of the puzzle come into view. So it is possible to actually come up with a new understanding of how events will unfold.
But for some folks, that seems to mean they have license to reinvent doctrine, as well.

One of the first things that the Lord said would constitute a sign of the times would be a preponderance of false Christs, false teachers and false doctrines.
The very first warning sign to look for is when somebody claims that all traditional theologians have "twisted" Scripture to suit their own nefarious ends, but that the one making that claim has not.

Everybody wants to know a 'secret' that nobody else knows. It is all part of our human nature. But the Bible doesn't contain secrets nobody else can figure out. It isn't just for special initiates to understand. There is no one person who has the "real" truth that nobody else could see until now.

When somebody claims they have discovered "the truth" that nobody else has, there is one thing you can be absolutely sure of.
They haven't.