Tag: false teaching

Superficial Christianity Invites and Enables Evil

On By Jeff CrippenIn Churches/Church Response15 Comments

These paragraphs were taken from a church’s web page. Read them, and then I want us to think about how a “church” like this is fertile soil for the wicked, including abusers:

Our Core Beliefs: If you were to ask 10 different people at Our Savior’s Church their individual beliefs about heaven, sin, free will, or any other theological issue, you would probably get 10 unique answers! Nevertheless, there are certain core beliefs which we share that define who we are and who we understand God to be. A good way of explaining these core beliefs lies in the name of our national church body.

We believe in the transforming power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and understand forgiveness and faith as radical gifts from God that are given no matter who we are or what we do.

We are “church.” That is, every member is bound together in the Body of Christ, gifted by the Holy Spirit, and empowered to be a doer of the Gospel.

We life, work, and serve our American context knowing what we do here also impacts the world.

Now, think carefully about these words. Let me translate them for you:

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Part 2 – Critique of Screwtape’s Letter

On By Jeff CrippenIn Churches/Church Response21 Comments

We continue to point out the lies and false teaching disguised as “Bible” which Pastor Screwtape and his associate, Wormwood, laid upon this man who was married to an abuser wife. As I have written before, this is a clear case of the woman as the abuser and the victim’s “church” leaders lording it over him and seeking to keep him in bondage. Here then is a second excerpt from the letter the victim received, followed by my comments:

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Part 1 – Critique of Pastor Screwtape’s Letter

On By Jeff CrippenIn Churches/Church Response3 Comments

On May 11th we posted the wicked letter from “Pastor Screwtape” and his associate, Wormwood, that was sent to an abuse victim in their “church.” You can read the letter here.  Now I want to dissect this collection of lies and perversions of scripture so that we can all clearly see the typical tactics these kinds of false shepherds use on victims.  We start in this post with just one paragraph (which Screwtape wrote after opening with a couple of the typical “softening up the target” talk that express how much the victim is loved…blah, blah, blah.  Then the first fusilade is fired:

“First, it is the will of God that you do not divorce your wife. As we have emphasized repeatedly, the Lord has permitted divorce (and remarriage) for one reason only, that being “sexual immorality” (Matt. 5:32; 19:9). Although some good men disagree, we have emphasized that Paul did not add to our Lord’s one exception in addressing the church at Corinth.  He wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:10f, “A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.” Your intention to divorce Your wife transgresses this clear command of our Lord.”

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