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Ordinances Banning “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts” Are Unconstitutional

TBC Staff

Many Christians, especially when it comes to LGBT-related issues, have bought into what might be called “the inevitability thesis.” Nearly everything in our culture has convinced them to assume that it is futile for anyone to resist their same-sex attractions. And, any attempt to help someone, especially young people, reduce their behaviors and attractions is just as futile, and probably even illegal.

After all, many believe, legislatures have adopted and courts have upheld bans on such things. Pastors, youth pastors, Christian-school teachers,entire counseling degree programs at Christian colleges and seminaries, and plenty of parents have embraced the “inevitability thesis”when it comes to LGBT issues, and now refuse either to address these questions at all, or, if they do, they still refuse to counter the cultural consensus they assume has been settled.

A ruling last week from the 11th Circuit court challenges the inevitability thesis.

In 2017, the city of Boca Raton and the county of Palm Beach in Florida joined a growing list of jurisdictions that have adopted bans on “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts.” By ordinance, licensed professional counselors are prohibited from treating minors with the goal of “changing [their] sexual orientation or gender identity.” When Robert Otto and Julie Hamilton, two licensed counselors, challenged the ordinances in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, their chances of success seemed slim to none. After all, similar bans had already been challenged and upheld in the 9th and 3rd Circuit Courts.

Judge Britt Grant of the 11th Circuit, however, sided with Otto and Hamilton. The counselors told the court that the ordinances “infringe on their constitutional right to speak freely with clients,” including those who have sought counseling because of “sincerely held religious beliefs conflicting with homosexuality.” Judge Grant found these free-speech restrictions of the ordinances to be “presumptively unconstitutional.”

While Judge Grant acknowledged that the kind of therapy Otto and Hamilton practice to be “highly controversial,” which is why dozens of states and municipalities have banned it, the ordinances applied only “to particular speech because of the topic discussed or the idea or message expressed.” The First Amendment, Judge Grant clarified, “has no carve out for controversial speech.” Despite the government’s “legitimate authority to protect children,” speech, no matter how controversial, “cannot be suppressed solely to protect the young from ideas or images that a legislative body thinks unsuitable for them.”

“If the [therapists’] perspective is not allowed here,” Grant concluded, “then the [government’s] perspective can be banned elsewhere.”In other words, what’s sauce for the goose could easily become sauce for the gander. Thus, speech should not be restricted merely because some people object to what is being said.

Not only does Grant’s decision create what’s called “a conflict in the circuits,” making it all the more probable that the Supreme Court will have to consider the issue, there is an implicit lesson for anyone tempted by the inevitability thesis. After California and other jurisdictions passed laws restricting what counselors could discuss with their clients, many Christians and Christian institutions chose to conform to ideas and practices they knew to be wrong, so as not to put their licensure, accreditation, or some form of the state’s blessing, at risk. The pressure they felt was, of course, real, but they were mistaken to think there was no further legal recourse available. A similar mistake was made a couple years ago by a Christian adoption agency who had been told they had to place children with same-sex couples. A judge decided against the state in that case as well.

Of course, it’s not clear what decision a newly remade Supreme Court may return on any of these issues. That’s why the best advice in times like ours remains that given by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, advice we were all reminded of by Rod Dreher: We must not live by lies. While there maybe no call for us to stand on every street corner or counter-protest every pride march, the greater challenge for every mom, dad, pastor, professor, youth pastor, or professional counselor, is never, ever to allow ourselves to say or go along with what is not true. Especially when it comes to what it means to be human.

https://breakpoint.org/ordinances-banning-sexual-orientation-change-efforts-are-unconstitutional-says-11th-circuit/?_hsmi=101472843&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_m1MVL6mRpCmWrC7872dsgHNSnU1K4EbT7XDacZXfC0BiQzaeLTP-JBtYGxfGte8WrHOWTg2qhtIqCUQWLpFd2dTTUbg

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Nuggets from Occult Invasion—A Menagerie of Occultism

Dave Hunt

We dealt somewhat with hypnosis in the previous chapter. It has been part of the stock-in-trade of witch doctors for thousands of years. Michael Harner lists it as one of the major elements of shamanism being revived in Western society. Amazingly, hundreds of Christian psychologists use hypnosis.

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AA and the Middle Man

TBC Staff

[Alcoholics Anonymous] slowly exposed people to the notion that they could get the power of God [higher power] without the dogma, the doctrine, and the outdated rules. Without the church, in fact. It was a kind of mini-Reformation, cutting out yet another middleman between ordinary people and God. Only it just wasn’t the pope being eliminated this time. It was the preacher and the Bible….

—Christine Wicker (Reporter for the Dallas Morning News, writer).

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'It's Just a Miracle': COVID-19 Patient Gives Birth to Twins While in Medically Induced Coma

TBC Staff

Dr. Perpetual Uke, a rheumatology consultant, thought she’d lost her babies when she regained consciousness and realized she was no longer pregnant...

“I couldn’t see my bump and I thought my babies were gone,” she said.

In March, Dr. Uke was taken to Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital after contracting COVID-19. As her condition worsened, she was placed on a ventilator before finally being put into an induced coma.

Dr. Uke’s due date was mid-July, but the babies were delivered in April at only 26 weeks. The doctors made the decision to perform an emergency C-section fearing for the health of the babies.

Dr. Uke’s twins were significantly premature, with a typical gestational period of at least 37 weeks compared to their 26 weeks. Her daughter Sochika Palmer weighed 27oz at birth, while her son Osinachi Pascal was only 30oz.

The twins were brought to a specialist neonatal intensive care unit at Birmingham Women’s Hospital while she recovered in a coma for 16 more days. When Dr. Uke finally came out of the coma, she was delirious and feared for the health of her babies.

“I had nightmares,” she told Metro. “I was delusional, I couldn’t see my bump and I thought my babies were gone and all my family had died. It was a very, very worrying time for my husband and kids and, even after I woke up, I couldn’t see my babies for more than two weeks.”

Dr. Uke was later transferred to the same hospital as her children before she was discharged, followed by her twins — 116 days after their birth. The twins emerged from the hospital happy and healthy, with the whole family finally coming together in August.

“Coming home was the real healing point for me,” she said. “It’s just a miracle what happened, to come out of this.”

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/its-just-a-miracle-covid-19-patient-gives-birth-to-twins-in-medically-induced-coma/ar-BB1baTer

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Nuggets from Occult Invasion

Dave Hunt

Some Christian psychologists labor to win each “multiple” to Christ. Friesen suggests that the therapist “teach the client to live life from the strong [multiple] selves, and reserve work with the injured selves to be carried out in therapy…. Get every self to work for the common good…having the adult selves stay in charge most of the time, while the child selves are safely kept away from the stresses of adult living.” It sounds more like the inmates running the asylum than a cure? One wonders why these vital instructions are missing from the “Manufacturer’s Handbook” and why Paul would say, “I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you…I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts:20:20,27) when he left out essential help for MPDs! Either Paul was wrong or Christian psychology is a fraud.

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Nuggets from Occult Invasion

Dave Hunt

Friesen insists that demons “are not removable until those [hidden] memories are uncovered.” Yet Jesus never engaged in uncovering memories, nor did Paul when casting out demons. Friesen adds that exorcism must be “carried out by people with experience in both the Christian and the psychological arenas.” Yet Christ and His apostles were very successful at casting out demons 1900 years before psychology invaded the church! If Christian psychology is true, the Bible is not!

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Amy Carmichael (1867-1951): Missionary to India

TBC Staff

Early on in her time in India, Amy received a letter from a lady in England who was seriously considering giving herself to missionary work. In her letter she asked Amy what missionary work was like. Amy replied, “Missionary life is simply a chance to die.” When I first read this, I immediately thought of our Lord’s words in John:12:24-25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Amy Carmichael understood well, not simply what every potential missionary needs to grasp, but what every Christian needs to understand—death works life (read 2 Cor:4:10-12). A missionary’s life is completely unglamorous. It requires dedication, devotion, resolve, and a readiness to die. That was Jesus’ basic requirement for every would-be disciple. When he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” Jesus was not saying that following him meant that life would be punctuated with inconveniences. Using the most dramatic of language, Jesus was saying, “Unless you are willing to die, you cannot follow me.” This is why the first question that any potential missionary should be asked is, “Share with us how highly you value and cherish the Lord Jesus Christ.” It is the value we place on God’s Son that will, more than anything else, enable us to bear the cost, the often sore cost, of serving him in this dark and hostile world.

Amy Carmichael was an Ulster-Scot, born in 1867 in Northern Ireland to relatively wealthy Christian parents. At the age of 12 she was sent to boarding school in England and three years later wrote, “In his great mercy, the Good Shepherd answered the prayers of my mother and father and many other loving ones, and drew me, even me“. From this moment on, Amy devoted herself to living for Christ and serving the cause of the gospel.

Amy’s call to sacrificial missionary service began with a very ordinary incident. One Sunday heading for church, she saw an old woman carrying a heavy burden. Amy decided to stop and help. As she did, the words of 1 Corinthians:3:12-13 came forcibly to her mind. One biographer wrote,“From this period her life would be shaped by the thought that ‘Nothing is important but that which is eternal.’” Sometimes, perhaps even most often, the Lord forwards the work of his kingdom quietly and unspectacularly. Who knows what seemingly insignificant incident God will use in your life today to bring you to give yourself unreservedly to him and his holy passion, the salvation and sanctification of the lost.

In 1887, she heard Hudson Taylor speak at the Keswick Convention and became persuaded that God was calling her to “Go and make disciples.”... Amy applied to and was accepted by the Anglican Church Missionary Society. In 1893, Amy travelled to Japan and then briefly to Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Her delicate health (she battled with poor health all her days) forced her to go to Bangalore in India to recuperate. In the sovereign providence of God, it was there that Amy became convinced of her life’s calling. Until her death in 1951, Amy devoted herself to bringing the gospel of God’s saving grace in Christ especially to young girls who had been sold into temple prostitution and servile slavery.

The Dohnavur Fellowship’s ministry among the female outcasts in Indian society became known far and wide. She gradually began to take in hundreds of unwanted children having smuggled them out of the temples when no-one was looking. On at least one occasion it seemed certain that she would be arrested, but she received a letter informing her that all charges had been dropped with no explanation!

By the mid-1930s Amy had become crippled and permanently bedridden following a nasty fall. However, her physical infirmity did not blunt her gospel usefulness. God continued to use her through the written word and her many books and poems that were published around the world, inspiring many Christians “to give up their small ambitions and go and preach the gospel of Christ.”

Amy Carmichael’s life was a striking witness to all who encountered her.Her love and devotion to the children of India was such that they referred to her as “Amma” or “mother.” One of her best-known sayings sums up her life: “One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.”

As we bring this brief overview of Amy’s life to a close, the words of one of her prayers surely echo in every Christian life that longs to glorify God: “God, harden me against myself, the coward with pathetic voice who craves for ease, and rest, and joy. Myself, arch traitor to myself, my hollowest friend, my deadliest foe, my clog whatever road I go.”

It is little wonder that the word of God commands us to “put to death what is earthly in us” (Rom:8:13). The Lord has not yet delivered us from sin’s presence; it remains to trouble us in any number of ways. But “if by the Spirit” we put to death what is earthly in us (and it is only with the Spirit’s help we can do this), we will “live”—live to be useful to God and the cause of his kingdom in this world.

https://www.radiusinternational.org/amy-carmichael-1867-1951-scottish-missionary-to-india/

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Nuggets from Occult Invasion

Dave Hunt

“Maybe” they happened? Common sense would give no credence to memories that didn’t exist until therapy “uncovered” them and which seem real to the patient and involve unbelievable events which family and friends insist never happened! Friesen goes on, “Distinguishing between [multiple] selves and demons is crucial….” One wonders why Jesus never followed this procedure (nor did Paul) in casting out of many demons.

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LA NECESIDAD DE “SER UN BEREANO” REAFIRMADO

TBC Staff

“Inmediatamente, los hermanos enviaron de noche a Pablo y a Silas hasta Berea. Y ellos, habiendo llegado, entraron en la sinagoga de los judíos. Y éstos eran más nobles que los que estaban en Tesalónica, pues recibieron la palabra con toda solicitud, escudriñando cada día las Escrituras para ver si estas cosas eran así” (Hechos 17:10-11).

Lucas nos documenta que el apóstol Pablo, habiendo dejado Tesalónica y recién llegado a la ciudad de Berea, predicó en la sinagoga de los Judíos Bereanos. La experiencia alentadora de Pablo con los Bereanos hizo que Lucas los elogie. Escribió que eran más nobles que los de Tesalónica, porque recibían la Palabra de Dios de Pablo "con toda solicitud, escudriñando cada día las Escrituras”,

para saber si lo que Pablo tenía que decir era verdadero o no.

El ministerio del “Llamamiento Bereano” exhorta a los creyentes en Jesucristo a tomar el mismo enfoque de discernimiento que los Judíos en Berea. No sólo tenían el corazón para escuchar las cosas de Dios, sino que, lo que es más importante, eran capaces de discernir lo que era verdaderamente de Él, porque consideraban las Escrituras como la autoridad para determinar la verdad de lo que estaban escuchando. Practicaron lo que Isaías predicó: "A la ley y al testimonio: si no hablan de acuerdo con esta palabra, es porque no hay luz en ellos" (Isaías 8:20).

La principal preocupación del “Llamamiento Bereano” es el bienestar espiritual del cuerpo de Cristo y, en particular, el fomento del discernimiento bíblico. Creemos que los tiempos reflejan la necesidad de nuestro llamamiento. Incluso un repaso superficial de lo que ha tenido lugar en la iglesia durante los últimos 25 años, revelará un feroz socavamiento de "la fe que una vez fue entregada a los santos" (Judas v 3). Incluso se podría decir que los Bereanos de la época de Pablo no estaban tan amenazados en comparación con esta generación.

En aquellos días la oposición a la verdad estaba en el mundo secular que los rodeaba, que aún no se había infiltrado en la iglesia bajo la apariencia de un Cristianismo gnóstico más iluminado o avanzado. Aunque había influencias paganas apremiantes, así como algunas enseñanzas y prácticas aberrantes aquí y allá, no fueron sometidos a nada como la avalancha de falsas creencias, enseñanzas y prácticas que han surgido en la ola de los medios Cristianos del tiempo presente.

El Llamamiento Bereano ciertamente tiene un corazón para salvar a los perdidos; también nos preocupa rescatar a los que están en cautiverio de los cultos. Nuestro ministerio principal, sin embargo, es para los creyentes. En muchos sentidos, la iglesia ha recurrido a las creencias, enseñanzas y prácticas del mundo y de los cultos, desde la inclinación por la psicología humanista entre los evangélicos conservadores hasta la afinidad culta por la divinidad y la demostración de poderes divinos entre carismáticos más extremos. Los movimientos populares y los maestros están influyendo en la iglesia para tomar el dominio sobre la tierra, para establecer el Reino como un requisito para que Cristo regrese, produzca signos y maravillas, y resuelva sus problemas a través de métodos poco bíblicos, como terapias de autoestima, programas de recuperación de doce pasos, rituales de sanidad interior, estrategias de "demonios vinculantes" y misticismo "Cristiano". Muchos líderes que profesan ser cristianos, promueven la unidad degradando la doctrina y fomentando el ecumenismo, para incluir incluso el paganismo abiertamente. También fomentan la participación de falsas instituciones religiosas (Mormonismo, Catolicismo Romano, Adventismo del Séptimo Día, etc.) en causas políticas y sociales "Cristianas."

Creemos que nuestro llamamiento es exhortar al cuerpo de Cristo a permanecer en Su Palabra, permitiendo que las Escrituras, por medio del ministerio del Espíritu Santo, sean la autoridad y el recurso suficiente en la vida de todo creyente. Queremos alentar a los Cristianos a ser Bereanos, no seguidores de “El Llamamiento Bereano” necesariamente, tampoco seguidores de Dave Hunt o T. A. McMahon o de cualquier otro hombre o institución. ¡Esa sería la antítesis de nuestro ministerio! El fruto que deseamos son creyentes que proclamen, como hizo Jeremías, "Se encontraron tus palabras, y yo las comí; y tu palabra fue para mí el gozo y regocijo de mi corazón" (15:16). La premisa básica para nuestro enfoque se encuentra en 2 Timoteo 3:16-17:

“Toda la Escritura es inspirada por Dios, y útil para enseñar, para redargüir, para corregir, para instruir en justicia, a fin de que el hombre de Dios sea perfecto, enteramente preparado para toda buena obra”.

Deseamos que los cristianos se comprometan y tomen en serio todos los aspectos de esos dos versículos. Toda la Escritura está inspirada en Dios. El Salmista confirma: "Tu palabra es verdadera desde el principio, y cada uno de tus juicios justos perdura para siempre" (Salmo 119:160). Pedro nos dice que la revelación de Dios no se originó del hombre, "pero los hombres santos de Dios hablaron al ser movidos por el Espíritu Santo" (2 Pedro 1:21).

También es beneficioso para la doctrina. Pablo exhortó a Timoteo con estas palabras: " Ten cuidado de ti mismo y de la doctrina; persiste en ello, pues haciendo esto, te salvarás a ti mismo y a los que te oyeren” (1 Timoteo 4:16). Ignorando las Escrituras, numerosos líderes evangélicos afirman hoy que la preocupación por la doctrina causa división y, por lo tanto, debe evitarse por amor y unidad entre los hermanos. La Palabra, sin embargo, no podría ser más específica en su oposición a tal enseñanza: "Mas os ruego, hermanos, que os fijéis en los que causan divisiones y tropiezos en contra de la doctrina que vosotros habéis aprendido, y que os apartéis de ellos” (Romanos 16:17). Las divisiones son creadas por enseñanzas que son contrarias a la doctrina sana. "Quien transgreda, y no permanezca en la doctrina de Cristo, no tiene a Dios. El que permanece en la doctrina de Cristo, tiene tanto al Padre como al Hijo" (2 Juan 1:9). La unidad en la fe es imposible sin la doctrina de Cristo. Sin tal fundamento no tenemos base para la fe, para el Evangelio, para conocer a Jesús o para conocer cualquier cosa pertinente a la Verdad.

Toda Escritura esta apta para corrección. Contrario a las enseñanzas populares de la autoestima cristiana, una corrección bíblica es beneficiosa tanto para el individuo como para un cuerpo de creyentes. Pablo reprendió públicamente a Pedro, quien, debido al temor de los hombres (Gálatas 2:12), estaba socavando la fe de algunos creyentes, al retirarse de los Gentiles y obligarlos a vivir bajo la ley Judía (2:13-14). Es interesante notar que Pedro no respondió quejándose amargamente de que la corrección pública de Pablo denigraba su ministerio o causó una pérdida de apoyo. De hecho, mientras Pedro reflexiona sobre sus enseñanzas del "amado hermano Pablo," las elogia por su sabiduría y valor para la iglesia.

Pedro reprendió a Ananías y Safira, profetizando su muerte. Como resultado, la iglesia primitiva fue infundida con un temor sano de Dios y Su santidad. Eso fue un elemento disuasorio para que los creyentes no se apartaran de las instrucciones de Dios (Proverbios 14:12; 16:25). Los ejemplos encontrados continuamente a lo largo de las Escrituras demuestran el valor del reproche para la convicción del pecado y la enseñanza errónea que de otra manera podrían haber pasado desapercibida y podrían haber apartado a muchos de la fe.

Toda Escritura es apta para corrección. Diseñada para el beneficio de los creyentes, esta enseñanza de la Palabra de Dios, está muy fuera de favor entre los líderes de la iglesia de hoy en día. Es asombroso que página tras página de la Biblia implique algún tipo de corrección, sin embargo, cualquier aplicación de este tipo entre los Cristianos generalmente es evitado o se le ve como emocionalmente dañino, "negativo" y "carente de amor”. Por el contrario, la corrección es bíblica y necesaria. Cuando la obra es del Espíritu Santo, que debe ser para ser fructífera, ¡es la más maravillosa de los ministerios! El Salmista escribe: "Que los justos me golpeen; será una bondad, y que me reproche; será un aceite excelente, que no me romperá la cabeza" (141:5).

Jesús estaba continuamente corrigiendo a Pedro, Tomás, a Sus otros discípulos, a los líderes Judíos, a las multitudes, a las personas que acudían a Él, a la mujer acusada de adulterio, así como a sus acusadores, a los dos en el camino a Emús, a las siete iglesias del Apocalipsis, y una y otra vez. Sus palabras en Hebreos y Apocalipsis pueden no ser populares hoy en día, pero no se pueden negar: “Hijo mío, no menosprecies la disciplina del Señor, ni desmayes cuando eres reprendido por él;Porque el Señor al que ama, disciplina” (Hebreos 12:5-6; Apocalipsis 3:19). Gran parte del Nuevo Testamento es correctivo por naturaleza. Nos enseña qué corregir y cómo hacerlo.

Algunos se han quejado (¿una forma de "corrección"?) de que “El Llamamiento Bereano” corrige demasiado; que se especializa en el error más que en enseñar la verdad, que hace daño a las personas y a sus ministerios al mencionar nombres, y que el ministerio se ha convertido en algo de poco amor y divisivo. Ese criticismo está lejos de nuestra intención. Y como creemos en la corrección, hacemos todo lo posible para asegurarnos de que estamos "caminando en la misma forma en que hablamos”. Nuestra intención de cada publicación está basada en oración constante y somos muy sensibles a tales preocupaciones, al mismo tiempo que tratamos de ser fieles a lo que el Señor ha puesto en nuestros corazones para comunicar. Continuamente nosotros estamos al tanto que nuestras correcciones no sean descontroladas y sinceramente queremos que sean beneficiosas.

Mencionamos los nombres de líderes o ministerios Cristianos que creemos que promueven ciertos errores porque, en muchos casos, sus falsas enseñanzas socavan la fe de millones de cristianos y deben ser corregidas públicamente. Aunque es posible tratar con una enseñanza falsa sin "nombres de nomenclatura", es imposible documentar su alcance e impacto sin dar ejemplos. Pablo mencionó los nombres de Pedro y Bernabé, Alejandro el cobrero, Himeneo y Fileto, y la exposición de Juan de Diótrefes; éstos son sólo algunos ejemplos bíblicos de corrección pública.

Algunos afirman que tales asuntos deben tratarse en privado, según Mateo 18. Pero esos versículos tratan asuntos de ofensa personal: cuestiones entre individuos, no enseñanzas o prácticas falsas que subvierten el Evangelio y se promueven públicamente.

Nuestro amor por todos los que enseñan en el nombre de nuestro Señor nos obliga a exhortarlos a reflejar la verdad bíblica, y esperamos y oramos para que respondan a nuestras preocupaciones. Cuando un individuo o ministerio influyente enseña con aserción o sin darse cuenta algo contrario a la Palabra de Dios, y si reconoce el error y se arrepiente públicamente y corrige tal enseñanza, todo el cuerpo de Cristo es alentado y edificado. ¿Qué hombre, mujer o ministerio de Dios no querría eso? Esto parece haber sido el corazón de Pedro cuando (después de ser corregido públicamente) elogia a quien lo reprendió y luego hace alguna corrección de los suyos, advirtiendo a los creyentes que estén al tanto de los maestros que torcieron las Escrituras y de que se alejan de la fe (2 Pedro 3:14-17).

La exhortación al discernimiento no está exenta de ciertos riesgos laborales, tanto para nosotros como para aquellos con quienes nos comunicamos. Debemos examinar nuestro corazón constantemente para asegurarnos de que estamos ministrando de acuerdo con las instrucciones de 2 Timoteo 2:24-26:

" Porque el siervo del Señor no debe ser contencioso, sino amable para con todos, apto para enseñar, sufrido; que con mansedumbre corrija a los que se oponen, por si quizá Dios les conceda que se arrepientan para conocer la verdad, y escapen del lazo del diablo, en que están cautivos a voluntad de él”.

No alcanzar tal enfoque puede abrir el camino para la antítesis misma de lo que deseamos: rectitud, juicio, espíritu crítico, legalismo y "golpear" a personas o ministerios en lugar de proyectar luz sobre sus enseñanzas y prácticas poco bíblicas. Sin embargo, a medida que continuamos aplicando la corrección bíblica a nuestra propia vida personal, así como a nuestra divulgación pública, Su gracia nos ayudará a evitar tales tropiezos y nos permitirá decir la verdad en amor.

Toda Escritura es apta para la instrucción en rectitud (2 Timoteo 3:16). Como espero que todos ustedes ya sepan, “El Llamamiento Bereano” está totalmente dedicado a Jesús, que es la Palabra viviente. Nuestra perspectiva es que la rectitud se encuentra en conocer el camino de Dios a través de las Escrituras y en hacer las cosas a Su manera, de acuerdo con la autoridad absoluta de la Palabra inerte y todo-suficiente de Dios. El deseo de nuestro corazón es alentar a los que aman al Señor a enfocar en discernimiento en estos días de confusión religiosa, delirio y engaño, y llenar sus corazones y mentes con las instrucciones de Dios, el único recurso verdadero para vivir una vida fructífera y productiva.

Concluyendo su letanía de usos provechosos de la Escritura, 2 Timoteo 3:16-17, declara que la Palabra de Dios es el recurso suficiente para que cada hijo de Cristo madure en Él, su contenido consiste en todo lo que necesitamos saber para llevar vidas fructíferas en el Señor. Una vez más, exhortar a los creyentes en la verdad, dirigiéndolos a la Persona de Jesucristo y a Su Palabra es nuestro llamamiento. Nuestro corazón es simplemente animar a los que aman al Señor a escuchar Sus palabras: "Si vosotros permaneciereis en mi palabra, entonces sois mis discípulos; y conoceréis la verdad, y la verdad os hará libres" (Juan 8:31-32).

Aunque el “Llamamiento Bereano” es una pequeña operación, el Señor nos está permitiendo ampliar nuestro alcance a medida que nos dirige y nos guía. Queremos tener un impacto definido para el bien, para ser una ayuda verdadera y creciente para más y más de los millones que conocen a Jesucristo como su Señor y Salvador.

Con ese fin, esperamos ofrecer conferencias adicionales por internet, diseñadas para informar y ayudar a los pastores a lidiar con enseñanzas y prácticas no bíblicas (particularmente aquellas influenciadas por la creciente afinidad de la iglesia por el asesoramiento psicológico), y programas para audiencias generales que se ocupan de cuestiones doctrinales críticas en estos días de creciente compromiso y apostasía. Si el Señor se tarda en Su Segunda Venida, creemos que será necesario desarrollar formas y medios más eficaces de equipar a los creyentes en el discernimiento bíblico, así como maneras de movilizarlos para luchar por la fe.

Por favor oren para que "caminemos dignos de la vocación con la que [estamos] llamados, con toda humildad y mansedumbre, con longanimidad, tolerando unos a otros en el amor; procurando mantener la unidad del Espíritu en el vínculo de la paz" (Efesios 4:1-3). TBC

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“Inmediatamente, los hermanos enviaron de noche a Pablo y a Silas hasta Berea. Y ellos, habiendo llegado, entraron en la sinagoga de los judíos. Y éstos eran más nobles que los que estaban en Tesalónica, pues recibieron la palabra con toda solicitud, escudriñando cada día las Escrituras para ver si estas cosas eran así” (Hechos 17:10-11).

Early Far-Left Spinoff Just the Beginning for Methodists

TBC Staff

The anticipated formal split of the United Methodist Church has been pushed to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the delay, however, a new ultra-left denomination known as the"Liberation Methodist Connexion," or LMX, has appeared.

LMX – the progressive side of the UMC division – reportedly rejects God's gospel in favor of a politically correct social gospel. "Correct doctrine is less important to the new denomination than correct action, collaborators said during [last] Sunday's presentation," Religion News Service (RNS) reported. "That action includes reparations, caring for the Earth, and finding new ways to live together outside of systems like colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, clericalism and heteronormativity, they said."

A female LMX leader at the presentation attempted to clarify the unbiblical philosophy adopted by her new religious network. "We seek not answers that lead us to correct doctrines as to why we suffer –we seek correct actions, correct praxis … where God sustains us during the unanswerable questions," she declared at the gathering, according to RNS. "God was there in the seeds of the movement John Wesley started – we are its queer, strange fruit."

"While The United Methodist Church will technically continue as a coalition of self-identified centrists and liberals, United Methodism – which was founded in 1968 – is essentially ending next year,"explains Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD). "Its logo of cross and flame … has already been declared racist and almost certainly will be abandoned –and likely the name United Methodist itself also will ultimately be deemed oppressive and discarded."

Although it retains a religious appearance, LMX is firmly rooted in humanist ideals – not God's Word, according to [commentator Mark] Tooley. "LMX will live out theological pluralism to its more logical conclusions – minimizing if not altogether dismissing theological doctrine in favor of political activisms and identity politics," he offers. "No doubt, LMX will start very small and will remain a small niche movement, [and] most radicals will stay within United Methodism – or whatever it is ultimately called – shifting what's left of the old denominational structures ever leftward."

Even though the largest section of the split is conservative, progressive doctrine subverting biblical principles is expected to eventually work its way to the top of the new denomination. "Self-identified 'centrists' will with time mostly shift leftward to the drumbeat of the radicals, but the process will be discomfiting and divisive for them – especially as many of them by default become the new 'conservatives' relative to the rest of their denomination,” [Tooley] notes. "Centrists are largely fine with abandoning historic Christian sexual morality once U.S. Evangelicals and Africans, with some Filipinos and Europeans, form the new Global Methodist Church, but most of them still hope to retain the architecture of creedal Christianity– against which radicals in their revolutionary zeal will constantly push."

"Centrists largely come from philosophically mixed congregations – many of them in the suburbs and still including worshippers who politically lean conservative (most United Methodists vote Republican) and, if not evangelical, who still resonate with the major themes of traditional Christianity," Tooley adds.

"As post-schism United Methodism (psUMC) – under whatever name – increasingly adopts more explicitly radical political, cultural and theological themes, many of these non-liberals in centrist congregations may object, resist, quit or at least quietly fade away."

He suggests preparing for another major shakeup after the split. "How will many members of centrist congregations in post-schism United Methodism react to drag queen eucharists, mandatory pronoun fluidity, or far-left political advocacy in worship and from the pulpit?" Tooley ponders. "For decades, much of United Methodism's liberal activism was indulged by the church's agencies and seminaries, but largely kept out of local churches, as pastors sought to protect their congregations from divisive controversies. Those days will end fairly quickly after the schism is completed."

He anticipates it is just a matter of time before Methodists will join other radical liberals posing as church communities. "Centrists likely think psUMC will resemble the Episcopal Church, i.e. sexually liberal, but still mostly tasteful, liturgical, genteelly declining without imploding, and making room on Sundays for quiet Republicans and other non-liberals," the IRD leader reasons. "Instead, psUMC will likelier resemble the more explicitly left-wing United Church of Christ and, at times, the Unitarian Universalist Association."

https://onenewsnow.com/church/2020/12/08/tooley-early-far-left-spinoff-just-the-beginning-for-methodists