Dear Lighthouse Trails:
Yesterday, I was reading 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, where Paul is writing about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of the world. I was reminded of our former Baptist pastor in the early ’80s who was highly intellectual, which attracted a lot of people from academia in our college town. (Although that wasn’t the attraction for my husband and I; we are those who Paul would call “not wise after the flesh.”) He eventually took a pastorate in another state in the mid-’80s and moved away. Since he came to mind while reading 1 Corinthians, I wondered how he was doing these days and looked him up. I was shocked, dismayed, and heartbroken to learn that he is now an Orthodox priest!
How could one be a Baptist pastor for 38 years and then turn to Orthodoxy? . . . I remember he highly respected Bible scholars of “higher criticism.” It seems that he eventually got discouraged and disillusioned and (by 2000) left his Baptist church to do some soul searching. And this is where he absolutely took a wrong turn. Instead of turning to Scripture and studying God’s Word for answers, he began delving deep into “church” history. This took him further down the road to the Ancient Fathers and the more he read, the more he was convinced that the true church was in Orthodoxy. By February 2007, he was ordained a priest in the Orthodox church.
His “testimony” and church website include words like theosis, spiritual formation, God’s energy, mystery, the Jesus prayer, Mary the Mother of God, icons, incense, mystical experience, worshiping with all five senses, missional, etc. He fully embraces the Eucharist, praying to Mary and the saints, infant baptism, and liturgies.
He has rejected believers who know him and tried to admonish him.
Should I be surprised? No. Ray Yungen and Roger Oakland were right that following this pathway will eventually lead to faith undone and a time of departing. What is even more disturbing in this pastor’s apostasy is that he took a following of people with him right into the Orthodox church. He is truly a case of the blind leading the blind, and his judgment will be great (James 3:1).
My heart is broken, and I pray for him and his family. Thank you for being a warning ministry and shedding light on these works of darkness. I have learned so much from your ministry and publications.
Your sister in Christ,
Mary
Related Articles:
Multi-Sensory Worship: Prayer Stations, Icons, Incense, and Candles by Roger Oakland
‘Bible Answer Man’ Hank Hanegraaff Leaves Evangelicalism, Joins Eastern Orthodox Church
A Step Forward Towards Reconciliation Between Catholics and Orthodox Churches
The Desert Fathers and the Methods They Used by Ray Yungen
(Photo of an orthodox priest from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)
Encouraging to see all of the wisdom here. Thank God He has given us His Holy Spirit & His Holy Scriptures by faith in His Holy Son so we can know the truth & discern the lie.
I sat with a close relative who is a missionary (and keeping social justice at bay) the other night and said that the Evangelical church will return to Rome within 5 to 7 years. I don’t say this with any “prophetic” tones ( for I am not even a little charismatic); however, I see everywhere I look a mindless march due to, of all things the Reformed spirit that swept through christianity over the past 15 years. The God of the reformers appeared bigger and more majestic that the handy little Jesus we (I) had manufactured so much of what these men wrote seemed to resonate. What we didn’t pick up on was that most of these reformers still looked to “church fathers” writings for back up support after their bold “Soli Scriptura” declarations…we just didn’t pick up on this. As I have studied the writings of these “fathers” I find nothing but smoke with Eusebius the self appointed church historian destroying writings of all true Christian leaders and fabricating and embellishing only the “characters” who promoted Roman hereisis. It is a lot of work but well worth the effort to look closely at the nonsense they fabricated. Our naive and gullible theologians were so animated by Calvin (who practiced Lectio Divina) that they failed to discern that they never renounce Rome.
BOLDLY DEFEND THE FAITH, is a command not a take it or leave it personal preference. When asked what is the single greatest command , Jesus replied with 2 commands. Love God above all. God is sacred. Secondly love your neighbor. we being created in His image makes us sacred too. There are 2 paths or error that all of these false teaching have in common. the most common is to attack the credibility of the Bible. The second is exalting loving your neighbor above loving God. They put deeds above creeds. They are seeker friendly and missional and ecumenical. They ignore Matt. 6 and publicly boast of their good deeds. The use the parable of the sheep and the goats to claim salvation works not by faith. Loving your neighbor more than loving God is nothing less than Idolatry. Pastors do not boldly defend the faith from the pulpit for they are more concerned about offending people than offending God. Exek. 33 warns the watchman on wall that if they see danger and fail to warn the people their blood guilt is upon the watcher.
I have noticed that the apostasy takes many forms. 1. People who identified as Christians in a Biblical way began slipping into apostate denominations, the emergent church, and falling away into universalism and eventually all the way into the antichrist ‘religion,’ ready to embrace antichrist. 2. Others who professed the faith have fallen away from religion altogether and become antagonistic atheists, bitter and hostile to all forms of ‘church.’ 3. Pastors also slip into either categories above. 4. Other pastors are wolves in sheep’s clothing and have infiltrated to intentionally deceive and further the apostasy, deliberately moving the ‘sheep’ in the wrong direction towards the antichrist ‘religion’ on the way. The forms of deception are many, but either way the remnant is thinning out. All we can do is warn and pray for them all. Blessings!
This is such a sad story of satan beguiling those who are not alert to his schemes. I read that the Bible Answer Man has also gone into the Orthodox Church, I do not know if that means the R. Catholic Church. This is another result of Spiritual Formation and Emergent practices. The Road to Rome is dangerous. Beware! Leaders are leading many astray!
Reminds me of a woman I spoke to who was a mormon. I told her that I didn’t blame her for the way she thought since she grew up in the church and she told me that she didn’t grow up in the church. She said she was a baptist and she answered the door to some mormon missionaries. She took their book and read it to try to counter it the next time someone should come to her door, but what ended up happening is that she read it and believed it and she raised her children in mormonism and they were raising their children in it. So very sad! That has always stayed with me and I just stay with what I know, which is the Good News and the Bible.
the so called bible answer man hank hannegraf did the same 1 year ago. how blind could you be exodus 20-2. they are lost how sad.2nd tim 4-3