Revelation, or Inspiration? - By Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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With sadness we present another Elizabeth Prata article. Why are we sad? Because Ms. Prata is so self-assured in her error. It's one thing to have an opinion about the Bible, but it is entirely something else to proclaim it from the mountaintops as unassailable truth. This is what she does, and she does it time after time.

Like many in the infamous group we have deemed the Doctrinal Police, she does not like to be disagreed with or challenged. So it is with some surprise we find her actually answering a mild challenge to her position. However, her answer completely avoids the Scripture contained in the question, and she then wanders off in search of a point.

She does quote some Scripture, which is a happy departure from her usual practice. Unfortunately, they are well-worn cessationist proof texts.

Lastly, the title of the article is "Revelation, or Inspiration?" However, we will find she actually wants to discuss revelation vs. illumination.

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The Office of Pastor Necessitates Maturity - by JOSH BUICE

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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It is clear the author's premise is that the pastor is the singular leader of the local church, likely with an understructure of elders and deacons. But he goes back and forth between various terms (elder, overseer, pastor, shepherd) in such a way as to completely obscure not only the Bible's teaching, but also the very thing he's attempting to explain.

In the end the author never gets a grip on the differences between the words he uses to describe church leadership. His topic, maturity in leadership, does thankfully get discussed, but it's mixed in with a number of truly puzzling assertions.

Also, the author manages to quote only one Scripture.

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Bethel’s Cory Asbury is a False Teacher and Should Be Avoided at All Costs - by Publisher

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Sadly, the Doctrinal Police too often go ballistic on supposed heresy, which unfortunately makes them suspect when there is legitimate heresy involved. If every little thing is "rank heresy," then when real heresy comes along, who will believe them?

But today, "publisher" goes even farther. In debunking this supposed heresy, he engages in a heresy himself, Nestorianism.

Why does he do this? Because the Reformed branch of Christianity believes in impassibility, which teaches that God's character is not subject to passions, emotions, or feelings. So in an absolute sense, then, Jesus the man must be separated from Jesus the third Person of the trinity in terms of Him being "vulnerable."

We should say that we do not intend to defend Cory Asbury. We are going to examine the author's statements.

A Primer on Spiritual Gifts - by KEVIN BAUDER

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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A primer is a basic-level introduction to something, especially for children first learning to read. Thus we would expect that the author would provide us with some elementary information on the spiritual gifts. He does not do that, though he writes over 900 words. And, he can only manage to quote a single Scripture. 

This is the state of Bible teaching today, unfortunately.

Further, we don't think people should teach about things they don't believe, and particularly in the author's case, what they don't understand. In fact, what follows is not teaching about the spiritual gifts at all. The author can barely bring himself to mention them, and does not explain any of them.

Ultimately, the author tells us it's really not worth the bother to understand the spiritual gifts. It's not as important as serving in the church. His attitude is, go ahead and serve, and maybe a spiritual gift might come to bear, but don't count on it.

This is simply bad Bible teaching.

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Seven Mountains Heresy on Steroids - By Anthony Wade

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Reverend Wade makes yet another appearance in our blog. This article is typical for him, and it may even be worse than usual. He utilizes the same techniques over and over:

• Undocumented claims
• Inflammatory rhetoric
• Bible twisting (when he bothers to quote Scripture)
• Misrepresenting the statements of his opposition
• Wild unrelated tangents
• Biblical ignorance
• Stereotyping
• Making inferences from innocuous statements

This is an extremely frustrating read. Rev. Wade expends 1633 words (excluding quotes) to refute Joseph Mattera. The thing is, maybe there is something of concern regarding the NAR. Maybe Mattera is off base, a false teacher, or a heretic. But Rev. Wade is not up to the challenge of explaining it to us. If there is a problem, we cannot discern it from his writing.

As an aside, Rev. Wade has demonstrated a hatred of displays of patriotism from his theological adversaries. He seems to think that Christians who love their country are being unbiblical, but he never specifies any Scripture that tell us this. He also blames this on the NAR, because they're supposedly "Dominionists," another claim he never demonstrates.

Christian patriotism is not a NAR invention. "My Country Tis of Thee" was written in 1831, which is a patriotic song addressing God directly. It includes the verse

Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King!

"Battle Hymn of the Republic" was written in 1861. "America the Beautiful" was written in 1893. All contain beautiful statements of God's glory, entreaties for His favor, and even statements of doctrine. American patriotism is a long-held tradition.

And there's some verses that contradict Rev. Wade's opposition to Christian patriotism:

Ps. 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.

Ps. 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Ps. 66:7 He rules for ever by his power, his eyes watch the nations — let not the rebellious rise up against him. Selah

Ps. 72:11 All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.

Ps. 72:17 May his name endure for ever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.

Is. 11:10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious.

We should note that we do not intend to defend the "NAR" or Joseph Mattera. We want to examine Rev. Wade's scattershot screed.

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Modern “Miracles” vs True Miracles Recorded in Scripture - by Publisher

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This may be one of the worst explanations of the purpose of miracles we have ever read. We are not trying to be hyperbolic. The author completely fails to teach the Bible in any useful way. Almost every complaint we have issued in the past regarding supposed Bible teachers, discernment ministries, or the "Doctrinal Police" applies to this article:

• Little or no Scripture quoted
• Undocumented assertions
• Misinterpreted doctrine
• False teaching
• Presumption 
• Misrepresentation of the Bible
• Omission of key facts

The author clearly has an underlying agenda, and that is to refute those who believe in the continuing miraculous activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church. But he never does, nor does he deliver on his promised premise in the title.

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