Chris Blackeby Appears on Charisma Mag Podcast: Dude Believes He’s Jesus - by Staff Writer

Found here.  

Our comments in bold.

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We don't know this Chris Blackeby or why he might be such a danger. We certainly have no intention of defending him or his teachings. We shall, however, examine "Staff Writer's" presentation in order to determine the source of his outrage.

We need to note that the author quotes no Scripture, explains no biblical concept, nor does he mount a refutation of the the person who is the subject of his ire. Nothing.

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Chris Blackeby, an itinerant Australian former youth pastor who peddles himself as one who “demystifies the mystic,” travels with the more fringe charismatics, and has been known to frequent a Charisma podcast a time or two, posted this wonderful gem on his Facebook page, recycling some of the “we are little gods” theology from hucksters of yesteryear.




Blackeby, who heads up the one-man show that is As He Is Ministries seems to specialize in proselytizing two abiding principles. One is an extreme form of “I don’t want religion, I want a relationship,” (A ubiquitous characterization of the Faith, which does no violence to NT teaching.)

where he describes religion not as the scripture does in James 1:27, (So Blackeby is at variance with Scripture. Let's actually quote the verse. Ja. 1:27:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The Greek word for "religion" is

θρησκεία  ...which see; hence, apparently primarily fear of the gods; religious worship, especially external, that which consists in ceremonies...

It is found only 4 times in the NT, and seems to refer only to the external expressions or ceremonies. Thus James is not referring to an all-encompassing definition of Christianity, but rather a very context-specific one.

Those who refer to Christianity as "a relationship, not a religion," or something similar, are distinguishing between the typical view of religion as a set of practices and behavioral obligations as opposed to the inner transformative work God does when He saves someone. This does not violate James.

This is so simple and basic that we are surprised anyone takes issue with it.)

but rather as “cruel” and “poisonous” rule-keeping that has “Satan as its’ father.” (We would agree with Blackeby to the extent he embraces Jesus' clear statements about the futility of keeping of rules. Mk. 7:6-9:

 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: `These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’ [Isaiah 29:13] 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!"

We do not know how Blackeby might be characterizing the issue of religion and rules, nor do we really care. Our concern is that "Staff Writer" clearly does not understand the Scriptures related to this concept and so cannot accurately articulate, let alone quote, what the Bible says.

This means he is ill-equipped to evaluate Blackeby.)

The second is some sort of interpretation of a hyper-theosis, believing that we are “the expression of Christ,” that we are sons of God, and that the “s” in “sons” should probably be capitalized in some way. (Does Blackeby believe this? Is "Staff Writer" quoting Blackeby?

So, let's examine these supposed heretical claims:

• "expression of Christ" 

2Co. 2:15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

Col. 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Col. 3:9-10 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

•  "sons of God"

Ro. 8:13-14 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Ga. 3:26-27 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 7 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Now, if there is some sort of heresy associated with these concepts, we would be happy to hear the author's argument. Since he does not make one, we summarily reject his assertions.)

By way of background, he once was a youth pastor at a large church that might rhyme with “Billsong” who became extremely became ill in his early thirties. This prognosis rocked his whole world, explaining “I found out that either Christianity’s not true, or the bible’s not true, or God’s not true, or I fundamentally misunderstood something.” [Editor’s note: Bet on the last option to win. There is nothing wrong with God or His created religion seen in the Scriptures.]

Allegedly given 6 months to live, he decided to travel during this time, going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it, receiving revelation from Jesus and emerging healed of his sickness and armed with the message that “the gospel is not what we were told.”

Fast forward to a few years later, and Blackeby has recently appeared on Liz Wright’s Live your Best Life Podcast, which is part of the Charisma Podcast Network. He joins Michael Brown, Stephen Strange, Shawn Bolz, and a host of other theological misfits who have the words “prophetic” and “kingdom” in their names.

While Liz listens in rapt attention, he shares the following teaching, much to her joy and amazement:

You can try to be a good Christian, which is something that we’ve made up, but Jesus wasn’t a Christian. Jesus wasn’t a Christian. We’re like him. He was a son of God. He was the Son of God. The unique Son of God, and he’s made us the unique Son of God, the (unintelligible).

We are Him. You are the beloved Son. I’m the beloved Son. We are the beloved Son of God. We are him, and we have his standing immediately….

People say what’s your prayer life like? I literally wake up and walk out the front door, and I walk around and I pretend I’m God. (Liz comments, “right – because you’re one with him…”).

If a giraffe has a baby giraffe, it’s all giraffe. If God has a son, it’s all God. Like I am of Him. I’m not Yahweh that made me, I’m of his substance, and I have His nature. So the sermon on the mount is not a list of things to attain to, it describes me.”

You can see then why posting his “In Christ, I’m Christ” message should be taken as more than mere misguided theosis, but rather as the abject blasphemy it is. (While we think Blackeby is inelegantly stating our sonship in Christ, it is the author's job to explain from the scripture where the error is in Blackeby's statements. We do not grant him permission to simply make the accusation and then pass it off to his readers. 

The author seem incapable of expounding the truth, contenting himself with simply blasting away at someone else without bothering to take the opportunity to teach from the Scriptures.)

We reached out to Charisma for comment but they did not respond at the time of this article.