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Bryan Fischer, with American Family Association, says, "United Methodist Dr. Karen Oliveto is an out, loud, and proud, non-celibate lesbian, and she thinks Jesus was an out-and-out bigot."
A prominent Presbyterian pastor---leader of the second largest Presbyterian Church (PSA) in America, has declared that Christianity is not the only way to heaven.
It's not surprising that George Barna's latest survey found that American Christians are confused about what the Bible teaches, and what they personally believe.
Fischer says, if you can believe it, the Methodist Bishop praises Jesus "for outgrowing His bigotry and prejudice, and showing us that we too can change."
Bishop Oliveto says, "If Jesus can change, if he can give up his bigotries and prejudices, if he can realize that he had made his life too small, and if, in his realization, he grew closer to others and closer to God, than so can we."
Fischer says he grabbed a digital copy before she deleted her comments as to why she believes this.
He says, "She cites the narrative in which Jesus initially remained silent to a Canaanite woman whose daughter was oppressed by a demon. When she shows persistence in her confidence that Jesus can help her, He praises her---'O woman, great is your faith!'---and answers her prayer---'Be it done for you as you desire'" (Matthew 15: 28).
The lesbian bishop takes Jesus initial response of silence, not as a test of the woman's faith which it clearly was, but as a display of raw prejudice and bigotry, Fischer says.
The point she is making is that Jesus didn't have everything figured out yet---like most of us---so this is about the personal spiritual growth of Jesus learning, growing and finally "coming around," which is the mantra of the homosexual activists.
She quotes someone else to the effect that "Jesus wasn't a know-it-all, he was also learning God's will like any human being and finally changed his mind...if Jesus...could grow into new and deeper understanding...maybe so can we.
She says Jesus was someone who learned that "bigotry and oppression... keep all of us from being whole."
The bishop's view of Christ is both blasphemous and heretical.
Fischer's article is excellent. I encourage you to read it. He says, "If Jesus is not who He claimed to be, then all of us are still dead in our sins with no hope of eternal life"...concluding, "Jesus is not the bigot here. Bishop Karen Oliveto is. Perhaps its time for her to give up her ' bigotries and prejudices' about the Son of God and the Savior of the World."
But this is isolated, right?
Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, leader of the 5,500 member Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago---the second largest congregation in the Presbyterian Church (PSA), has declared that Christianity is not the only way to heaven.
In addition to Jesus being labeled as a "bigot," Rev. Kershner is essentially calling Him a liar.
When the Chicago Sun Times asked her the question, "Is Christianity the only way to heaven?" she bluntly replied, "No."
She said, "God's not a Christian. I mean, we are...For me, the Christian tradition is the way to understand God and my relationship with the world and other humans and it's a way for me to move into that relationship but I'm not about to say what God can and cannot do in other ways and with other spiritual experiences."
The Bible is abundantly clear on the issue of how one goes to heaven.
Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me."
In Acts 4:12, Peter said of Jesus, "Salvation is found in no other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved."
Heresy.
I wish I could say this is isolated, but unfortunately, it isn't.
Desperate for more members in the pew, and increased influence, too many pastors are leaning away from the truth of God's Word toward what they believe to be a more welcoming and friendly message cloaked as "the Gospel."
Following the aftermath of the Las Vegas shootings a week ago, Rev. Kershner said: "God has some explaining to do."
According to Scripture, some pastors will also have some explaining to do.
In what was Paul's last letter to the Church before he would be executed for the faith, he wrote to Timothy (II Timothy 4: 2,3, 4), "Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables."
This is such a time.
George Barna's latest survey of the Christian church in America verifies that apparently too many are hearing fables.
While Barna's focus in this survey is on abortion and the church, it speaks in a broader sense to the church at large.
Consider these facts from the survey:
- There has been a broad and consistent decline in Christian commitment, resulting in declining church attendance, Bible reading, conversions-- i.e. accepting Christ as personal Savior, and development of a biblical worldview.
- There has been a corresponding rise in narcissism, with the new generation dismissing the notion of absolute moral truth while advancing the importance of personal choice, convenience, and comfort, as well as individual happiness. They try to avoid conflict at all cost.
- He found that most theologically conservative evangelical churches in the US refuse to teach people how to think biblically about controversial issues. Among the issues he found to be ignored from the pulpit are religious persecution, sexual identity, Israel, poverty, and cultural restoration.
- Barna concludes Christians are confused about what they actually believe, and "Increasing numbers of Americans are separating their religious beliefs from their moral choices."
- "They are making their choices based on emotion rather than logic or faith." And Barna concludes, "That is a recipe for convoluted reasoning and indefensible positions."
Enter lesbian Bishop Dr. Karen Oliveto and Presbyterian Pastor Shannon Kershner---and too many others like them---thus creating a state of confusion in the name of the Lord.
In Paul's final words to Timothy and to the billions who have and do follow Jesus Christ, he wrote, "But be watchful in all things...I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith..."
Be Informed. Be Watchful. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.