IT’S A BAD QUESTION

“Can a Catholic be a born-again Christian?” It’s a bad question. It’s not my question. The wording stinks. It’s like asking if a man can be a woman. Despite the current confusion in our culture, the answer is always “No.” Sane people, Biblical people, all understand that you can be one or the other, but you can’t be both simultaneously.

The question is also a theological trap. No matter how you answer, somebody’s going to misunderstand you, or understand you rightly, and be mad. Both the wording and ecumenical agenda that usually lurks behind this question make it problematic. Although 90% of Protestant pastors answered “Yes” to the question, it’s hard telling what they meant by their “Yes.” They might have only meant that Catholics can get saved and become Christians. That’s wonderfully true. They may mean that there are millions of Catholics who are genuinely saved even though they continue to be Catholics and continue to participate in idolatrous rituals and sacraments (SEE Millions of Catholics in Heaven, a tragic statement from Dr. Albert Mohler). That’s a dangerous error and it’s growing ever more popular as influential men propagate it. As a rule, I’ve found that those who claim to personally know Catholics who are “born-again Christian[s]” have not asked their Catholic friends or family members the essential questions that must be answered in order to justify their claim (SEE Rome’s Heresy & Gospel Clarity -notes for evangelizing Catholics). I would gently challenge those who have now left the Catholic Church, evidencing that they are indeed “born-again Christian[s]” by having repented of Catholicism’s many heresies and believed the Gospel, to fully consider and interpret their experience in the light of God’s Word. We can’t be confident that the miracle of regeneration has taken place, even our own, until we manifest the sure evidences of regeneration — repentance of sin (including the sin of participating in Catholicism’s idolatrous, antichrist rituals & sacraments) and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished redemptive work alone for salvation. Jesus said, “unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:5). More on that later.

Due to the way the question is framed, every “Yes” unleashes a host of terrible ramifications. If you answer “Yes” you can be certain that it will help harden the unrepentant Catholic idolater’s heart and deafen his ears to the true Gospel being fully and faithfully delivered by others. If you answer “Yes” it blurs the essential theological lines and demolishes the clear battle line of the Reformation. If you answer “Yes” it stifles evangelistic zeal to reach Roman Catholics with the essential call to repent of the false gospel of Rome and to believe Gospel of Jesus Christ, because the nice Catholics you know, who say nice things about God and Jesus, are undoubtedly those “born-again Christian” Catholics who are already saved and just a bit confused about the whole ordinance vs. sacrament thing — and who want’s to have an unnecessary and offensive argument over secondary matters. If you answer “Yes” it opens the door for a world of ecumenical Gospel compromise. The frustrating thing about the wording of the question is that your “Yes” may have only meant that you think a Catholic can repent, believe, and come out of Catholicism, but that isn’t how your “Yes” will be understood and used. It’s a bad question.

THE SAFE ANSWER IS NO

The safe answer is “No.” By safe I mean we won’t harden the hearts and deafen the ears of unrepentant Catholic idolaters. By safe I mean we keep our theological and Reformation battle lines distinct. By safe I mean we keep our evangelistic zeal hot by holding fast to our evangelistic clarity, and thus actively labor to see Roman Catholics come out of Rome and to repentance and saving faith in Christ. By safe I mean that we can’t say with any Biblical foundation or confidence that someone who is at peace with and participating in the idolatrous Roman Catholic system of abominable antichrist doctrines, ceremonies, practices, and sacraments is a “born-again Christian.” By safe I mean we reject ecumenical union that leads to theological and Gospel compromise. Stick with what’s safe, stick with “No!”

DO NOT BE DECEIVED

We really don’t have to wonder what the right answer to the question is. God knew men would endeavor to declare unregenerate, unrepentant sinners to be “born-again Christian[s]” long before we started to do it. 1 Cor. 6:9-11 is our answer and it must be our gracious, loving, and unbudging position toward those who remain in the idolatrous Roman Catholic Church:

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Let us not declare anyone a justified “born-again Christian” until they evidence being born again by repenting of Catholicism’s gross idolatry. That is what the Word of God and true love for Catholic souls requires.

IDOLATERS HATE GOD

The Roman Catholic Church is so brazenly committed to their idolatry that they have actually removed the command against idolatry from the Ten Commandments in their doctrinal statements and teachings. How serious does God take idolatry? We tend to treat sins like adultery found in the second table of the Law as more serious than those like idolatry found in the first. God does not:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them (including statues of dead saints, statues of Mary, statues of Jesus, crucifixes, & above all the transubstantiated wafer) nor serve them. For I, the Lord  your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6)

Our Lord is quite clear that idolatry is hatred toward God. Think about it. When God says idolatry is hatred toward Him, we cannot say millions of Catholics actually love God and have a simple saving faith in Jesus while they continue to participate in Roman Catholic ritual and sacraments that are full of idolatry. You cannot worship both God and idols (2 Cor. 6:11-18). You cannot both love God and hate Him. God has made clear that those who love Him keep His commandments. Not participating in idolatry is a basic, essential, non-negotiable commandment. All idolaters must repent of their idolatry to be saved. All idolaters must repent of their hatred of the one true God to be saved: Mormon idolaters, Jehovah’s Witness idolaters, Muslim idolaters, and Catholic idolaters. I fear much of modern Protestantism and Evangelicalism would call Paul uncharitable and needlessly divisive for writing to the church of Corinth to rebuke their union with those engaged in idolatry:

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness (Catholicism is lawlessness)? And what communion has light with darkness (Catholicism is darkness)? And what accord has Christ with Belial (Catholicism is Satanic)? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever (Catholics are unbelievers)? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols (Christ’s Church has no agreement with Satan’s antichrist idolatrous Roman Catholic Church)?…Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate,’ says the Lord.” (2 Cor. 6:14-18)

IDOLATERS GO TO HELL

Let’s just break it down to the basics. Who does the Bible say is going to Hell? Rev. 21:8 provides a list of those who are not “born-again Christian[s]” that includes “unbelieving, abominable…idolaters,” and then goes on to explain that they “shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire.” Catholics are unbelievers who participate in abominable rituals and sacraments infused with idolatry. Regardless of whatever else they may say, the idolatrous system they are glad participants of reveals their lack of saving belief in the Gospel. Until our Catholic friends come out of Catholicism’s idolatrous system, the charitable thing to do, the Biblical thing to do, and the Gospel thing to do, is to call them to repent and be saved — not to call them “born-again Christian[s]” when they’ve yet to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (Matt. 3:8).

“REPENT & BELIEVE THE GOSPEL” IS STILL OUR MESSAGE

Jesus said, “Repent and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). We must hold that line. Our Roman Catholic friends and family must repent of their sin, including their abominable sacraments (baptismal regeneration, priestly absolution, etc.), abominable Mariology, and a great many forms of idolatry — most notably, the idolatry intrinsic in the adoration and worship of the transubstantiated antichrist wafer that takes place daily in the Mass celebrated in every Roman Catholic Church.

Would we call a man involved in an ongoing adulterous affair a “born again Christian?” No. Would we call a man involved in an ongoing homosexual relationship a “born-again Christian?” No. Would we call a man who is yet a drunkard a “born-again Christian?” No. Would we call a man who still makes his living as a thief steeling cars a “born-again Christian?” No. Why not? Because 1 Cor. 6:9-10 tells all of those men that they have no reason to believe they are “born-again Christian[s].” Why do we find men who know better, men who cannot claim ignorance, pronouncing men who participate in idolatrous Catholic ceremony and sacraments “born-again Christian[s]?” It is dangerous, Gospel undermining error.

IGNORANCE IS NO EXCUSE

The claim is often made that many Catholics have no clue what they are actually doing as they participate in Catholicism’s idolatrous rituals and sacraments. Antichrist heresies abound in the Catholic Church. You don’t have to laboriously search history or scour ancient and rare documents to find Rome’s rampant heresies and many forms of idolatry. They are everywhere found in the services, sacraments, and regular workings of the Roman Catholic Church. If you doubt the veracity of that statement, please read Rome’s Heresy & Gospel Clarity -notes for evangelizing Catholics. We can’t claim a person is a “born-again Christian” while they’re at peace with and participating in that which blasphemes both Christ and His Gospel. Like everyone else, Roman Catholics must come to adhere to the Gospel in a way that if far more significant than the “simple saving faith” that many ecumenical hearts want to lend to unregenerate, unrepentant, unbelieving Roman Catholics. If the Gospel is not obeyed, if one’s life does not adhered to the truth of the Gospel, then the Gospel has not been believed. 2 Thes. 1:8-9 says the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return with righteous judgment “with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction.” Ignorance is not a good or safe excuse. Having no theological clue, not knowing God, and not obeying the Gospel are not safe places to be.

WHAT IS TRUE LOVE

Is it charitable, loving, gracious, or kind to call men listed in 1 Cor. 6:9-10 “born-again Christians?” No! Why not? Because God doesn’t call them that! Instead, He warns them of their false confidence of inheriting the kingdom of God. Instead, He warns them that they’re deceived and that they’re going to perish in their sins. He doesn’t stop there! Our truly gracious God goes on to give them hope that they can yet become “born-again Christians,” they can be forgiven, they can be made new creatures, they can be set free, they can have confidence of salvation — when, and only when, through genuine regeneration and the grace of repentance their lifestyle sins are placed in the past tense; “such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

WHAT IS TRUE GRACE

The power of God’s saving grace is such that it not only defeats the penalty of sin, it defeats the power of sin. Let us not sell cheap grace, weak grace, worldly grace, and worthless inclusive grace that wraps arms around men that do not yet evidence the power of God’s glorious sovereign grace coming upon them through the Holy Spirit’s regeneration of their dead soul and insist on pronouncing them “born-again Christian[s].” God doesn’t do that. Neither can we. Let us not defile the Biblical term and theological truth of what it means to be “born-again” by such a despairing usage. Let us not defile the Biblical term and theological truth of God’s sovereign “grace” by claiming the omnipotent power of God’s grace has fallen on sinners, regenerated them from the dead, opened their blind eyes, unstopped their deaf ears, and yet left them enslaved to adultery, sodomy, alcohol, covetousness, or enslaved to Roman Catholicism, the most abominable, soul damning, antichrist, thoroughly IDOLATROUS cult in the history of the world.

Paul did not labor to graciously write to the church in Galatia to tell them that a little works righteousness is just fine, a little faith in Jesus and a little ritual is no big deal, after all we’ve got to leave room for sanctification. No, Paul graciously pronounced a double anathema and he graciously rebuked Peter to his face before all, because he was “not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel” (Gal. 2:14). A good argument could be made that the historic error of Peter and the church in Galatia was hardly worth mentioning in comparison to the mountain of heresy and idolatry present in Rome’s rituals and sacraments today. Read the Apostle’s passionate words to Galatia below and consider how thoroughly they condemn the Roman Catholic Church and show Dr. Mohler’s millions of “saved” Catholics who participate in ritual and sacrament to actually be “estranged from Christ” (Gal. 5:4).

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. (Gal. 1:6-10)

“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?  We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” (Gal. 2:11-16)

“My little children, for whom I labor in birth againuntil Christ is formed in you, I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.” (Gal. 4:19-20)

“Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised,Christ will profit you nothing (the same is true for those who participate in Catholicism’s rituals & sacraments). And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” (Gal. 5:2-6)

This is worthy of clarifying again. Dr. Mohler’s “millions” of saved Catholics who are “Christians,” who are “true believers…who just have a simple faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ” who also “find themselves involved in rituals and sacraments and all kinds of other things” are actually just as “estranged from Christ” and “fallen from from grace” as the Judaizers that the Apostle Paul was writing about 2,000 years ago, and unless they repent, “Christ will profit them nothing.”

THE RIGHT ANSWER TO A BAD QUESTION

How then should we answer the question, “Can a Catholic be a born-again Christian?” With one eye fixed firmly on the Gospel and the other eye fixed on seeing our Roman Catholic friends and family genuinely under the eternal grace of God, let us be truly gracious and dogmatically answer, “No, but praise God, a former Catholic can, for if a Catholic is ‘born-again’ he is a Catholic no more and he is a Christian forevermore, for God has regenerated him and given him the gift of repentance, including repentance from the idolatry and heresy intrinsic to Catholicism.” Anything else will make us theologically cross-eyed, and result in confused convictions and a confusing message.

A CALL TO EVANGELISTIC ACTION

Since you cannot simultaneously be Catholic and a “born-again Christian” our evangelistic responsibility is clear. We must labor as if we have 1.2 billion Catholic men, women, and children to rescue out of the Roman Catholic Church and its doctrines of demons (1 Tim. 4:1) — because we do (Get equipped: Rome’s Heresy & Gospel Clarity -notes for evangelizing Catholics). For His own glory, may our gracious God be pleased to save a great number from Catholicism’s idolatrous system of works righteousness through His Church faithfully and lovingly calling for Catholics everywhere to “repent and believe the Gospel.” When they do, and not before, we can all rejoice that former Catholics are now “born-again Christian[s]!”

In Matt. 9:13 Jesus declared His mission statement; “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Calling sinners to repentance is our mission too.

In Luke 24:47, Jesus command that, “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations.” That’s the standing command of our Lord. We can’t make peace when and where men have not repented of their idolatrous war against our King. The call is for them to repent and believe. We dare not declare them repentant “born-again Christian[s]” while they remain unrepentant of and continue to participate in Roman Catholic idolatry.

Throughout the book of Acts we see the early church busy about Christ’s mission under the Great Commission command. Let’s follow in their faithful footsteps, carry on in their ministry, and proclaim their message:

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)

“They glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’” (Acts 11:18)

When Paul stood before the Elders of Ephesus he described his life and ministry with these words, “I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:20-22)

When Paul stood before King Agrippa he described his ministry as one of traveling the earth calling all men everywhere to “repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” (Acts 26:20-21)

That’s our calling. That’s our legacy. That’s our ministry. Go therefore! Preach repentance! To God be the glory!

Hear the full message: Counted Worthy-Suffering for Christ in a World That Hates Him

The following notes were the foundation of much of my preaching on the streets of Philadelphia when Pope Francis visited there. Hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics perishing under antichrist, soul damning doctrine filled the streets of the city of brotherly love with idols of Mary on long poles thrust ten feet in the air. As I preached “Jesus” as the one “name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved,” (Acts 4:12) the direct response of thousands of Catholics to the name and Gospel of Jesus, was to alternate between crying, “Francis! Francis! Francis!” and lifting their idols of Mary high, chanting, “Mary! Mary! Mary!” It was a surreal scene of medieval idolatrous passion unleashed in present-day America. In the midst of the chaos there were regular threats of physical violence, a few threats of murder, priests often led the crowds in their antichrist chants, one priest slapped me, another priest called on a transvestite to aid him in his defense of Catholicism—and praise the Lord, through it all, the Word of God was preached powerfully and there were continual, precious, and promising Gospel conversations with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. It was a privilege to love tens of thousands of Catholics in Philadelphia with action and truth, alongside of many faithful evangelists, proclaiming salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, from the Scriptures alone. Back in my home city of Portland, Oregon, I’ve been blessed over the last 17 years of pastoral ministry to personally witness to a few thousand Catholics (including many priests) through house to house, coffee shop, and street evangelism.

Possessing a basic understanding of Rome’s heresy and having certain Gospel clarity is essential in evangelizing Catholics. The notes below will prove useful to you in gaining and maintaining basic clarity as to what the Biblical Gospel is in direct comparison to the heretical teachings of Catholicism as contained in the universally binding and authoritative Catechism of the Catholic Church. These notes remain printed out and and inserted in the front of my Bible. That enables me to always be ready to engage Roman Catholic men and women with the truth that they must hear in order to “repent and believe the Gospel” (Jesus, Mark 1:15). For the glory of Christ and the redemption of those for whom He died, I pray you too will print these notes out, study them, place them in the front of your Bible, and prayerfully and lovingly use them to the same end.

Gospel compromise is rampant even in conservative, Biblical, Reformed circles. The notes below will aid you in avoiding apostasy with Rome and aid you in rescuing others from it. There’s a growing number of men (men who should know better) who say people can be Catholic and genuine believers at the same time. We have professing Reformed men in vital positions of influence who are declaring that they personally know Catholics who genuinely know and love Jesus. That is dangerous teaching. It defies both logic and the Gospel. No man or woman can believe the heresy of the Roman Catholic Church contained in their catechism and simultaneously believe the Gospel. Belief in one negates belief in the other. They are mutually exclusive beliefs. Unless Catholics repent of Catholicism’s false christ and false gospel, and believe on the true Christ and the true Gospel of Scripture, they do not know or love Jesus, they are not believers, and they are not saved. Our evangelistic task is to show our Catholic neighbors from the Scriptures that they must repent of Catholicism’s many blatant heresies and believe upon the true Christ and His true Gospel for salvation. No man or woman is saved—unless—they actually repent of their Gospel denying heresy and actually believe the Gospel. Just as with the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and every other cult and false religion, repentance will of basic necessity, include departing from and denouncing the Roman Catholic Church and it’s gross idolatry (2 Cor. 6:11-18 & 2 Cor. 7:9-11). That is not an extraordinary repentance, it is an essential repentance empowered by the regeneration, illumination, and indwelling power of the Holy Spirit and denoted by the promise of God, “such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11). Our certain confidence is that all whom the Lord is calling to Himself, will hear the Word of God, will repent of sin and heresy, will confess Jesus Christ as Lord, and will become new creatures in Christ (1 Cor. 1:18-25; 2 Cor. 5:17; 2 Tim. 3:15; John 6:36-37; John 6:44-45).

It’s shocking that professing Reformed men would negate the sovereign outworking of the omnipotent Grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit in regenerating dead Catholic souls, providing Catholics with the gift of repentance of sin (including heresy & unbelief), and providing Catholics the gift of saving faith (meaning they actually comprehend the Gospel, believe the Gospel, & forsake that which is contrary to the Gospel). Keep it clear. Cut it straight. Unless men “repent and believe the Gospel,” they are not believers and they are not saved. May the Lord protect His Church and 1.2 billion Roman Catholics from the counter-reformation that many “Reformed” men are actively carrying out from within Reformed circles. May the Lord grant His Church Gospel clarity and true Christian charity to declare it, define it, and defend it for Christ’s glory and the souls of men.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM’S  FALSE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST IN THE MASS

The Catechism of the Catholic Church:

PARAGRAPH 1323 of the CCC: “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'”

PARAGRAPH 1324 of the CCC: The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”

PARAGRAPH 1357 of the CCC: “…bread and wine which, by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the words of Christ, have become the body and blood of Christ. Christ is thus really and mysteriously made present.”

PARAGRAPH 1367 of the CCC: “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priest, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner.”

PARAGRAPH 1405 of the CCC: “Every time this mystery is celebrated, ‘the work of our redemption is carried on’…”

The Word of God:

Heb. 1:1-3 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. PURGED OUR SINS
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Heb. 7:26-27 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. DOES NOT NEED DAILY
For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices,

*Heb. 9:12 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. ONCE & OBTAINED REDEMPTION
Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Heb. 9:22 NON-BLOODY SACRIFICE VS. WITHOUT BLOOD NO REMISSION
And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.

Heb. 9:24-28 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. ONCE & PUT AWAY SIN
For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another —  26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Heb. 10:11-14 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. ONE SACRIFICE FOREVER
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man (CHRIST), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

1 Pet. 3:18 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. ONCE (PETER’S WORDS)
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,

John 19:30 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. IT IS FINISHED!
He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

Rom. 6:9-11 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. DIES NO MORE!
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rev. 1:17-18 REPEATED SACRIFICE VS. ALIVE FOREVERMORE!
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.  18 I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM’S IDOLATRY IN THE MASS

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Is Christ bodily transubstantiated out of heaven and into the wafer? Is the wafer worthy of worship? Does the wafer have the power of justification, the forgiveness of sin? No! Christ finished His work upon the cross, said, “It is finished,” bowed His head, gave up His Spirit, and now sits at the right hand of the Father as the one Mediator between God and men! (SEE John 19:30; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 10:12)

Is Christ in the cup? Is it literally the transubstantiated blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the same as the blood that flowed down at the cross? Is it worthy of worship! Does it have the power to save? A thousand times no! And no matter how big the cup of Roman Catholic wine, or who prayed over it, there is no Christ therein, or power therein to save!

PARAGRAPH 1375 of the CCC: “It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament.”

PARAGRAPH 1377 of the CCC: “The Eucharist presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharist species subsist.”

PARAGRAPH 1378 of the CCC: “Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord.”

PARAGRAPH 1183 of the CCC: “The tabernacle is to be situated “in church in a most worthy place with the greatest of honor. The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.”

God’s Holy Word:

Ex. 20:4-5
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord  your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Isa. 42:8
I am the Lord , that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

Heb. 10:11-14 SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man (CHRIST), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Mark 13:21-23
“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, He is there!’ do not believe it.  22 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.  23 But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.

Mark 13:26
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

Acts 1:10-11
And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Matt. 25:31-32
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM’S IDOLATRY OF MARY

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Regarding Mary’s so-called “saving office,” paragraph 969 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the blessed Virgin is invoked in the church under the titles Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.” This is a denial and blasphemy of Christ! Christ alone is our Advocate and Mediator! Christ sent the Spirit to be our Helper. Mary is none of these things, nor is she the “Queen” of heaven as para. 966 blasphemously declares.  Bowing before a statue of Mary and/or praying to her is idolatry.

God’s Holy Word:

1 John 2:1 CHRIST IS OUR SINGULAR ADVOCATE
If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 Tim. 2:5 CHRIST JESUS IS OUR ONE MEDIATOR
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

John 14:16-17 THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS OUR HELPER
I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth.

John 16:7-8 THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS OUR HELPER –SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, JUDGMENT
Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM’S BAPTISM HERESY

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

PARAGRAPH 1263 of the CCC: “By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.”

PARAGRAPH 1265 of the CCC: “Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature,’ member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

PARAGRAPH 1213 of the CCC: “Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, and are incorporated into the Church…”

God’s Holy Word:

1 Pet. 1:18-19 WATER VS BLOOD OF JESUS
Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Rev. 5:9 WATER VS BLOOD OF JESUS
You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Col. 1:13-14 WATER VS BLOOD OF JESUS
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

1 John 1:7 WATER VS BLOOD OF JESUS
The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 Cor. 1:17-19 CATHOLIC BAPTISM VS NOT SENT TO BAPTIZE, BUT TO PREACH
Christ did not send me to baptize, (if baptismal regeneration were true, Paul would not say this) but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Tit. 3:5 CATHOLIC BAPTISM VS HOLY SPIRIT
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Eph. 2:8-10 CATHOLIC BAPTISM VS GRACE AND FAITH THAT IS NOT OF OURSELVES
By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

ROMAN CATHOLICSIM’S ECUMENICAL HERESY

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

PARAGRAPH 1129 of the CCC: “The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. ‘Sacramental grace’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament.”

What does the Catholic Church teach regarding non-believers?

“GOOD” PEOPLE GO TO HEAVEN WITHOUT CHRIST OR THE CHURCH:

Paragraph 847 the Catechism says opens with these words: “Outside the [Roman Catholic] Church there is no salvation” and yet in direct contradiction the paragraph goes on to say:

“This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.”

What does the Catholic Church teach regarding Muslims who deny the deity of Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection?

“GOOD” MUSLIMS GO TO HEAVEN WITHOUT CHRIST OR THE CHURCH:

PARAGRAPH 841 of the CCC: “The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. ‘The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.’”

According to Pope Francis and the Catholic Church, all you have to do to go to heaven is be a “good” pagan, or a “good” idol worshiping Muslim. This is a blasphemy of Christ! This is the very definition of a “broad road” false gospel. The Catholic gospel is a gospel that the Bible knows nothing of.

God’s Holy Word:

Matt. 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; (CHRIST ALONE) for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. (ROME’S ECUMENICAL WAY) 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

John 3:16 ROME CAN’T EVEN GET JOHN 3:16 RIGHT!
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:18
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:36
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Rom. 1:18-20

the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

2 Thess. 1:8-9
[Jesus Christ is returning] in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

Rev. 21:8
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

WE ARE GOING TO BE BLESSED BY A FULL SHEPHERDS’ CONFERENCE WEEK OF SOLUS CHRISTUS GLORY

The 2017 Shepherds’ Conference is celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation by declaring and defending Solus Christus; that it is Christ alone, fully God, fully man, crucified for sinners, raised from the dead on the third day, ascended on high, seated at the right hand of the Father, the one mediator between God and men, who justifies sinners, by grace alone, through faith alone, without the aid of priest or sacrament. No doubt, the fellowship, worship, and preaching of God’s Word will fill our hearts to overflowing. Brothers, will we not feel the burning passion of Jeremiah to preach Christ?

“Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.” -Jer. 20:9

What can we do about it? We can stand together as brothers in Christ to proclaim the glory of Christ on the streets of Los Angeles!

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY MORNING LANKERSHIM BLVD TRANSIT STATION GOSPEL OUTREACH

There are approximately fifteen Shepherds’ Conference men who have laid an evangelistic plan for the GLORY OF CHRIST OUR KING to labor together in the Lord’s field of harvest in sunny southern California! We invite you to join us in “subdu[ing] the world to [Christ] by the preaching of His Word” and the distribution of Gospel tracts on the streets of the Burbank (John Calvin). For the glory of our Lord and the rescuing of sinners, we look forward to ministering the Gospel together with men from across the nation, Wednesday and Thursday morning (March 1 & 2) from 6:30 to 8:00 AM, at the North Hollywood Transit Station on Lankershim Blvd. Bring your Bible and your favorite Gospel tracts. We’ll have an amplifier for preaching and several thousand tracts on hand.

SATURDAY MISSION HILLS ABORTION CLINIC EVANGELISM & HOLLYWOOD BLVD GOSPEL OUTREACH

When the Shepherds’ Conference ends on Friday, stick around and enjoy the bonus of one more day of Shepherds’ Conference Evangelism on Saturday! Have you ever thought about starting an abortion clinic Gospel ministry for the saving of souls and rescuing of babies? At 7 AM on Saturday morning (March 4) we’ll be joining Don McGinnis, at the Family Planning Women’s Health abortion clinic in Mission Hills. Don faithfully ministers grace and truth at this abortion clinic all year long. He regularly sees many babies rescued from the slaughter and has sown the omnipotent seed of the Gospel into thousands of men and women’s hearts. It is my understanding that Pastor Mike Riccardi from Grace Community Church & seminarians from the Masters Seminary will soon be joining Don in this vital ministry on a regular basis. At 10:00 AM we’ll transition over to Hollywood Blvd. (just outside the metro station) and from about 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM preach the Gospel in the open air, disperse tracts, and enjoy Gospel conversations with thousands of tourists.

DON’T MISS THE SPIRITUAL ICING ON THE CAKE

We all love spiritual meat, potatoes, and cake. The Shepherds’ Conference provides all that and more! Shepherds’ Conference Evangelism is spiritual icing on the cake! It’s a rare opportunity to stand together in sweet fellowship laboring for the glory of Christ and the souls of men. It’s a rare opportunity to step out in faith with other brothers who may be able to encourage your evangelistic zeal and provide a bit of feet on the street training just like Jesus did with his disciples and Paul no doubt did with Timothy, his “true son in the faith” (1 Tim. 1:2). Hope to see you at arguably the finest conference on the planet soaking in the glory of Christ and out on the streets proclaiming the glory of Christ!

*NOTE: You can click the links for Google Map directions to each location. For more information you can reach me at pastorchuckbgbc@gmail.com. This outreach is not officially sanctioned by the Shepherds’ Conference, but praise the Lord, Grace Community Church and the Shepherds’ Conference sanction the ministry of the Gospel in the greater Los Angeles area and every other inch of God’s green earth.

WANTED:

Real Reformation men wanted! Genuine Gospel warriors wanted! Sword of the Spirit wielding soldiers of the cross wanted (Eph. 6:10-20, 2 Tim. 2:4, & Luke 9:23-26)! Mere Reformation celebrants, historians, and/or theologians are not the need of the hour. It has been 500 years since the Reformation began and the ancient cult of Roman Catholicism is yet thriving and damning millions souls around the globe. What is needed in this hour are men who will not sit idle, apathetic, and silent while sinners are drug down to Hell with doctrines of demons. We need men who will go to war. We need men who will go behind enemy lines to rescue the captives. We need men who will engage the enemy as if eternal souls depend on it. We need men who will unleash the “hammer” and “fire” of God’s Word directly upon the adversary without compromise (Jer. 23:29).

We don’t need men who merely deliver lectures about historic Reformation men who fought a good fight hundreds of years ago. We need real Reformation men who will fight a good fight for Christ and souls in the pulpit and on the street today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, and every year after that until the King of kings returns with a trumpet and a shout! We need men who feast upon the Word of God until there is steel in their spine, fire in their belly, and a double edged Sword in their hand, head, heart, and flowing from their mouth! We need real Reformation men!

JOB DESCRIPTION:

From the time of Apostles until now the job description has not changed. The job is to turn “the world upside down” with bold and loving proclamation of the Law of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the pulpit, in every city square, and on every village street (Acts 17:6). The job is to rescue precious souls from every tribe, tongue and nation from sin, cults, false religion, death, and eternity under the wrath of God in Hell. The job is to “wage the good warfare” against the most successful, longest standing, antichrist system on the planet (1 Tim. 1:18). The job is to rescue 1.2 billion Roman Catholic souls perishing under soul damning doctrine. The job is to joyously embrace the reason for Christ’s incarnation; “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” through a bold ministry of the Law of God and Gospel of Jesus (1 Tim. 1:15).

DISQUALIFICATIONS:

They seem obvious to some, however experience has shown that a few disqualifications must be made clear. No applicant will be considered for the position of “Reformation man” unless they readily refuse all unholy unions and alliances with obvious and avowed enemies of Christ…Rome’s Pope, bishops, and priests (2 Cor. 6:14-18). Furthermore, no applicant will be considered unless they readily refuse all Gospel compromising unions and alliances with professing evangelicals who openly betray Christ (Rick Warren, Luis Palau, Russell Moore, David Robertson, etc.), who willfully and knowingly defy Scripture and unite with the ancient and present enemy of Christ and His Gospel (Gal. 1:6-10 & 2:11-15).

To be very clear, double-minded men need not apply. Double-minded men who can’t seem to get and maintain doctrinal clarity and consistency when it comes to their associations, friends, and ministry partners are not real Reformation men and must not be trusted with the cause and banner of our King. There are notable men in the Reformed camp, who like Thomas Cranmer of old, need to stick “the hand that offended” into the flames of repentance before being enlisted in the Lord’s Reformation army to stand in Reformed pulpits and lead the Reformation charge. The Gospel is the hill to die on, therefore Gospel compromising double-minded men must not be tolerated in Reformed pulpits and ministries.

PAYMENT:

The present love of all co-laboring Reformation men, who truly love Christ, His Gospel, and the souls of men. The eternal love of all those who are rescued from Catholicism’s false gospel and eternity in Hell. Above all else, the eternal love and commendation of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:23).

JOB HAZARDS:

The momentary hatred of all those who love Roman Catholicism and hate the Lord Jesus Christ (John 15:18-25 & 17:14). The cunning and duplicitous opposition of all professed evangelicals who have made peace with Christ’s enemies; men who claim adherence to Christ and His Gospel while befriending those who oppose Christ and His Gospel; men who gladly sit on ecumenical councils with Christ’s enemies; men who blissfully bow their heads to pray with men who pray to Mary, to wafers, and to other abominable idols; men who pragmatically unite with notorious enemies of Christ and His Gospel to further their moral, political, or personal cause; men who insist on making peace where there can be no peace (Jer. 6:13-14). Job hazards include but are not limited to: harsh scowls, reviling words, social ostracism, exile, imprisonment, and various forms of death (see The Acts of the Apostles & Foxe’s Book of Martyrs). With bright and certain hope, let us be reminded that martyrdom results in immediate reception of eternal retirement benefits (see Acts 7:54-60 & below for further details).

RETIREMENT:

Committed Reformation laborers have a guaranteed retirement package that is truly out of this world (Rev. 21:1-7). There is a strict policy regarding retirement and its benefits not beginning until death (Rev. 2:10). Gross cowardice and apostasy will nullify all retirement benefits and result in severe penalties (Mark 8:35-38 & Rev. 21:8). Martin Luther and Charles Spurgeon retired from their Gospel labors long ago, leaving us a well marked Reformation trail that we would do well to follow closely:

Dear atheistic, agnostic, or undesignated unbelieving Christmas celebrant,

I sincerely wish you a merry Christmas! However, true Christmas spirit and love necessitates that you be warned, in your non-Christian celebration of Christmas (whether you call it a Human Light celebration, Winter Solstice celebration, a generic Happy Holiday celebration, or admit that it’s really Christmas everyone is celebrating) you’ve stolen a drop of merriment from an ocean of eternal joy that only awaits believers who are made truly and eternally merry through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ. As a Christ rejecting, unbeliever the joy you experience at Christmas doesn’t belong to you, it is stolen…but it is a witness to you, a natural revelation of God’s amazing grace and love extended to sinners. Hear me out before you resort to a characteristic, “Bah, humbug!”

What is the state of those who deny their Creator, suppress the truth of God, and reject the love of God in Jesus? Outside of Christ the eternal ocean of God’s burning wrath is rising up in a great wave to swallow rebel sinners forever. The Bible calls it the Lake of Fire. You may work hard to suppress this reality, yet you know it to be true. All of creation and your own God given conscience speak to you of your Creator and your accountability for your sin.

Friend, repent of your stolen Christmas merriment, your fleeting joy in a life of unbelieving rebellion against the God you know. Believe upon Jesus Christ: born of the virgin; fully God; fully Man; yet without sin; crucified for sinners; suffering the eternal wrath of God that their sins deserve; paying their debt in full; dying upon the cross; resurrecting on the third day; conquering sin, Satan, and death on behalf of all those for whom He died; all those who will repent and confess Him as Lord and God.

Don’t attempt to satisfy your thirst for joy with friends, family, food, material possessions, music, movies, and holiday decor. Your sin taints all of that and your joy is fleeting even on the best of days. The judgment of death is upon you and you cannot escape its reality no matter how hard you try. How many Christmases do you have left? Fifty, twenty, ten, three, or this could be the very last year you are graciously allowed a stolen drop of Christmas merriment to compel you to believe upon Christ before it is finally and eternally too late.

Flee to Christ while there is time. Flee to Christ in repentance and faith! Find forgiveness of sin, find peace with God, find joy and merriment now and you will celebrate God’s love to sinners through Christ forever! With much love and care for your souls, I again wish you a merry Christmas!

Consider the true meaning of Christmas:

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus , for He will save His people from their sins.’” (Matthew 1:18-21)

Consider the certain hope of salvation or certain horror of judgment:

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

Here’s a Christmas present/movie for my atheist, agnostic, undesignated unbelieving Christmas celebrant friends:

It’s fashionable today for local churches to form a steering committee or to send their pastor on a vision quest (literally or figuratively) to determine the mission of their particular church. At best, this is a colossal waste of time. At worst, it is a form of creative disobedience. The Word of God is explicitly clear that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). If Christ’s mission is not our mission, simply put, we are not following Christ. For the most part, today’s steering committees and vision quests are a form of creative disobedience designed to avoid the high calling of Jesus and the necessary conflict it produces with a world steeped in rebellion against our LORD and King:

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” –Mark 8:34-38

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” –Matt. 10:32-34

Paul was called by the Lord Jesus Christ and sent on a global evangelistic rescue mission “to save sinners” through the proclamation of the Gospel “publicly and from house to house” (Acts 20:20-21). Paul’s mission is still our mission today:

“to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” -Acts 26:18

By the grace of God, through the power of the holy Spirit, may we cease our creative disobedience and fully embrace the Great Commission, boldly declaring our King’s simple terms of peace and salvation: repentance of sin and confession of Jesus Christ (fully God, fully man, crucified for sinners, buried, resurrected on the third day, and seated at the right hand of the Father as the one mediator between God and men) as Lord and God.

Let’s make the Great Commission great in our churches again, and fill the earth with the glory of our King! Christ’s mission, message, and method have not changed:

“Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.” -Luke 24:46-48

*NOTE: The audio above was edited to 16 minutes for brevity, and contains subtitles and commentary for clarity. To avoid any claim of dishonest editing, the full, uncut, 70 minute version is available here.

On a personal level the title and content of this article have a surreal feel to them. Bad has indeed gone to worse (see previous article). It is difficult for me to comprehend how Tony Miano, a man that I love, a man I have known to be morally and theologically solid, whose ministry I have joyfully supported, who has stayed in my home, who has stood in my pulpit many times, who has spent hundreds of hours with me proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the streets of many cities, whose advisory board I served on for several years, who had me write the forward to his last book…is now helping Mike Reid export his moral and theological madness to Africa. May the Lord grant Tony Miano faithful friends that will love him, his family, and Christ’s Church with action and truth. Many men have contacted Tony to call him back to Biblical morality and theology, and others yet need to; “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Prov. 27:6).

Here’s a summary of the reasons why Mike Reid training men how to be pastors in Africa (or anywhere else) should never happen, and why Tony Miano helping him to do so is morally reprehensible:

• Mike Reid has designed what he calls his “shepherding ministry” to include systematically meeting alone with the married women, single women, and teenage girls of his church on a regularly scheduled basis for private pastoral instruction (hear his own words)…which makes his 3 ½ year history of adulterous affairs and divorce extremely relevant and his “shepherding ministry” not just aberrant or disconcerting, but alarming (Mike has very publicly confessed his past adulteries in his testimony on Sermon Audio and here).
• In a truly alarming attempt to twist Scripture, Mike Reid defends his dangerous practice of meeting alone with married women, single women, and teenage girls with a false doctrine that he calls his “boast in Christ,” whereby he claims he and other genuine believers are not able to fall in adultery (hear Mike’s boast).
• Mike sees no conflict between his “shepherding ministry” and the commands of Scripture to “flee sexual immorality” (1 Cor. 6:18) and to “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom. 13:14) and violates those Biblical and moral safety parameters without pain of conscience (listen to his own words).
  
• When challenged with the tragic and destructive reality of many pastors falling in adultery as a direct result of the intimacy created by meeting alone with women for pastoral counsel…Mike’s response is to claim 100% of those pastors were not genuinely saved, and thus they fell.
• When challenged with the reality that David was a man after God’s heart and yet he fell in adultery bringing destruction on his family and the kingdom of Israel…Mike claims David fell because he wasn’t genuinely saved (hear it directly from Mike).
• In an attempt to blame the Bible, Mike and Tony defend his dangerous practice by claiming the Word of God commands him and all pastors to “shepherd” men and women without any distinction for their gender (you will see Tony’s attempts to twist Richard Baxter’s writing to justify Mike’s practice & doctrine below).
• In an attempt to blame the husbands and fathers, Mike defends his dangerous practice by claiming the husbands and fathers of the women and girls “desire” and “requested” that he meet with their wives and daughters alone for private Bible studies with the pastor, effectively blaming them, while knowing full well that he is the one who taught the husbands and fathers that this is Biblical, good, right, moral, safe, and necessary for discipleship and spiritual growth (this is must hear teaching from Mike’s lips to your ears).
• To be consistent with his own life and ministry, Mike extends his dangerous practice and false doctrine to other adulterers, claiming men who have “repented” of multiple adulteries and subsequent divorce can be pastors and should meet alone with married women, single women, and teenage girls for private pastoral instruction.
• In a shocking display of moral and theological consistency, Mike even extends his dangerous practice and false doctrine to pedophiles, claiming men who have “repented” of molesting children can be pastors and can meet alone with children. That is moral and theological madness! It isn’t conjecture, hearsay, or rumor. You can listen to Mike Reid say “repentant” child molesters can be pastors and can meet alone with children two different times at the 7:28 & 12:44 minute marks of “Mike Reid’s Dangerous Practice & Doctrine,” and in Mike Reid and Tony Miano’s recent follow up teaching on Sermon Audio, “Limited by Sin From the Past?,” and in a composite video of their position and teaching on pedophiles in ministry: Mike Reid & Tony Miano Endorse “Repentant” Pedophiles Becoming Pastors & Meeting Alone With Children.
  
• Mike preached a Sunday morning message and did a follow up Q & A in 2015, in which he introduced the men and women of his congregation to “holy kissing, claiming the men ought to be kissing their sister’s in the Lord, claiming men ought to be kissing other men’s wives, and claiming there was nothing wrong with kissing them “EVEN ON THE LIPS!” (hear him for yourself)
• Mike and Tony recently taught “holy kissing” together in a Sermon Audio instructional that includes training men to kiss men, to kiss married women, to kiss single women, and to kiss teenage girls…and then of necessity, teaching the women and girls to be kissed by the men of the church (hear Mike and Tony teach it for yourself).
• Mike kisses men and women without warning and without permission (listen to Mike and Tony talk about when Mike shockingly kissed Tony without warning).
• In light of all of Mike’s other dangerous practices and doctrines it is hardly worth mentioning that Mike says owning a gun for defense of one’s family is premeditated murder; he says it’s sin for Christians to be police officers, soldiers, sailors, airmen, etc.; he says “politics matter nothing;” he says “who cares who wins the presidential election…[and] I am to be involved in the political process none…I won’t even cast a vote…it doesn’t matter to me…who cares;” he hasn’t voted in many years and tells others not to vote despite the fact that millions of unborn lives and many other moral issues hang in the balance; (hear it all and more here) 

Mike Reid’s dangerous “shepherding” practice and the false doctrine he defends it with will bring further harm to the church in Africa that is already ravaged by sexual scandal among pastors. What the churches in America, Africa, and everywhere need are pastors that teach and model a commitment to basic Biblical parameters for sexual purity, not scandalous doctrine and a life example that systematically defy Scripture, roughly 2,000 years of pastoral polity, and plain common sense.

TONY MIANO & CROSS ENCOUNTERS ARE NOW  UNDER “PASTOR” MIKE REID’S AUTHORITY & INFLUENCE

Tony is moving his family and ministry 2,000 miles to be beneath Mike Reid. Despite still being physically in California, Tony is already fully onboard with Grace Fellowship Church, Nick Rolland, and Mike Reid’s ministry in Iowa and Africa. On Aug. 31st, Tony wrote an article that opened with this offhand statement: “One of my elders, Nick Rolland…” Nick Rolland is Mike Reid’s fellow elder at Grace Fellowship Church. Tony has shown that in his heart and mind he and his ministry are already under Mike Reid’s “shepherding” authority and influence. For the last 12 weeks, Tony has employed mitigation, obfuscation, nuance and claims of misrepresentation in defense of his new pastor’s practice and doctrine (Mike Reid makes his “shepherding” practice & doctrine clear in the youtube video above).

TONY MIANO IS NOW  HELPING MIKE REID EXPORT HIS MORAL & THEOLOGICAL MADNESS TO AFRICA

Mike Reid is going to Kenya with International Church Planters, December 1st-10th, to train pastors. Because no sound pastor anywhere does what Mike Reid does and no sound pastor anywhere teaches what Mike Reid teaches regarding the “shepherding” of women, I’m confident International Church Planters has no idea who Mike really is. They and any other ministry that would consider allowing Mike to train pastors how to “shepherd” the Lord’s flock have a need to know Mike’s “shepherding” methodology and theology. Note the title of the pastoral training that Mike is scheduled to provide: Pastor Training, Women & Children Discipleship.

In the following audio recording from Aug. 24th, 2016, Mike Reid announces that he’s going to Kenya to train pastors and that Tony Miano’s helping to develop his curriculum.

Tony is using Richard Baxter’s book, “The Reformed Pastor,” to create a curriculum for Mike Reid. Despite Tony’s tacit attempt to show continuity between Richard Baxter’s instruction and Mike Reid’s “shepherding” methodology, the puritan pastor and Mr. Reid are not good bedfellows.

Mike Reid claims that he is called to “shepherd” men and women without any distinction or difference made for gender. Mike believes systematically meeting with the women of the church alone for private “shepherding” meetings is a vital part of pastoral ministry. Tony Miano has ardently defended Mike Reid and his “shepherding” practice, now he’s helping him to export it to impressionable pastors and churches in Africa, and he’s doing this with full knowledge that the church in Africa is being scandalized by men using and abusing their pastoral position and authority to prey upon women in their congregations and communities. You get an idea of the bent of Tony’s upcoming curriculum from the instagram below.

Tony is actively defending and aiding Mike Reid’s “no gender distinction” ministry as he works on a curriculum for African pastors, bending Baxter’s words to Mike’s dangerous practice and doctrine. We can be quite sure Richard Baxter would not condone Mike’s scandalous “shepherding” ministry and the false doctrine he defends it with. The uninformed person seeing what Tony circled, underlined, wrote, and placed in all caps wouldn’t catch what he is attempting to justify. Anyone who knows Mike Reid’s “shepherding” methodology and his false doctrine can see that Tony is attempting to use Richard Baxter’s teaching to justify Mike’s abhorrent practice and doctrine. In no way does Richard Baxter, a puritan, say anything that condones men systematically meeting alone with married women, single women, and teenage girls for private “shepherding.”

CONRAD M’BEWE WARNS OF WIDESPREAD SEXUAL SCANDAL AMONG AFRICAN PASTORS

The last thing African pastors need is for Mike Reid to go to Africa to teach them that “repentant” adulterers can become pastors who design their ministries to systematically meet alone with the women of their congregations for private pastoral “shepherding” instruction, to teach them his false doctrine that assures them that they are unable to fall in adultery, and to teach them that “repentant” pedophiles can also be pastors who meet alone with children. I was with Tony Miano at the Strange Fire Conference when Conrad M’bewe warned of “the scandals, especially the sexual scandals that are accepted in those ranks…I wish I would say this is just a few churches here and there, scattered across Africa. I wish I would say you have to hunt long and hard to find them. But what I’m saying is that this is fast becoming the norm…And when they tell you what’s been going on, it’s disgusting.”

The “Strange Fire” America has already exported to Africa has born much perverse fruit. Soul damning, life crushing, marriage destroying, ministry ending practice and doctrine are known to be spread through the Charismatic Movement and the broader theologically anemic Evangelical Movement. Africa cannot afford to have Mike Reid’s “Reformed” moral and theological madness exported to their impressionable congregations and pastors. Tony Miano’s involvement in this is unconscionable. Tony should be warning Christ’s Church and International Church Planters, not helping Mike Reid export his dangerous practice and doctrine through their ministry. Again, what the church in America, Africa, and everywhere desperately needs are sound pastors that teach and model a commitment to basic Biblical parameters for sexual purity, not scandalous doctrine and a life example that systematically defy Scripture, roughly 2,000 years of pastoral polity, and plain common sense.

EXPORTING SYSTEMATIC TEMPTATION BY DESIGN

No pastor desiring to heed the clear instruction of Scripture would ever design a “shepherding” ministry in which he systematically meets with the married women, single women, and teenage girls of the church alone for private pastoral instruction on a regularly scheduled basis…but that is exactly what Mike Reid has done and what he intends to train others to do. Mike has literally designed systematic temptation into his ministry. Generally speaking the Word of God exhorts us to stand firm against sin and the Devil, with sexual sin we are consistently told to flee. Mike Reid has designed a “shepherding” ministry where he tramples the counsel to flee beneath his feet by systematically going in the opposite direction and moving toward the temptation. He has designed a “shepherding” ministry where he regularly meets alone with men’s wives and daughters for private pastoral instruction that no husband or father should ever consent to. He has designed a “shepherding” ministry that would undoubtedly unleash scandal upon Christ’s Church around the globe if it were universally adopted. Mike’s “shepherding” of women systematically opens the door to temptation, to affairs of the heart, and to full scale affairs of the flesh. Mike’s “shepherding” methodology systematically defies the warnings of Scripture and thus has a fatal design flaw that puts him, the women, and the teenage girls of his church at risk. Exporting this “shepherding” design to Africa will only add fuel to the fires of sexual scandal that are already raging in the African church.

EXPORTING DANGEROUS FALSE DOCTRINE

Mike Reid’s dangerous practice, has dangerous doctrinal roots. Mike defends his “shepherding” methodology of meeting alone with the women and girls of the church for private counsel and instruction with false doctrine whereby he claims (in writing and conversation on multiple occasions) that 100% of pastors who commit adultery with women after counseling them alone are “not even believers.” When I found out Mike met with the women of his church alone, I reminded him that 99.9% of pastors who fall in adultery do so by meeting alone with women in their congregation. His answer was shocking, he said, “and 100% of those are not pastors, not even believers.” That is false doctrine. It is an indefensible claim that all pastors who fall prey to the lusts of the flesh and commit adultery…did so because they were not actually Christians. It is an indefensible claim that genuine Christians cannot fall in adultery and other sexual sins. It is an indefensible claim of moral invincibility. When King David was put forth as an example of a man after God’s own heart who fell to adultery and murder after being alone with another man’s wife (2 Sam. 11), Mike responded in a manner consistent with his false doctrine, by saying, “Was David even saved?” When further pressed, Mike claimed that he cannot fall in adultery because 1 Cor. 6:9-11 assures him that he can’t. He went on to explain that his boast is not in his flesh, but in Christ, saying repeatedly, “My boast is in Christ!” Mike’s false doctrine enables him to blatantly and systematically defy a multitude of Scriptures that directly or indirectly compel men to flee from temptation and the opportunity to commit sexual immorality. This is a terrible example for the men of the church. If it’s true for the pastor, it’s true for all other genuine Christians too. Mike’s history, dangerous practice, and the false doctrine he uses to defend it, simply cannot be ignored, swept under a rug, mitigated, obfuscated, or nuanced away. May the Lord protect the pastors and churches of Kenya from Mike’s false doctrine.

EXPORTING CONSISTENT MORAL MADNESS

Mike Reid’s false doctrine, consistently applied to other sexual sins, turns into moral and theological madness. I tested how far Mike was willing to go in defense of his false doctrine by asking him whether he would support a similar “shepherding” ministry involving a man professing to be a “repentant” child molester who now meets alone with children. I expected him to pull back his false doctrine, to at least attempt to keep it out of the realm of moral madness. He did not. Mike Reid is alarmingly morally and theologically consistent. The same dangerous false doctrine that Mike uses to defend his practice of systematically meeting alone with women, compels him to say that a “repentant” child molester can be a pastor and can meet alone with children. When directly asked, two different times, if a man who has “repented” of child molestation could be a pastor who meets alone with children…and if that would be in keeping with Biblical repentance…Mike Reid said, “Yes!” and “Yes!” That is unconscionable moral and theological madness, madness entirely consistent with his own practice and doctrine, but madness never-the-less.

Americans, Africans, and all men need dogmatic moral and doctrinal clarity, not Mike Reid’s moral and theological madness. Men who have molested children are not and will never be qualified for pastoral ministry, not in America, not in Africa, not anywhere. Men who have molested children should never be alone with children. Men who profess to have repented of child molestation and position themselves to be alone with children are not repentant…they are dangerous. No exceptions. Pedophiles can truly repent, truly believe upon Christ unto salvation, truly be forgiven, truly be born again, truly be washed in the blood, and truly be new creatures in Christ by amazing grace…and that doesn’t change anything written before this sentence. No exceptions.

My pastoral hands were already tied with Mike’s history, dangerous practice, and the dangerous false doctrine he defends it with. When Mike extended his false doctrine to pedophiles, claiming they can be pastors and that they can meet alone with children, my hands were chained, locked, and weighted down. Mike’s moral madness cannot be ignored, swept under a rug, mitigated, obfuscated, or nuanced away. Tony Miano may be angry about the necessary stand that I and others have taken, but he surely is not shocked. What is shocking is that Tony is defending Mike Reid instead of defending Biblical morality, sound doctrine, and Christ’s Church. What is even more shocking is that Tony is now helping Mike Reid spread his moral and theological madness to another continent.

PASTORAL DUTY TO WARN CHRIST’S CHURCH

In a previous article I said the substantial danger that Mike Reid’s practice and doctrine poses requires a PUBLIC WARNING. The fact that Mike now intends to export his “shepherding ministry” to Africa, and that Tony Miano is actively helping him, heightens the need for PUBLIC WARNING. Tony should be warning people away from Mike’s ministry much like he has done with other churches engaged in dangerous practices and teaching dangerous doctrines. Instead, Tony is actively and very publicly commending Mike Reid and his ministry to all of his Cross Encounters ministry partners and the Christian world at large with newsletters, blog articles, Facebook posts, and through Twitter. The individuals, families, churches, and ministries that Tony is actively seeking to yoke to Mike Reid and his teaching must be warned. International Church Planters must be warned.

BAD HAS GONE TO WORSE…TONY MIANO IS NOW  ACTIVELY HELPING MIKE REID SPREAD HIS MANY ABERRANT DOCTRINES IN IOWA, ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB, AND TO PASTORS AND CHURCHES IN AFRICA

Unpacking all of Mike Reid’s unheard of and dangerous practices and doctrines would require a fair sized book, not a lengthy blog post. Some are abhorrent. Some are dangerous. Some are unhealthy. Some are simply aberrant. Africa’s pastors don’t need any of them, and they and their churches will suffer great harm under some of them. Here’s a quick list:

-Unheard of and morally dangerous systematic defiance of Biblical safeguards for male and female interaction (1 Cor. 6:18 & Rom. 13:14) via meeting alone with married women, single women, and teenage girls for “shepherding” through regularly scheduled “one on one time with the pastor” private instruction

-Unheard of and dangerous doctrinal defense of willful defiance of Biblical safeguards for male and female interaction…Mike Reid claims 100% of pastors who commit adultery after meeting with congregants alone are not saved…Mike Reid claims 1 Cor. 6:9-11 assures him he can’t fall in adultery…Mike Reid claims his boast is Christ!…Mike Reid claims King David fell in adultery because he wasn’t saved…etc.

-Unheard of moral madness displayed in an alarming consistency of position and doctrine whereby Mike Reid claims “repentant” child molesters can be pastors and meet with children alone (he states it twice in the video at the top of this article).

-Unheard of “holy” kissing: Mike Reid practices the “holy” kiss of 2 Cor. 13:12 without warning or permission on men and women. The first time I met Mike he leaned in and kissed my cheek without permission or warning as is his practice. Mike Reid and Tony Miano teach men to kiss men, to kiss married women, to kiss single women, and to kiss teenage girls…and then of necessity they also teach married women to be kissed by the men of the church, single women to be kissed by the men of the church, and teenage girls to be kissed by the men of the church (it’s all in the following video).

-Unheard of regular calling of church attenders out from the pulpit, by name, while they are sitting in the pew, during the church service, and pointing out their unsaved condition and/or some level of their sin issues…and then placing it on Sermon Audio for the world to hear

-Unheard of regular public congregational confession of sin during the corporate gatherings of the church where too much information is given…and then placing it on Sermon Audio for the world to hear

-Extreme personal pacifism teaching that it is wrong to defend self, wrong to defend family, and wrong to defend neighbor from rape, murder, etc., and that owning a gun for defensive purposes is premeditated murder. “Why do you own a gun? You have premeditated murder.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=617141523135

-Extreme personal pacifism: “When you start talking about guns for self defense you have no Biblical backing…what does a Christian need a gun for? What are you going to do with a gun Christian?…Christian, what do you need a gun for?…For some it’s idolatry…I think it is…Christian, what do you need a gun for? You put yourself in a position to murder someone…I’m not going to own a gun premeditatedly knowing that I might murder someone…” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=531161424276

-Extreme medical pacifism: No giving to or raising money to fight disease…because we’re all dying and“trying to cure any kind of disease is misguided effort” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9214108381

-Extreme pacifism: It’s wrong to be a soldier or police officer. “Can a Christian become a police officer? I don’t see how. Can a Christian become a soldier? I don’t see how.” (7:30-11:30, especially 11-11:30) http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121414194268

-Extreme pacifism: No military service for Christians.“Can a Christian become a soldier? I don’t see how.” “No just war.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=1219141841290

-Extreme pacifism: “No such thing as a just war.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10201492285

-Extreme pacifism in view of ISIS attack in Paris…negating evil of Islam…negating victim status of those who died in Paris at the hands of terrorists because all are sinners, God is just, and God is sovereign http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1128151053267

-Extreme political pacifism: “I am to be involved in the political process none. That’s what my Bible would teach me about the political process.” “I won’t even cast a vote.” “Who has the most Christian beliefs? It doesn’t matter to me…who cares…I really mean that.” “Who cares the who wins the presidential election in 2016.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10615159419

-Extreme political pacifism: (8:30-16:40 min mark) “The form of government that we practice in America is not Biblical…Where’s Romans 17, where Paul addresses how we interact with a democracy? How we interact with government is right here…Should we be involved in making those laws? Who cares…Who cares…it’s a waste of time, I’m going to preach the Gospel…I’m not going to waste 5 minutes of my time trying to keep the right to preach against homosexuality…I’ll just go preach in jail…Show me in Scripture where we’re supposed to care about those things…” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=113014202161

-Extreme political pacifism from Rom. 13parts 1-3 & review 1-3 (this whole series is full of significant extreme pacifism problems & reveals that this is a major worldview issue for Mike and the church)

Part 1 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1130141314186

Part 1 Review http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=113014202161

Part 2 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12714138443

Part 2 Review http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=127141945461

Part 3 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1214141313433

Part 3 Review http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121414194268

-Extreme political pacifism: Why Would You Vote?! Is Voting Sinful? Part 1of 2 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=91612146106

-Extreme political pacifism: Why Would You Vote?! Is Voting Sinful? Part 2of 2 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=91612146368

-Don’t celebrate Easter or Christmas http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10291421420

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2012a http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121121129332

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2012b http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121121137525

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2013 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1211132110240

-Don’t celebrate Christimas 2014 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1224142053436

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2015 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12215204968

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2016 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1191694180

All that follows is written as a friend, a brother, a Cross Encounters advisory board member, and a pastor. It is written out of love for Christ, His Gospel, His Church, and our brother, Tony Miano. My church and family have prayerfully and financially supported Tony for over four years. Beaverton Grace Bible Church (BGBC) has welcomed Tony to stand behind the pulpit many times. This would have been Tony’s 4th year as our keynote speaker at the Biblical Church Evangelism Conference. I’ve been blessed to spend hundreds of hours proclaiming Christ with Tony on the streets of Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Burbank, Hollywood, and Philadelphia. I’ve served on Tony’s advisory board for several years and this is my final act in that capacity. I am greatly pained by the necessity of writing this article, but Tony’s excellent and often given counsel regarding friendship evangelism has application outside of evangelism. I must love my friend more than I love our friendship. Above and beyond Tony’s counsel, God’s true and authoritative Word tells us:

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Prov. 27:6)

Tony Miano has written an emotionally charged article beginning with a scene he recently witnessed involving a six year old little boy being berated on a baseball field by an overbearing father with unrealistic, sinful expectations. The article then transitions to Tony’s childhood, the pain of relocation, the trauma of his parent’s divorce, and his own father’s sinful expectations that led to disappointment in him when he stopped playing sports in his teenage years. After that heart wrenching set up, Tony addresses his recent loss of friends who “decided to disassociate with” him over hearsay and secondary theological issues when he didn’t measure up to their sinful expectations. The title of the article, Sinful Expectations: Hurting the Ones We Say We Love, is consistent with the content. Here’s an excerpt:

Here are several examples of the sympathy seeking “posts on social media” that Tony refers to in his article. Bear in mind that some of the people responding to Tony have no idea what he’s really talking about:

GROSS & REPEATED PUBLIC MISREPRESENTATION REQUIRES PUBLIC CLARIFICATION

Tony’s highly sensational article and character disparaging (proud, self-loving, am god, Pharisee, Judas, etc.) social media posts do not correspond well with reality. Repeated public misrepresentation of the situation requires public clarification and explanation for the protection of all involved. Tony’s self-confessed attempts to garner sympathy via Facebook, Twitter, and now his article, are drawing much public attention to this situation and are no doubt generating many questions behind the scenes. Those giving sympathy to Tony and thinking he has been sorely victimized by rogue friends have no idea what is actually going on. Contrary to Tony’s assertions, the necessary and painful steps I and others have taken over the last few months have been an attempt to rescue our dear friend from the moral and theological beguiling and corrupting influence of Mike Reid (more on that below). What I have written here is the necessary response to Tony’s actions, his social media posts, and his recent blog post. Tony has sorely misrepresented the facts. It is not I, other pastors, and other ministers of the Gospel who have divided from Tony, it is Tony who has divided from us by taking a stand with Mike Reid on morally and theologically dangerous ground.

IT’S NOT JUST WHAT IS SAID, IT’S WHAT ISN’T SAID

When dealing with misrepresentation, it’s not just what is said, it’s what isn’t said. Emotionally charged, sympathy seeking, “you were never really my friend” accusations and character disparaging allusions to Judas are a smoke screen. What Tony has failed to mention in all of these social media posts and in his article is the name Mike Reid. For the last ten weeks serious discussions have taken place over Mike Reid’s many aberrant practices and teachings (see the summary at the bottom). The most alarming of those practices and teachings are what Mike calls his “shepherding” of women and the false doctrine that he defends it with. Tony would have the world to believe that some of his closest friends and ministry partners have mysteriously lost their minds, turned on him, and are now dividing with him over trivial secondary theological issues that aren’t even worth mentioning. That is a gross misrepresentation. Tony is not only misleading people by what he’s said, he’s misleading people by what he hasn’t said. Tony wrote an entire article and filled it with emotional stories about “sinful expectations” and friends painfully disassociating from him, but left out the last 10 weeks of contention over Mike Reid’s behavior and theology. It is Tony’s unrelenting and unconscionable defense of Mike Reid’s dangerous “shepherding” of women and dangerous doctrine that is the unmentioned critical issue at hand.

SOMETHING WRONG IN IOWA

Tony is a member of one of the finest and most theologically sound churches on the planet. Tony travels the United States and overseas extensively, visiting many churches in his evangelistic travels. He has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in Christianity. In November of 2015, Tony visited one of his supporting churches in Davenport, Iowa. Despite his extensive exposure to a broad spectrum of churches, this one was very different. Upon his return, Tony explained in a newsletter/blog that at first he and his wife didn’t know if what they were experiencing under Mike Reid’s shepherding in Iowa was legalism or a deeper level of holiness. Tony quickly came to believe it was a pursuit of holiness to a level that they had never experienced. He then went on to say that his wife was not as quick to come to that conclusion and had a significant crisis of faith as a result of her time under Mike Reid’s pastoral care. That was when my concern regarding Mike Reid’s “shepherding” practices and doctrines first began. Concern compelled me to asked Tony what exactly it was that they had experienced. Tony’s answers were ambiguous. I’ll let Tony explain what took place on that visit to Mike Reid’s home and church. The following is an excerpt from Tony’s Nov. 8th, 2015, Cross Encounters newsletter:

“While legalism is alive and well in Christendom, some of what American Evangelicals refer to as ‘legalism’ might actually be a pursuit of holiness. Mahria and I returned home last night from an eight-day trip to the Quad Cities area of Iowa. We were in Iowa as the guests of one of our supporting churches–Grace Fellowship Church of Davenport. We stayed in the home of Pastor Mike and Emily Reid…Throughout the week, Mahria and I were individually challenged by aspects of “body life” in the GFC family. I believe I recognized early in our visit what I was seeing. Mahria, however, struggled to discern what she was seeing.

During one evening of fellowship in the Reid Home, Pastor Mike asked me what I would take away from my time with the GFC family. He wasn’t looking for an ‘attaboy’ or a pat on the back. I explained to Pastor Mike that the overwhelming sense I had about the GFC family, from the elders to the newest member, was a genuine, Christ-seeking pursuit of holiness.

One of the church family members asked if I was embarrassed by what I observed. My response: ‘No. I’m not embarrassed by it. Embarrassment isn’t the word. Ashamed is the word I’m looking for. While I like to think I live a life pursuing holiness, my time with Grace Fellowship Church has shown me that I’m nowhere near where I should be in that pursuit.’

Mahria’s reaction to our time with the GFC family was more intense. Mahria struggled with thoughts about Grace Fellowship Church, which included thoughts of legalism. While she was blessed each day with the fellowship she had with the women and children of the church, Mahria struggled with thoughts that something was wrong. Something just wasn’t right in the church. I asked Mahria if what she thought was legalism could actually be a pursuit of holiness to a level she has never experienced. She allowed for the possibility.

…I believe Mahria’s confession was brought about by a week of being confronted by holiness. Mahria is now examining herself anew. She is testing herself to see if she is in the faith. She is struggling with a lack of assurance of salvation…Whether Mahria is not yet born-again or she is saved and struggling with besetting sin, my plea to Mahria is the same: ‘repent and believe the gospel.’ I thank God for the time Mahria and I spent with the Grace Fellowship Church family, in Iowa. I thank God that both of us were confronted by holiness.”

It has been ten months since they returned from that visit. It is now very clear that what they experienced in Iowa was not a deeper level of holiness. It is also now very clear that Tony’s understanding of what constitutes holiness is not what it once was.

INCONSISTENT MORALITY

To his credit, Tony has long been a proponent of J.C. Ryle’s book, Holiness. Out of a personal pursuit of holiness and a love of his brethren, Tony has led many men through a study of Ryle’s wise Biblical counsel. In typical fashion, J.C. Ryle has provided us succinct, powerful, and timeless Biblical counsel on the topic of fleeing from sexual immorality and adultery:

“Young men, ‘Flee from sexual immorality’ (1 Corinthians 6:18) if you love life. ‘Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient’ (Ephesians 5:6). Flee from the opportunity of it–from the company of those who might draw you into it–from the places where you might be tempted to do it.”

When it comes to Tony’s own life, marriage, and ministry, he has long understood the Biblical necessity of fleeing sexual immorality and making no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts (1 Cor. 6:18 & Rom. 13:14). Every email Tony sends out reflects his Biblical position and longstanding wisdom in this area. To guard his life, his marriage, his ministry, and the hearts of others from impropriety, from temptation, from any sense of intimate communication that would become the first spark of adulterous passion, and to guard even from the appearance of evil…every email Tony sends has this exemplary notice at the bottom:

NOTICE: Due to the nature of my ministry and the vital importance of protecting my marriage, any and all communications with members of the opposite sex are subject to the review and response of my wife.

That is Biblical. That is commendable. That is above reproach. That is the friend and brother I know and love. However, in a manner entirely inconsistent with his own standard of life, conduct, and former stand for holiness, Tony is now defending the indefensible. Tony is now defending what his commendable email notice condemns. To be consistent, Tony should now remove his email notice. Under what I can only describe as a beguiling influence, Tony is now unwilling to apply J.C. Ryle’s Biblical counsel, his own historic Biblical convictions, and the plain truth of 1 Cor. 6:18, Rom. 13:14, and 2 Tim. 2:22 to Mike Reid’s “shepherding” of women:

“Flee sexual immorality.” (1 Cor. 6:18)

“Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Rom. 13:12)

“Flee also youthful lusts.” (2 Tim. 2:22)

NECESSARY WARNING

Mike Reid’s history, practice, and doctrine set off at least four moral and theological alarms. I don’t look down upon Mike Reid. I am no better than Mike Reid. Any sin that is not in my past and will not be in my future is only not there by God’s restraining grace. However, for the protection of Christ’s Church and many faithful Gospel ministries, the following WARNING must be given. Mike Reid holds the singular distinction of being the only pastor I know of who has a 3 ½ year history of adulterous affairs and divorce in his background (Mike has very publicly confessed his past adulteries on Sermon Audio). Mike also holds the singular distinction of being the only pastor I know of who has designed his “shepherding” ministry to include systematically meeting alone with the married women, single women, and teenage girls of his church on a regularly scheduled basis for private pastoral instruction. Mike holds yet another singular distinction of being the only pastor I know of who holds to a false doctrine, that he calls his “boast in Christ,” whereby he claims he and other genuine believers cannot fall in adultery. Mike Reid holds one further singular and alarming distinction of being the only pastor I know of that claims men who have “repented” of molesting children can be pastors and can meet alone with children. Those four distinctions necessitate a word of WARNING.

After meeting Mike Reid through our mutual friend, Tony Miano, I commended Mike’s ministry from the pulpit and on the World Wide Web on many occasions. I have preached the Gospel on the streets with Mike. I have welcomed members of Mike’s church into fellowship at Beaverton Grace Bible Church. To some extent, I have yoked myself, my ministry, and the sheep of the Lord’s fold entrusted to my pastoral care to him. I have introduced men and women from BGBC to “pastor” Mike and some have fallen under his influence. I even encouraged my extended family in Iowa to attend Mike’s church (after four visits they had serious concerns and attended no more). That was all before I knew his history, his methodology of “shepherding” women, the false doctrine he defends it with, and the full extent of his many other aberrant doctrines (see the list at the bottom). Now that I am aware of Mike Reid’s dangerous practice and the dangerous false doctrine he defends it with, I’m duty bound to WARN others.

NOTE: When Tony called me and told me that he was moving to Iowa to place his ministry beneath Mike Reid’s pastoral authority, it was incumbent upon me to do my due diligence as Tony’s friend and a Cross Encounters advisory board member. It was during the due diligence process that the term “one on one time with the pastor” came to light as a phrase endearingly used by a woman to describe her regularly scheduled meetings with Mike for private pastoral instruction. I asked Mike directly if he engaged in “one on one time” with the women of his church. He took offense to the term, said that I was attempting to shine a negative light on his practice, and insisted that it was his “pastoral shepherding of women.” I refuse to elevate Mike’s practice and denigrate Biblical pastoral shepherding, so shepherding will be in quotes for the remainder of this article.

SYSTEMATIC TEMPTATION BY DESIGN

No pastor desiring to heed the excellent counsel of J.C. Ryle and the clear instruction of Scripture would ever design a “shepherding” ministry in which he systematically meets with the married women, single women, and teenage girls of the church alone for private pastoral instruction on a regularly scheduled basis…but that is exactly what Mike Reid has done. Mike has literally designed systematic temptation into his ministry. Generally speaking the Word of God exhorts us to stand firm against sin and the Devil, with sexual sin we are consistently told to flee. Mike Reid has designed a “shepherding” ministry where he tramples the counsel to flee beneath his feet by systematically going in the opposite direction and moving toward the temptation. He has designed a “shepherding” ministry where he regularly meets alone with men’s wives and daughters for private pastoral instruction that no husband or father should ever consent to. He has designed a “shepherding” ministry that would undoubtedly unleash scandal upon Christ’s Church around the globe if it were universally adopted. Mike’s “shepherding” of women systematically opens the door to temptation, to affairs of the heart, and to full scale affairs of the flesh. Mike’s “shepherding” methodology systematically defies the warnings of Scripture and thus has a fatal design flaw that puts him, the women, and the teenage girls of his church at risk.

NOTE: Mike’s “shepherding” design is so far outside the pale of what is normal or safe, I’ve found that some have a hard time getting a clear picture. To be clear, Mike’s private meetings with the women of his church are not the result of women requesting pastoral counsel at some point of crisis in their life or for their marriage at a particular point and time. The meetings are essentially an ongoing private Bible study with the pastor. That said, Mike is certainly open to meeting alone with women for crisis counseling as well.

BIBLICAL REPENTANCE DEFINED

This dangerous “shepherding” practice is not above reproach and does not evidence genuine repentance. Mike Reid willfully defies the Biblical safeguards for male and female interaction, putting himself, the women of his church, and the testimony of Christ in his community at great and unnecessary risk. I take no pleasure in speaking about Mike’s history of adultery, but his practice and the doctrine he defends it with, makes his history entirely relevant. Mike Reid’s history, practice, and doctrine must be considered in the light of the Biblical definition of genuine repentance:

“For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” (2 Cor. 7:8-11 )

In short, a man who has repented of a 3 ½ year history of adulterous affairs does not and would not systematically meet alone with married women, single women, and teenage girls for private pastoral instruction. A repentant man who lived through and knows the intimate details of the devastation that his adulterous affairs unleashed upon his marriage, his wife, his children, other women, other wives, other husbands, and other people’s children…would never design a ministry in which he systematically meets alone with women and girls. Period. Taken point for point, 2 Cor. 7:8-11 reveals that this behavior in no way meets the Biblical definition of repentance. A man who has repented of adultery diligently steers clear of any hint of impropriety. A man who has repented of adultery diligently steers clear of any and every opportunity to start down the path to adultery (Proverbs has much to say about this). Designing “one on one time” with the women of the church into your “shepherding” ministry is not diligently steering clear of any hint of impropriety, or any and every opportunity to start down the path to adultery, it is exactly the opposite. A man who has repented of adultery makes sure he is clear of any behavior that would be associated with adultery or the path to adultery. A man who has repented of adultery has indignation (a holy hatred) for adultery and for anything that opens the door to the possibility of adultery, like systematically being alone with other men’s wives, single women, and teenage girls. A man who has repented of adultery has a healthy deep seated fear of adultery, temptation, and anything that would open the door to that which he fears. A man who has repented of adultery has a vehement desire and zeal against adultery and against every path to adultery that proves him to be vindicated and clear in this matter. This is not higher Biblical moral physics, it’s easy Biblical moral math. This is obvious and basic truth, not over the top puritanical legalism. This is truth that even many non-Christians understand without chapter, verse, or complex argument.

DANGEROUS FALSE DOCTRINE

Mike Reid’s dangerous practice, has dangerous doctrinal roots. Mike defends his “shepherding” methodology of meeting alone with the women and girls of the church for private counsel and instruction with false doctrine whereby he claims (in writing and conversation on multiple occasions) that 100% of pastors who commit adultery with women after counseling them alone are “not even believers.” When I found out Mike met with the women of his church alone, I reminded him that 99.9% of pastors who fall in adultery do so by meeting alone with women in their congregation. His answer was shocking, he said, “and 100% of those are not pastors, not even believers.” That is false doctrine. It is an indefensible claim that all pastors who fall prey to the lusts of the flesh and commit adultery…did so because they were not actually Christians. It is an indefensible claim that genuine Christians cannot fall in adultery and other sexual sins. It is an indefensible claim of moral invincibility. When King David was put forth as an example of a man after God’s own heart who fell to adultery and murder after being alone with another man’s wife (2 Sam. 11), Mike responded in a manner consistent with his false doctrine, by saying, “Was David even saved?” When further pressed, Mike claimed that he cannot fall in adultery because 1 Cor. 6:9-11 assures him that he can’t. He went on to explain that his boast is not in his flesh, but in Christ, saying repeatedly, “My boast is in Christ!” Mike’s false doctrine enables him to blatantly and systematically defy a multitude of Scriptures that directly or indirectly compel men to flee from temptation and the opportunity to commit sexual immorality. This is a terrible example for the men of the church. If it’s true for the pastor, it’s true for all other genuine Christians too. Mike’s history, dangerous practice, and the false doctrine he uses to defend it, simply cannot be ignored, swept under a rug, mitigated, obfuscated, or nuanced away.

CONSISTENT MORAL MADNESS

Mike Reid’s dangerous false doctrine, consistently applied to other sexual sins, turns into moral madness. I tested how far Mike was willing to go in defense of his false doctrine by asking him whether he would support a similar “shepherding” ministry involving a man professing to be a “repentant” child molester who now meets alone with children. I expected him to pull back his false doctrine, to at least attempt to keep it out of the realm of moral madness. He did not. Mike Reid is alarmingly morally and theologically consistent. The same dangerous false doctrine that Mike uses to defend his practice of systematically meeting alone with women, compels him to say that a “repentant” child molester can be a pastor and can meet alone with children. When directly asked, two different times, if a man who has “repented” of child molestation could be a pastor who meets alone with children…and if that would be in keeping with Biblical repentance…Mike Reid said, “Yes!” and “Yes!” That is unconscionable moral madness, madness entirely consistent with his own practice and doctrine, but madness never-the-less. My pastoral hands were already tied with Mike’s history, dangerous practice, and the dangerous false doctrine he defends it with. When Mike extended his false doctrine to pedophiles, claiming they can be pastors and that they can meet alone with children, my hands were chained, locked, and weighted down. Mike’s moral madness cannot be ignored, swept under a rug, mitigated, obfuscated, or nuanced away. Tony Miano may be angry about the necessary stand that I and others have taken, but he surely is not shocked. What is shocking is that Tony is defending Mike Reid instead of defending Biblical morality, sound doctrine, and Christ’s Church.

DOGMATIC MORAL AND DOCTRINAL CLARITY

Men who have molested children are not and will never be qualified for pastoral ministry. Men who have molested children should never be alone with children. Men who profess to have repented of child molestation and position themselves to be alone with children are not repentant…they are dangerous. No exceptions. Pedophiles can truly repent, truly believe upon Christ unto salvation, truly be forgiven, truly be born again, truly be washed in the blood, and truly be new creatures in Christ by amazing grace…and that doesn’t change anything written before this sentence. No exceptions.

PASTORAL DUTY

The substantial danger that Mike Reid’s practice and doctrine poses requires a PUBLIC WARNING. Having exercised pastoral influence and lent credibility where it does not belong, it is my pastoral duty to warn people away from a man and ministry that I once recommended in ignorance. Tony should be warning people away from Mike’s ministry much like he has done with other churches engaged in dangerous practices and teaching dangerous doctrines. Instead, even though he’s still at Grace Community Church, Tony has already declared Mike Reid to be his pastor, and has declared himself, his family, and his ministry to be beneath Mike’s pastoral authority. Tony is making steady preparations to move his family 2,000 miles to become a member of Mike Reid’s church in Davenport, Iowa. Tony is also actively and very publicly commending Mike Reid and his ministry to all of his Cross Encounters ministry partners and the Christian world at large with blog articles, Facebook posts, and through Twitter. The individuals, families, churches, and ministries that Tony is actively seeking to yoke to Mike Reid and his teaching MUST BE WARNED.

For the last 10 weeks Tony has employed mitigation, obfuscation, nuance and claims of misrepresentation in defense of Mike Reid’s practice and doctrine. Everything written here is well substantiated on the following 16 minute audio recording of a group conversation with Mike Reid where all parties were fully informed that we were recording for the purpose of establishing the facts and bringing supposed misunderstanding and/or misrepresentation of Mike’s practice and doctrine to an end. The first minute of the recording verifies that everyone knew we were recording. Both Tony and Bobby McCreery recorded the conversation, as did I. The second minute verifies that it was made manifestly clear at the outset of the conversation that my pastoral goal was the protection of the saints at Beaverton Grace Bible Church, the saints in Davenport, Iowa, and the Church at large. The rest of the recording confirms the necessity of warning men, women, and ministries to steer clear of Mike Reid and his “shepherding” ministry. Nothing is left to hearsay. In order to facilitate repentance and to protect men, women, and ministries from harm, it is necessary to release the audio recording. At the end of the recording, Tony takes a shockingly strong and divisive stand with Mike Reid and his scandalous practice and doctrine. This article and the release of the audio recording are the necessary response, explanation, warning, and expression of love for Tony, his family, the sound churches Tony would yoke to dangerous practice and doctrine, the many faithful ministers of the Gospel that Tony would yoke to dangerous practice and doctrine, the Church at large, the church Mike Reid “shepherds,” and Mike Reid himself. Churches, ministries, and individuals who support Tony have a right to know where he’s moving, what pastor he’s placing his ministry under, the dangerous practice and false doctrine he’s defending, and the stack of unhealthy practices and doctrines that come with it (see the summary below).

We have not divided from Tony, he has divided from us. Our hands are chained. Beaverton Grace Bible Church must withdraw support and recommendation from a man and a ministry that we love. May our gracious God soon renew Tony’s mind and bring him back to the Biblical morality and sound doctrine he has long championed. We prayerfully look forward to that day.

May God grant Tony truly Biblical friends who know, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful,” and who speak, write, and act accordingly (Prov. 27:6). This is not a call for an unholy social media war, it is call to love with action and truth. If you have an axe to grind with Tony, I counsel you not to use this as an opportunity to further hone the edge on your personal vendetta. Those of you who genuinely love Christ, His Gospel, and Tony Miano…please do not allow mitigation, obfuscation, nuance, cries for war, or cries for peace at all costs to override basic Biblical, theological, and moral clarity. The gross impropriety and real danger of Mike Reid’s “shepherding” methodology and theological defense are undeniable. The great pile of unusual and unhealthy doctrines and practices that Mike Reid propagates and employs is undeniable (see the summary below). May amazing grace, Biblical doctrine, Biblical morality, and true brotherly love win the day. May the purity of the Gospel and Christ’s Church be protected by stalwart men of God who love Christ, His Gospel, and His Church with action and truth. May Mike Reid be granted genuine repentance and bear the fruits of repentance in his life. May we all take heed, lest we fall. May all God’s men hold fast to J.C. Ryle’s sound admonition and warning:

“Young men, ‘Flee from sexual immorality’ (1 Corinthians 6:18) if you love life. ‘Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient’ (Ephesians 5:6). Flee from the opportunity of it–from the company of those who might draw you into it–from the places where you might be tempted to do it.”

May we all take Tony’s email notice to heart and apply it consistently to our actual lives, ministries, and interactions with the opposite sex:

NOTICE: Due to the nature of my ministry and the vital importance of protecting my marriage, any and all communications with members of the opposite sex are subject to the review and response of my wife.

PASTORAL EXPECTATIONS

Tony titled his article Sinful Expectations. I do have a few basic pastoral expectations for the men and ministries that I support:

1. I have a basic and firm expectation that ministers of the Gospel not knowingly bring themselves and their ministry beneath a pastor with multiple adulterous affairs and divorce in their background while they presently carry on a “shepherding” ministry in which they regularly meet alone with married women, single women, and a teenage girl for private pastoral instruction.

2. I have a basic and resolute expectation that ministers of the Gospel not knowingly bring themselves and their ministry beneath a pastor who blatantly defies the clear warnings of Scripture designed to protect men from sexual immorality and then defends his behavior with an undeniably false and dangerous doctrine whereby he claims he and other genuine believers cannot fall in adultery.

3. I have a basic and vehement expectation that ministers of the Gospel not knowingly bring themselves and their ministry beneath a pastor who holds his false doctrine so dearly and consistently that he extends it to pedophiles, claiming that a “repentant” pedophile can become a pastor and can meet alone with children.

4. I have a basic expectation that ministers of the Gospel not knowingly accept support or commendation from churches, ministries, or men that do not know that they are failing to keep the first three expectations on this list.

5. I have a basic expectation that ministers of the Gospel not knowingly yoke unknowing churches, ministries, or men to themselves while they support and defend the pastor, the dangerous practice, and the dangerous doctrine listed in the first three expectations above.

6. I have a basic expectation that ministers of the Gospel not knowingly yoke unknowing churches, ministries, or men directly to the pastor, the dangerous practice, and the dangerous doctrine listed in the first three expectations above.

7. I have a basic expectation that ministers of the Gospel not defend moral and theological madness with mitigation, obfuscation, nuance, and emotionally charged, sympathy seeking, blatant omissions and misrepresentations of the truth on Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere.

8. I have a basic expectation that ministers of the Gospel not accuse pastors, churches, ministries, other ministers of the Gospel, and individual Christians on Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere of being proud, self-loving, Pharisaical, Judas’s if they decide that they cannot be yoked to dangerous practice and doctrine.

SUMMARY OF DANGEROUS & ABERRANT PRACTICES & DOCTRINES

Unpacking all of Mike Reid’s aberrant and dangerous practices and doctrines would require a fair sized book, not a lengthy blog post. Some are unconscionable. Some are dangerous. Some are unhealthy. Some are simply aberrant. Here’s a quick list:

-Unheard of and morally dangerous systematic defiance of Biblical safeguards for male and female interaction (1 Cor. 6:18 & Rom. 13:14) via meeting alone with married women, single women, and teenage girls for “shepherding” through regularly scheduled private pastoral instruction meetings

-Unheard of and dangerous doctrinal defense of willful defiance of Biblical safeguards for male and female interaction…100% of pastors who commit adultery after meeting with congregants alone were not saved…1 Cor. 6:9-11 assures me I can’t fall…My boast is Christ!…King David fell because he wasn’t saved…etc.

-Unheard of moral madness displayed in an alarming consistency of position and doctrine whereby Mike Reid claims “repentant” child molesters can be pastors and meet with children alone

-Unheard of regular calling of church attenders out from the pulpit, by name, while they are sitting in the pew, during the church service, and pointing out their unsaved condition and/or some level of their sin issues…and then it is subsequently placed on Sermon Audio for the world to hear

-Unheard of regular public congregational confession of sin during the corporate gatherings of the church where too much information is given…and then it is subsequently placed on Sermon Audio for the world to hear

-Unheard of “holy” kissing: Mike Reid practices the “holy” kiss of 2 Cor. 13:12 without warning or permission on men. The first time I met Mike he leaned in and kissed my cheek (he may also practice this with women as it would be consistent with his other practice and doctrine).

-Extreme personal pacifism teaching that it is wrong to defend self, wrong to defend family, and wrong to defend neighbor from rape, murder, etc., and that owning a gun for defensive purposes is premeditated murder. “Why do you own a gun? You have premeditated murder.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=617141523135

-Extreme personal pacifism: “When you start talking about guns for self defense you have no Biblical backing…what does a Christian need a gun for? What are you going to do with a gun Christian?…Christian, what do you need a gun for?…For some it’s idolatry…I think it is…Christian, what do you need a gun for? You put yourself in a position to murder someone…I’m not going to own a gun premeditatedly knowing that I might murder someone…” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=531161424276

-Extreme medical pacifism: No giving to or raising money to fight disease…because we’re all dying and“trying to cure any kind of disease is misguided effort”http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=9214108381

-Extreme pacifism: It’s wrong to be a soldier or police officer.“Can a Christian become a police officer? I don’t see how. Can a Christian become a soldier? I don’t see how.” (7:30-11:30, especially 11-11:30)http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121414194268

-Extreme pacifism: No military service for Christians.“Can a Christian become a soldier? I don’t see how.” “No just war.”http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=1219141841290

-Extreme pacifism: “No such thing as a just war.”http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10201492285

-Extreme pacifism in view of ISIS attack in Paris…negating evil of Islam…negating victim status of those who died in Paris at the hands of terrorists because all are sinners, God is just, and God is sovereign http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1128151053267

-Extreme political pacifism “I am to be involved in the political process none. That’s what my Bible would teach me about the political process.” “I won’t even cast a vote.” “Who has the most Christian beliefs? It doesn’t matter to me…who cares…I really mean that.” “Who cares the who wins the presidential election in 2016.” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10615159419-Extreme political pacifism (8:30-16:40 min mark) “The form of government that we practice in America is not Biblical…Where’s Romans 17, where Paul addresses how we interact with a democracy? How we interact with government is right here…Should we be involved in making those laws? Who cares…Who cares…it’s a waste of time, I’m going to preach the Gospel…I’m not going to waste 5 minutes of my time trying to keep the right to preach against homosexuality…I’ll just go preach in jail…Show me in Scripture where we’re supposed to care about those things…” http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=113014202161

–Extreme political pacifism from Rom. 13parts 1-3 & review 1-3 (this whole series is full of significant extreme pacifism problems & reveals that this is a major worldview issue for Mike and the church)

Part 1http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1130141314186

Part 1 Review http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=113014202161

Part 2 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12714138443

Part 2 Review http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=127141945461

Part 3 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1214141313433

Part 3 Review http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121414194268

-Extreme political pacifism: Why Would You Vote?! Is Voting Sinful? Part 1of 2 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=91612146106

-Extreme political pacifism: Why Would You Vote?! Is Voting Sinful? Part 2of 2  http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=91612146368

-Don’t celebrate Easter or Christmashttp://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=10291421420

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2012ahttp://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121121129332

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2012bhttp://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=121121137525

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2013http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1211132110240

-Don’t celebrate Christimas 2014 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1224142053436

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2015 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12215204968

-Don’t celebrate Christmas 2016 http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1191694180