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Glen Beck’s Mormon Apologetics at Liberty University

05/05/2014 49 Comments

As if cowtowing to Mormon bishop Mitt Romney during the last election wasn’t bad enough, Liberty University invited Glen Beck speak at its annual convocation ceremony.  Beck disingenuously said “I share your faith” calling Mormonism a “different denomination” of Christianity and referred to Joseph Smith as a “martyr” . These statements are far from the truth. Beck does not “share the faith” of  the Baptist student body. Mormonism is not a different denomination but a different religion. Islam is closer to Christian theology than polytheistic Mormonism. The canard that Mormonism is a Christian denomination is patently absurd. The god of Mormons is not the God of the Old and New Testaments but an exalted man. Joseph Smith was not a martyr for his faith. He was in jail for treason against the state of Illinois and destroying the printing press of a newspaper that criticized his polygamy. When an angry mob stormed the jail, Smith died in a shoot out in which he killed two men. The LDS website preserves the  eyewitness testimony of John Taylor:

“I shall never forget the deep feeling of sympathy and regard manifested in the countenance of Brother Joseph as he drew nigh to Hyrum, and, leaning over him, exclaimed, ‘Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum!’ He, however, instantly arose, and with a firm, quick step, and a determined expression of countenance, approached the door, and pulling the six-shooter left by Brother Wheelock from his pocket, opened the door slightly, and snapped the pistol six successive times. ….”  (two men were killed by Smith)

LDS.org

No one participating in a gun fight in which they kill some of their opponents is considered “martyred.” Why is Liberty allowing Glen Beck to mislead their students about Mormonism and the false prophet Smith? Liberty is treading the Gospel under foot for political expediency. Liberty University’s status as an evangelical University should be questioned by parents and students. Apparently, Liberty now prefers to be categorized as politically conservative but religiously pluralist institution.

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.(2 Corinthians 11:3–4)

Filed Under Apologetics Tagged With Apostasy, Glen Beck, Liberty University

Phantasmic Post Mortem Miracles Count? Seriously Rome?

04/30/2014 49 Comments

pope-john-paul-iiPope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII were both made “saints” last Sunday in Rome. One of the requirements is to have performed two miracles which are verified and documented by official church investigators. However in these cases, it seems the standards have been dramatically relaxed. The so called miracles were not actually performed by the men but rather their ghosts.

According to news reports John Paul’s first miracle occured in 2005 shortly after his death. A nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, prayed to the deceased pontiff soon after his death and then recovered from Parkinson’s disease.  Obviously a nun, like Simon-Pierre, devoted to John Paul II was predisposed to credit him for her healing no matter how it occurred.  It’s hardly convincing. His second “miracle” is similarly dubious. Floribeth Mora Diaz claimed the papal apparition appeared to her on the day he was beatified and healed her of an inoperable brain aneurysm. How it was verified that the papal phantasm accomplished either healing is not explained.

Pope Francis by passed the standard qualifications and approved John XXIII’s sainthood with only one so called miracle.  It also allegedly occurred after the Pope’s death.  An Italian nun, Sister Caterina Capitani, prayed to the pope in 1996, who had died three years earlier, and later recovered from a stomach tumor.  Of course, this is again less than impressive.

Such conditions go into remission all the time and there is simply no way to prove that the ghost of either pope is responsible.  Worse yet this is idolatrous sin of the worst kind. Prayer is an act of worship. Praying to deceased humans is idolatrous and necromantic. It is called an abomination in scripture (Deuteronomy 18:11).  In my new book The Supernatural Worldview, I explain in detail why it is not wise to attempt such ill-advised communication with dead, despite the anti-biblical proclamations of Rome.

Filed Under Apologetics Tagged With John Paul II, John XXIII, Pope, Romanism

Interview on Beyond Extraordinary

04/21/2014 10 Comments

Cris-Putnam-Interview-Supernatural-Worldview
This is the first interview spent entirely on the material in the new book The Supernatural Worldview. It came to two hours and we barely scratched the surface,

Beyond Extraordinary Ep. 19: The Supernatural Worldview with

Cris Putnam

Filed Under Interview

Consolmagno is Talking About Baptizing Aliens Again

04/15/2014 61 Comments

Just as the dust is settling from the Vatican’s latest astrobiology conference in Arizona, heralded as “The Search Exo-Vaticanafor Life Beyond the Solar System: Exoplanets, Biosignature & Instruments,” Jesuit astronomer Guy Consolmagno is out in public talking about baptizing extraterrestrials again. In fact, over the years quite a few Jesuit members of the Vatican Observatory Research Group (VORG) have made public statements concerning the baptism of extraterrestrials. The first was back in 1993 when then-acting VORG director George Coyne announced at the launch of the VATT facility that “the Church would be obliged to address the question of whether extraterrestrials might be brought within the fold and baptized.”[1] In a New York Times magazine article—titled “Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?”—another VORG astronomer, Chris Corbally, indicated he would baptize extraterrestrials as well.[2] Similarly, back in 2010 when asked whether he’d baptize an alien, Guy Consolmagno replied, “Only if they asked” and then qualified, “Any entity—no matter how many tentacles it has, has a soul.”[3] Now Consolmagno is taking his intergalactic evangelism aspirations to the halls of academia delivering a lecture called “Would you baptize an Extra-Terrestrial?” at Leeds Trinity University in the UK. Here is a recent article announcing the upcoming lecture:

Would you baptise an alien?

That is the unusual question posed to students in Leeds by one of the Pope’s astronomers. Scientifictheories and religion look set to collide in a talk by leading papal astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ. The acclaimed astronomer and Jesuit will share why astronomical research is so important to the Vatican.Brother Guy is based at the Vatican Observatory headquarters in Castel Gandolfo and he curates the Vatican meteorite collection, which is believed to be one of the largest in the world. He will deliver a lecture called “Would you baptize an Extra-Terrestrial?” at Leeds Trinity University, which is based in Horsforth.

Read more at The Yorkshire Evening Post

The Catholic belief is that baptism “confers grace ex opere operato, that is, the sacrament works of itself.”[4] This literally means the ritual itself takes away sin without requiring faith in the Gospel. This is also why unbaptized infants cannot go to heaven, according to Rome.[5] While the dissonance with Vatican II style inclusivism is deafening, theological harmony is not a strong suit for Rome. The Council of Trent declared: “If anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is conferred in baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted, or even asserts that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away, but says that it is only touched in person or is not imputed, let him be anathema.”[6] While that curses just about all evangelicals, biblically based doctrine recognizes baptism as an outward sign of what has already occurred in the heart of the believer (Mark 16:16). When you recognize that you are dead in your sins and believe that Christ died for you and rose from the dead, you are justified in God’s eyes (Romans 10:10). It is a heart condition in reference to the propositional content of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3–5). False baptisms and conversions are commonplace. Baptism does not save anyone or remove sin. Nevertheless, the Catholic priest erroneously believes the sacrament itself has supernatural power to remove sin and consequently, could be deceived into thinking a baptized alien entity would be in a state of grace as well. Even if these viral media statements about the baptism of aliens seem tongue in cheek, it could be part of a more subtle effort to influence public opinion. If a deceptive entity were to pose as an ET, Rome would likely be taken in.

If you would like a signed copy of Exo-Vaticana from me personally order here.
In LA Mazulli’s Watchers 7 I discuss Rome’s ET connection along wwith some surprising revelations concerning the Pope’s ET connection by UFOlogist Jaime Maussan. If you would like a Watchers 7 DVD order here.

[1] Bruce Johnston , “Vatican Sets Evangelical Sights on Outer Space,” Daily Telegraph (London, England, Oct. 28, 1992), 15.

[2]Jack Hitt, “Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial?” New York Times magazine, last accessed January 19, 2013,http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/29/magazine/would-you-baptize-an-extraterrestrial.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.

 [3] Richard Alleyne, “Pope Benedict XVI’s Astronomer: The Catholic Church Welcomes Aliens,” The Telegraph, last accessed January 19, 2013, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/8009299/Pope-Benedict-XVIs-astronomer-the-Catholic-Church-welcomes-aliens.html.

[4] Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology., 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1998), 1100.

[5] “It (The Roman Church) teaches…that the souls…of those who die in mortal sin, or with only original sin descend immediately into hell; however, to be punished with different penalties and in different places.” Henry Denzinger, Roy J. Deferrari, and Karl Rahner, The Sources of Catholic Dogma (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1954), 193. The Council of Trent declared: “If anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is conferred in Baptism, the guilt of original sin is remitted; or even assert that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken way…let him be anathema.” Henry Denzinger, Sources of Catholic Dogma, 247). Thus, without baptism, original sin is not remitted and according to the above infants would descend immediately into hell. Older Catholic theologians speculated about a place called “limbo,” which was less severe than hell.

 [6]Henry Denzinger, Roy J. Deferrari, and Karl Rahner, The Sources of Catholic Dogma (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1954), 247.

Filed Under Exo Vaticana Tagged With Baptism, ET, VORG

New Supernatural Worldview Website

04/15/2014 1 Comment

Supernatural_Worldview BOOKMy new book The Supernatural Worldview to be released in May has a website http://www.supernaturalworldview.com/.  I will be posting excerpts from the book as well as blogging on subjects and news articles relevant to the topics in the book. The book focuses on worldview apologetics for what I call the paranormal paradigm shift, an idea I explained here.  Within you will find unconventional apologetics for the Christian faith by the way of defeaters for naturalism.  These include: 1) the evidence for extrasensory perception, also called psi—a controversial area for Christian apologetics; 2) the near-death experience, which implies that consciousness survives bodily death; and 3) the evidence for spirits and apparitions, whether of human or nonhuman origin. While any one of these serves as a defeater for naturalism, the biblical worldview can account for all of the above.

Filed Under Apologetics Tagged With paranormal
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