"Pastor" John McClarty, who this year told his "flock" during a Sabbath morning service, to do away
with Bible texts that oppose the LGBT lifestyle, strikes again.
He recently encouraged on Adventist Today (an independent magazine by Adventists who don't like the Biblical doctrines of the Adventist Church) to compare the classic Steps To Christ (by E.G.W) with the books listed below.
When one sees what he is encouraging SDA's to read, the question is raised---what should be done with McClarty? When is continually crossing the line one time too many? How much longer should he stay on the payroll via your tithe money?
"And then to compare it to more contemporary takes on spiritual life such as Packer’s Knowing God, The Purpose Driven Life, Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, or N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian or even Living Buddha, Living Christ. Such an analysis would bring the testimony of Ellen White into dialogue with the world my church members live in." JohnMcClarty/AdventistToday
Lets begin with - Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
"Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk from Viet Nam, devoted his life to working for world peace... becoming a Catholic, while retaining his Buddhism....able to recognize and honor Buddha as his spiritual ancestor even as he enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ.... Hanh notes that the mindfulness practiced by Buddhists is very much like the Holy Spirit. In his own words: “Both of them help us touch the ultimate dimension of reality. Mindfulness helps us touch nirvana, and the Holy Spirit offers us a door to the Trinity. . . .If we touch the Holy Spirit, we touch God not as a concept but as a living reality.” StephanieDebry
Next - Knowing God by J.I. Packer
"Grace means God sending his only Son to the cross to descend into hell so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven." J.I.Packer from Knowing God
Next - The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
"Yet, in The Purpose-Driven®, Warren frequently quotes men and women of the past and present who cannot be trusted in any spiritual sense by believers today.....Consider several individuals to whom Warren refers and quotes in a positive manner in order to support his own principles: Brother Lawrence—a Roman Catholic mystic who wrote Practicing the Presence of God, and advocated a
"higher" form of prayer. -- Aldous Huxley—an English writer who published an influential study advocating the use of mescaline to expand perception and consciousness. Huxley, a guru among California hippies, used LSD and became a proponent of New Age and Hindu philosophy. -- Albert Schweitzer—one of the leading theological liberals in the 20th century; known for his "quest for the historical Jesus." -- Madame Guyon—a 17th century French Catholic mystic -- Anais Nin—a 20th century feminist writer of erotic literature -- Henri Nouwen—cited several times in The Purpose-Driven® Life, Nouwen was a Roman Catholic priest, ecumenist, educator and psychologist; one of the leading figures in introducing psychology into the Roman Catholic Church -- William James—a 19th century philosopher and psychologist of religion and an advocate of pragmatism and religious pluralism. James wielded a pervasive influence in American religious liberalism as he denied the reality of absolute truth." FEA
Next - Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen
"Who did Nouwen promote? - Mystic monk Thomas Merton, Taoist Philosopher Chvang Tzu, the Desert Fathers, Teilhard de Chardin (Catholic priest who believed Jesus would not return in person but rather as a cosmic Christ), Hindu Spiritual Writer Eknath Eswaran" LightHouseTrails
Next - Simply Christian by N. T. Wright
"Concerning the deity of Christ, Wright chooses to delve into Jesus’ own sense of his deity and mingle it with the kind of “call” a person has to be anything else in life: “I do not think Jesus ‘knew he was divine’ .... Wright seems to think that Jesus read the Messianic passages in the Old Testament, saw the triumphant Son of David and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, and “combined the two interpretations in a creative, indeed explosive, way. The Servant would be both royal and a sufferer. And the Servant would be… Jesus himself. Isaiah was by no means the only text upon which Jesus drew for his sense of vocation, which we must assume he had thrashed out in thought and prayer over some considerable time” (p. 107-8).
This is rather shocking. The image of Jesus reading Isaiah’s Suffering Servant passages, “thrashing it out in thought and prayer over a considerable time,” then concluding, “Oh, I am called to be a suffering Messiah, and, also the Son of God as well!” is foreign to Christ’s self-statements, especially in John.
If Jesus only arrived at his sense of Messiahship from reading Scripture (Scriptures that read the same to every Israelite), there was the chance that he was deluded. Rather, the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as receiving the highest possible testimony (testimony weightier than that of John): the Father himself spoke to him, and did so continually. Therefore, to take Wright’s view of Christ’s conception of his own deity is harmful." 9M
He recently encouraged on Adventist Today (an independent magazine by Adventists who don't like the Biblical doctrines of the Adventist Church) to compare the classic Steps To Christ (by E.G.W) with the books listed below.
When one sees what he is encouraging SDA's to read, the question is raised---what should be done with McClarty? When is continually crossing the line one time too many? How much longer should he stay on the payroll via your tithe money?
For I know this,
that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock.
Acts 20:29
Below is his quote followed by a review of those books to give you an idea of what he has been filling his head with...."And then to compare it to more contemporary takes on spiritual life such as Packer’s Knowing God, The Purpose Driven Life, Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, or N. T. Wright’s Simply Christian or even Living Buddha, Living Christ. Such an analysis would bring the testimony of Ellen White into dialogue with the world my church members live in." JohnMcClarty/AdventistToday
Lets begin with - Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh
"Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk from Viet Nam, devoted his life to working for world peace... becoming a Catholic, while retaining his Buddhism....able to recognize and honor Buddha as his spiritual ancestor even as he enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ.... Hanh notes that the mindfulness practiced by Buddhists is very much like the Holy Spirit. In his own words: “Both of them help us touch the ultimate dimension of reality. Mindfulness helps us touch nirvana, and the Holy Spirit offers us a door to the Trinity. . . .If we touch the Holy Spirit, we touch God not as a concept but as a living reality.” StephanieDebry
Next - Knowing God by J.I. Packer
"Grace means God sending his only Son to the cross to descend into hell so that we guilty ones might be reconciled to God and received into heaven." J.I.Packer from Knowing God
Next - The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
"Yet, in The Purpose-Driven®, Warren frequently quotes men and women of the past and present who cannot be trusted in any spiritual sense by believers today.....Consider several individuals to whom Warren refers and quotes in a positive manner in order to support his own principles: Brother Lawrence—a Roman Catholic mystic who wrote Practicing the Presence of God, and advocated a
Next - Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen
"Who did Nouwen promote? - Mystic monk Thomas Merton, Taoist Philosopher Chvang Tzu, the Desert Fathers, Teilhard de Chardin (Catholic priest who believed Jesus would not return in person but rather as a cosmic Christ), Hindu Spiritual Writer Eknath Eswaran" LightHouseTrails
Next - Simply Christian by N. T. Wright
"Concerning the deity of Christ, Wright chooses to delve into Jesus’ own sense of his deity and mingle it with the kind of “call” a person has to be anything else in life: “I do not think Jesus ‘knew he was divine’ .... Wright seems to think that Jesus read the Messianic passages in the Old Testament, saw the triumphant Son of David and the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, and “combined the two interpretations in a creative, indeed explosive, way. The Servant would be both royal and a sufferer. And the Servant would be… Jesus himself. Isaiah was by no means the only text upon which Jesus drew for his sense of vocation, which we must assume he had thrashed out in thought and prayer over some considerable time” (p. 107-8).
This is rather shocking. The image of Jesus reading Isaiah’s Suffering Servant passages, “thrashing it out in thought and prayer over a considerable time,” then concluding, “Oh, I am called to be a suffering Messiah, and, also the Son of God as well!” is foreign to Christ’s self-statements, especially in John.
If Jesus only arrived at his sense of Messiahship from reading Scripture (Scriptures that read the same to every Israelite), there was the chance that he was deluded. Rather, the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as receiving the highest possible testimony (testimony weightier than that of John): the Father himself spoke to him, and did so continually. Therefore, to take Wright’s view of Christ’s conception of his own deity is harmful." 9M