Some
fantastic heretics I have known
by
Thomas R. Horn
RaidersNewsNetwork.com
But most of you may not
know that Dr. Horn pastored a very visible charismatic church in Portland,
Oregon. Tom Horn’s understanding of this present deception afflicting the
evangelical church parallels our own, with the same conclusions: The rise of
Antichrist has found fertile soils within this sea to shining sea.
Listen to Horn’s “memory
lane” – my, things haven’t changed, they’ve gotten far worse:
Posted: February 21, 2010
Recently while
searching for a particular document that I had placed in an old photo album
years ago for safe keeping (usually how we wind up actually losing things,
right!?), I took an unexpected stroll down memory lane.
I had gone through at least a dozen
books of images, old newspaper clippings, seeing members of churches we had
pastored and records of events frozen in time from nearly 30 years inside
institutionalized Christianity, when finally between dusty storage bins and
spider webs I found what I was looking for. I placed the coveted item among the
research notes for the new book on Spiritual Warfare that my wife Nita and I
plan to write later this year, then returned everything else to the closets.
That should have been that, but for the
next week the old memories in those boxes kept calling to me about things and
friends I had nearly forgotten—people who represented the true mission of the
Church and were wonderful examples to my wife and I about what it means to be a
Christian. Their names would not be recognized by most today—dedicated
believers like O.R. Cross, Henrietta Stewart, Lorraine Morgan, Wyoming Rosebud
Dollar, C.K. Barnes, Eugene & Evelyn Fuller, Annie Walton, and others of
the New Testament clan.
And then there was that other group,
hiding in plain sight among the believers, sometimes even leading them, the ones the
Bible calls "clouds without water, carried about of winds; trees whose
fruit withered, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots" (Jude 1:12).
Among this second class were—and still
are—some fantastic heretics I have known.
Take our old friend Carlton Pearson for instance. When I was pastor
of Life Center and then Family Worship Center near Portland, Oregon during the
80s, my church was the host for TBN's West Coast broadcasts and special events
where some of America's top evangelists appeared almost nightly for a while,
including Carlton on numerous occasions. In those days, the Church was in flux.
The Great Generation with its Faith of the Fathers was getting older, and
errant doctrines made delicious by nasty end-time agents known as demons were
finding more and more willing hearts who were having the time of their lives
abandoning solid theology in exchange for such teachings as "The Doctrine
of Inclusion" (in which nobody goes to hell) eventually branding such
false prophets as heretics (including
Carlton Pearson) among thoughtful evangelicals. I can tell you Carlton
didn't start out that way. He was a sweet man with a heart of gold who
unfortunately not only lost his way, but embraced delusion. God only knows how
many he has since led astray.

Then there were those who embraced things
far worse than "Inclusion." For instance, "Kingdom Age"
theology (also known as Reconstructionism, Kingdom Now Theology, Theonomy,
Dominion Theology, and most recently, Dominionism), which singularly has
wrought some of the most far-reaching destruction within the Body of Christ
this century.
Dominionism is a form of hyper-Calvinism
(though supported by both reconstructionists and non-reconstructionists) that
ultimately seeks to establish the Kingdom of God on earth through the union of
politics and religion. Though ravenously popular among most talking-heads for
the Religious Right, combining religious faith with politics as a legislative
system of governance such as Dominionism would do, hearkens the formula upon
which Antichrist will come to power. Note how in the book of Revelation,
chapter 13, the political figure of Antichrist derives ultra-national
dominance from the world’s religious faithful through the influence of
an ecclesiastical leader known as the False Prophet. Similar political enthusiasm
exists among dominionists despite the fact that neither Jesus nor His disciples
(who turned the world upside down through preaching the gospel of Christ, the
true "power of God," according to Paul) ever imagined the goal of
changing the world through supplanting secular government with an authoritarian
theocracy. In fact, Jesus made it clear that His followers would not fight
earthly authorities purely because His kingdom was "not of this
world" (John 18:36). While every modern citizen—religious and non-religious—has
the responsibility to lobby for moral good, combining the mission of the church
with political aspirations is not only unprecedented in New Testament
theology—including the life of Christ and the pattern of the New Testament
church—but a tragic scheme concocted by sinister forces that seek to defer the
Church from its true power while enriching insincere bureaucrats. So... let me
take this moment to also add that, while I personally appreciate the values
represented by such people as Sarah Palin (and I vote!), my prayer for
believers is that they will not be fooled (again) into believing in 2012 that
they can fulfill the will of God by pulling a voting lever.

"While
I personally appreciate the values represented by such people as Sarah Palin (and
I vote!), my prayer for believers is that they will not be fooled (again)
into believing in 2012 that they can fulfill the will of God by pulling a
voting lever." Thomas Horn |
While great heresies like
"Dominionism" and "Inclusion" are, or should be, self
evident, other contenders for the most spectacular heresies in the world today
would have to include the Prosperity Movement, Ecumenical Modernism, and Dual
Covenant (wherein Jews do not need to accept Jesus as Messiah) espoused by such
well-known preachers as John Hagee . Yet those aged voices that called out to
me recently from my fading boxes of memories also reminded that, while it's
easier today to get an "amen" while condemning the BIG LIE of
Dominionism, the most insidious doctrines are those "smaller
lucifers," which are often harder to perceive. For instance how easy it is
(and was) to see through the glaring examples of self-serving and lavish
lifestyles that some of my old televangelist friends sought support for, while
overlooking or even excusing Luciferianisn (selfishness) that is measured in
the tiniest of portions, minute amounts so cleverly concealed within subtle and
popular doctrines today that they are nearly impossible to detect.
Ask any evangelist who has tried to take
the Gospel outside the four-doors of the local assembly what I mean and hear
them repeat stories of how quickly certain members arose to resist the plan and
to grumble over the resources that could otherwise be used to benefit them.
This is the cancer that two decades of prosperity preaching, inward focusing
and me-ism has produced. Of course most of these anti-evangelists wrap their
Luciferianism in nifty religious phrases—like Judas Iscariot did when he
pretended to care for the poor but secretly wanted to steal the value of the
oil that was used to anoint the feet of Jesus (John 12:1-6). These types
resemble Judas in another way as well; they don't even know how they are thus
being used as fleshy gloves, the earthen hands of that invisible spirit, the
master of waterless clouds operating within or behind them that hates true
fishers of men. But for those with eyes to see, the father of lies always gives
himself away through his envy of others, seeking what he can gain from
believers and religion, not what he can give, then pretending that there is
something wrong with those he cannot control, those that get things done like
Jesus did, disparaging them, while he himself accomplishes nothing but division,
diversion, and destruction.
Perhaps you have seen this spirit in the
actions or heard it in the mouths of people you thought were your partners.
When once you (or somebody you knew) had nothing more to give them, they turned
away from you, or worse, against you and revealed the awful truth: their
religious spirit had only come for what it could get, gain, take, absorb, and
then turned "to kill and to destroy" (John 10:10a).
Thankfully the verse above goes on to
describe the true spirit of Christ, which comes so that people might
have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. This is why it is wise
to observe what religious people do, not only what they say, so that ultimately
it becomes clear what spirit is operating within them. "Ye shall know them
by their fruits," Jesus said in Matthew 7:16.
Yes, it's true, I have personally known
some fantastic heretics. But as I get older and the institution that I served
so long breathes its final breaths and crumbles beneath the mighty tsunami of
Dominionism, Prosperity Cultism and other doctrines of demons, I wonder about
the survivors, where they will go now and how they will persevere, and I find
that my pastor's heart is concerned most of all with those little lucifers
still lurking in plain sight among them.