Torah Wrapped Paula White Will Pray at Inauguration, minus the Torah Scroll we hope.

An Actual Trinity-Denying Heretic Will Pray at Trump’s Inauguration

By Erick Erickson 

Paula White is a trinity denying heretic. She rejects the Council of Nicaea’s creed that every Christian accepts. To reject the orthodoxy of the Nicene Creed is to reject Christianity itself. You can see Paula White do this in the video above. And Paula White is going to pray at the inauguration.

"The doctrine of the Trinity has no greater foe than the Hebrew Scriptures."

Why does it matter? I don’t think anyone thinks Trump takes his faith serious (if at all), but Paula White claims to do so and claims to be a Christian. The President of the United States putting a heretic on stage who claims to believe in Jesus, but does not really believe in Jesus, risks leading others astray. Christians have an obligation to speak in defense of their faith. Trump letting this heretic pray in Jesus’s name should offend every Bible believing Christian.

I’d rather a Hindu pray on Inauguration Day and not risk the souls of men, than one whose heresy lures in souls with promises of comfort only to damn them in eternity. At least no one would mistake a Hindu, a Buddhist, or an atheist with being a representative of Christ’s kingdom.

Roman Emperor Constantine called the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 to settle a growing controversy in the Christian church. Was Christ part of the God-head or was he the first fruit of creation? The Council of Nicaea, in June of AD 325, settled the issue.

Jesus Christ is the second person in the trinity, the only begotten son of God. The phrase “not an iota of difference” comes from this debate. It centered around the Greek word homoousios, meaning “of same substance,” versus the word homoiousios, meaning “of similar substance.”

The heretic Arius, who had taught Christians a song with the line “there was a time the son was not,” argued that Jesus Christ was the first born of creation, but was not the eternal, begotten son of God. He argued that Christ was made of a similar substance, but was not God. Arius’s view was rejected at Nicaea. One of the bishops of the church rebuking the Arian heresy was a guy we now call Santa Claus, St. Nicholas of Myra.

Since AD 325, it has been settled in the orthodoxy of the Christian church of every single Christian denomination that Jesus Christ is the only begotten son of God. Re-iterated in the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381, the Nicene Creed as we know it today contains these line:

I believe in one God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
And of all things visible and invisible:
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God,
Begotten of his Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of very God,
Begotten, not made,
Being of one substance with the Father,
By whom all things were made;

This is literally 1,691 year old settled orthodoxy of every Christian denomination. Presbyterians, Catholics, Orthodox, Methodists, Baptists, Anglicans, and other Christian denominations, along with a few Episcopalian churches all say this creed. It, along with the Apostles Creed, are the two major, foundational creeds in Christendom.

So it should be a pretty damn big deal that Donald Trump is inviting to pray at the inaugural an actual, factual heretic who rejects the Nicene Creed.

Paula White, a prosperity gospel charlatan and Trump’s “spiritual advisor,” is going to pray. In the video above you can see White, in her own words, rejecting the trinity. She claims Jesus Christ is the first born of creation and not the only begotten son of God.

That is well settled and agreed upon heresy by every single Christian denomination. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. To utter those words is to not be a Christian. It is that simple.

Barack Obama was the first President to mention atheists in his inaugural address and Donald Trump will now go a step beyond that. He is inviting an actual trinity-denying heretic to pray at his inauguration. [sic]
Source: 

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Paula White Wrapped in Torah Scroll

"A video showing minister Paula White being wrapped in a Torah scroll by controversial rabbi and television personality Ralph Messer has emerged only days after White’s attorney denied the pastor’s endorsement of Messer following a “coronation” ceremony involving Bishop Eddie Long. [The Video has been removed]  due to copyright claim by Paula White Ministries? (but we found another copy....)

The ceremonial wrapping seen in the 2009 video (shown below) of Messer on White’s program, “Paula Today,” is almost identical to Messer’s wrapping of Long during a recent sermon at the minister’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., as seen in a video clip that has gone viral on YouTube since its posting on the Internet last week."

Did Someone Find the Doctrine of the Trinity In the First Chapter of the Bible? To Whom Was God Speaking When He Said, “Let Us Make Man in Our Image?

Question:

Dear Rabbi Singer,

A Messianic Jew is working overtime to try to convince me that I need JC. She recently showed me Genesis 1:26, “Let US make man in OUR image,” stating that JC was part of creation with God, plural Us and Our being the proof. Can you explain the plural in this verse to me? I want to have an intelligent answer. I am trying very hard to learn more of my Jewish religion, as I was raised in a non-religious home. The only Bible I own is the one she gave me and it is a King James.?

Answer:

The doctrine of the Trinity has no greater foe than the Hebrew Scriptures. It is on the strength of this sacred oracle that the Jew has preserved the concept of One, single, unique Creator God Who alone is worthy of worship. Missionaries undertake an daunting and unholy task as they scour the Jewish Scriptures in search of any text that can be construed as consistent with the doctrine of the Trinity.

No prophet remained silent on the uncompromising radical monotheism demanded by the God of Israel. The Jewish people, therefore, to whom these sublime declarations about the nature of the Almighty were given, knew nothing about a trinity of persons in the godhead.

Because the prophets relayed their divine message on the nature of God with such timeless, transparent, clarity, very few verses in Tanach could be summoned by the Church to corroborate their alien teachings on the doctrine of the Trinity. Understandably, though, the defenders of Christendom parade the few verses that they insist support the notion that there is a plurality in the godhead.

One of the most popular verses used by missionaries as a proof text in support of the doctrine of the Trinity is Genesis 1:26. This verse appears frequently in missionary literature despite of the fact that this argument has been answered countless times throughout the centuries and numerous Christian scholars have long abandoned it. Let’s examine the creation of man as described in the Torah:

And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and they shall rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

(Genesis 1:26)

With limited knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures, missionaries submit the above verse as evidence that there was a plurality in the godhead that participated in creation of our first parent. What other explanation could adequately account for the Torah’s use of the plural pronouns such as “us” and “our” in this verse?

This argument, however, is deeply flawed, and, accordingly, a great number of Trinitarian theologians have long rejected the notion that Genesis 1:26 implies a plurality of persons in the godhead. Rather, Christian scholars overwhelmingly agree that the plural pronoun in this verse is a reference to God’s ministering angels who were created previously, and the Almighty spoke majestically in the plural, consulting His heavenly court. Let’s read the comments of a number of preeminent Trinitarian Bible scholars on this subject.

For example, the evangelical Christian author Gordon J. Wenham, who is no foe of the Trinity and authored a widely respected two-volume commentary on the Book of Genesis, writes on this verse,

Christians have traditionally seen [Genesis 1:26] as adumbrating [foreshadowing] the Trinity. It is now universally admitted that this was not what the plural meant to the original author.1

If you had attended any one of my lectures you would know that the New International Version is hardly a Bible that can be construed as being friendly to Judaism. Yet, the NIV Study Bible also confirms in its commentary on Genesis 1:26,

Us… Our… Our. God speaks as the Creator-king, announcing His crowning work to the members of His heavenly court (see 3:22; 11:7; Isaiah 6:8; I Kings 22:19-23; Job 15:8; Jeremiah 23:18).2

Charles Caldwell Ryrie, a highly regarded Dispensationalist professor of Biblical Studies at the Philadelphia College of Bible and author of the widely read Bible commentary, The Ryrie Study Bible, writes in his short and to-the-point annotation on Genesis 1:26,

Us…Our. Plurals of majesty.3

The Liberty Annotated Study Bible, a Bible commentary published by the fundamentalist Reverend Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, similarly remarks on this verse,

The plural pronoun “Us” is most likely a majestic plural from the standpoint of Hebrew grammar and syntax.4

The exhaustive 10-volume commentary by Keil and Delitzsch is considered by many to be the most influential exposition on the “Old Testament” in evangelical circles. Yet in Keil and Delitzsch’s commentary on Genesis 1:26, we find,

The plural “We” was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Tr ini ty; modern commentators, on the contrary, regard it either as pluralis majestatis … No other explanation is left, therefore, than to regard it as pluralis majestatis…5

The question that immediately comes to mind is: What would compel these conservative scholars – all of whom are devout Trinitarians – to categorically reject the notion that Genesis 1:26 supports the doctrine of Trinity? Why do they conclude that God is speaking in this famed verse in His majestic address to the angelic hosts of Heaven? Why are the commentaries of the above conservative Christian writers completely consistent with the age-old Jewish teaching on this verse?

The answer emerges from the Torah and its Prophets. If you search the Hebrew Bible you will find that when the Almighty speaks of “us” or “our,” He is addressing His ministering angels. In fact, only two chapters later, God continues to use the pronoun “us” as He speaks with His angels. At the end of the third chapter of Genesis the Almighty relates to His angels that Adam and his wife have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and must therefore be prevented from eating from the Tree of Life as well; for if man would gain access to the Tree of Life he will “become like one of us.” The Creator then instructs his burning angels, known as Cherubim, to stand at the entrance to the gate of the Garden of Eden, waving a flaming sword to prevent man from entering the Garden and eating from the Tree of Life. Let’s examine this famed text:

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” – therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

(Genesis 3:22-24)

This use of the majestic plural in Genesis 3:22-24 is what contributed the NIV Study Bible’s annotation on Genesis 1:26 (above). At the end of its comment on this verse, the NIV Study Bible provides a number of biblical sources from the Jewish Scriptures to support its position that:

“God speaks as the Creator-king, announcing His crowning work to the members of His heavenly court.” The verses cited are: Genesis 3:22, 11:7, Isaiah 6:8, I Kings 22:19-23, Job 15:8, and Jeremiah 23:18. These verses convey to the attentive Bible reader that the heavenly abode of the Creator is filled with the ministering angels who attend the Almighty and to whom He repeatedly refers when using the plural pronoun “Us.”6

Again, the NIV Study Bible’s concession in its commentary on Genesis 1:26 is particularly significant because this work of the product of conservative, Trinitarian commentary on the Bible. Its contributing authors had no incentive to support the Jewish interpretation of this verse. Its annotation relies on the simple context and exegesis of this verse.

I will close this letter with one final note.

Outsiders often wonder what powerful force binds the Jewish people united in faith. This is not so odd a question when we consider the internal conflicts that has followed our people throughout our troubled history. Bear in mind, regardless of the turbulent quarrels that fester among us, the oneness of God remains the binding thread which unites the Jewish people in history and witness. The teachings of the Torah were designed to set forever in the national conscience of the Jewish people the idea that God is one alone. Accordingly, He is the only Savior worthy of our devotion and worship.

Sincerely yours,

Rabbi Tovia Singer

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1. Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary on Genesis, Word Books, 1987, p. 27. 
2. NIV Study Bible, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985, p. 7. 
3. Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible (Dallas Theological Seminary), Chicago: Moody Press, 1978, p. 9. 
4. Jerry Falwell (Executive Editor), Liberty Annotated Study Bible, Lynchburg: Liberty University, 1988, p. 8. 
5. Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Peabody: Hendric., 1989, Vol. I, p. 62. 
6. A similar verse describing God as He converses with His ministering angels is found in the beginning of the sixth chapter of Isaiah, which reads:

   In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew… Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

   (Isaiah 6:1-8)  

   Source: https://outreachjudaism.org/trinity-genesis/ 

Newt Gingrich Visits the “Holy Ghost Bartender” Rodney Howard Browne

• Newt Gingrich Visits the “Holy Ghost Bartender”
• Post by SARAH POSNER

Newt Gingrich made an appearance at River Church in Tampa, Florida, pastored by Rodney Howard Browne. Slate's Dave Weigel tweeted that in introducing Gingrich, Browne prayed that America "will not allow the killing of unborn babies, and the takeover of Islam"and "the Constitution that we have, and your word, and Jesus is the only way we can be delivered from this plight."

Browne is no inconsequential—or uncontroversial—figure in the world of charismatic Christianity. He's been described by Christianity Today as the "often flamboyant Pentecostal preacher." He's associated with the "holy laughter" manifestation of charismatic gifts, which the same CT piece characterized as "rang[ing] from uncontrollable laughter to the noises of animals."

Here is Browne at Oral Roberts University, along with the late Oral Roberts, where the pair was consumed with holy laughter:


A 1999 profile in the Tampa Tribune described Browne and the phenomonen that is also known as the Toronto Blessing, because of a revival sparked there:

Howard-Browne is the pastor of The River at Tampa Bay, a high-energy, racially-mixed church in Temple Terrace he founded in December 1996. Nearly 1,000 people spend about four hours in a service led by "the Holy Ghost bartender,'' as he is known.

Here, he serves the new wine of Christ, and they get drunk with joy. It's not uncommon for worshipers to break into uncontrollable "holy laughter,'' shaking with mirth, dancing in the aisles or falling to the ground. They say they are "slain in the spirit.''

The movement has swept churches in Lakeland, Pensacola, southern California and Toronto. Although holy laughter has caused quite a controversy in charismatic circles, historians say it has been around for centuries.

"It's better than doing crack cocaine; it's better than drinking alcohol,'' says David Wilson, a 38- year-old carpenter and former substance abuser who now attends the River. "It's a spiritual high I never want to come off of.''

Adherents to a more orthodox brand of Christianity object to Browne's doctrine, along with his preaching of Word of Faith (or prosperity gospel), calling their views heretical and unbiblical.

Critics range from the Christian Research Institute, which aims to "provide Christians worldwide with carefully researched information and well-reasoned answers that encourage them in their faith and equip them to intelligently represent it to people influenced by ideas and teachings that assault or undermine orthodox, biblical Christianity" to televangelist watchdog Ole Anthony of the Trinity Foundation. Anthony called the high produced by Browne's revival "a phony euphoria," adding, "What happens to these converted people when the crusade packs up and leaves town? They get depressed. They get confused. So all they can do is wait for the next one so they can go back and get another fix." CRI's Hank Hanegraff, also known as the "Bible Answer Man," has called Browne's activities a "counterfeit revival," and accused him of preaching "fabrications, fantasies, and frauds."

Hanegraff has provided some detailed accounts of what it was like for him to be at a Browne revival:

When the Holy Ghost Bartender (who also refers to himself as the Holy Ghost Hitman) arrived at my seat, he began threatening to have me thrown out of the sanctuary. "I’m telling you right now," he hissed, "you’ll drop dead if you prohibit what God is doing!" Dramatically he gestured toward the crowd and warned them that those like me, who would dare question that what he was doing was of God, had committed the unpardonable sin and would not be forgiven in this world or the next.

The following day he crowed, "The last time I had a confrontation like that...was...with a bunch of Mormons... you could see their spirit, y’know...just a really religious, pharisaical spirit, that’s what it is. Amen?...And I smelt it — y’know, I can smell them religious devils from about a hundred yards —- I could smell them blindfolded, man....You could see, last night we meant business." He labeled his critics "idiots" and warned that they were about to experience either "riot or revival."

Four years ago, John McCain had a "pastor problem" because of the controversial and bigoted statements made by his endorsers John Hagee and Rod Parsley. McCain responded by rejecting their endorsements and distancing himself from them. It's hard to imagine Newt (Tyler Durden) Gingrich backing away so easily, even if other Christians have issues with Browne. Will he add "heretic hunters" to the list of "elites" attacking him?

I can't resist: here's another Browne video. "Saturate them, Jesus:" [1]

Holy Laughter - What's it all about?

By Kathie Walters

I’ve been in prayer meetings which had a very serious tone - and suddenly the spirit of laughter has descended. When we were coming into revival years ago I remember someone saying they had read an account of revival in a book- and in this revival at the time, there was a lot of weeping. Our church thought, "Well maybe we should weep because maybe God likes weeping, maybe it’s a way of being holy."

We had a "repentance" meeting and were all serious. We asked God to convict us and bring a spirit of weeping upon us. We waited for a while - nothing happened. After about 15 minutes someone began to giggle. We tried to stifle our mouths because we were there to weep. After another few minutes someone else started to giggle. We could contain it no more - we hit the floor and laughed uproariously for about 3 hours. We had been under condemnation for years because of religious spirits. We didn’t need to be weeping right then - we were getting delivered and getting to know "Abba" ( daddy).

So what happens with this laughter? What is it all about? It’s a wonderful experience but really what is happening? What is spiritual about it and what does it have to do with God?

The Bible says that "God looks on His enemies and laughs and has them in derision." So if God laughs then He must be laughing because of victory. ( Ps 2:4)

Sometimes I have been praying for someone and they are telling me really bad stuff. I start to pray and start laughing- why is that? That’s weird isn’t it? But you see I may not understand in my mind but my spirit begins to pick up on a victory that’s happening in the spirit realm for that person. When you pray then God answers and sometimes your spirit has received the answer before your mind.

I believe that the laughter (God’s laughter) brings down that victory into our experience.

Laughter eliminates fear - God is in charge - He told Job:

"At destruction and famine you shall laugh: neither shall you be afraid of the beasts of the earth." (Job 5:22)

He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting (Job 8:21) It’s OK to shout sometimes. People shout and scream at a little football, why don’t God’s people do some more shouting (and laughing)?

God laughs at the wicked - because God always has the final word.

"The Lord shall laugh at him: for he sees that his day is coming. ( Ps 37:13)

God causes us to laugh at those who would cause destruction.

"The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him..." (Ps 52:6)

There is a time to ask and a time to receive - and a time to laugh in the victories of God.

"A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." (Eccl 3:4)

When the anointing of laughter comes - the oil flows and the enemy runs for cover. The devil knows and is afraid of the laughter because he knows he is defeated.

Do you realize the enemy hates you to get in the anointing - the Holy Spirit makes you God conscious not self conscious or sin conscious. When you are in the Spirit realm you see what He sees. Guess what? God sees the victories. God sees the end when you are just at the beginning.

When the enemy seems like a great big bear (fear) - God already sees him knocked out.

That’s why you laugh and you don’t understand why? There seems some big mountains and it looks like you can‘t get over them- but you suddenly start laughing at them.

God is the God of the mountains - we often feel threatened by them but God walks on them.

Laughter is in the empty tomb. In fact when I was in the Garden tomb one time I was trying to be very reverent. Then an angel tapped me on the shoulder and spoke to me "He certainly isn’t here." I started laughing and laughing because the angel didn’t seem to make an idol of an empty grave. [2]

Source:
[1] Religiondispatches.org

[2] http://www.sidroth.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8403&news_iv_ctrl=0&abbr=art_