Phil Johnson: Did God Promise Health and Wealth?

This week I've had a burden for the evangelical church. Today I wrote a long essay about the Roman Catholic Church's infiltration to the last religious battleground, the evangelical church. What sparked this burden is the speed with which the RCC has infiltrated Protestant evangelicalism with their doctrines of demons, and how many evangelical leaders have fallen under Rome's sway.

It has been a tough week. Reading about Franklin Graham's partnering with Pittsburgh's Bishop Zubik and the many attendees at the Graham Crusade who were directed to the Catholic Church next door pained me deeply... learning about the RCC's 'new evangelism' into Protestant waters starting wit its leaders shocked me ... and Victoria Osteen's blasphemous comments to 16000 applauding goats that's circulating among social media angered me much ... all caused this deep burden I feel for the shrinking organization we know as the evangelical church.

The Osteen 38-second video is above so you can compare her words with the words I'm going to post next.

Phil Johnson

As I prepared to make a pot of soup to end this Labor Day weekend, I searched for a sermon to listen to. I decided on Phil Johnson's latest sermon at Grace Life (the small group section at MacArthur's Grace Community Church). Though the Osteen video came out after his sermon, Pastor Johnson could have been saying these exact words directly to Mrs Osteen:

Churches worldwide are full of people who aren't the least bit interested in scripture, or doctrine, or truthfulness. They just want to have a good experience and feel good about themselves. More than that, they want to hear that God feels good about them, and that He exists to do their bidding.

In general, imagine my happy shock and surprise to hear that my burden for the evangelical church was shared by Johnson and his articulation of it was (not shockingly) much better than mine-

Did God Promise Health and Wealth?

Unless you live in total isolation and never read any news about the church and our testimony to the wider world, you must be aware that the evangelical movement worldwide is currently undergoing a doctrinal and philosophical meltdown of catastrophic proportions. By any measure you could possibly employ, the evangelical movement right now is more backslidden and more spiritually bankrupt than medieval Catholicism was just before the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. The evangelical movement of our generation has become a monstrosity. Doctrinal, moral, and political corruption are the rule rather than the exception, and some of the largest and most visible evangelical and charismatic churches today are populated with people who absolutely love to have it that way.

Of course, it is not good that the evangelical church is in such catastrophic disarray. But I am relieved to see that the extreme burden I've felt for the evangelical church is not unwarranted.

My opinion-conclusion from what I see for the evangelical church was that it is the last days with the Tribulation church forming right before our eyes. Though Pastor Johnson didn't speculate into the Tribulation, he did say,

"I would go so far as to say the desperate need for critical thinking and careful discernment has never been more urgent."

"Contrary to the way most people today like to think and act, we desperately need clear boundaries and careful watchmen who are willing to speak plainly and wield the sword of God's Word wisely for the protection of the flock and the preservation and proclamation of sound gospel truth. We especially need people skilled in discernment now."

Please enjoy his sermon. It is a refreshing teaching on exactly what is wrong with the Prosperity movement. he said we all enjoy an uplifting sermon for edification but sometimes reproof and correction are needed just as much. You will be educated, blessed, and at the very least, will know how to respond when someone charges you with being "mean to the brethren."