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whitemanfromtown: MAINSTREAM RELIGIONS

So what have the established mainstream religions been doing to their clientele for the past many centuries?

There are a lot of mainstream religions that do not follow God's Word as the ultimate authority. Then, one might ask, are they the true 'Church'?

The Catholic Church carried out the Crusades, and I believe, certainly not based on Christian principles nor for Christian motives. Yes there are many Evangelical churches today w/ preachers bringing down salaries well into six figures, but are they Christian?

Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Church, Purpose Driven Life, 40 Days of Purpose, etal, fame was interviewed by Larry King on 12/2/06. In the interview he, an ecumentalist, likened Biblical Fundamentalism w/ Muslim & Atheistic extremism, in that they are 'based on fear'. It appears that Pastor Warren knows little about the history & perhaps even less about modern fundamentalism.

Warren promotes a 'judge not' policy and often quotes the likes of Brother Lawrence (a Carmelite monk), John Main (a Benedictine monk who believes Jesus is w/ us today in the form of monastic leaders, the sick & the poor - GIVE ME A BREAK!), John of the Cross (pantheist who believes mts & forests are God) and Mother Teresa.

I know I am going to take a ton of heat for criticizing Mother Teresa, but here goes. Mother Teresa lived an exemplary life helping the poor in India. However, she was a universalist who did not bring people to Christ. Her biographer & lifelong friend Naveen Chawla asked her, "Do you convert? Mother Teresa replied, "Of course I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu or a better Muslim...(1997). Sounds like a "be all you can be" approach. Many religions are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong.

Before she died she was interviewed by John MacArthur, who bluntly asked her if she was saved and going to heaven. Her response was, "If not me, then who?", implying that she was relying on her works to get her to heaven. Is that what Jesus taught?

These are the people with whom Warren is crawling into bed while trashing Fundamentalists.

I am a Fundamentalist, unlike Karesh, Jones, Islamic extremists, and white or black supremists. We believe the Bible to be God's Word and the authority for our lives.

Many have done evil deeds in the name of Christ & Christianity, but were these truly Christian? 'Christian' should mean to follow the example of Jesus - loving, caring, obedient & devoted to the Father, but also judgmental and critical of the 'religious'.

He claimed that He was the only Way to the Father (Jn 14.6). Was He telling the truth, or, if they are many ways to heaven as these aforementioned religious people have suggested, was He a liar?

In His Name,