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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

NEW HOPE PT 2

A few weeks ago I posted the article, "IS NEW HOPE CHURCH DECEIVED?"

In the article, I shared some information about a conference that New Hope Church in Abilene, TX recently held. Today someone posted a comment about my article and I would like to take some time to respond to the comment. My words will be directed to the person who posted it.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read the blog and share your thoughts. I want truth more than anything else. In the pursuit of truth, I welcome challenges that will make me re-examine what I currently beleive. I thank you for challenging me and what I have written.

I hope you will consider my response carefully and truly think about what I am saying.

You began your comments by quoting:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged." Mt 7:1


From this quote, it seems that you are clearly saying we as Christians are not to judge.

Take a few minutes and think about your claim:

If you are claiming that I am judging others, are you not making a judgment about me?

Doesn't your comment require that you have made a judgment and that judgment is that I am judging, and so you are telling me to not judge on the basis of you judging me?

In fact I will suggest that your comments are filled with judgments:

Let's look:

"You make some bold links here. First off linking Todd Bentley too Stacey Campel. While the two might have been leaders at the same place, Stacey is not held accountable for Todd's mistake. This is true for you as well. You are not held accountable for the mistakes others make. Then linking Tod Bentley and his mistakes to New Hope Church through Stacey; seems like a stretch to me"


Where did I say that Stacy Campbell is responsible for Todd's mistakes? Is that not a judgment you are making about what I have written?

Here are my actual words:

Remember New Hope just held a confrence called, Ignite 09. One of the speakers was Stacy Campbell. Guess what? She was at the Lakeland Revival! She was one of the leaders there to comission Todd Bentley as an apostle! In fact I have the video!

That is all I said, where did I blame her? Where did I hold her responsible?

It is a fact that Stacy went to Lakeland to "comission" Todd as an "apostle"

Therefore she was in support of the Lakeland chaos!

That is a fact.


You went on to write, "All I see in this blog is one Christian attacking another Christian." Is that not a judgment on your part?


I hope my point is clear. Your comments also contain judgments, so are you violating the very scripture you quoted?

Now let's back up and look at the text more carefully:


Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considereth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? THOU HYPOCRITE, first cast the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5)

Read this again carefully. Notice that it is addressed to a hypocrite--not to those who sincerely want to discern whether a teacher or teaching is true or false to God's Word. And instead of being a prohibition against honest judgment, it is a solemn warning against hypocritical judgment. In fact, the last statement of this Scripture commands sincere judgment--"Then thou shalt see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

IF WE TAKE A VERSE OR A PART OF A VERSE OUT OF ITS SETTING, WE CAN MAKE THE WORD OF GOD APPEAR TO TEACH THE VERY OPPOSITE OF WHAT IT REALLY DOES TEACH. And those who do this cannot escape the judgment of God for twisting His Word (2 Peter 3:16). Let this be a warning to us never again to take a text or Scripture out of its context.

Many who piously quote, "Judge not," out of its connection, in order to defend that which is false to God's Word, do not see their own inconsistency in thus judging those who would obey God's Word about judging that which is untrue to the Bible. It is tragic that so much that is anti- Scriptural has found undeserved shelter behind a misuse of the Scripture just quoted.

You should take some time and read the entire chapter of Matthew 7. Notice these words just a few verses after the one you quoted:


15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.



That is filled with language of judgment. In fact, how can I obey the command to beware of false prophets, if I am not to judge?


In fact, look at what Paul wrote:

1 Timothy 1:20 -
Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

He named names!

Look at what Jesus told the Church of Pergamos in Revelation chapter 2:

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

The church was not taking a stand against false doctrine. How can you do that unless you judge a doctrine to be false?


We are not to make hypocritical judgments and we are to ensure our judgments are biblical.

So let's review:

You have told me not to judge but in doing so you have made judgments yourself.

It is clear from God's word we are to make biblical judgements especially in regards to false teachers!

Let's move on.

You wrote:

"What happened to correcting one another out of love?"

That is a great question. What makes you think that I did not write my post out of love?

Is it not love to warn people of false teachers and heritical movements?

Is it not love to rebuke and to warn?

Is this not love?
Matthew 3:7
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Matthew 23
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. 14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! 17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. 19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?


Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to rebuke others and to warn.

I am very busy, and I would much rather post other things. However, to love others is to warn them of false teaching.

The greatest act of hatred is to allow someone to be deceived and to say nothing. If you love people, are you warning them of what is going on in many circles of the charismatic world? Do you speak out when false prophecies are made? Do you speak out when things that are occuring are clearly not biblical?

At the end of your comments you wrote this,
"spent sometime on wikapedia, and now you think you understand and can post this blog to be the TRUTH when all it is, is YOUR opinion."

Wow, that seems to clearly be a judgment. What did I say that is not true?

You have told me not to judge yet in doing so you have judged.

The scriptures are clear that we are to avoid false teachers and speak out against it. This can only be done by making scriptural judgments.


You seem to think that if one offers up scriptural criticism and rebuke, that is not a sign of love. However, I pointed out a number of scriptures that show the opposite.

You seem to have indicated that I have offered opinion and not truth, once again making a judgement about my words. I submit that I have offered a strong biblical challenge to some of the craziness happening in the Charismatic world.


Thanks again for challenging me. I'm sorry you took offense to my post, but I am not sorry for warning people about a movement that is filled with chaos and false teaching.
I challenge all readers to not just take my word for it. Do a search for Stacy Campbell. Find her videos and watch them carefully. Check her words against the scriptures, and let the Bible lead you to truth.
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> posted by Trevor Hammack at

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

A word on judging.

As Trevor has well said, we are in fact called to Biblicaly judge things.

Sometimes people take Matthew 7:1, and the idea of judging, the wrong way.

Here are two types of judging:
1) Evaluating and Discerning
2) Condemning

As Trevor alluded to, we all, everyday, make judgments, evaluations, about all kinds of things. Moreover, when it comes to truth verses falsehood, we must use discernment and judge, or evaluate, the matter.

I think what happens too often, in this case for example, is that when a person is rebuked or called out, because of their pride, they are offended, and they may feel convicted, or confuse that with feeling condemnation. No one likes to feel condemned, and condemning someone, or sentencing someone to punishment, for example, is a task reserved for a judge. So when someone feels condemned by someone else for pointing out their error, they cry a verse out of context, "Don't judge!"

Now, we all make mistakes like this. So when I point out that this seems to be the case here, I do so in a matter of fact tone, and I do not mean to convey an attacking tone or a condemning tone. Yet, I understand, it can be very difficult for a person to separate an accusation from condemnation. Typically, an emotional response partially supercedes a rational response.

But we as Christians cannot withold rebuke or questioning of something or someone simply out of fear of hurting the person's feelings. So we must be meek and gentle and loving and gracious when needed. This is a difficult balance.

I believe Trevor has responded very well here with grace and truth. As he said, it is loving to proclaim and defend the truth in the face of falsehood, and I believe he has done so accurately and respectfully, pointedly yet gently.

To remove the tumor of falsehood, the Christian, like a surgeon, must be accurate and deliberate with the scalpel (the sword of the word of truth), yet maintain a slow and steady gentleness the whole time lest he accidentally cut out the true part of the body.

January 27, 2009 at 12:53 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Trevor:

Your response was balanced, fair, loving, and Biblical.

I close with the following quotes:

#1 "There are corrupt people in the Church today; we can't even trust them with the power to heal the sick. Lord, in the last great healing revival, so caught up were the evangelists with envy, jealousy, and competition that they competed with one another to see who had the world's largest meeting tent. God, You're not going to trust us with power as often as we desire, are You? How could that possibly work?"

#2 "I'm gonna be very bold with you. There was a so-called revival recently in Florida that was NOT a true revival; that was NOT a move of God, and THOUSANDS of people flew from all over the world believing God is in it!"

Quote #1 is from Todd Bentley's book, "The Reality of the Supernatural World," June 2008, p. 89.

Quote # 2 is from Benny Hinn's October 30-31, 2008 "Freedom From Deception" message at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky (watch and listen to Benny Hinn say it and more at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHIUX2THGa8&feature=related ).

The word-for-word transcript is at
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn39.htm

I find it odd that Todd Bentley and Benny Hinn are free to speak out against their own, but when discerning Christians do the same they are accused of "attacking God's anointed."

And I wonder how many of Bentley's and Hinn's followers accused THEM of "attacking"?

Sincerely in Christ,
Bud Press, Director
Christian Research Service

January 27, 2009 at 1:07 PM  

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