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January 1988

Dear Praying Friends;

.    Once again it is difficult to believe that so quickly another
year has come and gone and we have already launched into 1988.  Will
this be the year in which Christ will catch His bride away to meet Him
in the air and take us to heaven for that great marriage celebration? 
Only the Lord knows.  Nevertheless, that should be our longing and
eager anticipation.  Are you excited at the prospect?  Every Christian
ought to be!  "The Spirit and the bride say, `Come!'  Even so, come
Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22:17,20)

.    The world, however, has another hope.  And with the
Reagan/Gorbachev summit, prospects for global peace seem to have
brightened.  Confidence is also growing that the recent stock market
"crash" will have little effect on the economy as a whole, and
continued economic growth without renewed inflation seems likely.  If
we are indeed as near our Lord's return as it appears, then this trend
will continue until "peace and safety" is the happy phrase on
everyone's lips, the confident outlook of the world.

.    Then "the day of the Lord will come like a thief" (I Thess.
5:2,3).  That fearful day of God's wrath, which comes when the world
least expects it (see also Isaiah 2:12, 13:6,9,13; Joel 1:15, Amos 5,
2 Pet. 3:10 etc.) could not begin with the return of Christ to reign
over the nations from Jerusalem (i.e. at the end of the Great
Tribulation), for God's judgment has already been pouring out upon
earth and no one will be saying "peace and safety" in the middle of
Armageddon.  The Day of the Lord must therefore start at the beginning
of the Tribulation.

.    And surely if Christ had not raptured His bride and we were still
upon earth when Israel is under siege by all the nations of the world
and about to be destroyed (Zech. 12:9, 14:1-9; Rev. 19:19), we would
be expecting His return then.  Yet Christ warned that He (like Day of
the Lord) would come "as a thief," when (just as in Noah's time) the
last thing anyone would expect would be judgment.  Even His own would
not be expecting Him (expect those who watch any pray), for even the
"wise" would "slumber" as the Bridegroom tarries (Matt. 24:37-44, 25:5
etc.).  It would therefore seem that Christ must come to catch away
His bride with the same surprise and at the same time of "peace and
prosperity" as the sudden dawning of the Day of the Lord.

.    That Secret and surprise "catching away" is known as the Rapture.
There is another reason why it cannot happen at the end of the
Tribulation.  Praise God that we will already be in heaven before He
comes visibly in power and glory to rescue Israel.  This is quite
clear from the fact that the marriage supper of the Lamb takes place
in glory earlier in Rev. 19 before Christ comes riding on that white
horse with the armies of heaven to rescue Israel and establish His
millennial kingdom.  We will return to earth with our conquering Lord,
then reign with Him in our resurrection bodies for 1,000 years while
Satan is locked up.

.    In the days ahead, I expect the Rapture to be increasingly denied
as well as any place in prophecy for national Israel.
Kingdom/Dominion/Restoration/Reconstruction is now the fastest-growing
movement in the church.  Please pray for the book on this subject
which I will be working on as soon as T.A. McMahon and I finish
AMERICA: THE SORCERER'S NEW APPRENTICE for the secular world.

.    I think we will also see increasing compromise of the truth, much
of it on the part of sincere but deceived Christians who think it is
helpful to make the gospel sound as much like worldly wisdom as
possible in order to "win the lost."  Of course that is not winning
them at all, but wreaking havoc with another gospel and another Jesus. 
It is most confusing when both the truth and the lie are presented by
the same persons, depending upon what audience they address.

.    Robert Schuller is a classic example of this, as was his
interview by Paul and Jan Rouch on TBN December 8, 1987.  Paul
indicated that he had gotten many letters (perhaps some of them from
some of you) protesting his support of Schuller and claiming that
Schuller preaches a false gospel.  So Paul proceeded to ask Schuller
what he believed in order to remove any doubts of his evangelical
orthodoxy.  Robert Schuller presented himself as a firm believer in
evangelical Christianity.  Taking what he said at face value (with the
few exceptions commented upon below) anyone listening to him
(including myself) would have been convinced of his true evangelical
faith.  I hope and pray that he was sincere in his clear declaration
of the essentials of the gospel.

.    On the other hand, it was very troubling for me, being aware of
facts which were unknown to the average viewer, to watch the program
knowing that Robert Schuller was being less than forthright in his
responses to some questions.  And Paul was either ignorant of the
facts, or unwilling to pursue his questioning to the point of exposing
another side of Robert Schuller (if there is one), which was in fact
the stated purpose of the program.

.    Schuller admitted that he often speaks to groups which would be
classified as "New Age."  His rationale was that he will go anywhere
to spread the truth.  Sounded good.  Unfortunately, the "truth" he
proclaims to New Age audiences is not the same truth which he so
convincingly presented on TBN.  To the ministers and ministers-in-
training he addressed at Unity headquarters near Kansas City, for
example, Schuller said nothing they didn't agree with, nothing to let
them know that he had any concern for or disagreement with their
beliefs (Unity rejects the gospel, advocates yoga, reincarnation, the
whole New Age trip).  In fact, he commended them and offered his
success techniques to help Unity grow larger!  Such action ought to be
known and denounced by every Bible-believing Christian!  The
impression Schuller gave to the TBN viewing audience was not
consistent with the facts.

.    In response to Paul's questions, Schuller stated that his "number
one job is to lead people into a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ."  Again it sounds commendable and the viewers must have been
duly impressed.  However, at Unity headquarters no attempt was made to
correct their false impression of Jesus (who to Unity is not "the way,
the truth, the life..only savior of sinners" but one of many
"wayshowers" like Buddha or Krishna) and to present to them the true
Jesus Christ.

     In fact, on another occasion, when a Baptist minister
in Warren, MI learned that Schuller was going to dedicate the newly-
expanded Unity church and reproved him, Schuller responded that he
intended to present the truth and asked for prayer to that end.  What
Jesus did he present on that occasion?  Not the Jesus who died for our
sins and rose the third day for our justification.  Schuller's
motivational talk, that could have been addressed to any secular group
and which the Unity congregation loved, presented Jesus as "the
greatest Possibility Thinker of all time!"  That "gospel," consistent
with Unity beliefs, brought cheers from the congregation.  Of course
it won't offend anyone, but neither will it save them.

.    Schuller also declared that while he would go the New Age groups
to preach the truth, he would not invite them to speak from his
pulpit.  Again the actual facts bear little relationship to the
impression given to the TBN audience, to whom Paul Rouch had promised
the truth.

  The list of New Agers, of cultists and occultists who have
been guests on the Hour of Power, passed off as purveyors of truth and
encouraged to spread their false beliefs to that vast audience is far
too long to recite here.  It goes from Schuller's friend and colleague
(they do seminars together) Gerald Jampolsky (who uses A Course In
Miracles, dictated by a demon posing as Jesus - the Course has also
been taught at the Crystal Cathedral, according to spokespersons
there) to leading Mormon Jack Anderson (encouraged by Schuller to
spread his Mormon false doctrine of God on Hour of Power) and includes
numerous shades and varieties in between.

.    His statement that he never sits "in judgment" or make "critical
negative remarks about others" even if they "attack" him sounded so
"positive."  Here again, however, those few who may have known the
facts realized that Schuller was once more giving the viewers a false
impression.

.    Even in the midst of the sound doctrine which he presented so
convincingly, Schuller's basic error came through in his insistence
that we must phrase the gospel so that it never offends anyone (Christ
Himself is called "a rock of offense," and Paul has harsh words for
those who would take the offense out of the cross in order to be
popular with the world - Isaiah 8:14, Rom. 9:33, 1 Pet. 2:8; Gal.
5:11,12, 6:12-14 etc.); and in his heretical declaration that positive
thinking and possibility thinking are "nothing more than Biblical
faith" (of course even atheists subscribe to positive/possibility
thinking).  Neither Paul nor Jan saw anything wrong with any of this,
and even nodded their approval when Schuller said: "I preach
repentance so positively that most people don't recognize it."

.    One need not be a theologian, however, to conclude that either
there is something basically and seriously wrong with this "positive"
approach - or that Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Paul et al and
Jesus Himself had the wrong approach and would have been far more
effective if they had not been so "negative."

.    Convinced of Schuller's evangelical orthodoxy, Paul finally threw
up his hands and said, "What can you say!"  Then turning to the camera
he chided his viewers: "Why do you keep sending me those letters
[asking about Robert Schuller]?"  The interview had been carried off
smoothly.  TBN had reaffirmed its imprimatur of Robert Schuller, and
apparently everyone went home well satisfied that those "negative"
maligners out there had been silenced once again.

.    The danger is that we become weary of pointing out error and
retire from the battle for truth.  I confess that my natural tendency
would be to back off in face of the accusations that I am contentious
and splitting hairs.  The issues, however, are too important to
ignore; and with the eternal destiny of souls hanging in the balance,
we must continue to contend earnestly for the faith once for all
delivered to the saints as we are urged to do.  May the Lord help you
to stand true to Him and to His Word.  Your prayers that I and all at
CIB may do the same are very much appreciated.

In Christ's love,  Dave Hunt


.    This has been put up on the board by the kind permission of the
staff of CIB, and I would encourage you to write to the address below
to order their monthly newsletter for $12.00 U.S. per year, (subject
to change without notice.)   Make sure that checks are made out on a
U.S. money order and payable to:

.    Christian Information Bureau
.    PO Box 3120
.    Camarillo Ca 93011

.    Sysop of the Christian BBS ...Dave Geauvreau

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