Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century
Nearly two decades ago Hank Hanegraaff’s award-winning Christianity in Crisis alerted the world to the dangers of a cultic movement within Christianity that threatened to undermine the very foundation of biblical faith. But in the 21st century, there are new dangers—new teachers who threaten to do more damage than the last.
These are not obscure teachers that Hanegraaff unmasks. We know their names. We have seen their faces, sat in their churches, and heard them shamelessly preach and promote the false pretexts of a give-to-get gospel. They are virtual rock stars who command the attention of presidential candidates and media moguls. Through make-believe miracles, urban legends, counterfeit Christs, and twisted theological reasoning, they peddle an occult brand of metaphysics that continues to shipwreck the faith of millions around the globe:
“God cannot do anything in this earthly realm unless we give Him permission.”
“Keep saying it—‘I have equality with God’—talk yourself into it.”
“Being poor is a sin.”
“The Jews were not rejecting Jesus as Messiah; it was Jesus who was refusing to be the Messiah to the Jews!”
“You create your own world the same way God creates His. He speaks, and things happen; you speak, and they happen.”
Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century exposes darkness to light, pointing us back to a Christianity centered in Christ.
From the Preface:
“Having lost the ability to think biblically, postmodern Christians are being transformed from cultural change agents and initiators into cultural conformists and imitators. Pop culture beckons, and postmodern Christians have taken the bait. As a result, the biblical model of faith has given way to an increasingly bizarre array of fads and formulas.”
Top Highlights
“As a case in point, as hard as it may be to believe, John Hagee not only shamelessly promotes the pretext of a prosperous Jesus—who lives in a big house and wears designer clothes—but brazenly depicts a sectarian Christ who ‘refused to be Messiah to the Jews.’” (source)
“The moral of the story, concludes Osteen, is that ‘with our words, we can prophesy our own future.’” (source)
“Simply put, atonement means that Christ, in His sacrificial death upon the cross, dealt completely with the problem of humanity’s sin. As such, upon the cross, Christ ‘redeemed [sinners] from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us’ (Galatians 3:13). Christ, the paragon of virtue, became the sacrificial Lamb upon whom the sins of the world were laid. While practically He was perfect and sinless, positionally He was accounted as sinful in that all of our sin was laid to His account. Conversely, while we are practically sinners, all of His righteousness is imputed to those who place their trust in Him. Thus, through His atoning sacrifice, we are accounted as positionally righteous before God.” (source)
“From a sociological perspective it describes a group of people who are controlled by their leader(s) in virtually every dimension of their lives, potentially resulting in illegal, immoral, and antisocial consequences. From a theological perspective, a cult may be defined as a modern-day movement that claims to be Christian but compromises, confuses, and contradicts essential Christian doctrine, such as Christ’s atonement upon the cross.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Christianity In Crisis: The 21st Century
- Author: Hanegraaff, Hank
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Publication Date: 2012
- ISBN: 9781418576073