So yeah, we went to Harvest last night, and as usual it was a great night for all things Christian.  Also as usual were the "God caused the Tsunami" and "Greg Laurie leads to hell" signs held by some very, very confused people out in the parking lot.

If you've never been, you likely have no idea what I'm talking about.  In a nutshell, there are these people who hold up PVC pipe-framed banners high enough to see them over the crowds with all sorts of emotion-inspiring messages (no, not the good kind) such as those mentioned above.  Their whole thing seems to spawn from those who see the signs, are angered by them, and then go over to see what the ruckus is about.  Some, being less mature in the faith, resort to some rather worldly and carnal things to show the "protesters" how they really feel -- everything from chucking wadded-up programs at them to the one guy last night (not a good thing to do, but it was pretty funny at the time) who took one of the guys' signs, ran through the parking lot with it held low so no one could see it, then threw it under a random car -- and I'm certain the protesters feed off of it and say "See, we're being persecuted for righteousness sake".

There was also a different guy there last night.  You see, in the four or five times I've been to Harvest Crusades in the past 6 or 7 years I've been saved, I've seen some faces over and over amongst the protesters, but (praise God) the great majority of them are totally new (I'm sure a lot of the people in their "fellowship" don't hang around too long when they start digging into the severe legalistic and "fearsome" structure of the group).  But there was one other guy, not associated with their weirdness -- he had weirdness of his own.

I usually engage one of the protesters or another simply because I've found I am usually able to get the individuals to focus on one source of incoming questions (mine), and from that simultaneously quench the frenzy of the crowds that form (hopefully preserving a positive witness for at least a few of them that haven't tried to attack the guys yet) and allow the people to hang themselves with their own false doctrinal statements.

You see, the Harvest Crusades are geared towards Christians bringing their unsaved friends so they can hear a clear and "third party" presentation of the Gospel, and as such many many people come out of the Crusades as brand-baby-new believers in the Lord, then they come out and see these confused people with their signs and immediately start to doubt if what they just experienced was somehow all a sham.  And while everyone's yelling at them, they don't really have to say a whole lot, simply because the disturbance itself along with the "Laurie leads to hell" and "Jesus kills, repent!" signs cause enough confusion to accomplish what they're trying to accomplish.  Focusing the attention of the crowd and the individuals brings order to the situation, and along with that forces the people to actually present their cuckoo stuff.

So anyways, this one guy (not associated with the confuseds, remember) starts making these claims about how he's perfect now and doesn't sin, and is the only one he knows (of course! lol) who is really "born from above" (he would later go on to say he descended straight from heaven, and told us his name was "Christ John", because supposedly in his world Christ means holy, and he's holy all right).  He also said that pretty much everything other than the immediate words of Jesus is "just rubbish", and totally compromised.  In fact, he said you don't even need all the words of Jesus -- just the sermon on the mount (which he claims to have memorized yet was unable to speak forth anything from it other than the bits and pieces that most people know, the "blessed are the ____'s").  Interesting.

So yeah, it took a lot of constant prayer and a huge scoop of discernment from the Lord to point out -- using only his own claimed "reliable" source of Biblical information -- that not only were his crazy claims about Scripture contradictory of what Jesus Himself said, but also the whole foundations for his many errant theologies.  Don't get me wrong...my desire isn't to simply dismantle a false teacher's errant teachings, though that is beneficial for emboldening and edifying the faith of those around who are just starting their walks with the Lord.  No, above that is my desire to see these lost and confused people really find the Lord whom they -- like Saul of Tarsus -- believe they're serving but in actuality are simply fighting against.

I want them to see with the spiritual eyes they claim to have yet so clearly do not.  If you're whole explanation for why your own arguments do not make sense is "you don't understand because you're spiritually blind and lack faith" accompanied by a random personal attack, then more likely than not you theology is not very well founded.

I see this has already become longer than I intended, so I'll spare you any more interesting points from our long conversation (unless you ask me directly for more) and just wrap up with the reminder that context and discernment still top the list of necessary components for being successful and comprehensive in your Bible studying, and when you take one (or both) of those components out of the mix, it becomes a very dangerous ballgame as now you're taking upon yourself the mantle of a teacher, whom Scripture is clear will receive a tougher "judgement" than those who did not teach.

I made the mistake of assuming at first that he was a part of the "Jesus kills" group.

He made the mistake of exalting himself to a level reserved for God alone.

My mistake has already been confessed and forgiven.  His, well, unless he went home afterwards and let our discussion sink in and let the Holy Spirit convict him of error so as to make a heart-change in him, his mistake is one bad enough to prevent his entrance into eternity with the Lord.

Pray his eyes are opened.