If it seems like we’re “hitting hard” on Calvary Chapels and Pastor Greg Laurie, I can assure readers that we’re not out to attack anyone. But Laurie’s actions as of late have crossed over from mildly concerning to five-alarm status. Especially for the Calvary Chapel pastors who are sitting on the fence over whether to disengage from the Calvary Chapel movement (like this pastor in Appleton Wisconsin did).
But even if you are not of the CC persuasion, you’re going to want to take some time and read this heartbreaking report by Roger Oakland, who shares the onward march of the visible Church toward Rome.
This report by Roger Oakland hits close to home for me personally, as I live near the Marian apparition shrine, promoted by our local mayor of Green Bay, WI (who also heavily campaigned for Pope Francis to come to our area), and I know the leaders involved with the ecumenical Lifest event, at which Catholic Mass mingles with Evangelical worship amidst heavy metal and pop 40 concerts.
Before sharing the article, here are two backgrounders that will help connect the dots on recent events. If you haven’t seen these reports, please take the time to read them:
Azusa Redux: Lou Engle, Greg Laurie uniting denominations?
Betrayed with a kiss: Azusa Now’s One World Religion
Also please see our White Paper on Roman Catholicism.
Here’s Oakland’s report:
Greg Laurie, Calvary Chapel, and New Catholic National Shrine for Marian Apparitions By Roger Oakland
According to the Catholic News Service in a August 17th article titled “Bishops designate Wisconsin site of Marian apparitions as national shrine,” U.S. Catholic bishops “formally designated the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion as a national shrine.” The article explains that “Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay announced its new status at a news conference prior to the annual Mass celebrated at the shrine for the feast day.”The Catholic News Service article explains Bishop Ricken’s role in helping to establish this national shrine with Marian apparitions in Wisconsin:
On Dec. 8, 2010, Bishop Ricken formally approved the apparition of Our Lady of Good Help to Brise, making the Marian apparitions that occurred some 18 miles northeast of Green Bay the first in the United States to receive approval of a diocesan bishop. His decree came nearly two years after he opened a formal investigation into the apparitions.
For those reading this who have followed Understand the Times for any length of time, you know that Marian apparitions (supposed supernatural appearances of the Virgin Mary) are a sign of the end times great delusion. Our present concern, however, regarding this situation is that one of Calvary Chapel’s most popular and influential pastors implicated himself with Bishop Ricken in 2011 during the Lifest event in Wisconsin. As Lighthouse Trails reported, Calvary Chapel pastor Greg Laurie joined Bishop Ricken at Lifest that year. One news story reporting on the event stated:
[Bishop] Ricken led 9 a.m. Mass from the Thrivent Café Stage on the final day of the 13th annual Lifest celebration at Sunnyview Expo Center. Hundreds worshipped as intermittent showers trickled down on the large tent. . . .
Protestant devotions, a children’s service and the Catholic Mass each were held separately before joint worship at 11 a.m. on the grandstand featuring Lenz; Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and head of the international Harvest Crusades.
To date, Laurie has never come forth with a statement acknowledging that such actions could confuse and mislead many Christians into thinking that biblical Christianity is not in conflict with Roman Catholicism and its view on Mary and Marian apparitions. In an article Understand The Times released in 2011, I explained:
It was the name Bishop Ricken that caught my attention when I read the article about the Roman Catholic churches plan to use appearances of “Mary” to enhance the New Evangelization plan. I had heard of Ricken before from other articles I had read. Bishop Ricken shared the platform with Greg Laurie in Wisconsin at a city wide Lifest evangelistic crusade in the spring of 2011 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. . . .
So what does this mean? Will people who attended the meeting in Wisconsin where Laurie and Ricken both spoke on the same platform be somewhat confused? What if there are those who attended the Lifest ecumenical meetings who are now convinced that Ricken’s program to promote Marian apparitions is a good thing with regard to the New Evangelization? Apparently, Ricken and his colleague from Europe plan to promote Marian apparitions as a means of pointing people to the Eucharistic Jesus. As the article states:
“Bishop Ricken has acted boldly in the United States, with his approval of an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Europe, Cardinal Schonborn has acted fearlessly as well with his activities. Both men, charged with revitalizing the Catholic faith, have courageously taken action that acknowledges the supernatural presence of the Our Lady and importantly her motherly role in leading us to her son.”1
Since Greg Laurie shared the platform in Oskosh, Wisconsin at the Lifest Celebration with Bishop Ricken much more has happened. Ricken has now been promoted to be a key player in the pope’s New Evangelization program.
It is well known that Jesuits are behind the devotion to “Our Lady of Peace,” also called the “Queen of Heaven,” that leads to the promotion of the Eucharistic Jesus. This will be an important part of developing a One-World Religion for Peace that will usher in the Antichrist. Therefore, the questions that should be asked are these: Why would Greg Laurie endorse Roman Catholic Jesuit Bishop Ricken by sharing the platform with him at the Lifest gathering in Oshkosh? Is Laurie aware of the damage he has done by forming this association, or is this just part of a much larger game plan that has not yet been revealed?
Isn’t it time that Calvary Chapel pastors who understand the times and the great delusion coming upon the world speak up and call out those pastors and leaders who are leading the flock in a direction that is away from the Gospel and biblical truth? For those who think that there is nothing to be alarmed about, consider this news article that came out this week from Religion News Service. The article titled “US Lutherans Approve Document Recognizing Agreement With Catholic Church” states:
Nearly 500 years after Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Castle Church door, the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. has approved a declaration recognizing “there are no longer church-dividing issues” on many points with the Roman Catholic Church.
Lest you are unaware of what Christian leaders have been up to the last few years, many of them have openly endorsed the Roman Catholic Church and through their actions or words said that the Catholic Church is not in any serious conflict with Christianity. We wonder what martyrs like John Hus would say if they knew this was taking place among professing Christians. Hus was burned at the stake for refusing to accept Catholic doctrines such as the Eucharistic mass. Was John Hus wrong? If you are not familiar with what Roman Catholicism and Marian apparitions, please do your homework and find out.
A final thought. A few years ago, Anglican Tony Palmer (who was working with the Pope to bring back the “lost brethren” to the “Mother church”) spoke at Kenneth Copeland’s church (see video below) and told the crowd that the reformation was over. In other words, the work that the reformers did to break away from the Roman Catholic Church was no longer needed. If that is truly the case, then those who have suffered in the past for standing for truth did so in vain.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehFpeVGLyxs
Where to begin?
1. The Roman Mass is one of the most egregious blasphemies to come from Rome, for it tramples the holy blood of Jesus Christ over and over again, it’s rank blasphemy.
2. What does light have to do with darkness, why would a pastor be yoked with heresy and those that promote it?
3. The worship of Mary……… Rank blasphemy, it’s nothing more than idol worship, it’s diabolical.
4. Ecumenism, part and parcel of the apostasy ravaging through Churchianity, it’s being used by Rome to form an umbrella which will not only encompass apostate Christianity, but Chrislam, earth worship, Hinduism, shamanism, Wiccan worship, and anything that purports to be a religion. There’s no doubt in my mind a pope will lead this unholy abomination to worship the antichrist.
5. As stated in article the Marion appearances are demonic and designed to influence and spread the doctrines of demons, in my opinion one of these apparitions will point to the beast as God.
6. A Christian cannot, under any circumstance, have anything to do with apostasy, Rome, or anyone who calls themselves a Christian and partakes of those abominations.
While I do not like the fact that Mr. Laurie would share a stage with a Roman Catholic, other than the sin nature doctrine 1st promoted by Augustine, I have yet to hear Greg Laurie teach anything agreeing with Roman Catholics. Have you? As far as I have heard he believes in and teaches sola fide.
Blessings:-}
Edwitness, Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord (agreement hath Christ with Belial (Satan)? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 2 Corinthians 6:14-15
Nannette,
Yoked means to be in agreement. And from Greg’s teaching I have not found agreement with RC theology, other than the widely accepted though sadly misguided sin nature doctrine. I do believe however that it can be confusing to see him sharing a stage with an RC bishop.
To be on stage with such outrageous heretics is high treason against the real Jesus Christ…the one who paid for your sins with his own blood. There is no middle ground. Either you are of the light or of the dark.
https://followingjesuschrist3.com/2015/11/30/high-treason-against-the-living-god/
Edwitness – As the article points out, he is partnering up with groups that teach principles that are clearly anti-biblical, and therefore giving the appearance of agreement and mutual respect for them. Ephesians 5:1-14 is very clear on that we are to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” Greg doesn’t even point out that Catholics have strayed from the truth and believe a false gospel.
Greg may not teach Roman Catholicism from the pulpit as you state, but he has endorsed a book entitled Have Heart: bridging the gulf between heaven and earth, by Pastor Steve Berger and his wife Sarah. In this book they describe how their recently deceased son, Josiah, has appeared to them and to members of their church in a variety of ways. These appearances are described as missions from God as Josiah allegedly makes visitations, worships with the church, and imparts spiritual information to those who will listen. Not good. And in fact, every Christian who understands what he is doing should not go to any event or sit under his teaching again until he repents and reverses the course he has been on. This includes the upcoming Harvest Crusades next week.
Hello Ed,
I do not know what Mr. Laurie preaches, teaches, or believes. But one thing is certain, he’s treading on very dangerous grounds, not only being yoked to apostate Rome, but he’s confusing many with his embrace and obvious approval of this demonic ecumenical soirée. If he is truly born again and walking in the Spirit he should not have been involved in anyway with this sham, that in itself is enough to question Mr. Laurie, and treat him as a Berean would.
Manny1962,
Amen to that!
Manny1962,
I have also written to them and am awaiting their response in this matter.
Good morning Ed,
As Amy stated, please keep us posted, this is very troubling for many sincere people. Rome is insidious and slick, easily deceives many of its intent until you’re caught in its tentacles. I hope Mr. Laurie repents and moves away from this abomination, I personally find the worship of Semiramis and Tamuz (Mary and the child) very disturbing and blasphemous.
Amy,
I will. I have written before and received answers to other questions.
The fact that Greg Laurie shared the same platform speaks volumes. He either agrees with or supports the views or both says much. The word “compromise” comes to mind.
Amen Larry, that’s my problem with this. It reminds me of the 1994 fiasco called CATHOLICS AND EVANGELICALS TOGETHER, that set Christendom on fire.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicals_and_Catholics_Together
Larry,
I have heard Calvary Chapel pastors say that the reason they will do this is to share the gospel no matter what the others are there to say. Wise as serpents and innocent as a dove. That is why it is important to listen to Greg’s message. Christ and Him crucified, right?
Like I said in another comment, I have never heard Greg teach Roman Catholic doctrine other than the unbiblical sin nature doctrine that is taught in most every denomination.
The endorsements shared by some here that Greg has given are alarming though.
Amy,
The letter you showed in the first link from Greg’s associate pastor said what I have heard them say before.
The part that explains the Calvary Chapel position in it says;
“one thing he does not consider is who of the participating churches might be offended by what he shares. What he focuses his prayer upon is hearing from God through his word and faithfully presenting the Good News of the gospel complete and without reservation……
Pastor Greg will not in any way “shy away from”1 Tim.2:5………or Heb.9:27….”
To me this is exactly the position Chuck Smith encouraged in the Calvary Chapel mission. That is, to share the gospel message at all times and everywhere. No matter who is offended.
With the exception of course of the highlighted phrases saying “We have had involvement with local Catholic Churches as they have seen the vision of reaching the lost with the gospel message”….. “What we have in common is the message of the gospel….” Which are alarming to say the least. RC’s do not believe the gospel Jesus and the apostles taught.
I wish he had not included those.
And no true Christian should be endorsing Engle. 🙁
I will be praying for them
Ed – Paul said that we are not to have ANY fellowship with unfruitful deeds of darkness but rather are to reprove them. Ephesians 5:11 KJV We are to be bold, calling out false prophets rather than mixing our truth with their lies. That confuses the flock. They will leave thinking both are true. If he is a true believer, he should not be afraid to call babylonian paganism, which is leading billions to hell, what it truly is. Paul would have, and so should he.
I am just sick that a pastor that Pastor Chuck Smith led to the Lord so long ago would go against what Chuck taught him. Jesus said that even the elite would be fooled and that is happening to so many right now. At least Greg Laurie named his church something other than a Calvary Chapel. I realize now that Greg went to the Catholic meeting in 2011, two years before Pastor Chuck died. No wonder he hung on so long, knowing what he did was happening to his life’s work. He preached the word on Sunday night for us and Tuesday he died because his caretaker had been told not to call 911. How his own daughter could submit to her husband and ruin the body by false teaching is beyond me. Come Lord Jesus for your Bride, your believers; we want out of this evil world, it is not our home.
On YouTube there is a video of how Mary got to be part of religion. It happened when Constantie was merging the sun worshipers and Christianity. Isis is one of the goddesses in pagan religion. Her name was changed to Mary and Mary was called the queen of heaven. Many of the shrines of Mary depict her as coming out of a cave. The cave is symbolic of the many female seers who emerged from caves when they foretold of things to come which is more pagan symbolism.
Ms. Spreeeman you are more right on this than you know and from what I’ve read on how Chrislam is going to come about this Mary thing is one of the first steps.
It is so wrong! And Christians need to be told how wrong this is and we need to be speaking out against it.
On YouTube there are a # of videos on the history of the Catholic Church. It is well worth the time to view these. Also the history of the Catholic Church and Islam.
Shalom
My best friend is a devout Catholic and I am Pentalcostal Assembly of God. I have attended Mass with my friend and have learned that there is a lot of misinformation about what Catholics believe. They do not worship Mary or the Saints. They honor them ffor what they have done to advance the Kingdom of God. They do not pray to the Saints or Mary but only ask them to intercede for them to Jesus. Jesus is central in their praise and worship not Mary. Also it is scriptural to believe that Christ can be both physically present and spiritually present in communion. Jesus prayed for unity in His church,and I believe God is doing it now.
Roman Catholicism
The bishops, with the pope as their head, rule the universal Church.
God has entrusted revelation to the bishops.
The pope is infallible in his teaching.
Scripture and Tradition together are the Word of God.
Mary is the co-redeemer, for she participated with Christ in the painful act of redemption.
Mary is the co-mediator, to whom we can entrust all our cares and petitions.
Initial justification is by means of baptism.
Adults must prepare for justification through faith and good works.
Grace is merited by good works.
Salvation is attained by cooperating with grace through faith, good works, and participation in the sacraments.
No one can know if he will attain to eternal life.
The Roman Catholic Church is necessary for salvation.
Christ’s body and blood exist wholly and entirely in every fragment of consecrated bread and wine in every Roman Catholic church around the world.
The sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated in the sacrifice of the Mass.
Each sacrifice of the Mass appeases God’s wrath against sin.
The sacrificial work of redemption is continually carried out through the sacrifice of the Mass.
Biblical Teaching
Christ, the head of the body, rules the universal church (Colossians 1:18).
God has entrusted revelation to the saints (Jude 3).
God alone is infallible (Numbers 23:19; Acts 17:11).
Scripture alone is the Word of God (John 10:35; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21; Mark 7:1-13).
Christ alone is the Redeemer, for He alone suffered and died for sin (1 Peter 1:18,19).
Christ Jesus is the one mediator to whom we can entrust all our cares and petitions (1 Timothy 2:5; John 14:13,14; 1 Peter 5:7).
Justification is by faith alone (Romans 3:28).
God justifies ungodly sinners who believe (Romans 4:5). Good works are the result of salvation, not the cause (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Grace is a free gift (Romans 11:6).
Salvation is attained by grace through faith apart from works (Ephesians 2:10).
The believer can know that he has eternal life by the Word of God and the testimony of the Holy Spirit who indwells believers (1 John 5:13; Romans 8:16).
There is salvation in no one but the Lord Jesus Christ, “for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The bread and wine are symbols of the body and blood of Christ, and He is bodily present in heaven (1 Corinthians 11:23-25; Hebrews 10:12,13).
The sacrifice of the cross is finished (John 19:30).
The once-for-all sacrifice of the cross fully appeased God’s wrath against sin (Hebrews 10:12-18).
The sacrificial work of redemption was finished when Christ gave His life for us on the cross (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 1:3).
Good morning Margy,
“Jesus prayed for unity in His church,and I believe God is doing it now.”
Margy you do realize there are two “churches?” Wheat and tares, the bride and churchianity, what you participated in with your friend is not the bride of Jesus, it’s apostate and ecumenical, Jesus prayed for unity, but not in the same sense Rome does, Jesus prayed for doctrinal unity, Rome’s doctrine as you can see by my other post is antithetical to what The Lord taught. Margy please pray for The Lord to open your eyes and show you the truth, the enemy of man’s souls loves to use feelings and feel-good techniques to draw many to error.
God says “come out of her my people” ……………..Rome is heretical and apostate. Check for yourself, it’s history, Constantinople, turning pagan holidays (holy days) into Christian festivities, read on Pax Romana and how that became the spear point for the Roman Catholic Church to bring pagan religions from conquered lands under its umbrella, the beginning of ecumenism, remember God dispersed humanity at Babel, man from then has been trying to put back what God dispersed, hence ecumenism, something Rome has been steadily doing since its inception and Constantinople’s vision. There’s more to Rome than what is being told, they act like freemasonry, the ignorant peasants on the lower rung the all knowing clergy on top. Did you know Rome did not allow its converts to read the bible? Imagine the mass defection. Did you know the popes official title is Vicar of Christ, vicar where we get the word vicarious, which means instead of or substitute, it means instead of Christ or anti-Christ. Mary, it’s the worship of Semiramis and Tammuz. I hope this is enough to guide you, once you’ve done your research I suggest you show your friend the false religion she is following. Only God can open the eyes of the blind Margy.
Margy Roth,
Many priests and Roman Catholic Churches nowadays are trying to be more “biblical”. But as Manny 1962 shared, their core beliefs are NOT biblical.
I have a step daughter and son-in-law who are devote Catholics and believe me they DO pray to Mary, I have heard them many times especially before meals. They depend on saying the rosary so MARY’S blessings will be on them, they have stated how their prayers TO MARY even brought healing. They believe in order to stay in “good graces”with God they MUST attend mass and partake of the eucharist to have Jesus’ literal blood and body “save” them each week. They believe in a mixture of faith AND works. To be sure I had a true understanding of the Catholic faith, I went to Catholic website that was offering literature explaining each aspect of the Catholic faith. I ordered the literature and was sickened by what I read..it was worse than I thought. We are to expose and rebuke false teaching, even if some of it is true…a little leaven spoils the whole lump. We are told not to have fellowship with the works of darkness. We, of course, have fellowship with our daughter and son-in-law, but we do not take part or condone their false beliefs.
We are witnessing the fulfillment of the ‘Parable of the Ten Virgins’ (Mt. 25:1-13). Those joining hands with the Roman Catholic Church are simply professing Christians represented by the foolish virgins. In other words, they are not truly born-from-above aka born-again (Jn. 3:1-7) This is why they will be left behind when the Rapture takes place. The Lord Jesus NEVER knew them (Mt. 7:21-23; Lk. 13:24-27).
The Rapture
The Feast of Trumpets
October 2, 2016
http://www.endtimewarnings.net
Maranatha!
Hey Robert,
What happened? Today is October 14……….. Did Christians miss the rapture? If I did, the media hasn’t reported millions of people having vanished.
Just saw your site now it’s September 27th? Robert did you know what happened to “prophets” when they gave wrong dates? I would advice you to stop naming dates, it’s not biblical, you’re not doing yourself any favors by prognosticating!
Hello Manny. I am so glad you are paying attention. My premise is that the ‘War of Yom Kippur’ in 1973 began the 50 year generation that would witness the 2nd Coming [2nd Advent] fulfilled on the Feast of a Day of Atonement [Yom Kippur] on 9/25/2023. I first allowed two years of peace and safety for Israel after winning the war described in Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17 that precedes World War 3 that is described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Then I made it one year of peace and safety. Since we are still here, Israel can only enjoy having a sense of peace and safety for anywhere from a few months to a few days if 1973 is indeed the beginning of the terminal generation. The war in Syria is the beginning of the sequence of events as I have outlined them in my ‘Things to Come!’ I hope you will read it. The Rapture MUST take place on the Feast of Trumpets thus 9/20/2017 is the target date. I am not a prophet as you know if you read the piece. I am a ‘watchman.’ Let me know what you think after reading my ‘Things To Come!’ Maranatha!
Don’t forget that Greg Laurie gave a 100% endorsement to the “Azusa Now” mess that had the leaders kissing the feet of catholic priests, and calling for unity with catholicism. Greg Laurie supported it and advertised it for all pastors to be a part of.
So Greg Laurie does promote catholicism.
Laurie and many other CC pastors have obviously been influenced by the leaders discussed in a shocking google article entitled “Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty.” And other unnerving articles in the same source include “Pretrib Hypocrisy.” “Famous Rapture Watchers,” and “Letter from Mrs. Billy Graham.”
Paul said
“That yet be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, ALLEGING that the Day of the Lord has come”…………( 2 Thessalonians 2:2)
If they read their bibles they should know better. There is always tribulation for those that follow Jesus, always. During communism it was in China and the former USSR, today it’s the Middle East and parts of the orient and parts of Africa………… But as Paul said, beware of those saying this type of tribulation is the SPECIFIC Day of the Lord.
The man of sin will NOT be revealed UNTILL the Great Apostasy has run its course ( 2 Thessalonians 2:3) something that is happening before our eyes, Rome leading the way, apostate Christianity following right along with Chrislam. There’s no excuse for men in position of leadership to be so ignorant of the word of God.
Great article. They’re aware. The great delusion.
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
2 Thessalonians 2:11
The remnant, we must stay alert in the Lord Christ Jesus. No compromise. When these leaders give to compromise “The One” then the delusion comes. For money, power, influence or whatever it may be. Thank you.