Christian Controversy
and
Christian Research
 Websites


Welcome to ChristianControversy.Com
and ChristianResearch.Net

"If it's not controversial, it's not important" (generally speaking, of course)

These websites have been established to deal with modern Christian controversies of which there are no lack. Specifically, it is for the purpose of addressing commonly held misconceptions and "new" doctrinal fads that crop up in the church as often as weeds do in one's lawn. Thorough, often exhaustive RESEARCH has been done here in order to address several of these issues, being conducted in a Biblically-oriented manner with heavy reliance on Greek and Hebrew lexicons, theological dictionaries, commentaries, etc. This research is being presented here in two forms: (1) studies, which are free PDF downloads; and (2) whole books, which are reasonably priced. Links to Amazon.com have been provided. Please note that these works are not characterized as being "theology-light" and are not designed for easy reading.

The following is a list of subjects presented here along with a short synopsis of each. The studies or "papers" are listed first; the list of books follows. This is all copyrighted material.


STUDIES

The Dangers of Yoga's Stretching and Exercise Classes for Christians  (Link to a download and information page)

Yoga stretching and exercise classes have become very popular and have spread across the Western world. These classes have been embraced by many Christians, and some churches have even included them in the services they offer. Christian participants seem to be oblivious to the real origin, meaning, and possible spiritual affects of this practice. Are there dangers that lurk therein and is there such a thing as "Christian Yoga?" Click on the link above for a free 15 page download.

John Hagee's Four Blood Moons  (Link to a one-page study on this website)

Many people may have heard of John Hagee's predictions based on the "blood moons" that occur in the skies above us periodically. He suggests that these were tied to very important events that have happened in the past and may also be a harbinger of things to come in the future. He implies that one such event may be the fast approaching second coming of Christ. But is his theory based in any natural or biblical reality? Click on the above link to view this short study.



BOOKS

Bill Johnson, Bethel Church, and the NAR: A Balanced Observation and Study   (Link to Amazon.com)

Bill Johnson is the pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, a very large and successful church, even a "mega church." However, he, and it, are very controversial. This is because there are some very good things happening there, such as some healings being performed; but, at the same time, there is a lot of bad theology being produced. This book provides an understanding of what to be wary of, and what to be open to. The book was published in December of 2018 and is available on Amazon.com. It is about 400 pages long (when it was in word-processor format), so there is a lot of detail in it. Just click on the link provided above to view it on Amazon.

Prices:

Comments? If you would like to make a comment about this book about Johnson, Bethel, or the NAR (after having read it), click here: Comments


Can a Christian Have an Unclean Spirit?   (Link to descriptive pages on this site)

One of the centuries-old controversies is the question of whether or not a Christian could have a demonic spirit. The author has spent twelve years researching and writing about this issue. The result is a book of three volumes that goes into great detail about this subject. Click on the book title itself to be taken to the page that gives a description of each volume along with links to where these book can be obtained.


Response to Loren Cunningham's Book, "Why Not Women?"   (Link to Amazon.com)

Loren Cunningham has co-authored a book with David Hamilton on the issue of woman leadership in the church. They insist that Paul's prohibitions against women teaching men, and his opposition to women being in leadership positions in the church (and even to his teaching that the man is the head of the wive in marriage), are just a big misunderstandings. They use history, logic, Biblical interpretation, and definitions of key Greek words in order to "prove" their points, going into considerable detail. But they have used questionable tactics in their drive to equate men and women in all ways (including in the church): in handling Scripture, they have used misinterpretation, proof-texting, twisting, exaggeration, and confusion, and have used these tactics throughout their book. One of their points has even lead them into a heresy. Indeed, almost every paragraph contains one or more theological errors. So the present author found it necessary to go into even greater detail in order to demonstrate that there are real problems in their theology. Thus, while their book is around 250 pages long, it was necessary to make this response about 400 pages long.

Nevertheless, this book does include the recognition that some women really are called to the ministry, and some are even called to be pastors of churches. So, Paul's ban on female leadership in the church is not total: the Bible makes it clear that there can be some exceptions. Neither is Paul's ban on women teaching men to be taken in totality. Generally speaking, there is a difference between being a minister and being an elder. Nearly all elders should be men, but there is allowance for some women to be ministers, and even for some women to teach men if certain conditions are met. This is a complicated issue and it requires a whole book to ferret out the Biblical answers to these important questions.

This book is intended to be a companion work to the smaller book listed below, Women Elders in a Church: Is This Biblical? Both are available on Amazon.com.

Price: $4.00 (Kindle version only).

Comments? If you would like to make a comment about this book by Cunningham and Hamilton (after having read it), click here: Comments


Women Elders in a Church: Is This Biblical?   (Link to Amazon.com)

There is a strange thing happening in conservative churches: some are beginning to ordain women as elders. They think that if a man is an elder, then his wife may be considered as being an elder as well. Liberal churches have been been doing this for decades, except that they go beyond this: they ordain women to the eldership outright, regardless of the status of their husbands. But where is the Biblical evidence for doing any of this? Such a thing is clearly against the teachings of the apostle Paul. Did he know what he was talking about? Are his teachings on this matter mere expressions of culturally bound, antiquated beliefs of ancient times? These are questions that need to be addressed.

This small book is meant to be a companion work to the book listed just above entitled, Response to Loren Cunningham's Book, "Why Not Women?" The book of about 95 pages long.

Price: $.99 (Kindle version only)

Comments? If you would like to make a comment about this book on women elders (after having read it), click here: Comments


Speaking in Tongues in Church: Does It Always Need to be Interpreted?   (Link to Amazon.com)

Many Spirit-filled churches think that speaking in tongues should not be allowed during its services unless it is interpreted. They base this idea on 1 Corinthians 14:28 where Paul says, "If there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silence in church and speak to himself and to God." Does this mean that even praying in tongues is to be banned if it is not interpreted? There is a key word/phrase used in this verse which specifies that this is not the case. In fact, this interpretation rule only applies to the giving of messages in tongues. Thus, there is nothing wrong with praying or even singing in tongues in a church. This issue is important because if a church throws out praying in tongues, what usually happens is that all the other gifts of the Spirit seem to fade away in time. In the end, that church looks no different than a non-Spirit filled church.

Please note that this is a booklet of about 40 pages (not including front matter). Thus, it is priced as low as Amazon will allow, which is 99 cents.

FUTURE BOOKS

The Rapture: Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, or Post-Trib?

This, of course, is another great controversy of modern times. When is the rapture supposed to happen: before, during, or after the tribulation period of the Book of Revelation? Is there any way to figure out exactly which of these views is correct? Yes, there is, if we go deep enough into Biblical theology and history. This book goes into more detail than most other books on the subject. When complete, it will have taken about seven years to write (over six years to this point).

As mentioned, I have been working on this book off and on for years. Some of the time breaks have lasted for a few years as I wrote other books (three of which are listed above) that were more important to complete in this time period. But now I am back to working on this book on the rapture, which will probably take another year to complete.

Update October 2023. I had to take the entire summer off in order to rest due to mental fatigue. But now, I am back working on this long process, in particular, continuing my study of John Darby's documents, of which there are over 600, with some of them having as many as seven sub-documents, although most relevant papers are organized under the heading of "Prophetic," which includes volumes 2, 5, 8, and 11. To date, I have completed studying those that deal with the the subject of eschatology, which is about 140 documents. So, I am trying to pin-point exactly when he first started teaching his view of the rapture, and what exactly that teaching was.

Darby thinks that the rapture is referred to in Revelation 3:10, but as to exactly when he thought it would happen, there are repeated references to Revelation 12:5. This is when the "manchild" was to be caught up to God. He thinks the church is to be included in that act. However, Revelation 12 is actually a mid-point during the tribulation period, not a pre-tribulation place. But then, again, it depends on what you call the "tribulation period." To Darby, it was when the devil comes down to terrorize the earth (again, occurring in Rev. 12), but to most modern students of the end-times, the tribulation period begins with Revelation 6. At any rate, I am continuing this long discovery process.


MISCELLANEOUS

A Note on the Abortion Controversy

We have all seen pro-abortion women scream out and carry signs which read, "It's MY body!" But if it could, the unborn child would scream back and say, "NO, IT'S MY BODY!" Yes, that is what is at state here, not the body of the women, which suffers no ill effects if it does, or does not, experience an abortion. The woman's body does not lose any limbs; it does not lose body parts; it does not get its head sucked into a tube. But the same cannot be said of the unborn, which does lose body parts, which does gets it limbs torn off one by one, which does get its head sucked into a tube. So, the fact is that the body of the woman is not what is at stake here; rather, it is the body of the unborn: "It's MY body!!"

We also have to recognize the motive of the women who want to kill her babies: it is really a matter of convenience (we are not talking about pregnancy due to rape or incest). They do not want to be inconvenienced to carry a baby for nine months. They want to be able to run around unencumbered and to have sex as they please in an irresponsible manner. No one forces them to have irresponsible sex; it is a matter of their own choice. But if they choose to engage in this without contraceptives, then they should bear the responsibility of carrying the baby to term. And it is the height of hypocrisy for them to mortally "inconvenience" their babies for the sake of their own frivolous "convenience." If their mothers had wanted to abort them, they would have immediately protested if they could, and would have cried out saying, "Hey, wait a minute, its MY body!"
(9-22-22)


New Prayer Campaign

Are you unset by the war and atrocities being perpetrated by Russia against Ukraine? Are you concerned about the coming invasion of Taiwan by China? Do you care about the brutal oppression of the people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) by the criminal military leaders who have taken over the country? Is there anything you can do about these and future injustices? Yes, there is something you can do: how about joining a prayer campaign to stop all these things? You don't have to be a prayer warrior to do this; all it takes is being willing to pray one minute a day! If thousands of people join this campaign, perhaps we could put a stop to these injustices. If you are interested in looking further into this, please visit this website: www.minutemanprayer.com


Recent Developments: The "Clapping Phenomena"

Last winter (of 2022-2023) the heater in the church I attend broke down, and stayed down for about seven weeks. Since I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I cannot be in a building that is cold, so I had to visit other churches during that time period. I visited seven churches, all of whom I had previously visited on occasion, except for one. I discovered two things. One is that at least six of them were better off, were healthier, and had grown spiritually. I had the impression that God was doing "something" among all of them. It was not as if He was "moving" among one particular "super church," but rather, He was moving among all of them at the same time. The second thing I noticed is that the "clapping phenomenon" had started up among at least five of them. Let me explain.

In the past several months, when my church was in worship (a charismatic church), I felt an urge to clap my hands at the end of one or more of the songs. It was like giving an applause to the Lord, a form of worship, with the other people joining in after I had started it, and lasting perhaps ten or so seconds. It is a feeling that rises in my hands, sometimes quite strong, sometimes faint. It was hard to figure out if it was God or not, so sometimes I followed the urge, and sometimes I did not. Often, if I did not, someone else in the congregation would start the clapping, although they did not feel the same urge in their hands that I did, instead just feeling like they wanted to honor or worship the Lord in that manner. And this applause would happen three of four times, with, or without me having started it. The process was repeatedly encouraged by the worship leader, who even occasionally directed us to do so at some point during the service. This form of worship actually has biblical support: "O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph" (Ps. 47:1, kjv; also see Ps. 98:8, Isa. 55:12;). Apparently, this is a form of worship that has been pretty much overlooked by the church, but now God seems to be introducing it back into the the worship services of the modern church.

So, this practice is what I discovered when visiting these other churches, only one of which was Charismatic. In five of them, the applause was completely spontaneous, occurring just at the close of one of the songs, happening once or twice during the services. In the sixth church, the clapping came at the direction of the pastor; he cited the concept of offering to God a clapping service, and then he would say something like, "Let's all stand and give the Lord an applause," and the people would do so. But this was not at all spontaneous. Apparently, the pastor had not yet realized that he could just encourage the people to respond as they felt lead. But in the other churches, I have not heard any leaders talk about this or mention it at all - it was all being prompted by the Holy Spirit, as far as I could tell. And what about the seventh church? They were a staunchly denominational church, not given to any movement coming from the people. But for the others, they did seem to be open to the movements of the Holy Spirit coming from the people, even if they were not actually recognized as being "Charismatic" or "Pentecostal" in any way.



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