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Saturday, September 18, 2010

Is the Eastwood Church's New Motto "Perjury, not Purity"?

The Eastwood Church, which is the church home of serial perjurers Joal and Sarah Henke, likes to fashion itself as part of the "Emergent Church" movement which claims to emphasize "deeds, not creeds." That is a nice way of saying that the church has a pretty nebulous belief system into which a lot of heresy can be stuffed.

I recently visited its website and read its "mission" statement, and in reading it, I can see how Joal and Sarah believe they are justified by their lies, and there is nothing in Eastwood's "mission" that contradicts that point. An especially telling paragraph states:
Jesus was extremely critical of the religious leaders of His day because they set rules above relationships. We desire to follow in His footsteps and place people above these man-made rules -- whether they are cultural, traditional, or religious.
This sounds good on the surface, but it actually undercuts the Gospel and it certainly can be used as a tool for deceitful, predatory people like Joal Henke. I will explain why I believe that.

Jesus did not speak out against the Law, no matter how much the Emergents want us to believe He did. Furthermore, He did not condemn the Pharisees and other religious leaders for following the Law; he condemned them for breaking the spirit of the Law, for placing the rules that made up their interpretations of the Law above the Law itself.

This is much different than what the Eastwood people want us to believe. They want us to think that as long as we claim to have a "relationship" with Jesus, then everything else is fine. The fact that a number of Eastwood members refused even to look at the evidence and instead blindly followed Joal and Sarah -- despite their obvious perjury -- seems to be living proof that they don't consider things like "truth" to be relevant. In the Emergent view, "truth" is relative; it is subordinate to relationships, and because of it, one can justify almost any behavior that clearly violates the Law of God.

As I am going to point out in future posts, there is no question that the Henkes lied on the stand. They were part of a prosecution strategy that kept introducing "new, I just remembered" material in an attempt to fill the obvious holes in the prosecution's evidence against Tonya Craft. Furthermore, Sarah kept a Facebook page up during the whole trial in which her featured picture was that of her holding Tonya's daughter, claiming that the child was her own.

This, people, is sick, sick, sick. It is evil. It is a woman being willing to lie in a court of law in an attempt to steal the child of another woman, and receiving encouragement from her church in telling those lies.

However, because the lies were about "relationships," the Eastwood Church swallowed the falsehoods whole and justified the action with its "mission" statement. The members of that church fool no one other than themselves, and they certainly don't fool God.

So, if the Eastwood Church needs a new motto, it can be: "Perjury, not Purity."

16 comments:

kbp said...

Re-writing is what allowed the pigs to sleep in the beds, as I recall.

Lame said...

Excellent post today, Dr. Anderson.

Yes, many evangelical, so-called protestant churches these days have fallen prey to the highly erroneous concept that the Law does not matter. You are correct in stating that Jesus never spoke against the Law. Not only did He not speak against the Law, he repeatedly spoke of His fulfilling the Law.

The Law is perfect. It is unchanging. The Law reflects God's character. It is and has forever been. Moses didn't walk down off of the cloud-covered mountain with two tablets and that was the beginning of it all. No. Adam and Eve knew the Law in the Garden of Eden. Abraham knew it. That's why there is a difference between God's Law (the 10 Commandments) and the law of Moses (also known as the ceremonial law).

The Commandments have been in existance since before the Earth was even created. Satan broke them, and it was his unrepentance that got him and 1/3 of the angels cast out of Heaven. When Adam sinned, God established a set of ceremonial laws, the purpose of which was to point forward to the coming of Christ. When a person sinned, they were required to sacrifice an animal, with themselves cutting open the neck of an innocent lamb. Its purpose was to show the consequences of sin, pointing towards the ultimate sacrifice. When Christ died on the cross, the need for the example was done away with. The "Lamb which takes away the sins of the world" had been sacrificed. We, living after Christ's death and resurrection have no need to look forward. Rather, we look back to the supreme sacrifice, Christ, who the creator of the world, gave His as a sacrifice. We look at our sins, and we know that it just like those who slit the throat of an innocent little lamb, we have driven the nails into innocent hands.

Lame said...

Part 2

The 10 Commandments, however, they were not part of the law that pointed to Christ's sacrifice. Rather, they are now as they always have been, God's, even Christ's own character put into words. He who is perfect, that is Christ alone, does not allow anything to come between the Father and him in their relationship. He does not lie, nor does He claim to be righteous and then behave unrighteously, need an object or place of pilgrimage or confessional booth in order to commune with His Father. He respects all people. He does not want what is not his, nor take without earning. He does not destroy that which is not wicked (which has in-effect committed suicide by rejecting Him). He denies selfish inclinations towards sexual impurity, drunkeness or gluttony. He shows that God is His master by refraining from creative work on the Sabbath.

The idea, deeds not creeds, that smacks of righteousness by works. Paul very clearly states that faith and faith alone is what connects us to our Savior. We do not make ourselves perfect. We do not make ourselve even a little bit righteous, no, not one bit. All, not just part, ALL of the righteousness that is within us comes to us through faith. We give ourselves wholly over to Him and Christ becomes our righteousness. We have no goodness, not one bit, on our own. Even the most seemingly-selfless act is still tainted by self. We give to charity or volunteer, or whatever else because it makes us feel good, or we expect some reward; there is always in the back of our minds, some selfish motivation for every single thing we do, save one, and that is to ask God to completely take over. In order to accept salvation, in order to accept the gift that came out of Christ's sacrifice, we must ourselves sacrifice self. That cannot be done through "deeds." It is, yes, creeds that saves us. God and His people have a covenant, a creed--"if you obey my Commandments, and accept the advice of my prophets, then I will be your God, and you will be my people." So, yes, Dr. Anderson, this "emergant" movement does seem very dangerous, indeed. It is most certainly NOT Protestant in its origins. It is exactly the same kind of error that Martin Luther spoke out against: man cannot make himself righteous by good works.

KC Sprayberry said...

Protestant churches aren't the only ones to have strayed. Those who administer their flocks have become more interested in keeping the more influential members of their churches happy than creating waves. Therefore, if another person within any community upsets those influential people, the church goes along with that anger without looking to the true evidence. The first step to stopping these sins is for a minister to stand aside of monetary concerns, to stop trying to be better than their neighbors, and mostly, to stop catering to the few elite and hold their congregations to the standards set out in the Bible rather than those set by man. That won't happen in this area any time soon, as churches are held to a different standard, a standard which allows those attending to do as they please and walk into a service and proclaim their 'sin' then receive absolution. What those individuals do after they leave the service will, of course, be forgiven without thought the next time they walk through the doors. This kind of do as you please for there is no reason to worry type of attitude continues to foster the idea people like the Henke's can get away with lying and destroying other people's lives while stealing what is most important to them. However, while we may never see true justice in this lifetime, the Henke's will face their multitude of sins when they face the Creator. Hold peace in that.

Anonymous said...

Sounds a little cult-ish to me. I just did a little reading into their "life groups" and other items & quite frankly, it sounds as if they have no care for what Jesus has taught us. Like it's their rules, not His. Interesting. I think I would like to visit one Sunday to see a little more. Just once though & I will be able to tell.

You are absolutely correct Bill by saying that you would be punished or excommunicated & those would be the proper acts for a church to take. I have been visiting different churches for the last year & every one I go to to has the same theme. Money, money, money. There is little to no teaching of the Bible & what little is taught, always ends with money. I've been doing this to get the feel of different denominations. The Baptist churches I have visited seem to be the worst violaters of this. I firmly believe in bringing people to Christ & His teachings, but it seems as if it's all about the #'s. Whether it's the amount of people or the dollar amount, it all seems twisted.

I love the Presbyterian & Methodist churches the most. They have more dignity & respect for the teachings of Christ & the Holy Bible. They will punish & hold people responsible for their actions & they will also bend over backwards to help anyone who may be straying. It's not the "in your face" approach, nor is it the fear mongering that goes on at other churches I've visited. It's teaching, which is what it is supposed to be.

Unfortunately though, our local churches are not in it for people to grow spiritually & have knowledge. The churches that the "players" of Tonya's fiasco attend, have no care or concern for their flocks, just the select few. I don't understand it.

I think next Sunday I will make a little visit to Eastwood, maybe even try to get in their minds a little. I will pray my butt off before I go though, because as I said, I see them as almost a cult. I'm strong in my beliefs, so I don't fear them "getting to me", I will just ask God's forgiveness for stepping into a den of liars & thieves.

Anonymous said...

Very Enlightening post, Dr Anderson.
A point that comes to me from this post is the wisdom of Solomon, with the two women, both claiming they were the biological mother of the infant. In his wisdom, he knew that the real mother would rather give the child up than to have it dead. Here again, we have two women claiming to be "Mommy." One is undisputedly the biological mother, the other is an imposter. I am sure if Solomon's wisdom was once again employed, only Tonya would answer the call, Sarah would only see it as, "well, if I can't have her, then neither can she."

Besides, isn't Sarah's own baby about to be born. She will soon have more than her share of grief if Lying "Joal's" history repeats itself.

As to the rest of the post. It is my understand from the studies that I have done that the 10 commandments were in fact God's Laws, as pointed out by the earlier poster. Moses was given numerous laws, when he was on the Mount, He was given The Law's of God (10 commandments) which can never be broken, and also ceremonial laws (sacrificial laws, which were fulfilled with Christ's being the ultimate sacfrifice.)

A scripture comes to mind where the Eastwood Church is concerned.

Proverbs 14:12
American King James Version
There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Anderson.I offer you a continual 'thank you' for information you are still providing re:Tonya and all those connected with the persecution of her.I find it unbelievable that judicial official and other 'players' in this fiasco are pretty much 'washing their hands' or refusing to provide concrete answers to put closure to this whole mess.No one seems to have enough backbone to stand up to say 'Yes,Hamilton County,WE screwed up. WE should NOT deny Tonya HER children but WE SHOULD provide the biological father supervised visits because of the mental strain he inflicted upon these children.'Say Amen and call it done with. CJ

below said...

"And once they make friends with these normal, successful people, what are they going to do when they run into some smartass like the Internet commenters above, who talk about how only retarded sheeple believe that garbage? They stand up for the group, that's what.

It's not even about defending the beliefs at that point, it's about defending their friends. And mindlessly doing things because all our friends do them is pretty much 90 percent of what society is."

Go to #4 in this article. (the article is not talking about Dr. Anderson)

http://www.cracked.com/article/85_6-bullshit-facts-about-psychology-that-everyone-believes/

Trish said...

Just a quick update, my son goes to court this Wed. the 22nd. Please keep our family in your prayers, that his children will be restored to him. Thank you.

kbp said...

Trish,

Yous and your son have my thoughtd

...from miles away!

Trish said...

kbp, thank you so much!!!

Doc Ellis 124 said...

Shared.

Thank you for writing this

Doc Ellis 124

Anonymous said...

Eastwood should come to the court date and see what all Joal has done to be exposed! I thought it was biblical to go and face those that have "wronged". As far as I know many of these "christian" people knew Tonya and have never gone to her to see get any version other than the fork-tongued Joal Henke's. Now that is not only unbiblical but just downright ignorant. I wouldn't go to this chuch if you paid me and everyone there should take a long hard look at the leaders of this "church". It is not wonder they were released from the Baptist organization. These people disgust me and if that is what being a christian means - I want no part of it!

Anonymous said...

One of the things that totally turned my stomach during that entire trial was Sarah Bass Henke's Facebook page. That was the absolute most horrible, insensitive thing for anyone who calls themselves a "christian" to do. How dare she flaunt someone else's child like that, with the sole intent of hurting a person who she knew she and her husband (among many others) were falsely trying to send to prison. I don't personally know anyone who was involved in this trial, but I can and will tell you that this woman makes me sick. Oh, and the bible verses on every other status. She gives christianity a bad name. YUK.

Anonymous said...

Geez...I wonder what time they pass out the Kool-Aid and start handling the snakes...

Anonymous said...

Here is a question that people should be asking. How was Joal Henke living in the house he is in when he did not actually buy it? I believe there are stipulations to occupancy under certain federal loans.

Why is noone doing anything about this?