Has Tim LaHaye?

Has Tim LaHaye lost his mind?

I was flipping through the channels on my tv the other night and when I came to TBN, who do you think I saw? I saw Grant Jefferies, Benny Hinn, and Tim LaHaye. In fact, LaHaye was sitting on the couch right beside Hinn. Shaking his head in agreement with Hinn and Jefferies (who wrote a whole book telling us how Y2K was a fulfillment of prophecy).

Whatever happened to doctrinal purity? Whatever happened to the truth?

I am very disappointed.

 

I have known, for more than a few years, that LaHaye was not a theology scholar. His inconsistant views, his never ending "FICTION" series, his taking advantage of public events to promote his views, and other things made me leary of LaHaye some time ago. What really "pushed me over the edge" was his amazon.com endorsement of Dave Hunt's horrible anti-Calvinism book "What Love Is This". Even those Christians who are not Calvinists should be outraged by Hunt's constant errors and poor argumentation. However that did not stop LaHaye from endorsing the book. I wonder if he has even read the thing. His apperance on TBN the other night was just icing on the cake. I have seen him on tv with questionable folks before, in fact I think I once saw him on Benny Hinn's tv show. Personally I believe he is probably making a lot of money and he enjoys the large crowds.

One other problem I have with LaHaye is that he causes serious Bible students, who are pre-tribulational, to have to constantly deal with his craziness. Some Christians who are not pre-tribulational use LaHaye's follies as a weapon to bash all pre-tribulationists over the head (just like they use Jack Van Impe). I, and other serious pre-tribulationalists, are tired of defending ourselves from accusations that we follow Tim LaHaye's teachings. We don't! LaHaye's "Left Behind" books have also caused many Christians to get lazy in their Bible study. After all, they figure, why do we need to study Bible prophecy the hard way when we can pick up a "fun" novel and read it! Such thinking, I assure you, is tragic and dangerous. One example: I recall a few years ago being in a local Christian bookstore when I heard a fellow customer ask for a book on prophecy. The girl who was working in the store walked the lady over to the shelf next to where I was standing. What was on that shelf? Left Behind novels (FICTION)! When the customer asked the girl for non-fiction instead of a fictional novel, the girl actually said "we don't carry those". I was stunned. Why? Because right behind me, less than five feet from this girl, was an entire section of non-fiction books on Bible prophecy (from different points of view). The customer wanted to learn about prophecy and all this poor girl knew about prophecy was Tim LaHaye. I am sorry, but that bothers me. Too many people, like that girl, read LaHaye's book and think it is correct. They forget that the books are nothing but LaHaye's understanding and Jenkin's fiction.

 

==I only wish that were the case :wavey: .

 

==They were talking about Bible prophecy. I would never agree to be on the same show (etc) as Hinn (unless I was debating him). Why? Because by appearing with him I would be, like it or not, endorsing him. That is what LaHaye did. By being on that show with Hinn and Jeffery, LaHaye was endorsing those two. There may very well be people out there who normally would not follow Grant Jeffery who will now simply because they trust LaHaye. People with influence must be very careful how they present themselves. Teaming up with a false teacher is never a good idea.

 

==Appearing on TBN is not the problem. I think we should get as many orthodox teachers on there as we can. The problem is sitting on the show with Hinn and Jeffery and acting like they are good Bible teachers/preachers. There is nothing wrong with being interviewed by or allowing your show to appear on TBN. However there is a lot wrong with sitting there acting like you agree with someone like Benny Hinn. As I said, I would never appear on the same show as Hinn (unless it was to debate him).

I would point out, however, that strong teachers rarely get asked to be on TBN for any reason (John MacArthur, etc).