EUGENE PETERSON, CORRUPT MESSAGE BIBLE, PAGAN ASSOCIATION WITH BONO, SAYS: TRUMP IS “THE ENEMY” WHO HAS “NO MORALS OR INTEGRITY”
HYPOCRITE: NOW Critical of Mega-Churches Who Have Used His Adulterated, Mangled “Message Bible”?
PETERSON & BONO: A PAGAN ASSOCIATION
Eugene Peterson: Donald Trump is ‘The Enemy’ Who Has ‘No Morals or Integrity’
BY
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Retired
Presbyterian Pastor Eugene Peterson issued a stinging criticism of
Donald Trump, saying the U.S. President is “the enemy” who has “no
morals” and “no integrity”.
“Donald Trump is the enemy as far as I’m concerned. He has no morals. He
has no integrity.”
He
added, “But I have good friends who think he’s wonderful. But I think
they put up with it less and less. People are getting pretty tired of
him, I think. Some of us were tired of him before he was elected. I
think we can put up with it, though. I don’t think it’s the end of the
road.”
endorsements within the evangelical community, including Paula White, a
televangelist and pastor of mega-church New Destiny Christian Center in
Florida, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., and Robert
Jeffress, the pastor First Baptist Church-Dallas. Overall, white
evangelical voters voted in high numbers for Trump, with 81 percent,
according to exit poll results.
John Piper, Russell Moore, who presides over the political arm of the
Southern Baptist Convention, and evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem
actively spoke out against Trump’s campaign, policies, and tactics.
in Bel Air for twenty-nine years, said he believes there’s a “whole
part” of the Christian church that “operates out of fear.”
contrary to the Gospel that Jesus brought to us,” he said. “I’m not
happy with that. As with Trump, I think we can survive that too.
Overall, I’m optimistic. That’s the short answer.”
homosexuality, telling the outlet that if he were stll pastoring, he
would perform a same-sex wedding if asked. Merritt notes that in “The Message,” Peterson doesn’t use the word “homosexual” and “homosexuality” in key texts.
popular author also said he doesn’t believe pastors today are “doing
their job”, as many churches are more concerned with increasing the
number of attendees than ministering to individuals.
because megachurches are not churches,” he said. “My feeling is that
when you’re a pastor, you know the people’s names. When 5,000 people
come into the church, you don’t know anybody’s name. I don’t think you
can be a pastor with just a bunch of anonymous people out there. In the
megachurch, well, there’s no relationship with anybody. I think the
nature of the church is relational. If you don’t know these people that
you’re praying with and talking with and listening to, what do you have?
I feel pretty strongly about that.”
“I just don’t think they’re churches,” he said. “They’re entertainment places.”
__________________________________________________
SEE ALSO:
“EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN” BONO AND U2 THE “PROPHETS OF GOD”
http://apprising.org/2007/06/23/evangelical-christian-bono-and-u2-the-prophets-of-god/
EXCERPT:
Here’s what Eugene Peterson says of U2 in the foreword to the spiritually silly book Get Up Off Your Knees, Preaching the U2 Catalog:
Is U2 a prophetic voice? I rather think so. And many of
my friends think so. If they do not explicitly proclaim the Kingdom,
they certainly prepare the way for that proclamation in much the same
way that John the Baptist prepared the way for the kerygma of Jesus…Amos
crafted poems, Jeremiah wept sermons, Isaiah alternately rebuked and
comforted, Ezekiel did street theater. U2 writes songs and goes on tour,
singing them.
THEN SEE:
The Rock Group U2
https://www.wayoflife.org/database/rockgroupu2.html
EXCERPTS:
““Bono played a far more
significant role on the formative years on those who became emergent
than anyone else, from a human standpoint. Bono, in the 1980s, was, if
not worshipped, then absolutely adored by millions of Christian youth
who were hanging on his every word. They saw his cool kind of
Christianity. He helped lead people into what eventually became the
emerging church. Bono has led people into a version of Christianity that
is so slippery, so undefinable, so liberal, yet he is considered the
main icon of the emerging church” (Joseph Schimmel, The Submerging Church, DVD, 2012).”
“Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, says U2 has a prophetic voice to the world and says Bono is a prophet like John the Baptist (foreword to Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog).”
“In fact, U2 is not a church and
rather is destitute of spiritual truth when judged biblically. That U2
is wildly popular with contemporary Christians is a fulfillment of the
apostasy described in 2 Timothy: “For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall
turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2
Timothy 4:3-4).”
“There is no evidence in U2’s lives, music, or performances that they honor the Word of God.”
“Though he speaks positively of
Romanism, Bono has nothing good to say about “fundamentalism,” falsely
claiming that it is a denial that God is love (Bono on Bono, p. 167) and calling it vile names (p. 147).”
“Bill Flanagan, a U2 friend who
has traveled extensively with the group, in his authorized biography
describes them as heavy drinkers and constant visitors to bars,
brothels, and nightclubs.”
“For their Vertigo Tour in 2005,
U2 promoted “Coexist” as an icon for world peace. Bono wore a “coexist”
headband that featured the cross of Christianity, the crescent moon of
Islam, and the star of David of Judaism: and he led the crowds in
shouting, “Jesus, Jew, Muhammad, it’s true; all sons of Abraham.””
This
short film documents the friendship between Bono (of the band U2) and
Eugene Peterson (author of contemporary-language Bible translation The
Message) revolving around their common interest in the Psalms. Based on
interviews conducted by Fuller Seminary faculty member David Taylor and
produced in association with Fourth Line Films, the film highlights in
particular a conversation on the Psalms that took place between Bono,
Peterson, and Taylor at Peterson’s Montana home.
The film is
featured exclusively through FULLER studio, a site offering
resources—videos, podcasts, reflections, stories—for all who seek deeply
formed spiritual lives. Explore these resources, on the Psalms and a
myriad of other topics, at http://Fuller.edu/Studio.
© Fuller Theological Seminary / Fuller Studio
a Fourth Line Films production, in association with Fuller’s Brehm Center Texas and W. David O. Taylor
Bono:
[Video
message, 2002] Mr. Peterson, Eugene, my name is Bono. I’m the singer
with the group U2 and wanted to video message you my thanks and our
thanks from the band for this remarkable work you’ve done. There’s been
some great translations, very literary translations, but no translation
that I’ve read that speaks to me in my own language, so I want to thank
you for that. Take a rest now, won’t you? Bye.
Eugene Peterson:
I’d
never heard of Bono before. Then one of my students showed up in class
with a copy of the Rolling Stones—Rolling Stones?—and in it there was an
interview with Bono in which he talked about me and The Message. He
used some slangy language about who I was, and I said, “Who’s Bono?”
They were dumbfounded I’d never heard of Bono, but that’s not the circle
I really travel in very much. That’s how I first heard about him.
Then
people started bringing me his music, and I listened to his music, and I
thought, “I like this guy.” After a while I started feeling quite
pleased that he knew me.
[Interview at Point Loma Nazarene University, 2007:]
Dean Nelson:
Yes, but the rest of the story is that he invited you to come and hang with them for a while. You turned him down.
Eugene Peterson:
I was pushing a deadline on The Message. I was finishing up the Old Testament at the time, and I really couldn’t do it.
Dean Nelson:
You
may be the only person alive who would turn down the opportunity just
to make a deadline. I mean, come on. It’s Bono, for crying out loud!
Eugene Peterson:
Dean, he was Isaiah.
Dean Nelson:
Yeah.
Jan Peterson:
The
Old Testament is a long, long book, much longer than the New Testament,
and it did take a long time and a lot of devotion on both of our parts
to have that happen.
Bono:
I have to say, in the last years,
Eugene’s writing has kept me as sane as this is, if you call it sane,
which you probably won’t. Run With the Horses, that’s a powerful manual
for me, and it includes a lot of incendiary ideas. I hadn’t really
thought of Jeremiah as a performance artist. Why do we need art? Why do
we need the lyric poetry of the Psalms? Why do we need them? Because the
only way we can approach God is if we’re honest through metaphor,
through symbol. Art becomes essential, not decorative. I learned about
art, I learned about the Prophets, I learned about Jeremiah with that
book, and that really changed me.
Eugene Peterson:
Then
several years later…This was about 4 years ago, 4 or 5 years
ago…Bono would like Jan and me to come to Dallas for a concert. We
went to the concert. He was very sensitive to us. We were really well
cared for, had really good seats. I’d never seen a mash pit before. That
was my introduction to the mash pit. Is it a pit?
(Voice off camera):
It’s a mosh pit.
Eugene Peterson:
Mosh pit. Okay. You can see how uneducated I am in this world.
We
had a 3-hour lunch. We just had a lovely conversation. It was very
personal, relational. He didn’t put me on any kind of a pedestal, and I
didn’t him, so we were very natural with each other. Through that 3-hour
conversation, I was just really taken by the simplicity of his life, of
who he was, who he is. There was no pretension to him. At that point I
just felt like he was a companion in the faith.
[About U2’s song “40,” based on Psalm 40:]
I
think it’s one of his best ones. He sings it a lot. I mean, he does
this a lot. It’s one of the songs that reaches into the hurt and
disappointment and difficulty of being a human being. It acknowledges
that in language that is immediately recognizable. There’s something
that reaches into the heart of a person and the stuff we all feel but
many of us don’t talk about.
Bono:
[Quoting from The Message’s translation of Psalm 40:]
I
waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked. Finally he
listened. He lifted me out of the ditch. He pulled me from deep mud,
stood me up on a solid rock to make sure that I wouldn’t slip. He taught
me how to sing the latest God-song…