All Posts Tagged "false witness"

This 2011 book is one of a series of four addressing criticisms by Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes. This book addresses three areas in which they have borne false witness related to our appeals to the courts for relief from libel:

• their accusation that the local churches are litigious;
• their claim that the local churches drove Spiritual Counterfeits Project into bankruptcy; and
• their misrepresentation of many aspects of the case over the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions.

Brothers, Hear Our Defense is a series of four books correcting many errors in an article by Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes. The subjects that these books deal with—the authority of the Bible, the incarnation of Christ, the nature of God, the state of Christendom measured against the Bible—are important matters deserving consideration by all serious Christians.

In an attempt to scandalize fellow believers, Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes strung together a series of quote fragments in a way that completely misrepresented Witness Lee’s biblical critique of the deviations from the biblical patternof the system of organized Christianity that has developed over the centuries. This article examines the true nature and content of that critique as well as the attitude of Witness Lee and the local churches toward fellow believers in Christ.

An evaluation of the accusation that the local churches are “litigious.” That accusation was based on false claims of legal threats with respect to Christian Research Institute, James Bjornstad and Regal Books, Salem Kirban, Jerram Barrs and InterVarsity Press, and Moody Press. The local churches’ application of an appropriate standard for considering legal action is evident also in dealings with Jesus People USA and Geisler and Rhodes themselves. While Geisler and Rhodes condemn the local churches for their appeals to the courts, they do not criticize those who have borne false witness against us and have, in fact, joined with them in propagating falsehoods.

Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes repeated a falsehood that is accepted as axiomatic among some countercult apologists, namely, that the local churches drove SCP into bankruptcy. From source documents this article looks at the actual causes and motivating factors behind SCP’s bankruptcy declaration.

An examination of how Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes misrepresented the subject and scope of the libel lawsuit over the Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions, the content of that book, and of the court’s decision in the case.