L-R: Benny Hinn, Brian McLaren, Kenneth Copeland, Ruth Haley Barton, Richard Rohr

In 1971, the Temptations recorded a rather long (more than 12-minutes) rendition of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong’s song, “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” for Motown. The same year, Norman Whitfield produced a version of the song edited down to about 3:20, performed by The Undisputed Truth. That version reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B charts. The premise of the song is simple: you cannot trust someone just because they are smiling:

Smiling faces sometimes
Pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces
Of the evil that lurks within (Can you dig it?)

Verse two adds some additional sad info:

Let me tell ya
The truth is in the eyes
‘Cause the eyes don’t lie, amen
Remember, a smile is just a frown
Turned upside down, my friend
So hear me when I’m sayin’ ¹Lyrics for The Undisputed Truth version

It isn’t a Christian song per se, and yet it well reflects similar biblical warnings. For example, it is a theme in Proverbs 26:

The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
    they go down into the inner parts of the body.
Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel
    are fervent lips with an evil heart.
Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips
    and harbors deceit in his heart;
when he speaks graciously, believe him not,
    for there are seven abominations in his heart; (Proverbs 26:22–26 )

Jesus issued a similar dire warning in Matthew 7:15-23, beginning with the words:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

Pretty scary stuff.  In His description, Jesus informs people that false prophets often have the outward appearance of being caring servants of God, giving prophecies in His name, performing miracles, and even casting out demons in His name, but they should not be trusted, as they were merely giving twisted lip service to alleged truth, with a smile, but a darkened heart. In the end, He will say to them:

‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:23b)

Many Christians tend to be trusting, especially when someone comes to us highly recommended by fellow Christian people we believe are trustworthy, “talking Jesus.” Most likely, these friends think they are giving us good information, but have been “taken in” themselves by another well-meaning person. The late Gwen Shamblin, for example, was invited into churches under the pretense of presenting a Christian weight-loss program. She was energetic, smiling, and encouraging, offering people the Christian key to “Christian weight loss.”

Time out! Right now, we are going to give you – free of charge – the secret to Christian and non-Christian weight loss, for that matter, revealed to us long ago by our friend, Penny’s Dad, Cliff.

If it tastes oh so good, spit it out…if it’s marginal to “OK,” eat all you want!  Now you cannot say we never gave ya nothin’…

Shamblin was featured on television shows and in Christian and secular magazines and had a best-selling weight-loss book with Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher. But, as it turns out, no one thought to check her Bible teaching that allegedly backed up her claims. The churches mostly just trusted her, as they sometimes do,  and no one worried too much because it was “just a harmless weight-loss program for women.”

Turns out it wasn’t truly so harmless as it might have seemed, though. We first heard of her in August of 2000 when we received a call asking about her online doctrinal statement. Wait a minute; a Christian Diet Guru’s “doctrinal statement???” After reviewing it, I (Don) called and was able to speak directly with Gwen. Can’t say she was “hush hush…” in a few minutes’ time, she unashamedly denied the deity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, and salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Her program was at that time in 30,000 churches across more than 60 denominations and was trusted – because she seemed at first glance to be a legitimate and genuine Christian and had a “smiling face and bubbly personality.” (It’s a well-known fact that all or at least the vast majority of genuine Christians are smiley and bubbly) We may opine that she didn’t have such a ready smile when she hung up the phone, but we don’t know that for sure.

We posted a press release, and Christianity Today picked it up and called her to verify what we had pointed out. She affirmed it was true, and she went on to say that “Women don’t care about doctrine; they just want to lose weight.” C.T. published her comments, and the exodus of Christian women from her program began immediately! As it turns out, women did care more about doctrine than weight loss. Who would have known?  Her following dropped to just around five hundred over the following weeks. But we should ask ourselves, how had she gotten into so many churches in the first place? According to her “Remnant Fellowship Introductory Video, 2000,” for 20 years, her plan was to sneak into the “back door” of the churches. With a smile, of course. And a bubble or two. And so she did! We shall take this opportunity to lovingly recommend that no more “back doors” should be allowed in the churches! Only fire escape hatches – perhaps guarded 24-7!

This sneak attack on centuries-held essential doctrine is certainly not a one-time event, nor is it limited to “women’s ministry,” not needing doctrinal vetting. We can’t leave the back door open to any of our churches’ ministries. Around the same time, a little-known Franciscan friar named Richard Rohr rose to prominence in the Emerging Church movement. Rohr is a Panentheist who teaches that human beings have never been separated from God by sin; we have instead created a false self that has deceived us into merely believing we are separated from God. According to Rohr, there is no difference between being a Christian, a Hindu, or a Buddhist, etc., because God is in and through everything. We are all in God, allegedly, and He is in us. Everything is one, and everything is divine. Well, aint that sweet?! He didn’t sneak in any true church’s “back door,” but must’ve gotten in through the sewers!

Rohr helped emerging leaders progress out of Christianity, and it wasn’t long before we began seeing Rohr’s ideas surfacing in Brian McLaren’s books, where he wrote that he wouldn’t try to lead a Buddhist to Christianity but rather help him or her be the best Buddhist he or she can be. What a lovely and sweetly inclusive lie! According to Rohr, we Christians should stop trying to figure out who is in (saved) and who is out (unsaved). We can only guess that Jesus must’ve only truly died for people He (and evidently they) mistakenly thought were sinners in need of a savior.

Rohr had embraced the occult “tool” of the Enneagram as the way for people to get back to the realization that you are and have always been with God. He taught it to several people, including Suzanne Stabile and Ian Cron. Their book, The Road Back to You, was published by Intervarsity Press (IVP), a supposedly Christian publisher, in 2016. It quickly spread through churches as the go-to tool for “self-understanding” and spiritual growth. Pastors were using it as a nine-week sermon series, “discipleship,” and marriage counseling material. Within three years, books promoting the Enneagram were being published not only by IVP but by Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, and other “reliable” publishers. There was money in them thar hills! Truly sad. We, Marcia Montenegro and others, contacted all of these publishers and sent evidence of the Enneagram’s origins, worldview, and teachings, and they all ignored it. The deception was and remains deeply rooted, and it is now being taught in Christian colleges and universities. In all seriousness, it’s a terrible shame, and the true church must start paying attention to what their parishioners are being taught by scoundrels; however, these may attain access!

The examples we could give are endless, and many are not really new. Eastern mysticism, Contemplative Prayer promoted by Ruth Haley Barton, John Marks Comer, and others. Then there is Word Faith (Keneth Copeland and Benny Hinn), New Apostolic Reformation (Bethel Redding), New Thought, and other false religious views have established roots in churches as biblical literacy continues to wane.

Even as we write this, we are reminded that the Apostle Paul described what we are witnessing in our day:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7)

“Having the appearance of godliness but denying its power…” Churches and individual Christians must wake up to these dangers, or many more Churches and Christians will be led astray. Deception can be avoided by being trained in the

Word of God and exercising discernment. Christians, please take the time to learn what your Bible teaches, not what some scoundrel can make sound so good and all-inclusive. Why would Jesus have died for us all if everyone was already in the heaven-bound boat, but just didn’t know it? Paul directed the Ephesian elders to guard themselves and the flock – and prevent false teachers and their heretical ideas from creeping in, and also from leading and/or convincing individuals who might rise up within the church – having read a really, really good and inclusive book! – and drag many away! (Acts 20:28-31)

In other words, do not allow yourselves to be deceived by smiling faces and deceptive words, because all too often, they lie and don’t tell the truth!Ω

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