Hearing all this "Deep Throat" stuff made me think about secrets. The Apostle Paul tells us that his unique gospel for Jews and Gentiles today had been kept a secret by God since the world began!

"Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel," Paul writes in Rom. 16, "and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith."

Satan wants Paul's grace program to be a big secret and he deceives preachers into teaching from the Old Testament and the Four Gospels as if the directives given to Israel under their Jewish prophetic law program apply specifically to members of the Body of Christ.

The Rev. Rick Warren, for one—the guy I've been writing about who has the best-seller, "The Purpose-Driven Life"—is full of misinformation.

Here's just one example from his book:

"The Great Commission…This is your commission from Jesus, and it's not optional. These words of Jesus are not the 'Great Suggestion.' If you are a part of God's family, your mission is mandatory. To ignore it would be disobedience…Many Christians have missed God's plan for their lives because they have never even asked God if he wanted them to serve as missionaries somewhere . . . Whether out of fear or ignorance they've closed their minds to serving as a resident missionary in a cross-cultural location."

Obviously Warren is very sure of himself and wants us to feel tremendous guilt if we haven't done everything possible to go abroad and preach the gospel. He even writes, "I urge you to save and do whatever it takes to participate in a short-term mission trip overseas as soon as possible…The Great Commission is your commission. Jesus said, 'Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live!' "

To set Warren straight, what Jesus Christ said in Mark 16: 15-18 (used as a primary passage to define the so-called "Great Commission") was,

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
"They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
"And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen."

How does a person reconcile these "marching orders," given "unto the eleven" apostles (Mark 16:14), with reality? Huh, Warren?

In another passage, Matt. 10: 5-10 (regarded as Jesus Christ's first great commission), Christ charges "these twelve,"

"And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.
"Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses,
"Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat."

Obviously this just doesn't work! That's because it was instruction for the 12 apostles at a crucial time in Israel's history before its fall leading to the rise of the Gentiles, which Paul lets us know is the "secret" program in effect today.

"Where is the man of God who can perform the miracles which the believers wrought under the 'Great Commission'?" argues now-deceased Bible scholar C.R. Stam in his booklet, "God's Plan of Salvation Made Plain" ("Little wonder the Church is confused and divided! In this 20^th century, the majority of our spiritual leaders are still working under the wrong commission! They have forgotten or have never fully realized that God ushered in a new dispensation with the Apostle Paul.

"They have failed to observe that after man had failed under the Law; after he had failed to respond even to the call to repentance, God set aside the twelve apostles and raised up another apostle and gave him the greatest commission of all, sending him forth with a proclamation of salvation by grace through faith alone."

As Stam further explains in his book, "Things That Differ" (available at www.bereanbiblesociety.org ),

"It was God's revealed purpose to bless the world through the rise of Israel (Isa. 60:1-3) and this purpose is yet to be accomplished. But it was God's hidden purpose to bless the world through the fall of Israel, and this is now being accomplished (Rom. 11:11, 12, 15).