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She was right at one time, but not anymore.

The Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale is a pretty good sized edifice, taking in 19.6 million annually, of which 750K is spent on fundraising. Their affiliated media outlet brings in over 37 million, of which 3 million is spent on fundraising. Those fundraising percentages are on the high side.

Kennedy himself has strayed off into the territory of preaching about a notion of the "Christian Zodiac", a definite heresy, and has apparently been dabbling in "Bible Codes" as well. As for his connections with the reprehensible Crouches of TBN, the connections run very deep, and include him pimping his astrology book as a love gift for a donation, making griftathon appearances on the set of TBN, and providing his pulpit at Coral Ridge as a platform for Paul and Jan Crouch. See criticisms by Hank Hanegraaf.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

Hmmm. I think I will do some research myself. I haven't paid attention to the Crouches for the last few years, since we got a satellite dish. Once in a while when I was up late theirs was the only show on and I used to use it for background noise (although occasionally they had good guest musicians).

If that is true about Kennedy I am quite disppointed to hear it. Methinks maybe television has a corrupting influence on an awful lot of pastors.

To your credit, one of the links you provided says this:

In the interest of simplicity, the criticism against the Gospel in the Stars (GIS) theory has been reduced to three points and answered as follows:

1. GIS is a denial of the formal principle of the Protestant Reformation Sola Scriptura. This is a misunderstanding not only of GIS, but also of Sola Scriptura. With Sola Scriptura, the Reformers were protesting church traditions when they declared that the Bible alone was sufficient to make us wise unto salvation. They never suggested that God’s creation played absolutely no part in the Gospel. In fact, to suggest that God reveals himself by the things he has made is a blatant Scriptural notion found plainly in Romans 1 and Psalm 19 and taught clearly by Reformed theologians from John Calvin to B.B. Warfield. It is called general revelation (creation) as opposed to special revelation (the Bible). While general revelation is sufficient to pronounce guilt, it is not sufficient to produce salvation; that is the task of special revelation (the Bible). Nowhere in the book or series of The Real Meaning of the Zodiac does Dr. Kennedy say otherwise.

GIS confuses special and general revelation. Again, this is a misunderstanding of the definition and purpose of general and special revelation. The universal guilt of mankind is revealed not only by Holy Scripture (Genesis 1-3) but also by the failure of man to acknowledge the revelation of God in His creation:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20 nkjv).

This is the role of general revelation. Dr. Kennedy merely uses the constellations to point people to Christ. This function is complimentary to both the Westminster Confession and the plain teaching of Scripture.

GIS pours superstitious meanings into the arrangement of the stars. This is a mischaracterization of what Dr. Kennedy is saying. To point out how the constellations point to elements in the biblical record is hardly what most Christians would call “superstitious.” Even if you don’t agree with the GIS conclusions it by no means follows that such conclusions are “superstitious.”

In summary: The notion that Dr. Kennedy is teaching heresy is ridiculous, at best, to even a casual observer of his ministry. Aside from his earned theological degrees and his doctorate in comparative religions from New York University, he has also accrued 42 years of public teaching and 26 years of broadcast ministry. He has earned a reputation for defending strict orthodoxy. To be accused of “blasphemous heresy” shows both a lack of theological training and a gross misunderstanding of the actual contents of the book and series.

Dr. Kennedy urges those concerned about this matter to obtain a copy of the book and discover for themselves whether the message contained in The Real Meaning of the Zodiac is contrary to Scripture. After reading it, or listening to the messages on the audio series, if they believe it is in conflict with Scriptures, he welcomes comments and criticism in that regard. As he has stated:

If anybody finds something in these messages that is contrary to the Scriptures, I hope the first thing they will do will be to pick up a phone and give me a call, or write me a letter or e-mail, and tell me what it is in there that they think is contrary to the Bible, or is heretical. I have yet to have anybody show me anything in my book or my messages that is contrary to the Bible or heretical.

Dr. Kennedy has chosen to postpone the previously scheduled airing of The Real Meaning of the Zodiac series at this time. The reason for this is primarily to take the requisite time and reflection to fashion a proper response. As of now, the series will air at a future date, possibly with some direct responses of these criticisms from Dr. Kennedy.

Thank you for noting this change and the reasons for it. We are immensely grateful for your standing with us during this totally unfounded personal attack on Dr. Kennedy. You may be certain that we will attempt to resolve this matter according to Scriptural principles, and we will advise you when that has been successful.

Sincerely yours and His,

Tom Rogeberg
Executive Vice President
and Chief Operating Officer

You have accused Dr. Kennedy of "definite heresy". Back it up, or please desist.

Why do you say that that fundraising ratios are "on the high side"? What standard are you using to make that value judgment?

Cordially,

See criticisms by Hank Hanegraaf.

Why don't you do some research on Hank? This guy has made a living out of bashing other ministries instead of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. He has good info on cults, but he frequently rips legitimate christian ministries, if their theology doesn't exactly match his opinions. He's more harmful than anything else, so please don't use his opinions as justification for your suspect views.