What’s with Lilly popping up everywhere? I’m not talking about pretty flowers, I'm talking about the Lilly Endowment."The Endowment has focused on supporting programs and projects that address four broad questions: How do we identify, recruit and call forth a new generation of talented Christian pastors? How do we best prepare and train new ministers for effective and faithful pastoral leadership?... When well-prepared, thoughtful, imaginative, able and caring pastors lead congregations, these communities of faith tend to thrive....
"In summary, the Endowment supports efforts ... to support scholars and educators who seek to help the American people better understand contemporary religion and the role it plays in our public and personal lives; and to strengthen the contributions that religious ideas, practices, values and institutions make to the common good of our society."
- www.crossroad.to
At first glance, that might smell like roses. But if you look closely at all the things Lilly supports, you will begin to notice a skunk cabbage odor. They have also funded Faith at Work...
“Under the leadership of Faith at Work, and with some funding assistance from the Lilly Endowment, a series of clergy conferences was held in the spring of 1970 in six American centers.... The result was the Leadership Training (Development) Program which was launched with another grant from the Lilly Endowment.... The objectives of self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-delight, of group building, and of discerning gifts governed the institute program. Here as elsewhere there was an effort to fuse Biblical faith with insights from the behavioral sciences.See the other things Lilly Endowment has funded here, scroll about ¾ down:
"The Seminarian Program was a further effort to share the relational life style and the Faith at Work witness with denominations and local churches. ...
"The matter of 'change' itself had changed. When Sam Shoemaker talked about 'getting changed,' he meant originally being converted.... Faith at Work... now saw conversion as initiating a series of changes in all areas of personhood: the conceptual, confessional volitional, physical, emotional and relational....”
-www.crossroad.to
http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/templeton.htm
The Lilly Endowment also “supports community development, education and religion," has also helped fund the Drucker Foundation. But more recently, it has shown its support for Baptist leadership and pastoral training. Strangely enough, the two -- Druckers communitarian vision for the "social sector" and seminary training in community-building -- fit together.”
(See HERE)
Another intriguing thought is that Lilly is behind introducing contemplative spirituality into the church. This Special Commentary on the Emerging Church says it’s funny how that name keeps popping up – Lilly Endowment. I’ll say it is. Not only did they fund the very contemplative ministry experiment called Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project(in 1997), the founder, Eli Lilly, is somehow involved with the Prozac thing (more here).
Lilly’s name has been popping up everywhere behind the scenes for a while now. I noticed it a while back.
Lilly funded Alan Roxburgh (mentor to Brian McLaren). Lilly also gave $15,000 to the Eastern Mennonite Seminary to build a labyrinth. Meanwhile, another Mennonite seminary (MBBS) puts on a contemplative course, also sponsored by Lilly, called Ministry Quest. And what do these Lilly projects all have in common? Spiritual formation and contemplative spirituality. (You can see more about those here.)
Speaking of the Mennonites, in 2001, Goshen College was among the first 20 colleges to receive a five-year grant from the religion division of Lilly Endowment. The Goshen grant is called the CALL project, which sponsored a Brian McLaren visit to the college (see here).
Wow. It's a dilly of a lilly deal. If your church or seminary wants money, programs and popularity, sign up with Lilly. She's very contemporary and attractive, you know. You don't even need to depend on God or His Word. It seems to me, if there’s something in your church or Christian organization that gives you bad vibes, you may want to read the fine print to see if Lilly is involved.
I don’t know about you, but I like real lilies better.
6 comments:
Don't let anyone convince you there's no "agenda" that's being deliberately and meticulously implemented and followed toward a sinister end.
Yes, it's kind of crazy, isn't it? I'm not sure of the total amount, but I have read that Youth Specialties has been given well over 1/2 million $ by Lilly.
If you search their site (youthspecialties.com) you will find tons of contemplative resources and emerging church authors. In fact, one book they promote is "Enjoy the Silence" (A 30 day 'experiment' in listening to God), which introduces students to the ancient practise of Lectio Divina. YS itself has been called a ministry 'experiment'. Lilly is good at experimenting on kids (i.e. Prozac).
But there's no agenda. Right.
In my humble opinion there's really no need for a conspiracy theory, evil is simply going about its usual business in the typical mundane ways.
Through the years Holly-weird has spiced evil up and made it seem more clever, diabolical, and flashy than it really is, hence we (Americans) tend to enjoy a good conspiracy.
Evil is more like a boring job, or maybe cancer. It predicably goes about doing the same things in the same ways over and over.
Human governments, Lilly, organized religions, their common denominator is a bloated bureaucratic man-centered system, and evil is right at home in such an environment.
Regarding Youth Specialties, well they're a veritable who's who of mystical contemplatives and outright heretics. Beware.
Well said. Thank you very much.
You are very right. The schemes of our adversary show up in many places behind many disguises.
I personally believe it's unwise to presume that evil has simply meandered through the centuries, like a lazy river flowing through the backwoods-country of the Appalachian Mountains.
Scripture paints a very different picture of evil. The Bible is clear. Humanity has a formidable foe. In 2 Corin. 2:11, this enemy of ours is described as a "schemer."
The dictionary describes the word SCHEME as follows:
- A systematic plan of action. A secret or devious plan. An underhand plot. Intrigue.
Additionally, in Ephesians 6:11 we read that without the full armor of God, Christians are easy prey for this adversary's wiles.
The dictionary describes the word WILE as follows:
- A strategy or trick intended to deceive or ensnare. Deceitful cunning.
Make no mistake about it. Satan is cunning and strategic in his planning. And he's masterful in executing his treacherous plans of deceit.
Scripture also tells us that evil will continue to grow worse and worse as the day of the Lord's return draws closer. In other words, evil is not static. There is nothing typical, mundane or business-as-usual when it comes to Satan's execution of his evil plans. The only thing predictable about evil, is that it is continually being re-packaged to reflect the latest popular trend solely to entice more and more undiscerning people into a religious "one-ness."
Now, about the Lilly Endowment Fund. It appears to me that the LEF consistently chooses to throw their money behind those religious organizations which are:
- thoroughly Ecumenical in nature;
- promoters of the extremely dangerous contemplative/spiritual formation practices;
- promoters of religion in the social sector; etc.
rather than those Churches whose leaders are ardently committed to proclaiminbg the full, pure, unadulterated Biblical gospel message.
These are exactly the kinds of things watching Christians (Mark 13:32-37) would expect to see if we were living in the Last Days and the necessary groundwork was being laid for the Apostate Church.
To be clear, I have no axe to grind, no bones to pick with the people running the Lilly Endowment Fund. Odds are good that these are decent people -- who sincerely believe they're performing a commendable service for the greater religious community.
But because the ministries which receive financial support from the LEF are all moving in one particular direction, I'm personally convinced there IS a grand conspiracy behind it all. Pawns ARE being manipulated by someone with a sinister "agenda" -- which will ultimately culminate in a horrifying conclusion.
Finally, I believe the climate of these days desperately calls for an army of diligent Bereans (Acts 17:10-11) and faithful watchmen on the wall (Eze. 3:17-21).
Ooooo...you're good Anony, can you write my blog for me?
So is what you are saying, in a nutshell, that Lilly is part of the culmination of a deliberate 'behind the scenes' push for the social, ecumenical, global, new spirituality that will open the door for the anti-Christ's one world government? You mean, sweet, nice, quiet, good little Lilly?
I hear ya. :)
Thanks.
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