The Things they are saying about the Cross these days!

Here are some things they are saying about the Cross these days...

Brian McLaren says the Cross is false advertising for God.

His friend Marcus Borg has said that the worst distortion of the Cross is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement, and the "Jesus died for our sin" interpretation (that the whole purpose of Jesus was to die a bloody death for us). Borg was reported to have said that this view of the cross was not the view of the early church, but originated less than 1000 years ago with Anselm of Canterbury. [Source: Two Visions of Christianity - Marcus Borg @ www.wondercafe.ca]

Some churches say the Cross is alienating and are removing it, and offering in its place an inclusive Christianity...

Church Removes the Cross and Jesus Christ and His Gospel
www.alittleleaven.com

Meanwhile, one Swedish scholar is refuting the history of crucifixion and saying there is little evidence that Jesus died on a cross (kind of like the JW's view). Here are a few things to read about that...

Was Jesus crucified on a cross, pole, or stake?
www.gotquestions.org

Did Jesus really die on the cross?
www.carm.org

But listen up all you foolish cross bashers. The Bible tells us that Jesus was crucified and died on a Cross, and that the preaching of the Cross is foolishness - but only to those who are perishing. Therefore, all those who remove, reject, mock, distort and deny the power of the message of the Cross are perishing powerless fools.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

Thank you Jesus for the power of Cross!

And speaking of powerful music...

Mighty is the Power of the Cross
www.youtube.com

"Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted"
www.youtube.com

Music - a Powerful and Mystical Thing

If music possesses a mysterious power to sway the soul, does the musical preferences of Christians hinder or facilitate the Holy Spirit’s work in their souls? Larry DeBruyn answers this important question here:

The Music and the Mystical
guardinghisflock.com

There is a difference between Godly worship music and simply emotional music. Music that is truly worshipful turns your thoughts toward God. Music that is emotional makes you focus on your feelings. In one, emotion may be a bi-product, in the other, the way it makes you feel is the goal.

To take this concept even further, there's no doubt that this is a dangerous thing that has entered the church...

One of the more recent and blatant examples of neo-paganism in the church...is Patricia King's endorsement and embrace of trance-dancing as a Christian form of worship that she and Caleb Brundidge, one of her itinerant ministers, call "Ekstasis Worship." Brundidge is a traveling "prophetic" D.J. that calls his show "Club Mysterio." (Repetitive "rave" or "trance" music has been so-called because nightclubs around the world use it to enable patrons to enter a euphoric altered state of consciousness--with or without the assistance of drugs such as "ecstasy"--through extended freestyle and sensual motion set to repetitive music tracks.

It doesn't take an anthropologist to recognize parallels between modern trance dancing and ancient forms of ritual dance that is still used in many cultures to produce identical altered states and "spirit travel." But what many may not know is the increasing popularity of "yoga trance dance," which could well become the new "jazzercize" that turns this form of Hindu worship into an aerobic activity for "everyday" gym members.

Space does not permit a full analysis with comparison to Scripture, but as the quotes below reveal, patrons of Brundidge's "Club Mysterio" may indeed feel "ecstasy"--but rather than realizing the true joy of the Lord, they might experience either a "head rush" from spinning in circles (a practice of the "whirling dervishes" of Islamic mysticism) or they could meet instead an angel of light--one of the same "divine" deceivers as encountered by yogic dancers seeking all-night tantric pleasure with Hindu deities.

Which brings us to an ancient-future spiritual law: "apostasies attract."

-Mark Dinsmore
"APOSTOLIC" APOSTASIES ATTRACT
Extreme Charismatics Increasingly Adopt "Emerging" Pagan Practices
http://www.thebereancall.org/node/6535
(Last article on page)

In light of that, it's not shocking that we now are hearing about another new and unheard of thing...

A new worry for parents – ‘digital drugs’ sold on the Internet induce altered states of consciousness
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

Which naturally makes me wonder...what about this new ecumenical thing called Taize chanting that has become so popular in some churches?

Taize is a form of contemplative worship that incorporates mystical practices and interspiritual beliefs as this article describes:

"Short chants, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character," the brothers explain in a brief introduction printed in the paperback songbook. "Using just a few words, [the chants] express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being."

-http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/taize.htm

Taize is not only a seemingly innocuous way of removing belief barriers and blending religions, chants in general also have a mind-body effect.

Ecumenical and inter-faith chants

A style of chant that has gained popularity today is the Taize meditative chant. This is the chant of a new religious community in France. Christians of all denominations participate in this inclusive spiritual community. The Taize chants are characteristically short, melodic, and deliberatively repetitive. Each chant is followed by a long pause for meditation. The Taize chant has been taken up by churches worldwide.

A new phenomenon that needs to be highlighted is the increased celebration of inter-religious chants. People of different faiths come together to participate in the chants of varied faiths, not only to savour their aesthetic beauty, but also to experience their common humanity and oneness in the Sacred - a significant fact given the religious conflicts that mar our world.

Psycho-physical benefits and beyond

The psycho-physical benefits of chant are fairly well-established today. Researchers point to salutary body-mind effects: slowing down of metabolism, steadying of pulse, normalising of blood-pressure levels, reduction in rates of respiration and heart beat. Tangible relief from psychological tensions and strains has also been claimed.

-Christian chants
http://completewellbeing.com/article/christian-chants/

It's pretty obvious that music (even nice, religious music) can be a powerful, mystical, and even spiritually dangerous and deceptive thing. So for anyone who has ever wondered if their music choices are spiritually beneficial or not, here's an easy thing to do. The next time you participate in a church/worship/Christian music thing, or even sing along with the Christian radio station, it might be helpful to simply give yourself the 'feelings test' to see whether the music draws you into worshiping and glorifying God or whether it just makes you focus on your feelings. Just because something sounds like music to your ears doesn't always mean it's good food for your soul.

Five Things to help you Meditate like Monks, from Willow Creek

For all those who balk at the pesky warnings from discernment ministries that mainstream evangelical protestant church leadership in general has left biblical discernment and is turning to Roman Catholic contemplative mysticism, here's a prime example for proof; The Daily Office, brought to you by leadership idolizer Bill Hybels and Willow Creek (June 10):

5 things to include in the Daily Office to help you get started:

1. Silence, Stillness, and Centering

2. Scripture

3. Devotional Reading

4. Pondering a Question

5. Prayer

Also, Pete's Emotionally Healthy Spirituality website provides free Daily Office downloads (http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/resources/dailyoffices.asp)

By: Lori Finnegan
Ministry Development Lead, WCA

-Daily Office
http://wcagls.blogspot.com/2010/06/daily-office.html

This same piece on the Willow Creek blog also refers to something called Defining Moments with Bill Hybels and Peter Scazzero who have joined together to encourage church leaders and their leadership teams to adopt the "Rule of Life" and start a *Daily Office habit, like the monks. {Note: Another very famous American pastor recently promoted the same thing (Scazzero and the Daily Office, see here and here).}

~sigh~ when will they stop this monkey business...

Related:

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Part 1

Emotional Healthy Spirituality and Willow Creek Partner to Spread Contemplative Spirituality
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

*Note: Besides various contemplative materials and resources, one of the things recommended by Peter Scazzero on his website is The Divine Hours, A complete guide to the ancient practice of fixed-hour prayer (explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed) by Phyllis Tickle.

Test All Things and Recognize Apostasy

Test All Things

One such command is, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). How do believers “test all things”? One of the greatest gifts given to us by God is a reliable standard of divine truth through the closed canon of Scripture. The Holy Spirit, who authored the Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21), is not schizophrenic. It is impossible for the Holy Spirit to say one thing at one time and something contradictory another time. In other words, it is an impossibility for the Holy Spirit to reveal something in Scripture and then something entirely different through a human teacher, prophet, theologian, doctrine, philosophy, etc. Thus, believers can protect themselves from the apostasy that is so prevalent in our day by simply comparing everything we hear with the eternal Word of God. Those items taught to us that are consistent with what God has already revealed in Scripture are to be accepted and embraced while those things that are inconsistent with scriptural truth are to be rejected and discarded.

More here:

The Last Days Apostasy of the Church - Part 5
By Andy Woods
www.bible-prophecy-today.com

*The entire series of The Last Days Apostasy of the Church [Part 1-6] by Andy Woods can be found HERE (www.spiritandtruth.org).

Are you devoted to the Bible or The Shack?

"Every reader of the novel needs to reflect on this question: Does my devotion to the story of the novel and what it tells me about relationship with God exceed my devotion to God as presented in the Bible? In other words, would I rather read "The Shack" instead of the Bible? Or, if I discover a conflict between what the Bible says and what "The Shack" says, do I choose to go with Paul Young and "The Shack"? If the answer is "yes" to any of these questions, then readers should consider whether their devotion to the novel is cultic."

-James B. De Young
Cult following of 'The Shack'
Exclusive: James B. De Young exposes obsessive devotion to popular novel

The Shack's Author said What?

Has the author of The Shack just spelled out his own doom and demise, or will his gullible fans continue to follow this author and his dangerous book down the wide path to destruction?

On Friday night, author and researcher Ray Yungen attended a lecture at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon to hear The Shack author William Paul Young. The name of Young’s talk was “Can God Really Be That Good?” During the talk, Young told the audience that “the God of evangelical Christianity is a monster.” He was referring to the belief that God is a God of judgment and will judge the unbelieving. Young also rejects the biblical view of atonement (wherein Jesus died as a substitute for us to pay the price of our sins). This view by Young is evident in a radio interview he had one year ago where he rejected the biblical view of the atonement.

Read this shocking thing here:

The Shack Author Says: “The God of Evangelical Christianity is a Monster.”
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

Read the infamous transcript of the interview where Paul Young denied the substitutionary atonement in a radio interview here:

Transcript of Interview

The Culture or the Cross?

I read an article at The Christian Post this morning by a well known pastor (who learned his methods from RW, who learned his methods from Robert Schuller) who says that in order to reach people today, the church has to interpret and define the culture, identify idols and understand the ways in which sin has destroyed the community (1). This kind of thinking in North America typically involves dressing, looking and talking like the culture of your choice and catering to their wants and likes and needs in order for them to like you, relate to you, and maybe come to your church and hear a watered down seeker friendly powerless message that the unregenerated mind can accept so your numbers and fame will increase.

So I got to thinking (something I do every once in a while), and concluded that in light of this method of contextualization and assimilation, and our culture's new obsession (call it idolatry) with vampires (Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, etc.), wouldn't that mean that the church needs to become (understand, survey, interpret, examine, dress like, talk like, relate with, meet the felt needs and wants of) vampires in order to reach this group that has become the latest cultural rage? (2) The result would be - a church filled with vampires. That may sound kind of silly, but that's basically what this method of modern evangelism results it - mega churches filled with unregenerates.

In contrast, the Bible is pretty simple. Preach Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23). It will seem like foolishness and a stumbling block, but if you stick to this method, Jesus Christ adds the numbers and grows His church. We need to focus on the preaching of the Cross, not the culture. Man's heart has not changed since the beginning, sin is sin, idolatry abounds (always has and always will), and there is only one cure for the whole world. Jesus - the way, the truth and the life. The end.

(1) Calling for Contextualization
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100627/calling-for-contextualization/index.html

(2) See: The Twilight Book Series

The Problem with Christian Leadership Today

One of the ministries on the previous chart that gets a big fat zero for overall rating is that of Benny Hinn. Part of the reason might be the tacky things they sell, as you can read about in the following article, but the main reason why Hinn and leaders like him have a bad reputation is this:

There are many ways in which the church in the Western world has assimilated the methods and thinking of a consumer-driven culture to infiltrate and replace the very teachings of Christ. One of the most prominent is that we no longer seem to seek and encourage leaders who by biblical definition are servants, but instead cherish the same qualities and qualifications as those of a corporate CEO or Hollywood celebrity. Few exceptions are the churches who would these days embrace someone whose resume was dominated with the likes of “a humble servant of Christ”.

There is more in the article that explains this further:

Where Are All the Servants?
moriel.org

Angel Book

I think Todd Bentley might like this book...

Author Sees Angels, and Her Book's a Bestseller
www.foxnews.com

HT: christianresearchnetwork.com

Here's the truth about angels...

Close Encounters of the Celestial Kind:
Evaluating Today's Angel Craze
by Ron Rhodes
http://www.ronrhodes.org/AngelsArticle.html

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. ~Galatians 1:8

Some things I jotted down while watching Epicenter

Okay, so I just listened to General Boykin speak this morning live at the Epicenter Conference. He spoke on nine principals of spiritual warfare (which he based on Carl von Clausewitz and his book "On War"). I heartily agree with some very good things he said about prayer and sharing the gospel, and staying focused on the ministry God has called each one of us to, and not getting focused on secondary issues. He sounds like he seems to love the Lord, did an excellent job and is a good speaker. However, I caught a few things that I am going to have to give a red flag, especially since he is so influential and spoke to such a large audience that probably ate up his every word. First of all, let me say that I am nobody and not qualified to critique those who are doing a great work for God. But I do have some concerns. Here are a few things I jotted down that he said (keep in mind that I wrote quickly and may not have gotten it word for word)...

The third principle of war Boykin shared was MASS, which he defined as working with another ministry, as it's about the kingdom of God (sounds like a Warren-ish thing - "do whatever it takes to establish God's Kingdom 'on earth as it is in heaven" - SOURCE). We should be more concerned about the kingdom of God than the church, and we've got to mass our forces to build the kingdom of God. Under another principle of war called UNITY OF COMMAND, Boykin said, "If we are all working for the same commander, why can't we work together?" No matter what denomination, even Presbyterians and Catholics can, because, said Boykin, "God is going to forgive us for a lot of bad theology...I'm not associated with any denomination anymore...we in the church are divided because of rules...I think God will forgive all the other stuff, I think He'll get over it...the Catholics and Pentecostals are going to have to learn to work together...it's about the kingdom...get beyond your differences and focus on the kingdom."

As I heard him say these things, I couldn't help but think how that explains a few things from yesterday's post (see What's with this thing?).

The next thing he talked about was watchmen, and that we all need to be watchmen in this spiritual battle we are in, providing 24 hour security, like the cavalry which rides the flanks and prevents attacks. He also mentioned that we have to hold our leaders accountable, and expects to be held accountable himself by others.

And so here's what I'm wondering. Does being on the board of an initiative whose president is a false prophet like Rick Joyner come under the battle tactics of Mass and Unity of Command? How about joining in good works with Catholics or freemasons such as the Hospitallers or Knights of Malta? Is God just going to overlook "bad theology" like the veneration of Mary as co-redemptrix and the worship of a supposedly infallible man in a white dress? Or that nasty little piece of bad theology called the masonic oath? What about 1 Corinthians 10:21 or Amos 3:3 or 1 Timothy 4:16? Should we be joining hands with these people, or telling them the truth in love? Whenever I hear someone talk about over looking bad theology these days, 2 Timothy 4:3 always comes to mind. The Bible warns that it's a sign of the times, but when watchmen warn about bad doctrine they are often shot at.

I couldn't help but have a wee little gnawing feeling in my stomach that his speech could well be opening the door for the usual evangelical Rosenberg followers toward dominionism and kingdom theology that seems to be quickly taking over the evangelical right. Boykin ended his talk with a challenge: What price are we willing to pay for our faith, this country, Israel, the God we serve? Hopefully that price is not compromise, ecumenism and false unity.

~ ~ ~

Related update:

Lt. Gen. disinvited from Kagan hearing
thehill.com

~ ~ ~

*****Update:

January 2011:

FMR. DELTA FORCE COMMANDER BOYKIN TO SPEAK AT 2011 EPICENTER CONFERENCE: Jan 28 is deadline to sign up for Joshua Fund tour of Israel in May
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/fmr-delta-force-commander-boykin-to-speak-at-2011-epicenter-conference-jan-28-is-deadline-to-sign-up-for-joshua-fund-tour-of-israel-in-may/

Comment:
Joel says: "Boykin has become a dear friend and a trusted advisor to The Joshua Fund. He has spoken at three Epicenter Conferences (2008, 2009, 2010), as well as at the “National Town Hall Meeting on the Threat of Radical Islam and the Church’s Response” in 2009." In the light of the above post, I still have reservations about this whole thing and can no longer whole heartedly support the Joshua Fund. Also of concern in the light of the above is that Pastors Skip Heitzig and Ray Bentley, and Bible teachers Kay Arthur and Anne Graham Lotz are to be conference speakers.

Update: June 2011

Jerry Boykin and the Calvary Chapel Connection
http://www.understandthetimes.org/commentary/c96.shtml

Wake Up

Since there are more Americans reading this blog than Canadians, I would like to say, wakey wakey America...

Dearborn Police: Defending Islam against the Constitution
www.youtube.com

[HT: While You Were Sleeping
defendingcontending.com]

Related:

Islamic Law Comes to Dearborn
www.humanevents.com

What's with this thing?

In regards to the Epicenter Conference, I came across something quite interesting the other day. One of the speakers is (retired) General Boykin, a nice gentleman who has also spoken over the last several years at various Calvary Chapel conferences, which is the main reason this thing caught my eye and made me say, huh?

It's something that is linked to, oddly enough, Todd Bentley and the man-made comeback he is making thanks to his mentor Rick Joyner, who took him under his wing and seems to be saving his own reputation in the process of raising Bentley from the ashes. You see, Joyner personally prophesied longevity over Bentley's ministry (at the 6:35 mark in the video here) during the alleged revival that turned into a fiasco and embarrassment, and it just wouldn't do to be called a false prophet. Besides, birds of a feather stick together. Anyways, that's old news, but here is something new (to me). As it turns out, Rick Joyner is the president of something called The Oak Initiative.

The strategy of The Oak Initiative is:

• The basic strategy of The Oak Initiative is to be a grassroots movement to find and help develop principled and effective Christian leaders who can mobilize and organize a cohesive force of activated Christians.
• These will be called to work on every level where government is found, from the most local to state and national levels.

-http://www.theoakinitiative.org/content/strategy-and-objectives

There are more points if you will look up that URL. It's very interesting. Not only is Rick Joyner the president of this movement, you will see that one member on the board is...drum roll...none other than General Boykin, who is speaking at the Epicenter Conference this weekend.

The following is footnote #12 for the latest extremely well researched article from Herescope about the dominionists, NAR, and the Christian right (politically active Christians)...

12. See http://www.theoakinitiative.org. Board members are listed as: Marc Nuttle, Rick Joyner, Samuel Rodriquiz, Lt Gen Jerry Boykin, Larry Jackson, Cindy Jacobs, Nicholas Papanicolaou, Lou Sheldon, Bob Weiner, Ardell Daniels, Janet Porter, Lance Wallnau, Negiel Bigpond, and Thomas Hall - http://www.theoakinitiative.org/content/board-members See the alert posted here: http://www.theoakinitiative.org/content/georgia-sb-529. And just to put this all into perspective, Rick Joyner's MorningStar Ministries is having "The Great Awakening Conference" next week, featuring the disgraced Lakeland Revival's Todd Bentley http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word_pf.html?ID=8882

-Seven Mountains
Set to go Viral
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/06/seven-mountains.html

Click on the above link to learn more and find the live links. Also interesting (if you like to research these things) is that if you type Joyner's and Boykin's full names together in a google search you may also find some fascinating results. This is more than a wee bit disturbing if you understand what kind of prophet Knight of Malta Rick Joyner is. The following links may be helpful in that regard:

The False Teachings of Rick Joyner
http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/joyner.html

Rick Joyner and Morningstar Ministries
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/j08.html

False Prophet Rick Joyner & Todd Bentley’s Adulterous Re-Marriage
www.moriel.org

THE HIGHER LIFE OF RICK JOYNER
CHASING THE DELUSION OF POWER AND DOMINION
www.pfo.org

The following link says that the Catholic Church and the New Wave Charismatics will be the key leaders of the One World Religion...

Knights of Malta
The Masonic grades of The Knight of Malta and The Knight Templar are the Rosicrucian upper-degrees of Freemasonry.

One of the names of this order is also the Knights Hospitallers, and guess whose name you find near the top here:
http://www.knightshospitallers.com/organization.php

Hint: last name starts with B.

Freaky, isn't it?

(Note: Many of the URL's in this post are not live links as I don't particularly care to link up to freemasonry websites, especially those involving former CIA employees, so you can do your own hunting.)

As I've said before, I know nothing about such things, I just blog here, but if you tune in live to the conference this weekend, do so with ears wide open.

~ sigh~

Such times we are living in.

~ ~ ~

Also related:

Rising Christian Imperialism Fueled by Dominion Theology
www.thepropheticyears.com

Burning Down The Shack

Because life has been so very busy, I’ve not been able to finish the book I’m reading called Burning Down The Shack. I had hoped to have written a review by now, but I would like to at least get started as this is a very important book to read, especially for those who have already read The Shack. The author of this excellent critique, James B. De Young, does not mess around. Frankly, I was stunned by what he has revealed about The Shack’s author (William P. Young), whom he knows very well. This book was obviously written out of concern, and rightly so. The doctrinal errors in The Shack are carefully and thoroughly covered and compared with the Bible, revealing where the book borders on, and even falls into, heresy.

For example, The Shack’s God does not need to punish people for sin, which is the message of universal reconciliation that is buried deep within its pages. De Young explains beyond a shadow of doubt that The Shack’s message is filled with unbiblical half truths and whole lies which re-define the very character of God, revealing that Paul Young is in league with universalism, and therefore the very father of lies himself (even though there is no place for the devil in The Shack’s theology).

James De Young also explains the serious consequences of The Shack’s errors, such as the redefinition of the Trinity, the distortion of the crucifixion, the atonement, and the nature of God’s love. With The Shack’s corrupted interpretation of forgiveness and reconciliation, the very meaning of the gospel is distorted.

I’ve yet to read the sections at the back of the book, such as “Questions for Mack” and “My Answers to Reader’s Questions.” There is also a lengthy study guide with question in the back of this book that might be very helpful for those who want to do a thorough study and sort through these important issues.

If you are someone who has been influenced by The Shack, or know someone who has, this is an important book to own. However, the kind of reader that likes The Shack is probably not likely to pick up and wade through a weighty critique like this. Even so, it's a valuable resource for those defending the faith. Oh, and here's a gem of an idea - ask your Christian book store owner if he will order a few copies. Surely it would be a big seller!

Over the next few weeks I will be dropping a few quotes from this book as time permits.

Evangelical Leaders and Mysticism

Hmmm...the common thread seems to always be Richard Foster and his books...

Anyways, what I am listening to while I have my afternoon coffee break is a very fascinating interview on Crosstalk Radio of Christine Pack from Sola Sisters. It's a good one. Listen here:

Evangelical Leaders Pushing Mysticism
June 24
www.crosstalkamerica.com

Oooh...I just can't tell you how much I can relate to this.

Way of the Master Evangelism Course and Book (Part 4)

We may have finished our fourth and final Way of the Master evangelism class last night, but that was only the beginning. After we were done, we put into practice what we learned. Of course there's way too much to write down, but here's how it went...

The truth is, I didn't want to go last night. It's been a very busy week (and month) and yesterday I was particularly exhausted, so much so that I felt like crawling into bed all day. It was one of those days when I'd done too much driving and thinking already, everything hurt and my brain felt like jello. But I went anyways. We learned a few more pointers and reminders on the fourth video lesson about witnessing, discussed some questions, took some time to pray, and then headed out to the streets in pairs.

It was a beautiful warm evening as my partner and I headed into the heart of the old city. There were people everywhere in the outdoor plaza sitting at tables. We targeted two guys on the sidewalk, one was playing guitar. He soon walked away, strumming, but his friend was full of arguments and stayed to talk. In spite of his defensiveness, before he finally walked away I noticed that for the last two minutes his lip was quivering and twitching (not sure if it was conviction or anger).

The next guy we talked to was difficult in a different way - he was an ex-Catholic who took us on all kinds of rabbit trail topics including the anti-Christ, idolatry in the RC church, rosaries, the sun god and the Sabbath. This conversation was going no where, so when he asked if our church would kick him out for smoking pot, we moved on (although his friend later caught up with us and asked if he could come to our church).

Two ladies nearby refused our tracts and waved us away, saying they were into 'New Thought.' A group of white haired ladies smoking like chimneys gave us similar treatment, saying they already knew where they were going (hopefully the smoke was not an indication) and gave back our tracts as they didn't need them. We handed those to a tattooed goth couple in matching black leathers and had a wee chat, but didn't feel led to take it farther and walked instead away from the crowd. Further up the street we met a lone man coming towards us. I could smell the alcohol on his breath and was struck by how much his features reminded me of Ray Comfort, which seemed more than a little ironic. We had a long talk with him on the quiet street as darkness settled in. He'd been raised a Roman Catholic, and kind of agreed with us, but didn't want to make a decision quite yet, even though we implored him that we are all only one heartbeat away from eternity.

Farther down the street was empty so we crossed a deserted back alley and headed up the other side of the city block, handing out a few more tracts on our way to meet up with the group.
After sharing some of our experiences (some successful, some not), most went home, but I had wanted to go back and see if one man who had seemed open was still there, so four of us walked back. We didn't find him, but in the process we came across another guy who seemed the most receptive of anyone so far. It was the most totally cool encounter (and of course it helped to have our pastor with us).

I've learned some very valuable things from this. It's not difficult to share the gospel when you use this method of planting the seed and leaving the rest of the work to the Lord. It was also fascinating (and sad) to observe the different levels of hardness of heart (just like in the parable of the sower), and I'm praying for those whose hearts were receptive to the gospel. I'm also very excited to see what fruit comes out of this evening (and if we will have a few new faces in church this Sunday) and am looking forward to going out again in a few weeks.

I doubt that I have the "gift of evangelism" as I'm not very good at it, but as I talked to people and viewed them through God's eyes and allowed Him to speak through me, His love took over. It was really an amazing experience.

I highly recommend this evangelism course and know I will definitely use the things I have learned in the days to come. In the end, the most important thing I learned was that no matter how well equipped we may be or how inadequate we may feel, it is the Lord who empowers us when we obey Him and open our mouths.

Try it, you may just come to the same conclusion.

[See posts 1-3 of this series here.]

Some Things about the Watchtower

The following is an excerpt from Fast Facts on False Teachings, a book written by Ed Decker and Dr. Ron Carlson...

There are five important facts to remember about the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Organization.

1. They have accepted the Organization as the Prophet of God.
2. They have accepted the Organization as God's sole channel for His truth.
3. They believe that to reject the Organization is to reject God.
4. They believe that only the Organization can interpret the Bible; as individuals they are unable to do so.
5. They believe the Watchtower Magazine contains God's truth, directed by Him, through the Organization.

More here:

Witnessing to "the Witnesses"
by Ed Decker
saintsalive.com

By the way, I bought about five of these books from Ron Carlson at a conference. Not only is he a fascinating speaker, but what impressed me was that while many conference speakers have helpers take care of their book tables, Ron Carlson stood at his during every break and took the time to talk to everyone who asked him a question.

Physics, the Bible and the Flood

Do you know that Noah's Ark landed on the very same day of the Hebrew calendar that Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead about three millennia later in history? Read this and other interesting things about the flood here:

Physics and the Bible: The Terrible Flood of Noah
www.khouse.org

A Bible in Every Language by 2025

An interesting speculation...

A Christian endeavor of almost 2,000 years could be substantially completed by 2025.

Protestant translators expect to have the Bible — or at least some of it — written in every one of the world's 6,909 spoken languages.

"We're in the greatest period of acceleration in 20 centuries of Bible translation," said Morrison resident Paul Edwards, who heads up Wycliffe Bible Translators' $1 billion Last Languages Campaign.

Portable computers and satellites get the credit for speeding things up by about 125 years...

Read the rest here:

Bible translators hope to have every language covered in 15 years
www.denverpost.com

~Hmm...Daniel 12:4 comes to mind ~

Ancient History and the Bible

This is a totally fascinating thing to read for any history buff...

Egypt or Babel: Which Came First?
Reconciling Ancient History with the Bible
www.answersingenesis.org

Drops Like Stars Drops more like a Rock

I was in our enormous Christian book store yesterday and was walking past the used and discount book section when I saw it. You couldn't really miss this big black stack as it was about a dozen high, and the bright orange stickers revealed that these books weren't going anywhere fast. Looks like Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell has already dropped to less than half price.

Surprise surprise.

A Thing called 'Christian' Reiki

Yes, you heard right. First there was yoga, then there was 'Christian' yoga, and now there’s ...drum roll please...'Christian' Reiki! This is what Reiki/pastor Katherine “Kate” Epperly says...

Christian Reiki Healing

Christian reiki healing touch is a form of hands-on holistic healing for body, mind, spirit, and relationships…. Although perseived by some as “esoteric” in its East-West origins and three levels of teaching and practice, (Reiki Level 1, Reiki Level 2, and Reiki Level 3 or Master Teaching Level), the practice of Christian reiki healing touch in itself is a relatively simple type of intercessory prayer in which the Spirit brings healing and wholeness to persons in a way that is both quite mysterious and beautiful.

The Divine healing mediated by reiki healing touch is is not something that anyone can try to control. Once bidden, the Spirit goes where it needs to go to open the recipient to what Celtic theology would call Christ’s “glow flow” of love and light.

http://www.katherineepperly.com/reiki/

Katherine Epperly combines holistic spiritual direction with retreat and workshop leadership, integrating her pastoral counseling background with the practice of Reiki and massage therapy. She has also co-written a book called Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus with Bruce G. Epperly (2005, Wood Lake/Northstone Books, Kelowna, British Columbia).

According to this book, one of the places Bruce Epperly initially explored this strange mixing of reiki with Christianity was at Naramata Centre, B.C., home of other mixed spiritual practices of the United Church of Canada (www.naramatacentre.net).

Mr. Epperly has also written the following...

Spirituality takes many forms -- silence, breath prayer, visualization, and healing touch. In addition to my daily practices of centering, walking, and breath prayer, for more than twenty years I have practiced a form of healing touch, known as Reiki. Reiki has become an essential part of my prayer life and a way that I can reach out to others in a loving way. When I practice Reiki, whether hands-on or at a distance, I embody Jesus' healing ministry in the 21st century.

Reiki, or universal energy, has its origins in the healing work of Mikao Usui, whose mystical experiences enabled him to discover a way to mediate divine healing energy.”

- Bruce Epperly
Reiki Healing Touch: Prayer with Your Hands
http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Reiki-Healing-Touch-Prayer-with-Your-Hands.html?null

The truth is that Reiki and Christianity do not mix. In fact, it's a dangerous practice that has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with spiritualism and the occult. This is something Christians should flee from, not practice. (See here.)

Oh, so what, some might say...let the false mixed up religion teachers do what they want. Okay, but it's not so simple. You see, those who noticed the very sad progression of emerging church leader Doug Pagitt over the last few years as he slid further into his denial of the truth (see here and here) were not surprised to find out last week that he taught a session on emerging Christianity at Lancaster Seminary alongside of some very diverse speakers and topics, including not only yoga and prayer beads, but the same Epperlys, who spoke on their mix of Reiki and Christianity. This was last week's schedule...

Summer Academy 2010 Course Offerings
Session I (June 14-18)
Instructor

Morning Classes
New Horizons in Paul's Letter to the Romans
Beverly Gaventa
Emerging Christianity
Doug Pagitt
The Table and the Font
David Mellott

Afternoon Workshops
Prayer Beads (M-T) Kathy Harvey Nelson
Music for a Global Church (M-T) Daryl Hollinger
Reiki and Christianity (M/T/Th/Fri) *Bruce & Kate Epperly
Yoga (Th/Fri) Susan D'heedene
Art and Spirituality (Th-Fri)
Hill W. Nelson & Kathy Harvey Nelson

Evening Classes
Body Building: The Power of Inclusive Ministries with People with Disabilities to Transform the Church
Bill Gaventa
Theologies and Practices for Emerging Faith
*Bruce Epperly
Queering the Bible
Mona West
Consensus, Discord, and Diversity: A History of Evangelicals and Liberals in the United States
Ed Aponte

-http://www.livingtheadventure.org/summer-academy/course-offerings/19-course-offerings.html

*By the way, Bruce Epperly is also the Director of Continuing Education and Professor of Practical Theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary.
(http://www.lancasterseminary.edu/153410127201459383/site/default.asp)

As you can see, the emerging pathway that Doug Pagitt chose leads to the very broad way that ends up on some very compromising ground in dangerous territory. And we all know what the Bible says about that.

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. Matthew 7:13

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 1 Cor. 10:21

(Note: Please don't just read the bad news and sigh. Pray for Doug Pagitt, that his eyes will be opened to the truth, and that he will not bring any more followers with him down this emerging pathway of deception and compromise.)

Related:

Energy Healing: Reiki, and Therapeutic Touch – Entertaining Devils Unaware
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

Mindful of the things of God or the things of men...

Do you lack spiritual motivation or do you walk in the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Are you mindful of the things of God, or the things of men? If you want to know how to receive the power to be a witness for Christ, have spiritual knowledge and discernment, and remain standing in the midst of your circumstances, read about Peter:

Peter’s Life Before and After Pentecost
by Prof. Johan Malan, Mossel Bay, South Africa (July 2010)
www.bibleguidance.co.za

Is the Christian Right Wrong?

This is from an e-mail update I just opened:

If we just followed what Jesus commanded about preaching the His gospel of the Kingdom, along with what all the apostles taught (including Paul) which fit hand in glove with what Christ taught, many of these problems would not exist because people would be getting saved by a powerful, Spirit filled message of the good news of salvation based on repentance from our sin and turning to a new life in Christ and ultimate salvation from the coming judgment upon this world.

However, many believers have erred in thinking that what we should do is try to take over the institutions of the world...

That's from a very important update just fresh off the cyber press from Moriel Ministries which is a must read, here:

Special Report: Tea Party/Christian Right Infiltration
Moriel Ministries

Some Things about Narcissism and Ted Haggard

Bill Walthall, author of the book The Love Revelation has written some very interesting things regarding Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Ted Haggard, who has recently planted a new church in spite of his promise not to...

Ted Haggard and Ted Bundy: More in Common Than a First Name
moriel.org

While narcissism is basically human nature, some have more severe cases of it than others, but as Christians, it is something that should be crucified with Christ.

The Bible - T & P

Your hunger and thirst for God's Word is an indicator of whether you are a true or false convert...

"Others there be who read the Bible; but when they read it, they say it is so horribly dry. That young man over there says it is a "bore;" that is the words he uses. He says, "My mother says to me, when you go up to town, read a chapter every day. Well, I thought I would please her, and I said I would. I am sure I wish I had not. I did not read a chapter yesterday, or the day before. We were so busy, I could not help it." You do not love the Bible, do you? "No, there is nothing in it which is interesting." Ah, I thought so. But a little while ago I could not see anything in it. Do you know why? Blind men cannot see, can they? But when the Spirit touches the scales of the eyes, they fall off; and when he puts eye-salves on, the Bible becomes precious. I remember a minister who went to see an old lady, and he thought he would give her some precious promises out of the word of God. Turning to one, he saw written in the margin "P.," and he asked, "What does this mean?" "That means precious, sir." Further down, he saw "T. and P.," and he asked what the letters meant. "That," she said, "means tried and proved, for I have tried and proved it." If you have tried God's word and proved it—if it is precious to your soul. then you are Christians; but those persons who despise the Bible, have "neither part nor lot in the matter." If it is dry to you, you will be dry at last in hell. If you do not esteem it as better than your necessary food, there is no hope for you; for you lack the greatest evidence of your Christianity."

-Charles Spurgeon, The Bible
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0015.htm

Way of the Master Evangelism Course and Book (Part 3)

Last night at our third Way of the Master class using the book Conquer You Fear Share Your Faith we learned about fruit bearing Christians and true and false converts. In the Parable of the Sower, the characteristics of the false convert, or stony ground hearer, are these...

1. has no depth of understanding (there are immediate results, but falls away)
2. lacks moisture (lacks thirst for the Word of God)
3. has no root (not deep enough to sustain, dries up)
4. receives with gladness, seems to latch on (when tests come gives excuses)
5. receives with joy
6. believes for a season (believe the vital truths in their mind but are not committed to Christ)

This is the one that falls away because Christianity does not work, and he is worse off than before. Head knowledge does not save (even the demons believe in God - James 2:19). Only repentance and turning from sin (and to Jesus) saves.

A true convert will bear good fruit - fruit of repentance, thankfulness, good works (out of gratitude, not from a motive to be good or get saved, but because they are saved - Eph. 2:10), fruit of the spirit, and the fruit of righteousness. Jesus has told us that we can know them by their fruits. The three things that happen on this earth to expose false converts are:

1. tribulation
2. temptation (false convert will consistently fall away)
3. persecution (insults, reproach, ridicule - the false convert will not take a stand and consistently falls away)

These things will do the opposite in the life of a true convert - they will cause new growth.

The false convert will steal your time and will often make up on the outside for what he lacks on the inside, but he will be exposed on judgment day when the wheat and tares will be separated. The Bible warns us in many places to beware of these false converts who have only head knowledge and who rise up in our midst, and labels them as false apostles, false prophets, false brethren, false Christs, and false teachers.

Our responsibility as the church lies in proper evangelism - by making sure the convert knows why they are saved so that they don't fall away (back to the parachute analogy in Part 1). When knowledge of sin comes before the gospel is presented (the seed that is sprouted in good soil), God puts the new plant (convert) into the sunshine (tribulation, trials, troubles) to make it grow and bear fruit (2 Cor. 4:17).

That's it in a nutshell, but there was so much more, and I am thankful to Ray Comfort and his ministry for exposing the root of the problem in modern day evangelism.

Next week is going to be very exciting. After the fourth and last class, we are taking what we learned to the streets, so stay tuned for that. I expect this to be quite a different experience from former street ministry I was involved in with the homeless which was basically giving away food and nice things with God's love minus the whole truth about their eternal state. No wonder it never changed anyone.

To read about the first two posts on this course, see here:

Way of the Master Evangelism Course and Book
(Part 1)

Way of the Master Evangelism Course and Book
(Part 2)

Wino Watch

Here's the latest wino watch. Someone sent me this link of Matt Ford from the Wine Barrel church in Australia (www.winebarrelchurch.com). And I thought Todd Bentley's shenanigans were hard to watch - I can't decide if this man has a severe case of Tourette's Syndrome or a stray spirit (or legion) from the Toronto Blessing...

Church - Not as Boring as you think!
www.youtube.com

Others who have displayed similar or milder cases of this same kind of manifestation include his friend John Crowder, Todd Bentley, Heidi Baker, Patricia King, Stacey Campbell and friends.

So look out, because Matt Ford is bringing his trance and miracle training (miracletrainingcollege.com) to the US, as you can read about here...

Matt Ford: When the Drunk Teach the Blind
slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com

Flaring, Exploding and Collapsing Things, oh my!

Nasa is saying that when the sun wakes from its nap in 2013 its going to be very grumpy. They are expecting this to look like a space storm with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares that will hit the Earth...

Nasa warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation
www.telegraph.co.uk

If the solar flares don't get us, the after effects of an EMP will...

Electronic Armageddon
channel.nationalgeographic.com

EMPact America
www.empactamerica.org

And if the explosions from above don't get us, there are always the holes.

First there was the Guatemala sinkhole (which is now listed as one of the top 10 most amazing holes in the world). And now look...there are more of these things in China.

Even though God has declared the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) and is completely in control, these are still freaky things in my books! (Somehow those two giant potholes I accidentally drove through on the way home today don't seem quite as big anymore.)

Solar flares, EMP's and holes, oh my! But even those things aren't as certain a danger as what we are now witnessing as this nation sinks into a moral collapse, and Christians who should know better don't seem to understand the reason why (see Cultural Collapse in America – Christian Leaders Partly to Blame for Abandoning the Gospel ).

But don't let your heart sink - God is in control.

~ ~ ~

1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
Psalm 46

A 'New' Thing for Protestants

Professor Rick Sheridan of Wilberforce University (Ohio) has come up with a new twist on an old thing. He's designed a rosary for protestants that is 'respectfully' based on the original Catholic Rosary (the use of beads to mark the repetitions of set prayers). Besides this new Protestant Rosary containing only 10 beads to mark the stages of prayer, there are a few other things that are different as well.

For example, here is step number one. Instead of making the sign of the cross, protestants are to feel the love...

1) Hold the cross at the first bead, acknowledge God in your life. Feel the bond of love and respect between you and God.

-Protestant Rosary
http://www.netmar.com/~rick57/rosary/

[SOURCE: www.canadianchristianity.com]

The use of prayer beads as a tool of meditation is as old as the hills. Before the Roman Catholics started using them, this method was already being used in other religions, and still is. You will find rosary beads in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and the Bahai faith, but in every religion they are used for the same thing - as a method to count repetitions of prayers, chants, and devotions as well as for meditation and relaxation purposes.

What Professor Sheridan seems to have overlooked is that the reason protestant, Bible believing Christians do not need to use a rosary, or any other method to pray repetitiously, is because Jesus said...

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Matthew 6:7 (NKJV)

Book of Remembrance

Does God remember and write down all the good things we say about Him to others? Does He really listen when people speak about the Him? Well check this out...

A Book of Remembrance

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name.

Malachi 3:16

b. A book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name: When they saw the wicked rewarded and the righteous suffer, it made them think that God forgot all their good. Here Malachi promises that not only will God remember, but He will write it down!

i. The thought that God has a book of remembrance is common, but varied (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:28; 87:6; Daniel 12:1).

-David Guzik
www.blueletterbible.org

When it says that God listened (hearkened in the KJV), this means to prick up the ears, to make note, pay attention, and incline. What God hears is so important that he sees fit to have it written in a scroll or book, like books of memorials, annals or journals.

Others might say that it was the people who wrote down their names in this book. But the Bible does talk about several of God's books in quite a few passages where it appears that other things are recorded as well, such as the book of the living (Psalm 69:28) and the Book of Life (Philippians 4:3, and throughout the book of Revelation).

Do you ever wonder what God may be writing down about you? And don't you wonder why would it need to be recorded if God has a perfect memory? Who is going to see this book, anyways? When will this book be opened?

Until our assistant pastor taught from the book of Malachi on Sunday, I had never thought about this book of remembrance. The truth is, we aren't told a whole lot about it, other than that fact that it was written for those who feared the Lord and thought about His name. For some this might be an encouraging and comforting (yet purifying) thing to think about. For others, a dreadful thing. Which one are you?

Focusing on Things that are Visible can Make us Blind

Some days I start focusing on things that are visible. How about you? This devotional shows how our sight can actually blind us.

The Invisible

[From a site I found (called Relevant Bible Teaching) after reading today's devotional by Brent Barnett called The Narrow Way that I found on Study Light.]

Some Blog Things

Just a couple blog things...

I'm not sure when it happened, but the web counter thingy on this blog seems to have bit the dust this week. Not that it matters, but for some strange reason I was looking forward to watching it turn to a certain milestone number (which doesn't need to be named), but it would have happened sometime around now. I told myself that when the counter hit such a number, I would switch to a new format. Blogger has just come up with all kinds of pretty new blog designs which I am finding very tempting. I could simply switch over to a new look, but I'm wondering what will happen to a few things if I click that button, such as the differently colored words within certain posts, specifically chosen to show up on the brown background. It could really mess things up. So I'm considering the pros and cons of starting fresh. Besides, I'm tired of brown, aren't you?

So here's a question...what blog background and font color schemes have you found to be the easiest on your eyes? Any suggestions?

Oh, and I'm still reading that book I got in the mail (Burning Down The Shack) and hope to review it sometime next week. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. Has anyone else noticed that the older you get, the faster time ticks?

When Evil Seems Normal

I just read this and sighed...

Acting Like Evil Is Normal
Eric Barger

I can totally relate to what he said in the article.

It was only yesterday that I was stopped at a red light across from a middleschool with my windows rolled down, when I heard the most awful language being yelled by one of the school boys beside me on the sidewalk who looked a bit too big for his age. He was directing his comments to three pretty little girls who stood on the opposite corner waiting for the crosswalk light to change. "Hey Kaela, wanna *%&$!% ?" the rude boy yelled. The girls giggled and whispered to eachother. He yelled the crude thing again, for all to hear. The girls giggled again. The light changed, and the traffic moved on. I was thinking to myself what a good thing that was, because I would have liked to jump out and scold him, grab him by the ears, give him my best Spock neck vice grip, and tell the big little tough boy that if I was his mother I'd wash his mouth out with soap, and didn't he know these were young ladies he was talking to, and how would he feel if some boy said that to his sister, and shame on him. But then I would have probably been the one charged with assault, even though he was the one doing the assaulting.

I guess this is just normal these days.

~ sigh ~

Anyways, that's why it was a timely article. I know exactly how Eric Barger feels about these things. The tricky thing is how to be the salt and light in this world when this sort of thing happens. I suppose it's another case of depending on the Holy Spirit for guidance, as there is a right time for everything...

A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
Ecclesiastes 3:7
~*~

An Interreligious Seminary?

Who ever heard of such a thing...

Seminary plans cross-training with other faiths
www.onenewsnow.com

Way of the Master Evangelism Course and Book (Part 2)

Last night at our second Way of the Master evangelism class, we watched a video (1) and learned the parachute analogy. There were two men in a plane, and both were given a parachute. One was told that it would improve his flight, the other was told that at any moment he would have to jump from the airplane. The first man grew uncomfortable under the heavy pack and soon became disillusioned and bitter, and threw it off because he was told a lie. The second man didn't even notice the discomfort and kept it on because he knew it was going to save his life.

So many so called evangelism methods today tell people that if they come to Jesus for the benefits, that they will have a happy life and God will fix all their problems. But when they get trials and troubles, they say Christianity doesn't work and they become disillusioned, so they toss it aside. Now they are worse off than before. Instead of telling a sinner they will have a happy life, we need to tell them the truth, that Jesus promised trials, troubles and persecution. That's why coming to Christ with the right motives is so important.

The Way of the Master uses the Law (the 10 Commandments) to expose and convict the hard heart before the gospel is presented. People must see the disease (sin) before they are offered the cure (the gospel). Before they hear the good news, they need to hear the bad news. Why would anyone understand their need to be saved if they don't know what they are saved from? (The verses to consider regarding this are Psalm 19:7, Romans 3:19-20, Romans 7:7, Galatians 3:24, and 1 Timothy 1:9-10.)

While we discussed the questions in the book, I couldn't help but think about various things I have been taught over the years in church settings about witnessing to the lost. Seeker friendly things, like inviting the 'pre-saved' (can't say the words "lost" or "sinners") to a non-confrontational BBQ or party, possibly with beer provided to make them feel comfortable, and not saying anything too 'religious' that would make them squirm, whilst smiling and letting them see the peaceful glow in your eyes. Spend months to build their trust, wear a cross, give them Christian CD's, and let them see your life, thereby attracting them to church by love and smiles and acceptance, and once there, if they ask tough spiritual questions, say, I don't know, what do you think, so that they will come back and seek some more. Feed them, give them stuff, even help them with groceries, but never talk about sin, the blood of Jesus, or repentance.

These seeker friendly methods I was taught to do did not bear lasting fruit. In fact, several of the new 'converts' of these methods have drifted away, and are worse off than before. They took off their parachutes because they came to Christianity with the wrong motives, and weren't told the truth. This was false evangelism, because it contained only the good news without giving the knowledge of the Law - God's holy standards that we can never keep - to prick their conscience and reveal their need for a Savior.

I was sadly reminded last night of a talk I recently watched (for research purposes) by someone who said he was also doing 'evangelism,' but it was an evangelism style that was his way, not the Way of the Master way. According to this particular teacher I watched, evangelism is ‘setting up meetings’ with people and God (in their heads). This is how he evangelizes now and says it’s 'so fun.' He asks people; If you could meet God anywhere face to face to have it out with him…where would it be, what’s he doin’ and what’s he sayin’? The example was given of a girl who was asked this question. She answered that she would meet God under a tree in a meadow and He would tell her she was too hard on herself and that He loved her. And just where did this teacher discover this method of evangelism? Trust me, he said, it’s in the covenant. While this speaker didn't say where in the covenant, those listening were to trust him on that one. (2)

The bottom line is, there are many so called evangelism methods out there, but people need to know they have a disease before they will seek the cure. The most important thing we need to be telling the other passengers (lost sinners) in the plane (this short life) is that we ALL have an appointment with death we cannot miss, we can't pay for our sins - but Someone did that for us - and we need to repent or we will die in our sins. To tell them anything less would be the same thing as pushing them out of a plane without a parachute.

END NOTES:

(1) Hell's Best Kept Secret
Way of the Master

(2) 28 minutes and further here:
Brad Jersak - 52 Days of Prayer Celebration
http://vimeo.com/6858945

Ché Ahn's Books and Things

I was surprised (or maybe not) to see that one of our few Canadian Christian TV programs called It's a New Day is promoting something called the Glory Bundle.

Glory Bundle
The Glory Bundle is a bundle of Che Ahn's book "When Heaven Comes Down" and his five programs edited down to three CDs or DVDs. When you send in a donation of $75 or more in the months of May or June, receive at your request the Glory CD Bundle containing CDs. For a donation of $100 or more receive the Glory DVD Bundle containing DVDs.

-www.newday.org

Ché Ahn was recently a guest on their daily TV show during the week of May 31 - June 4 (which can be watched on their website).

So I checked to see if he's also been on that other well known Christian television show - CBN:

Che Ahn: When Heaven Comes Down
By The 700 Club
http://www.cbn.com/700club/guests/bios/che_ahn_042704.aspx

It's there I came across a big oh oh...

CHE’S EXPERIENCES WITH GOD’S GLORY

One of Che’s experiences with God’s glory happened in 1995. After a month of nightly church meetings in a local auditorium, Che’s wife and young daughters opened the doors and were amazed at a vision of God’s glory – a white mist filled the building. Through the mist they saw translucent doves resting on chairs and rafters. They also saw hundreds of angels. Later that night they roused Lou Engle, who was a pastor at their church at the time and leader in intercessory prayer, to see this. Engle separately questioned the girls about what they saw and both described the same things. Engle was convinced the children were witnessing a heavenly visitation, and it lasted six months.

The next day on his way to church, Che felt an increased presence of the Lord but saw nothing. Che says in His grace, God chose to bless their church with the manifest presence of His glory. The visitation of the glory has visited Harvest (HRock) Church for 16 years. The Call was birthed out of it.

cbn.com

Oh oh.

I never cease to be amazed at the lack of discernment shown by Christian television producers who allow stuff like this to pass as biblical. Besides visions and new revelations common to Che Ahn's ministry, and the promotion of (only) his books and things on his church website (www.hrockchurch.com), there have also been some very unusual things going on with Che Ahn and friends. Here are a few of them...

Pastor's wife flopping like a fish out of water home video
www.youtube.com

Che Ahn’s worst healing attempt ever at the Lakeland revival
livingjourney.wordpress.com

Che Ahn on Todd Bentley – a double portion of William Branham’s anointing
endtimespropheticwords.wordpress.com

Che ahn associated with Todd Bentley
defendingcontending.com

In the last link, you can watch a discussion build up on stage between Che Ahn and Todd Bentley, where false prophets Bob Jones, John Arnott, Branham, and Rodney Howard Browne are mentioned. (These are who Bentley refers to as the “generals” of revival, and that the third wave is Lakeland.) Catch the wave fever ensues, which is more like catch the sewage tsunami if you ask me. It’s all about 'the impartation' with these guys, new prophecies and anointings.

There is also another book I came across called Hosting the Holy Spirit by Che Ahn and contributing authors such as John Arnott (Toronto Blessing), Tommy Tenney, Lou Engle, and Cindy Jacobs, which also shows what kind of associations he has.

The sad part about all this is the nice Christians watching Christian programming who will call in and give a donation of $100 for books and things like these that are a false representation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Related:

Roger Oakland speaks on Charismatic Deception
www.youtube.com

Some Good Things to Read

Here are some nice things I read this morning. First of all, fresh off the cyber press, this newsletter reminds us that there are angels all around us, and also mentions a few books about this unseen realm that the Bible tells us about...

Nearer Than You Think -- Angels Are Watching
Olive Tree Ministries

And speaking of angels watching over us, here is a remarkable thing to read...

Miracle Boy: How a 4-Year-Old Boy Survives Falling from a Miami High-Rise
www.huffingtonpost.com

I especially liked the last line in the article.

Is Freemasonry Compatible with Biblical Christianity?

I'm watching a fascinating thing:

Freemasonry, Masonic Lodge and the Shriners: Are They Compatible with Biblical Christianity?

By Dr. Ron Carlson

After hearing this presentation, several men in attendance repented of their involvement with the Masonic Lodge, cancelled their membership, and committed to returning home to reveal to their friends and family members the need to also reject the unbiblical teachings of the Masonic Lodge. In this presentation, that includes multiple graphics, Ron reveals the beliefs, doctrines, and rituals of the Masonic Lodge and the Shriners from their own authorities. Dr. Carlson has studied the original writings of these groups and through their own words and through Dr. Carlson's study of the Word of God, he reveals why no confessing Christian can take part in the works of darkness of these two groups.

To watch the first 17 minutes of this one hour presentation, which you can also purchase, click HERE.

Frankly, Viola is a Contemplative

Regular readers of this blog know about the recent controversy concerning that new book by Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet. You've all read ad nauseum about the Sweet quotes and the whole bizarre "new light" leadership thing. But what you might not know is that it's been discovered that Frank Viola seems to be a stealth practitioner of contemplative spirituality. In fact, it is so NOT well known that one has had to really dig to find anything about it. Until now.

On page 15 of a revealing article called Beyond Bible Study: Finding Jesus in Scripture by Frank Viola (PDF here), he mentions some very interesting things. Under the last section called Fleshing It Out, Viola suggests three things as a way of interacting with Jesus through scripture.

The first way is an approach which he owes to Frank Laubach and his book The Autobiography of Jesus. This method puts the reader in the place of Christ, by substituting 'Jesus, he and him' with 'I and me' in a scripture passage to give one a new perspective.

Now this other Frank (Laubach) to whom Frank (Viola) refers was a 'modern mystic' and missionary who lived in the last century and wrote quite a few books. In one of them called Letters by a Modern Mystic, (endorsed by Dallas Willard), Laubach wrote:

"Living in the atmosphere of Islam is proving --thus far --a tremendous spiritual stimulus. Mohammed is helping me. I have no more intention of giving up Christianity and becoming a Muhammadan than I had twenty years ago, but I find myself richer for the Islamic experience of God. Islam stresses the will of God. It is supreme. We can not alter any of His mighty decrees. To try to do so means annihilation. Submission is the first and last duty of man.

"I must confront these Moros with a divine love which will speak Christ to them though I never use his name. They must see God in me, and I must see God in them. Not to change the name of their religion, but to take their hand and say, 'Come, let us look for God.'"

-Frank Laubach, Letters By a Modern Mystic

Apparently, others have raised the red flag and noted that...

The book reads like a diary. The following is a quote from his May 24, 1930 entry: “I want them to know my discovery!… That any man can have God! That every man does have God the moment he speaks to God, or listens to him!”
Laubach’s “technique” that led him to this discovery is the discipline of trying to be aware of God at least once every minute, every hour of the day. As he describes this continual focusing of the mind on this task, it sounded very much to me like the eastern practice of meditation which aims to stop all critical thinking and to fix the mind on one point, thought, or image.
[Source]

Yet Frank Viola found it fitting to draw from Laubach's approach to scripture reading as one of his Beyond Bible Study methods of finding Jesus.

The second way of interacting with Jesus through scripture recommended by Viola is to...

“Read the Psalm in the voice of Christ. Thomas Merton in his book Bread in the Wilderness said that the main speaker of the Psalms is Jesus Christ….When you recite the psalms, therefore, you are in a sense speaking the words of Christ, uniting yourself with Him, being pulled into His presence.
Example: Father, you are my Shepherd, I shall not want….(Psalm 23…”

As time does not permit me to type out quotes, the interested reader might want to take a browse through Bread in the Wilderness to see what else the contemplative mystic Thomas Merton wrote about that (the preview at google books only goes to page 18, but it's enough). You will quickly begin to wonder why any true born again Christian would refer to this book or its author as part of a recommended Bible study method.

The third way Viola recommends is...

(3) Praying the Scripture. This approach is ancient, tracing back to the Patristic period. It is known as lectio divina – sacred reading.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, lectio divina is a practice growing in popularity, thanks to the contemplative prayer movement, which basically involves relaxation exercises, repeating a scripture (mantra) and emptying the mind in order to reach the silence in order to supposedly hear God's voice within and experience His presence. This practice of meditation uses the same methods as New Age and Eastern religions. But here we have Viola recommending this method as a way of interacting with Jesus.

Finally, at the end of this article Viola writes:

Thanks also to my friends, Frank Valdez and Jon Zens.

There is also a note to web masters and bloggers:

You are free to link to this article and quote excerpts from it, but please do not post it on your web site or blog.

The link is: http://www.ptmin.org/beyond.pdf.

The reason I added that blurb is twofold:

1) This Frank Valdez he thanks is the same Frank who "began to share with me (Frank Viola) about the contemplative prayer tradition. He spoke about centering prayer, lectio divina, and other ancient spiritual practices that were unfamiliar to me at the time. He also used a word that I wasn’t too keen on. I’ve since learned that this word has been historically used to honor people . . . and with equal rigor, it has been used to damn them. Frank introduced me to the Christian “mystics.” [SOURCE]

2) Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries recently noted that Frank Viola has been practicing contemplative prayer for quite some time. Coincidentally, the day after he published that fact on his website, the link to the incriminating archived article on Viola's website disappeared (this was an article called Slaughtering Sacred Cows - Part 3, The Felt-Presence of God by Frank Viola in which he wrote how his good friend, Frank Valdez, taught him to practice contemplative spirituality). Read about these things, and more, here:

FRANK VIOLA PRACTICES CORRUPT CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER
apprising.org

FRANK VIOLA AND CORRUPT CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM
apprising.org

Which makes one wonder - if this is what he strongly believes in, and goes so far as to practice it, why the need to hide it? This is why I added the quote: 'You are free to link to this article and quote excerpts from it,' as he gives permission for what I have done, and now it may be interesting to see if the above mentioned Beyond Bible Study article by Frank Viola also disappears from cyber space (as it also refers to his friend, Frank Valdez, who helped him discover contemplative spirituality).

In conclusion, one might ask why I might bother to waste my morning coffee break and dredge all this 'trivial' stuff up. Here's why. There seems to be a lot of very nice Christian churchy books and things being published today that sound very good. So good, in fact, that many Christians are reading them, absorbing them and being deceived. The reason that some of us seemingly obsessed bloggers write about them is because we believe that the Lord has laid it upon our hearts to dig down, expose the roots and warn others - lest they smell the lovely blossoms, partake of the attractive fruit, and find out too late that it contains poisonous seeds.

Enough said. Sorry about all the Franks, hopefully this was not too confusing and has helped clear things up for someone, because frankly, I've had enough of this stuff - the sun is shining, work is calling, and that will be all for today.

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*Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, the views expressed on this blog are the personal opinions, rantings, and meanderings of this blogger.