We Live In Dangerous Times

Almost all people today have the sense that the world is coming to an end. Even news casters who don't claim to be Christian talk about it. We can see that this earth is wearing out even as the Bible says it will. But there are those who condemn the ones who think this way or who look for the coming of Jesus. Those in the emerging church movement condemn such ones.  Here is an article from LightHouseResearch.com that tells of this:

A growing number of well-known evangelical leaders today are teaching thousands of people that the world has a serious problem. The problem they describe is not what you might expect to hear, especially from evangelical leaders. They believe that those who claim Jesus is coming back soon and that the Earth will face a horrible Armageddon or judgment are actually the cause of the world's major problems and are prohibiting a time of great renewal from taking place. Talk of biblical end-time prophecy is considered by these men to be unnecessary and downright dangerous.




Tony Campolo in his recent book, Speaking My Mind suggests that these types of end-time thinkers are even the cause of wars. He says, "Their doctrines are a major factor in determining a far-ranging set of consequences that include American policies regarding militarism, the emergence of evangelical Zionism, attitudes toward Palestinians and the role of American geopolitics." (p. 207) He later says their "impact on geopolitics can only lead to war." (p. 215).



Rick Warren suggests that Jesus doesn't want us to even think about prophecy or His return. Warren tells us that it is none of our business. He tells us that thinking about Jesus' return is a ploy by Satan to get us distracted. (PDL, pp. 285, 286)



Richard Abanes, author and speaker, in his book End-Time Visions: The Road to Armageddon, criticizes many Christians who believe we should discuss prophecy and that there is indeed a coming Armageddon. He puts solid, Bible-based Christian leaders in the same category as cult leaders such as David Koresh, who led his group to an untimely end.



Are these evangelicals the first ones to hate the idea of Armageddon and the disaster that is coming to the world before Christ returns? In the book, Reinventing Jesus Christ, he quotes Barbara Marx Hubbard who says that those who believe in an Armageddon are self-centered people who if not stopped will actually cause a self-fulfilling prophecy to take place - the destruction of the world.



Marx Hubbard tells us of a global peace plan and she calls it an "Armageddon alternative." This alternative can actually save the world from Armageddon, she says, but only if enough people believe it and only if the world can be rid of these self-centered doomsdayers. "The species known as self-centered humanity will become extinct. The species known as whole-centered humanity will evolve.... Those who choose this version of the future will be there. Those who do not choose it will not be there." Marx Hubbard's own book of "Revelation" describes a message she received from the "Christ": "You are to prepare the way for the alternative to Armageddon, which is the Planetary Pentecost, the great Instant of Co-operation which can transform enough, en masse, to avoid the necessity of the seventh seal being broken." She continues: "Tell them to recognize the God within themselves, and to follow that light through the darkness of tribulations to the dawn of the Universal Age, when only the God-conscious continue to exist, and everyone is like Christ…. Those with the seal of the living God on their foreheads will be with Christ at the time of the Transformation. I cannot 'return' until enough of you are attracted and linked."
(By Sandra - This is just like Satan. He is a liar and the father of lies. If he can convince people to take this mark of the beast, he will have a people to worship him.)



According to Marx Hubbard it is these self-centered believers that are standing in the way. And yet in the book of Revelation, in the last chapter, Jesus says not once but three times, "I am coming quickly," while John in the same chapter tells us not to seal the words of the prophecy because the time is at hand."



In Reinventing Jesus Christ, he quotes Alice Bailey who was "told by her spirit guide over fifty years ago that the 'Forces of Darkness' would oppose the 'new gospel' and the 'New Age.' Is this new gospel and Transformation one and the same as Brian McLaren's New Kind of Christian and Emerging Church? Is it the same as Rick Warren's spiritual awakening and global Transformation? With so many similarities, one can only surmise that they may indeed be so. And if that is the case, will there be a growing hostility and anger towards those of us who say, Maranatha, come quickly Lord Jesus? (I Corinthians 16:22)

By Sandra-- All this is just more positive proof that the time when Jesus is coming for His own is immediate. Today we see that our President and other world leaders are working toward a one world community. The Catholic Church is now holding up the Eucharist Christ as the thing to be worshipped instead of Jesus himself.  All over the world, we see that false christs are on the rise more than ever in my lifetime. Soon, the main anti-christ will make himself known.  Satan is just using these foolish leaders to bring people in line with his plans. His desire has always been to be worshipped as god. He even tried to get Jesus to bow down and worship him when Jesus was in the wilderness.  If Satan will tempt Jesus in this way, how much more will he work to get man to bow down to him. We are indeed living in a dangerous time. It is not that Satan hasn't been working hard to accomplish his goal all along, but now that he has reputable leaders in churches teaching his lies, his goal is that much more within his grasp.  We must be warned. I urge you to tell everyone you know about this.  It is your mandate from the Father.  We are our brother's keeper.

Sandra

The Article from A. W. Tozer about the Lonliness of a Christian

An Excerpt from




The Loneliness of the Christian



by A. W. Tozer









The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.



The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.



The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.



He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.



It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else."







From Man - The Dwelling Place of God, Chapter 39: "The Saint Must Walk Alone"





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Is It All About Relationships?

In his book, Rick Warren would have you believe that the Christian life is all about relationships. Well, I found the following article that says it better then I can.

IS CHRISTIANITY ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS?



By Paul Proctor

September 11, 2009

NewsWithViews.com



“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” – Luke 6:26


It seems I am receiving a little extra email these days from troubled Christians who have had to give up a church, some friends and/or certain family members in order to remain faithful to God and His Word. I can tell you without hesitation that I certainly have – and on more than one occasion.



No one can lead you down the road of temptation quicker than a close friend, family member or fellow Christian. The downgrading of today’s “Church” along with society has clearly taken its toll on the brethren and is now driving many out the sanctuary doors to preserve their faith in Jesus Christ.



I heard Authority Research founder and director, Dean Gotcher, in a recent radio interview refer to the loneliness that results from the loss of such relationships as the taking up of one’s cross for Christ. When I respond to the heartbreaking email of readers who have had to leave their local church in obedience to God’s Word, I often reply with some empathetic encouragement and a link to a short piece written by A.W. Tozer titled: The Loneliness of the Christian.



For believers new to this column, I realize that the idea of sacrificing treasured relationships, even those we worship with, is probably a stark contrast to what you regularly receive from the pulpit of your local church and the lectern of your weekly Bible study class where most everything these days revolves around establishing, protecting, sustaining and maintaining relationships of all kinds, at all costs – a dangerous notion that is just not biblical.


“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” – Amos 3:3

Simply put, it turns people into church worshippers who revere, embrace and obey the consensus of a congregation with a contrived unity rather than God worshippers who put His Word and Authority far and above the fellowship, opinions, theories, life experiences and personal tastes of well meaning Christians and clergy.

This Religion of Relationships has now all but taken over what is called “Christianity” and ought to be called what it really is: “Churchianity” – the worship of and faith in those who claim to be the “Body of Christ” – especially its leaders who treat their own counsel, conjecture, sermon stories and agendas as equal to or greater than the Word of God.

Those who embrace Churchianity will often respond to a rebuking scripture with: “Yeah, but…” as if to be able to trump it with some greater knowledge, wisdom, anecdote or seemingly contradicting verse from the Bible. This is the ugly arrogance of today’s humanistic spirituality and its self-serving, self-worshipping ways.

When listening to a fellow church member, teacher or preacher talk about the Christian life, how many times have you heard them cite that sacred slogan: “It’s all about relationships?”

Baloney!

It’s about repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and our loving obedience to His Word, whatever may come – a faithfulness that will cost you more relationships than it will ever garner you! Our first love and loyalty is to Him, not our fellow man. That doesn’t mean we don’t take up the towel to wash feet, serve others, sacrifice ourselves and love our neighbor – it simply means they don’t come first in our lives – Jesus Christ does. That’s why we call Him “Lord” and not the brethren.

But, when we place our hope and faith in the redeemed rather than the Redeemer and put the words of men over the Word of God, we become no better than new agers who believe that God is in everyone and in everything – worshipping the creation instead of the Creator and in doing so, make ourselves gods to be praised and exalted with reciprocating adulation and acclaim.

“They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.” – Psalm 12:2

If your Christianity isn’t costing you at least some friends and family, both inside and outside the church house, your hope and faith may have turned horizontal. If your Sunday gatherings have become flattery festivals where people are quoted and praised more than Jesus Christ, you might want to reconsider your church membership. If you have friends and family that hate God, but love you, it might be time to reexamine your witness for Christ and your commitment to Him.


“And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.” – Luke 21:16-17

Take a sober and discerning look around your church next Sunday and tell me what you see. If it’s all about relationships there, it may be time to hit the door and go find your cross.


“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” – Matthew 10:33-39

Related articles:

1. The Loneliness of the Christian

2. Authority Research

3. Are You A Church Worshipper?



© 2009 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserved







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Paul Proctor, a rural resident of the Volunteer state and seasoned veteran of the country music industry, retired from showbiz in the late 1990's to dedicate himself to addressing important social issues from a distinctly biblical perspective. As a freelance writer and regular columnist for NewsWithViews.com, he extols the wisdom and truths of scripture through commentary and insight on cultural trends and current events. His articles appear regularly on a variety of news and opinion sites across the internet and in print.



E-Mail: watchman@usa.com

A Novel About Contemplative Spirituality

The following statements are from people who have read a novel that exposes the dangers of the Contempative Spirituality. A novel is generally easier for some people to read than a research book. I highly recommend getting this book and reading it to share with others.              Carolyn A. Greene's novel, Castles in the Sand
Sandra



One Family's Reaction to Novel Exposing Contemplative Spirituality Dangers


LTRP Note: The following letter was sent to us by a woman in Florida, whose family has been helped by reading Carolyn A. Greene's novel, Castles in the Sand, the only novel ever published that exposes the dangers of contemplative spirituality. We hope this letter will encourage others to get this book and share it with their families and friends who may be delving into this mystical spirituality).

Dear Lighthouse Trails, just want to pass on some input about Castles in the Sand:



--From a friend I had loaned the Castles book to:

"I finished the book ... I'm ordering some extras to pass out, too."



--From another friend I had loaned a copy to:

"This is scary! May I buy this book from you? I want to mark in it and show the info to all my friends and my children."



--From my niece in rural Kentucky who had read a copy of Castles that I had loaned her:

"Because I had read that book you loaned me, I was able to recognize what a lady who spoke in our church was saying. She was promoting contemplative prayer and other such things. Had I not read Castles, I would not have known what she was talking about and would not have been concerned. I plan to speak with our pastor about this."



--From Me:

My daughter read the book while visiting us. She liked it so much she had me order one for her to loan to her friend in Tennessee. She told her friend about it before the book came in. A bit later, her friend told her that, because of what my daughter told her about the book, she recognized the problem areas in a book she had checked out from her church library for her 4 YEAR OLD. It was about snakes and yoga. My daughter's friend is now reading the book. Her husband is the Christian Ed teacher at a Christian school, so I'm hoping he'll also read the book so he can beware.



My son, who doesn't usually read things like that (he's a history reader) read it -- at my insistence. He said--without my prompting-- that it was a book that many should read so they can know what is out there!!!



I'm so proud of my late 30s children--that they truly have a biblical worldview, and I know it is because of sound Bible teaching and understanding the need for books like Castles in the Sand.



Please pass this on to the author. I am giving each of my two visiting friends copies of the book this week. They are from two different churches in Kentucky so, hopefully, the info will go out from them to many. Thanks for your ministry! M.R. in Florida.

Test The Spirits

by Warren B. Smith


www.newagetograce.com

Not long after our conversion, my wife and I sat down one day and talked about the ultimate spiritual deception described in the Bible--the great "falling away" of the church and the coming of Antichrist. We agreed that for someone like Antichrist to be credible in the world, he would need a majority of the people who call themselves Christians to believe that he was Christ. If he could get enough Christians--especially Christian leaders--to follow him, he could then discredit and marginalize those who oppose him. But to get people who call themselves Christians to believe that he was Christ he would first have to successfully redefine Christianity. To do that he would have to introduce non-Christian teachings and practices into the church, while at the same time make them appear Christian. His obvious goal would be to convert undiscerning and unsuspecting believers into a more eastern and mystical, New Age "Christianity." While invoking the name of "God" and "Christ" he would actually turn the Bible upside down--just as we had seen in A Course in Miracles and in our New Age teachings.



Christianity would become a more "positive" New Age "Christianity." This New Age Christianity would have "a form of godliness" but it would actually deny the true faith (1 Timothy 3:5). This New Age Christianity/New Spirituality would use Christian terminology but it would be under the spell of "another Jesus," "another spirit," and "another gospel" (2 Corinthians 11:4). This New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality would be the ultimate counterfeit and the ultimate deception. It would be what the real Jesus warned his followers to watch out for.



The New Age/New Spirituality has continued to make great inroads into the church--particularly in the area of meditation and so-called "contemplative prayer." Despite grave warnings from many of us that came out of the New Age movement, the church remains extremely vulnerable to deceptive, supernatural experiences that appear to come from God.



We knew from our own New Age involvement that powerful, seemingly "meant to be" spiritual experiences had often been used to draw us closer into the New Age and its various spiritual practices, including meditation and contemplation. And we knew that the same seductive experiences which had led us into the New Age, continued within our meditations and contemplations. Because our spiritual experiences felt so good, we just assumed that what we were experiencing was coming from God. Our meditations and contemplations soon became the primary connecting force that gave us "the feeling" we were on the right track. These daily meditations and contemplations served to reinforce our emerging New Age beliefs, and had the effect of leading us deeper and deeper into the teachings of the New Age/New Spirituality.



For most of us in the New Age, meditation was an integral part of daily life. Because it was so relaxing and felt so good we had no idea that our meditations were opening us up to great deception. Looking back on it now, meditation was the major pipeline through which deceptive spirits impressed upon us their New Age thoughts and teachings. The spiritual "high" that often accompanied our meditations and contemplations seemed to corroborate our emerging New Age belief that we were all "one" because God was "in" everyone and everything. In fact, in my very first meditation I experienced a "mysterious sense of oneness" that I perceived to be my "divine connection" to that oneness. One of the daily lessons I contemplated from A Course in Miracles was "Let me remember I am one with God."Click here for source material and to continue reading ...

Let me say, (Sandra) that for more information on the terms used by the emerging community, you can go to

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/researchtopics.htm

I use data from this site by their permission. It is a really good site to learn more about this false teaching.  And while you are there, go to the publishing site where they sell books about this. Everyone should read Faith Undone by Roger Oakland. It will open your eyes.

Sandra

http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin534.htm

The Bible is the absolute Truth for anyone who wants to know God. There is no other way.   Satan is working overtime to make this world into a one world community. This is the community over which he will preside as the anti-christ. The above link tells more about how the Presidents of our nation have been and are pushing for this one world community. 

This effort tells me more than anything else that the stage is set for the appearance of Jesus to come for His own. In John 14: 3, we read:

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

Now, why would Jesus tell people this if all they could expect was to live on this planet forever until they die. Or why would this be true if there was no Rapture as some people think.  Jesus didn't say He would make a place on this earth for us. And He is not going to prepare a place for the lost people. Rather, He is preparing a place for His own people, those who accept Him as the Savior, the only door to the kingdom of Go.

And Jesus says He will come again and receive us. He will take us up to be with Him in that place He has prepared for us.  Let not your hearts be troubled.  Many of us who are alive today will witness this event. Of this I am positive.

I put in the above link so you can read some things for youself about the efforts to make this one world community. And it will happen.
Sandra

Is Christianity All About Relationships?

IS CHRISTIANITY ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS?












By Paul Proctor

September 11, 2009

NewsWithViews.com



“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” – Luke 6:26



It seems I am receiving a little extra email these days from troubled Christians who have had to give up a church, some friends and/or certain family members in order to remain faithful to God and His Word. I can tell you without hesitation that I certainly have – and on more than one occasion.



No one can lead you down the road of temptation quicker than a close friend, family member or fellow Christian. The downgrading of today’s “Church” along with society has clearly taken its toll on the brethren and is now driving many out the sanctuary doors to preserve their faith in Jesus Christ.



I heard Authority Research founder and director, Dean Gotcher, in a recent radio interview refer to the loneliness that results from the loss of such relationships as the taking up of one’s cross for Christ. When I respond to the heartbreaking email of readers who have had to leave their local church in obedience to God’s Word, I often reply with some empathetic encouragement and a link to a short piece written by A.W. Tozer titled: The Loneliness of the Christian.



For believers new to this column, I realize that the idea of sacrificing treasured relationships, even those we worship with, is probably a stark contrast to what you regularly receive from the pulpit of your local church and the lectern of your weekly Bible study class where most everything these days revolves around establishing, protecting, sustaining and maintaining relationships of all kinds, at all costs – a dangerous notion that is just not biblical.





Advertisement



“Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” – Amos 3:3



Simply put, it turns people into church worshippers who revere, embrace and obey the consensus of a congregation with a contrived unity rather than God worshippers who put His Word and Authority far and above the fellowship, opinions, theories, life experiences and personal tastes of well meaning Christians and clergy.



This Religion of Relationships has now all but taken over what is called “Christianity” and ought to be called what it really is: “Churchianity” – the worship of and faith in those who claim to be the “Body of Christ” – especially its leaders who treat their own counsel, conjecture, sermon stories and agendas as equal to or greater than the Word of God.



Those who embrace Churchianity will often respond to a rebuking scripture with: “Yeah, but…” as if to be able to trump it with some greater knowledge, wisdom, anecdote or seemingly contradicting verse from the Bible. This is the ugly arrogance of today’s humanistic spirituality and its self-serving, self-worshipping ways.



When listening to a fellow church member, teacher or preacher talk about the Christian life, how many times have you heard them cite that sacred slogan: “It’s all about relationships?”



Baloney!



It’s about repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and our loving obedience to His Word, whatever may come – a faithfulness that will cost you more relationships than it will ever garner you! Our first love and loyalty is to Him, not our fellow man. That doesn’t mean we don’t take up the towel to wash feet, serve others, sacrifice ourselves and love our neighbor – it simply means they don’t come first in our lives – Jesus Christ does. That’s why we call Him “Lord” and not the brethren.



But, when we place our hope and faith in the redeemed rather than the Redeemer and put the words of men over the Word of God, we become no better than new agers who believe that God is in everyone and in everything – worshipping the creation instead of the Creator and in doing so, make ourselves gods to be praised and exalted with reciprocating adulation and acclaim.



“They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.” – Psalm 12:2



If your Christianity isn’t costing you at least some friends and family, both inside and outside the church house, your hope and faith may have turned horizontal. If your Sunday gatherings have become flattery festivals where people are quoted and praised more than Jesus Christ, you might want to reconsider your church membership. If you have friends and family that hate God, but love you, it might be time to reexamine your witness for Christ and your commitment to Him.







“And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.” – Luke 21:16-17



Take a sober and discerning look around your church next Sunday and tell me what you see. If it’s all about relationships there, it may be time to hit the door and go find your cross.







“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” – Matthew 10:33-39



Related articles:



1. The Loneliness of the Christian

2. Authority Research

3. Are You A Church Worshipper?



© 2009 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserved







E-mail This Page



Sign Up For Free E-Mail Alerts

E-Mails are used strictly for NWVs alerts, not for sale







--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Paul Proctor, a rural resident of the Volunteer state and seasoned veteran of the country music industry, retired from showbiz in the late 1990's to dedicate himself to addressing important social issues from a distinctly biblical perspective. As a freelance writer and regular columnist for NewsWithViews.com, he extols the wisdom and truths of scripture through commentary and insight on cultural trends and current events. His articles appear regularly on a variety of news and opinion sites across the internet and in print.



E-Mail: watchman@usa.com

Alcoholic's Anomynous Uses Comteplative Teachings

All who don't want to be led astray these days must be aware of the teachings of the emerging church movement, or Emergent as we can call it. Many are being taught these practices without knowing it. Satan is certainly deceptive, and he is using many good organizations to foster his work.

Editors at Lighthouse Trails editors@lighthousetrails.com
by John Lanagan


Free-Lance Writer

AA's 11th Step states: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.



"Don't make a big deal about AA's 'prayer and meditation,'" writes pro-AA author Dick B. ... "It is nothing more than praying and studying or 'pondering' what you are reading."[1]



This is simply not so. As discussed in 'Alcoholics Anonymous and Contemplative Spirituality,'[2] advocates of contemplative spirituality are using AA and other 12 Step groups as a launching pad for their meditative practices. Nor is AA's contemplative potential a new thing. As a treatment website notes, "AA and 12 Step Fellowship have known for years that spirituality or some form of contemplative meditation is an important part of treatment."[3] (italics mine)



AA's definition of meditation has no limits and no boundaries. For most, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the Word of God. AA cofounder Bill Wilson felt meditative knowledge from anywhere in the world could be valid.



It should be noted that AA apologist Dick B. has written numerous books and articles portraying AA and the 12 Steps as Biblical in origin.[4] This is a concern because Christians who join AA based on these erroneous claims may become involved in the very meditative practices this author minimizes.



In Standing Fast in the Last Days, Warren Smith describes his entrance into the occult. He recounts how a psychic, a woman who uncannily knew many details about him, told Smith the spirits on the other side needed his permission to work in his life. Watching this DVD recently, it reminded me how similar this is to AA's 11th Step. Click here to continue...

New Message For This Site - Sept. 20, 2009

This is my first message since moving my writings from the Windows Live site. All messages before this one were copied and pasted here. So, some of the links don't work. You can just copy the links and put them in a new window to view what is there. I urge you to do this because I would not have put them there if they weren't important.

I will continue my writings here. It is a much easier site to work with, and I think that all a person has to do is join blogger to get into this site.  I had to send invitations to the other site. That is why I moved here.

I hope you will read prayerfully what I have written. I pray each morning for the Lord to give me the words for the day. Unless the words come from God, they will not have life or light. My words mean nothing unless they are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I have an unction in my spirit to write these messages. I know that there are books available to read about these false teachings, but I also know that most people won't take the time to read a book.  I have permission from LightHouseResearch to use portions of the books I refer to and to use excerpts from their site. I urge you to go to their site to do further study about this topic.

Please pass along the word about the writings here. I am not out for personal attention, not at all.  I just want as many people as possible to know about these false teachings.  A lot of people think Rick Warren is just fine and like his book. But these people don't know the real truth about his or his teachings.  Yoga is being taught is some schools as a way or relieving the stress for the students. They are leading those students into witchcraft, and it is of the devil.

If people aren't warned, then they will be led blindly into these false practices. It is my goal and mission to warn them if they will just let themselves read and know.

Sandra

What Does God Have To Say? Sept. 16, 2009


Sandra D Before I begin writing about the teachings and practices of the emerging church movement, I want to say a little about what the Bible has to say on this subject.



I am using some excerpts from Faith Undone by Roger Oakland, and also from A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen. I highly recommend both of these books. You can buy them at Lighthouse Publishing online. I use these excerpts by permission from LighthouseResearch.



Since Adam and Eve's day until our own, a battle has waged between man's ways of doing things and God's ways. So often, what may seem to be the right way ends up not being that at all. Rebellion is always due to one thing -- rejecting God's Word because our own way appeals to us so much more. ....the emerging church movement fits this explanation.



So many of the people who go to the way of the emerging church do so because they have failed to find what they are seeking in the traditional church. But, the Bible is truly an amazing book. To get to the place where the truth that has been taught for centuries gives a person a life of joy and peace in his walk with the Lord, one has only to read the Bible.



However, while God has provided a way for us to seek Him and to know Him, God's adversary has a plan of his own. The last thing the devil wants is for man to be obedient to what God has said. Instead, his objective is to lead people away from the Savior, Jesus Christ, with counterfeits; these deadly detours sometimes very closely resemble the real thing.... but in reality lead to spiritual disaster. The Bible says as the time before Christ's return shortens, the devil's agenda will only intensify.



Emergent leaders say the Christian faith needs to be reinvented or reimagined for the 21st century.

In his book, Faith Undone, Roger Oakland challenges the emerging church message, and here is why: True biblical faith never changes. What Jesus and His disciples offered two thousand years ago is still offered to mankind today and has been consistently offered to every generation in between. Jude, verse 3, exhorts us to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.



Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8: 12) By saying this, Jesus wanted us to know that the world without him is dark (because of sin). But He has come to dispel the darkness of sin and give us true life.



The Bible says we have been given the answer to the mystery of life. It is God coming in the flesh (Jesus) and His Spirit living inside all who accept Him by faith. Contrast this with the message of the emerging church -- a message that is not clear at all. One movement leader wrote a book called

The Secret Message of Jesus. But in truth, there is no secret message of Jesus.



In future writings, I will emphasize the teachings and practices of the emerging church. I believe you need to recognize these because many of them are already being widely practiced in our society today. Even in our schools is yoga being taught as a means to relax the students and take the stress away. These practices are insidious, and and creep into churches and institutions as acceptable ways. This is why I am writing about this. I want every person to be able to recognize these teachings and practices in order not to be lead astray.



Please invite everyone you think would be interested in this topic to come in by invitation to read.



Sandra

Why Abortion Is Murder


Sandra D Life Begins at Conception Aug 14, '09 4:35 PM

for everyone



I really don't know why people have so much trouble deciding when life begins. It takes a spark of life to start the cell multiplying into the human form. This spark of life comes from God. God knows us from the time this spark of life begins. The life that is forming may not know anymore than a new born baby knows, but God knows this forming life, and He made it. He approves of it. And to kill it is murder in His sight.



Psalm 139:



King Davd talks to God here and tells how God knows him.

He says that God "has possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb."



David describes how God made him "fearfully and wonderfully."



"My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."



God knows each tiny life that is growing in the mother's womb. He knows the parts that are not yet formed. God made the DNA that composes this life. Even in the unperfected form, all of the tiny life's members are written in God's book. They continue to be fashioned according to God's plan.



In another scripture, it is written that the very hairs of our head are numbered. God knows every cell and the particles that make up each cell. This is how God will give a glorified body to people who have died in the Lord and their earthly bodies are now gone, some even scattered over the earth or water. All the parts of these bodies are written in God's book. And it is not a hard feat for Him to make our glorified bodies from the plan that is written in His book.



Those who kill an unborn life are commiting murder. God created that life. Only He knows what that life will produce. Take the examples of lives that were born with handicaps but who went on to produce great works for the world.



No one can justify abortion at any stage. Once that life has started from the first cell dividing, it belongs to God. Those who destroy these lives will some day answer to God.



Sandra

God Is Real!


Sandra D Last night as I read more in the book, Faith Undone, by Roger Oakland, I came to a chapter on page 190 called

A Slaughterhouse Religion. Now, I have heard people talk about this before. They say that no God of love could cause a man to be cruely punished for the sins of others. But I have never read it quite as clearly as I did last night.



In this chapter, some called God a "blood-thirsty barbarian" and the faith we hold a "slaughterhouse religion".

It is said that the atonement, where "Jesus suffered as a substitute for us" because of our sins, is a "precivilized barbarity." I have put the word, Gnostic, in the definitions message. For it is this that is behind most of this thinking. In the early church, some became Gnostics. These use philosophy to live by instead of faith. I believe it is this that is in the thinking of most and maybe all of those who are against the faith of the Bible these days.



In 1991, William Shannon (biographer of Catholic monk and mystic, Thomas Merton) said:



"This is typical patriarchal notion of God. He is the God of Noah who sees people deeep in sin,

repents that He made them and resolves to destroy them. He is the God of the desert who sends

snakes to bite His people because they murmured against Him. He is the God of David who

practically decimates a people.... He is the God who exacts the last drop of blood from His Son,

so that His just anger, evoked by sin, may be appeased. This God whose moods alternate between

graciousness and dierce anger..... This God does not exist. (emphasis added)



As Roger Oakland says, "This is another perfect example of how the emerging church turns doctrines it doesn't understand into a mockery against Scripture and God's plan of salvation. God's way are not our ways, and to expect them to live up with our human reasoning is ludicrous." ( Read Isaiah 55: 8-9)



Another person, former Catholic priest , Brennan Manning, has been a major influence in emerging spirituality. In his 2003 book Above All, he quotes William Shannon almost word for word, regarding the atonement:



[T]he god whose moods alterrnate between graciousness and fierce anger ... the godd who exacts the last

drop of blood from his Son so that his just anger, evoked by sin, may be appeased, is not the God

revealed by and in Jesus Christ. And if he is not the God of Jesus, he does not exist.



I have not written all that is in this book, but it is enough to show you how these people think. Not everyone in the emerging movement thinks God does not exist. In most part, they just want to make God such a part of themselves that they are god. This is done by a type of meditation that I will write about in future messages. I will be writing about what these emergent followers believe and what they practice in future messages. But today, I want to tell you what God has to say about what I have written here.



When I went to bed last night, these thought were in my head. So, I began to talk with my Father, God. I said to Him, "How can people think this way. What do they have to hold on to? How can they live without You?"

And as I poured out my thoughts to Him, these words came to my mind. They came fast and they were complete. I had to get up, go to the computer, and write them down. I feared lest I forget them in the morning. And these are the words He gave me:



God has a nature, a personality. He hurts, he feels, he gets angry. He is not a force, but he is a person. God has angels who adore Him, but He wanted to fellowship with someone like Him. So, He created a man in His image. He gave to the man a body, a soul, and a spirit. God could communicate with the man by his spirit. God wanted fellowship. He walked with Adam in the garden each day. They talked and they fellowshipped.







But God wanted a friend. No one can force a person to be a friend. A friend must choose to be a friend. So, God had to give man a free will. He wanted man to choose to be His friend. But Adam chose to be disobedient to God’s rules. He violated them for his own pleasure. He chose to give in to self rather than obey God. Every wrong choice has consequences. And the consequence of breaking fellowship with God was to be cut off from fellowship with Him.







But God was sad about this. He had made man to be His friend. And God has feelings. He wanted Adam to live and not die. But Adam could not live eternally as God had designed him to in the disobedient state he had chosen.



So, God made a covering for Adam, and his wife, Eve. He took the lives of animals to cover the ugliness of Adam’s sin, disobedience.







God had to turn Adam and Eve out of the Garden before they could eat of the tree of life and live forever in their sin nature. So, they went out to live on their own, as they had chosen to do. And thus began the time of the generations.







The people whom God called to be His people began with Abram from Ur. He called Abram and told him that Abram would be the father of many people, more than the sand on the beaches. He promised Abram, who became Abraham, that He would be with him. God made a covenant with Abraham. This covenant was to be God’ promise to Abraham, and Abraham made his covenant with God, to be obedient to God. It takes two to make a covenant. This is an agreement between the two. And it is binding. The method of making this covenant was of sacrifice. (See Genesis 15: 9-21)







God gave Abraham a son named Isaac. To see if Abraham loved God more than his son, God gave him a test. Abraham took Isaac up to a mountain and prepared him as a sacrifice to God. God saw that Abraham loved Him this much, and He spared the son of promise. This showed God that Abraham would keep the covenant they had made.







All down through the succeeding generations, the people often disobeyed God. This made Him sad and angry. He sometimes wished He hadn’t made man. God could feel these emotions because He is a person. But God is also just. He knows that disobedience brings consequences. So, when the people disobeyed God, there were consequences to pay. Sin in our lives brings consequences. Bad things happen to us. We suffer the effects of the sin in our lives. What we do brings harm to us in one way or another. God knows this. And He wants us to learn from our disobedience. And, just as we teach our children that wrong actions bring consequences in order to teach them to do the right things, so God has to teach us that our disobedience to His laws hurt us. He made the laws of nature and of the universe for our good. But when we break these laws, we harm ourselves and others.







But God didn’t want to give up on man. He instituted the sacrifice of animals (the covenant He made with Abraham) as a way of repentence for the sins the people committed. This was the way God designed. It was a temporary covering until the time when the permanent offering could be made. The people knew this. The time came when the sacrifices were made in a Temple for the sins of all the people. This was a satisfactory act in the eyes of God for it said to Him that the people recognized that they had sinned and wanted to repent of it. By making the sacrifice of their best lamb, the people were reminded of their sins and wanted to make it right with God.







Time passed, and people continued to sin. Sacrifices were made, and temporary forgiveness was given. But it was not enough. God wanted a people who would choose Him above themselves. He wanted the friend He had made in Adam. So, God had a plan by which each person could once again gain that state in which he/she could communicate with God in spirit to His spirit. God’s plan was to send a part of Himself to earth in human form. God became flesh and dwelled on this earth by the name Jesus. This was a part of the Trinity, God, the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.







Jesus taught who God was and what He was like. He was like Jesus. Jesus is a picture of God. Jesus had emotions and wanted fellowship with those who would be His followers. The emotions Jesus had were the same as what God has. Jesus wept. He had great compassion. He loved the people. So many emotions housed in that body of Jesus told us how God feels. Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you have seen God.” He was a living picture of God. So, we know God. We have no excuse for denying God exists.







The plan of salvation was not a cruel punishment for Jesus as some think. It was a plan that made a way for humans to once again have the privilege of making the choice between themselves and God. God made Jesus the last sacrifice that would ever have to be made. Jesus went willingly to the Cross. God sacrificed a part of Himself so that man could once again make the right choice to choose God as his friend. And those who choose to believe in the work of Jesus on the cross make this choice in their own conscience. It is a choice of free will, just as God gave to Adam.







By choosing Jesus, man chooses to be a friend of God. And in return, God puts a part of Himself into man. When the person makes a public profession of faith in the work of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity, comes to reside in man. This does not make man a god. It makes man a vessel in which God can dwell on earth.







When this is done, a person usually is baptized by immersion to show his death with Jesus as he goes under the water, and it shows he is raised to a new life as he comes up from the water. The water represents the grave. Then a new relationship begins between God and man. They can now talk, communicate. They can fellowship. They can become friends. And as a man walks with God, he learns how to live as God designed him to live.







In a man’s walk with God, the Father, the Holy Spirit teaches that man what he needs to be rid of in his life. Since habits and faults of personalities are hard to change, God gives man help in doing the changing. The Holy Spirit gives check in a man’s spirit when that man is going in the wrong direction. If the man listens and changes his course, he conquers the habit or bad personality trait. It is a strait and narrow walk. Man cannot live as the people of the world live and also live as God’s friend. He must make the choice. But becoming more like Jesus, and thus what God wants us to be, is not hard for a man who is dedicated to God.











The walk of a Christian, a person totally given to God, is a way of life. It leads eventually to a state of God-likeness. Man never reaches the absolute goal of perfection while living in a human body, but he can attain a state of peace that the world cannot understand. And the life of a mature Christian is a life of living joy. It is not a dead life, but rather a life of vitality and strength to face each day’s problems in the right way. It is a victorious life.







Once again, man has the choice to make. Will it be fellowship with God, or will it be a life of obedience to Satan, the supreme being of evil. No one can



live without making a choice. He will either serve God, or he will serve Satan. Which one will you choose?









Put in writing by Sandra Davis, August 31, 2009

We Live In The Last Days


Sandra D I am not alone in saying that we are in the last days. But, we must remember that the last days began when Jesus went to the Father after He was resurrected. However, we see signs of the appearance of the anti-christ all around us. Many are now following other christs, believing they have found some secret way to God.



In II Corinthians 11: 3-4, Paul warns these people about those who preach "another Jesus". And this is just what the emerging church people and other groups are doing today. The Bible warns that in the days before Jesus Christ returns, truth will be abandoned for a wider spiritual road that gives "heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (I Timothy 4:1) A new form of Christianity will replace biblical faith with a faith that says man can find his own path to God and create a perfect kingdom of God here on earth. The Word will become secondary to a system of works and rituals driven by ancient mystical experiences. (Faith Undone)



An ecumenical pattern toward unity with other religions has already become quite apparent. Many people will consider those who refuse to embrace this direction as spiritual oddballs who need to be reprimanded. These resisters who stand up for biblical faith will be seen as obstructions to a one world spirituality and global peace. Now, do we want to be singled out as people who keep this world from becoming a world of peace? Ask yourself what this will mean in your life. If you stand firmly for the true faith taught in the Bible, how will it affect your work, your social life, your church life? Are you ready to stand? Are you strong enough? Am I? We all must ask these questions of ourselves.



The emerging movement is not really a church. It is rather a dialogue or conversation. Brian McLaren, a leader of this movement, explains the objective of the movement:



We are "exploring off the map" -- looking into mysterious territory beyond our familiar world on this side

of the river, this side of the ocean, this side of the boundary between modern and postmodern worlds.

We are looking into an exciting, unmapped world on the other side of all we know so far. (Faith Undone)



In II Timothy 4:3-4 we read: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall the heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables."



This is what we are seeing in our own nation today, even in some of our churches. People are not finding fulfillment in the truth of the Bible. And this is because they never had a life-changing expierence of salvation in Jesus Christ. Paul says in one of the Scriptures they "they went out from us" but he also says that they were not of us to begin with or they would not have gone out from us. When people pretend at being saved, they can find no satisfaction in being a so-called Christian. It is only when a person has been truly born again, and the Holy Spirit is living in him, that he can learn the truth and become free from the ties of this world.



The churches of today are filled with people who just endure the sermon and go their own ways all the days of the wreek. They think they have done their duty by going to church. These people don't have the joy of the salvation in Jesus. No one who has known Jesus can ever go back.



(Faith Undone) One young pastor who participated in the early stages of the emerging church said the old traditional church is bein replaced with an "emerging, missional [church] and bound together by the following traits:



* The cultural context is postmodern and pluralistic.

* The church accepts that it is marginalized in culture.

* Pastors are local missionaries.

* Church services blend ancient forms (Mysticism) and local styles.

* Missions is "glocal" (global and local).



These new types of missional emerging leaders want to break away from what they view as a dead, traditional church. More on this next time.



Sandra

I wrote a long message.....


Sandra D ...... in http://christianchatsandart3.spaces.live.com/default.aspx this morning. It woke me up about 5:20 am. For anyone who knows me, they know I like to sleep late in the mornings. I am a night person, and I often write late into the night. But I lay there in bed writing in my head. Finally, our little dog, Duke, wanted to go out about 7 am. So, when I got up to let him out, I just stayed up. I got my coffee and fruit and went to the computer. I wrote for a long time. I feel like the message I wrote was from God by the Holy Spirit. God often gives me things to write after I've gone to bed. I think I need a tape recorder under my pillow, but it is not the same as seeing the words on the screen.



I hope you will read what was written there. It is rather long, but I wrote it so anyone could understand it. I wrote it for a person who is not used to knowing about these things. So, just read it, and maybe re-read it. I welcome your comments.



Sandra

Our Warning Against Those Who Deny the True Diety of Christ


Sandra D In what I am writing here, you can see that there are many, many people who are denying that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God. These people want to make Him just a teacher or someone who lived a good life and is an example to follow. But if Jesus is not a part of the Trinity, then He is not the One we should be giving our whole lives for. But it is He that is the true Son of God. He was all man and all God in one. He is deity true. He lives today at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us. He defeated Satan and all the evil followers of this wicked one. And he took the keys of death, hell, and the grave from Satan. These no longer have any fear or hold for us.



I John 2: 18-23 -- "Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us (did not hold to the truth), but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out, that they might be made manifest (show) that they were not of us."



Many today are now saying that Jesus is not who the Bible says He is. They have another way to God. Their other way is by contemplative meditation. This is one of the main practices of the emerging church people. In this meditation, a person is in a type of situation much like yoga. The person gets into the silence and shuts his mind down by repeating a word or phrase (mantra) over and over many times. When a word is repeated many times, the soul begins to sink deep inside ones self. This is a state of self hypnosis. In this state, the mind is no longer thinking at all. The spirit of the person is now open for any and all spirits to come into it. We know that the spirit of God doesn't work this way. So, the spirits that come into the person in this state are the evil spirits that are in this world.



I have read that many hollywood actors go into this type of meditation before beginning to act. They say it is not them doing the acting, but another person altogether. This is like another person has taken over the actor's mind and body. People who practice this meditation think that they are getting deeper into fellowship with God. They believe that their spirit combines with the spirit of God. This teaching is leading people to think that they have a "secret way" of communing with God. While in this state of self hypnosis, a person can be inhabited by an evil spirit who then can control the thinking of that person. It gives some people a kind of god-complex, making them think they are god.



I John 2:23 - "Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father; but he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also."



The people of the emerging church movement deny that Jesus is the way to God. They don't believe that Jesus is the "door" as the Bible teaches He is. They do not believe that a person must accept Jesus as Savior in order to be saved. And not only these people think this way. There are a great many people in our nation and the world today who do not believe Jesus is "the way." They say that a God who would let only those who accept Jesus be able to be in heaven is not a good God. They believe that a God who would condemn people to hell because they don't accept Jesus is not a just God. But the Bible teaches just the opposite. God is a just God. But God is also a God of compassion. He didn't have to make a way for people to come to Him after the fall of Adam; but He did. God gave a part of Himself, His Son, to be sacrificed in a cruel way in order for all mankind to have the choice to come to Him and be a part of His kingdom.



As I wrote before, "kingdom now" is a big term with emerging church people. They believe that they can establish a perfect world now if they do certain things. They believe that God is in every person, therefore every person is god. This is the belief that Oprah Winfrey bases her church upon. It is the teaching of Rick Warren and many other leaders of this false movement.



I John 3: 8 - "He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."



The Bible can't be any clearer about who Jesus is. Those who don't believe Jesus is the Son of God just either do not read the Bible or they don't want to believe. Maybe the sin that is the favorite of the devil, the pride of life, has them blinded. Whatever is the cause, they are headed for hell as surely as they live in this world and are of this world.



Sandra

A Strong Warning


Sandra D I am putting here the experience one person had with the emerging movement. Please read his warning.



“Contemplative Prayer Movement”



April 30, 1945 Adolph Hitler commits suicide. It's my birthday. I am three years old, living in St. Petersburg, Florida. As a poor white southerner, one of my main pastimes was fighting. Irrelevant to this writing to discuss why, violence was a big part of my life. In the early 1960s as a condition to be released from jail, I moved to California.As with most Americans I knew about Jesus Christ. I attended a few Methodist and Baptist Sunday school classes. I was instructed in the Christmas and Easter stories and had a vague conception that Jesus was very special to God, if the Bible was true. Like most Americans, violent or not, I was a nominal Christian, which of course I realize now means a fake – destined for hell.



I brought my mental and spiritual baggage with me to California and discovered grass (marijuana). I thought I had found heaven. It took all the violence away which alcohol had previously only intensified. I had my own set of morals and there were lines I had vowed never to cross. I worked, went to college, smoked grass almost every day. I soon crossed almost every line I had drawn for myself. That is the nature of sin. In the 60s, as there is today in 2006, many cults and eastern religious practices that offered ways to find peace were available. I finally went past meditation with a group to find total enlightenment – to find the ultimate -- God. The requirements were simply stated – hard to achieve.



1. Reject every belief you have previously held; and 2. Empty your mind.



I finally actually did it. It was called “Psychic death”. Depending on your world view, I became insane or demon possessed. Oh how I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and oh, how I thought I was so aware and could teach others to escape this unreality into “my heaven”.



I was the right age, approaching 30, and had found “the answer.”It was time to make “my appearance.”I called a reporter and made an appointment with him at his office in Torrance, CA. As I was walking to the front door of the Torrance Breeze office, a thundering voice said, "Behold He comes with clouds and every eye shall see Him." It is irrelevant if it was a suppressed scripture I had read as a child or if God spoke audibly. This experience literally knocked me to my knees and shattered my philosophy. I immediately embarked on a torturous few months of soul searching, reading the Bible, arguing with preachers and the Jesus freaks and arguing with God. To be concise, one night I heard God call my name, one word, “Tom”. The presence was overpowering. All the LSD and mind altering techniques in the world paled compared to this. My final words were, “Lord Jesus, I give up. I believe in you.” I got saved.



That was winter 1969. I’ve been an active Christian ever since. I’ve seen many revivals, many more so called moves of God”, and many new improved methods to improve yourself and the church come and go in the last 37 years. The contemplative prayer movement is one of these fads. I’m not ignorant of the movement, nor want to “nitpick” Most people in churches are not saved anyway and that is a real danger. All honest pastors admit this. This is beyond an innocent technique, beyond a biblical stilling of the mind to focus on God—which you cannot ever do accurately until you are saved anyway.



This is dangerous territory and I strongly warn people in the churches to avoid this movement.If you want to experience God and “feel like” a Christian, you must die to yourself and at the same time "Let this man (Jesus) rule over you." To become born again. If you are a Christian and you don’t feel like one, you aren’t living like one.



I am adding my voice to many evangelical Christians who are opposed to this “movement”. Study the reasons against it as well as for it. If you empty your mind, you are the one who will suffer the consequences.



Tom Adcock

Jesus People Information Center

4338 3rd Ave

Sacramento, CA 95817

www.mission.org/jesuspeople

Part 7 -- Some of the practices of the emerging church


Sandra D Before I leave the emerging church movement, I want to put some of the practices they teach and follow here.



Contemplative Spirituality -- definition: contemplative spirituality: a belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology; the premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all).



Some terms used in the emerging movement -



Ancient Wisdom: The supposed laws of the Universe that, when mastered, enable one to control one's own reality—another word for metaphysics or occultism.



Alice Bailey: British-born occultist who wrote under the guidance of a familiar spirit and channeled nineteen books on the New Age. She also popularized the term.



Centering/Centering Prayer: Another term for meditation (going deep within your center). A type of meditation being promoted in many mainline churches under the guise of prayer



Creative Visualization: Imaging in the mind, during meditation, what you want to occur and then expecting it to happen. In simple terms, you are creating your own reality.



Desert Fathers: Mystics who first taught the practice of contemplative prayer.



Ecstasy: The hoped for outcome of contemplative prayer or mediation



The silence: Absence of normal thought.



Definition of Contemplative Spirituality: a belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is often wrapped in Christian terminology; the premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all).

In the mid-seventies three monks wanted to bring contemplative prayer to Christianity. This is how they did it.»



"They invited to the abbey ecumenically oriented Catholic theologians, an Eastern Zen master, Joshu Roshi Sasaki, who offered week long retreats on Buddhist meditation, and a former Trappist, Paul Marechal, who taught transcendental meditation. The interaction between these Christian monks and practitioners of Eastern meditation helped distill the practice of Christian contemplative prayer into a form that could be easily practiced by a diverse array of "non-monastic" believers: priests, nuns, brothers and lay men and women." by Joseph G. Sandman (America Magazine 9/9/00)

For the whole story:

http://www.cuc.claremont.edu/interfth

/Centering\centering_prayer.htm



Also see a meeting that took place in 1977.



I will put more of these terms in the reply to this entry.

Sandra



Contemplative Prayer—A mystical prayer practice that leads one into the "silence" but in actuality leads away from God.



Definition of Contemplative Spirituality: a belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is often wrapped in Christian terminology; the premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all).



od. od. Contemplative Prayer—A mystical prayer practice that leads one into the "silence" but in actuality leads away from God.

More people than the emergent ones are against Christianity


Sandra D I have written about the emerging church and Rick Warren mostly, and they are definitely against Christianity. But there are more groups who are also trying to wipe out Christianity and impose their beliefs on us today.



One such group calls itself the "Barbarians". I will tell about these, but first I need to start with what Rick Warren has to say that leads into this group.



Faith Undone, by Roger Oakland, page 174:



"Emerging spirituality is changing the way missions is being conducted. The idea is that you can go for Jesus, but you don't have ti identify youself as a Christian or part of the Christian church. This concept spills over into some missionary societies too, where they teach people from other religions they can keep their religion, just add Jesus to the equation. They don't have to embrace the term Christian. At the 2005 United Nations Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, Rick Warren made the following comments to 100 delegates who represented various different religions:



'I'm not talking about a religion this morning. You may be Catholic or Protestant or buddist or Baptist or Muslim or Mormon or Jewish or you may have no religion at all. I'm not interested in your religious background. Because God did not create the universe for us to have religion.'



"Donald Miller, author of the popular Blue Like Jazz puts it this way:



'For me, the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a non-political mysterous system that can be experienced but nt explained.'



"In Erwin McManus' book The Barbarian Way, he refers to "Barbarians" in a positive light and says that this is how Christ-followers should be. (Note: They are now calling people "Christ-followers instead of Christians.)



'They [Barbarians] see Christianity as a world religion in many ways no different from any other religious system. Whether Buddhism, Hindusim, Islam, or Christianity, they're not about religion; they're about advancing the revolution Jesus started two thousand years ago.' (This might sound good, but it is not Biblical)



In my own words I paraphrase what the book says: Missions are now making converts, but they are allowing them to hold on to many of their former traditional religious beliefs and practices. They do this so these people won't offend others in their culture or community.



You may have seen on the news recently that a young girl became a Christian. She feared her father would kill her, so she fled from Ohio to Florida. She wanted to be a Christian badly enough to forsake her family. This is so Biblical. Jesus said unless we forsake (or love not) our own families for Him, we cannot be His followers.



There is now what is called a churchless christianity. These people keep the traditions of their former religion and add Jesus to it. They openly confess to faith in fundamental Biblical doctrines, yet remain outside the institutional church. This is so unfair to these people. For missionaries to tell people they can have Jesus and keep their former faith is unjustice to them. They tell these people enough about Jesus that the people want to accept Him, but then they are told that they don't have to deny their former faith. These people are being misled in the worst way. God will have His justice upon those who tell people this.



Herbert Hoefer says that "non-baptized believers" are afraid of suffering in their financial or social world if they openly confess Jesus. These people continue to practice their former religious rituals so as not to draw suspicion or ridicule from family and friends.



Only God knows the hearts of the people. He will be their judge. But lets remember the disciples who died cruel deaths for preaching the gospel. He was willing to give up all for the sake of having Christ.



Rick Warren says that your religion should have no bearing on your spiritual life. Erwin McManus says he would like to destroy Christianity, and missionaries are telling people that they can have Jesus without Christianity (or baptism).

These teachings will likely undo the tireless work of many missionaries who have given their lives to bring people to Jesus in the Biblical teachings.



Jesus says: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father who is in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in Heaven. (Matthew 10: 32-33)



"No where i the Bible is there any precedent for this kind of evangelism. The Old Testament prophets warned the children of Israel NOT to join hands with pagans -- yet they ignored God's warning."



I hope to write about the teachings of the emerging church in another message. I will tell what they do to come into the "deeper presence" of God. I will tell how they use mysticism and witchcraft.



But this is long enough for a message. Please read prayerfully.



Sandra

Part 6 - Apocalyptic Millennialists


Sandra D I begin by recommending that all who read these messages keep a dictionary beside them. Don't skip over words you don't know or understand. It is important to understand the words in order to really know what is being said.



Faith Undone by Roger Oakland, page 200:



...anti-Christian sentiment is growing toward those who believe in a biblical last days/Book of Revelation scenario prior to Christ's return. Here are some words that tells of this:



'The leader of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination has called for a global Christian council to address an "identity crisis" on how churches interpret and understand the Bible. Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelial Lutheran Church in America.... called for Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Angelican and Lutheran churches to come together to combat a fundamentalist millenialist apocalypticist reading of Scripture.'



(From me:) This makes me believe that our beliefs about the last days are correct. If Satan was not afraid of this, he would not cause these people to come against it. If the belief about the last days that we have held for so long didn't threaten Satan's plan to make himself like god, there would be no one to come against it.



"Hanson made a request for a group to monitor and expose anti-ecumenist who take the bible literally (Remember that ecumenialism is to combine all into one). He is really calling for people to expose those who believe in the Bible literally so that they can be destroyed. Hanson says that those who believe in a biblical end times and a literal Bible interpretation are counterproductive to and holding back the cause of Christ, which he suggests is to unite all of creation and produce a panetary utopia.



Remember that I told you in the first message that the teachers of these false religions emphasize kingdom now

thinking. They don't believe in an after life. They think they can establish the perfect world here on this planet as it is. We who have read the Bible know this will never happen. But these foolish people think it can be done. How blind they are. God has really given them over to strong delusions.



Brian McLaren has written on a website called Planet Preterist where he discussed his dilemma over eschatological-thinking believers. (I put the definition of eschatology in the article for definitions.) McLaren also says that such Christians are relly going to hurt our world. He says, referring to the "Left Behind" theory, that any project geared toward improving the world long term is seen as unfaithful, since we're supposed to assume that the world is getting worse and worse.. McLaren also says that if you believe the Book of Revelation and Matthew 24 are yet to take place, you are a dangerou psychological misfit and are assumed to have no compassion for the suffering, no concern for the environment or the world with "weapons of mass destruction." If McLaren was talking about big governments and political parties, that would be one thing, but he is clear --- he is referring to Christians who believe what the Bible says about the last days.



Rick Warren, in one of his articles, talks about churches that have hit a plateau, they aren't growing. He says that the changes are slow to happen because of what he calls "resisters". He said it would take these resisters either leaving the church or simply dying. "I'm saying some people are going to have to die or leave. Moses had to wander around the deserts for 40 years while God killed off a million people before He let them go into the Promised Land. That may be brutally blunt, but it's true. There may be people in your church who love God sincerely, but who will never, ever change." While Warren doesn't say that people should kill them, he does say that God may have to end their lives, just like when "God killed off a million people" in the desert.



Warren is saying that those who believe in the truth of the Bible are "resisters" and must leave or die. What will be left are those who have been brainwashed into thinking like he does or like the emerging church teachers. One of the tools Rick Warren uses to help chruches make the transformation into the new paradigm is a book called Transitioning: Leading Your Church Through Change. This book was written by Dan Southerland, a Saddleback pastor and the director of Church Transitions Inc. (Saddleback is Warren's church)



Southerland states in a chapter titled "Dealing with Opposition":



"We have experienced two major sources of criticism durin our transitions. The first is Christians from more traditional backgrounds ..... Not all of our traditional backgrounded Christians have been critical --- just the ornery ones. (emphasis mine) Our second source of criticism is traditional church pastors. Again, not all traditional church pastors -- just the meaner ones.



Southerland tells readers that "some folks are going to get very angry." He likens these opposers to "leader[s] from hell".



The concept of get with it or die is very common in New Age and emerging circles as well -- those who don't get on board will have to die. This sounds like Leonard Sweet when he says "Reinvent yourself for the 21st century or die."

Some would rather die than change.



As I look through the last chapters of this book, there is so very much that I could write. But I just can't quote the whole book. That would be very illegal and would not set well with the author. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. As I've told you before, it costs just about $18 including tax and shipping. You get it from Lighthouse Publishers online. If you want it, but just do not have the money for it, ask the people at LighthouseTrails Research if they will send you a copy. They might do this. But I recommend you purchase it.



I will include some of what is in the last chapters in further messages. But I also want to talk about the Catholic church and what she is doing to bring parishioners back to the church and the Eucharist. It will be an eye-opener, and I think it will give you some insight into the predictions of the end times.



Sandra

About the first century church and today's church


Sandra D How does the first century church compare to the church today?



In his letters to the first century church, the Apostle Paul commended each for excelling in the graces of God. Specifically, these first century churches were known for their faith, love, zeal, giving, knowledge, and intolerance for sin, as well as false doctrines. The first century church was united in spirit. Consequently, they were a conduit for the power of God as manifested in the miraculous signs and wonders performed through the apostles and for the apostles, in response to the prayers of the saints. The gospel of grace spread like wildfire, at tremendous cost to the early followers of Christ. The first century church was beset with persecution, torture, and martyrdom. In spite of this, Christian churches were being established throughout the Mediterranean region, Asia Minor, and into Europe.



Today's world is characterized by the last days events foretold by the Lord Jesus Christ in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Matthew's Gospel. Specifically, we are hearing of the "wars and rumors of wars," earthquakes, famines, and pestilences of which our Lord warned. It was foretold of the church in these last days, that (among many other things):



The "love of many" would "grow cold."

Many in the church would be "lovers of self" rather than lovers of God.

Many in the faith would be "offended."

The church would "have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof."

Last day Christians would have "itching" ears, would not "endure sound doctrine" and would have "many teachers."

In other words, the end times church (the organization) will include those who profess belief in Christ but who are, in fact, children of disobedience. The Lord Jesus Christ foretold of this reality in His parable of the "wheat and the tares."

Certainly, the early church had its problems, just as the church today. However, the early church was more diligent to identify and eradicate false doctrines than today's multi-denominational church. It was easier for the early church to discipline, or rid itself of those engaged in immoral activity. This could be because the early church was not as fragmented, or divided as the church of today.



It is important to remember that, regardless of the times in which we live, every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God. Every true believer is God's "building." While unity of the spirit in the local church is to be desired, Christ's Church (the organism) is not a visible building. There is an unseen church, comprised of Christ's followers, who remain true to the teachings of Christ and to the leading of His Holy Spirit. The unseen or invisible church excels in the graces of God, just as the early church did, despite the physical location of its members.



Christ's Church is not a building with programs. Christ's church is comprised of those who have a vibrant relationship with our risen Lord and Savior. Though the world may not be witness to the miraculous signs and wonders, or other manifestations of the power of God that were apparent in the early church, Christ's church remains alive and well.



Learn More about the Beginning of Christianity!



http://www.allaboutreligion.org/first-century-church-faq.htm

Sept. 3

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Sandra D

Beginning of Christianity - The Outcast Roots

The beginning of Christianity may surprise many of us. Since much of the world views Christianity as a narrow and elitist religion that judges all other faiths and beliefs, it's interesting to take a look at the roots of the Christian faith. Actually, the line of people leading to and following Jesus Christ were far from squeaky clean elitists. If anything, these were the outcasts…



ADAM was a failure. NOAH was a drunk. ABRAHAM was too old. ISAAC was a daydreamer. JACOB was a liar. LEAH was ugly. JOSEPH was abused. MOSES had a stuttering problem. GIDEON was afraid. SAMSON had long hair, and was a womanizer. RAHAB was a prostitute. JEREMIAH was too young. DAVID had an affair and was a murderer. ELIJAH was suicidal. ISAIAH preached naked. JONAH ran from God. NAOMI was a widow. JOB went bankrupt. JOHN the Baptist ate bugs. PETER denied Christ. The disciples fell asleep while praying. MARTHA worried about everything. MARY MAGDALENE was, well, you know... The SAMARITAN WOMAN was divorced ... more than once. ZACCHEUS was too small. PAUL was too religious. TIMOTHY had an ulcer. AND LAZARUS WAS DEAD!



Beginning of Christianity - The Grace of God

The beginning of Christianity is not founded on an exclusionary belief system. The Christian faith is grounded in God's loving response to nasty sinners like you and me. There's nothing narrow or elitist about a faith that says "come as you are!" Charles Spurgeon, a powerful teacher of Christianity, said it beautifully, "When a man sees himself to be altogether lost and ruined, covered all over with the defilement of sin, and no part free from pollution; when he disclaims all righteousness of his own, and pleads guilty before the Lord, then is he clean through the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God. When sin is seen and felt it has received its death blow, and the Lord looks with eyes of mercy upon the soul afflicted with it.



Spurgeon continues, "Sin mourned and confessed, however black and foul, shall never shut a man out from the Lord Jesus. Whosoever cometh unto Him, He will in no wise cast out. Though dishonest as the thief, though unchaste as the woman who was a sinner, though fierce as Saul of Tarsus, though cruel as Manasseh, though rebellious as the prodigal, the great heart of love will look upon the man who feels himself to have no soundness in him, and will pronounce him clean, when he trusts in Jesus crucified. Come to Him, then, poor heavy-laden sinner, Come needy, come guilty, come loathsome and bare; You can't come too filthy--come just as you are."



Beginning of Christianity - Wonderfully Inclusive Faith

The beginning of Christianity is far from exclusionary or elitist. The foundation of the Christian faith is lavish, open and excessive grace! In fact, contrary to today's view of Christianity, God doesn't seem to be very careful about who He calls to be His friends and followers. His grace, delivered through the sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus Christ, is powerfully and wonderfully inclusive!



For a true picture of the beginning of Christianity read the Bible. As Mike Yaconelli put so well, "The Bible is full of changed people who changed the world around them, people who were prostitutes, murderers, cheaters and adulterers… Why God would want us, like us, seek us and pursue us is more than bewildering. It's the best news we could ever hear!"



Discover More Now!

A Dangerous Revolution - Part 5


Sandra D Bridging the Gap between Good and Evil:



Using the book, Faith Undone, by Roger Oakland, on page 185:



The serpent's temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden, that we can be like God, remains with mankind to this very day. Satan's plan is to lessen or eliminate (he hopes) the gap between himself and God. The following explanation puts it very well:



"He is important to understand that Satan is not simply trying to draw people to the dark side of a good versus evil conflict. Actually, he is trying to eradicate the gap between himself and God, between good and evil, altogether. When we understand this approach, it helps us see why Thomas Merton and everyone is already united with God or why Jack Canfield said he felt God flowing through all things. All means all -- nothing left out. Such reasoning implies that God has given His glory to all of creation. Since Satan is a part of creation, then he, too, shares in this glory, and thue is "like the Most High." (my note: Satan was an angel. Angels are not like humans. Satan seems to forget this in his efforts to be like God).



The tension between good and evil is called dualism, and at the heart of occultism is the effort to eradicate evil. If that gap could truly be closed, then Satan and God would be equal. The Bible clearly states this will never happen, but it also says that it is Satan's desire. (Isaiah 14: 12-15)



The emerging church leaders and teachers seek to use the occult and mysticism to enter into a deeper relationship with God. The silence, or a type of meditation is one of the ways they do this. I will write more about their teachings in another message. In the long run, those who follow after this false teaching will be lost, stumbling along a broken path, hoping to find light. In sharp contrast, Jesus commanded believers to stand out as a beacon of light in this dark world, bearing the Word of God to a lost and dying generation. In such times as these, in which we live, let us not be quickly decieved, but let us heed the words that give life and true peace. (Matthew 5: 14-15)

Rick Warren's Tides of Change


Sandra D Rick Warren's Tides of Change Jan 26, '09 2:56 PM

for everyone



If Leadership Network was the "advance scout" for the emerging church, Warren's role was also vital to the everging church's growth. Even before the Young Leadrs Network (later becoming Emergent) was launched, Warren was drawn to the emergent conversation. In 1995, he joined with emerging leader Leonard Sweet to do an audio series titled Tides of Change. Sweet is Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, a self-proclaimed futurist, and a apopular author and speaker. For 2006, he was voted a one of "The 50 Most Influential Christians in America", listed as number eight just under Bill Hybels ( Willow Creek(, Billy Graham, and Joel Osteen, and ranking higher than President Bush, Robert Schuller, and Rick Warren.



In the Tides of Change audio series, Sweet and Warren talked about "a new spirituality" that was looming on the horizon. Both Warren and Sweet emulated Drucker in the audio, talking about "new frontiers", "changing times", and letting go of traditions and thhe old way of doing things. In fact, the similarities between the audio in 1995 and Drucker in 1957 are striking.



I will write more about this later

More Definitions:




Apostles: Apostles. They were appointed by Christ himself, with absolute power to govern His Church; to them He had given the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, with authority to admit or to exclude; they were also guided by His perpetual inspiration, so that all their moral and religious teaching was absolutely and infallibly true; they were empowered by their solemn denunciations of evil, and their inspired judgments on all moral questions, to bind and to loose, to remit and to retain the sins of men.



There are no apostles today because the last one died. No man has been given the power to bind or to loose, or to remit and to retain the

sins of men. This is where the Catholic Church has been in error. None of the priests in the Catholic Church were given this power. They came from a group known as the bishops.



Bishops: A bishop

was to watch over the particular church in which they ministered, in all that regarded its external order and internal purity; they were to instruct the ignorant, (1Timothy 3: 2.) to exhort the faithful, to confute the gainsayers, (Titus 1:9.) to "warn the unruly, to comfort the feeble-minded, to support the weak, to be patient towards all." (1Thessalonians 5:14.) They were "to take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers, to feed the Church of God which He had purchased with His own blood." (Acts 20:28.) In one word, it was their duty (as it has been the duty of all who have been called to the same office during the nineteen centuries which have succeeded) to promote to the utmost of their ability, and by every means within their reach, the spiritual good of all those committed to their care.



Deacons: The last of the three orders, that of Deacons, did not take its place in the ecclesiastical organization till towards the close of St. Paul’s life; or, at least, this name was not assigned to those who discharged the functions of the Diaconate till a late period; the Epistle to the Philippians being the earliest in which the term occurs in its technical sense. In fact the word (diakonov) occurs thirty times in the New Testament, and only three times (or at most four) is it used as an official designation; in all the other passages it is used in its simple etymological sense of a ministering servant.



Prophet: a prophet does not mean a foreteller of future events, but a revealer of God’s will to man; though the latter sense may (and sometimes does) include the former. So the gift of prophecy was that charism which enabled its possessors to utter, with the authority of inspiration, divine strains of warning, exhortation, encouragement, or rebuke; and to teach and enforce the truths of Christianity with supernatural energy and effect.

The gift of prophecy cannot easily be separated by any accurate demarcation from another charism often mentioned in Scripture, which we should now consider an ordinary talent, namely, the gift of teaching. The distinction between them appears to have been that the latter was more habitually and constantly exercised by its possessors than the former: we are not to suppose, however, that it was necessarily given to different persons; on the contrary, an excess of divine inspiration might at any moment cause the teacher to speak as a prophet.



Ordinances of the church:



.Baptism: " It is needless to add that baptism was (unless in exceptional cases) administered by immersion, the convert being plunged beneath the surface of the water to represent his death to the life of sin, and then raised from this momentary burial to represent his resurrection to the life of righteousness. It must be a subject of regret that the general discontinuance of this original form of baptism (though perhaps necessary in our northern climates) has rendered obscure to popular apprehension some very important passages of Scripture.



The Lord's Supper (or communion): while the Apostles themselves poured out the wine and broke the bread which symbolized the perfect union of the members of Christ’s body. Note: Here it says that this bread and wine symbolized the perfect union of the members of Christ’s body, not that it became the actual blood and body of Jesus.).



The Catholic Church: Catholic church taking its name from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. There were two factions or parties in opposition to each other, causing trouble for the church. One was called the Pauline party, and the other was the Judaizers.



The Pauline party (as they called themselves) appear to have ridiculed the scrupulosity of their less enlightened brethren, and to have felt for them a contempt inconsistent with the spirit of Christian love. And. in their opposition to the Judaizers, they showed a bitterness of feeling and violence of action, too like that of their opponents. Some of them, also, were inclined to exult over the fall of God’s ancient people, and to glory in their own position, as though it had been won by superior merit. These are rebuked by St. Paul for their "boasting," and warned against its consequences.



"Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee." (Romans 11:17-22.)







Gnosticism: This laid the groundwork for philosophy. It also is the basis for most of the emergent movement of today.



One section of this party seems to have united these errors with one still more dangerous to the simplicity of the Christian faith; they received Christianity more in an intellectual than a moral aspect; not as a spiritual religion, so much as a new system of philosophy. This was a phase of error most likely to occur among the disputatious reasoners who abounded in the great Greek cities; and, accordingly, we find the first trace of its existence at Corinth. There it took a peculiar form, in consequence of the arrival of Apollos as a Christian teacher, soon after the departure of St. Paul. He was a Jew of Alexandria, and as such had received that Grecian cultivation, and acquired that familiarity with Greek philosophy, which distinguished the more learned Alexandrian Jews. Thus he was able to adapt his teaching to the taste of his philosophizing hearers at Corinth far more than St. Paul could do; and, indeed, the latter (Paul) had purposely abstained from even attempting this at Corinth. (1Corinthians 2:1.) Accordingly, the School which we have mentioned called themselves the followers of Apollos, and extolled his philosophic views, in opposition to the simple and unlearned simplicity which they ascribed to the style of St. Paul. It is easy to perceive in the temper of this portion of the Church the germ of that rationalizing tendency which afterwards developed itself into the Greek element of Gnosticism. Already, indeed, although that heresy was not yet invented, some of the worst opinions of the worst Gnostics found advocates among those who called themselves Christians; there was, even now, a party in the Church which defended fornication (See 1Corinthians 6:9-20.) on theory, and which denied the resurrection of the dead. (See 1Corinthians 15:12.) These heresies probably originated with those who (as we have observed) embraced Christianity as a new philosophy; some of whom attempted, with a perverted ingenuity, to extract from its doctrines a justification of the immoral life to which they were addicted. (This is the beginning of justification of immorality.)