IndyWatchman

Dear Friends:

As apparently very few are yet aware of the fact that the Church is in the midst of a full frontal attack by the forces of evil; the whole landscape of Christianity is changing. What was once to be considered a battle on a single front is now a major offensive against the very foundations of primitive Christian beliefs. I would dare say that most of todays modern believers are being caught up, in some form, in the smoke generated to deceive those who profess to follow the One true God.

Lighthouse Trails is highly respected as a source of accurate, timely, and documented information concerning what is progressing on the “contemplative” and other fronts in their war against darkness and deception.

Please take the time to read and understand the “Special Follow-up Report.” More information can be found on their website at http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/index.html

Steve Blackwell

**LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS SPECIAL FOLLOW-UP REPORT**

Lighthouse Trails Statement to Assemblies of God
Response Regarding Invitation of Ruth Haley Barton

Dear Lighthouse Trails Reader:
Because contemplative spirituality has entered virtually every evangelical/Protestant denomination or group to one degree or another, this Special Follow-Up Report is for all of our readers, not just those who are members of the Assemblies of God. We know of no denomination that is not being influenced by this issue.

Editors at Lighthouse Trails Publishing & Research
406/889-3610
www.lighthousetrails.com
www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com
editors@lighthousetrails.com

A Special Follow-Up Report by Ray Yungen and the Editors at Lighthouse Trails

Before we begin our report addressing the public response issued by the Assemblies of God Superintendent Dr. George O. Wood and Dr. Jodi Detrick, chairperson for the Network for Women in Ministry regarding the invitation of Ruth Haley Barton to the 2013 General Council Conference, we would like to clarify one thing: Lighthouse Trails carries no personal animosity toward Ruth Haley Barton. Our issue has to do with a spiritual practice that Ms. Barton is deeply involved with and that, as we will show, has roots in Eastern mysticism, which does not line up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Word of God.

To begin, we want to clarify that the names we mention below are not people who are loosely and inadvertently associated with this mystical spirituality but rather are practitioners and dedicated advocates of it.

Dr. Detrick suggested in her response to our April 15th article that what we presented in that article was a “misunderstanding” in that there is a clear and distinctive difference between Eastern mysticism and Christian contemplative prayer. She stated:

Sadly, some are saying that seeking the Lord in such a way equates with the practices of meditation and contemplation in Eastern religions. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and is an unfortunate and inaccurate identification.(source)

What we hope to show in this report is that our conclusions are not the result of a misunderstanding by any means, and we will show that there is a direct correlation between the contemplative prayer movement and Eastern meditation.

While we bear no ill feelings toward Dr. Detrick or Dr. Wood, we are compelled to show that the premise of the following statement by Dr. Detrick can be disproven through solid evidence:

We want to assure those with concerns that there is not even the smallest part of us that embraces any form of eastern religion or the New Age movement’s teachings and practices.(source)

Now while it may be Dr. Detrick’s intent not to embrace any form of Eastern mysticism, we will demonstrate that contemplative prayer and Eastern meditation are essentially the same, and different in name only. At the onset of providing this evidence, please bear in mind that while we only give a relatively few examples (for the reader’s time’s sake) in this report, we could provide many many more similar examples as they are ample.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER AND EASTERN MEDITATION

I. The very person who coined the term New Age, occultist Alice Bailey, saw a direct link between Christian mysticism (i.e., contemplative prayer) and Eastern mysticism. Bailey stated:

It is, of course, easy to find many passages which link the way of the Christian Knower [contemplative] with that of his brother in the East. They bear witness to the same efficacy of method.1

II. Tilden Edwards, the founder of Shalem Institute of whom Ms. Barton received her training in contemplative spirituality, also identified the connection between contemplative prayer and Eastern meditation. Edwards said:

This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.2

III. In his book, Spiritual Friend, Tilden Edwards suggests those who practice contemplative prayer and have begun experiencing “spiritual unfolding” and other “unusual experiences,” should turn to a book titled Psychosynthesis in order to understand the “dynamics” at “certain stages.”3 The man who wrote Psychosynthesis, Roberto Assagioli, was a direct disciple of Alice Bailey! Edwards might as well have recommended people turn to Alice Bailey herself. This is not guilt by association. Edwards knows that there is a connection between contemplative  prayer and occultic (i.e., Eastern) mysticism.

IV. Thomas Keating, a major leader in the contemplative prayer movement, also acknowledges that Barton’s contemplative prayer is related to Eastern religious meditation. In a book Keating wrote the foreword to, Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality, Keating states:

In order to guide persons having this experience, Christian spiritual directors may need to dialogue with Eastern teachers in order to get a fuller understanding.4

Keating understands that within the DNA of Christian contemplative prayer is Eastern-  mysticism. Philip St. Romain, the author of the Kundalini book says: “This book is an important contribution to the renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition.”5 Contemplative mystics say these things because they know them to be true.  Also in the foreword of that book, Keating states that the Kundalini energy “is also at work today in numerous persons who are devoting themselves to contemplative prayer.” Kundalini energy is what is known as the serpent power of New Age mysticism.  This statement by Keating should cause any Christian who is even thinking of dabbling in contemplative prayer to run the other way. We encourage you to look up Kundalini on the Internet.

V. Ruth Haley Barton identifies with Keating. In her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, she admits that Thomas Keating helped her to understand the contemplative idea of “the true self” (man’s divinity):

The concept of the true self and the false self is a consistent theme not only in Scripture but also in the writings of the church fathers and mothers. Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen (particularly Nouwen’s The Way of the Heart) and Father Thomas Keating are contemporary authors who have shaped my understanding of this aspect of the spiritual life.6

Merton, Nouwen, and Keating believe that man can attain to his “true self” (perfect self) through mystical practices. This is actually the crux of the Spiritual Formation  (i.e., contemplative prayer) movement, that man realizes his divinity through mystical experiences. Ruth Haley Barton’s Transforming Center has a mission of helping people find their “higher” true self through contemplative practices.

VI. Henri Nouwen, the late Catholic priest, who is touted highly by Barton as well as by virtually every contemplative proponent, knew very well that Eastern mysticism was at the underlying roots of contemplative prayer. In a book written by universalist Catholic priest, Thomas Ryan, Nouwen (in the foreword) wrote:

[T]he author shows a wonderful openness to the gifts of Buddhism, Hinduism and Moslem religion. He discovers their great wisdom for the spiritual life of the Christian . . . Ryan [the author] went to India to learn from spiritual traditions other than his own. He brought home many treasures and offers them to us in the book.7

VII. Regarding a book written by Philip Goldberg titled, American Veda, the book shows how “Hindu mysticism has profoundly affected the world view of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape.”8  Goldberg saw fit to devote an entire chapter to contemplative prayer stating:

Perhaps the biggest shakeup by the eastern winds has been . . . the reawakening  -  of Western mysticism . . . the long sequestered vaults of contemplative Christianity and Jewish mysticism [Kabbalah] begin to be unlocked.9

If contemplative prayer has nothing to do with eastern mysticism, then why does Goldberg devote an entire chapter to it? He saw it as an adjunct to Hinduism. One final point to consider is this: Virtually every major New Age bookstore has a sizable section on Christian meditation (i.e., contemplative prayer). Call one up in your own town or city and ask if this is so. We believe you’ll see it is.

WHERE DID CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE COME FROM?

I. Carl McColman, in his book, The Big Book of Mysticism, The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality, states:

It is important to note that, throughout the history of Christianity, Christian mystics have displayed an unusual openness to the wisdom of non-Christian philosophy and religion. . . . Ultimately, however, no absolutely clear distinction can be drawn between Christian and non-Christian mysticism…  It is precisely in this dimension of mystery that people of different faiths and different wisdom traditions can relate to each other.”10

II. Brian C. Taylor said:

These contemplatives also recognize their soul mates in other traditions, as did Thomas Merton in his pilgrimage to Buddhist Asia. This is because they have passed beyond the confines of religion as a closed system to an open awareness of God-in-life.”11

III. The contemplative prayer movement that is rising rapidly within evangelical circles largely through the early work of figures like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Ruth Haley Barton, and now many of their protégés, stems primarily from the Catholic church. Michael Leach, past president of the Catholic Book Publishers Association, explained this:

The irony is that the best of the New Age ideas—those flowing from a spiritual understanding of God, humankind and the universe—have been jewels in the Catholic treasury since the very beginning, but for too long have been neglected, forgotten or buried.12

IV. How did Eastern meditation enter the Catholic church in the first place? Did the early church fathers get it from the apostles, Jesus’ teachings, or Scripture? No, they did not. On the contrary, the Desert Fathers (monks such as St. Anthony who became hermits)  experimented:

It was a time of great experimentation with spiritual methods. Many different kinds of disciplines were tried … many different methods of prayer were created and explored by them.13

And in this experimentation, they “discovered” a prayer tool. According to one meditation scholar:

The meditation practices and rules for living of these earliest Christian monks bear strong similarity to those of their Hindu and Buddhist renunciate brethren several kingdoms to the East . . . the meditative techniques they adopted for finding their God suggest either a borrowing from the East or a spontaneous rediscovery.14

And thus:

The fourth-century Desert Fathers understood that a simple device was needed to keep the “monkey mind” from wandering. Thus, the mantra method of prayer, which had been introduced centuries before by Buddhists and Hindus, came to be a stable form of Christian prayer, not only for the Desert Fathers and Mothers but for Christians down through the ages.15

One of Christian contemplative’s own, Marcus Borg, reveals the role the mantra plays in contemplative prayer:

Contemplation typically involves the silent repetition of a mantra—-a single word, a short phrase or a series of short phrases. . . . Ultimately the purpose of contemplative prayer is to descend to the deepest level of the self, of the heart, where we open out into the sea of being that is God.16

V. Christian contemplative teachers will often say that in contemplative prayer one is not using Buddhist or Hindu mantras, so therefore it cannot be called Eastern meditation. While it is true that different words or syllables are repeated in the contemplative mantra than those used by Eastern mystics, the method (mantra or focus) of entering an altered state of consciousness is the same. Furthermore, as we will demonstrate later, the fruit of contemplative prayer has been shown time and time again to be the same – that of a pantheistic (or panentheistic) mindset of divinity in all things. In short, one would have to conclude – after witnessing the teachings of countless contemplative prayer mystics – that contemplative prayer and Eastern mysticism alike connect the practitioner with spirit guides that will erode – and in time destroy – their belief in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Once the practitioner establishes the belief, as contemplative prayer will bring him to, that he has divinity within, there is no longer the need for the Cross. Yes, and countless contemplative mystics have already come to this conclusion.

PROOF THAT CONTEMPLATIVE IS OCCULTIC

I. Perhaps the strongest evidence to prove that the realms entered during contemplative prayer are not God’s realm (i.e., the Holy Spirit) but rather demonic occultic realms is observing the “fruit” that contemplative prayer bears in a practitioner’s life. Probably the most profound example is that of the late Catholic monk and mystic, Thomas Merton, who said once that he was “impregnated with Sufism”17 (Islamic mysticism).

Merton’s mystical experiences ultimately made him a kindred spirit and co-mystic with those in other Eastern religions. At an interfaith conference in Thailand, he stated:

I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian [mystical] traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own Christian traditions.18

Please understand that contemplative prayer alone was the catalyst for such theological views. One of Merton’s biographers made this very clear when he explained:

If one wants to understand Merton’s going to the East it is important to understand that it was his rootedness in his own faith tradition [Catholicism] that gave him the spiritual equipment [contemplative prayer] he needed to grasp the way of wisdom that is proper to the East.19

II. A second remarkable example of the “fruit” of contemplative prayer can be found in an author (often quoted by evangelical contemplative advocates, including Barton) named Sue Monk Kidd. Monk Kidd was once a conservative Southern Baptist SundaySchool teacher. One day, she was handed a book by Thomas Merton. It changed her life dramatically (that’s an understatement). Monk Kidd explained:

I found a host of Christian thinkers and saints talking about a way of “being with” God—a way of needing Him and experiencing Him in the depths of one’s being—that opened the door to oneness with Him. They called it contemplation. I was amazed to realize that I had known practically nothing about this ancient and powerful tradition of Christian meditation…. I was ready.20

She wrote that quote in a book titled God’s Joyful Surprise: a spiritual biography. Just to illustrate how subtle this spirituality can be, listen to some of the endorsements she received for that book by traditional Christian organizations:

“[A] joy to read from beginning to end.” Virtue Magazine  (back cover); A Virtue Magazine best book of the year

“[T]he message and challenge of the book is profound.” Today’s Christian Woman (back cover)

“[Kidd] suggests some disciplines for cultivating an interior ‘quietness’ and a richer, personal experience of God’s love.” Moody Monthly (back cover)

We don’t believe that the people who wrote these endorsements really understood what they were endorsing.

III. But back to our point here to show the “fruit” of contemplative prayer. Where is Sue Monk Kidd today, spiritually speaking? Listen to these quotes written by her a number of years after God’s Joyful Surprise to see where it took her:

We also need Goddess consciousness to reveal earth’s holiness… Matter becomes inspirited; it breathes divinity. Earth becomes alive and sacred… Goddess offers us the holiness of everything. . . . As I grounded myself in feminine spiritual experience, that fall, I was initiated into my body in a deeper way. I came to know myself as an embodiment of Goddess.21

Mystical awakening in all the great religious traditions, including Christianity, involves arriving at an experience of unity or nondualism. In Zen it’s known as samadhi . . . The day of my awakening was the day I saw, and knew I saw, all things in God, and God in all things. 22

Today, after going down the contemplative path, Sue Monk Kidd worships the goddess within and not the God of the Bible. That is what practicing contemplative prayer got her. And it is what it got Thomas Merton. He came to believe, as well, that God was inside every human being (panentheism):

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, … now I realize what we all are …. If only they [people] could all see themselves as they really are …I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other … At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusions, a point of pure truth … This little point …is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everybody. 23

And Henri Nouwen:

The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.24

What we are saying here is vital. God does not work in the contemplative silence—but rather demons do. Moreover, what makes it so dangerous is that they are very clever. One well-known New Ager revealed what his guiding (familiar) spirit candidly disclosed:

We work with all who are vibrationally sympathetic; simple and sincere people who feel our spirit moving, but for the most part, only within the context of their current belief system.25

The term “vibrationally sympathetic” here means those who suspend thought through word repetition or breath focus—inward mental silence. That is what attracts them. That is their opening. That is why Tilden Edwards called this the “bridge to far Eastern spirituality,” and this is what is being injected into the evangelical church!

WHERE IS THIS ALL LEADING?

In Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, she makes a revealing comment:

Deity means that divinity will no longer be only heavenly … It will also be right here, right now, in me, in the earth, in this river, in excrement and roses alike.26

Monk Kidd has come to believe that God is in everything, literally. She rejects the belief that God is holy and man is a sinner needing a Savior and redemption.

We do not believe that Dr. George Wood or Dr. Detrick would deny the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, nor do we believe they would say that they agree with the words of Thomas Merton or Sue Monk Kidd. But by their willingness to embrace the teachings of Ruth Haley Barton (or any contemplative, for that matter) they are directly exposing themselves and potentially the two-and-a-half million in their denomination to the beliefs of Merton and Monk Kidd.

Alice Bailey predicted that there would be a global awakening where mankind would finally realize the divinity within. She called it the “regeneration of the churches.” Her rationale for this was obvious:

The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.27 (emphasis added)

Satan is very good at deceiving people, often in very subtle ways. The Bible talks about a day that is coming when Christians will fall into great deception. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1). These seducing spirits are just that – seducing.

In Acts 16, there is a good example of this. The spirit in the woman endorsed Paul and Silas, but that spirit was not for them but rather against them. It was a demon. In Matthew 24, Jesus talks about great deception coming upon the earth prior to His return. False christs, false prophets, great signs and wonders, and many coming in His name. Could it be that this mystical spirituality, which leads man to say he is divine, is part of this great falling away? We believe it is.

Nothing is being twisted here. The aforementioned evidence is based on facts, not speculations. The leaders of the Assemblies of God (and every other denomination, actually) must decide if they really want to take their denomination in this direction. If they decide to go forward, they must explain away the evidence we have given.

In her books, Ruth Haley Barton quotes a number of people who could legitimately be called New Agers. Bear in mind that she quotes these figures in the context of the practices they share. In her book Sacred Rhythms, she quotes Basil Pennington from his book Finding Grace at the Center. This means she must have read that book, which is a primer in contemplative mysticism. Listen to what Pennington says:

We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and “capture” it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible.

Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM [Transcendental Meditation] and similar practices, especially where they have been initiated by reliable teachers and have a solidly developed Christian faith to find inner form and meaning to the resulting experiences.28

Basil Pennington is one of the prominent figures of the contemplative prayer movement.

We stated in this report that contemplative prayer stands on the same ground as occultism. With that in mind, it is worth mentioning that both Thomas Keating (who, according to Barton, shaped her thinking) and Basil Pennington enthusiastically endorsed a book titled Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey in Christian Hermeticism. Fortune-telling Tarot cards are one of the major tools for divination in occultism. And Hermeticism is a set of ancient esoteric beliefs based on the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, the one who coined the term “as above, so below” (the maxim for the New Age movement). Keating said the book was “the greatest contribution to date toward the rediscovery and renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition,”29 and Pennington said, “It is without doubt the most extraordinary work I have ever read.”30 We’re talking about outright occultism here – there’s no room for doubt.

We are not asking anyone reading this to take our word for it. Look these authors up and see for yourself what they are saying. Compare this report we have written with our earlier article showing how Ruth Haley Barton is directly promoting the practice of contemplative prayer. We think, after true prayer and deliberation, you will come to the same conclusion we have—that contemplative prayer has no place in the biblical Christian faith.

Dr. Detrick claims that “[c]ountless AG people, and credentialed leaders, have testified to drawing much closer to the Lord as a result of Ruth’s books and teachings.” If it is true that “countless AG people” have been influenced by Ruth Haley Barton, then this report should motivate those in the Assemblies of God to get to the bottom of this controversy that is unfolding here.

Notes:

1. Alice Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Co., 1987, 13th printing), p. 193.

2.Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press,1980), p. 18.

3. Ibid., pp. 162-163.

4. Philip St. Romain, Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1995), foreword written by Thomas Keating.

5. Ibid, p. 7.

6. Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence (Downer Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2004),  p. 160.

7. Thomas Ryan, Disciplines for Christian Living (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press,1993), pp. 2-3, from Henri Nouwen in the foreword.

8. The publisher’s description of American Veda on both the publisher’s website and Amazon.com.

9. Philip Goldberg, American Veda (New York, NY: Random House, 2010), p. 310.

10. Carl McColman, The Big Book of Mysticism (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2010), pp. 63-64.

11. Brian C. Taylor, Setting the Gospel Free (New York, NY: Continuum Publishing , 1996), p. 62.

12. Michael Leach (America Magazine, May 2, 1992), p. 385.

13. Ken Kaisch, Finding God (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994), p. 191.

14. Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind (Los Angeles, CA: Tarcher/Putnam Inc., 1988),  p. 53.

15. Frank X. Tuoti, The Dawn of the Mystical Age (New York, NY: Crossroad, 1997), p. 137.

16. Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity (San Francisco, CA: 2004), p. 198.

17. Rob Baker and Gray Henry, Editors, Merton and Sufism  (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1999), p. 69.

18. William Shannon, Silent Lamp (New York, NY: Crossroad, 1992), p. 276.

19. Ibid, p. 281.

20.  Sue Monk Kidd, God’s Joyful Surprise (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1997), p. 187.

21. Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1996), pp. 162-163, 161.

22. Ibid, p. 161.

23. Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1989 edition), pp. 157-158.

24. Henri Nouwen, Here and Now (New York, NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997 edition), p. 22.

25. Ken Carey, The Starseed Transmissions (A Uni-Sun Book, 1985 4th printing), p. 33.

26. Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, op. cit., p. 160.

27. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy  (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing, 1976), p. 510.

28. M. Basil Pennington, Thomas Keating, Thomas E. Clarke, Finding Grace at the Center  (Petersham, MA: St. Bede’s Pub., 1978), pp. 5-6.

29. Endorsement on jacket of book.

30. Ibid.

Note: Ray Yungen has been researching the New Age and contemplative spirituality for over 20 years. He is the author of A Time of Departing and For Many Shall Come in My Name. You may find more information, including contact information, about Ray Yungen and Lighthouse Trails Publishing & Research Project at www.lighthousetrails.com and www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com.

Editors at Lighthouse Trails Publishing & Research

Note: Please make sure you put editors@lighthousetrails.com in your white or allowed list on your email program to help assure our newsletters do not end up in your spam folder

Tags: Christ, christian, church, cross, deception, demons, discernment, Emergent, end times, evil, false prophets, false teachers, following christ, gospel, lies, manifestations, mega church, religion, satan, serving the Lord, troubles, truth, understanding

The thief on the cross believed Jesus and was saved.

Having been released from all that bound him to his former life he was ready to believe with all his heart and strength the simple truth of what he was now confronted. But, what was it that he believed? Was it dogma, homiletics, patristics, liturgies, hermeneutics, apologetics, creeds, or any such thing? No! He simply heard the plain words of the Savior and chose to believe them. The thief was called to do what every man is called to do, die, and for him it was unambiguous. For most it is the dogma and religiosity of the commercial church that hinders the way of salvation and receiving sight; for the thief there was none of that. The difference between him and I was that he was dying and would, in a short time, be with Jesus in Paradise, but I am alive and remain in the world. Yet, His command stands firm, that I must also die; die to this world. That death for me was not the immediate satisfaction of just going to sleep, but an agonizing, slow, painful, death, of picking up a cross, and a wondering where my Lord was at in it all. Jesus rested, with His cross, in the fact that His Father was truthful; and pleasing Him was His highest objective, even when He too wondered where the Father had gone. It is this initial death that gains us entrance to the Promised Land, and the continual dying that holds us firm.

“Unless a grain of corn falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone.” John 12:24

It was by the revelation of this truth that what I once believed to be the Church, was not the Church. For the simple and the foolish, myself included, coming to an understanding of the true Church is not a matter of study or the intellect, but rather an immediate casting aside of all that hides the real meaning of the teaching of the Gospel. The illumination may be seen to be similar to that of a man who looking at a poorly printed map, vainly tries to find his way through a foreign city, then suddenly, by identifying a landmark realizes that he is going the wrong direction; and by turning himself, clearly sees what he must do and where he must go. That was my experience, and the experience of many others who have seen the light of truth. What I once believed to be the Church was really a misrepresentation of the truth; a poorly printed map which had been handed down over very many years. Once the landmark was identified, everything that was confusing became understandable; and walls that once blocked my path began to crumble; things that were once hard to grasp now shown like the light of day.

This, in itself was a kind of death. The shock that I had gone so far out of the way; having wasted so much time and effort; I felt I wanted to die. But, at the same time hope sprang into my heart, the hope that I needn’t go any further in the wrong direction; that I would start on the right path and at last I would arrive, although delayed.

The telltale marks of the real Church were there all the time, but my association with the commercial church caused me to ignore the signs. My conflicting desires acted as false prophets reassuring me that I must push on and become a part of the machine. But, in all honesty, the machine was repulsive to me; I was repulsive to myself; and what I hated in myself, I saw in others, but I ignored the signs. I never found in the church’s teaching the proof of the things I read in the New Testament. What I always felt, and what I came to know, was that the principals that were most important to me were not important at all to the Church. Out of all the simple teachings of Jesus she found things that were more esoteric, mystical, and intellectual as the most important. I never gave it much thought over all those years and attributed it to the idiosyncratic differences of personal beliefs. Besides love, self-sacrifice, and humility, there is also dogma, rehearsals of creeds, apologetics, theological surveys, and other external things and meanings.

Even though the strangeness of the Catholic and Orthodox Church always disgusted me, so did the Protestant Church also develop in me, this same feeling. Now it was not just disgusting and harmless. Her indifference to persecutions, wars, violence, allegiances, and government, were now seen as noxious and dangerous. The things she was indifferent to became for me the very essence of Christ’s teaching. If the essence of Jesus’ teaching is the thing that is indifferent to the Church, could it possibly be the “Church”? Yet, the Church acknowledged the very things that it was indifferent to, and the lines of separation became cloudy and it was difficult for me to put a finger on the problem; I only knew that something was wrong.

The veil that covers the faces of the Jews to the truth about Jesus, covers the face of Protestantism also. What was plain and clear is concealed by the Church; while they preach in the most precise manner their school of thought, and the multitude of particulars that follow from them. Nowhere does Jesus speak more clearly than on the Sermon on the Mount, yet the pulpits opinion is that these are only indications of the perfection which we should strive for, but are realistically unattainable because of sin. The whole interim period between sinner and saint is filled with organizational formulas to achieve this obedience: Church attendance, prayer, baptism, confession, tithing, communion, study, choirs, conferences, and committee meetings, but never attaining to the obedience requested by Jesus in that Sermon; those essentials are reduced to impracticable and provisionary wishes. Is it the practice of our Lord to speak in such clear language, to demand the impracticable, knowing that we are not capable of obeying? Would He deliberately appeal to every man’s ability to obey, knowing it was impossible?

This episode is not unlike Israel’s failure at Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 10:11-14:45).

Imagine what excitement there must have been in the Israelite camp as the time arrived for the entire nation to leave Mount Sinai, where they had been camped for nearly a year, and to finally set out to possess the Promised Land! This is a land that none of the Israelites had ever seen, although they were told that it was a “land of milk and honey.” After all the sure proofs of God’s existence and ability to care for so many people (about a million or so) their spirits were excited, but it only took a little discouragement from ten men, those ten of the twelve sent to spy out the land they were about to inherit, to mount a rebellion and demand to be taken back where they came from. Those, who would be their leaders to lead them into the beautiful land, lacked trust and faith, and moved the whole nation into disbelief that it could not be taken, that what Moses was asking them to do was impossible.

Chapters 10-12 of Numbers was Moses’ introduction to Israel’s great failure at Kadesh, as recorded in chapters 13 and 14. The way the book is structured we see that the failure at Kadesh is the climax of a long sequence of failures on the part of the nation that culminates in judgment.

Today, and for many centuries, our leaders have continually preached the impossibility of fulfilling the demands of Jesus as laid down in His Great Sermon, and today the masses of Christendom are a wandering bunch of wretches with their nation under a curse. Their wars and executions; their “eye for an eye” mentality, has gained them nothing; and now we stand on the precipice of annihilation, and still we are discouraged from obedience and taking the Land. The one thing that is necessary for safety and security, obedience to the Lord, we are told is too much, and the people loose spirit and demand easier things like prayer and communion. Haven’t they read that, “Obedience is better than sacrifice”?

When we read initially the words of our Savior we experienced a joyful confidence that we could do whatever He wished, then we are confronted with the Churches “Reformed” teaching that our wills are in bondage to evil, and that we cannot do what Jesus ask, and we are weakened, and appear as grasshoppers in our own eyes. The spirit of Kadesh Barnea is alive within the Church today. Where is the spirit of Joshua and Caleb encouraging the people that they can do what Jesus asks?

Only with the turning away from the commercial Church did Jesus’ words, “Except ye become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” have any force or real meaning. As I was growing more and more dissatisfied with my own life and the life of the one I called the Church, I became more sensitized to sin, not only in my own life, but in the lives of those professing to be followers and leaders. Where was the miraculous power in so many sermons and so many sideshows? It was not present in my life, nor was it present wherever I looked, only failure, pride, and sin. The charlatans fed on the disillusioned masses who had been convinced that they could experience what they preached with just a little more effort; and like a child, I too, was tricked, and still have trouble shaking off all the well-entrenched lies. It was by turning away from the glitter that I was able to see the light, and like a child I accepted the plainness of what I saw, and my world changed.

When my own disillusionment came I was left alone with the mysterious Book. I couldn’t reject it, because I believed it, but I couldn’t believe the accepted and popular interpretation. I arrived at my understanding of the words of Christ, not because I systematically studied theology, or harmonized the Gospels, or knew the Greek alphabet; it was precisely because I forgot all that that I came to an understanding. What I understood was that Jesus had said just what He said. And with that undisguised understanding of His words came the understanding of the essence of His spirit, which is the essence of the Father. Jesus came to manifest a life as it is lived in Heaven, and brought us a good report, that that life can be lived right now. He has come and He has lived that Heavenly life in our presence, and avows that we can do likewise. Jesus overcame evil with good and so can we, regardless that our Christian leaders say otherwise.

“Ye have heard that it was said. . ., but I say unto you, resist not an evil person.” Matthew 5:39

For the first time I understood those words; I understood what He was saying. Do not resist evil with violence; do not use the legal system to avenge a wrong; do not judge and condemn your fellow man by sitting on juries; forgive and you shall be forgiven; do as you would like to be done unto; love your fellow man and don’t murder him through police forces and armies. All of these thing are for the expressed purpose of returning evil for evil; and these things are what divides the Church from the church and is at the root of so much pain and sorrow.

“Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees you shall in no way enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 5:20

The Pharisees spoke of many good things, but they didn’t do them. They killed, cursed, judged, condemned, and only spoke about mercy and forgiveness, then stoned them who were less guilty than themselves. The Protestant and Catholic Churches all around the world do the very same thing, and teach men to be honest jurors, Christian soldiers, defenders of national and family honor, to swear allegiance to a national cause that approves of organized murder, that it is okay to kill in self-defense, and to persecute those who would believe the unembellished words of their Savior.

What is the true Church? I guess the Church is the living body of all those who direct their lives according to the words of Jesus, as explained and expounded by His Apostles, according to Kingdom principles, in the here and now. If these principles, as delivered by Jesus in Matthew 5-7 are lived out they will, as Jesus said, result in persecution. If we look at the modern Church we will not discover those marks that differentiate the primitive Church from the modern Church, and those marks are the marks of persecution, and we must ask, why? The answer to that question is because all of Jesus’ teaching has been turned to say the exact opposite of what He said, and is being taught from almost every pulpit.

One more concluding article will follow then on to new ground. There are many battles being waged on many fronts within the Church today. Heretics are coming out of the woodwork and waxing bold, and there are very few lifting a shout. Most are content to sit in their comfortable pews and refuse to acknowledge that there is severe spiritual crisis being played out in every home across this nation, and are content to believe that their pastor or priest has the answer. Our country is in the toilet, submerged in filth, and time is running out. It is time to be asking questions, and more importantly, to be getting answers.

I challenge any reader to prove me wrong, including our esteemed leaders.

Till next time, God forgive us,

Steve Blackwell

Tags: adversity, apostasy, Christ, christian, church, cross, deaf, deception, discernment, end times, evil, false prophets, false teachers, following christ, gospel, hearing, honesty, lies, manifestations, nonresistance, passivity, preaching, religion, repent, sacrifice, satan, serving the Lord, troubles, truth, understanding

“And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’ Jesus answered them, ‘To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ‘For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ‘Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.’” Matthew 13:10-13

It is very easy to say what the Church is not; all you have to do is describe the buildings, people, and organizations that exist all around the world “In the Name of Jesus.” But, to say what the Church is; well, that is another story. The entire Bible, correctly understood, is an explanation of the Church. For me to give an explanation better than what has been communicated by the Prophets, Apostles, and the Lord, may be the ultimate lesson in futility. Unless a blind man is given sight, he will remain unseeing; and unless his ears are opened, he will remain deaf. For the Spiritually renewed person it is hard not to see the Kingdom of God in their midst, for God has written His Gospel in every molecule of His creation; “And the heavens declare His glory;” but to the blind everything is reduced to mental and emotional information that appeals to the fleshly senses. So, in essence, to define the Church is to preach the Gospel, because a person must receive sight first of all.

Jesus preached the Good News of the Kingdom and instructed His disciples to do the same. He told His disciples that, “To you is granted to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.” In other words Jesus reveled, i.e. by the miracle of sight, an understanding of the parables. The understanding He revealed is of a limited type that required action on the part of the receiver, better known as simple obedience. Obedience is the line drawn in the sand separating the two models of the Church. The disciples did not fully comprehend Kingdom life until the day of Pentecost when they were baptized in the Spirit. At that time the pieces of the puzzle came together quickly. Our own understanding develops as we grow through study and obedience to Kingdom rules, and can come quickly if we fully give ourselves to follow Jesus. The Church of Jesus is not a “Union Shop,” where revelation is given before the obedience occurs. Biblically it is obedience first, and then the understanding comes.

“Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” John 7:17

“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” John 3:21

This is the paradox of the universal offer of the gospel so popular in easy believism; a person must choose to do the will of God, and he must live by the truth. All of this is opposed to the common conviction that one must merely live a good moral life or that God, against the will of the sinner, makes the decision for him. A person can live a good life and still not be in the will of God, or be living according to truth. The true Church is made up of those who know the will of God, and do it, and those who know the truth, and walk in that light. The proclamation of the whole Gospel is the declaration of that will of God and the command to walk in that truth, even as Jesus walked. To identify the Church one must first be obedient, or he/she will never see with mortal eyes what is visible only through the miracle of revelation; and that vision will only come in direct proportion to our spirit of obedience.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” Ephesians 1:17

Every person is a sinner. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. While we are yet innocent little children, we belong to the Lord. However, as we grow and are nourished from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and develop traits, talents, and temperaments, we each develop our inherited traits received from our father Adam; we become more and more, carnally minded, selfish, greedy, following our lusts, and a prisoner of evil in bondage to the Devil, with a death sentence on our head. This cloud of sin darkens our world, and it is here we spend our days, in a thick fog. This is the world in which we live, maybe living what we consider to be a good life – doing productive things, or living an outwardly evil life – doing destructive things; either way we are selfish and ignorant of God’s Kingdom that surrounds us. One thing is absolutely clear, both from the Bible and our own miserable history; we are a blind, stumbling, deceived race of people, all pursuing his own method of self-satisfaction and self-advancement.

To part the fog is to get a glimpse of truth and the Church; and we all get that glimpse by way of our conscience, intuition, or gut feeling. It is like a vestigial organ, something left over from days gone by, like a scent or yearning of something we can’t explain. We sense it; we just can’t put words to it. Would evolution have created such a desire with no way to satisfy it? Why are we concerned with the after-life? Why does evil in others bother us so; or the front page reporting wars and murder make us wonder about our future? Why should evolution or the law of the jungle seem so ill suited to the human predicament? Why does time seem to be slipping away? Why should we even care about such things if the evolutionists are correct?

I have lived in the world for sixty five years, twenty five of which I did not know, and did not care to know, Christ. At the age of twenty five I made a promise, which obliged me to examine the claims of Jesus, with the ultimate decision to believe the Gospel. After that initial step I spent the next thirty two years studying the Scriptures, mostly from a Reformed position. Eight years ago I came to believe and learn the teachings of Christ – apart from any theological training – and my life suddenly changed; I ceased believing what I formerly believed and began believing the teachings of Jesus. I was like a man who had awakened from a long sleep in which he had imagined life in a certain way; then upon coming wide awake realized that it was all a misconception, a delusion, a dream. The whole direction of my life had changed. This change was born from having understood the teaching of Christ differently from what I had formerly understood Him.

This new understanding was not the result of any frustration or trying to reinterpret what I had previously accepted the Gospel to say; but rather it was a simple unveiling of the truth. What was obscure became clear, simple, and intelligible. The result was disturbing to my life, which had become depressed; but at the same time it was liberating with renewed expectations of hope and peace.

God’s word declares that He has revealed to the foolish what He has withheld from the wise; and that all men are equals before Him; and that the truth is accessible to any who seek Him. Yet, as the Christian religion stands today we are led to understand that not all are initiated into the deepest mysteries of the faith. The ignorance of the masses is unwittingly promoted and encouraged by the very ones trained to enlighten. Even though this is the norm, it does not negate the command that all should understand what Christ said to the multitudes of simple and unlearned people, unaided by the clergy.

It is just this understanding that separates the true Church from the institutional church; the apprehension of what Christ said, without any embellishment.

With this introduction of what the Church is, you can see that merely making a statement, outlining ordinances, describing a building, opening the Yellow Pages, or saying it is “over here” or “over there” will not do. Many who have been born in to the Church have spent their life in ecclesiasticism and not the ecclesia of Christ, believing that this is what their hearts and spirits yearn for, when in fact it is a human adulteration of a Heavenly pattern.

More to come on this exciting topic. Part four will be here shortly; stay tuned.

Tags: apostasy, blind, Christ, christian, church, deception, discernment, evil, faith, false teachers, following christ, gospel, hearing, lies, preaching, religion, repent, seeing, serving the Lord, truth, understanding

Dave will be dearly missed (source)

To our Berean Call Family:

Friday, April 5, 2013, Dave Hunt drew his final breath and entered into the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His beloved wife Ruth was at his side.

Born in 1926, David Charles Haddon Hunt enjoyed the advantages of a godly upbringing and placed his trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord in his early teens.

As a young man, he served in the military toward the end of World War II. Afterward, he attended UCLA and received a degree in mathematics. It was during that time that he met the love of his life, Ruth Klassen. In 1950, they were married, and since both loved the outdoors, they enjoyed a beautiful honeymoon hiking in the High Sierras—perfect for two young people madly in love and with very little money to their name. Marriage was soon followed by the birth of two sons and two daughters. Ruth was a busy mother and also a gifted writer herself. She had a tremendous interest in and knowledge of history, a gift that would help Dave further down the road. Dave’s own career path led him into a position as a CPA/management consultant and later as the manager of several corporations.

Along with church-related activities, Dave initiated and became involved in numerous campus ministries and meetings in their home, with a special outreach to Jewish young people and foreign students. Many of these have stayed in touch with Dave and Ruth through the years, fondly recalling their times spent in Bible studies at the Hunts’ house.

Dave and Ruth also traveled abroad, spending time in various locations throughout Europe, meeting with believers there and ministering in many ways while raising their own family. Dave also brought Bibles and other materials into the Soviet Union during a time when it was very difficult to do so. Throughout his later years, he and Ruth traveled extensively as he was invited to speak in churches and fellowships, large and small, all over the world. Often they stayed in people’s homes, dining with them, learning their customs, and sharing God’s Word and God’s love.

The desire of Dave’s heart was ultimately to be involved in fulltime ministry, especially since he saw firsthand everywhere he went the breaking down of the true church as the world began to work its way into her midst. He began to write in 1973, warning believers about the incursion into Western culture and into the church itself of Eastern religion, psychological and selfist philosophies, ecumenism, and other unbiblical teachings.

The ministry of The Berean Call was founded by Dave in 1992. It grew out of a previous organization, of which Dave was also a founding member since 1986. With T.A. McMahon working alongside him at The Berean Call, Dave was able to share his love for and defense of Christ in the subsequent newsletters, books, videos, and speaking engagements that resulted from this ministry. Dave and T.A. wrote three books together, including the best-known The Seduction of Christianity , which was groundbreaking in its boldness, exposing false teachings in the church and daring to identify the names of the ones behind the deception.

By the early 2000s, Dave’s love for Christ and his desire to defend the name of the Lord had grown even stronger, and his concern over Islamic politics and religion are reflected in many of his articles, lectures, books, and interviews.

Then Richard Dawkins and the “new atheists” came onto the scene with a vengeance, seeking to destroy the very concept of God in the minds of everyone. Dave began to write and teach and speak more passionately than ever about the absolute truth that is in the Word of God and our need to immerse ourselves in it daily in order to prevent being taken up in the evolutionist delusion that is sweeping the world.

One of Dave’s favorite activities was to see whom God would seat next to him on airplanes as he traveled and spoke. He often said that he “could prove the existence of God” just by these providential occurrences. While writing about Islam, he would end up seated next to a Muslim who didn’t really understand what Islam was about but was eager to hear the difference between the Bible and the Qur’an. When writing about creation vs. evolution, the Lord would bring him, as a seat companion, an atheistic scientist who thought he had all the answers and was very surprised that there was another verifiable explanation to this universe.

Dave’s bold yet loving approach to any situation allowed him entrance into these conversations where many others would have been shut out. His love for Jesus, for Israel, and for people in general was obvious to all. His enthusiasm for the truth, along with his anger over the sin and wickedness that he knew was robbing people of what God wanted for them, flamed his desire to share the Lord with anyone with whom he had contact.

At least 4 million copies of his books have been sold, many of them translated into more than 50 languages. They include: The Cult Explosion; The God Makers (with Ed Decker); The Seduction of Christianity (with T.A. McMahon); Global Peace and the Rise of Antichrist; Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming Holocaust; The New Spirituality (with T.A. McMahon); Whatever Happened to Heaven?; Occult Invasion; A Woman Rides the Beast; A Cup of Trembling; In Defense of the Faith; An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith ; To Russia with Love (with Hans Kristian); What Love Is This?; Countdown to the Second Coming; Seeking and Finding God; Honest Doubts; Judgment Day!: Islam, Israel, and the Nations; Yoga and the Body of Christ; and his final book,  Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny.

He also wrote two novels, The Mind Invaders (formerly The Archon Conspiracy ) and Sanctuary of the Chosen, along with a children’s book called The Money Tree , illustrated by his daughter Karen.

This is by no means a complete listing of all of Dave’s works. One of his videos, Israel, Islam & Armageddon,  has become a tremendous tool for churches and for anyone interested in helping to spread the truth about events prior to and since the attack on the World Trade Center. His video A Woman Rides the Beast is a favorite among those who are witnessing to Catholics, a group for whom Dave had a deep love and sorrow, desiring to see them come to the knowledge of the truth.

Dave Hunt’s own drive to find and then deliver the truth is evident in everything he did. His impeccable research and recognized scholarship were based on in-depth studies of original documents and publications, interviews with key experts from around the world, and extensive travel—including to South America, Australia, Europe, India, and throughout the Middle East.

Dave has left us a legacy of inestimable value. We are blessed to be able to see and hear and read what he has taught about the evidence for God in a breathtaking number of materials. From explaining about the history of Christianity, to exposing the deception that has crept into the church, to teaching about the prophecies that are being fulfilled even today, this humble, brilliant man will go on teaching us for a very long time. We look forward to the day when we will see him again.

_____________________________________________________________________

There are no public services scheduled at this time. There will be a time to remember Dave at our conference this summer, August 23-24 in Bend, OR.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, Ruth requests that we rejoice with her that Dave is now with his Savior.

Do you have a remembrance of Dave you'd like to share? Please click here .

Our regular homepage is here .

 

He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.’  (Mark 4:26-29)

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"– these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)

Awhile back I was told by a friend, after a brief discussion of Church life after the Day of Pentecost, that the “Church life” displayed following Acts was, and is, un-sustainable in light of all the future developments of modern culture. I would have to agree, if what we have as our guide is the bulk of recorded history, and  the self-evident constructions of the modern mega-church complex. My position is that the Church life we see lived out in the Book of Acts is sustainable, although not evidenced through the organizational church of today. I contend that what we see as the “church” today is a prostitution of a Divine design, repackaged to accommodate the egos of men, and presented with enough choreography and ambience to simulate, to ignorant men, the moving of the Spirit. This form of church is not sustainable, as my friend said, and I agree, but this is not the Church of God, this is the church of man, and must be continually changed and upgraded to accommodate the fleeting desires of carnal flesh. The church of man does not resemble, even remotely, the Church of God as illustrated in Acts and the early Church! Why? Because God has not built that church, it was built by man; therefore it has all the earmarks of man in its architecture and organization. The church of man is a vain attempt to finish in the flesh what was started in the Spirit. Scripture tells us that,

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1).

My contention is that if the Church of Acts is unsustainable, then Christianity as a whole is unsustainable. What is the Church but Christians, the organic sustainable Body of Christ! If the Church of Acts is not the church that we witness today, then is it conceivable that virtually all of the Christians who flood the doors of these religious buildings are not really “Christians?” Yes! Why should we believe that a “church,” an organization of men, which is not sustainable, is of God? Has God given each age or generation a different – pattern – by which to build His Church? Is God dictated to by the flightiness of men’s desires, wishes, or cultural context? Does man’s inability to sustain anything limit God’s ability or demands? If God is to build HIS Church, is He like the man who started out to build a house, but forgot to count the cost, and is now made to look like a fool? Is there really a cultural context or formula by which we are to interpret, determine, or redesign what the “Church” is supposed to be like or act like? With the smorgasbord of church activity presented to the world today, how can we know which is the “real” Church? Should we be looking for something that is pictured in Scripture, or something else? Has the “Church” through committee approval redrawn the plans for the Tabernacle into something entirely different?

The Scripture above, if read carefully, will lead the enlightened seeker to examine cautiously all the merchandise offered by the modern church as authentic gems of ancient wisdom. Be assured that out of all the fake jewels the world of men and the Devil have produced there remain only One True Authentic Gem of God; do you have what it takes to know the difference? The above Scripture holds a clue to the question of, “how can we know which is the ‘real’ Church?” Can you solve the riddle?

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing (and with fake jewels) but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.’

(Matthew 7:13-16)

To understand the love of God in Christ is to understand the foundation of the authentic Church. It rains on the “just and the unjust” alike. The same rain that one man curses, another receives with blessings. “All things work together for good” for one man, while to another, they are the profuseness of evil. One factor differentiates them; the love of God in Jesus. The trials and tribulations of the one must be endured and avoided; for the other they are the fertile soil of growth, necessary to sustain a fruitful posterity. For the one all things are understood in the context of, advantage, or self-satisfaction; but to the Christian they are understood in the context of how they can advance their brother or sister. Only in this context can we understand the Church, as illustrated in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and the primitive Church. The misapprehension of Biblical love results in what is observed as the modern Church in all of its peculiar apparel, and the building of a structure on the shifting sand of human intelligence.

Stay tuned for part 3

Tags: apostasy, Christ, christian, church, cross, deception, discernment, Emergent, false teachers, following christ, gospel, lies, mega church, religion, rick warren, satan, serving the Lord, truth, understanding

Looking for the real Church may not be as easy as it sounds. It may be more akin to looking for buried treasure, or at least the finding of it would be. Some have found it when they weren’t even looking for it; others have tripped over it and never appreciated its true value, kicking it aside for something more concrete or “relevant”, and others have lived in its presence without ever having taken notice. The Church, as related to the Kingdom of God, doesn’t exist or appear through observation. What I mean is this; the Church as it is made up of men is visible and can be observed, i.e. they live in community and share, and those things can be seen; but the spiritual nature of the Church and the Kingdom is not visible to the carnal, unregenerate man. Consequently when unregenerate man seeks to find, observe, locate, or define the Church he is easily satisfied with anything presented as a typification or appearance, instead of the actual thing itself. The unspiritual man, although sensing the existence of spiritual things, can never know them apart from being born into the Kingdom of God, because they are the exclusive family values of the children born of the Almighty. The unspiritual person or Christian, although detecting something extraordinary, doesn’t necessarily feel that it is such a terrible thing to just go to Church on Sunday, in the ordinary way; but to the enlightened spirit it is a crime against Heaven to go on, year after year, as if the only thing God had in His thoughts when He permitted His Son to suffer the agony of hatred, mockery, and the cruel torture of Roman crucifixion, was a bunch of people assembling for an hour on Sunday mornings, or Wednesday evenings to listen to speeches or be entertained.

So, instead of asking “What does the real Church look like,” a preliminary question should be, “What does the false Church look like?” If we can make the generalization that the false church is the church of the world, and therefore looks like the world, then we can presume that all we have to do is look for the earmarks of the world in the church, and voilà, “the false church.” Well, this is too easy; we all know what the world looks like, right? Let’s see, the false church would be an organization, built by man, on a set of organizational principles, with a hierarchy of important people and things, setting up programs to attract even more people. Some energetic person with worldly insight, who wanted to start or “plant” a church business might ask himself this question, “Why should I reinvent the wheel; I’ll just find out what other successful church planters have done and just copy them?” So, looking for similar patterns would be another clue. That is precisely what I did when I started a Christian business some time ago; I followed a precise business and marketing plan, with psychographics, demographics, the right zip code, plenty of qualified buyers, a killer logo, a moderate build-out, a great product, the best software, expert sales force and management, well stocked shelves, and a pretty good service department. The business was successful; we eventually closed the doors, but for other reasons; but the point is, anybody can build a business in this world if they follow a good recipe. Ours was a Christian business, all the way down to the employee handbook. We called it a Christian business, but our banker and accountant knew very well who and how the business was built; after all, they had the Performa, with all of our own predictions and forcast. From the get-go it had the fingerprints of men all over it, even though we prayed and went to “Church.” Our business was no more built by God than any other secular business applying good, sound, honest, principles toward business and people. I’m not saying that what we did was a bad or evil thing; it was just a business; we did it to make money selling a good product at a fair price, and it worked; but it was Christian only as to principles only. Lots of people do business this way; look at Chick-fil-A; it is a business run by applying Christian principles, and that is all.

Let me explain this a little further. God has put into effect certain laws that affect everyone, for good if they are obeyed or bad if they are not, regardless of their belief in Him; these laws are of physical, mathematical, and spiritual natures. No one would argue that physical laws, such as the law of gravity, have equal effect on everyone under similar conditions. Although God put the law here, it is not just for Christians; and all the other physical laws are the same. Certain spiritual laws operate the same way. If we apply these spiritual laws to our lives we can reap a good harvest. These laws are numerous and can be found in the Sermon on the Mount and in Proverbs, and other places in the Bible. An example of these laws are, the law of “sowing and reaping,” and the law of “give and it shall be given unto you,” and the law of “going the extra mile,” and the laws governing work and family. All of these laws are for mankind in general, and not just for Christians.

Many have applied these laws of God, having never known God, but gained health, happiness, and success, because the laws are sound, and apply to everyone, regardless of their position with God, to the “just and the unjust” alike. The spiritual laws that dictate honesty, a positive outlook on life, integrity, and the like, work for everyone when applied consistently; and the more they are applied the better off that person will be; but this is not Christianity. Many Christians have mistaken the good results from obeying these laws, as Christianity itself. Robert Schuller, for example, built his Crystal Cathedral by applying the laws of positive thinking, and he assumed that he had found Christ because “positive thinking” well, has positive effects, but he did not find Christ, only a spiritual law of having a good outlook on life. It is the same for Rick Warren. Rick built an empire on hard work and applying spiritual principles of having a “Purpose Driven Life,” but this is not Christianity; and the same thing applies to Joel Osteen all smiling and positive; this is not Christianity, and what they have built is not the “Church.” Nearly all the Church planters are the same, applying spiritual laws to build a Church business; but this is not Christianity. A church business does have one advantage over other businesses though, they have the advantage of being a “non-profit” business, and get by without having to “. . . Render unto Caesar . . . .”

God has made some very curious statements concerning the way He does things that we should listen to:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Psalms 127:1

If we come across a religious building and find that it has all the same ingredients of a business, as mentioned above, are we to suppose that because they call their business a “Church” that it is somehow anointed by God and special in some respect; or is it just another business whose banker and accountant holds the secret of its success or failure. It can be easily proven that the successes of all the new mega-Churches are based on a good business plan. Rick Warren’s secret has been exposed, and he is one of the most successful. Rick Warren and Bill Hybells, of Willow Creek fame, both used the best marketing man in the business, Peter Drucker; and Rick’s mentor was none other than the now defunct author of the Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller, the king of possibility thinking. If we are going to identify the true Church we must first have a clue of what a false church looks like. If I build my business using good business principals, why wouldn’t I expect success; but does that success equal God involvement, or even the godliness of the business owner or CEO? Peter Drucker was no dummy; give him a zip code, a product, and a niche market and he could give you a church, and make you famous, all without God. Are we to therefore conclude, because of the success of these men, that they are blessed of God, or that God’s ways and man’s ways are really no different? Or, are we to conclude that men are misled, through the pride of accomplishment, into thinking that they can build something for God, when in all reality they are fashioning their own Towers of Babel, reaching for a manmade heaven?

The difference between my business and the modern church is only the shingle hanging over the doorway. I would readily admit that the end result of my business was to show a profit at the end of the year; the church business will not readily admit that. If they fail to satisfy their customers and generate an income, or to replace deceased or dissatisfied customers with a steady influx of new customers, their business will fail and their doors will close, just like any other business. If they say that God built their business, they are deluded. But, you ask, “What does a real Church look like,” if all the brick and mortar buildings are only the fabrication of mere men? Do we dare ask the word of God to show us? And are we ready to believe what we discover? Well, we will ask the word of God to show us; but first let’s go just a little further in exposing the false Church.

We have had now over 2000 years to perfect the Church; and from the viewpoint of most Christians, Christianity is beginning to blossom out into a fullness that will eventually enfold all of mankind. The parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31, 32) is, to these people, a fulfillment of an ecumenical wonderland of Godly perfection prepared to receive her Prince. Whoa, slow down, don’t reserve the party tent just yet; there is another side of the story. If we only look at Rick Warren, Bill Hybells, Joel Osteen, the Catholic Church and the unending parade of televangelist, how could we think otherwise, right? But, in actuality these guys are the epitome of the latter day Laodicean Church revealed to us in Revelation 3:14-22. You can’t help but notice that the whole state of affairs is a representation of gross spiritual blindness when seen from the Bible, which means that truth can’t be comprehended, and not least of which is the truth of their own condition. They are self-satisfied, self-fulfilled, self-confident, and self-glorifying. They see just the opposite of what God sees as lies and deception. They think they are rich; Jesus says they are poor; they think they have God’s glory, but He says they are rejected; they think they are smart, but God corrects them, and says they are ignorant. The whole choreographed performance is a lie from every angle; it is just the opposite of the vision Jesus had in mind for the Church. All of the above things Jesus testified to as the “Amen,” as the final word on the subject; “These things saith the Amen . . . .” By using that word He is making the declaration that His words are the last words on the subject; end of discussion. Jesus Himself is the standard against which all our efforts are to be judged, and the modern Church has not measured up to that standard.

This is the background from which our investigation will proceed; a picture of the Church in which it has failed to measure up to the fullness of God’s intentions; a picture of failure and not success. Earthly success will always be the deceptive factor by which unregenerate mankind (Christian or otherwise), will judge the accomplishments of the Church. Jesus’ answer to this problem is “repentance.” It is not as if we cannot see and know what we should do; we just plain don’t want to see the truth. Spiritual blindness is self-induced. Christ came to show us the way, but we have failed to believe what He has said, and set out to build the Church the way we want it to be built, according to our own plans and design.

“This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: ‘See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’” Exodus 25:40, Hebrews 8:5.

That pattern is the same pattern we must follow today when we are commanded to repent, and to go back and do our “first works over again.” So, when we ask, “What does the true Church look like” it is synonymous with asking, “What does repentance look like,” because repentance is to follow the “pattern” of God. Repentance is the first step in understanding the plans for God’s one and only CHURCH; it is not an organization; a dead thing; it is an organism, the living, breathing Body of Christ.

Along the way, as we unearth this hidden body of Christ, we will hopefully also find the true meaning of “resurrection,” in our own death and burial; unfortunately there will be no finding of the primitive Church without the experience of death in every member of that body. Much, or all, of our once cherished beliefs and possessions will have to be discarded to navigate through the narrow, restricted, passage leading onto the narrow way. It is common Biblical knowledge that most will have no taste for such a tedious, and possibly dangerous, venture; consequently, “Few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14.

With this prelude, and the blessings of the Lord we will hopefully discover, with great joy and celebration, that the Church of God is alive and very well, and awaiting all those who wish to share in its glory.

Stay with me as we explore together another world, that is hidden in plain sight.

Tags: apostasy, blind, Christ, christian, church, cross, deaf, deception, discernment, emerging, end times, evil, false teachers, hearing, honesty, lies, mega church, religion, repent, rick warren, satan, seeing, truth, understanding

How important are the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount? If we knowingly or unknowingly disobey the commands of Jesus, should we be concerned regarding our salvation? How important is it that we understand what Jesus meant when He said, “Resist not an evil person,” and the other commands regulating our behavior toward those who are regarded as enemies? Has Jesus left the door open for creative interpretation, or does He demand that we simply obey what He has said, without regard to recognized social ethics, cultural patterns, political principles, or personal prejudices? If we say we are a follower of Jesus, but in fact follow Calvin, Luther, Wesley, the Popes, traditions, culture, habits, mores, customs, routines, patterns, forms, creeds, bylaws, ethnicities, family values, superstitions, fantasies, imaginations, or dreams and visions, we are not following Jesus, and stand in jeopardy of a great loss; we are in actuality playing with fire.

“If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” John 12:47-50.

“But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)” John 6:61-64

The words Jesus spoke in John 6:61-64 were spoken to those who were offended by what He had said in verses 53-59 concerning eating His flesh and drinking His blood. “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can accept it?’” vs. 60. “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” Vs. 66. Very many who have read The Sermon on the Mount have likewise come into contact with “hard sayings” and are offended and cannot hear the words nor accept them. How nice it would be for us to each imagine that we have correctly understood what Jesus has said, according to our own corrupted thoughts and prejudices, and to actually receive confirmation from all of our peers that we are accepted, and then to receive some special revelation from Heaven that we have, indeed, been accepted there also.

Those words spoken by Jesus instructing His disciples to eat and drink His flesh and blood were words very hard to swallow and struck a negative cord in all that heard them. This must have been the craziest thing they had ever heard, especially coming from someone claiming to be God incarnate. Jesus makes no apology and tells those who would listen, “I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.” Then Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Now, these words are understandably difficult to the uninitiated listener, and today we understand what Jesus was talking about concerning His flesh and blood. Some other things that Jesus said were not ambiguous or confusing at all, and His words were not metaphorical, but plain, and could be understood as spoken, yet today they offend the ears and hearts of those who hear them and they are rejected for smoother words that settle with our corrupted hearts. Again Jesus says, “I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.” “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” The hard things of the early days are understood today, but many of the plain things have become hard to understand, and offend our modern sensitivities.

Jesus explained those hard things to His close disciples and then they understood; and all the parables He explained, but some things were so plain when He spoke them that they needed no further elucidation, only acceptance. But, today those same “plain” things offend us and we pretend to need explanations of paid pastors.

I meant to go further in this article, but have decided to stop here.

I am not asked to write on specific topics often, and when I do I get a real sense of my inadequacy, and chills run down my back. This is not my usual way of writing. I do a lot of reading and study, and write on the inspiration I receive from others or try to expand on a subject that I feel needs more elucidation. But, since I was asked, “What does the real Church look like,” from a reader of my previous articles, I feel obligated to give an answer.

I do feel that the subject matter of this current article needs to be driven home by as many articles as it takes and from as many angles as it takes, but I am content that it may be time to change directions, and what better direction than a discussion on the identification and nature of the true Church, the Body of Christ. To many this may appear to be a rather dull subject, but in reality it is anything but dull; and it may even encapsulate the answer to many problems that exist in our individual lives and in the life of the “organized church;” with the Lord’s help, we shall see.

Tags: apostasy, Christ, christian, church, cross, deception, discernment, false teachers, following christ, gospel, honesty, offence, passivity, politics, preaching, religion, serving the Lord, truth, understanding, war

I have written a lot about the Christian’s view of war and violence, and how modern views are a rejection of the truth; but really the issue of war is only a single false position the Church takes that is based on presumption and tradition.

Nearly the whole known Christian world now preaches in favor of war, so when we undertake to disagree we would guess that there is a well-established argument from many different authors supporting their position; it is not so. Although virtually everyone supports war: past, present, or future, they produce little valid Biblical evidence to fortify their position; and the evidence they do give is questionable. What you do find is that the whole structure is supported by tradition and strengthened by our carnal passions.

Those who teach truth, over-shadowed by traditions, for the most part, come from men who have attained high rank in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and who possess a lot of self-assurance that no one will dare question their authority; and if anyone does, they are ignored. Beginning from their position of high status the traditions are disseminated downward through all levels of the body. Once the tradition is established it gains a life of its own, can progress unnoticed, unquestioned, and unopposed; and such is the truth in the modern Church today. This fact is so unashamedly obvious in the Catholic and Orthodox Church that it hardly needs mentioning, but the Protestant Church is no different.

My wife and I have run a small commercial refrigeration business for the last thirty years and have enjoyed a moderate level of success. Monetarily we probably would not be considered successful, but we have never wanted for a continuous flow of customers to serve. We operate on integrity, and not on the principle of cash flow; the company is run by us, not by our accountant. Our operation is based on two simple rules:

1. Integrity of life, and

2. Integrity of equipment.

First, let’s define integrity. Integrity, according to Wikipedia, “Is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy, in that integrity regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.” I will also add that integrity of equipment incorporates the above values in the design and production of a mechanical system with the final result of soundness, safety, and quality for the end user.

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27.

The integrity of life, which includes the integrity of business (the two cannot be separated, as some imagine. There is no distinction made for business that allows something less than total truth and honesty) is simple to discover; it is based on the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles.

The integrity of equipment means this; a manufacturer has employed engineers to design and test a system (in my case it would be a refrigeration system), which they in turn sell to refrigeration contractors. This could be a self-contained unit that requires only an electrical outlet to make it work; or it could be a modular system composed of multiple components located throughout a store, with interconnecting refrigeration lines and electrical controls. The engineers provide a set of “specs” for the contractor to follow when assembling the system, which they promise will work if followed correctly. The integrity of the finished unit is only as good as the contractor’s ability to understand the “specs” and what the designer had in mind for the product’s operation.

Problems of integrity, of life or equipment, can arise for example, if the contractor attempts to re-engineer the project to cut down overhead due to greed or his inability to calculated cost properly, causing the equipment to not operate correctly. If the manufacturer warrants his design to be without defects in the engineering process, and the equipment does not work properly, then the search begins for a defect in the integrity of a component or in the installation. Regardless of where the problem exists, it is always a problem of integrity, either of life, or of equipment.

The problem of integrity also comes into play when we consider the future maintenance and repair of a once properly operating system.

I love trying to figure out how things work, so it was kind of a joke with my former employer and technicians that I carried a virtual library in my truck. When I was asked why I had all the books, the answer was always the same, “You don’t have to know all the answers in your head, but you do need to know where to go to get the answers.” Integrity of life and equipment is very important; and knowing where to go to find answers is of utmost importance, if proper operation is a critical matter.

Troubleshooting any kind of problem requires integrity; you must first recognize, and admit, that there is a problem. Many times problems do not readily appear and the system seems to look fine and operate perfectly when checked, but later goes down. To all appearances and initial analysis everything is doing what it is supposed to be doing, but the problem persists. Even if the problem isn’t apparent, evidence to the contrary proves otherwise, e.g. in the case of refrigeration systems, product loss is good evidence; In the case of the Church: tall spires, stain-glass windows, gowns, candles, incense, CEO speeches once a week,  contamination, corruption, perversions, gross ignorance of Scripture, divorce, carnal lust, hatred, war, teen suicide, etc., etc.

Next you have to acknowledge that something has changed. If the system operated for a long time without issues, but is now having problems, the question has to be asked, “What has changed to cause the problem?” A company run with integrity will demand that the designer’s specs be investigated and followed. If our company goes into a new account to troubleshoot a problem, the first thing we do is try and find out how many other hands have been working on the equipment; then we start the process of getting the system back to design specs. Nearly always we discover that over a process of time the designer’s specifications were either not known, or just ignored; and little changes, here and there, were introduced, till no one realized that the only thing that remained of the original equipment was the name tag on the front; underneath the “hood” nothing even resembled the architect’s original design. Technicians over a long period of time can re-engineer the equipment to run the way they think it should run, with no regard for the truth. How easy it is for a tech, regardless of how much experience he has, to think he is smarter than the engineer who designed the equipment in the first place. What has changed in the equipment to make it NOT run is the integrity of the ones who keep putting their hands on a good system and changing it. They think that with their own limited intelligence they can improve on the original.

How does this relate to the Church’s rejection of the truth; it relates in very concrete ways. The Church has the fingerprints of men all over it.

“. . . You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men’.” Matthew 15:6-9

The Lord is the Engineer who designed a perfect system by which Christians are to govern their lives, but it has had many hands under the hood, and today all we are left with is a name, CHRISTIAN, but the equipment only appears to be operating; because the glitter hides the awful truth. But, even a casual non-Christian observer can see that the system does not function properly; it is dysfunctional. Too many religious technicians have tried to fix it, but it is still broke. All their efforts have only been placebos, illusions, programs of deceit, or impostures and pacifiers.

I used to own a 1958 Chevrolet, it was my second car, it had a big engine, a four speed Hurst transmission, big tires, and boy did it shine. I loved to shine that car; and it was pretty. It would cruise just fine as long as you went slowly, and I loved to show it off; but it was broke. It was all for show. I could never get that car to run worth a dime. The more money I put into it the worse it would run. It finally ended up on the scrap heap. Later, in 1968, I bought a brand new Plymouth Road Runner, right off the showroom floor. I didn’t have to do a thing to that car; right out of the box it would run with amazing speed and agility. All I had to do was drive it the way it was made to be driven, and it worked perfectly. The engineers really knew what they were doing, and as long as everything was kept to “specs” it continued to work. The Church today is like that 1958 Chevrolet; it is broke; but it sure does look good.

If we acknowledge that there is a problem with the Church – and that is a big “If,” because most people inside the organizational Church don’t have a clue that there is a problem and really don’t care – that is a good first step. Then if we ask, “What has changed” to cause the problem, we start on the road to an amazing discovery. Just like a refrigeration system; to find out what has changed we must become familiar with the design specs. We must identify what a properly functioning Church looks like to begin with, and then return the unit back to the original model. If in the process we detect that there are many additions and misapplications then we can be assured that our work will be difficult, but very rewarding.

I like definitions. Many times just to define a word or a term is enough to spark a change of direction; and definitions are definitely part of the integrity of life and equipment. Many times a wrong definition lies at the core of serious problems; and to assume a definition that has been accepted by generations before you, without ever knowing or searching it out for yourself, is the worst kind of ignorance. Self-induced ignorance due to laziness, apathy, or habitual practice, in any area of life spells almost certain doom in this life, but in the area of the soul it extends into eternity. In the refrigeration business I come across circumstances occasionally where the equipment is so old that there are no manuals or schematics to define a properly operating system, but sometimes the manuals are available, and the parts to repair the equipment are not, so upgrades have to be made. We do not have that excuse when it comes to the Church. The manual and the measures necessary to affect the repair are all available.

It may surprise some of you to hear what the definition of the “Church” really is. The popular definitions are:

1. A Christian house of worship; a building where religious services take place.

2. A Christian religious organization, local or general.

3. Religious service held at a church.

4. A group of people who follow the same Christian religious beliefs, local or general.

The word “Church” is translated from the Greek word “ecclesia.” This word is the exclusive word used in the New Testament of which the word “Church” is translated. It means a “calling out.” The word Church is never used of any other purpose than to signify the “called out” ones. I guess a good question to ask now is, what does it mean to be called out?

“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart (consecrated) as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2: 20, 21

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present (devote) your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (distinguishing character) by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1,2

“Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate (isolated) from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you” 2 Corinthians 6:17

“Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her (obedience), my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;” Revelation 18:4

Although definition #4 comes closest to a Biblical meaning of “Church” it misses it by a country mile. Just to do a study of the word “Church” should be enough to open some eyes. If the above verses exhibit characteristics of the Church as defined by God, can you find any apparent incongruities, conflicts, or inconsistencies with what is passed off for Church today? There are many, Many, MANY, inconsistencies. I could do a long series of articles on all the discrepancies that have crept into the Church that not only conflict with the true definition, but are totally inappropriate and satanic in their origin. Where do we find in the modern Church anything that distinguishes and separates today’s Christians from the world?

God is the engineer, He designed the system to work in only one way; and He says when the system breaks down, check the specs, there has been a failure of integrity somewhere. He has given His specs to us in the form of His written word. The integrity of His system is without question the best there is; it is perfect in every detail. We are the contractors and technicians commissioned to operate and administer the structure. If the system isn’t working properly we must look for a breakdown in integrity, not in the design, but in the application, operation, and administration.

Two thousand years of technicians who thought they were engineers, have totally re-designed a structure that was initially perfect, and today, what is truly Christian in Christianity is to them heresy.

Underneath all the rubbish of re-designed Christian Church lies a remnant of a perfectly faultless system of life for all human beings, but especially Christians. Those who haven’t accepted Christ and His plan of existence are destined for a very large landfill, a junkyard of discarded human souls, unless someone is able to troubleshoot the system, and convince mankind to return to its source, and begin all over again. If we look to a failed system for help, we are in very serious trouble; we will only find broken promises, failed programs, and faltering lives, backed-up by good marketing and big pretty buildings.

The Lord will return to this Orchard He has planted someday, looking for fruit, and when He finds none, it will be too late to check the specs. Look at your life and the lives of those around you, and compare that with what the Bible presents; are those lives a true Christian reflection, or does what you see even make any sense; and if you can honestly say that the system appears to be in good operating condition, it may be later than you think.

“Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ^‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you . . .’” Proverbs 1:20-23

“For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird . . . '” Proverbs 1:17

Tags: apostasy, Christ, christian, church, deception, discernment, end times, evil, faith, false teachers, following christ, gospel, honesty, lies, mega church, preaching, religion, serving the Lord, truth, understanding

by Mark Twain

It was a time of great and exalting excitement.  The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid eloquence which moved every listener.  It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Sunday morning came – next day the battalions would leave for the front; the church was filled; the volunteers were there, their young faces alight with martial dreams – visions of the stern advance, the gathering momentum, the rushing charge, the flashing sabers, the flight of the foe, the tumult, the enveloping smoke, the fierce pursuit, the surrender!  Then home from the war, bronzed heroes, welcomed, adored, submerged in golden seas of glory!  With the volunteers sat their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die the noblest of noble deaths.  The service proceeded; a war chapter from the Old Testament was read; the first prayer was said; it was followed by an organ burst that shook the building, and with one impulse the house rose, with glowing eyes and beating hearts, and poured out that tremendous invocation:

God the all-terrible!
Thou who ordainest!
Thunder thy clarion and lightning thy sword!

Then came the "long" prayer.  None could remember the like of it for passionate pleading and moving and beautiful language.  The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them to crush the foe, grant to them and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory…

An aged stranger entered and moved with slow and noiseless step up the main aisle, his eyes fixed upon the minister, his long body clothed in a robe that reached to his feet, his head bare, his white hair descending in a frothy cataract to his shoulders, his seamy face unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness.  With all eyes following him and wondering, he made his silent way; without pausing, he ascended to the preacher's side and stood there waiting.  With shut lids the preacher, unconscious of his presence, continued with his moving prayer, and at last finished it with the words, uttered in fervent appeal, "Bless our arms, grant us the victory, O Lord our God, Father and Protector of our land and flag!"

The stranger touched his arm, motioned him to step aside – which the startled minister did – and took his place.  During some moments he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes, in which burned an uncanny light; then in a deep voice he said:

"I come from the Throne – bearing a message from Almighty God!"  The words smote the house with a shock; if the stranger perceived it he gave no attention.  "He has heard the prayer of His servant your shepherd, and will grant it if such shall be your desire after I, His messenger, shall have explained to you its import – that is to say, its full import.  For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of – except he pause and think.

"God's servant and yours has prayed his prayer.  Has he paused and taken thought?  Is it one prayer?  No, it is two – one uttered, the other not.  Both have reached the ear of Him who heareth all supplications, the spoken and the unspoken.  Ponder this – keep it in mind.  If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time.  If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor's crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it.

"You have heard your servant's prayer – the uttered part of it.  I am commissioned of God to put into words the other part of it – that part which the pastor – and also you in your hearts – fervently prayed silently.  And ignorantly and unthinkingly?  God grant that it was so!  You heard these words: 'Grant us the victory, O Lord our God!'  That is sufficient.  The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words.  Elaborations were not necessary.  When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory – must follow it, cannot help but follow it.  Upon the listening spirit of God fell also the unspoken part of the prayer.  He commandeth me to put it into words.  Listen!

"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle – be Thou near them!  With them – in spirit – we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe.  O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it – for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet!  We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him who is the Source of Love, and who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.  Amen.

(After a pause)  "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, speak!  The messenger of the Most High waits!"

It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.

Tags: apostasy, Christ, christian, church, cross, deception, discernment, gospel, honesty, Mark Twain, politics, Prayer, preaching, religion, truth, understanding, war

My conclusion to Dr. Robert Moyer’s pamphlet could have very easily been the introduction, because I am not as interested in proving Moyer wrong as I am in getting at the truth. It is not the refutation of Dr. Moyer that I am primarily interested in; he is just one of the overwhelmingly large numbers of Christians who have bought into the great lie that we can worship God, but keep Him on the sideline, while we continue construction on our personal City of God. Mr. Moyer only exemplifies to what degree men will go to avoid having to really serve a living God.

The early Christians of the first three hundred years had the unique opportunity to hear from those who knew first hand, and up close, what Jesus, Paul, Peter, and the rest meant by their writings. The Apostles taught many of these ancient believers in the school of Christ; and it is refreshing to find continuity in their beliefs, humbleness in their attitudes, and a stoutness of spirit to lay down their lives for those beliefs. But, it is equally sad that today we hear little or nothing from them, while modern evangelicals, fundamentalist, and progressives compete for recognition of their own polluted theology, which have no resemblance to the early Church and consequently to the Apostles or Christ.

Tags: apostasy, Christ, christian, church, cross, deception, discernment, Emergent, emerging, end times, evil, faith, false teachers, following christ, gospel, honesty, lies, mega church, politics, preaching, religion, repent, satan, serving the Lord, truth, understanding, war