By David Dombrowski

Used With Permission From Lighthouse Trails

A growing and subtle tactic that is actually producing more “bridges” is to invite speakers of differing values, perspectives, and doctrines to the same conference and thereby make the speaker of compromised or apostate teachings appear more credible.

It is all too easy in the busy world in which we live today to get caught up in worldly concerns that would tend to draw our hearts in a different direction than God intends. A Scripture that comes to mind is the one in Proverbs that says:

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

This Scripture tells us that we are to keep a watchful eye, or to guard our hearts, against things that would steal away from us the very things that are most precious in life. That is why it is good to stop from time to time to reflect, reevaluate, and check our compass bearings.

The fact is we are sojourners through this life, and this is not our permanent home. Like Abraham, we can set up a “tent,” but our permanent dwelling is not here. Jesus said:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Too often, for the Christian, anxiety and stress over the many things in life—be it business, finances, health, or possessions—overtake us. Yet Jesus said that our heavenly Father will take care of us if we seek His kingdom first. If our lives are full of worry and stress, like a thermometer or pressure gauge, it should be an indicator to us that we need to reevaluate our lives and decide if our treasures are truly in heaven and if we will cling to God’s promises to provide for us as He sees fit. Our recent involvement with the needs of theChristians in Kenya, Africa has even further driven the point to us that as North Americans especially we need to diligently watch where our true treasures are and not get caught up in “things.” In and of themselves, there is nothing wrong with having possessions as long as they do not rule our hearts. Whatever we have—whether it is earthly goods, health, intelligence, or education—these things are a loan to us and can only be of real benefit when they enable us to serve the kingdom of God in the cause of the Gospel. Paul, for instance, said:

I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Philippians 4:12

Paul was a well-educated man who probably had known prosperity, yet he risked everything for the sake of the Gospel. That is why he could also say:

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. Philippians 3:7-8

Over the past few years, and especially this past year, Lighthouse Trails has become aware of a new strategy of the enemy. This should be of particular concern if you are a pastor, a Christian leader or author, or a conference speaker—someone who is influencing others. In a recent article, we made reference to some Christian figures, who we termed “bridgers.”1 These are pastors and Christian leaders who, while they themselves may have reputations as being traditional in their doctrine and teaching, are pointing their followers to Contemplative/New Age mystics and emerging/emergent church leaders. In other words, they are bridges to deception.

A growing and subtle tactic that is actually producing more “bridges” is to invite speakers of differing values, perspectives, and doctrines to the same conference and thereby make the speaker of compromised or apostate teachings appear more credible. For example, a pastor who has been dabbling in mysticism and is looking for a safe way to turn on his congregation to whatever he is practicing will invite a mystic to an upcoming conference; but he will simultaneously invite a conservative Bible teacher known for discernment to the same conference. By doing this, the pastor has now found a way to bring mysticism into his church under the guise of biblical truth. So, in essence, the biblical speaker has become a bridge to false doctrine.

Although this tactic seems rather benign to many, it is actually quite diabolical in that it brings confusion into the body of Christ. Those in the audience who are the more discerning will walk away from such conferences perplexed and disillusioned, while those lacking in discernment may have just taken a ride down the slide to apostasy and delusion. And, another result is that while it lifts the reputation of the false teacher (because he or she is sharing a platform with a biblical teacher), it actually weakens the reputation of the trusted biblical teacher. Oh how clever of Satan to perform such a multi-faceted maneuver. Everyone gets hurt!

We have been trying to warn some to beware of this tactic, which is actually being used in a religious/ political nature to give credence to those with emerging ideas. We have had mixed response to our appeal, but typically what we hear is that these biblical speakers see such conferences as opportunities to have a speaking platform. No matter who they share the platform with. This is what Kay Arthur’s ministry told us when we brought to their attention the problem with Kay Arthur sharing a platform with emerging figure Tony Campoloat the Breakforth event in Canada.

Something similar happened when Calvary Chapel mega-pastor Greg Laurie shared a platform at Lifefest 2011 with a Catholic priest. The priest is known for his work in bringing recognition to a Marian apparition. Harvest Ministries’ response to questions about Laurie attending this event with the priest was that this gave him a chance to share his message with the lost. 

We could give countless examples where this is happening. A few more are: Rick Warren being invited to share the platform with Chuck Smith at Greg Laurie’s Harvest Crusade (Warren also gave the opening prayer), Joel Rosenberg sharing the platform with Leonard Sweet at Breakforth, Norm Geisler speaking at Rick Warren’s first “Apologetics Weekend” (the following year, they had 3 well known contemplative speakers, but having Norm Geisler there the year before gave the conference credibility to many), the 2009 National Worship Leaders Conference brought Greg Laurie and Leonard Sweet together, John Piper inviting Rick Warren to his Desiring God event, and on the list could go.

Often, when Christian speakers are trying to justify their actions, they liken these opportunities to Paul speaking to the Greek philosophers on Mars Hill. But, if we are going to use this comparison, we should be ready to do as Paul did. In other words, if invited to such a conference, go ahead and go, but when you get there openly rebuke in the presence of the audience the apostate message of the false teacher sharing the same platform; only in this way can the audience gain a clear understanding of what is right and what is wrong. “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear” (1 Timothy 5:20).

Unfortunately, we know of few who would or have shown the courage to do this when put in that situation. And this is why we are recommending to those who are trying to maintain biblical integrity to stay away from such speaking opportunities. Too often, it’s easy to think that our message is so important that we should grab every opportunity to share it. However, in this context, even though these conferences may provide a speaking platform to get your message out to those who need to hear it, there is a two-fold downside to this: it minimizes the seriousness of the false teachings, and it neutralizes the message of others trying to share discernment with the church. In other words, a lot is lost, and nothing is gained. Our message then to those who speak at conferences is –please do not compromise just for the sake of your message; find out what you are getting into and with whom you will be sharing the speaking platform. And in no way put your message above the message of the Gospel. Remember the words in Scripture:

Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. I Samuel 15:22

Going back to the idea of keeping watch over our hearts, we need to keep in mind that where our treasures are our heart will be there too. As committed Christians, should we not want our treasures to be in Heaven and in the things of the Lord? Remember Paul’s exhortation:

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1

Time is a precious commodity that we should not take for granted. Think of a sandglass or hourglass where you can literally watch time being poured out. Knowing that our time is relatively short, let us follow the injunction in Hebrews to “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).

Too many things hold us back from serving the Lord. In this verse in Hebrews, an illustration of an athlete is being used to show how, if we are to win a race, we need to strip off unnecessary weight. Scripture says that  God will give us wings like eagles, but if we are tied down with the affairs and cares of the world, we will never be able to fly.

Want to find out where your heart is? Search out where your treasure is—that commodity that means more to you than anything else in life—and you will discover that it is in the same place where your heart is. As believers in Jesus Christ, our hope should be that when we find that treasure, it will be in the same place God’s treasure is too.

At Lighthouse Trails, we feel very privileged to be given the opportunity to defend the Gospel. We are humbled that God has used the “weak things” and the “foolish things”  to confound the wise. Sometimes people call us to help solve their theological questions, and though we try to help as we can, we do not have all the answers. However, one thing we do know, and that is Christ and Him crucified. Jesus is the answer to what we really need; after all, isn’t life meant to be all about saving souls, and Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world? It’s that simple. Sometimes when people contact us, we get the notion when they test and probe us on theological questions that some of them think our ministry is all about having all the right answers to every theological matter. Perhaps some think that Lighthouse Trails expects all pastors to have a correct understanding of all the Scriptures. But, we know that all pastors are fallible, and we have never expected any Christian leader to be either sinless or inerrant. To expect a pastor to have all the answers is not only unrealistic but also a burden that no one can bear.

But what really does matter is—what do we think about the Cross and what do we think about God’s Word? Sadly, many of the new emerging contemplative leaders are preaching a Christ-less Word-less gospel. Likewise, those who practice mysticism through contemplative prayer inevitably come to the day when the atonement means nothing to them; we have seen this happen time and again. God knows that mysticism connects people to the demonic realm, and that is why it is forbidden in Scripture (Deuteronomy 18:9-15). Yet, again, mysticism is becoming the common practice of our day. It does not take a theological scholar to see that there is something wrong here.

Though the Gospel is a simple message—that Jesus died to make atonement for sin—nothing has ever come under more attack because Satan knows if he can destroy the message of the Gospel  (or the messengers of the Gospel), he has destroyed Christianity and destroyed the message by which we find salvation. His continual quest is to undermine our belief in the saving work of Jesus Christ. That is why, perhaps more than any time before, we must “keep thy heart with all diligence.”

Notes:

1. Term by Ingrid Schlueter.

In case you haven't noticed the Vatican is on the move. As the faithful would expect, the Book of Revelation is beginning to make sense in these last days before the Lord's return. It is not the mysterious locked prophecy it once was; It is becoming very clear in respect to the Antichrist and false prophet, and their identity; thanks to researchers like Roger Oakland, Chris Pinto, and the folks at Herescope. Before long Revelation will be an open book to those whose will is to do the Lord's will; it is a promise; even now, we are getting it.

As we see Rome and the nations making great strides in the fulfillment of prophecy, so likewise we can expect our God to make even greater strides in strengthening His elect for the forth coming calamities. There is no question that God will call out His elect and purify them by the infilling of His Spirit in a mighty way, and ready them for his return.

It is an exciting time as our eyes scan the eastern sky, in anticipation of His coming. The words of Scripture coming more and more alive and the trimming of the lamps breathing with a new reality and earnestness of meaning. Separation, purging the old leaven, holiness, faith and truth are words filled with a new dynamic, driving the sheep into new pastures of rest and reassurance.

Below is an article of great interest to those interested in discerning the signs of the times. It would appear that the Vatican is coming out of the closet as to their role in the forming of a one world government and religion. Could it be that they are oblivious to the words of prophecy; are they so blind that they cannot see their own reflection in that great book of Revelation, or is it that they don't care and only concerned with power and prestige. 

Well, for us who see, the following article has been written.

Keep looking up, for your redemption draws near,

Steve Blackwell

Herescope

October 25th, 2011 | Author: Lighthouse Trails Editors

By David Dombrowski
Editor at Lighthouse Trails

Over the years, I have encountered many Christians who wonder, “What’s wrong with being Catholic? After all, they believe in the Cross; they believe Jesus is the Son of God. It can’t be all that bad.” If you are a Christian who has wondered about these things, this special testimonial report is for you.

I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic, so I am writing of things I know about and lived with for over thirty years. From my earliest childhood, I had a hunger and a thirst for God. I largely attribute this to my mother who instilled in me the love and reverence for God that she had. Born and raised in Poland, she grew up Catholic, but when she was about thirteen years old, while kneeling in a chapel alone, she invited Jesus Christ into her heart to be Lord of her life. Just prior to this, she had lost both her parents to mushroom poisoning. Jesus filled a void in her life that carried her through many difficult years. Years later, she shared with me that this must have been her born-again experience, though in the Catholic church she had not heard of such terminology; altar calls and making decisions to receive Christ were totally alien to her experience.

The fact is that there has never been a place in the Catholic church for evangelistic crusades and personal decisions because every child raised Catholic is brought up with the belief that he is automatically “Christian” because he was baptized as an infant. In years past, manyAnabaptists were burned at the stake because they recognized the fallacy and false assurance associated with infant baptism.

I guess I could accurately say that my mother had a personal relationship with the Lord, not because of Catholicism but in spite of it. As in her case, few Catholics even realize or understand what Catholicism really teaches and how the actual doctrines and teachings are polar opposites to biblical Christianity. Yes, the Catholic Church does teach morals, as do most religions, but when it comes to salvation, the actual teachings hinder and prevent the lost from finding The Way.

As a little boy, I had a very firm belief in God, and I knew that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the Cross for my sins. I grew up as a religious boy, but my consciousness of sin and my sense of guilt never escaped me. As I grew to adolescence and then adulthood, the realization of my own sinfulness haunted me all the more. I can still remember one snowy night in winter in Portland, Oregon when I was nineteen; although it was nearly midnight, I decided to go for a walk. The moonlit snow enabled me to see my way clearly, and looking up at the stars that night somehow made me feel in touch with God. I still remember saying out loud to God at that moment, “God, I believe if I were to die tonight, I would go to Hell; and if that is going to change, you’re going to have to do something.” This was one of those rare moments where I was completely honest with God and addressed Him in a manner other than the rote, memorized prayer I was taught in the Catholic church.

I suppose if one thing can be said for Catholicism, it can help foster a sense of guilt in a practicing Catholic. My church life consisted of confessing my sins to a priest on a weekly basis, then receiving “absolution” only to come back the following week riddled with sin and guilt again. I think few Catholics and even fewer Protestants actually know or understand the Catholic way of “salvation”; yet it is still printed in the Baltimore Catechism that we are saved by our participation in the sacraments. Central to Catholicism, in fact its very focal point, is the sacrament of the Eucharist where it is believed that bread and wine are literally transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. The implications of this belief, although unbiblical, may seem innocent enough until one realizes that this practice is without question the very heart and core of the Catholic “gospel.” In other words, your participation of this sacrament is what saves you. The point is that your salvation depends on something you do. It gives you a temporary and false sense of assurance until you sin again. In fact, according to Catholic teaching, one can never be assured of one’s own salvation. To have such assurance is to be guilty of the sin of pride. And looking back on it now, such a conclusion makes perfect sense because if our salvation were based on our performance (i.e., participation in the sacraments), we would have something to boast about. So logically from that point of view, if we don’t acknowledge or recognize our salvation, at least in theory we can be humble about it. But Paul saw the error in all this fallacious thinking when he penned the words:

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

For the Catholic, the concept of salvation by grace through faith alone is nearly impossible to receive because rooted in the heart of man (and virtually all religions) is the idea that we must earn our way to heaven. Now that Catholics are beginning to read their Bibles, they will sometimes quote other Bible passages, especially from James, to prove that we are, after all, still saved by works. Little do they realize that James was trying to explain what biblical faith really is. It is not an intellectual ascent but a full trust and commitment to our Savior that expresses itself in the way we live. If James were trying to say that our good works justify us, he would not have used the story of Abraham, Isaac, and the altar to make his point. Surely, Abraham was a man of unusual faith, but he did not pretend that he could find salvation through his own goodness, nor was his attempt to sacrifice Isaac on the altar an expression of goodness but rather of his faith in God alone.

In my case, growing up as a Catholic, I had virtually no knowledge of the Scriptures because we were never encouraged to read the Bible on our own lest we should come up with our own interpretations. And here is the crux of the matter: Christians often make the mistake of thinking that because Catholics believe in Jesus and the Cross, everything is O.K. But the reality is that as a Catholic, I knew that Jesus had atoned for my sins on the Cross but that redemption was not freely available to me. In some way, I had to earn my right to the Cross. This belief of mine was rooted to the very core of my being from participating in thousands of Masses where Jesus is re-crucified for my sins again and again. This deep heart-felt belief of mine that fostered my ongoing guilt was unfortunately not misconstrued but one hundred percent Catholic and totally in line with Catholic teaching. Salvation was, therefore, something attainable but always uncertain and out of reach. It is no wonder that the highly acclaimed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who spent her life ministering sacrificially to the poor and sick in India, spent her final hours in serious doubts of her own salvation.

And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God . . . For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Hebrews 10:11,12,14

I was now twenty years old and had completed my second year of college. I had feared the draft because I heard they were now drafting college students into the military, but now that I was twenty, I felt secure that I need not fear the lottery any longer. But then, I received my draft notice. I saw this as God’s judgment on me, but little did I know at the time that God was answering what I had said to Him on that starry night a few months earlier.

My time in the Army brought a drastic change to my life. It was the first time I was away from home. It also was my first experience in getting to know other people on a deeper level as I lived and worked with them. For the first time in my life, I met Christians who shared with me the Gospel. One of them even gave me a New Testament, which I did read as I had made the decision that I would use my time in the military to seek for and hopefully find God.

In contrast, having been sent to Germany, I witnessed the selfish and destructive lifestyle of most of the soldiers. In my unit, the majority of them got high on drugs at every opportunity. And drunkenness and prostitution was widespread too. But, I was known as the straight guy. In fact, I was so disgusted by what I saw happening around me that I determined not to have one taste of alcohol while I was there. Some of the soldiers mocked me, though I tried to be amiable and live at peace with them. I still remember one soldier blowing marijuana smoke in my face because I would not get high with them.

But all the while, I knew that my heart was unclean, and I saw in these soldiers a reflection of the dirt in my own life and knew that I was headed toward moral destruction. This made me all the more anxious to find the victory and peace I was witnessing in the lives of the Christians. It was at this very low point of my life that I realized again, like on that night beneath the stars, that without God’s intervention, my life would go to ruins. Up until now, I thought I had the power to change myself, but I now realized I was continuing on a spiritual decline. I picked up a Gospel tract that one of my sergeants had given me and found that salvation is within easy reach of anyone who will acknowledge his own sinfulness and inability to save himself. The hard part was getting to the place of recognizing my need of a Savior. And the Catholic gospel of justification by grace through works had hindered me from finding Christ for years.

I should caution you that if you were to approach the average practicing Catholic with this article, they would either tell you that I was mistaught Catholic doctrine as a youth or things have changed since Vatican II. However, the truth is literally staring us in the face when we realize that the Catholic priest performs an unbiblical ritual in the Eucharist, and Catholic doctrine still says that our participation in this is what saves us. In fact, if you were to take the Eucharist out of the Catholic Mass, you would no longer have the Mass. And if you took the Mass out of Catholicism, you would no longer have the Catholic church, and no priest can deny this.

Some may say, well perhaps the Catholic church is right about the doctrine of Transubstantiation. Maybe the communion wafer and the wine literally do become the body and blood of Jesus—under false appearances of course. But if this were true, then Jesus would necessarily have been lying to his disciples when He told them He had been using a figure of speech, using the earthly term “flesh” to express spiritual truth:

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63 (Italics mine)

But let’s just suppose for a moment that Jesus had answered his disciples in another way when they began to murmur, “this is a hard saying; who can hear it?” Let’s just suppose Jesus answered their confusion by saying, “Oh yes, I really meant it literally. Eating my flesh is profitable and will give you spiritual life.” Given this scenario, would the Catholic church be right in the celebration of the Mass, where Christ is re-crucified daily on an altar? The answer is no because we would still be speaking of another gospel than the one each of the apostles preached. And this is the one key point I want to get across in this article: Our justification is by grace through faith alone, not by our participation in a ritual. Being born of the Spirit is what gives us life – eternal life. By the way, Nicodemus was also troubled when Jesus said to him, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7). He could not understand how anyone could come out of his mother’s womb twice. Jesus was always speaking of spiritual things, using earthly terms and parables to express His meaning, but man, being carnal, always misunderstood His meaning, and so it is today.

My time in the service ended shortly after I read that tract and received the Lord in full trust to be my Savior. In fact, I found the Lord about two months before I left the service. God had wrought a miracle in my life in just two years, and I came out of the Army a new man—thanks to God, of course. God also opened my understanding of the Scriptures, but I did not know where to find fellowship. Then, I found out about Catholic charismatic meetings in my area. It seems that a goodly number of Catholics had found the Lord at the tail end of the Jesus movement and these meetings provided a place for fellowship. I still remember a discussion we had as to whether or not we should leave the Catholic church. The consensus was we should stay so as to be a light to those who are still lost. For this reason, I remained in the Catholic church for a number of years. Finally, as my life was more and more transformed by the Word of God, I realized that staying was not accomplishing my hope of being a light to Catholics, and the best witness I could provide was to leave. While I do not judge those who stayed for the benefit of the lost, I want to point out a serious fallacy in this thinking because the Catholic church is non-reformable. As I alluded to before, the sacrament of the Eucharist is another gospel, but to do away with it would be to do away with the whole structure of the Mass, and the Catholic church would then cease to exist. I feel very sorry for those believing Catholics who decided to stay; it must be very difficult for them and awkward for them not to feel like hypocrites.

At the tail end of my stay in the Catholic church, I joined an evangelical Christian community. From the day I found the Lord, I was always intrigued by Acts chapter 4, where the first Christians “were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common” (Acts 4:32). The whole idea of community seemed like a piece of heaven on earth. I joined the community with the determination to make it work, even if the task was difficult. And difficult it turned out to be. Oddly, when I became a Christian, I was soon identified by other believers as having a gift of discernment, but now in this community it seemed that the opposite became the rule for the day: if something bothered me, the leaders said it was because I was fighting against God. I remember testing out this attitude one day when our community took a few days vacation trip. Somehow, our vehicles got separated and sitting across from the driver I said in jest, “I think maybe we should turn left.” His immediate reply was, “Okay then, I’m going to turn right.” Although done in humor, this incident was a true reflection of the attitude the members of the community had toward me.

Then, the day came when some of the leaders announced that they were considering becoming Catholic – this was a decision they were making not just for themselves but for all of us. When I joined the community, it was non-denominational though its roots were in a Baptist church. It had begun as a recovery ministry for young people who had forsaken drugs and alcohol or just needed a place to live. The fact that these leaders were now entertaining thoughts about Catholicism came as a great disturbance to me, but not as a total surprise. I had witnessed over the years how some of the members seemed somewhat intrigued with the Catholic church and with Catholic mystics like Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton. I remember one Christmas Eve when three of the women decided they were going to attend midnight Mass. I overheard them the next day talking about how enjoyable an experience it had been.

But the meeting where the leaders announced their move toward Catholicism was anything but enjoyable for me. It was like watching a mutiny in one of those old pirate movies but without the violence. The senior elder of the community strongly opposed our becoming Catholic by saying that it did not represent who we were. But there were too many others who had already decided they wanted to move in this direction. The senior elder was immediately removed from the community as a “discipline,” but as time proved itself, he never came back. The community very quickly spiraled into the web of Catholicism.

I remember the night a Catholic priest was invited to speak to the community about Catholicism. This priest was recognized as a leader in the renewal movement of the Pacific Northwest. On that night, he proclaimed a great number of things. Here are some of the key points he shared with us:

What is Ecumenism? The Protestants do not know what ecumenism actually means to the Catholic church. They think it means that the Protestants and Catholics can have fellowship together as co-equals. What it actually means is that the Protestants will eventually be reabsorbed into the Catholic church.

Protestant pastors have no power when they do a communion service. They only go through the motions but nothing really happens. Only the Catholic priest has the power and authority to perform a communion service.

Protestants are the lost brethren because they have rebelled against (forsaken) the one true church.

A good Muslim, a good Hindu, and a good Buddhist are saved. They have more hope of getting into heaven than the Protestants.

The Protestants have a false notion of evangelism. As I have just told you, people of other religions are already saved. But the Protestants need to return to the Catholic church.

Hearing these things that night helped me realize that the Catholic church, as an institution, is much worse than I had allowed myself to believe. Although hearing these things was not actually new to me, it did surprise me that a leader in a renewal movement, where Catholics and Protestants mingled together, had such a low regard for the Protestants and a whole different agenda.

And perhaps what was even more surprising was that these sincere Christians, whom I had loved, lived with, and worked with side by side for over six years did not challenge this priest with his heretical beliefs that night.

The community was moving full steam ahead toward becoming Catholic, but there were some practical issues that had to be dealt with. For example, the leaders of the community had made a covenant to stay together for life, but the senior elder was no longer with them. They brought this problem to this Catholic priest who had a ready answer. He told them that he had the God-given power to dissolve the covenant. He explained that becoming Catholic superseded anything else. Then there was the matter of what to do with me. They thought if they sent me to talk to this priest one-on-one, he could persuade me to return to the “mother church.” But when it became apparent that I was not turning back, I was told that I must leave.

Other things happened in that community. Things got really hot at times; there were fights between members. Eventually two marriages broke up where the husband left the community, but the wife and children stayed behind to become Catholic. One of these husbands later confessed to me that when I was removed from the community he thought God was removing me because I was not a part of God’s special remnant. But after he was kicked out, he realized that what was once a loving Christian community had become a cult.

Not long after I was removed, the community became fully Catholic. They remain so today.

As I am writing these things, I am amazed to think how quickly the years have gone by. These events that seem like yesterday began over twenty-five years ago. And through all these years, I have never publically shared the story about the community. But there is a reason why I felt compelled to share it now. When the community was deciding to become Catholic, they were very excited because they felt that they were pioneers in going back to the mother church. They felt confident that many others would eventually follow their example. Today, I see that this is beginning to happen in large numbers. The community shared with some of their friends that they had grown spiritually as far as the Protestant church could take them, and if they were going to grow anymore, they would have to become Catholic. It is the same thing that is happening today. Many Protestant leaders are now standing up and proclaiming that we need to glean from the teachings and practices of the Catholic church. Particularly appealing to them is contemplative prayer or mysticism and the spiritual disciplines. There is no doubt in my mind that contemplative spirituality is a bridge, bringing Protestants “back” to the Catholic church. The emerging church movement is equally a bridge toward Catholicism, and the Purpose Driven movement has had a role in this as well.

If after having read this article, you would like to know more about what is happening, let me recommend these materials from Roger Oakland, one of our authors, if you haven’t read or watched these already:

Source: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=7543

The book, Another Jesus, goes into greater depth to explain how the Christ of the Eucharist is truly “another Jesus” of another gospel.

Faith Undone is Roger’s masterpiece in exposing the apostasy that is even now sweeping our nation. This book is more relevant today than the day it was written, as the things described in this book are unfolding at an accelerated rate. This book gives special attention to the subject of the emerging church.

The Emerging Church DVD series of Roger’s is also an excellent source of material that encapsulates Catholicism, the emerging church, and the false gospel that is being promoted in much of the church today.

We can all become blinded to certain things for a multitude of reasons, and so I have been blinded on this thing of Freemasonry. I know that many are swept off their feet by every conspiracy theory that comes down the pike, but I am not. 

I know for a fact that our nation is falling and that that reason is spiritual at its core. I have related all of the aftereffects, i.e. economy, moral decline, abortion, the fearlessness of our enemies to invade our boarders, the rise of false teachers, etc., of this spiritual deterioration as simply the results of loosing our spiritual footing. But, now I am becoming more, and more , convinced, as the evidence surfaces, that there is something at the very center of the founding of this nation that has been seriously overlooked by Christians.

Thanks to a few friends, and as the time fast approaches for our Lord's return, this root of evil is becoming obvious. 

I know people who are members of the Masons and have never considered that they have entered into any kind of pact with the Devil, although I did know that they had some weird ideas and wore silly looking aprons. But now I am finding that this "secret society" is very well developed and that it has used the occult as a foundation on which to build the nation that we have, unknowingly, accepted as wholly "Christian."

I will be doing more investigating in the days to come, but would like to offer the following question and answer letter, from a very trusted source, The Berean Call, as an introduction to some future articles.

Steve Blackwell

Question: I recently purchased and watched the DVD The Hidden Faith of the Founding Fathers….

part 1

What color is your truth?

Think for a moment of how many “truths,” there are said to exist…………O.K. times up. No one can possibly know how many! Did you come up with a number; did you even try? It could easily be said that there are as many truths as there are people. Do you think there is one truth about everything or many truths? Well, you know this is a trick question, don’t you. Of course there is only one truth about everything. I believe this because I am a Christian, and I know why I believe there is only one truth.

To begin with, simple logic tells us that if there is more than one truth, we would have to come up with a new word, like, “untruth,” no that word has been taken; how about “lie,” no that has been taken also; well, let’s just call it ridiculous, because the word itself dictates that truth be singular. It is impossible to have two truths. You can have one truth and one opinion; or you can have one truth and one lie; or you can have two lies, but it is impossible to have two opposing truths, one of them is a lie. Now, wasn’t that simple. There are no partial truths; partial truths are not true. Partial truths can be shaded, corrupted, clouded, compromised, debased, debauched, depraved, spoilt, ambiguous, equivocal, profaned, perverted, subverted, tainted, biased, colored, and evasive, but they can not be the truth. All of these things can be a shade of gray, but they can not be black or white.

Even the phrase “the truth” demands that it be unique and singular. We don’t say, “what is a truth of the matter,” we say “what is the truth of the matter.” The word the is definite, that is why it is called a “definite article.” When we say we are seeking “the truth” and end up with several options on the table, and everyone leaves satisfied to, “agree to disagree,” you have not discovered the truth, you have discovered compromise, or one of the other words above, but truth has not prevailed. 

There is some disagreement though. His Holiness, ugh, ugh, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Hamburg, Germany has this to say:

Some religions believe in one truth and some believe there are several truths. How do we resolve that difference?

 

For example, some people truly believe that their own religion is the ultimate, exclusively true one and that other religions are false. But religion is a personal, individual matter. So for any individual, what he or she believes and follows is in fact the only religion for him or her. But as for my friends who believe that there is only one true religion for everyone, the reality is that there are several religions in the world and several truths. We need to accept reality. Therefore, in terms of several people and communities, several religions are perfectly all right.

 

For those who feel there is only one truth, one religion, go ahead and keep that religion. But please respect other religions, since they bring deep benefit to my brothers and sisters. Because of that, I admire, appreciate, and respect all religions – Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu.

How relative is that statement; one truth is as good as another? Dalai’s answer to solving the problem is to refer to reality. He says that we can obviously see with our eyes that there are other religions so there must be other truths; what insight! But, our quest is not complete until we at least refer to the world’s “answerer of all questions,” no, not the Bible, Wikipedia:

Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with a particular fact or reality, or being in accord with the body of real things, real events or actualities.[1] It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common archaic usage it also meant constancy or sincerity in action or character.[1] The direct opposite of truth is "falsehood", which can correspondingly take logical, factual or ethical meanings.

 

However, language and words are essentially "tools" by which humans convey information to one another. As such, "truth" must have a beneficial use in order to be retained within language. Defining this potency and applicability can be looked upon as "criteria", and the method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criteria of truth. Since there is no single accepted criteria, they can all be considered "theories".

 

Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute. This article introduces the various perspectives and claims, both today and throughout history.

These two examples from the world are the words of really smart men, who have an interest in keeping “truth” relative. If truth has a variety of meanings, then we can use our ingenuity and manipulate people and things; truth becomes a mere convenience.  If truth has a variety of meanings then why call them all the truth; can’t smart men come up with new words? According to Wiki truth means, “constancy or sincerity in action or character”? Does this mean that if a liar constantly lies and is sincere, he is speaking the truth? Um, if the direct opposite of truth is falsehood, and truth is relative (which makes it false), and can be defined in a variety of ways, doesn’t this make falsehood the opposite of falsehood? Then, is there really such a thing as falsehood, wouldn’t they cancel out each other, or does falsehood just become a variant of the truth? And, since there is no criteria for truth we can just redefine truth as a bunch of theories. Well, I’m not sure, but I think we just destroyed, not only truth, but also falsehood, or at least made them interchangeable; that should work out nicely for a lot of people in this age of full blown sin.

But, you see, people don’t really want to get rid of the word “truth,” because it is useful, it tidies up their lies lives, by giving them a sort of structure and stability, something to hold onto, that keeps them upright during the storms of life. We have all been caught, one time or other, referring to our own homegrown truth when necessary; fashioning it into a feature that gives us credibility; kind of like Play-Doh, we just extrude it through the Mega Fun Factory of our minds, and it comes out as, Pretended Truth or theory, or falsehood, or whatever.

Even institutional type “Christians” love Play-Doh, and I would venture to say that these Christians are the most proficient with the Mega Fun Factory. Truth, for these Christians is just as relative as it is with the un-Christian, but these Christians have this added feature, it provides an escape hatch, and a “get out of jail free” card. The un-Christians end up being more faithful to their credo than the institutional-Christians are to their belief system; at least the un-Churched cannot be hypocrites. Christians have the truth right in their hands, but only use it for show, to apply some “righteousness” when needed, or to sooth an aching conscience, or to fill out a new program, not to actually follow it, and allow it to direct their lives. The Bible says they are those “who hold the truth in unrighteousness.”

As we have seen above, truth is hard to discover for the un-Churched and institutional-Christians, if it even exist at all for them. But, is truth even important then, given its obvious elusiveness? Yes, yes, a hundred times yes! It is the very thing that our lives depend on for a sense of normality, and the thing we cherish in all our relationships, but it is the very thing that is denied, ignored, mocked, re-difined, and destroyed by everyone. Is truth important? You bet it is, but where do we find it, and how will we recognize it as the “truth?”

If brilliant philoshers, for thousands of years, have not discovered truth, what makes me think I can know the truth? Whenever we examine an argument or statement,  whenever we retrieve a memory, whenever we engage our brain at all, we are on a mission to discover truth. The very life of understanding and wisdom hinges on a continuous search for truth: is that thing I see in the distance a tree or a person? Where did I leave my car keys? On what bases do I chose a mate? Am I going crazy? Was Constantine really a Christian? Where is my child tonight? Our heart and mind is actually an organ designed to identify and pursue truth. The meaning of our life, has at its core the desire to know the truth.

Three questions that have plagued men since the gate was shut to the Garden of Eden are these: Where did I come from? Why am I here? What happens after I die? 

All of our present and future hope is based on knowing something for certain. Are you comfortable pursuing a future built on the shifting sand of variety and theories, chaos and confusion, rumors and innuendoes, or a million shades of gray? Me either. I have to know the truth, regardless of the cost, even if it spells disaster for my life on planet Earth. The goodnews is that truth exist, and can be known. Come back later and let's explore our options.

See you then. 

Proverbs 23:23 Buy truth, and do not sell it; and as a bonus get wisdom, instruction, and understanding. 

Establishing the Fact

Why is it that every "Christian" thinks he or she is going to go to Heaven? The Bible is very plain concerning the fact that that isn’t going to happen. Everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will not make it. But, it doesn’t matter, wherever you go, or who ever you talk to, they’re all going.

Now, we have a little problem; either the Bible is incorrect or a whole lot of people have been deceived into thinking they have their ticket purchased and their trip all squared away, and they’re just waiting on the bus. Of course the idea that the Bible is not the final word and not totally correct is becoming more popular, and the issue of “having it all squared away” is becoming less controversial; there is a general consensus that that particular point is settled and we’re O.K., but the other idea, deception, ends up being the more realistic problem.

Deception, trickery, ruse, sham, fraud, con, cheat, what interesting words. Is it conceivable that so many Christians are deceived? Who is doing the deceiving? The preachers? The devil? The government? God? Maybe it is ourselves; Paul says, “…let no one deceive you…” as if we can only be deceived if we “let” ourselves be deceived. I can understand deception in the area of un-believers, but we’re talking about “Christians.” Ask anyone who has raised their hand during a worship service and they can assure you that they have followed procedures and that their bus token, regardless of how “straight” or hard the gate is to get through is valid. Who is it then that the Lord was referring to when he said in Matt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven…” Paul, interestingly enough, encouraged Timothy to “lay hold of eternal life,” creating the notion that it might slip away, or tear itself loose from its mooring, that even he might be deceived. Deception, a very interesting concept indeed, and one that needs to be comprehended, after all, it could be soundly stated that we are living in the age of deception, at the end, when all the chips are on the table and the great contest of wills and wit comes down to “the Lie,” the bluff that will win the ranch away from so many deceived Christians. But it isn’t just salvation that is at stake here, it is the whole body of Truth. This is a dangerous time, a time when we must be able to think clearly,  to cut through the haze and fog, and discern Truth.

The Bible instructs us to comprehend the “signs of the times.” Even professional poker players, gamblers in this world, make their living knowing how to read signs or “tells” that enlighten them on how to stay in the game. The overriding principle of winning the game of poker is to “put all the odds in your favor,” so studying the cards, being able to read the other players, having discipline, and being consistent, are keys to winning. No professional poker player thinks poker is a game of chance; if he puts “all” the odds in his favor he knows he can win. There is something to be learned from their technique. We can put the odds in our favor by knowing how to read the signs of the times (discernment Jn. 16:13), by studying Jesus (Heb 12:2-3), looking for the “tells” which expose false teaching (Matt. 7:20), living a disciplined life in the Lord (walking in the Spirit Gal. 5:16), and by being consistent (faithful Jas. 1:6). We can not allow our salvation to become a game of “chance;” we must not be deceived.

Re-discovering the Path

Things have been going the way they are at present for an extremely long time. If we are deceived, when did the deception sneak in? We should be able to look into the past and discover the point at which the path was departed. At the point of exit is where we must return. We need to begin with a firm foundation, of belief and doctrine (1Tim. 4:16), from which we can establish a boundary marker or a base, and then we can determine if those markers have been moved or tampered with. Once we see where the boundaries belong we can alter our heading to resume the correct path. Getting back to where we belong will mean an exercise of extreme faith and discipline, saving ourselves (Phil 2:12,13), and becoming a beacon of light for those who follow. The laws of inertia have a cementing effect on men, especially men who have become weak and at rest, and much effort will be involved to get them moving again, effort directed by the Holy Spirit.

First, we need to establish the fact that it is conceivable that the masses of mankind can be deceived. If this fact cannot be firmly established then we are wasting a lot of time looking for something that may not even exist. We talked about discovering the old surveyor’s marker that determines what the standard should be, the boundary marker that tells us that we can go this far and no farther. Now we are at the spot where we have to ask ourselves, “Will I believe what the marker says or will I be enticed to move the marker and break through the wall into areas I’m not permitted.” The Bible is our standard; it is the ancient boundary stone that we are forbidden to move at our own hurt. Hos 5:10 says "The leaders of Judah have become the lowest sort of thieves” as those who move boundary markers to steal property from their brothers and from the Lord (see Dt. 19:14, 27:17). The truth is we have moved it many, many, times over the past two thousand years and that is why we are wandering and confused, desiring Agape (Divine love), Koinonia (fellowship and sharing), and Ecclesia (the gathering of the saints) but knowing deep inside it is more our imagination than reality. We get the sense of it, the scent of it, like a flower we can’t see, and we know it exist because we can smell it. It is genuine and it is that yearning, for the real thing, not the “replica,” which demands that we press forward; it is the smell of our Lord that we sense and it is He that draws us to Himself. It is Jesus who is the boundary marker, the standard, and it is He that the Bible speaks of, from beginning to end. Jesus can be trusted and He Himself cautioned us to, “Take heed that no one deceives you for many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many”( Matthew 24:4-5). “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” (v. 11.) “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (v. 11). Note the words Jesus used: ". . . Many will come . . . and will deceive many . . . Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many." The Greek word polus, translated "many," means "many, much, great" (Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 1985, "Many"). This deception is clearly massive and widespread. Who is the real mastermind behind this worldwide deception?". . . Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

Satan's Modus Operandi, DECEPTION  

"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!" (2 Corinthians 11:3-4.)

"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ" (Galatians 1:6-7).

Jesus Christ predicted that some would take His name and claim to represent Him—but those same people would be deceivers. They would claim to be Christian but would bring a different message and a counterfeit Christianity. In Paul's day this movement was already well under way. Some were already preaching "another Jesus" and "a different gospel." Most churches in our time focus on a gospel about Christ while ignoring the focus of His teaching. Obscuring His intended message, they preach a gospel that is different from "the Gospel of the kingdom of God"  that Jesus taught (Mark 1:14, 15).

What is the extent of this deception?

"… that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Rev 12:9)

“…and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Rev 20:3).

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea…” (Rev 20:7-9).

“Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth” (Rev 13:14).

Who is involved in this deception?

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:13) .

Within only a few years after Jesus Christ's death, people began to distort and misrepresent His message. When two decades had barely passed, the apostle Paul warned congregations about "false apostles," telling them that he had already suffered at the hands of "false brethren" (2 Corinthians 11:13,26). These deceivers came in Christ's name, but they led many astray with their distorted message. By the time we reach AD 68 Jesus is telling John, in a vision, that if the Church did not do its first works over their candle stick would be removed. The social gospel had been born and was gaining a life of its own, a child of deception, and the offspring of Satan. The social gospel was no threat to Rome because they were of the same family. These corrupted believers could worship their god without the risk of persecution, just like the church in America and Europe.

In the face of  persecution, that followed closely, the genuine “Body of Christ” grew at an astounding rate. Within 300 years nearly the whole known world had been Christianized. All of this took place as Satan and his demons were lighting up the Roman Empire with the bodies of Christians, turned into human torches; while hungry lions gorged themselves on the members of Christ’s body; while Christians hid in caves and catacombs and fled for their lives into the vast reaches of the then known world, carrying with them the news of God’s immense love, His Kingdom come to earth, as exhibited through the living Body of Christ, the Church.

In A.D. 311 the Emperor Constantine declared the Roman Empire a Christian nation and established Christianity as the state religion. Did you catch that? Now, believing became easy, as the cost was reduced and persecution stopped. The doors were swung wide and the pews became packed with unbelievers anxious to partake of this free lunch of "Christian" importance. The numbers grew steadily, for awhile. Today, in this same area of the world, Christianity has been reduced to just a handful of believers and persecution is on the rise again. With Constantine, building the church was something men did. Men sanctioned it, men sponsored it, and men built it, with earthly materials. It was decided by men that building, maintaining, and spreading Christianity was something best accomplished by trained experts. Jesus was no longer the living head of the church body but rather the absentee landlord who has become a symbolical figurehead of the new church organization. The Body of Christ had become an organization instead of the living organism that characterized the early church of the Book of Acts. Only rumors and spotty second hand accounts remained to identify this new church with the power of the Holy Spirit displayed in the form of gifts and miracles and supernatural love. The church, as warned by Jesus Christ, was now in the hands of its captors, with miracles, healings, dreams and visions, and prophesies, all of another sort.

An historical account taken from Schaff’s History of the Church

\Volume Three – From Constantine the Great to Gregory the Great (A.D. 311-590)\NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHRISTIANITY (A.D. 311-590)\1. Introduction and General View. – §

1. Introduction and General View.

“From the Christianity of the Apostles and Martyrs we proceed to the Christianity of the Patriarchs and Emperors.” “The third period of the history of the Church, which forms the subject of this volume, extends from the emperor Constantine to the pope Gregory I.; from the beginning of the fourth century to the close of the sixth. During this period Christianity still moves, as in the first three centuries, upon the geographical scene of the Graeco-Roman empire and the ancient classical culture, the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. But its field and its operation are materially enlarged, and even touch the barbarians on the limit of the empire. Above all, its relation to the temporal power, and its social and political position and import, undergo an entire and permanent change. We have here to do with the church of the Graeco-Roman empire, and with the beginning of Christianity among the Germanic barbarians. Let us glance first at the general character and leading events of this important period.”

“The reign of Constantine the Great marks the transition of the Christian religion from under persecution by the secular government to union with the same; the beginning of the state-church system. The Graeco-Roman heathenism, the most cultivated and powerful form of idolatry, which history knows, surrenders, after three hundred years' struggle, to Christianity, and dies of incurable consumption, with the confession: Galilean, thou hast conquered! The ruler of the civilized world lays his crown at the feet of the crucified Jesus of Nazareth. The successor of Nero, Domitian, and Diocletian appears in the imperial purple at the council of Nice as protector of the church, and takes his golden throne at the nod of bishops, who still bear the scars of persecution. The despised sect, which, like its Founder in the days of His humiliation, had not where to lay its head, is raised to sovereign authority in the state, enters into the prerogatives of the pagan priesthood, grows rich and powerful, builds countless churches out of the stones of idol temples to the honor of Christ and his martyrs, employs the wisdom of Greece and Rome to vindicate the foolishness of the cross, exerts a molding power upon civil legislation, rules the national life, and leads off the history of the world. But at the same time the church, embracing the mass of the population of the empire, from the Caesar to the meanest slave, and living amidst all its institutions, received into her bosom vast deposits of foreign material from the world and from heathenism, exposing herself to new dangers and imposing upon herself new and heavy labors.”

“The union of church and state extends its influence, now healthful, now baneful, into every department of our history.”

“The Christian life of the Nicene and post-Nicene age reveals a mass of worldliness within the church; an entire abatement of chiliasm with its longing after the return of Christ and his glorious reign, and in its stead an easy repose in the present order of things; with a sublime enthusiasm, on the other hand, for the renunciation of self and the world, particularly in the hermitage and the cloister, and with some of the noblest heroes of Christian holiness.” “Monasticism, in pursuance of the ascetic tendencies of the previous period, and in opposition to the prevailing secularization of Christianity, sought to save the virgin purity of the church and the glory of martyrdom by retreat from the world into the wilderness; and it carried the ascetic principle to the summit of moral heroism, though not rarely to the borders of fanaticism and brutish stupefaction. It spread with incredible rapidity and irresistible fascination from Egypt over the whole church, east and west, and received the sanction of the greatest church teachers, of an Athanasius, a Basil, a Chrysostom, an Augustine, a Jerome, as the surest and shortest way to heaven.

It soon became a powerful rival of the priesthood, and formed a third order, between the priesthood and the laity. The more extraordinary and eccentric the religion of the anchorets and monks, the more they were venerated among the people. The whole conception of the Christian life from the fourth to the sixteenth century is pervaded with the ascetic and monastic spirit, and pays the highest admiration to the voluntary celibacy, poverty, absolute obedience, and excessive self-punishments of the pillar-saints and the martyrs of the desert; while in the same degree the modest virtues of every-day household and social life are looked upon as an inferior degree of morality.”

Today we have reached the pinnacle of pride and human glory in the man-made church and it is identified with a totally outward appearance but utterly lacking of inward substance. In the preface to his book The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer says the reason for writing the book was “called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse.” “Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the spirit.” “…The churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.”

When we look for the church today it can be found in these outward characteristics of architecture, religious symbolism, or the increase of knowledge and intelligence. Mans seeking “his own” glory is at the root of the problem. Their earth bound desire to unlock Holy Scripture reflects a similar incident, involving the Pharisees, related in Matt. 22:29 “You error, not knowing scripture, or the power of God.” If we are not seeing God’s results from God’s Word then we are in ERROR and deceived. Even the disciples, after three years of teaching had to be rebuked for their unbelief. It wasn’t because they didn’t understand what they were told; it was because they did not believe what Christ said. “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Lk. 24:25-27). All the theological schools and universities and man made churches are filled to the hilt with deceived “Christians” trying to determine what God means in His word. Almost ninety times in the New Testament alone, an appeal is made to readers to just believe what “is written,” as if everything was simple enough to understand if you wanted to. Pride, self-will, self-deception, and rebellion against what “is written” are the causes of the Bible being hard to understand.

The Body of Christ today has become the invisible church, only to be found by very few. Today, as never before, it has become very apparent that all the building of our modern Tower of Babel has failed. The sheep of His flock have scattered and are lost and hungry and listening for a voice from heaven. Jesus promised that His sheep would hear His voice and would follow Him. The Good Shepard’s voice is being heard now, even though faintly, calling His sheep out of the dark.

“My sheep know my voice….”

I have written repeatedly in the past about how the end-time delusion, predicted in the Bible, is no longer a prediction, but a reality.

 Lighthouse Trails has been a valuable source of documented evidence, warning those who are concerned about the dismal failure of organized Christianity, spreading the light of truth in print and across the airways. This is not a case of, “the boy who cried wolf.” Contemplative Prayer is a visible sign of a malignant disease consuming the Christian conscientiousness, and Lighthouse Trails is doing what every soldier of the Cross should be doing.

 Because Christians want to have a “spiritual experience,” or feel the “high” associated with something like yoga, which is another sibling of eastern mysticism, they will deliberately ignore the clear Biblical teaching to discern the tricks of the Devil, to lead Christians out of the narrow path. This end-time infiltration of evil is so complete that virtually every congregation of every denomination has been effected.  

 The Devil knows that a frontal assault only leads to Church growth, as it has in the past, but now the subtlety that was so successful in “the Garden,” “. . . has God really said. . .” is once again having great success. If you are at all concerned about truth, your family, or about serving God, you must give this article your full consideration, and investigate its claims.

 Steve Blackwell

www.IndyWatchman.com

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Judges 17:6

The Book of Judges, in my opinion, is the saddest book of the Bible.  It show what happens to a nation when they lose their way. The book illustrates that every path, is not the right path, just because we call ourselves Followers of God or Christ. There are many imagined ways to God, but only one path is the right path. These are days of darkness and not light; days of confusion and not understanding. We are reliving the Book of Judges, following our own imaginations of what God requires, and missing the mark by a million miles.

Brian McLaren is leading the charge into this new eclectic Christian wonderland. With every book and video, or speaking engagement, more boldness is shown, and more people are mesmerized, with the thoughts of having their own “form” of the Christian religion.  By following Brian’s heresy they are cutting wide avenues into the un-saving grace of liberal theology, a land of no return, for most, who venture there.

Tim Challies has read Brian’s new book and given a telling review of what is to be found there. If you are so inclined to purchase Brian’s book, at least see what others have to say.  In this age of “everyone doing what is right in his own eyes,” be very cautious of where you trod, dangers lurk in places you would never expect to find it, and many are swept away by the Serpent’s tongue, and pen.

Follow the link below to read Tim’s review.

http://www.challies.com/archives/book-reviews/a-new-kind-of-christianity.php

Lighthouse Trails give us a “Heads-up” as they present this review by Ezra McGill on Doug Pagitt’s new book.  Please take the time to read this and then pass it along. The original article can be viewed by clicking on this link.

Steve Blackwell

oug Pagitt’s New Book: A Christianity Worth Believing – NOT Worth Believing!
by Ezra McGill
Free-lance writer

In his book, A Christianity Worth Believing, emergent leader Doug Pagitt presents a theology that is worth exposing, because it is neither biblical nor Christian. This is the unfortunate power of media-savvy emergent leaders–errant theology is couched in Christian terms, and the undiscerning are drawn in.

As others have noted, Doug Pagitt undoubtedly cares about his flock, the homeless, coffee farmers in Guatemala, and the environment. Yet, if the emergent movement could be summed up in one phrase, perhaps it is this: “Tiny men shaking tiny fists at the biblical God.”
The Bible tells us, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.(Psalm 2: 2-4)

The author of A Christianity Worth Believing vigorously disputes the authority of Sola Scriptura–the Word of God. He writes, “The inerrancy debate is based on the belief that the Bible is the word of God, that the Bible is true because God made it and gave it to us as a guide to truth. But that’s not what the Bible says” (p. 65).

He further explains, “This is how it works. We are characters in the stories we hear. The living Bible invites us to step into the stories, not as observers, but as participants in the faith that is alive and well and still being created” (p.67).

That’s right. The author believes Christianity is still in the process of being created. Obviously, this theology that is being created is in total opposition to biblical Truth. Like the author of The Shack, Pagitt categorically denies the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ.

He states, “the early evangelists recognized they could help the Jesus story make sense if Jesus was seen as someone who was chosen to appease the wrath of God–hence, the ‘anointed one’ who could do what no one else could do” (p. 181).

So, minus our Savior, how does this emergent leader view receiving forgiveness for sins? Before we get to this, let us understand that he spends a good deal of time making the artificial distinction between Christians’ alleged Greco-Roman understanding of God (Pagitt sees this as a distant God), and the Old Testament Hebrew God (always present, understanding, and intimate).

Incredibly, the author presents the Old Testament as his “proof” that there has always been accessible forgiveness for sin. He notes that his wife was raised in a Jewish family, and she “tells [the congregation] each year that the Jews would celebrate the Day of Atonement by gathering lint from their pockets, every little corner of them. She invites us to do the same. Then we write confessions on pieces of paper or pick up leaves to represent each sin and walk to the edge of a stream. As we drop our leaves and papers into the stream, we read from the Psalms” (pp.163-164).

Psalm 103:11-13 is then read to Pagitt’s congregation: “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.”

Following this, he writes, his wife, “reminds us that just as the water carries our words away, God takes our sins from us. As far as can be, sin is removed, taken, gone. Yes, sin exists, and when we find it, we should get rid of it” (p. 164).

But what defines “sin” if the Bible is not really the authoritative Word of God? If Christ is not Savior? Pagitt never really gives a satisfactory answer to this.

“Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment”(Lamentations 2:14). Pagitt assures us he understands this new theology can be upsetting. “This can come as a shock to those Christians who are so used to hearing that Jesus is the solution to sin that they assume that the remedy started with the death of Jesus. The Jewish Tradition tells us otherwise” (p. 163).

A Christianity Worth Believing is the presentation of a distorted version of our faith. It is the tepid celebration of a powerless, false “christ.” It is textbook emergent heresy. Those reading this book who do know and love Christ may feel disgust, disbelief, even scorn. Well and good. But may we also be very afraid for those who are exposed to such teaching.

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

One gets the sense that Doug Pagitt seems compelled to deny the Truth–he simply cannot see it. He is the angry blind man striking out with his cane. He swings, he slashes; he jabs and stabs. Unfortunately, that sharpened cane has poked out many an eye.
And seems poised to pierce many, many more.

“And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?’” (Luke 6:39)

Related Information:

More on Doug Pagitt’s spirituality, click here.

When They Say There’s No Blood Atonement

The Process of Reimagining by Roger Oakland

EMERGENT MANIFESTO: Emerging Church Comes Out of the Closet

I know that many church goers are going to wonder why I would post an article that criticizes Easter. To be completely honest, I am tempted to just let it go, and not be the constant reminder, that we have gotten way off the narrow path, and that “Easter” and Christmas are just two clear reminders of a wrong turn that was made many, many, years ago, that apparently no one cares to be reminded of, much less repent of.   It is not my desire to anger anyone, but I do desire to know of those few who have been enlightened as to the reality of our vast failures in search of God, through the ignorant worship of our Father, by way of a Pagan holy day. We need not remain in ignorance when the facts are so available. Father wants His children to worship Him in Spirit and in truth, and unfortunately that truth is diminished when we allow ourselves to be deceived in these false forms and rituals, and useless traditions.

The following is an excerpt of a free downloadable book by Alan Bunning called simply The Church. I pray that your anger will be put aside long enough to read the complete book.

It is time for TRUTH.

Steve Blackwell

The Church

by Alan Bunning

s.4 Religious Holy Days
Of particular importance to many institutional “churches” are their religious holidays. Most of them observe special religious ceremonies according to a liturgical calendar such as Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter. In honor of these religious holidays, they roll out additional decorations, candles, incense, cantatas, and programs. During these religious seasons, the “pastors” often prepare special sermons each week leading up to the climax Sunday which focuses exclusively on the special holy day. When other cultural holidays such as Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, etc. are added to the preaching cycle, more than a third of the Sunday sermons are already spoken for. Do you honestly think Jesus really cares? Of course, none of these holidays were ever celebrated by the early Church. In Scripture, the observance of any type of special day was a matter of personal freedom in the Lord. “Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to eating and drinking, or in respect of a festival, new moon, or Sabbath day.” (Col. 2:16). There was never any kind of proscribed liturgical calendar that was imposed upon the Church, for the observance of holidays was left to the individual. “One regards one day above another, another regards every day the same.” (Rom. 14:5). Why did the later so-called “church councils” seek to enforce standardized religious days upon their members, when the Scripture considers it to be an element of personal freedom? Jesus did not keep the Sabbath the way the Pharisees wanted and they concluded that He wasn’t from God (John 9:16)! Would you conclude that a brother is in error because he does not share your view of holidays?

s.4.1.2 Celebrating Eostre
Most institutional “churches” today consider Easter to be the most important religious holiday of the liturgical year. The early Church, however, never celebrated Easter which was an ancient pagan fertility ritual celebrated during the first full moon after the vernal equinox. The name “Easter” comes from Eostre (or Ostara) the Saxon goddess of spring and is synonymous with Astarte the Phoenician goddess of the moon. This goddess is also loosely connected to the worship of Asherah poles and Ishtar the Babylonian goddess of fertility. Some of the practices associated with this pagan holiday include:
Tradition
Date
Origination
Colored eggs
2000s BC
The ancient Egyptians, Persians, Greece, and Romans used colored eggs during their pagan spring festivals as symbols of rebirth and fertility.
Easter bunny
2000s BC
The Easter bunny (or Easter hare) was an ancient symbol of fertility because of its abundant reproduction cycle.
Hot cross buns
1500s BC
Sacred buns were offered to goddess Astarte by Cecrops the founder of Athens.
Egg hunts
1500s AD
Children in Germany were told that if they were good, the Easter bunny would sneak into their house while they were asleep and lay colored eggs for them to find in the morning.
Should a Christian knowingly be engaging in these pagan practices? Again notice that these practices were steeped in pagan idolatry long before the institutional “churches” attempted to Christianize them. Many evangelical “churches” now readily admit that “Easter” is indeed the name of a pagan goddess and instead use names like “Resurrection Day”, yet their members continue to partake in the same pagan practices.

The early Church, in contrast, celebrated the Passover in remembrance of Christ’s death. This is not just as matter of semantics for the Greek word “paska” #3957 in Scripture refers to the Jewish Passover, not Easter. While Jesus was celebrating the Passover with His disciples, He commanded them: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19). As Jews, the disciples were no longer to celebrate the Passover in remembrance of their deliverance from Egypt, for now they were to celebrate it in remembrance of Jesus, the pure and spotless lamb who was slain on the exact day of the Passover, for now we are saved by His blood and the wrath of God “passes over” us. Jesus lifted up the Afikomen and said “this is My body” (Matt. 26:26, Mark 14:22, Luke 22:19, 1Cor. 11:24) and He lifted up the Cup of Redemption and said “this is My blood” (Matt. 26:27-28, Mark 14:23-24, Luke 22:20, 1Cor. 11:25) – both of which are elements of the Passover ceremony holding special significance. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you declare the death of the Lord until He comes.” (1Cor. 11:26). History records that the Jews and Gentiles alike in the early Church faithfully celebrated the Christian Passover each year with the bread and the wine as the Scripture commands. “For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed, therefore let us keep the Feast.” (1Cor. 5:7-8).

So how did some “churches” later become deceived into celebrating the pagan holiday of Easter instead of the Passover? As it turns out, the Romans did not like it that the Passover sometimes fell in the middle of the week, so they began to hold their celebration on the following Sunday instead. The Church in Asia, however, continued to celebrate the Passover on the exact day as was passed on to them by the apostles John and Philip. This created a dispute and in 190 AD the so-called “bishop” of Rome attempted to excommunicate Polycrates of Ephesus and all of the Church leaders in Asia for following the apostolic tradition. These “heretics” were referred to as the “Quartodecimans” which comes from Latin meaning “fourteen” because the Passover is always celebrated on Nisan 14. Later, Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD which decided that Easter should be celebrated throughout the Church, which was set as the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon on or after the vernal equinox. They even added a rule that if the Passover just happened to fall on Easter Sunday, Easter must be postponed until the following Sunday. Unfortunately the disagreement over the date wasn’t the only problem, for the Roman “church” was not really celebrating the Passover anyway, but had distanced themselves from it completely in their festivities.

Scripture:

• “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Jesus Christ, quoted by Luke, c. 60 AD)

• “For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed, therefore let us keep the Feast.” (Paul of Tarsus, Corinthians, Book I, c. 55 AD)

Early Church:

• “For Anicetus could not persuade Polycarp to forego the observance [of Passover] inasmuch as these things had always been observed by John the disciple of our Lord, and by other apostles with whom he had been conversant.” (Irenaeus, Lost Writings, c. 180 AD)
• “These all kept the Passover on the fourteenth day, in accordance with the Gospel, without ever deviating from it, but following the rule of faith.” (Polycrates, Epistle to Victor, c. 190 AD)
• “Again, he who considers that ‘Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us’ and that it is his duty to keep the feast by eating of the flesh of the Word, never ceases to keep the paschal feast; for the Pascha means ‘Passover’, and he is ever striving in all his thoughts, words, and deeds, to pass over from the things of this life to God, and is hastening towards the city of God.” (Origen, De Principiis, Book VII, c. 248 AD)
• “Following their example up to the present time all the bishops of Asia – as themselves also receiving the rule from an unimpeachable authority, to wit, the evangelist John, who leaned on the Lord’s breast, and drank in instructions spiritual without doubt – were in the way of celebrating the Passover feast, without question, every year, whenever the fourteenth day of the moon had come, and the lamb was sacrificed by the Jews after the equinox was past.” (Anatolius, The Pascal Canon, c. 283 AD)

Institutional “church”:

• “If any one celebrates the Passover along with the Jews, or receives the emblems of their feast, he is a partaker with those that killed the Lord and His apostles.” (attributed to Ignatius, Epistle to Philippians, c. 350 AD)
• “It is therefore your duty, brethren, who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, to observe the days of Easter exactly, with all care, after the vernal equinox….But no longer be concerned about keeping the feast with the Jews, for we now have no communion with them.” (Apostolic Constitutions, Book II, c. 390 AD)

In defiance to the Jesus’ instructions (Matt. 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20), the “church” in Rome no longer celebrated the Passover, and what they did celebrate was not on the Passover anyway. Instead of partaking of the bread and wine in the context of a meal, they substituted a wafer cracker and a thimble of grape juice and divorced them completely from their meanings in the Passover ceremony (calling it “mass” or “communion”). In order to distance themselves from the Jews, they no longer celebrated the Lord’s death in the Passover (1Cor. 11:26), but instead began to celebrate Easter as more of a generic resurrection holiday, inclusive of the pagan traditions as well. The Romans in particular had always celebrated the vernal equinox as the death and resurrection of Attis who was supposedly born of the virgin fertility goddess Cybele. Thus, when their pagan holiday coincided with Easter, the pagans often quarreled with the Christians about which deity was really the imitation of the other. Indeed, the pagan groups today are still more than happy to set the Christians straight about the origins of their practices, for they have always been in favor of returning to the “true meaning of Easter”.

s.4.1.3 We Don’t Really Mean It
Up until now, many Christians have been completely unaware that they have been perpetuating pagan practices in their holiday celebrations each year. This is not to pass judgment on them, for many have done this in ignorance with honorable intentions. But what will you do now? Again, there is not necessarily one right course of action for there are several valid possibilities discussed below. But unfortunately, even after learning these things, some have chosen to harden their hearts and persist in their pagan practices. They continue to celebrate these syncretistic pagan holidays because they don’t feel like they are doing anything wrong. They say, “We are not worshipping these things. We don’t take these pagan meanings seriously.” And now you know why Israel had trouble tearing down the Asherah poles (Deut. 12:2-3, 1Ki. 3:3, 15:14, 22:42-43, 2Ki. 12:2-3, 14:4, 15:4, 15:35)! “But while these people worshipped the Lord, they also served their idols, both their children and children’s children – as their fathers did, so they do to this day.” (2Ki. 17:41). If these things are really not idols to you, then let’s see how willing you would be to give them up. Unfortunately, some would never give up their warm family traditions passed down to them by mom and dad, even though they are blatantly pagan in origin, without anything to do with Jesus. How they love their special raisin cakes (Hos. 3:1). They teach their children worship songs about an omnipotent pagan deity who brings them gifts during the night and then with a straight face say they are not involved in any pagan practices. They lie to the children about this false god and then they celebrate all the traditions associated with this false god. Think about it, if Christmas and Easter solely had something to do with the gospel of Christ, do you think the world would really be this interested in them? Of course, there would be nothing intrinsically wrong with giving gifts in July, or bringing a tree into your house in October, but what message does it send when Christians only observe these pagan practices in conjunction with a pagan holiday? Do you find a need to give gifts or decorate a tree during the rest of the year, or only when there is a pagan holiday? If these things were truly Christian, then why not do them everyday [s.4.4]? Of all of the topics in this book, this issue tends to be disproportionately controversial in particular, as many Christians are simply unwilling to give up their sacred pagan traditions for the sake of the truth alone.