Month: February 2014 (Page 2 of 3)

According to the insights on my Facebook page, TruthKeepers, my articles are read mainly by individuals in the age group 55-64 years old.  That’s the difference between Cheryl’s and my age.  Hmmm…I wonder if there is some correlation here. Maybe so.  Maybe we are just a couple of old fashioned folks from a fading generation that does not know how to change or accept current trends in Christianity.  A case could be made for such an assumption if we were against harmless changes in methods, style, music, and etc., and I stress the word harmless.  Every Christian generation has resisted the transition in leadership to the next generation.  The elders get “stuck in their ways” and feel as if they are being pushed out of the way, made irrelevant and useless. 

Sometimes they have a legitimate complaint.  The next generation does not always know what it is all about.  They did not fight the fight of faith, pray, work, give, and make all the other necessary sacrifices to establish a church in a community.  They merely step into the roles being vacated due to age and death. It can become a game or an experimental process to discover how far they can stretch their power and the time-honored rules.

Regarding this issue, a friend once asked me what the solution might be.  I replied that when the last of the generation that made the church possible is on his or her deathbed, someone ought to be standing by with a can of gasoline and a match.  As soon as that soul passed into eternity, they ought to set fire to the facilities, give all the money to a worthy charity.  The younger generation could start afresh and experience the joy of fighting the good fight of faith.  Of course, that is unlikely to occur.  But if there is no knowledge of the history, no understanding of the price that was paid, then there will be little respect for the elders and the legacy that they bequeath to the next generation.  Thus, there will not be a continuum from the ministry of one generation to the next.

However, my articles on TruthKeepers Facebook page, website, and blog, are not necessarily about the inevitable transition of the younger generation with their “new” ideas and methods.  Instead, I inform and warn Christians about the final deception and great apostasy.  Most discerning Christians believe that we are in the last days and the final deception and great apostasy is now in full force.  It is an insidious evil invasion of doctrine and practices that attempts to hide behind the guise of “God is doing a new thing” and the “old people don’t like it”.  In fact, some synonymous terms are, “A new way of doing church”, and “Church for people who don’t like church”.  They (“they” meaning heretics) make their case by pointing to the deadest, most boring, uneventful, unproductive, and in some cases hypocritical churches and make them collectively the icon of what’s wrong in Christianity.  Then they turned to the cults, the New Age Movement, and ancient heresies, for help in making church more interesting and relevant to secular society.  That is a bit like observing the worlds system with its evil and failure, and running to Satan for help instead of turning to Christ.

They purposely ignored and still refuse to consider churches with Christians that are responsive to God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and where spiritual life flows and lives are being changed.  The conspicuous absence of any references to those churches reveals the true motive behind their diabolical plot to invade and eliminate true Christianity.  Their motive was not to make a deteriorated generation of Christians alright with God, but to deflect them from a focus on God and to a foray into the mystical realm of the demonic.  They play the “out-of-touch-generation” card, and the “church-as-usual-is-wrong” card, which led to them playing the “God-is-doing-a-new-thing” card.  Of course, the last few Christian generations are greatly distracted by the sensual offerings of the world system.  Every night of the week and weekends there is deemed a must-watch event on television.  They leave precious little time left for God or Bible study.  Life can easily snatch that time away with the numerous, grasping, boney, little hands of perceived priorities.  Additionally, the contributing faction of youth has now been split into young and younger.  Technology has made the very young relevant and even active in the scheme of life.  Some toddlers learn how to text before they learn how to spell.  And they may never learn how to spell if texting becomes the standard communication.

The fact is that God does not text.  If you want power, you have to pray.  If you expect to text God with a “Hi Dad” and then go on your way, then you walk away from a wealth of power and knowledge that cannot be sourced by any other way or means.  Satan knows that very well.  Further, if you worship God it must be in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).  Relying too heavily on the iPod, smart phone, high tech visuals, worship band, the worship leader and singers, and etc, is like relying on cheerleaders at a football game to inspire you to get interested in the game.  Have you ever noticed that the parents of the players do not need cheerleaders? What I’m saying is that it used to be all about God.  Then somehow, in gradual increments, it became all about us.  Once that paradigm shift occurred, people quit checking with God for direction, purpose, activities, and even doctrine.  They insisted something new was needed, that the old doctrine and ideas just were not working anymore.  I guess not since it is now all about us.  Most everything worked just fine when it was all about God.

In each generation where Christians lost their focus on the center, Christ Jesus, and refocused on self, apostasy has occurred.  Whatever happened to, “I died, and my life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3)?  We do not need new ideas and new paradigms in Christianity.  We simply need to return to the ones that worked for every generation that focused on Christ and fully surrendered to God.  Methods may change, but truth can never be altered without dangerous consequences.  The truth is; there are no worship bands, no slick, charismatic, articulate, preachers, no video or sound systems, and gimmickry, no Contemplative Spirituality, no New Age practices and other evil, in the jungles, in the house churches in China, or in the underground churches of Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and etc.  Instead, there is violent opposition to Christians simply gathering and sharing the word of God.  However, people are more intimate with God and their spiritual lives are full and vibrant.  While the American Christian may run home from church whining over a broken fingernail, they meet with broken bones.

It is true that I am out of touch with the present generation and its successors that practice mysticism and are obsessed with self-gratification and sensationalism.  It is certain that I would not be accepted in an Emergent, Seeker Friendly, and probably the great majority of the Launch Churches.  I am content to go where God sends me, when He sends me, and not before.  I’m not mourning about that in the slightest and I am not fishing for opportunities.  Instead, I am as the rest of God’s remnant, deeply grateful that He has enabled me to recognize and hold onto truth.  Truth is considered by those factions at the least as a bizarre oddity and at the most repulsive heresy.  Is it only the 55-64 year old individuals, my generation, which agrees with me?  Maybe so, but that does not make it old fashioned.  The simple truth is that maybe they are the ones who have been through enough fire that they will pay attention.  

Commonality is one of the buzz words being is propagated to defend Christian ecumenism with cults and false religions.  A large number of leading Christians signed “A Common Word” Christian Response, a letter urging interfaith dialogue with Muslims based on the idea of commonality.  Among the signers were, Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals, David Yonggi Cho, Founder and Senior Pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea, Brian D. McLaren, Rick Warren, Founder and Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church, and Bill Hybels, Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church.  Also, consider the following statements by leading Christians.

“There is enough commonality that evangelicals and Catholics with a living faith can recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ with a common Lord and common grace that brought them together.” (Beeson Divinity School founder, Timothy George)

“There’s more commonality than we realized in the way we talk about Jesus and his atoning work.” (Dr. Richard J. Mouw, president emeritus of the Fuller Theological Seminary, speaking to Mormons, Utah Valley University, November 15, 2013.)

Citing confusion about differences in belief systems as an issue, Mouw and other Evangelicals and Mormons have been meeting biannually for 12 years to discuss their differences and commonalities.  It really is simple.  It does not take 12 years to discover if Mormons are Christians or not.  It should be patently obvious that they are not Christians no more than Muslims are Christians.  However, even when Christians interact with Muslims commonality again appears to be a popular word.

“That’s the place where we (Christians and Muslims) come together, in common need and common suffering, as we reach out to one another in love, leaving judgment in the hands of God, sharing out of our own faith.  I mean the last thing we are asking in those times is—is your theology the same as mine?—and vice-versa.  All of the sudden in the hour of suffering there is a commonality.  And that’s where we meet.  It’s in mystical spirituality and in communal mutuality that’s where we come together.” (Tony Campolo in an interview with Shane Claiborne about inter-religious cooperation.)

Sayyid Syeed, of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) spoke to a group of Baptists in Pasadena.  Referring to the Bible and the Quran, he said, “You are people of the book.  We are people of the book.”  He then said that Baptists and Muslims should make an effort to build on that commonality.  The next Saturday, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church, also implied unity through commonality when spoke at the ISNA convention.  I fail to see how the Quran and the Bible can be mentioned in the same breath and the result labeled commonality.  I should point out here that Anton LaVey and his followers in the Church of Satan was/are also people of a book, the Satanic Bible.

I have read a number of statements by Evangelicals in an attempt to discover why they are seeking commonality with cults and false religions.  Some of them claim that the purpose is the unity of all religions for the common goal of peace.  Christ declared that He did not come to bring peace on the earth (Matthew 10:34-36).  Ecumenists ignore that truth, and form unbiblical peace initiatives with cults and false religions.  Further, if commonality is the key to peace between Christians and other religions and cults, why are there no scriptures supporting this tactic?  It appears that early Christians and Gnostics had some common ground, but none of the church leaders made an attempt to compromise on the ground of commonality.  The purpose of the Gospel is not peace with sinners, but salvation from sin.  The doctrine of commonality compromises that purpose, as I will explain later in this article.

Other proponents of commonality declare that they have the goal of evangelizing cults and false religions.  I can’t imagine the Mormons, Muslims, Roman Catholics, and the rest entering into dialogue with Christians whose publicly stated goal is to evangelize them unless they knew it was not true.  I believe that they will all evangelize Christians as the Mormons do.  The truth is that commonality is not an attempt to evangelize cults and false religions.  It is nothing more than a compromise by a weak faction of Christianity that, due to heresy, has for the most part lost its exclusivity and identity.   Further, it no longer has the spiritual impetus to discern or the power to hold back the darkness.

Commonality is a thinly disguised “many paths” gospel.  Historically, Christianity held the exclusive position that Jesus Christ was the only Way, Truth, and Life.  The uncompromising truth is that He is the only path to God Almighty and salvation.  Commonality proponents are essentially declaring that position to be invalid, agreeing with what the cults and false religions have insisted on for centuries.  Additionally, when Christians compromise the Gospel to find common ground, they give validity to the cults and false religions.  Of course, the promoters of this ecumenism do not believe that they are compromising the Gospel.  However, when Christians make overtures to cults and false religions for peace on the ground of commonality, they give away exclusivity.  It is a statement to Mormonism, Roman Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and the rest, that Christianity no longer has the only true and living way.  Instead, it indicates that those religions also have a path to the only and true God, which denigrates the Gospel.    God’s word informs us that only Christianity has the truth, the true Gospel of reconciliation to God, and the hope of the world, Jesus Christ.  No other religions can truthfully make that claim.  Their Jesus is not our Jesus.  Paul declared individuals that preached another Jesus are accursed (Galatians 1:8-9).  To give accursed individuals equal access to salvation is to put susceptible Christians and lost individuals in jeopardy of converting to a religion that may damn their eternal souls.  Further, building an interfaith coalition with cults and false religions based on so-called commonality is not a viable method to win the lost.  It does a great disservice to souls that are bound in cults and false religions.  Christians are supposed to establish a relationship with God and call the masses to surrender to Him.

The fact is that proponents of commonality also claim that in some cases the common ground in a cult or false religion is that they also have a Jesus.  For example, commonality proponents, such as Robert Mowr, have pointed out that Mormons also believe in a Jesus.  Mowr and his fellow ecumenists appear to believe that a false Jesus is equal to the true Lord and Christ Jesus, the Son of God.  Thus, a point of commonality is established.  God’s word is clear that the true followers of Christ Jesus are possessed by His Spirit.  The apostle Paul wrote that if one does not have the Spirit of Christ, then he or she does not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9).  To declare the Mormon Jesus to be the same as the Christian Jesus is to declare that the spirit that originated and works in Mormonism is the Holy Spirit.  If that isn’t blaspheming the Holy Spirit, it is dangerously close to doing so.

Commonality may have harsh consequences for evangelicals that appear further down the road.  For example, George Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, claims to be adamantly opposed to homosexuality.  It gives AoG ministers and members false hope that the denomination will never support homosexuality.  Consider that some of the individuals that Wood is forming commonality alliances with, and their close associates, are not so disposed.  However, what happens when Wood departs from leadership?  Reportedly, some AoG ordained ministers and membership are softening their stance on homosexuality.  Since commonality with gay-friendly individuals has already been established, will the next General Superintendent cave in to the pressure to accept homosexuality?  After all, if individuals will presently associate with cults or false religions under the covering of commonality (consider the Ruth Haley Barton debacle), disregarding the fact that Satan is the founder and the author of their destructive doctrine, accepting homosexuality seems to be a much smaller pill to swallow.

True Christians must understand that homosexuality is coming upon the earth like a creeping plague and there is no stopping it.  If we are in the last days, and the final deception and great apostasy is occurring, then the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah is here as well.  It is not commonality that Christianity needs, but a revival of righteousness and intimacy with God.  The Scriptures do not predict such a revival in the last days, but exactly opposite.  Christian leaders that fraternize with cults and false religions under the heretical doctrine of commonality are prostituting themselves, and by proxy, Christianity.  In my opinion, there is no difference in what they are doing than what Israel did by fraternizing with the nations about them and accepting their gods and idols.  How can a righteous God judge and punish Israel and not do the same to American Christianity that commits the same sin?  The truth is that commonality is necessary for a one world religion to form.  That is what appears to be occurring at the present as the surge to find common ground with cults, false religions, and even homosexuals, continues to swell in Christianity.  God’s word declares that there can be no communion (commonality?) of light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14).  This is a time of great darkness, of a roaring and roaming Satan, and multitudes of weak and susceptible Christians.  Guard your hearts, minds, and souls!

In this quasi-Christian realm of changing paradigms, hirelings, and heretics, numerous terms are coming forth that most professing Christians do not understand.  There is Emerging and Emergent Church, Contemplative Spirituality, Spiritual Formation, Spiritual Director, Labyrinths, Enneagrams, Breath Prayers, The Silence, Spiritual Direction, Centering prayer, Soaking Prayer, and etcetera. Since most Christians have been “dumbed down” from the pulpit, they cannot even recognize when they are being slowly converted to the New Age Movement or Roman Catholicism.  They buy books such as, “Jesus Calling”, “One Thousands Gifts”, The Barbarian Way”, or books written by Brian McLarean, Rob Bell, or Rick Warren, and do not know they are soaking in heresy that could bring them under great deception.

Further, there is a clever (and some not so clever) use of words to puff up conference, pulpit, and literary jargon so that it appears something truly special is occurring.  It is as if the word wranglers have studied a political spin manual.  They should know that “spin” is synonymous with “lie”.  These word wranglers have descended on Christianity with a mission. They intend to birth a new Christianity by destroying the old Christianity. The truth is that it will not be Christianity, but instead the religion of the Antichrist’s sidekick, the False Prophet.

For example of such word wrangling, I refer to an announcement by James MacDonald for one the earlier Resurgence Conferences.  One might wonder why I would bring up an event that occurred a couple of years ago.  It’s not the event itself, although it is questionable, but the verbiage that described its purpose.  The verbiage promotes an event about elementary principles as if it is a revelation from God, a tool in His hands, a necessary event for the restoration of Christian ministers.  I bring it up because there is a pattern that I see employed by the invaders of Christianity.  It needs to be exposed because it is being used by heretics/hirelings not only to sow deception, but to cover up their activities when they are exposed.

MacDonald began by saying, “The Resurgence conference is not going to be another tribal gathering but a gathering of tribes, united by grace as one body in Christ.”

First, it is an elementary truth that all true Christians are one Body in Christ.  Is there a need for a conference to explain that?   Not unless the conferences is actually about meshing heresy with Christianity to produce a synthesis.  Second, I didn’t know that Christians were/are a group of tribes or even that we had tribal gatherings in the past.  Where there is a tribe, there is a chieftain.  Since it is not likely that the tribes attended, he must have meant, “not another chieftain gathering, but a gathering of chieftains (One sort of sounds like the definition of the other.).  As goes the chieftains, so go the tribes.  Not a pretty picture, to say the least.  I’m glad that it is not a correct one about the true Body of Christ.

Then he wrote, “We want to bring together different voices, traditions, and backgrounds to show that the most significant, life-changing, can’t-miss, unifying theme of first importance for the church across all time, all countries, and all peoples is Jesus Christ.”  He continued, “The conference will be an invitation to pastors, church leaders, and Christians everywhere to make it all about Jesus in life and in ministry.”

Okay, so the conference is about teaching “tribal chieftains” and their “tribes” the elementary principle that Jesus Christ is the theme of Christianity.  Who else did they think was the theme that they would need such a revelation?  Mohammed?  Buddha? It also appears that the “chieftains” did not know what it was all about in their lives and ministries.  What did they come to the conference believing it is about?  Selling books?  Playing golf?  Maybe they came thinking it is all about them, which explains why they need a conference to explain Christianity and that Christians are one Body in Christ.

MacDonald then asked the question, “Do we continue living the lie that some things are “sacred” while others are “secular”?

I will respond that if one is living a lie, one has no moral authority to lead God’s people.  Such a one needs more than a conference.  He needs to repent and submit to the Holy Spirit for a life change.  However, it is not a lie to consider that some things are sacred while other ones are secular.  But I won’t explain that to people to whom it ought to be patently obvious.

MacDonald concluded his announcement with the following, “The 2012 Resurgence Conference is an invitation to start thinking differently.  It will be a call to every Christian to live all of life to the glory of Jesus and for the benefit of his kingdom, to say, by God’s grace…Because Jesus lives, we live for Jesus.”

The need to begin thinking differently is an indictment of the individuals that he invited to the conference.  First, God already sent out this call over 2000 years ago to whosoever will bow in full surrender before Christ the Lord and Savior.  If they were not surrendered and did not know they had to be, then they must have been apostates.  I personally believe that some of the speakers and attendees were and remain apostates.  McDonald’s ending cliché, “Because Jesus lives, we live for Jesus” although true, is completely apparent to true Christians.

It is obvious to me that the Resurgence Conference and the successive conferences are but a few of many events that are nothing more than conclaves to unify the entirety of Christianity in apostasy.  Eventually, they will usher in the False Prophet.  Most of those events included many of the major heretics and hirelings that are dismantling Christianity.  The main speakers read like a “Who’s Who in Heresy”.  I doubt that anything constructive was accomplished.

MacDonald used gobbledygook and pabulum to invite leaders to attend the conference. Gobbledygook is defined as, “wordy and generally unintelligible jargon” (Merriam-Webster). In the hireling and heretical sphere, it is religious gibberish, e.g. words concocted into nonsensical or elementary sentences usually to purvey the impression of wisdom, deepness, or perhaps a special revelation.  It manifests as speaking elementary things as if they were resounding from the depths of God’s wisdom.  Included in the announcement were a number of axiomatic elementary truths that would be tacitly assumed by even a new convert.  I honestly do not know of another word for that linguistic practice.  I believe the Apostle Paul had a couple of terms that seemed to fit (1 Corinthians 13:1).  If gobbledygook is the sounding brass, then clanging cymbal fits the other practice.  There are many examples that I could give of this practice from some of my professing Christian friends (some are perpetually nominal).  They post quotes on Facebook from America’s leading heretics (e.g. Joel Osteen) as if it were pure and rare gold from faith tried in fire.  I am not saying that the quotes have no truth in them, but that the truth is so elementary that it is like explaining to an adult what a table napkin is used for.  How does it qualify these heretics and hirelings as significant and relevant?

I am increasingly concerned about the number of professing Christians that have no clue about the tragedy that is closing in on them.  They are so distracted by the world system, and enamored with smooth words, and outward appearances, that discernment cannot function in them. Numerous ones are clinging to dead, defunct, or heretically metastasized denominations thinking things will get better when the opposite is obvious.  Word craftsmen are sliding nets over their minds and they don’t even realize it.  The state of affairs is so decrepit that blatant wickedness is committed by denominational leaders and they spin their way out of it with doublespeak and little or no consequences.  When they are exposed, does it change anything?  No, not the deceived or the deceivers.  The deceived will not change because they are fearful of the whole truth and remain in a state of denial.  The deceivers realize that they do not have to change.  Nothing is going to slow down their diabolical word machine, that is, until Christ appears. And they know the first part of that statement very well.

Some professing Christians are aware that evil is at the door, and I include ordained ministers. However, they are remaining in the defiled churches and denominations still clinging to a tiny thread of hope.  The overthrow and conversion of Christianity into a one-world apostate religion that ushers in the Antichrist is imminent.  Clinging to a thread of hope in this situation is like being in a canoe with a busted paddle and a hurricane approaching.  There is the captain of a nearby ship inviting them on board, but they are focused on the fact that they are still floating. Not for long.  It is past time to wake up and focus on reality.

Consider the follow true story.

It all started with one self-destructive leap.  Shepherds eating breakfast outside the town of Gevas, Turkey, were surprised to see a lone sheep jump off of a nearby cliff and fall to its death. They were stunned, however, when the rest of the nearly 1,500 sheep in the herd followed, each leaping off of the same cliff.  When it was all over, the local Aksam newspaper reported that “450 of the sheep perished in a billowy, white pile.”  Those that jumped from the middle and end of the herd were saved as the pile became higher and the fall more cushioned. (450 Sheep Jump to Their Deaths in Turkey, WashingtonPost.com, 7-8-05)

A wise and godly man once wrote, “When confused sheep start over a cliff the individual sheep can save himself only by separating from the. flock.  Perfect unity at such a time can only mean total destruction for all.  The wise sheep to save his own hide disaffiliates.” (A. W. Tozer, God Tells the Man Who Cares; chapter entitled, “Divisions Are Not Always Bad.”)