CT Studd gave up professional cricket to become a missionary to China, Africa and India. In a letter home, upon the approach of his soon death, C.T. Studd wrote of the outstanding events of his life:
“As I believe I am now nearing my departure from this world, I have but a few things to rejoice in; they are these:
1. That God called me to China and I went in spite of utmost opposition from all my loved ones.
2. That I joyfully acted as Christ told that rich young man to act.
3. That I deliberately at the call of God, when alone on the Bibby liner in 1910, gave up my life for this work, which was to be henceforth not for the Sudan only, but for the whole unevangelized World.
My only joys therefore are that when God has given me a work to do, I have not refused it.”
Going to be with His Lord in 1931, C.T. Studd’s last word he spoke was “Hallelujah”!
As the Altar of Incense fore-shadowed Christ, so too the incense offered on the Altar also fore-shadows Him. This is how:
The Incense
Old Testament Shadow
New Testament Reality in Jesus
The Church’s Application
It was made of a delicate blend of four different spices. Each spice had to be of equal quantity, exactly balanced.
Jesus Christ is the One in whom is perfectly balanced grace and truth, holiness and love, righteousness and mercy.
Christ lives His holy life through the Church, as His Body. “Christ in us, the hope of glory.”
Each spice had to be crushed to a fine powder before it was added to the incense.
Christ was “wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities”. He was smitten, stricken, crushed. His perfect, sinless life poured out.
This points to “death to self”, the humbling of the believer.
Salt was added to the incense – salt is a seasoning and a preserver
Salt points to the holiness of Christ and the flavor of His life.
The Church is the salt of the earth –a preserving agent.
The incense was burned on the altar in front of the Ark of the Testimony.
Christ went through the fire of affliction in His sufferings and ultimately His death on the cross.
Our faith is tried by the fire of affliction and suffering.
The incense sent up a sweet perfume which entered the veil into the Holy of Holies, surrounding the Ark of the Testimony.
Christ’s sinless life of obedience was as a sweet perfume unto God. Christ has entered the veil and has made the way open for us too through His shed blood.
We are now able to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”
Aaron was to burn the incense in the morning and the evening when he also attended the lamps.
“As Christ ministers to the Church interceding for His own, He trims the wicks of the lamps and supplies the oil of the Spirit.”(1)
We are to pray in the Holy Spirit. “Prayer is the key for the day, the lock for the night” Corrie Ten Boom
No strange incense was to be offered on the altar, nor was anyone to make for themselves the incense. It was to be holy to God.
Points to Jesus being the only Way to the Father, there is no other Name under heaven whereby man can be saved.
It’s only through faith in Christ that we are saved. We are to have no other gods before Him. We are to pray in Jesus’ Name.
The incense was to be “perpetual…before the Lord”.
Points to Jesus as our High-Priest “who ever lives to make intercession for us.”
We are commanded to “pray without ceasing”. Our life is to be a perpetual prayer unto the Lord.
The Golden Censer
“Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die” Leviticus 16:12-13
Old Testament Shadow
New Testament Reality in Jesus and the Church
On the Day of Atonement the High Priest brought a golden censer full of fire and a handful of incense into the Most Holy Place. He put the incense on the fire in front of the Ark so that the cloud of incense covered the mercy seat. He then sprinkled the blood of the sin offering upon the mercy seat.
The mercy seat is a picture of Christ Himself. The sprinkled blood points to Christ’s shed blood. The censer of incense is significant of Christ taking the prayers of His people within the veil to God’s presence, on the basis of His shed blood. Read also Revelation 8:1-5
Incense is simply an Old Testament shadow or type of prayer and intercession. God is no longer interested in the shadows or types, but rather in the eternal realities to which these shadows point.
He is extremely interested in the prayer and intercession of His Church. For the life of a believer to be truly saturated in prayer is well-pleasing to God.
“Pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Ephesians 6:18
“The New is in the Old concealed, the OId is in the New revealed.”
The Tabernacle of Moses was built as an earthly copy of the true, heavenly Tabernacle. As the earthly, temporal priests ministered at the earthly Golden Altar, (or the Altar of Incense),on behalf of the Israelites, so too our eternal Great High Priest ministers at the true Golden Altar in Heaven, on our behalf.
“God has sworn and will not relent: You are a priest forever, according to the Order of Melchizedek” Psalm 110:4
The ministry of the priesthood in the Tabernacle of Moses points to Jesus Christ’s ministry now as our Great High Priest. Understanding the principles concealed in the Tabernacle of Moses unlocks so many wonderful eternal treasures about the One we love, Jesus Christ. It also relates to us as believers in our ministry of prayer and intercession.
The Altar of Incense itself is a type of Christ:
Old Testament Shadow
New Testament Reality in Jesus
The Church’s Application
It was made of acacia (or shittim) wood. Acacia wood was a very durable, non-decaying wood.
Wood points to Christ’s human nature.Non-decaying wood points to His incorruptible, sinless humanity.
It was overlaid with gold
Points to Christ’s Divinity/Godhood
It had four horns on each corner of the altar. Horns are the strength and power of an animal.
Points to all power given to Christ in heaven and earth.
Points to the gospel of Christ going to the 4 corners of the earth under the authority of Christ’s Church
On the Day of Atonement blood from the Sin Offering was applied to the horns of the altar and sprinkled seven times.
It is Christ’s blood that was shed on Calvary (or the Brazen altar) which forms the foundation of His ministry of Intercession.
The blood of Jesus allows us to stand before a Holy God and gives power to the incense of prayer.
It had a crown (or moulding) of gold around it.
Points to Christ being the King-Priest
The Church joins Christ in His King-Priestly ministry as a kingdom of priests.
It was 2 cubits high, making it the tallest piece of furniture within the actual Tabernacle
Points to the highest ministry of Christ now on behalf of the Church – prayer and intercession
The highest ministry of the Church is also intercessory prayer
It was in the Holy Place, in front of the veil, before the Ark of the Testimony. It was the nearest piece of furniture to the Shekinah Glory of God.
Points to Christ’s earthly life of prayer and His ascension to the presence of God in His High-Priestly ministry.
Points to the place of prayer being the closest place to the presence of God.
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:2
“Now and again, people would say (concerning her ministry in Hong Kong), “Isn’t it WONDERFUL that God would choose a woman to go? I would say, “No, it’s not wonderful. Excuse me for being rude about God, but He can pick who He likes.” I mean, it’s no more wonderful for Him to send a woman than a man, or an old man or young woman. He picks who He wants. That’s His business. It was God’s wisdom that sent me. I was just doing what He made me for. That’s no credit to me; it’s all credit to Him. If He’s made you for something, you just do it.”
In response to some comments and questions I have received on my previous post Labyrinths of Emerging Paganism I have decided that the best way to address these is through another post, and so, here it is.
The Lord has placed a burden on my heart for His Church and that’s the main reason why He had me to start this blog. It is not my intention that I offend anyone, especially my brothers and sisters in Christ, yet if I do so in the process of trying to speak the truth, then I am sorry, but it can’t be helped.
It is my strong belief that a Christian should have no association at all with labyrinths. I will tell you why I believe this to be so:
The first known labyrinth was found in Egypt 4000-5000 years ago. They have been discovered across Asia, the Americas and Southern Africa in different forms. Some turf labyrinths still exist in England, Germany and Scandinavia and these are considered to be associated with feminine deities and fertility rituals.
“The troja labyrinth and roma labyrinth have in the historic form a monster, a minotauros, inside, in the centre, a monster you fear to approach, a monster you need to overcome and defeat. With the building of the labyrinth in the Chartres Cathedral in France 1000 years later this seems to eventually change so that this labyrinth has a solemnity in the centre that you want to reach. According to historic traditions the Chartres Labyrinth was probably placed there by its master builder to protect the church from evil entering the church, because evil cannot pass the winding lanes of a labyrinth. This is in the same way as the Romans placed a protecting labyrinth inside their front door.” (http://www.lavigne.dk/labyrinth/e1intro.htm)
Dr Artress brought the labyrinth to Grace Cathedral (San Francisco, USA) in 1994, after having met and being heavily influenced by Dr Jean Houston, one of the main promoters of the New Age in North America (http://www.jeanhouston.com/blog/?p=170).
Dr Artress founded Veriditas in order to “facilitate the transformation of the human spirit through offering the Labyrinth Experience”. Contrast this with the Biblical belief that the human spirit is rather raised from death to life by the Holy Spirit through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross.
“Over one million people have walked this labyrinth to date. People from all different backgrounds and religions are using it. Jews, Buddhists and even Christians use the institute’s labyrinth. If one visists Grace Cathedrals web site you find it being inclusive, they offer every conceivable item, from New Age holistic to interfaith to the Koran. They are church that is not holding the Christian distinctive at all.” (source: http://www.letusreason.org/Nam30.htm)
“You walk to the center of the labyrinth and there at the center, you meet the Divine. The labyrinth is a large, complex spiral circle which is an ancient symbol for the Divine Mother, the God within, the Goddess, the Holy in all of creation. For many of us the feminine aspect of the Divine has been painfully absent from our lives, our spirituality, and our Western culture.” Dr Artress
2. Labyrinths Facilitate Geomancy
A labyrinth is designed to be geometrically perfect in order to facilitate “geomancy”.
“An important fact to know is that geomancy and other occult arts are often incorporated in the building of labyrinths. Charles Gilchrist a labyrinth promoter states it has a direct connection to “Sacred Geometry,” a powerful potential as an oracle. And there are other “oracle systems” that are related to Sacred Geometry, Astrology, Numerology, I Ching, Rune Stones, and the Tarot….”
Through geomancy, labyrinths are designed to bring the walker into an altered state of consciousness, through meditating on physical movement. As Dr Artress states: “A labyrinth is a walking meditation…” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9rt39ieP5E)
“A labyrinth is unicursal – this means there is one open, unobstructed path the walker follows into the center and back out again. A labyrinth has only one path leading to the center and back out again with no dead-ends.There are three basic designs being used–the seven circuit, eleven circuit, and twelve circuit; the seven circuit is the most common design found today. It is described as you roam back and forth, turning 180 degrees each time you enter a different circuit. As you change your direction your awareness changes from right brain to left brain. They are right brain activity enhancers. So the claim is that the labyrinth can induce different states of consciousness. Others say It also helps balance the charkas, spiritual energy centers described in Hinduism.” http://www.letusreason.org/Nam30.htm
Once an individual is brought to an altered state of consciousness he/she is open to the deceptions of Satan.
I think it is important to note that no believer, no matter how mature or spiritual, is beyond being deceived. Satan is subtle, clever and the father of lies. We are no match for him. However if we sincerely love the truth, seeking after God wholeheartedly, He will deliver us from deception. On the other hand God does give people over to delusion if they refuse to love the truth:
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lieand so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
3. God Forbids Using Pagan Practices to Worship Him
There seems to be an increasingly common misconception amongst Christians that something that is utterly ungodly and unholy can be “redeemed” if it is “Christianized”. This line of reasoning takes something secular or even pagan and tries to change it into something godly by using Christianized language. This reasoning has no basis in scripture. Redemption is the work of God, and Him only, through His Son Jesus Christ. We cannot change something that is detestable to God into something acceptable to Him, despite our sincerity. In fact it’s the very opposite. Rather than take on the pagan practices and beliefs of the world around us God commands us to :
“Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”2 Corinthians 6:17
For, as 2 Corinthians 6:14, 15 says:
“…. what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.”
Just as God commanded the children of Israel to have nothing to do with the pagan practices of Canaan, but rather to destroy them, so we too are commanded to worship Him as He has proscribed. This is not a grey area – pagan practices are outright forbidden to God’s children.
“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.” Deuteronomy 18:9-14
Ezekiel 8 describes the abominations the Israelites had incorporated into their worship of God in the Temple.
The syncretistic absorbing of paganism into their worship of Yahweh rendered Israel “Ichabod” and brought the judgment of God upon them, just as the Canaanites had been judged for their pagan practices earlier.
The syncretistic blending of paganism into the Church will also bring judgment upon the Church.
As godly king Josiah “took away all the shrines of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger…” (2 Kings 23:19) so we too, as the Church of Jesus Christ need to be ruthless in our removal of pagan and occult practices from our own lives. As God called the Israelites to be a light shining in the midst of pagan idolatry, so too are we called to be the light of Christ shining in a dark world. This can only happen as we are wholly consecrated to God, separated unto Him.
It is my whole-hearted belief that any Christian involvement with labyrinths, (as with any other occult practice) needs to be repented of and renounced.
“Co-Creation Conference 2014” begins this weekend, May 1-3. This is an event promoted and attended by Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle and other Emergent Church leaders. If you’ve read my post The Emergent Church/New Age Connection you will be aware that “co-creation” is a New Age term that has been adopted by the Emergent Church. The Emergents seem to be rather keen on using pagan labyrinths in their “ancient wisdom” mysticism. And thus “Co-Creation Conference 2014” features a very special one:
“You are invited on a modern-day pilgrimage at Holy Trinity’s outdoor labyrinth located adjacent to the sanctuary. There you will find a beautifully crafted eleven-circuit Chartres-style stone labyrinth with a fountain of flowing water in the center. Nearby, a replica of the Muiredach Celtic high cross bears witness to this sacred place. By walking the labyrinth alone or in a guided group, you may experience a kind of body prayer or walking meditation that quiets your mind, allowing your spirit to become more receptive to the still small voice of God. The Holy Trinity labyrinth, located in a cloistered and well-lighted outdoor space, is available any time of day for individual walkers. Opportunities also abound for you to experience labyrinth walks facilitated by the Holy Trinity Labyrinth Keepers.” http://servleader.org/the_labyrinth
Not only is the Emergent “Co-creation Conference” being held this weekend – this Saturday, the 3rd of May, is also “World Labyrinth Day”. This is where you can “Celebrate the sixth annual World Labyrinth Day (WLD) on Saturday, May 3rd, 2014! The Labyrinth Society invites you to ‘Walk as One at 1″ in the afternoon, joining others around the globe to create a wave of peaceful energy washing across the time zones.” (https://labyrinthsociety.org/world-labyrinth-day)
But….not only is it “World Labyrinth Day” and the “Co-Creation Conference 2014” this weekend! Amazingly both events coincide with the season of the pagan festival of Beltane (May Day). Is this a coincidence…? Hmmm…me-thinks not. It is of note that Celtic neo-pagans and Wiccans observe Beltane as a religious holiday. It is interesting to consider that during a pagan religious festival many people will be ritualistically walking labyrinths at a pre-determined time. And still more interesting that the Emergent Church’s “Co-Creation Conference”, featuring a sacred labyrinth, will be proceeding simultaneously.
The Co-Creation Conference’s website states the labyrinth as having this purpose:
“Three stages of the (labyrinth) walk:
Purgation (Releasing) ~ A releasing, a letting go of the details of your life. This is the act of shedding thoughts and distractions. A time to open the heart and quiet the mind.
Illumination (Receiving) ~ When you reach the center, stay there as long as you like. It is a place of meditation and prayer. Receive what is there for you to receive.
Union (Returning) ~ As you leave, following the same path out of the center as you came in, you enter the third stage, which is joining God, your Higher Power, or the healing forces at work in the world. Each time you walk the labyrinth you become more empowered to find and do the work for which you feel your soul is reaching.”
I ask you – is THIS Christianity?
“Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods…” Exodus 34:10-15
“Forget not that the vision (of Heaven, of God, of any spiritual leader — or of any millennium) is based in the majority of cases upon the dreams and aspirations of the mystics down the ages who have blazed the mystical trail….” Alice A Bailey, Occultist
“Beyond these models of reconciliation, a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other.” Tony Campolo, Emergent Christianity leader
In my last post in this series “A Meditation on Emergent Spirituality” we looked at the “emerging” synthesis between all religions. We saw that the gaps and differences between all of these Mystery religions are increasingly being closed through the tool of mysticism, and in particular meditation. With the Word of God suitably deconstructed, once-shunned mystical practices are now practiced and promoted by Christians, leaving the door wide-open to the master-deceiver to gain access. The result? Vulnerable Christians whom are primed and ready for mass deception. Mysticism, whether under the banner of the occult, Christianity, Judaism, Catholicism, Islam or anything else, effectively opens the door to the same deceptive spirit each time – that of anti-christ.
Thus it comes as no surprise that the Emergents, whom are delving into the Mystery religion practices, are now using the same language as the New Agers/occultists.
First let’s look at some of the foundational principles of the New Age/Occult:
“The major goal of the New Age Movement is to prepare Man for entering the Aquarian Age and to bring world peace in an already bruised world…”
One Global Order – One World Government, One Currency, One Universal Being.
Universal Energy, Universal Matter, Universal Life, Universal Soul As God
Divine practices (Astrology Yoga & other esoteric arts)
Syncretism (Unity of all Religions).
The need for Meditation (for generating altered states of Consciousness);
The Evolution of Man into Divinity (The latent Life Force evolving naturally to the Divine);
The Union of Man with the Divine (source: http://eastrovedica.com/html/newage.htm)
The substance of Emergent theology is now basically the same as the New Age. Here are some quotations from the New Age/Occult paralleled against Emergent Christians quotations in order to demonstrate the similarities in their belief systems through their use of language. Notice that the occult and the New Age use a lot of “Christianized” terms. This is not coincidental. It is a subtle-ness that is deceiving many Christians – and so by laying out the following quotations side-by-side I am trying to bring to light the darkness of this deception.
“Oneness”:
New Age/Occult:
“Oneness is more than a beautiful word. Oneness is the energy of love that lies within you and connects you with all of life….Mystics of all traditions have experienced and shared the concept of Oneness throughout the ages.” (From Global Oneness Summit webpage:http://globalonenesssummit.com/)
“Are the mystics and sages insane? Because they all tell variations on the same story, don’t they? The story of awakening one morning and discovering you are one with the All, in a timeless and eternal and infinite fashion….” Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything, 42–3, New Ager, philosopher, writer.
The Emergent Church:
“…It will take a decolonized theology for Christians to appreciate the genuineness of others’ faiths, and to see and celebrate what is good, beautiful, and true in their beliefs without any illusions that down deep we all are believers in the same thing.”
“We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.” Leonard Sweet, Quantam Spirituality
Religion/Spirituality
The New Age/Occult :
“The Master Jesus will take a physical vehicle and will effect a re-spiritualisation of the Catholic churches…” Alice A Bailey, occultist, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p.759
“This second group will implement the new religion; by the time they come into control the old theological activities will have been completely broken; Judaism will be fast disappearing; Buddhism will be spreading and becoming increasingly dogmatic; Christianity will be in a state of chaotic divisions and upheavals. When this takes place and the situation is acute enough, the Master Jesus will take certain initial steps towards reassuming control of His Church; the Buddha will send two trained disciples to reform Buddhism;” Alice A Bailey, occultist, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy.p.573
The Emergent Church:
“Some of the values of the emerging church are an emphasis on emotions, global outlook, a rise in the use of arts, and a rise in mysticism and spirituality.” Josh Reich
“My goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst for the movement of Jesus Christ. Some people are upset with me because it sounds like I’m anti-Christian. I think they might be right.” McManus, The Barbarian Way
“Co-Creation” & “Conscious Evolution”
New Age/Occult:
A Cocreator is: “One who is experiencing the creative intention of universe incarnating as their own intention, expressing that intention as an essential self in creative work, joining with others doing the same; one who co-create with spirit, with others, and with nature.”
Conscious Evolution is: “The evolution of evolution from unconscious to conscious choice as humans gain powers with the potential for co-destruction and co-creation. The natural capacity of a universal species is to co-evolve with nature and co-create with Spirit. The pattern is synergistic cooperation.” http://barbaramarxhubbard.com/evolutionary-language/
“A significant portion of the earth’s population will soon recognize, if they haven’t already done so, that humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die.” Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
The Emergent Church:
Co-Creation Conference, May 2014 : ”…from our unique perspectives, on Co-Creation with God, summed up in this event’s subtitle: The Great Emergence and the Spirit’s Call to Evolve– evolving toward ever-increasing empathy, wholeness, and energy to confront the challenges and opportunities facing people of faith in the world today.” Brian McLaren’s website (http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/cocreation-interview-with-mike-m.html
“…a new humanity will be brought forth from this Christ consciousness in each person.” Tony Campolo, “A Reasonable Faith” 1983 page 65
“So when we say, with the writer of Hebrews, that “it is appointed to human beings to die once, and after this, the judgment,” we are not saying, “and after this, the condemnation.” We are saying, with John, that to “see God,” to be in God’s unspeakable light, will purge us of all darkness: …To believe in a new creation that arises from within this creation – that’s a source of true hope and courage.” Brian McLaren, Emergent Leader
Jesus Christ
The New Age/Occult:
“The Tibetan has asked me to make clear that …. there is no need for any man to join the Christian Church in order to be affiliated with Christ. The requirements are to love your fellowmen, lead a disciplined life, recognise the divinity in all faiths and all beings and rule your daily life with Love.” Alice A Bailey, occultist. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy Ext. p.558, a book channeled by her familiar spirit, the “Tibetan”.
“Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if you realize that there is no past or future in Christ. To say that Christ was or will be is a contradiction in terms. Jesus was. He was a man who lived two thousand years ago and realized divine presence, his true nature. And so he said: “Before Abraham was, I am…Jesus attempted to convey directly, not through discursive thought, the meaning of presence, of self realization. […] Thus, the man Jesus became Christ, a vehicle for pure consciousness.” Eckhart Tolle, New Ager, The Power of Now
The Emergent Church:
“I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. He teaches me to live in tune with how reality is. When Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” he was saying that his way, his words, his life is our connection to how things truly are at the deepest levels of existence. For Jesus then, the point of religion is to help us connect with ultimate reality, God”. Rob Bell, “True” of “Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith”
“The purpose of the church is to give form to, to put into form and shape, the energy-matter known as Jesus Christ. New Light leaders, therefore, are in-formational connectors helping the body of Christ to become an in-formed church, an in-formational community…. A major New Light undertaking is the designing of newstream communities that can be ‘in connection’ and ‘in-formation’ with the spirit of Christ. Christ will be embodied for the postmodern church in information” Leonard Sweet, Emergent theologian/leader
The 5-Step Peace Plan
The New Age/Occult:
“The New Revolutions also contains a five-step plan for peace in the world. We call it the Five Steps to Peace….” Neal Donald Walsch, occultist
The Emergent Church:
“We believe it is part of the beginning of a Spiritual Awakening, a Global Movement, a New Reformation.” Rick Warren on his 5-step P.E.A.C.E. plan http://thepeaceplan.com/
Eschatology (end-time theology):
The New Age/Occult :
“…First of all, He (“Jesus”) will come to a world which is essentially one world….” Alice A Bailey
“Make no mistake, humanity is given a choice. By clinging to the old age consciousness and falling under the demonic delusions of false spirituality, the majority are doomed and will perish. …. A new community of men and women who have left the old Age behind and are linking their consciousness with the impulses of the Age of Aquarius….The genuine new age calls for the new Method – the Aquarian Work for the Aquarian Consciousness.” Jason Jeffrey – article published in New Dawn no. 78
“Now is the time when we turn the birth into an enduring shift to a new culture and consciousness. This is the turning point decade when we can create a world based on our creativity, our unity, and our love. Let’s each help fulfill the prophecies of entering a new Golden Age!” Barbara Marx Hubbard, occultist, New-ager futurist.
(Watch Barbara Marx Hubbard’s Vice-Presidential Nomination Speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention:
“The senior Members of the Hierarchy will not at first be the ones who will make the needed approach. It is only in the later stages, and when the time has come for the return into recognised physical expression of the Christ, leading to the definite restoration of the Mysteries, that certain of the senior Members of the Hierarchy will appear … ” Alice A Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hierarchy. p.570
The Emergent Church:
“The eighth of the ten questions identified in the subtitle deals with eschatology…. In the chapter I suggest that most of our conventional eschatologies are deterministic, working from the assumption that the script of future is already written, or the movie of the future is already filmed. As an alternative, I propose a participatory eschatology where the creation of our future is a joint venture between humanity and God…” Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith (Harper, 2010).
“This is a theology that – with its implicit threat of being left behind, of time running out – is used by Dispensational preachers to great evangelistic effect. It has been a very effective goad to conversion… To the contrary, the history of the world is infused with the presence of God, who is guiding the world toward becoming the kind of world God willed for it to be when it was created. Human history is going somewhere wonderful” Tony Campolo
Mysticism and Theology
The New Age/Occult:
“Therefore, in the new world order, spirituality will supersede theology; living experience will take the place of theological acceptances.” Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul (her spirit guide)
The Emergent Church:
“Mysticism, once cast to the sidelines of the Christian tradition, is now situated in postmodernist culture near the center….Mysticism begins in experience; it ends in theology…..” Leonard Sweet (Quantum Spirituality p. 76)
The point I am trying to make with these quotations is that the Emergent Church is already heavily enmeshed with the New Age/occult. And as such the Emergent Church is not actually Christian. Both the New Agers and the occultists use “Christianized” terms such as Jesus, Christ, Christ-consciousness, God, heaven, etc, as does the Emergent Church. But do not be fooled, they are absolutely opposed to true Christianity, to the true gospel and to the real Jesus Christ in every way.
Remember: A lie mixed with a half-truth is a more effective deception than an outright lie.
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God….For the mystery of iniquity is already at work; ……The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-11
There can be no doubt that the religious synthesis between the Emergent Church and the Mystery religions is part of Satan’s plan to usher in a false religion – a One-World religion, paving the way for the Anti-Christ. In fact, the unity of religions in a One-World system is a stated purpose of the New Age/occult. When “Christianity” begins to say the same thing as the occult then it is time to wake up and take notice of what is going on! This began all the way back in Genesis at the Tower of Babel. This is not a “new” or “re-imagined” Christianity, but rather an ancient scheme of Satan designed to bring together a united rebellion against the only true God. But how will Satan attempt to do it?
The New Covenant promises are there to be a foundation for our hope in the Lord. This is the reason I would like to share below the comfort I have found in Jesus, Him being the High Priest of the New Covenant. When “darkness hides His lovely face”, when we go through hard times, when we feel lost or lonely, then it is that this hope must be “the anchor of our soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 8:19, 20
The difference we have in the New Covenant with Jesus as our High Priest:
Old Covenant
New Covenant
Moses was the mediator of the Old covenant
Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the New covenant
No oath was made to human priests by God.“for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath…” Hebrews 7:21
Jesus was made a priest by an oath:“God has sworn and will not relentYou are a priest forever, according to the
Order of Melchizedek” Psalm 110:4
The law appoints as priests men who have weakness.
Jesus is the guarantee of a better covenant because of the oath. The oath appoints Jesus as Priest, who has been perfected forever.
The priests were human. As such they were sinners themselves, bound to the earthly realm.
Jesus is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and is not earth-bound, but rather He is higher than the heavens.
The priests needed to daily offer up sacrifices for both their own sins as well as the sins of the people.
Jesus is sinless so does not need to offer up a sacrifice for Himself. At the cross He offered up a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
The priests offered animals as sacrifices for sin
Jesus offered up Himself as the sacrifice for sin.
The priests each eventually died, and so there were many different priests at different times.
Jesus never dies so His priesthood is unchangeable. (What a comfort!)
The priests could only intercede for the people whilst they were alive, therefore their priesthood was LIMITED.
Therefore, because our Priest never changes, because He always lives and is always interceding for us, He will save to the UTTERMOST those who come to God through Him. His Priesthood is UNLIMITED and NEVER-ENDING.
“His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the ‘whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay”
(lyrics from “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand”)
(This table is by no means exhaustive. There are so many more eternal truths about Jesus as our High priest. I have compiled this table from a study of Hebrews 6 & 7)
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover feast, the Passover lamb and the feast of Unleavened Bread. Whilst these Old Testament shadows pointed to the One to come, He is the reality behind the shadow. There is so much in the feast of Passover that foreshadows Christ that I don’t have a hope of covering all of it here. So this is just to skim the surface of these treasures:
The Lamb:
Type: A lamb was selected for the Passover sacrifice on tenth of Nisan. “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying “On the tenth of this month (Nisan) every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.” Exodus 12:3
Anti-type: Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem on the tenth of Nisan. As He entered the city, so too were the Passover lambs being brought into Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover sacrifices.
Type: The Passover lambs were reared in Bethlehem and brought into Jerusalem for the feast
Anti-type: Jesus was born in Bethlehem and came up to Jerusalem for the feast
Type: As the Passover lambs were ushered into Jerusalem the crowds cried out “Hosanna!”
Anti-type: Jesus was greeted with “Hosanna!” as he entered Jerusalem. (Hosanna means “Save now” or “Please save”)
Type: “Your lamb shall be without blemish….you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.” (Exodus 12:5, 6). The lamb was kept by each family until the fourteenth of Nisan when it was sacrificed. During this period of four days the lamb was inspected to ensure it was without spot or blemish, which would preclude it from being offered to the Lord.
Anti-type: Before Jesus Christ, was offered to God as a sacrifice He too was also examined – by Annas, by the High Priest, by the Sanhedrin, by Pontius Pilate and by Herod. No spot nor blemish could be found in Him, indeed He was wholly without sin.
The Leaven:
Type: “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses….” (Exodus 12:19). Homes needed to be cleansed at this time. (For Jews it is still a time of spring cleaning). Leaven needed to be searched out in each home and removed as this was also the time of the Feast of Unleavened bread. Leaven in scripture is, of course, a picture of sin.
Anti-type: Jesus having arrived in Jerusalem, goes straight into the temple and begins to cleanse the leaven from House of God, driving out those who bought and sold in it. (Luke 19:45) Jesus, of course is the fulfillment of “Unleavened” bread, Him being without sin.
The Passover:
Type: Jesus’ fervent desire is to eat the Passover seder with His disciples. The Passover was a remembrance of what God had done in setting the Israelites free from their bondage in Egypt. The blood of the lamb was painted on the lintels and doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over the Israelite’s homes and they would be saved.
Anti-type: It is at Passover that Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper. “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” As Jesus broke the matzah He was telling them that His body would also be broken. Just at the Passover lamb’s blood was shed and painted on the lintels and doorposts – so too would His blood be shed. Under the covering of Christ’s shed blood we are set free from our bondage to sin and the judgment of God passes over us so that we are saved.
(The Jewish day begins at sundown. Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples at sundown as Passover began. He was crucified the next day before sundown, therefore, on Passover.)
The Sacrifice:
Type: During the time the temple was standing in Jerusalem, three lambs were sacrificed on Passover.
Anti-type: Jesus was sacrificed on the cross at the same time that the first Passover lamb was killed in the Temple. Around the time the second lamb was being slain in the Temple, everything went dark. At the time of the third lamb’s sacrifice, Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross and the veil in the Temple was ripped in two.
God had commanded in the Law that everyone was to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. That means that everyone got to witness the veil being ripped from top to bottom. The New Covenant was now instituted through Christ’s shed blood and the way into the Holy of Holies was made open by the death of the spotless, perfect, sinless Lamb of God – Jesus Christ.
Oh if we could only truly comprehend what He has done for us! He laid down His life for us – Him who never sinned. His body broken, His blood shed so that we could enter into communion with the Father. The veil of His flesh torn so that the way to God is open for us now!
“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.… Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD….For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” Hebrews 10:1-14
By one offering Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, took away all the sins of the world…. Hallelujah to the Lamb!
Grace and Truth 