church | Grace and Truth

May 1, 2014
by GraceandTruth 5 Comments

Of Labyrinths and Christianity

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:

1. Labyrinths Are Pagan

A Labyrinth is a pagan tool which was adopted into the Catholic church around medieval times (see : http://luc.edu/medieval/labyrinths/labyrinths_evolution.shtml) and is now experiencing a re-surgence in popularity due in large part to Dr Lauren Artress of Veriditas (http://www.veriditas.org/).

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

Labyrinths of Emerging Paganism – This Weekend

“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

April 16, 2014
by GraceandTruth 5 Comments

Atheism and Christianity – Richard Wurmbrand Quotation

“In prison, the political officer asked me harshly, “How long will you continue to keep your stupid religion?”

I said to him, “I have seen innumerable atheists regretting on their deathbeds that they have been godless; they called on Christ. Can you imagine that a Christian could regret, when death is near, that he has been a Christian and call on Marx or Lenin to rescue him from his faith?”

The officer laughed, “A clever answer.”

I continued, “When an engineer has built a bridge, the fact that a cat can pass over the bridge is no proof that the bridge is good. A train must pass over it to prove its strength. The fact that you can be an atheist when everything goes well does not prove the truth of atheism. It does not hold up in moments of great crisis.”

“As there are many who believe they are Christians and in reality are not, we found that among the Russians there are many who believe they are atheists, but in reality they are not”

~ Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured For Christ

April 4, 2014
by GraceandTruth 6 Comments

No Compromise: “Not a Hoof Shall be Left Behind”

Moses didn’t compromise with Pharoah.

I guess he could have. It would have probably been a whole lot easier for him to accept the first offer from Pharoah which came after the plague of flies : that the children of Israel can go make their sacrifices to God right there in the land of Egypt.

But Moses said “no deal” – that’s not what God had instructed: “We will go three days’ journey in to the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He will command us.” Exodus 8:27

After the plague of hail Pharoah conceded slightly and offered a new deal to Moses “Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord.”
But, again, Moses said “no deal”, that’s not what God had commanded : “And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord.” Exodus 10:9

After swarms of locusts and 3 days of intense blackness Pharoah called Moses in. He was ready to offer his best compromise yet:
“Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you,” he said.

This was his best deal yet. After all, Egypt’s own animals had now been wiped out by boils, hail and disease. Moses only need leave the animals behind and all the men, women and children were free to go!

Did Moses yield and make a compromise with the one holding God’s people captive? Did he agree to the deal with Pharoah potentially bringing about peace and unity between the Israelites and the Egyptians?

‘But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the Lord until we arrive there.” Exodus 10:25, 26

Of course Moses didn’t make a deal with the devil, oops, I mean Pharoah. He didn’t compromise one inch! Not even one little hoof was to be left behind!

Moses was a man of God with a foundation of truth and integrity that was built on the Word of God. Moses had always told Pharoah the truth. The whole truth – even the hard parts about judgment. Moses had always proclaimed the truth and he wasn’t going to start backing down now.

My question is…..So what on earth has happened to the Church?

At every turn we are compromising: making deals with the devil, shaking hands, signing documents with Islam (Chrislam), Interfaith conferences, performing occult practices in the Church.

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14

Imagine if Moses had said “yes” to one of Pharoah’s little deals…who knows, maybe he was tired and the offer was tempting….

What would we have done? Would we have had the guts to say “No. Not even one hoof is going to be left behind! I am not budging on God’s Word one teeny iota” ? Would we have been brave enough to stand on God’s Word, hard as it may be…?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…” Romans 1:16

Let us not fear men more than we fear God. Where would that have gotten Moses?

“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth” John Wesley

April 2, 2014
by GraceandTruth 5 Comments

Missionary Quotation: Underground Church Worker

“The Lord Jesus calls people who realize they cannot function at all apart from His grace and empowerment. God chooses to use those individuals who know Him intimately! This is the primary qualification for service in the kingdom of God.”

Underground Church worker in China

March 21, 2014
by GraceandTruth 3 Comments

Street-Preaching – Uh Why?

“I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields…I now preach to ten times more people than I would if I had been confined to the churches.” George Whitfield

We were there to street-preach before the concert began and set up the PA system. With wave upon wave of people coming across the street toward us and hundreds more pouring out from the train station behind us, it was crazy busy. There were so many people that at one point I could hardly move.

It was too good an opportunity to pass up. I preached.

“Nobody cares!” someone screamed at me.

Who cares if nobody cares? I certainly don’t. My Lord Jesus told me to “Go”. I kept preaching. I preached for as long as I could, until my voice started cracking and I had to stop for its sake.

Street-preaching – why? (I ask myself this when I’m feeling tired or lazy)

Because thousands of people, both old and young heard the gospel of Jesus Christ last night who perhaps wouldn’t have otherwise.

What if those people never once in their life ever stepped inside a Church?What if they never heard the gospel before they died?

Thank you my Jesus.

March 19, 2014
by GraceandTruth 4 Comments

A Meditation on Emergent Spirituality

“Mysticism, once cast to the sidelines of the Christian tradition, is now situated in postmodernist culture near the center….” Emergent leader Leonard Sweet (Quantum Spirituality)

This post follows on from Mysteries and Mysticism. Unfortunately the Emergent Church has now not only fully embraced ancient pagan spirituality, or mysticism, as part of their worship, but is also promoting it. This isn’t just a fad or phase, nor is it a minor side-issue within Christendom! Rather it is a cleverly planned strategy by Satan himself to infiltrate Evangelical Christianity with his greater purpose in mind – to synthesize it with the other world religions in order to make way for a One-World Religion, and ultimately the Anti-Christ.

The Synthesis

“New Age Philosophy has conquered the West intellectually and Western culture is currently experiencing a phenomenal shift – sociological, spiritual & ideological. It’s a secular, multi-cultural, multi-religious synthesis, of the Oriental mystical philosophies, mainly Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism & Western Occultism, emphasising Holism, the doctrine that Reality is organically One” From New Age website : http://eastrovedica.com/html/newage.htm

Let’s re-visit the Hegelian/Kant principle, which we saw briefly in Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church. I think it is important to consider this principle at work because the distinctions between Christianity and other religions are being corroded within the Emergent church right now, making for a religious-fusion.

Hegelian dialectic philosophy, is “usually presented in a threefold manner, (and) was stated by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus as comprising three dialectical stages of development: a thesis, giving rise to its reaction, an antithesis, which contradicts or negates the thesis, and the tension between the two being resolved by means of a synthesis.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_method).

It looks like this:

Thesis Synthesis Antithesis

Christianity Emergent Church Post-Modernism

Christianity Emergent Church Eastern mysticism

Christianity/Judaism One World Religion Mystery Religions

The Corrosion of the Thesis (Christianity)

How are the contradictions and opposing doctrines between Christianity and other religions being corroded by the Hegelian principle?

1. By the re-definition of language, particularly in the area of Christian doctrine

Previously we have seen that Satan, using the tool of the Emergent Church, has been breaking down Absolute Truth through “deconstructionism” (Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church).

It is the old lie: “Has God really said…?” (Genesis 3). For Satan to cast doubt on the truth of God’s Word is imperative to the advancement of his plan because he knows that :

“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him,” (Proverbs 30:5). Should a Christian relinquish the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit Satan knows that his defenses are removed and that he becomes like a “broken down city without walls” (Proverbs 25:28).

2. By finding “common ground” in mystical spirituality

“…if we are looking for common ground, can we find it in mystical spirituality, even if we cannot theologically agree, can we pray together in such a way that we connect with a God that transcends our theological differences?” Tony Campolo

The primary mystical practice being used to bring “synthesis” between religions within the Emergent Church is that of meditation*, or contemplative prayer.

“Western Christianity has (for the last few centuries anyway) said relatively little about mindfulness and meditative practices, about which Zen Buddhism has said much. To talk about different things is not to contradict one another; it is, rather, to have much to offer one another, on occasion at least.” Brian Mclaren

Although different methods are employed ie, multi-sensory worship, prayer stones, labyrinths or “centering prayer’, each is designed to lead to an altered state of consciousness. Repetitive music, mantra-chanting, darkness, smells, sounds and pictures of Jesus all aid in this process.

A couple of years ago I visited a Protestant church and was handed a box containing a colourful stone. The pastor encouraged us to hold the stone as we prayed, as an aid to bring us into God’s presence. This is paganism and is unfortunately becoming more and more common. (See where prayer stones originated : http://dharma-beads.net/pagan-prayer-beads-rosary

It is interesting to note that an altered state of consciousness through meditation, in some form or other, is common to all of the Mystery Babylon religions – Buddhism, Taoism, Kabbalah, Freemasonry, Occultism, New Age etc, you name it. This is the primary means the serpent uses to communicate his secret knowledge.

“For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5

The Emergent Church & Meditation

Meditation or “contemplative prayer” was also the practice of the ancient Catholic/Jesuit monastic desert fathers. One such desert father, Ignatius of Loyola, practiced mystical prayer, culminating in visions of a serpent, who lead to him gain “secret knowledge” (sound familiar?) from which he wrote the “Spiritual Exercises”. Ignatius of Loyola became the founder of the order of the “Jesuits”. (View the evil-ness of the Jesuit oath here: http://www.reformation.org/jesuit-oath.html )

Disturbingly these desert fathers are being promoted by the Emergent Church as inspirational and worthy of emulation in their prayer and “spiritual discipline” practices:

Brian McLaren: http://brianmclaren.net/archives/blog/from-st-ignatius.html

Rob Bell: http://marshill.org/teaching-resources/spiritual-practices/

(Notice on Bell’s website in particular Catholic monastic “lectio divina” and “prayer of examen”.)

Tony Campolo: “…during times of reflection I sensed that believing in Jesus and living out His teachings just wasn’t enough. There was a yearning for something more, and I found that I was increasingly spiritually gratified as I adopted older ways of praying–ways that have largely been ignored by those of us in the Protestant tradition. Counter-Reformation saints like Ignatius of Loyola have become important sources of help as I have begun to learn from them modes of contemplative prayer. I practice what is known as “centering prayer,” in which a sacred word (a mantra) is repeated as a way to be in God’s presence.”

Here you can listen to Rob Bell actually leading his congregation through meditative breathing techniques that have no place in scripture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDcAt35IQ5o

From Emergent founder Doug Pagitt’s “Body Prayer” book: “As you begin to pray, close your eyes. Then inhale and exhale with deep breaths. Put your hands in a comfortable position, consider turning both hands palms up. Notice the tension in your head – and let it go as you take in a deep breath – and then exhale. Notice the tension in your shoulders and let it go, again by breathing in and then out. Notice the tension in your stomach and let it go. Move down your body doing the same.”

I did yoga when I was a teenager and this is the exact process. But then, “Christian” yoga is now being promoted too! Whilst it may be wrapped in Christian terminology, while it may be “Christian” words that are chanted as a mantra, don’t be fooled – it is still the same old Mystery pagan techniques cloaked in “Christianity”.

Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words” (Matthew 6:7).

Why Meditation?

Of course the emphasis on meditation is no accident – it is part of a definite strategy. The process is this:

Detachment – empty your mind by repeating a mantra (one word) over and over
Illumination – knowledge or “enlightenment”
Union – a mystical experience with “God”

No 1. – a glimpse of emptiness or a state of emptiness is aimed for by the practitioner.

No 2. – “illumination” or knowledge. Remember that the Mystery religions always promise esoteric knowledge – the triangle or hierarchy of illumination, the higher you go, the more you know.

“Then the serpent said to the woman, “….God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3)

No 3 – “Union” is the ultimate in meditation/contemplative prayer. Mystics also call it “Truth”, “the ‘Godhead’”, “Reality”, “Ultimate Realization” or “The Ultimate Experience”.

“These are direct apprehensions or illuminations – in a word, direct spiritual experiences (satori, kensho, shaktipat, nada, shabd, etc.).” Ken Wilber (writer, mystic, New-ager/occultist who could stop his brain waves through meditation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFFMtq5g8N4)

This is where the practitioner has reached such a state of altered consciousness that they are open to the spirit world. They become “One” with the “Supreme Being” and the “ancient wisdom” is then bestowed on them. Thus they are “enlightened”, they know the “Truth”, they’ve reached “nirvana”.

Unfortunately the “One” whom they are being united with is not God, who is “Light and in Him there is no darkness at all”, nor the Holy Spirit whom is the “Spirit of truth”, but rather a deceptive spirit who now has access to an unprotected mind and soul. We know that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) in order to deceive.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

The “Truth” of the “ancient wisdom” they receive is now being promoted in the Emergent church, even running courses on this subject. But the “truth” is a lie and is always the same old thing:

That there is a single, universal truth on which all the world’s religions have been based. That there is a common thread throughout them all which is “experiential union with the “supreme being” which can only be achieved by undertaking a programme of physical and mental purification.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_philosophy)
That there is Cosmic consciousness or “we are all One”, “in which the universe is perceived as an interconnected network of individual consciousnesses, each one of which is connected to every other one…It may also be conceived of as an Absolute or Godhead from which all conscious beings emanate.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_consciousness)

It is designed to “usher.. the devotee into “oneness” with cosmic consciousnesses, the eastern understanding of god or divinity, often referred to as the “divine spark”, believed to be synonymous with all nature. The idea of god/divinity IN all is known as pantheism, that god is IN all that is material, but panentheism says the divine permeates everything including all eternity, concluding that all spirituality and all spirits are divine and acceptable.” (http://caryltv.com/36-breath-prayer/278-q-and-a-practising-the-presence)

Thus it comes as no surprise that the Emergents, whom are delving into the Mystery religions, are now using the same language of the New Agers/occultists – and are spouting the same old stuff that they’ve been saying for years!

“We are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity.” Emergent leader Leonard Sweet.

Next post…The Emergent Church/New Age Connection

The connection between the Emergent Church and the New Age/occult
The shift from the de-constructionism of post-modernism to post-post-modernism integral theory

*Meditation – in this context the meditation I am speaking of is distinctly pagan in origin, using techniques in order to bring one into an altered state of consciousness. I am not dis-crediting the Biblical practice of meditation which is used to study, contemplate and think on the Word of God. I believe true godly meditation encourages the use of the mind, rather than the emptying of it.

March 9, 2014
by GraceandTruth 8 Comments

33 Christians Sentenced to Death in North Korea

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/6/kim-jong-un-calls-execution-33-christians/

33 of our brothers and sisters will be executed within the next few hours in North Korea.

Because they are Christians. Like us.

“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” Revelation 6:9-11

OH LORD, save us from our complacency and luke-warmness. Save us from our idols of comfort and convenience. Save us from our obsession with self. Save us from our Western mindset. Save us from our dullness of heart. Wake us up from our comfortable bed of luxury. OH LORD save us!

Here we are – so wealthy in the West. We have food, money, cars, houses, freedom, church buildings, light and sounds systems and, of course, smoke machines, and yet – we are spiritually bankrupt.

They are the rich ones in North Korea. They are the ones for whom a crown of life awaits. They are the ones whose underground churches are flourishing and the Holy Spirit is moving upon. They are the ones who are awake. They are the ones who know Jesus and the “fellowship of His suffering”. They are the ones who are watching for His return.

We are not separate from them. We are all a part of Christ’s Body. Let us pray from them and their families. Let us pray for the persecuted Church.

In Christ’s Name, Amen

March 5, 2014
by GraceandTruth 2 Comments

Mysteries and Mysticism

This post follows on from The Deep, deep Roots of Emerging Mysticism where we looked at Mystery Babylon, the Tower of Babel, Nimrod and the ancient roots of the “mystery” religions – all sprung from the root of Satan’s lie:

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God….”

It is my belief that the Church is willing to accept rituals, prayer labyrinths and other pagan practices because we have lost the anointing of the Holy Spirit both in our churches and in our prayer closets. Friends – we desperately need a revival! Where are those who, like Elijah, will cry out to God until He sends the rain?

I believe we have lost the anointing in our churches and prayer closets because are not willing to pay the price to have it. The anointing is costly.

Yes, salvation is free to all because of Christ’s atonement at Calvary – that is undisputed – but the anointing of the Holy Spirit is an expensive treasure. To follow our Master is not always easy. The way of the cross is hard, it demands sacrifice, humility, self-denial and death to self. Are we willing to pay the price?

This is something we need to decide, because there is an influx of Mystery Religions coming – and from the way of the cross they are completely opposed…

The Tree of LIfe

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

Which Tree will you choose?

Characteristics of the Mystery Religions

In contrast to the way of the cross, these mystery religions all have one thing in common:

They elevate humankind to god-hood.

Rather than death to self, “Self” is exalted.

“.…you will be like God….” Gen 3:5

Just as Lucifer tried to exalt himself above the throne of God; just as Nimrod tried to elevate himself above the heavens by his tower, so too the mystery religions continue to attempt to exalt humankind to deity. What these mystery religions proclaim, in essence, is that : humankind is essentially divine, we just need to realize it. Our divine consciousness simply needs to be recognized and released.

Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Gnosticism, the New Age & Western Occultism all hold to this belief.

The Bible calls this the “Mystery of Iniquity”. Man in his “divinity” seeks to reach up to god-hood. He tries to elevate himself through some sort of works. These may include: religious rituals, asceticism, enlightenment through meditation, good works etc.

“New Age believes in the essential goodness of Man and the Divine Spark in Man” (http://eastrovedica.com/html/newage.htm)

Notice that this “reaching up” is the exact opposite of what God did in sending His Son, Jesus Christ:

“who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phillippians 2:6-8

While mystery religions attempt to lift man UP to the heavens, Christ, the true God, humbles Himself and leaves heaven to come DOWN to save us from our sin.

The Bible calls this the “Mystery of Godliness”. We cannot save ourselves. Our eternal salvation and redemption required for God to come down to us in order to save us.

The Mystery of Iniquity says that humankind is divine – our problem is that we don’t know it (PRIDE)
The Mystery of Godliness says that humankind is sinful, unable to save ourselves and that it required God to come down to us in the flesh to save us (HUMILITY)

Which is more appealing to human flesh?

Has the “Mystery of Iniquity” Entered the Church?

“For Christianity, the central problem is how God could have become person. How spirit could transform itself into matter. Word become flesh. Consciousness become protoplasm. The direction is from the top down. For Judaism, on the other hand, the problem is how humanity could possibly attain to God’s word and intention. How matter could raise itself to spirit. How simple desert souls could hear the word. Human substance attain consciousness. The intention is “to permeate matter and raise it to spirit.” The direction is from the bottom up. Perhaps the two traditions, one moving down, the other moving up, are destined to meet in the divinity of humanity.” Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality, pg. 191

“We affirm our divinity by doing what is worthy of gods, and we affirm our humanity by taking risks only available to mortals. God had to become one of us before He could become heroic … Robert Schuller affirms our divinity, yet does not deny our humanity … isn’t that what the gospel is? Isn’t God’s message to sinful humanity that He sees in each of us a divine nature of such worth that He sacrificed His own Son so that our divine potentialities might be realized? … The hymn writer who taught us to sing ‘Amazing Grace’ was all too ready to call himself a ‘wretch’ … Forgetting our divinity and over-identifying with our [Freudian] anal humanity… Erich Fromm, one of the most popular psychoanalysts of our time, recognized the diabolical social consequences that can come about when a person loses sight of his/her own divinity …” Tony Campolo

Um, I’d say that’s a resounding “YES”.

But what does Jesus say? “If any man will be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me.”

The way of the cross is death. First death, then life. Christ Himself died and was raised up. We also need to die to self and be raised up to resurrection life by the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to confess that we are sinners only saved by God’s grace, not by any human works.

The anointing has a price: and it comes at the expense of human pride.

Definition of Mysticism

According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy “The term ‘mysticism,’ comes from the Greek μυω, meaning “to conceal.” In the Hellenistic world, ‘mystical’ referred to “secret” religious rituals. In early Christianity the term came to refer to “hidden” allegorical interpretations of Scriptures and to hidden presences, such as that of Jesus at the Eucharist.”

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

In all of the “mystery” religions, we see that there is something hidden or concealed, a higher knowledge that only the elite few, being enlightened, are privy to, whilst the majority are left in the dark…..Remind you of anything?…

“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘….God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4, 5

“Another mystic described (reality) as “It is hidden, it is hidden and it is hidden“.” (http://eastrovedica.com/html/newage.htm)

This is why the triangle is a symbol of the mystery religions representing:

The enlightened few at the top

The majority of the un-knowing at the bottom

This is true for gnosticism, the New Age, Freemasonry, the cults and the occult. In fact “occult” is “from the Latin word occultus, meaning “clandestine, hidden, secret” is “knowledge of the hidden” (source: Wikipedia)

Contrast this with the pure simplicity of the Word of God. God has spoken through His Word and it is open and available to whomsoever wishes to read it. It is suitable both for the intellectual ex-Pharisee and for the uneducated fisherman. God’s plan of redemption is through His Son Jesus Christ and is plainly declared throughout scripture.

The Mystery of God

This is not to say that there is not mystery surrounding God. Of course there is. He is so much higher than us, His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. It is impossible for the human mind to fully comprehend God in all His goodness, power and glory – truly now we “see through a glass darkly”. Yet He has made Himself known to us through His Word, through His Son and by His Spirit and because of Christ’s atonement it is possible for us to have a personal relationship with God. This is indeed a divine mystery.

However what can be known of God is open and available to the lowest and the highest of the human race. There are not different levels or hierarchies in the Kingdom of God. Some are not privileged with a “special” knowing or knowledge whilst the rest of the plebs are left in the dark. “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all”. God wants us to know Him and has revealed Himself to us through the Word made flesh (Jesus), and the Word of God (The Bible).

The thing that concerns me about the Emergent Church is that they are turning away from how God has chosen to reveal Himself to humanity – the Word of God – because, as Leonard Sweet says:

“Doctrine does not convey the mystery of God.”

This is very subtle and very clever. This statement is appealing because in a sense it is true. Reliance on pure doctrine in a Christian can bring about legalism, rigidity and life-less coldness. Doctrine-only without the Holy Spirit’s anointing is dead. I have known Christians and churches with a purity of doctrine. They do not tolerate false teachings nor teachers, and yet there is no warmth, no love and no life. They label anyone who has had a personal experience of God as a “mystic”. They have run to the extreme of “truth” with no grace. This is not right. As Christians we need a personal experience with the living God, like Isaiah and Peter did. We need a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. We must know not only the Word of God, but the God of the Word. We need the anointing!

Yet, the other extreme is also faulty – to give away doctrine completely in order to search out the mystery of God, usually through experience-only. God has given us doctrine (or teaching) in His Word so that we can truly come to know Him. If we base our knowledge of God purely on our experiences then there is no objective point of reference as to whether who/what we are experiencing is truly God or whether it be a deceptive spirit. The Bible says to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God”. It is only through the safe-guards of the Word of God that we can measure our experiences to see whether they line up or not. Anything that falls outside of scripture is prohibited and not of God.

Tree of Life

So we need the Word of God and the anointing of the Spirit of God. Together they bring life.

The Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus Christ, so when the Word is preached (in the power of the Holy Spirit) the Spirit is there. When the authority of the Word is denied another spirit is able to gain access – the spirit of the “Mystery of Iniquity”. We see that that is what is happening in the Emergent church. Pagan spiritual practices are now acceptable and openly promoted. Labyrinths are being installed in churches, Eastern meditative breathing techniques are being taught from the pulpit, people are praying to pictures of Jesus, prayer stones are being handed out.

In my next post I would like to look at:

Some of how these techniques and practices are being taught and promoted in the Emergent Church
Their (hidden) purpose and
Where its heading – The Age of Aquarius and One-World Religion

In A Meditation on Emergent Spirituality

Blessings!

February 21, 2014
by GraceandTruth 4 Comments

The Falling Dominoes in the Emergent Church

“The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.” (William Booth)

This post is part 4 in this series and follows on from Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church. I had planned to write about the role mysticism and the New Age plays within the Emergent Church but the Holy Spirit stepped in. He has impressed upon me that another step, in this post, is required by Him, before I post on mysticism.

It is my position that when absolute truth is discarded, then logically the next step is the re-emergence of mystical spirituality. However it is necessary to understand how it is that the breakdown of absolute truth leads to the re-emergence of these ancient mystical practices. And so I will concentrate this post on some of the Truths of Christianity which have been recently changed, diluted or rejected. In the last post we looked at how the philosophical theory of de-constructionism has taken hold within the Emergent Church and that its leaders, such as Tony Campolo, Rob Bell, Leonard Sweet and Brian Mclaren, to name a few, are unashamedly using this system to interpret the Bible. Now we will look at some of the results of de-constructionism.

“Stamping out faith in Biblical absolutes is central to this transformation (of the “church”). A mind anchored in God’s Word won’t compromise, but when that anchor is removed, the current of change can carry that mind anywhere. As Jesuit scholastic, Mark Mossa, wrote in his endorsement of Brian McLaren’s latest book: “The Secret Message of Jesus, challenges us to put aside our sterile certainties about Christ and reconsider the imaginative world of Jesus stories, signs and wonders.” (Quote from http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/brianmclaren.htm)

No doctrine is safe when Biblical absolutes of truth are put aside. Here are some examples of the essential doctrines that are now being re-defined by the Emergent Church’s method of “Did God really say?” They are:

The doctrine of sin.

Tony Campolo says : ““…Isn’t God’s message to sinful humanity that He sees in each of us a divine nature of such worth that He sacrificed His own Son so that our divine potentialities might be realized? … The hymn writer who taught us to sing “Amazing Grace” was all too ready to call himself a “wretch” … Forgetting our divinity and over-identifying with our [Freudian] anal humanity… Erich Fromm, one of the most popular psychoanalysts of our time, recognized the diabolical social consequences that can come about when a person loses sight of his/her own divinity …”

It seems that Mr Campolo has believed the lie of the serpent that “Ye shall be as gods…” This denial of the sinfulness of humanity leads to the distortion of:

The centrality of Christ’s atoning work on the cross.

Take a look at what Mclaren himself has said:

“”[T]his is one of the huge problems with the traditional understanding of hell, because if the Cross is in line with Jesus’ teaching, then I won’t say the only and I certainly won’t say … or even the primary or a primary meaning of the Cross … is that the Kingdom of God doesn’t come like the kingdoms of this world by inflicting violence and coercing people. But that the kingdom of God comes through suffering and willing voluntary sacrifice right? But in an ironic way the doctrine of hell basically says no, that’s not really true. At the end God gets his way through coercion and violence and intimidation and uh domination just like every other kingdom does. The Cross isn’t the center then, the Cross is almost a distraction and false advertising for God.”

The substitutionary atoning work of Christ on the cross is pushed aside in the name of voluntary sacrifice. Of course, dismissing Christ’s atoning work on the cross then leads to the rejection of:

The doctrine of Hell.

Rob Bell says this about hell in his universalistic book “Love Wins”:

“A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better…. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear.”

(Misguided and toxic?…Jesus Himself said to: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” and described hell as a place “where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.”)

Because Jesus Himself said something this “violent” and “elitist”, then naturally the next question would pertain to:

The person of Jesus Christ Himself, God Incarnate in human flesh, the Son of God.

Tony Campolo writes of his pantheistic beliefs:

““One of the most startling discoveries of my life was the realization that the Jesus that I love, the Jesus who died for me on Calvary, that Jesus, is waiting, mystically and wonderfully, in every person I meet. I find Jesus everywhere. The difference between a Christian and non-Christian is not that Jesus isn’t in the non-Christian–the difference is that the Jesus who is within him is a Jesus to whom he will not surrender his life.”

If Jesus perhaps isn’t really God in the flesh, then of course the next doctrine to question is:

There is no other name under Heaven by which man can be saved than that of Jesus Christ.

Tony Campolo again: “Jesus is the only Savior, but not everybody who is being saved by Him is aware that He is the one who is doing the saving.”

This doctrine has been undermined by Rick Warren as well as numbers of other Christian leaders having signed the Yale document produced by Muslims leaders called “A Common Word Between Us and You”. This document is in line with the commandment in the Koran which says to “Say: ‘O People of the Scripture! come to a common word as between us and you: that we worship none but God’“.

The Muslim god Allah and the God of the Bible, YahWeh, are NOT the same. These Christian leaders seem to have no idea that they are signing themselves over to Islam and, of course, paving the way for Chrislam. Read the document here: http://www.acommonword.com/the-acw-document/ .

Here is a list of all the Christian leaders who have signed the document: http://www.acommonword.com/christian-signatories/

And so it goes on. As one doctrine is changed, watered-down or rejected the next domino falls, then the next, and so on.

The changing, dismissing or outright rejection of God’s Word by His “church” is not something God takes lightly.

“For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” Psalm 138:2.

“God’s Word is His communication, His promise, the revelation of Himself to His people. It is to be a lamp to our feet in a dark and fallen world, without it we would have no way to know God or how to do God’s will. To disregard God’s Word that is holy, pure and absolutely true is to defame God’s name and character. It is to bring ruin upon our walk. So it becomes the main focus point in our daily walk with Christ.” (taken from Let Us Reason http://www.letusreason.org/Doct42.htm)

The result of de-constructionism in the church is to undermine the authority of the Bible, as the Word of God, to question even the most basic fundamental tenets of Christianity and to “re-define” it to become more relevant to our post-modern society. (see “The “Emergent-cy” of Post-Modernist Christianity“) The Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of truth, will only witness to truth, so when truth is discarded, the Holy Spirit cannot bear witness, becomes grieved as Christ is blasphemed and, then, like a dove, eventually takes flight. In Ezekiel 10 the glory of God departed from the Temple as a result of Israel repeatedly ignoring God’s Word through His prophets. Israel became Ichabod.

And so it is with the Emergent church. What remains is but an empty shell consisting of a mixture of religious platitudes and man’s philosophy. But as “nature abhors a vacuum” something must fill that emptiness. Something ancient and spiritual.

And that “something” is mysticism.

Next post: The Deep, Deep Roots of Emerging Mysticism

The Re-emergence of ancient mysticism
The Connection with the New Age

Grace and Truth

…all the words of this life…

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