Mystery | Grace and Truth

May 14, 2014
by GraceandTruth 23 Comments

A Harlot, an Emergent and a Pope Walked into a Bar…

There can be no doubt that the emerging 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, is coming. In fact, the unity of all religions in a One-World system is a stated purpose of the New Age/occult (The Emergent/New Age Connection)

But 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 do it?

Integral Consciousness

The West is actually no longer Post-Modern. We are past that point now. Right now we are “emerging” from Post-Modernism into post-Post-Modernism.

Integral Consciousness is an “emerging area of discourse” within philosophy.

Where Post-Modernism de-constructed the foundations of absolute truth, Integral Theory/Spirituality, promoted by Ken Wilber, seeks to build a new platform of truth and reality. This new platform is created by bringing together a synthesis of the “best of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern reality. It is portrayed as a “theory of everything” and offers an approach “to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching.” (source: wikipedia)

Think of it like this: Post-modernism philosophy broke down (de-constructed) everything that we previously had accepted as truth – whether it was in art, design, philosophy or religion. The broken bits and pieces of truth’s foundation were left lying around for anyone to pick up and create whatever truth they wanted out of the mess. Every part equally true and important as the next, a level playing field of truth was created (otherwise known as “relativism”).

(I am engaging poetic licence at this point): Now along comes Satan, rubbing his hands at the field of broken truth. He picks up all the “best” bits of these broken truths and starts fitting them together until gradually a form emerges…. The best way to entice and seduce humanity? “Peace – they all want that: I’ll put that bit of Buddhism in;… “Love” , yes, that will stick – a bit of Jesus’ teachings will do here; ….Unity – ooooh that’ll really get ’em going – I’ll take that New Age concept of unity and stick it right in the middle there. Hmmmm – now what to stick it all together with…? – Aha! Human Integral Theory – that will be the glue.”

You may wonder how this post-post Modern philosophy will be sold to humanity. The answer is simple: Pride – the oft-proven and thus oft-repeated method. Human pride in philosophy and intellectualism is appealed to by Satan and used to aid his plans.. As we saw in The Emergent-cy of Post-Modernist Christianity , philosophy does influence and shape culture.

Satan is now using human Integral Theory to re-construct a new reality out of the debris of post-modern deconstructionism.

This is the philosophical Tower of Babel.

This philosophical Tower of Babel will then be expedited by mysticism into integrating all religions, including a form of Christianity, into a synthesis of the “best” of each religion. (See: Mysteries and Mysticism) This will create a false religious system which the Bible calls the “great harlot” or “Mystery Babylon”:

Mystery Babylon the Great

“And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY

BABYLON THE GREAT

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH

And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her I marveled with great amazement.”

(Revelation 17:5)

Notice the beast which the woman sits on – the false religious system will “ride on” the united One-World government. The tenth horn on the beast’s head is the Anti-Christ, which is also riding on the One-world government.

It is crucial to understand that what is occurring within the Emergent Church, and the world at large, is opposed to Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ is God’s appointed Ruler. He came to earth the first time as the humble, obedient Lamb. The second time He is coming as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Judge and Ruler. God has exalted Him far above all rule and authority.

This knowledge absolutely infuriates Satan. Satan hates Jesus with an undying passion. He is jealous of Christ’s authority and position – for this is the very position to which he tried to exalt himself (see Isaiah 14:12-15). When Satan sets up the anti-Christ as the authority on earth it is his way of trying to usurp Jesus Christ’s rightful authority as King of kings. Satan ultimately wants to be worshipped and will receive worship through this person of anti-Christ. The anti-Christ is a substitute of the real Christ. We must realize that when absolute truth is attacked, down-graded or dismissed, it is a direct attack on Jesus Christ Himself. Truth is not a disembodied philosophy nor theory. No – Truth is a person – Jesus Christ. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” said Jesus Christ, John 14:6.

Anti-Christ – is a counterfeit “Christ” opposed to the true Christ.

The great harlot – is a counterfeit religion opposed to the true Bride of Christ.

Make no mistake: there is another “Christ”.

And this false Christ is already making headway into the Church.

Integral Theory/Spirituality and the Emergent Church

So has Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory entered the Emergent Church?…

Rob Bell: “For a mind-blowing introduction to emergence theory and divine creativity, set aside three months and read Ken Wilber’s A Brief History of Everything.” Velvet Elvis, pg 192

Brian McLaren: on “A Theory of Everything and “The Marriage of Sense and Soul”
“These two books by philosopher Ken Wilber are not the next Christendom Christian books, but the way of thinking Wilber promotes and exemplifies which he calls integral thinking and which I call emergent thinking is powerful and important, in my opinion.”

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.” 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4

(On Jan. 21, 2014, Kenneth Copeland Ministries received a personal video message from Pope Francis calling for “unity” which caused a leader to declare “Luther’s protest is over!” (ie Protestantism) Watch his message here and Kenneth Copeland’s reaction to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eulTwytMWlQ)

Next post….

More on Integral theory and the New Age
Emergence theory and the Emergent Church

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!

March 2, 2014
by GraceandTruth 7 Comments

The Deep, Deep Roots of Emerging Mysticism

This post follows on from “The Falling Dominoes in the Emergent Church”. In that post we saw that the Holy Spirit, whom is the Spirit of Truth, will only witness to truth. So when absolute truth is discarded or diluted in the name of “relevance”, as in the Emergent Church, He is grieved and departs, leaving room for something else to enter. That “something” is ancient pagan spirituality, also known as mysticism.

From Where does Mysticism Originate?

“What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

Firstly, as we saw in Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church , Satan’s aim is to cause humankind to doubt the truth of God’s Word by saying (Genesis 3:1):

“Has God really said..?”

Satan has used this lie through the tool of de-constructionism in the Emergent Church.

Once, having listened to this initial lie, with God’s Word no longer the authority, we become vulnerable to more of his lies. Once Eve listened to the first lie of Satan and she began to doubt the truth of God’s Word it then became easy for Satan to introduce another lie to her. Genesis 3:5 says:

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

This lie of Satan’s is integral to our understanding of mysticism.

So….

The Re-definition of Language, clothed in intellectualism, leads humankind to doubt God’s Word as the truth and final authority……We turn away from the Tree of Life.

The next step is:

The idea that we can have knowledge apart from God. The implication by Satan is that God is keeping something back from us, (causing us to doubt God’s goodness) and that only through this “other” knowledge can we truly be as God ourselves. This knowledge leads to “god-hood”……And so we partake of Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

With no Holy Spirit to teach and guide we begin to see things like:

Liturgy
Robes
Candles
Labyrinths
Prayer beads
Prayer stones
Contemplative prayer

all under the banner of Protestant Evangelical Christianity….What is going on?

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” Revelation 17:5

Mystery Babylon

In Genesis 10 Nimrod built the city of Babel (Babylon) as well as other cities. It was the first capital city of the first great empire of the world. Nimrod, as first King of Babylon, with his wife Semiramis formed a wicked partnership. Together, in order to expand their authority, they began a religious system of Emperor-worship where Nimrod established himself as the Sun-god and Semiramis the Moon-goddess.

“Around themselves, as the Sun and Moon gods, they created an entire religion that was based on a corruption of primeval astronomy developed by Noah’s righteous ancestors prior to the flood.”(Know Your Enemy, The Fuel Project, Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDDGl79x4Pc).

The Tower of Babel was where they intended to be worshipped and was the first one-world effort at creating a spiritual system independent of God. Note the similarities between their language and Lucifer’s language:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens, let us make a name for ourselves…” (The Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:4)

and

“I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;…I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High…” (Lucifer’s words in Isaiah 14:13, 14)

“Babylon was more than just an ancient city, it is the source or fountain-head of evil that began thousands of years ago and flows throughout the history of mankind affecting us even today in ways we don’t realize. It represents a satanic system of rebellion against God’s plan of salvation that has never ceased to exist in one form or another. The practices, symbolism and perverted thought processes that originated there are still with us today. It has adopted various guises over time but the common threads are there to be uncovered. It is the source of all the abominations of the earth.” (Know Your Enemy, The Fuel Project, Part 4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDDGl79x4Pc

Next time….Mysteries and Mysticism

June 3, 2013
by GraceandTruth 2 Comments

The Mystery of the Cross

I woke up one morning with this in my head, and wrote it in my journal:

The cross is ugly,

The cross is beautiful.

The cross kills,

The cross gives life.

The cross is God’s hatred towards sin,

The cross is God’s love towards us.

On the one hand, the cross deals a death blow to pride, vanity and selfishness

On the other hand it’s beauty is evident by the suffering of a sinless Saviour

Who can say whether it is one or the other?

It is both.

For Jesus is meant death, pain and suffering,

If we follow Him, it will for us too.

But this is the only way to life and hope

You can’t have the life of the Saviour

Without first, having the death of the Saviour

You can’t take a short-cut

First the pain, then the relief,

First the sorrow, then the joy,

First the death, then the life

“Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it stays alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.” (John 12:24)