“The way of God’s precepts! Does not that mean that we ought to be acquainted with the relative position which the precepts occupy, for it is very easy brethren, unless God gives us understanding, to preach up one precept to the neglect of another. It is possible for a ministry and a teaching to be lopsided, and those who follow it may become rather the caricatures of Christianity than Christians harmoniously proportioned.
O Lord, what foolish creatures we are! When you do exhort us one way, we run to such an extreme therein that we forget that you have given us any other counsel than that which is just now ringing in our ears….
Is fidelity to the truth your cardinal virtue? Take heed of being unloving.
Is love to God and man your highest aspiration? Beware lest you become the dupe of false apostles and foul hypocrites…
Oh how easy it is to exaggerate a virtue until it becomes a vice.
There is a way about the precepts: there is a chime about them in which every bell gives out its note and makes up a tune. There is a mixture, so much of this and that and the other; and, if any ingredient were left out, the oil would have lost its perfect aroma.
So is there an anointing of the holy life in which there is precept upon precept skillfully mingled, delicately infused, gratefully blended, and grace given to keep each of these precepts, and so the life becomes sweet like an ointment most precious unto the Lord…” (emphasis mine)
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, aka The Prince of Preachers
From “The Student’s Prayer” sermon, delivered 1877 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
You can’t adopt the Church Growth model and remain faithful to the truth of the gospel.
You can’t be “seeker sensitive” and fear God at the same time.
Seeker Sensitive Movement:
no talking about divisive, uncomfortable topics such as hell, sin, judgement, the blood, the cross or repentance;
contemporary music;
20 minute sermons on relevant topics such as Self, motivational talks or psychology;
facilities, facilities, facilities
Even though one of the founders of the movement, Bill Hybels, has since repented of his part in creating this model, it has infiltrated and influenced the church across the Western world. Many younger people have no other experience of church but this hyper-loud, blacked out, motivational system.
We need to decide: who do we serve? God or mammon? Who do we seek to please ? Christ or man? Who do we follow? Jesus Himself or some dude with a business model.
The man in the street can see it, but sadly Christians can’t. The man in the street (ie Twitter) is asking why Hillsong charges $379 per ticket for their conference. With over 20,000 people in attendance this week millions of dollars has been raised. When there is that much money and power changing hands over a period of a few days it is necessary to question, critique and judge whether this movement is godly or Biblical.
We are told to “judge righteous judgement “ by Christ. Does this movement stand up to the scrutiny of the Word of God? At the Hillsong conference did they preach the gospel? Was sin addressed? Were thousands of people told the truth about heaven and hell?
And how does it compare to revivals of the past? (Did the Welsh revival charge an exorbitant ticket price to gain entrance?)
“Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” 1 Timothy 6:5
I’m over it. I just want Christ. I want the truth of the gospel: the bloody, gory, self-sacrificial truth of someone having to die for sinners on a cross. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I just want to see Him glorified. He who is ascended to the right hand of the Father, the One who is coming back and whom will rule the earth. I want to hear about Him, not a church, a system or self.
Friends, the gospel works. The old rugged cross, death to self, Christ and Him crucified: this is what saves people, regenerates people, transforms people. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen prostitutes come to Christ, people saved out of the occult, out of drugs. Not through some self-help motivational psycho-babble but through the truth of the shed blood of a Saviour who came from heaven to earth to save sinners!
It’s time now to make a stand for the truth for which Christ died. We are at a significant point in the history of humankind, whereby we need to decide whom we really serve: man or God?
I don’t know about you but this is what I want to hear one day when I stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
”Well done, good and faithful servant; you werefaithful over a few things,I will make you ruler over many things. Enter intothe joy of your lord.’” Matthew 25:21
Jesus said that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. As society continues on its rapid descent into darkness the church is called to be salt in the earth, a preserver from evil. But we also are to be a light in the darkness – a place to where people are drawn away from evil and unto good. The thing is, because this world, its value systems and philosophies, is so quickly changing into a post-Christian mind-set, Christians are often seen as the enemy rather than the light. We are the enemies of progress, enemies of other religions, enemies of certain groups of people, such as homosexuals.
Is this right? Should this be the case?
Today Christians have to contend with issues that were never mainstream issues years or decades ago in a society based on Christian values. Today we are post-modern and post-objective truth. Thus what was unacceptable years ago – adultery, fornication, porn, divorce, abortion, homosexuality, occult practices – is now acceptable. It even may be argued that we have gone beyond mere acceptance and that these practices are now actively promoted.
In response to the post-Christian world around us one tends to find that Christians generally go one of two ways: They either accept society’s evolving standards, deny the truth, and be perceived as loving, (the “light”), in order to try to save some; or they go the other way and become so angry at the changing world and the fact that other Christians have denied the truth that they dismiss grace and preach the truth but with no love (the “salt”).
The thing is, we need to be both light and salt. We need to find the balance of grace and truth.
Okay, so this is what I can make of it: We absolutely, resolutely need to remain faithful to the truth of God’s Word. To change His Word, to dismiss parts of it, to pick and choose the easy bits is just not an option. What this world needs more than ever is clear, decisive, objective truth. As this world is decaying we need to be the salt that slows the corruption. We need to either take all of His Word or none of it. We can’t have it both ways. We need to be resolved because we will be tested on this time and again. Know that if you are going to stand by the truth of God’s Word then at times you will be perceived as sounding harsh, unloving, intolerant. For a Christian to just simply speak the truth now is an act of hate. And here’s the worst bit: Most Christians feel the same. (Generally speaking) Christians now, rather than denouncing the sinful acts, denounce the preacher who is denouncing the sinful acts.
But…..and this is a big BUT…. It all comes down to the state of our heart. As Christians we need to understand this. There is no point preaching the truth, or trying to live by the truth of God’s Word if our heart is not right.
I have seen preachers, street-preachers, Christians who seem to hate the people they are trying to save. They are so angry at them. They yell, they point their fingers at them. “It’s God righteous anger” they say. Well, maybe it is, but let me ask you this: are you so full of the Holy Spirit that you are absolutely, positively sure it is God’s anger and not your own that you’re venting?
Are we angry at our son, our daughter, our sister, our friend because of their sin? Because they haven’t done what we want them to do? Are we angry at the world for changing around us?
As we stand for the truth are we full of spiritual pride because we are right and they are wrong?
Have we let a religious or a legalistic spirit take hold of us?
Listen my friends, this is really important as we stand for the truth of God’s Word. Because sinners know. They know I tell you. They know if you hate them. They know if you are angry. THEY know if your heart is not right.
They know the anointing of the Holy Spirit too. They don’t know what to call it but they see it and feel it.
They feel the difference between someone who is telling them the truth because the love of God constrains them to and someone who is telling them the truth because they have a religious spirit.
God sent me two homosexuals the very first night I street-preached. These two young men mocked me at first, they kissed in front of me (shock horror!), they laughed at me. But God loved those boys. His love shone through me to them and they stayed with me for one and a half hours. I told them the truth. I told them what they are doing is an abomination to God. Yes I used those words, but not in anger or contempt, and God’s love held them fast. I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. At the end we all hugged, cried and I prayed for them. One fell to the ground crying, the other clutched his chest and begged me to stop praying. Six years later I am still in touch with the one who fell to the ground. He calls me his favourite Christian. He calls on me for help when he needs it and when he does I still speak the truth to him in love. I am believing that he will be saved one day.
The thing with grace and truth is that people in the world need the truth, oh how they are starving for it! And they need the grace of God to temper it. It is speaking the truth in love that makes the difference. It is the truth that sets people free. Not one person will be truly saved by a gospel that’s been sanctioned by this world. But not one person will be saved by speaking the truth in hate.
Let’s get our hearts right before our King and be full of His Spirit. Then His light shining through us will attract others to us so that we can speak the truth to them in love.
When Jesus sent out His disciples two by two He knew he was sending them out as sheep amongst wolves. He knew that they would be met with persecution and rejection along the way. He knew the hearts of the people had by and large grown callous in their religiosity.
Yet He still sent them out.
Jesus gave them one prescription to be able to withstand the ongoing rejection and persecution He knew they were to encounter:
“…do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
He taught them the fear of God.
This is God’s prescription for persecution. This is the only way ongoing rejection and persecution can be met with strength and courage and be withstood.
Jesus still sends out His disciples today. He has given all of us the Great Commission. He knows that we will be rejected and persecuted for the message we bring to the world, yet He still sends us. And the prescription that was good for the early disciples is still good for us today too.
You see as God’s mouthpiece in a fallen world, above all else we must fear God.
You cannot simultaneously fear both God and man.
We all fear either one or the other.
The one you fear will be the one who dictates your life. The one you fear will determine where you stand.
Why did Jesus command us to fear God? Because He knows that:
“The fear of man brings a snare.” Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man contaminates pure truth.
The fear of man leads to bondage.
The fear of man brings fear of rejection.
The fear of man shuts your mouth when you should speak.
The fear of man changes the truth of God’s Word into something more palatable.
The fear of man brings compromise.
And thus the fear of man cannot please God.
God’s prophets are those who will stand in the midst of rejection. These are ones whom will not stop speaking truth even in the face of resistance, hostility and open aggression. They will not bow to the pressure of man. God’s mouthpieces are those who understand the consequences of speaking on His behalf, and may even be afraid to, yet they will still speak it.
God’s ambassadors are those He sends forth in the fear of Him.
You cannot simultaneously please both God and man.
Choose which one you are going to fear, because that is the one you are going to serve. The one whom you try to please is the master to whom you bow.
If you want to get far in this world, to be accepted, promoted, have lots of Facebook friends, to be asked to speak at conferences, if that’s what ultimately motivates you, then you fear man.
But if you are willing to let it go: the popularity, friends, followers of your blog, even family, if you are willing to follow Christ whatever the cost, to please Him, to obey Him, to be faithful to Him. If what motivates you is to one day hear these words:
“Well done my good and faithful servant…”
then you fear God. And no matter what persecution comes your way, even unto death, you will have the courage and the strength to withstand.
The battle field is empty
The soldiers all gone
Weapons discarded
Unused, forgotten, alone
A tired old banner hangs,
sad and forlorn
And I stand and look and wonder:
Where have all the warriors gone?
The belt of truth, I see
It lays forgotten in the field
Look, at those brave soldiers’ boots
That used to tread out
The gospel of peace
What to make of this?
What on earth has happened?
I look beyond the hill
And I see the enemy-
He still advances
His banners read “Peace
We want no war with you”
Another:
“Go home,
put your feet up
And we will leave you alone”
Alas I now can see it:
The warriors – why they’ve gone,
They’ve believed the propaganda
And they’ve all headed home
Comfort, convenience,
Relevance, Reputation.
These are the only things
For which the “church” will fight
In this last generation.
The sword is at my feet….
Dare I….?
What can one person do?
And (the big one):
What WILL they think?
in my mind, these make a to-do
I don’t care anymore
I’ll do it!
I lift up the sword!
In my hands it is powerful, alive
The eternal Word of God
As I lift it up
Those ancient words
In my heart revive
“for to whomsoever i shall send thee
Thou shalt go
And whatsoever i command thee
Thou shalt speak”
I stand
My son’s work, 7yo
The fear of man all gone
In its place – the fear of God
It surrounds me
And propels me forward
Where those before me trod.
My daughter’s work, 10yo
“Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.” John Wesley
It began pretty much the same as usual, but at some point I noticed the Hare Krishna’s dancing their noisy way towards us.
Great
With their colourful clothes, tambourines and dancing they make it all but impossible to preach the gospel. They usually pull up in a wide circle in front of where we are preaching and dance and sing for sometimes 10-15 minutes.
Usually we get pushed to the sidelines amongst all the colourful chaos and the tourists bustling to take photos of them. Standing on the sidelines politely waiting for them to finish their worship ceremony to their false god is absolutely frustrating. It feels like Satan has got one over on us.
Something I’ve learnt: if you give Satan an inch – he will take a mile.
We are in a spiritual battle and being on the city streets you cannot forget it.
So tonight as they approached I grabbed the microphone and began preaching. As they came up to us I kept going. They waved to me, I waved back. I was polite, but not polite enough to stop. I preached:
“Jesus said ‘I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man comes to the Father but by Me”.
They kept going. I kept going: “There is no other name under heaven by which man can be saved, than the Name of Jesus!” Sometimes I just called out “Jesus! Jesus!” over their noise.
They stayed for maybe two minutes then gave up and left.
But then it happened…
As I was preaching, I began weeping.
Yes, weeping. In front of lots of people. It was weird. I couldn’t stop it. I felt God’s heart breaking for these lost sinners. I felt Him yearning for them to come home. It wasn’t me being emotional or sad – it was Him calling to them through me. I wept as I preached to them His heart.
But then I stopped preaching because I began to think. That can be a problem whilst preaching. The anointing lifts off when you start to really think, especially if you wonder what people are thinking of you. Now I kind of wish I kept going because that’s never happened to me before and I think I probably stopped it before God was done. Sorry Lord.
Important point: I believe God wants to raise up preachers who are broken for the sins of the people.
You see, there are preachers who preach the cold, hard truth of the gospel. They want the authority that gives them, but they don’t take any responsibility for the people.
Then there are preachers who in response to the above have taken out most of the truth of the gospel and replaced it with psychology or self-help or something else human. They want to take responsibility for the people, yet they have no God-given authority to do so.
God is raising up those who will “speak the truth in love”. We can get rid of neither love nor truth, and that is what so many have done.
God gives authority to those who will take responsibility. And being willing to take responsibility for others brings authority.
We need to speak the whole truth of the gospel – yes, including sin, the law, hell and judgment. BUT we need to speak the truth from a heart that has been broken for the people’s sins. We have no right to be preaching to people about whom we couldn’t care less. That is not God’s heart. That has never been His way. Think of Moses, Samuel, Jesus, Paul… We need to be willing to take responsibility for them by standing in the gap and interceding.
Preaching and intercessory prayer go hand-in-hand
Just as:
Authority and responsibility go hand-in-hand
May our mighty God bless you!
“If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for.” Charles Spurgeon
“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?
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 whatfellowship 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
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
Hosea 6:5: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."
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precepts occupy, for it is very easy brethren, unless God gives us understanding, to preach up one precept to the neglect of another. It is possible for a ministry and a teaching to be lopsided, and those who follow it may become rather the caricatures of Christianity than Christians harmoniously proportioned.
Grace and Truth 