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My visit to the Lakeland Revival – Justin Peters
Hello All,
Well, I went to Lakeland, FL to attend the revival services. I was in attendance Monday morning and evening, Tues evening, and Wed. morning. I really did try to go to these services with an open mind, but once there it did not take very long for my mind to begin closing. Todd Bentley does not preach in the morning services. Monday morning the preacher was a 28 year-old lady named Kira Mitchell who is one of Todd’s interns (for lack of a better word). He is apparently mentoring her. She told a great deal of dramatic stories and spoke often about how God speaks to her in dreams, visions, and, on occasion, in an audible voice. Peppered throughout her message were references to the upcoming time where the anointing would begin flowing (to which she referred as “walking in the sauce” which struck me as rather irreverent to say the least) and people would be healed. She called for those with tumors and cysts to come forward because God was telling her that an anointing was there for people such as these. So, many did come forward – particularly women with breast cancer it seemed. She would go person to person down the line and prophesy over him or her (she said to numerous women “You are a daughter of destiny” though she never seemed to elaborate on exactly what that meant) and attempt to slay them in the Spirit. Some went down, some did not. There were people who claimed to be healed of their tumors. Noticeably lacking from those who claimed to be healed, however, were people such as the man who was blind, the woman who was on crutches suffering from crippling arthritis, and the mother with her seven year old little boy who was born without a brain – only a brain stem. None of these poor people were healed.
Then came Monday night. The service began with a solid two hours of “worship.” The music was extremely loud and quite heavy. It was more like a rock concert than worship. People were jumping up and down, speaking in tongues, some were laughing uncontrollably (biblical support for this?), being slain in the Spirit, some lay on the floor twitching and writhing around, some would burst forth in screams. To be fair, the more dramatic manifestations were not the rule but nonetheless did occur with considerable frequency. In short, the worship was highly, highly emotionally charged. Finally, Todd got up to “preach.” Now, I put the word preach in quotes because what I observed of Todd’s messages could not be characterized as preaching by even the loosest definition of the term. He did not read and explain any text of Scripture. He basically performed and told dramatic stories of people being healed. Then came time for the healing to begin. Todd said, ‘If you are sick, I want you to begin doing something that you could not do before. You have to activate your faith by doing something you couldn’t do before. If you’re in a wheelchair, get up out of that wheelchair and start walking. If you couldn’t move your legs, start moving them.’ Well, I’m sitting in the wheelchair section (in my own electric chair) and so people all around me began trying to get out of their wheelchairs. Family members began trying to coax their loved ones out of their chairs and people on crutches stood up trying to walk without them. There was a large man sitting next to me in a wheelchair who was paralyzed from the waist down. He began to try to inch his way to the edge of his seat. His wife and a young lady who I presumed was his daughter encouraged him along. There was another lady standing over him speaking in tongues. Well, this man got to the edge of his seat, slid off, and crumpled to the floor like a rag doll. His wife and daughter kept encouraging him to “just believe.” The other lady kept up her tongues. This went on for a good half hour and the poor man could do nothing. They finally helped him back into his chair. (Probably just didn’t have enough faith, you see.)
A number of people who came in in wheelchairs walked up on stage for Todd to pray over them. Todd would ask them their condition, command them to be healed, and then lay hands on them and yell very loudly into the microphone, “BAM!!” Some would then fall back and lowered to the floor by the ready catchers (one person he even head-butted as he “BAMMED” him). He claimed most, if not all, of these folks healed. Well, these individuals could all walk even though they were in wheelchairs. I watched each one as they came back down the stage and from what I could observe every one of them went back to their wheelchair or stayed on their crutches. I honestly did not see anyone dramatically and unquestionably healed. Some of these individuals I followed and was able to get their names and phone numbers. I will follow up with them in a few weeks to see what if any change in their condition has occurred. There were a few empty chairs that all of the sudden appeared on stage but I did not see anyone actually get out of them.
Larry was another man who made it up on stage but he was not in a wheelchair. Larry, a pastor, has throat cancer with a grim prognosis from his physicians. Larry was very, very weak and feeble. When he spoke his voice was weak and raspy. Bentley claimed his healing and Larry agreed with him. Larry was helped off the stage by a young man and they left the auditorium. I caught up with them out in the hall. There was no discernable change in his condition. I will call Larry in a few weeks to see how he is doing. Please pray for Larry that God would heal him and, if physical healing is not God’s will, that Larry would know sufficient grace and strength made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:7-9).
There were so many people there sick with cancer, in wheelchairs, parents with crippled and sick children, retarded children and the like. I did not witness any miracles that were truly undeniable.
Wednesday morning something interesting happened. The pastor of Ignited Church, Stephen Strader, was preaching. At the end of the service he called for all preachers and evangelists to go into the fellowship hall where he was going to bestow on them “the anointing.” Well, long story short, I found myself in the fellowship hall. Strader came in and said, ‘Ok, I have some instructions for you. I’m about to come to each one of you and lay my hands on you to give you the anointing of this revival so that you can take it to your own church.’ He then admitted that not everything that has been going on at the Lakeland outpouring has been from God. He readily admitted that some people are getting caught up in emotionalism. He said, “I want you to take these next few minutes and pray.Pray, ‘God, if there is anything here You want me to have, give it to me. If there is anything here You do not want me to have, don’t give it to me.’ Now I think that is a fair prayer.” I had to agree with him. It certainly seemed like a fair prayer. But then he said something that really disconcerted me. He said, “Now, when I come up to you to give you the anointing, I want you to stop praying. If you continue to pray while I lay my hands on you, it will hinder the passing of the anointing from me to you. You are not to pray while I’m laying my hands on you and giving you this anointing.” Well, the Scripture that immediately popped into my head was 1 Thess. 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Why was the pastor of the church telling me to do something clearly against Scripture??
Let’s also look at this logically. When a person prays, he is communicating with the Triune Godhead. This anointing that is about to be given to me is also, supposedly, from the Tiune Godhead. How could these two acts possibly be in contradiction? How could me praying to God hinder me from receiving something from God? Unless, of course, this anointing was not really from God. Needless to say, huge red flags immediately went up with me. Now, I’m not making an accusation against Strader here, I’m just saying that his instruction to stop praying was patently unbiblical at best and, at worst, possibly a doorway to receive something from some kind of spirit but not the Holy Spirit.
Please know that I am not judging the man’s heart, I’m just saying that this was an unwise and potentially exceedingly dangerous directive on his part. Well, Strader went up to each person, layed hands on them, and loudly yelled into the person’s ear “FIF!!,” (this is how I heard it) or, “FIRE!!” Practically everyone fell down, some twitched and jerked, some laughed, some just lay there. Well, when he came up to me, I was steady praying opting to follow the directives of Scripture rather than his. He layed hands on me, yelled “FIF” but I felt nothing other than concern about what was going on around me.
On a positive note, I attended one of their street evangelism training seminars. I was pleasantly surprised that the accompanying handouts were biblically solid – at least in the section that pertained to presenting the Gospel. The attendees were being trained to give people the Good Person Test by going through the 10 commandments. This is good. However, if someone made a ‘decision for Christ,’ then they were also, apparently, asked if they wanted to speak in tongues and so forth. A discussion on tongues is beyond the scope of my purposes here – I’m just telling what I observed.
Bentley struck me as an exceedingly arrogant person. He claims to have regular angelic visitations, was translated to Australia, and has been to Heaven where they actually did surgery on him [Forgive me if I just don’t believe this. Was Paul allowed to tell us what he saw and heard when he was caught up into heaven in 2 Cor. 12:2-4? No. If the man who wrote half of the New Testament was not allowed to speak of what he saw, I seriously doubt anyone else claiming to be able to do so (especially if they have tapes or books to sell)]
Bentley makes Benny Hinn look conservative by comparison (and I wrote my Master’s thesis on Hinn). On Tuesday night, Bentley got up to speak right after the two hours of music and all of the sudden excitedly said, “Is it raining in here? Is it raining in here?” as he held out his arms looking at them as though he was feeling drops of rain. Then the band, without missing a beat, started playing a chorus entitled “Let It Rain” complete with the lyrics against a backdrop of water being projected on the large screens. This was clearly ed. I was amazed that no one seemed to catch on to the obvious stunt. He claims that he has medical proof of these healings and resurrections. Maybe he does, I’m not sure. Friends, may I kindly offer a bit of caution here? Even if all of what Bentley claims is true (and I seriously doubt that it is), that does not in and of itself validate his ministry. The Bible often speaks of false prophets and false teachers who have performed and will perform signs and wonders. In fact, false Christ’s and false prophets will show signs and wonders so compelling that even the elect will almost be deceived (Matt. 24:24 see also Matt. 7:22-23).
Dear friends, after having been to the Lakeland Outpouring in person, I am very concerned about what is going on. Are there people there who are really saved and love the Lord? I have no doubt this is the case. Could some of the healings be real? They could be but I did not personally observe any – and I looked for them. Is Todd Bentley a man of God or a false prophet? Well, all I can say is that I do not believe him to be an honest man, he is a masterful manipulator of people’s emotions, he is actively engaging in activities that are extra-biblical and flat out unbiblical, and he does not preach the Word. What I am about to say is, I freely admit, subjective and by no means in and of itself authoritative in any way, but my spirit was very troubled the entire time I was there – very troubled. I believe that the Lakeland Outpouring is just the latest manifestation of the counterfeit revivals which broke out in Toronto, Brownsville, and Pensacola back in the ’90’s.
Let me conclude by saying that I long to see revival – true revival. I’m just not at all convinced that what we are seeing in Lakeland is. Let us pray for those sick and crippled who are being manipulated. If some are truly being saved, let us rejoice in that but pray that the focus would cease being on signs and wonders. Let us also pray for those who are leading this movement that they would not deceive or be deceived themselves.
Justin Peters
Gay dads celebrate Father’s Day with Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life”
This Father’s Day, a group of LGBT and straight-ally families will spend their holiday in a way that is both extraordinary and profoundly commonplace: they will attend services at Saddleback Church, the mega-church founded by Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life.
The following day, the families will join leaders from Saddleback Church for a private meal and conversation.
The visit is the conclusion of a six-week journey, a gay-friendly family road trip, to initiate dialogue with mega-church congregations across the nation. In December 2007, organizers of the project – which is called The American Family Outing – invited the leaders of six major mega-churches to match families from their congregations with LGBT families for a meal and conversation. Then, on Mother’s Day 2008, the outing began with a visit to Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas.
As of June 16, 2008, The American Family Outing will have met successfully with all six of the churches. The meetings have ranged in size and depth; Lakewood Church welcomed the families to worship but would only meet privately with one of the Family Outing’s clergy leaders, Pastor Jay Bakker. In contrast, Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia met personally with LGBT families from Atlanta and around the country.
“The meetings have been an occasion to clear up misperceptions on both sides and to begin to focus on what we have in common,” says Jeff Lutes, Executive Director of Soulforce and one of the organizers of the American Family Outing.
Lutes and his partner, Gary Stein, along with their three kids, will be participating in the visit with Saddleback Church. Members of the Lutes-Stein family have also visited Lakewood Church and The Potter’s House in Dallas. They will also join families visiting Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois on June 8.
“It’s not your average summer vacation,” says Lutes. “But it has been an amazing experience. In the end, we’re doing it to make a safer world for our kids, so it’s all worth it.”
Clergy leader Jay Bakker will also join the families for the visit with Saddleback.
The American Family Outing is a collaboration between Soulforce, COLAGE, National Black Justice Coalition, and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.
Article adapted by ProudParenting.com from original press release.
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fyi: “six American mega-churches” targeted for, again for lack of a better term, the gay invasion of Christendom. There is here a huge political agenda being ‘dramatically’ acted out. The “Willow Creek” and the Joel Osteen/Lakewood brand of 21st century ‘christianity’ both fall far short of biblical Christianity anyway, and so any type of true “Christian” response should not at all be expected. Willow Creek is currently undergoing an ’emergent’ transition from their self proclaimed “seeker model” failure, while Osteen and his ’empowerment/self-help’ brand of worldly-success seeking pseudo christianity is devoid of scriptural truth and has no Godly standard to uphold in the first place. These “dialogues” are simply another tool of the transformative ‘change agents’ to accomplish the pre-arranged outcome…further merging of the tattered remains of Christendom into the global society.
This will be knocking at the door of your church also before long, and you will have to make a decision…stay tuned.
Stephen Yulish Testimony
I was a Professor at the age of 28. I had the world by the tail, at least that I thought that I did. I published a book and numerous academic papers. I gave papers at National Conferences. I shared the stage with Stephen Jay Gould. I wrote a novel, “The Other World” which was a modern day fable of the demon goddess, Lilith. It bounced around New York for years. I even did a reading of it in a loft in Greenwich Village. I knew that Stephen Speilberg’s mother had been a member of Beth Joseph Congregation in Phoenix. I tracked her down to the Milky Way Deli in LA. I sent her a letter to please tell her son about my book-it would make a good screenplay for him. She refused. I sent it to Speilberg, anyway. To Amblin Entertainment c/o Paramount Pictures. They sent it back unopened.
This book was the most New Age, demonic book that you could imagine. I glorified evil and Satan. I blurred the distinctions between good and evil, reality and dream and even male and female. I quoted from the lost gospels found at Nag Hammadi. I even gave to my future wife Paula to read when we first met in 1987. This sweet Christian lady read a chapter and gave it back to me appalled!
Here I found myself working for a Christian telemarketing firm selling precious metals to Christian listeners of a radio program. Me, a Professor, a leader in the Phoenix Jewish community working for Christians. My life had been turned upside down by the trauma of loss of job in Jewish community, divorce, my children had moved to Charleston, SC, my father had died and my health had begun to falter. I went into Barrows Neurological Center in Phoenix and they found extensive brain lesions with an MRI and other tests (diagnosis-Multiple Sclerosis… prognosis—wheelchair?). All of this, and I was now working for Christians to boot.
The staff (Paula) prayed for me, my clients prayed for me. How nice. When my coworkers tried to preach to me I slammed them. After all, I had not only been a Director of the Jewish National Fund, but I was also a part of the Community Relations Council in the Jewish community which investigated missionaries. I had lectured at the University of Arizona on anti semitism and the Holocaust. Who did these people think that they were?
I acted like Shaul to them. I flogged them with my tongue, a frequent Jewish tactic. We fight with our tongues , not our fists. One fellow said that he was so frustrated with me that he felt like throwing me over the balcony. I replied, “Oh that’s Christian!” They waved the Bible in my face. “read Isaiah 53″ read Psalm 22”. I replied, “Read this!”, shaking my fist!
One day I went to Philip’s house for dinner while my new girlfriend, a Jewish New Ager, was at work. After dinner, we all stood in a circle holding hands. He had fed me dinner so I decided to humor him (actually his love was tugging at my heart). We prayed—at least they prayed. I closed my eyes and saw an image darting across the plane of my vision. I blinked. It came back. When we were finished, Philip asked me what I had seen. I said, “Nothing”. How did he know ? He must have opened his eyes and seen me grimacing. He said again, “What did you see, Jewboy?” Finally I answered that it was stupid, “forget it”.
Well Philip kept insisting. Finally I told them. I saw a man in a suit of armor waving his sword at a being in a monk’s robe with no face. Philip’s mouth fell open. He ran and got his Bible and showed me Ephesians 6:12f. I did not know what he was talking about. I did not know the Bible. Things like that began to happen as the Holy Spirit was showing me the word visually.
Not too much later, I was sitting at my desk at the office. We all had cubicles. I was trying to close a large deal when an image appeared in front of me. I looked around to see if anyone else saw it. Nobody! It was Jesus on the cross. His head was down. It was night, or the sky was dark, and there was lightning all over the sky. Quite a sight for a nice Jewish, New Age, College Professor, Pharisee-type person. I was dumfounded. I told no one.
The next day, I saw another vision. This time Jesus was on the cross, but it was daylight. He lifted up His head and light poured out of His eyes. He broke the fetters and got off of the Cross. He then proceeded to walk all over the earth with the light still pouring from His eyes. Remember that I did know the Bible at that time especially the New Testament, i.e. Jesus is the light of the world!
I had told Philip that I would not believe unless I saw the burning bush for myself. Scripture says that Jews seek signs. Well God was showing me! That night I had a dream that I had to die (be crucified) for all my friends to live. I anticipated the flogging on my back and the nails though my hands. It was a powerful experience which cannot truly be put into words. I knew instantly what Jesus had done for me. I awoke looking at my hands (Galatians 6:17).
The next day I said the sinners prayer and accepted Jesus into my life. My sister said that they had got me. Praise God. That was on October 3, 1988. Paula and I married on March 30, 1990. I had to leave the company in April of 1991. My health had been to hamper me. but do not pity me. God all along had a plan for my life. Do I miss my former accolades and achievements? No! As Paul said I count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:8).
I feel stronger and healthier than ever. I spend every day serving the Lord because He was there for me. He never failed me nor forsook me. He is my rock and my comforter and supplies me with all my needs. When I am weak physically as Paul said, then I am strong spiritually. His grace is sufficient for me.
And I am still not in the “Chair”! Praise His Holy Name forever and ever!
Stephen M. Yulish, born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947, received his BA from Case Western Reserve University in 1969, his MA in 1972, and his PhD in 1975 from the University of Illinois. His first book, The Search for a Civic Religion, was published in 1980. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson and then became a Jewish Community Professional in Phoenix. Currently disabled with Multiple Sclerosis, the author is co-leader of Chayim Chadashim Messianic Fellowship and is on the Board of Reference for Jewish Voice Prophetic Magazine. He lives in Flagstaff, AZ, with his wife Paula and daughter Andrea.
One of the most humbling and important books I am presently reading is War on the Saints. This book has forced me to take an even closer look at testing the deceiving spirits that are ever-present in this world.
One very important previous lesson that I have learned is that as my faith in the Lord grows so does the attacks from the enemy. Every time I learn a spiritual truth from the Lord, Satan pounds back with discouragement, fear or temptation. When the Lord called me into the discernment ministry, I was filled with excitement at His calling…but I also was at first worried about the opposition I would face. When the Lord called me to teach Bible study, I was willing but afraid at my lack of experience. The enemy whispered to me…You can’t do this….This is too hard…This takes up too much time…
I only share this because the deceiving spirits are very determined to undermine our walk with the Lord in these end-times. But with the help of the Lord and the other teachers who are forever encouraging me with their training…I trust the Lord will equip me with all I need to do his His will….and He has. What a wonderful God we have!
Not only do we have to face the evil strategies Satan throws at us personally, we have to determine whether or not our spiritual leaders have been deceived themselves. All throughout the Bible we are warned of false teachers who will attempt to lead us astray. Some of these teachers will be deceived by the seducing spirits and may truly believe they are in the truth. But they are themselves deceived by giving into greed, seeking honor, and enticed by the spotlight that surrounds them. Others are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing. They know the truth, yet bury it deep into their conscience so that the truth no longer sears them. Both are dangerous and will mislead the masses into the kingdom Satan is building here on earth.
“There are many deceived ones among the most able teachers today because they do not recognize that an army of teaching spirits have come forth to deceive the people of God and that the special peril of the earnest section of the professing Church lies in the supernatural realm, from whence the deceiving spirits with “teachings” are whispering their lies to all who are “spiritual,” i.e., open to spiritual things. These “teaching spirits” with “doctrines” will make a special effort to deceive those who have to transmit doctrine and seek to mingle their teachings with truth so as to get them accepted. Every believer must test all teachers today for himself, by the Word of God and by their attitude to the atoning cross of Christ and other fundamental truths of the Gospel, and not be misled into testing “teaching” by the character of the teacher. Good men can be deceived, and Satan needs good men to float his lies inder the guise of truth.” [1] emphasis mine
So one has to ask…Self, do I know the Word of God thoroughly enough to recognize a false teaching? Self, when a teacher gives scripture do I check to see if it is given in context with the passage? Self, do I support a false teacher and mislead others because of this lack of knowledge? Self….am I deceived? What tough and humbling questions these can be.
How we hate to admit that we are vulnerable to deception. But we must!
The man is deceived if he is a hearer but not a doer of the Word of God ( James 1:22).
He is deceived if he says he has no sin ( 1 John 1:8).
He is deceived when he thinks himself to be “something” when he is nothing (Gal. 6:3).
He is deceived when he thinks himself to be wise with the wisdom of this world (1 Cor. 3:18).
He is deceived by seeming to be religious when an unbridled tongue reveals his true condition (James 1:26).
He is deceived if he thinks he can sow and not reap what he sows (Gal. 6:7).
He is deceived if he thinks the unrighteous willl inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9).
He is deceived if he thinks that contact with sin will not have its effect upon him (1 Cor. 15:33). [2]
Doubt is actually a tool that can be used to question the experiences in our spiritual life. It is this doubt that leads us to question the spirits and to see if they are from God or Satan. Too often we quickly snuff out the light we would receive by turning our back to the fear of discovering a truth we have ignored. We are clearly instructed to test the spirits in 1 John 4:1-3.
“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus Christ is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
Next in 1 Timothy 4:1-2
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
Teaching deceptions will abound. Verses from the Bible will be plucked and regrouped to create false theologies. Words will be twisted from their historical meanings to create “new”, “fresh”, teachings. I was taught not long ago to read the Bible from beginning to end. When done…read it again in this way. There are no “secret teachings.”
“All genuine ‘truth’ is in harmony with the only channel of revealed truth in the world–the written Word of God. On the other hand, all teachings originating from deceiving spirits:
1. Weaken the authority of the Scriptures;
2. Distort the teaching in the Scriptures;
3. Add to the Scriptures the thoughts of men; or
4. Put the Scriptures entirely aside.
The ultimate object of the forces of falsehood is to hide, distort, misuse or put aside the revelation of God concerning the cross of Calvary, where Satan was overthrown by the God-Man and where freedom was obtained for all his captives.
Countless concepts and beliefs which are opposed to the truth of God are injected into the minds of ‘Christians’ by teaching spirits, rendering them ineffective in the warfare with sin and Satan and subject to the power of evil spirits. All new insights and systems of beliefs should be therefore tested by the truth of God revealed in the Scripture, not merely by texts or portions of the Word but by the principles of truth revealed in the Word. Since Satan will endorse his teachings by ‘signs and wonders’, ‘fire from heaven’ and other supernatural signs are no proof of a teaching being from God…” [3] emphasis mine
The end-times will be filled with spiritual deceptions that will deceive many. Signs and wonders, supernatural manifestations, prophetic visions, prophetic words, inner voices, physical manifestations (jerking, shaking, falling, undulating, head wagging, slaying) will all have to questioned by the discerner. Do not let your doubts go unchecked by searing them with a hot iron or by simply dismissing them. If you do this you will open yourself up to deception. You will not be able to discern the lies of Satan.
You may want to pray something like this.
Lord, show me the truth even though I may not want to hear it. Close any doors that I have allowed to be opened that deceives my heart and mind. If I have believed any of Satan’s deceptions… immediately remove them from my life. Amen
“War on the Saints” by Jesse Penn-Lewis
[1] pg. 29
[2] pg. 22
[3] pp. 32-33
MARCIA’S STORY: A STRANGE BUT TRUE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
Spirit guides, meditation, astrology, the “higher Self,” raising the kundalini, developing psychic abilities, praying to gurus, astral travel, numerology, Tarot cards, contacting the dead, hanging out with witches, Sufis, followers of Muktananda, Rajneesh, Sai Baba, Maharaji, — all these and more were part of my journey. How did I get on this path?
The beginnings
I grew up with an agnostic father and a mother who was raised going to church. My sister and I had to attend church, because my mother thought that was the right thing to do, although she did not always go. Due to my father’s job in the Foreign Service, we moved around a lot, so we ended up in different churches located overseas and in the Washington, DC, area. Eventually, I became serious about religion. In high school, I had the idea that being good would please God and get me into heaven. But reading about other religions and meeting those who believed differently made me wonder. Maybe there was more to it than what I had — some knowledge of God and Jesus which was mostly superficial. I wanted something deeper, more experiential. I was also rejecting the idea of hell and was disillusioned with Christians. Christianity seemed defined by sermons, going to Sunday School, and doing good works. How boring! I was missing out on something! Also, I never fit in during my high school years. Being someone who wrote poetry, being in an alcoholic home, having no real roots all combined to make me feel different and unlike other people. I started my journey at the end of high school.
That journey continued through college where I had paranormal experiences, made friends with someone who said she saw auras, and attended spiritualist meetings where the ministers received messages from the dead. One bright sunny Florida afternoon, as I rested on my bed fully awake with eyes partly closed, I felt myself floating. I opened my eyes and was stunned to see my body on the bed below me as I hovered near the ceiling. I thought I had died. The shock slammed me back into my body in an almost painful way. This was my first out-of-body experience and I had no idea what it was or that it even had a name. I told no one about it.
The journey stretched into the 70’s when I visited psychics and an astrologer, and did a lot of reading on the paranormal, and about Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. I remember reading a book on Vedanta (sect of Hinduism) each morning in the cafeteria of the building where I worked. I started to see connections in my life with the colors of the chakras, the seven psychic centers of energy in the body according to Hindu beliefs. This and other experiences pushed me into an active plunge into the alluring worlds of the paranormal and Eastern beliefs.
Into the fire
In an Inner Light Consciousness class, I was introduced to my “spiritual master” during a guided visualization. This guide, a spirit being, looked kind and wise. I felt his presence with me and sometimes saw him in dreams and meditations until 1990. I also had unpleasant, scary and weird experiences and visitations, once seeing a tall hooded figure in dark robes looking at my body in the bed as I hovered out-of-body nearby. Although extremely frightened by this apparition, I rationalized it by telling myself that I was being tested. Another time, as I was out-of-body, I not only saw my body on the bed, but also saw a double of myself floating across from me. I had spontaneous out-of-body experiences that sometimes kept me from sleeping and that were also often very eerie. But to me, the paranormal was spiritual, and spiritual was good.
Another reason I accepted the scary stuff was my attitude. I liked to think I was tough and nothing could frighten me away. So I would think, “Go ahead, scare me. I can take it!” I had a lot of anger and defiance in me which probably came from dealing with an alcoholic parent. This angry defiance proved useful to me in many ways. It helped me get through a lot of painful situations, and it was going to help me deal with the bizarre experiences I would face. But anger and defiance over a long period of time easily turn into cynicism. I did become cynical although it was usually hidden, even from myself, behind a desire to help people. This defiant cynicism was my defense, as in “No one is going to stop me doing what I want; nothing can scare me away; and don’t try to impress me.” Later, after many occult experiences, the cynicism was deeper. I knew a lot of people had not done what I had, and I thought most people were wimps and satisfied with superficial lives, not searching deeply as I was. But this was my defense against getting hurt or feeling helpless.
I also learned to meditate, do psychic healing, analyze dreams, and chant. It was mystical and magical. When I first started to do Eastern meditation, I felt an incredible peace. I felt that I was fading away and merging with something greater. It seemed I was literally one with the universe, and the teaching that we are all connected to one force seemed true. After all, I believed that truth was in experience, and here my experience was confirming that belief. At last, I thought, I was connecting to that spiritual realm. Later, my studies took me on many paths — Tibetan, Hindu and Zen meditation and philosophy, spirit contact, numerology, psychic development, past life regression. Reincarnation seemed to answer questions and I experienced what I thought were memories of past lives. However, it was sad to think that my next life might not be so great so if I did not learn lessons from this or previous lives. But why dwell on that?
Finally, it seemed I was on the edge of a hidden wisdom, a truth higher than the everyday superficial thinking around me. Books by Edgar Cayce, Ruth Montgomery, Chogyam Trungpa (Tibetan Buddhism), Annie Besant (Theosophy), Hanz Holzer (ghosts), and Ram Dass (Hinduism/New Age), and titles like Seth Speaks, The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, and Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda began to fill my shelves, along with books on astrology, tarot cards, numerology, and other occult teachings. My spiritual progress seemed assured, especially since I was having so many paranormal experiences. The natural result was that I felt I was an “insider” in the spiritual realm.
Unanswered questions
Over the years, my psychic experiences escalated. I studied astrology and took a 7-hour exam on astrology in Atlanta, Georgia, administered by the City but formulated and graded by an astrology board, in order to qualify for the business license. Passing the test, I started practicing astrology, and eventually I taught astrology, gave public talks, wrote for astrological and New Age journals, and sat on the board of astrology examiners that gave and graded the exams, becoming chairman of that board. I became president of the Metropolitan Atlanta Astrological Society in June, 1989. My Halloween birthday and astrological skills made me popular with witches and others.
I noticed that while doing chart readings for clients, I would “tune in” to the chart in a paranormal way, during which I felt an energy connecting my mind to the chart, and felt guided through the chart. It often seemed that I was being fed information or led to specific things to say about the client. After so many years of Eastern meditation techniques, I was slipping without effort into an altered state of consciousness while doing astrology. I gave credit to my “past lives” as an astrologer and spiritual counselor, to the help of spirit guides, and to astrology itself. In those years, the only source of such information could be good since I did not believe in evil.
Yet, with all the knowledge and experience I had acquired, what were the answers? Since I came to believe there was only ignorance, not evil, stories of vicious cruelty and murder made me uncomfortable. Though I believed I would be coming back after my death, where would I go in between and for how long? Some taught that we would go somewhere that was like a school, then choose our next life. Others taught that we go somewhere to be spiritually purified – how, it was not explained – then our next life would be chosen for us. By whom? That was not explained. We were supposed to just trust the process.
There was also the disquieting teaching that whatever thought was in my mind at the moment of death would determine the after-death experience for some time. Better not have a bad thought for too long! Better not fall asleep with fearful images! This was scary to contemplate — but that contemplation was itself a negative thought! I would often soothe myself by meditating or chanting something — maybe the “Hare Krishna” chant I had taught myself, or repeating a Tibetan Buddhist mantra like “Om Mani Padme Om.”
I sought peace in Zen Buddhism. Trying to detach myself from all desire involved a meditation that allows thoughts, fears, or desires to come up and then not to respond to them. This was to be applied to life outside meditation as well. For someone like myself, carrying a lot of emotional pain from my past and my present, this was appealing. But though detachment sounded good in all the books, there was a price to pay. The detachment seemed contrived and unnatural. Seeing “the emptiness” behind my surroundings, another sign of spiritual acumen, struck me as nihilistic and depressing. Maybe if I had pursued these practices more devoutly, I might have gradually replaced my natural reactions and feelings with non-feeling. But is it human to be non-feeling, to accept every thought, action, and emotion without judgment?
Being taught to be natural and “holistic” on one hand, but then learning to let go of my natural reactions on the other, seemed a contradiction. Of course, rational analysis like this was discouraged, even attacked. Therefore, contradictions could and should be accepted. If it didn’t make sense, so much the better. The idea was to transcend the rational mind which was a barrier between me and enlightenment. Although I failed in achieving detachment, I clung to the paradoxical teachings of Zen, reading books with Zen tales, and continuing the meditation. I noticed that the peace I had felt with my initial meditations had decreased, causing me to meditate more in an attempt to re-capture that elusive peace.
I also learned that the nature of occult and New Age thinking is that there is no one answer. There is no one single truth, and there is no one reality. Truth is based on your experience, so it changes and can differ from person to person. If there are multi-levels of reality and there is no absolute truth, then there must be many contradicting truths and realities. In the abstract, this was fascinating food for thought, and led to being comfortable with whatever truth I wanted. But on the practical level, what difference did truth make if one finally discovered it? Or how did we know if there really was such a thing? And if not, what did anything that anyone believed matter anyway? These teachings gave answers that only raised more questions.
Death and love
We are just drops in the ocean, I learned, and the goal is to eventually, after many lifetimes, rejoin the cosmic oneness that some call God. This God-force was what we came from and was our final destiny. So that meant my identity, memories, talents, and personality would be swallowed whole into the cosmic One. Where would I be? The disturbing answer was that I would no longer be. Death became an absorbing but uneasy topic for me.
The best way to help others and stay true to your path, I heard and read over and over, was to work on yourself and love yourself. Although talk of “love” was common and was taught to be the basis for everything, it also seemed that some used the “law of love” as a way to justify whatever they were doing. So, if your husband was not your spiritual match, then “real love” allowed you to leave him or find another with whom you had a true bond. After all, this was a “law” of the universe: the law of love. But this love was not defined. It was just sort of out there – a love force that pervaded the universe. There was no personal being to love me; there was this energy coming from the cosmic One and that was it. Could a force care?
Despite the meditations, trying to live in “the now,” and the talk of love, I continued to have frightening experiences. One of the worst was waking up to see an older woman staring at me from the bottom of the bed. I knew she was not flesh and blood, but a spirit. She did not speak, but I heard her in my mind say to me, “I am here to take over your body.” Too scared to speak, I said in my mind, “No! No!” This seemed to go on for a long time, although I have no idea how long it really was. Finally, she simply faded away. I was left trembling, perspiring, and my heart racing. By the way, I was not doing drugs.
The compulsion
An unexplained compulsion to go to a church gripped me in the spring and summer of 1990. Since I hated Christianity, churches and Christians by now, this made me angry. I first ignored this compulsion, then resisted it, and then, after struggling against it for awhile, I decided to give in, hoping that it would go away. It was probably from one of my former lives as a priest or monk, I reasoned.
In the opening minutes of a service in a large church in downtown Atlanta, I felt a love I had never known wash down over and through me, so powerfully that I started crying. I knew this love was from God, not from the music, the people, or the place. That love was the real thing. Coming from an alcoholic home, I was starving for that love. I returned the following Sunday, not to have another experience, but so that I could be where that love had happened to me.
After several weeks, I began to feel unclean about astrology although no one in this open-minded church said anything about it. All I knew was that it was somehow separating me from this God of love. I then got the impression that God did not like astrology and wanted me to give it up. Give up my life’s work? Give up my identity and purpose? Outside of my son, nothing was more important to me than astrology. But I felt I had no choice; it was so clear to me that God did not like astrology. Not even believing what I was doing, I decided to give up astrology in late 1990. At the time, I was chairperson of the curriculum committee, a member of other committees at the astrological society, and scheduled to teach an upcoming class. I had to find another teacher. I had to tell clients who called I was no longer an astrologer. (I did give a talk in February, 1991, after bad advice from a pastor and not liking what I was doing but not strong enough to get out of it. It took over a year for full comprehension of what I had been involved in to sink in.) Now what happens? Thinking I should read the Bible, I started reading in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. Reading the Bible put me in touch with something pure, but I didn’t know what it was. Although I had read the Bible before while growing up and had quoted from it for astrological articles, this time it was different. I felt as though I was being cleaned from the inside out as I read it.
As real as it gets
This person Jesus fascinated me. It was as though I was learning about Him for the first time. One evening while reading part of the 8th chapter of Matthew, right before Christmas of 1990, I saw who Jesus really is. On the boat with His disciples, a terrible storm arose. The disciples were afraid and woke Jesus up, telling Him that they were going to perish. Jesus stopped the storm in its tracks! How? He did not visualize calm waters, He did not perform sorcery. He rebuked the winds and the sea, and they obeyed him. That means He has authority over nature. I was separated from God by everything I had done in my past — I had lived my whole life based on my will, a will that had rejected and defied God and His word. I realized that the only way to be forgiven, the only way to be reconciled with God, was through Jesus, the God-man who suffered and died for me out of a great and unconditional love. I realized Jesus is the Savior, He is the Son of God and God the Son. I understood for the first time why Jesus died on the cross. In those several minutes sitting on my bed with the Bible, I knew that the truth and the answer to all my questions were one and the same: Jesus Christ. What a simple but awesome truth! And so I gave myself to Christ and knew I belonged to Him from that moment on. Several months later, I found out that a young Christian man at the part-time job where I worked had been praying for me with a fellowship group at his church during 1990.
Jesus was different from the masters I had studied. He was more real than the spirit guides, the Ascended Masters, the Higher Self — all those airy, elusive things that gave no evidence of their existence — because He came to earth in flesh and He hungered, thirsted, felt pain and sorrow. He did not give a message that denied the dirt and dust of life, but He sat with the outcasts, the prostitutes, and the hated tax collectors yet remained sinless. He was as real as it gets. Though fully man, Jesus was fully God incarnate, equal to God in nature but setting aside that glory (not deity) to be among suffering men and women. Jesus Christ willingly was tortured, laid down His life and died an agonizing death to pay for our sins. He bodily rose on the third day, conquering death, so that we can have eternal life with God. No sorcerer, no spiritual master, no Buddha, no shaman, no witch, no psychic has conquered death, but all still lie cold in their graves. But Jesus has power over death and is living today.
Truth and satisfaction
Spiritually, I had been in a grave with the buddhas and the sorcerers and the seekers of wisdom who had rejected the truth of Christ. The complicated and intricate studies that had enthralled me, the endless layers of truths and realities I had pursued, the constant effort to evolve, the paranormal experiences, the need to believe in one’s own goodness at all costs, were all a maze and a trap. The truth was simple enough for a child because the truth is a Person. Jesus did not teach the way or say He had a way. He said that He is the way — not a way, but THE way.
Many people want to know if I had to wage spiritual warfare after trusting Christ. Well, a few months later, as I was about to go forward in a church to publicly proclaim faith in Christ, I got incredibly ill. When I went home, I got sicker. I felt an angry presence in the room and I thought it was my spirit guide. I basically told him I belonged to Christ and there was nothing he could do about it, that even if I died, it was too late. “You lose,” I said. I was addressing Satan, although I was really talking to my spirit guide. I do not believe in doing this now; I do not address demons nor Satan. They have already been spoken to and defeated by Christ. I prefer to speak to the ruler of the universe, Jesus Christ. I do not want to give demons any attention at all. Yes, I have had a few strange attacks that could be construed as demonic. But I do not like to focus on them. My focus is on the One who is worthy of attention: Jesus Christ, who has power over all rulers and principalities, in both the physical and spiritual realms.
What is the biggest difference between my former life and my life in Christ? That I am happier, that life is easier? Not at all. The difference is that I am spiritually satisfied. There is more to learn and much room to grow, but the learning and growth spring from Christ as the foundation, not from a search outside Him. The search has ended; the thirst has been quenched; the hunger within has been filled.
(You will find Marcia’s story with more detail in Chapter 10 of The Unexpected Journey (Zondervan) by Thom S. Rainer. This book contains the firsthand accounts of 12 people who came to faith in Christ from other spiritual beliefs and told their stories to Dr. Rainer. This book is sold on Amazon’s site and also on the CBD site at www.christianbook.com, and can also be found in or ordered by bookstores).
Jesus speaks
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” – John 14:6.“But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” – John 4:14“I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” – John 6:35“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'” – Matthew 28:18
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” – Revelation 3:20
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Here is Marcia Montenegro’s site
CANA Christian Answers for the New Age.
http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/AboutCANA_Background.html
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London’s famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.
Spurgeon’s printed works are voluminous, and those provided here are only a sampling of his best-known works, including his magnum opus, The Treasury of David. Nearly all of Spurgeon’s printed works are still in print and available from Pilgrim Publications, PO Box 66, Pasadena, TX 77501.
Always hungry for the Word, I have been enjoying the many quotes that people have been using from C. H. Spurgeon. I decided to take a look at a Spurgeon site and start reading some of his sermons.
It is like…wow…the truth…unadulterated messages from the Word itself. Oh, how spirit-filled this man was…you can read and hear it in his words. The words come tumbling out of his mouth as they are truly spoken from the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit filled words. How wonderful!…how….rare!
Seeing, example after example of false prophets, spouting new age ideas, ministering false gospels, I needed to read Spurgeon to assure myself that I knew the truth when it was being truly administered. Someone who knew scripture, who wasn’t turning it into pretzels, with circular reasoning, or snipping off part of a verse off with scissors and pounding it into an ill-fitting jigsaw puzzle of apostasy.
Here Spurgeon speaks of what is expected of the true mininsters of God and about repentance. Here is the link to this sermon, but below are a few timely quotes:
From the Sermon: Apostolic Exhortation.
“Accursed let him be that takes away from the gospel of Jesus Christ that he may win popular applause, or who bates his breath and smoothes his tongue that he may please the unholy throng. Such a man may have for a moment the approbation of fools, but, as the Lord his God liveth, he shall be set as a target for the arrows of vengeance in the day when the Lord cometh to judge the nations. Peter, then, boldly and earnestly preached the gospel—preached the Christ of the gospel—preached it personally and directly at the crowd who were gathered around him.”
“Oh! blessed readiness of a soul on fire with the Spirit, Lord, grant it to us evermore.”
“The object of the Christian minister should always be to withdraw attention from himself to his subject, so that it should not be said, “How well he spake!” but, “Upon what weighty matters he treated!” They are priests of Baal, who, with their gaudy dresses, and their pretensions to a mysterious power, would have you look to themselves as the channels of grace, as though by their priestcraft, if not by their holiness, they could work miracles; but they are true messengers of God who continually say, “Look not on us as though we could do anything: the whole power to bless you lies in Jesus Christ, and in the gospel of his salvation.”
“Go on, my dear brethren, preaching the gospel boldly, and be not afraid of the result, for, however little may be your strength, and though your eloquence may be as nought, yet God has promised to make his gospel the power to save, and so it shall be down to the world’s end.”
“We are not come to tell you that you must reform a little, and mend your ways in some degree: except you put your trust in Christ, forsake your old way of life, and become new creatures in Christ Jesus, you must perish. This—nothing short of this—is the gospel requirement. No church-going, no chapel-going, will save you; no bowing of the knee, no outward form of worship, no pretensions and professions to godliness- ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and if ye do not this, neither shall your sins be blotted out. Thus much, then, on the first point: the apostle commanded men to repent and be converted.”
“When our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree by sinners, sin only did then literally and openly what all sin really does in a spiritual sense. Do you understand me? Those offendings of yours which you have thought so little of, have been really a stabbing at the Deity. Will you not repent, if it be so? While you thought your sins to be mere trifles, light things to be laughed at, you would not repent; but now I have shown you (and I think your conscience will bear me out) that every sin is really an attempt to thrust God out of the world, that every sin is saying, “Let there be no God.” Oh! then there is cause enough to repent of it.”
Oh Lord, I pray that those who are involved in false ministries will have their eyes opened to the truth. I pray that false teachers will see the result of their rotting fruit, and repent of their sin. Amen.
Ten people were shown walking the Labyrinth at the Harmony Hill Retreat Center for cancer patients. The picture I copied from the newspaper website is not the same labyrinth they showed in the actual paper. They have three you know.
A cancer retreat. What would you be looking for in a retreat if you were dying of cancer?
This is from the article in Sunday’s newpaper:
Harmony Hill is a nonprofit retreat center with its roots dating back more than 20 years when founder Gretchen Schodde first visited the area.
The center’s 12 acres incorporate healing gardens, labyrinths, walking and hiking trails and beach access into its purpose of helping people find “emotional, spiritual and physical healing in the face of cancer.”
“In 1985 I came to St. Andrews Episcopal Church retreat center for a woman’s retreat, which is next door to Harmony Hill,” Schodde said. “I felt like I was coming home. The idea of creating an educational, recreational and therapeutic center started coming back to me.”
Today the property has been developed to accommodate the various cancer retreats, private parties, yoga lessons and gardening workshops. Surrounding the buildings are gardens, trails, labyrinths and views of the Olympic Mountains and Hood Canal.
Schodde lives in an apartment on the property, and absorbs the healing powers felt by retreat participants on a daily basis. Six years ago she drew heavily on those experiences when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Schodde underwent treatment and was cancer free for five years, but recently had a reoccurrence. Drawing on the strength of the hundreds of cancer patients who have walked the gardens of Harmony Hill, Schodde is proof of the center’s purpose.
During retreats, yoga and meditation classes are held to help manage stress, a chef prepares vegetarian meals using local organic foods and attendees break into groups facilitated by staff to discuss their experiences.
I am sure this is a wonderful facility. But..if I were dying of cancer….I would not be walking a labyrinth, or doing yoga. I would be on my knees praying for strength from the Lord to sustain me for His purposes, or I would be found curled up in a chair, reading my favorite passages in Ephesians.
What was curious was the reference to the church but never mentioned was the strength and courage that comes from walking with the Lord Jesus Christ.
How sad….people at this retreat are possibly facing death……and they seek to walk a labyrinth for healing and comfort.
Zec 10:2
For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain; therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was not a shepherd.
2 Cor 1:3
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.
Chicken Soup for the Soul…did you know that the author of these series of books is listed under the New Age section on the Master List from Christian Research Services?
- UPDATE – This list is no longer available .
Have you ever read the shocking book “The Secret”? Well now you can get the Christian version called “the Secret Things of God” by Dr. Henry Cloud, a psychologist. More about this later…..
Every month I regularly receive a magazine from a well-known Christian store. I am on their mailing list because I have ordered from them in the past. I have been known to absent-mindedly just toss most of the magazines I get into the trash. This time I decided to take a look.
This particular christian book store has quite a few titles and many gift items. I have purchased CD’s here also. Now this was about two years and since, my taste in books have definitely changed with discernment and research.
Magazine in hand, I decided to search for bookstore authors featuring Centering Prayer, Church Growth, Contemplative, Emergent, Labyrinth, Mysticism, and Purpose Driven systems.
Here is who I found:
Ken Blanchard
Richard Foster
Tony Jones
Keri Wyatt Kent
Sue Monk Kidd
Dan Kimball
Brennan Manning
Erwin McManus
Don Miller
Beth Moore DVD
John Ortberg
Doug Pagitt
Eugene Peterson
Leonard Sweet
Gary Thomas
Rick Warren*
Robert Webber
Lauren Winner
I only found a few authors on the New Age list online with this particular website, although the New Age authors on the Master List are blatantly New Age. On the other hand this list will have to be closely watched because contemplative prayer is but one step from metaphysics which is entering an unknown spiritual realm. One will need to constantly review this portion of the list to inform the reader of any New Age material in their possession.
Brooke Boon (Holy Yoga)
Jack Canfield (They Call Me Dad, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Christian Soul)
Here is a quote from Canfield which will explain why he is in the New Age category. “In USA, we have a Christian fundamentalist movement right now which is threatening other religions and I don’t like it. It’s a religious revival which is intolerant, it creates separation, pain, and is based on ignorance…What works for me is a combination of disciplines: I do yoga, tai chi which is a Chinese martial art and three kinds of medidationvipasana, transcendental and manta (sound) meditation…I meditate every day and I do something with my body every day: yoga or tai chi”.
Now on to the Word-of-Faith, New Apostolic Movement, Kingdom Now, Manifest Sons of God, Latter Rain, False Healing, False Prophets and False Teachers. This is a different story…..
Reinhard Bonnke
Charles Capps
Paul Yongi Cho
Kim Clement*
Kenneth Copeland
Creflo Dollar
Jesse Duplantis
Richard Foster
Francis Frangipane
Marilyn Hickey
Benny Hinn
Bill Hybels
T. D. Jakes
Rick Joyner
Joyce Meyer*
Miles Monroe*
Joel Osteen*
Rod Parsley*
Frederick K.C. Price
Dutch Sheets/Chuck Pierce
Tommy Tenney
C. Peter Wagner
*Authors found in catalog.
So these were all the authors I found being promoted on the Christian website even though they are classified as unfruitful works by the Christian Research Service.
There is another list of contemplative authors on http://lighthousetrailsresearch.com which serves to round off the list. I believe there to be many more. But this a very good start. New names are sure to be added.
Now back to the featured book on the Christian website …. “the Secret things of God” by Dr. Henry Cloud. apparently Dr. Cloud a psychologist who is interested in spiritual things, was asked to write a “Christian” version of the shocking book “The Secret”. He says “This book is not a Christian argument for or against The Secret. In fact, it sometimes agrees with and sometimes differs with it.” For the record, this book needs to be totally rejected by Christians.
Here is an excerpt telling of how he became a Christian…..
I wandered across the SMU campus and found an empty chapel. It was cold and dark, and I went down to the altar and said a simple prayer. It was something like this: “God…I don’t even know if you are there. But if you are, I need your help. If you help me, I will do anything you tell me to do. Just help me. Find me.” At that point, I knew something had changed.
No — nothing happened. No lights, no burning bush, no feelings of peace. Just empty silence. Nothing on the outside was different, but I knew that inside something had changed. I had just taken a real step of faith…and I knew that if God did not show up in some real way, my life had just gotten a lot worse. I knew that if he did not answer me, I was truly alone in the universe. All my life I’d had the good ol’ American security blanket of “There is a God out there who is nice and loves us.” But now, I had actually stepped out and asked him to do something. (Emphasis mine).
It is not my place to decide if someone is living for the Lord, but where is the repentance? To belong to Christ involves admission of sin, as we are all guilty in God’s eyes. What is telling is that 25 years later he is on an airplane and describing how he usually tells a nosy passenger that he write books about God to shut them up.
Here is a video clip (1.5 min.) of the author and his book:
*UPDATE THIS CLIP IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. *
This video was taped at a Women of Faith Conference. I was once invited to one of these events when it was being promoted in Seattle, but when I researched the speakers, I found them to be “fluffy” with little biblical content. Max Lucado was one of the main speakers and I had been warned of him as a contemplative. I declined the invitation.
Well….. all this to tell you that Christian bookstores are promoting questionable books. You cannot trust many sources these days and I always recommend reading your Bible and pray that the Lord to open His word up to you. My study group uses the NIV but I use the King James Version and go to the Blue Letter Bible all the time to verify a translation or to see it in Greek or Hebrew. http://www.blueletterbible.org/ Whenever I am in doubt I simply google the author and check the discernment sites.
The time has come that I no longer can go to the religion section in a big-name bookstore and just select something that sounds interesting. Actually the New Age section is larger than the religion section, but the worst of it lies in the fact that there is a crossover of New Age and Religion titles. I only buy books that I know tell the truth, and the truth is getting harder to come by.
Zondervan is now owned by Harper Collins, who also publishes “The Satanic Bible” and “The Joy of Gay Sex”.
Need I say more?
8/21/16. I am adding a link of an excellent article taking a close look at his teachings.
Click to access 27%20Cloud%20Changes.pdf
Even though I was a Christian..I was as lukewarm as a leftover glass of yesterdays iced tea still sitting on the coffee table from the previous evening. Melted ice…diluted flavor…dingy glass…bent straw…wilted lemon slice. There was no way that an unbeliever would know that I believed in Jesus Christ. If I was standing in front of a judge would there be enough evidence in my life to convict me of Christianity? NO, sorry lady… you do not have a shred of evidence, no proof whatsoever. This verdict would have been correct.
Then one day I picked up a paperback book on prophecy in a garage sale. It was fascinating. I had never read anything before about prophecy and no teacher had ever taught Revelations when i was in Sunday School and I don’t ever remember a sermon about the end times.
This was the first time I had read about the rapture. Reading this material caused at first immense interest. Then the conviction started. Weight upon weight began piling into my heart until no longer could i hold inside the tears of 30 years of unconfessed sin. Down onto floor…this is where i stayed for hours..on my knees..on my back..crosslegged…in prayer, begging forgiveness for the time I had spent idly wandering this shameful world. I had been hit with a powerful realization that my indifference to sin and the Lord Jesus Christ would result in being doomed in the upcoming wrath and judgment.
I rededicated my life to Christ that afternoon. This single episode has been the most significant life-changing event of my life. I had accepted Christ as a young girl and have always been a believer but the conviction of my guilt shook me to my very core and caused true repentance.
What happened next was a hunger and thirst for God and the Word. I had never experienced this before in my life. Because I was expressing this hunger for the Word of God, someone invited me to Bible Study Fellowship which is an intense study which will put you into the Word of God daily. Then the time came for next step. I asked the Lord to expose my sin to me and further convict me of areas in my life that needed to be changed. This was another milestone and yet another corner turned. If you ever want a fast answer to prayer……ask this:
Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Opening your life to the Lord in this way is cleansing and He needs clean vessels for his servants.
I try to keep myself low, humble. I am nothing, I am a nobody. All that I am is what the Lord has done in me, I am nothing in myself. When I bow down before Him it is in total submission. The Holy Spirit then can do His work and can use me as a vessel. Everything in my life has to be done His way, in His time, for His Glory and for His purposes only.
We need to confess and repent of our sin constantly. I believe everyone knows what it is to confess of something, but that they do not really know what repentance truly is. To repent is to turn away from sin. To repent causes a changed reformed life. If your life has not seriously changed since becoming a Christian then you need to take a good look at your walk with the Lord.
In Revelation 3 the church of Laodicea is admonished.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
I will never in my lifetime be able to express the gratitude I have that the Lord loved me enough to rebuke and chasten me and therefore caused me to repent and change my ways so that I could truly be his servant. Is the life of a servant easy? Not always…but there is nothing more empowering than lowering and humbling yourself before the Lord.
What about you? Is the Lord rebuking and chastening your heart this very moment? Would you please listen for his voice, read his Word, and completely turn your life over to Him?
kim
DiscernIt 
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