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Back in March 2007 I contacted the publisher of Alpha Omega Report because I knew he lived near Kansas City. I was researching IHOP. This is what he told me:
Believe it or not, despite their rhetoric, they are a non-factor in the KC area and most people, including most ministers either have no clue they exist or have only vaguely heard of them. I think this is primarlly because they are viewed as a “cult” or “cult-like” in nature and are or have been pretty-well marginalized.
This may have been true at the time but now we can see this is changing.
GOD TV is Now Carrying the IHOP-KC Renewal – from Slaughter of the Sheep
What started out as the “Student Awakening” at Mike Bickle’s International House of Prayer (IHOP) is now being billed as the IHOP-KC Renewal by God TV, who will be carrying the “revival” starting in January. If you’ll rewind to a little over a year and a half ago, God TV was implicit in bringing the Lakeland Outpouring to gullible sheep around the globe. As has been proven in the past, God TV’s Wendy and Rory Alec will jump on anything that will spread the wildfire of mystical heresy around the world. They apparently don’t want to be left out of this latest move.
When the Student Awakening was being carried via live webstream they were able to reach many around the world, but with God TV picking up the feed, there will be almost a half a BILLION households added to the audience. That figure staggers the imagination. That’s like pouring gasoline on an already out of control fire.
Full Story HERE
LUTHERANS SPLITTING FROM LIBERAL DENOMINATION
(Friday Church News Notes, December 4, 2009, http://www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) –
The liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is splitting over the issue of the ordination of homosexuals. On November 18 a group of Lutherans called CORE (Coalition for Renewal) voted to form a new Lutheran denomination in response to the decision this summer by the ELCA to allow “openly practicing homosexuals” to serve as pastors (“Lutherans Splitting,” Baptist Press, Nov. 25, 2009).
It is not yet certain how many churches will join the new group, as it takes a two-thirds vote for a congregation to leave the ELCA. Some 1,200 supporters of CORE met in late September to show their support for the split.
Eight years ago me and my husband began looking for a church in our area. While sitting in the back row of a Lutheran church as a visitor, I felt the Lord tug at my heart to be a “reader”. This is someone who reads scripture up front during the service. Okay…I thought, I have to be a member to do this. We joined.
You know how it goes once you join a church, you are asked to be part of the many activities and functions which was fine, but the interaction also revealed how many did not believe scripture. There are members who do not believe the verse John 14:6. The revelation was shocking to me. I wondered….why did the Lord lead me here?
Over two years ago we were blessed with a new pastor. I went to him asking to please…please preach the gospel and the truth from the scriptures. He did. When the ELCA voted in the new resolution he resigned from the ELCA risking his salary and pension, trusting in the Lord for provision.
I would like to add that there are some wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who remain in the ELCA, and who do not agree with the resolution. To those I pray that you make a difference and remain true to the Word of God. Speak boldly and like Paul be not ashamed of the Gospel.
Our congregation does not officially have a two-thirds vote, so some of us have found a new location, and with the guidelines set out by CORE and the LCMC we intend to have a confessional Lutheran church.
Of course, the issue of homosexuality, is really just the tip of the iceberg. Under the surface of the water lies the true foundation of what is sinking all churches, all denominations, across the nations. We find in the murky water, the denial of creation, destruction of marriage and family by divorce and sexual immorality, the blending of false religions with Christianity, lack of knowledge of scripture and its authority, denial of Christ’s deity, inclusion instead of separation, and then… a weak and compromised Gospel.
Many who study prophecy might agree with me on this next thought. I believe the Lord is testing to see who really belongs to Him because the day of the Lord is near.
Joshua 24:14-15
Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
CORE
http://www.lutherancore.org/com_conf.shtml
And the LCMC
FROM LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH
WHY are Joel Rosenberg and Frank Peretti Appearing With New Age/New Spirituality Sympathizers?
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. (I Corinthians 10:21)
Why are so many Christian leaders continually appearing with personalities who claim to be Christian yet promote the heretical “new spirituality”? In January 2010, in Alberta, Canada, such a situation will take place at the Break Forth conference, bringing together a conglomeration of Christian figures, New Age sympathizers, and mystic/emerging proponents. From Joel Rosenberg (Epicenter), Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness), and Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ) to William Paul Young (The Shack), Leonard Sweet (Quantum Spirituality), and contemplative proponents such as Duffy Robbins (Enjoy the Silence) and Brad Jersak, Break Forth will be like drawing gray lines in the sand–blended, indistinguishable lines.
In essence, this merging together, like so many other events now taking place within evangelical Christianity, willhelp erode the distinction between truth and falsehood and light and dark.
With well-known names like Rosenberg, Peretti, and Strobel as part of the speaking platform, many Christians who otherwise might not attend or pay much attention to this emerging event, could be drawn in just by the mere mention of these men’s names. And with Break Forth boasting that 1000 Canadian churches are represented at this event, tens of thousands of church goers could easily, directly or indirectly, be impacted in a fashion ultimately leading to spiritual deception and apostasy.
Full article HERE
Note to hotel managers: unless you want it to be altered forever, remove that Bible from Sir Ian McKellen‘s bedside drawer before he shows up.
In a Q&A with Details magazine,the openly gay ‘Lord of the Rings’ star admits to a habit of tearing out the Bible passage that condemns homosexuality — Leviticus 18:22 — every time he finds one in his hotel room. The passage: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” “I’m not proudly defacing the book,” he asserts, “but it’s a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible.”
Contrast that excerpt with this one:
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in convention went for the trifecta in affirming homosexuality. The liberal Lutherans ruled that homosexual sex is moral, allowed churches to bless gay unions, and allowed non-celibate gays to be pastors. In each case, the approval applies only to “monogamous” relationships. The new policy does not address gay marriage as such. The only church body that does affirm gay marriage is the United Church of Christ. Still, the news service Reuters, linked above, says that the ELCA now has one of the most liberal policies about homosexuality of any other American church body.
Oh….there is no contrast.. is there?
sources:
http://www.popeater.com/2009/11/02/ian-mckellen-bible-leviticus-1822/
http://www.geneveith.com/elca-completely-embraces-homosexuality/_3107/
By David Cloud
“The Shack” held first place on the New York Times bestseller list for Paperback Trade Fiction for many months. As of October 2009, it has sold ten million copies. It is being translated into 30 languages, and a motion picture is in the works.
Though its author, William Paul Young, is not a member of a church and is even reticent to call himself a Christian, and though its doctrine of God is grossly heretical, the novel is being touted as a helpful Christian book.
“The Shack” has been endorsed by Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, CCM artist Michael W. Smith, Eugene Peterson (Regent College professor and author of “The Message”), Mark Batterson (senior pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.), Wayne Jacobson, author of?So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore,” Gayle Erwin of Calvary Chapel, James Ryle of the Vineyard churches, and Greg Albrecht, editor of “Plain Truth” magazine. The premier issue of Rick Warren’s magazine, The Purpose Driven Connection, refers to The Shack as a “notable best-selling Christian” book (p. 24).
Young was born in Alberta in 1955 but spent most of the first ten years of his life in Papua New Guinea with his missionary parents, who were ministering to a backwards tribal group called the Dani. He graduated from Warner Pacific College, which is affiliated with the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), with a degree in religion.
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In “The Shack,” Young presents traditional Bible-believing Christianity as hypocritical and hurtful. The book’s main character grew up under “rigorous rules,” and his father, who was an elder in the church, was “a closet drinker” and treated his family with cruelty when drunk (p. 7).
Hypocrisy is very injurious to the cause of Christ, but hypocrisy on the part of Christians does not disprove the Bible. Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4)! All too often this type of thing is used as an excuse by rebels. I know this by personal experience. In my youth I used the inconsistencies that I saw in Baptist churches to excuse my rejection of the church. The chief problem, though, was not the hypocrisy of others but my own rebellion and love for the world. When I repented of my wickedness at age 23 and turned to Christ and received the Bible as God’s holy Word, I stopped blaming others and took responsibility for myself before Almighty God.
Rules and obligations under God’s grace are not wrong. They are an integral part of Bible Christianity. We are saved by grace without works, but we are saved “unto good works” (Ephesians 2:8-10). The New Testament epistles are filled with rules and obligations that believers are expected to keep and filled with warnings about disobedience. The true grace of God does not let us live as we please. It teaches us, rather, “that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12). That is a very strict standard of Christian living.
There is hypocrisy in churches and there are false gospels that are law-based rather than grace-based and most churches today are corrupt, but the solution is not to reject the literal interpretation of Scripture and create a new God! God is amazingly compassionate and loving and He has proven that on the cross, but God is also holy and just and requires obedience and hates and punishes sin, and that side of God cannot be ignored without creating a false God.
The flesh wearies greatly of the holiness of God! I can testify to that. From time to time in my Christian life I have gotten discouraged at God. It is not a simple thing to reconcile God’s love and grace with His awful holiness and justice. On one hand, the New Testament tells us that the believer is forgiven, redeemed, justified, accepted in the beloved, blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, holy and without blame before God, and seated in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1-3). On the other hand, the same New Testament tells us that the believer must be exceedingly careful about how he lives before God. We are to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1), which is the highest conceivable standard. The believer who does not pursue this is in danger of being judged (e.g., 1 Cor. 3:13-17; 9:26-27; 11:27-32; Hebrews 13:4; 2 John 8-11; Revelation 2:4-5, 16, 22-23; 3:15-16). There is even a sin unto death (1 John 5:16-17; Acts 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 11:30). Thus there must be many warnings in the Christian life (Acts 20:31; Colossians 1:28; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:13; 2:15).
These things seem to be contradictory to the fallen flesh and to the natural man, but they are two sides of the same compassionate, thrice holy God, and to reject either one is reject the true God for an idol.
In an interview with the 700 Club in February 2009 Young described a “huge personal failure” that occurred in his life at age 38. He says, “My life crashed and burned, and I had to go back and deal with some stuff from being a child on the mission field along with other stuff in my life.” He speaks of “secrets” that he kept from his childhood and guilt that he carried. He doesn’t describe any of this in detail, but it appears that he felt guilty for not obeying God’s Word and perhaps went through psychological therapy. He talks continually of “pain,” “damage,” healing childhood memories, and such.
REDEFINING GOD
“The Shack” is about redefining God. Young has said that the book is for those with “a longing that God is as kind and loving as we wish he was” (interview with Sherman Hu, Dec. 4, 2007). What he is referring to is the desire on the part of the natural man for a God who loves “unconditionally” and does not require obedience, does not require repentance, does not judge sin, and does not make men feel guilty for what they do.
In that same interview, Young said that a woman wrote to him and said that her 22-year-old daughter came to her after reading the book and asked, “IS IT ALRIGHT IF I DIVORCE THE OLD GOD AND MARRY THE NEW ONE?”
Young therefore admits that the God of “The Shack” is different from the traditional God of Bible-believing Christianity. He says that the God who “watches from a distance and judges sin” is “a Christianized version of Zeus.” This reminds me of the modernist G. Bromley Oxnam, who called the God of the Old Testament “a dirty bully” in his 1944 book “Preaching in a Revolutionary Age.”
“The Shack” explores the issue of why God allows pain and evil. It is a fictional account of a man who is bitter against God for allowing his youngest daughter to be murdered and who returns to the scene of the murder, an old shack in the woods, to have a life-changing encounter with God. The “God” that he encounters, though, is not the God of the Bible.
Young depicts the triune God as a young Asian woman named “Sarayu” * (supposedly the Holy Spirit), an oriental carpenter who loves to have a good time (supposedly Jesus), and an older black woman named “Elousia” (supposedly God the Father). God the Father is also depicted as a guy with a ponytail and a goatee. (* The name “Sarayu” is from the Hindu scriptures and represents a mythical river in India on the shores of which the Hindu god Rama was born.)
Young’s god is the god of the emerging church. He is cool, loves rock & roll, is non-judgmental, does not exercise wrath toward sin, does not send unbelievers to an eternal fiery hell, does not require repentance and the new birth, puts no obligations on people, doesn’t like traditional Bible churches, does not accept the Bible as the infallible Word of God, and does not mind if the early chapters of the Bible are interpreted as “myth.”
Note the following quotes from the god of “The Shack”:
“Don’t go because you feel obligated. That won’t get you any points around here. Go because it’s what you want to do” (p. 89).
Contrast 1 Corinthians 4:2.
“I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it…” (p. 120).
Contrast Isaiah 13:11; Ephesians 5:5-6.
“There are lots of people who think it [Eden] was only a myth. Well, their mistake isn’t fatal. Rumors of glory are often hidden inside of what many consider myths and tales” (p. 134).
Contrast 2 Peter 1:16.
“[Your heart] is wild and beautiful and perfectly in process” (p. 138).
Contrast Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23.
“To force my will on you is exactly what love does not do. … True love never forces” (pp. 145, 190).
Contrast John 8:31-32; 14:15; Titus 2:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-11; Revelation 2:14-16, 20-23; 3:3, 16-19.
“Our final destiny is not the picture of Heaven that you have stuck in your head–you know, the image of pearly gates and streets of gold” (p. 177).
Contrast Revelation 21-22.
“My church is all about people and life is all about relationships. … You can’t build it. … I don’t create institutions–never have, never will” (pp. 178, 179).
Contrast Acts 2:41-42, 13-14.
“Those who love me come from every system that exists. They were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats, Republicans and many who don’t vote or are not part of any Sunday morning or religious institutions. … I have no desire to make them Christian” (p. 182).
Contrast Acts 4:12; 26:28.
“Through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world … The whole world. … In Jesus, I have forgiven all humans for their sins against me … When Jesus forgave those who nailed him to the cross they were no longer in his debt, nor mine” (pp. 192, 225).
Contrast John 3:36; Acts 17:30-31; 1 John 5:12, 19; Revelation 20:11-15.
“The Bible doesn’t teach you to follow rules. … Enforcing rules, especially in its more subtle expressions like responsibility and expectation, is a vain attempt to create certainty out of uncertainty. … That is why you won’t find the word responsibility in the Scriptures. … because I have no expectations, you never disappoint me” (pp. 197, 203, 206).
Contrast 1 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 5:18. In Ephesians 4-6 alone there are at more than 80 specific obligations that believers are exhorted to keep.
“I don’t do humiliation, or guilt, or condemnation” (p. 223).
Contrast Isaiah 2:11; 5:15; John 3:19; Romans 3:19; 1 Corinthians 11:27; James 3:1; 5:9; Jude 4; Revelation 11:18; 20:11-15.
THE SHACK’S GOD IS EMERGENT AND NEW AGE
Not only is “The Shack’s” god suspiciously similar to the one described in the books of the more liberal branch of the emerging church (e.g., Rob Bell, Donald Miller, Brian McLaren), it also has a strong kinship to the New Age god promoted by John Lennon and Oprah Winfrey.
Lennon’s extremely popular song “IMAGINE” (1971) proclaims:
“Imagine there’s no heaven … No hell below us, above us only sky … no religion too/ You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one/ I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world will live as one.”
William Young imagines the same thing in “The Shack.” If there is a God, he is non-judgmental. There is no hell. God just wants people to do their own thing and be happy.
Oprah preaches the same gospel to millions. Man is not a sinner; God is not a judge; all is well with the universe; and I just need to surrender to the flow. Her message is the celebration of self. She grew up in a traditional Baptist church, but she has reinterpreted the Bible and moved beyond its restrictions. She says, “As I study the New Age movement, it all seems to say exactly what the Bible has said for years, but many of us were brought up with a restricted, limited understanding of what the Bible said” (“The Gospel according to Oprah,” Vantage Point, July 1998).
DENYING THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE BIBLE
Another foundational problem with “The Shack” is its denial of the Bible as the absolute and sole authority. Note the following quote:
“In seminary he [the book’s main figure, Mack] had been taught that God had completely stopped any overt communication with moderns, preferring to have them only listen to and follow sacred Scripture, properly interpreted, of course. God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects. … Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that guilt edges?” (pp. 65, 66).
To believe that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and the sole authority for faith and practice is not to “put God in a box.” It is to honor God by receiving the Scripture for what it claims to be and what it has proven itself to be. If a father goes on a journey and leaves behind a written statement of his will for the family during his absence, the family that truly honors the father submits to that written record. To reject the Bible as the infallible Word of God is to launch out upon the stormy waters of subjective mysticism. It allows man to be his own authority and to live as he pleases, which is an objective of both the New Age movement and the emerging church.
CHANGED LIVES
The author of “The Shack” points to changed lives as evidence of the truth of the book and the grace of God in using it. At the National Pastor’s Conference, William Young told Andy Crouch that the book was setting people free from “addictive bondages and doctrinal bondages.” He said, “Even people who have been vocally against the book, people in their own family have been healed.”
Healed of what and healed in what way?
What is happening is that people who don’t like Bible Christianity, don’t want to obey the Bible, don’t want to feel guilty for their sin, and have rejected the “angry” God of Scripture, are responding enthusiastically to the man-made idol presented in “The Shack.” The following is typical of the postings at Young’s MySpace site by readers of the book:
“Your book, The Shack, is amazing! It has changed so many people’s idea of what God is really like! It has set some of my friends free!”
Miracles do not prove that something is of God. There is one that the Bible calls “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he can do miracles and answer prayers. I saw miracles and experienced answers to prayers when I was the member of a Hindu meditation society before I came to Christ. Miracles are not the proof of the truth; the Bible alone is the proof. The prophet Isaiah said, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).
CONCLUSION
“The Shack” is another building stone of the end-times Tower of Babel.
God’s people must be exceedingly careful in these days of awful apostasy. The Bible warns:
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:25-26).
The willful sin described in this verse points back to the sin referred to in verse 29. It is the sin of counting the blood of salvation an unholy thing. It is the rejection of personal salvation through the blood of Christ, which many in the emerging church are doing. You can’t be saved if you reject the substitutionary atonement.
In these days we need to stay in the Bible every day and be in sweet communion with Christ, confessing our sins and walking in the light.
And we need to capture the heart of the next generation and educate them so they will not be taken captive by the wiles of the devil and the guile of false teachers.
When the liberal ELCA of the Lutheran church voted to allow gay clergy, my eyes were further opened. This synod is based on tolerance, love and unity and so ignores major biblical teachings. There is a misconception in the church that it must tolerate sin. The church should be united, but this unity must be based on the authority of God’s Word.
Just as the new-agers only accept a loving god, so does the apostate church who is being given over because it does not love the truth.
At the second coming Jesus is coming in wrath and judgment.
Romans 2:5
“But because of your stubborness and and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”
Revelation 19:11
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.”
Revelation19:15b
“…He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.”
This is from Way of Life:
There is a worldwide push to promote homosexual tourism. Even Nepal is gearing up toward this. A report in the Kathmandu Post states, “Almost three years after the Supreme Court established gay rights in Nepal, the country is awaiting to host ‘one of the most extravagant groups of tourists in the world’– the sexual minorities consisting of lesbians, gays,. bi-sexuals and transgenders (LGBTs)” (“Nepal Eyes Sexual Minorities for Tourism,” Oct. 22, 2009). The country is hosting a “historic international conference” in February to “explore opportunities for gay tourism in Nepal.” The United Nations pushes “gay rights” and tolerance toward moral perversion and wants to see international laws passed forbidding “discrimination.”
The world, having traded the holy Creator God for a lie , is rushing pell-mell toward eternal destruction. Jesus likened the last days to the days of Lot when wicked Sodom and Gomorrah were given over to homosexuality (Luke 17:28-30), and the major cities of the world are looking more like Sodom with each passing decade.
source:
Jesus went to Samaria with a purpose. Usually the Jews avoided Samaria, for the people worshiped false gods, and they had a religious mixture. So the Jews despised them. But Jesus took the initiative to speak to this woman who was in an immoral relationship. Men did not talk alone with women in those days, for they had no rights and it was not proper for a Rabbi to be seen talking alone with a woman.
Jesus in his graciousness, convicted this woman of her sin. He did not condemn her, but He did lead her to repentance. There is not genuine repentance without the turning away from sin.
There has to be a:
1. Change of Mind – God brings conviction as in John 16:8 through the Holy Spirit “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”
2. Change of Heart – One must have true regret and sorrow, not just for the consequences that must be faced, but for sin against God.
3. Change of Will – There is a true turning away with a purpose to forsake sin. It must be recognized that one has to turn away from self, die to self, and to God, giving up selfish desires.
4. Change of Life: – A transformation occurs when one finally turns from self to God by picking up the Cross of Jesus. This is the evidence of one who is born again of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was willing to patiently work with others and teach them truth. Even the despised. Do we ignore the hard to love, or do we turn up our nose at the “problems” because they have issues or follow false doctrine?
We have an opportunity to be like Christ! We must not judge but at the same time we must be graceful and dispense the truth found in Scripture.
How is this possible? Are we not all sinners? Yes, so we must…
Live a life of repentance ourselves. We must realize that unconfessed sin hinders our spiritual life in Christ, so we must purposely deal with all known sin.
So Jesus purposely exposed this woman’s sin, her immorality. Then… He offered her living water. How did she respond? She believed He was the Messiah,and in joy she ran and told others, who also came to Christ. In her excitement, she left behind her water jug at the well, because she had found true living spiritual water instead of earthly water.
We must not be like the world that loves sin and tolerates it. Jesus did not ignore immoral behavior, instead He pointed it out. Sin must be confronted with the truth. Because of biblical truth, true disciples will be hated. John 15:19 says “If you belong to the world it would love you as its own. As it is you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Do you belong to the world and its man-made philosophies or do you instead belong to Christ and His Word in the Bible? Do others see you as a witness for Christ and his Truth or do you instead follow horoscopes , psychological theories and false teachers. Paul warned Timothy that in the end times “Men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead so suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear..” 2 Timothy 4:3
“Those who oppose him (the Lord’s servant) he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:25
So we must use scripture in all of our arguments and confirmation of biblical truths because:
” All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
The Seductive and Subversive “Shack”
By Jan Markell
Many have asked me to comment on William P. Young’s ragingly popular book The Shack. Is this work of fiction really Christian? It is called by some as one of Christianity’s most influential books. One prominent endorser says it will “leave you craving for God.”
Yet people I respect highly, including Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Seminary, calls it “undiluted heresy.” He maintains there is no way it can seriously address the issues of Christian faith.
Here is the scenario in brief. Remember, this fiction plot is going to transform lives! A man by the name of “Mack” has a daughter murdered and he slips into a depression. He gets a message that he is supposed to meet God in the shack. Entering the shack, he is in the company of the Trinity, but now it gets weird and hard to believe anyone could be deceived by this piece of work.
In the shack he learns that God is “Papa” but is really an African-American female. Thankfully, Jesus is a Jewish man, but the Holy Spirit is another female figure of Asian descent. So much for Trinitarian theology! So Christianity has been misconstrued and has been revised. Talk about minimizing the Divine!
On page 110 Jesus says that He is perhaps not the way, truth, and life, but the BEST way to relate to the Father and Holy Spirit. Papa God, the African-American female, says she has many followers of many religions in different lands. This is not Orthodox Christianity, yet millions of Christian readers claim it is! Discernment has taken a summer vacation or perhaps a permanent vacation.
Mack asks “Papa” God, the female, about God’s wrath. The answer is that she doesn’t punish people for sin; rather she wants to cure sin. No mention of repentance, the shed blood, and all the things the new “seeker” environment wants to leave out in the church parking lot.
Former “New Ager” Warren Smith says, “The Shack is being described as a Christian novel and is currently ranked number one on the New York Times best-seller list for paperback fiction. Many believers are buying multiple copies and giving them to friends and family. The Shack reads as a true story but is obviously allegorical fiction. The book conveys postmodern spiritual ideas and teachings that challenge biblical Christianity – all in the name of ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ and the ‘Holy Spirit.’ Author William P. Young’s alternative presentation of traditional Christianity has both inspired and outraged his many readers. All the while his book continues to fly off the shelves of local bookstores.”
Smith, who has been on my radio program many times denouncing Oprah Winfrey’s deception, goes on to say, “I was drawn into the ‘New Age Movement’ years ago by books and lectures containing parabolic stories that were not unlike The Shack. They felt spiritually uplifting as they tackled tough issues and talked about God’s love and forgiveness. They seemed to provide me with what I spiritually needed as they gave me much-needed hope and promise. Building on the credibility they achieved through their inspirational and emotive writings, my ‘New Age’ authors and teachers would then go on to tell me that God was in everyone and everything.
“I discovered that author William P. Young does exactly the same thing in The Shack. He moves through his very engaging and emotional story to eventually present this same ‘New Age’ teaching that God is ‘in’ everything.”
As writer and researcher Berit Kjos concludes, “Yet countless pastors and church leaders are delighting in its message. By ignoring (or redefining) sin and guilt, they embrace an inclusive but counterfeit ‘Christianity’ that draws crowds but distorts the Bible. Discounting Satan as well, they weaken God’s warnings about deception. No wonder His armor for today’s spiritual war became an early victim of this spreading assault on truth.”
So The Shack opens in the context of tragedy. Four years have passed since the cruel murder of Missy, Mack’s precious six-year-old daughter. Enveloped in grief, he receives a strange invitation. “I’ve missed you,” it says. “I’ll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. Papa.” What could it mean?
Doubtful, but drawn to the meeting, Mack heads for the Oregon wilderness and finds the dilapidated old shack. “God” miraculously transforms it into a cozy cottage, and Mack meets his supposed maker.
No, it doesn’t get any stranger but sadly, it doesn’t get more popular with Christians who miss the point that The Shack is intended to bring about a new definition of the Christian faith. As Albert Mohler says, “This is totally seductive and subversive, but readers, even believers, don’t seem to mind.” You can listen to all of his comments at this link.
If you know of someone taken in by this, please pass this commentary on to them. You’ll be doing them an enormous favor.
To learn more, visit Lighthouse Trails Research and the article The Shack: Father-goddess Rising.
I thank God for all of those who are speaking out today over outrageous issues like this one. I am reminded about the many false things promoted today written in 2 Timothy 3:16: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” This is a last days’ reference and if you don’t think we’re in them (the last days), I’ll sell you a beach vacation to Minnesota in January.
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Here is another article by Berit Kjos
Deceived by a counterfeit “Jesus” – The twisted “truths”…..
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/shack.htm
Also by Mike Oppenheimer – Shocked by the Shack
“…discovered many charms from various eras before and after the period of Joseph, including one that bore his effigy as the minister of the treasury in the Egyptian pharaoh’s court…”
An Egyptian paper claims that archaeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the Biblical Joseph.
“In an unprecedented find, a group of Egyptian researchers and archeologists has discovered a cache of coins from the time of the Pharaohs. Its importance lies in the fact that it provides decisive scientific evidence disproving the claim by some historians that the ancient Egyptians were unfamiliar with coins and conducted their trade through barter.
“The researchers discovered the coins when they sifted through thousands of small archeological artifacts stored in [the vaults of] the Museum of Egypt. [Initially] they took them for charms, but a thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait.
“There used to be a misconception that trade [in Ancient Egypt] was conducted through barter, and that Egyptian wheat, for example, was traded for other goods. But surprisingly, Koranic verses indicate clearly that coins were used in Egypt in the time of Joseph…
“Research team head Dr. Sa’id Muhammad Thabet said that during his archeological research on the Prophet Joseph, he had discovered in the vaults of the [Egyptian] Antiquities Authority and of the National Museum many charms from various eras before and after the period of Joseph, including one that bore his effigy as the minister of the treasury in the Egyptian pharaoh’s court…
“Studies by Dr. Thabet’s team have revealed that what most archeologists took for a kind of charm, and others took for an ornament or adornment, is actually a coin. Several [facts led them to this conclusion]: first, [the fact that] many such coins have been found at various [archeological sites], and also [the fact that] they are round or oval in shape, and have two faces: one with an inscription, called the inscribed face, and one with an image, called the engraved face – just like the coins we use today.
“The archeological finding is also based on the fact that the inscribed face bore the name of Egypt, a date, and a value, while the engraved face bore the name and image of one of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs or gods, or else a symbol connected with these. Another telling fact is that the coins come in different sizes and are made of different materials, including ivory, precious stones, copper, silver, gold, etc.”
One coin had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow symbolizing Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain.
“The researcher identified coins from many different periods, including coins that bore special markings identifying them as being from the era of Joseph. Among these, there was one coin that had an inscription on it, and an image of a cow symbolizing Pharaoh’s dream about the seven fat cows and seven lean cows, and the seven green stalks of grain and seven dry stalks of grain. It was found that the inscriptions of this early period were usually simple, since writing was still in its early stages, and consequently there was difficulty in deciphering the writing on these coins. But the research team [managed to] translate [the writing on the coin] by comparing it to the earliest known hieroglyphic texts… Joseph’s name appears twice on this coin, written in hieroglyphs: once the original name, Joseph, and once his Egyptian name, Saba Sabani, which was given to him by Pharaoh when he became treasurer. There is also an image of Joseph, who was part of the Egyptian administration at the time.”
MEMRI’s website says it “explores the Middle East through the region’s media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Persian,Turkish, Urdu-Pashtu media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.” Headquartered in Washington, D.C., MEMRI has branch offices in Jerusalem, London, Tokyo, Rome, Baghdad, and Shanghai.
I was excited to find this article as I have been concentrating on Psalms 37 of late. The world is spinning out of control and many websites have been publishing some truths and some exaggerations that are causing fear among the believing. Concentration camps, swine flu, bank holidays, a planned terrorist attack are all issues we need to be aware of, but how should we deal with unknown fears?
Excerpts from “Things We Know”
I don’t think there’s one single unbiased information source left in this country. Everyone’s pushing some kind of agenda. The middle ground seems to have totally eroded away, and people on both sides are becoming just plain mean to anyone who disagrees with them.
– People will take to the streets this fall in rebellion against the government’s attempt to make flu shots mandatory.
– The coming commercial real estate and credit card melt downs will be the worst yet.
So let’s take a moment to review what we can know and focus on that.
We Know This……
And We Know This….
Read Article HERE
DiscernIt 
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