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| August 31, 2009 |
| Buddhism Strengthens Ties to Church [Excerpts]What in the recent past seemed exotic and foreign is now almost routinely folded into “the fold.”Buddhism is not only accepted as a mainstream American religion, it is a path increasingly trod by faithful Christians and Jews who infuse Eastern spiritual insights and practices such as meditation into their own religions.When John Weber became a Buddhist at age 19, his devout Methodist parents were not particularly pleased.
In recent years, however, they’ve invited their son, a religious studies expert with Boulder’s Naropa University, to speak at their church about Buddhism. “That never would have happened before,” Weber said. “They would have been embarrassed.” The Pew Forum’s Religious Landscape Survey in 2007 found that seven in 10 Americans who have a religion believe there is more than one path to salvation. A growing number of people are contemplating more than one each. And they are contemplating contemplation itself. There are Jubus – Jews who bring Buddhism into their practice of Judaism – and Bujus, who are Buddhists with Jewish parents. Then there are UUbus, or Unitarian Universalist Buddhists, and Ebus, or Episcopalian Buddhists. There are Zen Catholics. “There is a definite trend and movement that will not be reversed,” said Ruben Habito, a laicized Jesuit priest, Zen master and professor of world religions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “We are in a new spiritual age, an inter-religious age.” (Draper, The Denver Post, 8/9/09, http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13023827 ) [TBC: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).]
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end of article……
On a personal note….I have experienced the problem of the introduction of Buddhism in our own church. Foreign films were being shown on weeknights so that the congregation could be “educated” because “knowledge is power.” Enough of us complained and the movies were stopped, but the lack of concern for the most part shocked me. When I researched the movies being shown, it became evident that they were part of a “unity” program to unite all religions by indoctrination of “common ground”.
The use of spiritual energies for healing is dangerous indeed. Anything that conjures up a spirit guide is occult and not divine. The Bible warns spiritual deception will be prevalent during the end-times. Reiki is a psychic phenomena on par with faith healers and occult surgeons who are mediums that contact the spirit word. Scripture tells us that this paranormal contact is off-limits and detestable. Why? The spirits are deceivers.
Deuteromony 18:
“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, inteprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord…”
Please read this from The Berean Call:
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In a recent article in Reiki News, it was revealed that 15 percent of all US hospitals are now implementing the practice of Reiki. In Reiki, a type of therapeutic touch, it is believed that the ki (chi) energy (a supposed universal energy that flows through all things) can be used to heal people. In the Reiki News article written by Reiki proponent William Lee Rand, Rand expresses a concern about a statement released by US Catholic bishops asking Catholic hospitals not to use Reiki because of its Buddhist roots. Rand tries to show that Reiki is a scientific method that has healing results.
However, as Rand explains his views on Reiki, the discerning reader begins to realize that Reiki is not scientific at all but rather a spiritual approach. Rand admits that “Reiki healing energy directs itself.” He says:
“I was unable to direct it with my mind or will and realized this wasn’t necessary as Reiki had its own form of guidance that was superior to my own. This experience has been verified by other professional Reiki practitioners and forms the basis of one of the important keys to using Reiki: If you want Reiki to provide the best healing experience, it’s necessary for the practitioner to set their own desire, will and ego aside, and allow the Reiki energy to guide itself.”
Author Ray Yungen, who says there are now over one million Reiki channelers in the US alone (a million in Germany also), explains this “energy” behind Reiki further: “One practitioner describes the experience in the following way:
“When doing it, I become a channel through which this force, this juice of the universe, comes pouring from my palms into the body of the person I am touching, sometimes lightly, almost imperceptibly, sometimes in famished sucking drafts. I get it even as I’m giving it. It surrounds the two of us, patient and practitioner” (“Healing Hands” (New Woman Magazine, March, 1986), p. 78).
What is this “juice of the universe?” The answer is an important one, given by a renowned Reiki master [Rand] who explains:
A Reiki attunement is an initiation into a sacred metaphysical order that has been present on earth for thousands of years … By becoming part of this group, you will also be receiving help from the Reiki guides and other spiritual beings who are also working toward these goals” (William Rand, Reiki: The Healing Touch, Southfield, MI: Vision Publications,1991, p. 48).
While this is not widely advertised, Reiki practitioners depend on this “spirit guide” connection as an integral aspect of Reiki. In fact, it is the very foundation and energy behind Reiki. One Reiki master who has enrolled hundreds of other masters spoke of her interaction with the spirit guides:
“For me, the Reiki guides make themselves the most felt while attunements are being passed. They stand behind me and direct the whole process, and I assume they also do this for every Reiki Master. When I pass attunements, I feel their presence strongly and constantly. Sometimes I can see them” (Diane Stein, Essential Reiki (Berkley, CA: Crossing Press, 1995), p. 107).
Ingrained in my mind is the image of people streaming forward to accept Jesus Christ as Savior on television in the 60’s. Many of us have seen the huge ministries with the inviting music, the call to come forward, the use of the sinner’s prayer. I do believe that many were saved, I also believe that many more were not.
Consider these excerpts from “Repentance and Soul-winning,” by David Cloud.
Years ago my wife and I had the job of following up on the Phoster Club soul winning visitation at church. The Phoster Club team regularly reported dozens of “salvations,” but when we visited these “saved” people to urge them to come to church and to try to disciple them, most of them wanted nothing to do with the things of God. That is a strange salvation. [1]
For a number of years, I preached in a county jail and it was common for those who came to the Bible studies to claim that they were saved. When we asked them why they thought they were saved, they often pointed to a time when they prayed a sinner’s prayer, walked the aisle of the church, or were baptized. When we ask them if their life changed after they prayed the sinner’s prayer, they usually acknowledged that it did not. They associated salvation with some sort of religious ritual. [2]
This is from Living Waters.
We are not doing sinners any favors when we minimize the seriousness of their sin. George Whitefield, a famous preacher once said, “First, then, before you can speak peace to your hearts, you must be made to see, made to feel, made to weep over, made to bewail, your actual transgressions against the Law of God.” It is only when a person sees his sin as wicked and understands the seriousness of offending his Creator, that he can find a place of true repentance and surrender to the Savior.
Within the last 100 years, a new gospel has crept into our churches. It has been designed to not offend you. It has been carefully crafted not to be too “in your face.” It gently suggests that you open your heart to Jesus if your current lifestyle isn’t working for you, and try God “when the time is right for you.” This “seeker centered” and “no offense” approach is no gospel at all; it is “another gospel”. If we continue to define sin as “honest mistakes”, we will continue to fill our churches with “backsliders” and false converts who fail to repent because they don’t see the seriousness of their sin. We will give them a cruel false hope, and make them comfortable aboard the “Jesus loves you” pleasure cruiser, singing songs to the Captain, while they blindly speed toward the iceberg of Eternal Justice.
The watered down gospel that is being offered today does not save. If a person is asked if they want to go to heaven or hell, there is an obvious answer. Only a fool would want to spend eternity in hell and so everyone answers…”Why of course I want to go to heaven, so then, yes, I will accept Jesus.”
This is the option people need to be made to understand instead. “Do you want to make plans to structure a temporary heaven here on earth, or will your forsake worldly ways and instead consider your future in an eternal heavenly kingdom with God?”
The simple quick prayer accepting Jesus Christ as Savior is not always heartfelt with a lifetime commitment of taking up the cross daily. When people say they will follow Jesus, they need to realize that they will have to follow Him to the cross and die to self.
I personally can vouch for the effectiveness of realizing a sinful nature to cause repentance. I already knew and believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a young girl. But I was not committed. My heart had not been circumcised. I had truth but was doing nothing with it. Was I really saved?
I picked up a book about the rapture and prophecy in 2002 on a garage sale shelf. When I was growing up in the church, (I left when I was 16), prophecy was not taught. When I read that little paperback book and realized that the prophecy experts were saying that Jesus could come back at any time, I was devastated in my sin and realized my wasted life. I spent hours on the floor naming my sin to God, and asked forgiveness, weeping for the wretched state I was in.
Reading this excerpt from “An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith,” by Dave Hunt cemented and explained my conversion.
Paul reminded the saints at Colossae that victory over sin and self was not possible through willpower and fleshy struggle. True victory could only come through understanding and believing what Christ’s death for their sins and resurrection for their justification really meant. Paul declared that this was the secret of his own complete transformation–and so it must be with them.
But how could Christ’s death and burial and resurrection be as real to them as it was to Paul–so real that their very lives would be totally transformed? Paul explained: They must believe that Christ was coming any moment to take them to heaven, where they would therefore appear with Him in glory. It was the hope of Christ’s immiment return that would make the difference between victory and defeat in the Christian life! [3]
Realizing that you are not ready for the return of Jesus Christ, exposes sin and not being dead to self. Every person is different and maybe convicted by the Holy Spirit in various ways when hearing the Gospel, but one does need to repent and show regeneration. A changed life indicates a true conversion. A converted life desires obedience to God’s word on a permanent basis. One may then stumble but the saved person will get back up and persevere.
My life changed that day. From that day forward, I had a hunger for the Word of God. I wanted to read the Bible and I wanted to study it. I enrolled in Bible study classes. I began to exhibit fruit and hate the sin in my life. In fact, I asked God to show me my sin so that I could repent of it. If you ever want a fast answer to prayer….ask God to expose the darkness and sin in your life by His holiness.
God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. The new-age gospel only talks of God’s love and ignores sin and damnation for rejecting the true God of the Bible.
So where do you stand with God? Is your heart receptive to the gospel? Are you producing fruit? If so how much?
Matthew 13:23 “But the one who received the seed that fell on the good soil is the man who hears the word, and understands it. He produces a crop yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty time what was sown.”
OR…will you hear these sad words found in Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.'”
Excerpt from a great article on Zimbio:
What must I do to be saved?
Since God has made the way to be saved, it would be good to see how according to his word.
The Jailer of Acts 16 asked “What must I do to be saved”? Paul told him to believe (Real faith requires action James 2:17-25, more than “I believe in one God, as the devils do as well, and are not saved”!) and he did. As we read that he was obedient to Jesus command of water baptism in his name (John 3:5, Luke 24:47, and Mark 16:16). 1Peter 3:21 says that were are saved by it, (Through our faith in action!) and it clears our conscience.
We are saved by grace, hope, and belief along with repentance. (Grace is defined as the relection of God in one’s life.)
Moses faced reflected God’s glory after speaking to the Almighty. And to repent is to fully follow God by forsaking your ways.) see Eph. 2:5, Rom 8:24, John 3:16, and Acts 2:38. His blood justifies us, Rom 5:9-10. Not by works of righteousness we’ve done, but by his mercy he saves us, by the washing and regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost-Tit 3:5. We must confess our belief in him prior to baptism and call upon it it in it, states Romans 10:9-13. And we must take heed to follow the doctrine (Or teachings therein.) of Christ continually, and in doing so we save ourselves and others-Tim 4:16
[1] pg. 134
[2] pg. 90
[3] pg. 172
A NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION?
By David Cloud
Some are calling for a new American revolution, but I would observe that there is a great difference between the last half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the twenty-first. In the 18th century, there existed enough moral character among American citizens to bring about a great, far-reaching revolution based (among other things) on biblical principles, and in hindsight it is obvious that the American revolution was God’s will for that time.
No such moral fiber exists today. In the eighteenth century children learned how to read from the King James Bible and from moralistic texts which urged such qualities as honesty, thrift, and industry. The citizens, whether truly Christian or not and whether godly or not, generally believed in an Almighty God, in divine creation, in moral absolutes, in heaven and hell.
On the other hand, twenty-first century children learn to read in a context of atheistic evolution and moral relativity, in a public school system in which the Bible has been renounced. God’s people need to understand the times. America today is not “one nation under God” in any sense of the term and it cannot be brought back to God through politics or demonstrations or alternative media or tax revolts or stockpiling weapons.
The only hope for America is genuine spiritual revival in the churches, and that is what God’s people need to focus on. The end of the age is fast approaching. We need to look up. We need to be found faithful in fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) rather than having become sidetracked to some extra-biblical objective. We need to imitate the early Christians who “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). There is a saying, “When the outlook is bleak, try the uplook!”
MICHAEL JACKSON’S LEGACY
July 3, 2009
source: http://www.wayoflife.org –
Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop,” died last week of a probable drug-induced heart attack at age 50. Like Elvis Presley and many other rock gods, Jackson was addicted to a variety of drugs and his narcissism would not allow him to submit to any authority outside of himself. Jackson’s influence was great. His music videos helped vault MTV into popularity in the early 1980s.
His 1982 hit “Thriller” is either the first or second best-selling U.S. album of all time. His quirky and often filthy dance moves helped spawn hop-hop and have been imitated endlessly in contemporary dance. Choreographer Kenny Ortega called him “the world’s greatest performer.” Guinness World Records dubbed him “the most successful entertainer of all time.” The incredible fascination with Jackson’s life and death is indicative of the moral downfall of Western culture.
Major websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Google, and Twitter, slowed following the announcement of his death because of the dramatic increase in traffic. USA Today, America’s largest daily newspaper, dedicated nearly the entire front page to the pop icon’s death. Major news media outlets ran 24-hour coverage on every aspect of the man’s life and death. Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble and other major distributers sold out of Jackson music CDs and videos within an hour of the announcement of his passing.
In an attempt to explain this, Bill Carr, vice president for music and video at Amazon, said, “They love him, he’s a legend, and they’re anxious to make sure they have his music in their collections.” Jackson is an icon of the rock & roll culture, and his legacy was to carry modern society to a new level of debauchery and vanity. He was self-centered, lacked self-control, had no moral boundaries, was enslaved to fashion, and consumed with appearance. He squandered a fortune. Though he sold 750 million albums, he reportedly died with a debt of $400 million, because he lived so far beyond his means. Jackson’s life further normalized weirdness and perversion in modern society.
As Jane Fonda said in an interview with CNN about Jackson’s life, “Who are we to judge?”
The rebellion against God and His Word grows apace, but it will come to a shocking end (Psalm 2). The ranch that the King of Pop purchased in the 1980s was called Neverland; and that was not only the place where Michael Jackson lived, it is also the place where the modern pop culture dwells.
end of article
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Michael Jackson will teach God how to moonwalk?
How utterly demeaning to the God of the Universe, the Holy One, the Creator, Our Saviour who does not tolerate sin, who asks us who follow Him, to separate ourselves from the world.
This man says that Michael Jackson rocked his world, but here is what the Bible says about the world.
1 John 2:15
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Here is an excerpt from Slaughter of the Sheep:
Christian mothers allowed their children to indulge in the preoccupation of pop culture, and most defended it by saying, “It’s just entertainment.” But, hasn’t the church been entertained enough? Hasn’t America’s Christian youth been desensitized enough by entertainment that is neither spiritual nor Scriptural? Exposing youth to the ungodliness of pop culture distracts them from the Scriptural precepts of living a Godly life. Jesus told us to learn of Him and walk in His ways, but when our churches use worldly concepts instead of Christly ones to reach the youth and the unchurched, is it any wonder the church looks nothing like Christ Jesus, but looks like the world instead? You look like what you mold yourself after; those molded after Christ look like Christ, and those molded after the world look like the world. The ending result is that our churches are producing worldly youth, not Godly ones.
Full article here:
http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/michael-jackson-will-it-ever-end/
and now a revealing video about Michael Jackson’s spiritual life.
SOURCE
http://christianresearchservice.blogspot.com/ (GREAT NEW LOOK ..BTW)
DOMESTIC ABUSE IN THE CHURCH
An Open Letter to Brothers and Sisters in Christ
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is
not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not
provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice
in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes
all things, hopes all things, endures all things. –1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
As you may know, I have taken the time to educate myself on the problem of domestic abuse and the mindset of a female abuser. I have communicated with both Christian and non-Christian abuse counselors locally and nationwide, written a Letter to the Editor of our local newspaper, shared my concerns with numerous pastors locally, and written the story, “The Waitress, the Man, and the Rose” ( http://tinyurl.com/WaitressManRose ).
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/TheWaitressTheManTheRose.htm
Yesterday, during another phone conversation with Paula Silva (a Christian counselor and former sufferer of domestic abuse), I was informed of the widespread abuse occurring within the body of Christ, and that many of the calls she receives are from pastors’ wives–all of whom are suffering from one or more forms of domestic abuse (verbal, emotional, and physical).
Yes, you read it right: wives of pastors are being verbally, emotionally, and physically abused by the very men who stand in their pulpits at least three times per week preaching the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
Again, during my phone conversation with Paula, I learned that it is rare that a man will get involved in the battle against domestic abuse, and stand in the gap for women everywhere who are suffering and living in fear every day of their lives.
While the very thought of a man abusing a woman is repulsive, a man who refuses to come to the aid of an abused woman causes within me an acute case of righteous indignation.
I am not ashamed to say that I have diligently prayed through my tears for women who endure the terrible ordeal of domestic abuse. Now that domestic abuse has reared its ugly head within the body of Christ, our Lord has led me to appeal to you to get involved in yet another “unpaid bill” of the church.
Yes, the battle to expose the cultic, occultic, and heretical teachers of our day is extremely important. However, as we defend the faith against those who promote demonic doctrines, please keep in mind that a man who abuses a woman has the same mindset of a cult leader, who uses the same fear, intimidation, humiliation, and isolation tactics on his followers.
Is there a woman or women in your church who are being abused by their pastors or husbands? Is there a teenage girl or single woman in your church who is dating or living with a man with a background of abuse? If so, are you willing to reach out to them with help and assistance in the same way you would to a victim of a cultic or heretical leader? Think about that as you attend church this week.
Across our country, women are dying–both emotionally and physically–at the cowardly words and brutal hands of an abusive man. We cannot, we must not sit back and allow someone else to bear the burden and tremendous responsibility to protect and assist women who live in fear on a daily basis.
As Christians, we are joined together in Christ as brothers and sisters. We are family. Right now there are members of our family who are suffering the tragic effects of emotional and physical abuse. We cannot afford to sit back and wait for domestic abuse to rear its ugly head within our family before we decide to get involved.
Today, a Google search on “domestic violence” netted over 11 million hits, and the numbers are growing on a daily basis. Therefore, I appeal to you to educate yourself and your family on the warning signs of domestic abuse, as well as the cultic mindset of an abusive man. Afterwards, I pray you will prayerfully consider getting involved in the battle against domestic abuse in the church.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord led me to write “The Waitress, the Man, and the Rose”. If you haven’t done so, I ask you to prayerfully consider placing it on your website and blog. Your doing so will help inform and educate your readers to a serious problem within the church, and will serve to encourage abused women to seek help and assistance.
Finally, Hits never hurt until they hit home! The emotional pain of knowing that a close friend or daughter is in harm’s way is excruciating. Those who have experienced it know exactly what I am talking about. If you haven’t, I pray that God will spare you and your family that pain.
I have pledged to do my part and stand in the gap for abused women. What about you?
In Christian love,
Bud Press, Director
Christian Research Service
http://www.christianresearchservice.com
http://christianresearchservice.blogspot.com
June 23, 2009
I have often wondered how one gets to a mindset that entertains God as a female. Anyone who knows scripture and reads the Bible on a consistant basis knows that God is called the “Father”. No other possibility exists.
So where do the heresies come from?
The explosion of mysticism in our society is key and it is not confined to the general public. It is rampant in the church.
Take for instance Neal Donald Walsch. He claims to converse with God. The truth…he is deceived and deceiving others. His “god”, speaks of a new age gospel which is truly distorted from God’s word. There is no truth in him and his enlightened revelations. His experiences trump the truths found in the Bible, so he says.
As Walsch meditates, here is a product of what he has “received” taken from “Conversations with God.”
“If you think God looks only one way or sounds only one way or is only one way, you’re going to look right past Me night and day. You’ll spend your whole life looking for God and not finding Her.”
The problem with the statement is vast. To know God you have to study His word. He is the only way.
No one can find reconciliation with God and salvation from sin except through union with Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
There is no place in scripture that refers to God in the female sense. Heresies are often traced back through man’s secret revelations obtained by occult mystical spirit guides that are quickly emerging.
So on to the article for today from David Cloud.
THE EMERGING CHURCH’S FEMALE GOD (Friday Church News Notes, June 12, 2009, http://www.wayoflife.org
– Phyllis Tickle, an Episcopalian lay “Eucharistic minister and lector” and a Senior Fellow at Cathedral College at the liberal Washington National Cathedral, is an influential voice in the emerging church and the contemplative prayer movement. Tickle promotes non-verbal contemplative praying. She says, “The whole business of entering prayer WITHOUT THE VEHICLE OF WORDS is very important, for it allows the spirit to flow freely with the spirit of God, and does not have to articulate what is happening until one comes out from prayer” (“Praying in Color: A Conversation with friends and authors Sybil MacBeth and Phyllis Tickle,”
Wordless meditation is not biblical prayer; it is a pagan practice that is a recipe for demonic deception. Those who practice it are invariably led into heresies. It should not be surprising, then, that Tickle believes in a female God and calls the Holy Spirit “he or she or it.” She teaches that by partaking of the Lord’s Supper the believer is feeding God and reinvigorating the Holy Spirit, whatever that means.
Speaking at Rob Bell’s Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she said: “God is both male and female. God is both father and mother. … There is more than one thing under the name of God, and it is both male and female. … As we are about to do that [take the Lord’s supper], let us remember what we are doing. We not only celebrate that death and that promise of return, but we are feeding by eating God–which is what we are doing here–by eating the body and blood of our God, we are feeding the God within us. For as we take those elements the Spirit also feeds within us and is reinvigorated as he or she or it is by our faith” (Tickle, “A Treasure We Don’t Understand,” May 3, 2009).
Phyllis Tickle, Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, and that crowd are worshipping idols. The Shack, a popular book in emerging circles, also depicts God as a woman.
BROTHER JOE: NAME DROPPING AND MAN PRAISING
May 28, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service)
The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith of Malenda, Queensland, Australia <smiletex@bigpond.net.au> —
Brother Joe was one of a kind. He only ever pastored one church. It was the church he started when he moved to a town near us in 1939. He never received a salary from his church. He said he would simply trust God for his needs to be met, and he did, and they were. He never asked for anything, but God heard his prayers and blessed his faith, and he never did without. He taught all the way through the Bible at least three times in a pastorate that lasted more than fifty years. He preached on the radio everyday for all those years and wrote a book that is a classic on raising children. He sent all his children to Bible college, and his son Tim now pastors the church his dad started almost 70 years ago.
One thing about Bro. Joe that puzzled me was the way he would quote preachers or commentators without telling us their names. He would say something like this, “A dear brother in the Lord once wrote…” or he would say, “A godly old commentator once observed this about our text…” I can’t ever remember him telling us who he was quoting. Later on, as I became a bit more familiar with writers and preachers I would stumble across the quotes he used and wonder why he never told us who said them. They were not heretics, nor were they involved in entangling and compromising alliances. They were men like Harry Ironside or A.W. Tozer or Harry Rimmer. But he never told us who he was quoting. Oh, he made it clear that the quotes were not his. He was never guilty of plagiarising. He just didn’t tell us who he quoted.
It was through his wise and discreet use of truth that I learned an important lesson on worship. Bro. Joe avoided name dropping because he sincerely desired for God and God alone to have all the glory. He very carefully and wisely used the truths that fell from the lips and pens of godly men, and he did so in ways that directed the worship of his hearers away from those men and toward God. As the years passed I heard of God’s blessings on Bro. Joe’s ministry, of the people who loved him and asked him to preach in their Bible conferences and churches and colleges, but it wasn’t Bro. Joe who told me about it. He simply had no desire for the praise of men. Certainly, we should thank God for those He uses, and thank them in person, but the crowns can wait till the judgment seat.
The apostle Peter speaks of the wisdom God gave to his dearly beloved brother Paul, so it is obvious that it is not inherently wrong to name preachers that we quote, but Peter avoids heaping upon Paul the lavish praise we hear so often given to mere mortals (2 Peter 3:15-16). Bro. Joe simply desired that men should praise God and Him alone.
Giving praise to men is a very subtle form of hero worship. God has spoken ever so clearly on the subject of who is worthy to be worshipped. We all swim in a sea of pagan, materialistic, hedonistic, sensual, and rationalistic culture. Our culture genders in us visual, auditory, and olfactory failures. We do not see that we are worshipping idols. We do not hear the warnings of God’s Words, and we are totally unaware that swimming in our culture leaves us smelling like dead fish. Every culture thrives on the praise of men. Name dropping is the name of the game, in the world and in the church. “Dr. Flutesnoot said this,” and, “Rabbi(t) Warren said that,” and “The gospel according to Jack is this…” I attended a conference some time ago in which the main speaker could hardly finish a sentence without dropping the name of some well known Christian leader who is is his friend, or dropping the name of some famous church or college he had preached in. I got the impression that we were all expected to say, “Oh! Do you know him?” and “Wow!, did you get to preach there?” We just love to drop names, don’t we?
Why do we do this? Do we really believe that the gospel of Christ is enhanced by someone who has attained to celebrity status in our stagnant little cultural puddle? Does God need the endorsement of a megachurch guru or a supersalesman soulwinner? Will it count for eternity and for the glory of God that you or I were feted by the ringmaster of the religious circus that he calls a church? Or that you had a 30 second revival meeting with the pastor who jumped a Sunday School bus over a dozen tricycles? All our glorying in man is idolatrous and an abomination in the sight of God. It doesn’t really matter whose signature is at the bottom of your Bible college diploma. It doesn’t really matter whose endorsement is on the back of your book. What has eternal value is whether we have gathered up all the glory and praise we can find and given every bit of it to God.
Consider a few of the Scriptures that speak of the worship of God,
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
“I am the LORD, that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8).
“For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory to another” (Isaiah 48:11).
“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake” (Psalm 115:1).
One last thought: whether we realise it or not, our praise of man tends to have a hidden agenda. We tend to praise men so that they will praise us back. There is in every one of us enough Devil to crave the praise of men. And so we give it to get it. We need to read John 5:44, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” Our craving for recognition, for praise, for honour and glory, according to our Saviour, is an impediment to faith. “How can ye believe who receive honour one of another……..?”
One of my favourite evangelists lived to the ripe old age of 87 years. He preached for over 70 years and is sometimes described as the “best loved evangelist of all time.” When he was very old it was decided by his friends that he should be honoured publicly. Many were invited to come and give testimonials as to his usefulness in the Lord’s work, and they came in droves. One speaker after another sang the praises of the old preacher until finally the speeches were done, and the moderator turned to invite the aged preacher to the lectern to receive the award. To everyone’s surprise he was nowhere to be found. The guest of honour was not on the platform, or even in in the building. He had absented himself some time during the meeting. He had chosen to turn a deaf ear to the sweet words from his admirers! They searched high and low, and eventually they found him, outside the great hall, in the street, speaking to a cabbie about his soul. He knew all about the priorities if godliness and he knew about the emptiness of the praises of men.
Only God is worthy of worship!
Someone may ask, “Who was Bro. Joe?”
I don’t think he would want me to tell you.
We could be guilty of stealing from God the glory that belongs only to Him.
Years ago, I was standing in my dining room watching my cat walk down the hallway to the bedroom. When he entered through the doorway, he suddenly stopped, and the hair on his back came up and then he started slowly backing out of the room. Of course, I was alarmed. Standing there for a few minutes, it was decided I had to know what was going on in that room.
Slowly I approached the bedroom doorway and peeked around the frame. A man was entering through the bedroom window. I stood there shocked. Then the man noticed me just standing there. He was afraid, and put up his hand, saying, “sorry, sorry, I am leaving, I am leaving”. He backed out of the window and fled.
The image that stuck in my mind was the cat though, backing slowly out of room, sensing invasion. An intruder was entering through an unexpected entrance.
Have you ever invited an intruder into your life or mind?
There are many ways to gain entrance or break the veil of protection of our very minds. This is done easily by mind-altering drugs, eastern-style meditation, Reiki, trances induced by repetition of words or sounds, or anything that empties the mind of thought. Just by mentally opening yourself up by willing another spirit to enter is enough. This invasion of our mind is called a crossover into the paranormal spirit world.
A classic way to invite a spirit into your presence is by using a Ouija board. But the apparatus is not always necessary. By rite, and ceremony you can invite a visitation from the spirit world, who is by the way, very happy to oblige your divination.
The problem with invading this spirit world is that these spirits are experts at giving you false impressions of being from or of God. They can make you feel joy, elation, power, electricity, and often they make you feel divine. For this reason the Bible forbids any contact with this spirit world, because these spirits are deceiving spirits. They are experts at their craft, and someone who listens to them, will be deceived.
If you have ever scanned the prophetic word sites, you will find many predictions, advice, biblical interpretation, warnings, and so forth. Many are vague and rehashed over and over again.
Just in April 2009, I read that on April 1 disaster was coming. On April 9th, we were to expect something significant to happen because historically this was a dark day. These predictions proved false but I noted that the authors did not repent of their false warnings. In fact they just continued with further advice, as though nothing had been said, shrugging off the false predictions. What nonsense!
There has been a couple of instances of my having direct contact with diviners. Two sisters, moved away from the coast because they were warned by God to “MOVE NOW”, that there was a tsunami on the way. The other person also told me that there was a tsunami on the way and that moving inland would be wise at some point. But what I later learned is that the sisters were heavily involved in new age techniques, who would not give up their paranormal tendencies, and the other person was once married to a witch. Divination was involved in both cases.
How fascinating though. Two different sources warned of a tsunami, but both were comprised by new-age thought and techniques. A repeated message from the spirit world, enforced in my mind, that a deception was brewing. John Ankerberg’s New Age informative primer speaks of Uri Geller and of how multiple psychics can receive the same message. This eerie circumstance is something we also see in the prophetic world.
Those who know me, or have read my other articles know, that I too was once deceived. My mind had been pierced by anti-depressant drugs. Once I had a vivid “prophetic word” that a city was to be destroyed by a tornado in two weeks. It did not happen. I opened my Bible and this is what I discovered.
Deuteronomy 18:22 “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
So according to this verse what I thought was from the Lord was NOT. The cause of my paranormal or occult messages were not revealed to me for awhile, but I knew something was wrong. I did not ask for these experiences, nevertheless, I repented, and they stopped. Why did this happen to me? I believe I went through this situation so that I could relate my experience to others and warn them. Also, I was being tested by God.
So how has divination entered the church? First let’s define divination. It is gaining spiritual knowledge that cannot be obtained through normal means, like reading or studying. Divination is a method one uses to gain secret information from the spirit world,which is not a true prophecy or an edification from scripture.
The means and methods are numerous. The easiest way one accesses the spirit world is through meditation by altering one’s consciousness. Eastern style would be like using Yoga with its repetitious words and breathing techniques. The church may introduce, stillness, or hypnotic music, to alter consciousness. Centering prayer is also advocated, but truly it is focusing inward and stilling the mind and it is deceptive in nature.
Christian Yoga? Hardly. All the positions in the Sun Salutation worship goddesses and push energy up the spine to the mind for enlightenment. Oh. Only for exercise you say? Doesn’t matter. Back to Deuteronomy again. This time 4:19
“And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars–all the heavenly array–do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.”
This totally excludes being able to do the sun salutation.
Modern Day Prophets
I have heard people say, “I was seeking the Lord” before they received their visions. But they do not explain HOW they were seeking the Lord. Were they allowing themselves to fall into deep meditation? Were they silent till the Lord spoke? Did they use a method to contact God?
I seek the Lord through His Word, in the Bible. But I guess I am old-fashioned that way. The new methods tend to be wrong, deceptive, faulty, misleading, cause manifestations, cause depression, pull people away from the Bible, and create a lack in the prayer life.
I like this article “Prophecy Is For Today” by K. A. Jentoft
from:
http://cicministry.org under articles
http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue95b.htm
Here are some excerpts and quotes –
“Someone falsely speaking what is unknowable is in a unique position to damage God’s people.”
“God tests His people with false prophets to see if they obey the first commandment and love Him with all their heart and soul.”
“The first rule of discernment is simple; those who make predictions that do not come to pass are false prophets even if some of their predictions are accurate.”
“While God may raise up prophets to predict the future, there can be no more “new revelations” of God until the second coming because Jesus “in the flesh” appointed no new apostles after John and Jesus now abides in heaven sitting at the right hand of God the Father.”
“This does not mean that prophecy ceased nor even that prophets can no longer exist. It simply means that the revelation of God regarding Himself and how we are to experience Him has been completed.”
“The gospel is under attack when men claiming to be “modern apostles or prophets” attempt to alter the revelation of God and our approach to Him.”
“Many now claim to be modern prophets and predict future events or reveal things hidden from a normal person, but to the best of my knowledge, not even one of them meets the criteria specifically given to judge this type of prophet. Oddly, none of them even claims to be 100 percent accurate in all of their predictions.”
“People who seek guidance from prophets who fail God’s tests are sinning and rejecting God’s authority.”
I had a difficult time selecting the most important points in this article so please read it when you have the chance.
So we are to use God’s word as a final authority in our life. An unusual passage from Luke can be used to verify this. In Luke 16:19-31 we have a section called “The Rich Man and Lazarus.”
In this passage a rich man who ignored a beggar named Lazarus, sees him in the afterlife. The rich man is in hell and Lazarus is standing by Abraham. He calls to Abraham, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”
His request is rejected, so then he begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers to be warned of this place of torment. Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”
“ ‘No father Abraham,’ he said ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ ”
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
The rich man had no confidence in the Word of God, he wanted a miracle to convince his brothers. But Abraham was unyielding. The Word was enough, but it was ignored.
We can also apply this same scenerio to Moses and the Israelites. The people saw the Red Sea parted, they were led day and night by pillars of smoke and fire, they were fed for 40 years with Manna, water flowed from a rock, yet….these miracles did not produce faith and obedience. The first generation all died in the desert except Moses, Caleb and Joshua. They disobeyed the Word given to them by Moses and suffered the judgments and plagues.
No matter what miracles we may see, visions we might consider, secret knowledge we may think we need, it matters not, if we do not obey God’s word. Over and over again the Israelites were instructed on how to worship in the tabernacle, what the law was, and how they were to obey God. But instead they worshiped other gods, they built gold idols, they listened to false prophets and leaders and they were destroyed.
Lately I have been greatly concerned about some of the prophetic sites and their dire predictions. While I know that the whole world will deteriorate and that the Bible predicts a one-man rule of the anti-christ, and that we are to watch for wars, famines, earthquakes many have taken to hoarding food, water, guns and ammo. Precautions are prudent. I have extra water and a full pantry, a small box with clothes, extra shoes, blankets, batteries, etc, just as I would for any emergency situation.
Oddly though, once when I was buying extra canned goods for a food drive, I was tempted to keep some for my own pantry. But I had a check in my spirit and this is what I was told, “GIVE IT ALL AWAY.” Do you see the contrast? I was to have faith that God would supply all my needs. I was not to hoard.
But there are sites selling survival packs in line with their soulish prophecies. The rebellious leaders prophecy from their own minds, then desire for their foul predictions to come true. When I read “THIS IS IT!!!!” about the flu pandemic, meaning this would instigate martial law, I became angry.
Ezekiel 13:6 “They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them; and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.”
Then, I decided to take a look at several mainstream sites. One prophetic ministry had the teachers’ name and picture plastered all over the main page. Not one mention of Jesus Christ. But there was a load of DVD’s, CD’s, and products to purchase for personal blessing. This is outright exploitation. Also, you could purchase the latest divinations if you signed on as a member. (You always need to purchase new divinations because the previous ones did not come to pass.) For the right price, you too, can be an “insider” and be privy to “special knowledge” other Christians do not know! Divined special knowledge not revealed in the Bible is occult and many other predictions are mere imaginations.
See “Epidemic of Fear” from:
http://www.thebereancall.org/node/7716
All this new revelation draws people away from God’s Word, which truly is sufficient for those who believe in the Bible. God would not make His Word hard to understand, or only available to an elite few.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
“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.”
So are you going to allow intruders into your Christian walk? A thief can steal your faith in the Living Word of God if you pay heed to him. God gave us many guidelines to protect us from false prophets in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Read these verses and prayerfully ask God to help you understand them and use them in these deceptive times.
WHOA, Paul Washer tells it like it is…..
In this one Paul Washer asks “How much has being a Christian cost you?” and tells us to “set aside our little temporal causes.”
Jesus Christ is Everything
I will watch this over and over again.
DiscernIt 
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