Take the Test: ARE YOU A NEW AGER?

by Mike Oppenheimer of
Let Us Reason Ministries
http://letusreason.org/Nam45.htm
This may seem like an inconsequential question, even a silly question to ask, but many people may not know how involved they are in the New Age movement that has permeated our society.
In other words, do you believe or practice what is taught in the new age movement without knowing it?
Here are some questions to ask yourself…

Do you believe God is a force–that God is all things (pantheism) or that God is in all things (panentheism)?

Do you believe in karma and reincarnation as Hindus or Buddhists do?

Do you believe life is not real but just an illusion and the real world is unseen?

Do you believe that all religions and spiritual paths lead to the same place and are acceptable to God (universalism)?

Do you deny a moral standard for all people that is understood by our conscience or the law given to Moses?

Do you believe that all holy books are given by God at different times?

Do you believe that all religions and spiritual beliefs are based on or point to the same God who is known by different names?

Do you think Jesus was an enlightened master like many others? That he discovered God by realization of what is inside Him?

Do you believe we can leave our bodies and visit other realms through psych spiritual techniques or dreams?

Do you believe  we can come in touch with God through Yoga or mantra meditation?

Do you believe that man can pass onto you by touch, a spirit, or gift?

Do you believe that ghosts are people that once lived and are trying to communicate with us?

Do you believe space aliens are visiting to give us knowledge for the advancement of human kind?

Do you believe that spirit beings from other dimensions are desiring to channel to us information?

If you believe any of these, you are involved to some degree willingly or unwillingly with the New Age.

If you believe any of these as a Christian, then you are accepting beliefs and practices that go against the faith that is to be focused on Jesus Christ

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And “If the righteous is scarcely saved,what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 1 Peter 4:12-19)

Ponderings From Patmos: Fractal Theory in The Shack

Ponderings From Patmos: Fractal Theory in The Shack: "Today on Patmos, we have a special treat for those who follow our blog. We are publishing for the very first time,&nbsp..."

TRUE TRUTH

"Every true Christian should be deeply offended and concerned that serious error is being promoted not only in the world but even in seemingly sound churches and by those who are looked up to as evangelical leaders.  It is our love for Christ in response to His love for us, and our love for the lost whom He loves and for whom He suffered and died, which causes us to hate heresy, to denounce the occult invasion and to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.  May we remain true to Him until He takes us home!" ---Dave Hunt (Occult Invasion - The Subtle Seduction of the World and Church, pgs. 598-599.)

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In a time when people won't endure sound doctrine, it's no great surprise to see so many false prophets on the airwaves. Television: it sells people what they want to buy. Some programmers use it to sell false doctrines and millions are eating it up. Today, how a discerning believer can and must separate truth from error when listening to religious teaching on TV.

From the WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE series:

Judging False Prophets and Teachers #1 of 2 Erwin Lutzer

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/running-to-win-long-version/player/judging-false-prophets-and-teachers-1-of-2-65206.html

Judging False Prophets and Teachers #2 of 2

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/running-to-win-long-version/listen/judging-false-prophets-and-teachers-2-of-2-65207.html

This is an ode to those of you who defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ, speaking the truth in love, strength, and courage, by His grace.

The Watchman
by Scottish pastor, Horatius Bonar
 (1808-1889)

Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be;
Lead me by Thine own hand, choose out the path for me.
“…if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ … I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.” Ezekiel 33:6-7

“Some one, then, must undertake the ungracious task of probing and laying bare the evils of the age; for men must not be allowed to congratulate themselves that all is well. If others will not, he will.
If others shrink from the obloquy of such a work, he will not…. He loves his fellow-men too well. They may upbraid him; they may call him a misanthropist, or a prophet of evil; they may ascribe his warnings to the worst of motives, such as pride, or arrogance, or self-esteem, or malice, or envy; but he will give no heed to these unjust insinuations.

He will prefer being thus misunderstood and maligned, to allowing men to precipitate themselves upon a ruin which they see not. Rather than that they should perish, he will allow his own good name to be spoken against. He will risk every thing, even the hatred of brethren, rather than withhold the warning. If they give no heed to it, he has, at least, saved his own soul. If they do, he has saved both his own soul and theirs.

He would rather take up the glad tidings of peace, and tell men of Him who came the first time for shame and death, and who is coming the second time for glory and dominion; but he feels as one who has a special and personal message to deliver, which cannot be postponed.

He must remember that he is a watchman; and, having seen danger pressing on, he must not hesitate to make it known. He must speak his message of forewarning and rebuke, sparing no arrows, and neither smoothing down nor hiding any form of sin, but laying his finger upon every sore, and beseeching men to turn from their ungodliness. The evils around him press upon him sadly; the coming evils are foreshadowed upon his spirit, and, therefore, he lifts up his voice like a trumpet.

Satan has many snares which need to be detected; the world has many spells and lures which must be disenchanted; religion has many guises which must be unmasked, many devious paths of inconsistency which must be pointed out, many cherished errors which must be condemned, many carnal taints which must be abhorred and shunned. All these he must protest against without fear or favour.”

Smooth let it be or rough,
It will be still the best;
Winding or straight, it leads
Right onward to Thy rest.
I dare not choose my lot;
I would not, if I might;
Choose Thou for me, my God,
So I shall walk aright.

Sounding the Trumpet: The Demonic Side of Saddleback's "Daniel Plan"

Rick Warren is  knowingly exposing  Saddleback congregants and millions of his purpose driven followers to New Age mysticism and occultism  through "The Daniel Plan"  What is it going to take to get people to wake up to this soul snatching charlatan.  Do you love truth or do you love to have your ears tickled......if you like ear tickling thats a good sign you are no longer enduring sound doctrine but heaped for your self this false teacher.  May God have mercy on the church.

By endorsing and featuring such new age doctors such as "Dr. Oz" at Saddleback and selling his media, THIS is what the church is exposed to! http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/deepak-chopra-meditation

 Check out the Dr. Oz show with Deepak Chopra demonstrating eastern meditation techniques right out of paganism

Saddleback Health Fitness Seminar - New Age Infomercial for Sustainable Development

http://ponderingsfrompatmos.blogspot.com/2011/01/saddleback-health-fitness-seminar.html

Rick Warren Rolls Out New Age Fitness Program

http://watcherslamp.blogspot.com/2011/01/from-christian-research-network-in-this.html

Rick Warren introduces "The Devil Plan"Occultism in Saddleback

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/110124

Rick Warren Connections  Especially to the Ecumenical Third Wave New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and “Positive Thinking” Movement

http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/discernment/church-issues/popular-teachers/rick-warren-connections

Radical Environmentalism and the Church

http://www.resistingthegreendragon.com/
Pastor Mike Spaulding and Calvary Chapel of Lima are hosting a 12-week Wednesday night Bible Study Resisting the Green Dragon which started last week. A brief synopsis of the study is below. The address is at the end. An invitation is added to "Feel free to invite your friends, family, and neighbors...."

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world,"wrote the Apostle Paul. “On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor 10

Today, one of the most dangerous forces threatening the Church and free, just societies is the environmental movement, what we call the Green Dragon. No longer recognizable as the common-sense, people-friendly, even God-honoring conservationist movement from which it diverged, it has become an alternative worldview and even a substitute religion with its own false doctrines of God, creation, humanity, sin, and salvation. Whether atheistic and overtly secular or pantheistic and overtly religious, it is decisively anti-Christian, exalting the creation over the Creator, denigrating humanity while magnifying other living creatures, and driven by irrational mysticism and myth rather than the rational truth revealed in Scripture and creation and embodied in Christ, who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Sadly, this radically anti-Christian worldview, theology, and ethic has successfully infiltrated many churches, beguiling, as the serpent did Eve, even many Christians into unwittingly trading the heritage of Biblical faith for a new, false religion. Many Christians have uncritically embraced the implications, and sometimes even the premises, of the Green Dragon’s atheism or pantheism; the topsy-turvy value system that protects eagles’ eggs but approves of aborting babies or euthanizing the elderly in the name of population control; and the exaggerated and often downright fraudulent claims of eco-disaster pedaled by leading environmentalists. The Dragon’s attacks must be repelled. That’s the purpose of Resisting the Green Dragon. In the accompanying documentary and 12 lectures, you’ll hear

1. Cornwall Alliance Founder and National Spokesman Dr. E. Calvin Beisner expose and refute the false worldview of the Green movement;


2. Theologian and TruthXChange President Dr. Peter Jones discuss how to rescue people from the cult of the Green Dragon;


3. Philosopher and social activist Dr. Vishal Mangalwadi explain how the Green movement undermines reason and promotes irrationality;


4. Home education pioneer, Patrick Henry College founder, and Home School Legal Defense Association President Dr. Michael Farris reveal how the Green Dragon propagandizes youth through schools, entertainment, and the Internet;


5. Historian and political philosopher Dr. Steven Hayward, author of the annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, expose the Green Dragon’s exaggerations, myths, and lies;


6. Climatologist Dr. David Legates refute the reigning environmental myth of our day, dangerous man-made global warming;


7. Former Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Norton Dunlop unveil how the Green Dragon’s policies would impoverish you, your church, and your society;


8. Pastor and Cornwall Alliance Senior Fellow Dr. James Tonkowich reveal the grave harm environmental policies routinely do to America ’s and the world’s poor;


9. Americans United for Life President Dr. Charmaine Yoest explain how and why the environmental movement threatens the sanctity of human life;


10. Dr. Beisner expose the determined efforts of Green leaders around the world to usher in global governance, threatening nations’ sovereignty and citizens’ liberties;


11. Dr. Tonkowich outline genuine, balanced Earth stewardship according to the Bible, explaining how it benefits both humanity and God’s beautiful creation;


12. Dr. Jones demonstrate the difference between the Christian gospel and the false gospel of the Green movement and show how to present the gospel effectively in a world permeated by environmentalism.


These lectures, and the comments of other Christian leaders in the introductory documentary and throughout the series, are a powerful response to the threat of anti-Christian environmentalism. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world,” wrote the Apostle Paul. “On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). By listening to and discussing these messages, you and your family, Sunday school class, small group, Christian school class, or home school co-op can equip yourselves to recognize the errors of the Green Dragon and respond with spiritual weapons of prayer and argumentation powerful to demolish its strongholds. Not only that—you can also equip yourselves both to understand and implement balanced, constructive, Biblical Earth stewardship and to present, explain, and defend the true Christian faith, especially the gospel of Christ’s saving work on the cross, to friends and acquaintances heretofore beguiled by the Green Dragon.


Pastor Mike Spaulding
Calvary Chapel of Lima
682 W. Grand Ave.
Lima, Ohio 45801
http://www.cclohio.org/



..

When Contending Costs EVERYTHING

by Jan Markell
Olive Tree Ministries
Click HERE for link to website and article

What on earth is Pastor Rick Warren thinking? I have avoided being harsh concerning Rick but on the issue I am about to outline, I must be blunt. A series of errors is outlined below but the zinger following them is my focus.
* Praising Syria for its religious freedom when it is an evil, repressive regime.

* Perfecting church-growth efforts that even include synagogues, but what is missing in the process is the proclamation of the gospel. Warren's church-growth plan focuses only on numbers.

* Being a part of the leadership or board of advisors for questionable organizations such as the World Economic Forum, The Council on Foreign Relations, and Tony Blair's Faith Foundation which is a pagan, ecumenical outfit.

* Speaking to the North American Islamic Society in July 2009 but withholding the gospel from his message. This was another ecumenical effort.

* Misquoting Jesus in The Purpose Driven Life saying that He stated, "My return is none of your business" when, in fact, the Bible emphasizes that His return is our blessed hope.

The Bible encourages us to watch and pray for His return. This theme consumes more than one-third of the Bible.

* Embracing the false theology of Kingdom Now/Dominion eschatology which says the church will save the world through Pastor Warren's global P.E.A.C.E. plan, global AIDS' efforts, etc. This is raging through evangelicalism and is a delusion, as we are on a cursed planet that only Christ's return can save.

* Underplaying the issues of hell, sin, repentance, etc., in his book and other global platforms he has been given.

Because of a new effort launched January 15 at Saddleback Church, I join the voices of vocal critics. He has put the souls and lives of his people and millions more in danger. I do not know his motive. Last Saturday he launched a year-long effort to get his congregation and himself in shape. You can hear and read about it on the Saddleback Web site: "God's prescription for your health. Be a part of this transformational debut to be a healthier you! We'll hear from world-renowned doctors on a plan to get healthy and stay that way in the
new decade."
Who are "the world-renowned doctors" who have designed this program just for Saddleback Church? Men who are blatant promoters of Eastern mystical practices. Let me elaborate.

Best-selling author Dr. Richard Amen is a professor of psychiatry and teaches Eastern religious meditation and New Age energy-based Reiki.
You can hear Rick and Dr. Amen interacting on the Saddleback Web site. On page 238 of Amen's book, Making a Good Brain Great, he states, "I recommend an active form of Yoga meditation called Krya Kirtan. It is based on five primal sounds." He advocates repeating these sounds daily for 12 minutes.

Dr. Mark Hyman is a four-time New York Times best-selling author who again promotes mystical meditation based on Buddhist principles. In his book, The Ultramind Solution, Hyman emphasizes meditation, saying it doesn't matter what religion one is -- all will benefit from it (p. 322). He praises the practice perfected by Buddhists (p. 384).

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a promoter of Reiki and Transcendental Meditation. Oz says he is also inspired by Emmanuel Swedenborg, an 18th century cult founder who taught that all religions lead to God. Swedenborg denied all orthodox Christian beliefs. There are many followers of the cult of Swedenborgism today.

What is Pastor Warren's comment on the character of his three guests? "I am honored to be partnering with these internationally distinguished health experts." Has he no understanding that putting into practice the various procedures they teach will put his congregation in great jeopardy?

Is the deception that great today? And what about the tens of thousands of churches who align with Saddleback? Will they get on board as well, putting millions of Christian's souls and lives at stake? How many demons are lurking around the wicked practices of Transcendental Meditation, Reiki,Yoga, and similar Eastern traditions?

As apologist Eric Barger says, "Among the most troubling aspects of Warren's progression are his alliances. When the most visible Christian leader of our day rubs shoulders with and aids the causes of assorted globalists, New Agers, Muslims, and now looks to one who is inspired by cultist Emanuel Swedenborg, the results are devastating. When leaders decide to reject discernment in favor of ecumenism, then innocent, unsuspecting people are, in effect, targeted by Satan's unrelenting plan to move the church away from the truth of God's Word. This is a perfect example of why following men, instead of the Bible, is a dangerous proposition."

Rick Warren says, "Americans are getting fatter and fatter and we must do something." This seems a strange cause for a man some call 'America's pastor.' Shouldn't our burden as evangelicals be the leanness of the soul and not the body? Equally perplexing is why his church leaders and members are fine with this year long effort to glorify men who promote Eastern mysticism and other practices that are ungodly
Ministry leaders have to choose our battles. Criticizing Christian leaders causes us distress and results in the loss of supporters, donations, churches, and even friends. We are called every name imaginable so understand that contending for the faith costs everything. But contending isn't an option. It's a commandment in Jude 3. Saddleback Church is now presenting a different gospel via the three doctors who will speak into the lives of many for one full year. These men will be affirmed by Pastor Rick Warren. There will be damage.

If some do not sound a warning, millions will be swept up in a program that could cause far more damage than obesity could ever do. The gods represented by the three doctors are after souls. They are gods who lead people away from eternal life in heaven and target souls for a Godless eternity. We cannot be silent no matter what the cost is to the critics.
Pray for Pastor Rick Warren and his church leaders. The program launched last weekend could be stopped by the leadership if they would grasp the offense of this effort.

To better understand such issues, visit our Web site category of "Spiritual Deception."
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On air this weekend (January 22-23) and the following weekend (January 29-30) depending on the radio market, I discuss this issue with Caryl Matrisciana.

Caryl grew up in India and is a former New Ager, very familiar with the practices that are represented by each of the three doctors referenced. Her warning is stunning, articulate, and borne out of personal experience. She explains the kundalini arousal of blatant serpent power in some of the above practices. We are not being sensational. This issue is far too grievous.

Get acquainted with "Understanding the Times" radio, now heard in 415 markets. We headquarter out of AM980 KKMS and AM1280 The Patriot in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Saturday, 9 to 11 a.m. CST. You can always "listen live" at those two Web sites. They replay the program Sunday, 12 to 2 p.m. and Sunday, 8 to 10 a.m. respectively.

Discernment vs Apologetics Ministries: Is There A Difference? - Jackie Alnor

 The field of the Christian study of apologetics stems from the command of scripture to:

“Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” [Jude 3]

Jude was not addressing some uniquely called individuals in the church to some special office like pastor or evangelist, but makes it clear in the first verse that he was calling all believers to the task. “To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.” [Jude 1]


Yet over the years the defense of the faith against “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” [2 Cor. 10:5) has become specialized due to the superabundance of cults, heresies, and isms that attack the faith from within and without the professing church.


To assist all the saints to sort out truth from error, God has raised up para-church ministries to the task of studying, researching and exposing the false ideas that threaten to overturn the faith of many. They give answers using Scripture and reason to equip the saints in their walk with Christ to battle against the deceptions and ploys of the enemy. To be forewarned is to be forearmed in the battle of ideas that would try to shipwreck their faith.


Since the time that Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses to the Door of the Wittenburg Church, defenders of the faith have made their mark on church history by rocking the boat to awaken a sleeping church. In our modern times, men like Francis Schaeffer and C. S. Lewis have written tomes of apologetics resources that have become the textbooks of modern seminaries.


It wasn’t until the formation of the Christian Research Institute in 1960 by the late Walter Martin, author of The Kingdom of the Cults, that the field of the study of apologetics became specialized according to area of focus. He had an entire research department with researchers who each had their specialty of study. [Though under CRI’s current leadership, there is only the voice on the radio and office workers filling orders.] Other apologetics ministries came along in the 1970s & 80s such as Watchman Fellowship, Spiritual Counterfeits Project, and Personal Freedom Outreach.


In those days, the terms apologetics and discernment were synonymous and interchangeable. Over the years, the terms took on new meaning as approaches to the defense of the faith diverged. A division arose between the theologically academic approach and the Spirit-led Bible approach upon the publication of Dave Hunt’s book, The Seduction of Christianity in 1985.


The book got panned by CRI insiders Bob and Gretchen Passantino, whose amillennial sensitivities were offended by Hunt’s recognition of the importance that Bible prophecy played in recognizing the spirit of antichrist at work in the infiltration of doctrines of demons into the church. [They later wrote a counter-offensive book, Witch Hunt, in which they faulted Hunt for his failure to follow Matthew 18 in not going to every church leader first before quoting from their published writings. Of course the Passantinos never lived up to this twisted logic in their own writing.]

Unfortunately, the Passantinos got the ear of Walter Martin who criticized the book on his Bible-Answer-Man radio broadcast based upon their warped review. At that time I was friends with both Martin and Hunt and became somewhat of a go-between. When Dave showed me a transcript of Walter’s criticism of Seduction I recognized it as a paraphrase of the Passantino’s writing. So the next Sunday I approached Walter after his Bible study that I regularly attended and asked him point blank, “Have you ever read the book?” He admitted to me that he hadn’t and I was astounded. I later went through Hunt’s book and highlighted important points he made with a highlighter pen and gave it to Martin who used it later to confront TBN on live television for the heresies Hunt had documented.


But sadly there was always a breach between CRI and Dave Hunt and any of us independent researchers who incorporated Bible prophecy into our recognition of the spirit of antichrist in the heretical teachings that were infiltrating the church.


Over the next several years, ministries that followed Hunt’s lead, recognizing the prophesied apostasy in the church via ecumenism with Rome, became labeled as “discernment ministries.” The view that the false teachings in the church were propelling the visible church toward a unification into a global false religious system was not seen as a valid paradigm by the academic type of apologists. So the latter tended to marginalize the former and look down their noses at those who believe we are in the end times. That idea just isn’t very scholarly to them.


Those who dare to believe what the Spirit of Christ has put in their hearts that His return is near are literally mocked and told “we have no need of you.” [1Cor. 12:21] Scoffers have risen up ridiculing us saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” [2 Peter 3:3-5]


So when you hear the term discernment ministries today, you will usually see a common belief that we are in the end times. When you hear the word apologetics, you will probably be around academics who speak using big theological words. It has just sort of evolved that way. Discernment ministries overall show respect to the academics, but rarely is the compliment returned

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and a timely  response by Jacob Prasch of  MORIEL MINISTRIES
The line between apologetics and discernment is indeed nebulous. In the earlier years with Dr. Walter Martin, etc. “apologetics” mainly meant cult evangelism. With the apostasy of the last 25 – 30 years however,  much of what had been considered “evangelicism” is also now cultic and just as heretical as the Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons

     -Spiritual Babylon” (or variations of the same term) used to mean Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Liberal Protestantism; now it co-equally means the Assemblies of God, the Baptist Union, the Emergent and Purpose Driven churches.
     -Heretical books use to be read by non-believers; now The Shack and Ecumenical Jihad are read and endorsed by those claiming to be mainstream Evangelicals like Gayle Irwin and J. I. Packer
     -Cult leaders, antichrists, and false prophets used to mean Rev. Moon, Joseph Smith, or the pope; now it co-equally means Tony Campolo, Chuck Colson, Peter Wagner, Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, and Mike Bickle
     -Eastern Religious mysticism and New Age philosophy referred to the Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi; now it is Brian McLaren, John Arnott, and Joyce Hugget
     -Extremist fundamentalists use to be red-neck Bible thumpers from racially segregated churches in the American Bible Belt or political protestant preachers from Northern Ireland; now anyone not agreeing with same-sex marriage and homosexual and lesbian ordination is branded as extreme
In a sad sense those in apologetics and discernment circles have had their own “paradigm shift” thrust upon them by the tide of spiritual, doctrinal, and moral deterioration. I am not just hating what is happening to the world and society, I am hating the plight of the so-called church. Even more than before my attitude is MARANATHA. Please Come Quickly Lord Jesus!

How Apostasy Is Scattering the Sheep

Today, many precious saints have been forced to leave their churches due to truly biblical or doctrinal disputes. If you have, you are NOT alone!

With alarming numbers of once-trustworthy denominations and leaders trumpeting varieties of Liberalism and Emergent and other heresies, what is the dedicated Bible-believer to do? Should we stay or must we go? In this important message, Eric Barger utilizes biblical apologetics as he approaches the problem, offers solutions, and outlines reasons to both leave and stay in a congregation.

1 Corinthians 11:19  (NKJV) For there must also be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you

My People Are Destroyed for A Lack of Knowledge....and They Love To Have It So!

When "Christians" call heretics "brothers" they are violating Scripture and are leading others to follow suit.


Scripture is clear that we are to divide from heretics and expose their dark deeds, NOT CODDLE THEM. Such nonsense is what the Fluff N Stuff "Christians" do: luuuv everyone to Hell because they don't want to divide from those that claim the name ofJesus

We must test all people, songs, books, authors, pastors, teachers, Bible-study leaders, and of course ourselves by the Word of God. No one gets a FREE pass!

 Jeremiah 5:30-31 An appalling and A horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets  prophesy falsely ...and my people love to have it so But what will you do in the end?


Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:

Jer 6:17 I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not pay attention.'

Jer 6:18 Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.

Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it. Jer 6:20 What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. Jer 6:21 Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will lay before this people stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble; fathers and sons together, neighbor and friend shall perish.'"

Jer 7:4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'
Jer 7:23 But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.' Jer 7:24 But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

Eph 5:11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.


Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- Gal 1:7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. Gal 1:9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Gal 1:11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

As Long as the American Church Sleeps, Satan keeps Making Huge Inroads into the Church

Sue Monk Kidd Part II and The Black Madonna Goddess Same as in The Shack

The Secret Life of Bees.  I believe this new age "black madonna goddess" is the same one that is portrayed as the so called feminized "God the Father"  called Papa in W. Paul Youngs book the Shack.   An excerpt from Sue Monk Kidds webpage on the  book made movie .....

The Black Madonna in the Novel

       "The South was fertile ground for my fiction, but the novel was also affected by my spiritual and psychological pursuits and study. I did'n’t set out to put a black Virgin Mary in my novel; it just happened."

      "For a lot of years, I explored archetypal feminine images and stories from different cultures and religions, and particularly what happens to women when connections with these images are missing or devalued. One thing that became clear to me is that images of a divine mother are surprisingly important in the psychological wholeness of women, especially in the process of women taking up residence in their own authority. It was through this study that I became intrigued with the ways that Mary has quietly, even subversively, functioned as the feminine dimension of God in much of western religion. I read an essay by author Kathleen Norris in which she made the amazing statement that Mary is particularly suited to post-modernism. She didn’t elaborate on the reason, but my guess is that Mary, fresh with feminist appropriations, has the potential to undergird women’s reformations."

     "As I began the novel, I wanted the driving impetus in Lily’s life to be the search for home and for her mother. But clearly in the back of mind, I knew there was a less tangible, more symbolic search for home and mother that needed to take place: a coming home to herself and the discovery of the mother within. I knew Lily would have to find an undreamed of strength, and that she would do it the same way the powerful black women around her did it – through the empowerment of a divine feminine presence, in this case a Black Mary."

      "I felt that any image of Mary in the novel would have to be black. Not only because the women who revered her were black, but because historically Black Madonnas have often been at the root of insurgence. I first became aware of the Black Madonna in my late thirties through the writings of Jungian analyst, Marion Woodman. It was a revelation to me that hundreds of very old Black Madonnas exist in Europe and elsewhere, and that their darkness is a legacy of ancient black goddesses. I think of the Black Madonna as the White Madonna before the church scrubbed the really interesting stuff out of her. I began to study the Black Madonna, and to travel to her pilgrimage sites, especially in France. I discovered that many of her stories and history reveal a Mary who is openly defiant in the face of oppression. In Poland, South and Central America, and other places, she has been a symbol of revolution. I decided I would create a Black Madonna for the novel, who had existed during slavery in the South, and that she would be a symbol of freedom and consolation."

    Keep in mind Carl Jung was a Swiss psychologist who was deeply involved in the occult.  Much of his writings were inspired by his so called "spirit guide" (demon!) named Philemon. This is a picture of 'Philemon' that is found in Carl Jung's "The Red Book" (click to enlarge picture)  can't help but notice that serpent in the right hand corner--also google  egyptian 'winged sun disk'-- it looks an awful lot like the "wings and halo" behind this so called 'angel of light'

And now that brings me to Purpose Driven Pope, Rick Warren. In his Purpose Driven life, Rick Warren pushes the unbiblical belief of pantheism when he quotes as "the bible says" using an inferior version of the bible for Ephesian 4:6.  The New Century Version (NEC) Compare what Warren's  abominable version compared to the King James or other legitimate version say
        (NEC) "There is one God and Father of everything. He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything."
now read the CORRECT translation
        (NKJV) "one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all"

And if you read the entire chapter in context, you will see that the Apostle Paul is speaking to beleivers not unbeleivers and God trascends ABOVE his creation He in NOT "in" everything...that worldview is PANTHEISM/PANENTHIESM which is utter HERESY and should be rejected! Back to Rick  Warren who on his website promotes the book The Shack (and books by the same contemplatives like Henri Nouwen)   ..whose blasphemous portayal of the trinity...God the Father  "Papa" being portrayed as a black madonna- Aunt Jemima figure and ironically also the Holy Spirit portrayed as another female called "Sarayu"  which  ironically the Sarayu river plays an important role in Hindu mythology,  according to the great Hindu epic, the Ramayana, is where "Rama", the seventh "Avatar" of "Vishnu" immersed himself to return to his eternal, real Mahavishnu form (trascending to Supreme Godhood). I find it highly suspicious that W. Paul Youngs portrayal of the holy spirit using in his book the very name would coincide with a Hindu river that a so called hindu deity got baptised in and trascended to godhood.    I also find  it quite fascinating also that Rick Warren not only promotes the Shack but his so called S.H.A.P.E. program parellels Jungian personality tests based on teachings from his Philemon spirit guide.....
More on this by Lighthouse Trails Research  ---
         "Sue Monk Kidd would agree with The Shack's definition of God: in her book, First Light, she says God is the graffiti on the building (p. 98).

      "It is possible that a key to understanding The Shack could actually lie with Monk Kidd who was once a conservative Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher. She began studying the teachings of mystic Thomas Merton, which eventually led her out of the Southern Baptist arena and into the New Age. Today, she follows goddess spirituality (Sophia) and has said in one of her books that God dwells in all things, even excrement (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter)."

         "There is perhaps a striking similarity between The Shack's "God" the Father and the Black Madonna used in Monk Kidd's best selling novel, The Secret Life of Bees (coming out soon as a movie). Monk Kidd says the Black Madonna she chose is "a powerful symbolic essence that could take up residence inside of [the novel's character, Lily] and become catalytic in her transformation."4 The fact that both Sue Monk Kidd and William Young have chosen a Black Madonna figure as representing "God" and that both talk about the ground of all being (God in all things) cannot be ignored. Episcopal priest (panentheist) Matthew Fox says: '

         "Today the Black Madonna is returning. She is coming, not going, and she is calling us to something new (and very ancient as well).... "

     "The Black Madonna archetype awakens in us and ... she is so important for the twenty-first century.... The Black Madonna invites us into the dark and therefore into our depths. This is what the mystics call the "inside" of things, the essence of things. This is where Divinity lies. It is where the true self lies.... Because she is a goddess, the Black Madonna resides in all beings. She is the divine presence inside of creation."

         "The gap between the New Age and Christianity is being narrowed, and The Shack is another disastrous and deceptive tool that will bring this about. When David Jeremiah favorably quoted and referenced Sue Monk Kidd in his book, Life Wide Open, we knew this would further close the gap that gave Christianity its distinctness. It is this distinctness that allows sinful man to see his need for a Savior. When that gap closes, the Gospel message will be hidden from view from even more people than it is today. The Shack has brought about some huge strides in causing this to take place."

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man” (Emphasis mine, Romans 1:21-23a, KJV).

Please Christians,  throw out these books,  reject these false teachers.  We are living in the most dangerouse deceptive times in all of world history....

From Southern Baptist to Goddess Worship: Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd is a very popular writer. Her first two novels, The Secret Life of Bees (2002) and The Mermaid Chair (2005), have sold more than 6 million copies and the first one is being produced as a movie. She has also written two popular books on contemplative spirituality: God’s Joyful Surprise (1988) and When the Heart Waits (1990).


She is quoted by evangelicals such as David Jeremiah (Life Wide Open), Beth Moore (When Godly People Do Ungodly Things), and Richard Foster (Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home). Kidd’s endorsement is printed on the back of Dallas Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines. She wrote the foreword to the 2006 edition of Henri Nouwen’s With Open Hands and the introduction to Thomas Merton’s New Seeds of Contemplation.

It is “contemplative spirituality” that changed Kidd’s life, and her experience is a loud warning about flirting with Catholic mysticism.

She was raised in a Southern Baptist congregation in southwest Georgia. Her grandfather and father were Baptist deacons. Her grandmother gave devotionals at the Women’s Missionary Union, and her mother was a Sunday School teacher. Her husband was a minister who taught religion and a chaplain at a Baptist college. She was very involved in church, teaching Sunday School and attending services Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday. She describes herself as the person who would have won a contest for “Least Likely to Become a Feminist.” She was even inducted into a group of women called the Gracious Ladies, the criterion for which was that “one needed to portray certain ideals of womanhood, which included being gracious and giving of oneself unselfishly.”
But for years she had felt a spiritual emptiness and lack of contentment. Prayer was “a fairly boring mental activity” (Kidd’s foreword to Henri Nouwen’s With Open Hands, 2006, p. 10). She says,

“I had been struggling to come to terms with my life as a woman--in my culture, my marriage, my faith, my church, and deep inside myself” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 8).

She was thirty years old, had been married about 12 years, and had two children.

Instead of learning how to fill that emptiness and uncertainty with a know-so salvation and a sweet walk with Christ in the Spirit and a deeper knowledge of the Bible, she began dabbling in Catholic mysticism. A Sunday School co-worker gave her a book by the Roman Catholic monk Thomas Merton. She should have known better than to study such a book and should have been warned by the brethren, but the New Evangelical philosophy that controls the vast majority of Southern Baptist churches created an atmosphere in which the reading of a Catholic monk’s book by a Sunday School teacher was acceptable. Their thinking goes like this: Who are we to judge what other people read, and who is to say that a Roman Catholic priest might not love the Lord?

Kidd began to practice Catholic forms of contemplative spirituality and visit Catholic retreat centers and monasteries.
“... beginning in my early thirties I’d become immersed in a journey that was rooted in contemplative spirituality. It was the spirituality of the ‘church fathers,’ of the monks I’d come to know as I made regular retreats in their monasteries. ... I thrived on solitude, routinely practicing silent meditation as taught by the monks Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating. ... For years, I’d studied Thomas Merton, John of the Cross, Augustine, Bernard, Bonaventure, Ignatius, Eckhart, Luther, Teilhard de Chardin, The Cloud of Unknowing, and others” (pp. 14, 15).

Of Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, which she read in 1978 for the first of many times, she says,
“My experience of reading it initiated me into my first real awareness of the interior life, igniting an impulse toward being ... it caused something hidden at the core of me to flare up and become known” (Kidd’s introduction to New Seeds of Contemplation, 2007, pp. xiii, xi).

Of Merton’s book New Seeds of Contemplation she says, “[It] initiated me into the secrets of my true identity and woke in me an urge toward realness” and “impacted my spirituality and my writing to this day.”

Merton communicated intimately with and was deeply affected by Mary veneration, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sufism, so it is not surprising that his writings would create an appetite that could lead to goddess worship.
In The New Seeds of Contemplation, Merton made the following frightening statement that shows the great danger of Catholic mysticism:
“In the end the contemplative suffers the anguish of realizing that HE NO LONGER KNOWS WHAT GOD IS. He may or may not mercifully realize that, after all, this is a great gain, because ‘God is not a what,’ not a ‘thing.’ This is precisely one of the essential characteristics of contemplative experience. It sees that there is no ‘what’ that can be called God” (p. 13).

What Catholic mysticism does is reject the Bible as the sole and sufficient and perfect revelation of God and tries to delve beyond the Bible, even beyond thought of any kind, and find God through mystical “intuition.” In other words, it is a rejection of the God of the Bible. It says that God cannot be known by doctrine and cannot be described in words. He can only be experienced through mysticism. This is a blatant denial of the Bible’s claim to be the very Word of God.

This opens the practitioner to demonic delusion. He is left with no perfect objective revelation of God, no divinely-revealed authority by which he can test his mystical experiences and intuitions. He is left with an idol of his own vain imagination (Jeremiah 17:9) and a doctrine of devils.

Kidd’s own first two books were on contemplative spirituality.

The involvement in Catholic contemplative practices led her to the Mass and to other sacramental associations.
“I often went to Catholic mass or Eucharist at the Episcopal church, nourished by the symbol and power of this profound feeding ritual” (p. 15).

There is an occultic power in the mass that has influenced many who have approached it in a receptive, non-critical manner.
She learned dream analysis from a Jungian perspective and believed that her dreams were revelations. One recurring dream featured an old woman. Kidd concluded that this is “the Feminine Self or the voice of the feminine soul” and she was encouraged in her feminist studies by these visitations.
   She spent much time with a friend who had a feminist mindset and was “exploring” feminist writings, and she began to read ever more radical feminists, such as Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Elaine Pagels, and Rosemary Radford Ruether.


We are reminded of the Bible’s warning, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33).
She says, “I began to form what I called my feminist critique” (p. 59). She learned to see “patriarchy” as “a wounder of women and feminine life” (p. 60).

She determined to stop testing things and follow her heart, rejecting the Bible’s admonition to “prove all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
“I would go through the gate with what Zen Buddhists call ‘beginner’s mind,’ the attitude of approaching something with a mind empty and free, ready for anything, open to everything. ... I would give myself permission to go wherever my quest took me” (p. 140).

She rejected the doctrine that the Bible is the sole authority for faith and practice. In church one day the pastor proclaimed this truth, and she describes the frightful thing that happened in her heart at that moment:

“I remember a feeling rising up from a place about two inches below my navel. ... It was the purest inner knowing I had experienced, and it was shouting in me no, no, no! The ultimate authority of my life is not the Bible; it is not confined between the covers of a book. It is not something written by men and frozen in time. It is not from a source outside myself. My ultimate authority is the divine voice in my own soul. Period. ... That day sitting in church, I believed the voice in my belly. ... The voice in my belly was the voice of the wise old woman. It was my female soul talking. And it had challenged the assumption that the Baptist Church would get me where I needed to go” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, pp. 76, 77, 78).

She began to think that the Bible is wrong in its teaching about women and that women should not take the subordinate position described therein. She came to believe that Eve might have been a hero instead of a sinner, that eating the forbidden fruit had actually opened Eve’s eyes to her true self. Kidd came to the conclusion that the snake was not evil but “symbolized female wisdom, power, and regeneration” (p. 71). She was surprised and pleased to learn that the snake is depicted as the companion of ancient goddesses, concluding that this is evidence that the Bible is wrong.

She determined that she was willing to lose her marriage, if necessary.
“I would not, could not forfeit my journey for my marriage or for the sake of religious acceptance or success as a ‘Christian writer.’ I would keep moving in my own way to the strains of feminine music that sifted up inside me, not just moving but embracing the dance. ... I felt the crumbling of the old patriarchal foundation our marriage had rested upon in such hidden and subtle ways. Though both of us would always need to compromise, there was no more sacrificing myself, no more revolving around him, no more looking to him for validation, trying to be what I thought he needed me to be. My life, my time, my decisions became newly my own” (pp. 98, 125).

In her case, her husband stayed with her and came to accept her feminist vision, even leaving his job in the Christian college and becoming a psychotherapist, but in many other cases the feminist philosophy has destroyed the marriage. She says, “I’ve met women who in such circumstances have stayed and others who’ve left. Such choices are achingly difficult, but I’ve learned to respect whatever a woman feels she must do.” It is amazing how a person can come to the place where he or she is convinced that it is a righteous thing to renounce a solemn marriage vow that was made before God and man.

She rejected God as Father.
“I knew right then and there that the patriarchal church was no longer working for me. The exclusive image of God as heavenly Father wasn’t working, either. I needed a Power of Being that was also feminine” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 80).

She came to believe in the divinity of man.
“There’s a bulb of truth buried in the human soul that’s ‘only God’ ... the soul is more than something to win or save. It’s the seat and repository of the inner Divine, the God-image, the truest part of us” (When the Heart Waits, 1990, pp. 47, 48).


“When we encounter another person ... we should walk as if we were upon holy ground. We should respond as if God dwells there” (God’s Joyful Surprise, p. 233).

She began to delve into the worship of ancient goddesses. She traveled with a group of women to Crete where they met in a cave and sang prayers to “the Goddess Skoteini, Goddess of the Dark.” She says, “... something inside me was calling on the Goddess of the Dark, even though I didn’t know her name” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 93).

Soon she was praying to God as Mother.
“I ran my finger around the rim of the circle on the page and prayed my first prayer to a Divine Feminine presence. I said, ‘Mothergod, I have nothing to hold me. No place to be, inside or out. I need to find a container of support, a space where my journey can unfold’” (p. 94).


She came to the place where she believed that she is a goddess.
“Divine Feminine love came, wiping out all my puny ideas about love in one driving sweep. Today I remember that event for the radiant mystery it was, how I felt myself embraced by Goddess, how I felt myself in touch with the deepest thing I am. It was the moment when, as playwright and poet Ntozake Shange put it, ‘I found god in myself/ and I loved her/ I loved her fiercely’” (The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, p. 136).


“To embrace Goddess is simply to discover the Divine in yourself as powerfully and vividly feminine” (p. 141).
“I came to know myself as an embodiment of Goddess” (p. 163).


"When I woke, my thought was that I was finally being reunited with the snake in myself--that lost and defiled symbol of feminine instinct” (p. 107).

She came to believe in the New Age doctrine that God is in all things and is the sum total of all things, that God is the evolving universe and we are a part of God.
“I thought: Maybe the Divine One is like an old African woman, carving creation out of one vast, beautiful piece of Herself. She is making a universal totem spanning fifteen billion years, an extension of her life and being, an evolutionary carving of sacred art containing humans, animals, plants, indeed, everything that is. And all of it is joined, blended, and connected, its destiny intertwined. ... In other words, the Divine coinheres all that is. ... To coinhere means to exist together, to be included in the same thing or substance” (pp. 158, 159).

She built an altar in her study and populated it with statues of goddesses, Jesus, a Black Madonna -- and a mirror to reflect her own image.
“Over the altar in my study I hung a lovely mirror sculpted in the shape of a crescent moon. It reminded me to honor the Divine Feminine presence in myself, the wisdom in my own soul” (p. 181).

She even believes that the world can be saved by the divine mother.
“I know of nothing needed more in the world just now than an image of Divine present that affirms the importance of relationship--a Divine Mother, perhaps, who draws all humanity into her lap and makes us into a global family” (p. 155).

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter ends with the words, “She is in us.”
According to this book, Kidd’s daughter, too, has accepted goddess worship.



Republished July 1, 2010 (first published July 15, 2008) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org;

For more information about Sue Monk Kidd and contemplative spirituality, we recommend our book on Contemplative Mysticism and our book and DVD set on the Emerging Church. Both are available here:http://www.wayoflife.org/publications/topicalbooks.html

This Little Church Went to Market

In the late 70's a ground-breaking cultural movement was recognized, commonly called Postmodernism.  This movement is a challenge to rational thought, so much so that classical liberal theologians, asserting that most of the Bible is not factually true, have no more cultural support than Bible-believing Christians.  The "Jesus Seminar" is the final bloom of liberal theologians attempting a last hurrah.  In Postmodern thought there is no universal truth to be established; everyone has total freedom to create his or her own truth.  Postmoderns are driven by the heart rather than the head.  Current pop-spirituality reflects this in its focus on feeling, the inner life, and promotion of spiritual pluralism.  Consequently, evangelicals do not have the same need, as previously, to think through their apologetics.  In fact there is a truth "vacuum" which frees the church to present an audience-driven, user-friendly gospel in order to compete with the new smorgasbord of spiritualities.  There is no longer a compelling need for evangelicals to express their faith in clear and logical propositions.
This Little Church Went to Market



by Gary E. Gilley


... [Evangelicals] having watched a large segment of the church become content with short yardage and lousy scores, ... decided that there had to be a better way. The church was not penetrating society; she was not pulling in the masses; she was not making a significant impact for the gospel. It was not that the church leaders didn't care, it was, it seemed, that they lacked the "know how," the tools, to effect change. The gospel was still the "power of God for salvation" (Romans 1:16), but it was being rejected out-of-hand by too many. What was needed, apparently, were new methods to reach the lost, new techniques to promote the church, new packages for the gospel message. People, we were told, were not rejecting the gospel or Christ; they were rejecting our out-of-date, unappetizing form, philosophies, and methods...


... We will focus on the two flagship churches: Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, California, and Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago. These churches serve as the models that are reshaping the way we "do church" today. As a matter of fact, many refer to these churches and their clones as "new paradigm churches." Churches all over the world ... are imitating the many methods promoted by Saddleback and the "Creekers." Others have written about church growth, but these two churches have made it work, and for their success they are idolized and adored by the modem evangelical community...


An interesting article, just the type that shapes the new paradigm system, is found in American Demographics (American Demographics, April 1999, "Choosing My Religion," pp. 60-65, by Richard Cimino and Don Lattin) ... According to this article people today claim they are:


"...into spirituality, not religion... Behind this shift is the search for an experiential faith, a religion of the heart, not the head. It's a religious expression that downplays doctrine and dogma, and revels in direct experience of the divine - whether it's called die "Holy Spirit" or "cosmic consciousness" or the "true self." It is practical and personal, more about stress reduction dw salvation, more therapeutic than theological. It's about feeling, on being good. It's as much about the body as the soul... Some marketing gurus have begun calling it "the experience industry". (Ibid., p 62).



But is a market-driven church so bad? After all, a lot of people seem to be getting saved and they're really "packing 'em in." Rick Warren puts a positive spin on new paradigm philosophy in his very popular book The Purpose Driven Church ... Many of Warren's suggestions are excellent. Churches should pay attention to cleanliness and attractiveness, where people are going to park ... We should strive for excellence and do the best to communicate God's truth. And we should want to grow - in the right ways. Warren states, "Every church needs to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism." (The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, p. 48)


Who could argue with that? And who would debate the need for churches to know why they exist (their purpose), channeling their energies in that direction rather than wandering aimlessly as many do? And what about evangelism? Warren and the new paradigm churches are geared to reaching the lost. While many churches are wasting precious energy fussing over the color of the drapes in the foyer, the Saddlebacks and Willow Creeks are focusing their attention on bringing unchurched Harry and Saddleback Sam to Christ. You can't help admire that kind of emphasis ... Perhaps no single source carries as much weight in the "seeker sensitive" church as George Barna and his Barna Research Group. Barna, the church counterpart to George Gallup, has ignited a number of fires in Christian circles with his books such as The Frog in the Kettle and Marketing the Church. In his more recent book Church Marketing, Breaking Ground for the Harvest, Barna declares that he and his types have won the ideological battle over the issue of marketing the church (p. 13, 14). That is, only a few old-fashioned stick-in-the-muds still question the validity of the market-driven strategy ... Barna assures us that churches sell (or market) their product the same way Wal-Mart sells shoes and Sears sells tools. But what is the church's product? What are we trying to peddle to consumers? This has to be thought through carefully, for unlike shoes and tools that have great attraction for some consumers, the gospel is repulsive, foolishness to the unsaved (I Cor. 1: 18-23). How do we market such a product? By changing the package. Note the subtle bait and switch in Barna's philosophy. Ministry, in essence, has the same objective as marketing - to meet people's needs. Christian ministry, by definition, meets people's real needs by providing them with biblical solutions to their life circumstances (p 21).


By repackaging ministry ... Barna has made it attractive. If we can convince people that Christ died to meet their need, they will line up at our doors to buy our product. But is this the Gospel message? Has Barna merely repackaged ... the Gospel product, or has he gutted it of its purpose and value? An important question upon which so much hinges...


The standard rhetoric coming from new paradigm churches is that they teach the same message, the same gospel, as the more traditional evangelical churches; that they differ only in methodology and philosophy of ministry. Lee Strobel (former Teaching Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church) writes, "Objections [to the market-driven church] generally relate to the method that's used to communicate the Gospel, not the message itself and consequently we're free to use the God-given creativity to present Christ's message in new ways that our target audience will connect with" (Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, by Lee Stroebel, p. 168). This is simply not the case. While some methods may disturb us it is their message that is of real concern. ... Barna defines marketing as "a broad term that encompasses all the activities that lead to an exchange of equally valued goods between consenting parties."...Is the gospel marketable by this definition? Is the gospel the "exchange of equally valued goods between consenting parties" Let's see. The Gospel is offered by grace (undeserved favor) and received by faith. In the exchange God gets us, we get Him (equally valued goods?). In the exchange we receive the righteousness of Christ, He takes our sins upon Himself (equally valued goods?). The market process breaks down in its very definition when the "product" is Christ... The Gospel is not bringing people to Christ in order to meet their felt-needs. According to Scripture the gospel is the good news that lost sinners can be forgiven of their sins and receive the righteousness of Christ in exchange. This is the real need of humanity, the need for which Christ died... The gospel message in a nutshell is this: Harry (to use Willow Creek's name for the unsaved) is a sinner, in full-blown rebellion against God (Rom. 3:23; 5:1-12). While some Harrys are outwardly religious and some even desire the gifts and benefits that God can supply, no Harrys truly seek after God or desire Him (Rom. 3:10-18). As a result of Harry's sinfulness he is under the wrath of God (Rom. 1: 18), faces future judgment (Heb. 9:27), will die both physically and spiritually (Rom. 6:23) and will spend eternity in hell (Rev. 20:11-15)...


The new paradigm church operates under the credo that Harry is "hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ" (ibid. p. 47) ... Now we know that Harry is not motivated by the commands of God, nor is he all that interested in truth, [so] we can abandon the direct approach. And since he is looking for something that will help him reach his goals in life and feel good in the process, we are ready to package the gospel to draw his attention. The new paradigm church does this by focusing on the gospel of felt need. "The Church's problem today is simply that it does not believe that without tinkering, the Gospel will be all that interesting to modern people" (Losing Our Virtue, by David Wells, p. 207). And tinker it must... The new paradigm church is offering a purely Americanized, yuppie brand of Christianity found nowhere in the NT...


G.A. Pritchard, after spending a year (onsite) studying the ministry at Willow Creek, eventually came to the conclusion that "Hybels believes that Harry's most important concern is for his personal fulfillment"...Hybels teaches that Christianity will satisfy Harry's felt need and provide him fulfillment ... Hybels and the other speakers do not condemn the search for fulfillment. Rather they argue that Harry has not searched in the right place. (Willow Creek Seeker Services, p. 254-256). Pritchard's analysis is on the money:


"Is Willow Creek correct in their teaching that a relationship with Christ will provide a life of fulfillment? In a word, no. ... Personal fulfillment is the dominant goal of the vast majority of Americans. In this context it is a great temptation for American evangelicals to argue that Christianity is a means of a more fulfilling life. ... the Church becomes another place that promises to satisfy emotional desires.... To argue for Christianity primarily by pointing to its usefulness in satisfying felt needs is to ultimately undercut it. To teach Christianity as a means eventually teaches that it is superfluous. If someone is able to satisfy their felt needs without Christ, the message of Christianity can be discarded. ... The bottom line why individuals should repent and worship God is because God deserves it. Fulfillment theology does not reflect the teaching of the Bible. We find in Scripture vast evidence that Christianity is often not 'fulfilling, " Jesus promises his disciples that "in this world you will have trouble....... The Lord did not promise fulfillment, or even relief, in this world but only in the next... (Pritchart, p. 254-256),


In response to those who object to the new gospel, Stroebel counters that "these objections generally relate to the method that's used to communicate the Gospel, not the message itself, and consequently we're free to use our God-given creativity to present Christ's message in new ways that our target audience will connect with" (Stroebel, p. 168). This is simply not the case. While some of the methods way disturb us, it is their message that is of real concern. The new paradigm church would loudly proclaim that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But they have redefined salvation. Salvation is not simply, under the new gospel, the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness. It is not a deliverance from the wrath of God upon a deserving and rebellious people. The new gospel is liberation from low self-esteem, a freedom from emptiness and loneliness, a means of fulfillment and excitement, a way to receive your heart's desire, a means to meeting your needs. The old gospel was about God; the new gospel is about us. The old gospel was about sin; the new gospel is about needs. The old gospel was about our need for righteousness; the new gospel is about our need of fulfillment. The old gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing; the new gospel is attractive... We are forced to ask, with Peter Jennings in the thought-provoking video, In the Name of God, "As these churches try to attract sell-out crowds, are they in danger of selling out the gospel?"


The above article consists of excerpted sections from a four-part article at http://www.svchapel.org/site/ThinkOnTheseThingsMinistries/publications/html/market1.html

Leonard Ravenhill: A True Inspiration