December 8, 2008
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“All Arminians consider it reasonable to tell the unbeliever that ‘God has a wonderful plan for your life.’ But what could this mean if a person by uncaused (indeterminate) events eventually goes to hell? How can Arminians honestly tell unbelievers that God loves them if God is not willing to do what is needed to save them? Strictly speaking, does he ultimately leave it up to them (or worse, to a randomly acting free will) whether they will finally do enought to save themselves? What kind of love is so vague and undescriminating that it leaves the eternal salvation of its beloved in the hands of an autonomous mechanism in their heads, rather than acting to secure that salvation? How can God love us if he is incompetent?”
-R.K. McGregor Wright
December 8, 2008
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There is a progression that takes place in liberal theology: It begins with a corrupt bibliology, a corrupt view of the nature and the inspiration of Scripture. They have a corrupt theology because once you are picking and choosing from the Bible what you want, your theology has to suffer from it, because your human reason is corrupt… every major theological seminary that has turned from orthodox Christianity began with disbelief of Biblical doctrine. There wasn’t a single exception.
This corrupt Bibliology then lead them to the next step. Their theology began to be touched by it, their view of the Cross, the Virgin Birth were both immediately questioned; then came the miracles of Christ… And finally they had emptied the Gospel of all its content; they were simply using the outward shell so that they go on collecting money from the people and the churches; because they knew that if the people in the pew knew that they were apostate, they’d throw them out. So the strategy was hang on to the trust funds; hang on to the money we’ve got; hang on the properties we control, and we will gradually educate the laymen into this new approach to theology.
And then finally we will take control of everything. The gradual process of feeding you theological poison until you become immunized enough so that you don’t know what’s happening to you. And when you wake up to what’s happening to you, it’s too late they’ve got everything. That is not a baseless charge, I stand prepared to prove that the Cult of Liberal Theology in the United States has deliberately and consistently followed this methodology to entrap, control and dominate the denominations and the churches of the United States and our educational institutions. (The Cult of Liberalism, available from Walter Martin Religious InfoNet)
Dr. Walter Martin
December 8, 2008
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When Apprising Ministries first began documenting this departure from the faith by Rob Bell three years ago it was difficult to unpack what he was saying for the average Christian, being they are so taken with Bell’s exceptional communication skills.
However, as the Emergent rebellion against Sola Scriptura has gained a stronger foothold within nearly comatose evangelicalism, who long ago traded their discernment skills for entertaining stories (see opening text), as you’ll see in this piece leaders in this postliberal cult like Rob Bell have grow emboldened as they drift deeper into delusions taught by demons.
December 8, 2008
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Don’t read this one from Newsweek unless you have a strong stomach. “Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side” fantasizes Lisa Miller. She continues:
The battle over gay marriage has been waged for more than a decade, but within the last six months—since California legalized gay marriage and then, with a ballot initiative in November, amended its Constitution to prohibit it—the debate has grown into a full-scale war, with religious-rhetoric slinging to match. Not since 1860, when the country’s pulpits were full of preachers pronouncing on slavery, pro and con, has one of our basic social (and economic) institutions been so subject to biblical scrutiny. But whereas in the Civil War the traditionalists had their James Henley Thornwell—and the advocates for change, their Henry Ward Beecher—this time the sides are unevenly matched. All the religious rhetoric, it seems, has been on the side of the gay-marriage opponents, who use Scripture as the foundation for their objections.
Well, as you’ll see in Phyllis Tickle and the Emerging Church: It’s Not If Sola Scriptura Ends But When and Todd Friel: A Matter of Time Before Rob Bell Says Publicly Practicing Homosexuality is Ok for Christians thanks to the Emergent rebellion against Sola Scriptura this is changing at warp speed.
December 8, 2008
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John Chisham writes over at The Downgrade:
It is simply shocking, but there have been warning signs. What is it that emergent is emerging from, and where are they emerging to? At the great emergence conference, Phyllis Tickle-your-ears (as quoted by the blogger Jonathan Brink, claims that they want to emerge from denominations, organized churches, and central authority. The shocking claim: That the reformation transfered authority from a flesh and blood pope to one made of paper (the Bible). …
December 8, 2008
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4, ESV)
The Great “Enlightened Ones” Telling Us Through Rob Bell That We’re All Divine
As Apprising Ministries said in Phyllis Tickle and the Emerging Church: It’s Not If Sola Scriptura Ends But When the evangelical community chose to embrace these Emergent wolves and the price is just now beginning to be counted as only the very tip of a huge iceberg of apostasy is starting to reveal itself. Know this: People who have departed from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (see—1 Timothy 4:1) have already embedded themselves in evangelical leadership positions and are waiting for the right time to come emerging.
And we being this article by pointing out that in his Nooma DVD “Breathe” Rob Bell, the Elvis of the Emerging Church, tells us:
we’ve been breathed into by the Creator of the universe, and this divine breath is in every single human being ever. Like it’s written in the Psalms…Psalms 8 says that, “God has crowned us with glory and honor.” Glory and honor in this passage isn’t referring to God, it’s referring to the people God has made. We’re these sacred, divine, dirt clods…
The above was actually developed from a sermon Bell did on “breathing” back in 2005, which made the rounds on the Internet Front of the Truth War last year, where he also tells us—saying he’s using the words of Nelson Mandela:
There is a greatness [in mankind]. The writer here [of Psalm 8] uses the word “glory and honor” that resides in every single human being. Fragile and yet filled with the potential for glory and honor. I love how Nelson Mandela puts it in one of his writings. He says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”
And then he concludes by saying, “Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. We were born to manifest the glory—put on display, to show—the glory of God that is within us.” He says, “you may be a dirt clod, but there is greatness and power and glory that resides in every singe human being.” (Week 330 05/29/05, audio sermon 12:27-13:28, transcription on file)
When AM first began documenting this departure from the faith by Rob Bell three years ago it was difficult to unpack what he was saying for the average Christian, being they are so taken with Bell’s exceptional communication skills. However, as the Emergent rebellion against Sola Scriptura has gained a stronger foothold within nearly comatose evangelicalism, who long ago traded their discernment skills for entertaining stories (see opening text), leaders in this postliberal cult like Rob Bell grow emboldened as they drift deeper into delusions taught by demons.
Case in point is his Sunday November 16, 2008 where Bell completely steps out of the closet of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and tells his Christian congregation:
It’s interesting how many traditions (pause) When you read the great enlightened ones; meditation, centering prayer, reflection—in every tradition you can find the mystics—and what’s always at the heart of the spiritual lives, the everyday lives of the great ones was always a period of time. Whether it’s prayers, chanting, meditation, reflection, study—whatever you call it—what is it essentially; it’s taking time to breathe. Because when you’ve been breathing, (slight pause) in a proper sort of way, you’re far better equipped to handle what life throws your way. (I will say it again, and again, and again, [5:41-6:23])
If you’re still tracking with (in English that’s following) me I return your attention now to the supposed ”Mandela” quote where Guru Bell tells us “you may be a dirt clod, but there is greatness and power and glory that resides in every single human being.” Why is that; because ”this divine breath is in every single human being ever.” And what has Bell taught us all along; that “breath” is spirit—it’s the heart of his whole shtick right down to “Nooma,” which is the phonetic spelling of the Greek word—pneuma, meaning “spirit.”
So, what Bell has just told you above is that God’s Spirit “is in every single human being ever.” We Biblically refute this particular myth in Understanding the New Spirituality: God Indwells Mankind; but you need to know that Mandela didn’t write the words Bell attributes to him. No, as previously pointed out in Rob Bell and New Age Guru Marianne Williamson those words were actually penned by New Age Priestess Marianne Williamson in her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles“:
‘our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us the most.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, famous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just some of us; it’s in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. And as we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. (190,191, emphasis mine)
Through Transcendental Meditation Demons Teach That Mankind Is Divine
But A Course in Miracles was channeled through Helen Schucman by a demon impersonating Jesus Christ. And here’s what’s being missed by most people; in Doctrines of Spiritism and Rob Bell, concerning our opening text Dr. Walter Martin, author of The Kingdom of the Cults, was quite right when he said that demons are very real and they do have teachings. And one of their classic doctrines in that in transcendental meditation the human being will find a higher consciousness. In different religions it’s called by different names e.g. transformation, enlightenment, but the end result is the belief that on some level mankind is divine.
So here now I will again remind you that the common connection between Christians like Bell and unregenerate unbelievers like Marianne Williamson lies in their belief that—only the mystics of each of these alleged “traditions” i.e. religions are the truly “great enlightened ones.” Along these same lines Christian Roshi Richard Foster, mentioned earlier, is thought by an increasing number of people to have rediscovered some of these enlightened ones in a Christian context. But in Evangelical Rip Van Winkles Employ Quaker Mystic Richard Foster For Bedtime Fables I pointed you to an excellent series on Mysticism done by Dr. Gary Gilley where he tells you that what Foster has actually done is to bring in:
classical mysticism [which] was virtually unknown in Evangelical circles until 1978 when Quaker minister Richard J. Foster published Celebration of Discipline, the Path to Spiritual Growth. Hailed by Christianity Today as one of the ten best books of the twentieth century and voted by the readers of that magazine as the third most influential book after the Bible, Celebration of Discipline has blown the doors off evangelicals’ understanding of spirituality. What Foster has done, in essense, is reintroduce to the church the so-called “masters of the interior life” as he likes to call the Medieval mystics. He declares that they alone have discovered the key to true spiritual life and slowly, over the last few years, convinced multitudes that he is right. (Online source)
And in any and all of these religions spoken of by Bell as we began this piece all of the mystics share a common pratice—transcendental medition. You may recall in Emerging Eastern-Style Meditation for Global Peace…and Worse… AM gave you an example which illustrates with crystalline clarity what I’ve been talking about here when we pointed out how in his 2004 book Speaking My Mind Tony Campolo wrote:
a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other…
I don’t know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystic experiences? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism? (149, 150, emphasis mine)
As I close this for now let me begin to connect up some of these dots for you to help you round out the bigger picture. Previously in Who Is Phyllis Tickle? we showed you that Tickle, who claims to be an Episcopal Christian, is “currently a Senior Fellow of Cathedral College of the Washington National Cathedral.” The Washington National Cathedral (WNC) website gives some background concerning its “interfaith” message, having thrown out the exclusivity of the Christian Gospel:
Washington National Cathedral [which] is a church for national purposes, an Episcopal cathedral welcoming to people of all faiths and none. A unique blend of the spiritual and the civic, the Cathedral is a voice for a generous-spirited Christianity and a catalyst for reconciliation and interfaith dialogue that promotes respect and understanding. We invite everyone to become partners with us and share in our commitment to create a hopeful and just world. (Online source)
So you can see that this WNC is allegedly “an Episcopal” Christian church, but unfortunately, it’s actually just an extension of the spiritual black-hole of postliberal theology aka “Progressive Christianity.“ Continuing with along with the supposition that it is the mystic masters of the interior life within various religions being allegedly enlightened with true knowledge of God the WNC website gives us the lowdown on their Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage where we can learn more about transcendental mediation-lite for Christians aka Contemplative/Centering Prayer (Online source).
One of the worship practices of WNC is Sacred Circles, which is “A Celebration of Women’s Spirituality” where e.g. this coming February one can:
Be empowered to live with love as the collective priority for action. Join in this diverse chorus of voices and reap a harvest of pragmatic spiritual learning.
* Karen Armstrong invites us to practice compassion of all living beings
* Sakena Yacoobi on empowering 350,000 women and girls under the Taliban
* Joanna Macy reconnects us to a loving relationship with the living planet
* Beth Nielsen Chapman sings us together into the “human family songbook”
* Elizabeth Lesser encourages us to trust our emotional and spiritual intelligences (Online source)
As you can see the historic orthodox Christian faith long ago left the building that is WNC. The video clip below is from the 2005 Sacred Circles event at WNC, which featured Marianne Williamson. And to give you a little peek at where we’re going with this coming Global Family of “God,” note once again the mantra all mystics eventually glean from the alleged enlightenment of their meditation, highlighted in the text below: The Spirit of God is already within all of mankind:
Thank you so much; it is such an honor to be here with all of you, and particularly to be on the pulpit at the National Cathedral. This Cathedral celebrates the common religious themes that bind Americans together. This is the place where our nation officially celebrates, what as a nation we have to celebrate, and mourns, what as a nation we have to mourn. A Cathedral such as this is a symbol of an inner space; the Gothic architecture points upward, we are reminded here, of a space more important than any building, and that is a space within our hearts.
Both Marjerie and Teirsa yesterday, speaking of the Jewish and the Christian traditions, spoke abut prayerfulness, spoke about the sacred feminine; and yet, there is more that goes on inside the temple of God as well. That temple space within us, and I believe that should be reflected in the temple space within the material world, is also a place—where according to both Judaism and Christianity; and other religions in their own way—it is recognized that God shall not be mocked. In A Course in Miraclesit points out that the line “God shall not be mocked” simply means, “He isn’t.” And in both the Jewish and Christian tradtions God is not pleased with hypocrites. (00:11-02:01)
Yikes; talk about speaking judgment upon oneself. O, how thankful should Williamson—and that counterfiet Christian Cathedral—be for God’s common grace because, for now, He chose to allow these hypocrites to mock Him that day.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not for me to say, nor is it for the spiritual and religious impulse of this great Cathedral to determine what your policial views should be about the Iraqui war—or anything else—however, for us to be true to the Spirit of God within us all, let us at least cry; let us at least mourn, let us at least grieve. (13:42-14:11)
I’d say we have a real spiritual sickness spreading within evangelicalism when Rob Bell, one of its most popular teachers of Christian youth, is preaching the exact same thing regarding God the Holy Spirit as an unbelieving pagan. And I must say that Marianne Williamson is right about one thing: Let us at least cry; let at least mourn, let us at least grieve…
See also:
THE CULT OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY ROTTEN ROOT OF THE POSTLIBERAL EMERGING CHURCH
WHERE DOES ROB BELL STAND REGARDING THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY?
IS ROB BELL EVANGELICAL?
ROB BELL RESOURCES FROM APPRISING MINISTRIES
PHYLLIS TICKLE: IT’S NOT IF SOLA SCRIPTURA ENDS BUT WHEN
TODD FRIEL: A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE ROB BELL SAYS PUBLICLY PRACTICING HOMOSEXUALITY IS OK FOR CHRISTIANS
JESUS WANTS TO SAVE CHRISTIANS FROM ROB BELL
Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Spencer Burke: More on hell and universalism
December 8, 2008
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4, ESV)
The Great “Enlightened Ones” Telling Us Through Rob Bell That We’re All Divine
As Apprising Ministries said in Phyllis Tickle and the Emerging Church: It’s Not If Sola Scriptura Ends But When the evangelical community chose to embrace these Emergent wolves and the price is just now beginning to be counted as only the very tip of a huge iceberg of apostasy is starting to reveal itself. Know this: People who have departed from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons (see—1 Timothy 4:1) have already embedded themselves in evangelical leadership positions and are waiting for the right time to come emerging.
And we being this article by pointing out that in his Nooma DVD “Breathe” Rob Bell, the Elvis of the Emerging Church, tells us:
we’ve been breathed into by the Creator of the universe, and this divine breath is in every single human being ever. Like it’s written in the Psalms…Psalms 8 says that, “God has crowned us with glory and honor.” Glory and honor in this passage isn’t referring to God, it’s referring to the people God has made. We’re these sacred, divine, dirt clods…
The above was actually developed from a sermon Bell did on “breathing” back in 2005, which made the rounds on the Internet Front of the Truth War last year, where he also tells us—saying he’s using the words of Nelson Mandela:
There is a greatness [in mankind]. The writer here [of Psalm 8] uses the word “glory and honor” that resides in every single human being. Fragile and yet filled with the potential for glory and honor. I love how Nelson Mandela puts it in one of his writings. He says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.”
And then he concludes by saying, “Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. We were born to manifest the glory—put on display, to show—the glory of God that is within us.” He says, “you may be a dirt clod, but there is greatness and power and glory that resides in every singe human being.” (Week 330 05/29/05, audio sermon 12:27-13:28, transcription on file)
When AM first began documenting this departure from the faith by Rob Bell three years ago it was difficult to unpack what he was saying for the average Christian, being they are so taken with Bell’s exceptional communication skills. However, as the Emergent rebellion against Sola Scriptura has gained a stronger foothold within nearly comatose evangelicalism, who long ago traded their discernment skills for entertaining stories (see opening text), leaders in this postliberal cult like Rob Bell grow emboldened as they drift deeper into delusions taught by demons.
Case in point is his Sunday November 16, 2008 where Bell completely steps out of the closet of Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and tells his Christian congregation:
It’s interesting how many traditions (pause) When you read the great enlightened ones; meditation, centering prayer, reflection—in every tradition you can find the mystics—and what’s always at the heart of the spiritual lives, the everyday lives of the great ones was always a period of time. Whether it’s prayers, chanting, meditation, reflection, study—whatever you call it—what is it essentially; it’s taking time to breathe. Because when you’ve been breathing, (slight pause) in a proper sort of way, you’re far better equipped to handle what life throws your way. (I will say it again, and again, and again, [5:41-6:23])
If you’re still tracking with (in English that’s following) me I return your attention now to the supposed ”Mandela” quote where Guru Bell tells us “you may be a dirt clod, but there is greatness and power and glory that resides in every single human being.” Why is that; because ”this divine breath is in every single human being ever.” And what has Bell taught us all along; that “breath” is spirit—it’s the heart of his whole shtick right down to “Nooma,” which is the phonetic spelling of the Greek word—pneuma, meaning “spirit.”
So, what Bell has just told you above is that God’s Spirit “is in every single human being ever.” We Biblically refute this particular myth in Understanding the New Spirituality: God Indwells Mankind; but you need to know that Mandela didn’t write the words Bell attributes to him. No, as previously pointed out in Rob Bell and New Age Guru Marianne Williamson those words were actually penned by New Age Priestess Marianne Williamson in her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles“:
‘our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond all measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us the most.’ We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, famous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just some of us; it’s in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. And as we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. (190,191, emphasis mine)
Through Transcendental Meditation Demons Teach That Mankind Is Divine
But A Course in Miracles was channeled through Helen Schucman by a demon impersonating Jesus Christ. And here’s what’s being missed by most people; in Doctrines of Spiritism and Rob Bell, concerning our opening text Dr. Walter Martin, author of The Kingdom of the Cults, was quite right when he said that demons are very real and they do have teachings. And one of their classic doctrines in that in transcendental meditation the human being will find a higher consciousness. In different religions it’s called by different names e.g. transformation, enlightenment, but the end result is the belief that on some level mankind is divine.
So here now I will again remind you that the common connection between Christians like Bell and unregenerate unbelievers like Marianne Williamson lies in their belief that—only the mystics of each of these alleged “traditions” i.e. religions are the truly “great enlightened ones.” Along these same lines Christian Roshi Richard Foster, mentioned earlier, is thought by an increasing number of people to have rediscovered some of these enlightened ones in a Christian context. But in Evangelical Rip Van Winkles Employ Quaker Mystic Richard Foster For Bedtime Fables I pointed you to an excellent series on Mysticism done by Dr. Gary Gilley where he tells you that what Foster has actually done is to bring in:
classical mysticism [which] was virtually unknown in Evangelical circles until 1978 when Quaker minister Richard J. Foster published Celebration of Discipline, the Path to Spiritual Growth. Hailed by Christianity Today as one of the ten best books of the twentieth century and voted by the readers of that magazine as the third most influential book after the Bible, Celebration of Discipline has blown the doors off evangelicals’ understanding of spirituality. What Foster has done, in essense, is reintroduce to the church the so-called “masters of the interior life” as he likes to call the Medieval mystics. He declares that they alone have discovered the key to true spiritual life and slowly, over the last few years, convinced multitudes that he is right. (Online source)
And in any and all of these religions spoken of by Bell as we began this piece all of the mystics share a common pratice—transcendental medition. You may recall in Emerging Eastern-Style Meditation for Global Peace…and Worse… AM gave you an example which illustrates with crystalline clarity what I’ve been talking about here when we pointed out how in his 2004 book Speaking My Mind Tony Campolo wrote:
a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other…
I don’t know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystic experiences? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism? (149, 150, emphasis mine)
As I close this for now let me begin to connect up some of these dots for you to help you round out the bigger picture. Previously in Who Is Phyllis Tickle? we showed you that Tickle, who claims to be an Episcopal Christian, is “currently a Senior Fellow of Cathedral College of the Washington National Cathedral.” The Washington National Cathedral (WNC) website gives some background concerning its “interfaith” message, having thrown out the exclusivity of the Christian Gospel:
Washington National Cathedral [which] is a church for national purposes, an Episcopal cathedral welcoming to people of all faiths and none. A unique blend of the spiritual and the civic, the Cathedral is a voice for a generous-spirited Christianity and a catalyst for reconciliation and interfaith dialogue that promotes respect and understanding. We invite everyone to become partners with us and share in our commitment to create a hopeful and just world. (Online source)
So you can see that this WNC is allegedly “an Episcopal” Christian church, but unfortunately, it’s actually just an extension of the spiritual black-hole of postliberal theology aka “Progressive Christianity.“ Continuing with along with the supposition that it is the mystic masters of the interior life within various religions being allegedly enlightened with true knowledge of God the WNC website gives us the lowdown on their Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage where we can learn more about transcendental mediation-lite for Christians aka Contemplative/Centering Prayer (Online source).
One of the worship practices of WNC is Sacred Circles, which is “A Celebration of Women’s Spirituality” where e.g. this coming February one can:
Be empowered to live with love as the collective priority for action. Join in this diverse chorus of voices and reap a harvest of pragmatic spiritual learning.
* Karen Armstrong invites us to practice compassion of all living beings
* Sakena Yacoobi on empowering 350,000 women and girls under the Taliban
* Joanna Macy reconnects us to a loving relationship with the living planet
* Beth Nielsen Chapman sings us together into the “human family songbook”
* Elizabeth Lesser encourages us to trust our emotional and spiritual intelligences (Online source)
As you can see the historic orthodox Christian faith long ago left the building that is WNC. The video clip below is from the 2005 Sacred Circles event at WNC, which featured Marianne Williamson. And to give you a little peek at where we’re going with this coming Global Family of “God,” note once again the mantra all mystics eventually glean from the alleged enlightenment of their meditation, highlighted in the text below: The Spirit of God is already within all of mankind:
Thank you so much; it is such an honor to be here with all of you, and particularly to be on the pulpit at the National Cathedral. This Cathedral celebrates the common religious themes that bind Americans together. This is the place where our nation officially celebrates, what as a nation we have to celebrate, and mourns, what as a nation we have to mourn. A Cathedral such as this is a symbol of an inner space; the Gothic architecture points upward, we are reminded here, of a space more important than any building, and that is a space within our hearts.
Both Marjerie and Teirsa yesterday, speaking of the Jewish and the Christian traditions, spoke abut prayerfulness, spoke about the sacred feminine; and yet, there is more that goes on inside the temple of God as well. That temple space within us, and I believe that should be reflected in the temple space within the material world, is also a place—where according to both Judaism and Christianity; and other religions in their own way—it is recognized that God shall not be mocked. In A Course in Miraclesit points out that the line “God shall not be mocked” simply means, “He isn’t.” And in both the Jewish and Christian tradtions God is not pleased with hypocrites. (00:11-02:01)
Yikes; talk about speaking judgment upon oneself. O, how thankful should Williamson—and that counterfiet Christian Cathedral—be for God’s common grace because, for now, He chose to allow these hypocrites to mock Him that day.
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not for me to say, nor is it for the spiritual and religious impulse of this great Cathedral to determine what your policial views should be about the Iraqui war—or anything else—however, for us to be true to the Spirit of God within us all, let us at least cry; let us at least mourn, let us at least grieve. (13:42-14:11)
I’d say we have a real spiritual sickness spreading within evangelicalism when Rob Bell, one of its most popular teachers of Christian youth, is preaching the exact same thing regarding God the Holy Spirit as an unbelieving pagan. And I must say that Marianne Williamson is right about one thing: Let us at least cry; let at least mourn, let us at least grieve…
See also:
THE CULT OF LIBERAL THEOLOGY ROTTEN ROOT OF THE POSTLIBERAL EMERGING CHURCH
WHERE DOES ROB BELL STAND REGARDING THE PRACTICE OF HOMOSEXUALITY?
IS ROB BELL EVANGELICAL?
ROB BELL RESOURCES FROM APPRISING MINISTRIES
PHYLLIS TICKLE: IT’S NOT IF SOLA SCRIPTURA ENDS BUT WHEN
TODD FRIEL: A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE ROB BELL SAYS PUBLICLY PRACTICING HOMOSEXUALITY IS OK FOR CHRISTIANS
JESUS WANTS TO SAVE CHRISTIANS FROM ROB BELL
Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Spencer Burke: More on hell and universalism
December 8, 2008
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
Many Psalms, written a thousand years before Christ’s birth, contain many references to Him that are wholly inapplicable to any other person in history. Even many references to David surpass him in scope, strength and duration – often pointing to a Son of David who would reign eternally. Let us look at one of these Psalms that our Lord cited in Matthew 22:41-46, which is Psalm 110. Our Lord tells us that this Psalm speaks of Him. In it we will see that it also very succinctly shows us the result of our Lord’s incarnation, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension in what has been called the ‘Church Age.’ It also shows us what will transpire when He returns at the end of this age.
(click here to read this post)
December 8, 2008
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December 8, 2008
Click the post title to be taken to the source.
“Saving faith and Christian discipleship have been reduced to the cliché “a personal relationship with Jesus.” It’s hard to imagine a more disastrous twisting of what it means to be a Christian. Many people (including Judas and Satan) had some kind of “personal relationship” with Jesus during His earthly ministry without submitting to Him as [...]
December 8, 2008
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http://www.crosstalkamerica.com/shows/2008/03/a_new_earth_awakening_to_your.php
Since January 1st, Oprah Winfrey has been offering lessons on the Course in Miracles by New Age author Marianne Williamson on her satellite radio program. Now she is in the midst of a 10 week webcast with New Age author Eckhart Tolle who wrote a book entitled: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.
What are these teachings? Ingrid reads quotes from Tolle that attempt to point people to a divinity within themselves, a concept that is wholly unbiblical. Such quotes expose Tolle for what he really is; a promoter of the New Spirituality, or what in the past has been commonly known as the New Age.
Ingrid then introduces Warren Smith who is an author of books on the New Spirituality. As a former New Ager, his books include: Deceived on Purpose: The New Age Implications of the Purpose Driven Church, The Light that was Dark: From the New Age to Amazing Grace, and Reinventing Jesus Christ–The New Gospel.
Who is Eckhart Tolle? Smith says that Tolle was born in Germany and educated in London. He came to public attention through his book, The Power of Now–A Guide to Enlightenment. Smith noted that this was a slow moving book until Oprah Winfrey announced that it was one of her favorites. That helped catapult the book to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
This Crosstalk looks at the increased presence of this New Spirituality movement. It’s an influence that is growing due to the ever increasing desperation of the world. This desperation is causing its proponents to speak more boldly about their false belief that humanity must understand the need for a shift in everyone’s consciousness so that we all recognize the Christ within ourselves.
- From CrosstalkAmerica.com
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com
Author: LaneCh
Keywords: oprah winfrey eckhart tolle new earth ingrid schlueter crosstalk america warren
Added: December 7, 2008
December 8, 2008
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The NY Times, a crucial part of the Obama campaign this election, isn’t doing well. In fact, they’re having to borrow against their own building just to have enough cash to operate. The arrogance of this bunch is astounding. They would rather go bankrupt than stop their yellow, leftist advocacy journalism that has resulted in so many lost subscriptions. It looks like they may soon be following in the footsteps of the Tribune Media company that runs the Chicago Tribune, among other things. They filed for bankruptcy today.
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December 8, 2008
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It has begun. I corresponded with Leith Anderson, President of NAE, over the weekend. He assures me that the remarks made by Cizik are not representative of the NAE’s position on gay civil unions or abortion. He did not comment on Cizik’s version of the “gospel” on the NPR program last week. Backpeddling on Cizik’s outrageous statements in support of civil unions, etc. has begun. My position is this: If Richard Cizik is so inarticulate that he actually managed to state the opposite of what he believes on NPR’s Fresh Air program last Tuesday, then he should be fired for professional incompetence. If he DID, in fact, mean what he said on NPR’s Fresh Air program last Tuesday, than he should be fired for treason against God’s Holy Word and the abandonment of evangelical theology. Either way, Mr. Cizik needs to go, or NAE needs to admit that they are also, as Cizik would put it, “shifting.” Read the Christian Post article here and feel free to comment.
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December 8, 2008
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December 8, 2008
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Last year when my local church moved to our new building, I eagerly took home several (thousands) Grace to You audio tapes that they were going to throw out. Fast forward to last month, with Grace to You’s change to free sermon downloads, I no longer need the mountains of cassette tapes in my room and garage. There are way too many tapes for me to organize and ship, so I would rather find someone local to the DFW, TX area with a pickup truck who wants these to pick them up free of charge. I hate to throw these away, and I know that not everyone is using mp3’s just yet, so if you or your church would like them please respond to this post or email me at reformedvoices@gmail.com.
p.s. Most of them are recorded and individually labeled (book or series) onto blank tapes while the rest are the official white GTY tapes.
December 8, 2008
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It’s time to take a hard look at what we’re allowing in our hearts, minds and homes as those who claim to follow Jesus. Christ tells us that those who claim to follow Christ, but disobey His commands, are liars and the truth is not in them. From childhood onwards, those calling themselves Christians are immersing their minds in the swill that Hollywood and the video game industry has to offer. Because churches are themselves dragging in the rotting trash of popular culture, Bible verses that clearly warn us are never taught. When’s the last time you heard an evangelical church proclaim that “friendship with the world is enmity with the Father“? (James 4:4) Or how about the verse, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him,” (I John 2:15-17)
On today’s Crosstalk Show, I’ll be talking with Art Ally of the Timothy Plan. He has taken a stand against violent video games, and he has a warning for parents this gift-giving season. I will also be addressing Christian fascination with Twilight, the blockbuster vampire movie that Focus on the Family so appreciates. Listen live at 2pm Central at our website or to the podcast later.
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December 8, 2008
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To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. (Isaiah 8:20, NASB)
Feelings…Nothing More Than Feelings…
The evangelical community has embraced these Emergent wolves and the price is only now beginning to be counted. Recently Apprising Ministries covered Emergent Church Theologian Tony Jones and his Unrepentant Homosexual Christians where Jones announced a couple of weeks ago that he now believes “that GLBTQ can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church.”
Do you think that was simply a coincidence? Well, as you read this short bit below the answer to the question I asked last week becomes clearer: Will Rob Bell Now Follow Tony Jones Out Of The Closet? The following is from Missio Dei, a website sympathetic to the Emerging Church rebellion against Sola Scriptura, and reveals that we are indeed only now seeing the very tip of an iceberg of apostasy:
Today was day one in The Great Emergence conference. To a large extent it was a deeper summary of each part of the book, including some of the keys dates, pivotal moments and events that helped create what we’re experiencing now. [Phyllis Tickle] made a significant point about how this turn is deeply affecting the concept of Sola Scriptura.
One of the things that caught my attention was Tickle’s comment that there are forty-four specific events that underline the move away from Sola Scriptura. I would love to see what those 44 are but that would be like icing on the cake. The final subject in the turn away will be how we address homosexuality in the church. She reiterated that it’s not if Sola Scriptura ends but when…
The central point of Tickle’s book is, “Where is our authority?” And much of the underlining question for those in this conference is the step and subsequent journey out of traditional church expressions and into new ones. (Online source)
In Tickle’s book The Great Emergence Doug Pagitt, General Editor, emersion: Emergent Village resources for communities of faith, tells us, “She serves as a ‘wise sage’ as well as a prophet calling communities of faith participation in what God is about in the world” (Editor’s Preface). And what does prophetess Phyllis tell us God is calling us to; a new form of authority in these “communitites of faith, which were once called churches:
Always without fail, the thing that gets lost early in the process of a reconfiguration is any clear and general understanding of who or what is to be used as the arbitrator of correct belief, action, and control… The Reformation,…was to answer the question… Sola Scriptura, scriptura sola… While we may laugh and say the divisiveness was Protestantism’s greatest gift to Christianity, ours is a somber joke. Demoninationalism is a disunity in the Body of Christ and, ironically, one that has a bloody history…
Now, some five hundred years later, even many of the most die-hard Protestants among us have grown suspicious of “Scripture and Scripture only.” We question what the words mean – literally? Metaphorically? Actually? We even question which words do and do not belong in Scripture and the purity of the editorial line of decent of those that do. We begin to refer to Luther’s principle of “sola scriptura, scriptura sola” as having been little more than the creation of a paper pope in place of a flesh and blood one. And even as we speak, the authority that has been in place for five hundred years withers away in our hands.
(45, 46, 47, bold mine)
I’m not a betting man, but if I were, based on the bold above I’d wager Scriptures having to do with homosexuality are among those which “do not belong in Scripture” for these Emergent dreamers.
See also:
PHYLLIS TICKLE: TICKLING ITCHING EMERGENT EARS
WHO IS PHYLLIS TICKLE?
WE FEEL HOMOSEXUALITY IS NOT A SIN
KEN SILVA: IT’S TIME TO RETHINK THE ISSUE OF HOMOSEXUALITY
December 8, 2008
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In this short post Apprising Ministries shows you why, having embraced these Emergent wolves, the price is only now beginning to be counted by the evangelical community.
December 8, 2008
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From the CNN Larry King Live preview page:
“Joel and Victoria Osteen! They’ll share a powerful message: how positive thought and other simple principles might help you make it through rough economic times– and everyday life!”
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December 8, 2008
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In this short post Apprising Ministries shows you why, having embraced these Emergent wolves, the price is only now beginning to be counted by the evangelical community.
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Older Entries
“All Arminians consider it reasonable to tell the unbeliever that ‘God has a wonderful plan for your life.’ But what could this mean if a person by uncaused (indeterminate) events eventually goes to hell? How can Arminians honestly tell unbelievers that God loves them if God is not willing to do what is needed to save them? Strictly speaking, does he ultimately leave it up to them (or worse, to a randomly acting free will) whether they will finally do enought to save themselves? What kind of love is so vague and undescriminating that it leaves the eternal salvation of its beloved in the hands of an autonomous mechanism in their heads, rather than acting to secure that salvation? How can God love us if he is incompetent?”
