Liberty not partnering with Hinn | Liberty University

It is a mixed bag we will have to see what happens in the long run:

"Statement: Liberty not partnering with Hinn"

April 3, 2014 : Liberty University News Service

http://www.liberty.edu/news/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=116272

They Are Moving Full Steam Ahead

 As I was cruising the internet, I went onto Gary DeMar's (a Reconstructionist) website and listened to an hour long boring video titled "Sheriffs joining to resist federal tyranny". Wow, I thought how handy is that! However, I found myself applauding these sheriffs taking a stand against our governments crazy moves lately, but  have they fallen into the bowl of the Reconstructionist soup?! As I scanned the other videos online county after county, state after state the sheriffs all spoke their script like a mantra "WE have sworn an oath to the constitution" and from there it seemed most scripted like these guys are trained ready to go! Many admitted they were involved in the tea party and were going to stand against the government. Yes, our government has gotten out of hand, and part of me salutes them, but I fear the Reconstructionist are walking them down a yellow brick road. They have waited so long for this window of opportunity.
 Michael Badnarik's "Rattling sheriffs cage about the Constitution"on youtube seems to be one of the movers and shakers to rally the Sherriffs into this movement. As I listened to him I was most disturbed because it seems like they want a whole new set of rules. Although, Badnarik was not clear, but I bet my bottom dollar he is right up there with the Gary Demar/Rushdooney agenda. Well we have been lambasted with such movies such as the "Agenda: Grinding America Down" and many other films about the U.S. history of our "Christian Nation" our constitution and taking a stand! "Agenda: Grinding America Down" is promoted by top Reconstructionist and COR signers such as Calvin Beisner, Phyllis Schlafly, Howard Phillips, and of course Brannon House (says he is not a reconstructionist anymore although, he bashes just about any research ministry ran by women and discernment group, gee wonder why! Seems to be getting popular to bash research groups lately another subject for later)! Just to name a few. Please see my articles on Coalition on Revival and the Reconstructionist (on the blog). If  at this point you are saying, well its about time, and good thing someone is taking a stand! I say yes this is true, to a certain point until they implement their form of government. Most would say "oh that will never happen"! Five years ago who would have believed gay marriage or uniform bathrooms for both sexes would happen. Yes, the country is so out of control many will leap towards what looks like a moral agenda and freedom again. The other day I was over hearing two men talk and saying "what is wrong with stoning they do it in other countries"! Who would they stone under a theocracy: Juvenile delinquents? adulterers? witches? pagans? sodomites? If you search the old testament in Leviticus it is clear. So, who are the pagans according to the Reconstructionist,well they believe the Rapture is a pagan belief, and if you teach that then you are considered a pagan!  That's right, all these prophecy teachers could not teach their "pagan" beliefs under the new laws. They do not want government rule they want the church  rule  "their church" by definition. I am sad to admit many good well intentioned pastors fall into the hands of the Domionist without knowing. Men come into the church offering much needed services, and influence the congregation to vote their political mandates and candidates for the Dominion agenda. Some of these men may be unaware of the candidates themselves they are just political and fall short themselves. We need to be careful that we are not being used to spread this virus of the Dominion mandate. If you are a sheriff, or know someone that is please get them the information on the Dominion/Reconstructionist, so that they do not fall prey to that. They can stand up for what is right just do it with honor and not for the purpose of over throwing our constitution for a new version. We need to uphold what we have and turn to prayer as our weapon of choice. We are not Jesus on the earth and we cannot change the world. Jesus Christ will do that when he returns.

 - Lantte Roessler
 

Also be sure to check out these articles:

"Whose Kingdom Is It Anyway?"

http://thenewageemergentchurchage.blogspot.com/2012/09/whose-kingdom-is-it-anyway.html

 

"The Domionist/Latter Rain Connection"

http://thenewageemergentchurchage.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-domionistlatter-rain-connection.html

What Exactly Is Contemplative Prayer?

 Primarily contemplative prayer is not prayer in the conventional since. It is a repetition of words or phrases of a religious nature and these repetitions puts an individual in an altered state of consciousness. The idea is you repeat something until your mind or they call spirit lets go and this super power takes over. They call this the “Presence; however, this presence is a demonic presence. In other words this   “presence” is not from the Holy Spirit.

 Next they may take you into the “silence” they may Quote “be still and know that I am God”. They want all flow of thought to stop; In fact, an empty mind that can be manipulated and then filled with a “presence”. This has long been a pagan practice and still is. As a researcher of the new age movement I have gone into many new age expos where this was common practice. The New Ager may call this their “higher Conscious. Now they have brought this practice into the church.  

 New bibles are hitting the market to support this practice, and so the apostasy is getting harder to fight as people want a feel good theology. In fact, Sir John Eccles a famous Neurophysiologist Nobel Prize winner based his research on the brain which he describes: “A machine that a ghost can operate.’ To operate a machine ‘clearly shows a distinction between the “brain’ and the human soul and spirit (the mind), or what Eccles calls the “ghost.”

 The Lord tells us in Philippians

 Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

 It is important to note that the Lord in Matt 6:9 told us to pray to the Lord in heaven not go within and pray 

 Col 4.2 "Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving."

 1 Peter 1:13 "wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Gird up the loins of your mind? 

 New International Version (©2011)
"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming."

New Living Translation (©2007)
"So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world."

English Standard Version (©2001)
"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;"

 Even King David’s prayers were conversations he was called a man after God’s own heart.

 Finally In  Psalm 46:10 “ be still and know that I am God;” One must read the verses before and after. The word is "still". The word in Hebrew is to cease or leave it alone. NOT EMPTY THE MIND.

  This practice of empting the mind is also a practice of Yoga and now we have Holy Yoga that has entered the church. They have abused the scriptures especially the ones they think can validate their new age concepts such as be still and know that I am God ;however if we are bereans we can be sure the Lord will show us the truth.

Ray Yungen's Article On Contemplative Prayer & The Assemblies Of God

Great article look for Ray's new book that will be coming out soon. Ray is a featured speaker and writer is an expert on the New Age Movement for over twenty five years. Has written three books and many articles for christian newsletters.You can reach him through Lighthouse trails. Here's the article:

Before we begin our report addressing the public response issued by the Assemblies of God Superintendent Dr. George O. Wood and Dr. Jodi Detrick, chairperson for the Network for Women in Ministry regarding the invitation of Ruth Haley Barton to the 2013 General Council Conference, we would like to clarify one thing: Lighthouse Trails carries no personal animosity toward Ruth Haley Barton. Our issue has to do with a spiritual practice that Ms. Barton is deeply involved with and that, as we will show, has roots in Eastern mysticism, which does not line up with the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Word of God.  To begin, we want to clarify that the names we mention below are not people who are loosely and inadvertently associated with this mystical spirituality but rather are practitioners and dedicated advocates of it.
Dr. Detrick suggested in her response to our April 15th article that what we presented in that article was a “misunderstanding” in that there is a clear and distinctive difference between Eastern mysticism and Christian contemplative prayer. She stated:

Sadly, some are saying that seeking the Lord in such a way equates with the practices of meditation and contemplation in Eastern religions. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and is an unfortunate and inaccurate identification.(source)

What we hope to show in this report is that our conclusions are not the result of a misunderstanding by any means, and we will show that there is a direct correlation between the contemplative prayer movement and Eastern meditation.
While we bear no ill feelings toward Dr. Detrick or Dr. Wood, we are compelled to show that the premise of the following statement by Dr. Detrick can be disproven through solid evidence:

We want to assure those with concerns that there is not even the smallest part of us that embraces any form of eastern religion or the New Age movement’s teachings and practices.(source)

Now while it may be Dr. Detrick’s intent not to embrace any form of Eastern mysticism, we will demonstrate that contemplative prayer and Eastern meditation are essentially the same, and different in name only. At the onset of providing this evidence, please bear in mind that while we only give a relatively few examples (for the reader’s time’s sake) in this report, we could provide many many more similar examples as they are ample.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER AND EASTERN MEDITATION
I. The very person who coined the term New Age, occultist Alice Bailey, saw a direct link between Christian mysticism (i.e., contemplative prayer) and Eastern mysticism. Bailey stated:

 It is, of course, easy to find many passages which link the way of the Christian Knower [contemplative] with that of his brother in the East. They bear witness to the same efficacy of method.1

II. Tilden Edwards, the founder of Shalem Institute of whom Ms. Barton received her training in contemplative spirituality, also identified the connection between contemplative prayer and Eastern meditation. Edwards said:

 This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.2

III. In his book, Spiritual Friend, Tilden Edwards suggests those who practice contemplative prayer and have begun experiencing “spiritual unfolding” and other “unusual experiences,” should turn to a book titled Psychosynthesis in order to understand the “dynamics” at “certain stages.”3 The man who wrote Psychosynthesis, Roberto Assagioli, was a direct disciple of Alice Bailey! Edwards might as well have recommended people turn to Alice Bailey herself. This is not guilt by association. Edwards knows that there is a connection between contemplative  prayer and occultic (i.e., Eastern) mysticism.
IV. Thomas Keating, a major leader in the contemplative prayer movement, also acknowledges that Barton’s contemplative prayer is related to Eastern religious meditation. In a book Keating wrote the foreword to, Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality, Keating states:

 In order to guide persons having this experience, Christian spiritual directors may need to dialogue with Eastern teachers in order to get a fuller understanding.4

Keating understands that within the DNA of Christian contemplative prayer is Eastern-  mysticism. Philip St. Romain, the author of the Kundalini book says: “This book is an important contribution to the renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition.”5 Contemplative mystics say these things because they know them to be true.  Also in the foreword of that book, Keating states that the Kundalini energy “is also at work today in numerous persons who are devoting themselves to contemplative prayer.” Kundalini energy is what is known as the serpent power of New Age mysticism.  This statement by Keating should cause any Christian who is even thinking of dabbling in contemplative prayer to run the other way. We encourage you to look up Kundalini on the Internet.
V. Ruth Haley Barton identifies with Keating. In her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, she admits that Thomas Keating helped her to understand the contemplative idea of “the true self” (man’s divinity):

 The concept of the true self and the false self is a consistent theme not only in Scripture but also in the writings of the church fathers and mothers. Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen (particularly Nouwen’s The Way of the Heart) and Father Thomas Keating are contemporary authors who have shaped my understanding of this aspect of the spiritual life.6

Merton, Nouwen, and Keating believe that man can attain to his “true self” (perfect self) through mystical practices. This is actually the crux of the Spiritual Formation  (i.e., contemplative prayer) movement, that man realizes his divinity through mystical experiences. Ruth Haley Barton’s Transforming Center has a mission of helping people find their “higher” true self through contemplative practices.
VI. Henri Nouwen, the late Catholic priest, who is touted highly by Barton as well as by virtually every contemplative proponent, knew very well that Eastern mysticism was at the underlying roots of contemplative prayer. In a book written by universalist Catholic priest, Thomas Ryan, Nouwen (in the foreword) wrote:

 [T]he author shows a wonderful openness to the gifts of Buddhism, Hinduism and Moslem religion. He discovers their great wisdom for the spiritual life of the Christian . . . Ryan [the author] went to India to learn from spiritual traditions other than his own. He brought home many treasures and offers them to us in the book.7

VII. Regarding a book written by Philip Goldberg titled, American Veda, the book shows how “Hindu mysticism has profoundly affected the world view of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape.”8  Goldberg saw fit to devote an entire chapter to contemplative prayer stating:

Perhaps the biggest shakeup by the eastern winds has been . . . the reawakening  -  of Western mysticism . . . the long sequestered vaults of contemplative Christianity and Jewish mysticism [Kabbalah] begin to be unlocked.9

If contemplative prayer has nothing to do with eastern mysticism, then why does Goldberg devote an entire chapter to it? He saw it as an adjunct to Hinduism. One final point to consider is this: Virtually every major New Age bookstore has a sizable section on Christian meditation (i.e., contemplative prayer). Call one up in your own town or city and ask if this is so. We believe you’ll see it is.

WHERE DID CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE COME FROM?
I. Carl McColman, in his book, The Big Book of Mysticism, The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality, states:

It is important to note that, throughout the history of Christianity, Christian mystics have displayed an unusual openness to the wisdom of non-Christian philosophy and religion. . . . Ultimately, however, no absolutely clear distinction can be drawn between Christian and non-Christian mysticism…  It is precisely in this dimension of mystery that people of different faiths and different wisdom traditions can relate to each other.”10  

 II. Brian C. Taylor said:

 These contemplatives also recognize their soul mates in other traditions, as did Thomas Merton in his pilgrimage to Buddhist Asia. This is because they have passed beyond the confines of religion as a closed system to an open awareness of God-in-life.”11   

III. The contemplative prayer movement that is rising rapidly within evangelical circles largely through the early work of figures like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Ruth Haley Barton, and now many of their protégés, stems primarily from the Catholic church. Michael Leach, past president of the Catholic Book Publishers Association, explained this:

The irony is that the best of the New Age ideas—those flowing from a spiritual understanding of God, humankind and the universe—have been jewels in the Catholic treasury since the very beginning, but for too long have been neglected, forgotten or buried.12

IV. How did Eastern meditation enter the Catholic church in the first place? Did the early church fathers get it from the apostles, Jesus’ teachings, or Scripture? No, they did not. On the contrary, the Desert Fathers (monks such as St. Anthony who became hermits)  experimented:

It was a time of great experimentation with spiritual methods. Many different kinds of disciplines were tried … many different methods of prayer were created and explored by them.13

And in this experimentation, they “discovered” a prayer tool. According to one meditation scholar:

The meditation practices and rules for living of these earliest Christian monks bear strong similarity to those of their Hindu and Buddhist renunciate brethren several kingdoms to the East . . . the meditative techniques they adopted for finding their God suggest either a borrowing from the East or a spontaneous rediscovery.14

And thus:

The fourth-century Desert Fathers understood that a simple device was needed to keep the “monkey mind” from wandering. Thus, the mantra method of prayer, which had been introduced centuries before by Buddhists and Hindus, came to be a stable form of Christian prayer, not only for the Desert Fathers and Mothers but for Christians down through the ages.15

One of Christian contemplative’s own, Marcus Borg, reveals the role the mantra plays in contemplative prayer:

Contemplation typically involves the silent repetition of a mantra—-a single word, a short phrase or a series of short phrases. . . . Ultimately the purpose of contemplative prayer is to descend to the deepest level of the self, of the heart, where we open out into the sea of being that is God.16

 V. Christian contemplative teachers will often say that in contemplative prayer one is not using Buddhist or Hindu mantras, so therefore it cannot be called Eastern meditation. While it is true that different words or syllables are repeated in the contemplative mantra than those used by Eastern mystics, the method (mantra or focus) of entering an altered state of consciousness is the same. Furthermore, as we will demonstrate later, the fruit of contemplative prayer has been shown time and time again to be the same – that of a pantheistic (or panentheistic) mindset of divinity in all things. In short, one would have to conclude – after witnessing the teachings of countless contemplative prayer mystics – that contemplative prayer and Eastern mysticism alike connect the practitioner with spirit guides that will erode – and in time destroy – their belief in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Once the practitioner establishes the belief, as contemplative prayer will bring him to, that he has divinity within, there is no longer the need for the Cross. Yes, and countless contemplative mystics have already come to this conclusion.

PROOF THAT CONTEMPLATIVE IS OCCULTIC
I. Perhaps the strongest evidence to prove that the realms entered during contemplative prayer are not God’s realm (i.e., the Holy Spirit) but rather demonic occultic realms is observing the “fruit” that contemplative prayer bears in a practitioner’s life. Probably the most profound example is that of the late Catholic monk and mystic, Thomas Merton, who said once that he was “impregnated with Sufism”17 (Islamic mysticism).
Merton’s mystical experiences ultimately made him a kindred spirit and co-mystic with those in other Eastern religions. At an interfaith conference in Thailand, he stated:

I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian [mystical] traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own Christian traditions.18

Please understand that contemplative prayer alone was the catalyst for such theological views. One of Merton’s biographers made this very clear when he explained:

If one wants to understand Merton’s going to the East it is important to understand that it was his rootedness in his own faith tradition [Catholicism] that gave him the spiritual equipment [contemplative prayer] he needed to grasp the way of wisdom that is proper to the East.19

II. A second remarkable example of the “fruit” of contemplative prayer can be found in an author (often quoted by evangelical contemplative advocates, including Barton) named Sue Monk Kidd. Monk Kidd was once a conservative Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher. One day, she was handed a book by Thomas Merton. It changed her life dramatically (that’s an understatement). Monk Kidd explained:

I found a host of Christian thinkers and saints talking about a way of “being with” God—a way of needing Him and experiencing Him in the depths of one’s being—that opened the door to oneness with Him. They called it contemplation. I was amazed to realize that I had known practically nothing about this ancient and powerful tradition of Christian meditation…. I was ready.20

She wrote that quote in a book titled God’s Joyful Surprise: a spiritual biography. Just to illustrate how subtle this spirituality can be, listen to some of the endorsements she received for that book by traditional Christian organizations:

  “[A] joy to read from beginning to end.” Virtue Magazine  (back cover); A Virtue Magazine best book of the year
 “[T]he message and challenge of the book is profound.” Today’s Christian Woman (back cover)
 “[Kidd] suggests some disciplines for cultivating an interior ‘quietness’ and a richer, personal experience of God’s love.” Moody Monthly (back cover)

We don’t believe that the people who wrote these endorsements really understood what they were endorsing.
III. But back to our point here to show the “fruit” of contemplative prayer. Where is Sue Monk Kidd today, spiritually speaking? Listen to these quotes written by her a number of years after God’s Joyful Surprise to see where it took her:

We also need Goddess consciousness to reveal earth’s holiness… Matter becomes inspirited; it breathes divinity. Earth becomes alive and sacred… Goddess offers us the holiness of everything. . . . As I grounded myself in feminine spiritual experience, that fall, I was initiated into my body in a deeper way. I came to know myself as an embodiment of Goddess.21
Mystical awakening in all the great religious traditions, including Christianity, involves arriving at an experience of unity or nondualism. In Zen it’s known as samadhi . . . The day of my awakening was the day I saw, and knew I saw, all things in God, and God in all things. 22

Today, after going down the contemplative path, Sue Monk Kidd worships the goddess within and not the God of the Bible. That is what practicing contemplative prayer got her. And it is what it got Thomas Merton. He came to believe, as well, that God was inside every human being (panentheism):

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, … now I realize what we all are …. If only they [people] could all see themselves as they really are …I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other … At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusions, a point of pure truth … This little point …is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everybody. 23

And Henri Nouwen:

The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.24

What we are saying here is vital. God does not work in the contemplative silence—but rather demons do. Moreover, what makes it so dangerous is that they are very clever. One well-known New Ager revealed what his guiding (familiar) spirit candidly disclosed:

 We work with all who are vibrationally sympathetic; simple and sincere people who feel our spirit moving, but for the most part, only within the context of their current belief system.25

The term “vibrationally sympathetic” here means those who suspend thought through word repetition or breath focus—inward mental silence. That is what attracts them. That is their opening. That is why Tilden Edwards called this the “bridge to far Eastern spirituality,” and this is what is being injected into the evangelical church!

WHERE IS THIS ALL LEADING?
In Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, she makes a revealing comment:

Deity means that divinity will no longer be only heavenly … It will also be right here, right now, in me, in the earth, in this river, in excrement and roses alike.26

Monk Kidd has come to believe that God is in everything, literally. She rejects the belief that God is holy and man is a sinner needing a Savior and redemption.
We do not believe that Dr. George Wood or Dr. Detrick would deny the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, nor do we believe they would say that they agree with the words of Thomas Merton or Sue Monk Kidd. But by their willingness to embrace the teachings of Ruth Haley Barton (or any contemplative, for that matter) they are directly exposing themselves and potentially the two-and-a-half million in their denomination to the beliefs of Merton and Monk Kidd.
Alice Bailey predicted that there would be a global awakening where mankind would finally realize the divinity within. She called it the “regeneration of the churches.” Her rationale for this was obvious:

The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.27 (emphasis added)

Satan is very good at deceiving people, often in very subtle ways. The Bible talks about a day that is coming when Christians will fall into great deception. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1). These seducing spirits are just that – seducing.
In Acts 16, there is a good example of this. The spirit in the woman endorsed Paul and Silas, but that spirit was not for them but rather against them. It was a demon. In Matthew 24, Jesus talks about great deception coming upon the earth prior to His return. False christs, false prophets, great signs and wonders, and many coming in His name. Could it be that this mystical spirituality, which leads man to say he is divine, is part of this great falling away? We believe it is.
Nothing is being twisted here. The aforementioned evidence is based on facts, not speculations. The leaders of the Assemblies of God (and every other denomination, actually) must decide if they really want to take their denomination in this direction. If they decide to go forward, they must explain away the evidence we have given.
In her books, Ruth Haley Barton quotes a number of people who could legitimately be called New Agers. Bear in mind that she quotes these figures in the context of the practices they share. In her book Sacred Rhythms, she quotes Basil Pennington from his book Finding Grace at the Center. This means she must have read that book, which is a primer in contemplative mysticism. Listen to what Pennington says:

We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and “capture” it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible.
 Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM [Transcendental Meditation] and similar practices, especially where they have been initiated by reliable teachers and have a solidly developed Christian faith to find inner form and meaning to the resulting experiences.28 

Basil Pennington is one of the prominent figures of the contemplative prayer movement.
We stated in this report that contemplative prayer stands on the same ground as occultism. With that in mind, it is worth mentioning that both Thomas Keating (who, according to Barton, shaped her thinking) and Basil Pennington enthusiastically endorsed a book titled Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey in Christian Hermeticism. Fortune-telling Tarot cards are one of the major tools for divination in occultism. And Hermeticism is a set of ancient esoteric beliefs based on the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, the one who coined the term “as above, so below” (the maxim for the New Age movement). Keating said the book was “the greatest contribution to date toward the rediscovery and renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition,”29 and Pennington said, “It is without doubt the most extraordinary work I have ever read.”30 We’re talking about outright occultism here – there’s no room for doubt.
We are not asking anyone reading this to take our word for it. Look these authors up and see for yourself what they are saying. Compare this report we have written with our earlier article showing how Ruth Haley Barton is directly promoting the practice of contemplative prayer. We think, after true prayer and deliberation, you will come to the same conclusion we have—that contemplative prayer has no place in the biblical Christian faith.
Dr. Detrick claims that “[c]ountless AG people, and credentialed leaders, have testified to drawing much closer to the Lord as a result of Ruth’s books and teachings.” If it is true that “countless AG people” have been influenced by Ruth Haley Barton, then this report should motivate those in the Assemblies of God to get to the bottom of this controversy that is unfolding here.

Notes:
1. Alice Bailey, From Intellect to Intuition (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Co., 1987, 13th printing), p. 193.
2.Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (New York, NY: Paulist Press,1980), pp. 18.
3. Ibid., pp. 162-163.
4. Philip St. Romain, Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1995), foreword written by Thomas Keating.
5. Ibid, p. 7.
6. Ruth Haley Barton, Invitation to Solitude and Silence (Downer Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2004),  p. 160.
7. Thomas Ryan, Disciplines for Christian Living (Disciplines for Christian Living ), pp. 2-3, from Henri Nouwen in the foreword.
8. The publisher’s description of American Veda on both the publisher’s website and Amazon.com.
9. Philip Goldberg, American Veda (New York, NY: Random House, 2010), p. 310.
10. Carl McColman, The Big Book of Mysticism (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2010), pp. 63-64.
11. Brian C. Taylor, Setting the Gospel Free (New York, NY: Continuum Publishing , 1996), p. 62.
12. Michael Leach (America Magazine, May 2, 1992), p. 385.
13. Ken Kaisch, Finding God (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1994), p. 191.
14. Daniel Goleman, The Meditative Mind (Los Angeles, CA: Tarcher/Putnam Inc., 1988),  p. 53.
15. Frank X. Tuoti, The Dawn of the Mystical Age (New York, NY: Crossroad, 1997), p. 137.
16. Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity (San Francisco, CA: 2004), p. 198.
17. Rob Baker and Gray Henry, Editors, Merton and Sufism  (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1999), p. 69.
18. William Shannon, Silent Lamp (New York, NY: Crossroad, 1992), p. 276.
19. Ibid, p. 281.
20.  Sue Monk Kidd, God’s Joyful Surprise (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1997),  pg. 187.
21. Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (San Francisco, CA: HarperCollins, 1996), pp. 162-163, 161.
22. Ibid, p. 161.
23. Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1989 edition), pp. 157-158.
24. Henri Nouwen, Here and Now (New York, NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1997 edition), p. 22.
25. Ken Carey, The Starseed Transmissions (A Uni-Sun Book, 1985 4^th printing), p. 33.
26. Sue Monk Kidd, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, op. cit.,  p. 160.
27. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy  (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing, 1976), p. 510.
28. M. Basil Pennington, Thomas Keating, Thomas E. Clarke, Finding Grace at the Center  (Petersham, MA: St. Bede’s Pub., 1978), pp. 5-6.
29. Endorsement on jacket of book
30. Ibid.

Note: Ray Yungen has been researching the New Age and contemplative spirituality for over 20 years. He is the author of A Time of Departing and For Many Shall Come in My Name.

(Also appears http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=11607)

Review of "The Harbinger"

(this review has been posted with permission by its author)

Jonathan Cahn’s The Harbinger is marketed as “Christian fiction”, but proceeds to present an immediate conflict in that while the format may adhere to a literary style proposed to be “fiction”, in the end the story is nonetheless supposed to be taken as not just being true, but a literal fulfillment of biblical prophecy. The essence of the book is to connect not just the events associated with 9/11 but the subsequent economic milestones in its wake with the fulfillment of specific prophecy in Scripture, asserting that the United States is in the process of losing its divine status as God’s most favored nation, and additionally in danger of completely losing the supernatural hedge of God’s protection provided since the nation’s inception as the only other nation in history with which entered into a covenant relationship with God. What might be normally delivered as a sermon or short work of non-fiction is therefore in actuality thinly disguised with this notion of being fiction, but in the end the reader is supposed take the information presented in the plot as being a real and true revelation of God’s prophetic Word for this present time. It does not take more than a minimum of logic to know that Cahn cannot have it both ways.

Especially when one takes into consideration all that the author has presented through various appearances and writings subsequent to the publishing of the book, it would appear that Cahn himself desires a hedge of protection against critics by claiming on the one hand the book is “only fiction”, while on the other somehow maintaining that the contents are to be seriously received as a new and literal revelation of the truth. This presents quite a conundrum when the absolute propositional truth of God’s Word is presented within a claimed framework of fiction. But what removes the dilemma of whether or not to treat this book as protected, subjective literary material as opposed to the claims of a modern-day prophet providing a new revelation from God’s Word is the résumé of its author, who cannot be characterized as a fiction writer who just happens to also be a Christian.

Jonathan Cahn is the President of Hope of the Word Ministries and ascribed the title of “Messianic Rabbi of the Jerusalem Center/Beth Israel” in Wayne, New Jersey. According to the Beth Israel website, “His teachings are widely known for revealing the deep mysteries of God’s Word”. From the very outset we must  negotiate past the conflict that The Harbinger is not authored by a noted fiction writer but a self-described “Rabbi” and head of a Christian ministry. This becomes even more complicated in that the content of the book, said to be rendered as “fiction”, is completely based on the interpretation of God’s inerrant Word and, in the end, encouraged to be accepted as anything but a mere work of fantasy. Once the absolute truth of God’s Word is introduced into the story’s plot, much less so prolifically referred to over and over again as the author’s proof of its validity in real life, it cannot be accepted as a mere script and there is simply no hiding behind the façade of “it’s only fiction”. Does Cahn really think he can assert a new, literal revelation from God’s Word and somehow avoid examination of his handling of Scripture simply by publishing it as a claimed work of fiction? This is but one of the many paradoxes presented to a biblically discerning reader.

From the outset, I would be less than honest if I did not first and foremost confess that, as a work of fiction in and of itself, this is the single worst work of its genre I have ever read. Its complete failure to live up to any minimum standard of literary quality is one of the most condemning reasons, ironically enough, why no one can realistically confirm this as actually belonging to the category of fiction. There is no dramatic imagery, involved descriptions of people or places, nor the qualities we would expect to find from a “wordsmith”. Perhaps it was not planned this way, but it certainly feels like something which was hastily thrown into a story format only for the reason of dressing it up as fiction, but never actually conceived and born from the outset from someone’s imagination; that all seems like a complete afterthought. But this dearth of literary quality in and of itself is also an indictment against the book as actually being fiction, because the only reason someone would get excited about and recommend this work to others is because of their belief that this is a new revelation of God’s prophetic Word for America alone.

The substance of the story is really a very Spartan, elementary conversation between three people, what amounts to a very thinly disguised sermon offered in a conversational format. This is betrayed by the fact that there is such repetition in the conversations going over and over and over again what are really the basic teaching points that the author is trying to get across to the reader rather than a writer’s well-thought out fictional plot. True works of fiction do not fixate on what are actually preaching points which must be repeated in subtle variations from the pulpit in order for the greater biblical truth behind them to sink in to the hearer. The main character, Nouriel the journalist, records and transcribes the conversations which took place over several years between himself and a supernatural messenger only described as “the prophet”, and those conversations are retold to us in yet a second parallel interview taking place between the journalist and his potential book publisher, Ana. The prophet preaches to Nouriel, Nouriel preaches it all back word-for-word to Ana, and in the process we the reader get the same points preached to us in undue quantity so that the true message of the author cannot be missed. Activity outside of these parallel conversations is uncharacteristically sparse and mostly barren for a true work of fiction because this is actually a sermon in a conversational format.

In fact, what finally removes any license the author thinks he may have had by publishing this as fiction is when, at the end of the book, he eliminates all doubt about his true intentions. The journalist finally reveals that it is his duty, like the biblical prophets of old, to write and publish the prophetic word revealed to him by “the prophet”, and the publisher in turn suggests this should be accomplished by putting it into the very format that The Harbinger is, in reality, presented. In other words, the book begins as a fictional conversation about the literal fulfillment of biblical prophecy concerning the United States of America, but its ending provides the truth about the author’s true intentions by suggesting that after hearing that biblical truth, it be published as a work of fiction, exactly what Cahn does in real life with The Harbinger. In this clumsy effort to tie the end back to the beginning through this failed attempt at art imitating life, Cahn actually reveals his true intentions, confirming for us that he is not actually presenting something he believes to be fiction at all. The reader is supposed to experience an, “Aha! It IS true after all!” epiphany that removes the veneer of “fiction” thinly disguising the truth as Cahn sees it.

Doctrinally, the first and most pressing issue is that one has to accept that in spite of the fact that Scripture expressly states there is only one nation with which God has a covenant relationship—Israel, He actually has two, the second being America. It is critical that the reader’s lack of biblical discernment buy into this notion in order for all the other Old Testament teachings which apply to Israel and Israel alone to be misapplied to the USA throughout the book. This is revealed in the purported consecration of a covenant arrangement for America through George Washington in his inaugural address in the character of Solomon’s so doing on Israel’s behalf at the consecration of the Temple, and an interesting attempt to tie America’s economic troubles as not just relating to the events of 9/11, but the Old Testament concept of “shemitah”—the Torah’s mandated release of debt every seven years. This, and other “dots” connected between ancient Israel and America, both presented as having a covenant relationship with God, is based on lifting out of Scripture some verses in Isaiah 9, but the repeated one specifically used over and over again is Isaiah 9:10.

In the original manuscript—the original scroll of Isaiah, there were no verse or chapter markings. We always have to keep our eye on the exegetical ball and flee the temptation to take a verse out of its original context. Isaiah 9:8-21 is a message delivered to the ancient northern kingdom of Israel that is not intended as a mere warning that they should return to God before it’s too late, but the decreed judgment of God upon them for what is about to happen to them precisely because it IS too late. Cahn extracts a couple of verses to build a case for nine harbingers which he purports to not only have literally appeared in the days of ancient Israel, but literally re-played for present-day America in the wake of 9/11, all of which combine to offer a message that it is not too late to be saved from the inevitable judgment of God that is coming upon us. What in Scripture in its original context for the northern kingdom of spiritually fallen Israel is an explanation of God’s impending judgment for their sin, is here re-packaged by Cahn to have a literal, present-day fulfillment as God’s warning to America that it’s not too late to avoid that judgment.

Please do not send me email asking why I am “against” a message of repentance and returning to God; Lord knows that is a continuing message which needs to be proclaimed by every Believer in Christ at every level, and who needs that more than America? The issue that I am really talking about here is the handling of Scripture. America has never had, does not currently have, nor will ever have a covenant relationship with God parallel to that of Israel. In my opinion this is a variant of “Replacement Theology” which outright replaces every instance of “Israel” in Scripture with “the Church”. In this case, it is some kind of attempt to yoke America as being equal with Israel when that is simply not the scriptural case; it does, however, stroke the ego of the American public who purchases the book. It is outright error to take what only and literally applies to Israel alone in Scripture and assign it equal status with any other nation in history, much less the United States. Furthermore, misapplying Isaiah’s message of coming judgment against the apostate and spiritually fallen northern kingdom of ancient Israel to modern-day America as a reconfigured message of warning and hope discredits not just the intended message of the book, but the authority and original meaning of God’s Word as it is literally intended in Isaiah. Even with the best of intentions, are we allowed to misrepresent God’s Word in order to get people to return in obedience to that very Word?

However, I also became confused from time to time by the author’s apparent ability to interchange “Israel” with “Judah”, and even sometimes “Jerusalem”, when the text he constantly returns to has nothing directly to do with anyone but the northern kingdom of Israel, both a people and geographic entity completely separate from either Judah or Jerusalem. Again, for those who think I’m too nit-picky, I refer you back to the author’s credentials as a “Messianic Rabbi” and someone who is supposed to bring to his teaching the deeper things of the Jewish culture and history, much less simply know the basics of Scripture. It’s not just surprising that terms which any first year seminary student knows cannot be used interchangeably so often cross over throughout the book, but is probably another indicator that the author wants to convey something much more than a mere fictional story and therefore stretches a bit too far here and there.

But for me personally, what was even more perplexing than seeing the truth of God’s Word laid out within a framework of fiction was to see its interpretation and meaning most often explained through “the commentaries”. Whenever “the prophet” in the book is explaining how God’s Word is to be literally understood through the symbolism of the nine harbingers and their relationship to something connected with 9/11, “the prophet” most often provides the answer not from other Scripture, but from human-authored commentaries. A very few number of Scriptures are repeated throughout the book many times, but a far greater number of commentaries are used to explain their many nuances in relation to Cahn’s explanations of the nine harbingers. There are an unbelievable number of commentaries referenced and someone could probably do their doctoral thesis just on cross-checking them to see whether or not those commentaries were selected because their authors seemed legitimately credible, or whether what they said merely fit best with Cahn’s intended overall message. Nonetheless, it concerns me that what the reader is led to believe is that God’s Word cannot be understood apart from a commentary.

Granted, I may be reading too much into this, but I cannot help seeing a parallel between someone calling themselves a “Messianic Rabbi” and their use of commentaries in almost the exact, same manner as an Orthodox rabbi who interprets and teaches Scripture based more on what the “sages” have written than the Word of God and failing to show how Scripture is always the best interpreter of itself. In fact, I would argue that many of the interpretations Cahn offers from Isaiah 9:10-11 and inflated into a whole book, require the embellishment of those commentaries in order to re-cast the original text into his own mold. Frankly, I would characterize this work in its entirety as a classic example of “eisegesis”, where one reads into the text what one wants to impose upon it rather than drawing out the plain meaning from its surrounding text and parallel references in other corroborating Scripture.

But this brings me to what I believe is the most subtle yet most dangerous aspect of this book, in its encouragement of the reader to discover the truth about God’s Word by searching “the commentaries”. It’s not only that we would have to accept that whatever commentary Cahn chose to quote must therefore be accepted as sanctified opinion as a whole on anything and everything in addition to Isaiah 9, but in what I believe is his abandonment as a pastor and teacher of God’s Word the obligation to first and foremost exegete Scripture with Scripture. I realize that part of this may be a holdover from his coming from an academic environment where students are taught to assemble papers based on researching and organizing quotes from noted authors in a given field, but is this the hermeneutic he employed in order for his teachings to be “widely known for revealing the deep mysteries of God’s Word” as his ministry’s website asserts? Is this what a sound expositor of Scripture instills in his disciples? Or does he re-cast it as “Christian fiction” in an attempt to obtain an exemption from normal accountability for handling God’s Word?

If I am to be fair, not everything in the book is unpolished in its presentation nor poorly presented scripturally. Toward the end there is one of the most eloquent and well-presented presentations of the Gospel I have ever read, yet this also seems to betray the truth that what is presented is not actually and purely fictional. The overriding principle when it comes to biblical discernment, however, is that just because someone is right about one point of doctrine does not automatically make them right about everything else. No one should ever mistake that I am questioning whether Cahn is a born-again believer, because I do not think anyone could present the Gospel in this manner without absolutely being so; the issue is his handling of God’s Word in general and his assertions that he has found a direct, foreordained prophetic link to America and 9/11 in Scripture specifically. If someone is wrong about the doctrine of salvation, they will never be right in their teachings on God’s prophetic Word; but if someone is right about the doctrine of salvation, it does not automatically mean they are right in what they espouse concerning the End Times.

There is a problem whenever truth is laid, side by side, next to error. I realize there are those who think we can just pick out the “good” things, that we don’t have to eat the whole enchilada, and can somehow independently inhale the tortilla without any residue from the tainted ingredients, but that is not the biblical case when it comes to such things. It might be more understandable, even more palatable, if the author was simply a well-intentioned Christian who made their living writing, but we cannot escape the resume of who authored this, and therefore how they are handling Scripture. We especially cannot ignore it given that in the end we are not supposed to actually accept it as a fictional message at all.

Additionally, in several places one has to accept that physical objects such as the type of trees mentioned by Isaiah actually translate to literal equivalents on the American continent which are exclusive to the Middle East, and accept this being a coincidence overridden by divine intervention. While I would not go to the extreme of saying its fabricated, we still have to recognize that a precise match is at times a healthy stretch. There is also a lot of commentary of the general workings of economics and the specific cause and effect on America since 9/11, which in spite of the author’s self-assuredness are not universally agreed upon.

Especially difficult for me was the notion that George Washington, on behalf of the country, initiated a covenant relationship with God which guaranteed His “hedge of protection” which was only recently withdrawn with the advent of 9/11. We could cite many historical instances where, if such protection existed, it for some reason temporarily failed such as Pearl Harbor or the War of 1812, and wonder aloud that if such a covenant actually existed, why is it not specifically annotated in any of the country’s founding documents. Yes, there are plenty of references to God, but America “called” and founded as an equal with Israel in a binding covenant relationship with God? I have no doubt that President Washington openly practiced and lived the Christian faith, but I challenge the notion that he was operating in the character of Solomon on behalf of a people called by God in the same, literal manner as the apple of His eye, Israel. A Bible expositor is obligated to make the distinction between applying a principle learned from Scripture to any given nation from its strict and literal biblical connection to Israel alone. Many things in Scripture may be applied spiritually, but never breech the gap to become re-applied literally.

At the end of the discussion, I am most concerned for rank-and-file members of the Body of Christ who will make this work appear successful according to the author’s true intention, and though presented in the guise of “Christian fiction”, accept it as doctrinal truth on an equal footing with Scripture. We already have too many Believers whose only knowledge of eschatology comes from works claiming to be fiction such the Left Behind series, or only understand spiritual warfare through Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness, or an alarmingly bulging list of Christian fiction authors of the widest variety whose themes are increasingly replacing direct contact with Scripture. I am not referring to works which are actually allegorical such as John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, but those which lay Scripture side by side with fictional plots designed to actually produce a truth either absent from Scripture outright on its own, or cannot be proved by normal, exegetical examination of the plain text of God’s Word. Why do we tolerate authors being allowed to re-invent God’s Word simply because they claim it’s only “fiction”?

For those who still aren’t sure that what is presented as “fiction” is actually intended as a new revelation of God’s Word, just spend a few minutes at the website dedicated to The Harbinger at http://www.theharbinger-jonathancahn.com/. Of particular note is the 8 DVD set titled, The Harbinger Mysteries – The Full Revelation. Are these statements made on that web page advertising a work of fiction or actually claiming a true, new revelation from God?

•    “The Full Revelation – With More, with Details, with Mysteries, & Revelations…

•   “Listen as Jonathan Cahn shares in depth the full revelations, the full details, and the full significance that lie behind and with the mysteries and prophetic message of The Harbinger”.

•   “Hear and learn more and get deeper into the mystery”. 

These, along with other quotes and interviews posted on that page, leave absolutely no doubt of the author’s true intentions.

In this same vein, it is worth noting that a true work of fiction is never accompanied by a subsequent work such as Jonathan Cahn’s The Harbinger Companion with Study Guide which promises that it will allow readers to “decode the mysteries and respond to the call that can change America’s future – and yours”. There simply can be no doubt of the author’s intent for his book to convey a new revelation from God’s Word. In fact, I would argue that Cahn is not just building an empire around the book, but these follow-up works are the mother of all red flags where spiritual deception is concerned, when the books become the center of attention in place of Scripture itself.

Finally, in what is an obvious and inexcusable violation of Scripture, the purported Christian publisher of The Harbinger, Charisma House, has filed a civil lawsuit against the Christian ministry The Berean Call over their reviews of the book. Even Believers with the most rudimentary understanding of God’s Word know that this in itself proves something contra-biblical is at work, and we will now be provided a glimpse into Jonathan Cahn’s true Christian character in whether he has the courage to scripturally rebuke his Christian publisher, or in the same character of publishing his revelation under the guise of fiction, will allow this un-Christian witness to the world unfold under the fiction of his being a separate, third party to it all.

This book not only fails to pass the test of God’s Word, but even more so by the behavior of its publisher and the tacit approval of their behavior by its author.

In Him,

Servant@WalkWithTheWord.org

A Brief Definition of Reconstructionism

 In John 18:36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” The Reconstructionist is guilty of allegorizing scripture; this is when you take a literal meaning or a simple meaning of scripture and transform it into a fable. They also do this with the book of Revelation. The history of this teaching is best described in a book titled “Road to Holocaust” by Hal Lindsey:

“By the time Augustine (A.D.354-425), the famous Bishop of Hippo, Origen’s system of interpretation dominated the Christian scene. (sic) But it was Augustine who systematized the allegorically based teachings into a cohesive theology that would dominate the Church for over a thousand year's.(sic) Even the Reformers continued to hold most of his views, including his allegorically based, unrefined eschatology. The Roman Catholic Church, using Origen’s system of interpretation and Augustine’s theology, soon applied and instituted the teaching that they were the inheritors of Israel’s promised to Israel and therefore must take ultimate authority over the political powers of this world. At one point during the Middle ages, the Church held authority over virtually all the Middle Ages, the Church held authority over virtually all the rulers of Europe. History witnesses that this was one of the most oppressive periods of Christianity, both toward Christians and those outside the Church.” pp 9-10

THE GREENING OF THE CHURCH

                        In August of 1990, a two week seminar was held called, "The Greening of the Church." This

was an opportunity for Christian denominations of all faiths, protestant and catholic, to join in

on exploring the urgent needs facing the environment and the church. The stated purpose of

course was to explore long standing Christian theology and the "environmental"

responsibilities the church needs to continue living on Planet earth. This conference held

workshops discussing the following:

“The fundamental theological and spiritual issues facing an ecologically sensitive

church;

“The ways on which historic Christian theology may have fostered or condoned

attitudes and values directly contributing to our destruction of the natural world;

(One is left wondering if Christian doctrine is not changed to the new improved version" will

Christians of the old time Gospel be persecuted for ruining their planet?)

"The 'new story' of Gaia or the living earth, its functional cosmology and implications

for Christian theology;

"The emerging creation-centered spirituality and theology...

"The development of interfaith action to foster environmental responsibility...

(Another ecumenical tie.)

"Tools and study resources for individual and church community..."

The second week of this conference was listed as "creating strategies for the greening of the

church." This seminar was sponsored and held at the New Age learning center of Chinook

Core Faculty at Whidbey Island Washington. Matthew Fox, lecturer and author of "The

Coming of the Cosmic Christ" and Fr. Thomas Berry were some of the featured speakers.

Chinook embraces the more hard core New Age types such as David Spangler, and Fritz Hull,

a board member of Chinook.

Still on the surface, most Christians could say this is extreme and most Christians would see

through New Age doctrine. Is it possible that a new theology is being laid at this level and has

already been leaked into the church, with Christian terminology and theology attached? In

Matthew Fox's book "The Coming of the Cosmic Christ", page 228 states "Deep ecumenism is

the movement that will unleash the wisdom of all world religions... The unleashing of wisdom

holds the last hope for the survival of the planet we call home..." On page 7 it offers, "The

coming together of the historical Jesus and the Cosmic Christ will make Christianity whole at

last."

Already there are well funded public interest groups that are publishing their

environmentalists theology, which they termed "ecotheology." This is a fine blend of

Christianity and mysticism. One group is "The North American Coalition on Religion and

Ecology" located in Washington D.C. In their Spring 1995 ECO Letter, they advertise "Ethics

in an Age of Technology," by Ian Barbour's, a set of lectures titled the Gilford Lectures. In the

past these same lectures were delivered by Carl Jung and Reinhold Neibuhr. These were

delivered in Scotland 1990-1991 with the purpose to relate the worlds religion, philosophy and

science. Any Christian who knows Carl Jung's philosophy, which is pure paganism, should

question any conclusion that the environmentalists are making and the scientific data collected

from such sources should be suspect.

NACRE/CORE are collaborating these efforts across the country which they call PEW

GLOBAL Stewardship. This is a pilot project for congregations. One of the other projects is

called Earth Stewardship program for ministers and educators. NACRE has a list of books and

resources you can choose from.

1. Christianity and Ecology

2. Judaism and Ecology

3. Islam and Ecology

4. Hinduism and Ecology

5. Buddhism and Ecology

The environmental concerns and the theology behind it is entering the church under the guise

of "Earth Stewardship".

In the Coalition on Revival Dominionist magazine titled "Crosswinds", Vol. I, No.2, 1992, E.

Calvin Beisner, a member of COR's steering committee as of 1992, writes an eight page

article titled “Environmentalism or Stewardship?"

In it he states,

“Environmentalists want to reduce human population and preserve nature untouched

by human hands. It ignores the effects of God's curse on the earth and man's call, as

God's steward to reverse those effects..."

"So it is with man's stewardship of the earth God calls us to restore it from the curse,

to multiply its resources…"

We are to transform the earth into a garden not an inner city slum. I am predicting

great material wealth for the vast majority of mankind everywhere..."

If we redistribute land to everyone, redistribute wealth, take dominion over the planet, return

the world to the garden of Eden, then why believe in the Rapture, or Christ's return? In fact

this would also mean Satan has his lost power. In fact we are now Co-Creators with Christ!

From what I can tell from the article, it implies we are to then redistribute property out of

government control into private sectors and individuals to hold private property rights, so they

can enforce their Mosaic laws.

Beisner insists the term environment comes from the French word meaning to turn around and

is not limited to nature, but to business', houses, cars, health care, etc.

That is fine for the French! The question is it Biblical? The Reconstructionists and

Dominionists can disagree with the Environmentalist Humanist agenda, but the New Agers are

not Humanist. They are very spiritual and have a dominion mandate as well. The humanist

agenda argument is a straw dog that has been set up by the Dominionist to create the

appearance of separation between themselves and the new age movement as a whole.

Dennis Peacock, a Coalition on Revival member, has clearly stated this in his July 1988, Vol.l,

No.1 newsletter called EQUITY,

"Coalition building has become an integral tool of Public Policy influence to an

increasingly threatened Christian minority in America. Better known as a tactic of 'So-

Called' leftists, it might seem strange that evangelical Christians would resort to a

practice that seems so associated with those who apparently oppose biblical

principles.

“'Coalition' is most often understood as the ability of a number of diverse interest

groups, often with very little common interest, to unite around a specific objective,

even if under other circumstances they might be at enmity with one another..."

Amos 3:3 "can two walk together except they agree. "

Peacock continues:

“An inherent danger of coalition-building is to see it as an end in itself. It is an

important but limited tool which allows Christians and God-fearers of very diverse

traditions to fellowship in the trenches of this spiritual war. The irony of having gone

through real warfare together is that you may have more in common with these fellow

warriors than with members of your own tradition."

Alvin Toller's book "Power Shift, has a whole section on Eco-theocracy:

“Across the world, meanwhile a green tide is gathering momentum too. This movement for

ecological sanity is essential - a positive example of ordinary people around the world leading

their leaders... This group reduces the history of our relations with nature to biblical

allegory...Now we must transit to a new 'paradise' of perfect sustainability and harmony. If not

we face armageddon."

Rudolf Bahro, an influential Green theorist now living in West Germany, explicitly holds that

what is needed is "theology, not ecology - the birth of a new Golden Age which cultivates...the

nobility of man." He reaches back into the 13th century to quote Meister Eckhart, the founder

of German mysticism.

The fact remains what is needed is a return to the simple Gospel and Love and respect for

Jesus Christ. We are waiting for the Lord to transform us. He will again make all things new.

We will never accomplish what only he can and will do. He does not need our help. He

created this world without us. He will transform it and make it again the same way without the

co-creators doctrinal manuals.

- Lanette Irwin 
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This article was taken from Discerning Ministries Newsletter Volume 6, Number 4 July/August 1995
http://www.discernment-ministries.org/Newsletters/NL1995JulAug.pdf