Roger Oakland Shares Gospel at High Security Prison in the Philippines
February 2nd, 2012
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Author: By Roger Oakland
Our day spent at the New Bilibid Prison, maximum security compound located in Muntinlupo City was an experience of a lifetime. We arrived at 9 am and took over an hour to go through registration, identification and screening. As this was my third time at this prison I was somewhat familiar with what to expect. However, it was obvious that since our last visit security had been upgraded.
Pastor Richard brought several friends who were involved with him in prison ministry. One of the brothers was an ex-convict himself who had been released December of 2010. We went immediately to the Calvary Chapel facility where we were to speak but discovered there had been a miscommunication regarding the time we were to begin. Instead of 10 am it was 1 pm. We had about three hours in the prison before our seminar.
The brother who was the ex-convict (Jo Jo by name) disappeared for a moment and came back saying he had contacted a warden that he knew and that we had been invited to speak within a cell block to prisoners who never attended church services and had little knowledge of the gospel. It was obvious by this time that this meeting had to be God ordained. Our group headed to the cell block, chairs were set up for about 30 prisoners and a podium was placed directly in front of them.
I have spoken in many places under many circumstances around the world but this situation was unique. Heavy clad steel doors that were unlocked during the day, lined both walls. Once we had started, prisoners popped out of the cells to see what was going on and joined the group. Click here to continue reading and for ongoing updates.
Posted in Defending the Faith, Missions
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Tags: Missions, philippines, prisons, Roger Oakland, the gospel
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An Afternoon with a Spiritual Formation Professor at a North American Bible School
Excerpt from the novel Castles in the Sand by Carolyn A. Greene
A small twirling crystal, hanging from a thread on a curtain rod, caught the sunlight making tiny spots of brilliant colors dance playfully on the walls and ceiling that were painted a deep indigo color.
Tessa’s eyes continued to look around the room then rested on a large oil painting that hung on the wall across from where she sat. The artist had depicted an extraordinarily beautiful scene of a medieval castle rising out of the mist. The castle almost appeared to be floating in mid-air. Tessa loved it. She looked around the room and smiled. She also loved the way the varying colors in the room were so tastefully coordinated.
Adding to the ambiance, gauze curtains filtered the mid-afternoon sunlight, providing the room with a gentle warmth that soothed the soul. Additional lengths of gauze had been strategically hung, dividing the room into different listening spaces, as Ms. Jasmine called them.
A coffee table held some books and a small, star-shaped vanilla candle. Its sweet aroma wafted gently through the air, adding to the aura of peace and tranquility.
Ms. Jasmine was dressed casually today, although her platinum blonde hair was pulled back into a glamorous roll held together with a jewel-studded clasp that caught the sunlight whenever she turned her head. Tessa couldn’t help but notice how much she reminded her of her own mother.
Before beginning with her usual prayer, Ms. Jasmine had lit the candle and waited quietly for the moment of silence to pass. Tessa always enjoyed these moments of deep breathing, necessary to refocus her thoughts from the outward to the inward.
“We thank you for this mysterious universal gift of prayer that is offered to all who will receive it,” Ms. Jasmine prayed softly. “As we sit in stillness and silence, we wait to be infused in the Light.”
For some reason, curiosity got the better of Tessa this afternoon. She slowly raised her head, opened her eyes, and watched in fascination as her mentor, or rather her spiritual director, prayed. She noted with astonishment that Ms. Jasmine didn’t bow her head and fold her hands to pray the way Gramps always did. Instead, her head was up and her hands were at her side, thumbs and pointer fingers pressed together in a circle. Now as she opened her eyes, Tessa looked away, embarrassed, and pretended not to notice.
“Well. What comes to mind this week, Tessa? What has the Spirit been saying to you?” Ms. Jasmine inquired, her gold bracelets jangling as she rubbed her temples.
“Is it OK if I just read out of my journal this week, Ms. Jazz?” Tessa replied as she pulled a spiral-bound notebook from her backpack.
“That would be delightful,” said Ms. Jasmine, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable on the oversized, red-and-gold-tasseled cushion. She leaned against the wall and picked up her cup of steaming hot green tea. “Today is a double session, remember? We have all the time in the world. Begin!”
Tessa opened her journal.
“Oh my stars! Did you draw that horse?” gasped Ms. Jasmine, pointing at Tessa’s notebook.
“Uh . . . oh, yeah. I like to doodle sometimes—it’s nothing much.”
“I had a horse once. Well, she wasn’t mine. But she was mine to look after and ride. A beautiful mare . . . she had a foal. A pretty little thing . . .” Ms. Jasmine spoke with a faraway look in her eye as she proceeded to tell Tessa the story of how on one dark night, when the vet had pulled into the driveway, she ran out from the barn crying until she couldn’t breathe. She ran barefoot into the foothills shaking her fist at God for taking away the only thing she’d ever loved. She had begged God to save the animal, but He hadn’t listened. The mare died, and the tiny foal wasn’t expected to survive.
“Early the next morning, I packed a small bag, found the keys, then started the old farm pickup and took off,” Ms. Jasmine added in a sad mournful way. “I drove away from that farmhouse and . . . well, no use reliving the past now.”
“That must have been a sad time for you. My horse actually belongs to—” Tessa began.
“Wait . . .” Ms. Jasmine cupped her hand around her ear and looked at the window. “Do you hear that? Do you hear bees?”
“Ms. Jazz?” Tessa turned her head toward the window. She couldn’t see or hear any bees. The room was perfectly quiet.
“Never mind. It’s hot in here. Isn’t it hot in here? Would you be a dear and open the window?”
Tessa rose from her cushion and walked to the window. When she tried to open it, it was stuck. She pushed a little harder, and up it went. Instantly a freezing blast of winter air blew the curtains wildly around her face.
“Ah yes, that feels good. Thank you, dear. Now come back and sit down.” Ms. Jasmine took a deep breath and leaned against the wall again. Tessa could see the steam rising from her teacup. “Enough horse stories. One can’t live in the past. Attachments are merely sources of pain and distraction. St. Teresa knew that. Even the Buddha knew that. Now tell me, where were we?”
Tessa gave Ms. Jasmine a long look, picked up her journal, and sat down. She was quite used to Ms. Jasmine’s unpredictable mood swings by now and had even come to expect them. They no longer alarmed her. She always mellowed soon afterward.
How could anyone not be mellow in this room? Ms. Jasmine (the most recent faculty addition at Flat Plains Bible College, who had come to the school highly recommended by the Spiritual Transformation Institute–the most sought-after training center for spiritual formation leaders in North America) had transformed everything. The only thing unchanged in the old prayer room in the Thompson Building was the stained glass window. It was no longer just any old prayer room. It was the Sacred Space. And it was in this room that the more promising students from the spiritual formation classes received personal one-on-one counseling from Ms. Jasmine.
Under her direction, Tessa had been journaling for the past several months. Every morning after a twenty-minute listening exercise, Tessa had faithfully pulled out her pen and notebook and recorded the words she heard Jesus speak to her. It was always thrilling to reread the messages her pen had written, but lately she had become increasingly exhausted by these exercises. Well, exercise is supposed to make you tired, she reasoned. Now she read aloud the words Jesus had spoken to her earlier that morning:
“January 9—‘When I brought you to Flat Plains you were angry. You thought I wouldn’t talk to you, and even if I did, you didn’t want to hear me. Now, since we met on the beach and in the labyrinth, you are finally listening to my voice. How pleased I am that you are not afraid to listen anymore.’”
Tessa stopped for a moment and looked up.
“Can I close the window now?” she asked, shivering.
Ms. Jasmine’s eyes were closed, her face an expression of serenity. She made a graceful shooing motion with a ring-bejeweled hand. “Fine.”
Tessa closed the window and placed her jacket around her shoulders before sitting down. “This is what I wrote today . . . just some of my thoughts,” Tessa continued.
“Please go on,” said Ms. Jasmine, eyes still shut.
“It was a frosty morning last fall when I first walked the outdoor labyrinth, and my idea of what prayer meant was totally changed. Before walking the labyrinth, I always thought prayer was saying lofty words to God who was somewhere way up there. But what I have experienced as I’ve been practicing awareness exercises and the listening prayer is that it’s only in the silence that I can hear His voice. That first day in the labyrinth is where it started. As we took turns walking, I felt moved, as Jesus met me in the center where He was waiting for me. He spoke to me in that still small voice and told me I was gifted. I wasn’t sure at first if it was His voice, but since then I’ve had an awareness of His presence. It is as if God is in everything around me and in me too.”
Tessa looked up for a moment, then continued. “I’ve also been having the same dream, that I am riding my horse across the drawbridge into the courtyard of a beautiful ancient castle. I can hear someone calling my name, so I explore all the rooms to see who is calling me. Each room is more beautiful, more wonderful than the last, with tables full of food. I have a taste from each table, and go to the next, but I always wake up before I can go up the stairs to the last room, which is locked. I wake up imagining what it would be like in that room, and I know it is the voice of God calling me to the secret room. I try to get back to my dream, but can only imagine . . .”
Imagine . . . Ms. Jasmine’s mind drifted, as Tessa continued to read. She thought about the presentation she had given to the faculty members at the Flat Plains leadership prayer retreat last year. They had seemed mesmerized as she explained the spiritual benefits of praying in a labyrinth. The Spiritual Transformation Institute determined long ago that this was usually the most successful way to introduce Christians to the concept of assimilating breathing exercises and the prayer of the heart into their prayer life.
“Just imagine,” Ms. Jasmine had said to the leaders, “getting your students to pray more in one afternoon than they would normally pray in an entire week. Once they try it, you won’t be able to stop them from spending time in prayer. The average prayer walk through the labyrinth takes about forty-five minutes, and as you walk, you use both the left and right sides of your brain. This helps to center your thoughts and focus on Jesus. It not only opens you up to God, but also helps give you a new perspective on the depths of the meaning of prayer. Most people say they have a profound experience during a prayer walk and are never the same again. Is your prayer life dry? Do you want to revitalize the spirituality of your students? I encourage you to walk in the labyrinth this afternoon, to see for yourselves if what I am saying is true.”
They had all been eager to try it. All, that is, except for two narrow-minded, uptight faculty members. Later that afternoon while the other staff members were walking and meditating along the circular path of the labyrinth, those two resisters had met in the prayer chapel and quietly closed the door. They were in there at least two hours, she remembered. Then, later that evening, they’d asked to meet privately with the college president. Evidently, the meeting hadn’t gone the way they’d hoped. Both had left the room an hour later, glassy-eyed and shoulders drooping. They were a picture of despair, Ms. Jasmine recalled. In September, she’d noted with interest that one of them was no longer at the school.
The other staff members, however, had been much more open-minded to the labyrinth. In fact, their experience had left them mightily impressed. So much so, Ms. Jasmine had received a call from the president of Flat Plains who asked her to assess the possibility of constructing a permanent labyrinth on their campus. Of course, she’d been thrilled to custom-design the large outdoor labyrinth for the enthusiastic staff, especially when they agreed to put her name on the dedication plaque. There had been just one problem. The only available green space had been the soccer field, but since Flat Plains had decided to place more emphasis on their new environmental awareness program and less on their sports program, the vote was eighteen to two in favor of the new plan to build an outdoor labyrinth on it that fall. Indoor soccer would have to suffice.
Much to her delight, Ms. Jasmine had also been invited to accept the recently vacated position of Campus Counselor, in addition to providing assistance with the new spiritual formation class they’d been planning for some time. And now here she was, in this beautiful, newly redesigned room. It was hers, and she loved it.
“Ms. Jazz?”
“Yes, Tessa,” she answered quietly, as she shook her head from side to side and opened her eyes.
Tessa shivered. She always had an uneasy feeling when Ms. Jasmine stared right through her like that, but she knew it was an honor to have a spiritual professor of her reputation spend extra personal time with her. Ms. Jasmine had mentioned once in passing that she could charge eighty dollars an hour for private lessons if she was working at a spiritual direction service.
“I haven’t told anyone,” Tessa continued, “and I’m not sure how to describe this . . . but the last time we did the labyrinth with our class—the winter solstice walk—I felt as if I was in a shower of white light, just like you said might happen to some people. At first I thought it was the snowflakes reflecting the light from our candles, but the light slowly entered my head and flowed down to my feet. I felt as if I was . . . bathed in light. Even though it was below zero and freezing, I felt warm, and time seemed to stand still. I forgot about everyone and everything else.”
Ms. Jasmine smiled and nodded. She was pleased to see this girl far more open to enlightenment than the others seemed to be.
“Do you think that was the divine illumination you’ve been talking about . . . where Jesus meets us in the center of the labyrinth? Is this the place St. Teresa of Avila wrote about? Is this the center of the castle of our souls?”
Ms. Jasmine took a long breath and leaned forward. “Tessa,” she began slowly, “you have learned a great deal since you came here. Now here is what I think. I believe these experiences you have been having are definitely divine. I know it is from the Master Jesus, because hearing about your experience fills me with peace and tranquility. It also reminds me of something else.”
She took another sip of tea and set the cup on the floor, deep in thought. “Some who have been enlightened like this . . .” She paused, then spoke more slowly with each word, “have called this . . . the middle eye of the labyrinth. God has His eye on you, my child. You are the apple of His eye.”
Tessa felt her eyes well up with tears.
“If only more of our students could be so remarkably connected with their Christ consciousness. I am so pleased. Before we end our session together today, we must have a prayer!”
Tessa was good with that. How much she had changed since she first arrived at this school! How much she had matured! God had chosen her and was even speaking to her personally through her daily spiritual disciplines. The spark she thought had died long ago was now being rekindled. Nothing was quite as exhilarating as that. She decided she would open herself completely to all He had to give her.
Ms. Jasmine came and stood behind her. Tessa waited.
“Aren’t you . . . going to pray?”
“I already am,” Ms. Jasmine whispered, “silently. You may close your eyes and concentrate on the light within you. Praying is a skill we must all learn to actualize. Visualize Christ here in this room.”
“Oh. OK.”
Tessa thought she could sense a presence moving around her . . . Ms. Jasmine’s hands, she presumed, as she could hear the tinkling of her jewelry . . . and then a strange thing happened. She felt a prickly sensation begin in her head and move downward through to the end of her fingertips. Her hands felt warm, and she felt something well up inside her, like a lump forming in the throat, only it came from deeper within.
“Wha . . . what is that?” she asked, startled, not sure whether to be fearful or to welcome this new sensation. Suddenly, she had the same doubt she’d experienced the first time she did a lectio divina reading in the courtyard of the school, when she’d thought someone had called her name, but she had been alone. It was also like the first time she’d walked the labyrinth last September and thought she’d felt a presence when she reached its center and heard a voice saying, “Don’t be afraid.” Tessa hadn’t been sure whether she could trust her feelings, or the voices.
“It’s the divine energy of the Spirit’s healing touch you are sensing, my dear.” Ms. Jasmine always had a comforting answer.
“Ohhh! That’s amazing! Ms. Jazz, I was wondering . . . do you ever sense the feeling, like a presence, or that your soul is, like, weightless? Maybe that’s a dumb question.”
Ms. Jasmine was quiet for a minute, as if listening for the answer before she gave it. “Ah yes, this is what St. Teresa meant when she wrote in the Fifth Mansion of The Interior Castle that “as soon as the soul, by prayer, becomes entirely dead to the world, out it flies like a lovely little white butterfly!”
It seemed Ms. Jasmine had memorized the whole book.
“She also spoke of a presence we may sometimes feel is near us, even if we cannot see anyone. ‘Is it Christ, or His glorious Mother, or a saint? . . . The soul will recognize which saint has been sent by God to be its helper or companion.’ In the same way, you will learn to discern the presence, but you must trust yourself, Tessa. Know your true self. Soak in the peace and tranquility. It is in the center of your soul where He speaks to you.”
“Ms. Jazz, didn’t St. Teresa pray to Mary? My roommate always says this stuff is so . . . Catholic and can be traced back to Hinduism. I’m not sure what I should say to her.”
She didn’t see the startled look on Ms. Jasmine’s face behind her. “A common misconception,” she said nonchalantly. “Your friend will soon learn the truth. We are addressing that this semester in our spiritual formation class.”
“She’s . . . not going to be taking it. I’ve seen her schedule.”
“It’s required.”
“She’s in the missions program, and they don’t require it. Besides, Mr. Goldsmith told her they weren’t in favor of—”
“Sam Goldsmith is young and new to the school. He has much to learn.” Ms. Jasmine sighed. “I’ll have to look into that loophole for next year. How many other students are not getting proper training?” This was exactly the type of problem of which STI had warned her. There were ways to deal with these people who didn’t understand spiritual things. She must solve the problem quickly, before it got out of hand. First, she must answer Tessa’s question. She walked to the cushion where she’d left her nearly empty teacup, picked it up, turned to face Tessa, and looked her straight in the eye.
“Tessa, dear, we must remember the words of Teresa of Avila.” She spoke slowly and clearly. “That dear saint suffered much to learn this great lesson—that Christians who understand the inner life will always encounter obstacles which prevent them from achieving absolute union with God. These obstacles can come in many different forms, some of them evil. The Pharisees opposed Jesus for claiming he had found union with the Father. In the same way, I want you to realize that those who have not been enlightened as you and I have will usually oppose what we are doing. They want to put God in a box. Their faith is based on fear. Do you understand?”
“Uh, yeah . . . .” Tessa felt a little light-headed, almost euphoric. She was trying to remember what Gramps had once told her about the Pharisees, something about them wanting to stone Jesus for blasphemy because He claimed to be God, not just that He had found union with Him. It was all so foggy now. Her hands still tingled. This session had seemed strange and scattered, but that wasn’t surprising. After all, that was just the kind of person Ms. Jasmine happened to be.
Ms. Jasmine sat down and sipped the last of her cold tea before she recited her usual closing prayer about leaving the castle. She found these double sessions very draining, and they always made her headaches worse. “We’re finished for today,” she said, massaging her temples. “Have a blessed weekend. Oh, and I’ll see you at the labyrinth Sunday afternoon, right?”
The bangles on Ms. Jasmine’s wrist jingled as she made the sign of the cross and blew out the candle. The smoke wafted up to the ceiling, catching the last rays of the setting sun before it vanished behind the distant horizon.
Excerpt from the novel Castles in the Sand by Carolyn A. Greene (Lighthouse Trails, 2009), chapter 13.
Washington State House committee approves homosexual marriage bill
By RACHEL LA CORTE
Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A House committee on Monday advanced a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state, and the Senate is expected to vote on its companion bill within days.
The House Judiciary Committee approved its gay marriage bill on a party line vote, with seven Democrats voting for it, and six Republicans voting in opposition.
Three Republican amendments were rejected, including one that would have added private businesses and individuals, such as bakers and photographers, to the religious exemption in the measure that doesn’t require religious organizations or churches to perform marriages, and doesn’t subject them to penalties if they don’t marry gay or lesbian couples.
Rep. Jay Rodne, R-Snoqualmie, called the bill “an act of raw political power to modify the definition of marriage.” Read more, click here.
Posted in Homosexuality, Politics, Same-Sex Marriage, Signs of the Times
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Tags: Homosexuality, Politics, Same-Sex Marriage, Signs of the Times, washington
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Wheaton College “Dialogue” Evening – Exploring “Common Ground” with Catholicism in “A Conversation on Unity”
On March 26, 2012, Reformed pastor John Armstrong and Catholic Cardinal George of Chicago will come together at Wheaton College for “A Conversation on Unity in Christ’s Mission.” The flyer you see to the left reads: “An evening of dialogue exploring the common ground and current challenges that face Catholics and evangelical Protestants in Christian faith and mission.” The event came about last summer when Armstrong met with Cardinal George and asked him, ”Would you join me in a public venue to further discuss this idea of missional-ecumenism?” The Cardinal agreed, and thus the “Conversation” at Wheaton in March.
A little background to our concerns: On July 23, 2007, Lighthouse Trails wrote an article titled, “John Armstrong ‘Enjoys’ Emergent Village Experience ‘Immensely.’” The article relayed that Armstrong had once read the unpublished manuscript of A Time of Departing and given Ray Yungen a hearty endorsement of the book. He told Ray at that time, in 2001, that he might even be able to get Harvest House to publish the book if Ray would remove chapter 6 of the book (the chapter on the “End of the Age”). Ray decided not to remove that chapter, and a year later, Lighthouse Trails was birthed and published the book. Our 2007 article explained our surprise that John Armstrong had begun to resonate with the emerging church, so much so that he called Tony Jones’ contemplative mystical promoting book The Sacred Way “excellent.”1
We found it astonishing that someone who had said a few years earlier that Ray Yungen was right-on in his deductions of contemplative prayer and found A Time of Departing to be exceptional could now be calling Jones’ book “excellent” and making statements to indicate he felt a spiritual comradeship with emerging church figures. It made no sense.
Fast forward to 2012 and the “Conversation on Unity” to be held at Wheaton College this spring. As Lighthouse Trails has documented for several years, the emerging church and the contemplative prayer movement are roads to Rome (i.e., a path for evangelicals and Protestants to unite with the Catholic Church). We cannot say whether John Armstrong has himself practiced contemplative prayer, which is an eastern-style meditation prayer method. But we believe that Armstrong’s resonance in 2007 with emerging contemplative mystics was connected to Armstrong’s desire to find “common ground” with the Catholic church.
Lest you think that we are being too quick to determine that Armstrong is on the road to Rome, consider this: On his personal blog, earlier in January 2012, Armstrong wrote the following:
There is a long history behind the worldwide call to prayer for Christian unity but I became acutely aware of the history of this call at the Center for Unity in Rome last March. Then in June . . . I visited the grave site of Fr. Paul Wattson, the man who launched this global week of prayer for Christian unity. As deeply interested as I am in this subject I am pleased to share news today from the Vatican Information Service of January 18. The Pope’s comments provide a gracious reminder of our common duty to the whole of Christ’s Church, not just our own communion or fellowship. 2
Armstrong then posted an article from the Vatican news, which in part stated:
Ecumenism, as defined by Vatican Council II and Blessed John Paul II, is “the responsibility of the entire Church and of all the baptised, who must augment the partial communion that already exists among Christians until achieving full communion in truth and charity. Praying for unity . . . must then be an integral part of the prayer life of all Christians, in all times and places, especially when people from different traditions come together to work for victory in Christ over sin, evil, injustice and the violation of human dignity.”3
This article is referring to the New Evangelization of the Eucharistic Christ that Roger Oakland documents in Another Jesus. This is a zealous effort by the Roman Catholic Church to “win back the lost brethren” to the “Mother Church.”
Why is that such a big deal that we, as Bible believing Christians, should pay attention to this? Because the “Eucharistic Christ” of the New Evangelization program is not the Jesus Christ of the Bible, and the “gospel” it brings is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Rather it is a false gospel that will mislead followers away from the only means of salvation, which is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and justifies a man by faith alone.
John Armstrong and a host of other evangelical figures who are following suit must not realize what they are doing. They should recall that many of those martyred by the Catholic Church were martyred because they would not say that Jesus was in a wafer, nor would they adhere to a works-based gospel. What would those martyrs say today if they could address evangelical/Protestant pastors and leaders who are marching off to Rome? Is this not a slap in the face to those who died, making their torturous, violent deaths of less avail? Though no less in God’s eyes, it makes those deaths less in man’s eyes. For what reason did they die, some will now ask? To stand against the doctrines of the Catholic church? But surely this is nothing worth dying for, and in fact perhaps it is something worth living for, they will mistakenly say.
To understand more about the New Evangelization plan for the “lost brethren,” we are posting here the entire chapter 6 of Roger Oakland’s book, Another Jesus. We hope you will take time to study this issue through the lens of Scripture. We believe if you do you will see why ecumenical “Conversations” to find common ground with Roman Catholicism will bring no good fruit for the furtherance of the Gospel.
Related Articles:
James Robison: The Lord wants Protestants and Catholics to unite as one
U.S. Catholic Church prepares to accept Episcopalians
Posted in Conference Alerts, Ecumenism, Road to Rome, The New Evangelization
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Tags: cardinal george, Catholicism, chicago, Christian colleges, Christian leaders, Contemplative Spirituality, emerging church, Interspirituality, john armstrong, meditation, mysticism, Ray Yungen, Roger Oakland, Roman Catholicism, vatican, wheaton college
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‘Father’ and ‘Son’ Ousted from the Trinity in New Bible Translations by Wycliffe and 2 Other Groups
By Hussein Hajji Wario
Yahoo! Contributor Network
(courtesy True Discernment blog)
A controversy is brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are based in North America, whose efforts have ousted the words “Father” and “Son” from new Bibles. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are under fire for “producing Bibles that remove “Father,” “Son” and “Son of God” because these terms are offensive to Muslims.”
Concerned Christian missionaries, Bible translators, pastors, and national church leaders have come together with a public petition to stop these organizations. They claim a public petition is their last recourse because meetings with these organizations’ leaders, staff resignations over this issue and criticism and appeals from native national Christians concerned about the translations “have failed to persuade these agencies to retain “Father” and “Son” in the text of all their translations.”
Biblical Missiology, a ministry of Boulder, Colorado-based Horizon International, is sponsoring the petition.
The main issues of this controversy surround new Arabic and Turkish translations. Click here to continue reading.
Related Stories:
The New Look of Christian Missions
The ‘Camel Method’ of Evangelism is Not Biblical
The English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible. “A Dream Come True”?
UN Textbooks for Palestinian Children ‘Explosively Anti-Semitic, Anti-American and Anti-Israeli’
By Penny Star
CNSNews.com
The textbooks used to educate Palestinian children who live in refugee camps came under fire at a briefing on Wednesday on Capitol Hill where experts said lessons of intolerance and hatred toward Jews and Israel fill the books’ pages.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), chairman of the House subcommittee on Human Rights and co-chairman of the Bi-Partisan Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, told CNSNews.com that U.S. donations to the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA) make the federal government accountable for what is in the books.
“We are responsible for the content and the content has been, year in and year out, explosively anti-Semitic, anti-American and anti-Israeli,” Smith said, at the event he hosted with the Center for Near-East Policy Research, which is based in Jerusalem and which has studied the topic extensively. Click here to read more.
Posted in Holocaust, Israel
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Tags: anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Israel, signs of times, the Jews
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Come Back to the True Living Water
LTRP Note: Over the past ten years, we have talked, either through e-mail or by phone, to thousands of people. A good number of these people have come out of churches whose pastors have been trained in the seminaries and Christian colleges, which have, in large part (of course with some exceptions), become havens for unbiblical teachings. These ill-equipped, misled pastors have brought their unscriptural teachings with them to the churches. We have heard the stories from so many of our readers of Christians they know who became caught under the bondage of legalism, and then went to the opposite pole of turning grace into a license for sin. Many times when this happened, these confused Christians began practicing contemplative prayer and/or joined emerging churches, thinking these experiences were from God, especially when they compared them to their legalist backgrounds.
While we do not claim to be theologians here at Lighthouse Trails, we desire to address this issue in this short essay, with the hopes it may draw some back to the true living water that only Jesus Christ can give. Perhaps these words can alleviate some confusion to those who are held in bondage by either of these extremes.
“Come Back to the True Living Water”
By David Dombrowski
In previous articles, we have demonstrated how the Gospel is the greatest of all treasures. Throughout the ages, man has been out digging for treasure. From the earth, we have been able to extract much of the things that we prize most highly including silver, gold, diamonds, gems, metal ores for making innumerable things made of iron or steel, copper or brass, and aluminum, while massive amounts of oil and coal have been extracted propelling us into an industrialized world. Yet, the human heart remains empty, and only God can fill that void.
Scripture likens our need for the Gospel to our need for water. The psalmist wrote, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1). And just as a deer is driven by thirst to drink of the cool water brooks, so we, like the psalmist, should hunger and thirst after God. But for most Christians in the Western world, that thirst drives us elsewhere, and what we attain never really satisfies because it is not the living water that is able to give us life and renew us.
The Gospel has been with us for a very long time, but of the world’s population, relatively few have chosen to dip into that water of life. The Scripture beckons, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). Though the offer is made to all, there are so few who seem to listen. Consequently, so many choose to live in a perpetual drought, fearing the water of life that is able to save men’s souls.
Now, how long has the Gospel been with us? Paul tells us that Abraham received the Gospel:
And the scripture, forseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (Galatians 3:8)
God made a covenant with Abraham based on a promise to send a “seed” (namely Christ), and in that seed, the promises would be fulfilled (see Galatians 3:16). It is here that a date is given of four hundred thirty years before God gave the Law to Moses. And while the date is of no real significance, what is significant is that the New Covenant (the Gospel) came before the Old Covenant (the Law). Paul’s letter to the Galatians vividly portrays how the Law was never given to save anyone; rather it was given to lead us to the Savior:
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)
Abraham was justified by faith and faith alone as Paul recounts that “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Galatians 3:6). Paul then emphatically states that no one is justified by the law when he says, “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11, emphasis added). In fact, the Law was an impossible system for salvation because to break any of it even only once meant to break the whole Law:
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10)
James reiterates the power of the Law when he states: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). It is clear, therefore, that the Law has power, but not the power to save – unless of course a person keeps all of the Law, at every point, perfectly, and no one has ever done that (except Christ). The power of the Law is to show us that because of sin, our righteousness is as filthy rags and consequently we remain under the curse of the Law until we come to Christ. The Law demonstrates that, without question, we are in need of a Redeemer, and that is why in Old Testament law, lambs and bullocks were sacrificed year after year, not because they saved at all but because they served as a continual reminder of the need of a Savior who was to come. One teaching that is spread abroad today is that the Jews are exempt from the Gospel because God gave them the Old Testament. But if that were true Paul would not have written “no man is justified by the law in the sight of God” (Galatians 3:11). On the contrary, it was to the Jews first that the apostles preached the Gospel until later when God showed them that it was to be preached to the Gentiles also. The Gospel is for all people everywhere, Jew or Gentile. This is why the proclamation of the Gospel is so very important because, under God’s plan, the way of salvation comes in only one way.
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (Galatians 3:18)
And when we think about it, the religions of the world think that we can be saved by our own goodness or that we already have God’s divinity within and consequently have no need of a Savior. But God chose to show Abraham a different way, and all who come to God must come to Him in the same way:
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. (Genesis 17:4)
So, when God made Abraham a father of many nations, He made it clear that this covenant, based on faith in a promise (i.e., Christ the Redeemer), was to be available to all people everywhere. Then came the Law four hundred and thirty years later to direct everyone, like a schoolmaster, to their need of a Redeemer as it exposes our sinfulness. In this sense, the Law can be likened to the test equipment in a doctor’s office. After performing various tests, the doctor is able to identify a particular ailment, but the tests themselves have only exposed the problem and done nothing to render the cure. The doctor can then prescribe the proper medicine or refer the patient to a surgeon. Once that prescription or surgeon’s referral has been made, the patient is bound rather than cured by his doctor’s orders until the proper steps have been taken. Likewise, we remain bound under the curse of the Law until we come to Christ. Then He, as the Great Physician, cleanses us from our sin and imparts new life in us. That is why the Scripture says:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
This is also why Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well:
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14)
This woman was acquainted with the problem, but now she had found the cure.
Likewise, Jesus’ offer of “living water” (John 4:10) goes out to all people as He explained “whosoever” may come and drink of this water of life (Revelation 22:17). I find it rather puzzling, though, that while countless numbers from all over the world have found that water, many have the tendency to go back to the Law to find comfort and assurance there. Like the patient who is now cured but feels compelled to stay indefinitely in the doctor’s office or the hospital when all that doctor can really do is to test and prescribe. If the Great Physician has already cured us, why would we want to go back into the Law that was designed to diagnose but not to cure. Furthermore, the Law can never be fulfilled by adherence to a set of rules; that is why Paul said, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). Somehow, we get to thinking that mechanically observing a set of rules pleases God, but God is concerned with the condition of our hearts. So, while we can fulfill the Law by love, we cannot do it by merely observing a set of rules. Like the patient holding the prescription, the Law is for those bound by sin, directing them to the Savior. The Law is good insomuch as it exposes our sin and brings us to our Savior, but it has no power to save. This is why Paul was so startled in hearing that the Galatians were going back into the Law and why he was compelled to write:
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:1-3)
Contrary to what many might teach, Paul was not offering the Galatians a license to sin, but a fundamental truth of Scripture – that the Christian life can only be lived out as that well of living water springs up from our hearts. It is imperative, however, that we be found in Christ because Jesus alone is that well from which the springs of life flow.
Jesus is that well of living water, offered freely to whosoever will invite Him into their lives and hearts to be Lord and Savior. To the unbeliever, He is the invitation, “let him that is athirst come” (Revelation 22:17). To the new believer, He is that new life where, “old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But to those who have known Christ for awhile, even a long while, He is the reminder to come back and be refreshed again to the only water that “shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). When we partake of that water, it does us much good. And when we share that water with others, it does no harm to our neighbor. It is the only water that is clean and pure and flows from the throne of God.
Other recent articles by David Dombrowski:
Keep Thy Heart with All Diligence
Sounding the Trumpet in the Midst of Apostasy – The Enemy is in the Camp!
Posted in Defending the Faith, On Christian Faith, The Word of God
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Tags: david dombrowski, the gospel, the psalms, the Word of God
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Starbucks: Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage ‘Is Core to Who We Are and What We Value’
Leading traditional marriage organizations, for instance, are accusing the Seattle-based company of “meddling” in the debate, after Starbucks joined Google, Microsoft, and Nike in support of the legalization of same-sex marriage that is currently gathering momentum in the state legislature.
Kalen Holmes, executive vice president for Partner Resources, released a statement on Jan. 24 entitled, “Starbucks Supports Marriage Equality,” to all of the company’s U.S. employees. Starbucks employs 149,000 people internationally. Click here to continue reading.
Posted in Homosexuality, Same-Sex Marriage, Signs of the Times
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Tags: Homosexuality, Same-Sex Marriage, Signs of the Times, starbucks, washington state
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