Archive for the ‘Defending the Faith’ Category

A COMMENTARY
BY BILL RANDLES
BELIEVERS IN GRACE FELLOWSHIP

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.(Psalm 2:1-2)

Watching the way President Obama, Mayor Bloomberg and other assorted Religious , media and political leaders took their stand  with those seeking to install a Mosque on the site of the worst mass murder of American citizens in history, has been instructive.

About 80 percent of the American people think it is an outrage of biblical proportions, to install what amounts to a monument to victory over the infidels, at ground zero. What does it mean then that the movers and shakers in politics and media support the so called “Cordoba project” at the same rate?

The penny dropped when the plight of an Orthodox church which was destroyed at the same site came to light. After 9 years, St Nicholas church has been run through a zoning purgatory and has yet to be given leave to rebuild! The Mosque has been rubber stamped, fast-tracked but for the negative publicity. The church which was destroyed by 9-11 is in the doldrums.

Then I remembered the Word of the Lord, the second Psalm , which predicts a time of worldwide confusion and breakdown. The Heathen rage… That is , the nations are in an uproar. The people Imagine a vain thing...The minds of the people have been emptied, they chase vanity, they cling to an empty ideal. And the question is  Why?

The answer is that The Kings of the earth and their Rulers…(Not just the political class, but all of the opinion shapers, pundits, the leaders in Education, Media and respectable religion)  Have taken counsel against the Lord and His Christ… When did they take this counsel ?

Most likely they did when they went to University, or even earlier, they were steeped in an anti-christian worldview, they rejected the western consensus, especially the contribution of Christianity to this greatest civilization the world has ever seen.

The West has a culture, developed over thousands of years, whose roots are twofold, Greco-Roman and Judeo Christian. But a culture cannot be maintained without a cultus, the germ of the culture, the spirituality of it, which is Judeo Christianity.

What  the contrast between the “Cordoba Mosque” and St Nicholas Orthodox church has shown, is that the “Kings of the earth and their rulers,” are doing everything they can to neutralise the christian element, silencing it wherever possible, stifling it, relegating it to just one of thousands of other religions any of which is as valid , if not more so, than the professed religion of most of this nation.

How else do we explain the nonsensical and vastly unpopular immigration policies of western nations such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the USA ? Flooding once civilized societies with millions of assimilable immigrants, such as Muslims, literally importing hostile populations who loathe their hosts in spite of the generous welfare benefits which they enroll in.It doesn’t make sense!

But it has to do with change, for these “kings and rulers”  hate the West as it is, and seek to obliterate it’s distinctive traditions, especially it’s religious heritage,in order to pursue what David prophesied  as “The Vain Imagination”, which is a humanistic, godless,utopia.

The Muslims, with their hypersensitivity which only runs one way, are ideal “change agents”, perfect for the task of wiping away the remnant public expressions of our Christian societal influence.

Every time an American meat packing house is forced to change it’s hours for Ramadan, or an airport installs at public expense a foot bath for Muslim a cab driver , or in this case a Mosque is erected on the same site as the worst massacre on American soil, the heart of the nation is demoralised. Is this what they mean by death by a thousand cuts?

The Counsel, that the Kings of the earth have taken is described as the casting off of the shackles of the religion of God and Christ-(Judeo Christianity)-

“Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us…”

Remember Obama proudly proclaiming to the Muslim world that America is no longer a christian nation? Obama is only the most blatant of them.

This explains another riddle, how do the champions of abominations such as “Gay marriage” and abortion, find common cause with Wahabi Muslims who if given the power would behead the Homo’s first of all?? The answer is in the old Arab proverb- the enemy of my enemy is my friend-(for now).

The kings of the earth and their rulers, side with Islam, in fact they have used Islam, because although Islam and they are at polar opposites in every other respect, they have one over-riding thing in common, they seek to overthrow the God of the Judeo Christian west,and obliterate the culture that grew out of such a faith.

This doesn’t end well folks, buckle your seat belts and read the rest of the second Psalm!

by T. A. McMahon
The Berean Call – President

According to the online encyclopedia wikipedia.org, “Christianity Today [CT] is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, IL. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming readership of 290,000. The founder, Billy Graham, stated that he wanted to ‘plant the evangelical flag in the middle-of-the-road, taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems.’

“Today it, and its 13 sister publications, reach well over 2 million readers in its traditional paperbound form, and more than 10 million pageviews per month in their Internet form.”

It was right after I became a born-again Christian more than thirty years ago that I encountered my first copy of Christianity Today. Having grown up Roman Catholic, my appetite for anything evangelical was ravenous. Yet even in those early years of my faith, there were things that I read in that magazine that troubled me. I recognized, in Mr. Graham’s own words, “a definite liberal approach to social problems” in the promotion of “Christian” psychological counseling (see TBC, July 1999 ).

Of even more concern, however, were articles that clearly favored Roman Catholicism. This was disconcerting for one who had recently been delivered from the bondage of the false gospel of Rome. I remembered also reading an old quote from Billy Graham, which he had spoken nearly a decade before he started CT. He declared that “The three gravest menaces faced by orthodox Christianity are Communism, Roman Catholicism, and Mohammedanism” (Plains Baptist Challenger, March 1984). Incredibly, years later, among CT’s contributing editors and writers were Roman Catholics, including Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus. It was Neuhaus, along with CT editors Chuck Colson, J. I. Packer, Timothy George, Thomas Oden, Richard Mouw, and Mark Noll, among others, who formed, were promoters of, and/or were signers of “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium.” Their news release proclaimed: “[L]eading Catholics and evangelicals are asking their flocks for a remarkable leap of faith: to finally accept each other as Christians….[E]vangelicals including Pat Robertson and Charles Colson joined with conservative Roman Catholic leaders today in upholding the ties of faith that bind [them]….They urged Catholics and evangelicals…to stop aggressive proselytization of each other’s flocks.”

The Catholic bias of CT is reflected in the modus operandi of Graham’s crusades: they were, and continue to be, publicized and subsidized by each Catholic diocese where they take place. Additionally, the crusades continue to be outfitted with Catholic counselors who guide those Catholics that “come forward” to return to their local Catholic churches.

The list of Catholic luminaries celebrated by CT includes popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II (Graham told Larry King that he and the pope “agree on almost everything”), Mother Teresa, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Buddhist/Catholic monk Thomas Merton, and mystic Catholic priest Henry Nouwen. Catholic mysticism is further promoted by CT contributing editor Richard Foster, who is the godfather of the modern contemplative/mystical (read “Eastern”) movement within evangelical Christianity.

It seems that no voice that advances apostasy has been omitted from CT’s list of contributing editors or writers: Ron Sider, President Obama’s leftist theologian; Notre Dame professor Mark Noll; Eugene Peterson (who wrote his own bible called The Message); Eastern Orthodox followers Frederica Mathewes-Green and Bradley Nassif; former executive editor Terry Muck (who writes of his love for the Buddha); Leith Anderson (who promotes the experiential over the propositional, i.e., that emergent experience trumps doctrine); and psychology and Bible integrationist Eric L. Johnson, to name but a few. Click here to continue reading this article.

(courtesy Linda Harvey, Mission America)

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - He hasn’t talked about it publicly until now.  It was a decision that caused uproar in the Irmo community and made worldwide headlines.

In May 2008, then Principal Eddie Walker announced he would retire because the school district forced him to allow a Gay-Straight Alliance at Irmo High.

Walker’s decision drew lots of criticism, including a protest outside of one of the school board meetings.

After two years of silence, Eddie Walker sat down with News 10’s Brandi Cummings to explain things in his own words.

Eddie Walker is a dedicated educator of 31 years, who has left the career he knows so well.

Walker’s reign as principal of Irmo High School is coupled with both triumph and controversy.

Although Irmo has been named among best in the nation, the world watched as the school went through its share of turmoil starting in 2008. Click here to continue reading.

Investigating the intent of Jesus’ statement, “You are gods”

By Pastor Larry DeBruyn

“Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”
Jesus, John 10:34, KJV

Mystic, New Age, cultic and Word of Faith spiritualists commonly assume that in the essence of their being they are divine, that either they are or can become gods.[1] For example, by employing The Third Eye mystics attempt to contemplate into a consciousness of their divine nature. One Norwegian website explains:

During deep meditation, the single or spiritual eye becomes visible within the central part of the forehead. This omniscient eye is variously referred to in scriptures as the third eye . . . [2]

The website asserts that the Lord is in heaven. But where is heaven? How can heaven be found? “Gliding inside oneself in the right way should ‘work wonders’,” the university explains. How can someone “glide within” to discover heaven within where the Lord dwells? By meditating upon the assumption that you are “the image of God inside yourself.” In a spirit of self-hype, members of the Word of Faith movement also claim themselves to be little gods who can self-create what they want out of life. To assert their divinity, both movements employ the statement of Jesus where He asked the Jews, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’?” (John 10:34).

When in John 10:34 He told the Jews, “You are gods”, did Jesus mean to say that persons possess an essential divinity awaiting their discovery by taking a meditative journey into “inner space”? To support their claim that man is or can become God, teachers of the “man-is-god” doctrine have seized upon words that Jesus intended only for the Jews, ignored their original intent and arrogantly applied them to their own being. Without conscripting Jesus words to make them conform to any preconception of what we might want them to say, what did Jesus really mean when He said to the Jews, “You are gods”?[3] Click here for endnotes and to finish reading this article.

This update is for the many friends and supporters of Understand The Times who have prayed and expressed their concerns over the past year. It has been just a few days over a year since my health failed and I was forced to take time on the sidelines for rest and healing. Myrna and I are grateful for the support and encouragement we have received from all over the world. Thank you for your prayers and concern.

I want to thank my board who has stood by me, Ron Pierotti, our web master, and Sheila, our book keeper who have held the ministry together during my absence. As most of you will know, Ron has also had a very difficult year being critically ill in the hospital for several months. Ron has sent out a recent report regarding his health so most of you will have already heard from him. It is so encouraging to know that Ron is doing much better. He is a vital pillar of this ministry.

While I don’t have immediate plans to jump back into a public speaking ministry, I do want to continue the ministry of Understand The Times as the Lord enables. Working together with Ron and several other friends, our first goal is to update our missionary outreaches in Myanmar and the Philippines. Sponsors of children and Bible School students have been faithful to continue even though we have not kept up with proper communication. Some sponsors have had to drop because of the economic situation but we have still been able to send quarterly support to all Bryce Lodges (about 80 children in five homes), and to Yangon Grace Bible School with about 50 students and instructors.

My friend and board member Tom Worthington has done a great job in overseeing Mission Myanmar for the past year. Our goal is to improve communication with our present sponsors and find sponsors for children and students who need to be sponsored. We will also be letting people know about the financial needs we have to cover rent for the Bryce Lodge homes and Yangon Grace Bible School housing. Larry Demeyo and his wife Debbie, who traveled to Myanmar with the last time I went, will be helping to keep our sponsors informed.

Pastor Drew Macintyre, one of our board members will be traveling to Myanmar in August to teach at the school and also visit the four Bryce Lodges that are in Yangon. He will be reporting on that trip when he returns and we will keep you informed.

I feel bad that I was unable to properly communicate during my illness over the past year to the many that were concerned and asking. Please forgive me for that. Also, please know that the spam you may have received from AOL through my e-mail address (on several occasions) was not intended.

Please continue to pray that we will be able to follow the Lord’s direction and listen carefully to His directions as we seek His will for the future.
Sincerely In Christ,

Roger Oakland

The following comments were received after our recent article, Is BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) Heading in the Contemplative Direction?. We have used substitute names for these women (all who have been personally involved with BSF), so as to protect their privacy, but the letters are real letters from real people. Many of these women are BSF teachers and leaders.

Comment #1: After attending the last few weeks of BSF this Spring, I also received the newsletter with list of recommended books. I wrote to the director of BSF a month or two ago regarding this, but have not received a response. One illustration I gave was of Willard’s book “The Great Omission,” which I had read.  Mary Ann

Comment #2: Thank you for sounding the warning on BSF International after their May 2010 magazine quoted “The Message” and promoted several emergent/contemplative books on their reading list.  I have been in BSF for 7+ years and I was shocked by the current magazine.  No one else seems concerned.  I am horrified.  I am also a Discussion Leader and was told at the Retreat this year in Louisville, KY that we were in for “big changes” by the new Director Susie Rowan. Please stay on top of this story as I see BSF slipping down a deceptive slope and I seem unable to do anything about it, even after sounding the alarm to our Teaching Leader and Substitute Teaching Leader here in _________. God Bless everything you do! Cynthia

Comment #3:  Being that we have corresponded in the past I just wanted to share a few comments with you.  Thank God for LHT!  It took me years to find you but each Newsletter is an encouragement to us in ways you can’t imagine. I was totally alone in my thinking (and wasn’t aware of Lighthouse Trails) when I quit BSF about  ten years ago.  I went to leaders to discuss my concerns, no one could see my point of view.  It started out withthe original study questions which were challenging to everyone and our answers should only come from KJV.  Then came the “new” studies, our reading could be from different versions of the Bible (one gal brought her old Catholic Bible).   The questions, in my opinion, were full of “how do you feel” and “what do think” kind of wordings.  Each question was worded in such a way “our” feelings seemed to be more important than WORD.  The study seemed to make the Bible-up to our own interruption.  It was just getting started!!  I appreciate  your article. On Jim Wallis, I am given to understand he was Plymouth Brethren.  I believe he might have been the disgruntled Jim Wallis from the Detroit Michigan area.  We grew up PB and his belief system is sooo contrary to the teachings we grew up with.  My Grandfather was a lay minister in the PlymouthBrethren and he would have taken Wallis down in a mega second, if he were alive today. I cannot believe how many have fallen away from the truth we were exposed to in this non-denominational church.  I know we all fall short and most of us are too worldly but starting a neo-religion based on pagan practices,  just breaks our hearts. Keep up the (good) GOD work!! In Christ. Kathy

Comment #4: Thank you for your article re. BSF.  I hope they will respond soon.  I see the hundreds reading the recommended books, and then coming to Isaiah (next year’s study) saying that Isaiah’s vision was just as the contemplative prayer and visions. Rachel

Comment #5: I quit attending BSF back in 2000 because it was very ecumenical. Since attendees were from various churches we weren’t allowed to speak the truth as in the Word of God if it would offend any church (i.e. Catholic, Mormon, etc.) … Each person in the group was supposed to give their opinion on what they got out of the scripture being studied, not what the truth of God’s Word was. It reminded me of the dialectic method. Laura

Comment #6(shortened version):  I have been involved in BSF for a very long time…and am currently entering my __th year of leadership. I could never imagine my life without BSF….until this past year. I have noticed the questions being “watered down”….with more of “what do you think…rather than what does the Bible say type of questions. Within the organization, there has been an increased awareness and concern about decreasing attendance ….especially of the younger generation. When I attended the retreat this past year, we were told that plans were in place to correct that problem. We were told to “LOVE” the members more because the younger people are needing more love….

We were told at the retreat that they were going to change the “stigma” that BSF has had about being so rigid….. that wherever there were “barriers” between the rules and members, that those barriers would “come down.” The rules and routine for the various groups would be different to be “relative” for each setting. The younger groups would have different, more “comfortable” routines than the older ones. The goal was to be more appealing and attractive to compete with other less-rigid studies that are out there. It was clear to me that BSF was taking initial steps down the Emergent path.

There were 2,000 leaders at the retreat I attended. I would say that more than 1/2 of them were brand-new leaders….and yes, many were very young. I was appalled to see body piercings, tattoos and THE MESSAGE being used by several of them. This was my second retreat and it was totally different than the one I attended 3 years ago. This one was more of a tribute/commercial for BSF and the new director, Susie Rowan. The cheering and ovations were astounding as the organization was in promotion of itself and it’s leadership. …

I alerted my Teaching Leader of my concerns…but was abruptly brushed aside. The majority of our local leadership circle are among the many who were taken in by the deception that I believe was taking place at the retreat and within the organization itself. I was told by my Teaching Leader that I need to “love” more and not be so critical. (As a side note…I was also told that I could no longer tell anyone that Beth Moore twists Scripture! I always reserve my personal opinions for time outside of BSF…but it was very clear that I shouldn’t even be pursuing that truth on my own time.) …

I have planned to remain in leadership through this next year because the study of Isaiah is a new one. I am very interested in seeing the changes that will unfold. I have no doubt that this will be my last year though…if I even last that long! I can no longer promote the study…I will not invite anyone anymore. I have no doubt that the introduction of the quote from The Message and the endorsed books are trial balloons..and that without resistance, they will be ushering in the end of a great, 50+yr old Bible Study.

Thank you for your incredible ministry! You have NO IDEA how welcome your article was to me! I was beginning to think that I was just imagining things…and basically that’s what I’ve been told by my leadership too. God bless your work! Come Lord Jesus! Theresa

Comment #7: I want to thank you for your article about BSF moving in a contemplative direction. I have been involved with BSF for several years, joined leadership this year, and began to have the very same concerns. They were compounded when my mother (who is a leader in a different class) attended the retreat this past February. Many of the leaders there were utilizing The Message as their Bible “translation” and many of the talks seemed to be
leaning toward a contemplative slant. Thankfully, my class is blessed to have a woman leading who is greatly grounded in the truth and sees the same
concerns that I do. Nevertheless, I think it is important to send the warning out about BSF. Your article expressed every one of my concerns to
the letter. (I also have concerns about their newest move into China with the apparent blessing of the Chinese government, but that is another issue).
Thank you for your dedication to the Truth. Blessings, Jennifer

Comment #8:  I find it very interesting that BSF is recommending Eugene Peterson, or Dallas Willard at all.  If Jane Roach (second in command at BSF Headquarters) is still in their ranks, there has to be some internal friction going on down in San Antonio.  She often spoke at BSF Retreats (conventions) and was critical of any kind of worldly practices in the church.  Having been a BSF Discussion Leader and Assistant Class Administrator, I can tell you that BSF gives NO interviews, and flies totally under the radar.  They are nearly invisible on the internet as you’ve probably noticed.  Their philosophy is to give out NO information so their reputation remains untarnished. 

Having been an insider, I can tell you that while the fellowship seemed great when I was young in the faith and naive, there was a strong unspoken pressure that bore down on those in leadership.  When the time came for me to step out of BSF, I found it very difficult to do so even for valid reasons.  BSF told their leaders they couldn’t leave BSF unless God had called them to a different ministry.  Family concerns didn’t seem like reason enough.  Now that I’m an outsider, it occurs to me that there is a degree of mind control exerted on the participants through their rules, signed agreements (for those in leadership), dress code, etc.  They even subtly mention legal action for those that copied their materials or imitated their class structure. Not remembering what I exactly signed when I became a Discussion Leader and Assistant Class Administrator, I’ve been leery of exposing them too much for fear of reprisals.  An example of this control is seen in the tiny print at the top of each of their lessons that are handed out weekly to class members, “BSF notes are provided for the personal use of class members during their active participation and must not be loaned or given to nonmembers.”  These notes are free to the class members, yet BSF doesn’t want them to be shared.  

And their control extends into the very structure of their weekly lesson questions.  They ask questions in such a way as to either assume the answer or steer the class member, who is quite often a new or non Christian, toward their viewpoint.  This is especially evident in their Romans study.  The materials were compiled from James Boice’s four book series on Romans.  Boice was a personal friend and I believe a BSF Board member when the Romans study was released as a new BSF study in 1998.  He was personal friends with the then BSF General Director, Rosemary Jensen.  Rosemary Jensen was facing forced retirement from BSF because she was turning 70,but insisted on the Romans study before she was dismissed.  James Boice died two years later of liver cancer.  BSF is currently about to unveil a brand new study on Isaiah which makes me wonder what they will teach concerning the return of Christ and the Kingdom.  BSF’s founder Wetherell Johnson held to the pre-trib rapture position, but BSF has stayed neutral about the timing (infant or believer’s) and mode of baptism.  This is probably more info than you wanted, so I’ll just close…. Thanks for all you do! Blessings, Elaine

Comment #9:I’ve been reading Lighthouse Trails for years & very much appreciate all of your very well researched information. I believed in the Lord Jesus in May 1999 at 50 yrs of age. It is truly a miracle. God is so faithful. I started attending BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) in Sept of 2002. When I received the BSF Magazine in May, I was very disturbed with the quote from the Message & the recommendation to read a book by Dallas Willard. I thought this place would be the last stronghold which had resisted all this mystical stuff. I have made copies of articles about the Message & Dallas Willard (withBiblical quotes) to send them & really was waffling on sending them…not knowing how to put all my worries into words. Never in my life did I expect to read about my wonderful BSF in relation to mysticism. It breaks my heart. But I will send them tomorrow & write a letter expressing my concern. My teaching leader in _________, is so wonderful. Please print an article if they answer you & I will let you know what they say to me. Thank you for your diligence. I’m hoping that BSF will take a letter seriously that is written by someone who has attended for 8 years & learned so much Biblical Truth. Glenda

On June 1st, Lighthouse Trails posted an article by M. Danielsen titled, “Sojourners Founder Jim Wallis’ Revolutionary Anti-Christian “Gospel” (and Will Christian Leaders Stand with Wallis?).” On June 19th, we posted a second article titled TRAVESTY at LIFEST – PARENTS: Don’t Send Your Kids – Radical-Emergent/Liberal Jim Wallis to Speak at Lifest (What is Luis Palau Doing There?).” This second article included a link to a radio interview by VCY America’s Ingrid Schlueter and Mare Danielsen on this same subject. Yesterday, June 30th, a Wisconsin radio station (Lifest is held in WI) pulled its sponsorship of Lifest because of Wallis’ appearance. All of these things led to a response by Jim Wallis on his Sojourner’s blog today. That article begins as such:

Calling People to Faith

by Jim Wallis 07-01-2010

Several months ago, I was invited to speak at Lifest, a Christian festival in Wisconsin with more than 100 musicians and 50 speakers that draws tens of thousands of mostly young people. That invitation has recently become controversial, as a number of false accusations have been made against me and our Sojourners ministry. One long article [Danielsen's article on Lighthouse Trails] actually put me in the company of Rick Warren, Bill & Lynne Hybels, and the National Association of Evangelical as heretical. Most recently, a local radio station in Wisconsin pulled their sponsorship of Lifest, saying “we believe the social justice message and agenda they promote is a seed of secular humanism, seeking an unholy alliance between the Church and Government.”  Nevertheless, Bob Lenz and the leadership of Lifest stood by their invitation for me to speak next week. I wrote this statement at Bob’s request in response to the controversy.

It has come to my attention that there is some controversy around the invitation I received to speak at Lifest. It seems there have been false rumors and misperceptions spreading about me and about Sojourners, the organization I lead. I wanted to help clarify who we are in an effort for us all to put the main focus back on the mission of Lifest, which is to call people to faith in Jesus Christ. (To read this entire article by Jim Wallis, click here.)

The questions many may be asking, what DOES Jim Wallis believe in and stand for, and should he be representing biblical Christianity and standing on platforms with evangelical speakers, addressing Christian youth whose parents believe their kids are attending a “Christian” event with Bible-believing speakers? In other words, do Wallis’ beliefs line up with the main message in the Bible, which is the Cross and atonement of Jesus Christ, the foundation of true Christianity.

In an article last week, we stated: “As more and more talk arises about a ’spiritual revolution’ or awakening, believers should be asking, is this a revolution from God? Or is this coming global ‘revolution’ part of the great falling away of which the Bible speaks?” Many of today’s major Christian figures  (Rick Warren, Leonard Sweet, Erwin McManus, William Paul Young (The Shack), Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren, and yes, Jim Wallis) are all talking about “revolution.” Former New Age follower, Warren B. Smith, identifies this emerging “revolution” as “indeed the same New Age ‘revolution’ attempting to transfix and transform the church today.” Smith adds: ” We should be very concerned when self-professing Evangelical leaders with New Age sympathies talk about starting a “spiritual revolution” (A “Wonderful Deception, p. 134). Sadly, all of the aforementioned names above hold to “New Age sympathies,” in particularly their embracing and resonating with contemplative mysticism (the basis of which is panentheistic – God is in all).

M. Danielsen’s article laid out clearly Wallis’ and Sojourners‘ socialistic, marxist ideologies. But what about Wallis’ views on the nature of spirituality itself, mainly contemplative mysticism, which is the antithesis of the atonement of Jesus Christ? And is Sojourners providing a dynamic platform for an anti-biblical “gospel”?

It doesn’t take too long in looking at Sojourners to find their contemplative-mystical persuasions. On their website, on a video clip,  two Sojourner editors discuss contemplative practices. The video is actually classified as a “how-to video on contemplative prayer” with Sojourner editors Rose Marie Berger and Jeannie Choi.

(Note: Wheaton College is mentioned in this video as the place the one Sojourners editor learned contemplative practices. See our research on Wheaton.)

For sake of time, we will show just one more piece of proof of Wallis’ stance on the contemplative/New spirituality movement.  This case in point, last summer on God Politics: a blog by Jim Wallis and friends, an article by Richard Rohr was posted. Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation and a Catholic priest,  is a panentheist who wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called How Big is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India) Paul Coutinho. In Coutinho’s book, he describes an interspiritual community where people of all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity) worship the same God. Incidentally, in the same year Rohr wrote the foreword for Coutinho’s book, Rohr and Wallis were the speaking teamat a conference in Ohio. Rohr, one of the most popular speakers in the Catholic church today and commands the respect of thousands of priests, states: 

The term “cosmic Christ” reminds us that everything and everyone belongs. . . . God’s hope for humanity is that one day we will all recognize that the divine dwelling place is all of creation. Christ comes again whenever we see that matter and spirit co-exist. (“The eternal christ in the cosmic story,” NCR, 12/11/09)

Make no mistake, there is ample evidence available to show that Wallis (and Sojourners) is a conduit for contemplative (ie., New Age/New Spirituality)  (which we believe is the driving force behind this emerging/emergent church and will be the propeller to bring about a global “awakening” (i.e., a global mass deception). Consider these two verses:

“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:9

“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.” II Corinthians 11:14-15

Wallis, Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, and other emerging-type leaders have tried to convince our society that the church has failed, and that is why the world is in such a mess today. They conveniently neglect to tell people that the reason the world is in such disarray is because of sin and man’s rejection of Jesus Christ. It is not because of the true body of Christian believers, which through the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit, long to help others and share the true “Gospel of Jesus Christ.”  These heretical teachers are attempting to convince Christians,  that they need to lay down their moralistic conservative views such as wanting to stop the murder of millions of babies and proclaim that marriage should only be a civil and legal union between a man and a woman. They go to great lengths to lay upon the conservative Christian guilt for the state of the world. They say we have been too narrow-minded, and as Rick Warren has stated, they say we need to look for a “new reformation,” one that includes Muslims, gays, and all belief systems. And look how so many have bought into it. The Shack, which proclaims the same “gospel” as Rick Warren and Jim Wallis proclaim, remains a New York  Times best seller, and that is mostly among proclaiming Christians. Yes, look how many have caved in to these lies. Nearly every denomination and Christian movement has been affected to some degree: Christian Missionary Alliance, the Mennonites, the Southern Baptists, some Calvary Chapel churches, the Nazarenes, the Wesleyans, even some Amish and Independent Baptist groups  … certainly too many to ignore.

Where will this all lead? Ray Yungen, who has been warning the church of this contemplative New Age  ”revolution” for nearly twenty years, says this:

Some day, and it could be soon, the Lord will allow the man of lawlessness [the antichrist] to emerge. In the mean time, the world is opening its arms to wholly embrace a spirituality that will exist under the umbrella of mysticism. The correlating theme will be—we are all One. When the man of lawlessness does rise to power with a one-world economy and political base, he will seduce many into searching for their own Christ consciousness rather than the Messiah, Jesus Christ. (A Time of Departing, pp. 127-128)

Among this group of men such as Wallis, who are attempting to redefine biblical Christianity, is Leonard Sweet who in his own writings exalts this idea of “christ consciousness” and tells his followers that he sees some of today’s most prolific New Age/New Spirituality leaders as his “new light heroes.”1 

In spite of this clear and obvious move away from biblical faith by so many of today’s prolific figures, when one looks over at the arena of Christian leaders, teachers, and pastors today, a deafening silence fills our ears. These men and women who say they represent Christianity, stand on the side lines holding the cloaks of those who fervently seek to persuade people away from traditional biblical truth.

In conclusion, Jim Wallis’ vision, although noble sounding in some respects, it has at its center, as its spiritual component a practice and belief system that could be legitimately called part of the mystery of iniquity (discussed in II Thessalonians 2). One of the major icons of this movement, Thomas Merton, told a Muslim mystic in essence that it didn’t matter whether one believed in the atonement and redemption of Jesus Christ or not (*see citation below). What did matter was that Muslims and Christians will hopefully someday share in divine light. This is where Sojourners vision will lead. Sojourners shares Merton’s hope for the future.

Lighthouse Trails is not against justice and mercy; Lighthouse Trails is not against feeding the poor and helping those who are downtrodden and destitute - Lighthouse Trails is against a mystical belief system that proclaims that the divine is in everything, including all of humanity regardless of faith in Christ or not.

This is beyond speculation. One of the pioneers of this “reconciliation”/mystical revolution, Henri Nouwen (frequently quoted by Sojourners), rejoicingly said:

The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being. (Nouwen, Here and Now, 1997, p. 22)

The apostle Paul wrote that we are reconciled with God through the death of His son. It goes without saying that Christians are supposed to have the fruit of the spirit, which is what this so-called “progressive Christianity” claims to portray, but the bedrock of Christianity which cannot be compromised, is this very thing, but contemplative/emerging spirituality is moving people away from reconciliation through the Cross rather than toward it.

At Lifest with tens of thousands of young people, while Wallis may inspire them to remember the poor and the hurting, he will no doubt also inspire them to follow this dangerous mystical paradigm shift.

*Thomas Merton citation: Quoted in chapter 3 of A Time of Departing; Rob Baker and Gray Henry, Merton and Sufism, p. 109

Related Stories:

Film Warning: “With God on Our Side” – Championed by Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Brian McLaren & Steve Haas (World Vision)

The 2nd issue of the print Lighthouse Trails newsletter is in the mail to those on the mailing list. We have about a thousand extra copies, and if you would like some to distribute at your church or Bible study, just give us a call, and we can send you some. This is a free 32 page newsletter that will be coming out 4-6 times a year. Each issue will carry Lighthouse Trails’ most significant stories as well as other features like Letters to the Editor, Product Catalog, Q & A, Resources and more. While the newsletter is free (on a donation basis for those who wish to help cover printing and postage), for these quantity mailings we only ask that you cover postage to send you your extra copies. Typically, we can ship 8 for $4.95 or about 45 for $10.20 for U.S. mailing. You can pay us by check, Paypal, or a credit card. If you want extra copies, call us at 866/876-3910 (US & Canada). For other international, call 406/297-7756. Or you can email at editors@ftlh.org or fax request to: 406/297-7993.