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Note: Because we are a research ministry, we do post articles from various secular and Christian sources along with our own in-house articles if we believe our readers can benefit from the information.

LTRP Note: As Warren Smith pointed out in his book A “Wonderful” Deception, scientists are working to “prove” that God exists in every cell. These “new” scientists believe that God is an energy and that this energy is throughout all things. If you haven’t already, you might consider reading our articles “Will the new science “prove” that God is in everything?” and How the “Quantum Christ” (God is in everything) is Transforming the World . . . and Entering the Church!.

By Martin Beckford
UK Telegraph

It has been speculated upon for decades and at the weekend there were hints that the existence of the highly sought-after “God particle” had finally been confirmed.

by John Lanagan
My Word Like Fire Ministries

Much of the literature being sold through the International House of Prayer’s online FORERUNNER Bookstore indicates a contemplative influence. One such book being offered is Fire Within, written by Father Thomas Dubay. IHOP founder Mike Bickle states, “I want this book to be the manual for IHOP-KC.” [1]

That is high praise indeed from Mike Bickle. The full title of the book is Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel–On Prayer. Incredibly, Bickle’s “manual” is about Catholic, contemplative mystics! Also for sale on the website are books by and about St. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, and even Madame Guyon.  

Another book being offered is The Forgotten Desert Mothers, by Laura Swan. Swan writes, “We begin to discard our old ways and go in search of new ways of of communicating with God. Our prayer matures and takes on new forms.” [2] And what are these new forms? Swan states, ”Centering prayer, lectio divina, Christian meditation, Taize, and the Divine Office are all sought. Prayer moves us toward the simple: often sitting silently before the Divine–in contemplative or centering prayer–is all we feel drawn to do.” [3] To continue reading and for footnotes, click here.

Related:

To understand more about IHOP and the Kansas City “Prophets,” read The Other Side of the River and Beware the New Prophets (Bill Randles)

Mike Bickle On Contemplative Prayer by Hungry Hearts Ministry

MIKE BICKLE AND MIKE HUCKABEE TEAM UP FOR “THECALL” REVIVAL CONFERENCE  by Roger Beach

Contemplative Spirituality and the Emerging Church Come to Kansas Through YouthFront and MNU

Our newest product catalog is available as a PDF download. Feel free to print and distribute.

UTT Banquet - 20 years

Contending for the Faith Discipleship Center

The Radicals - Preview (Scroll to bottom of that page)

Meet Our Kenya Pastors

by Warren B. Smith  
LTRP Note: Today, there is much talk about teaching people to become good leaders. In reality, what is happening is people are being taught to be good followers. The term (and the concept) Servant Leadership, used by many of the most prolific Christian authors and teachers today, did not originate with them.

Servant Leadership

To further encourage people to accept the teachings of the New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality, Neale Donald Walsch founded a new organization in 2003 called Humanity’s Team. The expressed purpose of Humanity’s Team was “to change the world” . . . The Humanity’s Team Leadership gathering was a concerted effort by Walsch, Hubbard and their other New Age colleagues to further develop the new paradigm concept of self-declared “servant leadership” as an organizing principle by which to change the world. In the Preface to the “Humanity’s Team Leadership Declaration Agreement,” Walsch tells his self-declared New Age “servant leaders” that:

By declaring yourself a leader, you’re taking initiative and moving into a role of influence in a lively and vital network that’s changing the world. We’re changing the world, first by changing ourselves and then by touching the world as changed beings. We believe the change in us catalyzes change in others. So in changing the world, we’re choosing to be the change we wish to see in the world. By taking on this leadership role, you are choosing to be the change too.1

In another section of this same Agreement, titled “responsibilities of self-declared leaders,” it states: “To serve, because that is leadership’s function.” On his Humanity’s Team website Walsch has a “worldwide servant leaders list.”2 He invites those visiting his website to declare themselves to be “servant leaders.”

The term “servant leadership” originated with former AT&T business executive Robert K. Greenleaf who wrote the 1977 book Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness.3 Greenleaf stated that he was inspired to create the “servant leadership” model after reading German-born author Hermann Hesse’s mysterious, metaphysical book Journey to the East:

The idea of the Servant as Leader came out of reading Herman Hesse’s Journey to the East. In this story we see a band of men on a mythical journey, probably also Hesse’s own journey.4

Hesse was described by his publisher as “a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought.”5 The publisher explained that Journey to the East was the story of a group of seekers from a “secret society” whose ultimate destination was “the East”–the “Home of the Light”–where they expected to find “spiritual renewal.”6 Greenfleaf’s inspiration for “servant leadership” came from Hesse’s “Leo,” the obscure “servant leader” of this secret society that was journeying toward the East. Greenleaf wrote that he received his insight about “servant leadership” as he “contemplated” Leo: “I did not get the notion of servant as leader from conscious logic. Rather it came to me as an intuitive insight as I contemplated Leo.”7

Greenleaf described how his “servant leadership” model was based on the idea of a “servant leader” that was a “living” leader, as Leo was to his group, rather than some “dead prophet” from the past.

Some who have difficulty with this theory assert that their faith rests on one or more of the prophets of old having given the “word” for all time and that the contemporary ones do not speak to their condition as the older ones do…. One cannot interact with and build strength in a dead prophet, but one can do it with a living one.8

It is no wonder that a “living” New Age “prophet” like Walsch–who is obviously trying to overturn the Bible’s “dead prophets”–would find Greenleaf’s mystically inspired model of “servant leadership” compatible to his Humanity’s Team New Age/New Gospel/New Spirituality leadership movement. Greenleaf’s term “servant leadership” might sound biblical, but it clearly is not.

Ironically, in 2003, when Neale Donald Walsch founded his worldwide Humanity’s Team on the principle of self-declared “servant leadership,” self-professing Christian businessman Ken Blanchard also founded his worldwide “Lead Like Jesus” movement on this same principle of self-declared “servant leadership.” In their curiously similar 2003 “servant leadership” programs, both Neale Donald Walsch and Ken Blanchard had their leaders sign statements declaring themselves to be servant leaders.”9 There is often overlapping language, common to both of their “servant leader” movements. Walsch’s Humanity’s Team Leadership Declaration encourages his “servant leaders” to “be the change” they wish to see “in the world.”10 In Blanchard’s 2006 book Lead Like Jesus he also tells his servant leaders they should “be the change” they wish to see “in others.”11 There is an obvious danger of these overlapping servant leader movements. One day soon the Christian “servant leader” may very well become indistinguishable from the New Age/New Spirituality “servant leader.” In fact, at the end of Hesse’s book Journey to the East, the figure of the author/seeker merges into and becomes indistinguishable and at “one” with the servant leader Leo. Thus Hesse’s book, along with Greenleaf’s notion of servant leadership, actually facilitate the plans of the New Age “Christ” who is trying to transform biblical Christianity into the emerging New Spirituality. (From False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care? by Warren Smith)

Notes:
1. Humanity’s Team Leadership Declaration Agreement. This agreement was distributed to the attendees of the Leadership Gathering in Portland, Oregon, June 27-July 1, 2003. (http://web.archive.org/web/20061114105219/www.humanitysteam.org/images/agreement.pdf)
2. http://web.archive.org/web/20061101015756/www.humanitysteam.com/leaders.html.
3. Greenleaf Center for Servant-Leadership web page: What is Servant-Leadership? http://web.archive.org/web/20061127102733/www.greenleaf.org/leadership/servant-leadership/What-is-Servant-Leadership.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership.
4. Robert K. Greenleaf, SERVANT LEADERSHIP: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (New York: Paulist Press, 1977), p. 7.
5. Hermann Hesse, THE JOURNEY TO THE EAST (New York: Picador, 1956), back cover.
6. Ibid.
7. Greenleaf, SERVANT LEADERSHIP, p. 12.
8. Ibid., p. 9.
9. (Walsch): Humanity’s Team Leadership Declaration Agreement. This agreement was distributed to the attendees of the Leadership Gathering in Portland, Oregon, June 27-July 1, 2003. (Blanchard): Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, THE SERVANT LEADER: TRANSFORMING YOUR HEART, HANDS, & HABITS (Nashville, Tennessee: J. Countryman, 2003), pp. 120-121.
10. Humanity’s Team Leadership Declaration Agreement, p. 1.
11. Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges, Lead Like Jesus: Lessons from the Greatest Leadership Role Model of All Times (Nashville, Tennessee:W Publishing Group, 2005), p. 209.

Related Information:

Rick Warren Distorts the Instructions of Jesus to Fit His Global Peace Plan

Warren, Blanchard, Hybels, Laurie, Buford – Launching New York Leadership Center This Week

by Roger Oakland

There is a pattern we find throughout the Word of God.  God always warns before He brings judgment on sinful man. God is merciful and never reacts quickly without giving sinners a chance to repent. While He hates sin, He has often allowed men to carry on even if they do not respond.  However there are always consequences of sin.  The Bible states that the wages of sin is death. Often sin is exposed publically, and others are reminded to get right with God.

As we read through the Bible, we see how God has always raised up men and women to warn the people of coming judgments. The first time this occurred in history was before the great flood of Noah. Very few listened to Noah. God used Noah to warn, and then the judgment came. For the majority who refused to listen, they were wiped out in a global catastrophe.

Of all the prophets, Jeremiah is the one who seemed to have the toughest job. Virtually no one would listen to him as he was trying to warn the leaders of Israel about the judgment they were going to face. They had turned away from God and were following their forefathers who had turned to the gods. God used Jeremiah to warn the people and then judged the children of Israel by sending them into exile where they were forced to live in a society that was totally pagan.

If history repeats itself as the Bible states, then it would be reasonable to predict the same pattern would be repeated today.  People who profess to be followers of God end up following men who follow the devil who then become Satan’s pawns. As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun.

A brief overview of what we call the “new” evangelical movement provides a good example of what is happening today. According to Bible prophecy, the Last Days will see the implementation of a global One World Religion that prepares the way for the antichrist. This would mean that we will see all religions coming together for the cause of peace. Not only will the religions of the world join up in an ecumenical unity, but so will the majority of those who call themselves Christian.

We have been watching this trend happen for over two decades. Without knowing it “Protestant evangelicals” have been seduced so that they are neither Protestant nor evangelical. Many churches and denominations have been led astray by the pied pipers of the Purpose Driven emerging church movement, which clearly embraces a false hope centered on a P.E.A.C.E. Plan that is supposed to unite all religions of the world to do good. This plan is fueled by the belief that we can get closer to God through various contemplative eastern practices like Yoga and contemplative prayer. Christ is mentioned in name, but the “Jesus” and the “gospel” is not the Jesus Christ and the gospel that is supported by the Scriptures.

While I have only been a born-again Christian for just over three decades, it has been long enough to see a paradigm shift taking place with regards to what it means today to be a Christian. Many churches and denominations have joined hands with pagans. Once Bible-based and Jesus-centered, many evangelical churches have moved away from messengers of the gospel towards church-growth programs driven by corporate politics that leaves biblical Christianity behind. Rather than looking to the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the sheep are conditioned or brainwashed to look to some man whom they believe is the answer to all their problems. This cult style of Christian leadership is not only dangerous, it provides the backbone that leads towards a One World Religion with an ecumenical headquarters headed by the pope in Rome.

These pseudo churches have departed from the faith in such a way that many have not even noticed. When someone points out the deception that is happening they are considered to be the heretics. Those with discernment are scoffed at and told to shut up. Worse yet those who are persistent in shining the light on apostasy are marginalized, shunned, or declared crazy.

The bottom line is this: the leaders of the Last Days apostasy are most often too proud to receive correction from anyone. They call those who stand up and warn them as unbalanced, out of touch, “haters,” or even psychotic misfits who are on the lunatic fringe.

The Final, Final, Final Warning

Just before sitting down to write this commentary, I was at the John Wayne Airport in southern Californian waiting for a flight to San Francisco. As I had time to spare before my flight, I took out a notepad from my pocket and started to jot down an outline dealing with the subject matter of this commentary. Unexpectedly, I heard an announcement made over the intercom: “This is the final – final – final call for United Airlines Flight 322 to San Francisco.” I looked at my watch and realized I had nearly missed my flight. The call was for me.

We are living at a period in Church history when the final-final-final call is being made to warn the Church to wake up. The apostasy that is underway is greater every day. Worse yet, fewer and fewer professing Christians realize what is happening. They have gone to sleep it seems. More and more pastors are concerned about property, power, and prestige than they are about people. While many should be repenting from their sins, they are spending the time they have left here on earth covering up their sin in order to protect what they believe is their legacy. Others have poured their energies and focus into trying to “return” America to a Christian nation, claiming that we need to get back to our Christian roots and take over our country for Jesus. While there have certainly been many Christians in the history of America who have served Him faithfully over the past two hundred years, the fact is that no country is “Christian.” The Bible refers to those of the faith as “strangers and pilgrims of the earth” (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11). The only solution to our problem with sin is salvation through Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross. Our home is not on earth but in heaven. So while the majority of Christians are distracted by their worldly carnal ambitions, they are missing the final call.

Recently we sent out a general open letter to all pastors attempting to wake up those who should know better. The letter was written to all pastors even though the majority of the churches I have spoken at in the past were fellowships belonging to the Calvary Chapel movement. In my view, the time we have before God’s judgment comes is short. When the church is more interested in man-made agenda’s than God’s, the church is no longer useful. God will simply raise up others to do the job. In fact, I believe we are fast approaching a time when the apostate “church” will join up with the One World Religion, and the body of true believers in Jesus Christ will be forced to the sidelines and even underground because of persecution.

For those who have followed the ministry of Understand The Times, you will know we have been trying to warn the church for the last two decades about the judgment that is coming. Books and commentaries have been written. Presentations have been made since about 1990. Some of these books that were written include: New Wine Or Old Deception, When New Wine Makes a Man Divine,  New Wine and the Babylonian Vine, When Marian Apparitions Plan to United the World Religions, Another Jesus: The Eucharistic Christ and the New Evangelization and Faith Undone.

Not only did I express my concerns about the direction the church was headed in a public way, I wrote personal letters to the leaders of Calvary Chapel that we are now making public so the world can see. You can read some of these letters by going to the following link: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=5258.

Why am I doing this? The answer is very simple. Over the past year, I have been accused by some of my colleagues as being mentally unbalanced and vindictive because I have simply expressed the facts. I have even been told that I have blasphemed the Holy Spirit because I have questioned the roots of the Calvary Chapel movement. Apparently, up until now, no one has dared to do this.

While I have heard the rumors and seen some of the e-mails regarding what has been said, I will make the statement again: The Lord has led me to warn what is happening. No one is listening. I have done this according the Scriptures. When you see brothers heading into apostasy, you need to warn them, and then if the warning isn’t heeded, wash your hands.

Finally, I fear no man. I reverence and fear Jesus Christ and His Word.

The rejection and ridicule that we have received from many of my former colleagues would provide the contents for a book, which we will likely write at a later time. While I refuse to read the blogs and even the threatening e-mails that come to me from pastors and church leaders that I once shared a common platform with, the time has come for me to speak up. Understand The Times will not be silenced; we will tell the facts whatever the cost. Sin cannot be covered up.

Just like Jeremiah, we have been told that we are crazy and to shut up. Read Jeremiah chapter 21.

Prediction

The truth always wins out. As someone said, the truth will always chase a lie through the back door. While I have no personal vendetta against those who conjure up lies and rumors about me, I will make one final appeal to the consciences of those who know better.

It is time to fear God and get things right. You cannot continue to let on that everything is all right. It is time to warn the body of Christ about the days in which we live. Your camp is full of leaven. Your sin will find you out.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7-8)

LTRP Note: We post this disturbing news article by Associated Press because there are still many people who do not believe child sex abuse and child pornography is an outrageously huge epidemic. Child pornography is a multi-billion dollar “industry.” To learn more about this and how the US sex education program has been influenced, watch The Kinsey Syndrome. And please pray for all of the children who were victimized by the 72 people arrested.

Pete Yost
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Seventy-two people have been charged with participating in an international child pornography network that prosecutors say used an online bulletin board called Dreamboard to trade tens of thousands of images and videos of sexually abused children.1

Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday a 20-month law enforcement effort called Operation Delego targeted more than 600 Dreamboard members around the world for allegedly participating in the private, members-only Internet club created to promote pedophilia.

Numerous participants in the network sexually abused children ages 12 and under, produced images and video of the abuse and then shared it with other club members, according to court papers released in the case.

At a news conference at the Justice Department, the attorney general called the criminal activity a “nightmare” for the children” and said that some of the children featured in the images and videos were just infants.

 In many cases, the children being victimized were in obvious, and intentional, pain – even in distress and crying, just as the rules for one area of the bulletin board mandated, the attorney general said. Click here to continue reading.

And please protect your children and grandchildren.

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco judge has struck a measure from the November ballot calling for a ban on male circumcision.

Superior Court Judge Loretta Giorgi issued her final ruling on the measure on Thursday, saying the proposed law prohibiting circumcision of male children violates a California law that makes regulating medical procedures a function of the state, not cities.

The ruling confirmed a tentative decision Giorgi issued a day earlier.

Michael Kinane, an attorney for proponents of the ban, argued that circumcision was not a medical procedure. He also said the ballot measure included an exception in cases where circumcision was needed for health reasons. (source)

Related:

San Franciscans to vote on controversial male circumcision ban in November

Bryce Dean Oakland Memorial

June 23, 1974- August 5, 2001

Today, August 5, 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of Roger Oakland’s son’s “graduation to heaven.” This is the memorial Roger has written:

No one can possibly understand the pain and grief our family experienced when we lost a son and brother like Bryce – unless one has personally experienced the loss of a child or a brother and sister when he or she was young.

Bryce died in a car accident in Saskatchewan. He was only 27 years old at the time. In the prime of life, he was suddenly taken away from us in a moment of time.

Each year at this time we are especially reminded how much we miss him and will continue to miss him until we meet again. We have many wonderful memories of our son (brother to Wade and Angela) from the moment he came into the world and on through his life. He loved life. He loved the farm. He had many friends.

It is also at this time of the year that I am personally reminded of the countless hours that I missed spending time with him because I was away from my family due to ministry demands. Needless to say, it is not possible to turn the clock back and do things over.

While this may sound somewhat mystical, and please know that I know that Jesus Christ holds the keys to life and death, somehow I believe that when I faced death just two years ago, Bryce was cheering me on to keep up the fight. While the number of my former friends and colleagues continues to dwindle as I continue in the battle, each day I look to the Lord and ask Him for His protection and guidance.

But there is one other thing that is important to me. I continue to be encouraged by the small wood plaque that I keep on my desk that Bryce gave me for a birthday present one year before he died. The plaque is just a simple statement. “Roger – God’s warrior.” I know that giving me this plaque was meaningful to Bryce. He believed in Jesus, and he was proud of me.

The photograph below was taken about 15 years ago – five years before Bryce died. It is taken in our back yard at our home in the province of Saskatchewan. I also keep it in a place where I can be reminded daily. While Bruce is not with us in body, he is “present with the Lord.”

Oakland Family Photo 1996 – 5 years before Bryce left this earth.

Back Row From Left Wade , Bryce
Front Row From Left Angela, Myrna, Roger

Taken from Understand the Times website.

Note from Lighthouse Trails: Coming in the Fall - the autobiography of Roger Oakland - Let There Be Light.

From his days as an evolutionist to a creationist and a Christian, Let There Be Light is more than just a biography - it is a testament to God's faithfulness and His desire to use His children to preach the Word and contend for the faith The book covers: Roger's upbringing on a Saskatchewan farm, his role as an evolutionary biology teacher, his sharing the Gospel and creationism with the entire Russian nation the day after the USSR collapsed, over two decades as a Calvary Chapel lecturer and teacher, his desperately trying to warn an entire organization of the coming apostasy, the severing of that ministerial relationship and its implications, and the death of two sons. Let There Be Light is the culmination of the life of one man who was called by God and answered that call with a prayer, "Lord help me be willing to do whatever You want me to do."

New [Post]Modern “Bible” Translation Proves More Popular Than Expected

By Audrey Barrick
Christian Post

The Common English Bible, the newest translation touted for its modern, easy-to-read language, is doing better than expected and is now in its third printing.

There are now 500,000 copies of the translation in print, including New Testament-only editions. The entire Bible was released in paperback just last month and is selling quickly, according to an announcement Monday. Sales have exceeded the publisher’s first print-run expectations by 50 percent.

Paul Franklyn, associate publisher, says the surge in interest in the CEB is due in part to recent media coverage. The New Testament edition has been out for a year.

The CEB has been approved for use in classrooms at Fuller Theological Seminary in Southern California. It was given the green light for its gender-inclusive language and its accessible language. Click here to continue reading.

Related:

New NIV “was written, it seems, by cowards for cowards,” says Voice of Martyrs Director

WARNING: Modern-Day “Bible” Versions Used to Promote Liberal Agenda

The English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible. “A Dream Come True”?

Open Letter To Evangelical and Protestant Pastors Worldwide – Now is the Day to Turn Back to God’s Word

So what does Cru mean — aside from college slang for crusade? Right now, nothing – and anything.

From Orlando Sentinel blog

The Campus Crusade for Christ’s recent announcement that the organization plans to change its name to Cru has left lots of people scratching their heads — especially after the ministry said it went through 1,600 possible names before coming up with that one.

Cru? Really? What’s that mean? Shorthand for “Crusade”? An acronym?

Campus Crusade Vice President Steve Sellers says the name began as a nickname in the early 1990s on college campuses where students started referring to “going to Cru” or attending a “Cru meeting.” Sellers couldn’t say who first started using the nickname or how it came about, but it’s safe to assume – since this is the same generation of college students that reduced “parents” to “rents” – that “Cru” is short for “Crusade.”

The decision to change the name came because both “Crusade” and “Campus” no longer accurately reflect the organization, Sellers said. Click here to continue reading.

We are pleased to announce the release of In My Father's House by Corrie ten Boom. This is our newest release.

This book had been out of print for some time, and Lighthouse Trails was able to sign a contract with the Corrie ten Boom Fonds so that we could publish our own special edition. Our beautifully formatted edition has over fifty photos and is enhanced with drawings and bordered Scriptures.

When Corrie ten Boom was in her early fifties, she and her family joined the Dutch Underground Christian Resistance movement during World War II. Corrie’s autobiography The Hiding Place, describing those war years, is a book (and movie) that millions of people worldwide are familiar with. In My Father’s House is the story of Corrie’s years prior to the commencement of World War II.

Corrie was a timid girl when she was young, growing up in a busy household with three older siblings, several aunts, and a mother and father wholly devoted to God and their family. From an early age, Corrie felt sympathy and compassion for those who were hurting. With a solid foundation in God’s word instilled by her father Casper ten Boom (a watchmaker), Corrie spent her life reaching out to others with God’s love and the Gospel message.

In My Father’s House is a testament to how God prepared one family through a father’s faithfulness to his Savior and the Word of God for the most sacrificial service a family could do. Beginning in the years before Corrie was born, the book paints a beautiful picture of “family” from which today’s families can glean valuable and eternally-lasting lessons.

Book Information:
200 pages, softbound, $13.95
Quantity Discounts: $8.37 for 10 or more copies.
Featuring many family photos as well as Scriptures that Father ten Boom shared with his wife and children

Click here to order or for more information.

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