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Conference Alert: Emergents, missionals seek to educate (?) children
[Brian McLaren] explains that this merging church must infiltrate the “institutions that rejected it,” adding that “conservative Protestants have repeated their Catholic sibling’s earlier mistakes (referring to the Catholic church’s one time rejection of Galileo). Then he says: “But over time, what they reject will find or create safe space outside their borders and become a resource so that many if not most of the grandchildren of today’s fundamentalists will learn and grow and move on from the misguided battles of their forebears [biblical believers]” (p. 133). You see, McLaren and his emerging church fellows (Pagitt, Sweet, Warren, et.al) want to change the minds of our children and grandchildren.
Rick Warren once said that the older traditional ones will have to leave or die because they won’t change, thus the emphasis in the emerging church on the youth.What’s alarming is that McLaren’s vision of infiltration is working. And he knows it. Listen: “At the center, safe space happens. A learning community forms. New possibilities emerge. A new day dawns. If the guardians of our fragmented religious institutions forbid their members to meet in the center, the members will not be able to comply. They will simply go undercover and arrange secret liaisons … Eventually, the shared resources, vitality, and new possibilities that unfold … will penetrate and reinvigorate … Trying to stop [this] … is a losing game … against the plotline of God’s universe.” . . .
For those readers who care about the spiritual future of their children and grandchildren, it is vital they understand the meaning of McLaren’s spirituality in particular and the emerging/contemplative movement in general.
With the above in mind, take a look at John Lanagan’s post about emergents (yes McLaren is one of them here) who want to “educate” your children. If you thought the emerging church was dead, like some are saying, it’s not, and it’s coming for your kids.
Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis and others have a conference coming up concerning how to reach the children. According to Associated Baptist Press:
Nationally known presenters include progressive evangelical social activists like Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo and Jim Wallis alongside children’s and youth ministry experts such as Ivy Beckwith, Joyce Bellous, Amy Dolan and Michael Novelli. McLaren, author of books including A New Kind of Christianity, said in a promotional video that in his travels he has heard a recurring theme that new forms of ministry, worship and community taking root and growing around the world are not being transmitted effectively to children and youth. [1]
“We are going into a revolution in the way we do church and the way we understand and practice Christian faith — a revolution that’s changing lives of so many adults, and especially young adults — but then we go down and we’re still using old, off-the-shelf curricula for children,” McLaren said. [2]
It was only a matter of time. As the homosexual lobby has targeted the young, so now are the missional/emergents using this strategy. You can read it all over at PrayerAware: HERE
Lighthouse Trails is a Christian publishing company and research project. We work with a group of Christian journalists and authors, all who understand the times in which we live from a biblical perspective. While we hope you will read the books we have published and support our authors, we also provide extensive free research, documentation, and news on our Research site, blog, and e-newsletter.
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“Southern Baptists repeatedly have affirmed our commitment to the full inspiration and authority of Scripture,” the resolution states. “This translation alters the meaning of hundreds of verses, most significantly by erasing gender-specific details which appear in the original language.”
Expressing “profound disappointment” with Biblica and Zondervan Publishing House, who printed 1.9 million copies of the updated Bible in the first run, the SBC “respectfully [requested]” that Lifeway Bookstores not sell the new version in their stores and encouraged pastors to let their congregations know of the translation errors.
While the SBC’s willingness to stand up against this new translation Bible translation is worth noting, we are puzzled that they find nothing wrong with Eugene Peterson’s translation The Messageparaphrase and Richard Foster’s Renovare Spiritual Formation Study Bible. On their LifeWay Resources website, they sell The Message and the Renovare “Bible.” They also carry theNew Men’s Devotional Bible (NIV),which includes “contributions” by New Age sympathizer Rob Bell. They also carry books by contemplative authors such as Gary Thomas, including his book Sacred Pathways where he tells readers to repeat a word for twenty minutes and Sacred Marriage where he references several times a tantric sex advocate.1 They carry books by contemplative proponent Pete Scazzero including Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, a resource for those wanting to practice contemplative prayer. To get a good glimpse at Scazzero’s propensities, check out his favorite books section on his website – it’s a plethora of mystics, emergents, and New Agers sympathizers. And there are countless other examples of contemplative authors that LifeWay is selling. A search on the store website will bring these up.
The message that Southern Baptist Convention is sending out to its members by approving a resolution against the gender-neutral Bible yet continuing to embrace contemplative/emerging authors is that the issue of men’s and women’s roles is important but protecting the church from mysticism, emerging spirituality, and the New Age is not. A number of years ago, LifeWay removed books by authors such as Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, and Thomas Keating (all Catholics).2 But they have erred greatly if they do not realize that Nouwen, Merton, and Keating’s spirituality is still entering the Protestant church at breakneck speed through evangelical avenues – it’s the same spirituality as Nouwen, Merton, and Keating, just an “evangelical” outer layer disguising its true nature.
While we can understand the concern that SBC has over the gender-neutral Bible, we cannot understand their lack of concern over contemplative/emerging spirituality and its harmful impact on the Christian church.
Irish Prime Minister Condemns Vatican Over Child Abuse Cover Up
LTRP Note: This is an out of house article for informational purposes only.
By ROBERT MACKEY New York Times
“[T]he Vatican has recalled its ambassador to Ireland following the release of an Irish government report that the Vatican had discouraged efforts by bishops to report cases of sex abuse to the police.”
The report, released on July 13, found that clergy leaders in the rural Irish diocese of Cloyne did not act on complaints against 19 priests from 1996 to 2009. It also concluded that the Vatican had encouraged bishops to ignore child-protection guidelines that included the “mandatory reporting” of abuse to civil authorities. (The Times has posted the complete text of the report online.)
A brief Vatican statement explaining the decision to recall its ambassador noted, “in particular, the reactions that have followed” the release of the report. Click here to continue. If you cannot view the video below, click here.
Todd Bentley of Lakeland Revival, Florida Outpouring publicly endorsed by Bill Johnson (Bethel)
By Charisse Van Horn Examiner
On August 17, 2011, Pastor Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, California, publicly endorsed the ministry of Todd Bentley. Bentley was the main leader of the Lakeland Revival, also known as the Florida Outpouring or Florida Healing Outpouring that began on April 2, 2008 when he held a series of meetings at Ignited Church, led by Pastor Stephen Strader in Lakeland, Florida. The services were aired nightly on the Internet and through God TV and drew more than 400,000 attendees.
An investigative report regarding the revival was aired by ABC’s Nightline in June 2008. Several days after the airing of the report, Todd Bentley stepped down from the revival. He later admitted to having an affair with one of his Fresh Fire staff members and proceeded to undergo a period of restoration under Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries. Bentley and his wife, Shonnah Bentley, divorced and he later married the woman whom he had the affair with: Jessa Bentley. Due to the number of testimonies that occurred throughout the revival, yet the differences that noticeably set the Florida Outpouring apart from revivals of the past, such as Bentley’s method for praying over people and the lack of regular, nightly altar calls for salvation, the Christian church quickly split over the revival. To this day, many refer to the Lakeland Revival by derogatory names such as the “Fakeland Revival” and view Bentley as a sham. Bill Johnson, however, addressed Bentley’s past failings and has endorsed his ministry saying that Bentley is restored. Continue reading.
Christian and New Age Leaders Together in Post-911 Book
By Warren Smith
The first time I encountered Rick Warren was in the spring of 2002, in a book titled From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America. The book was a collection of articles written by a wide variety of “spiritual leaders” and “extraordinary citizens” published in response to the events of September 11, 2001. Proceeds from the book were to go to the families of the 9/11 victims. I remember being intrigued by the fact that Christian leaders found themselves included in a book that also featured many familiar New Age leaders. Articles by Billy Graham, Bruce Wilkinson, Charles Colson, Max Lucado, Bill Hybels, Jerry Jenkins, Bishop T.D. Jakes and others were side by side with articles written by prominent New Age leaders like Neale Donald Walsch, the Dalai Lama and Starhawk the witch. I was not familiar with the man simply listed as “Pastor Rick Warren.”
I discovered From the Ashes just after writing Reinventing Jesus Christ [now titled False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care?]. In my 2002 book, I had updated readers on significant recent New Age activity. I was concerned because Christian leaders were doing so little to warn believers about a New Age movement that had reinvented itself and was now referring to its teachings as the “new gospel” and the “New Spirituality.” I found it particularly interesting that in From the Ashes Christian leaders not only found themselves in the company of top New Age leaders, they were now being directly challenged by some of these same New Age people.
New Age leader Neale Donald Walsch’s article appeared just pages from Bishop T.D. Jakes’ opening article. In his article, Walsch challenged religious leaders everywhere, including Rick Warren, Billy Graham, and every Christian leader in the book, in light of the events of September 11th to accept and preach the “new gospel” that “We are all one.” After erroneously claiming that the Bible supports the idea that “We are all one,” Walsch wrote:
We must change ourselves. We must change the beliefs upon which our behaviors are based. We must create a different reality, build a new society….We must do so with new spiritual truths. We must preach a new gospel, its healing message summarized in two sentences:
We are all one.
Ours is not a better way, ours is merely another way.
This 15-word message, delivered from every lectern and pulpit, from every rostrum and platform, could change everything overnight. I challenge every priest, every minister, every rabbi and religious cleric to preach this.1
I remember reading this and realizing how brazen the New Age was getting, and how deceptively appealing the idea of “Oneness” must sound to a terrified humanity still wondering when the next disaster might strike. What a clever way to present New Age teachings to a vulnerable world. But I was also thinking what a great opportunity it was for Christian leaders—particularly in this book—to contend for the faith by exposing the New Age teachings that were behind Walsch’s seemingly “positive” exhortation.
In Walsch’s best-selling Conversations with God books, in which he purports to have actual “conversations with God,” Walsch’s “God” specifically defines what he means by the “new gospel” teaching that “We are all One.” “God” tells Walsch:
God is creation.2
You are the Creator and the Created.3
You are already a God. You simply do not know it.4
You are One with everyone and everything in the Universe—including God.5
There is only One of Us. You and I are One.6
If the Christian leaders in From the Ashes contended for the faith by responding to Walsch’s New Age challenge, they could use the situation to delineate the significant differences between New Age teachings and the teachings of biblical Christianity. It was a unique opportunity for church leaders to expound upon the fact that God is not inherently “at One” with His creation and that man is not divine. They could explain that the Bible makes it very clear that humanity’s only “Oneness” with God, and with each other, is through the person of Jesus Christ when we repent of our sins and choose to accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28; emphasis added)
Walsch’s public challenge was a great opportunity for these Christian leaders to contend for the faith. But other than one lone pastor in Iowa,7 I am not aware of anyone else publicly responding to Walsch’s challenge.
Today, Walsch and other New Age leaders have accelerated their challenge to the Church by declaring that “God” has a 5-Step “PEACE Plan” to ultimately save the world through the establishment of a “New Spirituality.” Part of this “New Spirituality” demands that Christians abandon their belief in Jesus Christ as their exclusive Lord and Savior. In a recent best-selling Walsch book, his New Age “God” has now openly declared, “The era of the Single Savior is over.”8
But even with all of these open threats and challenges to biblical Christianity, most Christian leaders today continue to generally ignore almost anything having to do with New Age teachers and teachings. Over the last decade, as New Age teachings exploded in popularity, church leaders suddenly became very quiet about the New Age. Perhaps distracted by church growth concerns and tracking what they considered to be the latest “moves of God,” church leaders seemed to be missing the latest moves of our spiritual Adversary. Excited about all of the “great” things they felt God was doing, they had become ignorant of what our Adversary was doing. (from Deceived on Purpose, chapter 1)
Notes
1. Beliefnet Editors, From the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack on America (USA: Rodale Inc., 2001), p. 21.
2. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: an uncommon dialogue, Book 1 (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1995, 1996), p. 198.
3. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: an uncommon dialogue, Book 3 (Charlottesville, Va: Hampton Roads Publishing, Inc., 1998), p. 350.
4. Walsch, Conversations with God: Book 1, p. 202.
5. Walsch, Conversations with God: Book 2, p. 173.
6. Neale Donald Walsch, Friendship with God: an uncommon dialogue (New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), p. 23.
7. Bill Randles, “An Open Letter to Neale Donald Walsch,” http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/NealeDonaldWalsch.html
8. Neale Donald Walsch, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God (New York, NY: Atria Books, 2002), p. 157.
Rick Warren: 9/11 National Prayer Day Planned 2 Blocks From Ground Zero
Comment from Understand the Times: Rick Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan is designed to work together with all religions and Tony Blair who has the Faith Foundation. In light of Warren’s plan to fill the spiritual vacuum caused by 9-1-1, it would appear Warren will plan that the One World Religion will become even more of a reality. Perhaps he will have Blair ask the pope to head it up with headquarters in Jerusalem.
Rick Warren: 9/11 National Prayer Day Planned 2 Blocks From Ground Zero
A church located two blocks from New York City’s ground zero, which was planted in Manhattan shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., will be part of the live webcast memorial services led by Orange County, Calif., megachurch pastor Rick Warren. The services will be at least partially broadcast from Lower Manhattan Community Church, one of Saddleback’s “daughter churches,” on the weekend of the 10th anniversary of the tragedy.
Warren made it obvious to his congregation during weekend services that the decision by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s to exclude any prayers from clergy at ground zero in the upcoming 10th anniversary commemoration of the 9/11 attacks did not sit well with him. Bloomberg recently stated, “Everybody would like to participate, and the bottom line is everybody cannot participate. There isn’t room. There isn’t time. And in some cases, it’s just not appropriate.”
“This week the mayor of New York City announced that at the 10th anniversary memorial service at ground zero that there are going to be no prayers,” Warren said in church, accompanied by a smattering of boos. “Now, you know what I think about that. So, we are going to have our own nationwide, national prayer day,” he said to applause. Click here to continue reading.
A Tale Of Two Kingdoms
By Sandy Simpson
Deception in the Church Ministries
Be careful of those who teach about a “kingdom” that is not the same as what the Bible teaches.
There are two kingdoms being taught in many churches today. Teaching about one of the kingdoms is on the decline while the other is being promoted all over the place. I am warning Christians that they need to check out who is using the word “kingdom”, the books they have been reading and recommend on building “the kingdom”, the people they have been hanging out with at conferences, and what they mean by “the kingdom”.
Biblical Christians need to understand that many of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), Emergent Church, Church Growth, Word of Faith and other related movements are operating under a paradigm shift. Because of that when they use the word “kingdom” they do not have the same biblical concept of that word that biblical Christians do. Whether purposely or under the influence of the Zeitgeist, the “new breed” paradigm shifters use the word “kingdom” in order to lure people into their Dominionist/social gospel worldview. They know that most Christians love to hear about the “kingdom” so they act like they are talking to them in the unity of the Faith. But they are not.
This is an old trick of the false teachers and cults. They redefine certain words so that when they talk to biblical Christians they can sound like they are on the same page. For instance, the New Age cult called “Unity” did this years ago with many Christian terms and was able to lure in some people on that basis. Once you lure them in then you slowly brainwash them away from their former understanding of those terms into a new paradigm.
The first concept is called Kingdom “Kingdom Now (KN)” and the second we will call “Kingdom Come (KC)”. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). KN claims this prayer is about Kingdom Now. Biblical Christians understand this is referring to the Kingdom being first established in the spirits of born again believers (Col. 1:13) and finally physically established in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ when He returns (1 Cor. 15:24), since the dominion over the earth currently has been temporarily given to the devil (Luke 4:5-8, Eph. 2:2).
1Jo 5:19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
The KN people expect the Church to fulfill the “Lord’s Prayer” even though Jesus was not referring to the Church when He gave this example prayer to the disciples. This prayer is to be prayed to God the Father, not the Church. Jesus was primarily talking about KC, the physical Kingdom of Jesus Christ in the Millennium when He comes again, because establishment of the physical Kingdom on earth is impossible because it is against God’s will at this time. Click here to continue reading.
“Touch Not Mine Anointed” – the Cry of Modern-Day Prophets and Heroes
LTRP Note: Kevin Reeves, a Lighthouse Trails author, was an elder in a River (Latter Rain) movement church for many years until the Lord showed he and his wife the truth about the spiritual deception they were involved with. What happened to him is much the same that is happening to many Christians today.
“Touch Not Mine Anointed”
by Kevin Reeves
Perhaps the single biggest factor hindering acknowledgment and genuine repentance of false doctrine is the unwillingness for believers to relinquish the superstar status of their spiritual heroes. And how many times had our [church] leadership supported this by telling us not to name names? It was the one thing above all others that tied my hands and put a gag in my mouth. Although I was told to go ahead and speak to whomever I wanted to within our group, such presentations were always followed up with appropriate damage control by the leadership. And I was forbidden to breach the unwritten hyper-charismatic code and expose people like Kenneth Copeland during the times I filled the pulpit….
This fear of exposing God’s anointed, even if they are guilty of repeated heresies, bordered on (may I use the term?) paranoia. Regardless of the evidence presented, there was simply no way anyone in our leadership would even admit the word heresy was applicable. Even when the blood atonement of Christ on the Cross is denied; even when those doing the denying are becoming rich through the tithes and offerings of believers who are often materially far worse off; even when these same ministers threaten divine judgment on those in opposition (the old Ananias and Sapphira tactic - Acts 5: 1-11).
Both the Old and New Testaments are replete with examples of the Lord’s apostles and prophets condemning false brethren. Check out Ezekiel 34 sometime, plus the entire books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. Then look at Jesus’ exposure of the hypocrisy and false teaching of His day, or the apostles’ stern warnings in the epistles, such as found in the entire epistle of Jude. Anyone who claims the Bible commands silence on the subject simply doesn’t know the Word as well as he thinks. Although false prophets are not stoned today (fortunate for them!), their sin will always be one of grave consequences.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)
We must name them. How else will the church be warned? Would that we had the courage of a Nathan, to thunder with the righteous anger of the Almighty, “Thou art the man” (II Samuel 12:7)!
The false shepherds among us have too long used I Chronicles 16:22 and Psalm 105:15 as a blank check to do as they please. “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm” was God’s warning to the nations through which the Israelites passed during their sojourn through the wilderness. It implied swift judgment for any pagans who would come against the chosen people of the Lord. To wield this like a saber at a sincere brother alarmed at false doctrine smacks of spiritual tyranny, cowardice, and dishonesty. Hammered also with the Acts 5 account of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, a concerned believer in Jesus is usually bullied into silence or into leaving the congregation. It’s already been used right here in our town to squelch close examination of extra-biblical manifestations.
While a big part of me just wanted out, Kris and I continued to hang on to a shredded hope for change, and we wound up staying months longer than we otherwise would have.
In the end, I’m glad we did. Had we left sooner, some nagging doubts may have remained in both our hearts, and could have become a wedge between us. New Covenant leadership, although not present in our home, would possibly have kept a foot in the door of our lives. So we settled down to wait, and what was hidden finally came full-blown into the light. (an excerpt from The Other Side of the River by Kevin Reeves, chapter 12)
If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews,or friends with children, or if you work with children, we hope you’ll read this article. With Lighthouse Trails’ motto, “bringing light to areas of darkness,” we have been reporting on child sex abuse and the “new” sexuality since the beginning of Lighthouse Trails. Some may feel that sex abuse and the “new” sexuality do not fall within the parameters of exposing spiritual deception, but we believe it does. Why are we doing this? It’s quite simple, really. What is sown today will bear fruit tomorrow. In other words, what we do for or against the younger generation (children, teens, and young adults) today will be evident in how they function as Christians tomorrow. If we give them sexual abuse, deceit, sensuality, mysticism, pride, arrogance, carnality, lust, surely we must realize what this will reap in the future.
There are many facets of child sexual abuse in the church that we won’t be covering in this article, such as predators who claim to be Christian but are not and who infiltrate churches for the mere purpose of abusing children. But even that is still ultimately the responsibility of the local church wherein they should be screening children’s workers and by all means, not covering up abuse and then allowing perpetrators to continue working with children, either in their church or in another associated church.
The “new” sexuality that has been brought into the church through emerging contemplative advocates has paved the way for even more abuse to take place because of the carnal, sensual nature of the “new” sexuality and the “new” spirituality. One of the things that is very troubling about that is while the emerging church movement says they are wanting to reach out to the young people of this culture (blaming fundamentalist Christians for not doing that satisfactorily), many of these young people have been sexually abused as children, then they come into an emerging church where homosexuality is becoming more widely embraced, and they come into a contemplative church where things like tantric sex are being subtly introduced. And they come into a carnal church that abuses children and then covers it up.
While the “new” evangelicals boast that they are helping young people far more than the previous generation did, with their updated methods and ideas, the opposite is true. What young people need today is the Word of God AND a pure church.
Now we know that the church can only be pure as it submits itself to Jesus Christ and allows His purity and His life to dwell within us as believers in Christ. We cannot have this purity apart from Him.
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. Psalm 19:8
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 3:17
By turning to false “gods,” so to speak – contemplative mysticism, spiritual disciplines, new sexuality, social justice, purpose-driven, etc. – the church is doing more harm than good to these wounded young people.
God cannot and will not use a church that is arrogant, prideful, lustful, and deceptive. We call upon Christian pastors and leaders who have allowed these vices into their own lives and into their churches to repent, allow God to cleanse, and be truly used of God to help young people.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. Proverbs 30:12
In the past several days, since our story about Calvary Chapel was released, we have heard from many people, a number who have shared their own or their children’s personal accounts of abuse and cover up (not all are within Calvary Chapel). Why weren’t these stories reported to authorities, some may ask. Anyone who knows anything about child molestation knows that the victim often feels too ashamed to tell about his or her abuse. And in the case where abuse takes place in a church, there is often coercion to “deal” with the matter privately within the confines of the local church. But sadly, often the abuse is NOT dealt with and the molester is moved to a new location. We saw this tragedy happen in the Catholic church. But it is happening in the Christian church as well. We know there are many churches who do protect their children – for this you are commended. But there are too many that don’t.
The majority of people who contacted us after our article last week were extremely supportive of this story coming out. But a few were angry and upset. Some of those felt that the story should not have been released as this is a “private” matter for the church, not for the world to see. New believers will stumble, they say, by this coming out. This is nothing but gossip and so on. Basically, what they are saying is that this shouldn’t be talked about publically. But that poses a problem because it isn’t being dealt with within the church. Children are being abused, and adult leaders are covering it up.
Today, a lot of Christian figures talk about “revival” and a “new” reformation taking place. However, we should note that whenever true revival has taken place in the past, it was a revival of repentance. People would be humbly confessing their sins. This is a sharp contrast to today’s “revival” mentality where sins are pushed under the rug, never dealt with – or worse yet, they are no longer called sin. A “new” reformation or revival that is fleshly, devilish, and sensual is not a reformation from God at all.
May kids be brave enough to tell
Parents be strong enough to believe
The Church, Christ-like enough to support
America, wise enough to judge
May offenders be sorry enough to stop
[If you are someone who has in the past sexually abused a child, the "new" evangelicalism cannot help you. Only by repenting and putting your full trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can you be helped. Wash yourself in the Word of God daily, make restitution to those you have harmed, be accountable to a godly person, and do not put yourself in temptation's way. And remember sexual abuse against a child is a crime. ]
NEW RELEASE BACK FROM PRESS - STOLEN FROM MY ARMS
Lighthouse Trails is pleased to announce the release of our latest biography, Stolen From My Armsby Katherine Sapienza with Zach Taylor. - A TRUE STORY
Book Overview: When Katie Sapienza’s six-year-old son is kidnapped by his estranged non-custodial father and taken to a foreign country, Katie’s world falls apart. Leaving her California home and her supportive and frightened parents, Katie, in a state of panic and near hysteria, hops on a plane and flies half way around the world. She presents a meaningless warrant for Massimo’s arrest to the Italian court system, but is immediately “legally” assaulted by them. She is shocked to learn that the Italian judge on the case has sided with the father and makes it clear that Katie is not welcome there, nor will they return her son to her.
In despair, anguish, and heartbreak, Katie, who does not know of God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice, decides she must remain in Italy, figure a way to support herself, and develop a plan to get Alex safely back to the U.S. In her desperation and grief, Katie turns to alcohol and sedatives to make it through each torturous day and sleepless night. Forbidden unsupervised access to her son, kept under the watchful glare of suspicious Italian relatives, and emotionally withering under the barrage of false accusations and misrepresentations, Katie suffers both regular anxiety attacks and deep depression. Plan after plan to legally retake her son fails. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months. When three years have passed, Katie now realizes she will never get her son back–at least not through the Italian legal system. She decides she must take a different course of action–a dangerous one, a very dangerous one, but this is her son, and she must do this.
When she is introduced to an international team of covert operatives who specialize in rescuing kidnapped children, she arranges a secret meeting and pleads with them to help. The paramilitary team are committed Christians, and their hearts go out to this mother who has been driven to the edge of madness through the ordeal. If the money can be raised for the expensive and risky rescue attempt, they agree to do it. Their hope and prayer is that they can not only return to Katie her beloved son, now nine years old, but also lead her to the One who can rescue her as well from the anguish and desperation of her soul.
A true, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat, heart-rending story, which illustrates God’s mercy and redemption. Click here to order or for more information.
Note: All backorders have now been shipped. Also if you have ordered Let There Be Light by Roger Oakland, we are running a few weeks behind schedule on the release of his book. We hope to go to press in two weeks, which means the book will be back from press by mid-October. Thank you for your patience.
Upcoming Releases: Our next three releases will be as follows -