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| Girl Scouts of USA Says It Will Accept ‘Transgender Youth’ on a ‘Case-by-Case Basis’ | ||
(CNSNews.com) – Girl Scouts of the USA told CNSNews.com in a written statement on Friday that it will accept ”transgender youth” on a “case-by-case basis.” The organization sent CNSNews.com the statement after CNSNews.com asked if the national Girl Scouts had a position on a case in which a Girl Scout troop in Colorado initially prevented a 7-year-old boy from joining and then the state Girl Scouts organization said that it would accept boys who were “living life as a girl.” The brief Girl Scouts of the USA statement made no mention of the Colorado case. “Girl Scouts of the USA is an inclusive organization, and we welcome all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members,” it said. ”Acceptance of transgender youth is handled on a case-by-case basis, with the welfare and best interests of the child in question as a top priority.” Click here to continue reading. More on Girl Scouts of the USA: Girl Scouts hiding secret sex agenda? Girl Scouts Continue Plunge into New Age Spirituality |
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| Canadian Trevor Baker Sings About Apostasy in the Church and the Last Days | ||
Listen to 30 second song clips from the CD, It’s All In Place (see lyrics to title song below). Click here if you cannot hear the song clips.
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Saskatchewan singer, Trevor Baker, and his wife, Jennifer, have been traveling around North America for over eight years now warning believers (and non-believers too) about apostasy in the church and the time the Bible calls the Last Days. Lighthouse Trails learned about Trevor from Roger Oakland of Understand the Times, and we’ve been listening to his music ever since. We believe his music is a blessing from the Lord that will uplift, exhort, and strengthen. Below are the lyrics to one of his songs,| QUICK LINKS |
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Contending for the Faith Discipleship Center - Suna, Kenya
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| Who We Are |
| 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 ministry, we also provide extensive free research, documentation, and news on our Research site, blog, and e-newsletter. We pray that the books as well as the online research will be a blessing to the body of Christ and a witness to those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. |
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| 2011 PRODUCT CATALOG |
Our newest product catalog is available as a PDF download. Feel free to print and distribute.
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Slideshows and Videos |
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Contending for the Faith Discipleship Center The Radicals - Preview (Scroll to bottom of that page) Trevor Baker - Canadian singer added to LT musician list - Songs for the remnant (and for those searching for truth). |
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| Purchased With His Blood—A Priceless Sacrifice |
A few months ago, we began a series of articles (see links below) where we explored what is valuable in life from God’s perspective. And we used the illustration of weighing things on a scale because scales were used in the Old Testament as a means of assessing the value or quantity of a commodity. We still use scales today, for example, at the grocery store to assess the value of any produce sold in bulk. In bread bakeries, flour is often weighed as opposed to measured, due to the fact that flour will get compacted to varying degrees. Batches of dough can come out differently each time when flour is measured by volume, and whoever is making the dough must keep adding water or flour to get the right texture—all of which takes extra time and concentrated effort. Once flour is weighed, the batches come out perfect every time with no extra time spent adjusting for texture. In a previous article, we referred to this verse, “A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight. (Proverbs 11:1), and alluded to the fact that God, who penned these words through Solomon, was more concerned about other things than the scales used at market places. And just as a false weight will throw a scale off and make it forever inaccurate, false doctrines will consistently give false readings and false values without the user even knowing it. The Gospel is the standardized weight of the Bible by which doctrines and teachings can be measured. This is a very important truth in assessing whether a doctrine, teaching, or practice is biblical or not. It is what John meant when he wrote:
In other words, the Gospel is what everything must be measured by to find their true value. We also discussed how a value was placed on Jesus when Judas betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver:
Judas threw the thirty pieces of silver on the temple floor when the realized that he had “betrayed the innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4) then went and hung himself. Judas, who had long been dipping into the disciple’s treasury, had now come face to face with the innocent lamb without blemish whose worth cannot be measured. How can we place a value on the Son of God who created all things and died to redeem all mankind—to those who believe on Him? Jesus Christ is the standard by which all things are measured, not the other way around. Yet in America today we too have placed a price on Jesus, and we will only go so far in our commitment to Him; and in so doing we have not only placed a price on God but on ourselves also. When Jesus died on the Cross for our sins, He purchased us with His own precious blood, a priceless one-time sacrifice. You may remember when Jesus was visiting Lazarus in Bethany and Mary anointed His feet with the costly anointment of spikenard (John 12:3), Judas was offended at the tremendous waste. Remember, too, this was the same Mary who had offended Martha by not being busy in serving. But Jesus said something to Martha that we could all take to heart:
Like David, Mary had a heart after God, and this pleased Jesus very much. One thing we should realize is that when Jesus purchased us with His blood, a priceless sacrifice, it put a new value on us. We who have received Christ as Savior are not our own anymore because we now belong to Him. Think of it this way: things are worth what people are willing to pay for them—usually rare commodities being worth more. Gold for example is something that people will spend their lives trying to acquire, but in Heaven, it will be used to pave the streets. Diamonds comprise the other commodity that is so highly prized in the world, but in reality, they consist of nothing more than carbon that has undergone a transformation through heat and pressure. When Jesus purchased us with His blood, He placed an immeasurable value on us, but at the same time we are not our own anymore as we belong to the purchaser. This has a lot to say about the way we should be living our lives. As we have shown already, Mary’s life was forever changed, but are our lives really changed? Now that we belong to Christ, we should live our lives each day as unto the Lord. As the days grow darker, spiritually speaking, in this world, we pray that believers in Christ will become all the more acutely aware of the need to surrender their lives to the Lord as fully as they can on a daily basis. Life truly is a vapor passing to the sun’s rising. As believers, we can take great comfort in knowing Jesus as our Savior; let us be determined to make the remaining days of our lives count for Him. Too much time is being wasted by the average North American Christian, and in reality, we don’t have that much time. There is something to be said for living each day as if it were our last. When we consider the things happening today in the world, it grieves us, but we can understand the fact that our world is corrupt and perishing. But then when we see what is happening in the church, it becomes most difficult to comprehend and accept. We believe our final hour is fast approaching, while so many Christians are so worldly minded, they are basically shaking hands with the Devil. Over the past few years especially, our ministry has been heavily tested as to the purity of our devotion to the Lord. We have watched other ministries whom we have known and respected give in to compromise—a little bit at a time. It is even more disconcerting to watch ministries known for the gift of discernment giving into compromise. Some of these ministries are now making their decisions based on what will bring in the most money. Given the status of our economy, making ministry decisions based on finances can be a very real temptation. But our question is, what happens to a ministry’s discernment when its decisions are based on financial profit? Our ministry would have never even started if we had been unwilling to offend people. We have been compelled these past nearly ten years, of the Lord we believe, to publish materials and print articles that might offend and consequently lose some of our readership. Again, we ask, what happens to a ministry’s discernment when its decisions are based on not offending anyone? Our own conclusion is that discernment ceases to exist where compromise is the “God” that rules. We decided that we would rather have our ministry remain small or even die through lack of finances than to die the surer death of compromise. And quite frankly, we have stood in awe watching our ministry survive this many years when we would put out publications that left us wondering if this one could end in a lawsuit that might be our final deathblow. Take a look sometime at some of the major Christian publishers and distributors and notice how many of the books should not be there. You will find books promoting yoga and contemplative prayer, books written by mystics, books by emerging leaders, books by New Agers, but these are all popular books because the trend in the church today is toward apostasy, and that is what sells. So, back to our original question in this article—What is your cost? It is Jesus who purchased us with His blood—a priceless commodity. We really have no other place to go when Jesus asks us, “Will ye also go away?” Our reply can only be, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:67-68). Related Articles: |
| “Family Radio Founder Harold Camping Repents, Apologizes for False Teachings” |
By Nicola Menzi With his speech sounding somewhat slurred and labored, Family Radio Stations Inc. founder and chairman Harold Camping sought to address in a recent message why Christ failed to return on Oct. 21 as the Bible teacher had predicted. Camping confessed, after decades of falsely misleading his followers, that he was wrong and regrets his misdeeds. In addition to attempting to correct his erroneous teachings on the Rapture and God’s day of final judgment on the world, Camping, 90, also confessed, “incidentally,” that he was wrong to claim that God had stopped saving people after May 21 – the date which God’s so-called “spiritual” judgment had begun. This is undoubtedly a radical shift for Camping, who has staunchly claimed since 1992 that he had discovered a special numerical system in the Bible that allowed him to calculate the exact dates of certain events, such as the Great Flood, the Crucifixion and the day of Jesus Christ’s return to Earth. Camping first falsely predicted that the world would end on Sept. 6, 1994, then again on May 21, 2011, and finally on Oct. 21. Click here to continue reading. |
| Mike Bickle of IHOP-KC instructs followers on contemplative prayer |
By John Lanagan In Fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit: 5 Practical Phrases, International House of Prayer leader Mike Bickle gives instructions on how to experience contemplative prayer–which he calls “communing prayer.” Like all Christian contemplatives, Bickle works hard at presenting this as biblically acceptable. He states there is “…a lot of counterfeit mysticism…” Before teaching his Christianese mantra method, he again emphasizes he is not talking about Eastern or Oprah religion. According to Bickle, “I use sentences, better yet phrases. Eventually on these five phrases I’m gonna give you in a minute, I reduce those to one word…” (42:13 of video, give or take) There is much throughout this entire video to cause concern. (click_HERE_for_video) I am sorry to say contemplative prayer seems foundational to IHOP, which means much deception has occurred, and will continue to occur. As covered elsewhere, Mike Bickle wants Fire Within, a book promoting the teachings of Catholic contemplatives Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, to be the “manual for IHOP-KC.” (click_HERE_for_article) Mike Bickle “claims that God is restoring contemplative prayer to the church. He goes on to claim that contemplative prayer is a God-ordained means of entering into the fullness of God, and that the brightest lights in church history have been Roman Catholic mystics who lived during the dark ages. Click here to continue reading. Related Information: Mike Bickle “Want[s]” Contemplative Mysticism Book to be “the manual for IHOP–KC.” Contemplative Spirituality and the Emerging Church Come to Kansas Through YouthFront and MNU MIKE BICKLE AND MIKE HUCKABEE TEAM UP FOR “THECALL” REVIVAL CONFERENCE
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| Letter to the Editor: Woman reading occultic books led down dangerous path – asks men to help women |
Dear Lighthouse Trails: I am currently reading Berit Kjos book on A Twist of Faith. How uncanny it can be to realize that I was going down a steep path of deception using the very books I thought were novels and enlightening written by witches. I had books or had read books mentioned in Kjos’s novel on how women are being thrust into conferences cajoling them into “another Jesus.” The induction of soft witchcraft, the use of talismans, charms, incense, candles, and the like are bizarre now that I think about it. I had to burn [some] books because I began to experience supernatural visions, and smells. I don’t like to think about that time. I am so careful now about what I meditate on – the books and philosophies - and I always go to the word of God for confirmation. I am careful also about people because, even though diversity seems to be a unifying builder of economy and faith, there has to be a testing of the spirits to ensure that the spiritual fabric of the society is not compromised. This is so very important. Without the spiritual foundation, we are doomed to fall. I am still rebuilding my own life after discovery of feminist books based on sensual discovery. His will, not my will. Slowly, but surely, the lesbian agenda has permeated all areas of business, education, sports etc. If you dare talk about this subject, it becomes an EEO subject. Where are our Christian leaders? Many women have shaven their heads and sprayed them gold or orange to signify this rebellion. God help us! Women I mean . . . Guys, stop playing so many video games and get off the porn – the women need your help!!! A Lighthouse Trails reader Related Article: Rise Up, O Men of God! Your Women Are Fighting the Battle
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| Mrs. Prest – She Said No to Apostasy and Became a Martyr |
From Foxe’s Book of Martyrs Mrs. Prest for some time lived about Cornwall, where she had a husband and children whose bigotry compelled her to frequent the abominations of the Church of Rome. Resolving to act as her conscience dictated, she quitted them and made a living by spinning. After some time, returning home, she was accused by her neighbors and brought to Exeter to be examined before Dr. Troubleville and his chancellor Blackston. As this martyr was accounted of inferior intellect, we shall put her in competition with the bishop and let the reader judge which had the most of that knowledge conducive to everlasting life. The bishop bringing the question to issue respecting the bread and wine being flesh and blood, Mrs. Prest said, “I will demand of you whether you can deny your creed, which says that Christ does perpetually sit at the right hand of His Father, both body and soul, until He comes again; or whether He be there in heaven our Advocate and to make prayer for us unto God His Father? If He be so, He is not here on earth in a piece of bread. If He be not here, and if He do not dwell in temples made with hands but in heaven, why shall we seek Him here? If with one offering He made all perfect, why do you with a false offering make all imperfect? If He is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, why do you worship a piece of bread [the Eucharist]? Alas! I am a poor woman, but rather than to do as you do, I would live no longer. I have said, Sir.” Some persons present convinced the bishop she was not in her right senses and she was permitted to depart. The keeper of the bishop’s prisons took her into his house where she either spun, worked as a servant, or walked about the city discoursing upon the Sacrament of the altar. Her husband was sent for to take her home, but this she refused while the cause of religion could be served. During the liberty granted her by the bishop, before-mentioned, she went into St. Peter’s Church and there found a skillful Dutchman who was affixing new noses to certain fine images which had been disfigured in King Edward’s time. To him she said, “What a mad man you are to make new noses for those who shall all lose their heads.” The Dutchman accused her and laid it hard to her charge. But she said to him, “You are accursed, and so are your images.” He called her a whore. “No,” said she, “your images are whores and you are a whore-hunter; for doesn’t God say, ‘You go a whoring after strange gods, figures of your own making’? You are one of them.” After this she was ordered to be confined and had no more liberty. During the time of her imprisonment, many visited her, some sent by the bishop and some of their own will. Among these was one Daniel, a great preacher of the gospel in the days of King Edward, but who, through the grievous persecution he had sustained, had fallen off. Earnestly did she exhort him to repent with Peter and to be more constant in his profession. Mrs. Walter Rauley, Mr. William, and John Kede, persons of great respectability, bore ample testimony of her godly conversation, declaring, that unless God were with her, it were impossible she could have so ably defended the cause of Christ. Indeed, to sum up the character of this poor woman, she united the serpent and the dove, abounding in the highest wisdom joined to the greatest simplicity. She endured imprisonment, threatenings, taunts, and the vilest epithets, but nothing could induce her to swerve; her heart was fixed; nor could all the wounds of persecution remove her from the rock on which her hopes of felicity were built. Such was her memory that, without learning, she could tell in what chapter any text of Scripture was contained: on account of this singular property, one Gregory Basset, a rank papist, said she was deranged and talked as a parrot, wild without meaning. At length, having tried every manner without effect to make her nominally a Catholic, they condemned her. When sentence was read condemning her to the flames, she lifted up her voice and praised God, adding, “This day have I found that which I have long sought.” When they tempted her to recant, she said, “That will I not. God forbid that I should lose the life eternal for this carnal and short life. I will never turn from my heavenly husband to my earthly husband; from the fellowship of angels to mortal children; and if my husband and children be faithful, then am I theirs. God is my father, God is my mother, God is my sister, my brother, my kinsman; God is my friend, most faithful.” Being delivered to the sheriff, she was led by the officer to the place of execution without the walls of Exeter called Sothenhey, where again the superstitious priests assaulted her. While they were tying her to the stake, she continued earnestly to exclaim “God be merciful to me, a sinner!” Patiently enduring the devouring conflagration, she was consumed to ashes and thus ended a life which in unshaken fidelity to the cause of Christ was not surpassed by that of any preceding martyr. (from the special Lighthouse Trails edition of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs – see this and other books in our Persecuted Church category.) Related Articles: Eucharistic Adoration and the Emerging Church
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| Little Wave and Old Swell (A Course in Miracles for Children with a Foreword by Ken Blanchard) |
And so goes the story of the journey of Little Wave and his dialogue with Old Swell. At first, the story could seem harmless enough, but the cover inscription will cause discerning Christians to grab another bedtime tale. It reads: “Inspired by Hindu swami Paramahansa Yogananada” The book is written by New Age proponent Jim Ballard, so it would naturally make sense that he would be inspired by the Hindu guru (a whole page and a painting of the guru is devoted to him in the back of the book). What will throw many off, and no doubt cause some Christians to question their concerns about the book, is another inscription on the front cover. This one reads: “Foreword by Ken Blanchard” Blanchard, known by most for being a business leadership figure and for his One Minute Manager books, professes to have become a Christian in the mid 80s (see his biography, We are the Beloved). However, for over twenty-five years, he has been writing the forewords and endorsements to books that teach and/or promote Buddhist and eastern-style meditation. His foreword to the book What Would Buddha do at Work? came out in 2001. Some may say, so what if Blanchard endorses these books – what does it really matter? If Blanchard was not a professing Christian and very well accepted by many evangelical Christians (he has spoken at Saddleback at least a few times), his endorsing of eastern religious writers and teachers might not be so serious. But when a man or woman represents Christianity, the Bible is clear that he or she is responsible (especially one who is in leadership) for their words and actions. Readers grabbing a hold of Little Wave and Old Swell may find Blanchard’s outstanding endorsement of the book license to read it and embrace the spirituality behind it. We have titled the name of this article “A Course in Miracles for Children” because the message in both books is essentially the same – and that is, that all is God, and therefore man is God, and he can come to this realization through mystical meditation. Ballard is no stranger to New Age philosophy. In his book, Mind Like Water (also endorsed by Blanchard), Ballard says:
In this book, Ballard teaches breath prayer, visualization, mantra meditation, and a number of other practices to enter the altered state of consciousness. In Little Wave and Old Swell, Old Swell (representing the higher consciousness) tries to teach Little Wave “deep listening.”: “As he pondered this mystery, Little Wave felt a strange, deep contentment. Perhaps this was what Old Swell meant by being still.” Old Swell responds to Little Wave’s questions, “You thought that you were separate, but no. You can never be apart from your Source. Know that you and I and all of our brother and sister waves are One with the Great Deep. We have always been One. We shall always be One.” Later in the book, after a period of storm, Little Wave asks his teacher “teach me about Don’t hurry; don’t stop”:
Here we find the classic Hindu mantra om as the catalyst for Little Wave’s spiritual transformation.
The book finishes with this prayer: “Help me to feel my connection with the vast Ocean of Life, the Oneness within all things.” Keep in mind that this is the classic Hindu concept of God–God is in all, and all is God. And this is especially evident by the fact that this story was inspired by a famous Hindu guru. This is what one will get from any and every Hindu spiritual teacher. Like Jim Ballard, Ken Blanchard has looked to Paramahansa Yogananda for guidance. In the foreword to What Would Buddha do at Work, Blanchard states:
Finding Yogananda a “great” spiritual leader would explain why Blanchard wrote the foreword to Little Wave and Old Swell. In the foreword, Blanchard says “Yogananda loved Jesus, and Jesus would have loved Yogananda.” He adds: “Little Wave and Old Swell is a book for the innocent seeker in each of us … It’s a tale to tell children. And it can be a gift of hope to someone in bereavement … Enjoy this story. Read it many times. Let it speak to your heart.” It is important to point out that this is not just a book for adults but for young people and children as well. Blanchard recognizes the spiritual component within its pages and endorses this component. This is what Ken Blanchard really believes. In addition, the fact that Blanchard says that Jesus would like Paramahansa Yogananda indicates he has accepted the classic New Age view that Jesus is just another New Age guru wherein they all honor each other. In reality, Jesus would have told Yogananda he must be born again, not achieve higher consciousness. If there is one thing that Christian Scripture teaches, it is that all is not one, and that God is a separate entity from man. In Hinduism, God is not a being, but Being itself. The message in A Course in Miracles is that all is One. Unfortunately, Little Wave and Old Swell carries the same message. And when a Christian figure as popular as Ken Blanchard tells readers, including children, to “let it speak to your heart,” this is an indescribable tragedy within our Christian culture, not just that Blanchard said it but that Christian leaders seem unaware of its implications. Quotes from the “Jesus” of A Course in Miracles There is no separation of God and His creation. God is All in all in a very literal sense. All being is in Him Who is all Being. You are therefore in Him since your being is His. When God created you He made you part of Him. Everyone God created is part of you and shares His Glory with you. The mind can make the belief in separation very real and very fearful, and this belief is the “devil.” Related Information: Ken Blanchard and the Hoffman Quadrinity Process
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| Let There Be Light Has Gone to Press |
Overview of the book:
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| Shop at Lighthouse Trails for resources you can trust |
Little Wave and Old Swell (released by Beyond Words Publishing) is packaged as a children’s picture book, one that moms and dads will sit and read to their young ones at bedtime. The story is woven within the pages of colorful abstract paintings of the ocean and the sky. It begins with a conversation between Little Wave and Old Swell:
We have gone to press with Roger Oakland's new book, 