LTRJ Note: As we were preparing to post this letter to the editor that came to us recently, we came across Christian radio host Janet Mefferd’s Twitter comments about Southern Baptist Convention president J.D. Greear’s involvement with a “Neighborly Faith” event on March 5th titled “Hope in the Current Age: A Conversation on Christianity and … [Read more…]
By Kevin Reeves and the Editors at Lighthouse Trails A number of years ago, a book written by emerging-church leaders Brian McLaren and Leonard Sweet was released. The book was called A is for Abductive: the language of the emerging church. Going through the alphabet, the authors identified many terms they hoped would be picked … [Read more…]
This week, we received a letter to the editor that alerted us to plans for a “2020 Global Year of the Bible.” As you read the information below, please keep in mind, Lighthouse Trails does not oppose the idea that “billions” of people in the world could potentially read the Bible. Of course not! The … [Read more…]
To Lighthouse Trails: Please make it very clear that Youth With A Mission (YWAM) was helping to head up The Send. In fact, YWAMers went to Lou Engle, and together they formed the idea for The Send. As a very recent former YWAM staff who was naive to all things NAR and contemplative, I am … [Read more…]
Two weeks ago, a 26-year-old Christian man named John Allen Chau was killed when he attempted to make contact with a remote tribe on North Sentinel Island, one of the Andaman Islands of India According to reports, Chau had spent several years preparing for the trip, saying that he wanted to tell these isolated … [Read more…]
By Nanci Des Gerlaise [Indigenous People’s Movement] leaders teach that God has been redeeming cultures and that He placed in all cultures a way for men to have a relationship with God outside of the Gospel.1 DID GOD CREATE CULTURES? A growing trend in the evangelical church is what is referred to as “redeeming the … [Read more…]
In 2012, Lighthouse Trails posted an article titled “Young Life’s History of Embracing Contemplative Authors Continues,” showing that the Christian youth organization, Young Life, was introducing Young Life leaders and kids to contemplative/emergent authors and speakers. The article we wrote talked about a meeting we had in 2002 with the Young Life director of training … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland In an article titled “Christ-Followers in India Flourishing Outside the Church,” the following statement is made regarding the research of Herbert Hoefer, author of Churchless Christianity: In striking research undertaken in the mid-eighties and published in 1991, Herbert E. Hoefer found that the people of Madras City are far closer to historic … [Read more…]
Hello Lighthouse Trails: Our daughter is a junior in high school and has been receiving college flyers in the mail from secular as well as “Christian” universities. She received the following flyer in a packet.William Jessup University flyer and have attached it as it mentioned “Spiritual Formation Groups” that are used to “reconcile issues surrounding … [Read more…]
Are the “Supreme Beings” of the Nations the True God? by Sandy Simpson is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The Booklet is 16 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Our Booklets are designed to give away to others or for your own personal use. Below … [Read more…]
By Sandy Simpson Deception in the Church Ministries I have some questions for those of the World Christian Gathering of Indigenous People (WCGIP) adherents such as Don Richardson, Daniel Kikawa, Richard Twiss (deceased), Terry LeBlanc, Danny Lehman, Aloha Ke Akua, YWAM as well as many in the Emergent Church (EC). The questions arise from their … [Read more…]
By Jan Markell Olive Tree Ministries Today, one of the greatest seductions is that there could be world peace if only the Palestinians had a homeland. The film that came out in 2010 titled With God On Our Side is aimed at changing the end-time views of evangelicals and the theology that says the Jews … [Read more…]
To Lighthouse Trails: I just came across your site in search of some background information concerning the emergent church movement (which I was aware of, but had no idea of it’s size or that it was labeled as such). I was concerned about a particular speaker at Compassion Intl. and after finding the post at … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times, International I thank God for pastors and churches that see missions as a means of spreading the gospel. They and their board of directors promote missions for the purpose of establishing gospel lighthouses located in dark places all over the planet. Individual missionaries are assisted and at least partially … [Read more…]
Hi Lighthouse Trails! Thank you so much for your ministry! My family has been learning about apostasy for a little while now, and we stumbled across your website recently. . . We read your article about VOM and Michael Wurmbrand and were deeply saddened by it. We have supported VOM for many years so it … [Read more…]
by Paul Proctor Used with permission. I have addressed, on numerous occasions, the Church’s ongoing efforts to reinvent Christianity into a global religion of Results & Relationships by using the powers of pragmatism and consensus to artificially grow itself into something more widely accepted by the world instead of faithfully proclaiming the Word of God … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Trails, I left my church of 43 years, because they were promoting books like Ruth Haley Barton’s “Solitude and Silence”; they had built a Labyrinth next to the Memorial garden where my parents ashes lay and were performing mystic rituals along with contemplative prayer and Spiritual Formation. Before I left my church, I … [Read more…]
By Mike Oppenheimer Let Us Reason Ministries I was brought up Jewish and went to Hebrew school twice a week learning under the Rabbi and cantor. Though this is many years later, I have retained some of what I learned, still knowing the basics. In 1994, I came across the claims of Daniel Kikawa in … [Read more…]
Emerging/emergent spirituality continues making serious inroads into Christianity. Churches and Christian colleges, unaware of the subtle undermining of such spirituality, are embracing teachers and leaders of this movement and pointing others to them. Often they are unaware of what these teachers really believe and teach. Mike Erre (pastor of the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: Today, it is common to hear the argument that since Paul quoted pagan poets in Acts 17, it’s OK for Christians to quote those who teach false doctrine. Adherents of the emerging church and contemplative spirituality have basically turned Acts 17 into a license for a free-for-all kind of “I can quote anybody … [Read more…]
by Bob DeWaay Missionary or Missional? For hundreds, if not thousands, of years Christians have used the term “missionary” to describe one who goes out to preach the gospel to an unsaved world headed toward judgment—repentance for the forgiveness of sin found in the death and resurrection of Christ. The mission of the missionary was … [Read more…]
By Sandy Simpson Deception in the Church Ministries In the introduction to Mike Oppenheimer’s and my book Idolatry In Their Hearts, I exposed the fact that Don Richardson pulled the phrase “Eternity In Their Hearts” to use as his book title from its context in Ecc. 3:11. He did this to support his thesis, which actually … [Read more…]
The New Missiology – Doing Missions Without the Gospel written by Roger Oakland is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The booklet is 14 pages long and sells for $1.95 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Below is the content of the booklet. To order copies of The New Missiology … [Read more…]
Can Cultures Be Redeemed? (Some Things You Should Know About the Indigenous People’s Movement) written by Nanci Des Gerlaise is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The booklet is 18 pages long and sells for $1.85 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Below is the content of the booklet. To order … [Read more…]
Native Spirituality “Renewal” & the Emerging Church written by Nanci Des Gerlaise is our newest Lighthouse Trails Print Booklet Tract. The booklet tract is 18 pages long and sells for $1.85 for single copies. Quantity discounts are as much as 50% off retail. Below is the content of the booklet. To order copies of Native … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Trails: Yesterday several of my family were talking, and one member mentioned they were involved in “A missional church.” I don’t know anything about this terminology “missional” but I don’t think I like it. Your thoughts please? ___________________ Dear _________________, We are quite familiar with that term, and in virtually every case we have seen … [Read more…]
The following is a preview video clip of Sandy Simpson in the First Nations Movement DVD Series: For more information on this DVD series, click here.
The following is the first of four previews of the First Nations Movement DVD lecture series with Mike Oppenheimer (Let Us Reason Ministries) and Sandy Simpson (Deception in the Church). This is a powerful series that no Christian should miss. If you would like to order the DVD set, click here. We’ll be posting the other … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Trails: What is your view of this new translation [the Voice]? Thank for all you do. Looking up. Bob Our answer (from a 2007 LT article): According to a February 11th article in Christian Today, “New Bible Project for Young Generation Launched”, Thomas Nelson’s 2006 “Bible” project called The Voice is going full … [Read more…]
In a growing controversy where Wycliffe Bible Translators is removing “familial terms” such as Son of God and Father in their Bible translations in order to accommodate Muslim readers, the organization posted a statement on February 7th, saying: While we have never intentionally sponsored a translation that neglects to properly communicate the divine familial terms, … [Read more…]
