By Berit Kjos Today’s “progressive” emerging churches have little love for the old certainties that have grounded genuine Christians in God’s revealed truth for 2000 years. They say those precious guidelines don’t fit the new dialectic and collective ways of thinking. Today’s entertainment-driven Christians prefer “feel good” assurances stripped of unwanted references to sin, guilt, … [Read more…]
By Warren B. Smith Disregarding Danger AFTER the Titanic collided with the iceberg, and with water flooding into the bowels of the vessel, some of the passengers frolicked in an almost party-like atmosphere around the estimated two tons of ice that had spilled out onto the foredeck of the already sinking ship. Several hours later, some of … [Read more…]
In 2007, Lighthouse Trails wrote a book review on a book titled Emergent Manifesto of Hope. Today, thirteen years later, we are seeing the “fruit” of the emergent church (that, incidentally, was spawned by leaders like Rick Warren, Bob Buford, and Bill Hybels as is documented in Faith Undone by Roger Oakland). The so-called fruit … [Read more…]
On December 19th, 2019, Christianity Today, the magazine that considers itself the “flagship” magazine for Christianity released an article written by the just-retired editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, titled, “Trump Should Be Removed from Office.” According to CT, the article set off a firestorm. And by our estimates, millions have now seen the article as scores of … [Read more…]
Over the past few decades, a number of New Age sympathizers have had a significant influence in the evangelical church. One of the chief is Methodist author, speaker, and teacher Leonard Sweet. Sweet openly calls the Father of the New Age Movement—the late Jesuit priest Teilhard de Chardin—“twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.” Sweet also teaches the foundational New Age doctrine that God is “in” everyone and everything—that God is embedded in all creation. Brought forward and popularized by Rick Warren, Leonard Sweet and his New Age sympathies have not been adequately addressed by today’s pastors and church leaders. A look on Sweet’s website shows he has partnered with numerous popular figures such as Brian McLaren, Mark Batterson (Circle Maker), Erwin McManus, Mark Driscoll, Frank Viola, and Karen Swallow Prior (professor at Liberty University). The following booklet by Warren Smith reveals the “New Age Christianity” that Leonard Sweet has helped to bring into the church.
Carl Teichrib attended the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Toronto, Ontario as part of his research ministry. Below are comments Carl made on his Facebook page about his time there. We are reposting them with his permission. The photos were taken by Carl at the Parliament. Also be sure and see the links below … [Read more…]
In May of 2013, Lighthouse Trails released a report titled, “They Hate Christianity But Love (Another) Jesus – How Conservative Christians Are Being Manipulated and Ridiculed, Especially During Election Years.” In view of the upcoming elections and some of the things going on around the country in the “background,” it seems diligent to repost … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland You may not have heard the term before, but contextual theology is a prominent message from the emerging church. In his book, Models of Contextual Theology(1992), Stephen B. Bevans defines contextual theology as: . . . a way of doing theology in which one takes into account: the spirit and message of … [Read more…]
By Mary Danielsen Many Christian believers are expressing concern today, and rightly so, over something called “social justice” or the “social-justice gospel.” Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners magazine, is one of the top “change agents” in the social-justice movement within the evangelical/Protestant church, and the timing of his surge in popularity cannot be ignored, considering: … [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…]
By Manny Silva of Concerned Nazarenes “I am deepening in the mystical forms of prayer.” (Dan Boone) Thanks to the undiscerning “leadership” of President Dan Boone, Trevecca Nazarene students will have the opportunity to go on a mystical ride. Once again, it time for the “Spiritual Formation” retreat at the Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky, spiritual … [Read more…]
This week we received the following information from a reader: Dear Lighthouse Trails: Gloria Gaither is the author of many influential songs including “There’s Something About That Name.” She writes glowing reviews of the two books listed below. One by Richard Rohr, a Roman Catholic priest and the other by Sue Monk Kidd who believes … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: Last week, a Lighthouse Trails reader called our office, wondering about Marcus Borg because one of her grown sons was reading Borg. This tells us that the younger generation of Christians is gleaning from the earlier writers of the emerging church. Certain leaders tried to convince the church that the emerging church had … [Read more…]
Note to Lighthouse Trails: As a pastor, I decided to go back to seminary for some extra courses that were offered at a Christian college in Maine as the price was right. I shortly noticed very real problems when one course was using a book authored by a Catholic apologist (unsaved), and this was the … [Read more…]
See also Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of our 2017 Year in Review. The following are the 10 top stories for 2017 written by the editors at Lighthouse Trails. Listed in order of date posted. 1/Emergent IF: Gathering Conference Coming to a Town Near You (Coming For Your Daughters and Granddaughters)! … [Read more…]
As groups around the world celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation with highly ecumenical events and speeches, Brian McLaren, once likened to Luther,1 has outlined his view of what the next reformation will look like in an article he wrote on November 1, 2017 titled, “The Last Reformation … and the Next Reformation.” A … [Read more…]
A Lighthouse Trails reader sent us an article this week from a Pacific Northwest newspaper* describing how members of a local church are changing the way they practice church and view Christianity, doing away with their traditional church methods and embracing what they call a “contemplative approach.” The article states that they were inspired, in … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Friends, When I searched your blog, I did not find information on “Vicky Beeching.” She is apparently a big figure in Christian pop music. So you might want to put her on your blog list. I did not know about Vicky Beeching until yesterday: claiming to be an evangelical Christian, she revises Scripture … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland While I believe Rome leads the way with the bold claim that God chose Peter and the succeeding popes to take the title of “Vicar of Christ” and determine what the sheep should or should not believe, other groups believe they have been called to usher in or even prepare and set … [Read more…]
NEW BOOKLET: ATONEMENT REJECTED! How the Emerging Church Views Christ’s Death on the Cross by Roger Oakland is our newest Lighthouse Trails Booklet. The Booklet is 10 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 … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: The Shack movie is about to be released. Millions of Americans will go to theaters to watch the movie. Most likely, the majority of them will be church goers and proclaiming Christians since The Shack book is vetted as a Christian story. Recently, a church contacted Lighthouse Trails and ordered 300 copies of … [Read more…]
LTRJ Note: The following is the content of Roger Oakland’s booklet, The New Missiology – Doing Missions Without the Gospel. We are reposting this important article because Lighthouse Trails has many new readers who may not have seen this. By Roger Oakland Emergent Missiology I must add, though, that I don’t believe making disciples must … [Read more…]
[God] will take this hell on earth and someday show us how hell was building heaven.—Jennie Allen (founder of IF: Gathering) Have you heard of the IF: Gathering? If you haven’t, you most likely will soon enough. The women’s movement started just a few years ago but is already making some big inroads into the … [Read more…]
By Philip Gray Free-lance writer and contender of the faith What Do Hitler, Alice Bailey, and Replacement Theology Adherents Have in Common? Basically, the answer to that question is that in all three cases, they reject the Jews as God’s chosen people. Those who embrace Replacement Theology probably don’t realize that the thinking behind Replacement … [Read more…]
LTRP Note: We find it sad when we think back to how many readers have told us that they still donate to World Vision. Not only is the news story below shocking, but World Vision has been going in the emergent direction for years as we have reported on different occasions. It seems that people … [Read more…]
Larry Crabb’s recent remarks perfectly illustrate the “fruit” of contemplative spirituality – a move away from the Gospel and personal salvation through Jesus Christ and a move toward an emerging, ecumenical all-paths-lead-to-God kind of mentality. Where did Christ or the disciples ever say man’s greatest need in in the development of communities? The Greatest Need … [Read more…]
To Lighthouse Trails: What is “The Voice” translation of the Bible and what do you think of it? Our Comments: Our answer (from a 2007 LT article): According to an article in Christian Today, “New Bible Project for Young Generation Launched”, Thomas Nelson’s 2006 “Bible” project called The Voice is going full speed ahead. The … [Read more…]
By Chris Lawson Each of the following authors professes to be Christian and/or uses biblical terminology in his or her writing, yet promotes at least one of the following serious false teachings: contemplative spirituality (i.e., Spiritual Formation), the emergent, progressive “new” spirituality, the seeker-friendly, church-growth movement (e.g., Willow Creek, Purpose Driven) and/or Yoga. (This list … [Read more…]
NEW BOOKLET TRACT: The Unacknowledged War and the Wearing Down of the Saints by Cedric Fisher 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. Our Booklets are designed to give away to others or for … [Read more…]
Every now and then something come along that presents our case in such a succinct and obvious way that we are compelled to share it with our readers with the hope it will leave no question as to how serious the present situation is with regard to Christianity in the Western world. Religious author Diana … [Read more…]
