Ray Yungen

By Ray Yungen

Throughout my Christian life I have periodically heard fellow Christians suggest we are in the last days. Often these comments were initiated from current cases of violent crimes, sexual perversions, war, or natural disasters. Since I knew history had repeatedly encountered these calamities, such predictions of Christ’s imminent return rang hollow.

However, in 1984 I had an unexpected encounter that changed my entire outlook. A newfound friend educated me about the New Age movement and its end-times implications. After a period of investigation, I came to believe this could very well be the time period the book of Revelation showcases. Instead of a vague and obscure manifestation of prophecy, I saw something distinct and pervasive happening in our churches and society. And incredibly enough, this shift has been predicted from both sides of the struggle.

Christians must remember that the authenticity of Christianity itself is predicated upon its prophecies coming to pass. Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul, and various apostles and prophets of the Old and New Testaments make clear and direct references to particular events occurring in the future. If these events are only fantasies, then everything else could be deemed equally fictitious as well. I believe current trends authenticate Jesus Christ’s and the apostle Paul’s prophetic claims regarding the end of the age. Upon examination of the evidence, it becomes clear that the course our society (and our churches) is taking has been foretold by the apostolic writings.

The apostle Paul spoke of the “day of the Lord” in reference to “the times and seasons” in the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. He describes how God will intervene swiftly and without delay. Paul states:

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (I Thessalonians 5:1-6)

Paul is saying the end of the age will come upon the world like a thief in the night. In other words, it will actually sneak up on people. Then interestingly, the apostle contrasts two groups:  “But ye, brethren [followers of Christ] are not in darkness [people of ignorance], that that day should overtake you as a thief. [unaware]” (v.4). Here, Paul is saying believers in Christ will have the information (Scripture) available to them to prepare for “that day.”

Those who walk in the light can see both where they are going and what is coming up ahead. Paul then warns against spiritual slumber and drunkenness, which could lead to a person being overtaken by that day, unaware: “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (v. 6). The word sober means be alert or aware. If we are instructed to watch and be aware, there must be something to watch for—otherwise, Paul’s admonition would be useless. But who and what are we to watch for? …

Interestingly, the apostle Paul declared one called “the man of sin” and “the son of perdition” would proclaim himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4). I believe this coming Aquarian messiah will be the son of perdition spoken of by Paul in 2 Thessalonians. Furthermore, I am convinced the New Age movement is his spiritual platform. Too many things fit together for this to be just mere coincidence. Therefore, we must watch for the restructuring of our world by those who are preparing the way for his arrival and identity to be revealed.

Daniel 8:23 states this man will be a master of dark sayings. In Hebrew, this translates as one skilled in cunning and ambiguous speech. The world will see him as one who is distinguished and spiritually brilliant. Keep this in mind as you read the following description:

The coming one will not be Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, not an American, Jew, Italian or Russian—his title is not important; he is for all humanity, to unite all religions, philosophies and nations.1

The only one who could bring this about is the one who fits the description mentioned in Daniel. This explains the all-out effort by the New Age, which is saturating our society with meditation right now. When this man comes forward, all those who are in touch with their higher self, those who are awakened will clearly recognize him as their unifier and give him their allegiance. He will have a ready-made constituency (many in key positions) to help him reconstruct society. This will be the final culmination of the paradigm shift that is taking place.

Familiar spirits (fallen angels) will not just mislead a few individuals; they will deceive the whole world into embracing a new system. Satan (whose name means adversary) will be the power behind the “Coming One”—the great Antichrist. The origin of the Antichrist’s religious system is clearly revealed by the apostle John in Revelation 17:5:

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.

Another word for Babylon in the Old Testament was Chaldea. The Chaldeans were renowned for their use of metaphysical arts. They began the first mystery schools. Daniel 4:7 says: “Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.” This Mystery Babylon, then, would be the original source or mother of what is now New Age metaphysics.

I believe the Bible contains an important passage, which clearly indicates a change of times and seasons may indeed be at hand. In Matthew 24:3-5, which is a chapter dealing with the tribulation period, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples concerning the signs of His coming and the end of the age:

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many….

In light of the many who will be coming in Christ’s name, I also believe the occultist Alice Bailey prophecies can provide further insight into what the apostle Paul called in 2 Thessalonians the falling away. Bailey eagerly foretold of what she termed “the regeneration of the churches.”21 Her rationale for this was obvious:

The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.2

In other words, instead of opposing Christianity, the occult would capture and blend itself with Christianity and then use it as its primary vehicle for spreading and instilling New Age consciousness! The various churches would still have their outer trappings of Christianity and still use much of the same lingo. If asked certain questions about traditional Christian doctrine, the same answers would be given. But it would all be on the outside; on the inside a contemplative spirituality would be drawing in those open to it.

The world is opening its arms to wholly embrace a spirituality that will exist under the umbrella of mysticism. The correlating theme will be—we are all One. When the man of lawlessness does rise to power with a one-world economy and political base, he will seduce many into searching for their own Christ consciousness rather than the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Notes:

1. John Davis and Naomi Rice, Messiah and the Second Coming, p. 150

2. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Heirarchy, p. 510

Ray Yungen (1952-2016) is the author of several Lighthouse Trails books, booklets, and lecture DVDs. He stood valiantly for the truth and issued warning to the church for nearly thirty years. 

By Tony Baugh

The Bible is clear that in the last days, just before Jesus returns, there will be false prophets, deceiving through false signs and lying wonders. There is no greater present-day evidence of this than the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation). The Ground Zero of the NAR is Bethel Church in Redding, California, with whom Todd White is strongly affiliated. White speaks at their conferences and is very tight with Bethel Church’s commander-in-chief and senior pastor, Bill Johnson, whose “School of Supernatural Ministry” offers courses on doing precisely what Todd White does, as well as “teach” people to be ordained as “Prophets” and “Apostles” (if you are willing to pay their hefty tuition). Upon completion of the courses, Bill Johnson himself “Knights” graduates.

Bethel (and the NAR at large) inducts youth through the emotionalism of repetitive, hypnotic “worship” music, which has since morphed into the “Jesus Culture Movement,” a rapidly rising youth movement spreading the NAR agenda like wildfire across the globe. Some of the techniques used are: Getting kids “high” on the music, telling them it’s the Holy Ghost moving, running the kids in lines through “fire tunnels” during intermission, laying hands on them and imparting the Kundalini Serpent Spirit . . . where they often fall down, twitch, convulse, oftentimes as if burning in agony, all in the name of “Jesus,” calling it “Holy Ghost Fire,” yelling commands to the Holy Ghost such as, “MORE! MORE! MORE LORD!!! . . . DOUBLE IT!! DOUBLE IT!!”, etc.

Todd White

This is precisely what Todd White does, always “calling down fire” in the name of “Jesus,” which is also precisely what we are warned will be one of the great deceptions of the Beast . . . calling down fire from heaven . . . aka: false signs and lying wonders (Revelation 13:13). Jesus Himself said it would be a deception so powerful, that if it were possible, it would deceive even the very elect.

In Bethel’s best-selling book (co-authored by Bill Johnson), The Physics of Heaven (sold in their campus bookstore alongside a plethora of Jesus Culture CDs and a multitude of NAR authors), it states that Christians are “’taking back truths’ from the New Age that really belong to citizens of the Kingdom of God. (Kindle Locations 407-408).

One of the Bethel’s own “prophets” trained by their Supernatural School unknowingly prophesied to a real practicing witch, telling her “[God] is pleased with you!” and “implored [her] to keep doing what [she] was doing.” (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/agora/2015/07/born-again-witch-witches-at-a-pentecostal-church-healings-and-prophecies/)

There are multiple videos and photos evidencing Bethel students on campus field trips, who take classes on “Grave Soaking/Sucking, as well as the Johnsons (Bill and wife Benny) traveling to grave sites to “suck” or “soak” the anointing of the dead from faith healers like William Branham, the very godfather of the NAR, whom they worship like a god and who has multiple, easily verifiable, failed, false prophesies. This practice is an act the Word of God calls “Necromancy” (contacting the dead), condemning it as an abomination to God (Deuteronomy 18:11).

Todd White Receives Kundalini “Annointing” From Benny Hinn

Another stunning fact is that Todd White received his Kundalini “anointing” from Benny Hinn. When Hinn laid hands on Todd White, Todd fell back, and Hinn repeatedly and creepily told him he was going to be part of a “great youth movement.” This is verifiable on video.

What Christians may find difficult to believe is that Satan himself can indeed heal in the name of “Jesus,” but it’s “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4). To verify this, Johanna Michaelsen’s book or video testimony The Beautiful Side of Evil, is highly recommended. Her books was the catalyst that delivered author/speaker Warren B. Smith out of the New Age. Both he and Michaelsen are early pioneers of exposing New Age mysticism’s creeping into modern Christianity, largely and sadly unaware by most.

As an ex-New Ager myself, I can attest that psychics, Yogi’s, Reiki masters, and witches employ the exact same techniques as the NAR, by tapping into the demonic realm of unclean spirits, who supply very personal, intimate information (such as certain ailments or sickness they may have) about the indviduals they approach (sort of like an invisible phone line direct to the demonic spirit realm. These “mediums” also employ flattery, telling people how “amazing” they are and how much “Jesus love them.”  This immediately impresses the recipients, who the mediums then asks if they can lay hands on them to heal them through the power of the “Holy Ghost,” while doing it in the name of “Jesus” (another “Jesus” . . . aka Satan). The recipients often feel “heat” or “electricity” (common sensations associated with the New Age practice of Reiki). The recipient are told it is “Holy Ghost Fire” and that they just felt the power or even just received the Holy Ghost. Generally, not one word about sin, repentance, or even the Gospel is used.

Jesus Christ said in the end times, many false prophets would come as wolves in sheep’s clothing and that we would know them by their fruits. And the greatest evidence of these falsehoods is that there is always “another Gospel” preached, void of the vital messages that save souls, which Jesus Christ Himself preached: repentance from sin, judgment, hell, fear of God vs. the NAR “Holy Ghost” which is all about an obsession with healing via “signs and wonders,” power, seducing people through the emotionalism of music and the flattery of telling people how amazing they are with no conviction of sin and no contriteness or brokenness of spirit before a holy God, even though Jesus told us the ministry of the Holy Spirit of truth is to “reprove [convict] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8), a message absent from these mouths of these “faith healers.'”

A false prophet is not always known by what he does preach but often by what he doesn’t preach.

There is “another Gospel,” “another Spirt,” and “another Jesus.” In the warning of the Bible, it describing precisely the “Jesus” being promoted by Todd White and the rest of the NAR.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.—Matthew 7:22-23

The most horrifying words in the entire universe:

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. —Jesus Christ, Matthew 24:24

Used and edited with permission.

Related Information:

The New Age Propensities of Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson

Beware of Bethel: A Brief Summary of Bill Johnson’s Unbiblical Teachings

Ten Word of Faith Doctrines Weighed Against Scripture

By Warren B. Smith

As soon as you—all who know your potentials—can tell this vision on television, you will have begun your real work in the world.—The New Age “Christ”1

On the March 12, 2017 episode 5 of Restoring The Shack television series on the TBN Christian television network, Shack author Wm. Paul Young stated it is a “lie” to believe that God is “separate” from His creation.2 Invoking a vision that was reputedly given by God to friend and fellow author C. Baxter Kruger, Young described this alleged lie as the “lie of separation.” But as a former New Ager, I recognized what Young was calling the “lie of separation” was in and by itself a lie. What he was teaching had nothing to do with biblical Christianity and everything to do with the false teachings of the New Age/New Spirituality/New World view. In fact, what Young was attempting to convey to countless TBN viewers was the same thing I had been taught and was teaching when I was in the New Age—that there is “no separation” between God and creation because God is “in” everyone and everything.

But God is not “in” everyone and everything.3

As I read the Bible and came out of the New Age movement and saw through the God-“in”-everything deception, I came to understand how our Spiritual Adversary had turned the Bible’s 2 Corinthians 6:17 instruction to “Be ye separate” into a bold lie that turned the whole notion of biblical separation upside down. Taking the word separation and using it in a wholly unscriptural context, false teachers like Wm. Paul Young are now bringing this New Age “lie” about separation and God “in” everything into the church through books like The Shack and on television programs like TBN’s Restoring the Shack.

The God “in” Everything Heresy

The heretical teaching that God is “in” everything and therefore not separate from creation, is the foundational lynchpin of the New Age/New Spirituality/New World religion.4 Incredibly, this heretical New Age doctrine is taught in The Shack. Wm. Paul Young’s “Jesus” falsely teaches that God is “in” everything when he states, “God, who is the ground of all being, dwells in, around, and through all things.”5 Most people reading The Shack do not understand that this statement made by Young’s “Jesus” is a New Age lie. Yet Young puts this occult saying right in the mouth of his “Jesus—a false “Jesus” who is “another Jesus” and not the real Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:4). Alert Shack readers will note that the word “Christ” can not be found anywhere—not even once—in Young’s whole Shack story.6 Inexplicably, the family cat in the story is named Judas7 but Young’s Jesus is never named Christ. Go figure.

The New Age Doctrine of Oneness

Because God was reputedly “in” everyone and everything, our New Age teachers taught us that we were all “One” and that our “Oneness” with God—our union with God—pervaded everyone and everything. We were told that because there was this “Oneness,” there was no separation between God and creation. And so it was this concept of “Oneness” that singularly expressed our New Age belief in the universal divinity of all things. It seemed very logical. We were all One because we were all in union with God because God was “in” everyone and everything. We honestly believed that a universal acceptance of this universal teaching would bring universal peace. We sensed that humanity was beginning to “awaken” and “shift” into accepting this emerging concept of universal Oneness. We believed if this New Age/New Spirituality/ New World view was universally embraced, it could save the world. Contrarily, those who refused to subscribe to this emerging worldview of Oneness—God “in” everyone and everything—would majorly hinder and ultimately prevent the attainment of this otherwise realizable goal of world peace. The New Age “God” and Christ”—channeling through designated New Age leaders—emphatically stated that the only people who stood in the way of world peace were those who believed in the “illusion of separation.” Wm. Paul Young claiming to quote “God” calls it the “lie of separation.” But what New Age leaders and Wm. Paul Young were teaching about separation was an “illusion” and a “lie.”

Doctrine of Separation

The New Age lie about Separation was cunningly devised by the father of lies to isolate, denigrate, and persecute those who believe that God is, in fact, “separate” from His creation and is not “in” everyone and everything. To not believe that God is “in” everyone and everything is to not believe that everything is connected and divine and “One.” To not believe that God is “in” everyone and everything is to not believe in “Oneness.” To not believe in “Oneness is to believe in “the lie of separation.” It is all a very seductive and devilish New Age trap. And the false New Age Antichrist/“Christ” warns that—were he to gain world power—the consequences for those who refuse to believe that God is “in” everything will be extremely severe.

Oneness vs. Separation

Thus, from a New Age perspective, “Oneness vs. Separation” juxtaposes two prevailing but opposing worldviews against each other. “Oneness” is  being hailed as the loving and spiritually correct worldview that will produce world peace and a happy humanity. Contrarily, separation is described as the spiritually incorrect and hateful worldview that hinders world peace and produces a fearful and divided humanity. As seen in the quotes below, the New Age “Christ” makes his bold case for “Oneness” and threatens those who subscribe to the “hatred” of separation. He states:

The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself. There is no separation of God and His creation.8

The oneness of the Creator and the creation is your wholeness, your sanity and your limitless power.9

Let us together show the world: that the need for war is past; that the instinct of man is to live and to love; that hatred is begotten of separation.10

I shall drive from this Earth forever the curse of hatred, the sin of separation.11

Satan is Separation?

In the New Age, we didn’t believe in a real Satan. The only thing “satanic” was to not believe in the divine “Oneness” of all creation. The only “Satan” were those who were under “the illusion of separation”—those who did not believe that God was “in” everyone and everything. The New Age “God” and “Christ” equate Satan and the Devil with biblical Christians who refuse to subscribe to the Doctrine of Oneness. Biblical Christians then become conveniently and diabolically categorized as being into “separation.” The New Age “God” and “Christ state:

The mind can make the belief of separation very real and very fearful, and this belief is the “devil.” 12

When at last you see that there is no separation in God’s World—that is, nothing which is not God—then, at last, will you let go of this invention of man which you have called Satan.13

Your triumph over Satan, that is, over the illusion of separation, will be a victory for the universal community.14

Thank God I was ultimately shown that He is not in everyone and everything. His Holy Spirit is sent and dwells within those who repent of their sins and know and confess that the true Jesus Christ died on the cross to save us from our sins. I came to realize that God “in” everything “Oneness”—not separation—was the real lie. But most Christians watching Wm. Paul Young on the fifth episode on his TBN Restoring the Shack television series probably had no idea that the “lie of separation” he introduced on that program was totally fraught with New Age meaning and spiritual danger.

Dam Vision/Damnable Heresy

On the March 12th, 2017 fifth episode of Restoring the Shack, Wm. Paul Young used the same spiritual terminology that parallels and directly dovetails with the heretical New Age Doctrine of Separation. He tried to make his case for “the lie of separation” by recounting what friend and fellow author C. Baxter Kruger said he was shown in a vision/visual from the “Lord.” Young stated:

And Baxter had a visual and he was looking at this massive mountain range and he could see a beaver dam that was big enough to block the entire Mississippi—massive—and he asked the Lord, “What is that?” And he heard the response inside his heart, “That is the lies of pastors and theologians and the institutional church system that has been damming up the rivers of living water in the western world.” And Baxter was looking at the very bottom where these huge monster redwoods—and there was one at the center of the bottom and Baxter said, “What is that?” And he heard, “That Baxter is the lie of separation. The western world has convinced itself that it has separated itself from God. There has never been separation. That is absolutely a myth. You take that one out and the whole beaver dam will start to crumble.” Because for a lot of us, the gospel was about separation. That was the assumption.15

Young told his countless TBN viewers that C. Baxter Kruger’s vision came from the Lord—that it was the Lord who told Kruger that the “lie of separation” had undermined the true gospel and dammed up “the rivers of living water in the western world.” But the One True Lord God would never present this heretical New Age concept—much less use the same separation terminology used by the false New Age “God” and “Christ.” What Baxter Kruger saw and heard in his vision and that Wm. Paul Young passed on to TBN viewers was not from the Lord. Absolutely in no way. Having come out of the New Age movement with all its spiritual deception, I learned the hard way that voices purporting to be “the Lord” are often “seducing spirits” bringing “doctrines of devils” like the doctrines of “Oneness” and “Separation” (1 Timothy 4:1).

There is a Deceiver, and the Bible warns us to “believe not every spirit but to try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). The voice Kruger heard taught the same thing the false New Age Christ taught us in the New Age about separation. Kruger’s alleged vision from “the Lord” with its “lie of separation” was exactly what the apostle Peter was warning about when he said there would be “false teachers among you” who will bring in “damnable heresies.” What irony that it was a “dam” vision that brought in the “damnable” heresy:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies. (2 Peter 2:1)

It is also ironic that it is “Oneness”—not separation—that is the” damnable heresy.” It is not the “lie of separation” but rather Wm. Paul Young’s lie about separation. It was the lie about separation that C. Baxter Kruger passed along to Young who then passed it on to countless TBN viewers. Knowingly or unknowingly, Wm. Paul Young was now teaching Christians on Christian television what the New Age “God” and “Christ” has been teaching the world for the last fifty years.

Same Separation Language

It is important to note the obvious similarities between the “lie of separation” concept Young and Kruger attribute to “the Lord” and the New Age separation concept. The following are several examples of what the New Age “God” and “Christ” have previously stated about separation:

A sense of separation from God is the only lack you really need correct.16

The only solution is the Ultimate Truth: nothing exists in the universe that is separate from anything else. 17

This is your assignment. This is your work. You are to destroy the illusion of separation.18

Separation and Young’s “Great Sadness”

The New Age “Jesus” states that sickness results from believing you are “separate” from God. Healing—according to this New Age “Jesus,” Wm. Paul Young, and C. Baxter Kruger—comes from recognizing the “lie of separation” and seeing and believing in “Oneness” instead:

A sick person perceives himself as separate from God. Would you see him as separate from you? It is your task to heal the sense of separation that has made him sick.19

Sadly, ironically, and tragically, Wm. Paul Young’s Shack “therapy” for his own “Great Sadness,” for his Shack characters, and for humanity is the same heretical New Age healing offered to us by the New Age “God” and “Christ” through their channeled New Age teachings. Young and Kruger would have the church “awaken” from the “lie of separation” and “shift” into seeing that God is at “One” and in “union” with everyone and everything. But their Shack therapy is an Antichrist/false Christ New Age therapy. It is not from God.

C. Baxter Kruger

For those not familiar with C. Baxter Kruger, he is a self-described Mississippi theologian who is the Director of Perichoresis Ministries and the author of nine books that include The Shack Revisited. Some of his many joint speaking appearances with Young are easily found on the Internet. In his introduction to The Shack Revisited, Wm. Paul Young writes that Kruger’s book will help the reader to better understand the “perspectives and theology that frame The Shack.”20 While Kruger’s account of the beaver dam vision and the “lie of separation” don’t appear in The Shack Revisited, they do show up in Kruger”s 2016 book Patmos.

In Patmos, Aidan, “a burned-out, suicidal theologian” from Mississippi, time travels to the first century and lands in a cave with the apostle John. Kruger cleverly puts his own words and theology in John’s mouth—much like Young did with “Papa,” “Jesus,” and “Sarayu” in The Shack. By the end of his novel, Kruger has the apostle John sounding more like an apostate John—most especially when it comes to a conversation Aidan and John have regarding separation. After Aidan tells John how he had to “escape the twin clutches of fundamentalism and modernism,”21 Kruger’s apostle John tells him,“There is only one battle”—“Union or separation.”22 He tells Aidan that the world’s problems all revolve around one crucial matter—“Ourselves and our ideas about separation from God.”23 Kruger’s “apostle John” contrasts the Oneness of believing that Jesus is “in” everyone with the “lie” of separation that denies Jesus is “in” everyone. Kruger’s “John” gives the time-traveling Aidan the following New Age message:

[The] lie of separation from God is the chief of all lies. It may be like a mother spider with a thousand babies on its back, but there is only one mother spider.24

Dear brother, either Jesus is in us or we are separated from him.25

At one point, Aidan asks the apostle John, “This mess, this historical quagmire of religions, wars, abuses, lust, and fear, all grows out of a single untruth?”

John answers, “Indeed my son . . . The lie that we are separated from Jesus and his Father.”

To which Aidan comments, “So in your gospel and letters, you’re trying to help us see through the lie of separation.”26

In another exchange, John tells Aidan, “The assumption of separation is the great darkness.”27 Never referring to Satan as Satan, but only as “Ophis,” John warns:

This is Ophis’s chief trick—blind us to how close the Lord is, closer than breath: we’re in him, and he’s in us. Ophis deceives the nations by one lie—separation. 28

Thus Kruger—by putting his own words in the apostle John’s mouth—has John teaching what the New Age has been teaching for decades. And that is that there is no separation between God and creation because God is “in” everyone and everything. But what Kruger is teaching is not true and is not from God. He and Wm. Paul Young are not exposing the deception—they are a part of it. The lie that is in the process of actually deceiving the nations and deceiving the church is “Oneness”—God “in” everyone and everything.

Talks Like New Age

The parallels between what the New Age is saying about Oneness and separation and what Kruger and Young are saying should be deeply disturbing to anyone who loves the truth. And while Young and Kruger would probably deny that man is God and that what they are teaching is New Age, it is a simple matter of semantics. A rose by any other name is still a rose. And a “God” who “dwells in, around, and through all things”29 and is not separate from creation is still a false unbiblical New Age “God.”

The Selection Process

The upshot of all this upside down, twisted teaching is that people may one day live or die based on what they believe regarding this cleverly contrived battle between “Oneness” and “Separation.” Or as Kruger puts it—“the battle” between “union or separation.” And that is because the false New Age Christ promises severe repercussions for those who insist on being “separate”—those who refuse to believe that God is “in” everyone and everything. This could fulfill the severe end-times persecution of the church described in the Bible but almost never talked about by false teachers like Young and Kruger.

The New Age Christ, while professing his love for all mankind, nevertheless warns there will be no place in the future for those who see themselves as “separate.” Consequently, this New Age Antichrist figure describes the necessity of a “selection process” that will select out and eliminate the resistant individuals who choose to remain “separate” as they oppose the New Age “Oneness” that falsely purports to heal and save the world. Through his chosen spokespersons, the New Age Christ has threatened those who choose biblical separation over New Age “Oneness”:

[T]he fundamental regression is self-centeredness, or the illusion that you are separate from God. I “make war” on self-centeredness.30

At the co-creative stage of evolution, one self-centered soul is like a lethal cancer cell in a body: deadly to itself and to the whole.31

The surgeon dare leave no cancer in the body when he closes up the wound after a delicate operation. We dare leave no self-centeredness on Earth after the selection process.32

I shall drive from this Earth forever the curse of hatred, the sin of separation.33

The crime of separation, of division, of lawlessness must go from the world. All that hinders the manifestation of man’s divinity must be driven from our planet. My Law will take the place of separation.34

“Be ye separate”

Thus, separation is a pernicious label that takes the biblical admonition to “Be ye separate” and turns it back on those who dare to separate themselves from the world and false New Age teachings like “Oneness.” Bible-believing Christians are to separate themselves from men like Wm. Paul Young and C. Baxter Kruger who indiscriminately mix truth with error and present false teachings to the church. Those who think they can eat some meat from The Shack and spit out the bones are sorely deceived. They may very well choke on the bones they failed to detect—leavened bones like the God who “dwells in, around, and through all things.” Leavened bones like the falsely alleged “lie of separation.” The apostle Paul makes the Bible’s position on the danger of unbiblical leaven very clear:

Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Galatians 5:7-9)

Paul of the Bible warned about the Paul of The Shack when he provided the true scriptural take on separation—that we are to separate ourselves from men like Young and Kruger who give us some of the truth but not all of the truth; who please men with their cunningly devised fables (2 Peter 1:16) by putting their words and doctrines in the mouths of their fictional characters; who preach “another Jesus” and “another gospel”; who instead of positively teaching about the need for biblical separation, mimic New Age teachers who falsely teach that separation is “a sin,” “an illusion,” “a crime” and “a lie.”

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.”(2 Corinthians 6:17)

TBN Supports Young

The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) continues to offer Wm. Paul Young a massive platform for his Shack book, Shack movie, and his 2017 book Lies We Believe About God where he openly affirms his belief in universal salvation35 and the New Age teaching that Christ is “in” everyone.36 Contrary to what most Christians believe, the New Age did not disappear but is now charging full steam ahead into the church through books like The Shack and into people’s living rooms through television programs like Restoring the Shack. In the meantime, the true Christ of the Bible warns us all to “be not deceived” by “false Christs” and “false prophets” with their signs and wonders that come in the form of best-selling books, Hollywood movies, and so-called Christian television. Christians need to understand that a false Christ Antichrist figure is preparing the world for strong delusion.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Matthew 24:24)

Endnotes
1. Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation: A Message of Hope for the New Millennium (Novato, California: Nataraj Publishing, 1995), p. 74.
2. Restoring the Shack television series, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), 20 episodes that were originally broadcast from to July 9, 2017. (Restoring the Shack online at: https://www.tbn.org/programs/restoring-shack).
3. Warren B. Smith, Be Still and Know that You are not God: God is Not in Everyone and Everything (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2015; to read online, go to http://www.warrenbsmith.com, click booklets, click to read content of booklet; history and scriptural refutation of the false New Age teaching that God is in everything).
4. Neale Donald Walsch, Tomorrow’s God: Our Greatest Spiritual Challenge (New York: NY: Atria Books, 2004), pp. 31-32.
5. William P. Young, The Shack (Los Angeles, California: Windblown Media, 2007), p. 112.
6. Warren B. Smith, “The Christless Shack,” article posted at warrenbsmith.com.
7. William P. Young, The Shack, op. cit. p. 231. Warren B. Smith “A Cat Named Judas,” articled posted at http://www.warrenbsmith.com.
8. A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume [Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers] (Glen Ellen, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, 1992), p. 147 (Text).
9. Ibid., p. 125 (Text)
10. Messages From Maitreya the Christ: 140 Messages (Los Angeles, CA: Share International, 2001), p. 108.
11. Ibid., p. 104.
12. A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, op. cit., p. 50 (Text).
13. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: Book 3 (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 1998), p. 56.
14. Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation, op. cit. p. 193.
15. Restoring the Shack television series, Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), episode 5, March 12, 2017. Beaver dam discourse starts around the 19 minute mark. Transcribed by author.
16. A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, op. cit., p. 14 (Text).
17. Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations with God: Book 2 (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 1997), p. 173.
18. Neale Donald Walsch, Friendship with God: An Uncommon Dialogue (New York, NY: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1999), p. 21.
19. A Course in Miracles, Combined Volume, op. cit., p. 56 (Manual).
20. 9. C. Baxter Kruger, The Shack Revisited: There is More Going On Here Than You Ever Dared to Dream (New York, New York: Faith Words, 2012), p. ix.
21. C. Baxter Kruger, Patmos, Three Days, Two Men, One Extraordinary Conversation (Jackson, MS: Perichoresis Press, 2016), p. 90.
22. Ibid., p. 91.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid., p. 93.
25. Ibid., p. 92.
26. Ibid., p. 93.
27. Ibid., p. 91.
28. Ibid., pp. 91-92.
29. William P. Young, The Shack, op. cit., p. 112.
30. Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation, op. cit., p. 233.
31. Ibid., p. 255.
32. Ibid., p. 240.
33. Messages From Maitreya the Christ, op. cit., p. 104.
34. Ibid., p. 248.
35. Wm. Paul Young, Lies We Believe About God (New York, NY: Atria Books, An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2017), p. 118.
36. Ibid., p. 119.

Berit Kjos

By Berit Kjos
(Author of How to Protect Your Child From the New Age & Spiritual Deception)

Aleister Crowley was called “the most evil man in the world.” This founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn defined magic as “the science and art of causing change to occur at will.”1

Whose will?

Not God’s! The following occult statement describes one of the most devious traps set by the evil one since the beginning of time:

[U]nless you make yourself equal to God, you cannot understand God: for the like is not intelligible save to the like. . . . Believe that nothing is impossible for you. . . . Mount higher than the highest height; descend lower than the lowest depth. Draw into yourself all sensations of everything created, fire and water, dry and moist, imagining that you are everywhere, on earth, in the sea, in the sky.2

Remember what the serpent said to Eve in the garden after tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit:

Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:4-5)

It was a devious lie! Instead of making her like God, her sin banished her from His presence. By “knowing . . . evil” experientially, she became an unholy creature who could no longer walk in the presence of our holy God! Satan’s lofty promise was actually a deadly trap!

Yet it supports what children are taught in schools, youth organizations, and many churches. In this fantasy world, it makes sense for opposing sides—good and evil—to join hands in perfect harmony. Like the dialectic process that “frees” group members from biblical authority and values, Satan’s devious message promotes an arrogance that matches the Old Testament description of Lucifer who said in his heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. . . . I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

If we choose “other gods” and yield to Satan’s temptations, we will surely face consequences. Ponder these warnings:

[They] walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 7:24)

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:14-15)

And as it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26)

And what was it like “in the days of Noah”?

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. . . . The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. (Genesis 6:5, 11)

A vivid memory that happened several years ago sticks in my mind like it was yesterday—I was walking down a sidewalk when suddenly I was standing in front of an assortment of Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Supernaturals—an exotic collection of action figures and accessories lay scattered on the ground outside a Boston apartment. Four-year-old Jimmy, their proud owner, smiled a welcome as I stopped to watch him play.

“Which do you like best?” I asked.

“Rock-N-Roll Michaelangelo,” he answered, pointing to one of the black-belted Ninja Turtles.

As we discussed Michaelangelo and the two snakes he carried as weapons, I noticed an interesting book cover.

“May I see your book?”

“Sure. It’s Nanny Noony and the Magic Spell.”

I opened it and read a few paragraphs. “It looks like Nanny Noony put a hex on the farm,” I said.

“But she didn’t really do it,” protested Jimmy. “She’s a good witch. She just makes potions to undo bad hexes.”

Jimmy’s mother, who had been listening, asked me a few questions. When she learned that I was writing about the New Age, she announced that she was a Christian. But she liked spirit-guide Seth’s messages better than the Bible.

She went inside and returned with three paperbacks. “Here’s what I believe,” she said, handing them to me. Penned by the late trance-channeler Jane Roberts, they were filled with messages from the prolific Seth, who first “spoke” to his human medium through a Ouija Board.

Soon I was sitting in her living room surrounded by New Age literature: Seth material, a magazine called Mothering, two books about Edgar Cayce’s channeled revelations, and The Aquarian Gospel of the Christ. The last of these, written like a Bible but presenting distortions of God’s truth, fills Jesus’ “missing years” with New Age “insights”—at the feet of “higher Masters” in India, Persia, and Egypt.

What messages do these and other spirit guides like Ramtha (who has about 35,000 followers), Lazaris, Carl Jung’s Philemon, and thousands of Higher Selves bring? You can be God! Just believe in your divinity, create your own reality, and build a new world of light and love.

Jimmy’s home is tragically representative of the growing number of households, including the homes of many professing Christians, who have opened their doors to counterfeit gods. While millions have studied Seth’s teachings, thousands of amateur spiritists have learned to channel their own spirit guides. The reports of terrifying encounters with evil spirits fade in the optimism of infinite possibilities.

Unfortunately, what we are experiencing today is a synthesis of the “I am God” ideology and accelerating occult activity. In fact, the two are inextricably linked together in that they have the same source—the demonic realm. Aleister Crowley, who promoted the ancient occult maxim “as above, so below” (i.e., man and creation are equal to God and the heavenly realms), also mobilized the youth of the hippie era with his own maxim, “Do what thou wilt” as being the whole of the law.

This maxim was then propagated to the mass youth of the sixties with the expression, “Do your own thing.” Today, we have a similar onslaught from Hell that is destined to be even more devastating to children and teens as they attempt to incorporate their notion of divinity within by practicing “divine powers,” all the while being caught in the web of self, pride, deceit, and occult manifestations.

You may remember December 14th, 2012 when a horrific event took place in America. A young tormented demonized man walked into an elementary school in Connecticut and shot and killed twenty children, six adults, then himself. It shocked and shook the nation. Less than twenty-four hours after the event, then President Barak Obama, and others in government, raised the gun control issue, believing that if there is enough gun control, such atrocities wouldn’t happen. Tragically, what most do not realize is that we have turned this country into an esoteric New Age society, and the “fruit” of it is rearing its ugly grotesque face more now than ever. And these violent crimes committed by young people are only going to increase, especially if most people don’t realize what the true source of such incredible violence is.

What should Christian families do? Should we hide ourselves and our loved ones from the world’s charms and ills, or should we shine our light, work while it is day, and speak the truth in love and in boldness?

Of course, even if we wanted to, we really couldn’t hide. And though we heed God’s call to pray, study His Word, love one another in Christ, and reach out to the lost, we still can’t stop today’s rapid spread of evil. Yet Christian families can make a huge difference in the lives of untold numbers of seekers, if we let God use us to spread His light in a world growing darker by the minute.

We need to show our children how to be in the world but not of the world. We can be God’s ambassadors in an increasingly corrupt land, but we cannot allow its darkness to quench His light in us. We can demonstrate God’s concern for the poor, but we can’t compromise with a counterfeit social gospel and New Age solutions.

Let us pray that He fill us with His wisdom, compassion, patience, and love. And may God bless you as you work to accomplish His will at home with your own children and grandchildren.

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6-7)

Taizé Community in France during a worship service (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons; copyright owner: Damir Jelic; used with permission)

By Chris Lawson
(Author of Taizé: A Community and Worship: Ecumenical Reconciliation or an Interfaith Delusion?)

The worship practiced at Taizé has attracted many people from around the globe and from many different denominations. While many of the words found in Taizé worship music are words found in Scripture or words that do not necessarily contradict Scripture, the Taizé songs and worship services themselves are centered around contemplative, ecumenical, and oftentimes emergent spirituality themes. The emphasis is not on the teaching or exhortation of the Word of God but rather is to help participants “experience” God through sensory-focused music and singing. A church association in the UK describes the Taizé worship style as such:

The contemplative worship practices of the Taizé community are promoted at an annual international conference. Taizé worship is being incorporated in a wide variety of churches, both Protestant and Catholic and its pattern of devotion is emulated in other monastic communities around the world.

A Taizé worship service involves sung and chanted prayers, meditation, a period of silence, liturgical readings, and use of candles. There is no preaching. The style of prayer practiced at Taizé has attracted many worshippers from around the globe and from many different denominations.1

The main focus on the Taizé worship is the chanted prayers, meditations, and songs. However, the Bible warns against such practices:

[W]hen ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

The Contemplative Network, an online resource for those interested in meditative prayer practices, describes Taizé worship and prayer like this:

For those familiar with Taizé common prayer, but unfamiliar with Centering Prayer practices, they will discover that they grow from the same root of seeking to surrender the mind and heart to the intimate presence of God. They share the same spirit of ancient monastic traditions to open space to let the Word of God reverberate in all its dimensions. Those who have tasted of this open space during the silent period of a Taizé common prayer service may find themselves well disposed to explore related contemplative practices such as Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer.2

The Taizé worship is not based on the objective Word of God but rather offers spiritual experiences that are subjectively appealing to the flesh. In Scripture, we are instructed to build up the inner spiritual man and to resist the carnality of the flesh (Ephesians 3:16, Romans 8:1-16).

Jesus Christ instructed His disciples that they should not use repetitive prayers (chanting) like the heathen (New Agers, pagans, etc.) do. Anytime experience is given higher regard than God’s Word, it puts followers at risk of becoming victim to deception and even dangerous spiritual realms. Mystical and esoteric experiences are subjective, meaning they are not founded on anything solid or concrete. It is the Word of God (the Bible) that is to be our steering mechanism through life. Consider these verses that show the importance of the Word of God. You won’t find any verses giving credence to seeking after mystical experiences:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. (Psalm 119:9)

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)

Taizé Worship Influenced by Catholic Prayers

The repetitive Taizé songs are influenced by the Roman Catholic notion that a person needs to say a certain amount of repeated prayers in order for them to be enough (e.g., the Catholic works mentality—which dictates that one must do enough works to reduce the time in Purgatory).

An example in Roman Catholicism would be the Rosary—a droning repetition of the same set of prayers, something like this: six repetitions of Our Father, fifty repetitions of the Hail Marys, and three repetitions of the Glory-be prayers. These repetitive prayers are usually said before or after mid-week Masses.

Jesus said, when asked about how to pray, to only pray to God (not Mary or saints or angels) and to not repeat the same prayers over and over again like the pagans “for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

Six different Psalms tell us to sing a new song unto the Lord, but not one tells us to chant. Now Psalm 136 is unique in that it uses the refrain “his mercy endureth for ever,” but this is not a chant in that each refrain is a response to a different statement. So, unlike the psalms, the Catholic uses endless repetition out of guilt (in doing penance) or to be heard by God or from the sense that the Taizé songs are sung to allow participants to go into mind-altering trance-like states.

Taizé Worship Practices Similar to New Age Meditation

Sadly, many of the spiritual experiences occurring during Taizé worship services are similar to what takes place during New Age meditation. The following quote is from Lacy Clark Ellman, author of the New Age website, A Sacred Journey. Her quote is from “Inside the Taizé Community: An Interview with Brother Emile.” The processes (i.e., techniques) she mentions are reminiscent of many transformative occult practices. Regarding Taizé worship, Ellman explains:

Singing their [Taizé monks] chants left me transported—centering me, bringing me peace, and thus opening me up to the Sacred. I’ve been known to describe it as the perfect combination of the contemplative and charismatic—the words simple and liturgical in nature, with the repetition making space for the Sacred Guide to enter. . . .

Instead of trying to facilitate an experience with bright lights and catchy songs, the [Taizé] brothers invite visitors into their own experience—a rhythmic practice of chants, reading, and [meditative] silence in languages found across the globe. They didn’t explain what was going on or how to participate, apart from a board that displayed which song was to be sung next.3 (emphasis added)

The problem with this explanation is that occultists (shamans, sorcerers, witches, etc.) and New Age practitioners around the globe are receiving similar experiences, in varying forms, through spirit contact via spiritualism, séances, channeling, etc. So too, non-Christians enter varying levels of voluntary and involuntary possession states using this same process.

Instead of encouraging Christian worship settings that provide for a clear understanding of sound biblical preaching and teaching of the Bible, Taizé worship services provide a fast track to spiritual experience via unbiblical forms of prayer, meditation, and silence. In many cases, they bypass the Bible altogether. In settings like this where anything goes—chanting, centering down to enter “the silence,” lengthy repetitive singing, and meditative/altered states—any form of spirit contact can occur.

Considering these things, it is of utmost importance that Christians heed this biblical warning:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (1 Timothy 4:1)

When people are not being taught the Bible and warned about the dangers of false doctrine and non-biblical practices, they will inevitably, in mystical Taizé type settings, end up under the influence of deceiving spirits. As the above passage describes, strong delusion will overtake them. This is no small problem as it is running rampant in the church throughout the world.
The true Christian has only one option at this point, and that is to obey Scripture and separate from those who bring teachings contrary to the Word of God.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16:17-18; emphasis added)

(This is an excerpt from Chris Lawson’s book Taizé: A Community and Worship: Ecumenical Reconciliation or an Interfaith Delusion?)

Endnotes:

1. The Cornilo Churches, UK (http://www.cornilochurches.org.uk/taiz.htm).
2. The Contemplative Network, “Prayer With the Songs of Taizé (http://www.contemplative.net/prayer-with-songs-taize-t-1_43.html).
3. “Inside the Taizé Community: An Interview with Brother Emile” (http://www.asacredjourney.net/2013/08/taize).

bigstockphoto

By Roger Oakland and Caryl Matrisciana

Through evolutionary beliefs, we can see that our culture is slamming the door on God the Creator while at the same time opening the door to the fallen spiritual realm (the demonic realm). As a result, people are increasingly embracing Satan’s false promise that they are the masters of their own world.

This lie has become more firmly entrenched as the evolution conspiracy has tried in every way possible to remove God from His rightful position as Creator. It has done this in science, in education, in medicine, and in popular culture by undermining faith in God’s revealed Word, the Bible. Tampering with the authority and intent of God’s written Word has serious consequences which God severely warns about (see Revelation 22:18-19). The Bible teaches that man was created by God, fell from God’s grace as a result of disobedience, and is desperately in need of redemption. This truth has been a stumbling block to many who choose rather to believe that man was not created by God but evolved and is the end product of some unguided process of chance and time. Man’s pride argues that the biblical perspective of creation is unscientific, without admitting to the unreasonable assumption of evolutionism.

Evolutionism’s attempts to rid man of knowledge and trust in the biblical God of creation cannot curb humankind’s incurable desire for supernatural fellowship and worship. Man was created to worship, and whether he worships the Creator God or other idols including himself, his spiritual drive must be met. In response to such needs, evolutionary thinking has embraced many humanist and New Age concepts. This is nothing short of Satan’s lie to Eve in Genesis 3:4,5: “Ye shall not surely die . . . ye shall be as gods.”

By accepting the idea of “godhood” (that man is in control of his own power and destiny), modern man buys into the very same hoax that seduced Eve in the first place. The power that was promised her was a counterfeit offered by the one who wanted to draw her away from her dependence on and relationship with God.

Millions of people are being duped by the false spiritual idea that our society continues on an upward evolutionary pathway, that mankind is on the verge of entering a brand-new age of consciousness and awareness that will come as a so-called quantum leap in man’s evolutionary process. As we are presently witnessing in today’s society, man’s decision to eliminate God by propagating the lie of evolution has ignited a wildfire of New Age/new spirituality thinking and mentality which openly encourages contact with the occult, worship of self, and denial of a biblical God.

It is so unfortunate that the Bible has been laid aside as a reliable and trustworthy source of information. Paul admonished Timothy to stay in the Word:

[F]rom a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:15-16)

Also, the psalmist praises God for His Word in saying, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). But, too often, many prefer to grope in darkness than to lay hold of the wisdom that we need for all life and godliness.

The Bible, the mighty sword of the Christian warrior, is increasingly and deliberately being undermined in schools and even churches, many of which dismiss its content as symbolic and irrelevant.
An example of blatant misrepresentation was witnessed at the Jesus Seminar. Though its membership has considerably dwindled—only forty participants remain out of the original 2001—the Jesus Seminar was at one time an influential group of Bible scholars, including teachers from universities and seminaries and even representatives of the Society of Biblical Literature. This group, which began in 1985, ruled out the authenticity of eighty percent of the words attributed to Jesus from the Gospels. It concluded that the Lord’s Prayer did not go back to the historical Jesus. It rejected such important Christian foundations as John 3:16 and John 14:6 (“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”) This group systematically attempted to invalidate the Messiah’s sacrifice of His blood for the atonement of man’s sins. It also assaulted His unique character as God and the teaching of His inevitable return to rule on earth. But the unbeliever’s skeptical view of God and of the faithful authority of His Word cannot change God’s eternal purpose. God is not mocked.

Ultimately, Satan cannot and will not win in his conspiracy against God but is doomed to eventually be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 20). At times, however, many people question God’s ways and purposes, and Satan is credited with winning the battle. At the crucifixion of Jesus, all the rulers, powers, the world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12) must have believed they had successfully killed the “King of the Jews” and thwarted His eternal plan. For three days, Satan’s human accomplices were filled with arrogant pride at their accomplishment. But then unconquerable God overpowered death and presented Himself resurrected to His triumphant followers. His resurrection represented the future hope of all believers, the hope of eternity in His presence.

(An excerpt from Caryl Matrisciana and Roger Oakland’s book The Evolution Conspiracy, 2nd edition)

William Paul Young

By Warren B. Smith   

The name Judas has been described as the most hated name in all the world. Except for Shack author William Paul Young and maybe a few exceptional others, hardly anybody ever names anyone or anything Judas. It is one of those forbidden names like Jezebel or Lucifer that people would never dream of naming their child, their dog—or their cat. The very name denotes a sense of treachery and betrayal. After all, Judas was the one who openly betrayed Jesus and paved the way for His crucifixion. So what was William Paul Young thinking? Why does The Shack’s most endearing character—Missy—have a cat named Judas?1 And it seems especially odd to have a cat with that name in a family where the mother’s faith is described as “deep”2 and Missy is asking sincere questions about Jesus’ death.3

Heresy and Betrayal

Young contends that The Shack is much more than a fictional novel. He describes The Shack as “theology wrapped in story.” He writes:

Please don’t misunderstand me; The Shack is theology. But it is theology wrapped in story, the Word becoming flesh and living inside the blood and bones of common human experience.4

This is said in spite of the fact that Young’s Shack characters and Shack “theology” frequently mock God and God’s Word with their cryptic humor and clever interplay. To be perfectly blunt, the name Judas fits right in with much of what William Paul Young is teaching. Like Judas, Young betrays Jesus Christ and biblical Christianity with his heretical Shack theology—a Shack theology where there is, among other things, no Devil and no Christ. Neither of them can be found anywhere in the whole Shack story. The Devil is never mentioned because Young would have us believe that evil and darkness “do not have any actual existence.”5 And The Shack’s “Jesus” is never identified as Christ. In fact, the name of Christ is nowhere to be found in the whole Shack story.6

One well-known pastor gave an impassioned sermon about thirteen heresies he found in The Shack.7 One heresy he did not mention is perhaps the most egregious of all—the panentheistic proposition that God is “in” all things. Incredibly, William Paul Young puts this foundational doctrine of the New Age/New Spirituality/New World Religion right in the mouth of The Shack’s “Jesus.” Young’s “Jesus” states—“God, who is the ground of all being, dwells in, around, and through all things.”8 But this is a false teaching. God is not “in” all things.9 For Young to put these heretical words in the mouth of The Shack’s “Jesus” is an absolute betrayal of the true Jesus Christ.

A Wonderful and Horrible Betrayal

Thus, as Young plays fast and loose with biblical Christianity, should we be surprised that he plays fast and loose with a name like Judas—a name that perfectly describes his role in today’s wayward church. What Young describes as “theology wrapped in story” is really biblical betrayal wrapped in a cunningly devised fable (2 Peter 1:16). The Shack is everything that the true Jesus Christ warned us to watch out for when he said to “be not deceived” (Luke 21:8). And that warning would seem to include authors like William Paul Young who think nothing at all about putting heretical New Age doctrines in Jesus’ mouth and naming a little girl’s cat Judas.

The Shack may seem “wonderful” to countless Shack readers, but in reality it is a betrayal of biblical Christianity and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the words of the prophet Jeremiah—The Shack may seem “wonderful,” but it is actually “horrible,” and yet the people “love to have it so.”

A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? (Jeremiah 5:30-31)

To read other articles from The Shack series by Warren B. Smith, click here.

Endnotes

1. William P. Young, The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity (Los Angeles, CA: Windblown Media, 2007), p. 231.
2. Ibid., p. 11.
3. Ibid., p. 31.
4. C. Baxter Kruger, The Shack Revisited: There is More Going On Here Than You Ever Dared to Dream (New York: Faith Words), p. xi.
5. William P. Young, The Shack, op. cit., p. 136.
6. Warren B. Smith, “The Christless Shack” (article posted at warrenbsmith.com).
7. Michael Youssef, The Shack Uncovered: 13 Heresies Explained (PDF: https://store.ltw.org/p-315-the-shack-uncovered-13-heresies-explained-pdf.aspx) (Leading the Way Ministries, 2017).
8. William P. Young, The Shack, op. cit., p.112.
9. Warren B. Smith, Be Still and Know That You are Not God: God is Not “in” Everyone and Everything (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2015). This is a free online booklet that traces the history of the false teaching that God is “in” everything. It also offers a scriptural refutation of this heretical doctrine.