Dear Lighthouse Trails: Yesterday, I was reading 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, where Paul is writing about the wisdom of God versus the wisdom of the world. I was reminded of our former Baptist pastor in the early ’80s who was highly intellectual, which attracted a lot of people from academia in our college town. … [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…]
As many of you know, Lighthouse Trails readers have been an integral part of the Bryce Homes Program (particularly in Kenya) for several years. Bryce Homes was founded by Roger Oakland after the death of his son Bryce at the age of 27 and is run by Roger’s non-profit ministry Understand the Times. In 2011, … [Read more…]
The following is an update from the Bryce Homes in India overseer, Pastor Wilson. Bryce Homes is an international missions program founded by Understand the Times (Roger Oakland’s ministry). There are currently Bryce Homes in several different countries. In each Bryce Home country, local pastors oversee the Bryce Homes (which are comprised of Christian widows … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times, International Recently, I read a Facebook post by a southern California pastor that the “emerging church” was no longer a problem for him or his church. He stated that the emerging church was just another passing fad that had come and then disappeared never to be heard of again. … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland A belief in Creation is based on God’s revelation to man; evolutionary theory is based on man’s speculation which attempts to explain away God. Just as they believe the universe came into existence with a “Big Bang,” most evolutionists believe that life emerged from non-life hundreds of millions of years ago by … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Trails: By the grace of God, I have led women’s Bible studies since 1982. In the past ten years, I have noticed a departing from the fundamentals of the faith in the materials I used by Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and others. New thought, strange language, omission of teaching the repentance of sin, … [Read more…]
News Stories from Understand the Times, International with Roger Oakland: Broken world needs Christian unity, pope tells Christian leaders at WCC Hostility to Religion Rising Globally, Christians Targeted in 144 Nations: Pew Study African Churches: Pope Urges Fostering of Coexistence Holy Father: Interreligious Dialogue Built on Openness
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…]
Note: This report has been written by the Board members at Bryce Homes in Kenya, Africa. The Bryce Home program is an Understand the Times ministry under the leadership of Roger Oakland. UTT has established dozens of Bryce Homes for needy Christian families in seven different countries. Lighthouse Trails readers have been helping to support … [Read more…]
YWAM (Youth With a Mission), an evangelical missions organization (founded in 1960 by Loren Cunningham) that trains about 25,000 people every year for world-wide mission trips, has issued an announcement regarding its commitment to teaching contemplative prayer. On Saturday, a reader alerted Lighthouse Trails to a June 2018 YWAM promotional audio piece on the … [Read more…]
By Lighthouse Trails Editors Is your church involved in a Spiritual Formation program? If so, you might want to ask the question, what exactly is Spiritual Formation? It’s a fair question, and one that, if not asked, could end up surprising you when your church changes in ways you never imagined. A Christianity Today article … [Read more…]
As many readers may remember, in 2014 Word of Faith preacher Kenneth Copeland invited the Anglican priest Tony Palmer to speak to his congregation.* Palmer, who died in a motorcycle accident a few months later, was an “evangelist” for Pope Francis to convince leaders in the Protestant church that the reformation was over and … [Read more…]
In an article titled “How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It,” Biola University professor J.P. Moreland says that evangelical Christians are too committed to the Bible. He states: “In the actual practices of the Evangelical community in North America, there is an over-commitment to Scripture in a way that is … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Follow Your Heart or God’s Law? The world tells us to follow our heart—go with our feelings. The Bible, on the other hand, states emphatically: “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26). Our senses and feelings can direct us … [Read more…]
From Bryce Homes Kenya Board Members April 2018 World over, widows and orphans experience new challenges day by day. It is touching to learn that they (widows and orphans) do not have the capacity to deal with these challenges that are unique to them. This month, while on a mission to reach out to the … [Read more…]
Dear Lighthouse Trails: I am a believer in Christ and consider myself a defender of the Faith. I live in a small town in ________ and attend a tiny Free Methodist church. I do not consider myself Free Methodist, nor does my husband, but we feel we have been given a unique opportunity to serve … [Read more…]
A recent YouTube video that has been viewed over 50,000 times thus far* of highly prolific and popular Christian author and speaker Francis Chan creates a very disturbing scenario of how the Body of Christ should operate. Speaking to a group at Bethel Church, he strongly implied that God will destroy (kill) anyone who questions … [Read more…]
From Understand the Times Comment from UTT: Read the following article which describes the demise of Christianity in the UK while at the same time the Islamic religion flourishes. Note the following statement from the article: “Given the current trends, Christianity in England is becoming a relic, while Islam will be the religion of the … [Read more…]
Note from LT Editors: Our hearts and prayers go out to the families in Florida who lost loved ones in the recent school shooting. These tragic horrific events are incomprehensible. While we carry on with our work here, we do not ever want to give the impression that we do not care for people around … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times, International During the dark ages, people believed non-living materials could become life by a spontaneous process. They foolishly believed that garbage had the potential to turn into maggots, flies, and rats. This was proven false when the Italian physician Francesco Redi performed his famous experiment. He covered some garbage … [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…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times, International At one time in my life, I was a staunch believer in Darwinian evolution. During that period of my life, I just accepted what I was told by scientists without thinking very much about the claims they were imposing on me. Eventually, I came to the realization this … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand The Times, International Man’s way or God’s way? That is a very important question. When it comes to growing God’s church, is there a right answer? Some believe there are ways to promote church growth by applying certain principles that are based on human insight and growth methods. What does God … [Read more…]
Looking Back at 2017 At the end of each year, we reflect on the things that have taken place at Lighthouse Trails throughout that year, remembering the accomplishments and blessings as well as the challenges and heartaches. In May of 2017, Lighthouse Trails author Warren Smith suffered a heart attack after a tumultuous 2016 where … [Read more…]
See also Part 1 of our 2017 Year in Review. The following are the Top 10 stories in 2017 written by like-minded ministries (who are also authors Lighthouse Trails represents): 1/Preliminary to Armageddon . . . Paris Jan 15 (Bill Randles) An event is occurring today which portends to be one of the last preliminaries … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times, International Anyone who has read the Bible knows that Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel since the nation’s foundation. So why is there such a controversy following President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland Understand the Times International Is mankind on the verge of an evolutionary leap that will produce a super race? There are some who believe man is in the process of this happening right now. What does the Bible teach? Is man on the way up, or is he on the way down? … [Read more…]
By Roger Oakland More and more Protestants are testifying they are being drawn to the Catholic Church, especially through the Eucharist. Some say they have encountered the presence of Christ in a new and exciting way. One such person is Presbyterian pastor Steven Muse. Muse is one of the contributing authors of Mary the Mother … [Read more…]
On October 23rd, Lighthouse Trails sent out the 6th letter plus two booklets to 160 influential Christian leaders in the evangelical camp. We began mailing out short letters and Lighthouse Trails booklets in February 2016 to a list that started with 100 names. To learn more about this project, click here to read the first … [Read more…]
