Dear Lighthouse Trails:
I live in Canada, north of Toronto, Ontario, and have kept track of your website for at least ten plus years now. I am not sure how I came across your site, but I had been reading books by the Berean Call, and they had books on the emerging church and such so maybe they had links to your site. I have bought a number of your books over the years.
As I was reading your email updates, I noticed the booklet on the origins of Lighthouse Trails and its timing as well. Your story mirrors our experience in so many ways. Having been saved in 1969 as a 19-year unchurched young man, I became involved with the Brethren assemblies which were at that time conservative evangelical. Some are still today, but many are dying out. Getting married and having children certainly changes your focus and as you point out, certain things began to change in the pulpits largely unnoticed by me. Eschatology and prophecy definitely took a back seat to newer leaders. I remember being encouraged to get involved with “Promise Keepers” as well, but I wasn’t keen on sharing my life with complete strangers so passed on that. It was only years later I found out they are ecumenical and have Catholic roots. I also remember the NIV becoming the best thing since sliced bread in the 70s, and over the years we have been swamped with a plethora of new improved versions. So trying to follow the preacher as he reads from ever-changing texts has become impossible. The music bands and all the camps: emphasis on raising up “young leaders.” Where have they disappeared to? Most have walked away from the church.
Around 2006, having moved north of Toronto, we started going to _____________, and we liked it there; even though Brethren do not traditionally have pastors, this one did. Anyways, as a bit of a speaker sometimes, I was asked to lead a home Bible study. The book I was to use was on prayer by a fellow I had never heard of named Richard Foster. The Chapel had also recently (prior to us joining the church) used Rick Warren’s book, A Purpose Driven Life. While reading Foster’s book, I was shocked by its content. It was speaking about Catholic mystics and popes in glowing terms and then about Ignatius of Loyola and his spiritual disciplines. Fortunately, the Internet was available, and I researched the author and the persons referred to like Merton and Henri Nouwen. Most of the elders of the church were in the Bible study I led, and they got an expose of the author and the book. Sadly, I don’t think most of them agreed with me or cared. Later, I got an earful for daring to research the author. There were and are still some in that church who care for the truth but many just want to be told pleasant words by which to live by preachers who take anecdotes from life and apply it to believers. Nice people, but prophecy is considered a dubious topic.
It was around that time that I began to have more time to read again and began reading books by Ray Yungen, David Cloud, and Dave Hunt among others. It really opened my eyes to the changes that had taken place in the church at large. I do believe the Lord put us in that church to act as a breakwater to the flood of emergent and ecumenical teachings. I believe we had some success for a while. Over the years as older ones died or moved away, Christians from the Middle East with an anti-Israel bias became more dominant and though not openly stated, I could feel a chill whenever I mentioned Israel. One Sunday a number of years ago, I mentioned how shameful it was that our city was flying the pride flag together with the Canadian flag. Afterward, a sister who had been there for many years came and rebuked me gently saying being gay wasn’t sin but an illness. In my mind, I thought, what Bible is she reading? How can so-called Christians sit and take the Lord’s supper and hear about how He died for our sin and rose from the dead, year after year, and yet be so clueless? Then came the Covid lockdown which our church, along with 99% of churches in Canada, embraced fully and still are locked down or restricted in many ways. So, after all these years, we felt we had come to the end of the road with our church home and are waiting on the Lord to open up another door.
After reading your beginnings, I was impressed how similar your experiences have been to ours when trying to confront the growing apostasy and the apathy of many believers toward these terrible doctrines of demons. I apologize for such a long letter. God bless you as you serve Him. Just to let you know Canada is not a Christian country and has not been for many decades. We are the canary in the coalmine for you in the States, so whatever you see up here is coming your way on a much larger scale.
Yours in Christ,
Allan
As i sit here this morning, reading these above posts from the “Christian coffee shop” that the fellowship i now attend, owns. Which by the way is totally submerged into the emergent. Not even knowing others here, that are (i’m assuming) with tears, going through some difficult times. As Jesus, Paul, Luke, Peter and many more not only went through these things, but also sharing words of encouragement, i myself am searching for these words of encouragement this morning. So to share this with those here, i found this…Luke 22:41 And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,
Luke 22:42 saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Luke 22:43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
An angel was sent to strengthen Jesus, Yes! Also, when steven, during his stoning, saw the heavens open and there , Jesus was standing at the right hand of the father. Now, i know that we haven’t seen nothing yet, but let these and other situations that have happened to those that have gone before us, give us strength to endure. I reside (Temporarily) in America, which i am convinced is the heartbeat and pulse of “Mystery Babylon”. With the world striving for peace, and the evangelicals along with the Right wing Christian conservatives, backing Trump and the Q’anon patriotic pride. This machine is paving the road to Babylon. I’m seeing more and more people jumping from their firm foundation (Christ and the Bible), only to land on the sinking sand of the Constitution. I am a Christian that lives in America, i am not an American Christian. Nowhere in the bible does God claim any other piece of land than Israel. So why have we been taught that America is a “Christian Nation” ? Jesus warned us of the dangers of the traditions of men. When God removes His hand from America, The bride of Christ whom reside here will see real persecution as other countries are already seeing. We here in the states will be killed by those who think they are doing Gods service.
Jesus didn’t pull any punches, He flat out said, “You will be hated by ALL nations for my name sake. Im thinking it will be the Calvinist, like their father John Calvin was arresting, flogging, torturing and burning people at the stake. We will receive the heart of the one we follow. Will we be like Steven, when being stoned said “Father, forgive them they know not what they do? Steven received the heart of the one he followed, which was Christ, who said on the cross. Father forgive them , they know not what they do. Steven didnt say, ” I have a God given right to defend myself, if you throw one more stone, i will saw you in half with my fully automatic rock launcher. Dear brothers and sisters here in the States, please pay attention to what is really happening, watch the Trump movement this coming election, all im saying is watch, God Bless.
Wow, glad I found this site. I’ve been trying to convince my Pastor that he should not allow IF: Gathering to be held at our church. Every Bible study for our women is chosen from something that Lifeway offers. I’ve brought concerns about the Bible studies to him before. My husband went with me to meet and he said he would “review” some of Priscilla Shirer’s information. He never got back to me and now…our church is hosting a simulcast of IF:Gathering 2022! When it was announced the women at my Bible study table all said “Great, I’ll be there!”. They were excited about it. They seem to be completely ignorant of what’s going on in the world, in the “church” and are willing to accept anything that is placed in front of them with NO DISCERNMENT. It’s so sad it breaks my heart. They’re good women who want to seek the Lord, but are being led astray by the very ones who should be “shepherding” and protecting them. I’m praying for the leaders of my church to hear the Spirit of God on this issue, for eyes to be opened and hearts to be changed. My eyes were opened because I paid attention to the “nagging voice” that was telling me…something’s wrong here! I did research and I acted on what I found. We need discernment to see the “half-truths” being fed to us and see the slippery slope we are on if we don’t change direction. I am learning to be “watchful” and to listen to the Holy Spirit for discernment as I read scripture. Thank you for the encouragement found here!
Praise God for those who will stand for righteousness regardless the outcome. It is heartening to find others who are of the same ilk and who seek to hold up the plumb line of God’s truth even though the consequences might be difficult to say the least.. bravo.. I am so encouraged by the courage, determination and love for God. To God be the glory. Reading your stories has really encouraged me tonight to continue the good fight and persevere against the darkness which is insidiously creeping into our churches. ( I also repent of my courage failures to stand up against the deceptions I have discerned in my own fellowship.. for the few times I did speak I was chastened severely and was made to feel almost ashamed for daring to question or disturb the status quo.) May I encourage anyone who reads this to stay close to Jesus and wait upon him, he promises that He will direct our paths. He has faithfully kept me from many attempts of the evil one to side track and has sent tests and temptations to try my faith (some in the form of false doctrines and really clever deceptions.. the lie has enough truth to appeal to the flesh and take you off track. The epistle of James has encouraged me that this is part of the testing we must endure in order to learn patience and build our Christian character if we respond to the test in the right spirit. In my case I have had to forgive and love those who would not receive the truth and rejected the messenger, in this case, me.. but in reality they are rejecting the One who made them and sent Jesus to die in their place on the cross.
I too have been experiencing your lonely journey for over 30 years when ecumenicism took over in the 80s and Rick Warren finished the job! The scripture I always hold onto is Jeremiah 15:17-21 – ” I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers…for Thou didst fill me with indignation… The Lord answered Jeremiah’s discouragement by saying, If you return I will restore you and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will be My spokesman.” There are women in my study who have deaf ears, but there are always a few who do listen and heed. That is what keeps me going. We live in the Bible Belt where we have a famine for the hearing of the Word of God! God bless all of you faithful followers of Christ!
The deceptions perpetrated on the church are both subtle and pernicious. However, to those who hold fast to the Word of God, seemingly valid arguments quickly dissolve in the acid test of the “rightly divided word of truth”. Apostacy is global – equally evident in South Africa from whence this message is written.
As a home cell leader (back a while) I was expected to use as my reference ‘book’ Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven LIfe”. I noticed that the many biblical references that peppered the text, ostensibly in support of the text, were from versions of the bible many of which I had never heard of. I looked them up in the “inspired” version (KJV to be precise) only to discover that the sense and spirit of these translations were a far cry from what was plainly evident in the KJV; particularly so passages from “the message” translation. They were used to purposely drive the agenda of the writer…they used words that though synonyms, were a deviation from the original intent and spirit of the original biblical text. Thus by using deception and gradualism the author was able to achieve his end – as devised in his heart,
As I prepared each week’s lesson (in perfect harmony with the oversight’s instruction to teach each lesson) I shared all the references but ONLY from the KJV. Needless to say, the teachings of the book and The Book were at loggerheads but the outcome was that the unsullied truth abounding in The Book prevailed to the benefit of those souls in my cell.
This course of action was less than popular with the elders and pastor. I was summonsed to explain myself, which I did.
Suffice it to say that not much longer afterwards my wife and I migrated ourselves to join fellowship with true bible-believing and teaching church.
Interestingly our new fellowship was considerably smaller but I believe this directly confirms that in the last days MANY will fall away, giving heed to “doctrines of devils”. The “tickled ears” churches being somewhat more popular/less demanding.
As a matter of interest do this “litmus test” on the message translation:
1. Google “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (KJV).
This will return a direct reference to the Lord’ Prayer.
2. Google “as above so below” (i.e. the message’s blasphemous corresponding text for the same scripture) .
This will immediately return a plethora of references and links to occult and new age sites. One click deeper on most of these links and you can smell the fires of hell.
Bretheren and Sisteren – stand firm on the solid rock, Jesus, against whose light and truth NO satanic storm can prevail.
The preachers, pastors, priests these days are into the M&M church. Membership and money. There is no sin, all is love, helping others, forgiving, the social justice movement of good deeds where Jesus not even be mentioned. I am weary of them. Therefore I join groups that have discernment, pray together for our issues in the church and world today. I go to church, but my heart is not in it. The preacher preaches soft , feel good sermons. But he does use scripture….. I learn nothing new but at least he’s not preaching heresy. Meanwhile I and my friends stand actively against the onslaught especially against little children and the lgbt agenda, in schools every where and tv, etc. We tell the parents and try to warn them. Clergy does not do this. The major aim with many leftist movements today is destroying our familes.
Letters like these remind me of the discouragement of Jeremiah. Throughout his prophetic book, not one person returned to a life devoted to God. And quite effectively, we all enter into the vicarious sufferings of Jesus… A thing we are all called to.
– Philippians 3:10
Appreciate your Testimony and have faced confrontations about some of the same struggles in the Church. Some times if a different Pastor comes, the Church may get a biblical viewpoint again.
May you be faithful and Blessed
Allan: What you said about what is in Canada is coming to America is very true. America has passed its point of no return. What we see now are the symptoms of that degradation. As you pointed out, who whole counsel of God has been absent from America pulpits for decades. I first saw this as a new Saint in 1982 and it has been downhill ever since. Good day.
Mark in Arizona (AZ.Watchman on Bitchute)
I can so relate to this letter. I’ve been trying to warn fellow Christians, for years. Mostly, it falls on deaf ears, I think. I started to see the falling away in the 70s when I was young. It seems to me, most, really don’t want to seek the truth of any matter.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; {4} And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Allan –
Thank you for sharing your difficult journey – sadly, one that is common to many brothers and sisters in Christ. We also live north of Toronto and are presently without a church home, having left our church when it became clear that Replacement Theology was being taught by our pastor. Should the Lord lead you to contact us, I consent to LT passing along my email address to you. I would definitely be grateful to know of a Biblically based church or fellowship in our area, but honestly believe christians will be meeting more and more in smaller groups as the apostate church grows and the return of our Lord approaches.
I also stay away from the blatant new age interpretations. But I also remember….
God mentions more than once… uses patterns… throughout the whole Bible… a passage has to fit or be in agreement with these Plus, the more we believe, the more the Holy Spirit helps us see what God’s word means. I’m going through this right now in regard the Tribulation and end times study… scripture is becoming more alive that only the reader influenced by the Holy Spirit can understand in the depths of the heart… eyes to see… ears to hear. God’s arm is not so short to keep us from being destroyed by the darkness if we truly trusting, obeying, and following Him. His promise is if we seek Him, we’ll find Him. Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
It is refreshing to read your thoughts on Bible versions,
Edward, and sad to read about Allan’s difficulties with apostate believers ( an oxymoron!). I agree with the comments here. I did my own study of Bible versions and came to the same conclusions, that new versions were corrupt in many places. When those bibles are used in seminaries, the resulting graduating classes are steeped in a lot of untruth. Reformed theology is just one aspect of liberal leanings, which some Baptist seminaries seem to cultivate in their young students.
We must continue to use discernment by testing all things against His Truth. I appreciate Lighthouse Trails!
My hope is that people realize what I realized after 26 years of being a Bible believing Christian. It sounds divisive but it’s not: all new version bibles use a corrupt Greek text originally created by Rome in 1881. Verses on repentance, the blood, the deity of Christ and many many other important topics were changed or edited to subtly favor catholic doctrine. I studied the issue for 3 years, ditched my NIV/ESV/NASB and wrote this so all could understand. My very easy to read understand article on the topic wouldn’t post in the comments so please click on my website and it will pop up. It matters…a lot.
The apostle Paul tells us our biggest weapon against apostate teaching is praying for our full time evangelists. Praying with other Christians for wisdom to preach the gospel. KJV translation is needed translation for all to hear. Listen to none of these apostate teachers. Thank you Allan for opening the Churches eyes to what is happening all over the world. One item off subject. Please do not take any vaccine. The next rounds will be even more deadly. Lord, Help us to pray!!!
Dear Allan,
You are not alone in your experience! We live in the Pacific Northwest. God led us out of the same apostate teachings in a similar way. Dave Hunt (The Berean Call), David Cloud, and LTR have been great blessings in helping us understand what was subtly changing before our eyes in our “conservative” baptist church (they have since dropped “baptist” —the word offends some people— from the church name and CBNW now labels itself Christian Venture NW). The trajectory of that church has become very obvious since we departed. Sadly, very few people in our previous church care to be made aware of the apostasy although they wonder why “things seem to be different now”. But they trust the pastors. We have been in a solid Bible teaching church for the past 3 years, but, unfortunately for us, God has led our pastor and many members to relocate to the opposite coast! Unless we can find another church that teaches the Word and is not caught up in reformed theology (the baptist church was into contemplative prayer and reformed theology), we may have to “attend” virtual services with a few brothers and sisters in our home. We are thankful that modern technology gives us that option.
I am so thankful that I found Lighthouse Trails back when I did, as well!! I was saved in 1984, and I knew something was not right in the churches and Christian bookstores starting from about the late 1980’s, but couldn’t put my finger on it. In 2003, I heard a two part radio interview Warren Smith did with Ingrid Schlueter about his book “Deceived on Purpose” (which is still available on YouTube, by the way!) and it all made sense. I discovered LT then and am eternally grateful to them and their authors for having the courage to research and stand for biblical truths to help us expose the lies being perpetrated on a sleeping church. Praying for the remnant. God is faithful. We are out there in the world, each of us trying to make a difference in our own little sphere of influence. It was so refreshing to read your story this morning!
A so called trans swimmer has been beating real female swimmers by 28 seconds. Many girls complained but the coach is so drunk on winning he doesn’t care about the method.
So it is with to many in the church. The pews and the coffers are full , it seems to be working to be drunk on seeker friendly heresy.
Yes, we are living in the day of apostasy. That is one of the end times prophesies, the church will fall into apostasy. I too have been in the discernment ministry of warning the church for about as long as you. After going to church after church, one Bible study after another, meeting with so called Christian friends one after another, and warning around on various websites, for the most part we are met with 98% rejection and apathy, hatred, hostility, and attack, etc. The rest, the 2% is actually a generous estimate. It has not been known to be directly from the warnings of mine, but comments I came across online that someone finally woke up and smelled the coffee regarding the apostasy taking over the church and they came out of the deception. From my own experience I was met with only those who did not want to hear the truth and chose to remain in deception, regardless of how gently I shared the truth with them. Deception is a choice. I see it more and more.
Dear Allan,
I live in CA, US so I sympathize and empathize with your journey. Sometimes we must stand alone, and that is a scary position to be in. We must be strong and continue to read the Bible daily and pray. Do not be fooled by the liberal, leftist agenda. Jesus did not say that unity of all religions should be our goal. In these end times the opposite may be true: Daughter-in-law will be against mother-in-law, mother against daughter, son against father, etc. True believers will be in the minority around the world, a remnant. Do not read The Message bible, it is not of the Lord. I use a Scofield KJV usually and also a Complete Jewish Bible translated from the Hebrew texts.