Every year around this time, Lighthouse Trails presents its Year in Review. Over the next few days, we will be posting our top stories from different categories from 2016. This is an opportunity to read stories you may have missed and also to get a wide-lens glance at important things happening in the church and the world from a discernment and biblical point of view. As always, our primary focus at Lighthouse Trails is the Gospel. We hope this Year in Review will point readers to that very message.
YEAR IN REVIEW – Part 1 – Top 10 Letters to the Editor
1/Letter to the Editor: Open Letter to Anne Graham Lotz Regarding Circle Maker
Dear Anne,
I have always regarded you as a very spiritual woman, but when I read that you had bought into the heresy found in the book The Circle Maker, I thought to myself, how could she be so deceived?
The Bible says in 1 John 4: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are come into the world.”
If you were to type into a search engine “The Circle Maker” you would find what I, a layman, found out about this book and this “new way” of praying.
2/Letter to the Editor: My Mother is Doing Reiki and Communicating with “Angels”!
My mother says she prays to “Jesus” before doing Reiki. When she said that, I knew I couldn’t keep ignoring it and decided I needed to really look into Reiki and share my faith (she knows I’m a Christian—thus telling me Reiki is OK for me because she prays to Jesus; but I don’t think she saw much distinction in our beliefs and said her Reiki teacher used to be a female minister). She does not believe in the Bible or most of it anyway, nor Jesus’ deity, but rather He came to point the way to God. To me, of course, this just doesn’t make any logical sense for so many reasons (I told her those reasons), but she is so deceived she can’t see reason.
3/Letter to the Editors: Why Aren’t People Seeing What We See?
I have been admonished by a number a people that I am wrong, just want to be right, question why I am worrying about what others do, or am too extreme or pharisaical (by some believers that are far more mature and Bible literate than I am). I have been told to stop looking on the Internet because that is unreliable and have been laughed at for doing so. My former pastor even told me to stop.
My Christian friends are constantly posting on Facebook about Bethel, contemplative prayer, or blatant New Age stuff as well as Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, and Hillsong. Very few seem to be concerned about all the strange manifestations and theology coming out of Bethel or that contemplative prayer is not something most of us ever heard about or practiced until a few years ago, yet they are OK with it.
4/Letter to the Editor: Concerns About Erwin Lutzer
I wanted to let you know that I happened to listen to an online YouTube message from Erwin Lutzer yesterday that was an overview of his life.1 Well, I was shocked to hear him say he went to Loyola University!!!! [see YouTube link below; also: https://logoi.org/authors/erwin-lutzer/?___store=en]. It was after his graduation from Dallas Seminary, but still, he did not offer an apology for not knowing he should stay out of Catholicism back when he was young, no, he said it just as if it was a good university to go to!!! I was stunned, as I had always thought Moody Bible was separate from Catholicism, and the very name of Loyola screams Jesuit Catholicism, the worst of the worst of Catholicism! Anyway, I thought it might be worth noting in your articles about how Moody Bible Institute is going Contemplative, and it may help you to maybe understand why his response to your warning e-mails to him was to love all of the brethren.
We are especially concerned because our talented, zealous adult children are, to some degree or another, caught up in following Bethel and Hillsong worship and practices. So far as I know, none are practicing ‘contemplative’ prayer, but other occult practices are subtly mixed in with their schools of worship and ‘supernatural’ ministries. We prepared a notebook for each of our children and their spouses where we downloaded and printed Warren Smith’s Reinventing Jesus Christ (now titled False Christ Coming: Does Anybody Care?) back in late 2006 or early 2007 – probably just before we discovered Lighthouse Trails. I think they mostly stuck the notebooks under the bed or somewhere obscure.
6/Letter to the Editor: Her Father Left Her a Legacy of Discernment
I have been so blessed to come from a Christian heritage where standing up for the truth meant you ended up being almost on an island. My own dear father was a layman who reported the truth over 50 years ago and was attacked for it so many times and yet, what he shared then is all coming to light now. He at one time was setting up crusades for Billy Graham and had to resign as he saw what was happening with their alignment with the Catholic church. Dad had spent his early years in the service and due to his abilities went under cover for the Army and found while doing so, the information on the Illuminati and all the connections of its plans. He did such research in order to share with those who were unaware to prepare them for what was coming. He also was the only white man invited to speak at so many black churches in Philadelphia at the conferences because of his knowledge and love for them as brothers in Christ and yet, he was not a pastor but a layman.
You may think of Buddhism and Shinto religion when you hear the word Japan, but my background is quite unusual in that my mother was hugely influenced by the QUAKERS when she was a teenager, because of the Quaker Girls School that she went to from 13 to 19, which gave her silent worship opportunities every single morning. She then went on to become very much into metaphysics and western philosophy. She would often sit quietly doing nothing when I was a child, and she would tell me that Jesus was one of those people who had psychic powers to heal the sick. But I was little and I had no idea what kind of thing my mother was trying to convey or teach to me.
Having joined the staff after high school with the purpose of working with teens, I soon began to notice the compromises creeping in and no one else seemed to be concerned. It all came to a head when I took a stand and insisted I attend a retreat they had planned with the local [Catholic] Abbey before permitting my Campaigners to go. That, in itself, caused a major problem. After attending and taking my stand, it was apparent that my biblical background was considered a liability instead of a blessing. Over many days of discussion, I finally had to offer my resignation as I felt I could not agree with the ecumenical direction Young Life was taking by aligning itself with a Catholic fellowship.
That was many years ago, and it is sad to realize how so much compromising was happening then long before the flood of what is taking place today. Satan has been busy, and the standing for the truth has turned into a determent rather than a badge of honor.
A friend of mine texted me to ask if I had heard of “praying in color.” She included the following website: www.prayingincolor.com. Immediately, I knew that this was not of God. I perused the website and was not surprised that this is rooted and grounded in Hinduism, Catholicism, visualization, and mysticism. Apparently, one of the leaders at my friend’s church is introducing this to the congregation. My friend knew something wasn’t right or biblical about this. The leader explained to the congregation that she had gone to a seminar on “praying in color” and was so taken in by it that she is inviting a “praying in color” coach to do a seminar at her church. This is not the first time that this leader has introduced false teaching to the congregation (i.e. Rick Warren, Purpose Driven Life).
10/Letter to the Editor: Serious Concerns Over Beth Moore’s New Series, “Entrusted”
My small Southern Baptist church recently finished Beth Moore’s “Entrusted” series which includes articles from her daughter Melissa Moore. Not having experienced Beth Moore I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. Being informed by Lighthouse Trails and other discernment websites, I approached the class with a good deal of wariness. I love Beth and Melissa Moore as sisters in Christ. I was hoping to find nothing of concern in “Entrusted.” This was not the case. Following are some of my concerns.
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