Dear Lighthouse Trails:
God bless you and your ministry inspired by the late Ray Yungen. I have two of his books, and I loved his featured commentary on a documentary about the Emerging Church’s influence in the Church of the Nazarene. I loved him in the Wide is the Gate series created by the late Caryl Matrisciana. I also like Warren B. Smith and Roger Oakland, Carl Teichrib, and Johanna Michaelsen. I have supported the late Dave Hunt and his Berean Call ministry for years. Met him in person in April 2007 in Meridian, Idaho. Got an autographed copy of A Woman Rides the Beast.
I am a confirmed member of the Anglican Church in North America. Sadly there are people who are very much into contemplative prayer. I knew members of the Church of the Nazarene who got into authors such as Richard Foster and the late Brennan Manning. Brennan Manning spoke in chapel services at Northwest Nazarene University when I attended there from 1992 to 1997. I never got into him, his books, or his sermons. It went over my head.
It’s sad to realize a number of the watchers on the wall and true generals in the faith who earnestly contended for it have all passed away and gone home to be with the Lord. We need them now more than ever because of the rise in false doctrine and false teaching. On June 26th, it will be the 37th anniversary of the death of Dr. Walter Martin who was the expert when it came to the cults and the occult.
May the Lord bless you in your work in being salt and light in a dark world.
Brian
The Watchman
by Scottish pastor, Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)
Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be;
Lead me by Thine own hand, choose out the path for me.
But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. (Ezekiel 33:6-7)
Some one, then, must undertake the ungracious task of probing and laying bare the evils of the age; for men must not be allowed to congratulate themselves that all is well. If others will not, he will.
If others shrink from the obloquy of such a work, he will not…. He loves his fellow-men too well. They may upbraid him; they may call him a misanthropist, or a prophet of evil; they may ascribe his warnings to the worst of motives, such as pride, or arrogance, or self-esteem, or malice, or envy; but he will give no heed to these unjust insinuations.
He will prefer being thus misunderstood and maligned, to allowing men to precipitate themselves upon a ruin which they see not. Rather than that they should perish, he will allow his own good name to be spoken against. He will risk every thing, even the hatred of brethren, rather than withhold the warning. If they give no heed to it, he has, at least, saved his own soul. If they do, he has saved both his own soul and theirs.
He would rather take up the glad tidings of peace, and tell men of Him who came the first time for shame and death, and who is coming the second time for glory and dominion; but he feels as one who has a special and personal message to deliver, which cannot be postponed.
He must remember that he is a watchman; and, having seen danger pressing on, he must not hesitate to make it known. He must speak his message of forewarning and rebuke, sparing no arrows, and neither smoothing down nor hiding any form of sin, but laying his finger upon every sore, and beseeching men to turn from their ungodliness. The evils around him press upon him sadly; the coming evils are foreshadowed upon his spirit, and, therefore, he lifts up his voice like a trumpet.
Satan has many snares which need to be detected; the world has many spells and lures which must be disenchanted; religion has many guises which must be unmasked, many devious paths of inconsistency which must be pointed out, many cherished errors which must be condemned, many carnal taints which must be abhorred and shunned. All these he must protest against without fear or favour.”
Smooth let it be or rough,
It will be still the best;
Winding or straight, it leads
Right onward to Thy rest.
I dare not choose my lot;
I would not, if I might;
Choose Thou for me, my God,
So I shall walk aright.
