In 2006, many of us witnessed the escalation of contemplative spirituality within Christendom like never before. One leader after the next either openly promoted contemplative or remained eerily quiet about the issue all together. A major Christian publishing house released a book on yoga, trusted Christian leaders participated in a Fox Home Entertainment DVD on contemplative prayer, online Christian bookstores became nesting grounds for authors who teach panentheism and interspirituality, and Purpose Driven has made it into over 400,000 churches with Rick Warren being a proponent of both contemplative and the emerging church.

We know that many of you have paid dear prices for standing for biblical truth. The editors and the authors of Lighthouse Trails Publishing and Lighthouse Trails Research thank you for being an inspiration to other believers and a witness to those who still live in darkness. It is our desire to be a service to the body of Christ, and we hope we can do that in 2007 in humility, love and courage.

God bless you as you contend for the precious faith. May the Lord watch over you and keep you safe.

Rick Warren Predicts Christian Fundamentalism To Be Enemy of 21st Century!

Awana Clubs: Are They Heading Toward Contemplative/Emergent?

Purpose Driven Resisters - Must Leave or Die

Will the Next Billy Graham be a Mystic?

Max Lucado Hops into the Contemplative Camp

Beth Moore Gives Thumbs Up to Be Still DVD

Calvary Chapel Rejects Purpose Driven and Emerging Spirituality

Willow Creek Leadership Summit - Speaker Promotes the New Age

Focus on the Family Says OK to Contemplative Prayer

Celebration of Discipline - 27 Years of Influence

David Jeremiah Proposes "Major Paradigm Shift" for His Church

Can Rick Warren "Save the World"?

NOTICE TO PARENTS: Christian Schools Introducing Teens to Mysticism Proponent

Haggard's Replacement Promotes Contemplative Spirituality and the Emerging Church

Christian or "Christ Follower"?
 

Christian or Christ-follower. It's a distinction that is being made more and more today, and often the latter term, Christ follower, is replacing the former term, Christian. Even many Christian leaders are making the switch. But just what does it mean? Emerging church leader, Erwin McManus says his "goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst for the movement of Jesus Christ." In McManus' book, The Barbarian Way, he talks about being "awakened" to a "primal longing that ... waits to be unleashed within everyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ." McManus says that the "greatest enemy to the movement of Jesus Christ is Christianity [i.e., Christians]." A video series on YouTube.com called "Christian No More" (by Christian Community Church) exemplifies this view by portraying those who call themselves Christians as shallow church-goers who wear suits and ties, have Christian bumper stickers on their cars and prefer the King James Version. This belittling video is evidence that it is increasingly more popular to call oneself a Christ follower rather than a Christian.

Interestingly, most of those leaders who seem to be downplaying the name Christian and promoting the appropriation of the term "Christ follower" are contemplative spirituality proponents. One contemplative advocate, Rick Warren, has the term throughout his pastors.com website. Lee Strobel refers to it in his book Case for Christ (Student Edition), and Wesleyan pastor David Drury has a Christ-Follower Pop Quiz on his web site to help determine if you are really a "Christ Follower."

This theme of anti-"Christian" sentiment is not going to disappear any time soon. Emerging church leader and labyrinth promoter Dan Kimball has a new book coming out next spring called, "They Like Jesus, But Not the Church". The idea is that you can go for Jesus, but you don't have to identify yourself as a Christian or part of the Christian church. This concept spills over into some missionary societies too, where they teach people from other religions that they can keep their religion, just add Jesus to the equation. They don't have to embrace the term "Christian" (see The New Missiology).

So what's the problem? So what if you want to be a Christ follower instead of a Christian. Well, the problem, when identified, will show you why the Spiritual Formation movement (which is promoted by Purpose Driven, Willow Creek, the emerging church, etc) is so dangerous and misleading.

Let us explain. If you have researched the teachings of contemplative authors, you may have noticed a common message. That message says: If you want to be like Christ, then practice these certain disciplines and you can be like Him. Chuck Swindoll has bought into this when he wrote his book, So You Want to Be Like Christ: Eight Essential Disciplines to Get You There. But Swindoll exalts one particular discipline - the silence. In fact, he goes so far as to say you can't become a deep, meaningful Christian without it. Beth Moore, in the pro- contemplative film, Be Still, says: "[I]f we are not still before Him [God], we will never truly know to the depths of the marrow of our bones that He is God. There's got to be a stillness." And this is what contemplatives teach. The one common thread woven throughout spiritual formation teachings is that the silence and being a Christ follower are practically synonymous. You can't have one without the other. And of course, this silence is induced through meditative practices such as centering prayer, lectio divina, etc.

So what we are witnessing is countless teachers, authors and leaders telling people they can become like Christ through a method that can be learned. Richard Foster teaches that anyone, not just believers, can practice contemplative prayer and become like Christ.

Now here lies the difference between a Christian and a Christ-follower. A person who is truly born-again has Jesus Christ indwelling him. Jesus lives inside that person. And it is His life in him or her that gives the power to become progressively more like Him (sanctification), as Paul said in his address to Corinthian Christians: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18). The believer draws his strength and power from Jesus Christ (who indwells him), and he realizes his salvation and any good thing in him is from Christ; as the Scripture says: "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9).

But being born again or having the indwelling of Jesus Christ is not a prerequisite for the Christendom of today. Spiritual formation can be practiced by anyone. Jesus becomes a model or an example who can be followed and mimicked. For example, Ken Blanchard, says Jesus is a perfect model to follow. That's why he talks so much about leading like Jesus would lead. But Blanchard has shown time and again that he believes meditation is a key factor in becoming like Jesus.

While Jesus was and is a model, that wasn't His primary mission. And when people refer to Him as a model, it is often because they see Him as a model for higher consciousness rather than the unique Son of God, Emmanuel (God with us) who came to die for us and be our Savior. And that's what you find across the board in contemplative writings. Contemplative icons Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen saw Jesus in this manner. This is why Nouwen said it disturbed him when he heard people say Jesus was the only way. He said it was his mission to help people find his or her own way to God (see Sabbatical Journey). That's also why he saw India as a source for many spiritual "treasures" for the Christian. 1 In an eastern religion like Buddhism, Buddha was a model where his followers were imitators of him. But in Christianity the Spirit of Christ indwells us through faith. So Jesus becomes more than a model; He is a living presence in us. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).

This is actually the heart of the whole spiritual formation movement. It supposedly teaches you how to be like Christ, but the power to do this doesn't come from Jesus Christ living in you (in fact that isn't a requirement, according to Richard Foster) - but the power to change has to come from somewhere. Where? It comes from meditation! So anyone at all, from any walk of life, from any religion, can be a "Christ follower." But this does not mean they have Jesus Christ in them. The contemplative prayer movement is misguiding millions into believing that if they practice certain disciplines they can be like Christ, thus securing their spiritual well being. They may come to believe that they have a christ consciousness and are Christ like, yet they do not have the actual power of Christ within. That power can only come from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (John 1:12).

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16).

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (I Corinthians 1:18).

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come ... Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (II Timothy 3:1,5).

Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), who is also contemplating running for the 2008 Democratic nomination, has been active, too. In September, he gave a speech on "service and faith" at the conservative Pepperdine University. He has tapped Shaun Casey, an associate professor of Christian Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, to advise him on religious outreach.

Kerry also recently held a dinner at his D.C. home with evangelical leaders and traveled out to California for a four-hour meeting with Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, who wrote the bestseller, "The Purpose-Driven Life." (Clinton hires faith guru )

Event in Iran Says Holocaust Never Happened
 by Jan Markell

So many times commentators on outlandish global events include the phrase, "where is the outrage?" Thankfully this time it abounds as it concerns Iran's Holocaust denial event taking place this week.

Europe and America have expressed that outrage. The German government organized a counter- conference as they feel the outrage so intensely. There are hundreds of books, movies, museums, documents, photographs, archives, and personal testimonies. Surely such "deniers" can't be serious.

But they are. And Iran's Ahmadinejad is deadly serious. Holocaust denial is his passion and he has lots of company including the KKK's own David Duke in attendance. Ahmadinejad is using his "denial" as a way to justify Israel's non-existence in the Middle East. It's a far-fetched gamble to be sure and yet thirty countries are represented at the conference.

While it is true that a U.N. "sympathy vote" brought about the re-birth of Israel in the natural, it was really a happening in the Heavenlies with God fulfilling what He had promised all throughout Scripture.

The ultimate goal is to demonize the Jews, something much of the world has been busy doing for millennia.

Usually Holocaust deniers just talk to each other. But thanks to Iran, that nation is speaking to the world and we have to wonder how many anti-Semites are listening, taking notes, and gathering fodder to spread more torment on the Jews of the world. Ahmadenijad has, therefore, successfully organized an east-meets-west event for anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists.

What many don't know is that Iran is really far more sophisticated and tolerant than to accept their leader's word and are embarrassed by his hateful stunt. The under thirty crowd in Iran would love to see him go and return to Western values. For that reason the archives, photographs, books, museums and endless rebuttals will continue to be necessary long beyond the lifetime of the last survivor in the next fifteen years.

Simply stated, airbrush the Holocaust from history and he's one step closer to justifying his oft-expressed goal of seeing Israel wiped off the map.

David Duke says, "There must be freedom of speech. The Holocaust makes people turn a blind eye to Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people." You read that right. In his eyes and others of his ilk, there is now a moral equivalency between the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis and the planned, unmitigated treatment of the Jews under the Third Reich.

I know a Holocaust survivor. She didn't imagine it. I had the privilege of writing one of the most uplifting, faith-building Holocaust biographies ever, "Trapped in Hitler's Hell," the true story of Anita Dittman and her mother. For more information, visit this link. There you will find the book and DVD I produced. Anita was a child and teen through the ordeal, but both Anita and her mother came out victorious with their faith stronger than ever.

Sadly, Israel allows an "acceptable" Holocaust denial by accepting the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. His doctoral thesis was Holocaust denial. When he came to power in May of 2003, correspondents from the Israeli media confronted him with this thesis. Abbas would not apologize nor retract his thesis, yet the Israeli government does not pressure him to do so "in the interest of peace." What a strange world that Holocaust denial goes relatively unchallenged under Abbas while it is considered reprehensible in Teheran.

Satan knows if he could cause carnage and wreckage of the Jews, God's end-time plan would be ineffective. Thus he never gives up. He never stops trying to gas them, abuse them, round them up, spread propaganda, and put an end to this group of people from whom the Messiah came and for whom He will come again.

The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history. It happened in a progressive Europe against a people that had made outstanding contributions to the world as they do today. But they were different and chose to be different. They chose to worship God a bit differently than the Gentile culture. And of course, the endless mantra continues that "they killed Christ." That has been one of the most convenient issues to hang on them and is not likely to go away.

To learn more, visit the anti-Semitism category on my Web site. You can read about their plight all through history and as many are saying today, it is looking more and more like 1938 here in the 21st century, particularly in Europe.

Such is predicted in the "end of days" and so we see it building. I trust you will speak up when you hear those who speak against the Jews, an unlikely group of people chosen by God to fulfill a unique role on this earth.

So serious does America consider this event that along with Israel we now have a Holocaust Remembrance Day every spring. Most Americans, though certainly not all, take it seriously enough to echo with their Jewish brethren, "never again." The irony of this is that it was established under the Carter administration. Carter has just written one of the most blatantly anti-Semitic books of the 21st century. I'll save that for another day.

Awaiting His return,
Jan Markell

Deception in the Church

Eastern Regional Watch Ministry

Franklin Road Baptist

Let Us Reason Ministries

Understand the Times