By Warren B. Smith
From his book, The Titanic and Today’s Church

At his popular Institute for Successful Church Leadership, the late Robert Schuller taught many of today’s pastors and church leaders his seemingly positive but wayward approach to modern Christianity. His “possibility thinking” teachings, emphasizing church growth at the cost of spiritual discernment, influenced thousands of pastors as they studied at his Institute. In his book Discover Your Possibilities, Schuller wrote:

Concentrate on the positive. If you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and take Him in your life, you’ll never have to worry about the devil.1

Twenty-five years later, exuding Schuller’s same false confidence, complacency, and denial regarding the wiles of the Devil, Robert H. Schuller Institute “graduate” Rick Warren2 offers similar counsel to his millions of Purpose Driven Life readers when he writes:

It helps to know that Satan is entirely predictable.3

Declaring this is like a shepherd telling his sheep—“It helps to know that wolves are entirely predictable.” For church leaders like Schuller and Warren to make these statements is as falsely confident and empty as Titanic Captain Edward J. Smith telling Long Island friends that the Titanic was unsinkable.4 Robert Schuller and Rick Warren played right into the spiritual deception by ignoring the subject of spiritual deception. And by doing so, they were completely discounting the Bible’s explicit warnings to be “sober” and “vigilant,” and not to be “ignorant” of Satan’s “devices”:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. . . . that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:11, 13)

The Bible warns that Satan is anything but predictable and often comes as a deceptive “angel of light” and his ministers as “ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). To teach that Satan is “entirely predictable” is a far cry from putting on the “whole armor of God” and standing fast against “the wiles of the devil” so we “may be able to withstand in the evil day.”

The Devil Next Door

Having grown up in Redwood Valley, California, it would seem that Rick Warren would be one of the first people to warn about the spiritual deception and false teachers in our midst. Why? Because not everyone has grown up with the infamous Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple based in their own hometown.

In 1965, one of history’s chief cult leaders and antichrist-type figures—the “Reverend” Jim Jones—moved his Peoples Temple from its urban Indianapolis, Indiana headquarters to the small Northern California town of Redwood Valley—Saddleback pastor Rick Warren’s hometown. Somewhere Jones had read that Redwood Valley would be the safest physical place to be during a possible nuclear fallout. But Redwood Valley definitely wasn’t the safest spiritual place to be for the local townspeople once Jones moved there. Many locals ended up being seduced into Jones’ abusive church.

While Rick Warren was growing up in Redwood Valley, Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple were less than two miles from Rick Warren’s family home. The Peoples Temple was one of the few churches in town. In a September 3, 2006 article, the Orange County Register reported that the “Reverend” Jones had taught at Rick Warren’s high school and that some of Warren’s classmates had died in the jungles of Guyana. The article stated:

Jim Jones, the suicidal Pied Piper of Jonestown, housed his Peoples Temple less than two miles from Warren’s house, and taught at Warren’s high school. In 1978, dozens of Redwood Valley’s residents—including some of Warren’s classmates—were among the 914 cult members who followed Jones to Guyana and to a metal bucket full of purple, cyanide-spiked Flavor Aid.5

Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple were an extreme example of how a seemingly Christian church can be so spiritually dangerous and go so terribly wrong. Throughout the years that Peoples Temple was based in Redwood Valley (1965-1974), and then later in San Francisco and Guyana, “Reverend” Jones was an ordained Christian minister in the nationally accredited Disciples of Christ denomination.

To highlight how completely Jim Jones pulled the wool over people’s eyes, he had the support and confidence of a number of California politicians, including Senator Willie Brown, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, and Supervisor Harvey Milk. One year before ordering the mass murder/suicides of over 900 people in Guyana, Jones was presented with the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award by one of San Francisco’s most celebrated ministers, the Reverend Cecil Williams, at his popular Glide Memorial Church.6 “Reverend” Jim Jones, the man who seemed to fool everyone wherever he went, had been anything but “predictable.”

Believers who have come out of cult backgrounds or lived in the midst of communities where cult organizations were based, are often the first to warn about them. It would seem that as Rick Warren looks back at what happened in his own “backyard,” he would want to warn the church from his own experience about deceptive false Christ figures like Jones who come in the name of Christ but actually oppose Christ.

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Endnotes:

1. Robert H. Schuller, Discover Your Possibilities (New York, NY: Ballentine Books, 1978, 1990), p. 61.
2. Promo for 2004 Robert H. Schuller Institute, Powerlines: Monthly news for Hour of Power Spiritual Shareholders and Friends (https://web.archive.org/web/20031017043658/http://www.hourofpower.org/powerlines/09.03/2004_robert_schuller_institute.cfm); cited in Warren B. Smith, Deceived on Purpose (Magalia, CA: Mountain Stream Press, 2004), p. 80.
3. Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), p. 203.
4. Eric Caren and Steve Goldman, Extra Titanic: The Story of the Disaster in the Newspapers of the Day, (Edison, NJ: CastleBooks, 1998), p. 51, citing the newspaper article, “Titanic Can’t Sink, Smith Told Friend,” Denver Post, April 18, 1912, p. 3.
5. “A Call to Faith” (Orange County Register, September 3, 2006, https://www.ocregister.com/2006/09/03/a-call-to-faith).
6. “Jim Jones Receives the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award” (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jim_Jones_receives_the_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Humanitarian_Award_-_January_1977_(2).jpg).

 

Baylor University is certainly on that list. Here is a link to articles Lighthouse Trails has been posting for nearly twenty years showing the decline of Baylor U.

So for those who think what Baylor has just done is a sudden thing, we have shown that it is not sudden at all. And it grieves our hearts that Christian pastors and leaders have almost completely ignored the warnings about contemplative spirituality, which has entered the church wholeheartedly now and changed the spiritual landscape of today’s church.

“Baylor Affirms LGBTQ Inclusivity” (Posted by LTRP for informational and research purposes.)

By Everett Piper

Last week, Baylor University announced that it had received a grant of [$643,000] from the Baugh Foundation to promote LGBTQ inclusivity on its campus. Baylor’s motto is “For the Church, For Texas, For the World.” It describes itself as a Christian university and is a proud member of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, otherwise known as the CCCU.

What exactly is the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities?

The CCCU includes about 170 colleges and universities that self-identify as “Christ-centered.” These schools represent approximately 525,000 students, 96,000 faculty and over 11 million alumni around the world. The CCCU’s mission is “to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.”

Now, in reading this mission statement, you might think that the CCCU would be biblically conservative, but you’d be wrong. Click here to continue reading. (Taken from Concerned Nazarenes Facebook page; original article at: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/jul/6/baylor-affirms-lgbtq-inclusivity.)

When I first began writing in the field in the late 70s and early 80s, the term “Spiritual Formation” was hardly known, except for highly specialized references in relation to the Catholic orders. Today it is a rare person who has not heard the term. Seminary courses in Spiritual Formation proliferate like baby rabbits. Huge numbers are seeking to become certified as Spiritual Directors to answer the cry of multiplied thousands for spiritual direction. – Richard Foster 1

A move away from the truth of God’s Word to a mystical form of Christianity has infiltrated, to some degree, nearly all evangelical denominations. Few Bible teachers saw this avalanche coming. Now that it is underway, most do not realize it has even happened.

The best way to understand this process is to recall what happened during the Dark Ages when the Bible became the forbidden book. Until the reformers translated the Bible into the language of the common people, the great masses were in darkness. When the light of God’s Word became available, the Gospel was once again understood.

I believe history is repeating itself. As the Word of God becomes less and less important, the rise in mystical experiences escalates, and these experiences are presented to convince the unsuspecting that Christianity is about feeling, touching, smelling, and seeing God. The postmodern, progressive mindset is the perfect environment for fostering spiritual formation. This term suggests there are various ways and means to get closer to God and to emulate Him. Thus the idea that if you do certain practices, you can be more like Jesus. Proponents of spiritual formation erroneously teach that anyone can practice these mystical rituals and find God within. Having a relationship with Jesus Christ is not a prerequisite. In a DVD called Be Still, which promotes contemplative prayer, Richard Foster says that contemplative prayer is for anyone and that by practicing it, one becomes “a portable sanctuary” for “the presence of God.” 2

Rather than having the indwelling of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, spiritual formation through the spiritual disciplines supposedly transforms the seeker by his or her entering an altered realm of consciousness.

The spiritual formation movement is widely promoted at colleges and seminaries as the greatest way to become a spiritual leader. It teaches people that this is how they can become more intimate with God and truly hear His voice. Even Christian leaders with long-standing reputations of teaching God’s Word have succumbed. In so doing, many Christian leaders are frivolously playing with fire, and the result will be thousands, probably millions, getting burned.

It isn’t going into the silence that transforms a person’s life. It is in accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and allowing Him to change us that transformation occurs.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel (Colossians 1:21-23).

We are reconciled to God only through Christ’s death (the atonement for sin), and we are presented “holy and unblamable and unreproveable” when we belong to Him through rebirth. It has nothing to do with works, rituals, or mystical experiences. It is Christ’s life in the converted believer that transforms him.

Notes

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1. Richard Foster, “Spiritual Formation: A Pastoral Letter” (January 18, 2004, http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=744).
2. Richard Foster, Be Still DVD (Fox Home Entertainment, 2006), section titled “Contemplative Prayer.”

(image from istockphoto.com; used with permission)

Throughout my Christian life I have periodically heard fellow Christians suggest we are in the last days. Often these comments were initiated from current cases of violent crimes, sexual perversions, war, or natural disasters. Since I knew history had repeatedly encountered these calamities, such predictions of Christ’s imminent return rang hollow.

However, in 1984 I had an unexpected encounter that changed my entire outlook. A newfound friend educated me about the New Age movement and its end-times implications. After a period of investigation, I came to believe this could very well be the time period the book of Revelation showcases. Instead of a vague and obscure manifestation of prophecy, I saw something distinct and pervasive happening in our churches and society. And incredibly enough, this shift has been predicted from both sides of the struggle.

Christians must remember that the authenticity of Christianity itself is predicated upon its prophecies coming to pass. Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul, and various apostles and prophets of the Old and New Testaments make clear and direct references to particular events occurring in the future. If these events are only fantasies, then everything else could be deemed equally fictitious as well. I believe current trends authenticate Jesus Christ’s and the apostle Paul’s prophetic claims regarding the end of the age. Upon examination of the evidence, it becomes clear that the course our society (and our churches) is taking has been foretold by the apostolic writings.

The apostle Paul spoke of the “day of the Lord” in reference to “the times and seasons” in the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. He describes how God will intervene swiftly and without delay. Paul states:

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (I Thessalonians 5:1-6)

Paul is saying the end of the age will come upon the world like a thief in the night. In other words, it will actually sneak up on people. Then interestingly, the apostle contrasts two groups:  “But ye, brethren [followers of Christ] are not in darkness [people of ignorance], that that day should overtake you as a thief. [unaware]” (v.4). Here, Paul is saying believers in Christ will have the information (Scripture) available to them to prepare for “that day.”

Those who walk in the light can see both where they are going and what is coming up ahead. Paul then warns against spiritual slumber and drunkenness, which could lead to a person being overtaken by that day, unaware: “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober” (v. 6). The word sober means be alert or aware. If we are instructed to watch and be aware, there must be something to watch for—otherwise, Paul’s admonition would be useless. But who and what are we to watch for?

Interestingly, the apostle Paul declared one called “the man of sin” and “the son of perdition” would proclaim himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3,4). I believe this coming Aquarian messiah will be the son of perdition spoken of by Paul in 2 Thessalonians. Furthermore, I am convinced the New Age movement is his spiritual platform. Too many things fit together for this to be just mere coincidence. Therefore, we must watch for the restructuring of our world by those who are preparing the way for his arrival and identity to be revealed.

Daniel 8:23 states this man will be a master of dark sayings. In Hebrew, this translates as one skilled in cunning and ambiguous speech. The world will see him as one who is distinguished and spiritually brilliant. Keep this in mind as you read the following description:

The coming one will not be Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, not an American, Jew, Italian or Russian—his title is not important; he is for all humanity, to unite all religions, philosophies and nations.1

The only one who could bring this about is the one who fits the description mentioned in Daniel. This explains the all-out effort by the New Age, which is saturating our society with meditation right now. When this man comes forward, all those who are in touch with their higher self, those who are awakened will clearly recognize him as their unifier and give him their allegiance. He will have a ready-made constituency (many in key positions) to help him reconstruct society. This will be the final culmination of the paradigm shift that is taking place.

Familiar spirits (fallen angels) will not just mislead a few individuals; they will deceive the whole world into embracing a new system. Satan (whose name means adversary) will be the power behind the “Coming One”—the great Antichrist. The origin of the Antichrist’s religious system is clearly revealed by the apostle John in Revelation 17:5:

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.

Another word for Babylon in the Old Testament was Chaldea. The Chaldeans were renowned for their use of metaphysical arts. They began the first mystery schools. Daniel 4:7 says: “Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers.” This Mystery Babylon, then, would be the original source or mother of what is now New Age metaphysics.

I believe the Bible contains an important passage, which clearly indicates a change of times and seasons may indeed be at hand. In Matthew 24:3-5, which is a chapter dealing with the tribulation period, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples concerning the signs of His coming and the end of the age:

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

In light of the many who will be coming in Christ’s name, I also believe the occultist Alice Bailey’s prophecies can provide further insight into what the apostle Paul called in 2 Thessalonians the falling away. Bailey eagerly foretold of what she termed “the regeneration of the churches.”2 Her rationale for this was obvious:

The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished.3

In other words, instead of opposing Christianity, the occult would capture and blend itself with Christianity and then use it as its primary vehicle for spreading and instilling New Age consciousness! The various churches would still have their outer trappings of Christianity and still use much of the same lingo. If asked certain questions about traditional Christian doctrine, the same answers would be given. But it would all be on the outside; on the inside a New Age contemplative spirituality would be drawing in those open to it.

The world is opening its arms to wholly embrace a spirituality that will exist under the umbrella of mysticism. The correlating theme will be—we are all One. When the man of lawlessness does rise to power with a one-world economy and political base, he will seduce many into searching for their own Christ consciousness rather than the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

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Endnotes:

1. John Davis and Naomi Rice, Messiah and the Second Coming, p. 150.

2. Alice Bailey, Problems of Humanity (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing, 1993), p. 152.

3. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 510.

Ray Yungen (1952-2016) is the author of several Lighthouse Trails books, booklets, and lecture DVDs. He stood valiantly for the truth and issued warning to the church for nearly thirty years. 

(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)

By Harry Ironside

Answering the Following: “Sometimes I am afraid I am predestinated to be damned; if so, I can do nothing to alter my terrible case.”

No one was ever predestinated to be damned. Predestination is a precious truth of inestimable value and comfort when rightly understood. Will you not turn to your Bible and read for yourself in the only two chapters in which this word “predestinate” or “predestinated” is found? The first is Romans 8:29-30:

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The other chapter is Ephesians 1. In verse 5, we read:

Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.

And in verse 11, it says:

Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

You will note there is no reference in these four verses to either Heaven or Hell but to Christlikeness eventually. Nowhere are we told in Scripture that God predestinated one man to be saved and another to be lost. Men are to be saved or lost eternally because of their attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ:

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)

Predestination means that someday all the redeemed shall become just like the Lord Jesus! Is not this precious? Do not try to make a bugaboo out of that which was intended to give joy and comfort to those who trust in the Savior. Trust Him for yourself, and you will know that God has predestinated you to be fully conformed to the image of His Son.

God loved the world of sinners lost
And ruined by the fall;
Salvation full, at highest cost,
He offers free to all.
(Martha M. Stockton, 1821-1885)

(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)

The Wondrous Gospel—Enduring the Onslaughts of Deception

By David Dombrowski

When I consider the wonders of the Gospel—and I have been pondering it my many years as a Christian—I am filled with great awe of the magnitude and perfection of what God has done. At the same time, I am deeply saddened by man’s efforts over the centuries to erode the magnificence of God the Father sending His one and only Son to be a sacrifice for sin, securing now and forever the salvation of those who put their trust in Him.

Paul spoke of the attack on the Gospel that he saw would come shortly after his departure in these words:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (Acts 20:29)

In addressing this group that included elders from Ephesus, Paul spoke of his tremendous efforts, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 21). The Gospel he shared was clear and simple, uncomplicated by the philosophical thoughts and strivings of men.

When it comes to salvation, the Bible is very clear on what one must do to be saved. To the Philippian jailer, Paul and Silas answered that very question with the words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). But it is no wonder that God would use such clarity and simplicity in presenting the Gospel. There is no confusion in the Gospel; the confusion was added later. Scripture says that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9; emphasis added)

When it comes to salvation, God emphasizes clarity and simplicity. We see this even in the Old Testament where God speaks of the way of holiness and redemption as something even fools can understand:

And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there. (Isaiah 35:8-9)

There is currently a battle going on, but it is one that is actually centuries old, where the transgressors professing to know Christianity’s deeper secrets liken their theology to rocket science, where they expect everyone to trust them with their new twist on the “way to salvation.” Yet, we see again in Habakkuk God’s incentive to keep the Gospel straightforward and plain:

And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. . . . Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:2,4, emphasis added)

Personally, I find it very interesting and a bit curious that these most clear words of salvation and redemption, found in a seemingly remote place in the Old Testament, reappear with vigor in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

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. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16-17; emphasis added)

It was Paul who first persecuted the church. It was he who, though in error, thought it was his job to preserve the integrity of the Judaic faith only to find out that it was Jesus, the Redeemer and the Messiah, whom he was persecuting. Now, as a defender of the faith, he is careful to emphasize that our salvation was fully purchased through Christ and is consequently “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9). What a marvelous plan of salvation! When Paul says in Romans 1, “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith” (v. 17), he is asserting that our righteousness is fully imputed to us from start to finish by faith. In other words, Jesus paid the full price for our salvation, so we can never say it’s the Cross plus something else; thus, accordingly, our salvation remains a matter of faith—trusting that what Jesus has done in our lives, He will bring to completion.

Yet, for some reason (Habakkuk 2:4 indicates it’s really our pride!), there is a tendency to want to add something to the full redemption with which God has purchased us through Christ. But this is fully wrong and an insult to God’s redemptive work. Consider, for example, how you would feel if you bought a friend a nice car as a gift at your own expense, but your friend started making payments back. This would nullify it as a gift because the friend is now paying for it. God has done that for us in that our salvation is a free gift, fully paid for; furthermore, there is no way we could possibly repay or add to our salvation because only the one perfect sacrifice of Christ on the Cross can pay for our sins—and that is all. That is why Hebrews 10:11 tells us that the Old Testament sacrifices “can never take away sins”; they were only foreshadowings of the perfect and complete sacrifice to come.

Applying Discernment

When we apply the lens of biblical discernment, it brings clarity to the aberrations (deviations) from the truth of the Gospel. When it comes to discernment, I always look to the instructions found in 1 John, chapter 4. It is there that we learn the “secret” to distinguishing light from darkness, truth from error, which is really no secret at all but the plain and pure Gospel itself. Simply put, if a theology or teaching truly elevates the Gospel, it is from God; if it pulls it down in any way, it is not from God, what John calls the spirit of antichrist (v. 3). Again, it is valuable to remember that the Greek for “ante-christ” covers a broad spectrum of meaning—from vicious Christ-hating to anything acting as a substitute for Christ whether it be a person, a theology, or an ideology that Satan uses as a tool to break down the truth and reality of the Gospel. It is this subversive end of the spectrum that is often more difficult to recognize and consequently more dangerous. In fact, the spirit of ante-christ can look very beautiful and appealing as Scripture says that “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Looking back over the last two decades of Lighthouse Trails, I see three areas that have been particularly deceptive and damaging in appearing to be the light of truth when they are actually darkness; these are the realms of Catholicism, Calvinism, and Contemplative (i.e., New Age) teachings. Once embraced, they become strongholds that hold their recipients captive. In our research, we have produced much material to substantiate these findings, so I don’t want to get into all that here; but I would like to briefly demonstrate how these strongholds work in keeping people from the truth of the Gospel and are thus onslaughts of deception against that Gospel.

Catholicism

Catholicism was my own home territory because if you include my infancy, I was 30 years a Catholic. Oftentimes, the Catholic Church makes its claim to truth for having been around so long—with centuries of tradition. Unfortunately, it has not been centuries of true Gospel.

My story was typical of most Catholics. From my earliest youth, I had a strong desire to know God, but I occasionally wondered if I really knew Him. For instance, I would ask how or when did I become a Christian, and the ready reply would be, “when you were baptized as a baby.” I accepted that reply, but I was often disappointed by my lack of spiritual growth. Through the Baltimore Catechism, I was taught that our path to salvation is through participation in the sacraments, the foremost being the sacrament of the Eucharist. And it was through infant baptism and subsequently the Eucharist that I received Christ. Consequently, this was the “Gospel” I believed, and therefore, there were never any altar calls, never any invitations to receive Christ—because I was told, I already had Him.

The sacrament of confession was a weekly task for me, whereby I entered a booth and confessed my sins to a priest who was in an adjoining booth. Although we could not see each other because of a partition screen, I remember a series of weeks where I could recognize the voice of a young priest who grew tired of absolving me of the same sins week after week and finally rebuked me for repeating the same sins. But that is what a sinner does when he is powerless to be an overcomer on his own strength.

As time went on, I began to realize I was on the path to Hell as my habits only grew worse. But, I at least had now acquired one bit of truth, and that was recognizing my lost condition. Truly, though, the Catholic Church had held me back by never presenting to me the Gospel. As beautiful as it seemed to be, the Eucharist was and is a pseudo-Christ, an ante-christ whereby I had been handed a substitute for the Gospel. While the errors of Roman Catholicism are many, its own claim to its own singular greatest accomplishment is when it instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. Without the Eucharist, the Mass would cease to be, and without the Mass, the Catholic Church would cease to be what it is. The claim is that Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross was imperfect and incomplete, and therefore, the Catholic Church instituted a “bloodless sacrifice” that is offered daily on the altar. This is in direct contradiction of chapters 9 and 10 of Hebrews, which state “without shedding of blood is no remission” of sins (Hebrews 9:22), along with repeated statements in both chapters indicating that Jesus’ sacrifice was perfect, complete, and for all time. This is the essence of the Gospel, and it is essential to securing an assurance of salvation. However, I was taught that it is wrong to ever feel assured of going to Heaven. Yet, John writes that he proclaims the Gospel “that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). However, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, a bloodless sacrifice is made again and again to compensate for the incomplete sacrifice of Jesus. It is really this false teaching that insists on the need for a continually repeated sacrifice that prevented me from finding salvation, though I searched for it in vain.

Through the centuries, godly men and women were brutally martyred or burned at the stake for defending the Gospel as the most important truth, being seen as committing the worst of heresies when questioning the Eucharist. We see here that the spirit of ante-christ can come like a beautiful angel or as a ravening beast because Satan will use whatever means it takes to accomplish his purposes.

Calvinism

Calvinism is actually fatalism repackaged in a beautiful candy wrapper called “eternal security.” But even few ministers seem to be interested in exploring what is beneath the wrapper. The truth of the matter is that Calvinism offers anything but eternal security. The delusion is in thinking that if we are “predestinated” for Heaven, our salvation is eternally secure; but the reality is that Calvinism does not and cannot offer a way to know if you are one of the “elect” or “predestinated for Heaven”; consequently, you are left in a state of perpetual questioning and doubt regarding salvation. Calvin himself wrote an appeal to God preceding his death whereby he petitioned God to save him if God can find the mercy within Himself to do so. But in Calvin’s case, the prognosis seemed doubtful in that Calvin’s religion indicated that God took pleasure in sending most people to Hell. Also, the fact that Calvin was responsible for the torture and murder of those who disagreed with his twisted theology left him with little good fruit to show that he belonged to the family of God.* As with Catholicism, Calvin brought forth a theology that seemed to be coming from an angel of light but in the end exposed itself as that of a ravening and roaring lion—as the spirit of ante-christ in its full spectrum.

If we apply the discernment test of 1 John 4 to the fatalism that Calvin offered, we find that while there is eternal security in Christ when we believe the Gospel, there is none to be found with Calvin’s “Gospel” in what proves to be nothing more than a vain philosophy. Yet the ante-christ spirit, perpetrated by Satan himself, is nonetheless there dispelling the wondrous love of Jesus Christ with a dangerous form of spiritual Russian roulette.

Although I personally never embraced the teachings of Calvinism, I did wonder as a young Christian what the word for “predestinate” means where it appears only in Romans 8:29-30 and Ephesians 1:5,11 in the New Testament (and never in the Old Testament). In none of these instances is it used in conjunction with salvation but rather a spiritual standing that God has prepared for those who believe the Gospel, namely a prepared destination to godliness and to be conformed to God’s will. Many Christians also confuse God’s foreknowledge with predestination. This is the serious error of Calvinism in that it causes one to conclude that man is void of free will and all the evil that has ever happened in the world must also be designed and instigated by God. This is grave and gross error in that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). Contrary to the teachings of Calvinism, salvation is a gift from God freely given to all who put their trust and hope in Christ.

Contemplative and New Age

I lump contemplative prayer and New Age meditation together here because they are different sides of the same coin where in both cases the key ingredient is mysticism induced by mind-altering meditation. Motives and intents may be different, but the same or similar methods are used to achieve this altered state of consciousness to connect with “the other side,” namely the spirit world. The word “occult” has been softened to terms like “contemplative prayer,” “centering prayer,” or “the silence” to make the practice sound more Christian and more appealing. But none of this appeals to Scripture as in the case in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 where even the more recently popularized practice of necromancy (i.e., communication with the dead) is identified along with mind-altering practices as “an abomination unto the Lord” (Deuteronomy 18:12). Jesus reiterated the importance of true biblical prayer when He said, “when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do” (Matthew 6:7).

Ironically, contemplative prayer itself achieves the altered state of consciousness by repeating a word or short phrase over and over again for twenty minutes or so. It seems as if God is being tested to see if He will notice; and notice He does when He leaves them to their own devices to pursue their own sensual delusions. Since 2002, Lighthouse Trails has been documenting research in thousands of pages and links to demonstrate the great harm that is produced when engaging in practices like contemplative prayer. Consider, for example, Sue Monk-Kidd (contemplative author of The Secret Life of Bees) who started out as a Baptist Sunday school teacher and now worships the goddess Sophia. The problem with contemplative prayer is that it produces mystical experiences with familiar spirits whereby it makes a person feel so connected with God so as to be a part of God Himself. And when we get to thinking God and creation are one and the same, the Gospel loses its meaning completely.

The great tragedy of New Age practices having come into the mainstream church is that they disconnect the practitioner from the Gospel while connecting with “the other side.” Christ in us is our hope of glory, but the hope mystical (occult) practices offer is no hope at all in that Jesus Christ is substituted with an ante-christ system—some of it seemingly being presented as “pro-Christian” while some is vehemently opposed to the Gospel—more specifically, Christ’s atonement on the Cross, for sin.

For example, Helen Schucman wrote a book wherein the “Christ” in A Course in Miracles dictated to her what is often referred to now as the “Bible” of the New Age. A key point that the “Christ” told her is this: “The journey to the Cross should be the last useless journey.”1 What could be closer to Satan’s heart? It is the spirit of antichrist at work; and today we have ministers springing up all over telling us that the Cross was a barbaric act of butchery that God would never require of His Son—that God would never cause His son to die as a substitute for the sins of all mankind. This is the sliding slope on which the New Age is taking untold numbers.

The spirit of ante-christ is powerfully at work in the New Age. It may sound beautiful to think that all humanity has a “christ consciousness” (ranging from “God is within” to “I am God”), but this is just the “beautiful” side of an ugly religion. As we have seen with Catholicism and Calvinism, there is a driving spirit aimed at destruction. Consequently, we find in various New Age books the theme that those who oppose New Age teachings will at some point need to be “taken out of the way”—that there will be a “selection process” by which Christians will be eliminated. Remember that Paul told Timothy, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

The Wondrous, Enduring Gospel

In summary, I have given three serious and ominous examples of how the spirit of ante-christ has worked and continues to work in our world today—sometimes subtly and “wonderfully” (Daniel 8:24), sometimes aggressively and hatefully. But, in each case, the target or goal has always been the same—to discredit or minimize the Gospel because Satan knows all too well that the Gospel is the singular hope of mankind. Christ in us is our hope of glory. This is the one Christ, the only Christ, and the true Christ, the One who paid the penalty for our sins on the Cross. Without Him, there is no hope; with Him there is all hope, hope fully sufficient to get us to Heaven. It is the hope of the Gospel. As Paul said:

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)

May we always remember that even through the onslaughts of our Adversary and his attacks through the ages on the Gospel message, this Gospel still stands and endures. It remains as the blessed hope of an eternity with Christ. And for the believer, the Holy Spirit is ours—to comfort, guide, and bring us assurance. The Gospel is truly Good News—and it is ours to believe and ours to proclaim to those walking in darkness.

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:25)

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*For documentation on these two points, read Bob Kirkland’s book Calvinism: None Dare Call It Heresy (available through Lighthouse Trails.)

Endnote:

1. From A Course in Miracles, text, p. 52.