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Coming From the Lighthouse

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Printer Friendly Version (click here) January 21, 2008

In This Issue -

Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland

WorldNet Daily Vice President Wrong about the Mystics

Conference Alert: Breakforth Conference in Canada with Kay Arthur, Josh McDowell and Erwin McManus.

Rethink Conference: Christian Leaders Help Bring About Robert Schuller's Dream

The Advent of the "Ancient Wisdom"

Is There a Labyrinth in Your Town?

Yungen, Smith, Koenig at Conference - Listen Online...

Book on the Emerging Church Issues Warning Around the World

Falling Sparrow book series

Publishing News...NEW IN 2007

Newsletter in Print - Coming Soon

 

 

 

 

Anita Dittman Testimony

In the fall of 2007, Holocaust survivor Anita Dittman gave her testimony in front of a live audience at Twin City Fellowship in MN. Lighthouse Trails is pleased to announce this special presentation, which has an introduction by Olive Tree Ministries director Jan Markell. This 70 minute long DVD is now available. To obtain and for more information, please click here.

 

Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland

Book Review by Lighthouse Trails editors

J. P. Moreland is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Talbot (Biola) School of Theology and a faculty member at David Noebel's Summit Ministries 1. He has written numerous books and has spoken at over 200 colleges. He has many academic credentials and honors such as: Outstanding Young Men of America, 1981 and Senior Class Professor of the Year, Biola University, 1992-93. But Moreland has another credential that is not being discussed in evangelical circles - he promotes contemplative and emerging spirituality.

In Moreland's 2007 book, Kingdom Triangle, subtitled: Recover the Christian Mind, Renovate the Soul, Restore the Spirit's Power, Moreland says there are three components needed in Christianity, both collectively and individually. He says that these three "essential ingredients" are for the "maturation of the Evangelical community" (p. 13).

It doesn't take too long into Kingdom Triangle to realize that the second element of this maturing process is "spiritual formation." On the Acknowledgments page, Moreland thanks John Coe, who is the director for Biola's Institute for Spiritual Formation. Moreland says that Coe guided him "into spiritual formation and the inner life." Coe's program offers a menagerie of contemplative spirituality courses, retreats, etc.

To support Moreland's emphasis on spiritual formation, he has asked contemplative leader Dallas Willard to write the foreword for the book; and in fact Moreland calls Willard the mentor he has had for 25 years (p.13). Given Willard's immense affinity with contemplative spirituality, this long term mentorship would explain Moreland's belief that spiritual formation is essential for the Christian community.

In chapter 6 of Kingdom Triangle, Moreland plunges into discussion about the "true self" and the "false self." He echoes Thomas Merton and Martin Buber, both who had strong mystical propensities, and who believed we could attain to our true self (a perfect self) through mystical practices. Moreland encourages the writings (and practices) of St. Ignatius Loyola, (p. 156), saying such practices will help us to "cultivate the ability to discern the divine components" within us. This follows the course of thinking that Thomas Merton had - that divinity is already within, and mystical practices help us to realize what is already there. That is why Merton said,

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, ... now I realize what we all are ... If only they [people] could all see themselves as they really are. I suppose the big problem would be that we would bow down and worship each other.... At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth....This little point ... is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everybody. (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, pp. 157-158)

Roger Oakland discusses Ignatius Loyola in Faith Undone: "Ignatius founded the Jesuits with a goal to bring the separated brethren back to the Catholic Church. He and his band of ruthless men would do everything possible to accomplish this goal." (p. 116) The Metamorpha website (see Willard, Foster, Coe videos there) says that the "imagination is key in Ignatian prayer.... Ignatian meditation involves several key spiritual disciplines: lectio divina, Ignatian contemplation, reminiscence, and the examination of consciousness (notice: not conscience)."

Moreland tells readers that a "treasure of deep, rich knowledge of the soul" can be found in the writings of the Desert Fathers, Henri Nouwen, and Richard Foster, (p. 153). Of course, all three of these sources ultimately point followers to eastern-style meditation. A four-part series Moreland did for Focus on the Family (click here to read further )substantiates that Moreland is embracing contemplative spirituality where he suggests that "Catholic retreat centers are usually ideal for solitude retreats."

Moreland describes the third element to this triangle for Kingdom living in his preface when he says that this is the time in history where evangelicals can "show our culture the way forward" and that prior to now, Christians were not ready to "lead our culture to higher ground" (p. 12). He continues: "Signs indicate we are gaining momentum and may well be ready to manifest our Lord's true character [through spiritual formation] in a way appropriate to the crisis of our age... Tools for spiritual formation are available as never before in my lifetime."

As for Moreland's third element of his Kingdom triangle, Moreland says that the Kingdom of God or "gospel of the Kingdom" (p. 172) can only come about on the earth through signs, wonders, and miracles - thus his title: "Restoration of the Kingdom's Miraculous Power." Knowing that Moreland's 2nd leg in his three-legged triangle is encapsulated with contemplative spirituality, which would empower this signs and wonders Kingdom he describes, is more than alarming. If indeed the realm that contemplative meditators enter is one filled with familiar (demonic) spirits, then signs and wonders that follow these excursions, would be on the same plane.

Moreland wraps up his book by stating that many believers (whom he refers to as "sojourner[s] in the Way of Jesus]" are bored and do not sense God's presence in their lives. He says the answer this is to have the Kingdom Triangle "at the very heart of the new revolutionary movement gaining momentum day by day" (p. 196). Moreland concludes:

As you enter more and more deeply into progress in the way of Jesus, the Kingdom Triangle must be at the core of your life and (your church's) strategy. The first leg provides a thoughtful sense of truth, knowledge, and direction to this approach to life; the second leg gives passion to the journey and allows one to lay aside baggage that gets in the way; the third leg provides the faith and confidence to risk more and more for God and expect him to actually be a coworker in the only sensible life plan available. This is what our culture needs... Don't waste your life being preoccupied with things that don't really matter. Join me in the revolution. This is your opportunity. Seize it and rejoice in it (p. 199).

This kind of rhetoric that we are on the brink of a massive spiritual awakening doesn't sound much different than what New Agers say today. In a newsletter Lighthouse Trails received on January 18th from New Age write Gary Zukav, Zukav expresses a similar vision:

A great change is washing over us, around us, and through us. A new human consciousness is being born in millions of individuals, one by one.... We are pioneers in uncharted terrain, participating through our changing inner experiences in the birth of a new humanity. The great change ... offers potential not previously available to us. Our perception is expanding beyond the limitations of the five senses.... From this new perspective, a multisensory perspective, we are not separate from anything or anyone, ... and each individual is responsible for how he or she will respond to his or her experiences....

It is for each of us to decide how long we will choose to see ourselves as helpless innocents who are at the mercy of our experiences before we move into a new, more accurate understanding of ourselves as the creator of them..... From the emerging multisensory perspective, each individual is responsible for what he or she contributes to the world, regardless of what others contribute to it.... When will you begin the journey that will take you there?

It is our hope that those reading this article can begin to connect the dots: as society (and unfortunately much of Christianity at large) becomes more and more mystically oriented, the vehicle for large scale deception is being provided. As the Bible warns about, in the days prior to Jesus Christ's second coming, there will be a great falling away through doctrines created by demons.

 

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." I Timothy 4:1

Related Stories:

Contemplative Proponent J. P. Moreland Says Christians Too Committed to the Bible

Respected Ministries Say OK to Contemplative J.P. Moreland

Focus on the Family and J.P. Moreland

An Emergent Manifesto of Hope: Emerging Church Coming out of the Closet

WorldNet Daily Vice President Wrong about the Mystics

On January 18th, WorldNet Daily posted an article by WND Vice President, David Kupelian. The article came out in WND's publication Whistleblower the previous month and is currently in wide circulation on the Internet. It is for this reason that Lighthouse Trails is compelled to respond. The information in the article could potentially mislead many into following the teachings of mystics and panentheists from the past.

Kupelian's article, titled "If God is everywhere, why do so few people find Him?" does not refute the notion that God is everywhere but on the contrary backs up the idea by favorably referencing mystics who believed that God was in everyone. Kupelian throws in ambiguous comments like "Christianity is a mystical religion, not a legalistic one like Islam" which adds fuel to his persuasive recommendations about mystics such as Madame Guyon and St. John of the Cross. He also refers to George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement, and William Penn, also a Quaker. Of Penn, Kupelian states:

Penn, a Quaker and close friend of the movement's founder George Fox, is quite dramatically saying God can somehow be found in stillness, echoing David the psalmist who wrote, "Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)

What many WND readers may not know is that Quakers (not all) traditionally believe that all humans have a Divine light within. That is what prompted Quaker Thomas Kelly to say: "Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return.... In that abiding yet energizing Center we are all made one" (pp. 29, 38, A Testament of Devotion). Kelly stated that the "Slumbering Christ, stirring to be awakened ... is within us all" (p. 29). He says the "Inward Christ" dwelled not just in the Christian's heart, nor was something to be "accepted or rejected" but is "the living Center of Reference for all Christian souls ... and of non-Christian groups as well" (p. 34).

George Fox would concur with Kelly. The three following statements by Fox George Fox illustrate this well:

"Walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in everyone."

"The Light shines through all."

"There is that of divinity in all things."

Kupelian comes to the defense of two mystics, Madame Guyon and St. John of the Cross, stating:

Whatever doctrinal reasons the Catholic Church might have had for rejecting Guyon, it's hard to dispute the classic wisdom, espoused here, of seeking God in stillness.

But of that stillness, Guyon expressed these thoughts:

May I hasten to say that the kind of prayer I am speaking of is not a prayer that comes from your mind. It is a prayer that begins in the heart .... prayer that comes from the heart is not interrupted by thinking! (Madam Guyon, Experiencing The Depths of Jesus Christ p. 4)

G. Richard Fisher of Personal Freedom Outreach has written an excellent critique of Madame Guyon titled "The Mindless Mysticism of Madame Guyon." Fisher's research leaves no room for doubt as to Guyon's mystical affinities. 1 It is Guyon who said: "Here [the contemplative state] everything is God. God is everywhere and in all things."2 Lastly, St. John of the Cross who said: "My beloved [God] is the high mountains, and the lovely valley forests, unexplored islands, rushing rivers."3

Ray Yungen explains the problem: "To absolve these mystics of fundamental theological error, one has to also defend panentheism."4 We are not proposing that David Kupelian of WorldNet Daily is a panentheist. However, the mystics he is using as examples were panentheists. And for the sake of many WND readers, this is something that has to be pointed out.

Notes:

1. See link above.

2. Timothy Freke, The Spiritual Canticle, the Wisdom of the Christian Mystics (Godsfield Press, 1998), p. 60.
3. Willigis Jager, The Search for the Meaning of Life(Ligouri, MO, Liguori/Triumph, 1995), p. 125.
4. Yungen, A Time of Departing, 2nd ed. (Silverton, OR: Lighthouse Trails,) p. 74.

See also:

The Cloud of Unknowing

Christian Mystics of the Past

 

Conference Alert: Breakforth Conference in Canada with Kay Arthur, Josh McDowell and Erwin McManus

Last year at this time, Lighthouse Trails reported on the Breakforth Conference that took place in Edmonton, Alberta. The speakers included popular teachers Kay Arthur and Josh McDowell along with contemplative proponents Tony Campolo and Jack Hayford (see report). We concluded that report by stating:

If Josh McDowell and Kay Arthur are going to be doing "Christian" conferences with Tony Campolo, we hope they will tell the conference attendees that contemplative spirituality does not truly make one more intimate with God, regardless of the high feelings and emotions it may produce.

Now, Breakforth 2008 is quickly approaching (January 25th - 27th), and the line up of speakers proves to be another disconcerting mixture: Kay Arthur, Josh McDowell, and emerging leaders Chris Seay and Erwin McManus.

McManus is just wrapping up his Rethink Conference with Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral. Within a week he will be sharing the platform with Arthur and McDowell at Breakforth. If Arthur and McDowell are prepared to stand on stage at Breakforth and renounce the spirituality of McManus and the emerging church as well as the contemplative prayer movement, giving an exacting warning to those attending, then by all means, they should go. But they did not do that last year when they shared the platform with Tony Campolo - thus we do not anticipate they will do that this year.

What Arthur and McDowell may not realize is that by their participating at Breakforth, they are giving the thumbs up signal to thousands that the emerging church and contemplative spirituality are acceptable avenues to reach God; and in so doing they become part of the deception, and people's spiritual lives are going to be affected.

Josh McDowell is presently scheduled to speak at the Breakforth USA 2009. 1

Related Stories:

Kay Arthur/Josh McDowell to Share Platform with Contemplative

More conference alerts

 

Rethink Conference: Christian Leaders Help Bring About Robert Schuller's Dream of an All-Inclusive Spirituality

Rethink Conference: Crystal Cathedral, California

January 17, 2008

 

Robert Schuller once said: "Standing before a crowd of devout Muslims with the Grand Mufti, I know that we're all doing God's work together. Standing on the edge of a new millennium, we're laboring hand in hand to repair the breach." He made that statement in his 2001 biography, My Journey  (p. 501), and today he has taken a giant step forward in seeing his dream of an all all-inclusive spiritual body come true. What's more, Christian leaders and organizations are helping to bring it to pass.

This past weekend, the Rethink Conference at Schuller's Crystal Cathedral began. This three day event was hosted by Schuller and popular emerging futurist Erwin McManus.

In addition to McManus, the Rethink Conference has several other Christian leaders speaking: Gary Smalley, Henry Cloud, Chuck Colson, and Kay Warren, to name a few. While the speaker list includes several names outside the Christian camp (Larry King, George Bush Sr., Rupert Murdoch, etc.), a majority of the speakers, both Christian and non-Christian, are proponents mystical spirituality. The reason this is important to know is because Schuller's vision of an all-inclusive global religious body cannot happen without mysticism. It is in fact the vehicle through which Schuller's dream will occur. He discloses a little more of this vision in his book:

I met once more with the Grand Mufti (a Muslim), truly one of the great Christ-honoring leaders of faith. ... I'm dreaming a bold impossible dream: that positive-thinking believers in God will rise above the illusions that our sectarian religions have imposed on the world, and that leaders of the major faiths will rise above doctrinal idiosyncrasies, choosing not to focus on disagreements, but rather to transcend divisive dogmas to work together to bring peace and prosperity and hope to the world. (p. 502).

In order for this "bold impossible dream" to occur, change agents such as Schuller and McManus realize that Christianity needs to be redefined. Thus, the term rethink. McManus has believed this for some time. In an interview, he stated:

My goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst for the movement of Jesus Christ.... Some people are upset with me because it sounds like I'm anti-Christian. I think they might be right!(1)

It's easier to understand what McManus means by this by reading this next statement from him:

The Barbarian Way was, in some sense, trying to create a volatile fuel to get people to step out and act. It's pretty hard to get a whole group of people moving together as individuals who are stepping into a more mystical, faith-oriented, dynamic kind of experience with Christ. So, I think was my attempt to say, "Look, underneath what looks like invention, innovation and creativity is really a core mysticism that hears from God, and what is fueling this is something really ancient." That's what was really the core of The Barbarian Way. (from Relevant magazine)

To put this in plain terms, there is a three step process in making this new vision become a reality. First, reeducation: convince Christians that the Christianity of today has to be thrown out and replaced by a whole new way of thinking. Second, get these new thinking Christians to incorporate mysticism into their lives and hear the voice of a new kind of God, not one that is described in the Bible but one that is found through altered states of consciousness. McManus put it this way: "I build my life not on the Word of God, but the voice of God. The Scriptures are to me the instrument that God has placed in history for me to learn the voice of God." (2) The voice of this mystical god will direct people to the final step of the process, and that will be to bring about a supposed kingdom of God where all will be one, and where man finally realizes his own divinity. Unfortunately, it will be a kingdom built, not on the truth of the Word of God, thus not on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The rethinking of Christianity is taking place right now before our very eyes. The mystical practices are now being implemented by countless people around the world, including huge numbers of professing Christians through the spiritual formation movement. It is just a matter of time before this new age dream will take effect, and a great spiritual delusion will overtake the masses.

Roger Oakland, author of Faith Undone (the hard-hitting expose on the emerging church), spent a day at the Crystal Cathedral listening to speakers share their hopes for the rethinking of Christianity. Oakland heard one popular evangelical speaker say that the emerging church is energizing Christianity. 

What that evangelical leader may not realize is that this energizing is happening through mystical practices. One person who does understand this concept is Robert Schuller. Ray Yungen explains:

[W]hat many might not know about Schuller is his New Thought proclivities. Interspiritual scholar Marcus Bach once related the following incident that took place at a Unity church in Hawaii in which Bach was speaking:

Dr. Schuller attended the first of three services, this one at 7:30 am. When we shook hands at the door, he tarried to assure me how much Unity principles meant to him and how helpful they had been to him in his work. (The Unity Way, p. 267)

What could some of these Unity principles be? Bach explains:
Hinduism's emphasis on meditation fit[s] well into Unity's patterns for enlightenment.(Ibid, p. 104)

This is one of the major principles that Schuller was making reference to. In his own book, Prayer: My Soul's Adventure with God, he says:

Move into mighty moods of meditation. Draw energy from centers of sacred solitude, serenity, and silence.... Find yourself coming alive in the garden of prayer called meditation.... Yes, the "New Agers" have grabbed hold of meditation.... Hey, Christian! Hear me! Let's not give up the glorious, God-given gift of meditation by turning it over to those outside our faith. (pp. 141, 151)

The point that Schuller misses is that meditation is what makes a person a New Ager! This perspective is something to consider in light of the quarter million pastors who have trained and been mentored under Schuller at his Leadership Institute. (For Many Shall Come in My Name, ch. 3)

The line up at Rethink further confirms that Schuller and McManus see mysticism as playing a vital role in the rethinking and energizing of Christianity. Many of the speakers share McManus' and Schuller's propensity on mysticism's role in transforming the world.

Equally disturbing is knowing that CCN (Church Communication Network) sponsors and is helping to broadcast the Rethink Conference. CCN represents many of today's Christian leaders from Rick Warren, to James Dobson, to Joni Eareckson Tada, to Max Lucado and many many others.  

What this means is that mainstream Christianity is going mystical, just as Alice Bailey, the woman who coined the term New Age, predicted so very many years ago. Yungen ties this all together:  

"Bailey eagerly foretold of what she termed 'the regeneration of the churches' (Problems of Humanity, p. 152).

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. (The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 510) 

"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 contemplative spirituality would be drawing in those open to it.

"In wide segments of Christendom this has indeed already occurred.... Thomas Keating alone taught 31,000 people mystical prayer in one year. People are responding to this in large numbers because it has the external appearance of Christianity but in truth, is the diametric opposite---what a skillful spiritual delusion!"

Related Stories:

 

For more information on Schuller's "dream" read Deceived on Purpose by Warren Smith.

 

The Advent of the "Ancient Wisdom"

by Ray Yungen

 

Many people may think the New Age movement is a collection of strange cults populated by aging hippies, emotional cripples, and assorted oddballs who are duped by money-hungry charlatans and egocentric frauds. This may be true in some instances, but if such were the overall case, I would not have spent the last 22 years researching this movement or writing about my discoveries. The focus of my work is not on fringe religious groups or New Age riff-raff but on a broad-based effort to influence and restructure our whole society.

Rather than creating new institutions as is the case with cults, the New Age goal is to transform people within existing institutions and thereby transform the institutions themselves! As one writer explained it, "...a new society forming within the heart of the old."1

This transformation has frequently been referred to as a paradigm shift. The word paradigm means model, as in outlook or viewpoint.

New Agers predict that as more and more people achieve contact with and guidance from the higher self, a global shift will occur, in which the transformed state will become as common as watching television or reading a newspaper. It will be the predominant model or paradigm for humanity.

One person who should have a fairly decent estimation on the size of the New Age is best-selling author Eckhart Tolle. In a recent interview, he revealed the following observations:

Without considering the Eastern world, my estimate is that at this time about ten percent of people in North America are already awakening. That makes thirty million Americans alone, ... about ten percent of the population of Western European countries is also awakening. This is probably sufficient critical mass* to bring about a new earth.2

Many people have a kind of bemused contempt for those involved with mysticism, and thus, they believe that the New Age movement is a frivolous frolic into the absurd.

In answer to this, I would like to emphasize two points. First, millions of people are having real experiences. Second, these experiences are as old as human civilization.

It is important to understand that the foundation upon which the New Age movement is based transcends the mere intellectual acceptance of ideas. It cannot be seen as separate from the mystical experience from which it springs.

The Mystery Schools are the most easily documented of the ancient adherents of occultism. They were the caretakers of this esoteric (hidden) knowledge.

These schools formed the nucleus of the religious practices of ancient nations and empires such as Egypt, China, Chaldea, Persia, Greece, and Rome, as well as the Aztec and Inca civilizations.

The Mystery religions were so labeled because their teachings were kept hidden from the common people. In fact, the term occult (meaning hidden or concealed) originated from the Mystery religions because the majority of people were ignorant of their true meanings. Only the priests and adepts (who were initiated through various grades or levels) gained insight into these hidden truths of the universe.

What was kept hidden or secret? It can best be summed up as the knowledge of the laws and forces that underlie the universe but are not evident to the five senses of man's normal perception. Basically, they taught an awareness of the invisible worlds for wisdom and guidance and the development of psychic abilities and spiritual healing techniques.

New Age writers often refer to the core teachings of occultism as the Ancient Wisdom. They also refer to it as the Secret Wisdom, Ageless Wisdom, and the Perennial Wisdom. Many believe this Ancient Wisdom can be traced back to the fabled civilization of Atlantis.

Despite enormous geographical distances and cultural differences, the Mysteries all taught the same message: "Happy and blessed one, you have become divine instead of mortal."3

Those involved in the New Age movement do not work by accident or coincidence. Rather, they have a mission to accomplish and receive inner guidance to show them where, when, and how that work must be done.... New Age writer David Spangler makes it clear who or what this "central source of wisdom" is and what it wants to accomplish. Referring to his own spirit guide, "John," he writes:

Over the years it has been evident that John's main interest is the emergence of a new age and a new culture, and he identifies himself as one of those on the spiritual side of life whose work is specifically to empower that emergence.4

The New Age movement does not have any real leaders, only followers. I heard one writer/channeler put it very plainly when he revealed: "Everyone anywhere who tunes into the Higher Self becomes part of the transformation. Their lives then become orchestrated from other realms."5

This aspect must be understood in order to fully grasp the significance of the New Age movement.
It may appear on the surface that all of these groups and individuals are not connected, but the following quote sheds light on the real situation. One New Age writer confirmed:

Soon it also became apparent that those of us experiencing this inner contact were instinctively (and spontaneously) drawing together, forming a network. In the many years since, I have watched this network grow and widen to literally encompass the globe. What was once a rare experience--that of meeting another person who admitted to a similar superconscious presence in his or her life--has now become a common, even frequent, event ... what I once saw as a personal (and individual) transformation I now see as part of a massive and collective human movement.6

In his extremely revealing and insightful 1980s book, The Emerging New Age, sociologist J. L. Simmons disclosed that "tens of thousands" of metaphysical teachers and counselors existed in America who were in the process of training and guiding "hundreds of thousands" of students and clients. In addition to these, "millions" had "a sporadic but real interest" in metaphysics. Simmons observed:

Each of these circles is growing in numbers. And there is a steady progression of people inward: an uncommitted person moves into the active, part-time circle, and so on.7

Simmons concluded that because of this swell of interest the movement was "doubling in size every three to five years."8 The Ancient Wisdom wasn't just for cave-dwelling mystics anymore!

This process of dismantling the old and fashioning the new is what For Many Shall Come In My Name is all about. This shift is not mere speculation, it is a fact!

An October 2006 Time magazine article on what America believes, reveals that fourteen percent of the U.S. population sees God as "a Higher Power or Cosmic Force."9 This would confirm the number that Eckhart Tolle spoke of (thirty million New Agers). How would any movement achieve such an enormous following so quickly? What is it that drives such rapid growth? The answer to this question cannot be ignored or dismissed as irrelevant. (from chapter 2, For Many Shall Come in My Name)

Notes:

1. George Trevelyan, A Vision of the Aquarian Age (Walpole, NH: Stillpoint Publishing, 1984), p. 161, book also online at http://www.sirgeorgetrevelyan.org.uk/books/thtbk-VAA14.html, accessed 03/2007.
2. Kathy Juline, "Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" (Science of Mind, October 2006), pp. 16-18.
3. Geoffrey Parrinder, World Religions from Ancient History to the Present (New York, NY: Facts on File Publications, 1983), p. 155.
4. David Spangler, Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred (New York, NY: Dell Publishing Company, 1984), p. 67.
5. Talk by Ken Carey at Whole Life Expo (Los Angeles: February, 1987).
6. Kathleen Vande Kieft, Innersource: Channeling Your Unlimited Self (New York, NY: Ballantine Books, 1989), p. 38.
7. J. L. Simmons, The Emerging New Age (Santa Fe, NM: Bear and Co., 1990), p. 211.
8. Ibid., p. 13.
9. Nancy Gibbss, "An In-Depth View of America by the Numbers" (Time magazine, October 22, 2006).

*Critical Mass: The idea that a particular belief or behavior can be accepted by all of society once a number of people have aligned.

 

Is There a Labyrinth in Your Town?

 

According to the international Labyrinth Society, a labyrinth is "a single path or unicursal tool for personal, psychological and spiritual transformation. Labyrinths are thought to enhance right brain activity."

Don't be fooled!
The labyrinth is just another way to perform contemplative or centering prayer in which all paths supposedly lead to God. In the last few years, there has been a tremendous increase in the number of labyrinths in colleges, hospitals, retreat centers, and churches.

Check out this labyrinth locator and see how many are in your own community or state. This list has grown substantially over the past few years, and this most likely does not include many of the labyrinths that are popping up in evangelical settings.

Related Information:

 

"Within the world of the New Age and the occult, initiation is the principle key used in advancing the student of mysticism along the path of occult learning." The Labyrinth: A Walk to Life or A Walk to Death Steve Muse - Eastern Regional Watch

 

Yungen, Smith, Koenig at Conference - Listen Online

Authors Ray Yungen and Warren Smith will be speaking together at Shining As Lights in Perverse Times conference on January 24th through 27th. The conference will take place at Calvary Chapel Tri-City in Tempe, Arizona and will be a multi-church event. For those who cannot physically attend, the conference will be available live through video broadcast online on the Godly Conferences website (click here).

Ray Yungen is the author of A Time of Departing and For Many Shall Come in My Name. Warren Smith is author of Deceived on Purpose, The Light That Was Dark, and Reinventing Jesus Christ (an online book).

We hope you will mark your calendars and be able to either attend or listen online to what Yungen and Smith and other speakers have to say about topics such as: Spiritual Formation, contemplative spirituality, the emerging church, Purpose Driven, the New Age, Bible prophecy, and much more. Bill Koenig from Koenig's International News will also be speaking at the conference.

*This conference is not affiliated with Lighthouse Trails Research or Lighthouse Trails Publishing.

 

Book on the Emerging Church Issues Warning Around the World

After just five months since its release date, Faith Undone has traveled around the world and now has 20,000 copies in print, with over 16,000 either sold or given away. The book makes a well-documented and serious case against the emerging church movement, showing that it is far more than the discontent grumblings of young people looking for answers but is in fact a calculated device by the devil to undermine the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. Grounded in a centuries old mystical approach, this movement is powerful yet highly deceptive. The path that the emerging church is taking is leading right into the arms of an interfaith perspective that has prophetically profound ramifications. Behind this new kind of church is a well-designed strategy and maneuver by the prince of this world to literally take apart the faith of millions. For a detailed chapter by chapter synopsis, click here.

 

Falling Sparrow - Two true stories

Announcing 

Lighthouse Trails Publishing's Falling Sparrow series

  Two new books (both true stories) added to our Falling Sparrow collection:

 

East Wind by Ruth Hunt:

Nine years in a Soviet prison camp would seem an eternity to most of us. For Maria, it was an investment in eternity. This is the true story of Maria Zeitner Linke-a story of survival and courage in the death camps of Stalin's Gulag after World War II. But more than that, it is the story of how one woman turned her sorrow into an opportunity for growth, ministry, and strengthened commitment to Jesus Christ. In nine years, Maria moved through six different camps, including the infamous Buchenwald, which the Soviets had taken over from the Nazis after the war. In the process, Maria touched the lives of many people and helped them turn their own mourning into dancing. This book, which will remind many readers of the works of Corrie ten Boom and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, offers encouragement and hope to anyone who has ever wondered, "How would I react if my faith were really put to the test?" It comes to terms with the true meaning of "practicing patience in tribulation."

 

The inspiring and captivating true story of Diet Eman, a young Dutch woman who, with her fiance' Hein Sietsma, risked everything to rescue imperiled Jews in Nazi-occupied Holland during World War II. Throughout the years that Diet and Hein aided the Resistance their courageous efforts ultimately saved the lives of hundreds of Jews.

 

Click here to see the entire Falling Sparrow series.

 

Publishing News

 

NEW IN 2007 - Lighthouse Trails released four new books in 2007: Faith Undone, For Many Shall Come in My Name, The Other Side of the River, and Another Jesus. In addition, we now have a DVD/CD of Anita Dittman telling her Holocaust experience to a live audience. This is one story you will want your family to hear.

 

We also have added several items by other publishers/producers to our online store. Each one was carefully selected and has the same high quality as our own Lighthouse Trails products:

1. Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged by Caryl Productions (DVD)

2. Messages from Heaven by Jim Tetlow (DVD)

3. Yoga and the Body of Christ by Dave Hunt (Book)

4. Yoga Uncoiled by Caryl Productions (DVD)

5. Gods of the New Age by Caryl Productions (VHS)

6. Hidden Heroes by Windbourne Productions (DVD)

THREE WAYS TO ORDER DIRECTLY FROM LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS PUBLISHING:

2. Toll Free Order Line: 866/876-3910

Quantity Discounts: 40% off retail for orders of 10 or more copies, 50% off for international orders of 10 or more copies

We ship both retail and wholesale orders within 24 hours of receiving order.

BOOKSTORES AND OUTLETS for small retail orders: Lighthouse Trails books are also available to order from most bookstores (online and walk-in). If your local bookstore isn't carrying one of our titles, you can ask them to order it  for you. While you may have to wait longer to receive your order, the advantage of ordering through bookstores is that you will have no shipping charges.

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SAMPLE CHAPTERS OF LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS BOOKS:

Lighthouse Trails Publishing now has sample chapters available online for most of the books we publish. We believe you will find each of these books to be well-written, carefully documented, and worthwhile. Click here to read some of the chapters.

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Note: Lighthouse Trails is a Christian publishing company. While we hope you will read the books we have published, we also provide extensive research, documentation, and news on our Research site, blog, and newsletter. We pray that the books as well as the online research will be a blessing to the body of Christ and a witness to those who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

 

Newsletter in Print - Coming Soon

If you would like to receive the Coming from the Lighthouse newsletter in print form by mail, please send an email to newsletter@lighthousetrails.com. Be sure and include your mailing address in the email. We will be issuing a printed newsletter several times a year for those who prefer that over the email edition or for some reason need both.

 

 Both email and printed editions will be free.

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These two important books expose the truth about contemplative spirituality and the new age.

A Time of Departing
and
For Many Shall Come in My Name

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HOLOCAUST: LEST WE FORGET

A true story that will change your life and challenge your faith ...

"Will sweep you into 1930s Germany and back with your faith intact ... [Trapped in Hitler's Hell] carries a stark message for today's Western Christian ... will refocus your priorities and recharge your spiritual life."-Leo Hohmann, Read entire review at The Messianic Times   Trapped in Hitler's Hell

See all books and DVDs on the Holocaust

 

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The Other Side of the River by Alaskan Kevin Reeves

  When mystical experiences and strange doctrines overtake his church, one man risks all to find the truth ... a true story.

Read more about this important book.

Some of the topics this book addresses:

Word Faith movement
Holy Laughter
"Slain" in the Spirit practice
Emphasis on humanity of Jesus over Deity
Gifts & Calling for the unbeliever?
Experience versus Scripture
Repetitive chanting & singing
Paradigm shift
Understanding true worship

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