When God wants to bless you, He sends a person in your life.
When the devil wants to destroy you, he also sends a person in your life.
How can we tell the difference? By knowing your people connections.
Your success depends on the quality of people you are connected to, and there are two types of people you’ll come in contact with throughout your lifetime:
1) Those who ADD and MULTIPLY, making you more than you are;
2) And those who SUBTRACT and DIVIDE, thereby devaluing you.
Never allow people into your life without knowing their agenda. Find out where they came from and why they want to be connected to you.
When a person is in your life and your life is declining, they are NOT a God connection!
A healthy connection will protect your self-worth even when you’re experiencing a season of pain or struggling with a failure in your life.
A true God connection will never abandon his assignment until you reach your full potential.
August 30, 2011
August 26, 2011
LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS NEWS ALERT - Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa named in Child Sexual Abuse Lawsuit
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil. John 13:19
We realize some readers may think we are posting the following story just to dig up dirt on Calvary Chapel for the mere purpose of hurting them or bringing them down. But this is not the case. For nine years, Lighthouse Trails has been reporting consistently on areas of darkness in the church and in our society. In the beginning of our work, we included child sex abuse as one of these areas. Thus, we published Laughter Calls Me in 2003 and The Color of Pain in 2010, and we carry the DVD The Kinsey Syndrome, all of which fall in this category. We have also tracked many stories where children are at risk. While we know there are those within the Calvary Chapel movement who will not appreciate our publicity of the following story, the voices of millions of children throughout the world being sexually abused rings loud in our ears. We will stand as an outspoken advocate because we know the power of sin lies in its secrecy. It is better for those who are hurting children or those who are covering up these crimes against children to have the chance to repent here on this earth than to face God on judgment day having never repented.
What is needed today in the Christian church is for the sins of the leaders and pastors to be uncovered, either by their victims or better yet, by themselves in humility and contriteness. When we heard of this story, we had one of two choices: ignore it or talk about it. To ignore it is to avoid the path of truth and join the multitudes of silent onlookers – this we cannot do. In view of the slide into apostasy that Calvary Chapel has been making, this story is just another indication that the movement is in deep trouble, and repentance by its leaders and its pastors is long overdue.
In this story, you will learn that a Calvary Chapel youth worker who had a history of committing child molestation was allowed to remain working with youth at Calvary Chapel churches. Sadly, a number of Calvary Chapel pastors knew about the abuser’s history. The result was that at least four other boys were allegedly sexually abused. We strongly suspect that as this story unfolds others will come forward with their own stories. While we realize that sexual abuse of children happens within every denomination (not to mention the horrendous abuses within the Roman Catholic church covered up for years), the Calvary Chapel structure where the pastor is in full charge and where the whole movement is basically under the authority of one man makes it very susceptible to abuse and cover up as there is not a good accountability structure for pastors and youth pastors. What’s more, it creates an environment, not of humility by leaders, but rather one of power, manipulation, and control. In virtually every story we have heard from those who have contacted us about having to leave a Calvary Chapel church, the common element in each story was a lack of regard for church members and a power play by church pastors. These things ought not to be so as Christian pastors and leaders are to be servants of the people, not heavy-handed arrogant controllers. We remember the words of Chuck Colson (sorry to say he is ecumenical) in talking about his role in Watergate when he said that the two worst things to happen to a Christian leader is power and money.
The Christian church is in trouble, but not for the reasons that Rick Warren supporter and pollster George Barna gives. His statistics do not portray an accurate picture but are rather used to promote the “new” Christianity.” The Christian church is in trouble largely because those leading the evangelical/Protestant Christian church - publishers, prolific authors, organizations, ministries, radio and television stations, mega pastors, speakers, futurists, networks, colleges and seminaries, etc. – are embracing an emerging, contemplative, sensual, power-purpose-driven “gospel.” For true revival to happen, there must be repentance and humility. God will not work in any other environment. It is interesting to watch dominionist-type figures running around the country telling people to repent to “restore” America when they themselves have not repented and are totally misrepresenting true Christianity.
But God will not be mocked, and He will expose the hidden things of darkness, both in the leader’s life and the follower’s life. Now is the time for Christians and their leaders to soberly fall on their faces, repent of their hidden sins, and walk the rest of their days in humility and gratitude for God’s forgiveness. In these last days in which we live, judgment will take place, and it has begun in the house of the Lord. We should praise Him when He exposes sin. It means He loves us, enough to where He will chastise us. Calvary Chapel has historically had a strong message on God’s grace; but perhaps they forgot about the message of God’s judgment on sin.
Lest any reading this thinks that his or her denomination is without fault, virtually every denomination, to one degree or another, has succumbed to the “new” spirituality. And one of the key elements in the “new” spirituality is sensualness. This is why books like The Shack and practices like contemplative are so popular – it appeals to people’s senses; thus they are sensual. The word sensual means gratification of the flesh be it appetite, sexual, physical, etc. James 3:15 puts sensualness in the same category as earthly and devilish. And below we can see where Jude says those who are sensual do not have the Spirit.
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. Jude 1:15-19
It is a coincidence that the day before we found out about the Idaho abuse situation (below), we posted an article just written by Roger Oakland, in which he states a strong warning to Christian leaders:
Christian pastors and leaders need to know – your sin will indeed find you out. Better to willingly humble yourself and repent than to wait for God to bring His hand of judgment upon you. If you are a leader who is part of the apostasy come out from among her; if you are a leader who is sitting on the sidelines in utter silence while spiritual havoc is taking place, humble yourself and repent and you too, come out from among her. The days are short – there is no time for any believer to compromise.
As we explained to one Calvary Chapel pastor a couple years ago, it is better to be exposed now, even thrown into a prison while on this earth, than to go to your grave with unrepented, covered up sins. It is a holy and just God that we will each face one day. He promises to forgive the contrite humble heart who has put his trust and faith in Jesus Christ; but for those who are not in that category, He promises to judge. Repentance is really quite easy, but it does require our willingness to give up our own lives in order to have His.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 1:20-25
While some reading this may feel bad for the demise of Calvary Chapel, let us not forget the boys in this case, who were sexually abused. Please pray for them. In view of the APA's (American Psychological Association) recent efforts to call pedophilia "normal," it is all the more urgent for discerning Christians to speak up on behalf of children in a godly and responsible manner.
After sharing with Roger Oakland our plans to post this article, we asked Roger if he would like to comment on this situation. He stated:
This is truly a heartbreaking situation. We are grieved and troubled that we even have to draw your attention to what is now being revealed to the body of Christ about what has been going on and even covered up by Christian leaders who many respect. The cause of Christ has certainly been damaged. Our prayer is that the sheep will have the wool removed from covering their eyes and will begin looking to Jesus. For the record, I am sad to say there is much more to come. So far, within the leadership of the movement, NO one has listened. Their only response is that I am crazy. I think it is a sad thing when the world has to expose the Church because there is no one in the church to do it.
Lighthouse Trails spoke with the Idaho Judicial Courts on 8/24/11 to confirm that case number CV 2011-6451 in Kootenai County, Idaho is a legitimate case filed with their courts, which we have now confirmed with that office.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil. John 13:19
We realize some readers may think we are posting the following story just to dig up dirt on Calvary Chapel for the mere purpose of hurting them or bringing them down. But this is not the case. For nine years, Lighthouse Trails has been reporting consistently on areas of darkness in the church and in our society. In the beginning of our work, we included child sex abuse as one of these areas. Thus, we published Laughter Calls Me in 2003 and The Color of Pain in 2010, and we carry the DVD The Kinsey Syndrome, all of which fall in this category. We have also tracked many stories where children are at risk. While we know there are those within the Calvary Chapel movement who will not appreciate our publicity of the following story, the voices of millions of children throughout the world being sexually abused rings loud in our ears. We will stand as an outspoken advocate because we know the power of sin lies in its secrecy. It is better for those who are hurting children or those who are covering up these crimes against children to have the chance to repent here on this earth than to face God on judgment day having never repented.
What is needed today in the Christian church is for the sins of the leaders and pastors to be uncovered, either by their victims or better yet, by themselves in humility and contriteness. When we heard of this story, we had one of two choices: ignore it or talk about it. To ignore it is to avoid the path of truth and join the multitudes of silent onlookers – this we cannot do. In view of the slide into apostasy that Calvary Chapel has been making, this story is just another indication that the movement is in deep trouble, and repentance by its leaders and its pastors is long overdue.
In this story, you will learn that a Calvary Chapel youth worker who had a history of committing child molestation was allowed to remain working with youth at Calvary Chapel churches. Sadly, a number of Calvary Chapel pastors knew about the abuser’s history. The result was that at least four other boys were allegedly sexually abused. We strongly suspect that as this story unfolds others will come forward with their own stories. While we realize that sexual abuse of children happens within every denomination (not to mention the horrendous abuses within the Roman Catholic church covered up for years), the Calvary Chapel structure where the pastor is in full charge and where the whole movement is basically under the authority of one man makes it very susceptible to abuse and cover up as there is not a good accountability structure for pastors and youth pastors. What’s more, it creates an environment, not of humility by leaders, but rather one of power, manipulation, and control. In virtually every story we have heard from those who have contacted us about having to leave a Calvary Chapel church, the common element in each story was a lack of regard for church members and a power play by church pastors. These things ought not to be so as Christian pastors and leaders are to be servants of the people, not heavy-handed arrogant controllers. We remember the words of Chuck Colson (sorry to say he is ecumenical) in talking about his role in Watergate when he said that the two worst things to happen to a Christian leader is power and money.
The Christian church is in trouble, but not for the reasons that Rick Warren supporter and pollster George Barna gives. His statistics do not portray an accurate picture but are rather used to promote the “new” Christianity.” The Christian church is in trouble largely because those leading the evangelical/Protestant Christian church - publishers, prolific authors, organizations, ministries, radio and television stations, mega pastors, speakers, futurists, networks, colleges and seminaries, etc. – are embracing an emerging, contemplative, sensual, power-purpose-driven “gospel.” For true revival to happen, there must be repentance and humility. God will not work in any other environment. It is interesting to watch dominionist-type figures running around the country telling people to repent to “restore” America when they themselves have not repented and are totally misrepresenting true Christianity.
But God will not be mocked, and He will expose the hidden things of darkness, both in the leader’s life and the follower’s life. Now is the time for Christians and their leaders to soberly fall on their faces, repent of their hidden sins, and walk the rest of their days in humility and gratitude for God’s forgiveness. In these last days in which we live, judgment will take place, and it has begun in the house of the Lord. We should praise Him when He exposes sin. It means He loves us, enough to where He will chastise us. Calvary Chapel has historically had a strong message on God’s grace; but perhaps they forgot about the message of God’s judgment on sin.
Lest any reading this thinks that his or her denomination is without fault, virtually every denomination, to one degree or another, has succumbed to the “new” spirituality. And one of the key elements in the “new” spirituality is sensualness. This is why books like The Shack and practices like contemplative are so popular – it appeals to people’s senses; thus they are sensual. The word sensual means gratification of the flesh be it appetite, sexual, physical, etc. James 3:15 puts sensualness in the same category as earthly and devilish. And below we can see where Jude says those who are sensual do not have the Spirit.
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. Jude 1:15-19
It is a coincidence that the day before we found out about the Idaho abuse situation (below), we posted an article just written by Roger Oakland, in which he states a strong warning to Christian leaders:
Christian pastors and leaders need to know – your sin will indeed find you out. Better to willingly humble yourself and repent than to wait for God to bring His hand of judgment upon you. If you are a leader who is part of the apostasy come out from among her; if you are a leader who is sitting on the sidelines in utter silence while spiritual havoc is taking place, humble yourself and repent and you too, come out from among her. The days are short – there is no time for any believer to compromise.
As we explained to one Calvary Chapel pastor a couple years ago, it is better to be exposed now, even thrown into a prison while on this earth, than to go to your grave with unrepented, covered up sins. It is a holy and just God that we will each face one day. He promises to forgive the contrite humble heart who has put his trust and faith in Jesus Christ; but for those who are not in that category, He promises to judge. Repentance is really quite easy, but it does require our willingness to give up our own lives in order to have His.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Jude 1:20-25
While some reading this may feel bad for the demise of Calvary Chapel, let us not forget the boys in this case, who were sexually abused. Please pray for them. In view of the APA's (American Psychological Association) recent efforts to call pedophilia "normal," it is all the more urgent for discerning Christians to speak up on behalf of children in a godly and responsible manner.
After sharing with Roger Oakland our plans to post this article, we asked Roger if he would like to comment on this situation. He stated:
This is truly a heartbreaking situation. We are grieved and troubled that we even have to draw your attention to what is now being revealed to the body of Christ about what has been going on and even covered up by Christian leaders who many respect. The cause of Christ has certainly been damaged. Our prayer is that the sheep will have the wool removed from covering their eyes and will begin looking to Jesus. For the record, I am sad to say there is much more to come. So far, within the leadership of the movement, NO one has listened. Their only response is that I am crazy. I think it is a sad thing when the world has to expose the Church because there is no one in the church to do it.
Lighthouse Trails spoke with the Idaho Judicial Courts on 8/24/11 to confirm that case number CV 2011-6451 in Kootenai County, Idaho is a legitimate case filed with their courts, which we have now confirmed with that office.
August 23, 2011
The Vineyard Movement Goes Contemplative
“The Vineyard Movement Grabs Hold of Contemplative Spirituality”
The Vineyard movement was started in the 1970s by John Wimber (who had been a leader in the Friends (Quaker) church) after breaking off from Calvary Chapel where Kenn and Joanie Gulliksen had started the first meetings. Vineyard Anaheim is the “mother” or “flagship” Vineyard church, pastored today by Lance Pittluck. Regarding the ”Spiritual Formation” workshop that our reader wrote to us about, on the church website, it states:
We believe that every disciple is invited by the Holy Spirit into becoming conformed to the Image of Christ through the disciplines encompassed by solitude, silence, scripture-meditation and reflection.
Vineyard Anaheim has turned to Richard Foster’s Renovare to bring these “disciplines” to their church members. Richard Foster, also a Quaker, is one of the pioneers in bringing contemplative spirituality to the evangelical/Protestant church and is a disciple of Thomas Merton. Foster believes that Merton tried to “awaken” God’s people (through mysticism)2 and that he “has perhaps done more than any other twentieth-century figure to make the life of prayer widely known and understood.3 Yet Merton’s panentheistic view (i.e., God in all) coupled with his strong affinity to Buddhism (he once stated: “I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity … I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can”4) is contrary to the God of the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Richard Foster so resonates with Merton that he includes him in his list of spiritual masters in his two books Spiritual Classics and Devotional Classics.
It’s not just Richard Foster that Vineyard is looking to for “spiritual formation.” On the ”Pastoral Staff Recommends” page, there is a who’s who of contemplative mystics listed. Craig Lockwood, the pastor who will be heading up the Spiritual Formation program, includes Dallas Willard, Jan Johnson, Larry Crabb, Madame Guyon, Richard Foster, Gary Thomas, Morton Kelsey, and Adele Calhoun on his recommended reading list. These are some of the “heavy weights” in the contemplative movement, and you can read about most of them in A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen or on our research site. Typical of the contemplative mindset, one of those listed, Morton Kelsey, stated: “You can find most of the New Age practices in the depth of Christianity . . . I believe that the Holy One lives in every soul.”5
In Adele Ahlberg Calhoun’s book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (which Lockwood recommends), Ahlberg Calhoun promotes mantra meditation, giving detailed instructions on several types of contemplative practices. In addition, she quotes from many New Age sympathizers and New Age contemplatives and encourages the use of centering prayer, breath prayers, contemplative prayer, labyrinths, palms-up, palms-down exercises, and recommends for further reading a plethora of mystics. One of those she lists is Tilden Edwards, the founder of the mysticism promoting Shalem Prayer Institute, who said that contemplative prayer is the bridge between Christianity and Eastern religion.6
An interesting name shows up on the “Pastoral Staff Recommends” page at Vineyard Anaheim – J.P. Moreland. The beliefs of Moreland have been discussed in a number of Lighthouse Trails articles regarding his contemplative views, but we didn’t realize that he attends Vineyard Anaheim. When we saw his name on the Pastoral Staff Recommends page, we called Vineyard and were told that Moreland attends Vineyard Anaheim and “sometimes speaks” there. Moreland, a teacher at Biola University and Summit Ministries (in Colorado) recommends a number of Dallas Willard books and The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen. In that book, which is a primer on contemplative prayer, Nouwen states:
The quiet repetition of a single word can help us to descend with the mind into the heart . . . This way of simple prayer . . . opens us to God’s active presence. 7
What Nouwen is describing here is mantra meditation (i.e., eastern-style meditation). Practicing mysticism is what led Nouwen to say near the end of his life:
Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.8
By saying this, Nouwen illustrated the “fruit” of contemplative spirituality – panentheism (God in all) and interspirituality. This can be further proven by Nouwen’s strong affinity with New Age meditation proponent, Beatrice Bruteau where he called her a “trustworthy guide to contemplative consciousness” (from Abba’s Child) . J.P. Moreland’s endorsement of The Way of the Heart will point Vineyard members to the same spirituality Nouwen came to embrace.
In a book review of Moreland’s book Kingdom Triangle, he lays out a three-step process to bring about a kingdom of God on earth through spiritual formation (i.e., contemplative prayer). This would resonate with what Vineyard is doing – turning to contemplative to accelerate their kingdom of God on earth goals.
In Kevin Reeves book The Other Side of the River, Reeves addresses the spiritual viewpoints of John Wimber. Wimber said that the Western church needed to go through a major paradigm shift because of its resistance to the supernatural.9 Reeves explains some of Wimber’s ideas:
The old study and learn method (commended by the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:13-16, and II Timothy 3:14-17) is no longer adequate. In fact, according to Wimber and a flood of Third Wave teachers, it never has been. Experience is what counts, they say, and all that head knowledge we’ve been accumulating all these years is a big waste of time. This teaching states that to really know God, His power and miracles, we need to shuck all that dead letter stuff and get into the life.
Wimber also first introduced into mainstream charismatic congregations the incredibly strange manifestations that are supposedly initiated by the Holy Spirit. Pogoing (jumping up and down in place), rippling on or under the skin, tingling, shaking, convulsions, uncontrollable laughter—many of the same kinds of manifestations traditionally attributed to demonic influence—have now attained prominence in River meetings. It is shocking and frightening to see the similarities between Wimber’s manifestations and what is called Kundalini, “a Hindu term for the mystical power or force that underlies Hindu spirituality.” Here is a list of Kundalini symptoms:
* Burning hot or ice cold streams moving up the spine.
* Pains in varying locations throughout the body.
* Vibrations, unease, or cramps in legs and other parts of body.
* Fast pulse and increased metabolism.
* Disturbance in the breathing–and/or heart function.
* Sensitivity to sound, light, smell, and proximity of other people.
* Mystical/religious experiences.
* Parapsychological abilities.
* Persistent anxiety or anxiety attacks, confusion
* Insomnia, manic high spirits or deep depression. Energy loss.
* Impaired concentration and memory.
* Total isolation due to inability to communicate inner experiences out.
* Experiences of possession and poltergeist phenomena. 10
What some may not realize is that many of these symptoms are also experienced during deep contemplative meditation. By combining the hyper-charismatic experiences with contemplative spirituality (as Vineyard is doing), the process of going into altered states of consciousness (i.e., demonic realms) is speeded up; and the voice heard, believed to be God, may not be Him at all. Reeves points out that Wimber was drawn to the writings of Agnes Sanford and Morton Kelsey. Did Wimber realize that Kelsey “equates the ministry of Jesus with shamanism, commends encounters with the dead as natural spirit-earth links, bases much of his book on paganistic Jungian psychology, and calls the atonement a “hypothesis developed” by the early church”?11
An article titled “Buried Seed: Spiritual Direction and the Vineyard Movement” written by a Vineyard “spiritual director” in New Zealand reveals the efforts by spiritual directors in Vineyard to integrate spiritual formation into the Vineyard movement. Just to show the lack of discernment that occurs by contemplative advocates, the author of the article lists Thomas Keating as a source he used to write the article. Keating, like Merton, is a panentheist and mystic Catholic priest.
We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and “capture” it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible.
Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM and similar practices, especially where they have been initiated by reliable teachers and have a solidly developed Christian faith to find inner form and meaning to the resulting experiences. 12
Our reader who sent us the e-mail inquiring about Vineyard Anaheim asked if there was any emergent connection to spiritual formation. We have always contended that they are basically the same thing (see Faith Undone). What’s more, on the recommended reading list of Vineyard Anaheim, senior pastor Lance Pittluck recommends Rob Bell along with several other contemplative/emerging figures (Nouwen, Sider, Manning, Miller, Boyd, etc). It is clear that Pittluck resonates with these people.
For those who wonder if the contemplative/emerging infiltration is confined to just Vineyard Anaheim, a Book Recommendations for Youth list on the main USA Vineyard website recommends emerging church favorites N.T. Wright, Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus, and Shane Claiborne, and contemplatives Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, Jim Burns, and John Eldredge. Sadly, Vineyard youth are being introduced to these contemplative/emerging leaders. In addition, Vineyard has at least one leader who is designated to work with Vineyard churches in spiritual formation. And just as a sampling to show this is not an isolated situation, listed below are a few Vineyard churches that are incorporating “spiritual formation” into church life:
Vineyard City Church – Redding California’ (also links to the very contemplative/emerging Simpson College and Bethel Church in Redding)
Live Oak Vineyard – Monrovia California (promotes New Age sympathizer Phyllis Tickle)
Friends Langley Vineyard – BC Canada
Vineyard Community Church – Cincinnati, OH
All this would leave little doubt that the Vineyard movement has hopped onto the contemplative/emergent track, seemingly full speed ahead. LTR
Notes:
Bill Jackson, The Quest For The Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard, ch 3, p. 80.
Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2nd ed, 2006), pp. 76-77, quoting Richard Foster at a seminar Yungen attended.
Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin, Spiritual Classics (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 2000), p. 17.
David Steindl-Rast, “Recollection of Thomas Merton’s Last Days in the West” (Monastic Studies, 7:10, 1969).
Morton Kelsey cited in Charles H. Simpkinson, “In the Spirit of the Early Christians.”
Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1980), pp. 18.
Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1991), p. 81.
Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing, 1998), p. 51.
John Wimber: 1934-1997. Wimber’s “paradigm shift” is discussed and documented in several books and articles such as C. Peter Wagner’s Acts of the Holy Spirit (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), p. 123.
Kevin Reeves, The Other Side of the River (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2007), pp. 167-168.
Ibid, p. 169.
M. Basil Pennington, Thomas Keating, Thomas E. Clarke, Finding Grace at the Center (Petersham, MA: St. Bede’s Pub., 1978), pp. 5-6.
The Vineyard movement was started in the 1970s by John Wimber (who had been a leader in the Friends (Quaker) church) after breaking off from Calvary Chapel where Kenn and Joanie Gulliksen had started the first meetings. Vineyard Anaheim is the “mother” or “flagship” Vineyard church, pastored today by Lance Pittluck. Regarding the ”Spiritual Formation” workshop that our reader wrote to us about, on the church website, it states:
We believe that every disciple is invited by the Holy Spirit into becoming conformed to the Image of Christ through the disciplines encompassed by solitude, silence, scripture-meditation and reflection.
Vineyard Anaheim has turned to Richard Foster’s Renovare to bring these “disciplines” to their church members. Richard Foster, also a Quaker, is one of the pioneers in bringing contemplative spirituality to the evangelical/Protestant church and is a disciple of Thomas Merton. Foster believes that Merton tried to “awaken” God’s people (through mysticism)2 and that he “has perhaps done more than any other twentieth-century figure to make the life of prayer widely known and understood.3 Yet Merton’s panentheistic view (i.e., God in all) coupled with his strong affinity to Buddhism (he once stated: “I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity … I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can”4) is contrary to the God of the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Richard Foster so resonates with Merton that he includes him in his list of spiritual masters in his two books Spiritual Classics and Devotional Classics.
It’s not just Richard Foster that Vineyard is looking to for “spiritual formation.” On the ”Pastoral Staff Recommends” page, there is a who’s who of contemplative mystics listed. Craig Lockwood, the pastor who will be heading up the Spiritual Formation program, includes Dallas Willard, Jan Johnson, Larry Crabb, Madame Guyon, Richard Foster, Gary Thomas, Morton Kelsey, and Adele Calhoun on his recommended reading list. These are some of the “heavy weights” in the contemplative movement, and you can read about most of them in A Time of Departing by Ray Yungen or on our research site. Typical of the contemplative mindset, one of those listed, Morton Kelsey, stated: “You can find most of the New Age practices in the depth of Christianity . . . I believe that the Holy One lives in every soul.”5
In Adele Ahlberg Calhoun’s book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook (which Lockwood recommends), Ahlberg Calhoun promotes mantra meditation, giving detailed instructions on several types of contemplative practices. In addition, she quotes from many New Age sympathizers and New Age contemplatives and encourages the use of centering prayer, breath prayers, contemplative prayer, labyrinths, palms-up, palms-down exercises, and recommends for further reading a plethora of mystics. One of those she lists is Tilden Edwards, the founder of the mysticism promoting Shalem Prayer Institute, who said that contemplative prayer is the bridge between Christianity and Eastern religion.6
An interesting name shows up on the “Pastoral Staff Recommends” page at Vineyard Anaheim – J.P. Moreland. The beliefs of Moreland have been discussed in a number of Lighthouse Trails articles regarding his contemplative views, but we didn’t realize that he attends Vineyard Anaheim. When we saw his name on the Pastoral Staff Recommends page, we called Vineyard and were told that Moreland attends Vineyard Anaheim and “sometimes speaks” there. Moreland, a teacher at Biola University and Summit Ministries (in Colorado) recommends a number of Dallas Willard books and The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen. In that book, which is a primer on contemplative prayer, Nouwen states:
The quiet repetition of a single word can help us to descend with the mind into the heart . . . This way of simple prayer . . . opens us to God’s active presence. 7
What Nouwen is describing here is mantra meditation (i.e., eastern-style meditation). Practicing mysticism is what led Nouwen to say near the end of his life:
Today I personally believe that while Jesus came to open the door to God’s house, all human beings can walk through that door, whether they know about Jesus or not. Today I see it as my call to help every person claim his or her own way to God.8
By saying this, Nouwen illustrated the “fruit” of contemplative spirituality – panentheism (God in all) and interspirituality. This can be further proven by Nouwen’s strong affinity with New Age meditation proponent, Beatrice Bruteau where he called her a “trustworthy guide to contemplative consciousness” (from Abba’s Child) . J.P. Moreland’s endorsement of The Way of the Heart will point Vineyard members to the same spirituality Nouwen came to embrace.
In a book review of Moreland’s book Kingdom Triangle, he lays out a three-step process to bring about a kingdom of God on earth through spiritual formation (i.e., contemplative prayer). This would resonate with what Vineyard is doing – turning to contemplative to accelerate their kingdom of God on earth goals.
In Kevin Reeves book The Other Side of the River, Reeves addresses the spiritual viewpoints of John Wimber. Wimber said that the Western church needed to go through a major paradigm shift because of its resistance to the supernatural.9 Reeves explains some of Wimber’s ideas:
The old study and learn method (commended by the apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:13-16, and II Timothy 3:14-17) is no longer adequate. In fact, according to Wimber and a flood of Third Wave teachers, it never has been. Experience is what counts, they say, and all that head knowledge we’ve been accumulating all these years is a big waste of time. This teaching states that to really know God, His power and miracles, we need to shuck all that dead letter stuff and get into the life.
Wimber also first introduced into mainstream charismatic congregations the incredibly strange manifestations that are supposedly initiated by the Holy Spirit. Pogoing (jumping up and down in place), rippling on or under the skin, tingling, shaking, convulsions, uncontrollable laughter—many of the same kinds of manifestations traditionally attributed to demonic influence—have now attained prominence in River meetings. It is shocking and frightening to see the similarities between Wimber’s manifestations and what is called Kundalini, “a Hindu term for the mystical power or force that underlies Hindu spirituality.” Here is a list of Kundalini symptoms:
* Burning hot or ice cold streams moving up the spine.
* Pains in varying locations throughout the body.
* Vibrations, unease, or cramps in legs and other parts of body.
* Fast pulse and increased metabolism.
* Disturbance in the breathing–and/or heart function.
* Sensitivity to sound, light, smell, and proximity of other people.
* Mystical/religious experiences.
* Parapsychological abilities.
* Persistent anxiety or anxiety attacks, confusion
* Insomnia, manic high spirits or deep depression. Energy loss.
* Impaired concentration and memory.
* Total isolation due to inability to communicate inner experiences out.
* Experiences of possession and poltergeist phenomena. 10
What some may not realize is that many of these symptoms are also experienced during deep contemplative meditation. By combining the hyper-charismatic experiences with contemplative spirituality (as Vineyard is doing), the process of going into altered states of consciousness (i.e., demonic realms) is speeded up; and the voice heard, believed to be God, may not be Him at all. Reeves points out that Wimber was drawn to the writings of Agnes Sanford and Morton Kelsey. Did Wimber realize that Kelsey “equates the ministry of Jesus with shamanism, commends encounters with the dead as natural spirit-earth links, bases much of his book on paganistic Jungian psychology, and calls the atonement a “hypothesis developed” by the early church”?11
An article titled “Buried Seed: Spiritual Direction and the Vineyard Movement” written by a Vineyard “spiritual director” in New Zealand reveals the efforts by spiritual directors in Vineyard to integrate spiritual formation into the Vineyard movement. Just to show the lack of discernment that occurs by contemplative advocates, the author of the article lists Thomas Keating as a source he used to write the article. Keating, like Merton, is a panentheist and mystic Catholic priest.
We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and “capture” it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible.
Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM and similar practices, especially where they have been initiated by reliable teachers and have a solidly developed Christian faith to find inner form and meaning to the resulting experiences. 12
Our reader who sent us the e-mail inquiring about Vineyard Anaheim asked if there was any emergent connection to spiritual formation. We have always contended that they are basically the same thing (see Faith Undone). What’s more, on the recommended reading list of Vineyard Anaheim, senior pastor Lance Pittluck recommends Rob Bell along with several other contemplative/emerging figures (Nouwen, Sider, Manning, Miller, Boyd, etc). It is clear that Pittluck resonates with these people.
For those who wonder if the contemplative/emerging infiltration is confined to just Vineyard Anaheim, a Book Recommendations for Youth list on the main USA Vineyard website recommends emerging church favorites N.T. Wright, Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus, and Shane Claiborne, and contemplatives Henri Nouwen, Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, Jim Burns, and John Eldredge. Sadly, Vineyard youth are being introduced to these contemplative/emerging leaders. In addition, Vineyard has at least one leader who is designated to work with Vineyard churches in spiritual formation. And just as a sampling to show this is not an isolated situation, listed below are a few Vineyard churches that are incorporating “spiritual formation” into church life:
Vineyard City Church – Redding California’ (also links to the very contemplative/emerging Simpson College and Bethel Church in Redding)
Live Oak Vineyard – Monrovia California (promotes New Age sympathizer Phyllis Tickle)
Friends Langley Vineyard – BC Canada
Vineyard Community Church – Cincinnati, OH
All this would leave little doubt that the Vineyard movement has hopped onto the contemplative/emergent track, seemingly full speed ahead. LTR
Notes:
Bill Jackson, The Quest For The Radical Middle: A History of the Vineyard, ch 3, p. 80.
Ray Yungen, A Time of Departing (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2nd ed, 2006), pp. 76-77, quoting Richard Foster at a seminar Yungen attended.
Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin, Spiritual Classics (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 2000), p. 17.
David Steindl-Rast, “Recollection of Thomas Merton’s Last Days in the West” (Monastic Studies, 7:10, 1969).
Morton Kelsey cited in Charles H. Simpkinson, “In the Spirit of the Early Christians.”
Tilden Edwards, Spiritual Friend (New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1980), pp. 18.
Henri Nouwen, The Way of the Heart (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1991), p. 81.
Henri Nouwen, Sabbatical Journey (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing, 1998), p. 51.
John Wimber: 1934-1997. Wimber’s “paradigm shift” is discussed and documented in several books and articles such as C. Peter Wagner’s Acts of the Holy Spirit (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2000), p. 123.
Kevin Reeves, The Other Side of the River (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2007), pp. 167-168.
Ibid, p. 169.
M. Basil Pennington, Thomas Keating, Thomas E. Clarke, Finding Grace at the Center (Petersham, MA: St. Bede’s Pub., 1978), pp. 5-6.
August 20, 2011
Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Comment from Understand the Times:
Once again we see that the pope is endorsing the emerging church and the promotion of contemplative practices. Read the following article and if you can find that what we are saying is not true please let us know.
This goes for those in Calvary Chapel and other movements who are open to emerging church beliefs and that are headed towards Rome. It is obvious that the Counter Reformation is still in place. Wake up - those of you who say you are evangelical and Protestant. The time before you join with Rome is limited.
Those of you who live according to the Word of God and stand up against Rome can expect to be persecuted. The Inquisition has not ended. Be prepared.
August 17 - Pope reflects on Mary's example before heading to WYD
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Pope Benedict used his Aug. 17 general audience to reflect on Mary's example of prayer and meditation, just before he travels to Madrid to celebrate World Youth Day with over 1 million young people.
"Mary teaches us how necessary it is to find in our days, with all of its activities, moments to gather our thoughts in silence and meditate on what the Lord wants to teach us, on how he is present and acts in the world and in our life."
"Mary fully lived her existence," he said, "her daily duties, her mission as a mother, but she knew how to hold within herself an interior space for reflecting on the word and will of God, on what was occurring within her, on the mysteries of the life of her Son."
Since the way to heaven involves following God's will for our lives, he added, it's necessary for individuals to listen to and discern God's voice, which requires silence and meditation.
Pope Benedict explained that meditation involves creating "in ourselves a situation of contemplation, of interior silence, to reflect, to assimilate the mysteries of our faith and what God operates in us; and not just the things that come and go."
He noted there are many ways to learn how to meditate and offered several practical suggestions, such as reflecting on a brief Scripture verse and talking to a spiritual director.
"Reading and reflecting on what we have read, trying to understand it, what it is saying to me, what it says today, to open our spirit to what the Lord wants to tell us and teach us," he said.
The Pope recommended praying the Rosary, which he called "a prayer of meditation" that invites the faithful to reflect deeply on the life of Christ.
He also suggested focusing on private words or reflections that come during the celebration of the Eucharist, which enables "an intense spiritual experience" and can help a person enter into meditation.
Source
Once again we see that the pope is endorsing the emerging church and the promotion of contemplative practices. Read the following article and if you can find that what we are saying is not true please let us know.
This goes for those in Calvary Chapel and other movements who are open to emerging church beliefs and that are headed towards Rome. It is obvious that the Counter Reformation is still in place. Wake up - those of you who say you are evangelical and Protestant. The time before you join with Rome is limited.
Those of you who live according to the Word of God and stand up against Rome can expect to be persecuted. The Inquisition has not ended. Be prepared.
August 17 - Pope reflects on Mary's example before heading to WYD
Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days
Pope Benedict used his Aug. 17 general audience to reflect on Mary's example of prayer and meditation, just before he travels to Madrid to celebrate World Youth Day with over 1 million young people.
"Mary teaches us how necessary it is to find in our days, with all of its activities, moments to gather our thoughts in silence and meditate on what the Lord wants to teach us, on how he is present and acts in the world and in our life."
"Mary fully lived her existence," he said, "her daily duties, her mission as a mother, but she knew how to hold within herself an interior space for reflecting on the word and will of God, on what was occurring within her, on the mysteries of the life of her Son."
Since the way to heaven involves following God's will for our lives, he added, it's necessary for individuals to listen to and discern God's voice, which requires silence and meditation.
Pope Benedict explained that meditation involves creating "in ourselves a situation of contemplation, of interior silence, to reflect, to assimilate the mysteries of our faith and what God operates in us; and not just the things that come and go."
He noted there are many ways to learn how to meditate and offered several practical suggestions, such as reflecting on a brief Scripture verse and talking to a spiritual director.
"Reading and reflecting on what we have read, trying to understand it, what it is saying to me, what it says today, to open our spirit to what the Lord wants to tell us and teach us," he said.
The Pope recommended praying the Rosary, which he called "a prayer of meditation" that invites the faithful to reflect deeply on the life of Christ.
He also suggested focusing on private words or reflections that come during the celebration of the Eucharist, which enables "an intense spiritual experience" and can help a person enter into meditation.
Source
August 17, 2011
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER - Your face on Facebook 'your own worst enemy'
New technology can steal Social Security Numbers
By Steve Elwart WND
Using publicly available data, it is now possible to identify strangers and gain their personal information – even their Social Security numbers – by using facial recognition software and social media profiles, according to a new study to be presented tomorrow at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas.
Professor Alessandro Acquisti from Carnegie Mellon University and his research team studied the implications of the combining, or "mash-up," of three technologies: face recognition, cloud computing (an Internet technology) and social networks.
The team studied the possibility of using publicly available Internet data and commercially available facial recognition software to reveal more information about a person than was intended.
What else is going on? Read the book "Spychips " and find out!
In work that was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research office, the team noted that Google has acquired Neven Visions, Riya and PittPatt and deployed face recognition into Picasa.
Further, "Apple has acquired Polar Rose, and deployed face recognition into iPhoto. Facebook has licensed Face.com to enable automated tagging. So far, however, these end-user Web 2.0 applications are limited in scope: They are constrained by, and within, the boundaries of the service in which they are deployed. Our focus, however, was on examining whether the convergence of publicly available Web 2.0 data, cheap cloud computing, data mining, and off-the-shelf face recognition is bringing us closer to a world where anyone may run face recognition on anyone else, online and offline – and then infer additional, sensitive data about the target subject, starting merely from one anonymous piece of information about her: the face."
Acquisti noted that last year, more than 2.5 billion photos were uploaded by Facebook users per month. These users also use their real names, addresses, birthdates and other contact information as part of their profiles on social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google-Plus and others, and in many cases the information is visible to the entire world.
Study reveals image, plus software, can reveal pages of personal data
Now using a new commonly used Internet technology called "cloud computing," it is possible to easily run millions of facial comparisons in a matter of seconds.
In the Carnegie Mellon study, 93 student volunteers had their pictures taken using a webcam attached to a laptop. The pictures then were uploaded to the Internet and compared with a database of 261,262 publicly available photos downloaded from Carnegie Mellon students' Facebook profiles. Using facial recognition software from a company called Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition, "PittPatt," Acquisti's team successfully identified more than 30 percent of the students by their pictures alone.
Acquisti said the study "suggests that the identity of about one-third of subjects walking by the campus building may be inferred in a few seconds combining social-network data, cloud computing and an inexpensive webcam." He called it the "democratization of surveillance."
Then, using a technique he developed in a 2009 study and data gathered from the Facebook profiles of the subjects he identified, the research team could correctly predict the first five digits of the person's Social Security number 27 percent of the time after just four attempts.
He utilized the fact that in 1987 the Social Security Administration started assigning Social Security numbers in a way that inadvertently made them easier to predict, based on the person's birth date. (Acquisti also noted in his study that the last four numbers of the SSN are also predicable, but a larger sample size would be needed.)
With Facebook's and Google-Plus's (Google's new social media software) total membership of almost 800 million users, these sites have essentially become an online identity-verification database.
"It's certainly not science fiction anymore," said Peter N. Belhumeur, professor of computer science at Columbia University.
Since these same tools are available to anyone, the results of the study may foreshadow a future in which there is no privacy. With the mass deployment of security cameras, smart phones and other data imaging devices, anyone could be identified almost anywhere.
Not only could individuals be identified by friends and neighbors, but by government agencies as well. Anyone with a smartphone and Internet connection will be able to establish who someone is, where they live, how much they earn, a credit score and whether they've ever gotten a ticket.
All that from a person's face.
"A person's face is the veritable link between her offline and online identities," said Acquisti. "When we share tagged photos of ourselves online, it becomes possible for others to link our face to our names in situations where we would normally expect anonymity."
Acquisti believes that his study is about much more than facial recognition.
"Our study is less about face recognition and more about privacy concerns raised by the convergence of various technologies. There is no obvious answer and solution to the privacy concerns raised by widely available face recognition and identified (or identifiable) facial images," he said.
"Google's Eric Schmidt observed that, in the future, young individuals may be entitled to change their names to disown youthful improprieties. It is much harder, however, to change someone's face. Other than adapting to a world where every stranger in the street could predict quite accurately sensitive information about you (such as your SSN, but also your credit score, or sexual orientation), we need to think about policy solutions that can balance the benefits and risks of peer-based face recognition," he continued.
"Self-regulation, or an opt-in mechanism, is not going to work, since the results we presented are based on publicly available information," he said.
The technology and online investigative services may make government initiatives, such as the "Real ID" program, obsolete. Through the combination of social media, the Internet and smart devices, de facto, unregulated "Real ID" infrastructure already may exist.
By Steve Elwart WND
Using publicly available data, it is now possible to identify strangers and gain their personal information – even their Social Security numbers – by using facial recognition software and social media profiles, according to a new study to be presented tomorrow at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas.
Professor Alessandro Acquisti from Carnegie Mellon University and his research team studied the implications of the combining, or "mash-up," of three technologies: face recognition, cloud computing (an Internet technology) and social networks.
The team studied the possibility of using publicly available Internet data and commercially available facial recognition software to reveal more information about a person than was intended.
What else is going on? Read the book "Spychips " and find out!
In work that was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research office, the team noted that Google has acquired Neven Visions, Riya and PittPatt and deployed face recognition into Picasa.
Further, "Apple has acquired Polar Rose, and deployed face recognition into iPhoto. Facebook has licensed Face.com to enable automated tagging. So far, however, these end-user Web 2.0 applications are limited in scope: They are constrained by, and within, the boundaries of the service in which they are deployed. Our focus, however, was on examining whether the convergence of publicly available Web 2.0 data, cheap cloud computing, data mining, and off-the-shelf face recognition is bringing us closer to a world where anyone may run face recognition on anyone else, online and offline – and then infer additional, sensitive data about the target subject, starting merely from one anonymous piece of information about her: the face."
Acquisti noted that last year, more than 2.5 billion photos were uploaded by Facebook users per month. These users also use their real names, addresses, birthdates and other contact information as part of their profiles on social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google-Plus and others, and in many cases the information is visible to the entire world.
Study reveals image, plus software, can reveal pages of personal data
Now using a new commonly used Internet technology called "cloud computing," it is possible to easily run millions of facial comparisons in a matter of seconds.
In the Carnegie Mellon study, 93 student volunteers had their pictures taken using a webcam attached to a laptop. The pictures then were uploaded to the Internet and compared with a database of 261,262 publicly available photos downloaded from Carnegie Mellon students' Facebook profiles. Using facial recognition software from a company called Pittsburgh Pattern Recognition, "PittPatt," Acquisti's team successfully identified more than 30 percent of the students by their pictures alone.
Acquisti said the study "suggests that the identity of about one-third of subjects walking by the campus building may be inferred in a few seconds combining social-network data, cloud computing and an inexpensive webcam." He called it the "democratization of surveillance."
Then, using a technique he developed in a 2009 study and data gathered from the Facebook profiles of the subjects he identified, the research team could correctly predict the first five digits of the person's Social Security number 27 percent of the time after just four attempts.
He utilized the fact that in 1987 the Social Security Administration started assigning Social Security numbers in a way that inadvertently made them easier to predict, based on the person's birth date. (Acquisti also noted in his study that the last four numbers of the SSN are also predicable, but a larger sample size would be needed.)
With Facebook's and Google-Plus's (Google's new social media software) total membership of almost 800 million users, these sites have essentially become an online identity-verification database.
"It's certainly not science fiction anymore," said Peter N. Belhumeur, professor of computer science at Columbia University.
Since these same tools are available to anyone, the results of the study may foreshadow a future in which there is no privacy. With the mass deployment of security cameras, smart phones and other data imaging devices, anyone could be identified almost anywhere.
Not only could individuals be identified by friends and neighbors, but by government agencies as well. Anyone with a smartphone and Internet connection will be able to establish who someone is, where they live, how much they earn, a credit score and whether they've ever gotten a ticket.
All that from a person's face.
"A person's face is the veritable link between her offline and online identities," said Acquisti. "When we share tagged photos of ourselves online, it becomes possible for others to link our face to our names in situations where we would normally expect anonymity."
Acquisti believes that his study is about much more than facial recognition.
"Our study is less about face recognition and more about privacy concerns raised by the convergence of various technologies. There is no obvious answer and solution to the privacy concerns raised by widely available face recognition and identified (or identifiable) facial images," he said.
"Google's Eric Schmidt observed that, in the future, young individuals may be entitled to change their names to disown youthful improprieties. It is much harder, however, to change someone's face. Other than adapting to a world where every stranger in the street could predict quite accurately sensitive information about you (such as your SSN, but also your credit score, or sexual orientation), we need to think about policy solutions that can balance the benefits and risks of peer-based face recognition," he continued.
"Self-regulation, or an opt-in mechanism, is not going to work, since the results we presented are based on publicly available information," he said.
The technology and online investigative services may make government initiatives, such as the "Real ID" program, obsolete. Through the combination of social media, the Internet and smart devices, de facto, unregulated "Real ID" infrastructure already may exist.
Will the Evangelical Church Sell Out the Gospel for a Dominionist Political Agenda?
A Special Report by Understand the Times and Lighthouse Trails
As America is quickly approaching another presidential election year, some interesting things are taking place within evangelical/Protestant Christianity that are connected to next year’s election. Dominionist/Kingdom Now political and religious figures are joining forces with evangelical Christian groups. While having concern for the state of America is more than legitimate, will Christians replace commitment and loyalty to the Gospel for commitment and loyalty to a dominionist agenda? If they do, they will learn the hard way that compromise and a “whatever it takes” attitude will do more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than good.
This article is not a statement that Christians should not be involved in or concerned about the political state of their countries. Rather, the intention of this article is to exhort believers to use discernment in understanding the times in which we live. It is to show how a present ecumenical, dominionist movement (that is heading toward a one-world religion to “establish the kingdom of God on earth”) is operating and deceiving many Christians. As Christians, we are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and His Gospel message of salvation to those who believe on Him by faith. But today, many Christians may be on the brink of buying into a plan that will ultimately create a global religion and global government.
The apostle Paul was very clear that we are not to entangle ourselves with those who say they are of the faith but preach “another gospel” (Romans 16:17, Titus 3:10, 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15).
The definition below of dominionism is helpful in understanding the goals of the dominionist movement:
The Gospel of Salvation [according to dominionism] is achieved by setting up the “Kingdom of God” as a literal and physical kingdom to be “advanced” on Earth in the present age. Some dominionists liken the New Testament Kingdom to the Old Testament Israel in ways that justify taking up the sword, or other methods of punitive judgment, to war against enemies of their kingdom. Dominionists teach that men can be coerced or compelled to enter the kingdom. They assign to the Church duties and rights that belong Scripturally only to Jesus Christ.(1)
Dominionism shares some of the same ideologies as the emerging church, the primary similarity being the belief that a utopian “kingdom of God” will be set up on earth prior to the return of Jesus Christ, and in fact there won’t actually be a bodily physical return of Christ; but rather His presence will become more manifest within us the more the kingdom of God on earth is created. This is totally contrary to Scripture that tells us that Jesus Christ will return physically (where every eye shall see Him), and it will be to a world that has become completely chaotic and reprobate, not utopian and godly.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. (Revelation 1:7)
With that in mind, it is vital to know that a number of dominionist groups are rallying the support of conservative Christians under the guise of “restoring America” back to its “Christian roots.” A look at a couple of these groups is important.
The Seven Mountains of Culture
The Seven Mountains of Culture was founded by Os Hillman who is the founder and executive director of Marketplace Leaders Ministries. Hillman teaches a workshop called The Change Agent Intensive Workshop and has been featured on many major media programs.
The best way to describe The Seven Mountains of Culture is through the following promotional video clip:
An article titled “7 Mountains – Set to Go Viral” by Discernment Ministries examines the goals of this dominionist agenda, expressing “concern that this radical mandate for dominionism, and the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) which birthed it, are becoming part of the political Right and evangelical mainstream.” The article states that the “7 mountains mandate is already becoming a unifying rally point among evangelicals from many diverse theological camps and from some very unexpected quarters.”
The Dominionist/Reclaiming our Culture mind-set is a dangerous path that leads, not to biblical truth, but rather to an ecumenical, Road to Rome, “Army for God” that will attempt to force culture to be “Christian” (something Jesus Christ or the disciples never mandated) and will end up leading all down that Road to Rome and eventually into a one-world religion and one-world government.
The Discernment Ministries article assesses:
Not only does the Kingdom of God have a different King to the kingdoms of the world, but it has different citizens, has a different future and it operates by different principles. One of the principles that makes God’s Kingdom radically different to that of the world is the lust for power as opposed to the willingness to serve.
“Jesus said: ‘Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.’” (Matthew 20:25-28).(2)
This is not to say that Christians should not try to be a light and the “salt” in a fallen culture (Matthew 5:13). But there is a difference between what Scripture instructs us to do and what the 7 Mountains movers teach; they believe they are “building an actual PHYSICAL kingdom here on earth — structurally through man’s mechanisms. This is the 7 mountains that they want to take over. They believe they can take them over by political, scientific, and psycho-social means.” And like the New Agers, they also want to build the spiritual kingdom within, “which they believe they can perfect themselves here on earth via mysticism” thus “they will begin to ‘manifest’ Christ — become the sons of God.”(3)
The Call
Lou Engle’s The Call is another dominionist group that is tied in with the 7 Mountain agenda. In a 2008 Lighthouse Trails article, we linked to the advisory board of The Call. The link has been removed from their site but this cache file shows the members at that time. Some of them are contemplative advocate Ron Luce (Teen Mania), Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM, featured on the 7 Mountain video above), Steve Douglas of Campus Crusade for Christ (which just removed the name Crusade and Christ from their name), Rick Joyner, and C. Peter Wagner – dominionist figures who want to bring the kingdom of God to earth before Christ returns. The following video is from a large youth rally put on by The Call. You will see Lou Engle and Rick Joyner watching thousands of young people jumping up and down to the repetitive beat of drums and hundreds of Shofars being blown.
A Civil War?
In a radio transcript titled “Blues and Grays,” Understand the Times states:
Christianity is about to be purified through a civil war, they say. Is this behavior indicative of a revival as some claim? Or is this exactly what occurred in the past when “enlightened Christians” became the “manifested sons of God”?
[In] an article written by Rick Joyner called the Coming Civil War in the Church. . . . Joyner states he believes a civil war will soon be breaking out within the church. He states: “There is a huge portion of the church which is being held bondage to the same religious spirit that manifested itself to the Pharisees, and it will attack any new movement that arises in the church. The more anointed the new movement is, the more these traditionalists will be threatened by it, and the more vehemently they will attack it.”
Joyner’s solution for removing the people who oppose this “anointed new move” sounds rather militant. Listen to what he says:
“The longer we continue to compromise with such institutions which use manipulation or control for the sake of unity or for any reason the more it will ultimately cost us to remove the cancer from our midst.”
Joyner then went on to describe how the conflict in the church will develop:
“The coming spiritual civil war will be between the Blue’s and the Gray’s. In dreams and visions blue often represents heavenly-mindedness, and gray speaks of those who live by the power of their own minds – which is equivalent to the brain’s gray matter. This will be a conflict between those who may be genuine Christians, but who live mostly according to their natural minds and human wisdom, and those who follow the Holy Spirit.” (4)
Jerry Boykin and Rick Joyner
A name that is showing up a lot on the speaking schedules of evangelical gatherings is that of General Jerry Boykin (once a Delta Force member and one time head of the Green Berets). Boykin is a high officer in the “Knights of Malta,* an ecumenical (Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic and Protestant) order. Boykin holds the title of Grand Chancellor in the Order. According to the Knights of Malta website, the order is sanctioned and “blessed” by the Vatican (see 1 and 2 document). In document 1, Pope Benedict XVI “invokes . . . the continued protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Each “Knight,” including Boykin (and Rick Joyner who is a “Supreme Council Member” of the Order), is required to take a vow. In this vow, the Knight pledges himself to “be guided by the ideas of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem (started in 1090 and is the predecessor of the Knights of Malta).
Many people may not realize what the term ecumenical actually means, at least to the Catholic church, which describes ecumenism as the absorption of all Christian groups that have “broken away” from the Mother Church back to it.(5)
Jerry Boykin has spoken at numerous dominionist events such as the 7 Mountains conferences (see May 2010) and a New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) event called Transformation Michigan. In addition, Boykin is on the board of Rick Joyner’s organization called The Oak Initiative. (Joyner is the President; other board members include dominionists Cindy Jacobs and Lance Wallnau).
In Kevin Reeves book, The Other Side of the River, Reeves discusses Rick Joyner. Reeves, a former elder of a Latter Rain/dominionist church, states:
Joyner’s blatant Latter Rain beliefs were assimilated into our congregation on the wings of the mythical end-times revival which would supposedly sweep millions into the kingdom. A super-spiritual elite group of prophets and apostles will be raised up, Joyner states, and will transform the world of these last days, doing greater miracles than even the apostles who walked with our Lord. Whole nations will tremble at the mention of their names.
Interesting. Sounds a lot easier to deal with than Jesus’ prophecy that “[Y]e shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9).(6)
In Final Quest, Joyner says he hears from a dead saint (one of the foolish virgins mentioned in Scripture), who has told him the things that are to come. According to researcher and writer Sarah Leslie, “Rick Joyner was one of the ‘Kansas City Prophets’ who now wields considerable influence through his ‘prophecies’ about a coming militant church.”(7) Joyner states:
We are coming to the times when passive Christianity and passive Christians will cease to exist. There is a maturity, a discipline, and a divine militancy coming upon the people of God. Those who have succumbed to humanistic and idealistic theologies may have a hard time with this, but we must understand that God is a military God. The title that He uses ten times more than any other in Scripture is "the Lord of hosts," or "Lord of armies." There is a martial aspect to His character that we must understand and embrace for the times and the job to which we are now coming.(8)
We know that the Lord will return with a cloud of witnesses to bring down judgment on the earth, but we don’t believe Rick Joyner or the self-proclaimed apostles and prophets will be leading the way.
Jerry Boykin and Calvary Chapel
It is non-debatable that Jerry Boykin resonates with Rick Joyner – they are in the same Knights of Malta order and are together in The Oak Initiative. Thus, it is troubling to learn that Boykin has been speaking at numerous different Calvary Chapels and sharing platforms at conferences with Chuck Smith and other Calvary Chapel pastors over the last few years (e.g., the 2009 Epicenter conference and Epicenter 2008 with Smith, Boykin, and Joel Rosenberg; Greg Laurie’s Preach the Word Prophecy Conference in 2010, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in 2009, and Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Prophecy Conference in March 2011). Boykin will also be speaking at the Calvary Chapel Honolulu Pastors’ Conference in August 2011: http://www.calvarychapelofhonolulu.com/htw_2011.html, and his materials are sold in the Calvary Chapel store, listed as one of four “Other Authors.”
So here we have a man who is part of an order sanctioned by the papacy (the certificate from the Vatican is on the Knights of Malta website) and part of a dominionist group, speaking to Calvary Chapel groups. Is Calvary Chapel going to be one of those evangelical/Protestant groups that will exchange the solidity of the Gospel for a “whatever it takes” attitude for political purposes and other purposes? Do they not see the error in this? Incidentally, other denominations and Christian groups are doing the same thing.
Presidential Candidate Rick Perry and His Dominionist Partners
On August 6th, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry took part in a rally called The Response. Perry, who announced his bid as a presidential candidate on August 13, 2011, partnered with some interesting figures at The Response, including C. Peter Wagner, Mike Bickle, and Cindy Jacobs, each of whom is in the dominionist camp. Perry also participated in a 2010 rally called Freedom Foundation Summit with Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Lou Engle, and Lance Wallnau (an “Apostle” promoting the 7 Mountains teaching). If Perry does not share the dominionist persuasion as these others do, should he not distance himself from them rather than mingle with them? Many proclaiming Christians in America are desperate for a godly leader and may follow Perry merely out of that desperation. But if he is truly tied in with Wagner, Joyner, Bickle, and Jacobs, then maybe these desperate Christians should think twice about which candidate they are going to rally behind.
Will the Christian Church Sell Out?
During the years just prior to the last presidential election, an all out effort was made by leaders in the emerging church to help get elected a liberal, far left president. Many of these leaders, such as Rick Warren, said things that made many conservative Christians feel guilty for voting on moral issues such as abortion and homosexuality. Books by emerging “progressive” authors suggested that Christians shouldn’t even become involved in politics (such as Shane Claiborne’s book, Jesus for President). And while the older conservatives were being manipulated not to vote, young Christians were being persuaded to vote differently than their “old fashioned parents,” to vote for social justice regardless of biblical standards or lack of them. And, well, no need to say what these emerging efforts did to America.
No single political party can save the world. The Bible says that the closer we draw to the second coming of Christ, the worse the state of the world will be in. Rather than “evolving” into perfection, mankind is disintegrating.(9) It’s because of man’s sin and a world that has for the most part rejected the Savior of the world. Revelation 12:9 states that the day will come when Satan will “deceiveth the whole world.” Yet just as Jesus gave the coin to pay the tax to Caesar, so too we as Christians can be responsibly active in our world. But foremost, let us remember that the Bible says we cannot serve both God and man at the same time (Matthew 6:24).The true calling of born again believers is to preach the Gospel, make disciples, and contend for the faith. And we must never compromise by embracing dominionist agendas and interspiritual Peace Plans and joining forces with those whose goals and ambitions are contrary to the Christian commission given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We must ask ourselves, is a militant dominionist agenda what we really want to embrace and support? Is it what we want to serve?
In a powerful radio interview, Ingrid Schlueter addressed this dominionist agenda. She stated:
We have a group of leaders who are horrified with the moral collapse in this country. I am horrified with the cultural collapse in this country. We have a problem in identifying and discerning why our culture is collapsing. What we are seeing around us is not fruit of Christians not caring. It’s fruit of Christians abandoning the gospel. And if we’re not going to define the gospel along biblical terms, and we’re going to allow false teachers in among us, and we’re going to link arms with said false teachers, and we’re going to work with them who are preaching another gospel, who are teaching lies, if we’re going to link arms with them to save the culture, we are not only engaged in a futile effort, but God is going to, in turn, judge that conduct. Because judgment, Scripture tells us, begins at the house of God.(10)
A Herescope article on this issue states:
The sad fact is that great opportunities to present the message of the gospel of salvation are being lost. Precious time is being wasted . . . Those who truly need to hear a message of repentance, salvation and hope aren’t being witnessed to. Discipleship isn’t happening. . . . It is a false gospel that preaches that the culture nation can be changed rather than focusing on the lost who will perish in hell if they do not repent. . . . And when the lost are truly saved and born again, their lives will change and this is when the miracles begin to happen and when the culture around them begins to be positively impacted by the salt and light of their changed lives.(11)
Understand The Times and Lighthouse Trails are dedicated to warning the sheep about last days spiritual deception. While it is difficult to have to sound this warning at a time when many are concerned about the state of their countries and the world at large, Jesus made it very clear about how we are to view the world, behave in the world, and reach out to the unsaved. He never told his disciples to form associations with those promoting spiritual deception in order to establish a kingdom on earth. On the contrary, Jesus said:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:18-19)
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (John 18:36)
Notes:
1. “Dominionism and the Rise of Christian Imperialism” by Sarah Leslie: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/sarah-leslie/dominionism.htm
2. “Seven Mountains Set to Go Viral by Discernment Ministries”: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/06/seven-mountains.html
3. Sarah Leslie, Discernment Ministries in an e-mail conversation on 8/15/2011 with Lighthouse Trails.
4. “Blues and Grays” by Roger Oakland: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/radio 1299 BLUES AND GRAYS.doc
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_ecumenism
6. Kevin Reeves, The Other Side of the River, (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2007), p. 99.
7. http://www.discernment-ministries.org/ChristianImperialism.htm
8. “TAKING THE LAND—“We Are Establishing Our Eternal Place And Position Here On Earth” by Rick Joyner, 11/29/05, http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=3617
9. Please watch Roger Oakland’s powerful DVD lecture series on evolution vs creation. It shows the connection between evolution and the current spiritual deception in the world today: Searching for the Truth on Origins.
10. VCY America interview between Ingrid Schlueter and Sarah Leslie: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=4590
11. “May Day Prayers: What Repentance?” by Herescope: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/discernment/5-may-day.htm
As America is quickly approaching another presidential election year, some interesting things are taking place within evangelical/Protestant Christianity that are connected to next year’s election. Dominionist/Kingdom Now political and religious figures are joining forces with evangelical Christian groups. While having concern for the state of America is more than legitimate, will Christians replace commitment and loyalty to the Gospel for commitment and loyalty to a dominionist agenda? If they do, they will learn the hard way that compromise and a “whatever it takes” attitude will do more harm to the cause of Jesus Christ than good.
This article is not a statement that Christians should not be involved in or concerned about the political state of their countries. Rather, the intention of this article is to exhort believers to use discernment in understanding the times in which we live. It is to show how a present ecumenical, dominionist movement (that is heading toward a one-world religion to “establish the kingdom of God on earth”) is operating and deceiving many Christians. As Christians, we are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and His Gospel message of salvation to those who believe on Him by faith. But today, many Christians may be on the brink of buying into a plan that will ultimately create a global religion and global government.
The apostle Paul was very clear that we are not to entangle ourselves with those who say they are of the faith but preach “another gospel” (Romans 16:17, Titus 3:10, 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15).
The definition below of dominionism is helpful in understanding the goals of the dominionist movement:
The Gospel of Salvation [according to dominionism] is achieved by setting up the “Kingdom of God” as a literal and physical kingdom to be “advanced” on Earth in the present age. Some dominionists liken the New Testament Kingdom to the Old Testament Israel in ways that justify taking up the sword, or other methods of punitive judgment, to war against enemies of their kingdom. Dominionists teach that men can be coerced or compelled to enter the kingdom. They assign to the Church duties and rights that belong Scripturally only to Jesus Christ.(1)
Dominionism shares some of the same ideologies as the emerging church, the primary similarity being the belief that a utopian “kingdom of God” will be set up on earth prior to the return of Jesus Christ, and in fact there won’t actually be a bodily physical return of Christ; but rather His presence will become more manifest within us the more the kingdom of God on earth is created. This is totally contrary to Scripture that tells us that Jesus Christ will return physically (where every eye shall see Him), and it will be to a world that has become completely chaotic and reprobate, not utopian and godly.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. (Revelation 1:7)
With that in mind, it is vital to know that a number of dominionist groups are rallying the support of conservative Christians under the guise of “restoring America” back to its “Christian roots.” A look at a couple of these groups is important.
The Seven Mountains of Culture
The Seven Mountains of Culture was founded by Os Hillman who is the founder and executive director of Marketplace Leaders Ministries. Hillman teaches a workshop called The Change Agent Intensive Workshop and has been featured on many major media programs.
The best way to describe The Seven Mountains of Culture is through the following promotional video clip:
An article titled “7 Mountains – Set to Go Viral” by Discernment Ministries examines the goals of this dominionist agenda, expressing “concern that this radical mandate for dominionism, and the leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) which birthed it, are becoming part of the political Right and evangelical mainstream.” The article states that the “7 mountains mandate is already becoming a unifying rally point among evangelicals from many diverse theological camps and from some very unexpected quarters.”
The Dominionist/Reclaiming our Culture mind-set is a dangerous path that leads, not to biblical truth, but rather to an ecumenical, Road to Rome, “Army for God” that will attempt to force culture to be “Christian” (something Jesus Christ or the disciples never mandated) and will end up leading all down that Road to Rome and eventually into a one-world religion and one-world government.
The Discernment Ministries article assesses:
Not only does the Kingdom of God have a different King to the kingdoms of the world, but it has different citizens, has a different future and it operates by different principles. One of the principles that makes God’s Kingdom radically different to that of the world is the lust for power as opposed to the willingness to serve.
“Jesus said: ‘Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.’” (Matthew 20:25-28).(2)
This is not to say that Christians should not try to be a light and the “salt” in a fallen culture (Matthew 5:13). But there is a difference between what Scripture instructs us to do and what the 7 Mountains movers teach; they believe they are “building an actual PHYSICAL kingdom here on earth — structurally through man’s mechanisms. This is the 7 mountains that they want to take over. They believe they can take them over by political, scientific, and psycho-social means.” And like the New Agers, they also want to build the spiritual kingdom within, “which they believe they can perfect themselves here on earth via mysticism” thus “they will begin to ‘manifest’ Christ — become the sons of God.”(3)
The Call
Lou Engle’s The Call is another dominionist group that is tied in with the 7 Mountain agenda. In a 2008 Lighthouse Trails article, we linked to the advisory board of The Call. The link has been removed from their site but this cache file shows the members at that time. Some of them are contemplative advocate Ron Luce (Teen Mania), Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM, featured on the 7 Mountain video above), Steve Douglas of Campus Crusade for Christ (which just removed the name Crusade and Christ from their name), Rick Joyner, and C. Peter Wagner – dominionist figures who want to bring the kingdom of God to earth before Christ returns. The following video is from a large youth rally put on by The Call. You will see Lou Engle and Rick Joyner watching thousands of young people jumping up and down to the repetitive beat of drums and hundreds of Shofars being blown.
A Civil War?
In a radio transcript titled “Blues and Grays,” Understand the Times states:
Christianity is about to be purified through a civil war, they say. Is this behavior indicative of a revival as some claim? Or is this exactly what occurred in the past when “enlightened Christians” became the “manifested sons of God”?
[In] an article written by Rick Joyner called the Coming Civil War in the Church. . . . Joyner states he believes a civil war will soon be breaking out within the church. He states: “There is a huge portion of the church which is being held bondage to the same religious spirit that manifested itself to the Pharisees, and it will attack any new movement that arises in the church. The more anointed the new movement is, the more these traditionalists will be threatened by it, and the more vehemently they will attack it.”
Joyner’s solution for removing the people who oppose this “anointed new move” sounds rather militant. Listen to what he says:
“The longer we continue to compromise with such institutions which use manipulation or control for the sake of unity or for any reason the more it will ultimately cost us to remove the cancer from our midst.”
Joyner then went on to describe how the conflict in the church will develop:
“The coming spiritual civil war will be between the Blue’s and the Gray’s. In dreams and visions blue often represents heavenly-mindedness, and gray speaks of those who live by the power of their own minds – which is equivalent to the brain’s gray matter. This will be a conflict between those who may be genuine Christians, but who live mostly according to their natural minds and human wisdom, and those who follow the Holy Spirit.” (4)
Jerry Boykin and Rick Joyner
A name that is showing up a lot on the speaking schedules of evangelical gatherings is that of General Jerry Boykin (once a Delta Force member and one time head of the Green Berets). Boykin is a high officer in the “Knights of Malta,* an ecumenical (Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic and Protestant) order. Boykin holds the title of Grand Chancellor in the Order. According to the Knights of Malta website, the order is sanctioned and “blessed” by the Vatican (see 1 and 2 document). In document 1, Pope Benedict XVI “invokes . . . the continued protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Each “Knight,” including Boykin (and Rick Joyner who is a “Supreme Council Member” of the Order), is required to take a vow. In this vow, the Knight pledges himself to “be guided by the ideas of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem (started in 1090 and is the predecessor of the Knights of Malta).
Many people may not realize what the term ecumenical actually means, at least to the Catholic church, which describes ecumenism as the absorption of all Christian groups that have “broken away” from the Mother Church back to it.(5)
Jerry Boykin has spoken at numerous dominionist events such as the 7 Mountains conferences (see May 2010) and a New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) event called Transformation Michigan. In addition, Boykin is on the board of Rick Joyner’s organization called The Oak Initiative. (Joyner is the President; other board members include dominionists Cindy Jacobs and Lance Wallnau).
In Kevin Reeves book, The Other Side of the River, Reeves discusses Rick Joyner. Reeves, a former elder of a Latter Rain/dominionist church, states:
Joyner’s blatant Latter Rain beliefs were assimilated into our congregation on the wings of the mythical end-times revival which would supposedly sweep millions into the kingdom. A super-spiritual elite group of prophets and apostles will be raised up, Joyner states, and will transform the world of these last days, doing greater miracles than even the apostles who walked with our Lord. Whole nations will tremble at the mention of their names.
Interesting. Sounds a lot easier to deal with than Jesus’ prophecy that “[Y]e shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9).(6)
In Final Quest, Joyner says he hears from a dead saint (one of the foolish virgins mentioned in Scripture), who has told him the things that are to come. According to researcher and writer Sarah Leslie, “Rick Joyner was one of the ‘Kansas City Prophets’ who now wields considerable influence through his ‘prophecies’ about a coming militant church.”(7) Joyner states:
We are coming to the times when passive Christianity and passive Christians will cease to exist. There is a maturity, a discipline, and a divine militancy coming upon the people of God. Those who have succumbed to humanistic and idealistic theologies may have a hard time with this, but we must understand that God is a military God. The title that He uses ten times more than any other in Scripture is "the Lord of hosts," or "Lord of armies." There is a martial aspect to His character that we must understand and embrace for the times and the job to which we are now coming.(8)
We know that the Lord will return with a cloud of witnesses to bring down judgment on the earth, but we don’t believe Rick Joyner or the self-proclaimed apostles and prophets will be leading the way.
Jerry Boykin and Calvary Chapel
It is non-debatable that Jerry Boykin resonates with Rick Joyner – they are in the same Knights of Malta order and are together in The Oak Initiative. Thus, it is troubling to learn that Boykin has been speaking at numerous different Calvary Chapels and sharing platforms at conferences with Chuck Smith and other Calvary Chapel pastors over the last few years (e.g., the 2009 Epicenter conference and Epicenter 2008 with Smith, Boykin, and Joel Rosenberg; Greg Laurie’s Preach the Word Prophecy Conference in 2010, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in 2009, and Calvary Chapel Chino Hills Prophecy Conference in March 2011). Boykin will also be speaking at the Calvary Chapel Honolulu Pastors’ Conference in August 2011: http://www.calvarychapelofhonolulu.com/htw_2011.html, and his materials are sold in the Calvary Chapel store, listed as one of four “Other Authors.”
So here we have a man who is part of an order sanctioned by the papacy (the certificate from the Vatican is on the Knights of Malta website) and part of a dominionist group, speaking to Calvary Chapel groups. Is Calvary Chapel going to be one of those evangelical/Protestant groups that will exchange the solidity of the Gospel for a “whatever it takes” attitude for political purposes and other purposes? Do they not see the error in this? Incidentally, other denominations and Christian groups are doing the same thing.
Presidential Candidate Rick Perry and His Dominionist Partners
On August 6th, 2011, Texas Governor Rick Perry took part in a rally called The Response. Perry, who announced his bid as a presidential candidate on August 13, 2011, partnered with some interesting figures at The Response, including C. Peter Wagner, Mike Bickle, and Cindy Jacobs, each of whom is in the dominionist camp. Perry also participated in a 2010 rally called Freedom Foundation Summit with Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Lou Engle, and Lance Wallnau (an “Apostle” promoting the 7 Mountains teaching). If Perry does not share the dominionist persuasion as these others do, should he not distance himself from them rather than mingle with them? Many proclaiming Christians in America are desperate for a godly leader and may follow Perry merely out of that desperation. But if he is truly tied in with Wagner, Joyner, Bickle, and Jacobs, then maybe these desperate Christians should think twice about which candidate they are going to rally behind.
Will the Christian Church Sell Out?
During the years just prior to the last presidential election, an all out effort was made by leaders in the emerging church to help get elected a liberal, far left president. Many of these leaders, such as Rick Warren, said things that made many conservative Christians feel guilty for voting on moral issues such as abortion and homosexuality. Books by emerging “progressive” authors suggested that Christians shouldn’t even become involved in politics (such as Shane Claiborne’s book, Jesus for President). And while the older conservatives were being manipulated not to vote, young Christians were being persuaded to vote differently than their “old fashioned parents,” to vote for social justice regardless of biblical standards or lack of them. And, well, no need to say what these emerging efforts did to America.
No single political party can save the world. The Bible says that the closer we draw to the second coming of Christ, the worse the state of the world will be in. Rather than “evolving” into perfection, mankind is disintegrating.(9) It’s because of man’s sin and a world that has for the most part rejected the Savior of the world. Revelation 12:9 states that the day will come when Satan will “deceiveth the whole world.” Yet just as Jesus gave the coin to pay the tax to Caesar, so too we as Christians can be responsibly active in our world. But foremost, let us remember that the Bible says we cannot serve both God and man at the same time (Matthew 6:24).The true calling of born again believers is to preach the Gospel, make disciples, and contend for the faith. And we must never compromise by embracing dominionist agendas and interspiritual Peace Plans and joining forces with those whose goals and ambitions are contrary to the Christian commission given to us by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We must ask ourselves, is a militant dominionist agenda what we really want to embrace and support? Is it what we want to serve?
In a powerful radio interview, Ingrid Schlueter addressed this dominionist agenda. She stated:
We have a group of leaders who are horrified with the moral collapse in this country. I am horrified with the cultural collapse in this country. We have a problem in identifying and discerning why our culture is collapsing. What we are seeing around us is not fruit of Christians not caring. It’s fruit of Christians abandoning the gospel. And if we’re not going to define the gospel along biblical terms, and we’re going to allow false teachers in among us, and we’re going to link arms with said false teachers, and we’re going to work with them who are preaching another gospel, who are teaching lies, if we’re going to link arms with them to save the culture, we are not only engaged in a futile effort, but God is going to, in turn, judge that conduct. Because judgment, Scripture tells us, begins at the house of God.(10)
A Herescope article on this issue states:
The sad fact is that great opportunities to present the message of the gospel of salvation are being lost. Precious time is being wasted . . . Those who truly need to hear a message of repentance, salvation and hope aren’t being witnessed to. Discipleship isn’t happening. . . . It is a false gospel that preaches that the culture nation can be changed rather than focusing on the lost who will perish in hell if they do not repent. . . . And when the lost are truly saved and born again, their lives will change and this is when the miracles begin to happen and when the culture around them begins to be positively impacted by the salt and light of their changed lives.(11)
Understand The Times and Lighthouse Trails are dedicated to warning the sheep about last days spiritual deception. While it is difficult to have to sound this warning at a time when many are concerned about the state of their countries and the world at large, Jesus made it very clear about how we are to view the world, behave in the world, and reach out to the unsaved. He never told his disciples to form associations with those promoting spiritual deception in order to establish a kingdom on earth. On the contrary, Jesus said:
If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:18-19)
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (2 Corinthians 6:17)
My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. (John 18:36)
Notes:
1. “Dominionism and the Rise of Christian Imperialism” by Sarah Leslie: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/sarah-leslie/dominionism.htm
2. “Seven Mountains Set to Go Viral by Discernment Ministries”: http://herescope.blogspot.com/2010/06/seven-mountains.html
3. Sarah Leslie, Discernment Ministries in an e-mail conversation on 8/15/2011 with Lighthouse Trails.
4. “Blues and Grays” by Roger Oakland: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/radio 1299 BLUES AND GRAYS.doc
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_ecumenism
6. Kevin Reeves, The Other Side of the River, (Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2007), p. 99.
7. http://www.discernment-ministries.org/ChristianImperialism.htm
8. “TAKING THE LAND—“We Are Establishing Our Eternal Place And Position Here On Earth” by Rick Joyner, 11/29/05, http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=3617
9. Please watch Roger Oakland’s powerful DVD lecture series on evolution vs creation. It shows the connection between evolution and the current spiritual deception in the world today: Searching for the Truth on Origins.
10. VCY America interview between Ingrid Schlueter and Sarah Leslie: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=4590
11. “May Day Prayers: What Repentance?” by Herescope: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/010/discernment/5-may-day.htm
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