Churches Conceding to Mainstream Culture with Pastor Brandon Holthaus

EX-CATHOLIC MIKE GENDRON: Discerning Deceitful Doctrines of Demons, January 31, 2024

You Will Be Shocked by the Twisted Teachings of Catholicism~April 7, 2023~Catholics submit to a different authority, believe in a distorted gospel and worship a false Christ.

Trump Stuns World with Prophetic Video Revealing He’s Been Chosen By God~Trump Messianic Video

Trump Messianic Video

Why are Churches Still Using Bethel and Hillsong Music?!?!?

Despite Controversies, Worship Leaders Keep On Choosing Hillsong and Bethel Songs

BY

SEE: https://protestia.com/2023/07/13/despite-controversies-worship-leaders-keep-on-choosing-hillsong-and-bethel-songs/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Despite the storm of scandals and controversies swirling around the bruised and battered Hillsong Church in Australia and the Bethel Church in California, worship leaders are not shying away from incorporating songs from these two megachurches into their worship sessions. 

recent study unveiled this week shows that worship leaders gravitate towards these songs not because they top the worship charts but because they have a personal connection with them, often discovered online, at conferences, or through friends’ recommendations. According to the study:

“The most influential factors in discovering a new worship song are peer endorsements and personal experiences. Worship leaders mainly trust their friends and fellow church leaders to provide them with song recommendations.”

The study draws on responses from over 400 worship leaders across the U.S. and Canada, seeking their insights on music production and their song selection process for worship. 

Demonstrating a woeful lack of discernment, a mere 16% of worship leaders admitted to being less inclined to choose a song associated with Hillsong. In comparison, 27% expressed a similar hesitancy towards songs linked to Bethel. 

On the other hand, a significant 62% confessed they were likely to pick songs from Hillsong, with a slightly lesser 48% saying they would likely opt for songs associated with Bethel. 

Three months ago, Worship Leader Research reported that four megachurches were responsible for producing and releasing nearly all the top worship songs released in the last decade, with Hillsong and Bethel being two of them. 


Top 10 Weirdest Things Hillsong Leaders Expensed to the Church  
Top 10 Most Expensive Meals Brian and Bobbie Houston Expensed to the Church 
Top 10 Luxury Hotels Hillsong Leaders Expensed to the Church (Spoiler: The Cheapest is $8457.42)

Nun whose body shows little decay since 2019 death draws hundreds to rural Missouri

THE WORK OF GOD, SATAN, OR THE MORTICIAN?

INSERTED INTO THE GLASS CASE LIKE A MUMMIFICATION

Sister Wilhelmina's body was reinterred in a glass display case inside the church of the Abbey of Our Lady of Ephesus in Gower, Missouri, on May 29, 2023. Joe Bukuras/CNA

RACIST POPE FRANCIS IS LIKELY TO DECLARE HER A SAINT TO GENERATE MORE CONVERSIONS; MEANWHILE, HIS PROPAGANDA IS BEING BROADCAST AT THE SAME TIME THE SUPREME COURT IS DECLARING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AT COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES AS REPEALED.

BIBLE QUOTES:

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 ESV For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Matthew 24:24 ESV  For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

2 Corinthians 11:3 ESV  But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

1 John 4:1 ESV  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

2 Peter 2:1-3-False Teachers and Their Destruction

1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with feigned words and making merchandise of you. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
WAS BURIED  IN THE GROUND FOR FOUR YEARS

 

BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEE: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nun-whose-body-shows-little-decay-2019-death-draws-hundreds-rural-miss-rcna87080;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Some say it’s a sign of holiness in Catholicism, while others say the lack of decomposition may not be as rare as people think.

Pictured is Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster's incorrupt body on display at a chapel in Gower, Missouri

Pictured is the nun, who died in 2019 and was exhumed on May 18

Pictured is one person who was among those flocking to Gower to see the nun's body

People pray over the body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster at the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles abbey near Gower, Mo., on Sunday.Charlie Riedel / AP

The abbess of the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles speaks with reporter Catherine Hadro about Sister Wilhelmina’s life and her experience when the foundresses’ remains were exhumed.

Hundreds of people flocked to a small town in Missouri this week and last to see a nun whose body has barely decomposed since 2019. Some say it’s a sign of holiness in Catholicism, while others say the lack of decomposition may not be as rare as people think.

Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster was exhumed in April, according to a statement from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, in Gower, Missouri.

The nuns had been preparing for the addition of a St. Joseph shrine, and that involved “the reinterment of the remains of our beloved foundress, Sister Wilhelmina,” the statement said.

When they exhumed Lancaster, they were told to expect only bones, since she had been buried in a simple wooden coffin without any embalming four years ago.

May 31, 202301:34

Why Are Churches Celebrating Sin?

Affirming sin is not the same as forgiving it.

BY SCOTT HOGENSON

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/why-are-churches-celebrating-sin/;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

There’s a lot to celebrate in Christian worship services. Singing hymns, prayers, and learning God’s Word are all part of corporate worship, and I happily participate in that. I also participate in confession.

The Protestant tradition involves both a public and silent confession of sins. It’s an acknowledgment that we are sinful by nature, and have sinned by thought, word, and deed. Through this confession and our earnest repentance, we seek and receive forgiveness through God’s grace.

I sin every single day. I don’t like that I sin but as a member of the human race, it is an inescapable truth with which we’re stuck. As the apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Rome, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That includes me.

Rational people can agree that sin is bad, and I do not embrace my sin; I confess it and seek forgiveness. Jesus Christ said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him,” so I reject any celebration of my sin.

But not all sins are treated equally. Increasingly, Protestant churches are celebrating sin through the installation of ministers whose behavior promotes LGBTQ ideology.

Consider this February 15th report whose headline heralds the “First openly transgender pastor called to guide Lutheran church in North Dakota.”

The pastor’s installation was unanimously approved by the congregation of the church, which has reportedly hosted town hall meetings to discuss, among other things, whether people should be forced to deny reality by calling women men, and vice versa; and whether children should be protected from genital mutilation. One can only speculate as to how those discussions will be steered.

The article goes on to quote the new pastor saying “Historically the church hasn’t been kind to transgender people. A lot of churches still aren’t kind to transgender people.” I do not know how the pastor defines what is kind or unkind but I do know that historically, the church has believed in the word of God as written in the Bible. A lot of churches still believe what is written in the Bible.

The behavior that defines LGBTQ ideology is sinful. That’s not my assessment, that’s what Christ said. He laid it out in the Gospel of Mark when He said, “Out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Affirming and celebrating the behavior of LGBTQ adherents raises a question for Christians: If we’re going to celebrate this sin, what other sins are we prepared to celebrate? That’s a scary proposition and it’s already happening.

The sin of murder is celebrated through the increase of euthanasia. The sin of theft is celebrated through prosecutors who have decriminalized it through their failure to prosecute. The sins of coveting, envy, and deceit are celebrated through Critical Race Theory. The sin of slander is celebrated hourly on cable news channels.

Components of Critical Race Theory are even creeping into conservative parishes today. Whether this portends churches celebrating the sins of CRT’s advocacy for race hatred or its alignment with Marxist ideology remains to be seen.

We all sin, and through confession, repentance, and grace, God forgives us. We are also called to forgive those who sin against us. Whether these are sins of sexual immorality, envy, theft, or anything else, our duty is to forgive others as God forgives us.

But forgiving sin is not the same as affirming it.

The Bible instructs us to love one another but it also tells us to abhor that which is evil. None of my sins should be celebrated; they should be abhorred. If any pastor in the pulpit affirmed or celebrated my sins, I would walk out in the middle of that sermon and find a better church. But more churches are celebrating more sins, and it’s a colossal moral and civic hazard.

If the North Dakota pastor has been harassed, threatened, assaulted, or otherwise treated unkindly, that is flat-out wrong. Likewise, the pastor is entitled to the full enjoyment of and participation in American civic life, and I would demand that any effort to prevent the free exercise of these rights be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But it is not unkind to believe what the Bible says. It is not unkind to call a sin a sin. It is not unkind to notice reality and natural law. These are normal behaviors. Just as I reject any affirmation of my sin, I reject any attempt to deny that which is normal and in accordance with Scripture.

In many cultures across time and space, the church has provided the moral bedrock of society. When churches celebrate sin, that bedrock crumbles and over time, so do the societies built upon it.

Inside Bethel’s Insanity: Interview with Bart McCurdy & Mike Clark of Bethel Church & Christianity

Wonder If Bethel Is A False Church? Wonder No More

Ex Bethel Student Tells All - Jesse Westwood’s Testimony

Jesse graduated from the 3-year Bethel Supernatural Ministry School, where he was knighted by false prophet Kris Vallotton. Jesse walked away from Bethel’s teachings when he discovered the similarities of charismatic teachings and Mormonism. Now, he calls out false prophecies and points people to study the Bible. Jesse’s videos which describe his time at Bethel Redding are at https://youtube.com/@thewestwoodhome Jesse will be featured in the upcoming American Gospel 3 docuseries at http://www.americangospelfilm.com

Bethel and Bill Johnson’s Bridge to the New Age and Spiritual Fakery

I have been wanting to make this video for quite a while. It's based on the teaching in the book The Physics of Heaven, which is very much a "Bethel book". It is sold in their bookstore, it's endorsed by their leaders, it's written by people from Bethel, including their two lead pastors, Bill Johnson and Beni Johnson. The book is a very open appeal to Christians to embrace New Age beliefs and practices. I truly wish I was exaggerating. In today's video I'm going to share quotes from the book to demonstrate the problems with it's teachings and show it's dangers. I'll address the way they misuse Scripture to support these teachings. I'll also be sharing content from a physicist who has weighed in to demonstrate how fake the "science" of the book is. Finally, I'll share some shocking details about the deceptions in the book related to the supposed credentials of the "quantum physicist" who they lean on as an expert. Spoiler, he's not. Bethel Church in Redding California has presented itself to the worldwide body of Christ as a guide for deeper and more miraculous spiritual experiences. Since they have such a wide impact and reach and their teachings on these issues are, I am sad to say, not only reckless but dangerous and unbiblical, I feel this video is worth making.

Lighthouse Trails Research: Letter to the Editor-Our Son Might Go to Grace College in Winoka Lake, Indiana -Why Is LT Warning About It?

To Lighthouse Trails Editors:

Are you able to tell me the evidence that you gained by putting Grace College and Theological Seminary on your page of colleges you warn about? Our son is considering this college, and this was disappointing to see.

C.

Dear C.,

The school is on our list because they have incorporated Spiritual Formation into their school and the lives of their students. From 20 years of research, we have learned that if a school has a Spiritual Formation program (or Spiritual Formation courses), it always comes along with a spirituality that is unbiblical and rooted in the mystics. We will give you a few links to Grace where you can see some of this:

In Grace’s Biblical Studies course BBL3090 – Spiritual Formation (an undergraduate class), they are using books by three contemplative authors as textbooks: Larry CrabbDallas WillardPete Scazzero (all three of these can be found on our research site with documentation). This alone shows what the school’s definition of Spiritual Formation is. Willard and Scazzero are heavy hitters in the contemplative prayer movement.

In the Bible course 3220 – Principles and Practice of Prayer at Grace, emergent author Ann Voskamp’s book is being used (see our article https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=6604). This course is also using a book by C.J. Mahaney, a Calvinist/Reformed author and pastor. It’s very common to find both Calvinism and Contemplative at the same school. The same course is also using a textbook by Nancy DeMoss. You can read our article here https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=11137 showing our concerns.) The course also has as a textbook a book called Prayer by Hallesby with a foreword by contemplative pioneer Richard Foster.

If we look at just these two courses at Grace, it is plain to see that the school is incorporating into their students’ “education” contemplative spirituality, and remember, the fruit of contemplative is miles away from biblical Christianity (as we have documented extensively).

To give other examples: In the undergraduate course PHI3000 C, one of the textbooks is written by Peter Kreeft. Kreeft is a strong promoter of the Catholic Church (https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=1604). As we show in other articles, Kreeft is also an advocate for contemplative prayer. His teachings don’t belong in any evangelical Christian college.

In Grace’s BIB2140, textbooks are by emergent/ Catholic-leaning Francis Chan and emergent Calvinist J.D. Greear. (In one LT article/booklet, we refer to Greear because of his advocacy for Critical Race Theory.)

Clearly, this school doesn’t have discernment and are throwing a hodge-podge of false teachings at their students. A parent will be lucky if he or she recognizes his or her child’s faith in one or two semesters. We can guarantee that if a brief perusal through the school’s classes shows this much, it’s integrated throughout the school (e.g., chapel, church, missions, etc.).

We are sorry we are the bearers of bad news.

The Editors at Lighthouse Trails


Related Articles:

Want Your Child to Become an Atheist? – Send Him to LeTourneau University in Texas (or Any Other Contemplative/Emergent School For That Matter)

SPECIAL REPORT: “Epidemic of Apostasy – How Christian Colleges Must Incorporate “Spiritual Formation” to Become Accredited 2022 2nd Edition

“Is Your Church Doing “Spiritual Formation”? (Important Reasons Why They Shouldn’t)

(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission; design by LT)

Lighthouse Trails Research Letter to the Editor Reveals Salvation Army Pushing Yoga, Meditation, and Mystic Henri Nouwen

Dear Lighthouse Trails:

I am enclosing some magazine articles put out by the Salvation Army during the summer of 2022. One of them is from Peer magazine that is for teenagers and college-age kids. The article from that magazine is about [the Catholic contemplative mystic] Henri Nouwen. Theother article, “Meditation in Movement,” is from SAconnectsand is an article about so-called “Christian Yoga.”

Thank you for your blog and many resources. I have read a number of your books and articles. God bless you all.

M.M.

Photo above rom the Salvation Army magazine article on Yoga; used in accordance with the U.S. Fair Use Act for the purpose of critique and dissemination of information for the educational and review purposes.

photo on left: Front page of article in SAconnects – Vol 8, #2, 2022

L.T. Comments: In the SAconnects article on Yoga, it states:

YogaFaith combines traditional yoga exercises with prayer and worship, allowing for a new way to connect with Christ.

In March of 2020,Erin Morgan was in Atlanta, Ga., to complete 100 hours of face–to–face training needed to become a certified yoga instructor. She had already finished the required 100 hours of online training. Now, she looked forward to bringing YogaFaith, a yoga practice that exclusively incorporates Bible scripture meditation, to The Salvation Army.

We realize some reading this post may be thinking, “What’s wrong with that?” After all, it’s Christian Yoga, not Hindu Yoga. For those who feel that way, we ask you to please do your homework on this issue. You can start by reading Ray Yungen’s report, “YOGA: Exercise or Religion—Does it Matter?” and Chris Lawson’s report, “YOGA and Christianity – Are They Compatible?” In these reports is ample documentation to show that all Yoga (whether it’s called Christian or not) is rooted in Hinduism and the New Age. We actually corresponded once with a Hindu professor who refuted (in both a magazine article and an e-mail to us) the whole notion of “Christian Yoga.” He stated:

The simple, immutable fact is that yoga originated from the Vedic or Hindu culture. Its techniques were not adopted by Hinduism, but originated from it. . . . Efforts to separate yoga from its spiritual center reveal ignorance of the goal of yoga. . . . If this attempt to co-opt yoga into their (Christians) own tradition continues, in several decades of incessantly spinning the untruth as truth through re-labelings such as “Christian yoga,” who will know that yoga is–or was–part of Hindu culture? (source)

In another article, we quoted a Hindu Yogi, a Vedavisharada trained in the traditional gurukural system, who said there is no such thing as Christian Yoga.

To think that one can do the Yoga exercises without any repercussions is not only faulty reasoning – it is dangerous reasoning. Yoga exercises (i.e., the positions) were developed to receive the Kundalini power (which is actually demonic power). Please read Yungen’s and Lawson’s reports.

Regarding the article in the Salvation Army’s publication Peer (for teens and college students) that promotes Henri Nouwen, it is equally troubling. As Lighthouse Trails has documented for over twenty years, Nouwen was an interspiritual (i.e., believing that all paths lead to God) mystic who was very influenced by Buddhist and New Age beliefs. For example, in his book, The Way of the Heart, Nouwen said, “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.” This “repetition of a single word” is an Eastern-style meditation practice that does not lead to “God’s active presence” but is an occultic activity. Nouwen also said (in the last book he wrote – Sabbatical Journey): “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” (p. 51).

Tragically, because the majority of Christian leaders and pastors have refused to address the issue of contemplative spirituality (which, in essence, is New Age spirituality), organizations like the Salvation Army have opened their doors to demonic activity without any resistance or challenge by the church at large. What a disservice Christian leaders and pastors have done to the church!

Given that the “fruit” of contemplative spirituality/meditation and Yoga is panentheism and interspirituality (the very antithesis of biblical Christianity and the Gospel message of Jesus Christ), the future for Salvation Army as a truly Christian organization looks bleak.

No one can deny that the Salvation Army has done some very humanitarian works for needy people for many years. But as the late Harry Ironside stated,

Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died. (From his article “Should Christians Expose Error?”)

How ironic that Salvation Army is part of “the holiness movement,” yet right under their very noses, they are participating in a very unholy practice.

Related Information:

Letter to the Editor: The Salvation Army Continues on the Ecumenical Road

Harry Ironside: My Conversion and My Journey Out of “the Holiness Movement”

Salvation Army Lies, Tries To Cover Up Critical Race Guide” (The Federalist)

Further Instances in Salvation Army Regarding Contemplative Spirituality (these are taken from the Peer magazine website, geared to teach young people):

TSA’s current CEO and 21st General, Brian Peddle and Henri Nouwen

TSA Commissioner, David Hudson Reads In the Name of Jesus by Nouwen every Year (LT note: It’s in that book that Nouwen says that Christian leaders must move “from the moral to the mystical” (pp. 31-32).

Encouraging youth to practice Lectio Divina

Teaching “Spiritual Disciplines” via heavy-weight meditation advocates Richard Foster and Adele Ahlberg Calhoun by TSA Major Lesa, Secretary for Spiritual Life Development in the USA Central Territory.

Lighthouse Trails Research Newsletter Selected Articles 1 of 2

Top 10 Ways America Is Being Groomed to Normalize Pedophilia
LTRP Note: For nearly the full existence of Lighthouse Trails (20+ years), we have covered the topic of child sexual abuse and child endangerment. We have published a number of books, articles, and booklets by various authors to help bring awareness to and equip parents, grandparents, and guardians. The following article shows the continued danger that children in this country are facing.

By Linda Harvey

Respectable pedophilia. Are you ready for this?

I’m not and I will be screaming against it until the last breath. But it’s coming unless a massive parent brigade shows up in both schools and in another venue that must be deployed to overcome this depravity: churches.

The truth of God, proclaimed by His saints and confirmed in the power, blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ, fueled by the conviction of the Holy Spirit can prevail over the tragedy of child corruption. We can do this.

But first we must face how we are all being groomed, as child sexuality is being packaged and sold to America, even as the latest fashion trend (e.g., Balenciaga).

We must refuse to be enablers and then take steps to end this diabolical trend.

Here are the top 10 ways that child sexualization is being normalized in America.

1. Child empowerment and consent.  How long before we allow children to make their own decisions about health care, counseling, and then the choice of a sexual partner? Over thirty years ago, a child’s right to “freedom of association” showed up in a revised United Nations document, “The Convention on the Rights of the Child.” That document has not been ratified by all countries, including the United States. But it remains a cherished goal of global leftists. Click here to continue reading.


Related Resources on child abuse and protecting children from Lighthouse Trails

Articles:

Horowitz: “The Medical Field’s Immoral War on Children”

Boy Scouts of America File for Bankruptcy Amid Sexual Abuse, Homosexual, and Transgender Allowances

Child Sexual Abuse Scandal at Matt Chandler’s Popular Village Church Raises Concerns Over How Churches Handle Abuse

California School District Teachings on Pedophilia Reminder of Child Sexual Abuse Epidemic and Cover-Ups

Efforts to Eliminate “Stigma” Against Pedophilia and Call it “Normal” Are Underway

A Special Commentary: Recent Events Show America’s Children in Grave Increased Danger of Sexual Abuse

Sex Before 8 – Or It’s Too Late

(Photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission; design by Lighthouse Trails)

Letters to the Editor: Author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer, Bringing “Renewed” Contemplative Spirituality Into the Churches
LTRP Note: Please see editors notes below this letter.

Dear Lighthouse Trails:

Today my neighbor who’s in an emergent church . . . told me his church started a sermon series called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.” Hmm . . . I’ve left enough emergent churches to know a sermon series probably has a book. So, I did a search and found this disturbing link of trailers by this guy. . . .

This book (The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry), written by John Mark Comer, teaches readers to do breath prayers, mindfulness meditation, and various other contemplative-type exercises.

So, I just wanted to bring this to your attention as I see out there on vimeo and YouTube that Comer’s contemplative message is circulating in the churches.

This is such a burden as I left the Catholic Church many years ago.  I don’t even know what else to say about this. Do you think I should calmly approach the pastor in the neighborhood? Do I just pretend to not know any of this to get along?

Jane

LT Editors’ Notes:

The Letter to the Editor above was sent to us this past May, but we had not posted it yet. Yesterday, we received the following from another reader:

. . . I was wondering if you have done any research on John Mark Comer. He is the founding pastor of Bridgetown church in Portland, OR. He seems to have a big influence on pastors of other churches. He has written and promoted something called “Practicing the Way.” I’m not sure what that all is about but am concerned this may not be in line with Scripture. He has also written several books. Some of the teachings he has on YouTube are also a concern.—Debbie

In between receiving these two letters from the two LT readers, one of our authors began doing research on John Mark Comer and Tyler Staton (Staton, “lead pastor” at Bridgetown Church in Portland, is author of a new book titled Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools). Comer and Staton have worked together on various projects and interviews (such as this one on YouTube), and Comer’s endorsement of Staton’s book is inside the front cover. Both Praying Like Monks and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry are heavily contemplative books.

The contemplative prayer movement (via Spiritual Formation) largely entered the church in 1978 when Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline was released (Foster was a self-proclaimed type protege of Catholic mystic Thomas Merton). The CP movement simmered for a couple decades but was heating up as figures like Rick Warren began promoting it (even as far back as the 1990s). But still, most Christians had not heard of it (even though their pastors were reading Celebration of Discipline unbeknownst to their congregations; and as we documented in our special reporEpidemic of Apostasy, many pastors had been introduced to contemplative spirituality in their Christian universities and seminaries).

Today, long after Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Brennan Manning (three pioneering Catholic contemplative mystics) are gone, a new generation of young “hip” pastors and leaders are rising up with a renewed energy to spread the contemplative message. Catholic mystic, Richard Rohr (who Ray Yungen said was today’s Thomas Merton) has provided the fodder and guidance for many of these new contemplatives. That’s easily proveable: One of Richard Rohr’s publishers told him that his biggest readership was young evangelical men [1] (e.g., today’s young pastors, two of which are Comer and Staton).

In his book, A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen explained, dissected, and exposed the contemplative issue in a way that is easy to understand and is incredibly well documented with source material (making his proclamations and warnings irrefutable—you know what we mean if you have read the book). If there is anyone reading this post who has not yet read A Time of Departing, we beseech you to read it. If you do not have a copy and are struggling to get one, we will send anyone who asks us a free copy of the book. Write to us at editors@lighthousetrails.com and give us your name and mailing address (we will keep those confidential). You see, it’s not about the money for Lighthouse Trails. It never has been. If you haven’t read our story of how we began this ministry, you can read it here. It began because of the contemplative prayer movement, and we have been compelled all these years to continue with this warning even though many pastors and church figures have belittled, mocked, and rejected our findings. If you read our story, we think you will begin to understand the urgency and continuation of our warnings.

What’s at stake here? The future of your churches and the faith of your children and grandchildren.

In A Time of Departing, Yungen exhorts us:

Contemplative advocates propose that there has been something vital and important missing from the church for centuries. The insinuation is that Christians have been lacking something necessary for their spiritual vitality; but that would mean the Holy Spirit has not been fully effective for hundreds of years and only now the secret key has been found that unlocks God’s full power to know Him. These proponents believe that Christianity has been seriously crippled without this extra ingredient. This kind of thinking leads one to believe that traditional, biblical Christianity is merely a philosophy without the contemplative prayer element. Contemplatives are making a distinction between studying and meditating on the Word of God versus experiencing Him, suggesting that we cannot hear Him or really know Him simply by studying His Word or even through normal prayer—we must be contemplative to accomplish this. But the Bible makes it clear that the Word of God is living and active, and has always been that way, and it is in filling our minds with it that we come to love Him, not through a mystical practice of stopping the flow of thought (the stillness) that is never once mentioned in the Bible, except in warnings against vain repetitions. . . .

Evangelical Christianity is being invited, perhaps even catapulted into seeing God with the “new eyes” of contemplative prayer. The question must be asked, is Thomas Merton’s silence, Henri Nouwen’s space, and Richard Foster’s contemplative prayer [which is rooted in panentheism and interspirituality] the way in which we can know and be close to God? Or is this actually a spiritual belief system contrary to the true message that the Bible so absolutely defines—that there is only one way to God and that is through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice on the Cross obtained our full salvation?

If indeed my concerns for the future actually come to fruition, then we will truly enter a time of departing. My prayer is that you will not turn away from the faith to follow a different gospel and a different Jesus but will rather stay the course and finish the race, so that after having done all you can, you will stand.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13)

When we consider the serious ramifications of the contemplative prayer movement and then also recognize that three of the major influences in the lives of millions of Christians—The Shack, Jesus Calling, and The Chosen—all have ties to the contemplative prayer movement, it is not difficult to conclude that millions of Christians are not wearing the “armour of God” and may, therefore, not “be able to withstand in the evil day.”


Endnote:

  1. The Liturgists Podcast (“The Cosmic Christ With Richard Rohr,” April 11, 2016, https://theliturgists.com/the-cosmic-christ-with-richard-rohr-podcast-page/)

 

 

 

Posts From Lighthouse Trails Research Newsletter

Sending Your Child to a Christian College?-Look Out for Words You Thought You Would Never Hear!

SEE: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2022/newsletter20220912.htm;

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.

Two years ago, Lighthouse Trails posted an article titled “Christian Colleges and Seminaries in More Trouble Than Ever as Many Plunge Into Emergent Spirituality.” As Christian parents are preparing to send their high-school graduate kids to Christian colleges and universities this coming fall, we hope that the article (posted below) will provide a desperately needed warning. And in fact, now that contemplative schools have turned “woke” and progressive, that warning is more needed than ever. You may send your sweet child of faith to one of these schools only to watch in horror as his or her faith is turned upside down in a short period of time, and he or she may come home during a semester break and tell you the words you never thought you would hear, “Hey Mom and Dad, I am now an atheist, and I don’t believe what the Bible says anymore!”

The article:

For nearly 18 years, Lighthouse Trails has been reporting on the slide that evangelical colleges, universities, and seminaries have been taking into the contemplative/emergent/ecumenical river. It would be great if we could say there’s been a real turnaround and things at these colleges are getting better. It would be great if we could say that your college-age child is safe in most Christian colleges today. And it would be great if we could say that these schools have realized the error of their ways and have made dramatic efforts to get back on the biblical course. Unfortunately, we cannot say any of these things because they simply are not true.

We were once again reminded of how far off the track evangelical schools have gone when earlier this month we received an e-blast from Christianity Today announcing 50%-off tuition special for qualifying students to Seattle Pacific University. That will sound very enticing to parents who are looking for Christian education for their college-age children at affordable rates. But let’s take a glance at what these children will be introduced to if they attend Seattle Pacific University:

At SPU’s Center for Biblical and Theological Education, students will be introduced to various forms of contemplative spirituality, and faculty members are being trained to pass them on. For instance, in a 2019 faculty retreat syllabus, the list of activities at the retreat includes Lectio divina, praying with icons, sabbath keeping, Ignatian Spirituality, and Prayer of Examen. At the upcoming 2020 Winter Discernment Weekend, prospective students will be introduced to “Guided Prayer” and Lectio Divina. “Spiritual Formation” and contemplative spirituality are integrated throughout the spiritual infrastructure of SPU. Faculty Staff Bulletins are peppered with recommendations and accolades for Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and numerous other hard-core mystics and panentheists.

In addition to the heavily contemplative element at SPU, you will find promotion for all things emergent such as “critical race theory” (a Marxist-leaning ideology) and the so-called “social-justice gospel” (with recommendations for social justice leaders such as Shane Claiborne and SoJourners).

For anyone who understands contemplative spirituality, these things we are sharing won’t come as a surprise because contemplative prayer is the gateway ‘drug,” so to speak, to all things emergent, socialist, Marxist, New Age, and anti-morality. And if there is one thing we hope to get across in this article, it is this: A very large number of Christian higher education institutions are now exhibiting signs that they are being influenced and directed by emergent ideologies, and many of these same schools are the ones we warned about years ago as they started down the contemplative path; the inevitable “fruit” of contemplative prayer is a drastic change in spiritual outlook (i.e., no longer resembling biblical Christianity; i.e., now emergent).

Lancaster Bible College in PA, one of the schools that have been on the Lighthouse Trails Contemplative College List for several years, continues down the contemplative path going deeper and deeper into the emergent world. For a convincing example, their Formational Leadership Master of Arts Degree program is taught by contemplative/emergent/Replacement Theology/New Missiology leader Wayne Cordiero. (More information on this program).

Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho continues incorporating emergent beliefs into the lives of its students. Some of our readers may remember our 2010 story titled “Buddhist/Universalist Sympathizer Woos Nazarene Students at NNU.” Most Nazarene universities had already been seduced by Catholic contemplative mystic Brennan Manning by then, and so bringing in a Buddhist/universalist sympathizer to NNU was just following contemplative protocol, which they have continued to do.

A few examples of NNU’s current status are the following: In the THEO4900 Religion Capstone course, The Living Reminder by Catholic mystic Henri Nouwen is one of two required textbooks. A graduate course titled COUN6594A Mindfulness Approaches uses Mindfulness and Psychotherapy for its textbook. Another graduate course (YCFM6730 Missional Ministry) uses these four textbooks— Celtic Way of Evangelism, Future Faith, Kingdom Come, and Creating a Missional Culture. In Creating a Missional Culture, the author introduces the reader to Jurgen Moltmann, Karl Barth, Marcus Borg, and several others of the same caliber (these three men are heroes of the emergent movement). In these NNU textbooks, you find the path to emergent, “progressive,” socialist, New Age “Christianity”—something that has become the hallmark for Nazarene universities today. If you attend a Nazarene church, and that church is looking for a new pastor, it would be a good idea to find out how much of his seminary/university training rubbed off on him because you can be sure, he’ll be bringing it to your church.

In 2013, we released our special report titled An Epidemic of Apostasy – How Christian Seminaries Must Incorporate “Spiritual Formation” to Become Accredited, documenting how contemplative spirituality was entering Christian colleges at an alarming rate. Fast forward to today, and many of these schools are hardly recognizable from where they were just seven years ago.

In this relatively short article, we have provided examples of just three schools. But we could give countless more other schools that began opening their doors to the contemplative element, and now are becoming full-fledged emergent schools.

When we started warning about the contemplative movement entering the church through the evangelical colleges, seminaries, and universities back in the early part of this present millennium, our warnings were brushed off and dismissed by many Christian leaders. Today, some of these same leaders are being vocal against the left-leaning, anti-God, socialistic condition of this country. But they either don’t realize or don’t care that the early contemplative pioneers that they embraced twenty-plus years ago brought that very same mindset into the church through contemplative prayer. And now, as older pastors are retiring or passing away, the new younger pastors, trained in the colleges and seminaries, have become evangelists for this anti-Gospel, anti-biblical worldview.

The Calvinist Factor

For the editors at Lighthouse Trails, and for many of our readers, we are not surprised that this paradigm shift has occurred. We have witnessed the terrible apathy and indifference by Christian leaders and many pastors for nearly 18 years. Not only has there been apathy and indifference, but there has been hostility and anger. Just last week, a pastor in Oregon who had been placed on our Christian leaders and pastors' booklet mailing list (at the request of one of our readers) called and told us to remove him from the list. He then proceeded to list off about a dozen adjectives to describe us including pugnacious, slanderous, and hateful.

We were curious about this pastor’s church and checked it out on the Internet. It was a Calvinist-promoting church. One reason we have experienced a new level of anger by some pastors and leaders is because of the book we published in 2018 warning about Calvinism (Calvinism: None Dare Call it Heresy). And this brings us to something that needs to be said in this article with regard to the direction evangelical colleges, universities, and seminaries have headed: Many Christian colleges and universities are now embracing or are in the process of embracing Calvinism and Reformed Theology.

This presents a different set of serious problems, in one respect. But as we have stated in other articles, and wholeheartedly believe based on what we have observed, many young people trained in or drawn into Calvinism end up emergent or leaving the faith altogether (such as in the case of the recent departure from the faith by I Kissed Dating Goodbye author Josh Harris).

Aside from the colleges that have historically been Calvinist and Reformed (e.g., The Master’s Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Calvin College), new ones are continually getting on board with Calvinism. A perfect example of this is Bob Jones University (historically the antithesis of a Calvinist school), which now has a Calvinist president. And then there is the Southern Baptist Convention. We estimate that as many as half of the Southern Baptist colleges and universities are now Calvinist leaning. One caller, who is a longstanding SBC member that has been in leadership positions, told us that almost all the SBC universities are now Calvinist or Calvinist influenced. A 2007 Christian Post article titled “Calvinism on the Rise” stated: “Nearly 30 percent of recent SBC seminary graduates now serving as church pastors indicate they are Calvinists.” This statistic was based on data presented at the 2006 SBC “Building Bridges: Southern Baptists and Calvinism” conference. We believe that percentage is much higher today because of the increase in Calvinism in schools. And if our theory is right that many young Calvinists will eventually become emergent or defect the faith (sometimes because they cannot handle the dismal beliefs of John Calvin and Calvinism and sometimes because they haven’t found a personal relationship with Christ through Calvinism), then the outcome is going to be disastrous.

CONCLUSION

Either way, you look at it, Christian/evangelical colleges, universities, and seminaries are in trouble. And if they are in trouble, then so are our churches because the schools are producing today’s and tomorrow’s pastors and leaders.

Our exhortation to parents and grandparents is to carefully and prayerfully choose the schools your children and grandchildren will attend. The pickings are getting slimmer every day, but your choices can potentially have eternal consequences or eternal blessings. Please don’t take it lightly.


Editor’s Note: If you know of a young person who attends or who plans to attend a Christian college, university, or seminary, please consider asking him or her to read Castles in the Sand or A Time of Departing. If you cannot afford to get one of these books, write to us at editors@lighthousetrails.com, and we will send a free copy for you to give to that college-age person. If you are wondering why we have so much concern about this, read an article we wrote in 2013 titled “Want Your Child to Become an Atheist? – Send Him to LeTourneau University in Texas (or Any Other Contemplative/Emergent School For That Matter).” It’s a true story, and tragically, it is happening too often.

2022 Note: Since writing the above article in 2020, we have posted several letters to the editor from parents and grandparents regarding their personal experiences with children attending Christian schools:

Letter to the Editor: Liberty University Taking Students on “Spiritual Journey” With Contemplative/Emergent Leader Richard Foster

Letter to the Editor: To All Parents of Students Considering Attending Gordon College

Letter to the Editor: “Christian” Professor Finds “Warm Welcome” at Wheaton College to Teach and Promote Critical Race Theory

A Parent’s Summary of the Spread of Critical Race Theory At Gordon College

Letter to the Editor: I Discovered the Christian College I Was Attending Was “Woke”!

Letter to the Editor: Diana Butler Bass and Westmont College Steered Daughter Away From the Faith

Letter to the Editor: Christian Colleges Destroyed Children’s Faith While Those Who Chose Other Career Training Still Walking With the Lord

“‘Christian’College Now Giving Students Pronoun Options”

(Photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission; design by Lighthouse Trails)

Word of Faith Pastors Using “Christianized” New Age Teachings

There was a time when I thought that *true* Christianity was a higher form of thinking. Jesus came to be the example for us all. (Literally.) This involved practicing many higher spiritual laws. One of them was the Law of Attraction. When I practiced the law of attraction- and many other New Age teachings- and then abandoned those beliefs, I was shocked to find startling similarities between the Law of Attraction (among other New Age teachings) within some churches. This video might be controversial to some, but I have reason to believe that many of the teachings within the Word of Faith/NAR/Signs and Wonders Movement is a "Christianized" Law of Attraction. I present that case in this video.

RETHINKING: DONALD TRUMP’S MEHMET OZ Endorsement Says as Much about PA Republicans as It Does about Trump

President Trump calls Dr. Mehmet Oz, 

“Smart, Tough, and Someone Who Will Never Let Us Down.” (?)

DIDN'T YOU HEAR THAT TRUMP WAS IDENTIFYING & CALLING OUT "RINOS" (REPUBLICANS IN NAME ONLY)?

MORE PROOF THAT TRUMP HAS BEEN LACKING IN DISCERNMENT FOR A LONG TIME; FAILURES TO PROPERLY VETT APPOINTEES POINT TO CARELESSNESS

NOW ENDORSES A TURKISH MUSLIM WHO WAS FOR GUN CONTROL BEFORE; TIES TO BIG PHARMA, APOSTATE PASTOR RICK WARREN, NEW-AGER OPRAH WINFREY, CORPORATE CONNECTIONS

MUSLIM DR. OZ-NOT WHO HE APPEARS TO BE 

Laura Ingraham Hits Trump for Endorsing Oz in Senate Race

BY MICHAEL LUCIANO

SEE: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/laura-ingraham-hits-trump-and-hannity-for-endorsing-dr-oz-in-senate-race-it-was-a-mistake/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

 

Laura Ingraham is none too pleased with Donald Trump’s endorsement of Mehmet Oz for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, or Sean Hannity’s for that matter.

Oz is seeking the Republican nomination and hopes to replace the retiring Pat Toomey (R-PA).

On Tuesday’s Ingraham Angle, the Fox News host played years-old clips of Oz expressing concerns about climate change, the ability of mentally unwell people to purchase firearms, and states enacting strict anti-abortion laws. For Ingraham, his previous positions on these issues are disqualifying.

The host welcomed former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to the show to discuss the endorsement. Conway has endorsed Dave McCormick in the primary.

“Do you think the Trump endorsement of Oz was a mistake?” Ingraham asked Conway.

“Well, President Trump’s endorsement in these Republican primaries is a highly sought after and deeply consequential piece of political currency. So many people want it, they make the trek to Bedminster or Mar-a-Lago–”

The host cut her off and asked, “Was it a mistake, Kellyanne?”

Rather than talk up her preferred candidate – McCormick – Conway praised Trump, who was on the record as being pro-abortion until he ran for president. She said he had a “conversion” on the issue. She also accused Oz of making “rookie mistakes.”

Ingraham then noted that her Fox News colleague Sean Hannity is partial to Oz.

“Hannity, I think, I believe endorsed Oz and I think that’s, you know, that’s probably not inconsequential for President Trump,” she said. “You wouldn’t answer the question whether it was a mistake. I think it was a mistake to endorse Oz. I’ll say it. I’m not afraid to say it. It was a mistake to endorse Oz.”

Watch above via Fox News.

_______________________________________________________________

Donald Trump Endorses Mehmet Oz, While His First Endorsed Candidate, Sean Parnell, Disputes The Choice

DECEIVING CONSERVATIVES BY FOLLOWING MUHAMMAD'S SUPREMACY IDEOLOGY AND THE FALSE GOD "ALLAH"

SEE: PERSONAL TURKISH ROOTS; START AT 14:19 MINUTE MARK:

FOOLING CONSERVATIVES AT CPAC 2022:

Oz has also billed himself as an opponent of China, criticizing McMormick’s ties to China in a campaign ad that calls the hedge fund manager “China’s friend, not ours.”

Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz discusses COVID-19 'authoritarianism' and argues America's values are under attack on 'Fox & Friends.'

Dr. Oz announces bid for Senate seat of retiring Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomey

_________________________________________________________________________________________

BY DAVID CODREA

SEE: https://www.ammoland.com/2022/04/oz-endorsement-says-as-much-about-pa-republicans-as-it-does-about-trump;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

So the upturned thumb tells us all we need to know? (Dr. Mehmet Oz/Facebook)

U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “This is all about winning elections in order to stop the Radical Left maniacs from destroying our country,” Donald Trump declared Saturday in his “Endorsement of Dr. Oz.” “Dr. Oz is Pro-Life, very strong on Crime, the Border, Election Fraud, our Great Military, and our Vets, Tax Cuts, and will always fight for and support our under-siege Second Amendment.”

A skeptical reaction by the Fletcher character from The Outlaw Josie Wales comes to mind. As does a nagging suspicion about being played.

Hey, someone’s gotta say it.

Regular readers of this column will remember the documentation of Oz’s stances on guns before he was running for office, including hosting “This Is Our Lane: Doctors Speak about Gun Violence,” endorsing infringements “including the banning of semiautomatic firearms” under the guise of “public health,” and further using his mass media platform to “sell” due process-denying “red flag laws” to his low-information audience.

The Gun Feed provided further irrefutable evidence of where Oz’s sympathies lie, including his call for fans to contact Congress to get the CDC back into the anti-gun advocacy through junk science business, and his Moms Demand Action-promoted hosting of anti-gun Rep. Lucy McBath.

“If the former president backs him that will tell all but the most self-deluded ‘3D chess’ apologists all they need to know,” I noted at the time.

Not quite.  The guy made a name for himself on TV by firing people. Perhaps if he was better at picking them in the first place, he wouldn’t need to end up angrily attacking so many he had nothing but high praise for in the beginning.

Consider all the wonderful things he said about William BarrChristopher WrayJeff SessionsMike PenceAnthony Scaramucci“Mad Dog” MattisMark Milley, and more.

Then consider how he described them and their qualifications after their fallings out, respectively: BarrWraySessionsPenceScaramucciMattisMilley

That’s not to say Trump was wrong in his final assessments, but we’re talking about his initial ones here. And noting he’s a man who puts the highest priority on being perceived as a winner, we see the reason he has nothing but superlatives in his latest endorsement:

“Perhaps most importantly, I believe that Mehmet Oz will be the one most able to win the General Election against a Radical Left Democrat looking to do unthinkable harm to our Country.”

How electing someone the smart money says will be a leader in future Republican “compromises” on guns will be a “win” (for anyone who cares about the right to keep and bear arms) is left unstated. But it’s bigger than that, though, right? We need a Republican Senate majority so we can stop dangerous Biden appointments, like the recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, pushed over the top by two other Trump endorsees Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney.

Speaking of that process, it’s on Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans to explain why they didn’t even try to deny a quorum and prevent the vote from coming to the floor. It’s also on each of the national “gun rights groups” that did not urge their members to pressure them, and are now using the existential threat Jackson represents to solicit donations. There was no chance? How would they know without a committed fight, and how would that fight, and its risks, compare against the ones their members will now be forced into?

Now, in Pennsylvania, gun owners will once more be forced into a “lesser of two evils” decision, and one that can’t be resolved in the primary.  Trump’s first choice, Sean Parnell, appeared to be on track with key “conservative” issues, including guns and immigration but suspended his campaign after being accused of abuse by his estranged wife. The other alternative is globalist “Bush Republican” David McCormick who throws gun owners this bone while wearing the obligatory orange vest and cap:

“Protecting our 2nd Amendment Rights – Dave grew up hunting on his family’s farm in Bloomsburg and remains a hunter to this day. He is a strong believer in our Second Amendment rights and will stand up against the extreme left who want to abolish our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”

An identical testimonial, equally as weasel-worded and meaningless, could have been offered up by Fudds for Biden. This is the best that Pennsylvania Republicans can offer, and the most that Pennsylvania gun owners have the clout to demand? Over the years acceptance of oath-breaking lumps like Tom Ridge, Arlen Specter, and Pat Toomey have convinced the establishment that they can get away with serial betrayals and never pay a price at the polls.

Left unaddressed is what the effects of taking fire out of bellies will have on voter turnout. Won‘t everyone be surprised, including Donald Trump considering his prospects for a 2024 comeback, if their best-laid schemes result in John FettermanMalcolm Kenyatta, or Conor Lamb taking home the prize?


About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

David Codrea

__________________________________________________________________

SEE OUR PREVIOUS POSTS ABOUT MEHMET OZ:

https://ratherexposethem.org/2021/12/01/pennsylvania-senate-gop-candidate-dr-mehmet-oz-no-wizard-when-it-comes-to-guns/

https://ratherexposethem.org/2022/03/06/dr-ozs-ties-to-pharma-tech-complicate-anti-corporate-campaign-claims/

https://ratherexposethem.org/2015/04/23/doctor-oz-accused-of-medical-quackery/

 

Trump Parts with Future Pence Vice-Presidency: ‘I Don’t Think the People Would Accept It’

CATHOLIC, POPE'S PUPPET, Ex-VP Mike Pence hits back at Donald Trump over election

VP Pence And Pope Francis Discuss US Pro-Life Movement During Vatican Meeting – Eurasia Review

ONE MONTH AGO, THEY'RE STILL AT IT: 

Exclusive: Vice President Pence tells EWTN News about meeting with Pope Francis

CATHOLICS IN AMERICAN POLITICS ARE THE ONES TRYING TO DESTROY AMERICA & ITS CONSTITUTION, GETTING THEIR INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE POPE

JANUARY 24, 2020: 

US Vice President Pence to Pope Francis: you made me a hero

SEE: https://americanfaith.com/trump-parts-with-future-pence-vice-presidency-i-dont-think-the-people-would-accept-it/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

As Trump and former VP part ways, Pence eyes POTUS.

QUICK FACTS:
  • President Donald Trump is effectively ruling out asking former Vice President Mike Pence to be his running mate should he run for a third White House bid in 2024 and win the Republican nomination, The Washington Examiner reports.
  • “I don’t think the people would accept it,” Trump told The Examiner Tuesday evening during a telephone interview from Mar-a-Lago, his private club and political headquarters in Palm Beach, Florida.
  • Trump pointed to disagreement between himself and Pence rising in the aftermath of the 2020 election, suggesting their differences are too stark to overcome, The Examiner notes.
  • Trump claims the election was stolen and wanted Pence to overturn the results during the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College win.
  • But Trump did characterize Pence as a “really fine person,” even though he signaled their relationship might be irrevocably broken.
  • “Mike and I had a great relationship except for the very important factor that took place at the end. We had a very good relationship,” Trump said. “I haven’t spoken to him in a long time.”
PENCE FOR PRESIDENT?:
  • Pence is considering a 2024 bid, The Examiner reports.
  • He’s also signaled he wouldn’t automatically stand aside if Trump were to run, accelerating efforts to establish his independence from President Trump.
  • Pence recently told a gathering of conservative lawyers Trump is flat “wrong” to claim the vice president is constitutionally empowered to throw out the results of a presidential election.
  • He also took aim at Trump’s remarks toward Russian President Vladimir Putin during remarks to party financiers gathered for a Republican National Committee donor retreat, saying, “There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin.” Trump had previously referred to Putin as “smart,” “savvy,” and “a genius” in certain contexts while insisting that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine never would have happened on his watch.
  • “We cannot win by fighting yesterday’s battles or by relitigating the past,” said Pence.
  • Trump was recently the overwhelming favorite for the GOP nomination in the 2024 presidential election, garnering 59% of the vote in a straw poll conducted at a Conservative Political Action Conference‘s meeting in Orlando, Florida, even beating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 31 points.
  • Pence was among the 1 percenters, along with Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Ted Cruz of Texas, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
BACKGROUND:
  • Pence argues the Constitution granted him no authority to overturn the Electoral College results.
  • “Mike thought he was going to be a human conveyor belt, that no matter how fraudulent the votes, you have to send them up to the Old Crow,” Trump said, using his nickname for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, The Examiner notes.
  • “But that turned out to be wrong. Because now, as you know, they are feverishly working to try and get it so that the vice president cannot do what Mike said he couldn’t do,” Trump said, referring to proposals to overhaul the Electoral Count Act. “Obviously, they were either lying, misrepresenting, or they didn’t know.”
  • “I was disappointed in Mike,” Trump said.

California Pushes Kids to Worship Aztec Gods

California Pushes Kids to Worship Aztec Gods

Welcome to the enlightenment of "Ethnic Studies."

Kids Chant To Aztec Gods In New California Curriculum

MARCH 17, 2021: Government-school students in California will soon be asking the barbarous Aztec gods of human sacrifice and cannibalism for help in pursuing a counter-genocide against “white Christians,” at least if a proposed new “ethnic studies” curriculum is formally approved this week. Yes, seriously. Full Story: https://bit.ly/3cFSx4B

PARENTS FILED LAWSUIT

BY MATTHEW VADUM

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/01/california-has-kids-worshiping-aztec-gods-matthew-vadum/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

California’s long-running descent into madness continues as its bizarre Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) now encourages public school students to pray to bloodthirsty Aztec deities.

The California State Board of Education approved the almost 900-page ESMC in March 2021, saying teaching children about the systemic racism that supposedly plagues America has never been more urgent, as Fox News reported at the time.

“The curriculum’s unequivocal promotion of five Aztec gods or deities through repetitive chanting and affirmation of their symbolic principles constitutes an unlawful government preference toward a particular religious practice,” Frank Xu, president of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, said months ago as his organization filed a lawsuit against the state.

“This public endorsement of the Aztec religion fundamentally erodes equal education rights and irresponsibly glorifies anthropomorphic, male deities whose religious rituals involved gruesome human sacrifice and human dismemberment.”

The legal action, Californians for Equal Rights Foundation v. State of California, was filed Sept. 3, 2021, in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, by attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm focusing on religious freedom. The foundation is a non-profit civil rights organization headquartered in San Diego.

Golden State officials say this is the first statewide ethnic studies model curriculum in the country. Oregon is developing ethnic studies standards for its social studies curriculum, while Connecticut will require its high schools to offer courses in black and Latino studies by autumn this year.

“We are reminded daily that racism is not only a legacy of the past but a clear and present danger,” said California State Board of Education president Linda Darling-Hammond, a leftist who headed the Biden-Harris regime’s education transition team. “We must understand this history if we are finally to end it.”

The California curriculum is intended to educate high school students about the travails of “historically marginalized peoples which are often untold in U.S. history courses.” It reportedly focuses on the four groups examined in college-level ethnic studies courses: African Americans, Chicano/Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Somehow this leads to the Aztec religion, complete with its cast of characters one might expect to find in a Tobe Hooper movie.

The ESMC includes a section on “Affirmation, Chants, and Energizers,” among which is the “In Lak Ech Affirmation,” an invocation of five Aztec deities. This pagan prayer recognizes the cosmic beings as sources of power and knowledge, seeks their assistance, and gives them thanks.

The five beings are Tezkatlipoka, Quetzalkoatl, Huitzilopochtli, Xipe Totek, and Hunab Ku.

Tezcatlipoca is “an omnipresent god capable of shapeshifting into a jaguar,” according to Mythopedia. In Nahuatl, an American Indian language of the Uto-Aztecan family that is still spoken in central and western Mexico, Tezcatlipoca means “smoking mirror,” a reference to the obsidian mirrors Aztecs used in ceremonies. He was often depicted as having one of his feet replaced with an obsidian mirror. Two of his many alternative names, Titlacauan and Ipalnemoani, attest to his status among the gods, meaning “we are his slaves” and “he by whom we live,” respectively.

Tezcatlipoca was celebrated annually during Toxcatl, the fifth month of the Aztec calendar.

“Every year, a young man—typically a prisoner of war—was chosen to represent Tezcatlipoca … and [this] ixiptla, or impersonator … was treated with great respect and trained to speak in a courtly style. He was also taught to play the flute, the sound of which was thought to be the voice of Tezcatlipoca. A month prior to the festival of Toxcatl, he would be wed to four young women impersonating the four goddess wives of Tezcatlipoca: Xochiquetzal, Xilonen, Atlatonan and Huixtocihuatl.”

The high point of the festival was when the ixiptla walked up the steps of a pyramid and his heart was cut out with an obsidian knife. When the next’s year impersonator was chosen, he was given his predecessor’s skin to wear as a cloak.

Quetzalcoatl, known to the Mayans as Kukulcan, was initially depicted as a feathered snake. Portrayed as both the morning and evening star, Quetzalcoatl became a symbol of death and resurrection. Accompanied by his loyal companion, the dog-headed god Xolotl, he descended to hell to collect the bones of the ancient dead, and poured his own blood on them, thereby creating the people who live in the present universe. Quetzalcoatl sacrificed snakes, butterflies, and birds, but never humans.

Huitzilopochtli was the Aztec god of war, Mythopedia reports. His mother’s other 400 children were unhappy about his approaching birth and according to various versions of the story: a) they killed her; b) they tried to kill her, or c) they tried to kill Huitzilopochtli before he was born. In what must have been challenging childbirth, somehow Huitzilopochtli escaped the womb while fully armored and promptly defeated his siblings. Sacrifices, including human sacrifices, were made to him after every military victory and defeat.

Xipe Totec, meaning “Our Lord the Flayed One,” had a diverse set of responsibilities, according to Mythopedia. He was the Aztec god of agriculture, seasons, disease, and goldsmiths. Xipe Totec “was often depicted wearing a suit of flayed skin, and his associated ceremonies emphasized his choice of attire. Such rituals usually culminated in a fresh skin suit being made and worn by either a statue of Xipe Totec or one of his priests.”

Hunab Ku, meaning “One-God,” was a creator deity worshiped by Aztecs and some Mayans but thought to have Aztec origins.

“The Aztecs regularly performed gruesome and horrific acts for the sole purpose of pacifying and appeasing the very beings that the prayers from the curriculum invoke,” said Paul Jonna, a partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP and Thomas More Society Special Counsel.

“The human sacrifice, cutting out of human hearts, flaying of victims and wearing their skin, are a matter of historical record, along with sacrifices of war prisoners, and other repulsive acts and ceremonies the Aztecs conducted to honor their deities,” Jonna said.

“Any form of prayer and glorification of these bloodthirsty beings in whose name horrible atrocities were performed is repulsive to any reasonably informed observer.”

Yet the ESMC is now a reality.

It came about after the board of education named R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, a co-author of the 2019 book Rethinking Ethnic Studies, to head a committee tasked with developing it. In his book, Cuauhtin “demonstrates an animus towards Christianity and Catholicism—claiming that Christians committed ‘theocide’ (i.e., killing gods) against indigenous tribes,” according to court documents.

In March 2021, the board approved the ESMC, also including the “Ashe Affirmation,” which “invokes the divine forces of the Yoruba religion four times—honoring this divine force and seeking assistance for the school day.” Yoruba is “an ancient philosophical concept that is the root of many pagan religions, including Santeria and Haitian Vodou or voodoo,” according to the Thomas More Society. It reportedly has 100 million believers worldwide in West Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guyana, and various Caribbean nations.

How the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, with its invocation of witch doctors and Aztec gods like Xipe Totec, who wears suits made of flayed human skin, will enlighten California schoolchildren has never been explained.

Maybe enlightenment isn’t the goal.

OAN: Hope of Christmas with “Pastor” Paula White

Rumble — Paula White Cain, president of Paula White Ministries, gives us "The Real Story" on her hope and prayer during Christmas. Don't be fooled by this one, like Trump was!

EXCERPT FROM: https://firebrandmag.com/articles/neocharismatic-christianity-and-the-rise-of-the-new-apostolic-reformation:

"When Paula White called angels from Africa and South America to wage spiritual warfare in the aftermath of the presidential election, she was tapping into the notion of territorial spirits associated with the emergence of what Peter Wagner has called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Wagner coined the phrase to describe a novel kind of independent charismatic Christianity led by apostles and organized into relational networks. Many of the prophecies associated with Trump’s rise and re-election came from persons associated with these networks. Some like Kris Vallotton of Bethel Church apologized while others such as Lance Wallnau doubled down. Regardless, much of the public support for Trump came from Christians connected to this new form of charismatic Christianity, even though it has largely remained unexplored by most journalists and historians."  

SEE THE COMMENTS BELOW:

jackieQuilts, 9 hours ago

1 Cor 11 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 1 Tim 2 11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. 15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. 1 Corinthians 7:17 17 But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so, I ordain in all the churches. Ephesians 4 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, Women can teach, but don't have authority over the Church.... Christ is the Authority over the Church. Christ chose the 12 Apostles, it's God that gives the gifts not men.

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ZeroCarbChick, 23 hours ago

Paula White is NOT a pastor. Can we all just cut the crap. She needs to read her Bible and stop being wicked.

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BlueAero, 1 day ago

Paula White is a demon-filled false prophet. Part of NAR and supporter of antichrist. OAN - sorry- having to unsubscribe with your false promotion of the demonic dominionists.

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chesval, just now

Paula White Cain's apostate history has influenced Trump in a negative way, what with her "Word of Faith" charismatic, dominionist, ecumenical, interfaith, universalist, astral projection heresies. Plus her multiple divorces & re-marriages. Just see these posts for proof:

  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2021/07/04/john-macarthur-a-bad-sign-paula-white-at-donald-trumps-inauguration-and-other-prosperity-gospel-false-teachers-like-joel-osteen/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2020/09/26/prosperity-preachers-are-total-liars/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2020/03/13/southern-baptist-robert-jeffress-has/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2019/11/02/word-of-faith-prosperity-preacher-paula/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2019/10/23/chris-rosebrough-of-fighting-for-faith-2/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2019/07/12/fighting-for-faith-apostate-paula/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2019/05/14/paula-white-transfers-church-leadership/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2018/08/06/trumps-dear-friend-spiritual-adviser/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2018/05/18/paula-white-taking-care-of-trumps-soul/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2018/01/09/first-fruits-twistedapostasy-alert/
  • https://ratherexposethem.org/2015/05/16/paula-white-marries-for-third-time/

How Did Evangelicalism Turn into a Circus… Literally?

Yes, Leftism Is A Religion: CORRUPT, APOSTATE Presbyterian Church USA Graces Us With Hymn to Climate Change

ROMANS 1: 25-28:

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way, also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper___.

EXCERPTS:

"The Climate is Changing ST. DENIO 11.11.11.11 ("Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise") The climate is changing! Creation cries out! Your people face flooding and fire and drought. We see the great heat waves and storms at their worst. We pray for the poor, Lord — for they suffer first. We pray for the animals here in our midst who cannot defend their own right to exist. We pray for the mountains and forests and seas that bear the harsh footprint of our human greed. We thank you for people who treasure the earth, whose faith has long taught them its beauty and worth. We thank you as well for the children and youth who look to the future and speak out the truth. We thank you for leaders, courageous and brave, who know that the earth is worth fighting to save, who care about justice and what they should do, who listen to science and work hard for you. You love this good earth, and you sent us your Son! May we love our neighbors — there's work to be done. May we, by your Spirit, do all in our power to care for your earth in this critical hour. Tune: Traditional Welsh hymn, in John Robert's Caniadau y Cyssegr (Songs of the Sanctuary), 1839 Text: Copyright © 2021 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Permission is given for free use of this hymn. Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com This hymn-prayer was written to support efforts to counter climate change, including at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland (October 31-November 12, 2021). COP26 (Conference of Participants) is the main decision-making body of 197 countries working to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions and to counter dangerous climate change."

BY ROBERT SPENCER

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/culture/robert-spencer/2021/10/29/yes-leftism-is-a-religion-presbyterian-church-graces-us-with-hymn-to-climate-change-n1528051;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Is modern American Leftism a new, secular religion? Of course, it is. Who could forget House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Grey Goose) giving thanks to her god for his salvific sacrifice: “Thank you, George Floyd, for sacrificing your life for justice”? Or New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-Planned Parenthood) proclaiming that the unvaccinated “aren’t listening to God and what God wants.” And now the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has long been a hollowed-out shell teaching social justice Leftism in vaguely Christian garb, has done its part for the sanctification of the contemporary Leftist agenda by publishing a new hymn, “The Climate is Changing.” The lyrics are far more ludicrous than the title might suggest.

Presbyterian News Service reported Friday that the hymn was prepared for the opening of the UN Climate Change Conference on Sunday in Glasgow. Apparently the assembled dignitaries, after working hard all day on strategies to compel the U.S. and Western Europe to commit economic suicide and hand global financial hegemony to China on a silver platter, will be in the mood to belt out a rousing hymn about saving Gaia. The pious Presbyterians were happy to oblige.

“The Climate is Changing” is helpfully written to a tune that many of the conference participants will find familiar: “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise,” an enduringly popular nineteenth-century hymn that begins: “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible, hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.”

Now, this is the twenty-first century, and all that patriarchal business about a wise, omnipotent, glorious God is as dated as porkpie hats and the notion that there are only two genders. “The Climate is Changing,” which was written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, co-pastor with her husband, Bruce, of First Presbyterian Union Church in Oswego, New York, is much more up-to-date. Here are the first two verses, in all their virtue-signaling pseudo-Christian glory:

The climate is changing! Creation cries out!

Your people face flooding and fire and drought.
We see the great heat waves and storms at their worst.
We pray for the poor, Lord — for they suffer first.

We pray for the animals here in our midst
who cannot defend their own right to exist.
We pray for the mountains and forests and seas
that bear the harsh footprint of our human greed.

You get the idea. The lyrics do make a cursory nod toward the old religion: the fifth (yes) verse begins by reminding God: “You love this good Earth, and you sent us your Son!” If you don’t recall Jesus saying much about the necessity to reduce greenhouse emissions, but only in the West while giving China a free hand to pollute as much as it wants while turning the world into its personal economic fiefdom, Bruce Gillette, the husband of the holy hymnographer, might want to have a few words with you. “We all need to be doing more to counter the crisis ASAP,” said Bruce, who is also (surprise!) vice-moderator of Presbyterians for Earth Care. “Prayer (spoken and sung) needs to be the basis for Christian action. We hope this new hymn helps churches in their worship and action.”

Related:Leftists’ ‘Tolerance’ and ‘Inclusiveness’ Excludes Christians

It probably will, because the Gillettes are by no means alone in pretending that climate change, which rests upon numerous unproven and hysterical assumptions, is a foremost Gospel imperative. Just as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was bequeathing “The Climate is Changing” to the world, Old Joe Biden was over in Rome chatting up Pope Francis; according to the White House, Old Joe “lauded Pope Francis’ leadership in fighting the climate crisis.” And with good reason: on Thursday, the Pontiff recorded a message for the BBC in which he made it clear that he wasn’t going to brook any dissent from his climate change agenda on the basis of the idea that maybe it’s not such a good idea, much less a Gospel imperative, to impoverish and weaken one’s own nation in favor of a predatory foe. “We can confront these crises by retreating into isolationism, protectionism and exploitation,” said the woke Popescold, “or we can see in them a real chance for change.”

Nor is Pope Francis by any means alone. Top-level clergy of virtually all Christian denominations, as well as numerous non-Christian religious leaders, have agreed that tackling climate change is our foremost duty in this age. And now we can sit around the campfire, roast up some marshmallows, and sing about it as well, thanks to Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. We need a few more hymns for our new religion, though. Maybe Gillette can give us “O Little Town of Climate Change” next, or “What A Friend We Have In Gaia.” In the meantime, maybe if we sing enough choruses of “The Climate is Changing” with sufficient heartfelt sincerity, Gaia will turn away Her wrath and once again smile upon us and accept our offerings.

But, of course, then we have all that systemic racism to atone for. Whatever form the Left’s new religion eventually takes, it is certain to be exhausting.

MIKE GENDRON, EX-CATHOLIC: Remembering the Reformation

Remembering the Reformation

FROM PROCLAIMINGTHEGOSPEL.ORG

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

This month we celebrate the 504th anniversary of the historic Reformation and all it accomplished! Our sovereign Lord began setting many captives free from the bondage of religious deception with the truth of His Word. It was the Word of God preached by men of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, that produced children of God, all for the glory of God.
Why Was the Reformation Necessary?
As the Reformers were abiding in God's Word, they realized the Roman Catholic Church was under divine condemnation for preaching a distorted Gospel (Galatians 1:6-9). Catholicism was (and still is) distorting God's Gospel of grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. They distorted the Gospel by adding requirements for salvation including sacramentsgood workskeeping the lawpurgatory and indulgences. This corruption of the Gospel continues to lead Catholics down the wide road to destruction (Mat. 7:13). As God opened the eyes of the Reformers to see the light of the Gospel and the glory of Christ, they began proclaiming it and calling Catholics to repentance.
Rome's corruption of the Gospel included using its heretical priesthood to continue on an altar Christ's finished work of redemption on a cross. This was an outright rejection of the Lord's victory cry on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30). The Reformers knew from Scripture that Jesus died once, for all sin, for all time and there are no more offerings for sin (Hebrews 10:12, 14, 18). Since the altar was no longer needed, the Reformers replaced it with a pulpit and the Word of God became the central focus of worship.
The Reformation was also necessary because the Catholic Church had drifted into outright apostasy. It had departed from the faith of the apostles to follow doctrines of demons that included forbidding marriage to its clergy (1 Tim. 4:1-3). Catholicism also embraced the first lie of Satan in the garden when the serpent said to Eve, "You surely will not die" if you break God's command. This demonic doctrine continues with the Catholic teaching of "venial" sins, which declares such sins do not cause death, only temporal punishment in purgatory. Catholics need to know that all sins are mortal and the punishment is death (Rom. 6:23). The Catholic Church's apostasy was officially and dogmatically documented at the Council of Trent, with over 100 anathemas that condemn Christians.
What Did the Reformation Accomplish?
The Reformers reestablished the Word of God as the supreme authority for faith. They used the words Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) to declare the Bible is sufficient and the ultimate authority over popes, traditions, and church councils (2 Tim. 3:15-16). As the inspired Word of God, Scripture must be used to test and correct all other authorities.
The Reformers also reestablished the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Head of His Church, which He purchased with His own blood (Eph. 1:22, Acts 20:28). The Reformers rejected the pope as the head of the church. In fact, Martin Luther declared, “We are of the conviction that the papacy is the seat of the true and real Antichrist. I declare that I owe the pope no other obedience than that of Antichrist."
The Reformers also made the Bible available to the people in their own language. They soon discovered they could be pulsaved by reading the Bible unaided by priests and sacraments. The truth was setting them free from religious bondage. This caused the pope to put a stop to this mass exodus by once again putting the Bible on their list of forbidden books
Another accomplishment was the recovery of the most important doctrine of justification, which answers the most important question, "How can a sinner become right with God?" You can hear how many ways the Catholic Church had distorted the biblical teaching of justification here at the eighteen minute mark.
How Can We Remember the Reformation?
As we remember the Reformation this year, let us also remember the 1.3 billion Catholics who are perishing with a misplaced faith. We need to encourage them to do what the apostle Paul did for his salvation (Phil 3:3-9). They need to exchange their apostate religion for a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Please know that we have many resources to help you evangelize those who are perishing.
Catholic Tradition Is Opposed to the Bible
Our most popular Gospel tract for evangelizing Roman Catholics is now in 5 different languages with over 3 million in circulation. As Catholics read through this 16-panel fold-out, they are forced to make a decision. Will they trust Christ and His Word or continue to trust the teachings and traditions of their religion? They will see that it is impossible to believe both because the statements from their Catechism and their New American Standard Bible stand opposed to one another on the doctrines of Jesus and salvation. The Gospel tract also features the two paths to eternity as seen below. Order the tract here.
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Two Globalists Seeking Control
Pope Francis and Joe Biden continue to carry out the globalist agenda to create a one-world religion and one-world government. Their ultimate goal is complete control of the masses through the Great Reset and a digital health and economic identification system. The Vatican now requires a Covid Passport, proving the holder has been vaccinated in order to enter the city state. Meanwhile Joe Biden, speaking as a self-appointed dictator, said, "My message to unvaccinated Americans is this: We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin. And your refusal has cost all of us."
Steve Matthews wrote: "With his words, this treasonous liar managed, in very short order, to declare war, not just on unvaccinated Americans, but to all the constitutionally guaranteed liberties of all Americans. Biden’s arrogant and threatening words are among the most disturbing, unconstitutional, and unchristian utterances made by any American politician ever. It’s that serious." Read more.

Is It Time for the American Church to Grow Up?

BY LINCOLN BROWN

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/culture/lincolnbrown/2021/09/26/is-it-time-for-the-american-church-to-grow-up-n1481436;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Christmas is just around the corner. I know this because Halloween is a month off and around these parts, the Christmas decorations go up after the last trick-or-treater has gone home for the night. The arrival of the season (which wouldn’t surprise me if it starts this Tuesday) will come with the usual protests. Articles will be written about the War on Christmas. Facebook posts will go up about keeping Christ in Christmas, and spleens will be vented over changing school Christmas pageants to “Holiday Pageants.” And yes, we should keep Christ in Christmas. I’m not here to argue that. However, I am here to argue that perhaps for too long, American Christians have been taking their faith for granted.

It probably went under your radar, but the administration of the Putnam County School District in Tennessee announced that teachers and coaches were prohibited from leading their students and teams in prayer. This came on the heels of a letter from the Americans United for Separation of Church and State alleging “prayer and proselytizing” in the schools. This has been going on for years. An atheist group takes issue with something, threatens the school district, which caves to avoid a lawsuit.

In response, following a recent football game between Upperman and Stone Memorial high schools, the players led everyone in prayer. One person wrote on Facebook, “Satan’s power was defeated tonight, as the threat of a legal action to forbid prayer after the game was overwhelmed by player-led prayer supported by parents and fans in solidarity on Overall Field. God bless the Baxter and Stone players for their faith and courage.” While the incident makes for a good news story, I’m not sure that it constitutes a victory over Satan.

Chances are, especially in light of the church-state COVID clashes in the U.S. and in particular Canada, things like this will become more commonplace.  And perhaps, American Christians could use a little tempering with fire.

I used to volunteer for a non-profit that supported persecuted Christians. As part of my volunteer duties, I would visit churches and deliver presentations about persecution and hand out information. The idea was to raise awareness about the problem among U.S. Christians who are often blissfully or even willfully unaware of it. At one church, my presentation replaced the Sunday sermon. The service opened with the usual 30-minute worship concert of current and recurrent CCM songs. The young woman in front of me jumped up as soon as the music started and contorted herself into what I guess was a posture of praise: bent sideways at the waist, head cocked the other way, and one hand thrust into the air. Much to my amazement, she managed to stay that way for the entire time. When it was my turn to speak, she glared at me like I was offering adult magazines and bong hits. To be fair, while most of the congregation remained stoic, they did clean me out of my literature and several signed up as volunteers. But the young lady disappeared as soon as church was over after giving me one last withering look. Perhaps I ruined what she expected to be another good day at church. At another church, people cried copiously during my presentation but blew me off after the service to eat a donut and have a cup of coffee. Or make a break for the local breakfast buffet.

I have often encountered a nervous avoidance among Christians when it comes to the subject of persecution. I suppose that may be because stories of persecution are at odds with the moral-therapeutic deism that has replaced theology in so many places. The idea runs counter that the notion of a “good, good father” who has a plan for your life. It isn’t the easy Christianity of “doing life together,” “boyfriend Jesus,” and the latest hits from your local Christian radio station. It isn’t a sermon that could just as easily be a motivational speech for an MLM.

But as it turns out, Christians in other parts of the world carry actual burdens. Serious ones.

While I was a volunteer I made the acquaintance of Sarah Liu, a Chinese Christian who was the editor of an underground newspaper. She was arrested one night in her pajamas, which was not unusual for her. But this time, they took her to a secret location. They tied her to a chair and whipped her feet with a hanger and put cigarettes out on her skin. Shackled to a post in a warehouse, she was made to walk in a circle all night. In the morning she realized that she had circled the post so many times that she was walking in a trail of her own blood. She was imprisoned and forced to make Christmas lights to sell in America. Think about that when you are decorating this year. Sarah remains one of the gentlest, sweetest souls and one of the most committed believers I have ever met.

Or consider the 21 Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS on the beach in 2015 for refusing to renounce their faith. One particularly odious discernment blogger said that as members of the Coptic Church, they were not actually Christian. Well, let’s see: They were given the option of denying Christ or having their heads cut off. They chose to die. They sound like committed Christians to me, despite them not adhering to the blogger’s preferred version of faith. How many of us would offer our necks if given a similar choice?

I could keep you here all day with stories of Christians who have been shot, scalped, burned alive, sold into slavery, and mutilated in persecuting countries. Or even shoved into ovens to be cooked alive. In some countries, people are not even considered mature Christians until they have been arrested at least once.

When James and John asked Jesus if they could sit at his right and left in the coming kingdom, Jesus said, “You don’t know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” The members of the persecuted church are drinking deep.

Are we in the USA guilty of idolatry? In the contemporary church, people equate idolatry with putting other things before God like video games, NASCAR, a home business, or a favorite sports team. But as it was originally understood in the Ancient Near East, idolatry was the practice of creating a physical idol and coaxing the god of your choice to literally come down and live in it. The god would then be pampered with the expectation that the worshipper’s needs and demands would be met. Have we tried to make God in our own image? Have we created a system that we expect God to inhabit with the expectation of Him serving us, rather than us serving him? Have we made an idol out of church?

Beyond the name-it-and-claim-it prosperity gospel heresy, one wonders what is becoming of the church. Have worship and sacrifice been replaced with vision-casting and worship teams? Is the sacred space nothing more than a concert venue? Has the biblical instruction of our children been usurped by pizza and games? And what place have we made for God in all of this?

I suspect that the American Church has made itself into an idol that it expects God to inhabit. Back when I was going to seminary online, I was deep into the Christian lifestyle and was listening to a famous national Christian radio network. During a pledge drive, a woman called in and gushed about how the radio station had changed her husband’s life and that now he was saved because of the jocks and their playlist. Apparently, Jesus had nothing to do with that. A church I used to attend now tosses beachballs into the congregation and sings Disney and country music songs in an effort to be attractional and get the numbers. This, as the big-business church model, is burning down. Even as empires like Hillsong are starting to crack.

Perhaps American Christians have come to see faith as a moneymaker in some cases. I used to work in a Christian bookstore and we sold boxed Bible studies by a very famous Christian celebrity. The cost for one of her Bible studies was $199 at the time. You got a box with a leader’s guide, a participant guide, and a DVD. It probably cost around $10 to make. $199 to learn more about a man who was happy to share his wisdom for free.

For others, it may be convenient. A place where people can feel warm and fuzzy, and cuddle with a God who will give them everything they ask for. A place where they can talk about their beards or tattoos and be secure in their salvation and the superiority of their biblical knowledge and doctrine. American Christians have never been made to even count the cost, let alone pay it. Ask for a Dietrich Bonhoeffer and you may well find a money changer. As Sarah Liu once said in a speech, “Everyone wants Jesus, but no one wants the cross.”

The time may be coming for the church in America to grow up.

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