Tag: Mennonite

“CHRIST AT THE CHECKPOINT”: UNITED METHODIST CHURCH UNDER FIRE FOR ANTI-SEMITISM, & ENABLING JIHAD TERROR~OTHER APOSTATE CHURCHES INVOLVED TOO

 https://yeshuaarmy.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/27-02-2012-115445.jpg

United Methodist Church under fire for anti-Semitism — and also enables jihad terror

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/11/united-methodist-church-under-fire-for-anti-semitism-and-also-enables-jihad-terror; 

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

The political goal of the “Christ at the Checkpoint Conference” in
Oklahoma was to “flip American Christian support for Israel to the
Palestinians.”

 In the wake of the synagogue shooting last week in
Pittsburgh, activists from several mainline Protestant churches came
under fire for promoting a culture of anti-Semitism in their churches,
especially the United Methodist Church.

The worst offenders are usually activists affiliated with the
Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the United Church of Christ (UCC).
But this year, the activists and officials from the United Methodist
Church took on a leading role by hosting the controversial “Christ at
the Checkpoint Conference” in Oklahoma.

Anti-semitism in the churches is longstanding, and while most of
these churches are quick to claim that they’re apolitical, they are, in
fact, very political. They condemn Israel and embrace the jihadist
Palestinian agenda, claiming that the Palestinians are an oppressed
group. They apparently know nothing of history and nothing of the
jihadist agenda to obliterate Israel, as is articulated in the PLO,
Hamas and Fatah charters. Or they pretend not to know in the face of
charges of anti-Semitism.
The Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Oklahoma is an offshoot of Christ at the Checkpoint Conference in Bethlehem. Some details of the latter’s cringeworthy record:

 In late 2010, Israeli tour guide Kay Wilson and her visiting Christian friend, Kristine Luken, were attacked by
Palestinian terrorists outside Jerusalem. Luken was killed and Wilson
suffered severe injuries. Wilson approached one of the CATC speakers
about speaking at the 2012 convocation, but was told that her story was
“not what the Lord wants”, a phrase that is sadly abused by some
Christian leaders to exercise control — akin to a kind of spiritual or
psychological extortion — over the follower. Wilson then expressed
dismay about “how any Israeli…. Messianic believer, could justify
participating in a conference that has chosen to associate itself with
theologians advocating Replacement Theology and Palestinian officials
with clear ties to recognized terrorist organizations.” She further
stated, “For any self-respecting person, and especially for Israelis
such as myself, the endorsement of terror by association, at a Christian
conference, is obscene.”

Obscene it is. Such churches not only embrace anti-Semitism, but also
empower jihad terror. Recently, the Palestinian Archbishop Atallah Hanna
called evangelical Christians “enemies of the Christian values” for
supporting Israel, and claimed that they “do not belong to Christianity
at all.”

“United Methodist Church under fire for anti-Semitism,” JNS News, November 1, 2018:

The political goal of the “Christ at the Checkpoint
Conference” in Oklahoma was to flip American Christian support for
Israel to the Palestinians.
In the wake of the synagogue shooting last week in Pittsburgh,
activists from several mainline Protestant churches came under fire for
promoting a culture of anti-Semitism in their churches, especially the
United Methodist Church.
The worst offenders are usually activists affiliated with the
Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the United Church of Christ (UCC).
But this year, the activists and officials from the United Methodist
Church took on a leading role by hosting the controversial “Christ at
the Checkpoint Conference” in Oklahoma.
The political goal of the conference was to flip American Christian
support for Israel to the Palestinians.

 The conference soon took on a
more sinister tone.

At one point, a speaker put up a slide of U.S. President Donald Trump
surrounded by three of his advisers. The speaker asked the audience
what was wrong with the picture.
Audience members answered that the problem was that they were Jews,
apparently angry that the American president had Jewish advisors
involved in the effort to achieve a peace deal.
Dexter Van Zile, a Christian scholar for CAMERA, reported about the
conference. He told JNS: “At the time, when the audience was complaining
about Jews in the Trump administration, I was disgusted at their
flagrant anti-Semitism. But now, after hearing that the Pittsburgh
gunman said the American government was ‘infested’ with Jews, I feel
more than shaken by how it echoes what I heard at the
Methodist-organized conference.”
“The notions of Jewish cruelty, corruption and infestation—those were
all themes at the conference,” said Van Zile. “It’s now, literally,
lethal rhetoric.”
The United Methodist Church’s struggle with anti-Semitism goes back several years…

____________________________________________________________

LET’S NOT FORGET THE MENNONITES & 
BRETHREN IN CHRIST:

http://mennoworld.org/2016/03/28/news/christ-at-the-checkpoint-conference-emphasizes-peace/ 
______________________________________________________
AND THE CONTINUATIONISTS:

 
“DR.” MICHAEL BROWN, CHARISMATIC-PENTECOSTAL-NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION PROPONENT, SUPPORTS ANTI-SEMITISM
 SEE THESE DAMNING REVIEWS:

LANCASTER, PA. CONFERENCE LEAVES MENNONITE CHURCH USA OVER CONCERNS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

 Mennonite World Conference
LANCASTER, PA. CONFERENCE LEAVES MENNONITE CHURCH USA OVER CONCERNS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
 LANCASTER, Pa. — The largest conference of Mennonite Church USA has parted 
ways with the denomination over concerns that include increasing acceptance of 
practicing homosexuals in leadership positions.

The Lancaster Mennonite Conference, which consists of over 170 congregations, officially left the Mennonite Church USA on Jan. 1
following a vote two years ago to no longer affiliate with the group.
“[D]ifferences over whether LMC can remain in this affiliation have
reached a breaking point,” Chairman Keith Weaver wrote to the
Constituency Leaders Council in 2014, according to the Mennonite World
Review.
He told that outlet that, at that time, the Conference Board of
Bishops wanted to reevaluate its relationship with the denomination in
light of concerning developments, such as the licensure of a lesbian
woman by the Mountain States Conference, and the decision by Eastern
Mennonite University to review—and ultimately change—its policy
prohibiting practicing homosexuals from working at the institution. Read
reports here and here.

150 Mennonite leaders had also signed a letter supporting the allowance of members to be in same-sex relationships.
Listening meetings were consequently held about the matter, and over
700 attendees submitted responses surrounding the question of whether or
not to end the affiliation. Church polity, vision and governance were
also stated reasons for the proposed departure.
In November 2015, it was announced that 82 percent of the leaders of the Conference had voted to leave Mennonite Church USA.

“[This] announcement will likely be received in very different ways
by leaders and congregations of Lancaster Mennonite Conference and
across the denomination. Leaders were encouraged to interact with others
in loving and respectful ways and to pray for the Lord’s leading in the
life of [the Lancaster Mennonite Conference] in the days ahead,”
Conference leadership said in a statement.
The separation did not take effect until Jan. 1, 2018.
“We are disappointed that Lancaster Mennonite Conference made the
decision to leave MC USA, because it is painful to separate from part of
our body in Christ. We will miss our mutual sharing of valuable gifts
and perspectives, and lament our diminished capacity for fellowship
across difference,” Ervin Stutzman, executive director of Mennonite
Church USA, said in a statement on Friday.
“The official separation does not mean that all of our relationships
with Lancaster Conference will end,” he added. “Members of the
conference will continue to participate in some MC USA program agencies
such as Everence and MHS Alliance. And there are many other ways that
members will cross paths in the coming years, particularly in
inter-Mennonite programs such as Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite
Disaster Service, and Mennonite Economic Development Associates.”
As previously reported,
in 2014, Hartville Mennonite Church in Lake, Ohio likewise decided to
leave Mennonite Church USA over concerns about homosexuality.
“We felt that Mennonite Church USA and [our church] were going in
different directions concerning scriptural authority and holiness,” Ross
Miller, pastor of the church, told Mennonite World Review.
According to the membership guidelines
of Mennonite Church USA, the denomination holds that homosexuality is a
sin and that marriage is defined as the union of a man and a woman.
Pastors are also prohibited from officiating same-sex ceremonies.

“We hold the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995) to
be the teaching position of Mennonite Church USA. ‘We believe that God
intends marriage to be a covenant between one man and one woman
for life’ (Article 19),” the guidelines read. “We hold the Saskatoon
(1986) and Purdue (1987) statements describing homosexual,  extramarital
and premarital sexual activity as sin to be the teaching position of
Mennonite Church USA.”

JESUS CHRIST SAVED ME FROM 27 YEARS 
OF HOMOSEXUALITY
______________________________________________________
SEE ALSO:
https://themennonite.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Stoltzfus-Merv-0001-282x310.jpg
 Merv Stotzfus, executive minister, Atlantic Coast Conference 
Mennonite Church USA
EXCERPTS:

 Citing the divide over same-sex
relationships, Stoltzfus said most people within MC USA still hold a
traditional view of marriage as between a man and a woman “but there’s
more room and space within MC USA in our polity for this diversity or
disagreement.”

He added there
is a strong belief among the 36 congregations in the Atlantic Coast
Conference that “we need to engage and invite this marginalized group of
people into an opportunity to worship with us and others are not
comfortable with that.”

FIRST LESBIAN MENNONITE LEAD PASTRIX APPOINTED~NEW MEXICO “CHURCH” BECOMES FIRST IN MENNONITE CHURCH USA TO APPOINT OPENLY LESBIAN “LEAD PASTOR”

  LESBIAN “PASTRIX” PERVERTS BIBLE
APOSTATE, UNREPENTANT & PROUD?
CLAIMS: “ENOUGH WITH ‘WOMAN WISDOM'”, NEGATES SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE;
PREACHES ANABAPTIST, UNIVERSALIST, ECUMENICAL INCLUSIVE GOSPEL
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 ERICA LEA’S BLOG:
NEW MEXICO “CHURCH” BECOMES FIRST IN MENNONITE CHURCH USA TO APPOINT OPENLY LESBIAN “LEAD PASTOR”
BY HEATHER CLARK
 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A “church” in New Mexico has become the first in the 
Mennonite Church USA to appoint an open lesbian as “lead pastor.”

Albuquerque Mennonite Church, which affirmed homosexual relationships
a decade ago, made the announcement on Monday that it had chosen Erica
Lea as its new leader.

It remarked that Lea has a “strong call to connect with and serve
people affected by current immigration policies and racial, social and
economic discrimination—as well as a call to provide a beacon and safe
haven for the LGBTQ community.”
“We look forward to finding more ways of articulating and sharing an
Anabaptist faith that can flourish in locally derived expressions of
Jesus’s call to discipleship, peacemaking and justice,” said search
committee member Andrew Clouse. “We think Erica is well-equipped to help
us do this.”

Lea has heretofore mainly led professing Baptist assemblies, but did
serve as an interim pastor for Houston Mennonite Church, Mennonite World
Review reports. She has been at Calvary Baptist Church in Washington,
D.C. for the past three years.
According to the site Sojourners, Lea plans to move to New Mexico to
take the role at Albuquerque Mennonite Church after she “marries” her
female partner in November.
“It’s like the Grand Canyon distance between becoming open and
affirming and actually calling an LGBTQ pastor who is out,” she told the
outlet. “A lot of churches struggle to make that movement. … I want
LGBTQ people and women to be celebrated and encouraged in pastoral and
ministry leadership roles.”

She also asserted to the Mennonite World Review that “it is quite
possible that the Spirit might be calling them (homosexuals and
transgenders) to these types of roles.”

Lea is a graduate of Truett Seminary at Baylor University in Texas,
and also has a background in eco-feminism, which “sees a relationship
between the serious environmental damage done to the earth and the
repression of women.”
While Lea is the first openly lesbian “lead pastor” to be appointed
by a Mennonite Church USA congregation, in 2014, the Mountain States
Conference approved the ministerial license
of Theda Good, a Colorado woman who identifies as a lesbian, to serve
as as pastor of nurture and fellowship at First Mennonite Church of
Denver.
As previously reported,
the development prompted a Mennonite Church in Ohio to leave the
denomination in part due to concerns over the lack of discipline against
those who engage in homosexual behavior.
“We felt that Mennonite Church USA and [our church] were going in
different directions concerning scriptural authority and holiness,” Ross
Miller, pastor of Hartville Mennonite Church in Lake, told reporters.
“We felt there needed to be church discipline, and there hasn’t
been,” he said, referencing disappointment that the Ohio Conference
failed to pass a resolution urging the denomination headquarters to
address the Mountain States’ actions, as well as a statement from an
executive board member that he felt was less than satisfactory.
According to 1 Timothy 3, leaders of the Church are to be men and are to be examples of holiness, including in their own homes.
“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant,
sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given
to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a
brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his
children in subjection with all gravity,” it reads. “For if a man know
not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the Church of
God?”

 ______________________________________________________
 LogoTrans
 http://jannaldredgeclanton.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Erica.jpg
Rev. Erica Lea received her bachelor of arts from Texas A&M
University with a major in psychology and a minor in women’s and gender
studies. She received her master of divinity from George W. Truett
Theological Seminary at Baylor University with a concentration in
spiritual formation.

She has continued her studies at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
and currently serves at the Pastoral Resident at Calvary Baptist Church
in Washington, D.C. Previously she served as the interim pastor at
Houston Mennonite Church in Houston, TX, and as a pastoral intern at
Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, TX.

Erica is a member of the Capital Area Anabaptist Network, DC EcoWomen,
Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, Association of Welcoming and
Affirming Baptists, The Alliance of Baptists, Gay Christian Network,
Renovaré Spiritual Formation Covenant Member, The Academy of Preachers,
Mennonite Women USA, and The Young Clergy Women Project.

“At First Blush,” sermon by Rev. Erica Lea at the Christian Feminism Today Gathering
 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 At the Sunday morning worship service of the Christian Feminism Today 
Gathering, Rev. Erica Lea preached a powerful, prophetic sermon titled 
“At First Blush.”
 It was great to get to know Erica at the Gathering and to hear her 
preach for the first time! I was impressed and inspired by her words of 
wisdom.
 Erica received her bachelor of arts degree from Texas A&M 
University with a major in psychology and a minor in women’s and gender 
studies and her master of divinity degree from George W. Truett 
Theological Seminary at Baylor University with a concentration in 
spiritual formation. She has continued her studies at Anabaptist 
Mennonite Biblical Seminary. She has served as pastoral resident at 
Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.D., interim pastor of Houston 
Mennonite Church in Houston, Texas, and as pastoral intern at Lake Shore
 Baptist Church in Waco.

Learn more about Erica through her blog.
 I’m delighted to share with you Erica’s sermon, delivered at the 2016 Christian Feminism Today Gathering worship service.

At First Blush
by Rev. Erica Lea
First, thank you. It really is an honor to have the opportunity to
share my voice today among so many important voices that we have heard
this weekend.
Allow me to start this morning with a confession. When I came here on
Thursday, I wasn’t exactly sure, yet, how I felt about you. I have
known you to be an encouraging and supportive collection of email
addresses and names online. I knew you were eager, particularly, to
welcome more young people. Even so, I honestly wondered if I would see
anyone who looked like me.
Then, I saw Reta, a familiar face from a previous Mennonite event. I
learned more about Deb and her heart for pastoral care. I felt one of
Marg’s famous bear hugs. I attended Alicia’s session about sensitivity
to gender and pronouns. I read Elisabeth’s imaginative poetry. I heard
Jann’s familiar yet new music. I stretched my limits and more with
Lisa’s gentle yogi encouragement. I tasted Becky’s gifts for
hospitality. I prayed with Leslie and her soulful, contemplative
spirituality. I have seen different parts of myself in all of you. I have seen the imago dei, that Divine Image, in all of you.
Our primary passage this morning comes from Wisdom of Solomon chapter 7.
Some scholars believe the intended audience of this book was Jewish
young people in Alexandria, Egypt, who were surrounded by messages that
were contrary to Jewish faith and customs. In context and in essence,
the Wisdom of Solomon was intended to be not only counter-cultural, but a
reminder to the audience of what they already knew deeply about
themselves.
When I conceptualize wisdom, this breath throughout Creation,
I visualize a chubby owl with glasses on, “hooooing” with a long trill
like the owl on Winnie the Pooh. There are many artistic depictions of Wisdom, including some beautiful icons. Perhaps more than visually, I have experienced Wisdom in an auditory way.
When I think of home, I think of my cottage in the forest in central
Texas where I lived during seminary. Not long after I moved in, I
noticed, on occasion, an owl “hooooing” in a particular and
recognizable pattern. I named her Sophia. I only saw her a few times,
but I often heard her. I knew her voice.
In chapter 7:22–26, we see two lists. A friend once described me as
Type A-minus. I can be mellow, but when something needs organizing, I am
cheerfully on it with a chart and a color-coded system. I love it!
These lists are more than a convenient way for the author to throw in
some information. The first list, in particular, in verses 22b–24, is a
poetic device utilizing Jewish mysticism. If you count the
number of attributes of Woman Wisdom in this list, there are twenty-one.
Twenty-one is not just a good number in Black Jack. No, twenty-one is a
multiple of both seven and three. Both seven and three are mystical
symbolic numbers of completeness and perfection.
Another understanding of complete completeness is shalom.
Shalom is more than peace. I got my favorite belt buckle in Jerusalem.
You know you’re Texan when you go to Jerusalem and come home with a belt
buckle as your prized souvenir. This belt buckle made my Mennonite
heart beat wildly—a black and bronze rectangle with Peace, Shalom, and
Salaam written on it—each word flowing into each other word. Like people
flowing into one another.
In the Holy Land, official signs are written in all three
languages—Hebrew, Arabic, and English—reflecting the history and the
residents. If you are an Israeli Jew, you may be fine with only Hebrew.
If you are an Israeli or Palestinian Muslim, you may be fine with only
Arabic. If you are one of the approximately 200,000 American or British
immigrants since 1948, you may be fine with only English. To not include
all three of these languages on the signs, and on my belt buckle, would
certainly be a statement.
This list of twenty-one
attributes for Woman Wisdom—intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, clear,
steadfast, overseeing all, intelligent, and more—come together to give a
more robust and tangible description of Woman Wisdom so that we can
attempt to wrap our heads around Her. If this list were
twenty or twenty-two, it would lose its poetic and mystical power. There
must be twenty-one attributes on the list for the full power and
weight.
As I consider all of the meaningful work and amazingly far
reach of EEWC-CFT, I see us at twenty. What are we missing so that we
can be our full selves, living into full potential, being completely
complete, a model of shalom? Who are we missing? I know some
people are not here this year because they have died, may their memory
be a blessing. Others are not here because they are ill, may they
experience wholeness however possible. Who else are we missing? Later,
when we gather around the Table, consider who is not at the Table with
you. Where are we missing?
It is only after this full list
of twenty-one attributes that Woman Wisdom, the second list, appears,
in verses 25–26, showing all She is capable of:
25 For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure
emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains
entrance into her. 26 For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of goodness.
For those of you keeping score at home, that is: breath, emanation, reflection, mirror, and image.
She must be whole in order to fulfill her potential.
The journey toward shalom and wholeness, both on individual
and collective levels, can be difficult and long. We do not make this
journey alone. Verse 27 says she is one and can do all things. When we
are one, we can do all things together.
If earlier, when we considered the attributes of Woman Wisdom, those
verses echoed Proverbs 31 to you, then you are good company. I
understand Proverbs 31 to be an ode to the women, the community of
women, rather than one individual woman. Proverbs 31 is not a
checklist. It is a wake-up call that wisdom is daily and cannot be done
alone.
Proverbs 31 is, as Kathleen O’Connor writes, “an invitation to search
for wisdom as if for a precious stone, to live committed to the path of
wisdom with the utter loyalty and allegiance of the person setting out
in life with a beloved partner.” We are partners with Woman Wisdom and
we are partners with one another.
Though the journey to shalom and living fully into all we can be is
difficult and long, for some of us more than others, there is
sustenance.
Have you ever played the road trip game? You know, I’m going on a
road trip and I’m bringing ____ and ____. For example, I am Erica Lea
and I’m going on a road trip and I’m bringing eggs and lettuce. I may
go. If Marg were to play, she might say I am Marg Herder and I’m going
on a road trip and I’m bringing juice and ham. She may not go. But if
she said, my name is Marg Herder and I’m going on a road trip and I’m
bringing mustard and ham, she may go. If you don’t get it, ask whoever
you rode with or whoever you will share a van with to the airport. Ya’ll
will have a good time.
God is with us. Sophia is with
us. Woman Wisdom is with us. We are with each other. We can continue to
move forward together on this journey of shalom as we lean on God and
lean on one another.
Verse 29 says, “She is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every
constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be
superior.”
Did ya’ll see the strawberry moon last week? Full moon and summer
solstice came together to show a pinkish moon. It was beautiful. If you
garden, as so many of you have shared that you do, you know the power of
sunlight and photosynthesis to feed plants. Light is energy. Light is
food for growth. Woman Wisdom is superior even to light. As the Inner
Light grows in you, your connection to that power will grow. The light,
this provision, is grace.
Finally, the text says that wisdom will prevail over evil. I
don’t know about you but it is often difficult for me to believe that
wisdom will prevail against internalized homophobia, transphobia,
xenophobia, and racism. It is often difficult to see wisdom prevailing
over injustice and social evils.
We will be most effective
bringing forward justice in our time when we are whole, when we are
whole together, and when we trust in the Light that Woman Wisdom brings.
Kenneth Carter Jr. writes that “wisdom may be defined as a life well
lived, a life that matters . . . wisdom is a way of life that includes
justice, righteousness, humility, compassion, and fairness.”
Today is the one-year anniversary for the Supreme Court
ruling in support of marriage equality. Yay! However, in the past year,
there has been an uptick in hate crimes, including violence, especially
against trans women of color. There has been conservative panic in many
forms, especially so-called religious liberty bills. So many of us felt
like we were truly moving forward, but these anxiety-motivated and
anxiety-producing roadblocks stop us. We must continue to move forward.
Our voice for justice and equality will continue to be heard most
effectively as one unified voice. It may appear that we are
sliding backward from the progress won by decades of work. All progress
meets resistance. We will continue to move forward. Together. Wisdom will prevail over evil.

Rev. Erica Lea & Rev. Leslie Harrison, worship leaders at the Christian Feminism Today Gathering

Rev. Erica Lea & Rev. Leslie Harrison, worship leaders at the Christian Feminism Today Gathering

It is tempting to be discouraged sometimes. It is tempting to look
around now and ask, “Where are the younger generations?” We are here. It
is tempting to say, “I don’t feel like I have Inner Light.” The Inner
Light has you. It is tempting to think, “I’m not enough.” Enough of an
expert or enough outspoken or enough young or enough old or enough . . .
whatever. We are enough with Woman Wisdom. We are enough. Together.
Remember, Wisdom is a spotless mirror and you and I seem only dimly
into a mirror. Let us continue to look into the mirror together. Amen.
Rev. Erica Lea’s sermon, “At First Blush,” originally published in Christian Feminism Today. Reposted with permission.
_____________________________________________________

 “THE RAINBOW CHRIST PRAYER”
AUTHORED BY “QUEER” PASTORS

JOHN PIPER “REFORMED” NEO-EVANGELICAL PREACHER BECOMES DE FACTO GNOSTIC PACIFIST~ADVOCATES FOR CHRISTIANS TO BE MARTYRS IN HIS “SUICIDE CULT”

WHEN YOU’RE A “REFORMED” CALVINIST (OR TRY TO BE), YOU HAVE WISDOM THAT OTHERS DON’T

FROM: http://www.discerningtheworld.com/2014/02/27/calvinism-greatest-god-sent-delusion-time/

The ultimate Calvinistic paradox 

(hidden in classical Roman Catholic Church Mystagogy)

How do you reconcile the paradox of a loving God who wants all people to be saved, because He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but sovereignly chose not to save the majority of people, because it is his good pleasure to send them to hell? You don’t, because it is a mystery hidden in the secret counsel of God.
By the by, this infamous and mysterious paradox is one of the shameless seeds of unrighteousness that has come from the Roman Catholic Church, and very quickly found a niche in Reformed Theology in the writings of John Calvin..

Famous Preacher Becomes De facto Pacifist! – Don Boys, Ph.D.

THE PIETIST MINDSET
JOHN PIPER BASHES THE SELF PROTECTION RIGHTS 
OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT; STATIST PRESUPPOSITIONS REVEALED, CONFIRMING HIS LONG DRIFT TOWARDS CATHOLICISM, CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM & SOCIAL JUSTICE 
“Reverend Piper’s article is about un-Godly Christian pacifism where the soul-saving words of Jesus Christ have been perverted into suicidal agitprop which enables the triumph of evil.” (BY RONALD R. CHERRY)




Acts 7:22-24-“And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. 

And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 



And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian”







SEE: http://the-trumpet-online.com/famous-preacher-becomes-de-facto-pacifist-don-boys-ph-d/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
JOHN PIPER:
SELF DEFENSE “CONTRARY TO OUR MORAL SENTIMENTS”, THE YARDSTICK OF CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOR? WE DON’T THINK SO
 John Piper is a well-respected, almost revered, preacher especially in Reformed groups; but recently he ran off the rails resulting in a minor train wreck. He discussed “Guns and Martyrdom” using the 1956 killing of five dedicated missionaries deep in the Amazon rain forest of Ecuador as basis for his blog. There is no doubt that that Ecuadorian event had a major impact on the world. The missionaries had guns yet only shot into the air not at the savages who were throwing deadly spears. All five men died in the piranha and crocodile infested Curaray River as it carried their innocent blood downstream into the jungle.
Dr. Piper reasons that the young men knew they were ready for Heaven but the savages were not so they basically committed suicide rather than take lives. But John is assuming that what the brave men did was the right thing to do; moreover that it was precedent-setting for all Christians to follow. That is two major leaps of logic.
Now I must add that there is no doubt God used that event to impress many hundreds of Christian workers to commit to missions. One of the widows and a sister of one of the men even went back to that heathen tribe and lived among them. Many in the tribe trusted Christ and two of the killers baptized the child of one of the missionaries in the river where the father died! After the son’s training, he ministered to the tribe who killed his father.
Their deaths impacted my life as a college student. And maybe what they did was God’s will; however, there is another side to this issue. Had the missionaries protected themselves and served another 30 years they might have reached multitudes more for Christ.
Whatever was “right” in that tragedy, it is no precedent for us today. We don’t decide “right” by human experiences. Lifetime principles are decided by the Bible.
Piper concluded that if someone breaks into his house the thief is “probably not ready for Heaven” so John would not use a gun to protect himself and his family! He ended his blog with, “I hope you don’t use your economic stimulus check to buy a gun.” No doubt he is sincere but he is also senile! His explanation doesn’t explain his position.
The threat of being killed will deter many criminals. Criminals gravitate to “No gun Zones” and our homes should not be such. If a criminal is “not ready for Heaven” he had better not be found in our home. Piper is a Calvinist so why is there a problem shooting an intruder “not ready for Heaven?” I thought the elect were going to Heaven whether they wanted to or not.
Moreover, if you have children ten or twelve years old, can you be sure they are “ready for Heaven”? By not shooting the criminal, he may rape and shoot your children who “are not ready for Heaven”! You have sent your own child to Hell by such vapid thinking.

Piper obviously has placed the possible salvation of a rapist at a higher premium over everything, even the lives of family members. Therefore, to be consistent, he should demand the state do the same. No villain, no serial killer, or terrorist should be executed. That means anarchy. God commands government to execute criminals without regard for their souls. After all, society is at risk.
He said, “No, I am not a pacifist. I am not a pacifist principally, and I’m not a pacifist actively.” He believes hunting is permissible and cops should use billy clubs and guns to capture or kill bad guys. He believes in the military to counter aggression but he is confused as to personal protection. A homeowner should not kill an intruder; however the state can kill with impunity. He has fallen into the trap that many shallow thinkers have fallen into: the state can be trusted but individuals cannot be. He is really saying, “The state is the final authority. I bow to the state and submit to it.”
When asked if he would use a gun to protect his daughter, he answered, “probably.” Probably! John, your daughter and wife are going to be raped, maybe killed! Probably! When you took a wife you accepted responsibility to pamper, provide, and protect her.
He then asked whether he should shoot the bad guy in the chest, head, or leg. Or throw the gun at the bad guy. He opined, “And I believe that fathers should protect their children, even using force. But if they can avoid killing somebody, of course they should avoid killing somebody. And having a gun is a good way not to avoid killing somebody.” That is the epitome of fuzzy thinking.
Since each Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it is unwise to value the life of a law breaker over one’s own life for the dubious prospect of the thief trusting Christ in the future. The odds are unlikely since most people choose to not trust Him. That means the practical pacifist sacrificed the life of his family and his own life without accomplishing anything other than feeding the morticians or maybe purchasing them a new hearse. It also may mean that the killer will kill others who “are not ready for Heaven.” Moreover, there is no guarantee that the criminal will get saved after the pacifist has spared his life at the expense of his own!
Piper said, “We don’t need guns in our houses.” He is wrong. It is irresponsible not to have a gun. A gun is like a parachute: if you don’t have one when needed, you won’t need it again. Moreover, I would rather have a parachute and not need it than not have one when I need it. Same with a gun.
He finally said, “Those who live by the gun will die by the gun.” But those who permit the bad guys to have guns and refuse to arm themselves may die by the gun carried by the thief or rapist who can’t even spell pacifist. But they can fire a gun!
Although Jesus tells his followers in Luke 22:36 to go buy a sword, Piper argues that Jesus did not intend for his apostles to have swords in order to use them to “violently defend against persecution.” Maybe they intended to use the swords to cut their meat, to open envelopes, and to trim their nails!
Piper and those like him can choose whatever they please but they must give account for their actions. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord and I will protect them with the help of two good friends: Smith and Wesson.
(Boys’ new book, The God Haters was published by Barbwire Books; to get your copy of The God Haters click here . An eBook edition is also available.)
(Dr. Don Boys is a former member of the Indiana House of Representatives; ran a large Christian school in Indianapolis, wrote columns for USA Today for eight years; authored 15 books and hundreds of columns and articles for Internet and print media publications; defended his beliefs on hundreds of talk shows. These columns go to newspapers, magazines, television, and radio stations and may be used without change from title through the end tag. His web sites are www.cstnews.com andwww.Muslimfact.com and www.thegodhaters.com. Contact Don for an interview or talk show.)
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BEWARE OF GNOSTICISM
HAS PIPER CHANGED HIS MIND AGAIN BASED ON NEWLY DISCOVERED WISDOM COMING OUT OF HIS OWN MIND, RATHER THAN THE BIBLE?
SEE SOME OF WHAT HE HAS SAID IN THE PAST:
QUOTES FROM: 
To let someone murder when it is in your power to stop them is completely contrary to our moral sentiments. The problem is not that Jesus appears to be telling us to lie down and let evil overtake us. I don’t think that Jesus is telling us never to respond to evil with force (such as in self-defense) or always to literally turn the other cheek when we are slapped. While it is sometimes appropriate even for individuals to use self-defense, it is never appropriate for individuals to seek to punish others.
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John Piper on Guns: 

Suicidal, Arminian, Pacifist, and Statist

SEE: http://faithandheritage.com/2013/02/john-piper-on-guns-suicidal-arminian-pacifist-and-statist/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
A video of John Piper’s opinions on gun ownership and gun control is making its rounds online.
His statements are fraught with manifold errors, all of which deserve disentanglement:
1. Piper follows the modern evangelical praise for Jim Eliot and his comrades who gained “End of the Spear” fame through their so-called martyrdom at the hands, and spears, of savages. I am not one to derogate the deaths of those men, to denigrate the grief and suffering endured by their families, or to downplay the salvation of the tribe following their deaths – but it is simply wrong to praise them. Their deaths were instances of sinful suicide, improperly valuing the natives’ salvation and improperly subordinating their family’s (and their own) well-being. The tribe’s salvation was another instance of God’s providentially sifting good out of evil, not of His utilizing an instrument characteristically productive of salvation.
Probably, Piper would likewise mimic modern evangelicals in their comparison of the death of Eliot and his men to the crucifixion of our Savior, seeing the latter as providing moral justification for the former. If Jesus underwent the worst sufferings for the sake of the vilest sinners (not only those who directly slew Him, but even the “worst of sinners” in different times and places), then shouldn’t we do the same for our enemies in need of the gospel? Shouldn’t we likewise accept persecution and pray to the Father, “Forgive them; for they know not what they do”?
But this is specious moral reasoning. The mission of Christ was very specific and for an immense moral objective: the glorification of God in the salvation of the elect. Taking away the sin of the world is a moral end which justifies a greater degree of endured violence than lesser moral ends, such as the contingent, uncertain salvation of a single intruder. While acting for the salvation of others is a worthy and noble purpose, it is not the same purpose as procuring the salvation of the church, and therefore fewer means are morally permissible in fulfilling that purpose. Jesus’s suicide (if it can properly be called that) was morally justified by the solemnity and loftiness of His moral objective, but the same cannot necessarily be said of just any suicide done for the purpose of a particular person’s salvation. The value of preserving one’s own is a high end that frankly trumps the concern we ought to have for the salvation of a violent, albeit unbelieving, interloper.
2. Piper’s intolerably high concern for human salvation gives him a false view not merely on the practical-ethical concern of violently resisting violence, but also on the doctrinal-theological topic of salvation itself: in particular, the error of Arminianism. The Arminian view of salvation includes the disposition of God to universally redeem all of humanity, which disposition is constrained by a logically necessary restriction on God’s power, namely, the inability of God to move the human will. While a disposition in God to universally redeem all of humanity is within the stream of Reformed orthodoxy – though many Calvinists reject it outright – all Calvinists understand God’s intention in salvation to be “constrained,” not by any restriction of power, but by a free concern for His own glory. God wishes to glorify Himself in the gracious salvation of the elect and the just damnation of the reprobate; thus He decrees for both to occur. But in Arminianism, God is understood to have a predominant disposition to save humanity, that is, a disposition to save humanity all-things-considered (whereas the few Calvinists who believe in a universal-salvific love within God understand it as all-other-things-being-equal). This predominant salvific disposition in God entails that He would be unwilling to foreordain the just damnation of any sinner, even if He were capable of doing so. Hence on Arminianism, God is characterized by a supreme, primal concern for human salvation, deeming it an incommensurable good, and subordinating any concern He might have for the display of His justice. Arminianism is thus humanistic, placing a value upon human well-being far beyond moral boundaries.
This view of God is manifested in, or at the very least implied by, Piper’s idolatrously high concern for the salvation of violent attackers. He has no use for deadly violence, whether deterrent or retributive, insofar as it is used against unbelievers – and thus he shows himself to value human salvation more than any possible purpose for deadly violence! Capital punishment, even for the most heinous of crimes, is off-limits. All war, even for the justest of reasons, is off-limits. Defending his wife and daughters from the most monstrous of rapist-murderers is off-limits.  Can a more dangerous connection between aberrant theology and distorted ethics be found? But if he consistently accepts a Reformed view of the divine will and the divine justice, not seeing God’s own creation, providence, and justice as motivated by a paramount concern for human salvation, then his impious premium placed upon human salvation will abate until reaching permissible proportions. As it stands now, Piper might profess to value the glory of God over human salvation,1 but he clearly does not value any demonstration of just violence – a central means by which God is temporally and eternally glorified – over human salvation in any circumstance. This is practical Arminianism. Anyone who values his own family’s safety below the salvation of a violent intruder values human salvation too highly and, ironically, “is worse than an infidel.”
3. Piper claims not to be a pacifist, since he opposes only deadly violence, not all violence entirely. But such an idea is frankly absurd, as any permission of just violence must, to be consistent, permit some degree of violence to the death. Imagine Piper’s dream world, where the righteous do not utilize lethal violence, but only sufficient violence to achieve their objectives. Armed men come to arrest a convicted (and unbelieving) thief to take him to trial, and the thief resists. Should the men then inform him, “If you resist enough, not to worry, we won’t kill you”? Such a principle would constitute unbarred license for wicked men to overtake all of society! Should we expect God’s infinitely just and wise design of human society to include such an absurdity? Or should we instead concede that deadly violence is not sinful in every conceivable circumstance, and that deadly violence must be permissible if any violence is at all? Piper’s argumentation is implicitly pacifist, his protestations notwithstanding.
4. Near the end of his answer (around 4:15), Piper makes a rather sensible statement, arguing that we should not kill an attacker if we can avoid it. I agree with this statement, but its danger lies in what is unrevealed. First, he neglects to mention what his principled position is: specifically, that we can always avoid killing an attacker. He holds that opting for individual and corporate Christian suicide is morally preferable to slaying a belligerent unbeliever, and he thus denies that any circumstances can morally legitimize such a slaying. When he states that we should not kill people “if we can avoid it,” he is thus positing a useless qualification; he does not intend to convey that there are any situations where we can’t avoid it. For him, killing is always avoidable, so why would he state its avoidability as if it were a contingent condition?
Second, in the heat of the moment, great uncertainty looms over a number of contingencies: what the intruder intends to accomplish, how violent he is willing to be, how much a specific injury would harm him or slow him down, how much time one has to stop him, and so on. Due to these contingencies, and due to the high value of one’s own family, the benefit of the doubt should heavily lean towards the use of deadly violence. If there is an intruder in one’s home, then deadly force is almost certainly morally justified. Contrary to Piper, the immense uncertainty of the situation does not detract from, but precisely establishes, the moral propriety of slaying the interloper. This is why the Mosaic law exonerates a homeowner for killing a thief in the night but not in the day (Exodus 22:2-3), because the uncertainties in the event differ so largely between the two. Piper would have to pretend that fathers are given a huge list of alternatives from which they casually select their course of action, only some of which result in the intruder’s death. But the reality is that killing the invader is usually the safest option; the gravity and rapidity of the situation rarely permit lethal force to be evaluated as “avoidable.”
5. In principle, it is manifestly false that we ought to value salvation so highly as to passively murder our own families. But besides this revolting mistake in principle, Piper also makes a considerable mistake in fact. He has no idea whether a homeowner’s death will cause a greater chance of increased human salvation than otherwise. Certainly, the invader himself will have a greater chance of salvation than if he were killed on the spot, but other humans can be affected by the life or death of the parties involved. For example, it could very well be that, were the homeowner to survive the invasion, he would proceed to lead many other souls to salvation, souls which in God’s providence would not have been converted by a different means. Alternatively, it could be that the invader, if not killed that night, would go on to kill a number of other unconverted people, thus obliterating their chances of salvation.2 Or, to return to the example of Jim Eliot, the savages who speared his men, in witnessing their nonresistance, could have righteously interpreted their foreign religion as promoting weakness, cowardice, and a denial of healthy self-love, rejecting it on those grounds. (Similarly, it might have been that if Eliot’s men defended themselves, the remaining savages would have converted only due to the moral fortitude displayed in the men’s self-defense, and not otherwise.) We simply do not know how aggregate human salvation will be affected by our actions, so Piper is in error when he believes he is promoting human salvation in refusing to defend his family from an interloper.
6. While Piper professes a principled resistance to all deadly violence against unbelievers – again, because human salvation is an incommensurable good – he affirms an inconsistent double standard when applying the principle to the realm of civil government. He states his belief in deadly violence for cops and for the military, as if it were an obvious (and even pseudo-manly) fact that those guys should “take out” the bad guys; but he does not apprehend, or perhaps does not admit, his underlying statist presuppositions. The chief premise undergirding  “liberal” gun control propaganda is the moral superiority of the government over the populace, that the government can responsibly use arms but not civilians. Piper extends this statist sewage by maintaining not merely that the state alone should be equipped with weapons, but further that the state alone can permissibly use deadly violence. Civilians are forbidden in all circumstances from killing others, but not the state. This demands further reflection: if Piper holds that human salvation is such a momentous moral good that deadly violence is always forbidden, and if he simultaneously holds that the police and military are permitted to use deadly violence, then what is the conclusion? If he does not admit to contradiction, then no inference can remain except that the state is god. The disparate moral standards cannot otherwise be explained. The state is permitted to send people to hell, but civilians cannot use deadly force in even the direst of circumstances. “‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay,’ saith the State.”
John Piper’s guidance on gun ownership is not biblical or Reformed; neither is it safe. May his false teachings be discarded, even spurned. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

FOOTNOTES

  1. Undoubtedly he does. Evidence for this would be a book Piper has authored, God’s Passion for His Glory, which is an introduction to and commentary on Jonathan Edwards’s The End for Which God Created the World. Edwards’s answer is, of course, God’s supreme concern for His own glory. That Piper could write such a piece and still retain these insidious practical errors which contradict the doctrine displays both his opaqueness and the abundant mercy of God in restraining errant consistency. 
  2. I of course am not implying that any of these parties’ salvation would be “left to chance” or uncertain from God’s point of view, but it is still important to note that God employs means in salvation, and thus that various counter factuals can be true or false (e.g. “If X were true, then he would not be converted”). Consider, for instance, Matthew 11:23.

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Rebuttal of a Christian Pacifist
BY RONALD R. CHERRY
SEE: http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/cherry/160104; 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and 
research purposes:

Reverend John Piper recently wrote an essay advocating Christian pacifism in the face of mortal threats to life and limb. The following is a detailed rebuttal.


“As chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary, I want to send a different message to our students, and to the readers of Desiring God, than Jerry Falwell, Jr. sent to the students of Liberty University in a campus chapel service on December 4… The apostle Paul called Christians not to avenge ourselves, but to leave it to the wrath of God, and instead to return good for evil.” Reverend John Piper


“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12: 17-21


It is not possible, nor does it depend on us, to live peaceably with Sharia-loving totalitarian Muslim jihadists, or with totalitarian Marxists or Fascists, because totalitarian control of the great mass of people by a small self-serving oligarchy, religious or secular, requires destruction of the people’s God-given unalienable rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. We did not overcome the disgusting evils of Nazi Germany and Soviet Communism by providing them with food and drink because the evil spoken of by the Apostle Paul was of a lesser order, i.e.: social enemies rather than totalitarian mortal enemies. It is not evil to oppose, resist and destroy evil, and will not be confused with repaying evil for evil in the minds of right-minded American Christians.


Reverend Jerry Falwell, Jr. has not called for Christians to arm themselves in order to enact vengeance against Muslim jihadists, or other murderers, rather he has expressed the intuitive, natural, God-given human instinct for self-defense and survival. Reverend John Piper has thus constructed a non-existent straw man, named it Jerry Falwell, Jr., and then attempted to rhetorically take him down.


“And then he [the Apostle Paul] said that God gave the sword (the gun) into the hand of governmental rulers to express that wrath in the pursuit of justice in this world…” Reverend John Piper


“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” Romans 13: 1-4


Unlike the tyrannies of ancient times, and unlike modern Fascist or Marxist Dictatorships or Islamo-Fascist Dictatorships, as stated in our Declaration of Independence, the United States was founded on the God-given, natural, unalienable, equal rights of His created people. The Apostle Paul correctly tells us to obey good government, i.e.: government which secures the people’s natural rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but it is self-evident from both ancient and modern history that many governments become tyrannical and evil as they destroy the people’s God-given human rights, and thus their God-given human dignity and value. Evil tyrannical governments are a terror to good conduct, are not instituted by God – as with Pharaoh of Exodus, and become God’s enemy – not God’s servant. Notice that the Apostle Paul qualified government as an institution which is not a fearful terror to the people, and a Godly servant to the people’s good, thus we are not subject to evil rulers (evil governing authorities) which become an un-Godly fearful terror to their people, and a servant primarily of their own good to the detriment of the people’s good. Resistance to evil tyrannical government will not incur God’s judgment, rather the opposite, evil tyrannical government will incur God’s judgment.


“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God… I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Thomas Jefferson

“Any claim that in a democracy the citizens are the government, and therefore may assume the role of the sword-bearing ruler in Romans 13, is elevating political extrapolation over biblical revelation. When Paul says, ‘[The ruler] does not bear the sword in vain’ (Romans 13:4), he does not mean that Christians citizens should all carry swords so the enemy doesn’t get any bright ideas.” Reverend John Piper


First of all the United States is not a Democracy because our Founding Fathers understood that democratic majorities tend to become tyrannical oppressors of minorities, so our nation was created as a Declarational/Constitutional Republic whose laws (Constitution) secure all the people’s God-given unalienable human rights (Declaration). The American Republic, properly administered, does in fact deliver power to the people who, through their amendable Constitution, are the government. Therefore We the People do assume the role of sword-bearing ruler as in Romans 13, thus bringing just political power into compliance with Biblical revelation.


“The Constitution of most of our states, and of the United States, assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press.” Thomas Jefferson

“The people – the people – are the rightful masters of both congresses, and courts – not to overthrow the constitution, but to overthrow the menwho pervert it.” Abraham Lincoln


It is irrational, and I would add immoral, to assert that our American Government has an obligation to wield the sword in defense of its people, but not the people themselves.


“It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately.” Thomas Jefferson

“The apostle Peter teaches us that Christians will often find themselves in societies where we should expect and accept unjust mistreatment without retaliation… Peter’s aim for Christians as “sojourners and exiles” on the earth is not that we put our hope in the self-protecting rights of the second amendment, but in the revelation of Jesus Christ in glory (1 Peter 1:7, 13;4:13; 5:1). His aim is that we suffer well and show that our treasure is in heaven, not in self-preservation.” Reverend John Piper


“This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” 1 Peter 2:19


Yes, of course, if we suffer injustice and sorrow because of our Christian faith we will be rewarded in Heaven, but that is not the same as passively allowing others, particularly those people comprising an evil government, to physically maim or kill us our families or our neighbors without exercising self-defense for self-preservation. We should rejoice if we must suffer or die as Christians, but we are not commanded by the Apostle Peter that we must suffer and die, or to passively allow the suffering and death of our children or neighbors at the hands of evil people such as murderers, Islamic Jihadists, other terrorists or evil government. Peter’s aim is not that we should suffer well, but that we should suffer well if there is no way out – as always occurs under tyrannical governments devoid of a second amendment. The cure for suffering unjustly, whenever possible, is the overthrow of injustice and the establishment of justice, just as it occurred in our American Revolution.


“Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.” Thomas Jefferson

“Jesus promised that violent hostility will come; and the whole tenor of his counsel was how to handle it with suffering and testimony, not with armed defense… If we teach our students that they should carry guns, and then challenge them, ‘Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here,’ do we really think that when the opportunity to lay down their lives comes, they will do what Jim Elliott and his friends did in Ecuador, and refuse to fire their pistols at their killers, while the spears plunged through their chests? Reverend John Piper


“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony… You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess your souls.” Luke 21: 12-19


Jesus was warning the twelve Apostles in Luke 21 that they would be persecuted and that some would be put to death for speaking His gospel, and that they should make the best of their opportunities to speak, and be prepared for the worst, but Jesus’ last word on the subject follows in Luke 22 where he instructed the Apostles to buy swords for self-defense.


“When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.” Luke 22: 35-36


Reverend Piper expects the Christian students at Liberty University to lay down their lives when the time comes, i.e.: when a Muslim Jihadist or other terrorist starts shooting, stabbing or bombing, rather than exercise self-defense, and he has perverted the Word of God in so doing.


“Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into the sheath.'” John 18: 10-11


“But Jesus said to him [Peter], “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” Matthew 26: 52


Jesus did not admonish Peter to get rid of his sword after cutting off the ear of a solder sent to arrest Jesus. He told Peter to re-sheathe his sword, which means Jesus told Peter to keep his sword for its proper use of self-defense. Peter’s mistake was to use the sword in an act of aggression when Jesus was arrested by the legal authorities; Peter was not using it in self-defense while someone was trying to murder him or Jesus. The legal officers who arrested Jesus carried swords too, but they did not strike Peter or Jesus with their swords, so it was Peter who used the sword in a wrong way, and Jesus called him on it, but Jesus did not tell Peter to get rid of his sword. Those who live by the sword through aggression often die violently, and justly so, but those who use the sword only in self-defense are known as our courageous heroes.


“When Jesus told the apostles to buy a sword, he was not telling them to use it to escape the very thing he promised they should endure to the death… I do not think that Jesus meant in verse 36 that his disciples were to henceforth be an armed band of preachers ready to use violence to defend themselves from persecution.” Reverend John Piper


Jesus knew that after his time on earth was done the Apostles and other followers would be placed in harm’s way, and Jesus did not want them to die at the hands of their enemies prior to an effective spreading the His Gospel. Luke 22, 35-36 is the Christian 2nd amendment. Jesus expected His Apostles to carry swords in self-defense so they could carry out their God-ordained mission. I believe likewise that Jesus does not want us to die at the hands of the enemies of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness today prior to our own God-ordained mission to live and love, labor creatively and to speak the Gospel of Christ in our own day. Jesus was Himself a pacifist, but, despite the assertions of Reverend Piper, Jesus did not order us to be pacifists.


“I think I can say with complete confidence that the identification of Christian security with concealed weapons will cause no one to ask a reason for the hope that is in us. They will know perfectly well where our hope is. It’s in our pocket.” Reverend John Piper


As Christians we have hope in eternal life thanks to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but that is no reason to abandon hope for life, liberty and pursuit of happiness in this world. Our hope for the former is in Jesus, and for the latter in our love of life, family and neighbors, in our creative labor, and in our God-given ability and responsibility to defend these precious gifts from God.


“Christians are freed to rejoice in persecution because our hearts have been so changed that we are more satisfied in the hope of heaven than in the hope of self-defense. This is the root of turning the other cheek and loving the enemy… A natural instinct is to boil this issue down to the question, “Can I shoot my wife’s assailant?… This instinct is understandable. But it seems to me that the New Testament resists this kind of ethical reduction, and does not satisfy our demand for a yes or no on that question.” Reverend John Piper


“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.” Matthew 5: 38-42

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5: 44-45


When Jesus instructed us to not resist an evil person and turn the other cheek, it is clear from the text that He was referencing social conflict, not life-threatening mortal conflict. Some Christians may be called to self-sacrificing pacifism – OK by me for them, but the vast majority of us are called to physically defend our own lives, and the lives of our families and neighbors. As Christians we are obliged to love our enemy, yet at the same time we are obliged to hate and if necessary destroy evil as it confronts us.


“The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.” Proverbs 8:13

“Hate what is evil…” Romans 12:9


It is one thing for a Christian clergyman to advocate self-sacrificing pacifism for himself in the face of mortal danger, but quite another to advocate or force pacifism on others against their natural God-given will to live. No one on Earth has the authority to tolerate, through pacifism, maiming injury or death to their own family or neighbor at the hands of murderers, terrorists, Muslim jihadists or tyrannical government; that is not only cowardly and un-Christian, it is evil. As Christians we are under Divine obligation to provide, not only food and shelter for our families, without which physical harm would ensue, but also to provide safety from violent physical harm. Both the New and Old Testaments provide us with a resounding “yes” to the question posed by Reverend Piper: “Can I shoot my wife’s assailant?”


“But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

“Neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.”Leviticus 19:16


As Christians we are obliged by God to physically and courageously defend our families and thereby eschew the cowardice of un-Godly pacifism. Do not allow the Christian church to be perverted into the pacifist suicide cult advocated by Reverend Piper.


“The early church, as we see her in Acts, expected and endured persecution without armed resistance, but rather with joyful suffering, prayer, and the word of God… In all the dangers Paul faced in the book of Acts, there is not a hint that he ever planned to carry or use a weapon for his defense against his adversaries. He was willing to appeal to the authorities in Philippi (Acts 16:37) and Jerusalem (Acts 22:25). But he never used a weapon to defend himself against persecution.” Reverend John Piper


“When they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.”Acts 5: 40-41


There is more than a hint that the Apostle Paul carried a sword for self-defense since Jesus, setting a precedent, commanded the other twelve Apostles to do so the night before His crucifixion. Unlike Peter who cut off the ear of a solder sent to arrest Jesus, we have no indication that Paul, after his conversion, used his sword unjustly outside of self-defense.


Early Christians were mostly helpless and disarmed subjects of a totalitarian Roman Emperor, not free men and women living in a Constitutional Republic dedicated to securing the people’s life, liberty and creative pursuit of happiness, so we should not use the example of early Christian martyrs as a blueprint for present day America. These early Christians were unable to avoid persecution; they were defenseless serfs born with Roman saddles on their backs, but we are not. The injustice, persecution and tyranny of old Rome, and of Medieval Kings, has been overthrown by our Founding Fathers. As Americans we now have the protection of our Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights by the grace of God.


“All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.” Thomas Jefferson

“This article is about the people whom the Bible calls “refugees and exiles” on earth; namely, Christians. It’s about the fact that our weapons are not material, but spiritual… It is an argument that the overwhelming focus and thrust of the New Testament is that Christians are sent into the world… “as lambs in the midst of wolves”… And that exhorting the lambs to carry concealed weapons with which to shoot the wolves does not advance the counter-cultural, self-sacrificing, soul-saving cause of Christ.” Reverend John Piper


Reverend Piper’s article is about un-Godly Christian pacifism where the soul-saving words of Jesus Christ have been perverted into suicidal agitprop which enables the triumph of evil.


“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

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Are You Opposed to People Owning Guns?

BY JOHN PIPER
SEE:http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/are-you-opposed-to-people-owning-guns; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
The following is an edited transcript of the audio.
Are you opposed to people owning guns?
(This question stems from the last lines of a blog post John Piper wrote titled “Guns and Martyrdom.”)
The context of my comment was that the missionaries in 1956 who were martyred in Ecuador—Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youdarian, and Peter Fleming—were all speared to death, but they had guns. (This came out through research, and I saw it in a documentary.) And they shot their guns in the air as the spears were going through their chests. They could’ve saved their lives by just shooting horizontally, but they didn’t. They shot in the air because they decided earlier that they were ready to go to heaven but these natives were not. So why would they kill them rather than being killed themselves?
In relation to that, our Supreme Court just declared that the Second Amendment right to bear arms includes not just the right of a militia to bear arms, but the right of a person to have a firearm in his house.
And as I contemplated those two events—the missionaries’ decision and new decision of the Supreme Court—I thought, “If somebody enters my house as a thief, he probably is not ready to go to heaven either.” So then I just ended the blog with, “I hope you don’t use your economic stimulus check to buy a gun.”
I’ve never had one. I’ve never owned a firearm. I had a pellet rifle when I was little and I killed squirrels. But I’m sort of ashamed of the way I killed squirrels, because I didn’t eat them or do anything with them. I just felt it was cool, and I don’t think that’s a very wholesome thing.
No, I am not a pacifist. I am not a pacifist principally, and I’m not a pacifist actively.
Somebody wrote and asked me, “Would you protect your daughter if you had a gun?” I wrote back a one-word answer, “Probably,” and what I meant by it was that the circumstances are so unpredictable. What would you do? Shoot the guy in the head? Or shoot him in the chest? How about the leg? Or just throw the gun at him, or hit him over the head with it? Of course I’m going to protect my daughter! But I’m not aiming to kill anybody, especially an intruder who doesn’t know Christ and would go straight to hell, probably. Why would I want to do that if I could avoid it?
So no, I’m not a pacifist. I believe there should be a militia, and I believe in policemen with billy clubs and guns who should take out guys who are killing people. And I believe in a military to protect a land from aggression. And I believe that fathers should protect their children, even using force. But if they can avoid killing somebody, of course they should avoid killing somebody. And having a gun is a good way not to avoid killing somebody.
We don’t need guns in our houses.
And I’m not against hunters. Don’t get on my case about that, saying that Piper doesn’t believe that you can have bows and arrows and rifles, etc.
And I’m not going to get in your face if you have a gun lying in your drawer. I just think it’s not very wise.
Those who live by the gun will die by the gun.
Thumb author john piper

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

A Biblical Response to John Piper’s Denial of the Right to Bear Arms

SEE:http://americanvision.org/12837/a-biblical-response-to-john-pipers-denial-of-the-right-to-bear-arms/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
John Piper has posted a response to Jerry Falwell, Jr’s. call for Christians to arm themselves and his provision for students to carry arms on the Liberty University campus. Piper’s position as outlined is about as close as one can come to individual pacifism without saying so. His response unfortunately ignores much of the context of the New Testament passages it cites, and ignores the Old Testament entirely. As such, I not only view it as unbiblical and disagree with it strongly, I think it would be dangerous and unloving for Christians to accept in society.
At the outset, Piper gives a qualification to illustrate he does not intend to give a comprehensive argument against self-defense in general, but he quickly undermines that qualification, and with each successive point, his position grows progressively absolute. He writes, “My main concern in this article is with the appeal to students that stirs them up to have the mindset: Let’s all get guns and teach them a lesson if they come here.” He wants to narrow the argument: “The issue is not primarily about when and if a Christian may ever use force in self-defense, or the defense of one’s family or friends. There are significant situational ambiguities in the answer to that question.”
While he never addresses these “significant situational ambiguities,” he keeps mentioning them while at the same time making broad, general statements like this: “The concern is the forging of a disposition in Christians to use lethal force, not as policemen or soldiers, but as ordinary Christians in relation to harmful adversaries.” That’s a very broad position which entails that unless they are agents of the civil government, Christians ought not to use lethal force at all. Thus, while he says he wants to leave that issue to the side because of its ambiguities, he immediately posits a policy which answers it in the negatively definitively.
Dr. Piper continues in this vein through the entire piece. And I think he feels his own inconsistency here, for he immediately sets up the contrary position as a straw man: “Does it accord with the New Testament to encourage the attitude that says, ‘I have the power to kill you in my pocket, so don’t mess with me’? My answer is, No.”
Simply put, nobody argues for this. This is not the position of Christian leaders who are trained and informed on the biblical view of defense. Not even Falwell, Jr.’s borderline-intemperate remarks are well represented by such an extreme position. To represent the pro-self-defense position this way is irresponsible on Dr. Piper’s part.
Piper then follows with nine considerations which he believes backs up his position, and one of these is broken into seven parts. I will not take the time to address them all at length, but only those couple that I believe are most central to his position. (Some of my more comprehensive biblical arguments can be found here and elsewhere.)
Piper’s primary argument is that Romans 12:17–13:4 prohibits private Christian individuals from engaging in vengeance. The power of the sword, the text says, it clearly left only to the civil government. And even though in a Republic like ours the people are the government, Paul did not envision “that Christians citizens should all carry swords so the enemy doesn’t get any bright ideas.”
While it is true that Paul (and Jesus, Matthew 5:38­–39) instruct against personal vengeance, and that the power of the sword belongs to civil government, this does not mean that God’s people are absolutely forbidden in any and all circumstances from self-defense of their lives or property, or especially the defense of the lives of loved ones and neighbors?
It is here that Piper’s problem resides most clearly in his understanding and use of Scripture. By abstracting passages like these not only from their historical context, but virtually any context, he absolutizes them to teach that citizens must always be passive before thieves, robbers, rapists, and murderers, and by extension terrorists, invaders, and tyrannical governments.
But is this how we handle Scripture?
No. First, Piper does not deal anywhere with clear Old Testament passages that instruct in both principle and practice that God’s people have the right even of lethal self-defense. Readers ought to be familiar with Exodus 22:2: “If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guiltiness on his account.”
The principle is that when an attacker attacks in a lethal situation, that attacker may legitimately be met with up to lethal force. The “no vengeance” principle is here overridden by exigency. It was for this reason that Jesus told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane to put away his drawn sword. It was not, as Piper alleges, because we are pilgrims who have no right to use swords. It was because Jesus was intimately familiar with the Old Testament principle: the moment you reveal yourself in public as a lethal threat, you make yourself a target for a lethal force defense. This is exactly why Jesus said what He did: “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26:52).
Likewise, when King Ahasuerus granted the captive Jews the right to defend themselves against attackers it included the right “to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil” (Esther 8:11).
The Jews knew that the Scriptures allowed them the right of self-defense already, but they knew spoiling the attacker was across the line. So when the time came, they openly defended themselves: “the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying” (Esther 9:5); but note: “they did not lay their hands on the plunder” (Esther 9:10).
This law and example are clear, and they are not rescinded by New Testament teachings. Indeed, while Christian pietists like Piper may be tempted to say the “No vengeance” principle is a New Testament principle which does away with the Old, the truth is just the opposite. To establish that principle in Romans 12:19–20, Paul quotes two Old Testament passages: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” is quoted directly from Deuteronomy 32:35 (the Old Testament law!). The following statement about loving your enemy is taken directly from Proverbs 25:21–22, which is itself based again upon Old Testament law (Exodus 23:4–5).
So it will not suffice to argue that the “No vengeance” principle is a New Testament improvement upon the Old. That principle is itself an Old Testament principle.
But this means we must realize it is perfectly reconcilable with the rest of the Old Testament law which, despite including the principle against personal vengeance, also make allowances for self-defense and lethal force when appropriate. The two principles are not at odds; they are perfectly in accord as they apply in different situations and contexts.
Thus, it is here where Piper’s view of Scripture seems to be molded and shaped by pietism and an unacceptable neglect of the Old Testament which together would leave Christian families defenseless before violent attackers. This reflects the kind of New Testament-only heresy which creates the pietist-humanist alliance—a capitulation and neglect on the part of Christian leaders which leaves social issues to the whims of Bible-hating liberals who are all too eager to accept the gift. I won’t stand for it. Read the Old Testament basis for your New Testament principles, and then accept that that basis demands the balance of the Old Testament as well except where explicitly replaced.
But Piper is shockingly consistent with his New Testament-only position of defenselessness, and it is here that his argument get most troubling. He argues that one retort to his position will boil down to, “Can I shoot my wife’s assailant.” What should be a no-brainer biblically speaking, Piper calls an “instinct” and offers seven points on his way to answering “No.”
I was shocked and appalled that Piper is so anti-gun and anti-defense that he expects Christians to stand by watching their wife or children being assaulted, raped, or murdered before their very eyes without reacting in defense. He doesn’t like to accept that his answer is “No,” and even says there is no direct answer, but then again immediately makes it clear: “there is no direct dealing with the situation of using lethal force to save family and friend, except in regards to police and military.”
This is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Why would the God of the Old Testament give clear guidelines for self-defense in such cases, but suddenly in the New Testament retract them and give that right only to a handful of government agents who can’t get to the scene any more quickly than an average of 10 minutes? What love is this?
People let’s be clear. Police, for what good they do, do not protect you from criminals, rapists, and murderers. Police more often than not show up late and write reports about what happened before they got there. Your wife’s best hope at this moment is a gun in her husband’s hand. That would be the most Christ-honoring item that could be on the scene.
I am shocked and saddened as I read Piper’s defense of this position. When viewing his wife being raped, he would contemplate within himself: “Our primary aim in life is to show that Christ is more precious than life. So when presented with this threat to my wife or daughter or friend, my heart should incline toward doing good in a way that would accomplish this great aim. There are hundreds of variables in every crisis that might affect how that happens.”
NO. There is only one variable in this situation: the angle at which you shoot the rapist in the head.
There is one principle at play here, and it is another Old Testament principle repeated nine times in the New Testament: love your neighbor as yourself. How is it showing Christ’s love if we allow someone’s to be raped or murdered before us and do nothing? There are no variables here. The love of neighbor compels every person to protect innocent life and to level criminals who have made themselves a lethal threat.
If Paul said that a person who merely doesn’t provide for their family is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith (1 Tim. 5:8), what in the world do you think He would say of a guy who sat contemplating pious platitudes while his family was beaten and slaughtered before him?
Piper continues applying his principle: “I live in the inner city of Minneapolis, and I would personally counsel a Christian not to have a firearm available for such circumstances.”
I would counsel Christians to listen to someone who has not made the love of Christ a meaningless abstraction. Arm yourself Christian. Love your neighbor as yourself.
In closing, Piper hits upon a theme he mentions several times. He argues that we are pilgrims in this world, and that Jesus told us to expect “violent hostility.” We should just remember that we are lambs among wolves, and that our lot is not to shoot the wolves but resign ourselves to be devoured.
Let’s just say that this was part of the truth when the disciples were facing a persecuting government where armed resistance would have been not only futile but would have been met with government force as sedition. But as I have made clear here and here and elsewhere, the “pilgrim” motif of the New Testament was a temporary phenomenon for that generation until the persecuting authorities of the unbelieving Jewish culture were destroyed. The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that the disciples had arrived at the Zion that Abraham sought, and it was not something they should wait to expect until after they died.
Even if it were the case that we are still in a “pilgrim” situation, it would still not invalidate the abiding aspects of the love commanded the Old Testament consistent with self-defense. Christians have the right to self-defense, home-defense, and the defense of relatives and neighbors.
To say otherwise is to neglect too much of the Bible, and indeed that’s what Piper’s article actually does: it neglects the context of what it quotes and neglects the Old Testament entirely. For that reason, and for demanding Christians stand idly by while criminals attack and murder people, even family, and indeed even to check introspectively one’s heart even before calling the police for help (!)—Piper’s position is dangerous to society.
Further, it is indicative of those who categorically reject the Old Testament as informative of the New. It is symptomatic of pietistic (closet) Christianity, and those “two-kingdoms” types who say the Bible has nothing to say to the public square. It’s time to abandon all of those positions and adopt a robust biblical worldview that puts the love of God and love of neighbor into practical action in the ways Scripture commands and illustrates—and that includes the right to bear arms and the right to self-defense.
Like I said, we have not dealt all we could with Piper’s comments, but these hit the core of why his position is unbiblical. It is divorced from the context of Scripture and denies what the Bible teaches regarding something as central and foundational as loving your neighbor. His views are pietistic. Where the Bible speaks to such areas of life, he ignores it, and subverts the principles by transforming them into issues only of abstract love of the individual contemplating him own heart in the prayer closet. I say we let the Bible speak to all of life like it does, and then apply it wherever it speaks. And be well armed and trained in arms while doing so. (And find a seminary or college that will allow you to do so.)
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Wretched Radio with Todd Friel – John Piper, Beth Moore, and Lectio Divina at Passion 2012





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Published on Jul 20, 2015
Find out about this dynamic leadership and ministry training school. Hear from the director of DOVE International and graduates of the school.

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“IMPARTATION” FROM THE GNOSTIC WISE MEN

HOW TO BUILD THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO ACCELERATE THE RETURN OF CHRIST
“THE SEVEN MOUNTAINS MANDATE” OF THE DOMINIONIST 
“NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION” 
CREATED BY C. PETER WAGNER
DOES THE BIBLE MENTION “7 PRIMAL NEEDS”?
Do you see yourself in these confessions?
These inner aches and pains correspond to seven primal God-given needs that all men feel deeply. And in Man Alive, I’ll show you something surprising—God’s plan for harnessing that raw, restless energy you feel to propel you toward the life you were meant to live.
No man should have to settle for half alive. You can experience a powerful life transformed by Christ. I promise you, there is a way. In the book you’re holding, I’ll show you how.
Yours for changed lives,
Patrick Morley
HOPEWELL & DOVE “APOSTOLIC” NETWORK OF CHURCHES SPREAD UNBIBLICAL GNOSTIC WAGNERIAN APOSTASIES OF KINGDOM NOW, PROPHETIC, HEALING, DELIVERANCE & IMPARTATION
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NAR “Apostle C. Peter Wagner teaching its key doctrine of Dominionism (Not the “Great Commission”)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WboWrp-Cwo
________________________________________________________

YET ANOTHER 7:
THE ANCIENT PATHS & FAMILY FOUNDATIONS
EXPOSED
SEE: https://www.familyfoundations.com/about/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Dear Friends,
Family Foundations International is committed to delivering to God His inheritance in the saints. That inheritance is YOU, understanding your identity and living and fulfilling your destiny in Christ!
My own heart was deeply stirred years ago upon reading Gary Smalley and John Trent’s Book, The Blessing. I realized upon reading this book that we in western culture had inadvertently, over time, departed far from many of God’s basic life principles. Many of the biblical foundations of families, including the practice of imparting the blessing from one generation to the next, have been ripped right out from under us in our culture. Consequently, many people are often frustrated in their attempts to deal with the symptoms and consequences of long-term (multi-generational) destructive sowing and reaping patterns in their lives and the lives of their families.
“…and those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths in which to dwell” (Isaiah 58:12).
The purpose of Family Foundations is to help churches re-establish in families the biblical foundations that cause life to work and people to prosper from one generation to the next. The primary tool which the Lord has given us to initiate this process, is the Family Foundations Ancient Paths Seminar (Formerly, “From Curse To Blessing”). In the Ancient Paths Seminar, we identify and minister to the participants regarding seven critical times in life when we are more vulnerable to receive either “God’s true image”, or “Satan’s false image” of our own identity and destiny.
My book, The Ancient Paths, provides a more complete description of the material covered in the Basic Seminar and the overall ministry of Family Foundations International. If you wish to order this book, or other books and audio teachings from our Bookstore please call, fax or phone us at the ministry address and phone numbers. I look forward to partnering with you in the restoration of biblical family foundations in the lives of God’s people throughout the world.
Yours for the Kingdom,
Craig Hill
______________________________________________________________
THE HOW TO OF 
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CRAIG HILL REVEALS WHAT YOU DIDN’T GET FROM THE BIBLE?
SEE YOUTUBE CHANNEL: 
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THE ANCIENT PATHS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT FROM A 
PSYCHO-HERETICAL, EXTRA-BIBLICAL VIEW
BIBLE FALLS SHORT???
CRAIG HILL QUOTE THAN DEMEANS THE BIBLE:
“THE BIBLE IS A BOOK THAT IS PRIMARILY DESCRIPTIVE, NOT DIRECTIVE”

Lost Values in Our Culture;
Ancient Paths with Craig Hill 

THE “MECHANISTIC” BIBLE: “THE OWNERS’ MANUAL FOR LIFE”???
AND HE PURPORTS TO HAVE THE LOST TOOLBOX FOR YOU
______________________________________________________________
GARY SMALLEY EXPOSED
SEE: http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/smalley/general.htm; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Gary Smalley

General Teachings/Activities*

–  Smalley is a so-called Christian psychologist who seeks to integrate the presuppositions of psychology with those of Scripture and equate the same level of authority to both of them. Smalley worked with Bill Gothard for ten years, and now conducts family seminars through his own company, Today’s Family. (Smalley has one seminar version for Christian audiences and another version for secular audiences.) Today’s Family is located in Branson, Missouri.

Smalley began his career working for Bill Gothard teaching a spiritual “chain of command” theology, which was very authoritarian and encouraged women to be compliant to and dependent on their husbands. When Smalley’s own marriage failed, he evidently made a disastrous revision of this theology by assigning an even greater burden of marital responsibility to the husband, while stripping him of the authority necessary to carry it out. He reduced women to inculpable “responders” to their husbands, congenital victims of gender with little of the strength of will or character shown by Abigail with Nabal, for example. In a strange twist, the wife may then presume to be the family’s spiritual conscience and her husband’s worst critic (Gen. 3:16). Disciplinary separations are encouraged until the husband conforms to her expectations of “godly” behavior. [Paul Stevens (author of Married for Good) says overcoming the problems with Gothard and Smalley’s theology accounts for at least half his time as a marriage counselor. He says the problem is not bad marriages, but bad theology.] (Source: Stephen Smyth.)

–  Smalley is a strong proponent of right-brain/left-brain theory, which postulates that men use the left side of their brains, while women use the right side of theirs. Thus, according to Smalley, women are “more in touch” with their feelings. On the basis of this theory, he approaches the marriage relationship from a selfish wife’s point of view, and concentrates on how the wife can get the husband to meet all of her so-called needs, rather than how she can be a loving help-mate to him. Smalley, therefore, actually promotes a form of female dominance in the marriage relationship. His techniques for “bonding” in the family and his counsel to wives on how to change their husbands are shallow, selfish, and manipulative.

–  Smalley is the “church’s” leading proponent of right-brain/left-brain pseudoscience. This right-brain/left-brain myth, which claims to describe personality types by brain hemisphere dominance, as well as give insights to male/female communication effectiveness, has been thoroughly discredited by secular neuroscientists, to say nothing of the fact that it has no support in Scripture.

The popularization of right-brain/left-brain has been largely due to the book, The Language of Love, co-authored by Smalley and fellow psychologist, John Trent. (Both worked together in Phoenix, Arizona from 1984-1993. Both also have theological degrees, but apparently believe that the Bible alone is insufficient to handle people’s problems of living.) The Language of Love was published and promoted by James Dobson‘s Focus on the Family Publishing, and Smalley and Trent have been frequent guests on Dobson’s radio program (as has pop psychologist, Dr. Donald Joy, credited by Smalley and Trent as being the source of their right-/left-brain information). The book touts “emotional word pictures” as the means of “activating” the “right brain,” alleged to be essential for a wife to communicate with her husband. (In a rare reference to Scripture, Smalley and Trent assert that the prophet Nathan activated the right side of king David’s brain with “an emotional word picture that would change the course of a kingdom.”) [In the second edition of The Language of Love, due largely to the discrediting of the right-brain/left-brain silliness, all references to such were removed. “Unfortunately, this ‘revision’ was only cosmetic. The delusion that ’emotional word pictures’ are the key to relationships and spiritual growth remains the false message of this deceptive book” (1/92, CIB Bulletin).]

[One writer described Smalley’s 1988 Christian Broadcasters Convention speech as “humanistic nonsense,” and that, “His entire talk was based upon today’s popular left-brain/right-brain myth spawned by pop psychology — a myth which brain researchers call “whole-brain/half-wittedness.” (Source: 2/89, CIB Bulletin). In 1988, even Psychology Today ridiculed the concept with an article titled “Left-Brain/Right-Brain/Broccoli-Brain.”]

–  In Winning the War Within, Smalley and Trent endorse an even more widely accepted myth, that of low self-esteem as being the cause of most of our problems. For example, they say: “The degree of self-control you have in your life is in direct proportion to the degree of acceptance you have for yourself. Put another way, if you don’t value yourself, you won’t ‘pull in the reins’ on actions and attitudes that will affect you for the worst” (p. 44). They go on to say that addictions, guilt, pride and apathy are all caused by a distorted view of ourselves as a result of the damage caused to us by others. So, if our sins (which is what addictions, pride, etc. are) are caused by low self-esteem, we would expect to find that Christ has come, at least in part, to save us from our own bad self-image (see Beyond Promises, p. 79) Bill McCartney seems to believe this when he says in Trent and Smalley’s book that he came to Christ in order to “Gain some real satisfaction,” since he “wasn’t feeling good” about himself (p. 11).

Of course, the Scriptures do not sanction the low self-esteem theory — it is thoroughly out of sync with the whole message of the Bible. “The problem of the natural man is not that he fails to esteem or love himself enough; it is that he loves himself too much” — is the true message of Scripture. What makes a critique of Gary Smalley’s teachings on self-esteem so vital is that Smalley, like Robert Schuller, has not only distorted the Biblical teachings on sanctification, but he has also distorted the message of the Gospel. The self-esteem gospel minimizes sin, points us inward instead of to Christ, ignores the true purpose of the cross, and presents Christianity as a feel-good, self-oriented religion, instead of a call to deny self and follow Christ. Are those who respond to the gospel of self-esteem truly Christians, or have they been deceived? Paul’s attitude toward those who preached a false gospel was to condemn them (Galatians 1:6-9), not to join them!

What Gary Smalley and all his “self-esteem” cult followers mean when they say “self love” is so far from the Biblical command to love your neighbor as yourself that it isn’t rational to try making a comparison. What Smalley is saying when he talks of “self-love” is that there is an intrinsic virtue or power within man whereby if he were to activate it or act on it he would be able to solve his “low self-image” and effect a change that is needed within his nature. It is a theology of humanism which exalts man and all that he is above everything else. It is a belief-system which Smalley and his fellow humanists believe, which regards the essential nature of man as “good” and that man is able to effect a change in his nature and consequently his behavior. (Adapted from the June/July 1997, Think on These Things.)

–  Browsing the “book table” at my local Sam’s Club in October of 1996, I stumbled upon Gary Smalley’s latest half-witted, pop-psychology contribution to the “Christian” book market, Making Love Last Forever (1996:Word). I gleaned a few pages to learn that Smalley now has a “love guarantee” for every married couple — for just $11.95 (discounted 60% at Sam’s Club), you too can be blessed as Gary “reveals the secrets behind his love guarantee.” It’s all typical Gary Smalley “matriarchal manipulation,” all within his well-worn psychoheretical framework. The endorsers on the back cover of the book are of interest. Not only has Smalley bagged the endorsements of such “Christian” stalwarts as Connie Sellecca and John Tesh, Kathie Lee Gifford, and John Gray (author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus), but DTS president Chuck Swindoll has signed on once again. (Swindoll endorsed Smalley’sLanguage of Love in 1989.) [Swindoll says, “If you’re looking for an encouragement transfusion, Gary Smalley can’t be beat.” “Can’t be beat”!? I thought it’s the Word of God that gives encouragement? John Gray, a monk for nine years and former secretary to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, prides himself on bedding one woman per day for a year after leaving monkhood. That apparently gave him the “qualifications” for writing on the topic of the sexes. He’s aNew Ager to boot! Why would Smalley seek such a man for a book endorsement?]

–  Promise Keepers is the gigantic new (1991) “men’s movement” among professing evangelical Christians. Its roots are Catholic and charismatic to the core. PK’s contradictory stand on homosexuality; its promotion of secular psychology; its unscriptural feminizing of men; its depiction of Jesus as a “phallic messiah” tempted to perform homosexual acts; and its ecumenical and unbiblical teachings should dissuade any true Christian from participating. Promise Keepers is proving to be one of the most ungodly and misleading movements in the annals of Christian history. Nevertheless, Smalley is a promoter of this ecumenical, charismatic, psychologized men’s movement. He speaks frequently at PK’s conferences and contributes his writings to its publications (e.g., the 1994 book Seven Promises of A Promise Keeper).

–  Smalley endorsed so-called Christian psychologist Dr. Larry Crabb‘s 1991 book, Men & Women: Enjoying the Difference [Crabb’s model of counseling is primarily a psychological system of unconscious needs motivating behavior, which is derived from Freudian (the unconscious being a hidden reservoir of the mind with drives and impulses which govern a person’s thinking and behavior) and humanistic psychology (with its hierarchy of needs, with great emphasis on so-called emotional needs).]: 

“You know Larry Crabb’s latest book is a winner when you want your entire staff to read it and then schedule a weekend retreat to discuss and apply it.”

* Must reading for anyone desiring a fuller understanding of Smalley’s teachings would be pp. 211-223 of Prophets of PsychoHeresy II: Critiquing Dr. James C. Dobson (reissued as James Dobson’s Gospel of Self-Esteem & Psychology), Martin and Deidre Bobgan, EastGate Publishers, Santa Barbara, CA, 1990, 310 pages; and “Gary Smalley: The Psychology of Matriarchy,” Media Spotlight Special Report, Albert Dager, 1989, 4 pages. Some of the material in this report was excerpted and/or adapted from these sources.

Biblical Discernment Ministries – Revised 8/97

_________________________________________________________
JOHN TRENT: “SPEAKING INTO OTHERS’ LIVES”
JOHN TRENT ON “MARRIAGE MENTORS”

TWO MENNONITE COLLEGES ALLOW EMPLOYMENT OF “MARRIED” HOMOSEXUALS~WHEN YOU HEAR “GROUNDED IN MENNONITE/ANABAPTIST VALUES”, IT PROBABLY MEANS UNBIBLICAL

THE WORD OF GOD EXCLUDED
THESE WERE “LISTENING” 
TO THE “WISDOM OF MEN”, INSTEAD OF THE WISDOM OF GOD, AND ARE NOW APOSTATE

1 Corinthians 1:25– “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
1 Corinthians 3:18-20-“Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.”
Jeremiah 17:9-“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?
________________________________________________
QUOTE: The EMU board of trustees passed a motion on November 16, 2013, to engage in a six-month listening process around hiring practices and covenanted same-sex relationships, beginning January 2014.
QUOTE: The president’s cabinet invited a wide range of constituents – including students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, church leaders – to fill out survey forms giving their views on the hiring policy. “More than 7,000 people responded to our survey,” according to BJ Miller, director of institutional research. In addition, 20 “dialogue sessions,” including approximately 300 individuals on campus, were held. At least one president’s cabinet member was present at each session to listen and anonymously report perspectives to the rest of the cabinet. The president and cabinet members also engaged leaders across the church. “The listening process was extremely valuable in enabling the president’s cabinet to gain a deeper understanding of the range of feelings, hopes and fears about extending university employment to persons in same-sex covenanted relationships,” 
Jim Brenneman
JAMES BRENNEMAN, PRESIDENT
GOSHEN COLLEGE
LOREN SWARTZENDRUBER, EMU PRESIDENT
Kay Brenneman Nussbaum
KAY BRENNEMAN NUSSBAUM, BOARD CHAIR, EMU
TWO MENNONITE COLLEGES ALLOW EMPLOYMENT OF “MARRIED” HOMOSEXUALS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
(Friday Church News Notes, July 31, 2015, www.wayoflife.orgfbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – The following is excerpted from “Two Mennonite Colleges,” Christian News Network, Jul. 22, 2015: 
“Two American colleges that identify as Mennonite institutions have announced changes to their hiring policy to now allow the employment of homosexuals who have ‘wed’ their partners. Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia and Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana announced the alterations on Monday, while claiming to still hold to the biblical principles as Christian schools. EMU’s decision followed a two-year ‘listening process’ to ‘review current hiring policies and practices with respect to individuals in same-sex relationships.’ … On Monday, Board Chair Kay Brenneman Nussbaum and President Lauren Swartzendruber stated that they believed the compromise was satisfactory. ‘[EMU] is grounded in Mennonite/Anabaptist values, and we believe people in same-sex covenanted relationships are valued members of our learning community with equal rights to standard benefits,’ Nussbaum remarked in a statement. … Goshen College made similar statements, remarking that there is a ‘diversity’ of opinions on whether or not biblical law prohibits sexuality between those of the same gender. ‘As an institution rooted in the Anabaptist tradition, we reaffirm our strong relationship to Mennonite Church USA, and recognize the diversity of interpretation of Scripture on this issue within our denomination and the broader Christian church, a diversity reflected within the board of directors and on our campus as well,’ said President James Brenneman.”

ARTICLE CONTINUED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCE: 

“We seek forbearance and grace amidst our differences,” he continued. “We deeply affirm the goodness of marriage, singleness, celibacy, sexual intimacy within marriage, and a life of faithfulness before God for all people.”
In a special FAQ section on the decision, Goshen also asserted that the “decision is in keeping with our commitment to non-discrimination and our Christ-centered core values.”
The announcements come just weeks after the Mennonite Church USA rejected a proposal to allow same-sex “marriages” within the denomination, but agreed to a resolution stating that Mennonites will tolerate those who believe homosexual behavior is not sinful.
“We acknowledge that there is currently not consensus within Mennonite Church USA on whether it is appropriate to bless Christians who are in same-sex covenanted unions,” it reads.
“Because God has called us to seek peace and unity as together we discern and seek wisdom on these matters, we call on all those in Mennonite Church USA to offer grace, love and forbearance toward conferences, congregations and pastors in our body who, in different ways, seek to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ on matters related to same-sex covenanted unions,” the resolution continues.”
While EMU and Goshen have spoken favorably of the policy changes, others are not so pleased with the development.
“Please read 1 Corinthians 6:9, [which declares], ‘Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers or anyone practicing homosexuality.’ How can you hire someone who will not inherit the Kingdom of God and teach students what the Bible says?” one commenter stated.

THE NEW INCLUSIVE MENNONITES & THEIR SAME SEX APOSTASY~NO DOCTRINES, NO CREEDS BUT STILL CHRISTIAN?

The New Inclusive Mennonites

Posted on March 16, 2015 by 

Why has the same sex conversation come to the forefront in so many Mennonite churches? Is there an organized force at work? Will your church and college soon be joining the new inclusive Mennonites? The following information may be a surprise for many Bible believing Mennonites. Please read carefully and prayerfully.
The Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests, Minneapolis, MN (www.bmclgbt.org/index.shtml) are Brethren and Mennonites who say they “do not subscribe to formal creeds or doctrines developed by a church hierarchy: our only written authority is the Bible. Interpretation is done by the body of believers themselves. However, through an emphasis on strict application of the Scripture our churches have developed guidelines of faith and witness which often distinguish us from other Christian denominations.” These differences allow them to encourage like minded people to join their BMCList, a ‘Lesbigay MennoLink’, and consider sending them the following…
• Tell us what Lesbigay Anabaptists are thinking and doing in your hometown. (We promise not to call it gossip.)
• Send everyone an action alert. Get everyone moving and shaking.
• Tell us how we can help you.
• Send everyone current events stuff about religion and sexual orientation.
One project of BMCLGBT has been the formation of Kaleidoscope, a network for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allied people on peace church campuses. Part of their purpose, or agenda, is to:
• Increase the visibility of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender alumni, faculty, staff and students.
• Improve the lgbt student experience by connecting with alumni and creating professional and social network opportunities.
• Communicate events of interest to the lgbta community.
• Provide opportunities to share information and resources to encourage advocacy on behalf of lgbt alumni and students.
• Increase support of lgbt interests on campus, support the activities of lgbt and lgbta campus groups, and help effect positive change in campus policy and programming.
Members of Kaleidoscope are encouraged to “join the group from your college, university, or seminary and to start making engaging connections” using the following list of college and seminary links provided to get to their sites:
• Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary
• Bethany Theological Seminary
• Bethel College
• Bluffton College
• Bridgewater College
• Canadian Mennonite University
• Conrad Grebel University College
• Eastern Mennonite Seminary
• Eastern Mennonite University
• Elizabethtown College
• Goshen College
• Hesston College
• Juniata College
• Manchester College
• McPherson College
• University of La Verne
This coming May, the Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests is offering a safe space for families with lgbtqmembers and for individuals who identify as lgbtq:
Connecting Families East Retreat
May 15-17, 2015
Laurelville Mennonite Church Center
Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania
Communicating a Theology of Holy Inclusion
Connecting Families East welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people and their families and allies. Connecting Families weekend is intended to be a safe, relaxing time to share our common thoughts regarding sexual minority issues as they affect our families, our friends, our churches, and ourselves.
We are a group of people, each on our own journey. Through listening and sharing our stories, we seek to provide support for families whose children are coming out to them and/or to their church. We are committed to maintaining confidentiality within the group, to providing a place to speak in safety or to remain silent, and to sharing in a non-judgmental atmosphere. As a group, we work to find ways to educate and engage our churches in dialogue and to help them understand and accept our families.
Loren L Johns will share his journey toward affirming LGBTQ persons in the church and offer assistance in reading the Bible with people who have varying perspectives on inclusivity. He is Professor of New Testament at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana and author of “Homosexuality and the Bible: A Case Study in the Use of the Bible for Ethics.” Loren is passionate about teaching and studying the Bible. Prior to joining the Seminary in 2000, he was a pastor, theology book editor and college Bible professor.

A panel of LGBTQ persons will discuss their vision for a more affirming and inclusive church. Panel members include Theo Baer, Michelle Burkholder, Dwayne Hess, and Kelli Holsopple.

Matthew Hunsburger will coordinate times of singing together. He serves as Seminary Music Coordinator, assisting with chapel and other worship services at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and assists in directing EMU’s Chamber Singers.
(www.bmclgbt.org/ConnectingFamiliesEastRetreatMay15-222015.shtml)
Another Brethren Mennonite Council for LGBT Interests project underway to ‘help churches become more inclusive’ is a series of training events:
Welcoming Church Trainings – Building an Inclusive Church
A Training Resource for Congregations Affiliated with:
• Alliance of Baptists
• American Baptist Convention
• Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
• Church of the Brethren
• Community of Christ
• Mennonite Church USA
• Mennonite Church Canada
The link provided to this year’s training events brings you to The National LGBTQ Task Force, Institute for Welcoming Resources. The events are called:
Faith-Based Community Organizing
What if our welcome to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people sparked a renewal of our entire community’s faith life
(www.welcomingresources.org/communityorg.htm)
Related:
____________

CANADIAN MENNONITES OFFICIATE FIRST SAME SEX “WEDDING”

CANADIAN MENNONITES OFFICIATE 
FIRST SAME SEX “WEDDING”:
EXCERPT:
SASKATOON, Canada – Two Mennonite ministers in Canada have officiated the denomination’s first same-sex “wedding,” holding the service publicly in a “church” building in Saskatchewan.
Anita Retzlaff and Patrick Preheim of Nutana Park Mennonite Church officiated the ceremony for Craig Friesen and Matt Weins on Dec. 31, which was held at Osler Mennonite, the childhood congregation of Friesen.

CHRISTMAS 2014: MENNONITES GRABBING A “THIN PLACE” BETWEEN HEAVEN & EARTH WHERE GOD CAN BE EXPERIENCED?

FORFEITING THE WORD OF GOD 
FOR MYSTICAL EXPERIENCES 
OPENS ONE UP TO DEMONIC ACTIVITY & INFLUENCE

WHY ARE MENNONITES ENAMORED WITH “THIN PLACES”?
THIN PLACES EXPLAINED?

“Find Yourself a Thin Place this Christmas”: 

Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Posted on December 8, 2014 by 

In an article called Have a “thin” Christmas in the December 2014 issue of the MB Herald, readers are encouraged to find God in the ‘thin places‘ this Christmas.
God comes near
In North America, with the endless noise and rush of life, it’s often difficult to find places where we can steal a glimpse of heaven . . . we all long for places where the veil of eternity becomes slightly more transparent, awareness of God’s presence is heightened and intimacy with Jesus grows. . .
The ancient Celts called these “thin places.”
Whether thin places are actual geographical locations, or simply moments when we allow ourselves to be more aware of Jesus’ presence in our lives, they’re essential to our spiritual well-being.
New York Times writer Eric Weiner says thin places make us feel disoriented – in a good way. “They confuse. We lose our bearings, and find new ones. Or not. Either way, we are jolted out of old ways of seeing the world.”
“Thin places” at Christmas
The Christmas season offers ample opportunities for us to discover “thin places” in our world. They allow us to become disoriented for just a moment. They open the door for God to show us new ways of seeing things – to renew our hope and faith, and to reorient our spiritual compass.
Perhaps it’s a stirring performance of Handel’s “Messiah,” reminding us again of the majesty and grandeur of our Saviour. Perhaps it’s a quiet evening spent by the fire reading God’s Word, seeking his direction for the new year. Perhaps it’s a smile and an embrace from an old friend in the form of a Christmas card, allowing the joy of community to warmly enfold us.
Or perhaps it’s an unexpected faith conversation with a stranger on the subway after a hectic day of Christmas shopping, jarring us out of the ordinary and reminding us of what’s really important.
Wherever the thin places are for you this Christmas season, I wish you many moments discovering the nearness of God in this world.
After all, more than creating a thin space, Jesus’ birth on earth tore the veil in two. On the first Christmas, he emptied himself to dwell with his people, so we might truly see God face-to-face.
SOURCE – Have a “thin” Christmas by Laura Kalmar
http://mbherald.com/thin-christmas/
Are thin places a biblical way to meet God? Does the Bible teach us to seek God through the concept of thin places?
Before the answers to these questions are explored, one important point must be addressed. In the article, MB Herald editor Laura Kalmar refers to New York Times writer Eric Weiner as one of her information sources on thin places. In the Weiner’s NY Times article, called Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer, he calls thin places “locales where the distance between heaven and earth collapses and we’re able to catch glimpses of the divine, or the transcendent or, as I like to think of it, the Infinite Whatever.” Weiner is also an author of Man Seeks God: My Flirtations With the Divine. In the writing of this book, Weiner describes . . .
“… a wild ride that takes me to Nepal, where I meditate with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne; to Turkey, where I whirl (not so well, as it turns out) with Sufi dervishes; to China, where I attempts to unblock my chi; to Israel, where I study Kabbalah, sans Madonna; to the Bronx, where I volunteer at a homeless shelter run by Franciscan friars; and even to Las Vegas, where I have a close encounter with Raelians, followers of the world’s largest UFO-based religion.
Along the way, I learn that I am not alone in my spiritual restlessness. The latest studies find that nearly one in three Americans will change their religious affiliation at some point in their lives. We are, more than ever, a nation of God hoppers.
I am willing to do anything to better understand faith, and to find the god or gods that speak to me. I maintain an open mind, leaving judgment at the door…”
It is unfortunate, if not shocking, that the editor of a Christian magazine would draw from the spiritually restless Weiner as a source for an article on how Christians might experience God.
This isn’t the first time that Christians have looked to other religious sources and extra-biblical spiritual means to experience the presence of God. On page 26 of his book called Letters to a Young Evangelical, well known Christian author Tony Campolo writes that every morning “I am able to create what the ancient Celtic Christians call “the thin place.”” This term is the thin line between spirituality and panentheism, implying that God is in all things. The thin place is also considered the gap between God and man where everything thins out and ultimately disappears in meditation.[1]
When Jesus and the power of the gospel is not enough for some people, they often turn to such concepts of ancient spirituality, like Campolo, who says:
“Believing the gospel was never a problem for me, but during times of reflection I sensed that believing in Jesus and living out His teachings just wasn’t enough. There was a yearning for something more, and I found that I was increasingly spiritually gratified as I adopted older ways of praying–ways that have largely been ignored by those of us in the Protestant tradition. Counter-Reformation saints like Ignatius of Loyola have become important sources of help as I have begun to learn from them modes of contemplative prayer. I practice what is known as “centering prayer,” in which a sacred word is repeated as a way to be in God’s presence.
… I’ve got to push everything out of mind save the name of Jesus. I say His name over and over again, for as long as fifteen minutes, until I find my soul suspended in what the ancient Celtic Christians called a “thin place”–a state where the boundary between heaven and earth, divine and human, dissolves. You could say that I use the name of Jesus as my koan.”
-Tony Campolo[2]
Campolo’s friend Samir Selmanovic[3], who has participated in the emergent conversation with Shane Claiborne and Brian McLaren, says of thin places:
“Celtic Christians sought after ‘thin places,’ spots where the membrane between mere physical reality and the reality of God’s presence thins out and becomes soft and permeable. For them, thin places are locations in space or time where God’s world (‘reality as it really is’) intersects with our world (‘reality as we happen to experience it’) so that it can be seen, touched, tasted, or sensed in some unmistakable way. They believed that at places like shorelines, fjords, rivers, and wells, the veil was so sheer, one could almost step through it. . . . A thin place could be a conversation, a dream, a room, a tree, a dawn, a shore, a dance, a person, a scientific lab, a Sabbath, a Eucharist, an early morning meal before the Ramadan fast begins.” 
— Samir Selmanovic in It’s Really All About God, Reflections of a Muslim Atheist Jewish Christian
It appears that, like contemplative spiritual formation, this is all part of a progression of (un)belief that leads people towards universalism. Like the labyrinth, a thin place appears to be another spiritual tool or means where people seek a supernatural experience or feeling. But what exactly is a ‘thin place’?
A thin place is a place of energy. A place where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin. A thin place is where one can walk in two worlds – the worlds are fused together, knitted loosely where the differences can be discerned or tightly where the two worlds become one.
Thin places aren’t perceived with the five senses. Experiencing them goes beyond those limits.
Fascination with the “Other world” has occupied our human minds since early recordings of history and likely before that. A thin place pulsates with an energy that connects with our own energy – we feel it, but we do not see it. We know there’s another side – another world – another existence. To some it is heaven, the Kingdom, paradise. To others it may be hell, an abyss, the unknown. Whatever you perceive the Other world to be, a thin place is a place where connection to that world seems effortless, and ephemeral signs of its existence are almost palpable.
Mahatma Ghandi in his Spiritual Message to the World in 1931, speaks of this.
“There is an indefinable, mysterious power that pervades everything. I feel it, though I do not see it. It is this unseen power that makes itself felt and yet defies all proof, because it is so unlike all that I perceive through my senses. It transcends the senses”
Source – What is a Thin Place?
http://www.thinplaces.net/openingarticle.htm
The practice of trying to find the doorway connecting to the other world is definitely not a concept from biblical origins, as an excerpt from thinplace.netexplains:
The Celts were a culture of people that arrived in Ireland after 500 BC. The idea of thin places or doorways to the Otherworld were solidly a part of the Irish culture long before the Celts came. …The thin places concept was a part of the pre-Christian or pagan charism and these beliefs or sensitivities – existed prior to the Celts. The concept is rejected by many of the present day Christian communities, often being linked to “new age” heathenism. …These pre-Christian Irish people believed the thin place itself had the mystical or spiritual power. One didn’t create a thin place simply by moving into a state of contemplation or spiritual trance. The site itself was thin and that made spiritual contemplation more powerful.[4]
Christianizing the concept of thin spaces is simply another a new blend of spirituality that is not taught in the Bible, if not forbidden. Attempting to sense a spiritual energy or presence through the supernatural veil is an occultic practice. If ‘occult’ means ‘hidden’ spiritual mysteries and the supernatural, those who attempt to peer through the veil between the realms in order to ‘steal a glimpse of heaven’ to hear or see or feel God may be practicing a form of occultism. Occult methods involve seeking the hidden realm beyond rational reason to find a supernatural experience. Such an attempt outside the word of God might be compared to a soldier stepping into enemy territory without his sword. If Satan masquerades as an angel of light, why take the chance of being deceived by the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:1-2) while looking for a nice supernatural experience in a ‘hidden’ thin place?
While the spiritually restless and misinformed seek supernatural experiences in the thin spaces, it is only in the Bible that the deepest truths can be found. In its pages we read how the Creator of time and space stepped into this darkened world at the perfect time to fulfill prophecy and die for our sins to reconcile us back to Him. His death (not his birth) tore the veil in two, because He was the High Priest who made the final sacrifice (Himself), once and for all (Hebrews 10:10). When our resurrected Lord ascended in heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to help, teach and comfort us with His presence that indwells and empowers every believer. We don’t need to seek a doorway or experience, we only need to seek and abide in Him. He is the door (John 10:9). Instead of looking to discover “thin places” in our world this season, believers in Christ need only to draw near to God and abide in Him, every day of the year.
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:8 ESV
_______
[1]Campolo Crosses Bridge to Celtic Thin Place
http://muddystreams.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/campolo-finds-the-thin-place/
[2] 
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2006/02/Mystical-Encounters-For-Christians.aspx
[3] Selmanovic is the founder of “Faith House Manhattan”, an interfaith community of Christians, Muslims, Jews and humanists/atheists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Selmanovic)
[4] http://www.thinplace.net/2011/03/richard-rohr-celts-didnt-invent-thin.html
Related: *Read more about the thin places of Celtic Spirituality and which so called Christians promote them, in this article:
In Touch Magazine Draws Readers to “Celtic Spirituality”
*What are Celtic thin places?



FORMER MENNONITES PLUNGE INTO APOSTATE WATERS & RIDE THE WAVE OF GNOSTIC DOMINIONIST CHARISMANIA WITH ZERO DISCERNMENT

UPDATE DECEMBER 29, 2015 TO THIS POST
SEE: https://ratherexposethem.org/2015/12/hopewell-mennonite-dove-apostolic.html

1 Timothy 4:1-“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons”
2 Timothy 4: 3-4-“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
C. PETER WAGNER

BORN OUT OF REBELLION
TO GOD’S WORD, BUT 
“WHERE THE CHARISMATIC GIFTS ARE ALLOWED TO OPERATE”

END TIMES DECEPTION OF 
GNOSTIC EXPERIENTIAL CHRISTIANITY
FORMER MENNONITES DRINKING FROM 
THE POLLUTED WATERS OF MAINLINE PROTESTANT APOSTASY, CHARISMATIC WORD FAITH DOMINIONISM, 
AND CATHOLIC GNOSTIC CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM

Matthew 7: 26-27-“”But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Luke 6: 49-49-“He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
2 Chronicles 7:14-“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
SEE OUR RECENT POST:

MENNONITES INTRODUCE SUNDAY SCHOOL REPLACEMENT FOR KIDS: 

ANTI-AMERICAN CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION

WHAT APPEARS TO BE 
“CHILD FRIENDLY CHRISTIAN CURRICULUM” 
IS A SUBTLE INDOCTRINATION INTO IDOLATROUS 
CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION PRACTICES
AND COLLECTIVIST/SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY
https://ratherexposethem.org/2014/09/mennonites-introduce-sunday-school.html

We will expand on the above post and show the extent to which some break away Mennonites have left their former affiliations with the Mennonite denomination and sailed off into the deep unchartered waters of apostasy, relying on their “wisdom”, while presuming that the Holy Spirit is their guide and compass. Here is an unfortunate example of what happens when anything and everything that purports to be “Christian”, and is accepted as such, takes over the undiscerning hearts and minds of otherwise well meaning Christians who feel no responsibility or need to “test the spirits”, deferring to the alleged “wisdom” of an unbiblical apostolic priestly class of elders/intercessors passionately pursuing church growth at any cost, using the corrupt methods of the emerging churches and worldly business models. When the proof is in the numbers, why stop the party?
FOR EXAMPLE:

Hopewell Christian Fellowship

FORMERLY HOPEWELL MENNONITE CHURCH,
A BREAK AWAY FROM FRANCONIA MENNONITE CONFERENCE, SOUDERTON, PA,
WHICH HAD ITS OWN FORM OF APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION OF BISHOPS;
LOCATED IN THE ONCE BUCOLIC PARTS OF MONTGOMERY & BUCKS COUNTIES
OUTSIDE PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA;
CONTINUES IN THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION OF THE MOTHER CHURCH,
BUT DELVES INTO PENTECOSTAL/CHARISMATIC SIGNS & WONDERS
IN WILLING IGNORANCE:
TELFORD, BUCKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA;
AFFILIATE OF THE

http://www.hopewellnetwork.org/
QUOTE: “Hopewell Network of Churches is a fellowship of churches empowered by the Holy Spirit to advance Christ’s Kingdom by preparing leaders for ministry and mission. The Hopewell Network of Churches had its beginning back in the charismatic outpouring. The first church was built on Hopewell Road in Elverson in the mid 1970’s by a small number of families. Within approximately 10 years, the founding congregation, called Hopewell Mennonite Church, had grown to about 900 people, had undergone numerous additions to the original building, and had planted 10 churches. These daughter churches also began to plant churches and these became the Hopewell Network in 2001.”

PUBLIC REVIEW FROM: 
http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3720746596/hopewell-christian-fellowship-telford; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
QUOTE:
    “Worship is superficial. I find this church to be very liberal. They have a different “prophet” (profit) through every other week. These “prophets” “Speak forth” lies into lives of the congregants. The Pastor of this “church,” Curt Malizzi, claims to be an apostle so you can see the cult like practices. If you read their by-laws they expect you to sign a “covenant card” relinquishing many Constitutional rights. I believe this church to be a cult. 
    In 2008 Hopewell encouraged the following of the “Lakeland Outpouring” lead by Todd Bentley, a confessed Alcoholic who was having an adulterous affair with a woman he eventually married to the demise of his wife and child. Todd was “commissioned” by Pastor Curt Malizzi’s senior, C. Peter Wagner, Presiding apostle of the ICA (International Coalition of Apostles.) 
    Wagner “commissioned” Bentley BEFORE it was discovered that he was an adulterer. Wagner claims to be a prophet also. Any way, Hopewell christian is a false church and very dangerous. DO NOT GO THERE, if you do, you go at your own peril.”
___________________________________________________________
RELATED LINK TO ICA MENTIONED ABOVE: 
http://www.coalitionofapostles.com/about-ical/definition-of-apostle/
CONNECTION TO THUNDER OUTREACH OF SON MARK MALIZZI, INFLUENCED BY THE “LAKELAND OUTPOURING”:
http://www.thunderoutreach.com/churches.htm
APPRISING.ORG ARTICLE ABOUT TODD BENTLEY: 

“TODD BENTLEY: DENIED, BANNED, AND CANCELLED“:

____________________________________________________________________________

QUOTE FROM: 
“Hopewell Christian Fellowship was birthed out of what was formerly known as Hopewell Mennonite Church in Elverson, PA and is part of the Hopewell Network of Churches, an apostolic network of 15 churches. As a contemporary Bible teaching church, Hopewell Christian Fellowship was touched by the work of the Holy Spirit and has risen to its calling as a place where the manifest presence of God is welcomed and charismatic gifts are allowed to operate.”
CURT & ANITA MALIZZI, “CO-PASTORS/APOSTLES” 
DOMINIONIST/EMERGING CHURCH STYLE:
http://www.coalitionofapostles.com/
SEE: 

“THE OTHER SIDE OF EMERGENT: 

THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION“: 

http://apprising.org/2010/07/08/the-other-side-of-emergent-the-new-apostolic-reformation/;

EXCERPTS:
Characteristic of all of these recent emerging convergences, a MANIFESTO accompanies the agenda being promoted jointly by Sweet and Viola. It is called “A Magna Carta for Restoring the Supremacy of Jesus Christ a.k.a. A Jesus Manifesto for the 21st Century Church.” This Manifesto does not hearken back to the written Word of God in order to follow Jesus or His teachings. Instead it speaks of “implantation and impartation” and “incarnation.” This is based on imaging, imagining, visualization, meditation, and following a “Presence,” even using the term “cosmic Christ.”
It was inevitable that the NAR would eventually openly connect with the Emergent Church. First, they are related historically in many diverse ways, some of which we have previously documented on this blog.[16] Second, and more obviously, the aberrant beliefs of the New Apostolic Reformation are nearly identical to those of the emerging church movement in some of the following ways:
  • The same Gnosticism, mysticism and altered states of consciousness. The belief that we are evolving to a higher order body of believers here on earth, and that if we would just jump through various mystical or restructuring hoops, paradise or “culture” would be renewed.
  • The belief that we can transform the Earth and restore it to pre-Fall conditions — either via a green environmentalism return to paradise (George Otis, James Rutz,Ralph Winter), or by building the kingdom of God on earth where Christians will reign and rule and finally “get it right” by imposing their kingdom authority on the whole planet (Dominionism).
  • The belief that God has assigned certain men with special abilities or supernatural powers to be rulers and kings, Apostles and Prophets (aka “leaders”) now on earth, in this present age.
  • The belief that the church should realign into a networking downline marketing “apostolic”/cells/small groups for a more “authentic”or “original” New Testament structure.
  • The deconstruction (de-emphasis, denigration or mangling) of solid biblical theology and practice, and the concoction of new theologies augmented with old/new extra-biblical practices.
  • The belief that God is giving his church new revelations, new understandings, or “fresh words” for these times, especially by including old manuscripts, mystical writings, supernatural incidents, extra-biblical traditions and sources, etc.
  • The idea that we are somehow responsible for bringing back Jesus either literally and physically, or that we are evolving or “incarnating” into little christs and/or one big cosmic Christ.
  • The idea that onerous and manipulative psycho-socio and scientific technologies are benevolent tools to bring in the kingdom on earth, including even altering the basic nature of man.

__________________________________________________________________
“LIFE GROUPS”:

http://hopewellchristianfellowship.com/2014-life-groups/
HERE ARE THREE THAT POINT IN THE DIRECTION OF GROSS APOSTASY:

1) School of the Holy Spirit: 
We will be studying Bill Johnson’s book “Hosting the Presence”. Meeting on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellow-ship Hall. Begins September 4. If you would like a book, write the word “Book” next to the sign up area on your Connection Card.
BILL JOHNSON, PASTOR OF BETHEL CHURCH, REDDING, CALIFORNIA:

“Hosting the Presence” Book Promo by Bill Johnson:

Published on May 28, 2012: “Let the Spirit live inside you! Are you hungry for an encounter with Jesus? Do you want to make an impact on the world? In this power-packed book, Bill Johnson discusses how you can be a person who hosts the Presence of God. Though all believers obviously have the Spirit of God within them, there is more that enables you to be so full that you overflow His Spirit into your world. Take a journey and meet many great prophets and kings from the Old Testament who were known as people of the Presence—people who, in Johnson’s words, “God wanted to be with.” In this succinct and powerful book, Johnson encourages you toward a pursuit of the Presence of God above all else.”

BILL JOHNSON AND HIS WIFE VISIT THE TORONTO AIRPORT CHURCH WHERE THERE WAS A PENTECOSTAL REVIVAL OF SORTS:
VIDEO: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqSx2dox6M8


SEE OUR & OTHERS’ POSTS: 
“RANDY CLARK & BILL JOHNSON” AT:
https://ratherexposethem.org/2013/01/randy-clark-bill-johnson.html;
EXCERPT:
Birthpangs has a 4-5 part article on Bill Johnson which is excellent:

http://birthpangs.org/articles/latterrain/bill_johnson1.html.
    Crosswise/Walking in the Truth (Craig) at http://notunlikelee.wordpress.com/, has sections of his website on the Latter Rain Movement, Bill Johnson, Bethel Church (Redding, CA), New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Beyond Grace blog has similar resources: http://beyondgrace.blogspot.com/, and specifically about Bill Johnson and Bethel here: https://ratherexposethem.org/p/bill-johnson-bethel-church-redding.html.

AND: https://ratherexposethem.org/2013/01/bethel-church-redding-ca-bill-johnsons.html

“BETHEL CHURCH, REDDING, CA-BILL JOHNSON’S “HOUSE OF GENERALS” MUSEUM OF REVIVALISTS”

Bethel Church, Redding, CA, home of Jesus Culture, is building a library/museum of Pentecostal/Word of Faith/etc. revivalists, called the “House of Generals“, as he points out in the Vimeo video:
http://vimeo.com/17658114
AND: 

“HERESCOPE: PASSION OF THE PRESENCE & PURPOSE OF THE PASSION~NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION & INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER”:

AND ARTICLES ABOUT JOHNSON AT APPRISING.ORG:

AN INVASION OF ERROR: A REVIEW OF BILL JOHNSON—WHEN HEAVEN INVADES EARTH:


AND BOB DEWAAY’S ARTICLE AT ECHOZOE.COM: 
“Bob DeWaay: Bill Johnson, IHOP, & Ancient Heresy Reborn”
AND THIS EXCELLENT AND THOROUGH OVERVIEW:
“BILL JOHNSON, JESUS CULTURE AND BETHEL CHURCH” AT:
http://redeemingmoments.com/2013/08/22/bill-johnson-jesus-culture-and-bethel-church/


AND: “THE PASSION OF THE PRESENCE & THE PURPOSE OF THE PASSION” (3 PARTS):
https://ratherexposethem.org/2014/01/the-passion-of-presence.html

____________________________________________________________________
2) Kolb’s Life Group “The Story of Marriage” 
DVD based study by John & Lisa Bevere. Marriage is God’s masterpiece. He created it to express a much bigger story: His relentless, loving commitment to bring out the best in us. 
WHO IS LISA BEVERE?

Lisa Bevere is the author of such books as Lioness Arising: Wake Up and Change Your World, The True Measure Of A Woman: Discover Your Intrinsic Value and See Yourself as God Does, and Kissed the Girls and Made Them Cry: Why Women Lose When We Give In. We learn more about Bevere from this video posted on her own YouTube channel:

Note some of the interesting claims and teachings Bevere espouses:

It’s your time. It’s time for the gift of God in your life to come forth. It’s time for the things that you have in your life to be released. Father, I speak to the gifts. I speak to the talents. I speak to the anointing. I speak to what you have given them to steward. I speak release. I bless these hands, Father, with the power of dominion.
Dominion? What does Lisa Bevere mean when she says this? Perhaps this clip will help us to understand.

Lisa Bevere with Her Definition of ‘Dominion’:

Bevere appears here to mishandle Luke 19:10, wherein Jesus says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” This verse concludes the story of the conversion of Zacchaeus, and in the broader context, it is evident that Jesus Christ is declaring not only what becomes the theme of Luke’s gospel, but what is the purpose of Christ’s incarnation and ministry: to save lost sinners. Of this verse, Dr. John MacArthur notes:

Verse 10 states THE most blessed truth, no truth more wondrous, more beneficial than this one. This is at the very heart of the existence of the universe. God actually created the universe so that in the universe He could create the Earth so that on the earth He could create the human race so that out of the human race He could seek and save lost sinners…this for His own everlasting joy and glory. This is what it’s all about. What’s going on on Earth is not incidental in the infinity of this universe, it is the focal point of this entire universe. It is true that the vast and infinite heavens declare the glory of God and the rest of the creation shows His handiwork, and that all together collectively it manifests His mighty power and Godhead.
So when you ask the question, “Why is the universe here? And why is the Earth here? And why is the human race here?” The answer is so that God might for His own eternal joy and glory seek and save lost sinners. This again reminds us that God is by nature a saving God.
Later in this same sermon, Bevere claims to receive a message directly from the Holy Spirit. Divine, personal prophecy? It seems as though Lisa Bevere’s Bible may not end with Revelation 22:21.

The Holy Spirit Talks to Lisa Bevere:

We’ve not heard what Bevere specifically taught this week in Thessaloniki, but according to Christine Caine, the perky speaker spoke “powerful & prophetic words into this region.”


John Bevere – Unbiblical Teachings 

SEE: http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/bevere.html

__________________________________________________________

3) “Spiritual Equipping for the Prophetic” 

Meeting the 1st Wednesday evening of each month at 7:00 p.m. at Hopewell. Also meeting Wednesday for those enrolled in the Understanding Dreams and Visions Online School, 7 to 8:30. 
JOHN PAUL JACKSON:
SEE: John Paul Jackson’s Dream Interpretation Website:

All New Dreamipedia Now Online at StreamsMinistries.com:

Streams 101: The Art of Hearing God (Extrabiblically):

__________________________________________________________________

What is a LifeGroup? (WARNING: From an Emerging Communitarian Consensus Building Point of View; Not So Much a Bible Study Than a Fun Time):

____________________________________________________________________________
BRUCE LATSHAW OF VINEYARD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, LANDENBERG, PENNSYLVANIA 
EXPORTS JOHN WIMBER’S “HEALING ROOMS”
(ORIGIN: JOHN G. LAKE-PENTECOSTAL LEADER) 
TO HOPEWELL CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP:

SEE HOPEWELL’S LISTING AS A HEALING ROOM LOCATION HERE:
http://www.elijahlist.com/healing_rooms/display_room.html?ID=272

SEE OUR POST:
https://ratherexposethem.org/2013/01/randy-clark-bill-johnson.html;
EXCERPT:
At Sermondrop, the “healing rooms” training sermons of Clark and Johnson are here for your listening pleasure: http://sermondrop.com/series/1669-Healing-Rooms-Training/sermons.
    What is a “healing room”? Well these videos give only the public face of the ecumenically involved folks who use what they believe are Holy Spirit given gifts in a “deliverance ministry” to cast out demons in those “rooms”. 
    John Wimber’s Vineyard Church has been a major proponent of “healing rooms” as well as affiliated Vineyard churches and pastors such as Bruce Latshaw of Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Landenberg, PA:

http://www.vcfbarn.com/service/healing-rooms/ and Latshaw (of Jesus People origin) himself: http://www.brucelatshaw.com/index.html, where he is spreading it locally, using the same methods and philosophy of John G. Lake, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Lake, a faith healer who dates back to the Azusa Street pentecostal revival in Los Angeles, California around 1907.
    See also: http://miraclehealingrooms.com/ and John G. Lake Ministries now headed by Curry Blake at: http://www.jglm.org/.

VIDEOS: 

Healing Rooms Ministries explained by Cal Pierce:


Johnson’s Bethel Church Healing Rooms YouTube Channel:



Creating a Supernatural Mindset – Bill Johnson:









Bethel Church and the “glory cloud” (Hysteria):




Exposing the False Teaching of Bill Johnson at Bethel Church in Redding, CA.-(THE GOLD DUST “GLORY CLOUD”~THE “SIGNS THAT MAKE YOU WONDER”):

Tony Miano, Street Evangelist: Why I Must Speak Out Against the NAR and Bethel Church; Calls It a Cult Demanding Absolute Submission to Its Leaders:

___________________________________________



WHAT EVERY EMERGING CHURCH DOES: 
THE BUILDING PROGRAM THAT NEVER ENDS
SEE: http://hopewellchristianfellowship.com/about-us/building-for-eternity/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Our vision is not only to maintain that which God has already given us, but to effectively steward for His increase in preparation for the coming harvest.
Our building is currently filled to capacity in many respects, being utilized for ministry nearly every day of the week all year long. The new ministry center will greatly expand our facility. We will approximately double the size of our current meeting area, add offices, restrooms, children’s ministry classrooms and a new fellowship hall.
We recently added the new parking areas and site improvements necessary for construction. The next building phase will begin as funds are available.
UPDATE – December 16, 2012:
Dear Congregation,
We are excited to be Building for the Harvest!
In August of 2012, the Lord spoke to me during a 4-day personal retreat and said “Prepare for growth!” Just as Noah had to move ahead and prepare for what God was about to do, so we as the leadership of Hopewell Christian Fellowship feel the need and the momentum now to prepare to grow.
To accommodate this vision for growth the Elders and Pastors are delighted to present a new plan for a next phase building expansion (i.e. Phase 1) which would be constructed to the right side of our current building. This will then be followed at some time in the future by our existing plans for a “connector wing” (Phase 2) and finally a very large sanctuary (Phase 3) both to the left side of our current sanctuary. At that point in time the Phase I building would become a youth ministry / community center.
This new proposed Phase 1 addition would provide a new sanctuary area for 500 + seats, 5 offices, 4 nursery/ preschool classrooms, new restroom facilities, and a warm-up kitchen. The current thought is to build a single floor, slab on grade, pre-engineered steel structure for this next phase of growth which would be easier, faster and less cost-ly to build than to the left.
The new building footprint to the right as proposed will maximize the area available and is physically bounded by our well, driveways and the current building. At our congregational meeting on Sunday December 16, 2012 this new concept of a building expansion to the right was approved by 98% of the attending congregation. We are considering the suggestions that are being brought up by our congregation to optimize this building as best as possible. One suggestion was made to consider a basement beneath the proposed building which could accommodate a fellowship area and kitchen. We are asking the architect to evaluate feasibility of that suggestion and give us an estimate of additional construction cost by the 2nd week of January. We will soon form a building committee with expertise in certain areas of construction and facilities to work with the Elders and determine the fine details.
I welcome your prayers for us, as well as helpful thoughts and ideas which you can submit to any of the Pastors or Elders. We will try to evaluate as many suggestions as possible as we receive them. I would also like to plan a second congregational information meeting in January to provide more details of how we would plan to move ahead.
We currently estimate this project to cost about $2,000,000. We have recently received a number of substantial gifts towards the building project, including a gift of $18,000 and then a gift of $300,000. We praise the Lord and are extremely grateful for these gifts! In addition we have received a promise of $700,000 given as a matching grant. As our congregation gives toward the building project, each dollar will be matched up to $700,000.
We can therefore see how $1,700,000 can be raised and even the full $2M rather quickly to begin construction. This is absolutely do-able! I believe all Township/ Pa DEP/ Dept. of Health approvals can be obtained by mid 2013 or at the latest by the end of September 2013 … and therefore as soon as finances are available we can start to build!
So keep praying and we know the Lord is faithful to fulfill what He says. May He guide us with His joy and peace as we follow and trust in Him to “Build for the Harvest”!
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Curt

____________________________________________________________________

                                  VINESONG GROUP FROM THE U.K.:
WHAT EVERY EMERGING CHURCH ALSO DOES: 
INVITE ECUMENICAL CONTEMPORARY 
“CHRISTIAN” MUSICIANS
WHO WERE AT THE ECUMENICAL APOSTATE 
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER, AND THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT/RELIGION UNITED NATIONS
AND: 

Vinesong Promotional Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAQ29ftbUw0
_________________________________________________________________

http://www.hartministries.com/

THE POISONING OF YOUTH BY WILL HART, 

A YOUNG ASSOCIATE OF RANDY CLARK’S 
DOMINIONIST/PENTECOSTAL, ECUMENICAL 
“HEALING MINISTRY”
SEE: http://hopewellchristianfellowship.com/will-hart/


Randy Clark Endorses Will Hart (& Heidi Baker); Claims Hart Healed Monks in a Monastery:

VIDEO: 

Bill Johnson Endorses Will Hart:

WILL HART: “Holy Spirit Says Hit Kid To Heal Him” (Imitates Todd Bentley’s Physical Violence in the Name of Healing):

Published on Apr 29, 2014



Global Awakening with guest Will Hart. The Holy Spirit told him to hit kid to heal him. Just like Todd Bentley was told to hit old lady to heal her. 
VIDEO:


ONLY SOME OF TODD BENTLEY’S TATTOOS:
SEE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Bentley;
EXCERPTS:
CRIMINAL BACKGROUND:
“Even though the criminal records of juvenile offenders in Canada are normally protected from public disclosure, in 2001, the now-defunct Report News magazine disclosed that at age 15, Bentley was convicted for sexually assaulting a young boy, calling his behavior “heinous.” Bentley later said that the Report News magazine article was, in substance, true: “‘They were sexual crimes,’ Bentley admits. ‘I was involved in a sexual assault ring. I turned around and did what happened to me. I was assaulted too.'””
“At 17, Bentley was hospitalized after an overdose of amphetamines and hallucinogenic pills.”
“On 9 July 2008 ABC News‘ Nightline broadcast an investigative report on Bentley focusing on his faith healing claims, finances, and criminal past.”
ALLEGED “CHRISTIAN” EXPERIENCES THE DEMONIC (JUST SUBSTITUTE DEMON FOR ANGEL BELOW):
“Bentley’s testimony includes an account of visiting Heaven and meeting with Paul the Apostle. He has also preached about an encounter with an angel he called ‘Emma’ at an Assemblies of God church in 2001. The female angel gave him a vision of gold coins, and Bentley states this was a sign of his future financial stability. In response to criticism about the Biblical inspiration of a female angel, Bentley wrote that it was God’s choice, and not his own, that an angel appeared to him in that manner. Bentley explained “You know, I told the Lord, ‘Why can’t I just move in healing and forget talking about all that other stuff?’ He said, ‘Because, Todd, you gotta get the people to believe in the angel.’ I said, ‘God, why do I want people to believe in the angel, isn’t it about getting the people to believe in Jesus?’ He said, ‘The people already believe in Jesus, but the church doesn’t believe in the supernatural.’ The church has no problem believing in Jesus. But what we don’t believe in is the supernatural.” According to Bentley, God didn’t want more preaching about salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.”
_________________________________________________________


Todd Bentley’s Violent “Ministry” (WOTMR) [1of2]:



Todd Bentley’s Violent “Ministry” (WOTMR) [2of2]:





Justin Peters, Evangelist/Pastor 




(ON CRUTCHES WITH CEREBRAL PALSY); 




See: http://justinpeters.org/personal-testimony/




Calls out & Challenges Todd Bentley:









Todd Friel & Justin Peters On Todd Bentley’s Revival Part 1:









Todd Friel & Justin Peters On Todd Bentley’s Revival Part 2:










Todd Bentley Blessed by Apostles:





DOCUMENTARY: Lakeland: The Movie (feature-length film on Todd Bentley & the Florida Outpouring):



___________________________________________________________________________


EXCERPTS ABOUT RANDY CLARK, ECUMENICAL FAITH HEALER:
After months of prayer and fasting, Randy was touched by the Lord mightily. On January 20, 1994, this unassuming pastor from St. Louis walked into a small storefront church near the Toronto airport. His anointing for healing is strong. Because of his uncanny humility, Randy’s ministry crosses denominational lines. From the Westminster Chapel in London, to the St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Australia, Randy has been welcomed into a plethora of different streams. 
_______________________________________________________________

Randy Clark is a “course developer” at his 
“Christian Healing Certification Program”: 

http://healingcertification.com/course-developers/randy-clark. This is a promo video from Global Awakening inviting you to the courses run by 12 “teachers of deliverance ministry” which helps you deal with the demonic realm, using high tech:
VIDEO: 

Christian Healing Certification Program

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vFp2926XIY

Patricia King Introduces Extreme Prophetic – 

Randy Clark’s Mystical “Shekinah Glory Prophecy”:








MENNONITES INTRODUCE SUNDAY SCHOOL REPLACEMENT FOR KIDS: ANTI-AMERICAN CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION

WHAT APPEARS TO BE 
“CHILD FRIENDLY CHRISTIAN CURRICULUM” 
IS A SUBTLE INDOCTRINATION INTO IDOLATROUS 
CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUAL FORMATION PRACTICES
AND COLLECTIVIST/SOCIALIST IDEOLOGY
Shine: Living in God’s Light is co-published by Brethren Press, publishing ministry of the Church of the Brethren, and  MennoMedia, publishing ministry of Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. Many know us for our longtime commitment to peace, service, and Christian discipleship. We’re the folks who have brought you the acclaimed Gather ‘Round and Jubilee curricula. We also publish Generation Why for youth.
We’re thrilled that a number of Christian denominations have chosen to promote Shine to their members. These partners include the United Church of Christ, the Moravian Church in North America, the Mennonite Brethren, the United Church of Canada, the Disciples of Christ, and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. In addition, our users include Baptist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, Friends (Quakers), Lutheran, Brethren in Christ, Evangelical Covenant, and nondenominational churches.
SEE: https://shinecurriculum.com/about/what-is-shine/;
EXCERPT:
Shine:
  • calls children to experience the transforming power of God’s love.
  • nurtures trust in God and invites children to follow Jesus.
  • encourages imaginative, interactive biblical storytelling.
  • explores the meaning of the Bible within the gathered community.
  • cultivates the inner life of the Spirit through spiritual practices.
  • expresses faith through lives of compassionate peacemaking and service.
  • invites all ages to shine God’s light in the world.


VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vRzVwbS9nM

VIDEO: 

“The Shalom Arc: The Shine Curriculum’s Approach to the Bible”

Comment: In this video you will see and hear that this is in no way the true gospel of Jesus Christ; hence it is devoid of the sinfulness of man, his depravity, and the way to salvation through repentance. It is a stripped down story telling version of Christianity offering an anti-American collectivist/socialist worldly viewpoint, maligning individualism, personal power, and accumulation of wealth as if these are intrinsically worldly, evil and anti-Christian. It emphasizes peace and wholeness over justification, regeneration, and sanctification. It mischaracterizes Jesus from an Anabaptist pacifist view. 
________________________________________________________________________

Contemplative Spiritual Formation in Mennonite Sunday School Curriculum

SEE: http://mennolite.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/contemplative-spiritual-formation-in-mennonite-sunday-school-curriculum/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

The September issue of the Mennonite Brethren Herald[1] is promoting a long awaited new curriculum for children from age 3 to grade 8. Shine has been in the works for three years, and is now available and coming to Sunday School classrooms in a Mennonite church near you.
The new Sunday school curriculum Shine: Living in God’s Light for fall quarter 2014 is now available from MennoMedia and Brethren Press, the publishing houses of the Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA.
– New Anabaptist curriculum Shines
http://mbherald.com/new-anabaptist-curriculum-shines/
The article explains the importance of one of the aspects of this curriculum – the spiritual formation of children:
Why is spiritual formation for children important, and why do you call it that now instead of “Sunday school”?
Sunday school indicates a school model based on acquiring information. We certainly want children to become biblically literate, but we hope for something much deeper. Spiritual formation happens in vibrant communities of God’s Spirit. One of the things we try to convey is that children’s natural language of prayer is thanksgiving. They need to experience joy and hope. Children also need to know that God walks with us in difficult times. God’s love transforms our lives, so we can show God’s love and call others to follow the Prince of Peace.[2]
To find out what this spiritual formation for children looks like, a link provided to the Shine resource website[3] explains further what will be taught:
Spiritual practices help children to pay attention to God’s activity in their lives, and show them ways that they can shine their light to others.
Engage your children in the language and habits of worship through prayer, ritual, celebration, and silence. Each Shine session has a spiritual practice to teach your group. Student resources will reinforce these practices, helping your children to take these practices with them in their daily lives.
What are some of the spiritual practices that Shine sessions include?
Breath prayer . . . Centering prayer . . . Collage prayer
Examen . . . Giving . . . Grace at meals . . . Hospitality
Intercession . . . Labyrinth . . . Morning and evening prayers
Noticing God in creation . . . Prayer doodling
Reciting scripture . . . Sabbath keeping
Service . . . Silence . . . Solitude . . . Thanksgiving prayers
Walking prayer . . . Whole body prayer . . . Worship
One of the many Shine curriculum resources is a PDF guide for instructors and teachers on how to make a prayer path labyrinth for the children:
Prayer path (labyrinth)
A prayer path (labyrinth) is referred to in Spiritual practices of several teacher’s guides. Prepare one for your congregation or one per classroom.
The alarming truth is that many of these spiritual formation practices that children are going to be learning in the Shine Sunday School curriculum at Mennonite churches are rooted in mysticism and contemplative spirituality. For example . . .
Breath prayer
“…the practice of breath prayer involves “picking a single word or short phrase and repeating it in conjunction with the breath. This is classic contemplative mysticism.””
–Breath Prayer—Not Biblical Prayer
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/breathprayer.htm
Centering prayer
“Centering prayer is an unbiblical and dangerous practice. It can put a person in an altered state of consciousness and open him up to a spiritual connection that is not in harmony with Scripture.
Instead, we are to seek God in prayers that are non-repetitious, with a focus on God’s word and truth, with an active mind seeking to find the true and living God through the revelation of the Scripture and communion with his son Jesus.
In short, avoid centering prayer and avoid whatever church promotes it.”
– Centering Prayer
http://carm.org/centering-prayer
Examen
What is the Ignatian Examen?
Ignatian Examen is an occult visualization technique taught by Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits in the 16th century. His exercise teaches one to visualize oneself in the presence of Jesus and then interact with Him during his earthly events, e.g., “at the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the cross, and laying Jesus’ body in the tomb.”6 This has one adding content to Scripture from his imagination and opens a person to demonic manipulation (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:8).
–Evangelical Mysticism?
http://www.thebereancall.org/node/6433
Labyrinth
“The labyrinth is just another way to perform contemplative or centering prayer.”
– Ray Yungen, LABYRINTHS, Prayer Paths That Promote the Occult
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/labyrinth.htm
Silence
“…like putting the mind in neutral. Contemplatives say it is like tuning into another frequency. New Agers call it different things like a thin place, sacred space, ecstasy; whatever it is called, both New Agers and Christian leaders are telling us we must practice silence and stillness if we really want to know God.”
–The Altered State of Silence
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/thesilence.htm
In conclusion, instead of practicing labyrinth prayer paths and the Ignatius Prayer Examen, perhaps it’s time for Mennonites to examine some very important questions. Where are the watchmen on the walls? How many parents dropping their children off at Sunday School in their Mennonite churches will be aware that the new Shine curriculum will teach them how to practice contemplative spirituality? What will become of each three year old child whose parents faithfully bring them to their trusted church to be trained in a 10 year contemplative curriculum? Is this what Sunday School teachers in Mennonite churches want to be teaching to the children in their care? Who will defend and teach the truth? Who will guard and teach the children?
______
Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.
Vladimir Lenin
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
Mark 9:42
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
___
Endnotes
RELATED:
Understanding The Jesuit Agenda and the Evangelical/Protestant Church
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=6844
The Labyrinth Journey: Walking the Path to Fulfillment?
http://www.forcingchange.org/the_labyrinth_journey



MENNONITES TEACHING CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY TO CHILDREN

Mennonites Teaching 

Contemplative Spirituality to Children

SARA WENGER SHENK
KAREN MARIE YUST
SEE: 
Posted on May 15, 2014 by 

Are the Mennonites who are teaching contemplative spirituality to children leading them astray?
In 2005, at a Mennonite Educators Conference workshop, Dr. Sara Wenger Shenk taught child educators to:
“Teach various kinds of prayer: centering prayer with a chosen word such as “Abba” or “shalom” to repeat while quieting one’s spirit and body to listen to God; meditative prayer prompted by a poem, artwork, musical selection that provides a loose structure within which children can ponder the mysteries of life, their commitments…; using a biblical story for guided meditation, pausing to ask prayerful questions that invite imaginative engagement at various points in the story”
Source: How do we cultivate faithfulness in children?
Mennonite Educators Conference
September 22-24, 2005
Workshop: Practices for Nurturing Children in Faith 
Presenter: Dr. Sara Wenger Shenk http://www.emu.edu/seminary/resources/practicessws.html
The primary source for ideas in this workshop was a book called Real Kids: Real Faith—Practices for Nurturing Children’s Spiritual Lives by Karen Marie Yust[1]. Since then, the ideas in this book have captured the imagination of other child educators. In 2011, this same book by Yust (among others) was used as a reference source for an article about children and contemplative prayer in The Mennonite. Here is an excerpt…
“there has been an increased recognition that children in our society have an intense yearning for silence and meditation (see Real Kids Real Faith by Karen Marie Yust). There is also a growing understanding that children have the capacity to enter the meditative silence of various spiritual practices and often with greater ease than some adults. The keys to helping children enter these practices are creating space and providing them with the tools and understanding necessary to connect with God in prayer. 

Many prayer practices are being recommended for children, for example: centering prayer, guided meditation, journaling, listening prayer, the examen and mindfulness. Some educators, such as Ivy Beckwith, have explored the benefits for children of adding deep breathing to their prayers in order to develop a rhythm for centering prayer, or using a prayer rope to occupy their hands and minds as they engage in the Jesus prayer (see Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith)”[2]
Source: 2011-09-01 ISSUE:
Children and prayer
Ways to help us see ourselves and our children as whole beings who pray with our bodies. by Carrie Martens http://www.themennonite.org/issues/14-9/articles/Children_and_prayer
Carrie Martins is still interested today in helping children learn contemplative spiritual formation. Her website (http://www.carrielmartens.com/) promotes many contemplative links. One of these is the First Steps Spirituality Center[3], where children from babies to teens can learn about the labyrinth, or practice breath, sensory, and contemplative prayer with interactive prayer beads, holy listening stones, or by reading a ‘breath prayer book’ called Child of God, Child of Light by founder Rev. Leanne Hadley. Carrie Martins’ favourite author list includes Ivy Beckwith, Marjorie Thompson, Richard Rohr, Adele Calhoun, and Joyce Rupp, some of whose contemplative teachings are considered by many Christians as New Age paganism.
Martins says she loves the Mennonite Church Canada Resource Centre[4] which offers many sources to help teach families and children contemplative prayer. These include the above mentioned child educator contemplatives, Karen Marie Yust[5], Ivy Beckwith[6], and various materials on centering prayer[7] and monastic traditions[8] for children.
As these Mennonites teach such practices to children, what direction are these little ones being influenced to walk in?
Ivy Beckwith, who has explored the benefits of centering prayer and deep breathing for children (as Carrie Martins mentioned in The Mennonite), spoke at the “Children, Youth, and a New Kind of Christianity” conference in May 7-10, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Other speakers included emerging church leaders Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne, Jim Wallis, and over 50 other influential leaders in Christian formation.[9] The Gather Round Sunday school curriculum (www.gatherround.org), co-published by Brethren Press and MennoMedia, was one of the co-sponsers at this emergent conference. Attendees represented Church of the Brethren, Mennonite Church Canada, and Mennonite Church USA.
This month, Ivy Beckwith will be speaking at Faith Forward (May 19-22) in Nashville, TN.[10] Other speakers[11] include emergent leader Brian McLaren, ‘thin places’ Lilly Lewin, ‘recovering fundamentalist’ Melvin Bray, and ‘the great emergence’ author Phyllis Tickle.
Is this where contemplative spiritual practices and meditation will lead the children? Into the welcoming arms of emergent teachers of ‘the new kind of Christianity’ who want to influence the minds and hearts of the next generation?[12]
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Matthew 18:6
End Notes:
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Real-Kids-Faith-Practices-Nurturing/dp/0787964077
[2] http://books.google.ca/books?id=pnkniUw7aCEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[3] http://www.1ststeps.net/Home/tabid/615/Default.aspx
[4] Top Ten Reasons I LOVE the Mennonite Church Canada Resource Centrehttp://www.carrielmartens.com/2014/05/top-ten-reasons-i-love-mennonite-church.html
[5] Karen Maire Yust: http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/ResourceView/2/6471
[6] Ivy Beckwith: http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/QuickSearch?maker=Beckwith%2C+Ivy
[7] Journey to the Heart: Centering Prayer for Children by Frank X. Jelenek
This simple, colorful, practical book uses rhyme and illustrations to teach children how to practice prayer of the heart, contemplative prayer, or “centering prayer.” Ideal for parents, teachers, educators – and children ages 3-10.http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/ResourceView/2/13599
[8] The Busy Family’s Guide To Spirituality: Practical Lessons for modern Living From the Monastic Tradition by David Robinson (lessons from the rule of St. Benedict and the Benedictine traditions)http://resources.mennonitechurch.ca/ResourceView/2/12458
[9] Gather Round cosponsors conference on children and youth, June 6, 2012. http://mennomedia.org/?Page=7247
Gather ’Round co-sponsors conference on children and youth http://www.brethren.org/news/2012/gather-round-cosponsors-conference.html
GATHER ‘ROUND CURRICULUM COSPONSORS MAJOR CONFERENCEhttp://www.mennoniteusa.org/2012/03/27/gather-round-curriculum-cosponsors-major-conference/
[10] http://faithforward2014.sched.org/list/descriptions/
[11] http://faithforward2014.sched.org/directory/speakers
[12] Q&A with Brian McLaren http://www.childrenswork.co.uk/main/article/brianmclaren
Related:
Why centering prayer should not be taught to children http://www.womenofgrace.com/blog/?p=797
MINDFULNESS GOES TO KINDERGARTEN by Marcia Montenegrohttp://christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_MindfulnessForChildren.html
OUT OF YOUR MIND: MEDITATION AND VISUALIZATION (Guided Meditation)http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Meditation.html
THE LABYRINTH: A WALK BY FAITH? Concerns About the Christian Use of Labyrinths by Marcia Montenegrohttp://christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Labyrinth.html
________________________________________________________
CARRIE L MARTENS

About Me

 Biography:

  As a member of the Bergthaler Mennonite Church of Altona, I first began to explore my calling in the area of Christian formation as a Sunday school teacher for preschool age children. In the almost 20 years since that first class experience I have been increasingly drawn to Christian formation as a life-long endeavor for the entire church. My studies have allowed me to explore broadly what faith formation means for an Anabaptist Christian, and how we, as Anabaptists, have the opportunity to both impact and learn from the broader Christian community as well as other faith traditions. Some of my passions in ministry are:
  • resourcing individuals and groups in order that they might be able to live out their callings with strength and integrity. I am a finder and I love digging through materials to find people what they need!
  • experiencing story as the foundation of our faith. The biblical story is our story and it comes alive when we tell it and as we live out the continuing narrative.
  • engaging in ritual that creates rhythm in our lives, individually and corporately. There are many opportunities in our churches, homes, and communities to engage in rituals that strengthen our identity as followers of Christ. 
  • exploring practices that continue to nurture our awareness of the work of God within and around us.I love helping people of all ages, and especially young children, to connect with God and the world through prayer.

  Degrees:

  • M.Div., Associated (Anabaptist) Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2011
  • 4yr B.A., Canadian Mennonite University, 2006
    • Major: Biblical & Theological Studies
    • Minor: Psychology

 Related Ministry

  •  Pastor with responsibility for faith formation at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church  (Kitchener, ON), Present 
  •  Essay Grader/Marker for “Biblical Literature and Themes” at Canadian Mennonite University (Winnipeg, MB), 2012-2013
  • Sessional Instructor for “Human Development and Christian Formation” at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (Elkhart, IN), Fall 2011
  • Volunteer Pastor of Christian Formation at Belmont Mennonite Church (Elkhart, IN), Fall 2011
  • Pastoral Intern at Braeside Evangelical Mennonite Church (Winnipeg, MB), Summer 2010
  • Pastoral Intern at Belmont Mennonite Church (Elkhart, IN), 2009-2010
  • Associate Pastor of Children’s Ministries at North Kildonan Mennonite Brethren Church (Winnipeg, MB), 2006-2008

    Publications & Presentations:

    • “A Walk with God,” 50 Shades of Grace, 2013
    • Interview participant in Dig In: Thirteen scriptures to help us know the way, 2013
    •  “Spiritual Types and Prayer Practices,” Glenlea Mennonite Church, Spring 2012
    • “Prayer Practices in the Classroom”, Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School (Agassiz Campus) Professional Development, March 2012 
    • “Children and Prayer,” The Mennonite, September 2011
    • “Holy Spaces,” Purpose Magazine, August 2011
    • “Spiritual Formation of Children in Worship,” Church Leadership Centre Lent Planner,January 2011
    • “Teaching the Death and Resurrection of Jesus to Children,”Vision: A Journal for Church & Theology, Fall 2010

    ____________________________________________________________________
    SEE ALSO: http://www.carrielmartens.com/p/classes-retreats.html

    “Spiritual Practices”
    “Many of us in the Mennonite tradition have only been exposed to basic spontaneous prayers and Bible reading as spiritual practices. Ancient and contemporary Christianity have a wealth of spiritual practices to help us to grow in awareness and understanding such as Lectio Divina, Contemplative Gazing, the Examen, Praying in Colour, Centering prayer, Faith Imagination, Body prayer, the Daily Office, living simply…”

    MENNONITE CHURCH USA ORDAINS LESBIAN AS A PASTOR

    Mennonite Church USA 

    Ordains First Openly Homosexual ‘Pastor’

    In Violation Of The Word Of God Which Forbids 
    Women Pastors And Defiant Active Homosexual Unions
    THEDA GOOD



    SEE: 


    From First Mennonite Church of Denver (Colorado); http://www.fmcdenver.org/:

    Theda Good, Pastor of Nurture and Fellowship Theda Good joined the pastoral team in August 2012. She is a graduate of Eastern Mennonite Seminary in Harrisonburg, VA with an M. Div and concentration in Spiritual Formation/Direction. Theda has previous experience as a spiritual director and pastoral care provider, along with serving on various church committees . Originally from Pennsylvania, Theda loves to explore the outdoor recreation of Colorado. Residing in Denver she enjoys spending time with friends in the mountains or on the many bike paths in the Denver area.


    A SIMILAR, BUT MAYBE EVEN WORSE SITUATION HAS BEEN DEVELOPING IN MARYLAND

    Maryland Church Defiantly Calls Lesbian Assistant Pastor:
    EXCERPTS:
    Hyattsville (Md.) Mennonite Church confirmed Michelle Burkholder for the pastoral role in a congregational vote July 28. The church council unanimously recommended her for the half-time position, which starts Sept. 1. An alumna of Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., Burkholder has a master’s degree in theology and arts from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in St. Paul, Minn. She is not currently licensed or credentialed. Her experience in lay leadership at St. Paul Mennonite Fellowship translated into involvement at Hyattsville, where she and her wife, Becky Haas, have attended for about four years. “She’s preached several times, and she’s on the worship committee,” said Cindy Lapp, Hyatts­ville’s lead pastor. “She’s served at the soup kitchen where we serve and is involved with worship arts.” Burkholder and Haas have been married since February, when Lapp performed the ceremony at the church. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Maryland since Jan. 1. Lapp performed a similar ceremony a few years earlier, which caused Allegheny Mennonite Conference of Mennonite Church USA to review her ministerial credentials. Hyattsville was disciplined by Allegheny in 2005 when delegates found its inclusion of gays and lesbians to be inconsistent with MC USA Membership Guidelines. Hyattsville specifically offered membership to homosexual Christians in committed relationships.

    Cynthia Lapp speaks as a group of young Mennonites and ministers, wearing pink, gather to protest outside the Mennonite Church USA’s biannual meeting Thursday, July 2, 2009 in Columbus, Ohio. Lapp, pastor of Hyattsville Mennonite Church in Hyattsville, Md., says her congregation has lost its voting rights within the church for welcoming gays and lesbians, and other congregations have been kicked out altogether.
    EXCERPTS:
    “Twenty-seven-year-old Katie Hochstedler, who grew up in Kalona, Iowa, declared herself “a young queer Mennonite.””
    “Rev. Cynthia Lapp, pastor of a Mennonite church in Hyattsville, Md., said her congregation lost its voting rights within the denomination for welcoming gay worshippers in 2005. She declined to say whether they might face expulsion.”
    “Kristin Sampson, 32, leads a youth group at the Hyattsville church with her lesbian partner, 37-year-old Becca Walawender.”