Awana Clubs

Are They Heading Toward Contemplative/Emergent?
Feb 23, 2006 Awana Clubs has been a respected and trusted Christian organization for many years. Countless children have been Cubbies and Sparkies and have memorized Scripture through the program.

With so much of the church heading into the contemplative/emergent camp, also known as the spiritual formation movement, what a tragedy it would be to see Awana being sucked into this also. Few things are stable these days ... is Awana the next to cave in?

Freemasons

Its Roots & Links to the Occult

"Freemasonry is not Christianity, nor a substitute for it. It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines, but teaches fundamental religious truth." (Albert G. Mackey, "Encyclopedia of Freemasonry," page 162)

"Masonry, like all the Religions, all the Mysteries, Hermeticism and Alchemy, conceals its secrets from all except the Adepts and Sages, or the Elect, and uses false explanations and misinterpretations of its symbols to mislead those who deserve only to be misled; to conceal the Truth, which it calls Light, from them, and to draw them away from it." (Albert Pike, "Morals and Dogma," page 104)

History of the Mormo demon

[tracifish says]
This is too wierd. I'm not posting this as anything factual. That being said, here's a quote from the article:

"Horsing around with Mormo can lead to the creation of your very own Death Mask -- as Mr. Smith was soon to discover." - from The Curious Case of Joseph Smith

Heresy...it's Twisted Scripture

No. It's not Twisted Sister. I said "Twisted Scripture".

It all starts with twisted readings of the scriptures and it all attacks the Trinity in some way.

You will find it at the crux of all the articles I post in this section if you look hard enough. Many

are attacks on God the Son, the second member of the Trinity, even in the articles on

contemplative prayer. Contemplatives are basically saying Jesus wants to help us but needs

that we get our mind in an altered state in order for him to help. What does this say about God's

omnipotence? ....Whether the teachers of heresy mean it or not, it is an insult to God...and it is

done by twisting of scripture. Take a look at verses listed in these articles and you will see that

false teachers take them out of context.

That's why I say it's about Twisted Scripture...plus I thought it would be funny to post this

photo of 'Twisted Sister'....

I am a little concerned when our worship teams are starting to look

like this...(only with more body piercings).

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Nonbelievers Too Can Be Saved, Says Pope

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 30, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Whoever seeks peace and the good of the community with a pure conscience, and keeps alive the desire for the transcendent, will be saved even if he lacks biblical faith, says Benedict XVI.

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The Salvation of the Jews

Do They Need Jesus or
is He the Gentile Savior?
by Dr. David R. Reagan

Theological liberals have long taken the position that Jews do not need Jesus. Their argument is that the Jewish people have a separate way of salvation -

The War Against Bible Prophecy

Jan Markell

I wasn’t born all that long ago so I still recall wonderful prophecy conferences in my Baptist church some twenty years ago. But in the last ten to fifteen years the message that the King is coming has become a downer with implications that the issues surrounding it are “gloom and doom.” When did you last hear it preached in your church? When did you last hear radio or TV preachers talk about it unless they were an eschatology-related ministry?

Schuller Planted, Hybels Watered, Warren (Peter Drucker) Gives The Increase

The above parody of Paul's words: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." (1 Cor. 3:6) is an attempt to show the linkage and progression of the Church Growth and Seeker Sensitive model of ministry in America. The Evangelical, some liberal Protestant, some Roman Catholic churches and even a few Jewish synagogues have come to rely on these method driven paradigms to attaint numerical success...

The Rising World Religion

Neo-paganism, Neo-satanism or Neo-christianity - What's the Difference?...
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THE FALLING AWAY OF THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

Psalm 36:1 – "An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes."

Did you know that God the Holy Spirit felt that this bit of instruction was so important that He would inspire the Apostle Paul to quote it again in Romans 3:18b? Obviously the attitude of “fearing” God is so important to the believer’s understanding of God that it needs to be reiterated. And yet the question is, does the Evangelical church actually heed the call to fear the Lord anymore?

Sadly, this is a message I never wanted to have to write. As one who loves Jesus and His Church it pains me to share this with you. But who with any amount of discernment could possibly deny that the Evangelical church has lost much of that fear of God right before our very eyes! Truly we are witnessing a “falling away” that is taking place in our midst...

Unity and Community

"...But Pastor Warren adds some questionable organizational reasons for emphasizing fellowship and unity. As he explained in his article, "Relationships hold your church together," fellowship among members may be the most effective way to "grow" large and strong churches. So, in the Church Growth Movement (CGM), people-pleasing fellowship—designed specifically to bond spiritually diverse people to each other—becomes a major purpose. This process includes the following steps:..."...

Small Groups and the Dialectic Process

..."Total Quality Management [TQM] is based upon the Hegelian dialectic, invented by Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel, a transformational Marxist social psychologist. Briefly, the Hegelian dialectic process works like this: a diverse group of people (in the church, this is a mixture of believers (thesis) and unbelievers (antithesis), gather in a facilitated meeting (with a trained facilitator/teacher/group leader/change agent), using group dynamics (peer pressure), to discuss a social issue (or dialogue the Word of God), and reach a pre-determined outcome (consensus, compromise, or synthesis)...

Dealing with Resisters

"I just read 'Small Groups and the Dialectic Process.' Absolutely dead-on! At the end of it, I read this paragraph which took my breath away: 'In today's Church Growth Movement, resisters are usually sifted out fairly early in the process. In the next installment, we will look at some of the ways non-conformists are assessed, exposed, vilified and dismissed from the church families they have loved, served and supported.
"I have been forced out of two churches for being such a 'resister.' I am a normal wife and mom and teacher who would not conform and, as you stated above, have been shunned and vilified. This has caused me considerable heartbreak and torment. For years I have struggled to cope with the shock of losing my church family and being branded as divisive.

"The ONLY way I have been able to come through this is to return to my Lord and trust His Word only. For years, I didn't really realize that I had drifted away from Him. Then when the storm hit, I didn't have the means to withstand it. By His grace and mercy, I have emerged from the mind-hell that shaming and shunning create...."

Spiritual Gifts and Community Service

"God has a unique role for you to play in his family," writes Pastor Warren. "This is called your 'ministry,' and God has gifted you for this assignment: 'A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.' [1 Co 12:7-8, NLT] Your local fellowship is the place God designed for you to discover, develop and use your gifts."...

40 Days of Change through Transformational Leadership

You probably won't discover Rick Warren's vision for the 21st century community by simply reading his top-selling books. Yet, many have sensed that his five familiar motivational purposes hide a more complex mission. Some have noticed that his transformational strategies match those of UN globalists and the world's leading change agents. No wonder, since today's management gurus -- Peter Drucker, Peter Senge, Bob Buford and others -- are shaping the same strategic pathways for churches as for the rest of the world.

Their clever use of words and the complexities of today's transformational management systems tend to blind our eyes to the strange alliances and manipulative strategies. Who would know the philosophy and tactical power behind labels such as "systems thinking," "facilitated learning" or "transformational leadership"? As with educational buzzwords, the old familiar words take on new meaning when used in the context of planned social change...

Problems with The Prayer of Jabez

During an uneventful time in Israel's history, a faithful man named Jabez prayed a simple, straightforward prayer and gained the favor and blessings of God. Now, a small book has prompted millions of saints and seekers to memorize and repeat the same prayer daily. After three thousand years of obscurity, Jabez has found surprising favor with the world.

So, what's the problem with promoting a Biblical prayer that God honored in His Word? After all, our Lord delights in the prayers of His saints -- all the daily thanks, praises and petitions that turn our hearts to Him in faith, worship and surrender. Using Bible verses as a basis for prayer and worship is a wonderful habit. Why be concerned?

Because this book -- not Jabez' prayer -- promises rewards from God that God doesn't promise in the Bible. While author Bruce Wilkinson enriches the meaning of Jabez' prayer in the rest of his book, the first part (many readers go no further) seems to put the book into the unbiblical realm of the "name it claim it" movement. Consider the opening words...

Robert Muller's Totalitarian Utopia: Part 1

Continuing the examination of Robert Muller’s “vision” of spirituality in the future (see previous two posts), a global plan for spiritual control begins to emerge. One can easily imagine Christian believers embracing such a plan if it were couched in Christian terminology. How easy it is to switch the wording around, invent a few new doctrines, or integrate a few new concepts! Indeed, Muller’s plan parallels many dominionist plans for “kingdom” building, a doctrine now widely embraced in evangelicaldom. Muller's language is only minimally different...

Dominionism
and the Rise of Christian Imperialism

By Sarah Leslie

DiscernmentResearch Group

For the past several decades the political Left has focused attention on the Christian Right’s political activism in America. Particularly, the Left has been highly critical of a select group of dominionists called Reconstructionists, whose aggressive verbiage, extreme Calvinist theologies, and religious political agendas have made it an ideal target for outrage. But, as Leftist researcher Sara Diamond has astutely observed, “the Reconstructionists’ religion of Calvinism. . . makes them unlikely to appeal to most evangelicals.”4 Indeed, few Reconstructionists would consider themselves to be evangelicals. Nevertheless, their influence has been considerable over the much larger group of patriotic evangelicals.

There are two other dominionist sects within evangelicalism that have escaped in-depth scrutiny from the Left. These dominionists have been able to function virtually incognito for several reasons: 1) They have been deeply embedded within the evangelical subculture; 2) They cloaked their dominionism with new terminologies and doctrines over a period of thirty years; and 3) They figured out how to package dominionism using sophisticated mass marketing techniques. Also noteworthy: these two other dominionist camps have been operating in a dialectical fashion – while one group appealed to the TBN charismatics with all of its emotional excesses, the other group carefully managed its more intellectual public image to conform to traditional evangelical standards...

Are you wondering about the "Purpose Driven" church?...

Slice of Laodacea has a veritable slew of "Purpose Driven" articles. I will post a sample here, and you may click on the 'Slice of Laodacea' to access any one of these:

Africa Watch Update: Missionaries told "not to minister the Word"!

We have been concerned for some time about the activities of Rick Warren and Bruce Wilkinson in Africa for a number of reasons. One of our concerns has been about whether true evangelism would be permitted. As we studied the material pertaining to short-term missionary training and follow-up, and examined the relationships between the 3-legged stool of Corporate-Government-Church partnerships, we began to suspect that these short-term mission projects were simply civic activities and had little or nothing to do with the presentation of the Gospel. We are sad to report that new information has just come in that confirms our grave suspicions...


Rick Warren in Rwanda

Has anybody here ever heard of a "peace scientist"? Rick Warren apparently brought them with him on his trip to Rwanda this month. Where does Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace, fit into this?
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Is it "Mistakes" or Sin?

A reader sent in this piece by Rick Warren which seems more like a piece by Dr. Phil. He even quotes James 3:2 as though the passage is just talking about little mistakes or stumbles we make. In actuality, it's referring to sin*. But when you consider Warren's church, of which he is Head Shepherd, has singles shimmying across the dance floor, writhing to the sounds of Sodom, it's little wonder that words like "sin" don't play well.

*Sin is any want of conformity to or transgression of the Law of God.
(Westminster Shorter Catechism)
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Rick Warren and Vision Casting

What is vision casting? We're hearing that term thrown around by a lot of leadership gurus today. This article from Herescope (great site by the way) discusses Rick Warrren and the vision casting thing...