Thoughts on Seeing God in Nature - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“It appears to me that those who would forbear the study of nature, or shun the observation of its beauties, are conscious of the weakness of their own spirituality. When the hermits and monks shut themselves out from the temptations of life, foolish persons said, “These are strong in grace.” Not so, they were so weak in grace that they were afraid to have their graces tried. They ran away from the battle like the cowards they were, and shut themselves up because they knew their swords were not of the true Jerusalem metal, and they were not men who could resist valiantly. Monasticism was the confession of a weakness which they endeavored to cover with the vain show of humility, and the presence of superior sanctity.

If my graces are strong, I can look upon the outward world, and draw forth its good without feeling its evil, if evil there be; but if my religion is mainly fictitious, then hypocrisy dictates to me the affectation of unusual spirituality, or at any rate I have not grace enough to rise from a contemplation of the works of God to a nearer fellowship with God himself. It cannot be that nature of itself debases me, or diverts me from God; I ought to suspect a deficiency in my self when I find that the Creator’s handiworks have not a good effect upon my soul. Moreover, rest assured brethren, that he who wrote the Bible, the second and clearest revelation of his divine mind, wrote also the first book, the book of nature; and who are we that we should derogate from the worth of the first because we esteem the second.

Milton’s “Paradise Regained” is certainly inferior to his “Paradise Lost,” but the Eternal God has no inferior productions, all his works are master-pieces. There is no quarrel between nature and revelation, fools only think so: to wise men the one illustrates and establishes the other. Walking in the fields at eventide, as Isaac did, I see in the ripening harvest the same God of whom I read in the word that he covenanted that seed-time and harvest should not cease. Surveying the midnight skies, I remember him who, while he calls the stars by their names, also bindeth up the broken in heart. Who will may neglect the volume of creation, or the volume of revelation, I shall delight in them both as long as I live.”

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled"Lessons From Nature," delivered August 13, 1871.


 Sola Sisters Commentary 

This commentary actually flows out of something that a very Godly friend of mine said to me, which was that monasticism is a form of hiding. After all, rubbing shoulders with other sinners on a daily, ongoing basis, is one of the chief ways, I'm convinced, that God uses to sanctify us. And I don't mean only in the church, but in our dealings outside the church as well. God uses personal relationships both in and outside of the church to grow us, sanctify us, and conform us to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29, 1 Cor 15:49), and above all, to reveal his glory. If a person is separated out from the world, and in essence separated from all temptations, how is God glorified in that? It is in our sometimes difficult personal relationships that, by God's grace, we are dying to self (Gal 5:16), crucifying our flesh (Gal 2:20), speaking the truth but in love and not harshly (Eph 4:15), and thinking more of others than ourselves (Phil 2:3) that God is most glorified (Phil 2:15-16).

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Tapping - The Next Big Thing in "Alternative Medicine"

Be on the lookout, my friends, for something called "Tapping."

The Tapping World Summit 2011 is underway right now, and it is promoting and teaching a new "Alternative Medicine" technique called "Tapping." Tapping is something that a trained practitioner would do, and has to do with, literally, "tapping" along the "meridian lines" of the body.  These are the same "meridian lines" as in acupuncture/acupressure. This theory of meridians in the body (supposedly energy centers that run through every human body) is based on the pantheist, Taoist belief that the body being interconnected with the energy of the "Divine."  But this is not a biblical concept.

pantheism noun \ˈpan(t)-thē-ˌi-zəm\  - a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe.

Chinese Taoist "medicine" is based on the belief that the body has "innate wisdom" and knows how to heal itself. Taoists believe this because, in their pantheistic view, they believe that everything in the world and and in the universe is made up of energy and is interconnected ("Universal Energy").  And thus, the body being a little part of the greater Divine whole, it already has within it all knowledge and all wisdom.....it just has to access it.

As a side note, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung had a similar parallel theory that he was credited with developing, and which greatly influenced the realm of psychology, and that was the idea of the Collective Unconscious.

The Collective Unconscious was supposedly this vast pool of perfect knowledge and wisdom that could be accessed by anyone who would take the time to get rid of emotional blockages through psychotherapy and/or with the use of psychiatric drugs.

But Who does the Bible tell us has All Wisdom?

Psalm 147:4-5 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. 

Acts 15:18 Known to God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

And Who is our Great Healer?

It is Jehovah-Rapha - "The LORD is your Healer"

Exodus 15:26:  And He said, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD (Jehovah-Rapha), am your healer."

For me, as a former New Ager and pantheist, the question I keep circling back to is this: since these supposed "medicines" are based on pantheist, Taoist philosophy, how "good" could they really be?



See also:

"Universal Energy" the Key to Health?

Problems with Alternative Medicine

Saddleback's "Daniel Plan" Doctor Will Lead Mass Hypnosis

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, has just kicked off a 52-week program called "The Daniel Plan"aimed at teaching Christians how to have healthier lifestyles.

The problem with the program, however, is that Warren has partnered with three men who are well known not only for their medical knowledge (which they are), but are also well known to be proponents of New Age Spirituality.  One of the doctors, the handsome and charming Dr. Mehmet Oz, first became popular through his many appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, which led to him having his own health and wellness TV program.

Attached is an article where you may read more about the mind-emptying hypnosis exercise that Dr. Oz plans to perform on Monday, February 7.

You may also listen to Dr. Oz in his own words extol the virtues of the occultic practice of hypnosis.

Dr. Oz Talks About Cancer Myths: MyFoxLA.com

 Additional Resources 

Rick Warren Teams Up with Swedenborg Cult Follower Dr. Oz

Rick Warren Wants You To Develop Your "Ultramind"

Rick Warren Driven By Destiny?

Why is Rick Warren Quoting Universalist Henri Nouwen?

An Open Letter To John Piper

Christians and the Potential Dangers of Social Media

Posted by Christine Pack

Recently on my Facebook page I posed this question:

Which of these scenarios would be MOST likely to harden the heart of a lost person peering into our Christian camp, and observing our inner workings:

(1) A Joel Osteen feel good sermon?

(2) Rick Warren's works righteousness?

(3) The Emergent Church's antinomianism?

(4) A Doctrinally Precise Blogger who publicly interacts with other Christians with malice and bitterness, and yet refuses to be reconciled?

The comments in response to this question proved to be very thought-provoking, and I will go further here and state that the reason I posed this question is because, while navigating the waters of Facebook, I have run into an issue I had not anticipated.  I'll get to that, but let me do a little background work first.

I will be the first to say that right doctrine about God is a wonderful thing.  The reason that "right doctrine" about God matters is that all people have doctrine about God (except for atheists), but only right doctrine about God actually has saving power.

doc·trine, noun, \ˈdäk-trən\ - a codified set of beliefs accepted as authoritative by some group 

Let me explain.  I had doctrine about "God" as a Hindu, as a Buddhist, and as a pagan (the three flavors of false religion that I kept circling back to as a lost person wandering the world seeking truth).  I believed all my beliefs very sincerely, but I was very sincerely wrong.  I was very sincerely deceived.  And on the Day of Judgment, I would have been standing there with my mouth hanging open, dumbfounded that what I had held to so dearly had been a lie, and that I was headed to hell.

So right doctrine about God is crucial. It is imperative for people to understand that there is a holy, sovereign creator God who made them, and to whom they are beholden.  This God is holy and perfect in every way, and because of this, sinful man cannot be in his presence without being consumed in flames, destroyed by God's holy wrath against sin. And right there is the great problem that all of mankind faces: how to find a way to enter into the presence of this holy God when there is a burden of sin that cannot be gotten rid of.  And what exactly is sin? We only need to look at the Ten Commandments to understand what sin is:

Honor God above all things (#1 & #2)

Do not bear false witness (#9)

Do not steal (#8)

Do not murder (which Jesus more fully defined as anger in one's heart toward another) (#6)

These are laws that, if we are honest with ourselves, we have broken, not once or twice, but many, many times throughout our lives.  This is the sin debt that, unpaid, will cause us to be consumed in the presence of God.  But God in his infinite mercy made a way for wretched sinners to be reconciled to  a high and holy God.  He sent his Son Jesus, the God man who was born of a virgin, to live the perfect life that we could not live ourselves, and to then offer his own life up as a ransom for many (Matt 20:28, Eph 5:2).  He was tortured and crucified on a cross as a sacrifice for all who would repent and believe.  And the proof that this sacrifice was acceptable and pleasing to God was that Jesus rose from the dead after three days.  You see, He had done what none of us could do.  We've broken God's laws, and "the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23).  But because Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, death could not hold him (Acts 2:24):

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)

For all those who humbly bend the knee and confess their sinfulness and need of a Savior, the Lord will graciously save and pardon.  And not only that, neither will death have victory over us. God promises to bring to heaven all those who have been reconciled to him through Jesus's sacrifice to live with him forever in heaven (1 Thess 5:10). This is amazing good news!  And these are the doctrines that are precious, true and life-giving.  Without knowing and understanding and bending the knee to these truths, people are doomed.

Which brings me back to the peculiar problem I have encountered on that infamous social media network known as Facebook.  I'll admit it, I went onto Facebook perhaps a bit naïve.  You see, I was found and "friended" by people on Facebook (if you're on FB, you know how it works) who made all the right "professions"and so I clicked "Confirm!" "Confirm!" "Confirm!" with great abandon.  How wonderful, I thought, to find such precious Christian fellowship...and on a social network, of all places!

But some of these newfound "friends," who at first blush appeared to be brothers and sisters in Christ began to do very confusing things.  Their "confessions of faith" were right.....but something was off.  They had every doctrinal i dotted and t crossed, but when they would show up on threads concerning doctrinal issues, they often proved to be contentious and mean-spirited. This shocked me!  And I wasn't quite sure how to handle it.  But more importantly, I knew this was not in keeping with the higher standard that Christians are called to:

"I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and gentle as doves." (Matt 10:16)

As someone who became a born-again Christian relatively late in life, I have many friends from my past who are dear to me and who I know are not saved. I have therefore purposefully made contact through Facebook with family members and old friends, MANY of whom are lost. And one of my reasons for doing this is so that I might be a witness to them, because I dearly love them and desire for them to be saved. I often post things that are clearly intended to provoke people into thinking through perhaps preconceived notions about Christianity, and hopefully, to start asking questions.

So, what happens when they start asking questions? I have to say that I have been deeply dismayed to have some of these FB friends who are professing Christians - and who have surgically precise doctrine -  show up with guns blazing, taking people apart with their words, when often, people are just asking questions.

This is why I wrote this note on Facebook, because this issue is near and dear to me.

Can we not contend for the faith with a loving and gentle spirit - even over doctrinal issues?

Yes, doctrine is important - critically important. But love is important also - critically important.

"We will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." (Eph 4:15)

"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." (James 1:26)

"Do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature." (Gal 5:13)

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Eph 4:1-3)

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Gal 5:24-26)

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (Eph 4:1-3)

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-16) 

"Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." (1 Peter 2:12) 

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:14-16a) 

photo credit: benstein via photopin cc
photo credit: AlicePopkorn ( off /on ) via photopin cc

 Additional Resources 

"Sincerity" The Most Important Thing?

A Word of Caution to Fire Starters

Rick Warren Introduces "The Devil Plan"

The following article was so thoroughly researched I decided to print it in its entirety word-for-word, knowing that Marsha and I capture different audiences.  So thanks to my friend Marsha West for letting me reprint this article and for all her hard work.


by Marsha West, Renew America

Pastor Rick Warren continues to work at "fulfilling people's needs." His latest endeavor is "The Daniel Plan," a 52-week health and fitness program. Pastor Rick has decided it's high time to lose 90 pounds. But there's more to his health plan than meets the eye.

"The church says all of its more than 5,000 small groups will go through "The Daniel Plan," which is part of Saddleback's "Decade of Destiny," a 10-year plan launching this month "to help individuals succeed and be who God designed them to be in every aspect in life."" (Online source)

On January 15, over 6,000 people flocked to Saddleback's main campus while thousands more watched online at the other Saddleback campuses.

It would appear that Pastor Warren has good intentions and that he genuinely wants his congregants to be the picture of health. He says that Christians should honor God with our bodies and he draws from Scripture to prove his point, 1 Cor. 6:19 and Rom. 12:1, for example. Who can possibly dispute that Warren's plan to get the sheep shipshape is anything but admirable?

RECIPE FOR A WITCH'S BREW

Into a cauldron of green tea add in 1 eye of a knut, 4 lizard's tails, 3 dragon incisors, 4 forked tongues, 7 pages from the Message Bible, 1 page from the KJV Bible, then stir the pot while chanting "I am God...I am God...I am God." While the brew simmers get in a crossed-legged yoga position...meditate ...go deep...deeper still...until you're in a trance, then allow the kundalini energy coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine to run through your body...until an ecstatic experience erupts whereby you will shift between ecstasy and horror......voila, enlightenment!

In his new endeavor to help Saddleback congregants get healthy, Pastor Rick has enticed unsuspecting people, many of them professing Christians, into drinking his witch's brew.

Many of you are thinking, "Rick Warren wouldn't do that!" Oh really? Stay with me and you'll discover what "America's Pastor" is up to. Many of you will find what I'm about to reveal unbelievable. Don't take my word for it. At the end of this article I have included a number of links that reveal the truth about this man. Do the research.

AMEN, HYMAN AND OZ

When Rick Warren decided to implement his health plan he enlisted the help of three doctors: Daniel Amen, Mark Hyman and Mehmet Oz. "I am honored to be partnering with these internationally distinguished health experts," he boasted. Soon the fearsome foursome set out to develop a plan and what they came up with was "The Daniel Plan" (TDP). Amen, Hyman and Oz applied their medical expertise and Warren offered his expertise in spiritual matters. And herein lies the problem. As you will see, Amen, Hyman and Oz also have a great deal to offer in "spiritual" matters.


DR. MEHMET OZ

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths." — 2 Tim. 4:3-4

Oprah Winfrey's "favorite doctor" is a Muslim and has been influenced by the mysticism of Sufi Muslims. Moreover, he is keen on the ideas of cultist mystic Emanuel Swedenborg:

"As I came into contact with Swedenborg's many writing I began to understand Swedenborg's profound insights and how they applied directly to my life."

Swedenborg believed he could pass between the life to come and the present. What is more he claimed he had conversations with spirits of the dearly departed as well as angelic beings:

"[T]he spirit world was comprised of a number of concentric spheres, each with its own density and inhabitants. There is no such thing as hell or eternal punishment. Those spirits who find themselves in a hellish place after death can evolve toward a higher spiritual plane.

"In spite of it being granted to him 'to be constantly and uninterruptedly in company with spirits and angels,' Swedenborg did issue a caution in regard to receiving counsel from just any spirit that might manifest with an alleged personal message. "When spirits begin to speak," he wrote in Miscellaneous Theological Works (1996), "care should be taken not to believe them, for nearly everything they say is made up by them....They love to feign. Whatever be the topic spoken of, they think they know it, and if man listens and believes, they insist, and in various ways deceive and seduce." (Online source)

Dr. Oz is a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation:

"When I meditate, I go to that place where truth lives. I can see what reality really is, and it is so much easier to form good relationships then."

Do a Google search on Dr. Oz and you'll find posts from people complaining that he's irresponsible because he promotes things which have no scientific evidence to support them. Until something is proven, doctors should not promote it as it could endanger lives. One example of an unscientific practice he promotes is Reiki, which New Agers believe to be a "guided Universal Life Force Energy." Dr. Oz's wife is a Reiki Master. "Reiki," he said, "is my favorite treatment that could change the future of medicine forever." He also pontificated:

"I think [Reiki] may be ultimately the most important alternative medicine treatment of all. And we are embarking on this whole new vista of opportunities, it broadens dramatically the spectrum of where we might be able to go in our bodies, and this is the area of energy medicine."(Online source)

It is rather curious that Rick Warren would team up with a man whose fame he owes in part to New Age High Priestess Oprah Winfrey. Dr. Oz's worldview more closely aligns to New Age Spirituality than to historic orthodox Christianity.


DR. DANIEL AMEN

"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." — Col. 2:8

Dr. Amen is a child and adult psychiatrist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine. In addition he is a brain imaging specialist.

Dr. Amen teaches "techniques that will improve 'brain health,' claiming that poor brain health is associated with a host of problems from overeating to depression. ... He includes meditation (and in fact this is his primary tool) as a way to have a healthy brain."

Dr. Amen recommends a meditation called Kriya Kirtan which is from the Kundalini tradition:

"I teamed with Drs. Dharma Singh Khalsa and Nisha Money to study the impact of meditation on the brain. We chose a simple 12 minute form of meditation, Kriya Kirtan, that is easy for busy people to practice. It is based on the five primal sounds: Saa, Taa, Naa, Maa (aa being the fifth sound). Meditators [sic]say each sound as they consecutively touch their thumb to fingers two, three, four and five. The sounds and fingering are repeated for two minutes out loud, two minutes whispering, four minutes silently, two minutes whispering and two minutes out loud." (Online source)

Dr. Amen is also a practitioner of Tantric or tantric sex which is the use of Hinduistic-type mysticism during sexual intercourse. Lighthouse Trails Research (LTR) reports:

"In a 6-CD set called Create a More Passionate Night, Dr. Amen has teamed up with advanced certified Tantra educator, T. J. Bartel. ... Tantra is the name of the ancient Hindu sacred texts that contain certain rituals and secrets. Some deal with taking the energies brought forth in meditation through the chakras and combining them with love-making to enhance sexual experiences."

Dr. Amen also teaches Reiki.

"Make no mistake about it" says LTR, "Reiki, meditation, tantric sex — these are very powerful mystical experiences that have the capability to delude and deceive those who are involved with it."

For Christians who have read to this point, I hope you're becoming alarmed.


DR. MARK HYMAN

"For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." — 2 Cor. 11:14

Dr. Mark Hyman is editor-in-chief of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine which is said to be "the most prestigious journal in the field of integrative medicine, and the medical editor of Alternative Medicine, the Art and Science of Healthy Living."

In her article, Alternative/ Blended/ Complementary/ Integrated Healing, Marcia Montenegro examines alternative therapies:

"It is called alternative because the technique/ drug/ herb has not been or cannot be adequately tested, or has been found ineffective or dangerous. If it were a safe, tested treatment, it would not be in the alternative category. Many cited studies to support these methods are flawed, short-term, based on anecdotal evidence, conducted by believers in the techniques, & often are not published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. The terms complementary, blended, and integrated are now being used as well since alternative treatments are being combined with traditional medicine. This makes it more difficult to test the alternative methods or to know what is really working when the patient improves. It should be remembered that the placebo effect accounts for 30% or more for a person feeling better."

Dr. Hyman claims he's not into meditation but he does recommend yoga to create calm.

In my article Can A Pagan Practices Be "Christianized" I explain why Christians must avoid yoga:

"Christian apologists John Ankerberg and John Weldon maintain that, 'The basic premise of yoga theory is the fundamental unity of all existence: God, man, and all of creation are ultimately one divine reality.' To explain the basic premise, the authors quote from an editorial in the Yoga Journal: "We are all aware that yoga means 'union' and that the practice of yoga unites body, breath, and mind, lower and higher energy centers and, ultimately self and God, or higher Self. But more broadly, yoga directs our attention to the unity or oneness that underlies our fragmented experiences and equally fragmented world. Family, friends, the Druze guerrilla in Lebanon, the great whale migrating north — all share the same essential [divine] nature.""

Dr. Hyman participated in a program called Yoga, Body & Spirit at Shambhala Mountain. The program included Susan Piver, who offered instruction in the ancient wisdom tradition of Buddhist meditation, and Richard Reoch who presented Golden Ball Chi Kung.

Dr. Hyman retails expensive supplements "critical for supporting lifelong health," books and CDs in his "healthy living store" online. The UltraWellness Essentials Kit for Women costs $130 for a one month supply. For youngsters it's a tad less. Only $47 per month because "Like adults, children need a purified source of essential fatty acids to help build healthy brain cells, support focus and attention, and optimize metabolism."

This is UltraBunk!

Earth to Dr. Hyman! At your exorbitant cost for "high-quality multi vitamin and minerals" most families can't afford to get healthy! (Visit Dr. Hyman's store)


Why has this not dawned on Pastor Rick? In one of his promotional videos he held up each of the doctors' books and urged his congregants to purchase them! This makes one wonder if Dr. Hyman's books recommend the high priced vitamins, and if this is the case who derives benefit from the sale of these products?

That an evangelical pastor would allow his sheep to be influenced by New Age ideas and questionable medical practices should give us pause. Christians should avoid becoming involved in any sort of assembly where we are powerless to address issues that come up which could cause us to compromise our biblical principles. Moreover, it should give us pause when the minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ teams up with occultists!

RICK WARREN'S 'PLAN' TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Writer Jennifer Pekich journeyed to "The Daniel Plan" conference at Saddleback Church as an observer and blogged about her experience:

"To begin, I'd like to state that Saturday Jan. 15th, 2011 will go down in the history books as the day Saddleback Church was sold a bill of goods. The masses had come out in droves for answers to their weight loss difficulties & health problems, but unbeknownst to them, they were being given a prescription for restructuring society & population control.

"The prescription goes by the name Agenda 21, a.k.a. "Sustainable Development" or "Smart Growth." Agenda 21 is a published document put out by the United Nations with the intent to put limits on population and to restructure nation-states into a global society. Rick Warren's "new friends" had dubbed it, "The Daniel Plan — God's Prescription For Your Health." A more appropriate title would've been, "Sustainable Living — Destroying Inalienable Rights, One Community at a Time."

(For those who are unfamiliar with Sustainable Development, Tom DeWeese explains, "Nature has an integral set of different values (cultural, spiritual and material) where humans are one strand in nature's web and all living creatures are considered equal. Therefore the natural way is the right and human activities should be molded along nature's rhythms.")

Jennifer continues...

"I about fell off my chair when Dr. Hyman stated, "The key to the success of the "Daniel Plan" is "group living"..."individuals" will not succeed, our only hope lies in "community." And with that, it was announced that the "Saddleback community" would be an example of "sustainable living" and would set the course to "change this world"...and the crowd went wild! I have to admit that visions of the masses being manipulated by Adolf Hitler's oratory skills came to my mind, only this particular crowd had just been manipulated by a really bad infomercial."

Most Christians know that our only hope lies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our only hope does not lie in sustainable living designed to keep American citizens under a microscope and under the thumb of BIG government. America will not succeed because of BIG government; it is falling apart at the seams because of BIG government! Americans who are looking to the nanny state to cure their ills only need to take a gander at the European Union to the see the destruction BIG governments have caused — and it continues to get worse every day.

But this is not about moving America into Eastern-style socialism — as it appears some so-called evangelical pastors would like to see happen — so I'll move on.

More from Jennifer...

"Dr. Hyman said that he is a Jew, Dr. Amen said he is a Christian, and Dr. Oz said he is a Muslim. And doesn't that represent the demographic of "most of the population of the world"? But then he said, "we're all the same underneath." True to his salesman fashion, Dr. Hyman didn't define his terms. What in the world does he mean "we're all the same underneath"? That can mean a number of things. Since he was speaking to a religious crowd, I'd venture to say some of the folks present took that to mean we're all children of God (Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.), which is patently false according to the Bible. The Bible says there are only two groups, children of wrath and children of God. You're either one or the other, a believer in Christ Jesus, or a non-believer. We aren't "all the same underneath." (Ephesians Ch. 2).

"The tragic thing about this day at Saddleback is, Jesus was never mentioned ... and I mean NEVER There were a few passing references to God; Daniel Amen mentioned that our bodies were "a temple of the Holy Spirit and the brain is the inner sanctum" [Amen means that all humans are the temple of the Holy Spirit], but Jesus never made the cut — "sustainable lifestyles" and "group living" did."(To read Jennifer's entire report visit Ponderings from Patmos )

There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel better, look better, be stronger and think sharper. The problem lies with the witch's brew cooked up by Rick Warren and his team of doctors. As I've demonstrated, doctors Amen, Hyman and Oz are steeped in Eastern mysticism and the occult. A large number of Christians trust Rick Warren and will purchase their books — and a lot of them will be influenced by a worldview that is incompatible with Christianity, namely New Age Spirituality. Again, more than 5,000 small groups will go through TDP. God help them!

I'll close with Galatians 1:6-8:

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

photo credit: tericee via photopin cc

 Further Research 

Rick Warren's "Apologetics" Weekend Should Apologize for Representing "Another Gospel" — Lighthouse Trails Research

Emanuel Swedenborg's Occultic Beliefs Influence Rick Warren's Health Advisor and Now the Christian Church — By John Lanagan

Kundalini: Frequently Asked Questions and Selected References — By Kurt Kuetzer

What's Sex Got To Do With It? — Lighthouse Trails Research

A Visit to Rick Warren's Health Seminar — The Unfolding of a Global New Age Plan — By Jennifer Pekich, published on Lighthouse Trails Research

Good Fight Theater...move the cursor to the right...look for Rick Warren's face and click on the image. Listen to Pastor Warren's conversation with Larry King.

Mark Hyman: Mangling cancer research and systems biology in the service of woo — Scienceblogs.com

New Age Pandemic in the Church — By Marsha West

Book Review: Purpose Driven Life — By Robert Wise

Occult Pagan revival signals death of America and the West — By Linda Kimball

Rick Warren Connections...Especially to the Ecumenical Third Wave New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and "Positive Thinking" Movement — Compiled by Sandy Simpson

Youtube: Rick Warren Occult Deception Part 1 — Warren Smith interview "Deceived on Purpose"

Never Directly

from Jerry Bridges' Daily Devotional

“We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.”  (Hebrews 10:19)

“Pharisee-type believers unconsciously think they've earned God's blessing through their behavior. Guilt-laden believers are sure they've forfeited God's blessing through disobedience or lack of discipline. Both have forgotten the meaning of grace—God's unmerited favor to those who deserve only his wrath.

Most of us probably entertain either of these attitudes on different days. On a good day (as we perceive it), we tend toward self-righteous pharisaism. On a not-so-good day, we allow ourselves to wallow in a sense of failure and guilt. Either way we've moved away from the Gospel of God's grace, trying to relate to God directly on the basis of our performance rather than through Christ.

God never intended that we relate to him directly. Our own performance is never good enough to be acceptable. The only way we can relate to him is through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Only the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from a guilty conscience and give us confidence to enter into God's presence (Hebrews 10:19-21).

The Gospel, applied every day to our hearts, frees us to be brutally honest with ourselves and with God. The assurance of his total forgiveness through Christ's blood means we don't have to play defensive games anymore. We don't have to rationalize and excuse our sins. We can say we told a lie instead of saying we exaggerated a bit. We can admit an unforgiving spirit instead of continuing to blame others for our emotional distress. We can call sin exactly what it is, however ugly and shameful it may be, because we know Jesus bore that sin in his body on the cross. We have no reason to hide from our sins anymore.”

"Adventures in Missions?" Or Adventures in Pagan Spirituality?

Ingrid Schlueter of the VCY America Crosstalk radio program recently published an article that raises troubling questions concerning a missions group headquartered in Gainesville, GA. The missions organization in question is called Adventures in Missions (AIM)/World Race, and they appear to have some very disturbing teachings. One of these teachings is found in the Parents’ Guide that writes that the youth who choose to participate with AIM “must leave the guidance of family” and “belief systems defined by others” behind them when they choose to partner with AIM for missions work. But is this even biblical?  After all, Godly parents are described in the Bible as a blessing.

Also, participants of AIM/World Race must practice something calling the discipline of "listening prayer," a kind of "prayer" that rejects Sola Scriptura, which is the Reformation principle that God speaks to us through Scripture alone.  Instead, "listening prayer" rejects the authority of Scripture in favor of a more subjective, experiential kind of prayer in which the participant "listens"to God and journals what he or she thinks God is personally speaking to them.  This kind of prayer is a rejection, as I noted, of the Reformation principle of Sola Scriptura, and is also a rejection of God's clear teaching on how we "hear" from God:

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe." Hebrews 1:1-2

What is one way that Jesus is described in the Bible?  He is called "the Word:"

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

Do you want to "hear" from God?  The Bible teaches that the way we "hear" from God is through the study of Jesus himself.....that is, by studying the Word.

 Panentheistic Worldview vs. Christian Worldview 

On this page, Adventures in Missions President and founder Seth Barnes directs his readers how to find "Spiritual Direction."  At the end of the article, he encourages his readers to link to a site called "Celtic Spirituality" to learn more about the art of finding spiritual direction.  In one article found at Celtic Spirituality, entitled "Shape Shifting Meditation," the participant is given the following meditation to do:

"Close your eyes, and send your consciousness down through the room, down through the floor of the building, and down, deep down, into the earth. Be aware of the mass of rock that lies beneath the soil -- shale, quartz, sandstone, granite; the black, white, and red -- shot through with bands of minerals, darkly glittering; crystals that shine like stars within the stones ... Let your consciousness become one with the mineral kingdom. You might choose to become a mountain as old as the planet itself, once part of the seabed, thrown up by unspeakable forces now stilled, enormously, timelessly rooted in the earth, its head in the stars ... or a minute grain of sand, one among trillions and trillions, endlessly shifting, sifting, with the ocean tides ... or become a stone ... the stone people are alive, it's just that their hearts beat slower than ours..."

That this kind of teaching is recommended reading by an organization that purports to be Christian is truly disturbing.  This teaching is identical to the panentheistic meditations I did while I was a New Ager.  (Panentheism is the belief that there is a "divine energy" connecting all of life together, and that we all possess a "divine inner spark.")  Even more disturbing is the idea that AIM sees no distinction between their panentheistic, God-in-everything view and the pagan God-in-everything view found in the countries, presumably, where AIM is trying to reach people with the good news of the gospel.  One has to wonder, then, what AIM's "gospel message" is.  For instance:

Do they explain that all men are born wretched and depraved? (no "divine inner spark")

Do they teach about the pre-eminent holiness of God?

Do they tell of the exclusive nature of Christ? 

Do they explain that without Christ's atoning death, there is no union with God?

For more information, Ingrid Schlueter at Crosstalk Blog has just posted an excellent article on AIM which can be read in its entirety here.


 Additional Resources 

Missions, Mysticism and Magic: A Closer Look at the Missionary Organization Adventures in Missions  (by Claris Van Kuiken)

Personal Words From God? by Bob DeWaay (part 1)

Personal Words From God? by Bob DeWaay (part 2)