The Emerging Church's Radical Environmentalist Agenda
THE EMERGING CHURCH’S RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST AGENDA
June 25, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
According to emerging church theology, the object of the church’s mission on earth is not the preaching of gospel but the building of the kingdom of God on earth. It is earth-minded and mocks a heavenly-minded orientation. It gets more excited about solving the “AIDS crisis” and saving the polar bears than winning lost souls.
Emerging church writings say very little about the salvation of the soul, but they say a lot about the salvation of society and creation. Their activism runs toward all sorts of very liberal social-justice concerns--environmentalism, animal rights, you name it--anything except the winning of souls. If there is any emphasis at all upon the winning of souls, it is a secondary thing.
They use terms such as “missional” and “holistic” to define this agenda.
The Emergent Village says:
“We see the earth and all it contains as God’s beloved creation, and so we join God in seeking its good, its healing, and its blessing” (Emergent Village web site, http://www.emergentvillage.org/about-information/values-and-practices).
Tony Campolo claims that believers are saved in order to change the world:
“Our call is to be God’s agents, TO RESCUE NOT ONLY THE HUMAN RACE BUT THE WHOLE OF CREATION” (Campolo, “Why Care for Creation,” Tear Times, Summer 1992).
Rob Bell, author of Velvet Jesus, says:
“The Bible paints a much larger picture of salvation. It describes all of creation being restored. ... Rocks and trees and birds and swamps and ecosystems. God’s desire is to restore all of it. ... A Christian is not someone who expects to spend forever in heaven there. A Christian is someone who anticipates spending forever here, in a new heaven that comes to earth. THE GOAL ISN’T ESCAPING THIS WORLD BUT MAKING THIS WORLD THE KIND OF PLACE GOD CAN COME TO. ... To make the cross of Jesus just about human salvation is to miss that God is interested in the saving of everything. Every star and rock and bird. All things” (Velvet Elvis, pp. 109, 110, 150, 161).
The environmental part of the emerging church’s agenda is not just to keep the air clean and the streams pure; it goes far beyond that to a position that is akin to earth worship.
In May 2008 Pastor Jeffrey Whittaker attended Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change tour at Goshen College in Indiana, and he witnessed the environmental frenzy first hand (“A Pastor Reports on McLaren’s Everything Must Change Tour,” June 2, 2008, http://herescope.blogspot.com/).
The very first session was titled “Focusing on the Wounds of Our Planet.” They sang a song based on Francis of Assisi’s poem “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” and watched a DVD by the Sierra Club “exposing the immoral mining techniques used by energy companies in West Virginia.” Then they were treated to a song that cried out against “our rape of Mother Earth.” The second day’s session began with another environmentalist song that said mining is a “scar cut across the face of Mother Earth.” They were constantly reminded that “catastrophic consequences due to global warming are upon us.” Another session opened with the “Hymn of Remorse,” which bewailed the supposed desecration of the earth. “We repent for covering your colorful earth with gray cement ... for cutting down trees ... for scarring your earth ... Lord, have mercy, can we be restored? What of the lands of tribes and nations who lived here first ... the noise of traffic is drowning out the songbird’s song...”
By no stretch of the imagination can such a position be supported by the Bible. From the very beginning God gave man the right to use the earth.
“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
Man has a divine right to subdue the earth and use its resources, to cut its trees and mine its ore and pump its oil. This does not mean he has the right to destroy the earth and make it into a filthy cesspool; no one in his right mind is in support of polluting the air and water and such things. But God has given man the right to use the earth’s resources in a responsible manner.
The environmentalist movement is not based on proven science; it is not merely the push for reasonable conservation; it is a blind religious faith. Its most zealous proponents are gullible tools in the hands of one-worlders who intend to use the environmentalist cause to increase their authority at a local, national, and global level. When Marxist globalists jump on the environmentalist bandwagon, you have to know that something other than love for a clean earth is driving the agenda.
Jonah Goldberg has wisely observed:
“At its core, environmentalism is a kind of nature worship. It’s a holistic ideology, shot through with religious sentiment. ... Environmentalism’s most renewable resources are fear, guilt and moral bullying” (“The Church of Green,” Los Angeles Times, Op-Ed, May 20, 2008).
As for “global warming,” it is not an established fact. In reality, it is nothing more than a weak theory; and many scientists do not believe it. In March 2008, for example, more than 100 prominent environment scientists presented papers at the International Conference on Climate Change in New York City. They concluded that global warming is a natural process rather than the result of human activity. Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute, said: “The purpose of the conference is to provide a platform for the hundreds of scientists, economists, and policy expert s who dissent from the so-called ‘consensus’ on global warming” (“Scientists Meet in NYC to Challenge Gore, UN,” WorldNetDaily, March 4, 2008).
The radical environmentalist agenda is simply not based on proven science. Take the frenzy to ban plastic shopping bags, for example.
“Scientists are attacking the global campaign to ban plastic shopping bags, saying the activists’ claim that the modern conveniences are responsible for the deaths of 100,000 animals and one million seabirds is based on a ‘typo’ in a 2002 report [by the Australian government] and there is no scientific evidence showing the bags pose a direct threat to marine mammals. [The report was derived from a Canadian study in Newfoundland that only sited the death of marine mammals by discarded fishing nets and made no mention of plastic bags!] Researchers and marine biologists have told the London Times plastic bags pose, at best, a minimal threat to most marine species, including seals, whales, dolphins and seabirds” (“Anti-plastic Crusaders Stuck Holding the Bag,” WorldNetDaily, March 9, 2008).
It takes more energy to make and recycle paper shopping bags than plastic ones, but banning plastic bags makes the environmental activists felt better and that is what is really important.
Consider the frenzy to save the polar bears.
“The U.S. government just put polar bears on the threatened species list because climate change is shrinking the Arctic ice where they live. Never mind that polar bears are in fact thriving--their numbers have quadrupled in the last 50 years. Never mind that full implementation of the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gases would save exactly one polar bear, according to Danish social scientist Bjorn Lomborg, author of the 2007 book Cool It! Yet about 300 to 500 polar bears could be saved every year, starting right now, Lomborg says, if there were a ban on hunting them in Canada. What’s cheaper, trillions to trim carbon emissions or paying off the Canadians to stop killing polar bears?” (“The Church of Green,” Los Angeles Times, May 20, 2008).
The common sense evident in this paragraph is what is often missing in the environmental movement.
The movement is also shot through and through with duplicity. There appears to be a willingness to say anything and ignore any inconvenient fact as long as by so doing you can further your cause.
“During the 2000 presidential campaign, for example, much was made of Houston becoming the ‘smog capital of America.’ But Houston’s overall air quality was improving at the time. Houston became the nation's smog capital only because Los Angeles’s air improved even faster, passing Houston in a race of positives. Perhaps the commentators who spoke as though Houston's air were getting worse did not understand the issue. More likely they did not want to understand-for cleaner air would violate the rule of Good News Bad” (Gregg Easterbrook, “Bad News Good, Good News Bad,” Brookings Institute, Spring 2002).
Environmental activists have claimed that more U.S. cities are violating air standards, but what they don’t say is that the EPA standards have grown progressively stricter and that the pollution levels have actually gone down dramatically. Data produced by the Environmental Protection Agency shows that between 1976 and 1997, ozone declined 31 percent; sulfur dioxide, 67 percent; and nitrogen oxide, 38 percent. In that same period, the population rose 25 percent, the gross domestic product doubled, and vehicle-miles traveled increased 125 percent!
Activists have claimed that pollution is rising at runaway levels under President George Bush’s watch. “Yet the overall number of bad-air days has actually been falling steadily. In 2001, there were fewer than half as many air-quality warning days across the country as in 1988. Los Angeles has experienced just one Stage 1 ozone warning in the past five years, an incredible decline. During the 1970s, Los Angeles averaged about 100 Stage 1--alert days per year” (“Why Bush Gets a Bad Rap on Dirty Air,” Time magazine, May 22, 2003).
Further, the environmentalists too often focus their attention on America and other developed countries rather than the countries that are really and truly raping the earth. America has made great progress. Its water and air is cleaner than in a generation and its forests are more widespread than even in the 19th century. Bald eagles and peregrine falcons are off the endangered list; black bear and coyotes and moose and buffalo and deer and other wildlife are increasing dramatically. The Brookings Institute web site recently observed: “Arguably the greatest postwar achievement of the U.S. government and of the policy community is ever-cleaner air and water, accomplished amidst population and economic growth” (http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2002/spring_energy_easterbrook.aspx).
If an environmental activist wants to spend his energy on saving the earth, let him leave America or England or Switzerland where environmental consciousness is high and the people have plenty of resources to solve their problems, and move to Russia, India, or China, to name some countries that are true environmental disasters, and dedicate his life to solving their problems.
The fact is that the environmental movement’s dire predictions have been proven wrong for more than a half century. It has being crying “the sky is falling,” but it has not fallen. There has been no silent spring. During George H.W. Bush’s term of office in the early 1990s environmentalists were threatening a “new silent spring” of dead Appalachian forests. In fact, the forests have made a wonderful comeback.
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
Rachel Carson, The Mother of the Environmental Movement
June 24, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
Environmentalism is a major force in politics today, and even the evangelicals are jumping on this bandwagon to various degrees. In February 2006, eighty-six evangelical leaders, including Rick Warren, signed the “Evangelical Climate Initiative,” calling on evangelicals to treat “global warming” as a “pressing issue and major priority.” Headlines in newspapers and magazines predict global warming disasters.
“The sky is falling; the sky is falling,” has been the environmentalist’s theme song from the beginning.
When I was stationed in Vietnam in the U.S. Army in 1971 I read Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” which, as the title promises, predicted the death of the world by human abuse. The misguided evolutionist (1907-64) was the founder of the contemporary environmental movement, and her book led the way for the draconian environmental policies that have taken hold in western nations over the past three decades.
She is nearly worshipped by environmentalists. She was featured by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. She is called a “giant” at the NASA Earth Observatory web site and praised at the Environmental Protection Agency’s web site. Time magazine named her one of the “100 People of the Century.” In his history of the environmental movement Philip Shabecoff said: “More than any other [book], it changed the way Americans, and people around the world, looked at the reckless way we live on this planet” (A Fierce Green Fire).
Yet Carson’s influential book is filled with myth and error, and the unnecessary banning of DDT that stemmed from the book has resulted in countless deaths.
Dr. J. Gordon Edwards, an entomologist who belonged to several environmentalist organizations in 1962 when “Silent Spring” was published and was originally sympathetic to Carson’s position, has since documented “The Lies of Rachel Carson” (http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/summ02/Carson.html). He says:
“As I neared the middle of the book, the feeling grew in my mind that Rachel Carson was really playing loose with the facts and was also deliberately wording many sentences in such a way as to make them imply certain things without actually saying them. She was carefully omitting everything that failed to support her thesis that pesticides were bad, that industry was bad, and that any scientists who did not support her views were bad. ... I next looked up some of the references that Carson cited and quickly found that they did not support her contentions about the harm caused by pesticides. When leading scientists began to publish harsh criticisms of her methods and her allegations, it slowly dawned on me that Rachel Carson was not interested in the truth about those topics, and that I really was being duped, along with millions of other Americans” (Edwards, “The Lies of Rachel Carson,” 21st Century Science and Technology, Summer 1992).
(See also “Silent Spring at 40” by Ronald Bailey, Reason magazine, June 2002, http://reason.com/rb/rb061202.shtml.)
Rachel Carson’s environmental position won the day in many governments, not because it is based on scientific truth but because it is a lie and this dark world loves a lie, being under the dominion of the father of lies (John 8:44).
Carson dedicated her book “To Albert Schweitzer who said, ‘Man ... will end by destroying the Earth.’” In fact, man will not destroy the world; God will. The Bible believer understands this and lives his life accordingly, while the unbeliever stumbles in the darkness, knowing neither from whence he came or where he is going.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:10-13).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
Hate Crimes Laws Used Against Christians in Canada
“HATE CRIMES” LAWS USED AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN CANADA
June 23, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
“Many Americans have a warm, fuzzy view of Canada, and have no idea that a totalitarian nation is taking shape, instigated by gay activists and Muslim pressure groups in the name of ‘tolerance.’ They do not know because America’s mainstream media are refusing to cover it” (Robert Knight, “Media Ignore Gagging Sound from Canada,” http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=135546).
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Canada is a model of what could happen in America if the so-called hate crimes legislation becomes the law of the land, and the Democrats will doubtless make this a priority if they win the presidency. Barak Obama has said that he will use the “bully pulpit” to promote homosexual rights and will make this one of his highest priorities.
Such laws are used by homosexuals and Muslims and other enemies of the Christian faith to exact vengeance upon and shut the mouths of Christians.
Since Canada enacted “hate crimes” legislation at the provincial and national level, gave special protected status to homosexuals, and set up human rights commissions and tribunals, the persecution against Christians has grown steadily.
There are 10 human rights commissions in Canada, the national commission, known as the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and a provincial commission for each of Canada’s 10 provinces, except British Columbia (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008). These nine provinces also have human rights tribunals. British Columbia lumps its commission and tribunal into one body.
Complaints brought before the human rights commissions are investigated, and if deemed worthy, are sent to a tribunal for prosecution.
The commissions and tribunals are “quasi-judicial bodies” that have the full power of government behind them, but they operate separately from the court system and do not provide their victims even the basic due process protections that rapists and murderers enjoy in the courts. All an activist must do is file a complaint claiming that his feelings have been hurt and that he is offended by something that a Christian has said or done, and the tribunals bring governmental authority to bear against the “offender.” There is no cost to the complainant, but the accused is forced to pay his own legal costs, which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. If found guilty he must pay “damages” to the offended party, plus he must pay his accuser’s legal fees. There is a presumption of guilt and the accused must labor under adverse circumstances to prove his or her innocence.
An outspoken Christian has no real protection under this system. It is a grossly discriminatory, lose-lose situation from beginning to end.
As Ezra Levant, a lawyer who is defending himself before a human rights tribunal, observes, “Even if we win, we lose--the process has become the punishment. It is procedurally unfair. Unlike real courts, there is no way to apply for a dismissal of nuisance lawsuits. Common law rules of evidence don’t apply. Rules of court don’t apply. It is a system that is part Kafka, and part Stalin.”
In 1997 the Ontario Human Rights Commission fined the City of London and its mayor, DIANE HASKETT, $10,000 for refusing to proclaim Gay Pride Day. It also ordered Haskett to make a public statement praising the “valuable contributions of gays and lesbians to her community,” which she refused to do. She said, “I will not bow down to the ruling of the human rights commission and I am willing to bear any consequences of that. If this ruling is left unchallenged, any Canadian can be forced to say what they don’t believe ... The implications are so staggering it should be a matter for legal review” (“Gay Pride Fallout,” The Interim, February 1998).
In 2001 in Toronto, Ontario, printer SCOTT BROCKIE was fined $5,000 for refusing to print homosexual-themed stationery for the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives. The human rights commissioner in this case was Heather MacNaughton.
In 2002 in Saskatchewan the StarPhoenix newspaper of Saskatoon and HUGH OWENS were ordered to pay $1,500 to three homosexual activists for publishing an ad in the newspaper in 1997 quoting Bible verses regarding homosexuality. The advertisement displayed references to four Bible passages (Romans 1, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10) on the left side. An equal sign (=) was situated in the middle, with a symbol on the right side comprised of two males holding hands with the universal sign of a red circle with a diagonal bar superimposed over the top. Owens bought the ad and the StarPhoenix merely printed it. The Human Rights Commission’s ruling was appealed to the courts. In February 2003 the Court of Queen’s Bench in Saskatchewan refused to overturn it, with Justice J. Barclay saying the advertisement was an incitement to hatred. But in April 2006 the ruling was overturned by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeals (“Court Reverses Ruling,” WorldNetDaily, April 14, 2006).
In 2005 a British Columbia KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS council was ordered to pay $2,000 to two lesbians, plus their legal costs, for refusing to allow its facility to be used for their “wedding.” The human rights commissioner in this case was Heather MacNaughton.
In January 2006, Catholic city councilman JOHN DECICCO of Kamloops, British Columbia, was fined $1,000 and required to apologize for saying that homosexuality is “not normal or natural” (LifeSiteNews, Jan. 19, 2007). In his remarks, which were made in a city council meeting, DeCicco was expressing the official doctrine of his church. The fine goes to two homosexual activists who brought the complaint. DeCicco was also forced to issue a public statement that his comments were “inappropriate and hurtful to some.” DeCiccco told LifeSiteNews, “I’m not against lesbian and gay people, but I don’t agree that I should have to endorse it.”
In January 2002 the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal levied a fine of $7500 against the VANCOUVER RAPE RELIEF SOCIETY for its refusal to allow a male-to-female “transsexual” named Kimberly Dawn to train as a rape and abuse hotline counsellor. In an article at its web site dated April 16, 2000, the society argued that it operates as a women-only society and that it is not wrong to exclude an individual who has grown up as a man and who its clients might not accept as a woman. The original complaint was brought in 1995. The tribunal commissioner who imposed the heavy-fisted sentence was Heather MacNaughton.
In 2005 in Alberta FRED HENRY, Roman Catholic bishop of Calgary, was subject to two complaints before the Alberta Human Rights Commission after publishing a pastoral letter defending the traditional definition of marriage earlier that same year. (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008). Bishop Henry told Zenit: “The social climate right now is that we’re into a new form of censorship and thought control, and the commissions are being used as thought police.”
In February 2007 complaints were brought before the Human Rights Commission targeting CATHOLIC INSIGHT magazine and priest ALPHONSE DE VALK, a well-known pro-life activist, for quoting from the Bible and church documents to refute “same-sex marriage.” The complaint was brought by homosexual activist Rob Wells, a member of the Gay, Lesbian and Transgendered Pride Center of Edmonton. He accuses the magazine of promoting “extreme hatred and contempt” against homosexuals. de Valk says, “The basic view of the Church is that homosexual acts are a sin, but we love the sinner,” adding that opposing same-sex marriage is not the same as rejecting homosexuals as persons (“Canada’s Human Rights Beef with Catholics,” Zenit, Feb. 5, 2008).
In 2007 the CHRISTIAN HERITAGE PARTY OF CANADA and its leader RON GRAY were investigated by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) after a homosexual activist complained that he was offended by material on the party’s web site. The activist, Rob Wells, has also launched complaints against Craig Chandler in Alberta and Alphonse de Valk and Catholic Insight magazine. One of the articles that Wells complained about was an April 29, 2002, report published by WorldNetDaily in America citing a study that found that pedophilia is more common among homosexuals (http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27431). Another article, written by Ron Gray, protested Canada’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Gray told LifeSiteNews: “Christians are probably the best friends homosexuals have in the world because we want to see them delivered from an addiction that will shorten their lives in this world and condemn them in the next. I’m not motivated by hate at all. I would guess that very few if any real Christians are motivated by hate in their response to these issues. It’s a question of compassion. Who truly loves you, someone who tells you the truth even when it hurts, or someone who will tell you you’re okay even when you’re headed down the wrong road. The Scripture says, ‘Faithful are the wounds of a friend, and deceitful are the kisses of an enemy’” (“Christian Political Party before Human Rights Commission,” LifeSiteNews, Nov. 27, 2007). He added: “I really think this is a crucial case because if an agency of the government, which the CHRC is, can tell a political party what it may and may not include in its political statements we have gone way down the road to totalitarianism.”
In 2007, in British Columbia, a complaint was made against MACLEAN’S MAGAZINE (Canada’s leading newsweekly) for publishing an excerpt from MARK STEYN’S book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. The article, published in October 2006, was entitled “The Future Belongs of Islam.” The complaint was brought by Naiyer Habib and Mohamed Elmasry, an imam and president of the Canadian Islamic Congress. Elmasry appeared on the Michael Coren Show in Toronto in 2004 and said that anyone in Israel over the age of 18 was a justifiable target of Palestinian attacks (“Mark Steyn Human Rights Tribunal,” LifeSiteNews, June 3, 2008). He later apologized, but his basic outlook is obvious. Yet he had the audacity to complain to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that the MacLean’s article portrayed Muslims as “inhuman” and “violent.” The case was referred to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, which opened its proceedings against Steyn and the magazine in June 2008.
In January 2008 the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal began its proceedings against EZRA LEVANT. He is defending himself against complaints by Islamic activists who have protested the publication of Danish cartoons of Mohammed for news purposes in the Western Standard magazine in 2006. In his opening remarks to the tribunal on January 11, 2008, Levant made the following powerful and eloquent statement:
“When the Western Standard magazine printed the Danish cartoons of Mohammed two years ago, I was the publisher. It was the proudest moment of my public life. I would do it again today. In fact, I did do it again today. Though the Western Standard, sadly, no longer publishes a print edition, I posted the cartoons this morning on my website, ezralevant.com.
“I am here at this government interrogation under protest. It is my position that the government has no legal or moral authority to interrogate me or anyone else for publishing these words and pictures. That is a violation of my ancient and inalienable freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and in this case, religious freedom and the separation of mosque and state. It is especially perverted that a bureaucracy calling itself the Alberta human rights commission would be the government agency violating my human rights. So I will now call those bureaucrats ‘the commission’ or ‘the hrc’, since to call the commission a ‘human rights commission’ is to destroy the meaning of those words. I believe that this commission has no proper authority over me. The commission was meant as a low-level, quasi-judicial body to arbitrate squabbles about housing, employment and other matters, where a complainant felt that their race or sex was the reason they were discriminated against. The commission was meant to deal with deeds, not words or ideas. Now the commission, which is funded by a secular government, from the pockets of taxpayers of all backgrounds, is taking it upon itself to be an enforcer of the views of radical Islam. So much for the separation of mosque and state.
“I have read the past few years’ worth of decisions from this commission, and it is clear that it has become a dump for the junk that gets rejected from the real legal system. I read one case where a male hair salon student complained that he was called a ‘loser’ by the girls in the class. The commission actually had a hearing about this. Another case was a kitchen manager with Hepatitis-C, who complained that it was against her rights to be fired. The commission actually agreed with her, and forced the restaurant to pay her $4,900. In other words, the commission is a joke--it’s the Alberta equivalent of a U.S. television pseudo-court like Judge Judy--except that Judge Judy actually was a judge, whereas none of the commission’s panellists are judges, and some aren’t even lawyers. And, unlike the commission, Judge Judy believes in freedom of speech. It’s bad enough that this sick joke is being wreaked on hair salons and restaurants. But it’s even worse now that the commissions are attacking free speech.
“That’s my first point: the commissions have leapt out of the small cage they were confined to, and are now attacking our fundamental freedoms. We have a heritage of free speech that we inherited from Great Britain that goes back to the year 1215 and the Magna Carta. We have a heritage of eight hundred years of British common law protection for speech, augmented by 250 years of common law in Canada. That common law has been restated in various fundamental documents, especially since the Second World War.
“In 1948, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Canada is a party, declared that, quote: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’
“The 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights guaranteed, quote, 1. ‘human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely, (c) freedom of religion; (d) freedom of speech; (e) freedom of assembly and association; and (f) freedom of the press.’
“In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteed, quote: ‘2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: a) freedom of conscience and religion; b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.’
“Those were even called ‘fundamental freedoms’--to give them extra importance. For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights and a Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values” (http://ezralevant.com/2008/01/kangaroo-court.html).
In March 2008 the Canadian government ordered MACGREGOR MINISTRIES, an apologetics ministry, shut down because its reference materials were ‘critical’ of the beliefs of those who are not Christian (WorldNetDaily, March 21, 2008). Lorri MacGregor told WND that Canada’s version of a ‘hate crimes’ law prevented their work from continuing as it had for nearly 30 years. The ministry was ordered to either make wholesale changes in its presentations, or shut down. They were required to say that all religions are equal, stop publishing their magazine on cults, remove all offending material from their website, and stop selling any products teaching about cults. Refusing to operate under those conditions, they moved the ministry to America.
In June 2008 STEPHEN BOISSON, an evangelical youth pastor, was banned from expressing opposition to homosexuality in any public forum and ordered to pay $7,000 “damages for pain and suffering” to the homosexual activist who complained against him. The trouble began in 2002 when Boisson wrote a letter to the editor of the Red Deer Advocate newspaper in Alberta and denounced the advance of homosexual activism in the schools. Printed under the heading “Homosexual Agenda Wicked,” the letter said: “Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights.” This offended a homosexual teacher named Darren Lund who complained to the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal.
NOT JUST A CANADA PROBLEM
“Human rights” and “hate crimes” laws are being used to persecute Christians in many parts of the world, in Europe, Australia, Brazil, even the United States at the local and state level. Hate crimes laws are being promoted at the international level by the United Nations.
In April 2003, two Christians were found guilty of violating Brazil’s “hate crime” law by witnessing on the beaches of Sao Paulo state (Compass News Service, May 23, 2003). The charges were brought by Spiritist groups in connection with an annual evangelistic outreach. The Spiritists claimed that the gospel tracts disparaged their pagan goddess. Two leaders of the outreach were targeted: Baptist pastor Joaquim de Andrade and Aldo dos Santos Menezes, a deacon in an Anglican church. The judge fined them about $300 each and warned that if they do not stop “proselytizing” Spiritists, they will face harsher consequences. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court in 2004.
In June 2004 Pentecostal Pastor Ake Green in Sweden became the first pastor in the European Union to be charged under hate crimes. He was convicted for denouncing homosexuality as “abnormal,” “something sick,” and “a deep cancerous tumor in the body of society” and sentenced to one month in jail. The conviction was overturned by an appeals court.
In October 2004 eleven Christians with the Repent America organization who were protesting a homosexual “Outfest” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were arrested and charged with a laundry list of crimes. In February 2005 four members of the group stood trial on three felony and five misdemeanor counts and the judge dismissed all charges. Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Dembe said, “We cannot stifle speech because we don’t want to hear it, or we don’t want to hear it now” (“Judge Drops Charges,” Baptist Press, Feb. 18, 2005). (Homosexual activists claim that the group was disrupting their program and refusing police requests to move, but the judge ruled that they did nothing illegal.) Repent America uses placards such as “God Abhors You.”
In December 2004 two pastors were convicted under a hate crimes law in Victoria, Australia. The case stems from a seminar that Daniel Nalliah and Daniel Scott of Catch the Fire Ministries conducted in March 2002. The two pastors lectured on the differences between Christianity and Islam and quoted information about Islam directly from the Quran. They were accused by the Islamic Council of inciting hatred, and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal sided against them, even though the judge admitted that they quoted the Koran accurately. The cost of defending themselves against the accusations surpassed $150,000.
In April 2007 the Hindu-American Foundation began publishing a list of Christian organizations that are supposedly guilty of “hate crimes” against Hindus. The report, Hyperlink to Hinduphobia, lists 37 groups that it calls “extremist organizations with hate against Hindus and Hinduism,” claiming that these are “websites devoted to fomenting hatred and violence against particular religious and ethnic groups.” The list includes the Southern Baptist Convention, Christian Answers Network, Cutting Edge Ministries, Christian Broadcasting Network, Mission Frontiers, and Gospel for Asia. Way of Life Literature is included in the list because of an article entitled “Hinduism’s Pagan Practices” which “portrays the religion in demonic terms ... [saying that] the Beatles and other rock and rollers were in direct communion with demons when they popularized Hinduism to the hippy generation in the 1960s.” The Hindu American Foundation is urging Internet providers to ban the web sites on its list.
In July 2007 a homosexual man won a job discrimination claim against the Church of England. After John Reaney was turned down for a youth worker’s post in Cardiff, Wales, he complained to the government that he was being unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation. The employment tribunal agreed. Homosexual activists rejoiced at the ruling. One said that the “church must learn that denying people jobs on the ground of their sexuality is no longer acceptable” (“Gay Christian Wins Job Tribunal against Church of England,” Daily Mail, July 18, 2007).
In April 2008 the New Mexico Human Rights Commission fined a Christian photography studio $6,600 for discriminating against homosexuals. Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon, co-owners of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, politely refused to photograph a lesbian couple’s “commitment ceremony.” One of the lesbians, Vanessa Willock, filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission claiming the Huguenins discriminated against her because of her “sexual orientation.” Jordan Lorence, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund that is representing the Huguenins, said: “This decision is a stunning disregard for religious liberty and First Amendment freedoms of people of faith, of Christians, and those who believe in traditional marriage defined as one man and one woman. This shows the very disconcerting, authoritarian face of the homosexual activists, who are using these non-discrimination laws as weapons against Christians in the business world and Christians in their churches” (“New Mexico Commission Orders Fine,” OneNewsNow, April 11, 2008). Lorence believes the Huguenins will win an appeal of the decision, but he warns this is how similar laws in 19 other states, and the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, can be misused to silence biblical beliefs.
In May 2008 a policeman in Birmingham, England, ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham. Evangelists Arthur Cunningham and Jospeh Abraham say they were threatened with arrest for committing a ‘hate crime’ and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned (“Christian Preachers Face Arrest in Birmingham,” London Telegraph, June 1, 2008).
The objective of homosexual activists is to shut down every church that opposes their agenda and refuses to keep quiet.
THE GOOD NEWS AND THE GOOD FIGHT
The good news in this sorry state of affairs is that at least some of the public is growing upset at the attack on freedom of speech and religion. The hearings against MacLean’s magazine have received considerable media attention. Journalists are present from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Post, 24 Hours, and CKNW radio. The Canadian Association of Journalists and the BC Civil Liberties Association have taken the side of MacLean’s and Steyn. Jason Gratl, a lawyer for these organizations, said: “We’re of the view in the first place that the human rights tribunal doesn’t have any business deciding what appropriate expression in Canada might be” (LifeSiteNews, June 3, 2008).
LifeSiteNews reported on June 3, 2008, that in the previous week Liberal MP Keith Martin introduced a motion to Parliament proposing to investigate the practices of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. “The motion specifically refers to the public’s concerns about the CHRC’s investigative techniques and their interpretation and application of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act on ‘hate’ crimes.”
God’s people need to take a stand against this persecution. We need to fight back by every lawful means, to be outspoken and not draw back from fear, and most importantly we need to pray earnestly and daily about this matter. If we take the priceless right of freedom of speech and freedom of religion for granted and do not use it to proclaim God’s Word are not willing to stand up for it and plead to God for it, we don’t deserve to have it.
“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
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Nehemiah's Toolsbox
June 18, 2008 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is by Pastor Buddy Smith of Malanda, Queensland, Australia
Men with a vision are builders. Noah and the ark, Abraham and his family, Moses and Israel, Solomon and the temple. Men who see what God gives them to see, men who have a real vision from God are builders. The Lord Jesus Christ said that He would build His church. When He rose from the dead he commissioned His disciples to carry on the work of construction. Pastors, missionaries, evangelists, in fact, every obedient disciple is in the building trade. We build the house(hold) of God with lively stones (I Pet. 2:5). Paul describes himself in I Cor. 3:10 as a wise masterbuilder. The word chosen by the Holy Spirit here is the word "arkitecton". We are to pray and prepare (and perspire) to become the best builders we can for the Lord.
One of my favourite "architectural visionaries" is Nehemiah. What an example he is to the men of God in our generation! His heart was broken by the desperate situation of his nation. His calling was to build among the remnant. Most of his building material was rubble. His ministry depended on his prayer life and his knowledge of the Word of God. He faced strong criticism and opposition from his neighbours. He was beset by discouragement, ridicule, ecumenism, compromise, and indifference. But he had a vision from God. And he had a few willing workers who caught his vision and made it an historical reality.
A dear old pastor friend who is in Heaven once told us of a conversation he had with the boss of a demolition crew. Bro. John asked him how much skill was needed to demolish a building. The expert said, "Not much. Anybody can tear things down." Bro. John then asked him, "If you were to build the building you just knocked down, how much skill would be required?" The builder replied, "Well, that's a different story. If we built this building we would need men with a lot of skill." There are demolition experts around today who tear down the work of the Lord. Some are in the ministry. Some just warm the pew. Some are "hit and run" experts. Some, like Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, stand off at a distance and, using the catapults of their hatred, they sling their bitter words against the walls of God's work. Ah, but men with a true vision actively build up the work of the Lord.
It is the example of Nehemiah that provokes me to examine his toolbox. Nehemiah's tools are the perfect tools for men of vision. Nehemiah's first tool was his soft heart for the things of God. He was moved by the plight of his people. His second tool was his knowledge of God's Word. Almost every phrase of his prayer in chapter 1 is a direct quote from Holy Scripture. He knew his Bible by heart. His third tool was his prayer life. He knew to pray first. He knew to pray much. He knew to pray desperately. He knew to pray urgently. He knew to pray in every situation. He knew to pray scripturally. (Now that's a power tool!) His fourth tool was his submission to authority. He had learned that, in order to be IN authority, he had to be UNDER authority. His fifth tool was his calling to make the vision of God a reality. He had the divine blueprint, knew how to read it, and was committed to bring the walls and gates to completion. His sixth tool was his conviction that God's work is to be done by God's people God's way. The Samaritans need not apply. Their ecumenical appeals fell on deaf ears. Tobiah was not welcome in the Temple. Intermarriage with pagans was not tolerated.
There is one more tool I see in Nehemiah's toolbox, and that is his wisdom. It is the doublehanded wisdom found in Neh. 4:17. Every one of his labourers had a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. The vision is never accomplished without the trowel, but the trowel will be smitten from our hand if it is not defended with the sword. What an unusual combination of tools! Both are sharp edged, but one is for mortar and one is for keeping the enemies at bay. The enemies stood afar off and gnashed their teeth in frustration as they observed the twohanded wisdom of Nehemiah. This is a most solemn lesson for the Lord's builders in our generation.
If we lay down the Sword, if we cease to oppose the ancient heresies in modern guise, if we are no longer "set for the defence of the gospel" (Phil. 1:17), if our hearts shrink from the polemic epistles and the solemn warnings of the Captain of our salvation, if the Sword is dulled by being immersed in reformed theology, or if it is softened to putty in a new evangelical scabbard, then all the other weapons will be stolen from us and the vision will fail. It is the Sword that holds the Enemy at bay while the trowel does its work!
Let us remember that all the business manuals written by all the church growth gurus can never replace the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! The Sword and the trowel! Set for the defence of the gospel! Militant Truth! Error exposed and opposed without fear or favour! When the Sword is militant, the trowel is triumphant! We can only build in proportion as we battle!
One of Winston Churchill's quotes is a very fitting description of the churches of our day that have traded in their swords. He said, "They (the pre-war nations) go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, (and) all powerful for impotence." So it is with the churches that are no longer militant for truth, no longer set for the defence of the gospel, no longer holding the Sword in one hand and the trowel in the other.
The Sword defends our right to use the trowel and fulfill the vision of building for God.
Evangelicals and Modernist Robert Schuller
Updated June 19, 2008 (first published February 7, 1998) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
Robert Schuller, pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in southern California, has been called “the Norman Vincent Peale of the West.”
Schuller’s doctrine is New Age and his affiliations are New Age.
His book titles have included:
The Be-Happy Attitudes: Eight Positive Attitudes that Can Transform Your Life.
Believe in the God Who Believes in You.
The Greatest Possibility Thinker That Ever Lived.
Peace of Mind through Possibility Thinking.
Power Thoughts.
Self-Love: The Dynamic Force of Success.
You Can Become the Person You Want to Be.
Schuller reinterprets the doctrines of the Word of God to conform to his heretical self-esteem philosophy. To Schuller, sin is the lack of self-esteem. His christ is a psycho-savior who is “self-esteem incarnate.” His gospel is to replace negative self-concepts with positive ones. To Schuller, man is not a sinner. He is universalist, believing that all men are the children of God.
Robert Schuller wants to create a new kind of Christianity: one that believes in the Fatherhood of God and the divinity of man, one that is positive and non-judgmental, one that worships a New Age self-esteem Christ, one that denies the necessity of Christ’s blood atonement, one in which salvation involves being reconciled with one’s one essential goodness, one that believes in the essential truth in all religions.
Schuller’ false teaching is an extremely serious matter in light of his wide influence. He has been one of the most popular religion television personalities in America for decades. His books sell by the millions. His self-esteem Christianity has been adopted by multitudes. These believe they are Christians; they attend churches; but in reality they worship a false christ and follow a false gospel.
Consider some excerpts from his book Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, published by Word Books in 1982:
“The core of original sin, then is LOT--Lack of Trust. Or, it could be considered an innate inability to adequately value ourselves. Label it a 'negative self-image,' but DO NOT SAY THAT THE CENTRAL CORE OF THE HUMAN SOUL IS WICKEDNESS. ... POSITIVE CHRISTIANITY DOES NOT HOLD TO HUMAN DEPRAVITY, BUT TO HUMAN INABILITY. I am humanly unable to correct my negative self-image until I encounter a life-changing experience with non-judgmental love bestowed upon me by a Person whom I admire so much that to be unconditionally accepted by him is to be born again” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 67).
“Classical theology DEFINES SIN AS 'REBELLION AGAINST GOD.' The answer is not incorrect as much as IT IS SHALLOW AND INSULTING TO THE HUMAN BEING. Every person deserves to be treated with dignity even if he or she is a 'rebellious sinner” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 65).
“Any analysis of 'sin' or 'evil' or 'demonic influence' or 'negative thinking' or 'systemic evil' or 'antisocial behavior' that fails to see the lack of self-dignity as the core of the problem will prove to be too shallow. … TO BE BORN AGAIN MEANS THAT WE MUST BE CHANGED FROM A NEGATIVE TO A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE--from inferiority to self-esteem, from fear to love, from doubt to trust” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 68).
“The classical error of historical Christianity is that we have never started with the value of the person. Rather, WE HAVE STARTED FROM THE 'UNWORTHINESS OF THE SINNER,' AND THAT STARTING POINT HAS SET THE STAGE FOR THE GLORIFICATION OF HUMAN SHAME in Christian theology” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 162).
“We are born to soar. We are children of God. ... THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD OFFERS A DEEP SPIRITUAL CURE FOR THE INFERIORITY COMPLEX AND LAYS THE FIRM FOUNDATION FOR A SOLID SPIRITUAL SELF-ESTEEM” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 60).
“Historical theology has too often failed to interpret repentance as a positive creative force. ... ESSENTIALLY, IF CHRISTIANITY IS TO SUCCEED IN THE NEXT MILLENNIUM, IT MUST CEASE TO BE A NEGATIVE RELIGION AND MUST BECOME POSITIVE” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 104).
“What do I mean by sin? Answer: Any human condition or act that robs God of glory by stripping one of his children of their right to divine dignity. ... I can offer still another answer: 'SIN IS ANY ACT OR THOUGHT THAT ROBS MYSELF OR ANOTHER HUMAN BEING OF HIS OR HER SELF-ESTEEM’” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 14).
“AND WHAT IS 'HELL'? IT IS THE LOSS OF PRIDE THAT NATURALLY FOLLOWS SEPARATION FROM GOD--the ultimate and unfailing source of our soul's sense of self-respect. 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' was Christ's encounter with hell. In that 'hellish' death our Lord experienced the ultimate horror--humiliation, shame, and loss of pride as a human being. A person is in hell when he has lost his self-esteem. Can you imagine any condition more tragic than to live life and eternity in shame?” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, pp. 14-15, 93).
“THE CROSS SANCTIFIES THE EGO TRIP. FOR THE CROSS PROTECTED OUR LORD'S PERFECT SELF-ESTEEM FROM TURNING INTO SINFUL PRIDE” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 75).
“Christ is the Ideal One, for HE WAS SELF-ESTEEM INCARNATE” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 135).
“JESUS NEVER CALLED A PERSON A SINNER. ... Rather he reserved his righteous rebuke for those who used their religious authority to generate guilt and caused people to lose their ability to taste and enjoy their right to dignity...” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, pp. 100,126).
“I found myself immediately attracted to Pope John Paul II when, upon his election to the Papacy, his published speeches invariably called attention to THE NEED FOR RECOGNIZING THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN BEING AS A CHILD OF GOD” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, p. 17).
“In a theology that starts with an uncompromising respect for each person's pride and dignity, I HAVE NO RIGHT TO EVER PREACH A SERMON OR WRITE AN ARTICLE THAT WOULD OFFEND THE SELF-RESPECT AND VIOLATE THE SELF-DIGNITY OF A LISTENER OR READER. Any minister, religious leader, writer, or reporter who stoops to a style, a strategy, a substance, or a spirit that fails to show respect for his or her audience is committing an insulting sin. Every human being must be treated with respect; self-esteem is his sacred right.”
“The tragedy of Christendom today is the existence of entire congregations of church members who are dominated by emotionally deprived or emotionally under-developed persons. These congregations have been accurately labeled 'God's Frozen People.' ... And they do this by EXERCISING NARROW AUTHORITARIANISM IN DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES AND BY SOWING SEEDS OF SUSPICION AND DISSENSION IN THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. ... By contrast, strong persons--self-assured personalities, whose egos find their nourishment in a self-esteem-generating personal relationship with Jesus Christ--dare to face contrary opinions, diverse interpretations, and deviations of theology without becoming disrespectful, judgmental, or accusatory” (Schuller, Self-Esteem, pp. 153-154).
MAKING PEOPLE AWARE OF THEIR LOST CONDITION IS UNCHRISTIAN
Schuller contends that the most destructive thing that can be done to a person is to call him a sinner. In an article in Christianity Today, October 5, 1984, Schuller said, “I don't think anything has been done in the name of Christ and under the banner of Christianity that has proven more destructive to human personality and, hence, counterproductive to the evangelism enterprise than the often crude, uncouth, and unchristian strategy of attempting to make people aware of their lost and sinful condition.”
SCHULLER’S RADICAL ECUMENISM AND RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM
In 1992 Schuller founded Churches Uniting in Global Missions, which seeks “a spirit of unity that is truly Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Evangelical, and Charismatic.”
In October 1987 Schuller spoke at Jesus Day VII, in Chicago. This was a New Age Roman Catholic gathering. One of the speakers was Matthew Fox, whose new age theology is so strange that he has been disciplined by the Vatican! Fox accepts homosexuality, premarital sex, feminism, and advocates a sort of pantheism. He rejects the doctrine of hell and calls for churches to have wiccan circle dances. A witch named Starhawk is on the faculty of Fox's Holy Names College. In his speech at Jesus Day VII, Fox advocated throwing out traditional images of the historical Jesus and concentrating on “the cosmic Christ within.” Fox urged Christians to adopt traditions from ancient African and Greek religions and from nature. “You represent divinity,” Fox said. “God looks at you in the morning and sees herself. She laughs and sees her beauty.” The National & International Religion Report noted that Schuller said he did not know much about the theology of the other speakers and he warned of the dangers of subjective mysticism, but he also said that he attended the Catholic gathering because he believes the Catholic Church has the best chance at evangelizing the world in upcoming years.
In his autobiography Schuller describes a meeting with Islamic leaders and says:
“Standing before a crowd of devout Muslims with the Grand Mufti [of Jerusalem], I know that WE’RE ALL DOING GOD’S WORK TOGETHER. Standing on the edge of a new millennium, we’re laboring hand in hand to repair the breach. ... I’m dreaming a bold impossible dream: that positive-thinking believers in God will rise above the illusions that our sectarian religions have imposed on the world, and that leaders of the major faiths will rise above doctrinal idiosyncrasies, choosing not to focus on disagreements, but rather TO TRANSCEND DIVISIVE DOGMAS TO WORK TOGETHER TO BRING PEACE AND PROSPERITY AND HOPE TO THE WORLD” (My Journey, pp. 501, 502).
Schuller has featured prominent New Agers on his television program. Consider the following discerning report by former New Ager Warren Smith, author of The Light That Was Dark: A Spiritual Journey:
“On Oct. 17, 2004, more than 20 years after his first appearance on the Hour of Power, New Age leader Gerald Jampolsky was once again Robert Schuller’s featured guest. ... I was very familiar with Gerald Jampolsky. When I was exploring New Age teachings, he was the first one to introduce me to the New Age Christ and to the New Age/New Gospel teachings of A Course in Miracles. Widely reputed in New Age circles to be the closest thing to a New Age bible, A Course in Miracles taught me that ‘there is no sin,’ ‘a slain Christ has no meaning’ and ‘the recognition of God is the recognition of yourself.’ On this Hour of Power program, Schuller praised Jampolsky and recommended all of his ‘fabulous’ books--in spite of the fact that every one of them was based on the New Age teachings of ‘A Course in Miracles.’ He also stated that Jampolsky’s latest book, Forgiveness, was available in the Crystal Cathedral bookstore.
“Amazingly, Schuller had begun the year as a featured speaker at the annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals. He was now closing the year by featuring a prominent New Age leader as his special guest. As usual, no one in Christian leadership was holding him accountable, or even seemed to care. Over the years, Schuller had obviously done a good job of softening up the church” (Warren Smith, “Rethinking Robert Schuller” WorldNetDaily, October 30, 2007).
SCHULLER EMPLOYS HEGELIAN DIALECTICS TO CREATE A NEW DOCTRINE
Schuller employs Hegelian dialectics to move from the old traditional Bible doctrinal position to a new one. It is one of the methodologies employed to bring about his “New Reformation.”
As we see in the chapter “Hegelian Dialectics,” its objective is to replace something old with something new (e.g., capitalism with communism, traditional theology with modernism, a traditional educational system with a new one, an old age with a new). It does this by challenging an existing idea (thesis) with a contradictory idea (antithesis) to combine them into something new (synthesis), and then repeating the process until the desired end is reached.
Speaking religiously and spiritually, it is an ever-evolving system that never arrives at absolute truth. All is relative and negotiable and the end justifies the means. It employs a wide range of tactics: dialogue, compromise, consensus forming, conflict resolution, divide and conquer, deceit, redefinition of words, giving new names to objectionable things, crisis creation, obfuscation (concealment of meaning by making something confusing and hard to interpret or by otherwise hiding its true meaning). It requires non-judgmentalism, tolerance, acceptance, relativism, group mentality.
It is not an innocent process. It is used by “change agents” and “facilitators of transformation.” Hegelian dialectics is “the framework for guiding our thoughts and actions into conflicts that lead us to a predetermined solution” (Niki Raapana and Nordica Friedrich, “What Is the Hegelian Dialectic?” October 2005, http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/05/dialectic.htm).
Consider how that Schuller’s January 2008 Rethink Conference employed Hegelian dialectics to further his New Age objectives of syncretizing religion and creating a new type of Christianity and ultimately a new world through the power of human potential.
The conference was “A CONVERGENCE of some of the most influential Christian and global thinkers” (Rethink Conference announcement, Oct. 15, 2007). These great thinkers were also described as “respected icons in media, politics, faith, science, business and technology.” The important fact is that they represented contradictory ideas, and their contradictory ideas were to be the stepping stones to something new. They included evangelicals such as Rick Warren’s wife, Kay, and Lee Strobel, Emerging Church leaders Erwin McManus and Dan Kimball, Evangelicals and Catholics Together proponent Charles Colson, media mogul and pornography purveyor Rupert Murdoch, and agnostic Larry King.
The Rethink Conference was clearly described in terms of the Hegelian methodology, though of course the term itself was not used. The idea of the conference was “bring all the different thoughts and ideas and create something cohesive and meaningful” (“Interview with Erwin McManus, Christian Post, Jan. 22, 2008). The process involved hearing what each speaker said in a 20-minute lecture, then to “wrestle with it, dialogue about it, agree or disagree with it--then take it a step further and make it your own” (Rethink Conference announcement, Oct. 15, 2007).
Schuller also described his Hegelian methodology in the book Don’t Throw Away Tomorrow: Living God’s Dream for Your Life:
“We need to learn the healing quality of wise compromise. ... Perhaps the only way to deal with contradictions is to combine them creatively and produce something new. That’s ingenious compromise.” (New Age leader Gerald Jampolsky’s endorsement is on the back cover of this book.)
To seek to combine contradictions into something new is Hegelian dialectics. It is a key principle of the emerging church.
If some believe that Jesus is God and others believe he was merely a great teacher, and if some believe that man is a fallen sinner separated from God and others believe he is essentially good and one with God, and if some believe that God is the Almighty who created all things but is not a part of the creation and others believe that God is the sum total of all things -- those are the old contradictions and we must move beyond such things. This is what they are saying and this is where they are heading.
From a biblical perspective this is gross disobedience to God. From a biblical perspective, compromise of doctrinal truth is only evil. The Bible claims to be the sole divine revelation that God has given mankind and we are to believe it and judge everything by it. We are to allow “no other doctrine” (1 Timothy 1:3) and we are to “earnestly content for the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), which means we are forbidden to give contradictory doctrines any credence.
For the Bible believer, the Bible is THE infallible thesis, and every antithesis is to be rejected and no synthesis allowed!
The Bible asks rhetorically, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). The Ecumenical, New Age, Emerging Church crowd brazenly replies, “Sure, we can make that work.”
Well does the Bible describe the great departure of the faith as those who are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
THE EVANGELICAL CONNECTION
In light of Schuller’s blatant denial of the Word of God, his false gospel, and his radical ecumenism and blatant syncretism, it is amazing to see evangelical leaders fellowshipping with him, but the record is clear.
Schuller's book Self-Esteem was endorsed by men such as Clark Pinnock of McMaster Divinity College, David Hubbard, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, and Kenneth Chafin of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Schuller was scheduled to speak at the 62nd annual meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in March 2004.
CHRISTIANITY TODAY SAYS SCHULLER NOT A HERETIC
Two years after Schuller published Self-Esteem: The New Reformation, Christianity Today editors examined Schuller's theology, and, amazingly, concluded that he is not a heretic. Consider an excerpt from an August 10, 1984, Christianity Today article by Kenneth Kantzer and Paul Fromer:
“He believes all the 'fundamental' doctrines of traditional fundamentalism. He adheres to every line of the Apostles' Creed with a tenacity born of deep conviction. ... he avowed belief in a literal hell. He was not sure about its location, and the fire is to be understood figuratively...”
This is remarkable. Sure, when Robert Schuller is questioned about his theology, he says he believes the fundamental doctrines of the Faith. Most Modernists do. What he will not admit is that he redefines the terminology of the Faith so as to produce an entirely different, and false, theology. We have seen this from his own pen. We do not need a personal interview to clarify the man's blatant apostasy!
Schuller says he believes in salvation by grace, but what he actually believes is that salvation is being rescued from poor self-esteem. He says he believes in Hell; but his hell is the loss of self-esteem, not a place of fiery eternal torment. He says he believes in sin; but sin is not willful rebellion against God and His law, but the loss of self-esteem. He says he believes in Jesus Christ; but his positive-only, “Self-Esteem Incarnate” Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.
Schuller says he believes everything in the Bible. That is not true. What he believes about the Bible is actually a redefined, twisted view of it. His repentance is not Bible repentance; his new birth is not Bible regeneration; his Hell, his Heaven, his Jesus, cross, his salvation is not that of the Bible. The man is an arch-heretic, a blasphemer. He has never retracted or repented of the views promoted in his book Self-Esteem.
The watchdogs at Christianity Today are blind and dumb.
EVANGELICAL LEADERS ASSOCIATE WITH MODERNIST SCHULLER
Consider a brief survey of other evangelical leaders who accept Schuller as a genuine brother in Christ:
Billy Graham has frequently appeared with and praised Schuller. In 1983, Schuller sat in the front row of distinguished guests invited to honor Graham's 65th birthday. In 1986 Schuller was invited by Graham to speak at the International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam. Other featured speakers included many of today's most prominent evangelical leaders, including Bill Bright, Leighton Ford, and Luis Palau. Schuller was featured on the platform of Graham's Atlanta Crusade in 1994.
Southern Baptist leader W.A. Criswell endorsed Schuller's ministry in 1981 in an ad in Christianity Today’s Leadership magazine. He said, “I know Dr. Schuller personally. He's my good friend. I've spoken on his platform. I'm well acquainted with his ministry. If you want to develop fruitful evangelism in your church; if you want your laity to experience positive motivation and ministry fulfilling training, then I know, without a doubt, that you will greatly benefit from the Robert Schuller Film Workshop.” A year prior to that, Criswell also endorsed a book by Schuller's mentor, self-esteem theologian Norman Vincent Peale.
On April 29, 1980, Robert Schuller appeared with popular evangelical and charismatic leaders Bill Bright, D. James Kennedy, James Robison, Jim Bakker, Rex Humbard, Pat Robertson, Pat Boone, Nicky Cruz, David du Plessis, Demos Shakarian, and Thomas Zimmerman (Assemblies of God) at the Washington for Jesus Rally. Joining them was independent Baptist pastor Jerry Falwell.
Popular author and teacher R.C. Sproul, president of Ligonier Ministries, has spoken at Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral on numerous occasions. He spoke at Schuller's church in September 21, 1984, then at John MacArthur's church three days later. Again Sproul spoke at Schuller's church in October 26, 1986, and then at MacArthur's church on October 29. This reveals the importance of practicing biblical separation. To our knowledge, John MacArthur has not personally promoted Schuller, but he has men in to speak at his church who are so spiritually blind that they work hand-in-hand with a heretic like Robert Schuller. This is a great confusion. Some would label this “second degree separation,” but that is nonsense. To separate from a man such as Sproul who is disobeying the clear commands of the Word of God to mark and avoid false teaching is not some kind of secondary separation. It is wisdom and it is obedience. At the end of Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians he warns: “And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed” (2 Thess. 3:14). The immediate context deals with those who refuse to work, but the general application is to everything which was taught in the epistle, and in other epistles as well. If we are to separate ourselves from a Christian brother who refuses to work, how much more must we separate from one who muddies the Gospel by fellowshipping with modernistic heretics and Romanists, etc.?
In October 1986 Schuller was on the council to host the Fourth Triennial Convention of the Asia Missions Association. Other men involved in this were evangelical leaders Donald McGavran, Ralph Winter, David Howard, Dale Kietzman of the World Literature Crusade, Edward Dayton of World Vision, Peter Deyneka of the Slavic Gospel Mission, Jack Frizen of the IFMA, and Wade Coggins of the EFMA.
In 1987 a survey was conducted by the National Association of Christian Psychotherapists and Counselors as to which television ministry is “the most effective in applying biblical principles to people's problems.” Robert Schuller's Hour of Power came out on top. James Dobson, president of the organization, commented: “He's not dogmatic. His message is clear and deals mainly with cognitive reconditioning. Yet he uses the Bible as his source. He comes across more as a therapist then a minister, yet his message is still very Christian in nature.” Dobson has used Schuller's endorsements in his ads (Calvary Contender, August 15, 1987).
A wide range of evangelical leaders joined hands with Robert Schuller and other heretics at the Congress '88, August 4-7, 1988, in Chicago. Allegedly a congress on evangelism, it was actually a congress on ecumenical compromise and end-times apostasy. Catholic priest Alvin Illig was one of the leaders and the opening address was brought by the Catholic Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Bernardin. At the piano for the opening night services was Larry Shakley, minister of music at Willow Creek Community Church and band director for Moody Bible Institute's Friday Night Sing. Speakers included Charles Colson, Bill Bright, Jack Wyrtzen, Jay Kessler, and Southern Baptist Robert Hamblin. Representatives from the Navigators, Jews for Jesus, Pioneer Clubs, Moody Monthly magazine, and General Baptists delivered workshops.
In August 1991, World Vision co-sponsored an Interfaith Rally in St. Louis, Missouri, which was addressed by Robert Schuller.
Tony Campolo has frequently recommended Robert Schuller and has spoken with him on various platforms. In his book Partly Right, Campolo said: “Schuller affirms our divinity, yet does not deny our humanity ... isn't that what the gospel is? Isn't God's message to sinful humanity that He sees in each of us a divine nature of such worth that He sacrificed His own Son.”
Christianity Today, which should be titled New Evangelicalism Today, has frequently carried advertisements promoting Robert Schuller. Each year CT publishes ads for Schuller's Institute for Successful Church Leadership. This is one more evidence that popular evangelicalism today is not concerned about the truth. Doctrine is merely a game with these men. They will debate doctrine, but they will not separate on the basis of doctrine and they will not mark the heretics who promote false doctrine.
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship president Stephen Hayner joined Schuller in January 1994, to participate in the Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership.
In December 1994, Schuller joined hands with a wide range of popular evangelical leaders at Campus Crusade for Christ head Bill Bright's Fast for Revival conference. Among those attending were Charles Colson, E.V. Hill, Jack Hayford, James Dobson, W.A. Criswell, Charles Stanley, Paul Crouch, Luis Palau, Bill Gothard, Pat Robertson, Jay Arthur, and Larry Burkett.
In February 1996, Robert Schuller was featured at Jerusalem Celebration 2000. Joining him for this meeting was Paul Yonggi Cho, Jack Hayford, C. Peter Wagner, among others.
In September 1996, Beverly LaHaye and Ralph Reed joined Robert Schuller for a Christian Coalition conference in Washington D.C., sponsored by cult-leader “Rev.” Sun Myung Moon.
Many of the Promise Keepers speakers and leaders are connected with Schuller. For example, John Maxwell, Jack Hayford, and Randy Phillips were among the keynote speakers at the Men's Conference '95 (March 2-4, 1995) held at Schuller's Crystal Cathedral. Schuller also spoke at the conference.
Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago credits Schuller as an inspiration for his work, has promoted Schuller in various ads in Christianity Today, and is a frequent speaker at meetings organized by Schuller. For example, in 1996 Hybels was on the staff of Schuller's annual Institute for Successful Church Leadership. Hybels is one of the chief promoters of churches which cater to the desires of the people. He started his church by taking a survey of the community and building a “church” which would satisfy what the people wanted in a church. A Chicago sociologist said Hybels preaches a very upbeat message--”a salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved from the fires of hell. Rather, it's being saved from meaninglessness and aimlessness in this life. It's more of a soft-sell.” Hybels' church does not have conventional worship. It has no altar, no choir, organ, hymnals, or song books. Its music ranges from rock to jazz to country to classical. It is no wonder that Hybels would love Robert Schuller and his self-esteem message. The stranger fact is that Hybels is frequently recommended by and speaks with those who claim to be Bible based. He spoke at Dallas Seminary's 1989 Pastors Conference, for example. Hybels has also spoken at Moody Bible Institute's Founder's Week and has taught his philosophy of church growth as a faculty member of MBI's graduate school.
Schuller’s 1996 autobiography, My Soul's Adventure with God, was endorsed by Paul Crouch, Jack Hayford, John Wimber, and popular Southern Baptist leader W.A. Criswell.
Schuller received a standing ovation at the March 2004 annual convention of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Rick Warren of Purpose Driven fame has been deeply influenced by Schuller. In his last year at seminary, Warren attended Schuller’s Institute for Church Growth, and was “won over.” His wife, Kay, said, “He had a profound influence on Rick. We were captivated by his positive appeal to nonbelievers. I never looked back” (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/012/1.42.html). Warren has also spoken at Schuller’s conferences. He spoke at the Schuller Institute for Successful Church Leadership in 1997. And Schuller endorsed Warren’s Purpose Drive Church, saying, “I'm praying that every pastor will read this book, believe it, be prepared to stand corrected by it, and change to match its sound, scriptural wisdom. Rick Warren is the one all of us should listen to and learn from.”
On April 18, 2004, Ravi Zacharias appeared on Robert Schuller’s Hour of Power program and did not give his listeners one word of warning about his heresies.
In January 2008, Rick Warren’s wife, Kay, and other evangelicals joined Robert Schuller and a host of heretics and unbelievers at the Rethink Conference. Other evangelicals included Jay Sekulow, Henry Cloud, John Townsend, and Lee Strobel, and Charles Colson.
The fact that so many “evangelical” leaders treat Schuller as a brother in Christ is evidence of their blindness. Christ warns us not to follow blind leaders. “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14).
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
Rome and Mary
Updated June 9, 2008 (first published November 5, 1996) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) –
Dialoguing with a Catholic apologist is like trying to pin a marble to a table with an ice pick. It keeps moving. If you quote historic Catholic councils and decrees to define Catholic doctrine, they claim you are irrelevant and that the Catholic Church has changed. If you quote directly from the declarations of modern Catholic decrees, they claim you have quoted out of context or you don’t understand the meaning of plain English words. If you argue that Rome has added to the Bible, they claim that all their doctrine is based upon the Bible. When you show them that their traditions are not based upon the Bible, they claim that it doesn’t matter since their tradition is equal to the Bible.
This phenomenon quickly shows itself when one deals with the Roman doctrines of Mary. According to official Catholic theology, Mary was born “immaculate” and was therefore sinless. She participated in the atonement of Jesus Christ by her agony at the cross and is therefore given the title “co-redemptress.” Since she bore the Lord Jesus Christ, she is given the title “Mother of God.” She ascended bodily up to Heaven and was crowned Queen of Heaven, and in this capacity she hears and answers prayers and helps guide earthly souls to eternity.
This is what the Catholic Church formally teaches about Mary. This was affirmed at the Vatican II Council in the mid-1960s, and it is taught in the New Catholic Catechism. We have given the citations for this in many of our books and articles. Anyone who cares to check this can readily obtain the relevant documents and examine the matter for himself.
THE GLORIES OF MARY
One of the respected Roman Catholic authorities on Mariology is Alphonsus Mary de Liguori (1696-1787), who was canonized as a saint by Pope Gregory XVI on May 26, 1839. He was declared a “Doctor of the Church” in 1871 by Pope Pius IX. Liguori has his own special day on the Roman Catholic calendar, that being August 1st. On this day, the official prayer to be made by Catholic people on behalf of Liguori asks God that they may be “taught by his admonitions.”
“Saint” Alphonsus gave many admonitions, but he is particularly famous for those that pertain to the Catholic Mary. In 1750, at age 54, he published “The Glories of Mary,” a book that has been translated into many languages and has wielded vast influence in the Roman Catholic Church.
Some will doubtless argue that it is unfair to use a 200-year-old book to define Catholic doctrine. Not so. Liguori’s book remains authoritative today, and it does represent official Catholic doctrine. Liguori’s works underwent a rigorous examination and received the unqualified approval of the Catholic Church. His works were tested 20 times by the rules of Urban VIII and Benedict XIV, and the resulting judgment was that they did not contain “one word worthy of censure.” The Glories of Mary was pronounced to be without error by Pope Pius VII in 1803 and by Pope Leo XII in 1825.
Pope Pius VII (1800-1823) was so infatuated with Liguori that he had his grave opened and had three fingers of his right hand cut off and taken to Rome, saying, “Let those three fingers that have written so well for the honor of God, of the Blessed Virgin and of religion, be carefully preserved and sent to Rome” (“Some Preliminary Observations by the Editor,” The Glories of Mary, St. Louis: Redemptorist Fathers, 1831, p. 20).
Liguori’s book continues to be published today with the official imprimatur [Latin meaning “Let it be printed”] of various Catholic authorities. Consider some excerpts from this book which does not contain ONE WORD worthy of censure by the Catholic Church.
I am citing from an edition of “The Glories of Mary” published by the Redemptorist Fathers, St. Louis, 1931 --
“Would that all sinners had recourse to this sweet mother! for then certainly all would be pardoned by God” (p. 75).
“... though the sinner does not himself merit the graces which he asks, yet he receives them, because this Blessed Virgin asks and obtains them from God, ON ACCOUNT OF HER OWN MERITS” (p. 73).
“Thou, my Mother, hast enamoured a God with thy beauty, and DRAWN HIM FROM HEAVEN INTO THY CHASTE WOMB; and shall I live without loving thee?” (p. 69).
“... we are those children for whom Mary, in order to obtain for us the life of grace, was obliged to endure the bitter agony of herself offering her beloved Jesus to die an ignominious death, and had also to see him expire before her own eyes in the midst of the most cruel and unheard-of torments. IT WAS THEN BY THIS GREAT OFFERING OF MARY THAT WE WERE BORN TO THE LIFE OF GRACE; WE ARE THEREFORE HER VERY DEAR CHILDREN, SINCE WE COST HER SO GREAT SUFFERING. And thus, as it is written of the love of the Eternal Father towards men, in giving his own Son to death for us, that God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son. ‘So also,’ says Bonaventure, ‘we can say of Mary, that she has so loved us as to give her only-begotten Son for us.’ And when did she give him? She gave him, says Father Nieremberg, when she granted him permission to deliver himself up to death...” (p. 59).
“Thus do I hope to die, breathing forth my soul into thy holy hands, and saying, My Mother my Mother Mary, help me, have pity on me!” (p. 56).
“THE PROPHET DAVID, ALTHOUGH SHE WAS NOT YET BORN, SOUGHT SALVATION FROM GOD BY DEDICATING HIMSELF AS A SON OF MARY, and thus prayed: Save the son of thy handmaid. ‘Of what handmaid?’ asks St. Augustine; and he answers, ‘Of her who said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord.’” (pp. 51,52).
“... Mary became our spiritual Mother, and BROUGHT US FORTH TO THE LIFE OF GRACE, WHEN SHE OFFERED TO THE ETERNAL FATHER THE LIFE OF HER BELOVED SON ON MOUNT CALVARY, with so bitter sorrow and suffering. So that St. Augustine declares, that ‘as she then co-operated by her love in the birth of the faithful to the life of grace, she became the spiritual Mother of all who are members of the one Head, Christ Jesus’” (p. 49).
“But if Jesus is the Father of our souls, Mary is also their Mother; for SHE, BY GIVING US JESUS, GAVE US TRUE LIFE; and afterwards, by offering the life of her Son on Mount Calvary for our salvation, SHE BROUGHT US FORTH TO THE LIFE OF GRACE” (p. 47).
“This was revealed by our Blessed Lady herself to St. Bridget, saying, ‘I am the Queen of heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I AM THE JOY OF THE JUST, AND THE DOOR THROUGH WHICH SINNERS ARE BROUGHT TO GOD. There is no sinner on earth so accursed as to be deprived of my mercy...” (p. 43).
“Let us, then, have recourse, and always have recourse, to this most sweet Queen, IF WE WOULD BE CERTAIN OF SALVATION ... LET US REMEMBER THAT IT IS IN ORDER TO SAVE THE GREATEST AND MOST ABANDONED SINNERS, who recommend themselves to her, that Mary is made the Queen of Mercy” (pp. 43,44).
“‘With such souls,’ says the Abbot Rupert, addressing our Blessed Lady, ‘SAVED BY THY MEANS, O great Queen Mary, wilt thou be crowned in heaven; for their salvation will form a diadem worthy of, and well-becoming, a Queen of Mercy’” (p. 44).
“This was foretold by the prophet David himself; for he says that God (so to speak) consecrated Mary Queen of mercy, ANOINTING HER WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS: GOD HATH ANOINTED THEE WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS [Ps. 45:7; Heb. 1:9]. In order that we miserable children of Adam might rejoice, remembering that in heaven we have this great Queen, overflowing with the unction of mercy and compassion towards us; and thus we can say with St. Bonaventure, ‘O Mary, thou art full of the unction of mercy and of the oil of compassion;’ therefore God has anointed thee with the oil of gladness” (pp. 38,39).
“And if Jesus is the King of the universe, Mary is also its Queen. ‘And as Queen,’ says the Abbot Rupert, ‘SHE POSSESSES, BY RIGHT, THE WHOLE KINGDOM OF HER SON’” (p. 36).
“‘Since the flesh of Mary,’ remarks the Abbot Arnold of Chartres, ‘was not different from that of Jesus, how can the royal dignity of the Son be denied to the Mother?’ ‘HENCE WE MUST CONSIDER THE GLORY OF THE SON, not only as being common to his Mother, but AS ONE WITH HER’” (p. 36).
CONCLUSION
The Glories of Mary is 703 pages in length and the entire thing is composed of abominations like the ones we have cited, exalting Mary to the place of Jesus Christ. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST BLASPHEMOUS BOOKS THAT HAS EVER BEEN PUBLISHED ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH, YET, ACCORDING TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH’S HIGHEST AUTHORITIES, IT CONTAINS NOT ONE WORD OF ERROR. The same popes who canonized Liguori and exalted his books, cursed the 19th century Bible societies and forbade the people to possess the Bible without a license from Rome. We have documented this in our book Rome and the Bible, which is available from Way of Life Literature.
Rome exalts Mary to the place of the Lord Jesus Christ. She denies this, but her dogmas prove the denial to be a lie. God forbids His people to have fellowship with those who promote this type of error. If this were the only error Rome held, it would be sufficient to require Bible-believing people to mark and avoid it as false.
Romans 16:17-18 -- “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
[Distributed by Way of Life Literature's Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians. OUR GOAL IN THIS PARTICULAR ASPECT OF OUR MINISTRY IS NOT DEVOTIONAL BUT IS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION TO ASSIST PREACHERS IN THE PROTECTION OF THE CHURCHES IN THIS APOSTATE HOUR. This material is sent only to those who personally subscribe to the list. If somehow you have subscribed unintentionally, following are the instructions for removal. The Fundamental Baptist Information Service mailing list is automated. To SUBSCRIBE or to UNSUBSCRIBE or to CHANGE ADDRESSES or to RE-SUBSCRIBE UNDER A NEW ADDRESS, go to http://www.wayoflife.org/fbis/subscribe.html. If you have any trouble with this, please let us know. And please be patient with us. We do not ignore any unsubscribe request, but we cannot always get to your request immediately as each person involved with maintaining the Way of Life web site does this only on a very part time basis and is busy with many other major activities, such as pastoring and missionary work. We take up a quarterly offering to fund this ministry, and those who use the materials are expected to participate (Galatians 6:6) if they can. Some of the articles are from O Timothy magazine, which is in its 25th year of publication. Way of Life publishes many helpful books. The catalog is located at the web site: http://wayoflife.org/catalog/catalog.htm Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061. 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org. We do not solicit funds from those who do not agree with our preaching and who are not helped by these publications, but from those who are. OFFERINGS can be made at http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/offering.html. PAYPAL offerings can be made to https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=dcloud%40wayoflife.org]
True Christian Unity
Updated and enlarged June 5, 2008 (first published October 18, 1995) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The cry for Christian unity is heard on every hand today, from Catholics and Protestants, modernists and evangelicals, emergents and even some fundamentalists.
What we need to do is get beyond the emotionalism of this movement and consider what the Bible itself teaches about unity.
JOHN 17:21 -- “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
The modern ecumenical movement has taken John 17:21 as one of its theme verses, claiming that the unity for which Christ prayed is an ecumenical unity of professing Christians that disregards biblical doctrine. The context of John 17 destroys this myth. In John 17 the Lord plainly states that the unity that He desires and the unity for which He is praying is one based on salvation and truth and separation from the world.
“I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and THEY HAVE KEPT THY WORD. ... For I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THEM THE WORDS WHICH THOU GAVEST ME; AND THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. ... I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORD; AND THE WORLD HATH HATED THEM, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ... Sanctify them through THY TRUTH: thy word is TRUTH. ... And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified THROUGH THE TRUTH” (Jn. 17:6, 8, 14, 17, 19)
This is not a unity of true Christians with the false, of the nominal with the genuine, of sound doctrine with heresy. It is not a unity that ignores doctrinal differences for the sake of an enlarged fellowship.
In fact, there is nothing in Christ’s prayer to indicate that man is to do anything whatsoever to create the unity described herein. John 17 is not a commandment addressed to men; it is a High Priestly prayer addressed to God the Father, and the prayer was answered. It describes a spiritual reality that was created by God among genuine born again saints who are committed to the Scriptures, not a possibility that must be organized by man.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:10 -- “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
Biblical unity is first of all a matter of having one mind. This is contrary to the ecumenical philosophy of “unity in diversity.” The type of “unity” that we find in the ecumenical movement is not unity at all; it is confusion; it is “Babel.”
Observe, secondly, that the unity that God requires is in the assembly. This exhortation was addressed first of all to a church. It is possible to have type of unity described here in the congregation, because doctrine can be agreed upon and enforced. In the church we can have the same doctrine of Christ, the Holy Spirit, Salvation, spiritual gifts, sanctification, Christian living, prophecy, you name it, because we have a statement of faith and requirements for church membership and we have pastors and discipline; but this is impossible in a broader context.
EPHESIANS 4:1-6 -- “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
In this passage we see true biblical unity and it is far removed from the ecumenical philosophy.
First, it is a unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3). This means that it is a unity involving those who are regenerated by and led by the Spirit of God. Contrast this with the ecumenical concept of bringing together anyone that names the name of Christ regardless of their actual spiritual condition. At a large ecumenical conference in St. Louis in 2000 (the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization), I asked many of the people who were manning ministry booths, “When were you born again?” Not one gave a scriptural answer. Some said they were born again when they were baptized. Some, when they had a charismatic style experience. Others weren’t familiar with the term. Yet all of these people are intimately involved in leadership within the ecumenical movement.
Second, it is a unity of the one faith (Eph. 4:5). Biblical unity is impossible apart from the one true and settled faith taught by the apostles. God’s people are called upon to “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). There is no unity between those who believe and follow the Bible and those who do not. Note that “the faith” is not divided into cardinal and secondary issues. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus taught that while not everything in Scripture is of equal importance, everything has some importance. Nothing clearly taught in Scripture is to be despised and set aside for the purpose of unity. In 1 Timothy 6:14, Paul taught Timothy to keep all of the apostolic doctrine “without spot” until the return of Christ. Spots are small, seemingly insignificant things. Thus, Paul was teaching Timothy to value everything in Scripture. The theme of 1 Timothy is practical church truth (1 Tim. 3:15). In this epistle Paul dealt with things such as church government (1 Tim. 3), the woman’s role in church work (1 Tim. 2), care for the widows (1 Tim. 5), etc. These are the very things that are typically downplayed in ecumenical ventures, because they are considered of “secondary” importance. Yet Paul taught Timothy to keep all of these things without spot. Timothy was instructed to allow “no other doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). That is the strictest kind of standard for doctrine, and when one holds that standard of doctrine it is impossible to be ecumenical even in the mildest New Evangelical sense.
Third, it is a unity that is found in the New Testament assembly. The command in Ephesians 4:3 is addressed to the church at Ephesus (Eph. 1:1). It was not addressed to “the worldwide body of Christians.” As we have seen, it is possible to practice biblical unity within the assembly because doctrine and righteousness can be enforced and preserved there. Outside of the assembly, though, there is no biblical discipline, leadership, or oversight. When Christians attempt to practice interdenominational and parachurch unity, there is always compromise because respect for every aspect of the New Testament faith results in division rather than unity. I am not responsible to maintain a unity with every professing Christian in the world but with the believers in my assembly, in my local body, and with others with whom I am truly likeminded. The Bible says we are to glorify God “with one mind and one mouth” (Rom. 15:6). That is not a description of any type of ecumenism! This is only possible in the New Testament assembly, where believers can be united together in doctrine and spirit and purpose in a way that is impossible apart in a broader context.
PHILIPPIANS 1:27 -- “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”
The teaching of this passage is that, first, biblical unity is a function of the local church. This instruction was addressed to the church at Philippi. True Christian unity is not a parachurch or interdenominational issue.
Second, biblical unity means having one mind. It is not an ecumenical “unity in diversity.” Compare Romans 15:5-6; 1 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 13:11.
Third, biblical unity means total commitment to the one apostolic faith. The New Testament faith is not many separate doctrines but is one unified body of truth into which all doctrines fit. It is unscriptural to think that only a few “cardinal” Bible doctrines are necessary while other New Testament teachings and practices are tertiary and can be ignored for the sake of unity. As we have seen, the apostle Paul instructed Timothy to keep every aspect of biblical truth “without spot” until the return of Christ (1 Tim. 6:14). This refers to the details of the Word of God. It is impossible to stand unequivocally for New Testament truth in all its aspects and to be ecumenical at the same time. As one wise pastor observed, we will either limit our message or we will limit our fellowship. If you determine to preach everything in Scripture, then you will automatically limit your sphere of fellowship. The choice is clear. If one is faithful to the New Testament faith, it is impossible to have a wide fellowship in this apostate hour, and if one is committed to a wide fellowship he must be willing to limit his message.
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The New Age in Politics and Government
June 3, 2008 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -
The following is excerpted from the new 510-page book The New Age Tower of Babel, available from Way of Life Literature.
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The Age of Aquarius is supposed to be the age of peace and universal blessing, but it will not happen of its own accord. It will be created, we are told, through a transformation of the consciousness of mankind, and this will be brought about by the actions of “enlightened” individuals and their powerful New Age techniques.
The establishment of the New Age requires a great mixing and shaking. The following is from Shri Adi Shakti’s web site. Who better to explain the goals of the New Age than a Hindu guru?
“All our differences, all our dualities mix together like the fragrances of a flower shop, with all of the different flowers adding their bouquet to the overall mix until they are inseparable. ... Mystically, Aquarius signifies friendship. Friendship bursts upon us in its most elevated sense, in its most noble aspect--with understanding, collaboration, and fraternity. ... This is the era of peace, of unity, of love. ... This Golden Age is destined to synthesize all religious regimes and free the minds of ignorance and delusion forever. Once enlightened, each human being will begin his or her individual journey within, and strive to become the new race of super conscious humans awakening seekers of Truth and the eternal Spirit, healing peoples of many tongues and nations in the process. ... The Human Family is truly entering the Age of mystic revelations and the mind’s true liberation which is broadly known as spiritualism or New Millennium Religion” (http://www.adishakti.org/age_of_aquarius.htm).
New Age politics has the agenda of creating this unity through the mixing of dualities, the synthesis of all contrasting ideas and practices, religious and political.
Corinne McLaughlin and Gordon Davidson describe this work in the book Spiritual Politics (1994). They say that it is driven by “the Ageless Wisdom” that harkens back to the teachings that underlie ancient esoteric religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Druidism, Sufism, Kabbalism, Rosicrucianism, and Free Masonry (p. 15).
M. Scott Peck is one of the New Agers who has been at the forefront of building the new world. In his books The Different Drum (1987) and A World Awaiting to Be Born (1993), Peck preached the concept that a new age has arrived in man’s evolutionary process and a spiritually-evolved generation can create unity, solve the world’s problems, and bring in an age of peace. The Different Drum has the following dedication: “To the people of all nations in the hope that within a century there will no longer be a Veteran’s Day Parade...” This refers, of course, to the New Age dream of world peace.
Barbara Marx Hubbard is also at the forefront of trying to build the New Age world. She has been involved in The Committee for the Future, the World Future Society, the Foundation for Conscious Evolution, and other projects toward this end. Her books are funded by Laurance Rockefeller through the Fund for the Enhancement of the Human Spirit
Eckhart Tolle also wants to change the world. His book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (2005), which is being heavily promoted by Oprah Winfrey, describes this new world and provides techniques for building it.
Neale Donald Walsch is another influential New Ager who is trying to build the new world. In 2005 he founded the Group of 1000 toward this end. He calls this movement the New Spirituality and claims that it came to him by revelation following 9/11. The Group of 1000 web site says:
“We believe that God and we are One, that there is no separation in the Universe, that there is enough of all that we need on earth to live our lives in peace and harmony and happiness. ... We believe that the Universe was intended to be a friendly place, that human beings were intended to be loving creatures, and that life was intended to be a joyous experience, and that it is possible to create all these things in that image if we focus our energies together on a common goal.”
“We are committed to creating a New Tomorrow, a new future for the beings of this planet, a future in which our children and our children's children will feel safe, self-realized, and loved by life.”
The Group of 1000’s Action Plan aims to “shift the collective consciousness within ten to fifteen years.”
Deepak Chopra is also in the business of creating a new world. In his book Peace Is the Way: Bringing War and Violence to an End (2005), he calls for international disarmament and global spiritual enlightenment. Chopra is the president of the Alliance of a New Humanity, which is committed to world change.
Marianne Williamson is also out to transform the world. Her books Healing the Soul of America: Reclaiming Our Voices as Spiritual Citizens and Imagine What America Could Be in the 21st Century encourage the creation of a New Age America. She is President of the Board of The Peace Alliance and co-founder of the Global Renaissance Alliance. The latter encourages people to pursue their individual New Age enlightenment and power and to channel this New Age energy into politics.
These are just a few of the influential New Agers who are involved in politics and government toward the creation of the Age of Aquarius.
The New Age Tools for World Transformation
And how do they aim to achieve this goal? The tools for building the New Age world include discrediting the Bible, positive thinking, positive confession, visualization, guided imagery, mantra, meditation, interfaith dialogue, community building, political action, and education.
For our purposes here, we will focus on four of these.
THE FIRST MAJOR TOOL OF NEW AGE GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION IS TO DISCREDIT THE BIBLE AND ITS GOD AND SALVATION. All of the New Age gurus are involved in this process, and we have given examples throughout this book. See the Index for “Anti-Christian.”
Consider the following statements Neale Walsch’s The Group of 1000 web site:
“WE BELIEVE THAT DIVINITY DOES NOT JUDGE, AND NEITHER DOES IT CONDEMN OR PUNISH. WE BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE POWER BY GOD TO CREATE OUR OWN REALITY, individually and collectively, and that we could do so if only we used that power. We believe that the world itself can change if humanity will but explore and examine NEW IDEAS ABOUT GOD, about life, and about each other”.
“We are committed to creating a Civil Rights Movement for the Soul, FREEING HUMANITY AT LAST FROM THE OPPRESSION OF ITS BELIEF IN A VIOLENT, ANGRY, AND VINDICTIVE GOD, AND FROM ALL THE HUMAN BEHAVIORS THOSE BELIEFS PRODUCE.”
This attempt to discredit the God of the Bible is a foundational tool of the New Age toward establishing their new world.
Observe that the attack upon God is slanderous. He is described as violent, angry, and vindictive, whereas His great compassion and patience and love and mercy and kindness and gentleness are never mentioned. He is described as an unreasonable, monster. He is said to be a Judge but not a Saviour.
ANOTHER MAJOR TOOL OF NEW AGE GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION IS MYSTICISM. This involves a wide variety of practices that are used to bring the individual into connection with the New Age god, otherwise known as the higher Self, the real Self, the universal consciousness, the I AM, the ground of Being, the essential Beingness, the God force, the Universal Force, the Designing Intelligence, etc.
The mystical practices include hypnotic trances or mindless meditative states (created with mantras, breathing exercises, music, lights, color, and drumming), channeling, telepathy, journaling, guided imagery, visualization, and laying on of hands.
These are designed to bring the practitioner into connection with a “higher power” and through this to achieve spiritual enlightenment and transformational energy.
The Global Peace Meditation Days, which have been held on May 20, 2008, December 22, 2008, and May 8, 2008, and which will culminate in the Embrace the Planet Celebration scheduled for 2012, use these mystical practices. The hope is that “a critical mass of concerned and spiritually engaged global citizens” will heal the world “through the power of their collective consciousness.” These “global citizens” hold hands, meditate together, chant positive confession mantras (such as “May Peace Prevail on Earth”), energize themselves with drumming and dancing, and otherwise try to align themselves with the New Age powers.
The Global Peace Meditation days are co-sponsored by the Club of Budapest and the World Peace Prayer Society. The Creative Director is Ervin Laszlo of the Club of Budapest.
The Club of Budapest is an international association “dedicated to developing a new way of thinking and a new ethics that will help resolve the social, political, economic, and ecological challenges of the 21st century.” Its main tool is interfaith dialogue. It was co-founded in 1978 by Aurelio Peccei and Ervin Laszlo. It is named after the city of Budapest. As that city lies in the heart of Europe and sits on both banks of the Danube River and successfully merges the two cities Buda and Pest, so the Club of Budapest desires to “build bridges between generations, disciplines and cultures.” Since 2008 the Club of Budapest is operated by the Worldshift Network, established by Laszlo, Wolfgang Riehn and Johannes Heimrath.
Members of the Club of Budapest include Hindu and Buddhist swamis and a wide assortment of New Age practitioners. Honorary Members include Sri Bhagavan, the Dalai Lama, Peter Gabriel, Jane Goodall, Mikhail Gorbachev, Vaclav Havel, Bianca Jagger, Hans Kung, Yehudi Menuhin, and Desmond Tutu. Creative Members include Swami Kriyananda, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Deepti Tewari (a member of Auroville, a New Age living laboratory that seeks to create a change of consciousness in mankind that will “give birth to a spiritualized human collectivity”).
Another key player in the Global Peace Meditation Day movement is the Oneness Movement, founded by Hindu “avatars” Sri Kalki Bhagavan and Sri Padmavathi Amma who are based in southern India. Their aim is to bring about a golden age for mankind through spiritual enlightenment. The Global Peace Meditation Day was also called World Oneness Day. One of the 12 world venues of the Meditation Day is the Oneness Temple in India. The Oneness Movement claims to channel Deeksha or the Oneness Blessing. Transferred through the laying on of hands by Oneness practitioners, Deeksha is said to create a new level of consciousness through unity with God. It produces “spontaneous feelings of joy, inner calmness and connection to the Oneness in everything.” Bhagavan says, “The mind of man is like a wall which divides man from God; the deeksha is an electrical energy that makes a hole in this wall. Once this happens, then God and man can come to relate to each other.” It is called a “channel for cosmic energies,” but in reality it is communication with demons.
The United Nations is a hotbed of New Age mysticism.
Consider the World Peace Prayer Society. It is affiliated with the United Nations’ Department of Public Information and it uses New Age techniques to “support peace, harmony, and goodwill among all citizens.” Its web site describes two of these tools (positive thinking and positive confession):
The Power of Thought: Thought forms create an energetic field strong enough to empower the course of planetary destiny. The Power of Words: Words carry vibrations strong enough to inspire, heal and transform the human heart as well as the Kingdom of plants, animals and all creation.
The World Peace Prayer Society operates a 154-acre World Peace Sanctuary in Wassaic, New York, two hours’ drive north of New York City. Here mystical practices are focused toward the building of the new world order.
Consider World Goodwill, which is part of Alice Bailey’s Lucis Trust. The Lucis Trust is on the roster of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and maintains the Meditation Room at the UN headquarters in New York City. World Goodwill is an approved Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the UN’s Department of Public Information. It is dedicated to solving the world’s problems through “a new perception of humanity as a unit of divine life within an ordered and purposive universe.”
In 1956-57 UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold completely remodeled the UN’s chapel. It had been opened in 1952 as a non-denominational prayer room and had been the brainchild of a Christian lay organization whose members included the department store millionaire J.C. Penney. Hammarskjold turned it into a New Age meditation chamber. The arm chairs, flags of the nations, draperies, and potted plants were removed, and a six-and-a-half ton block of iron ore was deposited in the center of the room, the polished top of which is lit by a single beam of light from the ceiling. The light depicts “divine wisdom,” and the block depicts an empty altar representing “God worshipped in many forms” (http://www.aquaac.org/un/sprtatun.html). The iron ore also represents the metal from which weapons are made and the New Age hope that through the power of meditation world peace can be achieved. Hammarskjold said, “... we thought we could bless by our thoughts the very material out of which arms are made.” This is the New Age concept of the power of thinking. He said the Meditation Room is a place “where people could really withdraw into themselves and feel the void.”
The UN Meditation Room has been the focus of New Age mysticism since its opening in 1957.
One of World Goodwill’s “transformational” tools is the “The Great Invocation,” which is part of its educational program. It is a New Age mantra. The World Goodwill web site says that men and women throughout the world are repeating the mantra and asks, “Will you join them in using the Invocation every day--with thought and dedication?” The mantra says, in part:
“From the point of Light within the Mind of God, let light stream forth into the minds of men. Let Light descend on Earth. ... Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth” (http://www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/the_great_invocation__1)
The objective of this New Age chant is to bring the cosmic christ into the world. This is “the Plan.” World Goodwill’s first three foundational beliefs are as follows, from its own web site:
Humanity is not following a haphazard or uncharted course--there is a Plan. This Plan has always existed and is part of the greater design of the Cosmos. The Plan has worked out through the evolutionary developments of the past and because of the special impetus given it from time to time by the great leaders, teachers and intuitives of the human race.
There is an inner spiritual government of the planet, known under such different names as the spiritual Hierarchy, the society of Illumined Minds, or Christ and his Church, according to various religious traditions. Humanity is never left without spiritual guidance or direction under the Plan.
The widespread expectation that we approach the “Age of Maitreya”, as it is known in the East, when the World Teacher and present head of the spiritual Hierarchy, the Christ, will reappear among humanity to sound the keynote of the new age (http://www.lucistrust.org/en/service_activities/world_goodwill__1/purposes_objectives).
Another New Age organization with accredited NGO status with the UN is The Aquarian Age Community (AAC). They hold their meetings in a conference room at the UN headquarters. The AAC, too, is based on Alice Bailey’s channeled messages from the Ascended Masters and has the objective of ushering the cosmic christ into the world to create the mystical new world order. The following is from the section of its web site on “The World Teacher”:
“The World Teacher is ... Christ ... Bodhisattva ... Lord Maitreya ... Iman Madhi ... Through Him flows the energy of the second aspect, reaching Him direct from the heart centre of the Planetary Logos via the heart of Sanat Kumara. He works by means of a meditation centred within the heart. ... to Him is committed the guidance of the spiritual destinies of men, and the development of the realization within each human being that he is a child of God” (http://www.aquaac.org/about/teacher.html).
Observe that Sanat (a thinly disguised name for Satan) is said to communicate with men through meditation, and we have no doubt that he does! The Aquarian Age Community opens its meetings with meditation and participates in mystical practices in the Meditation Room at the UN building (http://www.aquaac.org/un/medmtgs.html#dates). It is thereby seeking to communicate with its New Age god Lucifer (Alice Bailey believed Lucifer is God) in order to channel spiritual power toward world transformation.
The very influential United Nations’ leader Robert Mueller is also a follower of Alice Bailey. He was the Assistant to three Secretary Generals and chancellor of the UN University. He founded the Robert Muller School, which is certified by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The school’s curriculum was published by the Lucis Publishing Company and the preface says,
“The underlying philosophy upon which the Robert Muller School is based will be found in the teachings set forth in the books of Alice A. Bailey, by the Tibetan teacher, Djwhal Khul.”
Djwhal Khul was the alleged Tibetan Ascended Master (aka demon) who communicated through Bailey.
Thus, the New Age myth that the planet is run by highly evolved Ascended Masters who are guiding the world toward the coming of the cosmic christ and the establishment of the Age of Aquarius is no stranger to the United Nations.
The United Nations also affiliates with a wide variety of New Agers through its Society for Enlightenment and Transformation (SEAT), which is a part of the UN’s Staff Recreational Council (UNSRC). In 1993 it conducted a Symposium on Extraterrestrial Intelligence which treated UFO abductions as real events, and in 2000 it brought in New Age channeler Selacia to share wisdom from her spirit guides called “the Council of 12.” Selacia taught the UN personnel and visitors how to “shift into divine will” (http://www.selacia.com/workshops.htm#UNSRC%20Society). This is a good formula for communicating with demons. She also trains people how to communicate telepathically with animals!
Eckhart Tolle also calls for connection with the New Age god through mystical techniques. He says that the “new heaven” is “the emergence of a transformed state of human consciousness” (A New Earth, p. 23).
To achieve this transformation requires, first, that the individual reject words and thoughts and labels and beliefs (pp. 21, 26, 27). This means that we are not supposed to test and evaluate things. He is prescribing a leap into blind mysticism based on intuition, feeling, and a mystical sense of being connected with “higher powers.” If we don’t carefully evaluate things by the Bible’s standard, the devil is able to lead us wherever he pleases.
Tolle urges the individual to immerse himself into the “essential Beingness, the I Am” (p. 79), to “realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you,” that “LIFE IS THE DANCER, AND YOU ARE THE DANCE” (p. 115).
This Zen language describes surrendering oneself to the New Age god and atuning oneself with it. In The Power of Now, Tolle says that one connects with the real Self, which is God, by “feeling the body.” He instructs his students to “direct your attention into the body” and to “feel the subtle energy field that pervades the entire body” (p. 93). By this means the New Age practitioner can supposedly go beyond the veil of the “illusory self” to touch the “inner Being” where one is “forever one with God” (pp. 96, 97).
Since Tolle and every other New Age guru begins this quest by rejecting the God of the Bible and His salvation in Jesus Christ, it is obvious from a biblical perspective that he is teaching nothing less than unquestioning submission to the god of this world. Satan is posing as an angel of light to work out his purposes in the “mystery of iniquity” with the objective of putting the antichrist on the throne of the world (2 Corinthians 11:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12). This is the main “song and dance” at the devil’s party, and I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for redeeming me 35 years ago and giving me a new song.
What New Agers consider techniques toward finding one’s higher Self, are actually techniques of demon possession.
Oprah Winfrey gave this “transformation” process a big boost in the first quarter of 2008 when she hosted a 10-week web seminar featuring a live discussion of Tolle’s A New Earth. The first session was described as “one of the largest single events in Internet history.”
Barbara Marx Hubbard also promotes techniques for tapping into the New Age god for wisdom and power and direction. She says, “It feels as though the organic process of planetary transformation IS BEING ORCHESTRATED AT A HIGHER LEVEL. ... We are receiving deeper super-intuitive guidance. ... Throughout the ages we have been in contact with ‘voices,’ gods, signals, messengers, visions and visitors from outer space” (The Evolutionary Journey, pp. 63, 87).
Hubbard recommends journaling, which she describes as entering a meditative state and recording whatever comes into your mind. She emphasizes the necessity of allowing “the thoughts and images to surface without judging how good or rational or realistic they are” (The Evolutionary Journey, p. 128).
Jean Houston also illustrates how mystical practices are being used by New Agers in politics and government. Her favorite technique is guided imagery.
Houston’s Mystery School supposedly enables the student to connect directly with ancient gods, goddesses, and religious teachers and philosophical thinkers through this means. The student is taught to enter an altered state of consciousness through self-hypnosis using such techniques as breathing exercises and chanting a mantra. If he gets “stuck or confused” he is to seek help from the “guiding Divine Architect.” This is also called the Beloved Spiritual Presence and “the golden protective light.” Since Houston has no biblical testimony that she is born again, the “Architect” in question is the devil appearing as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). She is inadvertently teaching her students to communicate with devils.
In her 1993 book Public Like a Frog she promotes the idea of establishing communication with Thomas Jefferson through guided imagery. When her students are in the trance state, she instructs them: “Be there now, with Mr. Jefferson. ... INTERACT WITH HIM. LET HIM INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE THERE. Be there now, and discover as much as you can” (p. 178).
This is presented as an “imaginary” conversation, but the entities that are being “imagined” assume a life of their own in the practitioner’s mind.
In light of the Bible’s many warnings to be sober and vigilant and to try the spirits, this practice is more than dangerous.
Houston goes even farther than this and teaches her students to become God.
“You will become the realm of I AM, letting yourself be filled with the fullness of the god realm that is the I AM. You will become Being itself” (The Search for the Beloved: Journeys in Sacred Psychology, 1987, p. 81).
She teaches the New Age student to visualize the death of himself and his subsequent resurrection and marriage with his god.
“There you find yourself a place where you sit down and enter into communion with the Beloved. It is the place of the marriage of the self with the Beloved of the soul. It is the place of the great union. ... Know yourself now in communion with the Beloved. You have entered into a union that, if you choose, will sustain and support you all the days of your life. Never again will you ever really be alone, for now you are in union” (The Search for the Beloved, pp. 144, 145).
She describes this as “partnering with the Beloved” and “being godded in this union” (p. 188).
We won’t repeat her instructions for this process, but what she has done is to give a step-by-step formula for demon possession.
Such techniques are being used at the highest levels of government in various parts of the world. In 1996 Houston taught then First Lady Hillary Clinton her technique of visualizing a dialogue with the dead via guided imagery. Clinton chose Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi (Newsweek, July 1, 1996, p. 26). Houston also counseled Bill Clinton to use her techniques to “go back to his predecessors and try to harvest their learning” in order to construct a “possible society.” This refers to the New Age society.
Houston has lectured at more than 1,000 colleges, universities, schools, churches, hospitals, mental health agencies, and corporations. She has worked as an Advisor to UNICEF and has chaired programs associated with the UN.
This is just a tiny glimpse into what is going on in politics and government throughout the world. The New Age is using its “consciousness raising” techniques to bring politicians and government officials and UN workers into “transformational” connection with the “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2), the god of the spiritual darkness of this present world (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The Age of Aquarius is seeking to atune humanity with Satan and his demon hords, and it is no doubt finding great success in this quest.
ANOTHER MAJOR TOOL OF NEW AGE GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION IS COMMUNITY BUILDING. The back cover of M. Scott Peck’s The Different Drum says, “Dr. Peck believes that if we are to prevent civilization destroying itself, we must urgently rebuild community on all levels, local, national and international, and that is the first step to spiritual survival.”
The process is the Hegelian dialectic at work. It requires creating New Age communities all over the world in which differences can be resolved. In these communities, decisions are reached only by consensus, there are no “sides” and everyone is respected and heard (The Different Drum, pp. 71, 72). The individual is allowed to express any belief or doubt and to act out in his own individual way, to live as he pleases. The New Age community must be a “safe place.” Peck says the “healing” will only happen when “its members have learned to STOP TRYING TO heal and CONVERT” (p. 68). He said that true community means that “everyone is welcome” and there is “no pressure to conform” and that “all human differences are included” and “appreciated” and even “celebrated” (pp. 61, 62). New Age community must incorporate “the dark and the light, the sacred and the profane” (p. 65). Peck calls the acceptance and celebration of differences and the process of reaching a “consensus,” the politics of “transcendence” (p. 63). Those who are opposed to homosexual marriage and abortion and evolution and human divinity must be taught to live in harmonious community with those who are in favor of these things.
In reality, the no conversion rule applies only to Bible believers and other dogmatic truth holders. While they would refuse us the right to preach the Bible to New Agers, they feel at perfect liberty to preach to us! In the New Age community, the only real sin is the sin of exclusiveness and theological dogmatism.
In the foreword to the aforementioned book Spiritual Politics, the Dalai Lama writes about those who refuse to accept change.
“Narrow-mindedness and self-centered thinking may have served us well in the past, but today will only lead to disaster. We can overcome such attitudes through a combination of education and training.”
Peck says, “It is not only such ideological and theological rigidities that we need to discard, it is any idea that assumes the status of ‘the one and only right way’” (The Different Drum, p. 96).
He says that the greatest hindrance to world peace is “exclusivity” (p. 61). He warned about “groups that exclude others” because they are doubters or sinners and that are “defensive bastions against community.” He says that refusal to join a group because you don’t agree with it is “destructive to community” (p. 62).
Peck personally conducted scores of community-building workshops to further his objective, and he was only one member of a growing army of New Age personnel who are involved in this process.
Barbara Marx Hubbard is also at the forefront of New Age community building work. She says, “Cooperation is essential for survival” (The Evolutionary Journey, p. 77). Mankind must learn to be non-judgmental and to submit to the higher good of the group.
The Committee for the Future, which was established in 1972, promoted “Syncon,” which stands for Synergistic convergence. To synergize means to fuse something into a new whole. It refers to “group-connectedness.” It involves bonding people together in spite of their differences. Hubbard emphasizes terms such as “looking for common goals” (The Evolutionary Journey, p. 58), “awareness of our common potentials” (p. 58), “walls coming down” (p. 60), “bonding” (p. 60), “group-connectedness” (p. 62), and “making collective, evolutionary decisions.”
This refers to a process of breaking down the divisions between people and emphasizing unity and group thinking as opposed to individualism. It requires a non-judgmental attitude and a relativistic willingness to accept all different views and practices as legitimate. Great efforts are ongoing throughout the world at all levels of society to create this New Age community.
It is easy to see how unacceptable the practice of dogmatic Bible preaching and exclusive evangelism is in such a context! It simply cannot be allowed, because it will disrupt the sense of world community!
For a Bible-believing Christian to separate his children from the public school system and to disagree with evolution and to refuse to “celebrate” homosexuality is considered a great evil by New Agers, because they think it is hindering the evolutionary progress of the entire world. In their view, dogmatic biblical thinking is the chief obstacle to the establishment of the New Age.
The hate crime laws which are being enacted throughout the world reflect the New Age desire to shut the mouths of Bible believers. These laws can make it illegal for Christians to condemn moral perversions such as homosexuality and to warn plainly of heresies. Such actions are considered hateful and divisive and harmful to modern society. Christians have already been charged under these laws in Australia, Canada, England, and America, and we have only seen the beginning of this movement.
ANOTHER MAJOR TOOL OF NEW AGE GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION IS POLITICAL ACTION. This is occurring on every hand. Marianne Williamson’s Peace Alliance is trying to establish a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Claiming that “peace is not a utopian ideal,” the Alliance seeks to bring “the science of peacemaking” to the highest levels of government. Established in 2004, The Peace Alliance is growing in influence. Senate bill HR 800 was created in February 2007 and had 69 co-sponsors as of March 2008. The bill is an attempt to bring United Nations’ objectives to pass in America. It cites the United Nations’ goal of establishing a “Culture of Peace.” It speaks of the “capacity for a higher evolution” and the ability of mankind to “tap the infinite capabilities of humanity to transform consciousness.” The ultimate objective is to make America into “a harbinger of peace that will be “the light of nations” (http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/278/23/).
While Williamson’s outfit is building the United States of World Peace, Neale Walsch and Brad Blanton are building “the United States of Being.” They describe this in their book Honest to God: A Change of Heart that Can Change the World (2002).
“Our objective is to organize a new government for a new nation, to be built first in our imaginations and in cyberspace after we sign up as citizens by signing the new Declaration of Independence. We then intend to grow larger as a political force in the current structure at the same time we model a new one, and then take over increasingly the actual functions of government. We call our new country the United States of Being and we intend to be based on the sovereignty of the individual, rather than the sovereignty of the king, or the sovereignty of representatives” (Walsch and Blanton, Honest to God, p. 212).
Observe that this United States of Being begins in the imagination. It will thus be brought into existence, allegedly, through the power of New Age visualization.
They would like to see New Age high priestess Oprah Winfrey run for president of the United States of Being, so that her “advanced spiritual” thinking can bring about a transformed America and ultimately a new world. Walsch says:
“I’ll tell you one thing, if Oprah didn’t want to run for President I’d suggest Marianne Williamson, because she has the ability to articulate very important ideas very quickly, in a moment, with twenty-five words or less. ... Barbara Marx Hubbard needs to be in that group, too. In the cabinet” (Honest to God, p. 200).
An Oprah presidency is apparently not in the cards, but in late 2007, for the first time in her career, she threw her full weight behind a presidential candidate. His name is Barack Obama, and he is doubtless the New Age candidate of choice.
When Oprah introduced Obama at a political rally on December 11, 2007, in Columbia, South Carolina, she called him “an evolved leader” and said, “We’re here to evolve to a higher plane.” She said he is a “force for peace” who can break down everything that divides, including race and politics and religion (“Messianic Rhetoric Infuses Obama Rallies,” Politico, Dec. 11, 2007). That’s New Age community building taken to the national level.
Obama is running on a vague platform of ill-defined “hope” and “change,” but his candidacy has stirred an inexplicable level of devotion. Speaking in Omaha, Nebraska, Obama said that he and his supporters would “remake the world” (YouTube, Feb. 7, 2008). The Associated Press called him “a metaphysical force in American politics” (AP, Feb. 12, 2008). Christena Weatherspoon said that it was like Obama was “inside her head” and “knows what I want” (Tribune-Chronicle, Youngstown, Ohio, Feb. 19, 2008). Actor George Clooney said, “He walks into a room and you want to follow him somewhere, anywhere,” and actress Halle Berry said, “I’ll do whatever he says to do. I’ll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear” (Lisa Lehrer, Politico, Feb. 20).
On her Internet blog for February 27, 2008, Marianne Williamson said Obama’s campaign is evidence of a mighty wind that is blowing and reflects the yearning of the 60s hippy generation for a new age of love and peace. She cited the occultic psychoanalyst Carl Jung, plus Bob Dylan, Gloria Steinem, John Lennon, and Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“Every once in a while, a mighty wind blows. The political sentiments now storming America in the form of support for Barack Obama are a mighty wind indeed. ... I'm a boomer, so I know this feeling. We have been here before. We knew what Bob Dylan meant when he sang, ‘Something’s going on here, but you don’t know what it is....Do you, Mr. Jones?’ And something is going on again. What we’re experiencing here is a new conversation. ...
“From Bob Dylan to Gloria Steinem to John Lennon to Martin Luther King, Jr., people who use words to foster new thinking are the ones we see in retrospect to have OPENED DOORS TO A BETTER WORLD. ...
“The ability to inspire new thinking is a more important ability in a leader today, than simply being a ‘problem-solver.’ ... WHAT WE NEED IS SOMEONE WITH A BETTER STATE OF MIND, WHO WILL LEAD US TO A BETTER STATE OF OURS” (http://marianne.iamplify.com/about.jsp).
The reference to John Lennon is very significant. In his hugely popular 1971 song “Imagine” he sang of a New Age world:
“Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try/ No hell below us, above only sky/ Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there’s no countries; it isn’t hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too/ Imagine all the people living in peace. Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can/ No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man/ Imagine all the people sharing all the world./ You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one/ And some day I hope you’ll join us/ And the world will be as one.”
This is precisely the world that New Agers are attempting to create, and the title of the song reminds us of that one of their chief tools is the power of visualization. If they can just IMAGINE specifically enough and energetically enough and long enough, it will come to pass.
Whether Obama wins or loses the Democratic ticket and the White House, U.S. politics will never be the same. The New Age has gained an open level of influence heretofore unthinkable.
The Age of Aquarius is on a roll.
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