Waking and Watching

What are you watching? I’m watching the Church. It’s far more interesting and and I believe, more significant than what is happening in “the world”. One can’t even keep up with it all anymore. The flood of apostasy is overwhelming. Here’s a recent news item:

In response to public outcry over the Ground Zero Mosque and other mosque projects in the United States, the Jewish group the Anti-Defamation League has formed the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques. The panel’s self-described purpose is to support Muslim’s right to build mosques around the United States.

The group includes clergy from all faith traditions and one of group members is the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission Executive Director Richard Land.

Land says the purpose for the ADL’s Coalition on Mosques is clear.

“To help support the First Amendment for all Americans—we have the right to the free exercise of our faith without the interference of the government. For over a hundred years, the Supreme Court has ruled that’s not just the federal government, it’s all government,” Land stated.

“We agree with that as Baptists. We believe that people have the freedom to worship and to express their faith and to have houses of worship in the places where they live,” Land added.

Article link here: http://www.centrepointnews.com/?p=8942

I’m trusting you see the point: Land, who is is the president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), the public policy entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, is on an Interfaith Panel. Interfaith panels exist so that people from different religions can dialogue (Diaprax) until they come to a unified group consensus on a matter. Compromise of Truth (denying Christ and His Word) is required to do this. Denying Biblical Truth for the “common good” in society is the planned end result of the Interfaith panels.

Another interesting situation is the fact that the SBC’s ERLC is a UN-NGO. According to UN Resolution 1996/31, the NGO must support the principles of the UN Charter. The NGO must support the activities, initiatives and programs of the UN. The UN is an antichrist organization with the goals of destroying the Christian faith and setting up a global interfaith religion. Read the Millennium Goals of the UN. UN-NGO’s must be in agreement with the UN agenda. Are you surprised to find Evangelical Church Denominations with UN-NGO status?

Land is also apparently a member of the CFR, as is Rick Warren. Land is a member of their Religious Advisory Committee. Here is an interesting talk Land gave at the CFR. Here is Land giving an open forum Q & A discussion at CFR on “U.S. Foreign Policy and the New Evangelical Agenda”. We cannot watch unless we are awake. Brothers and sisters, are you waking up yet?

Related article: Gospel-less Haiti Relief, which discusses the statements of Richard Stearns, President of the UN-NGO organization, “World Vision” . Stearns is also on President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a government Interfaith discussion group.

Gospel-less Haiti Relief

While looking for news about the Haiti relief effort a few weeks back, I ended up on the World Vision site where I saw a link to the book, The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision. Looking for information about this book, I found two interviews with statements that are very important for us to understand at this time, so that we may continue to be found faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this Sojourners interview, Stearns discusses his philosophy of ministry and his position on the president’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Read the Sojo interview here at this link.

In this PBS interview, Stearns discusses World Vision’s policy on religion, evangelism and proselytization, as well as his position on Obama’s Faith Based Task Force.

Watch the PBS interview here at this link.

Please continue reading for a collection of quotes from these interviews, and my analysis and exhortation to all the saints.

With Jesus

Here is the latest One World Religion/Beast system news from the UN Interfaith Conference. Threat of terrorism and the quest for world peace are the main reasons given for bringing all religions into interfaith coexistence. I remember back when the “war on terror” was declared and president Bush said, “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.” I remember thinking, “Well, I’m not with you, so where does that leave me?”

No longer a political concept only, “terrorism” is now the impetus for religious unity among the nations.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said this; “Terrorism and criminality are the enemies of every religion and every civilization. They would not have emerged except for the absence of the principle of tolerance.”

Here’s a quote from Ban; “Concerned about serious instances of intolerance, discrimination, hatred expressions, and harassment of minority religious communities of all faiths, participating states underlined the importance of promoting dialogue, understanding, and tolerance among human beings, as well as respect for all their diverse religions, cultures and beliefs.”

Dear saints, this has everything to do with you. This will eventually be about any testifying, witnessing, preaching, or proclaiming of Jesus Christ that you do. That would not be “conducive to world peace”. It simply will not be allowed by the kings of the earth.

These have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful. Rev.17:13-14.

He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Matt.12:30.

Religion Out, Jesus In

Saturday I was in line at the department store, waiting to purchase some sale priced running shoes. I ended up having a conversation with the lady in front of me. In five minutes the talk turned to spiritual things as we began to talk about the gospel. Interestingly, she wanted to know if I was referring to ‘religion’. I clarified that I was not talking religion, but only about Jesus and the Good News. Then she said she was glad because she thought religion was bad and dangerous, but Jesus was good. “Religion out, Jesus in!”, she exclaimed.

I left glad that she understood the difference between religion and Jesus. With the developing interfaith global religion, which includes many Christian groups and movements, it is more important than ever to distinguish between the two, and remain faithful to Jesus.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them. Hosea 14:9.

Mosque, Pt.1

What a fantastic opportunity to join a group of believers for a cross-cultural adventure. We attended an “open house” at a San Francisco mosque, for the ‘break the fast’ dinner. But it was the part before the Muslim ‘call to prayer’ and dinner, that I did not expect.

Upstairs on the social hall floor, we sat at banquet tables with a few hundred other guests and listened to several speakers. I was expecting Muslim leaders to tell us all about Islam and Ramadan. I grew sick as I slowly realized that I was attending an interfaith meeting! There were brochures on the table published by an interfaith group, explaining how all the monotheistic religions are basically one. One by one, Muslims and non Muslims got up and gave speeches promoting interfaith cooperation, and the urgent global necessity for us to all come together to achieve world peace and save humanity.

There were many baby boomers who had a Jewish, Catholic or cultural Christian background, who had converted to Islam. There were many Roman Catholic priests and nuns, especially the Franciscans, the order of the Catholic church I grew up in. There were people from different religions- but most of them were classic mystical New Spirituality creation worshipers.

At our table were two ladies that I think were probably either Catholic or Episcopalian, and one man described his own cult religion which gave me chills. He had a “sacred space” called Abraham’s Place (or something) where Jews, Muslims and Christians came to worship together as one. The man looked and sounded “affected by something”. I was not sure if we were going to be at that table all evening, but I knew that God did not want me to say a single word there, about the precious things of the Lord, to this particular group of people. He wanted me to keep my Pearls to myself at this time.

Let’s Remember Our Message

There are many messages being proclaimed by churches and people professing to represent Jesus, but they are not the message of the gospel. There is the ‘health and wealth’ message, the ‘best life now’ message, the ‘Kingdom now’ message, the ‘listen to the angels’ message, the ‘Psychology’ message, the ‘be successful & get results’ message, and the ‘join with other religions to work for world peace’ message. The false gospel situation is only going to escalate within Popular Christianity, therefore let us commit to faithfully proclaim the true gospel message, and leave the results of that, up to God.

For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men…..1Cor.1:18-25.

Article: Let’s Remember Our Message, by Paul Lewis

Pope or Christ

President Bush said he sees God when he looks into Pope Benedict XVl’s eyes. The Pope’s title , “Vicar of Christ” expresses the Pope’s claim to be the appointed representative of Christ Himself, on earth. That means he is claiming to be standing in the place of Christ, as a substitute. Of course antichrist means “in opposition to”(against), and, “in the place of” Christ. Amazing how he is being treated like a prince by US and UN leaders. They call him “Holy Father”. I don’t hear the man preaching the Deity of Christ or salvation only through Him. I only hear talk of world peace, Communitarianism and Interfaith cooperation.

I remember when Pope John Paul l died, when I was in junior high school. We Catholics mourned his death as if he were our father. I remember feeling incredible loyalty and devotion to Pope John Paul ll, my priests and The Church. My faith was in the Roman Catholic Church, works and sacraments.

Watching the funeral of JPll 20 years after the Lord brought me out of the Catholic Church and into the Kingdom of God, I was amazed to see the near worship of the man, with political dignitaries kneeling before his coffin.

Also in 2005 I got to see the cathedral Duomo in Milan. It was one of the most pagan things I’ve ever seen. As the priest offered up the host in Latin, I observed from the tourist area the huge image of “Mother(goddess) and Child”, the hundreds of prayer candles, the statues of saints which looked like ancient Roman gods, and the focal point: above the altar, a huge stained glass image of the sun, with all it’s rays beaming out. You know, like in Babylonian religion. Roman-Babylonian paganism was blended with Christianity to make a deceiving and attractive mix.

Here is a short comparison list for those who may be unfamiliar with Catholic doctrine. Catholics need to hear the gospel from us. We are Christ’s ambassadors to bring the good news of freedom from the bondage of (pagan) religion and works-righteousness. Right after I was “confirmed”, God used one of His ambassadors to send me a Bible, and through reading the gospel, He opened my eyes so I could see Jesus. God is still saving His lost sheep by His grace.

• Salvation through God vs Salvation through Roman Catholic Church.
• Salvation through Jesus vs salvation through Pope.
• Mediator is Jesus vs Mediator is priest.
• Intercessor is Jesus vs Intercessor is priest.
• Jesus was offered up as sacrifice once, vs Eucharistic Christ offered up as a sacrifice often- every time the Mass occurs.
• Authority is Scripture vs Authority is tradition.
• Salvation through Grace and Faith vs salvation through works.
• Salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus vs salvation through Eucharist, confession to priests, confirmation and other sacraments, not to mention Mary, rosaries, holy water, candles, statues, scapulars, and more.
• Discipleship in the Word vs being a good Catholic.
• Discipleship by teachers and preachers of the Word, vs Mary and the Saints.
• Devotion to Jesus Christ vs devotion to the Roman Catholic Church.

... that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light… 1 Pe.2:9.

New Spirituality is Hot

New Spirituality is hot right now with Oprah featuring A Course in Miracles lessons on her satellite radio show as well as teaching Ekhart Tolle’s A New Earth on her web class. Then there’s Pope Benedict XVl in the country hosting yet another interfaith conference where he will continue the work of joining Roman Catholicism together with Islam and the rest of the world’s religions, based on “common ground”. We also have the Dalai Lama here with thousands going to him for spiritual enlightenment. Public schools are busing children in to hear him promote the “compassion movement”.

And then we have “from within Christianity”, Rob Bell at the Interspiritual Seeds of Compassion conference referring to the Dalai Lama as “His Holiness”, and redefining death and resurrection for a universalist-friendly crowd. He could have used this incredible opportunity to speak of the true God, sin, righteousness, judgment, the Deity and Lordship of Christ, the cross, the love and grace of God, repentance and faith, but he did not. He blended. Why? New Spirituality is hot! It is “New Paradigm” (even though it has really been around since Genesis). Faith in Jesus as the only way is “Old Paradigm”. The world seeks to evolve to the next level of consciousness: the idea that we are all “one”. The Shift; the global transformation, is rapidly coming to completion. This is the idea that we are all one because we are all god. This is the “Christ consciousness.”

So, are you ready to be different? (Are you different already?) Are you ready to not sign up with the one world religion? Are you ready to endure when you see people who call themselves “Christians” join also? Are you ready to be left out? Are you ready for the pressure to conform? Are you ready for what’s next? The world will bow to the enemy’s New Spirituality; the worship of self as god.

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Eph.6:13.

Audio: Here’s Jan Markell and Warren Smith discussing New Age & Christian leaders promoting the New Spirituality.

ONE Faith For All, Pt.3

The Davos World Economic Forum not only discusses economics, but many topics related to the globalization of the world, or, phrased differently, the new re-ordered world system.

The Open Forum panel on “Faith and Modernization”, hosted by Tony Blair, consisted of Muslims, Jews and Catholics, and (Protestant) Christianity. Christianity was being represented by Rick Warren, who claims to be a Baptist Evangelical Christian.

The message communicated by the Muslim, Jewish, and Catholic leaders was basically that religions must coexist, common ground must be found, proselytism must stop, extremism, the source of all the problems, must be stopped, and extremists must be faced and controlled. They declared that all believers (adherents to all religions) must work together in unity for world peace, and that it is in “our hands” to change the world.

Mike Gendron, in his article, The Remarkable Formation of the One World Religion, writes that there are two kinds of unity:

Doctrine is what divides the true church from the emerging world religion. The Bible condemns any unity that is not founded in God’s word. False unity is based upon man’s ambitions and is always independent of God (Gen.11:1-9). This type of unity will be a tool of the Antichrist (Rev. 17-18). On the other hand, biblical unity is based on apostolic truth and is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of man (Eph. 4:3,13; 1Cor.12:13)

When Rick Warren spoke, he stated that the future of the world is religious pluralism, and that the world is becoming more religious, not less. He said “we” cannot solve the ‘Five Giants’ (from the P.E.A.C.E. plan) without involving ‘people of faith’ and their religious institutions. In saying this, he implied people of all faiths, and all religious institutions. He boasted of his membership in the Council on Foreign Relations and promoted the philosophy of the three legged stool of government, business and the ‘faith’ sector working together. He explained that this last leg consists of churches, mosques, synagogues and (Buddhist) temples. He talked about how every village in the world has a church, and by church, he meant any house of worship, of any religion. He said the ‘church’ is the only truly global organization, with the largest pool of committed manpower (volunteer laborers).

Warren said that the ‘church’ has local credibility. This he defines as the local imam, pastor, priest, or rabbi. He asked if we (all houses of worship) can work together with business, government and the U.N. to build the three legged stool. He proposed using houses of worship as community social service distribution centers (managed and funded by government and business). He later admits that the ‘purpose’ of the Purpose Driven Life, is to participate as a volunteer in this interfaith plan to change the world. He challenged the audience with “Can we not all get along?”

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 1Jn.2:22.

and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 1Jn.4:3.

Who will build the One World Religion? Those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ.

Towards the end the prime minister of Malaysia said that we have “one faith, one faith that all of us believe in!”

Eventually the world will officially declare: “ONE faith for all!”

ONE Faith For All, Pt.2

My own introduction to the New Age concept of spiritual oneness came as a child when I heard “Imagine” on the radio. Even as a child growing up in the Roman Catholic Church, I understood that the song was about all the people of the world coming together as one spiritually. I understood the song’s purpose was to destroy the truth of Christianity.

In my youthful college days, I was extremely naive. I was already well versed in Humanism, the prevailing secular wisdom. This was to be expected from public institutions. Foolishly thinking I could continue my education in Liberal Studies at San Francisco State, I knew there was more Humanism to come. I would take it, as always with a grain of salt. But I was hoping the curriculum would consist of content such as “Invitation To the Classics”. It turned out to be more like, “Invitation to the Occult”.

The main textbook for the core class was Marilyn Ferguson’s The Aquarian Conspiracy, which was basically a primer for the outing and mainstreaming of the New Age occultic religion into modern society. The total required reading list of luciferian primers was more than I could stomach as a young Christian. A watershed moment in my college career was the day the class listened as the instructor taught us the concept of ‘paradigm shift’ and declared, “The goal is to destroy the old paradigm and replace it with the new paradigm” (as described in Furgeson’s book). As we look around us now, we see they are very successful in achieving their plan.

But that is the world, and we know the god of this world is working hard to institute the global religion of antichrist, which is essentially the global worship of himself, the enemy of God. The thing that is happening now, is that we have professing Christians, supposed Christian organizations, and church leaders who are promoting this one world religion. The enemy is working overtime to get professing Christianity into the mix.

I got a copy of the Spring 2005 SoulMag in the mail. It was a new magazine for Christians, and it was about “entertainment, lifestyle and faith”. Every single article was blasphemous diaprax to transform an undiscerning Christian to accept new age beliefs, for the goal of joining Christians to the global religion via “common ground”. Who was producing this magazine? Professing Christians. The content of the articles was undeniably luciferian (new age or anti-biblical).

Then, around the same time, I got a postcard in the mail, inviting me to sign the ONE declaration, and join a good social cause, along with other “people of faith”. It had a picture of several Christian and political leaders, and of course Bono. The card promoted this as a public-private partnership to do social work. What jumped out at me, was this bible verse printed on the card: “There is one body and one spirit (small s), just as also you were called in one hope of your calling.” Eph. 4:4. That is exactly how it was phrased on the postcard. They were using a bible verse to appeal to Christians, but what they were really saying was that the ‘one body’ is the whole world (misusing this text). This is so because they made it clear that this was a joint effort of secular organizations and an interfaith cooperation of all ‘people of faith’.

Another interesting experience was when I looked at the church bulletin and I noticed that they were inviting the people in the church to participate in building a house with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat claims to be a Christian organization. For a long time church groups would sign up to work on a house together. It would be a time of fellowship and serving alongside one another in an act of Christian love and service. But this project was different. This was no ordinary Habitat project. This was the new “All Faiths” house build project. This interfaith project would bring Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus together to build common ground and interfaith unity. These interfaith projects would include a worship service where all faiths participate, and all are recognized.

So I gave a call to my local chapter of Habitat, and asked about this interfaith project, and how it would help bring people from all religions together in unity. The man on the phone happily affirmed this, and with excitement in his voice, said, “Yes, it’s already happening!”