The Symptoms of Seduction by Spirits

“Now it came about when Jerusalem was captured in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was breached.” Jeremiah 39:1-2, NASB . . . . . .

“It was toward the end of the reading that I first noticed the whirling sensation over my head. I tried to ignore it, but it wouldn’t go away. It was a strange but not unpleasant feeling that seemed to flutter and vibrate and even tingle above me. I was startled when Bonnie [my psychic reader] picked up on it.

‘Are you aware that there is a ball of light over your head?’

I was dumfounded. A ball of light? Is that what I was feeling? This was getting a little wild. I told Bonnie that I had been feeling something over my head but didn’t know what it was. She said it again.

‘It’s a ball of light.’

For a moment I tried to understand what a ball of light was doing over my head. Then I asked the obvious.

‘Why is there a ball of light over my head?’

‘You are being shown that you have a lot of help on the other side,’ she said matter-of-factly.

‘What do you mean by “the other side”?’

‘The spirit world,’ was her quick reply. ‘Family and loved ones who have passed away, as well as angels and other spirits who for whatever reasons are sympathetic to your life. They are making themselves known to you. They are reaching out to you and letting you know that they are available if you want their help’.”—Warren Smith, The Light That Was Dark[1]

Introduction

One of life’s most difficult experiences is the death of a loved one, especially the death of one’s own child. Yet Scripture promises Christians that, “the God and Father the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [has]… according to His abundant mercy…  caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5, NASB)

Appropriated by faith, this “blessed hope” is the source of strength and comfort to Christians grieving over the death of a believing loved one who also trusted in the salvation offered by and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This series of articles has been difficult for the Discernment Research Group to publish. As we read the account of Pastor Steve and Sarah Berger’s loss of their teenage son Josiah in a tragic car accident, our hearts stirred with sympathy for them and their family, for their church and their friends. Yet we rejoiced with them in their assurance that Josiah, a professing believer in Jesus Christ, was in Heaven and in the legacy he had left here on earth.

However, amidst our sympathy for them and thoughtful consideration, we decided it necessary to rebut the New Age view of Heaven that was publicly being spread amongst the evangelical community in the Bergers’ book, Have Heart: bridging the gulf between heaven and earth.[2] Openly endorsed by such high-profile church figures as James Robison, Chuck Missler and Greg Laurie,[3] and promoted by various media outlets[4] and Koinonia House,[5] this book required a public response.[6]

In a point-by-point biblical and theological analysis and commentary, Have Heart was reviewed by Pastor Larry DeBruyn in his 5-part series “Do the Dead Communicate with the Living?” The Discernment Research Group thought this review of the Bergers’ book was necessary because the issues it introduces to America’s evangelical community; namely a New Age understanding of Heaven that allows for visitations from Christian loved ones who have entered the afterlife.

From our perspective, we are sorry that the grief and anguish of their son’s death has opened the minds of the family, their friends and their audience to “the other side”[7] for the term “other side” derives its meaning from the occult world of Spiritualism, a religious phenomena that has been around for centuries.[8] As a movement, Wikipediadescribes the rise of Spiritualism to prominence in the 1840s as follows:

Spiritualism is a belief system or religion, postulating the belief that spirits of the dead residing in the spirit world have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. Anyone may receive spirit messages, but formal communication sessions (séances) are held by “mediums”, who can then provide information about the afterlife.[9]

Under the subheading “Syncretism,” the Wikipedia entry also notes that Spiritualism was a forerunner to the New Age movement, with which it shares many similarities and overlapping connections, and that in the past it gained a foothold in many liberal Christian churches whose membership contains so-called “Christian Spiritualists.”[10]

So herein resides our concern: the door to the doctrines and practices of Spiritualism is now being opened amongst unsuspecting evangelicals because of the information and experiences communicated by the Bergers’ book. In other words, the spiritual security of the evangelical church has been breached. This breach not only includes descriptions of their son Josiah’s afterlife appearances here on earth, but also credits to occult sources in the book and new teachings about Heaven described by the authors.

Because several members of the Discernment Research Group have come out of the New Age movement and have personally experienced the psychic world, we recognize Spiritualism when we see it, no matter how its tenets might be labeled. So we became alarmed enough to write more on this topic in order to warn others of the dangers inherent with courting the beliefs and practices of Spiritualism. The following summary covers some spiritualist activities that concern us. . . . . . .

read the full article here.

from The Florida Courier:

FROM THE FLORIDA COURIER STAFF: An Orlando-area rabbi, upset that Florida-based televangelist Paula White strongly denied participating in “scroll-wrapping” considered “repulsive and inappropriate”by some Jewish religious scholars, submitted a video that seemingly corroborates that such an act did occur. The video surfaced just hours after White’s attorney categorically and unconditionally denied, to the Florida Courier’s publisher, White’s involvement in any such act.

White’s ‘wrapping’ – allegedly symbolic of being “wrapped in the Word of God,” according to  Rabbi Ralph Messer on the video – is almost identical to Messer’s wrapping of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church’s Rev. Eddie Long during a controversial, widely ridiculed ceremony that went viral on YouTube.

Criticism of Long was swift and severe from Jewish religious scholars and the Anti-Defamation League, forcing Long to publicly apologize.

White is now pastor of New Destiny Christian Center, founded by the late Zachery Tims. New Destiny is one of Central Florida’s largest churches. She is also pastor of Without Walls International Church, one of Tampa’s largest churches.

How it all started

On Friday afternoon, Feb. 3, the West Orlando News Online reported “rumors that Messer will be in Orlando over the weekend to crown pastor Paula White, new leader of the New Destiny Christian Center (NDCC), queen.”

At 6 p.m. that Friday evening – just after the Florida Courier broke a story on the Internet addressing rumors of White’s possible ‘coronation’ – Messer became the focus of discussion on Orlando’s WEUS-AM 810, a local talk radio station.

Host Don Miller of “The Don Miller Show” harshly criticized both Long and Messer. One of the featured guests on the show was  Rabbi Ira Michaelson of the Beth Tefillah congregation in Clermont, just outside of Orlando.

About 10 minutes into the broadcast, Miller confirmed that he heard rumors that Messer was coming to Orlando “to do this” (another Eddie Long-style ‘coronation’) at another church.”

In response, Michaelson said, “He actually already did this to Paula White some years ago…this was after she was divorced from Randy White and before the scandal with Benny Hinn came out. He took her and wrapped her in a scroll and said the same thing – ‘I’m wrapping you in the Word of God.’”

For the remainder of the hour-long show, Miller and Michaelson continued to castigate Messer and Long. Keith Johnson, a minister, author, and former NFL Minnesota Vikings chaplain, spoke of his concern about Long’s New Birth congregation and the impact of Messer’s actions on the relationship between Black Christians and Jews.

(On Sunday, February 5, Johnson preached at an Orlando-area church about how Messer convinced Long’s New Birth congregation “to pronounce a curse on themselves. Click here for video.)

The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, an associate professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, spoke to Miller’s show by phone about how the New Birth ceremony was disrespectful of Jewish religious traditions.

Saturday morning call

In multiple phone calls and emails to Florida Courier Publisher Charles W. Cherry II, Daniel Beirute, Paula White’s attorney, unconditionally denied that White would be ‘coronated’ as was Long.

In response to Michealson’s quoted allegation that “He (Messer) actually already did this to Paula White some years ago…”, Beirute wrote in an email to Cherry as follows:

“I don’t know where Rabbi Michaelson gets his information, but my client categorically and unequivocally denies that that ever happened.”

No longer a story

Based on White’s unconditional denial of the Super Bowl ceremony, Florida Courier editors decided that there was no longer a story and posted a “Final Paul White update with links.” But that was not to be the last word.

Rabbi Michaelson, concerned that White’s denial damaged his reputation, emailed a video to Cherry that seems to corroborate his statement about White.

The video opens up with various instances in which an energetic White picks up or drops Bibles on the floor while preaching. About 36 seconds into the video, a caption appears: “Notice Bible on Floor.” There’s more video of White preaching, speaking ‘in tongues’, and dropping more Bibles.

About two minutes into the video, another caption appears. “If Paula had thrown the Koran to the floor, she would have faced certain death. The Jews rejected her from speaking at their 2007 “day of prayer” (sic) because of the following sacrilege to their sacred scrolls,” it states.

Then, in an undated broadcast that seems to be recorded from White’s TV show “Paula,” White agrees to allow Messer and another unidentified man to wrap White in what appears to be a Torah scroll. After saying the wrapping represents protection and being “hidden in the Word of God,” Messer tells White, “Out of something that was thrown off the tracks – like your life – God says, ‘I’m going to raise it up and people will read from it and quote it for generations.’”

Messer then says to White, “…The Lord says, ‘You are so sacred to the Body of Christ, I’m wrapping you in the Word of God.’” The scroll seemed to be torn in the process. White appears to be overcome with emotion, then happily shakes Messer’s hand.

Paula White ‘wrapped in the Word of God’ – click here for an abbreviated version posted on YouTube of the video submitted to the Florida Courier.

from The Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

“Bishop” Long Crowned King!

A ceremony held Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, in which Bishop Eddie Long was wrapped in a sacred Torah scroll and carried upon a throne, has the Internet abuzz and Jewish religious leaders offended and questioning its appropriateness.

“He’s a king. God has blessed him,” said Rabbi Ralph Messer before covering Long in a scroll “[that] may still have the dust of Auschwitz and Birkenau.” Messer referred to the Nazi extermination camps in Poland where millions of Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

A Torah’s use in a ceremony ordaining Long as “a king” is  offensive to many Jews, said Bill Nigut, Southeast Regional Director of  the Anti-Defamation League.

The ceremony at Long’s Lithonia church, viewed more than 139,000 times on YouTube, “in no way represents any Jewish ritual that I’m familiar with,” Nigut said. “We do not proclaim individuals to be kings.”

Messer said his parchment, a handwritten copy of the holiest book within Judaism, was 312 years old. His mention of Auschwitz-Birkenau implied the scroll was one of those recovered from the death camps when they were liberated by the Allies toward the end of World War II.

It’s impossible to authenticate Messer’s claim without examining the texts up close, said Rabbi Joshua Heller of Congregation B’nai Torah in Sandy Springs. While rare, Torahs can be easily purchased, even on eBay, he said.

“There are a fair number of Torah scrolls that survived the war,” said Heller, adding roughly 1,500 were rescued from Czechoslovakia alone.

More disturbing was the use of this particular Torah in an inappropriate setting, experts on religion say.

“The connection of the Torah scroll to the Holocaust and then to Eddie Long is incomprehensible to me,” said David P. Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. Gushee is a scholar of the Holocaust and has visited Auschwitz several times.

“What was the point? Was it to signal that Eddie Long was suffering persecution like the Jews at Auschwitz?” Gushee asked.

Messer’s son, Minister Russell Messer of Simchat Torah Beit Midrash in Parker, Colo., said his father purchased the parchment and relied on the word of its seller regarding its provenance. “It came through that generation of Europe,” the younger Messer said.

Russell Messer said that in the next two days, his father — who has no formal rabbinical training — plans to post on his organization’s website the full video of his sermon along with additional comments regarding Sunday’s service.

When asked for comment about the event, New Birth emailed a statement Thursday in which Ralph Messer said critics misunderstood his intent.

“My message was about restoring a man and to encourage his walk in the Lord,” Messer said. “It was not to make Bishop Eddie L. Long a king.”

The YouTube video indicates otherwise, Heller told the AJC.

“We wouldn’t wrap a Jewish person in a Torah scroll and declare him king,” he said. “As a Jew, I find that use of symbols very off-putting.”

The messenger is as controversial as the message, Jewish leaders say.

Ralph Messer, according to a biography on his organization’s website, is “pioneering a work to bring the ‘Good News’ of Yeshua (Jesus Christ) in the Torah to the ends of the Earth.” He is active in the Messianic Judaism movement, which fuses evangelical Christian beliefs with elements of Jewish tradition.

“The Jewish community does not associate itself with the Messianic congregations,” Heller said. “We don’t feel like this does due justice to either the Jewish or Christian community.”

Messer’s biography says he has ties with prominent evangelicals including the Rev. Kenneth Copeland of Lubbock, Texas, and Paula White, pastor of a charismatic mega-church based in Florida. It says he has made frequent appearances on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

In his statement Thursday, Ralph Messer said Sunday’s presentation “was simply a way of bringing  honor to a man who had given his life to the Lord and had given so much  to his church, the Atlanta metro area and throughout the world.”

“Lifting him on the chair was to acknowledge and honor him,” he said, adding it is consistent with rituals performed at Jewish weddings and Bar mitzvahs.

One worshipper present at the service said it was “so much more than the video.”

“If you actually attended the service you would know that Bishop Long was not ordained or considered a king in the worldly sense,” said New Birth member De’Yolanda Lowery. “I do know that Bishop Long is truly a man of God.”

Russell Messer said that his father and Long “just got to know each other in the last six months.”

Long was appointed New Birth’s pastor in 1987 when the church had only 300 members. By its 10th anniversary, New Birth reported a membership of roughly 18,000, peaking at 25,000.

But in September 2010, Long was sued by four former church members who  alleged he used his influence, trips, gifts and jobs to coerce  them into sexual relationships. The suit was settled in May. The church’s attendance has declined since the sexual coercion lawsuit was filed.

The bishop may have taken comfort in Messer’s message.

“You can’t attack [Long],” Messer said Sunday. “He’s sealed. Wherever he turns, the power of God is there. … It’s not him, it’s the king in him.”

As Long sat behind him, perched on a throne under a spotlight, Messer chanted repeatedly, “It’s a new birth,” eliciting cheers from the congregation.

Mercer’s Gushee said the  service  may have been an attempt to shore up Long’s standing in his ministry.

“A lot of things could have been done to shore that up, but this  particularly bizarre ritual was deeply disturbing,” Gushee said. “One  problem with Messianic Judaism, in which leaders attempt to fuse Jewish  and Christian traditions and symbols, is that it can easily stray into  profound insensitivity.”

Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, associate professor of Biblical studies at  Interdenominational Theological Center, said that on viewing the video, “My first impression was, ‘Who is this individual who has the authority to make Bishop Long a king?’

“It’s something I’ve never seen or read within the  Judeo-Christian tradition,” Hopkins said. “There’s nothing within Scripture that  supports such a practice of this ceremony. It really just stands outside  of the Christian faith.”

Revelation 18:4-7:

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.  For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.  Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.  In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’

from Independent Ireland:

A HOMILY delivered at Knock shrine by the Bishop of Raphoe, Philip Boyce, is being investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions following a formal complaint by a leading humanist who claims the sermon was an incitement to hatred.

 The gardai have confirmed to former Fine Gael election candidate John Colgan that they have prepared and forwarded a file to the DPP after he made allegations that the address by Dr Boyce was in breach of the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, 1989.

The homily, entitled: “To Trust in God” was delivered to worshippers during a novena at the Marian shrine in Co Mayo last August and subsequently reported in the media, including The Irish Times, under the headline: “‘Godless culture’ attacking church, says bishop.”

Mr Colgan, a retired chartered engineer and economist from Leixlip, Co Kildare, referred in his formal complaint to two key passages in Dr Boyce’s homily which he believes broke the law.

One of the passages referred to the Catholic Church in Ireland being “attacked from outside by the arrows of a secular and godless culture”.

A second passage, which was included in the complaint, stated: “For the distinguishing mark of Christian believers is the fact they have a future; it is not that they know all the details that await them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness.”

Mr Colgan, who was a leader in the ‘Campaign to Separate Church and State’ in the late 1990s, said in his complaint: “I believe statements of this kind are an incitement to hatred of dissidents, outsiders, secularists, within the meaning of the [Incitement to Hatred] Act, who are perfectly good citizens within the meaning of the civil law. The statements exemplify the chronic antipathy towards secularists, humanists etc, which has manifested itself in the ostracising of otherwise perfectly good Irish citizens, who do not share the aims of the Vatican’s Irish Mission Church.”

To back up his complaint, Mr Colgan referred to two statistical surveys carried out two decades apart by the Jesuit sociologist and academic Fr Michael MacGreil, entitled: ‘Prejudice and Tolerance in Ireland’ and ‘Prejudice in Ireland Revisited’ which Mr Colgan claims showed “marked prejudice by Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations against agnostics and atheists” (humanist was not an option offered to respondents in either survey).

In his complaint, Mr Colgan said he attributed this prejudice to “hostile propaganda disseminated in school and chapel in the main by or for the institutional churches, for there is no rational or temporal reason”. In a statement to the Sunday Independent, Martin Long of the Catholic Communications office said: “Bishop Boyce’s homily ‘To Trust in God’ is available for anyone to read at catholicbishops.ie.

“I advise any person to read it and judge it for themselves. It is clearly a reasonable, balanced, honest — and indeed self-critical from a church perspective — analysis of the value of the Catholic faith. Bishop Boyce is a good and holy man and much loved by those who know him.”

After the homily was delivered late last summer, Mr Colgan wrote personally to the cleric seeking a corrective statement.

Dr Boyce responded saying that in his homily he did “not wish to disparage in any way the sincere efforts of those with no religious beliefs, atheists, humanists etc.

“I have too much respect for each human person, since I believe all are created in the image of God. At Knock I wished to encourage and confirm the hope of believers, even in the present challenging times, since trust in God was the theme I was given.”

A controversy is brewing over three reputable Christian organizations, which are based in North America, whose efforts have ousted the words “Father” and “Son” from new Bibles. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and Frontiers are under fire for “producing Bibles that remove “Father,” “Son” and “Son of God” because these terms are offensive to Muslims.”

He then goes on to tout the new Anti-Christ ideology of “inclusiveness”. Where people should not separate from one another because of differences in foundational doctrinal matters.

It is not hard to see where all of this is going, and where “Oneness” and “Modalsim” takes us. The next step, and what you are seeing more and more in so called Christians circles goes along the lines of: “Well we Christians worship ONE God manifested in three modes, or One God appearing at different times in different forms, so that is not THAT different from Muslims who believe in ONE god, or Hindu’s who believe in ONE god manifested in multiple “avatars”

What is further troubling is how he uses a verse out of context to imply that the nature of God is a mystery, therefore its ok if you have Oneness, Modalist or Trinitarian beliefs! The passage in no way implies any kind of nature of the Godhead nor was it intended to!

from The “Christian Post”:

Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter’s House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, was put on the spot during a theological roundtable Wednesday in regards to his beliefs about the Godhead and why, in some Christian circles, he is considered a “heretic.”

Jakes and of a handful of other male Christian leaders were invited to participate in this year’s “The Elephant Room” roundtable, hosted and moderated by Pastors James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. The Dallas pastor was hit with several questions about how his theological beliefs have developed, specifically in regard to the Holy Trinity – a controversial issue which The Christian Post reported on in October.

The Potter’s House senior pastor denied that he clings to a modalist position, although he confessed that he did at one time in his walk with God.

Modalism, a 3rd-century teaching accredited to theologian Sabellius, purports that the members of the Trinity are not three distinct, eternally co-existing persons, but that instead God, a singular spirit, discloses Himself at different times in three modes – a doctrine espoused by Oneness Apostolic Pentecostal and United Pentecostal Church International denominations.

During Wednesday’s “Elephant Room” conversation on the “majors” of Christian doctrine, Jakes explained where he falls on the issue.

“My father was a Methodist and my mother was a Baptist,” he explained. “I was raised in the Baptist church … but I didn’t really have a real committed experience with Christ until my father died. When my father died, I had a real experience with Christ, a real conversion with Christ and I had it in a Oneness church.”

The minister emphasized to Driscoll that the Pentecostal congregation he was referencing, which he pointed out was not a UPCI church, was home to “Christians who believe in Jesus Christ, believe he died, rose from the dead, is coming back again — all the same things you do.”

“How they describe and explain the Godhead in a traditional Oneness sense is very different than how traditional Trinitarians describe the Gospel. I was in that church for a number of years and raised in that church for a number of years,” Jakes said.

“As I began to progress, I began to understand that some of the dogma that I was taught in the Oneness movement was very dogmatic, very narrow and not the very best description of how I now understand the Godhead,” he continued.

“My struggle as I was ordained in the Oneness church was in several passages – sometimes the doctrine fit, sometimes it doesn’t. When the doctrine becomes the primary thing, you force it into fitting in places where it doesn’t fit. I really at this point in my life don’t want to force my theology to fit in my denomination.”

Referencing Gen. 1:26, Luke 3:21-22, John 14:11 and other passages that he believes point to Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit as having unique distinctions, Jakes revealed: “That began to make me re-think some of my ideas and some of the things I was taught.”

“I got kind of quiet about it for a while. When you’re a leader and you’re in a position of authority sometimes you have to back up … for a minute and really think those things through.”

Driscoll, near the end of the discussion, pointedly asked Jakes if he believes the Bible is “the perfect, inspired, final authority Word of God,” to which Jakes responded “absolutely.”

Driscoll then posed several other creedal questions in quick succession, to which Jakes responded in the affirmative:

“You believe there is one God, three persons: Father, Son and Spirit? You believe Jesus was fully God, fully man?”

“You believe he died on the cross in our place, for our sins?”

“You believe he bodily rose from death?”

“You believe that he is the judge of the living and the dead?”

“You believe that apart from Jesus there’s no salvation?”

Jakes told Driscoll once more that “there is very little difference between what I believe and what you believe.”

“For you, the issue between Trinitarianism and modalism at its essence is one God manifesting Himself successively in three ways, or one God, three persons, simultaneously existing eternally. Your best understanding now … would you say it’s ‘one God manifesting Himself in three ways’ or ‘one God in three persons?’” Driscoll asked.

“I believe that neither one of them totally get it for me,” Jakes revealed, yet expressing his agreement with the description of “one God, three persons.”

“Here is why I am there. I am not crazy about the word ‘persons’ … most people who know me know that … my doctrinal statement is really no different from yours except for the word ‘manifest’ instead of ‘person,’ which you describe as modalist and I describe as Pauline,” Jakes insisted, before quoting 1 Timothy 3:16.

The passage in the English Standard Version reads: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

“That is what Paul describes as a ‘mystery’ and I don’t think we should do that,” the bishop said. “Now, Paul is not a modalist, but he does not think it is robbery to the divinity of God to say God was ‘manifest’ in the flesh,” Jakes argued.

“When we start talking about that sort of thing, I think that it is important that we realize that there are distinctives between the Father and the working of the Son: the Father didn’t bleed, the Father didn’t die, only in the person of Jesus Christ, coming back for us in the person of Jesus Christ … Jesus Christ has been with us, but only indwelt in the person of the Holy Spirit. We are baptized into the Body of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is consistent with my belief system.”

He added, “We are taught in our society that if we disagree within a movement, we leave … we sever. I still have fellowship associations, relationships and positions within and without Oneness and Trinitarian movements because I believe that until we bridge the gap between our thinking, and humble both sides and say ‘we’re both attempting to describe a God we love, that we serve and that we have not seen, and that we are viewing Him through the context of the Scriptures but that with a glass darkly’ – why should I fall out and hate and throw names at you when all that I know and understand, be it very Orthodox, is still through a glass darkly?” . . . . . .

Normalizing Necromancy Part 1 

By Pastor Larry DeBruyn

Have Heart: bridging the gulf between heaven and earth

 “Our minds need to be stretched to the other side.”
(Have Heart, p. xxii)

In the aftermath of Josiah’s “appearing,” the Bergers relate how they informed the guest worship leader, Rita Springer, about Josiah’s visit with “Mr. Jim” that evening. She then told the Bergers about the prayer request she made to God before the service. “Father, could Siah [Josiah] come worship with us tonight?” (HH, 101) God seemingly granted her request. Regarding the implications of this reported incident and others like it, the Bergers reach the novel theological conclusion, “Yes, the residents of Heaven are personally present, they are aware, and they are near!” (HH, 100-101)

Normalizing Necromancy?

From this paranormal occurrence, and similar ones recorded in the book, necessary questions arise:

Can the dead communicate with the living?

To what degree do such reports ascribe a normalcy to necromancy?

Are the Bergers’ laying the theological groundwork for an evangelical acceptance of necromancy? . . . . . . .

Read the full article here.

Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian actually is one

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:14-16

If you needed further proof that the Laodicean church, warned of in the book of Revelation, is in full bloom right now, then this article should clear up any and all remaining doubt you may have. The World Council of Churches (WCC), boasting a membership of over 349 churches and denominations around the world, hates Israel with a passion and seeks their overthrow. The following was taken directly from documents on their own website:

The Bethlehem Call:The deligitimization and criminalization of the Israeli government and its local and international support base is gaining unstoppable momentum. The existence of international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns and other forms of nonviolent resistance is an established fact. The government and state of Israel is now regarded as an apartheid regime in terms of international law, with particular reference to the UN Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid and the Rome Statutes of the International Criminal Court. The severity of the Palestinian situation makes comparisons with apartheid in South Africa superfluous and almost irrelevant. The benchmark is international law and not South Africa.

In the light of the above and with our conviction that Palestine is in an ever deepening crisis, Kairos Palestine urgently calls us to move forward boldly and act radically by speaking out with courage, passion and determination. The time for words and diplomatic niceties, that obscure the reality, are over. We affirm the churches’ commitment to and contributions for decisive action since the Amman Call as well as in the creation and impact of the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF).” source – World Council of Churches

To our beloved Jewish brothers and sisters living in Israel, let us assure you that no one associated or affiliated with the World Council of Churches is in fact a Christian, and neither does their horrific and repugnant anti-Israel stand represent the cause of Yeshua Ha’Machiac in any way, shape of form. These pseudo-christians, the bible calls them ‘ravening wolves’, are not of God and neither do the follow the bible. What they preach, aside from the hatred of Jews and of Israel, is Replacement Theology, and it is a doctrine of the Devil himself.

From Arutz Sheva: Next March, the Bible College in Bethlehem will host dozens of US theologians, activists and ministries for the “Christ at the Checkpoint 2012 Conference”. It is to be a major religious and political event meant to demonize Israel and to support the Palestinian Intifada against the “ethnocentric” Jewish State.

The impressive range of Christian theologians and pastors from many churches located in the United States make the gravity of the upcoming conference clear. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the US National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is a speaker. Also attending are popular US preacher and “spiritual adviser” to Bill Clinton, Tony Campolo, and President of the World Evangelical Alliance and Asia Evangelical Alliance, Sang-Bok David Kim. Two of the conference organisers, Stephen Sizer and Sami Awad, adamantly defended the Gaza flotilla sent in May 2010 by the Turkish terror group IHH.

Another speaker, Ben White, has shared a political platform with Azzam Tamimi, who has endorsed suicide bombings against Jewish civilians in the past.

In the last few months we have seen an increase of attacks on Israel by many Christian denominations. While the United States is home to millions of Christian supporters of Israel, these are anti-Jewish Churches which are more closely attached to global public opinion, European bureaucracy, the media industry, the United Nations and various legal forums.

In fact, the “Bethlehem Call” manifesto, which serves as platform for the Bethlehem 2012 Conference, has just been published on the websites of the Would Council of Churches, the Global Ministries of the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ.

The Bethlehem Call defines Israel as an “illegal regime” and a “crime against humanity”, it promotes “international boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns” against Israel, labels the more neutral Churches as “accomplices in crimes against humanity” and attacks Christian Zionism as “a crime and sin as defying the core of the Gospel”.

The Bethlehem Call also updates the “Kairos Palestine”, the major document used as global tool for the Christian struggle against Israel speaking in the behalf of “us Christian Palestinians”. Even the name of the Catholic Custodian of the Holy Land, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, prominently appears among the most important signatures in this website: http://www.kairospalestine.ps/sites/default/Documents/English.pdf

In 2007, the World Council of Churches, the umbrella organization of liberal Protestants claiming a membership of 580 million worshippers, also produced the “Amman Call”, which denies Israel’s right to continue to exist as a Jewish State by insisting that millions of Palestinians have the “right of return” to Israel.

In 2008, the World Council of Churches convened a group of Protestant and Catholic theologians to review the underpinnings of Christian attitudes about Israel. The group published the “Bern Perspective”, which, among other things, instructed Christians to understand all biblical references to Israel only “metaphorically”.

The theological meeting also marked a return to “replacement theology”, the medieval view that the Church has replaced the people of Israel in God’s plan and that all biblical references to Israel refer to the “new Israel”—that is, to Christians.

Replacement calumny has changed its language, yet still is basically a death sentence for the Jewish people. Now it is Israelis, like Lucifer, who were God’s chosen but were cast out for their rebellious and evil ways, and deserve to be obliterated from the “Holy Land”, according to this macabre theology. Taken together, it seems these Churches are now breathing new life into a kind of demonology which criminalizes all the Jews living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. source – Israeli National News

The book dances around the issue of the origins and source of the sexual content that it describes, and why people become attracted to such sexual content in the first place. It is not to express a loving sexual experience with their marriage partner, it is to experience selfish sexual sensuality and the more you cultivate that type of selfish sexual experience the more you will push into more deviant sexual behaviour!

Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

UPDATE: Read here for a good commentray on why Sex, that is not primarily directed towards procreation is not in God’s plan AT ALL!

“sex not ordered towards the transmission of life is gravely sinful. If the transmission of life is blocked, either through chemical sterilization (pill), mechanical sterilization (tubal ligation, vasectomy, condom, diaphragm) or perverse acts that have nothing to do with the transmission of life, (masturbation, withdrawal, anal, oral), then the act is itself nothing more than a dehumanizing, objectifying USURY of another person AND one’s self as a point of utterly self-serving masturbatory friction.”

from The Daily Mail:

A new Christian book that gives a green light to a range of sexual taboos such as anal sex and using sex toys, has come under fire for pushing a misogynistic and overtly sexual agenda in marriage.

Pastor Mark Driscoll’s new book, co-written with wife Grace, has parted waters when it comes to morals – and none are more enraged by its explicitly sexual content than devout Christians.

Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship And Life Together, tackles core relationship values – and casts an X-rated eye over some of the more blush-inducing taboos when it comes to sexual acts and their place in a Christian relationship.

The Seattle-based evangelical superchurch leader, 41, is in an unusual – and sellable – position in that he is a preacher writing about sex, and the book hit Amazon and Barnes & Noble top sellers’ lists upon launching last week.

This not the first time the controversial ‘man’s man’ pastor’s words have divided.

Set in the highly sexualised American culture, the book often refers to figures that underline just how young some couples are when they indulge in their first sex acts, or how many teenagers are regularly giving oral sex, for example. That has not stopped many from finding the contents to be too sexually revealing and innocence-destroying.

The reason for the outcry is clear – the book takes aim at some fundamentally held Christian views and is not afraid to hold back.

Chapter 10, ‘Can We _____?’ is so racy – contextually speaking – that it even comes a with a disclaimer of sorts, suggesting those who ‘are older, from a highly conservative religious background, live far away from a major city, do not spend much time on the internet or do not have cable television’ may ‘want to read this chapter while sitting down.’

When ‘dogmatically pushed’, no birth control – as so publicly practiced by TV stars of 19 Kids and Counting, the Duggars – is seen as ‘foolish legalism,’ leading to ‘self-righteousness.’

They run through a set of sexual acts and ask whether, firstly, the Bible decrees them as lawful and then whether the acts are helpful. The couple go on to ask whether the acts are ‘enslaving.’ . . . . . .

from The Orlando Sentinel:

A struggle for control of New Destiny Christian Church erupted today with the appointment by the church’s directors of Paula White to succeed Zachery Tims as the new pastor and a lawsuit filed by Riva Tims challenging the church leaders’ authority to do so.

In a press conference announcing her lawsuit, Tims compared the conflict over spiritual ownership of the church to the biblical story of the baby claimed by two mothers.

“I am here today to declare that as founder of New Destiny Christian Center that I am the real mother,” said Tims, who co-founded the church with Zachery in 1996.

Tims claims that, according to church by-laws, she is the rightful heir to the church following Zachery Tims’ death in August. The cause of his death at 42 has not be released.

The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Circuit Court shortly before the church announced White was taking over as senior pastor.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against New Destiny, prohibiting it from naming White as pastor. The suit also alleges that members of the board of directors and White engaged in a conspiracy to “control, monopolize and manipulate” the selection of a new pastor to the exclusion of Riva Tims.

It claims White was $26 million in debt in 2006, and thus unfit and incompetent to run New Destiny, which has more than $4 million in assets.

Riva Tims contends she was wrongfully dismissed from the church following her divorce from Zachery in 2008, but remains favored by the congregation to succeed her ex-husband.

The church says the lawsuit is without merit.

“In the wake of her divorce from Pastor Zachary Tims in 2009, Pastor Riva willingly signed legal documents releasing all claims over New Destiny Christian Center and left our church to begin her own ministry, literally just a few miles away,” said a statement released by the church. “So we are surprised to hear her now say, three years later, that she should become Senior Pastor of New Destiny Christian Center.”

Regardless of the lawsuit, New Destiny said White, 45, will assume her duties as senior pastor during the church’s New Year’s Eve services on Saturday.

“We believe Pastor Paula will continue to make New Destiny a church for all people, reaching out to the hurting and the lost by touching lives and helping individuals overcome the disabling challenges of life,” said Board Member Elder Marguerite Esannason in a statement released by the church.

White, senior pastor of Without Walls International in Tampa, identifies herself as Zachery Tims’ “spiritual mother.” She preached the first sermon in the church after his death, again at his funeral, and served on an advisory board during the search for his successor.

Members of New Destiny said they have nothing against White, but object to the exclusion of both Riva Tims and the congregation in deciding who is best to lead the church after Zachery.

“The people need to be respected,” said Demetrise Begic, 46, who joined New Destiny eight years ago. “We’re the tithers.”