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.

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?” . . . . . .

Replacement theology (also known as supersessionism) essentially teaches that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan. Adherents of replacement theology believe the Jews are no longer God’s chosen people, and God does not have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. All the different views of the relationship between the church and Israel can be divided into two camps: either the church is a continuation of Israel (replacement/covenant theology), or the church is completely different and distinct from Israel (dispensationalism/premillennialism).

Replacement theology teaches that the church is the replacement for Israel and that the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian church, not in Israel. So, the prophecies in Scripture concerning the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are “spiritualized” or “allegorized” into promises of God’s blessing for the church. Major problems exist with this view, such as the continuing existence of the Jewish people throughout the centuries and especially with the revival of the modern state of Israel. If Israel has been condemned by God, and there is no future for the Jewish nation, how do we explain the supernatural survival of the Jewish people over the past 2000 years despite the many attempts to destroy them? How do we explain why and how Israel reappeared as a nation in the 20th century after not existing for 1900 years?

The view that Israel and the church are different is clearly taught in the New Testament. Biblically speaking, the church is completely different and distinct from Israel, and the two are never to be confused or used interchangeably. We are taught from Scripture that the church is an entirely new creation that came into being on the day of Pentecost and will continue until it is taken to heaven at the rapture (Ephesians 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). The church has no relationship to the curses and blessings for Israel. The covenants, promises, and warnings are valid only for Israel. Israel has been temporarily set aside in God’s program during these past 2000 years of dispersion.

After the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), God will restore Israel as the primary focus of His plan. The first event at this time is the tribulation (Revelation chapters 6-19). The world will be judged for rejecting Christ, while Israel is prepared through the trials of the great tribulation for the second coming of the Messiah. Then, when Christ does return to the earth, at the end of the tribulation, Israel will be ready to receive Him. The remnant of Israel which survives the tribulation will be saved, and the Lord will establish His kingdom on this earth with Jerusalem as its capital. With Christ reigning as King, Israel will be the leading nation, and representatives from all nations will come to Jerusalem to honor and worship the King—Jesus Christ. The church will return with Christ and will reign with Him for a literal thousand years (Revelation 20:1-5).

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament support a premillennial/dispensational understanding of God’s plan for Israel. Even so, the strongest support for premillennialism is found in the clear teaching of Revelation 20:1-7, where it says six times that Christ’s kingdom will last 1000 years. After the tribulation the Lord will return and establish His kingdom with the nation of Israel, Christ will reign over the whole earth, and Israel will be the leader of the nations. The church will reign with Him for a literal thousand years. The church has not replaced Israel in God’s plan. While God may be focusing His attention primarily on the church in this dispensation of grace, God has not forgotten Israel and will one day restore Israel to His intended role as the nation He has chosen (Romans 11).

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

James Robinson sounds like the new spokesperson for Catholicism on his TV broadcast show Life Today. Robinson praised Fox News Contributor Fr. Jonathon Morris, claiming the Lord was upon him and we should listen to him.

James and Betty Robinson promotes merger of evangelicals and Roman Catholics.

Robinson says everything that comes out of Fr. Morris’ mouth is consistent with the word of God and the heart of God.

He said: “I wish that most protestant preachers had the same sensitivity, discernment and gift of communication that you have, don’t you agree (audience)?” The audience claps in agreement. Fr. Morris states that Protestants and Catholics need to work together no matter what anyone says.

Take a listen to this clip:

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Let’s take a look a Fr. Morris. He regularly appears on TV interviews on Fox, CNN and other networks as a Catholic spokesperson. I find it interesting that Fox news needs a Catholic spokesperson in the first place, given that the majority of the Christian population in the USA is Protestant.

Fr. Jonathon claims that the Roman Catholic Church might need to change their view of Creation if scientists finds intelligent alien life forms. He states that if they find these life forms “Maybe we will need to change our understanding of perennial truths” :

Here is another interesting clip of Fr. Morris explaining Anglicans coming into the Catholic church. Fox news looks tickled pink over it! :

YouTube has deleted the Video clip

The bottom line is the Emergent church is emerging. And we need to look at the big picture.

1. The Vatican has called for a new world order and a world bank.

2. The Vatican has told their members they can believe in space aliens and that they are their brothers.

3. The Vatican is ramping up interreligious dialogue with all religions and even atheists.

4. The Vatican, as of yesterday joined the International Migratory Organization.

5. The Vatican has called for a divided Israel and a Palestinian state.

6. The Vatican has called for international climate change law which will bring in world government.

This overall picture of what the Vatican is saying and doing is enough to show, this church is not in alignment with the Word of God, desiring political power and the world government system to come. Those who have ears to hear, listen and take heed.

James Robinson is being swept into the antichrist current leading the world into a world religion where the gospel is compromised, the Bible is mocked and truth is traded for good feelings and unity.

Christians, the time is coming where the line must be drawn in the sand. Which side will you stand on? Or will you stand in the middle of the line in a luke-warm existence? Make the right choice. Choose Him, Jesus of Nazareth. Put on the full armor so that you can stand.

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Written by Sue

This above quotation from the December 1st newsletter released by Ron McGatllin, whose own apostolic network is working alongside C. Peter Wagner’s New Apostolic Reformation, who takes a classic Dominionist position that Satan’s deception in the Garden of Eden was a matter of keeping the church from ruling the world – thereby thwarting the church’s divine destiny and purpose. The Dominionist strategy is to re-take the world via any vehicle upon which they can hitch a ride – community and civic involvement, peace promotion, political and social action, cultural and worldview change, societal engineering, corporate and philanthropic endeavors, partnerships and collaborations with global entities, etc. These methods for achieving Dominion are often called “spiritual warfare.” Additionally, various forms of esoteric, hyper-spiritual altered-state-of-consciousness activities, are practiced within the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR/IHOP) Dominionist camp under the term “spiritual warfare.”

In his most recent newsletter McGatlin, like an increasing number of New Age/NAR/IHOP and evangelical leaders, is giving credence to the significance of the year 2012. Under his brand of eschatology, the “Bride of Christ” is to “manifest the presence of God” and “eventually plant the kingdom of God” on earth. In this worldview, spiritual warfare it something that is waged against external threats to the church. Lip service may be given to traditional understandings about resisting sin, but the over-riding Dominionist principle of spiritual warfare is based on the heretical premise that enemies of the Lord (however this is defined by various groups) must be conquered and ruled over, including ultimately sin and death. This, of course, negates the necessity of Christ’s salvation, His shed blood for our sins on the cross. Dominion becomes a method of reversing the effects of the curse. . . . . . .

read the full article here.

However as this article shows, if you do not know Christ, and have not been born again then it matters not what is publicized about you, what matters is that the condition of your heart is revealed by what you say and do! Gandhi did and said as any unsaved and lost person would do! His heart was the cold dark, depraved heart of a lost sinner!

from Thinking Matters:

When people talk of great spiritual leaders, Gandhi and Jesus are often mentioned in the same breath. Jesus was a great man with great teachings, whose values and actions positively influenced Western civilization. Gandhi was a great man with great teachings, whose values and actions positively influenced Eastern civilization—particularly in India.

Christians have long disagreed. Jesus was not merely a man, and Gandhi was not really a great man. Indeed, when you consider the state of India—where Hinduism and Islam have made it home to one third of the world’s poor, where until recently over half of its citizens lived below the poverty line, and where many of its citizens are considered so unclean that their mere touch can contaminate a member of a higher caste—it would be surprising if a Hindu man from this place were not as depraved and inhumane as his religion.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal confirms that Gandhi was not the saint Westerners have assumed. This image arose largely because of his “martyrdom”, followed by Martin Luther King Jr’s ignorant adoption of him as a role model—and fueled by the fact that Gandhi prohibited journalists from publishing anything about him that he had not first extensively vetted and edited.

The article goes into some detail, listing many of Gandhi’s morally questionable actions and attitudes. I’d encourage you to read the whole thing, but here’s a sampling:

•Although credited with leading India to independence from Britain, Gandhi actually undermined this effort. Between 1900 and 1922, he ­suspended his civil disobedience at least three times, even though more than 15,000 supporters were in jail for the cause. (When Britain finally did withdraw from India, it was largely motivated by their anti-imperialist Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, and the fact that Britain was nearly bankrupt from the war.)

•Gandhi was dangerously politically incompetent. He ­advised the Jews to adopt nonviolence toward the Nazis, and wrote a letter to ­Hitler starting with the words “My friend”. He also advised the Jews of Palestine to “rely on the goodwill of the Arabs”. Fortunately for their existence, the Jews ignored him.

•As well as calling Hitler his friend, Gandhi and Mussolini got on well when they met in December 1931. Gandhi praised Mussolini’s “service to the poor, his opposition to super-urbanization, his efforts to bring about a coordination between Capital and ­Labour, his passionate love for his people.”

•Gandhi was outstandingly racist, describing “the raw Kaffir” as someone “whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a number of cattle to buy a wife, and then pass his life in indolence and ­nakedness,” and saying of white Afrikaaners, “We believe as much in the purity of races as we think they do.”

•He was also a hypocrite on many levels. He prevented his son marrying a Muslim despite publicly promoting Muslim-Hindu unity. He denounced lawyers, railways and parliamentary politics, yet he was a professional lawyer who constantly used railways to get to meetings to argue that India ­deserved its own parliament. And although he is known for his hunger strikes, his official position was that these were “the worst form of coercion, which militates against the fundamental principles of non-violence” (in which he believed).

•His views on nakedness and sexual chastity were also belied by his depraved behavior: when he was in his 70s he encouraged his ­17-year-old great-niece, Manu, to be naked during her “nightly cuddles” with him. After sacking several long-standing and loyal members of his 100-strong ­personal entourage who might disapprove of this part of his ‘spiritual quest’, he began sleeping naked with Manu and other young women also.

•Despite being thought of as a peaceful man, he was vicious and callous. “There will be no tears but only joy if tomorrow I get the news that all three of you were killed,” he once told some of his workers. To a Hindu he once said, “I do not mind if each and every one of the 500 families in your area is done to death.” And he forced Manu, his niece (remember the “nightly cuddles”), to walk through a jungle known for harboring rapists—just so she could retrieve a pumice stone he liked to use on his feet. When she returned in tears, he “cackled” with laughter and said: “If some ruffian had carried you off and you had met your death courageously, my heart would have danced with joy.”

•In 1908 he left his wife for a German man named Hermann Kallenbach. “Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in my bedroom,” he wrote to Kallenbach. “The mantelpiece is opposite to the bed.” Gandhi nicknamed himself “Upper House” and Kallenbach “Lower House.” The two pledged “more love, and yet more love—such love as they hope the world has not yet seen.”

That’s enough to prove the point. Like Mother Theresa, Gandhi was not a great spiritual leader and humanitarian. He was a cynical and morally corrupt person, just like the rest of us—only given more opportunity to reveal his true nature because of the position and culture he lived in.

from The Globe & Mail:

In increasingly secular Canada, how do you bring people to God? “Through parking and bathrooms,” says Scott Weatherford, lead pastor of Calgary’s First Alliance Church.

He’s only half joking. On Sundays, the evangelical church’s 1,350-spot parking lot is overflowing. The $25.7-million, six-year-old campus feels more like a convention centre than a cathedral. Weekend services are high-tech, multimedia spectacles. The church provides free fair-trade coffee, with cup holders in every one of the 1,704 seats in the sanctuary. Whether it’s the caffeine, the big-screen monitors or the rock band, no one appeared to be drifting off when Mr. Weatherford, equipped with a wireless microphone and an iPad, took the stage at a recent weekend service.

Deliberately dressed down in jeans and a sports jacket, the former college athlete delivered one of his trademark kick-in-the-pants sermons. One of his favourite phrases is “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me” – a get-it-done message that strikes the right note in entrepreneurial Calgary.

“It’s the church everyone looks to for leadership,” said Franklin Pyles, the Toronto-based president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, part of a global evangelical movement founded in 1887 by a Canadian iconoclast named Albert Simpson. (Today, the Alliance has attracted more than 4.5 million members in 81 countries, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.)

This suburban megachurch is experiencing a 75-per-cent increase in weekend attendance at a time when membership in mainstream Canadian religious denominations is in a steady decline. It’s also the wealthiest Alliance church in Canada, drawing $4.7-million from its members in the last fiscal year.

“The financial resources of this church are vast and we have not tapped them all,” Mr. Weatherford said. “The good we could do if we compile and work together is staggering.”

“Doing the good that needs doing,” is another of First Alliance’s most appealing credos. Volunteers enable the church to offer a wide array of life-building programs, from addiction treatment and free oil changes in the church parking lot to the Discoveryland child-care complex that hosts 550 children on the weekends. It’s all about ensuring that no souls are left behind, but reaching out in the most practical way possible.

Mr. Weatherford came to Calgary to lead First Alliance in 2009, after being recruited from Texas with the tricky task of making sure the church continues its phenomenal growth while making sure it stays true to its core beliefs. He’s succeeded so well that he’s now overseeing a $7-million expansion to the campus, which will include more child-care spaces and additional parking.

“God causes a place to boom economically to do the good in the world that needs doing,” the 53-year-old said. “Most booms are accompanied by great selfishness. Calgary seems to lean into homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, poverty and immigration with a greater openness and generosity than I’ve experienced in other places.”

Technology, he said, is one way to ensure the church continues its forward momentum. Last month, First Alliance launched an Internet campus for people who don’t want to do church the traditional way. As a sign that this is not a break with tradition but rather a natural, ongoing evolution, faconlinetv.org is being led by 29-year-old pastor Brad Young, whose grandfather and father were both lead pastors at First Alliance.

The church’s bold vision for 2012 doesn’t end there, and it parallels evangelical trends across the country. Over First Alliance’s 73-year history, it has become less focused on global missions and more involved in ministering to families at home, although it continues to be the largest funder of the Canadian Alliance’s work abroad.

“The buzz word right now, especially in the States, is missional,” said Mr. Young, stressing that the church realizes it has to meet the practical, as well as spiritual needs of an increasingly diverse community. . . . . .

read the full article here.

“Houstonian Diego Quintanilla, who was sitting near the duo, tweeted: “I’m freaking out!! I can’t breathe! It smells like money and amazingness!!”

And that quote pretty much typifies the mindless, shallow & Biblically illiterate  that attend Osteen’s “church”

from The Houston Chronicle:

Oprah Winfrey created a buzz Sunday in Houston with a surprise appearance at the 11 a.m. service at Lakewood Church.

Oprah is in town interviewing Pastor Joel Osteen as a part of her new series Oprah’s Next Chapter premiering in January on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

The show will feature conversations with real people, newsmakers and celebrities.

Seated in the front row of the crowd of roughly 13,000, Oprah and Tyler Perry were announced as guests at the service. Houstonian Diego Quintanilla, who was sitting near the duo, tweeted: “I’m freaking out!! I can’t breathe! It smells like money and amazingness!!”

Oprah joined Osteen and his wife, Victoria, for lunch at their home and spoke with them about faith, marriage, power and ego, according to Lakewood officials.