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Just a Little Dog Poop in the Brownies
March 13, 2007

Greetings in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6.

A very godly man, formerly high in Assemblies of God leadership, recently outlined the problem with justifying Christian activity that is mostly good and only a little bit sinful. He said that would be just the same as saying, “Well, there’s only a little dog poop that I mixed into the brownies I just made.” How many of us would dare to eat delicious-looking brownies after we discover that the baker mixed dog poop in with the original ingredients?

Folks, this article is a wake-up call to all concerned Christians: the New Age is invading our churches at an alarming rate! The brownies still look beautiful but there’s dog poop inside! The worst thing is that almost no one is catching on. As you read, please remember these formulas (equal sign means synonymous): contemplative prayer=the silence=new age=all eastern religions (e.g., Buddhism and Hinduism)=inviting demons to enter your mind and body; also, emerging church=new age=eastern religions=corporately endorsing demons entering your body.

Before I proceed any further, I want to remind all readers to never take my word for anything but to check my assertions out for yourself. To take the word of another man, especially that of a preacher or someone contending for your beliefs, is to be a fool. Only fools would leave their eternity in the hands of another besides the Holy and Living God (through His Son Jesus Christ as recorded in the absolute authority of His Word). Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.” [John 14:6]

At the end of this article, I will give you some resources to begin the process of doing just that: verifying whether what I am about to say is true or not. And the main reason that I am writing this is that so many Christians, Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist, evangelicals and mainline denominationals, are taking the word of mere men in their best-selling books, web sites and radio shows and are being led off the narrow path the leads to life everlasting onto the broad way that leads to eternal destruction.

The reason New Age dog poop is sneaking into the brownies of Christianity so well is that the father of lies has inspired his modern followers to use Christian-sounding words, Christian-sounding titles for their books, and helpful-sounding topics for their radio shows or conferences to get the blissfully ignorant Christian hooked. I’ve seen books by those who endorse New Age promoters and thinking in my own church! I’ve also heard from those who were there that New Age books were being sold at booth after booth at the last General Council. I am not saying that whoever was in charge of booths at General Council knew that they were New Age (they’d better not have!). I am saying that they were there.

Here are some names that, by their own words or regular associations, have placed themselves in the camp of contemplative prayer/the silence/transcendental meditation/inviting demons into your mind and body (this last part they either won’t admit or are criminally ignorant of) promoters: Richard Foster (popular “Christian” speaker and author of many best-sellers including “Celebration of Discipline” and “Meditative Prayer”), Dallas Willard, Gary Thomas (author of “Sacred Pathways” and who repeatedly states on his own web site that he loves reading books by known New Agers), Dan Kimball (who provided the glowing forward to Earl Creps book “Off-Road Disciplines” and is the author of “The Emerging Church”), Brian McLaren (widely viewed as the father of the emerging church), Brennan Manning (author of “The Signature of Jesus”), Ken Blanchard (author of “Lead Like Jesus”), Eugene Peterson (author of “The Message” which identifies Jesus as “Master Jesus” [a well-known New Age name for one of twelve masters that will arrive when the New Age messiah reveals himself]) and Tony Jones (author of “The Sacred Way”). There are more; however, these guys are like fleas on a dog. They all forward each others’ books and quote each others’ works.

Here’s the “All-Star” list that makes me want to vomit considering the level of impact they have on the Christian community or the level of trust they enjoy or both: Robert Schuller, Rick Warren (graduate of Robert Schuller’s Institute for Successful Church Leadership and author of “The Purpose Driven Life”), Bill Hybels (pastor of Willow Creek Church and graduate of Schuller’s Institute for Successful Church Leadership), David Jeremiah (pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church and author of “Life Wide Open” [exceptionally sad since he wrote a book against the New Age in the mid 1990s]), and this last one really makes me sick: Charles Swindoll. I myself counted this man, having heard him personally many times, as one of our current day godliest men. How often I heard him preach using the Bible as his source for sermons. Alas, in his 2005 book, “So You Want to Be Like Christ?”, he quotes Henri Nouwen (a blatant advocate of transcendental meditation) and Richard Foster favorably and even recommends “the silence” by misinterpreting Psalm 46:10 as New Agers so often do. If Charles Swindoll can get off the narrow road, how precarious is the layman’s situation in the biblically illiterate American church?

I realize that this may be shocking information to some—it was shocking to me. But, in every case, to the extent that my time budget allows, my personal research validates that these influential leaders are all following the father of lies’ biggest lie of all: the creed of the New Age, that we can be like God. In fact, if we observe “the silence” often enough, we can become god ourselves!

I always wondered as a kid, “How could the verse in Mark 13:22 happen [that even the elect would be deceived in the last days if it were possible]? Well, here it is folks. It’s called contemplative prayer and is contained in the emerging church or spiritual formation movements. It all sounds so Christian. What could possibly be wrong with a book entitled “Lead Like Jesus?” All of this stuff starts out seemingly harmless but eventually leads to eastern mysticism. And eastern mysticism is the basic practice of emptying your mind through the “discipline of silence” so that you can achieve “unity” with “god.” But, the god of eastern mysticism is Satan. And emptying your mind with mantras or “breath prayers”, even if they include the name of Jesus (as recommended by Rick Warren in TPDL), means that one is creating a vacuum for demons to move in. Not once in Scripture did God or His Son Jesus or any of His inspired writers ever command us to empty our minds. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” This is one of the few Bible verses that New Agers quote to promote “the silence” or emptying one’s mind. However, knowing requires thinking. Regarding a list of virtues that flow out of God’s divine character, we are commanded to “think on these things!”

The last warning sign I’ll list—but perhaps the most visible--that indicates we are dealing with New Age proponents is the language they use. Instead of talking about being Christian, they talk about being spiritual. Instead of authentically Christian, it is authentically spiritual; instead of “running the race,” they talk about a spiritual journey. Instead of “think(ing) on these things” they encourage us to think about nothing; instead of learning about God by reading His Word, they encourage us to have experiences. Instead of singing hymns about the Blood and the Cross, they encourage us to just to worship “you.” Instead of quoting Martin Luther, they quote Catholic monks who learned how to do “the silence” (such as the Desert Fathers or Thomas Merton (a Catholic monk who died of electrocution while pursuing Buddhism in Thailand). Instead of praising God “with the cymbal” and a “loud voice”, we are encouraged to be silent. Instead of “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” we are told to keep ourselves in solitude. Instead of serving like Jesus, we are encouraged to lead. Instead of soaking ourselves in the Good Book, we are encouraged to read books on leadership. Instead of faith in God, we are told to have faith in ourselves. Instead of being a sinner, one is a seeker, a pre-Christian, or “the sought.” Instead of dealing with Jehovah God, he has been renamed to almost anything including “the Dream Giver” and “the Seeker.” Are Allah, Buddha and Hare Krishna okay to use too? NOTE: although this IS the language used by New Age proponents, I am not saying that everyone who uses these words is a New Ager. That is the problem: if New Agers use them to refer to the practice of eastern mysticism (inviting demons to fill the void in one’s empty mind—the poor new recruits don’t know this at first), then WHY would Christians use the same terms in church??? I’ll answer my own question: because the father of lies is behind it all and knows that there’s no lie quite so effective as one awfully close to the truth (e.g., the Catholic Church or the Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ [Mormons]). Further, he knows that to usher in the anti-Christ, he has to render the Body of Christ ineffective and powerless. And the only way he can pull that off is to use his closest, best disguised lie to date.

Since having begun this website, I have been accused of many things. And I realize that this article may lead some to accuse me of attacking these men listed above. Nothing could be further from the truth. I only list names to say that the threat of the enemy is real, is happening now and amongst us. Does the watchman do better saying to the city dwellers, “Arise, we are being attacked” or “Arise, we are being attacked near the eastern gate by men following our former mayor and they are using ladders and spears.”? How can we defend the Body of Christ if we don’t know where the attack is coming from, what the attackers look like, or what the attackers are using to overrun our city walls? Or worse yet, that the attackers are being let through the gates in the walls by someone on the inside! I am sad for these men and concerned for their eternal welfare. The Bible says, “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” This verse’s relevance is not confined to the heathen!

As promised earlier, here are some resources to help you verify the truth of what I’m saying (and by all means, keep your Bible open as you read from these resources to validate the scriptural references and truths being asserted): Lighthouse Trails Publishing (they have their own web site), “Deceived on Purpose” by Warren Smith, and “A Time of Departing” by Ray Yungen. And if you’d like to read inspirational stories about men who had discernment, who successfully fought deception and how they were armed to do so, read “Christian Men of Science, Eleven Men Who Changed the World” by George Mulfinger and his daughter. The man who invented the telegraph and Morse code and the man for whom the absolute temperature scale is named are among those listed inside. This is also a great book to read to your children.

I cannot state this case any clearer than I did above. May God help me in my weakness to convey His truth and His alone. I have done the duty of the watchman. The Assemblies of God leadership now have an obligation to cleanse this next General Council, our Theological Seminary, national bible college and sponsored universities of the dog poop of New Age authors and books. How will God visit us in power when we make Jesus’ Atonement of no effect by promoting an ability to achieve god-likeness without His Blood being involved? Pastors who read this now have an obligation to pass on the warning or verify that I called out a false alarm. Sheep have been given the word to avoid the final deception. To all with whom this rings true and is validated by God’s Word: please pass the warning to everyone you know! Eternity is at stake! For those who are inclined to disagree: your blood is now upon your own heads. May the Lord judge between you and me.

Pastors and believers, failure to take action will mean that we are the facilitators of the awful fulfillment of “the elect” being deceived! The question is: will you hold back the anti-Christ (the messiah of the New Agers) or usher him in?

With Love for the Blood-Washed Saints,

Brother Mike

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