Here's an idea. Let's go back through historical church eras and glean from such time periods those issues deemed to be of value in the development of the Christian faith. Let's review the first-century church, the church between A.D. 100 and 600, then consider the medieval era (A.D. 700 to 1500), followed by the Reformation period (A.D. 1500 and later), and so on. To be effective in this endeavor, it's important to have a good understanding of the cultural context in which the Christians of each era practiced their faith. In addition, we'll need to study the Church Fathers and gain the insights they provided. Why? Well, those who are promoting this "re-presenting the past" believe that today's Christianity will greatly benefit as it "re-invents itself" in order to effectively bring the message of the gospel to the postmodern world. If you think this may not be a good idea, you could be labeled a "traditionalist," one whose faith and practice is inflexible and out of touch with our rapidly changing culture-and church.

That's the view that Christianity Today (CT) has of what's going on in evangelical Christianity. In introducing its February 2008 feature article [1] with a cover-page declaration, "Lost Secrets of the Ancient Church: How evangelicals started looking backward to move forward," CT senior managing editor Mark Galli writes:

You might say a number of CT editors have a vested interest in this issue's cover story. David Neff, Ted Olsen, Tim Morgan, and I have been doing the ancient-future thing for many years, at Episcopal and/or Anglican parishes. And if this were not enough immersion in the topic, in his spare time, David Neff heads up the Robert E. Webber Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future, founded by the father of the ancient-future movement.

Acknowledging the magazine's inherent (and historic) bias, Galli notes that "the ancient church has captivated the evangelical imagination for some time [yet] it hasn't been until recently that it's become an accepted fixture of the evangelical landscape. And this is for the good " (emphasis added). That, of course, is Galli's opinion and, sadly, a growing multitude of influential Christian leaders agree.

Robert E. Webber, who died last year, is certainly the "father of the ancient-future movement," and his many books have provided encouragement and content for leaders of Emerging Church fellowships. As a Wheaton College professor for three decades, he also played a significant part in influencing that evangelical institution's capitulation to ecumenism, particularly its support of Roman Catholicism (see TBC 7/02 [1], 6/02 [1] by T.A. on ECT at Wheaton).

Webber wrote in his book, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World [2], "Currently, Western society is in a transition from the modern world to a postmodern world... shifting us toward the affirmation of new values...resulting in a whole new culture and rais[ing] new questions about the way a biblical Christianity is to be understood and communicated."1 The solution for Christianity to be viable in this cultural transition, Webber contends, is to "recover the universally accepted framework of faith that originated with the apostles, was developed by the [Church] Fathers, and has been handed down by the church in its liturgical and theological traditions."2

This Church Fathers' "framework of faith," along with "its liturgical and theological traditions" is found primarily, according to Webber, in the era of "Classic Christianity," between A.D. 100 and 600. And it was to that church age that most of the speakers at the 2007 Wheaton Theology Conference on "The Ancient Faith for the Church's Future" sang their praises. CT describes what took place at the Billy Graham Center in the Cliff Barrows Auditorium, including taking the audience through prayers from the Gelasian SacramentaryBook of Sacraments of the Church of Rome), a fifth-century book of Catholic liturgy containing the priest's instructions for celebrating the Eucharist and recommending them for worship in today's Protestant churches. One speaker promoted the Catholic "medieval fourfold hermeneutic," which emphasizes the nonliteral interpretation of the Bible, and another "gleefully passed on the news" to this highly receptive crowd "that Liberty University had observed the liturgical season of Lent."

The writer of the article then asks, "Had Catholics taken over?" in this former bastion of conservative evangelicalism. His answer is NO! This Wheaton College conference was simply evangelicals looking to the past for "rich biblical, spiritual, and theological treasures to be found within the early church" as supplied by the early Church Fathers.3

Are evangelicals truly paying attention to the Church Fathers? University professor D. H. Williams, author of Evangelicals and Tradition, substantiated "the recent upsurge of evangelical interest in patristics (the study of the Church Fathers): 'Who would have thought, a decade ago, that one of the most vibrant and serious fields of Christian study at the beginning of the 21st century would be the ancient church fathers? There has been an opening of new avenues...[created] by the almost overnight popularity of bishops and monks, martyrs and apologists, philosophers and historians who first fashioned a Christian culture 1,500 years ago.'"4

Although these developments may seem shockingly new to some and seem to have sprung up overnight, Christianity Today gives some preparatory background (see also "Evangelical Mysticism?" TBC 2/08 [2]). The article quotes Robert Webber from his then controversial 1978 book Common Roots: "My argument is that the era of the early church (A.D. 100-500), and particularly the second century, contains insights which evangelicals need to recover." CT notes that 25 years later Webber rejoiced in his book Younger Evangelicals that they [emergent fellowships] "want to immerse themselves in the past and form a culture that is connected to the past...."

Nearly a decade earlier than Common Roots, a number of Campus Crusade leaders went on their own "recovery" of ancient liturgies, specifically from Eastern Orthodoxy. Peter Gillquist, Jack Sparks, Jon Braun, and others left Campus Crusade to form what was a forerunner of today's ancient-future-emergent movement. They turned to the writings of the early Church Fathers "to practice a more liturgical form of worship than in their previous evangelical background."5 They called their movement the New Covenant Apostolic Order and, later, the Evangelical Orthodox Church.

In 1978, Quaker and CT advisory editor Richard Foster wrote Celebration of Discipline. His book, which introduced Catholic and occult meditative techniques to evangelicals, sold more than a million copies and was selected by Christianity Today as one of the top ten books of the 20th century. Foster later formed Renovaré, an organization dedicated to teaching spiritual formation through the mystical beliefs and practices of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Desert Fathers. Eugene Peterson (CT editor), author of the very popular paraphrased Bible, The Message, was the New Testament editor of the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible.

These developments are foundational to today's Emerging Church phenomenon and indicate that such roots will carry it well beyond its merely being a fad among today's evangelical youth. More recent support (noted in last month's TBC) is the change in attitude among evangelicals toward Roman Catholicism fostered by "Evangelicals & Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium," an endeavor of Chuck Colson and Father Richard John Neuhaus (both CT editors) and the stunning success (thanks to evangelicals) of Mel Gibson's extremely Catholic The Passion of the Christ.

Is any of this "for the good," as Christianity Today declares?

Let's both reason from the Scriptures, and simply be reasonable (Isaiah 1:18 [3]). The Ancient-Future search to discover gems from "Classic Christianity" comes up short by a century -- the century in which the New Testament was written. The critical difference should be obvious. The writers of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy Spirit as they penned God's Word (2 Timothy 3:16 [4]; 2 Peter 1:21, 22 [5]). What writings from A.D. 100 and later can claim such inspiration? None. But we're told that some were disciples of or lived at the time of the apostles. True, but proximity to the apostles is hardly a guarantee against heresy nor does it come close to inspiration. Furthermore, much of the first-century-written New Testament reproved and corrected errors that had already entered the church!

Remember the Apostle Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders, who were certainly closer to Paul than any of the so-called Church Fathers:

Again, why this attraction to the ancient Church Fathers? Could any of them say with Paul, "Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you" (Philippians 4:9 [7])? We can trust his God-breathed words completely. On the other hand, it takes very little scrutiny of men like Origen, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Justin Martyr, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Jerusalem, Augustine, and others, to see their flaws, let alone their heresies. For example, Origen taught that God would save everyone and that Mary was a perpetual virgin; Irenaeus believed that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Jesus when consecrated, as did John Chrysostom and Cyril of Jerusalem; Athanasius taught salvation through baptism; Tertullian became a supporter of the Montanist heresies, and a promoter of a New Testament clergy class, as did his disciple Cyprian; Augustine was the principal architect of Catholic dogma that included his support of purgatory, baptismal regeneration, and infant baptism, mortal and venial sins, prayers to the dead, penance for sins, absolution from a priest, the sinlessness of Mary, the Apocrypha as Scripture, etc.

It's not that these men got everything wrong; some, on certain doctrines, upheld Scripture against the developing unbiblical dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church.

Nevertheless, overall they are a heretical minefield. So why seek them out?

Worse yet are the Desert Fathers and the Catholic mystics. Anthony the Great, known as the father of Christian monasticism, is the most revered of the Desert Fathers. According to Athanasius, the devil fought Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which he countered by becoming a hermit and isolating himself for years inside a tomb. He communicated with the outside world through a crevice that enabled him to receive food and to offer spiritual advice. Supposedly, the devil, upset by his holiness, would come and beat him unmercifully.

Later mystics were no less bizarre-or unbiblical. Benedictine nun Julian of Norwich, a favorite of evangelical mystic wannabes and "Christian" feminists, believed in universal salvation, that God was in all things, referred to God as "Father-Mother," and experienced intense visions of heaven and hell. Her most famous saying became a positive mental attitude mantra: "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." Like Anthony, she had herself walled off from society, living for 20 years in a cell attached to a church, where a small window provided access to food and a view of the church altar and of the Eucharist.

Could these hermits and mystics really interest evangelicals? Christianity Today says they do. Referring to "monastic evangelicals" and the "new monasticism," an insert in its cover article observes how "growing numbers of evangelicals" are "taking their newfound love affair with Christian tradition" beyond "books and talk" and are "now experimenting with advent candles [and] sampling [Catholic] practices associated with Lent...." CT credits Richard Foster's Devotional Classics as possibly fueling this latest trend, and it notes that Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and a number of emerging church writers have "been calling evangelicals to monastic models as a guide for the future."6

As a former Roman Catholic, I am staggered when I see who and what Christianity TodaySigns and Wonders of an experience that changed his Protestant life. He received the Eucharist (allegedly the "actual body and blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine") while at a Catholic retreat center: "You might say I was surprised by joy!...I had never had an experience like that in my life....I had been in dialog with another worship tradition, and I was surely the richer for it"7 Thousands of steadfast biblical Christians were martyred for refusing that idolatrous and gospel-denying "worship tradition."

Campus Crusade leader-turned-Orthodox-priest Peter Gillquist explains the "mission" he and those who joined him are on: "Our desire is to make North America Orthodox!" As former conservative evangelicals, they believe that "if we [could] become Orthodox, then anyone in North America can!" Furthermore, due to their apologetics and evangelism training, "...we represent a strong force for Orthodox evangelization....And we know there are many others just like us who if given the time and persuasion will join the Orthodox ranks just as we have."8

Will this soon pass? No. It's all part of related agendas that are building the end-times apostate church (Revelation 13:8 [8]). Its tools are experientialism, subjectivism, mysticism, and dominionism, all of which aggressively and obstinately subvert the Word of God. They are intentionally (in some cases unwittingly) being used to work out Satan's primary scheme against God and mankind (Genesis 3:1 [9]: "Yea, hath God said...?") as they undermine His Truth. Is God doing anything about it? Yes. As evidenced by what's been presented here and so much more, He is sending "strong delusion" among those who have not a "love of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:10,11 [10]).

We desperately need to heed the words of Jesus in Revelation chapters 2-3 that give critical warnings to churches that profess to be His. To Laodicea, which very likely represents the last church age before His return, He declares,

Endnotes

1. Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World (Baker Academic, 1999), 15.

2. Ibid., 17.

3. Mark Galli, "Lost Secrets of the Ancient Church," Christianity Today, February 2008, 23.

4. Ibid., 24.

5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Orthodox_Church.

6. Galli, Christianity, 28.

7. Robert Webber, Signs and Wonders (Nashville, TN:Star Song Publishing Group, 1992), 5.

8. Peter Gillquist, "Arrowhead Springs To Antioch:Odyssey To Orthodoxy," The Word, October 1987.

 

Quotable

Summoned to appear before the diet [legislature of the Holy Roman Empire at Worms] to be condemned to death, and called upon to recant, Martin Luther defiantly declared: "This shall be my recantation at Worms: Previously I said the Pope was the vicar of Christ. I recant. Now I say the Pope is the adversary of Christ and the apostle of the Devil."

Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: The Life of Martin Luther, p. 139

To the emperor he replied: "Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason--I do not accept the authority of popes and council, for they have contradicted each other--my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."

Bainton, p. 144

Q&A

QUESTION: According to Ephesians 4:5 [12], there is "one baptism." What is that "one baptism"?

RESPONSE: Actually there are seven baptisms in Scripture: 1) the baptism of the children of Israel "unto Moses in the cloud and in the [Red] sea"; 2) "the baptism of John [the Baptist]..unto repentance" (Mt 21:25; Lk 3:3 [13]; Acts 19:3 [14]); 3) Christ's baptism by John in Jordan; 4) the baptism of believers "with the Holy Ghost and with fire" by Christ (Mt 3:11; Mk 1:8 [15]; Lk 3:16 [16]; Jn 1:33 [17]; Acts 1:5 [18]; 11:16); 5) the baptism of the Cross in which we all share (Mt 20:22; Lk 12:50 [19]; Gal 2:20 [20]); 6) the believers' baptism with Christ into His death, burial, and resurrection symbolized in believers' water baptism (Acts 8:12, 36-38 [21]; Rom 6:3 [22], etc.); 7) and the baptism by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13 [23]).

Then why does Paul say there is "one baptism"? Because each of the seven occurs only once. Furthermore, they all testify to the "one faith" (Eph 4:5,12 [24]).

QUESTION: "And so all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11:26 [25]). What does this mean..only those Jews alive at the time of the Second Coming? What about Jews who have already died?

RESPONSE: It cannot mean every Jew who ever lived because "it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb 9:27 [26]). There is no second chance. Those who die rejecting Christ, Jew or Gentile, are lost eternally.

Romans 11:26 [27] can only be for Jews alive at the Second Coming who believe when they see Him--and all will.

QUESTION: What "transformation" will the Lord Jesus effect in the bodies of believers alive on earth at the end of the Tribulation to fit them to live in the Millennium?

RESPONSE: None. No believers will be left on earth after the Rapture. There will probably be millions who, never having rejected Christ, will believe during the Tribulation. Most of them will be martyred for their faith and will be resurrected at the Second Coming (Rv 20:4). They will have new bodies and will be part of the church.

Both Jews and Gentiles who become believers during the Tribulation will continue on earth during the Millennium in their same earth bodies, so no transformation is needed. Yes, earth's inhabitants during that period will live much longer (Is 65:20), perhaps some the entire 1,000 years, but I think that will be a manifestation of God's grace and of the cleansed earth, not of super bodies.

QUESTION: [From an interview of Joel Osteen by Chris Wallace on Fox News, 12/23/07]:

RESPONSE: Osteen is either astonishingly ignorant about Mormonism or about biblical Christianity, or both. Here are just a few of the facts about Mormonism that he apparently considers to be "little details" of no importance--raising the solemn question whether he is a true Christian himself.

The "god" Romney believes in is only one of an infinite number of such "gods" whom, in distinction to the others, Mormons identify as "the god of this world," one of Satan's titles (2 Cor 4:4 [28]). He is a glorified once-sinful man who was "redeemed" by another "Jesus" who died on another cross on another planet (one of an infinite number of each in Mormon theology). Over eons of time, this Mormon man, having gone through the temple ceremonies on that "earth," died. His spirit ascended through further temple-like initiations and finally became the "god" who created this earth on which we live.

Mormonism teaches, "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." Joseph Smith holds each Mormon's destiny in his hands. His successor, Brigham Young, warned, "No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter the Celestial Kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith..He holds the keys.." (Journal of Discourses, 7:289). Another Mormon President, Joseph Fielding Smith, declared, "[There is] no salvation without accepting Joseph Smith.." (Doctrines of Salvation, Vol 1, pp. 189-90).

Romney is going through the essential secret temple ceremonies. As a "temple Mormon," he wears the magic "temple garment underwear" day and night for protection from evil. He has the ambition to become another god who will create its own earth with another Adam and Eve and fall. Sex with his many wives will produce a multitude of spirit children (including another spirit "Jesus" and "Lucifer"), another "Mary" for him to have sex with to provide a body for the "spirit Jesus" to inhabit in order to become a god after dying on another "cross," etc. Mormons such as Romney must believe this fiction in order to get to Mormon heaven.

The "Christ" Romney believes in, (making him the "Christian" Osteen says all Mormons are), was the half-brother of Lucifer in the pre-existent state. They were each born to the same polygamous "father god" but probably to a different one of his many, many wives.

Brigham Young said, "The devil told the truth [about becoming gods]. I do not blame Mother Eve..for..eating the forbidden fruit." Like Joseph Smith, he taught that only polygamists can become gods (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 132).

The salvation and "eternal life" Romney looks forward to is exaltation to polygamous godhood, which could take eons of time after death. Woodruff, fourth LDS president, declared, "If we were to do away with polygamy..then we must..give up our religion altogether.." (Journal of Discourses, Vol 13, p. 166).

Among the many bizarre Mormon beliefs: when the gods with their physical bodies have sex with their many "goddess" wives who also have physical bodies, the babies they produce to populate the earth (that this "heavenly father god" created) do not have physical bodies but are spirits. Yet, oddly enough, babies born to people on earth have physical bodies.

Thus, each spirit baby produced by the gods in heaven must come to earth to inhabit a newborn baby in order to get a physical body--as did "Jesus." Mormons have large families because so many spirit children, youth, or grown-ups wait anxiously in heaven for bodies to live in on earth.

Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt explained why we don't remember our pre-existent spirit state in heaven: our spirit bodies had grown so large that when they were squeezed into a baby's body on earth it caused a loss of memory.

Romney's Jesus Christ was not born of a virgin but to the "Mormon Mary" after the "god of this world," in his man's body of flesh and blood, had sex with her. For documentation of the above (and much more), see The God Makers book and or DVD.

I don't think that a man who bases his hope for eternity upon such delusion could possibly be fit for the White House.

QUESTION: There seems to be an increase in the reporting among Christians of dreams and visions involving encounters with dead loved ones. Here's an excerpt from a recent story:

What do you think of such stories?

RESPONSE: First of all, she doesn't say that David appeared in a vision when she was awake but in a dream. There is a huge difference. There are examples in the Bible of God speaking both ways. Is God speaking to her through David? No.

It is not unusual for a grieving sister to dream about a dead brother. Yet there seems to be something that makes these "dreams" seem real. At least she sees them that way and wants to believe it. This is dangerous because "David" is posing as a special messenger to her, explaining what heaven is like. Shouldn't she rather look to the revelation God has given us in the Bible for answers to such questions?

The danger is that the "David" who appears apparently repeatedly in dreams will be looked up to as an oracle bringing truth she couldn't know any other way. These "dreams" have already become necromancy. She looks upon them as a means of communication with David, who is dead. This is absolutely forbidden.

QUESTION: What do you believe will be the event that will cause Iran, Russia, et. al. to attack Israel in the Magog invasion?

RESPONSE: My views on Ezekiel 38 [29] and 39 do not agree with the majority of so-called prophecy teachers who see this battle either just before the Rapture or not long afterward during the tribulation period, with Russia and her Arab allies attacking Israel and their armies being destroyed. I disagree. This is the battle of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation involving all nations of the earth. I believe that for many reasons.

Israel ("the people that are gathered out of the nations.."-Ezk 38:12) has, immediately after the Rapture, signed a seven-year deal with Antichrist (Dn 9:27) guaranteeing them peace under his protection. Feeling secure, they dwell "without walls..bars nor gates" (38:11). They think he is their friend because he causes the temple to be rebuilt. In fact, he plans to put his image in the temple and demand that the world worship him as God (2 Thes 2:4 [30]).

While Russia and Arab allies are specifically named in Ezekiel 38 [31], notice that these nations have been drawn there by God in fulfillment of prophecy. Thus, to identify them fully we must look beyond Ezekiel 38 [32] and 39 to prophecies that fit this scenario. The prophecies that fit indicate that all nations of the world will attack Israel, having been drawn by God for the specific purpose of being severely punished by Him for what they have done to His chosen people (Ps 2 [33]); "I will also gather all nations..into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with [punish] them there" (Jl 3:2); "I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it..I will make the governors of Juah like..a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about.." (Zec 12:3,6 [34]), etc.

"My fury shall come up in my face..the fishes of the sea..fowls of the heaven..beasts of the field..all creeping things..all the men..upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence.." (Ezk 38:18-20). God is personally coming to earth to fight for Israel. This is no preliminary event: it has to be the grand finale--Armageddon!

All Israel is saved: "I will not let them [Israel] pollute my holy name any more.. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward..Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there..For I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel.." (39:7,22,28,29). Again I say, this is the grand finale!

Why do the nations attack Israel? Why have Jews been hated, persecuted, and killed as no other people? This is the dying gasp of anti-Semitism, the all-out attempt by all the world's armies to effect at long last Hitler's "final solution to the Jewish problem."

News Alert

Worldpoliticsreview.com, 1/8/08,[Excerpts]:Some 20 years after its founding, the Palestinian organization Hamas remains little understood in the West..The most common error made by observers in considering contemporary Islamist movements--and notably, Hamas--is that of attempting to grasp them in terms of concepts and modes of thought that are proper to the West.

What are the Goals of Hamas? The preamble of the Hamas Charter..clearly affirms the centrality of the "struggle against the Jews," which is supposed to be carried on "until the enemies are vanquished and Allah's victory is realized."

[T]he role of eschatological or millenarian beliefs within [Islam] cuts across all the divisions within the Muslim world: between Sunnism and Shiism, between traditional Islam and contemporary Islamism. As the French historian Pierre Lory explained.., "The imminence of the end of time and of the final judgment is one of the oldest and most constant Quranic themes and is found throughout the sacred text of Islam." Inasmuch as Muhammad is the last prophet (bearing the "seal of prophecy"), his advent inaugurates the last period of universal history: i.e. the eschatological period.

Hamas is a radical Islamic movement whose worldview is marked by an Islamic eschatology in which the Jews occupy a central place. Its apocalyptic vision of a final confrontation with Israel excludes every possibility of coexistence or "moderation."

The hatred of Jews expressed in the Hamas Charter and conveyed in the discourse of its officials is not simply a religious anti-Judaism or an imported anti-Semitism of European origins. It is, as the French scholar of anti-Semitism Pierre-André Taguieff has put it, a "millenarian and redemptive anti-Semitism," [i.e.] "the Muslim world can only be saved by the extermination of the Jews."

Letters

Dear Mr. Hunt,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your years of service to our Lord and for being one of the "watchmen on the wall." I came to Christ..at age 46 and you were one of the teachers that I was led to. [I] have read all your writings and that, coupled with God's Word, has helped me to be a much better Christian and certainly a better informed one. I have just finished another, Countdown to the Second Coming [34], and believe as you do that we certainly are at the time when all things seem to be coming to a head concerning our Lord's return.. EL (email)

Dear TBC:

After what I've been reading today (supposedly Christian), it is so refreshing to read this newsletter and realize that the end-times deception hasn't infiltrated every ministry. I thank God for the purity of this ministry and also the boldness to rise up against Satan's twisting of God's truth.. LH (email)

Dear Dave & T.A.,

Many thanks for your programs on [the] internet. I greatly appreciate your insight, Godly wisdom, teaching, etc. I am reading Seduction of Christianity and can hardly believe that it wasn't written just this year..rather than 1985! Would it be correct to say it was very prophetic?

It is not always easy to read of some areas that I once was part of and believed were O.K. or some teaching that has been proven wrong, especially when I have shared that wrong teaching with others.

However, I am grateful that the Holy Spirit has directed me so many times in these past few years to such good, solid Bible exegesis..confirming things I have questioned and learning about that which I had no knowledge of. I praise God for you both, your program, and for how He has led you and used you and all the time and effort expended to bring forth the truth. JD (Canada)

TBC,
Your newsletter is well received by all and shared among 1000-plus on this yard. Glad you are willing to deal with prisoners, as [we are] a lost society in today's time!! And a great need to know God in here..God changes lives..! CS (prisoner, CA)

TBC,
I read Seduction of Christianity [34] three times (1988, '91, and '01) and Beyond Seduction in 1988. They developed, along with the Word, a firm foundation for me. I am so thankful for a ministry where I can go for information..Because of you I am a Berean. CR (VT)

Dear Dave,
I just wanted to tell you how much my family and I appreciate you and your ministry..I have been listening to you since I was about 15 years old. I am now 36 years old, and I am understanding that the more I learn, the less I really know. I know a lot of people come down really hard on you because you refuse to compromise the gospel. It gives me great encouragement to see you stand firm against so many antagonists, always ready to give an account to everyone for the truth of Jesus Christ our God and the hope we have in Him. You and your family are always in my prayers..My two children..have been greatly blessed by your faithfulness in the Lord. They love your ministry also, especially the CD series that you and Tom did on the Gospel of John (verse by verse). It was awesome. I hope [they] video-record your debate with the Hindu in February. I would love to get a copy from your ministry. JT (CA)

Dear Berean Call Staff,
We cannot express enough our gratitude for your ministry of truth and courage. It has helped to keep us from supporting counterfeits and compromisers and "sharing in their evil work." And your biblical insights have been priceless. We are stunned by those readers who cancel Berean input over a point or two. We disagree on an issue or emphasis occasionally, but to toss out invaluable information not readily available elsewhere is folly. Thank you immensely for your light from our Lord's truths in "this the church's night." G & FF (FL)

Dear Dave Hunt,
Thank you for writing Seeking and Finding God [34]. My mother gave it to me when I asked her to pick a book for me to find God again--on my own. I had been brought up in the Word by an awesome teacher..But I had strayed and now I need to find my faith in God through Him--it seemed daunting. I discovered that I never had faith on my own but through others. I've got a long way to go, but I thank you for being a beacon [toward] which I can start my journey.

BG (NY)

 

TBC Notes

Our Privilege and Delight

I love all the verses that address prayer, especially Philippians 4:6-7 [35]: "Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Here at TBC we believe we need to begin everything with prayer, sustain our endeavors by prayer, and thank the Lord in prayer for His answers. We consider nothing so insignificant that the Lord is not interested or so overwhelming that He cannot handle it. Therefore, we take to heart the Apostle Paul's exhortation that we are to "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17 [36]).

Each morning the staff gathers for fellowship, prayer, and the study of God's Word, except for Thursday when our focus is on the prayer requests that we receive from those who contact the ministry. That intercession is both our privilege and delight.

We are also gratified that so many of our readers pray for us daily. If you are of a mind and heart to join our prayer support, here are some things we are seeking the Lord's help for: Dave's pending second hip-replacement surgery (his first surgery in November went very well), and his work on his next book, Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny; TBC's relocation and possible purchase of a building; guidance and protection in our activities, and that we would continue to be steadfast in the faith and fruitful in ministry.

T.A. MCMAHON

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

 

TBC Extra

"APOSTOLIC" APOSTASIES ATTRACT

Extreme Charismatics Increasingly Adopt "Emerging" Pagan Practices

Yoga. Centering Prayer. Lectio Divina. Evangelical Monasticism. Practicing the Presence. Stations of the Cross. Labyrinth Prayer. These are but a few of the teachings and techniques we've noted that are bombarding evangelical churches of all denominations, largely in association with the Emerging Church Movement (ECM). But while much recent biblical discernment has been focused on the errors and excesses of the ECM, another "renewal" has been taking place in the revived Latter-Rain and Kingdom-Now camps related to C. Peter Wagner's "New Apostolic Reformation" (NAR) that poses equal concern with regard to the Emerging Apostasy.

It may surprise some that the best-selling author/leaders in the NAR have key beliefs in common with the best-selling author/leaders of the ECM, which position both groups for a "melding of the minds." Among the common denominators are a general distaste for exegetical (verse-by-verse) preaching, a disdain of dispensational teaching (particularly the rapture, which is frequently mocked), and a "dominion mandate" doctrine that expands the gospel of God to include redemption of the earth through social-spiritual activism. The NAR and ECM also share a "trans-denominational" (ecumenical and pluralistic) mission of "inclusion" at the expense of sound doctrine.

Not surprisingly, then, is perhaps their greatest common denominator: an affinity for (and outright embrace of) Contemplative Spirituality. A particularly visible example is the Arizona-based organization of Patricia King called "Extreme Prophetic." Through a myriad of conferences and audio/visual media that includes a TV program, her ministry promotes not just "ordinary" miracles but "extreme signs and wonders" as taught by a variety of Christian seers and psychics--such as interpreting dreams, providing "spiritual readings" for the lost, "opening the heavens" to release the "manifest presence" of God (i.e., oil and "glory dust"), working with angels, raising the dead, "spirit-traveling" to the third heaven (throneroom of God), communicating with departed saints, and more.

Once recognized by a majority of the church as New Age occultism, these practices are now becoming commonplace (or at least commonly sought) at an alarming rate by confused Christians, immature believers, and unsaved spiritual seekers who are all hungry for a "manifest" encounter with God, "here and now." As occultism gains popular acceptance in the world, so does the craving for "genuine" (tangible) signs as encouraged by neo-prophetic teachers.

One of the more recent and blatant examples of neo-paganism in the church, however, is Patricia King's endorsement and embrace of trance-dancing as a Christian form of worship that she and Caleb Brundidge, one of her itinerant ministers, call "Ekstasis Worship." Brundidge is a traveling "prophetic" D.J. that calls his show "Club Mysterio." (Repetitive "rave" or "trance" music has been so-called because nightclubs around the world use it to enable patrons to enter a euphoric altered state of consciousness--with or without the assistance of drugs such as "ecstasy"--through extended freestyle and sensual motion set to repetitive music tracks.

It doesn't take an anthropologist to recognize parallels between modern trance dancing and ancient forms of ritual dance that is still used in many cultures to produce identical altered states and "spirit travel." But what many may not know is the increasing popularity of "yoga trance dance," which could well become the new "jazzercize" that turns this form of Hindu worship into an aerobic activity for "everyday" gym members.

Space does not permit a full analysis with comparison to Scripture, but as the quotes below reveal, patrons of Brundidge's "Club Mysterio" may indeed feel "ecstasy"--but rather than realizing the true joy of the Lord, they might experience either a "head rush" from spinning in circles (a practice of the "whirling dervishes" of Islamic mysticism) or they could meet instead an angel of light--one of the same "divine" deceivers as encountered by yogic dancers seeking all-night tantric pleasure with Hindu deities.

Which brings us to an ancient-future spiritual law: "apostasies attract." With "Christian yoga" and mystical methods for "meeting God" on the rise--and "Christian trance-dancing" now in vogue, what other "Christianized" demonic practices lie ahead?

--Mark Dinsmore

[D.J. Caleb Brundidge's quotes below are transcribed from Patricia King's "Extreme Prophetic TV" show, interspersed with quotes taken from online testimony and promotion of yoga trance-dancing to show the parallel experiences.]

Yogic Nightclub Dancer:

"In searching for my personal connection with Shiva Nataraj, to best explain these roots of trance dancing from ancient India, I felt I needed to go deeper than books, however."