Friday, December 17, 2010

WHY ARE OUR WATCHMEN WAVERING?

Its been a theme echoed time and time again in these blog and website articles that Anne Kisly and I have written, since the beginning:

We must stand for Truth, and against deception! We must disallow erroneous beliefs about the Bible and not tolerate the seduction of the church by the world, as well as by seducing spirits, and the doctrines of demons (1 TIM. 4:1).

Did you ever consider that Satan is consistent with his doctrine? That's because in order to oppose the Word of God, which is a constant for and of Truth, he must perpetuate the same lies over and over again, repackaged and redesigned, in his vain attempt to overthrow it.

There really aren't any 'new' lies being created by the devil; just the old lies in new terminology. For example, what used to be called the occult became the New Age Movement, which is now called the New Spirituality (something that Brian McLaren, an Emergent author and leader, says is something that the church needs today- "a new spirituality" (?!).

Monday, November 1, 2010

A CRIMSON CAPLET - The GLOBAL GLUE Of A Unified Spirituality

The following is taken from a chapter of FOR MANY SHALL COME IN MY NAME, a book written by Ray Yungen - updated version originally published in 2007 (another book by Mr. Yungen I based an article on The RED PILL Consortium was: A Time of Departing.

I am currently finishing up on this book by Ray Yungen and a full book report will be forthcoming, but for now here is a 'Crimson Caplet' based on chapter Nine -NEW AGE IN RELIGION.

Mr. Yungen starts out chapter Nine by stating the reason why so many pastors are not alarmed or take seriously the proponents of the New Age is because there aren't New Age churches on every street corner.

However the New Age has had a profound influence and impact on every facet of our society, including business, education, health care, counseling, and many others. In addition to these, religion has likewise been influenced!

And in what form does the New Age influence religion here in America? Meditative and prayer discipline practices. Some would discount that such disciplines conducted in Christian circles, whether in church or on retreats have anything to do with New Age, Hinduism, or mystical practices but as Mr. Yungen states:

"Upon close examination, the methods used (mantra or breathing or some alternate means of focusing the mind to acheive altered states of consciousness) are identical to New Age techniques." He goes on to say he's discovered time and time again a link between New Age and so-called 'Christian' terminologies: holistic spirituality, and combining mystical traditions of both East and West. "Frequently the Hindu or Buddhist source of these spiritual exercises will be proclaimed openly."


CENTERING PRAYER - A 'Christian' form

"This employs a mantra - called a prayer word - that allows one to empty the mind by chanting Jesus, God or love that than om or Krishna," says Yungen.


"Centering prayer groups are flourishing in mainstream religious bodies today... They are seen by many as bringing a new vitality to the church" [Even back in the '80's I worked at my job site with a girl who claimed to be a Christian, but practiced 'centering'].

Basil Pennington, a promoter of centering or contemplative prayer relates a story about how a Hindu monk was to be a guest at the Christian centering prayer group one night, and as it all began, he wondered "what chords of response this call to faith and love might be striking in the Hindu monk."

At the conclusion the Buddhist " . . . smiled with joyful peace [and stated,] 'This has been the most beautiful experience I have ever had'."

Other terms along with centering or contemplative prayer are 'the silence' or 'the blank'.

SORCERY: A WAY TO GOD [GAL 5:20]?

Both terms are used with practitioners of metaphysical mysticism, and Jesuit priest Anthony De Mello, author of the book Sadhana: The Way To God, explains what this altered state of consciousness is about -

"There will be moments when the stillness or the blank will be so powerful that it will make all exercise and all effort on your part impossible [paralysis?]. In such moments, it is no longer you who goes in quest of stillness. It is stillness that takes possession of you and overwhelms you [possession!]. When this happens, you may safely and profitably, let go of all effort . . . and surrender to this overpowering stillness within you."

Hinduism defines the stillness or the blank as Samadhi, a deep mystical state induced by focus on something repetitive.

Jesuit William Johnson [another Jesuit - note how many Jesuits are involved in these types of practices, as well as influencing Emergent Thought! Coincidence?] states: "...the new mysticism [arising in the 20th century] within Christianity . . . has learned much from the great religions of Asia. It has felt the impact of yoga, and Zen and the monasticism of Tibet. It pays attention to posture and breathing; it knows about the music of the mantra and the silence of samadhi."

UPDATE: 7/11/11 - From UNDERSTAND the TIMES and LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS we have a Special Report! Read it at the link provided here:

The JESUIT AGENDA


DeMello's Sadhana book published in 1979 has been the Catholic best seller for years, in more than 20 languages, and has had an enormous impact on both clergy and laity. Now globally available, its acclaimed as the classic best text on how-to-do-it book on prayer in any language.


As Yungen points out, the very term Sadhana is related to Siddhis [psychic powers] and a means to directly or indirectly obtain enlightenment or knowledge or sadhana. It can also have the legitimate meaning of sorcerer or sorcery!


Such forms of meditation are being taught in Catholic schools at the high school and college level. One textbook in a Catholic high school, Your Faith and You: A Synthesis of Catholic Belief reveals:

CATHOLIC and CHRISTIAN Contemplative Conglomerates!

"Numerous Catholic retreat houses offer Yoga retreats or teach Zen meditation methods . . . these techniques are removed [borrowed] from the Buddhist and Hindu faiths. They are often used by Christians to help them develop a conscious faith relationship with Christ in prayer. Likewise the Buddhist or Hindu uses these same techniques to enter into a deeper union with God as his own religion has taught him to believe in Him."

Here is the admission that the identical technique used by the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian will allow them to enter into a deeper union with God, whatever they are taught to believe him to be! This is the global glue that will bring adherence to a unified spirituality that may have some superficial differences as a facade, but will internally re-shape any adherents and their belief system towards a unified syncretic system in believing a 'all is God, all is in God, we are God' mentality.

Further, we can see how through E.C.T. and the Manhattan Declaration that evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics are joining forces for social and moral good, and in so doing, hob-knobbing with one another, and how evangelicals have been exposed to this sort of thing (in relating in conversations and discussions informally between people of these two groups) and how this has had a profound effect on the emergence of contemplative prayer and centering among formerly biblical, evangelical churches!

Satanic Strategies For Syncretic Seduction -

Take note of this satanic strategy in getting biblical Christian churches to accept New Age/Spirituality and Emergent philosophies and beliefs:

First, he must strip churches of sound, biblical doctrine and the adherence of such as the inspired Truth of God as recorded in Scripture. Therefore he infests seminaries and Bible colleges with liberalism, so as to cast serious doubt on the Bible. The teaching of God's Word must be marginalized and use mankind and his own happiness and well being as the lens by which scripture is examined and taught; it is reduced to a simple philosophical resource for the purpose of moral living and religious practice (instead of being exalted and obeyed as God's Word which convicts of sin, leads to repentance, instructs in spiritual regeneration and salvation, as well as living in practical holiness being conformed to Christ Jesus.


Second, having deleted the scriptures and their efficacy to a minimum, the spiritual life of churches are diminished, and the focus is led away from the true Gospel of salvation from sin, death and hell (and for a redeemed relationship with God as our Father, Jesus Christ as our Lord and Head, the Holy Spirit as our Comforter and Teacher) and led towards a social Gospel in which affairs on Earth are engaged in from merely human resources and powers (rather than Divine). Emphasis on rationalism and intellectualism in a thinly veiled humanism is extolled, scripture is relegated to allegory alone, dispensationalism is disdained, and eventually churches are completely dried up and without the Spirit.

Third, once materialism and social influences have done their work, people will once again crave spiritual experiences and reality (for mankind is a race of both physical and spiritual dynamics), and here is where Satan will introduce spirituality of his own brand, and by such enticements deceive people into believing in subjective truth, which truth will hold sway on a global level and bring about unity.

Yungen asks: "Why are mainstream denominations so open to meditative and holistic practices? A professor of theology at a United Methodist college gave this explanation - 'A spiritual vacuum exists in organized religion that might be filled by theologies that draw - for better or worse - from what is called parapsychology, paranormal studies, psychic phenomena, and somewhat pejoratively, the "New Age" movement.'

Also, James Fadiman, a Metaphysical leader, makes the following observation:
'The traditional religious world is just beginning to make changes, but its a slow process - denomination by denomination. When religious institutions begin to lose members year after year, they eventually become aware that they're not meeting people's needs. Before long, they're scurrying around looking for innovative programs and improvements.'


Yungen then states: "This shows that a great number of people who consider themselves to be Christians have a rather dull and dreary attitude towards their faith. They are looking for something to fill the void.

YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED, SAYS BORG -

"One of the foremost individuals who has attempted to fill this void with New Age is Marcus Borg, professor and author of many widely read books [as well as the mentor of Rob Bell of the Mars Hill Church and has authored of several books and teachings himself, including the Nooma series on CD]. In one of Borg's books "The God We Never Knew, he lays out very concisely how he went from being a traditional Christian to a 'mature' Christian. He relates:

". . . By the time I was thirty, like Humpty Dumpty, my childhood faith had fallen into pieces. My life since had led to a quite different understanding of what the Christian tradition says about God." Borg, like so many liberal Christians, turned to mysticism:

"I learned about the use of mantras as a means of giving the mind something to focus and refocus on as it sinks into the silence." Borg represents the mainstream for millions of people in liberal churches . . . his platform is New Age as he makes clear when he expounds:

"The sacred is not 'somewhere else' spatially distant from us. Rather, we live within God . . . God has always been in relationship to us [even after Adam's fall into sin, which Borg doesn't believe in?], journeying with us and yearning to be known by us. Yet we commonly do not know this or experience this . . . We commonly do not perceive the world of Spirit."

[Note that the word 'Spirit' is capitalized, signifying the Divine, and that according to Borg the world as it should be perceived is of Spirit or God; quite the endorsement for panentheism (God is in all things), a very unbiblical concept].


THE GLOBAL GLUE of the NEW AGE GOD

The Road Less Traveled, a best-selling book by late psychologist M. Scott Peck had much to say about solving life's problems by utilizing ideas found in the Ancient Wisdom:

"God wants us to become himself (or herself or itself). We are growing toward godhood. God is the goal of evolution. It is God who is the source of the evolutionary force and God who is the destination. This is what we mean when we say that He is the Alpha and the Omega . . . a God who has it in mind for us precisely that we should attain His position, His power, His wisdom, His identity."

This was a book that remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over 400 weeks!! Peck mentioned that it "sells best in America's Bible Belt [?!!]."

New Age writer David Spangler has stated:

"There will be several religious and spiritual disciplines as there are today, each serving different sensibilities and affinities, each enriched by and enriching the particular cultural soil in which it is rooted. However, there will also be a planetary spirituality that will celebrate the sacredness of the whole of humanity in appropriate festivals, rituals and sacraments. There will be a more widespread understanding and experience of the holistic nature of reality, resulting in a shared outlook that today would be called mystical. Mysticism has always overflowed the bounds of particular religious traditions, and in the new world this would be even more true."

The rise of centering/contemplative prayer is causing many churches to become agents of transformation. Those that practice it tend to embrace this one-world-religion idea. One of the main proponents of this phenomena had this revelation:

"It is my sense from having meditated with persons from many different traditions, that in the silence we experience a deep unity. When we go beyond the portals of the rational mind into the experience, there is only one God to be experienced . . . I think it has been the common experience of all persons of good will that when we sit together Centering, we experience a solidarity that seems to cut through all our philosophical and theological differences."

Finally from Matthew Fox, we have this:

"Without mysticism there will be no 'deep ecumenism', no unleashing of the power of wisdom from all the world's religious traditions. Without this I am convinced there will never be global peace or justice since the human race needs spiritual depths and disciplines, celebrations and rituals, to awaken its better selves. The promise of ecumenism, the coming together of religions, has been thwarted because world religions have not been relating at the level of mysticism."

And for these above reasons I believe one of the primary factors that will lead to the success of a global religion (which will be necessary according to 'the goblins' if a one world government is to be actualized) is mystical experiences via mystical meditation, be it from a Hindu, or Christian (Desert Fathers of Catholicism) source or Buddhist or Muslim (the Sufi's), or Jewish (Kabbalah), or shamanic or Wiccan or Evangelical (so-called) source from the likes of Richard Foster, Dallas Williard, and others.

See these other articles:

Most especially this one that links Leaders from Christian, Emergent/Contemplative and New Age/Spiritualist groups together in the world view of mysticism, particularly Centering or Contemplative Prayer/Mantra Meditation as necessary for global unity and true spirituality:

Emergents Agree: Contemplative Prayer and Eastern Mysticism Are The Same Thing

Sunday, January 24, 2010
BEWARE of PRAYER- of the contemplative kind

Feb 19, 2010
BEWARE of PRAYER-of the contemplative kind: part 2

Sunday, December 20, 2009
Is This Christianity Today? ANCIENT-FUTURE Holy Ways or Heresies?

For more on these pertinent issues that the church must vigilantly guard against and warn of, please visit:

www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com

To visit the site of Ray Yungen, author of FOR MANY SHALL COME IN MY NAME, please see:

www.atimeofdeparting.com

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A CRIMSON CAPLET - Is Harry Potter 'Christ-like' Or Condemned Spirituality?


 (the following article was taken from Telegraph UK and will be seen in red font - and I shall include my own commentary in white font)


They are beloved by millions of children and adults alike, but the Harry Potter series has attracted widespread censure from fundamentalist Christians who claim the books encourage witchcraft.


So here is the question: Do the Harry Potter novels in fact, encourage witchcraft? In my opinion, yes and no. To those who want to read these novels as just fun entertainment, probably not, or they may acquire a temporary fascination, experiment a bit, and then move on in some other direction. Others, who may already have an attraction to spirituality may in fact become committed witches after reading and become inspired by these books.


Whether one 'experiments' in occult endeavors or is fully committed, ANY involvement whatsoever can result in devastating and dire consequences. A simple 'toying' with a Ouija board for example, can result in demon possession (which literally happened and was researched by William Blatty who wrote the novel The Exorcist, but based it on four actual case studies of possession).
J.K. Rowling certainly did her homework when it comes to methods of meditation and acquiring an altered state of consciousness, and in various forms of ritual common to witchcraft; just as George Lucas knew his material in creating the legendary Jedi Knights and their Buddhist-identical view of the universe and the mystical. Mr. Lucas himself has an affinity for Buddhism.
However, one thing in which these two powerhouse film franchises differ: there are no such things as Jedi Knights . . .

The congregation of the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo in southern New Mexico even staged a book burning claiming 'behind that innocent face is the power of satanic darkness.'
But now the boy wizard has found an unlikely ally
.


Burning books would seem a far less effective means of deterring the reading of these novels by children than if Christian parents took them in hand, and in gentle, loving conviction firmly stated, explained why wizardry and witchcraft are dangerous, and why those who practice such things place themselves, and those closest to them in spiritual danger. Further explain to these inquisitive, young minds how and why spiritual life in Jesus Christ is far superior and actually the only life for those who desire to obey and please God.

Theologian Rev Dr Stephen Holmes has claimed Harry Potter should be seen as a "Christ-like" figure because he promotes Biblical values.


Harry Potter promotes Biblical values? What a fascinating assertion! How, Dr. Holmes does he promote Biblical values? Forgive me Doctor, but the answer does not at all seem 'elementary' to me (and no, my name is not Watson).

The Acting head of divinity at St Andrews University, said some religious commentators had been hasty in their condemnation of the phenomenally successful series.
He read the books after hearing them denounced as "ungodly" and concluded that they contained a very obvious Christian narrative
.


So not only does this boy wizard promote Biblical values, but this story contains "a very obvious Christian narrative"! My word, this explanation I simply must hear!


He said: "What do you need to succeed at Hogwarts? Courage, self-sacrifice, careful logic and to be unselfish. It's almost a classical list of Christian values.
"The behaviour that is recommended in the Potter books is profoundly Christian."
Dr Holmes said the Biblical inspiration became most apparent in the final book, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the film version of which is due to released next month
.


Courage, self-sacrifice, careful logic, and unselfishness? This sort of morality seems rather common place in any religion, even secular humanism would aspire to such noble intentions. So how are these values necessarily Biblical? Also, I would take exception that 'careful logic' is necessarily a Biblical value - after all the scriptures do state that God's ways are as high above our own as the heavens are above the earth (see ISAIAH 55:9)!


Other religious leaders have sacrificed for the sakes of their followers, some have even given their lives for the causes they fought for. The foundation of Christianity is not that Jesus Christ died on the Cross merely, and by doing so defeat some arch-villain (He did), but that He took upon Himself the sins of the world, died in our place and then rose from the grave offering the victory over death and eternal life to all who repent of their sins and by faith believe the Gospel.


Jesus Christ did not perform the various miracles and healings by some incantation or the waving of a magic wand, nor by some mystical power did He exemplify the art of levitation with occult flourish, but by the very Spirit of God (the same God incidentally that denounces and condemns witchcraft, wizardry, communication with the dead (necromancy), charmers, etc (see DEUT 18:10-11; LEV 17:7).


It seems that in Harry Potter novels, just as in Star Wars, the magickal forces are really from one source, and that it's the intent that makes these forces either good or bad. This is hardly a Biblical value, nor is it profoundly Christian. The Bible emphatically states that the practices of religious mysticism, magick, sorcery and the like are exclusively evil, and that only the power of God's Spirit is good and holy.

He pointed to the denouement in which the wizard confronts his arch-enemy Lord Voldemort for the final time.
Dr Holmes said: "What happens gives the strong impression that Harry dies, discovers an afterlife in a place called King's Cross - a striking reference from a Christian perspective - and comes back to life.
"The effect of his death has been to render impotent the power of evil. That is a Christian narrative which is almost impossible not to recognise
.


One must wonder what sort of Bible Dr. Holmes reads that he can examine a Harry Potter novel and correlate that to the history, themes and truths of scripture. Not to mention the fact that anyone (be they an imaginary character or a real person imitating Christ Jesus in such a fashion, but whose source of spiritual power is derived from the very opposite source of the Kingdom of God, would by definition be anti-Christ in implication (that is, a person who would be deemed worthy as a substitute for Christ and thereby touching and stealing the glory of God).


"JK Rowling is not saying to people 'you ought to be a witch'. She is trying to imagine a world in which wizardry and witchcraft are a reality and that is an important distinction."
The author, a regular churchgoer whose daughter Jessica was baptised into the Church of Scotland, has previously insisted that her books have no religious agenda
.


I do beg your pardon Dr. Holmes, but wizards (in particular fashion) and witches ARE A REALITY , and any distinction between these two by way of recruitment really doesn't matter a whole lot. Rowling's books are powerful and inspirational enough that children who read this series are eagerly emulating Harry Potter more so than they are Jesus Christ.


"No religious agenda" is a striking statement considering that witchcraft is gaining huge popularity in our day; a casual perusal in your local bookstore chain reveals an increasing fascination for and belief in witchcraft, nature worship, reincarnation, meditation, etc. Yet we are to assume that Harry Potter in both book and film version have nothing to do with this trend, especially among our youth?


She said in 2007: "I did not set out to convert anyone to Christianity. I wasn't trying to do what CS Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia) did. It is perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it's perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God."


I almost completely agree with Rowling in her above statement. It is "possible to live a moral life without a belief in God", and its quite true that "its perfectly possible to love a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in [a] God." There are atheistic humanists that seek to feed the poor, care for the sick, help the needy, etc. There are also those that devoutly believe in [a] God and commit ill-doing, like flying airliners into skyscrapers and such like.


Yet for those who genuinely believe in Jesus Christ and are born of His Spirit, these are followers of the Creator God and we endeavor to walk in the Light of God's grace, love and peace and to stand for righteousness and holiness and truth. Any of us gifted with the ability to write would seek to use such a gift to draw others to the Truth of God's Word and the Gospel (take Frank Peretti for example). Yet church-goer Rowling states that she didn't "set out to convert anyone to Christianity."


She has also stated that the books have been "lauded and taken into the pulpit" just as much as they have been attacked from a theological point of view.


I have no desire to attack this intelligent lady who is obviously a gifted novelist, but I likewise have no desire for children to be subjected to teachings of witchcraft (be it in non-fiction or fiction form); yet Christian parents, and even pastors not only see nothing wrong with Rowling's stories, but they promote them!


For more information on Harry Potter, witchcraft and related topics, please visit the following web sites: From www.christiananswers.net read the following article: Is the “Harry Potter…” series truly harmless?

From the web site Christian Answers for the New Age (C.A.N.A.) there are reams of valuable information by Marcia Montenegro -

HARRY POTTER: A JOURNEY TO POWER (page 1 of 4)
To read all four segments visit the web site [http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/]
and type in "Harry Potter" in the search engine).


To view the site of Ex-Witches who are now believing Christians, go here:
http://www.exwitch.org

HARRY POTTER: Witchcraft Repackaged - Making Evil Look Innocent


Hour of the Witch: The Harry Potter - Wicca Connection





May the LORD guide you into all Truth, and bring to you His wisdom in dealing with issues such as these.
Your brother in Christ Jesus,


James J. Fire

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Resurgence of the American Militia: An examination of the TIME magazine article-The Secret World of Extreme Militias

The front cover of a recent TIME magazine caught my eye:

LOCKED & LOADED - The Secret World of Extreme Militias.
Understanding the Constitutional nature of militias and the often negative press that they have received ever since the days of Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols, I picked it up and began to read; noting certain key words and phrases, my mind was rife with commentary and rebuttal to the use of such language (although understandably justified in some select cases, thus included in the article extreme militias).
So without further ado, here is my take on this article, and my own thoughts relating to this resurgence of militias here in America (quotes from the TIME article by Barton Gellman will be in blue)

This August weekend of grueling mock combat, which left some of the men prostrate and bloody-booted, capped a yearlong training regimen of the Ohio Defense Force, a private militia that claims 300 active members statewide. The fighters shot blanks, the better to learn to maneuver in squads, but they buy live ammunition in bulk. Their training — no game, they stress — expends thousands of rounds a year from a bring-your-own armory of deer rifles, assault weapons and, when the owner turns up, a belt-fed M-60 machine gun. The militia trains for ambushes, sniper missions, close-quarters battle and other infantry staples.

What distinguishes groups like this one from a shooting club or re-enactment society is the prospect of actual bloodshed, which many Ohio Defense Force members see as real. Their unit seal depicts a man with a musket and tricorn hat, over the motto "Today's Minutemen." The symbol invites a question, Who are today's redcoats? On that point, the group takes no official position, but many of those interviewed over two days of recent training in and around the abandoned Roseville State Prison near Zanesville voiced grim suspicions about President Obama and the federal government in general.
MASS MEDIA's MESSAGE ON MILITIAS
The notion of 'militias' thanks to our mass media creates in the minds of many people images of wild-eyed, fanatic and paranoid trigger-happy (neo-Nazi) sorts that are eager for confrontation with the Federal government or any other perceived enemy. Yet this is an entirely Constitutional entity based firmly in Constitutionally sanctioned State law. For an excellent explanation of this, I refer you to the following site (be advised, this writer does not necessarily subscribe to all the views of this article and its author):

http://drkatesview.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/the-militia-a-constitutional-defense-force/

"I don't know who the redcoats are," says Brian Vandersall, 37, who designed the exercise and tried to tamp down talk of politics among the men. "It could be U.N. troops. It could be federal troops. It could be Blackwater, which was used in Katrina. It could be Mexican troops who are crossing the border."

Or it could be, as it was for this year's exercise, an Islamic army marauding unchecked because a hypothetical pro-Muslim President has ordered U.S. forces to leave them alone. But as the drill played out, the designated opponents bore little resemblance to terrorists.

IN-ROADS INTO AMERICA
It is no statement born of paranoia to say that Islam is making strong and discernible in-roads here in America, just as its done in Europe today. We have covered much of this on our primary site The TRUTH Under FIRE in the article ENGAGING ISLAM; as far as a hypothetically pro-Islam President goes, we need no such hypothesis because we got one in the White House! This has also been addressed in that article (www.thetruthunderfire.com).

Mexican Nationalists who are loyal to the tenets of socialism, empowered by the massive drug cartels in Mexico have likewise been crossing our borders; their vision is of Aztlan reborn, the entire Southwestern United States being reclaimed by Mexico -

http://superstore.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1836 By Glen Spencer. Exaggerated or not, this idea of retaking the Southwest by Mexican nationalists is real. There is talk on both sides of this issue:

http://www.mnforsustain.org/aztlan_aztlan_dream_to_retake_the_south_us.htm

Blackwater (now referred to as 'Xe') is mentioned in the TIME article, and the reader may not be familiar with this organization, but essentially it's owned by the Prince Group and is available as a private army for hire in purposes of training military and law enforcement and security. This agency, as far as I've seen, has no allegiance to any particular government and as a powerful freelance force it makes me a bit nervous and brings to mind Adolf Hitler's own private storm trooper forces.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Xe

Islam in the north, in the State of Michigan and elsewhere; in the south Mexican Nationalists, and in the East, the United States capital, Washington D.C. has a Federal government that is bulging at the seams with bureaucratic power that strains at, if not defies the Constitutional boundaries that were created to contain it.


Needless to say, there are many threats that surround us, all of them, lurking just under the veneer of every day life; how are we to protect ourselves as American citizens? Good question.

As militias go, the Ohio Defense Force is on the moderate side. Scores of armed antigovernment groups, some of them far more radical, have formed or been revived during the Obama years, according to law-enforcement agencies and outside watchdogs. A six-month TIME investigation reveals that recruiting, planning, training and explicit calls for a shooting war are on the rise, as are criminal investigations by the FBI and state authorities. Readier for bloodshed than at any time since at least the confrontations in the 1990s in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, the radical right has raised the threat level against the President and other government targets. With violence already up on a modest scale, FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and state agencies point to two main dangers of a mass-casualty attack: that a group of armed radicals will strike out in perceived self-defense, or that a lone wolf, trained and indoctrinated for war, will grow tired of waiting.


WHOM DO YOU SERVE? Why would loyal and patriotic citizens of America want to threaten the President of the United States of America, who when he took office, swore to defend and uphold the very same Constitution that these patriots themselves hold dear? Aren't we all on the same side? What is it about the President's actions and attitudes that have these groups all worked up? Are they justified in their indignation? Worked up they are, and it appears that these groups by and large protest what is seen as a deterioration of the Constitution, and bringing about such laws and policies that are in line with various shades and degrees of socialism.

Yet many of these same Americans who love freedom, who desire to uphold and defend the Constitution, who stand oppossed to an ever-increasing Federal government at the expense of the sovereignty of American States, are being labeled as 'domestic terrorists'. The Federal Government even commissioned a study to the S.P.L.C. and have admitted the findings for their own use in security.

http://theredpillconsortium.blogspot.com/2010/04/southern-poverty-law-center-publishes.html


as well as the above article, read this:


http://theredpillconsortium.blogspot.com/2010/06/crimson-caplet-american-terrorists.html


MORE LONE GUN MEN LORE?
These government agencies, according to TIME, foresee a future in which radical organizations or 'lone wolfs' may engage in violence. If a lone wolf is caught (either before or after their mission is carried out) would they mirror the likes of Lee Harvey Oswald (who assasinated J.F.K.) or John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln assasin), or even John Hinkely (would be assasin of Ronald Reagan); in each of the cases above, these supposed 'lone-wolf' assasins had an infrastructure supporting them with some rather interesting ties back to the government (?!).

If that is the case, then the tried and true motto of 'the Goblins' would indeed leave fingerprints all over such an event: Ordo Ab Chao, that is, Order Through Chaos, or in other words, "create a crisis, then solve the crisis, and in solving it, gain more power of control".


In the popularized folk-lore of the main media, Ruby Ridge and Waco are names of infamy in which nefarious forces inimicable to the good of the American people were downed by the heroic agencies of the United States government. Whatever notions of messianic delusion may (or may not) have been in evidence in the case of Waco and David Koresh; what ever infractions or broken laws in Ruby Ridge, its disheartening to understand that the actions taken which ended the lives of human beings were not only unnecessary, but were (apparently willingly) negligent in taking precautions against such loss of life.


Twisted Patriots
Within a complex web of ideologies, most of today's armed radicals are linked by self-described Patriot beliefs, which emphasize resistance to tyranny by force of arms and reject the idea that elections can fix what ails the country. Among the most common convictions is that the Second Amendment — the right to keep and bear arms — is the Constitution's cornerstone, because only a well-armed populace can enforce its rights. Any form of gun regulation, therefore, is a sure sign of intent to crush other freedoms. The federal government is often said in militia circles to have made wholesale seizures of power, at times by subterfuge. A leading grievance holds that the 16th Amendment, which authorizes the federal income tax, was ratified through fraud.

. . . 'TWISTED Patriots'?? As seen previously in RED PILL the defintion a patriot according to Merriam-Webster is, "one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests"


WHOS THE BOSS? The highest authority of the United States is not the President (sorry Obama)... its the Constitution. How can such allegiance to this document be considered 'twisted'? and yet talk to the members of any militia and ask them why they bear arms, and who are they defending. The vast majority will tell you, The citizens of my State, and the Constitution (there are some involved in other ideals and objectives that are by far more notorious in the extreme, but these are actually relatively few - more on this in just a minute).



Mr. Gellman stated that these people are "self-described" and its their own "common conviction" that the Second Amendment is in place to support militias and the right to bear arms to defend against tyranny. This is more than just mere common conviction, its Constitutional protocol to be used in such an event or events that threatens America. Hardly requiring a 'self description' a patriot is a patriot and is one that has been aptly defined above.


By the way, regarding the 16th amendment? Do your homework and learn about this amendment, how it was established, who put it in place and why, and you may become as alarmed as I was! Here's a pointer - G. Edward Griffins book, Creature From Jekyll Island. Sounds like a horror story doesn't it? It is indeed, of a different sort!


In a reversal of casting, the armed antigovernment movement describes itself as heir to the founders. As they see it, the union that the founders created is now a foreign tyrant. "It's like waking up behind enemy lines," says Terrell.


PROS and ANTI'S - - - -
When you seek the well being of the unborn, and someone calls you an anti-abortionist, how do you respond? If you're like me, you say, 'I am pro-life'. The same tactic is used here by Mr. Gellman, when he calls such patriots anti-government. Were our government to confine itself to the powers Constitutionally allocated to each of its branches, and held no higher allegiance than to this document and to WE THE PEOPLE, these militias would certainly be pro-government, yet they are not because it seems with greater intensity the Federal government is becoming anti-Constitutional (and this began long before Obama was even born! Its only that under his administration that much of the infrastructure of all of this is rising to the surface).


Some groups, though not many overtly (insinuating that others, possibly many others do embrace but covertly so?) , embrace the white-supremacist legacy of the Posse Comitatus, which invented the modern militia movement in the 1970s. Some are fueled by a violent stream of millennial Christianity. Some believe Washington is a secondary foe, the agent of a dystopian new world order.


Hillary Clinton herself admitted that the United States is ready for the New World Order. Others have mentioned this phrase, among them George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Mikhail Gorbachev, and interestingly enough, various occult and esoteric leaders including Alice Bailey of the Theosophical Society. Yet the main media stubbornly persists in the illusion that such talk of a 'new world order' are the sad, misunderstanding, delusional thinking of a fringe, radical element that's somehow out of touch with reality.

MIGHT BY WHITE? - - -
Such White Supremist organizations and radical groups like KKK and Christian Identity Movement are those fringe elements of militias here in America. Unfortunately our own media is propagating a broad stroke myth and painting all militia or at least a significant percentage, are of this ilk.

There is a movement, consisting of some forty to fifty thousand members called Christian Identity Movement; these are hardly Christian, any more than KKK members are followers of Jesus Christ and His Word. Many of these C.I.M. members will seek out militias and desire to join forces with them. For information on C.I.M. visit this page on the C.A.R.M. web site (we also have a link to their site on TTUF):

http://carm.org/christian-identity-movement

Mark Potok of the S P L C observes that "there are huge numbers of people who say, 'We're going to have to go to war to defend the Constitution or defend the white race,' but 'That will be next week, boys.' "
And yet there are exceptions, and law-enforcement officials say domestic terrorists are equally the products of their movements. Those most inclined toward violence sometimes call themselves three percenters, a small vanguard that dares to match deeds to words. Brian Banning, who led local and interagency intelligence units that tracked radical-right-wing violence in Sacramento County, California, says, "The person who's interested in violent revolution may be attracted to a racist group or to a militia or to the Tea Party because he's antigovernment and so are they, but he's looking on the fringe of the crowd for the people who want to take action."

The Supremacist

One such man was James Von Brunn. On June 10, 2009, he pulled up to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, raised a .22-caliber rifle and shot security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns in the chest. Part of Von Brunn's story is now well known, but police, FBI and Secret Service investigators held back a startling epilogue.

Von Brunn was an avowed white supremacist with a history of violence that reached back decades. He had spent six years in prison after an attempt to take hostages at the Federal Reserve (???Why would a White Supremacist take hostages at the Fed Reserve???) in 1981. After finding only disappointment in organized groups, Von Brunn retreated to his website and railed against passive comrades. "The American Right-wing with few exceptions ... does NOTHING BUT TALK," he wrote. At 88 and hospitalized with a gunshot wound he suffered at the museum, Von Brunn did not loom large in the public eye as a figure of menace. He was profiled as a shrunken old man, broke and friendless, who ended another man's life in an empty act of despair. He died seven months later in prison before he could be tried.

The Obama Factor

None of these movements are entirely new, but most were in sharp decline by the late 1990s. Their resurgence now is widely seen among government and academic experts as a reaction to the tectonic shifts in American politics that allowed a black man with a foreign-sounding name and a Muslim-born father to reach the White House.

Obama's ascendancy unhinged (oh really??) the radical right, offering a unified target to competing camps of racial, nativist and religious animus. Even Patriots who had no truck with white supremacy found that they could amplify their antigovernment message by "constructing Obama as an alien, not of this country, insufficiently American," according to Michael Waltman, an authority on hate speech at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Perennial features of extreme-right scare lore — including imagined schemes (such powerful imaginations to actually materialize such incredible notions into manifest reality!) to declare martial law, abolish private ownership of guns and force dissidents into FEMA concentration camps — became more potent with Obama as the Commander in Chief.


"Constructing Obama as an alien, not of this country"?? "imagined schemes to declare martial law, abolish private ownership of guns, force dissidents into FEMA concentration camps"??


What sort of propagandized non-sense is this??

-Within seconds Obama could end the controversy concerning his birth place and prove he is an American citizen by simply producing his (legitimate) birth certificate.


-Perhaps Mr. Gellman would do well to read The Patriot Act (several hundred pages in total) and learn what sort of powers are granted to the Commander and Chief of the United States of America, among them, with but a stroke of a pen, he can declare martial law on a national scale.


-Abolition of private ownership of guns - this is an act that the UN continuously demands that the U.S. government performs on her people, and with the mounting pressure from various senators and government officials within our borders, such an act will be forthcoming. It is not mere fantasy (would to God that it was!).


-Deternment camps: Mr. Gellman are you suggesting that such things are the products of the overly imaginative paranoids that populate today's militias?

http://theredpillconsortium.blogspot.com/2009/08/in-bad-news-today.html


Interesting that an expert on 'hate speech' was used in this TIME article to comment on these so-called inflammatory, hateful remarks that are somehow unjustifiable and unproveable, but merely "lore" -


Michael Waltman, an authority on hate speech at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Perennial features of extreme-right scare lore


Members of militias around the country say, like [Kenneth] Goldsmith, [a militia officer and leader], that they resent comparison with white supremacists like Cummings and Von Brunn. They complain of being tarred as members of hate groups by watchdogs at the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. "I can't tell you how much I enjoy being lumped in with sociopathic organizations like neo-Nazis, antiabortion extremists and Holocaust-denial groups," says Darren Wilburn, a private detective in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., who trains with a hard-core militia he preferred not to name. He cites his motto, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of anyone who threatens it," as evidence that he is not looking for trouble as long as trouble keeps clear of him.
MORE THAN MEETS THE BULLS EYE - -
These militia men are not just about guns and clips, they are also about court battles and congresses, of the Constitutional sort -

Bob Schulz, a leading exponent of the view that the IRS and much of the government it funds are operating illegally, has reached the brink of calling for war. The moment is significant because he is an influential voice among militia groups.

After more than a decade of conventional legal battles, Schulz and a network of allies organized by the We the People Foundation began filing hundreds of petitions for redress of grievances. Schulz had come to believe that the First Amendment's petition clause required governors, legislatures and federal agencies to provide specific and satisfactory answers to accusations of wrongdoing. He filled government dockets with thousands of questions — one petition, for instance, asked the IRS to "admit or deny" 116 allegations of fraud in the 1913 debate that ratified the 16th Amendment.

When his petitions went ignored and the Supreme Court declined to hear his case in 2007, he wrote a formal brief accusing the court of "committing treason to the Constitution." The IRS, meanwhile, revoked his foundation's tax-exempt status, alleging that he used it to promote an illegal "tax termination plan" and bringing tax-evasion charges against some of the people who followed Schulz's advice.

Last year Schulz convened hundreds of delegates to a second Continental Congress in St. Charles, Ill., drafting Articles of Freedom with "instructions" that state and federal governments halt unlawful operations. Refusal to comply would be "an act of WAR," the delegates wrote, and "the People and their Militias have the Right and Duty to repel it." Several militia leaders are among the authors.

There are other militia men that are giving constitutional seminars to county Sheriffs nation wide such as Richard Mack -

. . . [he's] urging them to resist what he describes as federal tyranny by force. Citing a long list of antecedents, beginning in 11th century England, Mack asserts that each of the nation's county sheriffs is the supreme constitutional authority in his or her jurisdiction. A sheriff has the power to arrest and, if necessary, use lethal force against federal officers who come uninvited, and he may "call out the militia to support his efforts to keep the peace in the county."
In his term as sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, Mack became famous for fighting and winning a legal battle against a provision of the Brady Bill that required him to enforce federal gun-control laws. He now says he wishes he had stayed out of court and simply drawn a line in the sand with the ATF. "I pray for the day when the first county sheriff has the guts to arrest the real enemy," he says. Among the enemy, he numbers "America's gestapo," the IRS. Steve Kendley, a Lake County, Montana, deputy sheriff who is running for the top office there on Mack's platform, says he expects federal agents to back off when threatened with arrest, but he is prepared for "a violent conflict" if "they are doing something I believe is unconstitutional."

.
To read the TIME magazine article in its entirety, please go to the following site:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2022516-1,00.html

BOTTOM LINE FOR THE CHURCH -
Because of sin, oppression became a fact of life on this wayward planet. Satan as the ruler of this present age oppresses the entire human race (within Divinely established parameters) and in following suit, governments and their leaders throughout history have felt privileged as a matter of noble right to diminish their fellow man to servitude, even bondage, viewed them as lesser beings, even as property.

In the last days, we know that anti-Christ will likewise hold the entire world is a death-grip of oppressive rule, and will brook no rebellion against his power. Eventually every one will be branded (in some sense) with his mark and swear undying allegiance to him, yet those who do will be forever damned.

In between time, a rather unique occurance happened; a shining moment of freedom when individuals, not governments were declared sovereign, and this freedom was ratified in a document by the founding fathers of America which boldly declared that the place of government was not to rule over people, but was for, by, and of the people.

Americans who realize this also understand how tenuous, how fragile and costly is that freedom; freedom indeed, is not free! It must be paid for to obtain, and it must be paid for to maintain. Yet because of prosperity and easy times, we Americans have become lazy, apathetic and careless about securing these freedoms and keeping our government accountable.

More to the point, there are forces at work beyond the infrastructure of our own government, the 'old world powers' of nobility and 'old money families of aristocracy' working behind the scenes to confiscate our freedoms and lure America into subjugation (and their job is pretty much completed)!

I believe it was George Washington that stated that "government is like a fire: it makes a fine servant when under control and confined in the hearth; but it becomes a devouring monster when unleashed, and burns the house down."

These people in the main, who are dedicated to these militias simply want to hold onto the freedom that is America - for this freedom is not merely an ideal, but a way of life for those willing to fight for it. Because these freedoms are endangered, they are well within their constitutional rights under the Bill of Rights to bear arms, to defend the citizens and their State.

Yet what of the Christian and the actions we're to take as representatives of Jesus Christ, ambassadors to the fallen sinners who have yet to truly become free? Where do we stand in this great struggle?

This is a question I've pondered for some time, and I struggle for answers, both in mind and in prayer. Each of us must seek God and understand what His calling is for us.

For myself, I know this much for certain. I am a pilgrim, a foreigner of sorts. This world truly is not my home. I'm passing through this fallen world on my way home. Yet while I am here, I will do what I can to secure freedom for America, but I dare not step beyond the line that God has drawn, and that line I believe forbids me, personally, to take the life of another.

What we as the church must realize is that while we may look around and perceive enemies of all kinds and persuasions, these are merely superficial. The real enemy is not seen, but governs from beyond those forces that are against God and His Word. With this great enemy and his principalities and powers are we, the church, to be engaged with in battle.

While we saints are still on this planet, and though every day passes by and the LORD still has not returned for us in the rapture, we must be involved in this spiritual battle and praying for this nation, and petitioning the LORD to stave off the evil forces that are even now dominating this world, and even (or especially) our corner of it.

The militia and the Christian are seeing the same thing: evil encroaching on the landscape; yet the former sees it in the physical only and there is where he seeks his solution - by physical, worldly means. The latter sees it in the spiritual as well as the physical, but he seeks his solution - by spiritual means.

May we therefore as the church of the LORD Jesus Christ become resolute in our decision and conduct ourselves valiantly in this warfare, not growing weary and fainting, but persevering in the power of His might, and seeking a spiritual victory. Even after all is said and done, we may not get our country back, but by remaining faithful to God, His Word and the Gospel, we shall still have our victory!

Friday, September 3, 2010

~ People Are 'Eating Up' EAT PRAY LOVE ~


The following is a movie/book review of the story Eat, Pray, Love; this article has been re-posted by permission of the author -


Eat, Pray, Love (But Don't Think): An Evaluation of THE spirituality in eat, Pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert


~ Evaluation by Marcia Montenegro Written April 2008


In her book, Eat, Pray, Love (NY: Penguin Books, 2006), Elizabeth Gilbert narrates her journey through three countries, Italy, India, and Indonesia, which parallels the exploration of three stages of her post-divorce experience: pursuit of pleasure, pursuit of devotion, and pursuit of balance (between pleasure and devotion). This is such a neat package, one would think it was planned ahead of time. Well, it was.


On her site, Elizabeth Gilbert states that her journey was paid for with an advance from the publisher (http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/faq.htm). So this was a journey planned with writing and selling a book in mind. The promotion on Oprah did the rest, catapulting the book onto the bestseller list; additionally, the book has received many accolades from reviewers.

A note of interest: Christian columnist and author Anne Lamott endorsed this book, which thrilled Gilbert, and she appeared with Gilbert for an event on the UCLA campus (http://redravine.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/an-evening-with-elizabeth-gilbert-anne-lamott/). Lamott's words appear on the book's cover: "A wonderful book, brilliant and personal, rich in spiritual insight." Lamott is a Universalist, so maybe it should not be surprising that she has no problem cheering on New Age teachings. Incidentally, this was not the first New Age author Lamott has endorsed; she also endorsed a book by Marianne Williamson.


Yoga, Meditation, and Beyond


Gilbert writes that she is seeking God, but makes it clear it is not the Christian God. The god she claims is the one within and the one who accepts her as a divine being: "The Supreme Self is our true identity, universal and divine" (122). In fact, she writes that she has "always responded with breathless excitement to anyone who has ever said that God does not live in a dogmatic scripture or in a distant throne in the sky" (14), thus revealing her rejection of the Bible (the word "dogma" is increasingly used these days as a code word for the Bible or for orthodox Christianity).

She openly states that she does not accept Jesus as the only way to God, and so "Strictly speaking, then, I cannot call myself a Christian" (14). I have to give her points for honesty. Gilbert is a classic New Ager, even if she may reject that label (I do not know how she feels about such a label). But having followed New Age and Eastern beliefs for many years, I have no hesitation in saying this. I once had her god as my god as well.


Although Gilbert rejects the Christian Jesus, she has no problem accepting the teachings of Hinduism, and those of her medicine man teacher, Katuk, while in Bali. She readily and without question accepts the Balinese teaching, one that is quite alien to her, that everyone is born with four spirit brothers who "collect your soul and bring you to heaven" when you die (251). She eagerly learns how to do the meditation with these "four brothers." Indeed, she begins to speak to these spirit brothers the very day she hears about them (253). She imbibes these beliefs with no question and does not flinch at the elaborate rituals Katuk performs to appease demons.

Gilbert had been taking yoga classes in New York before her journey and already had a guru, so she began the sojourn with an Eastern worldview firmly in place, making this not as much of a voyage of discovery as some might think. At least she acknowledges that the Hatha yoga positions, so trendy now in the U.S., were not developed "for personal fitness" but "to loosen muscles and minds in order to prepare them for meditation" (121).


This is fairly accurate: Hatha Yoga is a preparation for deeper and more rigorous forms of yogic meditative states. She also is clear that yoga is to find union "between the individual and God" (121). Gilbert discusses the use of mantras (words or phrases repeated during meditation as an aid to keep thoughts away) and how the "monkey mind" (Hindu and Buddhist phrase) needs to be subdued and tamed. This phrase is one I heard and read a lot from Hindu and Buddhist sources in my own pursuits of spirituality. It is typically Eastern: thoughts are barriers to the meditative state, which would impede enlightenment, so techniques such as mantras and a focus on breath are used to "still" the mind.


Gilbert discusses the Guru's role, that one hopes that "the merits of your master will reveal to you your own hidden greatness" (124). Later while meditating in India, she has a vision of her Guru's dead Guru, whom she calls by the title "Swamiji," rather than reveal his name. This powerful encounter drives her into spiritual breakthroughs, including the realization of his teaching that "To know God, you need only to renounce one thing ? your division from God" (192). Gilbert has a compelling experience before leaving India, in which she feels she was briefly united with God and understood the "workings of the universe completely" (199). The bottom line of these teachings is that no repentance is needed, only realization. And yoga and the meditation and chanting are all designed to bring this realization about.


The Contemplative Connection: God is in the Silence


Gilbert gives advice on her site to someone who asks how it is possible to make a journey when one has a family. Gilbert answers, "The first question you can begin to ask yourself, though, is: "Where can I find a small corner of stillness?' Because that's where it all begins and ends. God resides in these pockets of silence. So where in your day, where in your home, where in your mind, is there some opportunity for a moment of silence?"


In the book, mystics such as Theresa of Avila, Saint Ignatius, Saint Anthony, and others are Gilbert's role models for meditating and having "visions" (143, 147); she loves all mystical experiences --- mysticism is her path and the way she believes one has union with God. She discusses the kundalini energy of Hinduism, the energy that rises through the chakras (see CANA articles on yoga), and relates this to the Eastern ki or chi, to the Holy Spirit, and to Teresa of Avila's "ascension of light through seven inner mansions' of her being, after which she burst into God's presence" (143).

Gilbert misunderstands the Holy Spirit: the Holy Spirit is not an energy but is the Third Person of the Trinitarian God. The Holy Spirit is God. One does not practice techniques to have an experience with the Holy Spirit. Rather, the Holy Spirit indwells believers in Christ, and while they certainly do have experiences of the Holy Spirit's presence and power, it is not a result of techniques or meditative trance states (an altered state of consciousness which is also a mild hypnotic state). The role of the Holy Spirit includes glorifying Jesus Christ and teaching and guiding the Christian through God's word (John 15.26, 16.13; 1 Cor 2.12, 13) as well the process of sanctification (conforming believers to the image of Christ).


This going into silence to find God is quite dangerous, and God nowhere tells us to seek Him this way. Many cite the "still small voice" or "sound of sheer silence" (some translations have "the sound of gentle blowing") in 1 Kings 19 when Elijah is despairing near the cave on the mountain, fleeing the wrath of the murderous Jezebel. But this sound was not God's voice, just God's way of getting Elijah's attention. Nor was Elijah practicing a form of silent meditation or contemplation at the time. After God has Elijah's attention, God speaks to Elijah in words (verse 13). God's message was not through the "small still voice," or the silence, or the blowing. Moreover, Elijah was there in the first place because God had previously told him to go there, using words (verse 11). Furthermore, narratives about prophets are not instructions on how to hear God. Prophets were chosen by God to receive direct revelation from God; they were the exception, not the rule. Elijah had been receiving these revelations already.


It is not normative practice today to sit and wait to hear God's voice. God has already spoken in the canon of Scripture. Nor are we instructed to descend into self and silence to hear God; instead, we are instructed to read and meditate (meaning think about and ponder) on God's word.


Going within to find or hear God is the stuff of mysticism in all religions, including New Age beliefs. In mysticism, there is no need for a mediator and no need for a written revelation (which are often absent or spurned as inferior), because the object of this is a direct experience with God (or what is believed to be God). I can vouch for the fact that if you seek a spiritual experience, especially by going within, no matter who you are, you will get one. But this does not mean it is coming from the true God.


Gilbert refers to stilling the "monkey mind," a phrase used especially in Hindu and Buddhist teachings as well as the New Age. But God did not make us with "monkey minds." Only monkeys have "monkey minds." The fact that our thoughts wander or jump around if we try not to think indicates that our minds are made for thinking. It also could be a protection against self-induced hypnosis and the altered state.


Thoughts are natural to the mind, and the only way to shut them down is to go into the hypnotic trance or altered state of Eastern/New Age meditation, which also suspends judgment and critical thinking. For all the hype about being "natural" in the New Age, Eastern and New Age meditation are very anti-natural in their teachings about turning off the mind. Yet even some Christians who are urging the Eastern-styled contemplative spirituality are now using the popular New Age phrases, "monkey minds" or "mind chatter."


In contrast, biblical meditation on God's word is pondering and thinking about what one is reading. It is not a matter of techniques or of getting into a mystical state. The power is in God's word itself, not in us.


To accept these teachings puts one in bondage to a need to transcend this "monkey mind," and in bondage to a belief that we cannot know God unless we practice Eastern style meditation and have breakthroughs into a pure consciousness, an awareness that all is God. It is the opposite of the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: to have childlike faith in Him and what He did for us.


Is God Bigger than Doctrine?


Gilbert downgrades doctrine, deciding that, "God might be bigger than our limited religious doctrines" (208). This is a common statement among many who do not accept the authority of the Bible and prefer reliance on experience, visions, or extra-biblical revelation as superior ("doctrine" being another code word for the Bible). This argument is a red herring, a false dilemma, and a straw man.

First of all, it is not man's doctrines at issue, but God's. If the Bible is God's word, then it is not a question of whether God is "bigger" than doctrines. Doctrine is simply a word for "teaching," and what is the point of comparing God to His teachings? If "bigger" means tolerant of different views, which it seems to in this case, then God would be tolerating views that He condemns in His word. It would make Jesus a liar for saying he is the only way to God. This statement about God being bigger than doctrine pits God against the Bible, which only makes sense if one does not believe the Bible is God's word in the first place.


Secondly, Gilbert easily accepts the doctrines (teachings) of her Guru, the Balinese medicine man, and others, including written Hindu scripture like the Upanishads. The only doctrine Gilbert has any problems with is that which denies that there are many ways to God or teaches that there is only one way to God. This is what she is talking about.


Let us consider where you end up if you think doctrine doesn't matter. It can take you to a place where there are no distinctions between anything because there are no authoritative boundaries between what is good or evil, or what is true or false. Everything is determined subjectively. This is exemplified in the medicine man in Bali, Ketut, who thinks all religions are "same-same" (241), and heaven and hell are ultimately the same, as well (262). In fact, he says that hell is love (263). This is even startling for Gilbert, although she believes everyone is divine. So if that is true, and if there is a hell, then it would be full of divine beings as well. No distinction between good and evil means that good and evil don't ultimately matter.


Gilbert also seems to think the Dalai Lama is tolerant of other views because of his famous statements that those in other religions do not need to become Tibetan Buddhists to be his students (208). But apparently Gilbert has not investigated why he believes this. The reason the Dalai Lama can say this is because he believes everyone will eventually become Buddhist, and Tibetan Buddhism is the only way to liberation in his view.


He believes in spreading Buddhist teachings because one day, all sentient beings (this includes animals as well as gods, demi-gods, humans, and ghosts) will be reborn either in a Buddhist country where they will become Buddhists, or they will eventually encounter Buddhist teachings. This is why the Dalai Lama talks constantly of having "compassion for all sentient beings." By compassion, he means spreading Buddhist teachings so that sentient beings will eventually become Buddhists, even if it is many lives away (see The Essential Dalai Lama, a compendium of speeches by the Dalai Lama in written form, and other sources of his teachings). So, of course he is okay with other religions, because eventually (he believes), everyone will be Buddhist.


Bondage and Freedom


Gilbert has a breezy, easy-to-read style and takes honest looks at herself. She is very likeable and appealing in the pages of her book. Through a combination of Eastern meditation, Yoga, Western self-help psychology, mystical states and visions, and her beliefs about her divine nature, Gilbert is able to heal from her divorce and other deep wounds. Her writing is enticing and her success is persuasive -- it gives validity to her practices and claims. She seems free now to enjoy life and love. This kind of freedom is very tantalizing, but it comes with questions.


What standard is there for being free enough?

Doesn't the past always dodge us? Do we attain perfection or just a consciousness of perfection?

How many more lives must one live to be free enough?


Before the journey recorded in this book, Gilbert had visited an Indonesian island and spent several days alone and in silence, wrestling with her past and with her issues. After nine days of silence, she recounts how she sees her own "goodness" after forgiving herself and how this leads her to an understanding of God's forgiveness (327-28). She seems to believe that this forgiveness comes with no cost except the task of forgiving herself. But this is a presumption of forgiveness - a view that forgiveness from God is a right. Or that we get it if we work hard enough, especially by forgiving ourselves.


Gilbert writes, "I was the administrator of my own rescue" (329). But the message from Jesus is that we cannot rescue ourselves: "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins," (John 8.24). We cannot magically erase our sins by forgiving ourselves; the sins remain, because we have a sinful nature ("For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3.23). God tells us that the wages of sin are death (Romans 3.63), death meaning separation from God. How do we escape this penalty?

Jesus was the only one who was without sin and was pleasing to God on his own merits: "And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8.29). Because of his sinlessness, Jesus the God-man was able to pay the penalty for sins as the Lamb of God without blemish. This is what the atonement was about: paying the penalty for sin.


Gilbert writes that her heart tells her mind, "I love you, I will never leave, I will always take care of you" (328). She is getting a pass to reassurance from her own self, her own thinking, not from God, though she may believe it is from God. But it was Jesus who said to those who believe in Him, "I am with you always" (Matthew 28.20).


No one, if interacting honestly with what the Bible teaches, can remake Jesus into another Guru or another Buddha. Jesus claimed to be the unique Messiah, the Son of God (which means he has God's nature), the Redeemer, the First and the Last. It is not about a transformation of consciousness, or a realization of man's supposed divine nature, or a process of self-forgiveness, but rather that we understand that we are helpless in our cocoon of sin and selfishness in the presence of a holy God, and desperately need the redemption of the one and only Redeemer, Jesus Christ.


Redemption through Christ is the true freedom.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die-ever. Do you believe this?" John 11.25,26


This concludes this article by Marcia Montenegro, writer for CANA. If you would like to read more of her writings, please visit the web site:



Click on the link for articles, and you will find a wealth of information that will inform and guide you in the Truth of God's Word, rightly divided, as well as information about various New Age (Old Lie) beliefs, practices and dogma.


May the LORD God shelter us in the Refuge of TRUTH as found exclusively in the Holy Scriptures!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

LIVING in LINEAR ASSUMPTIONS

It was a balmy, sunny and pleasant day in the ancient Italian city on August 23rd in A.D. 79. People milled about, on their various business, eating, drinking, visiting family and friends; children playing in the streets. Life was good.
The very next day, an unexpected disaster struck, an enormous volcanic eruption, killing the entire unsuspecting population of the city of Pompeii.

In colonial America in the 18th century, people were prospering with hopes of a new life, on a new continent. Farms were flourishing on land both fertile and plentiful. Here was a land one could raise a family in, and look forward to generations of blessing.
Orthopoxvirus Variola Virus, also known as Small Pox suddenly struck.
More than four hundred thousand people suffered and died before the plague ended.

In the year 1928 the Industrial Revolution had firmly been established, people were hard working and industrious, and there were jobs, work and food aplenty for all with every promise of prosperity at the calloused finger tips of those willing to earn it.

The following year, the Infamous Stock Market Crash on March 25th in 1929 wiped out people's savings accounts, homes, jobs; where there was prosperity, now there was poverty. Where there was abundance, now there were soup lines.

On September 10th, 2001 the Big Apple, the well-renowned international city of New York was intent on its usual business. Nearly nine million people scurried about their way just as they had every other day, for years and years.
The following day two jet liners crashed into the World Trade Center, killing almost three thousand people, devastating the area, as well as the hearts of stunned Americans all over the nation, as well as nations the world over.

In each of these circumstances people were caught off guard, and stunned by an unforeseen interruption of their lives, resulting in heart rending tragedy, ruined lives, and suffering and death.

As human beings we are always taken by surprise and shock when tragedy strikes because we engage in (what Chuck Missler like to refer to as) 'linear assumptions' that is, that tomorrow will be just like yesterday. Next week will be like last week; next year will be like last year, etc.

Yet, whether by natural disaster, or disease or economic collapse or evil intents of terrorism, things we don't expect or prepare for, happen and catch us off our guard.

Life is like this, we know not what an hour may bring. It's the unpredictable nature of life that leads us to creating savings accounts, take out insurance policies for our lives, our homes, our cars, and our health. We try to prepare for instability and the unforeseeable future.
In today's world, turbulence and trouble are perhaps more likely than ever.

Tom Robbins, an American novelist in the 1930's said:

“True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed."

It is said that "time waits for no man" and this is the one resource we possess that is non-elastic, that is, a resource that is limited. We really can't 'buy more time'.

True, most of us who are reading this article right now will probably be alive and well tomorrow, but there may be one or two that won't be. There are no guarantees. From God's perspective our days are numbered.

PSALM 90:12
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

We will eventually die, and once we leave this world, there is no turning back, no re-runs, no second chances.

HEBREWS 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

While we will all face death, there are two distinct groups of humanity that have vastly different perspectives on it: the saved and the unsaved; those who have trusted and committed their lives to the LORD Jesus Christ, and those who have not.

For those who are gambling on death, and whatever may transpire afterwards (if anything) with the forlorn hopes that everything will work itself out in the end; those who have not trusted in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior and have not availed themselves to the redemptive power of eternal life through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, let me say this in the following quotes:
"He is no fool to lose what he cannot keep, in order to keep what he cannot lose." Jim Elliott, slain missionary of S. America.

"He who dies with the most toys, . . . still dies!"

Someone else pointed out regarding mortality and our too, too brief time on this planet, "If the atheist is right, and the Christian is wrong, then the Christian and the atheist are both equal after death, they both lose equitably. If the Christian is right, and the atheist is wrong, the Christian wins all, and the atheist loses all."

MATT 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

In Russian roulette there are six chambers with a bullet in one of them. A person has a 1 out of 6 chance of dying. However many days you have left, those are the number of chambers you have and no more: every day the trigger is pulled, and you don't know but that this could be the day that 'bullet' is fired, and you lose your life!

Why gamble with something as precious as your life? Why not rather surrender your finite life (of a total of seventy or eighty years) to the LORD of Life, Who offers to you eternal life? Why not give yourself to the One Who created you, Who desires a love relationship with you that will outlast the sun, moon and stars, well into forever?

JOHN 3:36
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

We mortals cannot allow ourselves to be deceived that "life goes on", that it goes on indefinitely. There is coming a day when our hearts will cease beating, our lungs will no longer inhale, our bodies will grow still and cold, and our eyes will grow dark. This is an inevitability that we will all face, and we cannot assume otherwise.

Believing on the Son, repenting of your sin, turning away from the governance of your own life, and committing your soul to the LORD Jesus Christ who loves you and paid already for your sins is the only rational and legitimate means of 'getting out of this world alive (unto eternal life)'.

If you would want to know more about the G.O.S.P.E.L., that is, Gods Omnipotent Salvation Proclaiming Eternal Love/Life, please visit the web site The TRUTH Under FIRE (www.thetruthunderfire.com) to read the first of a few articles on this vitally important subject:

The SIMPLE and SERIOUS GOSPEL of SALVATION - Part 1

For those of you who are Christians, death holds no such terror for we have entrusted the keeping of our souls to the One who now possesses the keys of hell and death, Who by His victory on the Cross has stripped the power of the fear of death from our great enemy, Satan!

REV 1:18
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

HEB 2:14-15
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

So while we Christians have our "fire insurance paid up" - - not because we could pay ANYTHING at all towards this end, but have believed on Him who by His own blood paid ALL the premiums for that insurance; we also have a termination date that should give us pause and some measure of concern.
What am I speaking of?

2 COR 5:10-11
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

You know, long before I became born again, when I was a Roman Catholic, I remember hearing the expression "holy terror" and "the terror of the LORD" and I used to think that was a reference to Judgment Day when God decided who goes to heaven, and who goes to hell.

Yet we have in the passage above this very phrase, and as you read it in context, its not a verse about the damnation of lost souls, its in reference to the judgment seat of Christ where He will be rewarding (or not) the faithful (or unfaithful) service of the saints!
AMAZING!

I must admit that I myself tremble inside when I think about this Day appointed that will come as certainly as my birth, and my spiritual rebirth, and eventual death; that Day when I see my LORD and Savior, and I witness those scars on His brow, His wrists and His feet.

He shall say to me, "I have redeemed you with My own blood, and delivered you from sin, death and hell; I have indwelt you with My Spirit and freely imparted My love and peace and joy; endowed you with spiritual gifts, and granted to you my Holy Word and Great Commission of the Gospel and the command to go forth and make disciples. All of these things I have given to you. What therefore have you done in life, in My Name?"

I shall stand alone before my God and my Judge Whose eyes are a flame of fire, from Whom nothing is hid, and all my deeds done in His name will fall under His scrutiny. His all knowing, all seeing eyes will then determine the quality of all my works, whether they are fashioned of gold, silver and precious stones or just wood, hay and stubble (1 COR 3: 11-15).

Oh, how I hope and pray that I might have something to show for ALL THE INCREDIBLE WEALTH THAT THE LORD INVESTED IN MY LIFE! THAT I MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD WITH; SOME LASTING FRUIT AND HOLY WORK THAT WOULD HONOR HIM WHO DIED FOR MY SINS!!

How worthy is JESUS to receive ALL honor and power and glory and blessing! He is the exalted KING of Heaven, and ever worthy of that High Exaltation for the Divine Deed He completed, in humbling Himself to that deplorably depraved damnation as our Sin-bearer! Without His sacrifice we would ALL PERISH in eternal hell! THIS is our SAVIOR! THIS is our GOD!

REV 5:12

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

It is my sincerest, most heart felt prayer that all of us, you and I, and all the saints, that we would "apply our hearts to wisdom" and acknowledge that our days are in the hands of the LORD, and once He recalls us, there is no turning back, there are no remedial courses that we can take and produce fruit and good works for His glory and honor, the fix will be 'in' and it will be "all He wrote"!

May we seek our LORD out with diligence and a heart yearning for fellowship and communion; may we yield up our members to righteousness and petition that His grace would work powerfully in our lives, that He would enable us towards fruit-bearing and production of good works which can only be produced by our good God who works in us!

Please understand that God is not going to judge saints for their sin on that Day, for our sins were ALREADY judged at the cross! Those sins are washed away. No, the judgment we face as Christians is a judgment of rewards based on our conduct and performance while on Earth, wrought through obedience to His will, and empowered NOT by our own will or determination or struggling, but by our LORD Father God, His Son the LORD Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit!

JOHN 15: 4-5, 7-8
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

EPH 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

2 TIM 3:16-17
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Remember, that the LORD is interested in faithfulness, not fanfare and phenomena, that is, our work for the LORD doesn't have to be some grand production or some tremendously towering work, that might impress all of us; rather He is impressed and will reward faithfulness and good stewardship, no matter how grand or tiny that stewardship might be!

MATT 25:21
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

REV 2:10
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

REV 17:14
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

In the time that we have left on this planet, either until we depart it and go to be with our LORD or until His Return, may we seek Him, sit at His feet and receive from Him, and empowered by His grace, work in the fields and produce fruit for HIS GLORY and HONOR! In the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ, AMEN!

NIKAEO AIONIOS!

your brother,
James Fire