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!

~ 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:

http://christiananswersforthenewage.org/

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!

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

Is This CHRISTIANITY TODAY? Part 2 - From Heresy To Blasphemy

The following includes an unedited article from The BEREAN CALL:

(On Sunday, Dec. 20th I published a previous article from TBC along with my own interjections and comments:

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

This is a kind of 'Part 2' in an expose to this sadly so-called 'Christian magazine'. Whatever its founder, Billy Graham intended, it has devolved into a non-biblical, heretical, even blasphemous resource that is anything but Christian as you will soon see! The picture you see above is of Mark Galli, senior managing editor of this popular magazine.

In this article by TBC, T.A. McMahon includes an article written by senior managing editor for Christianity Today, Mark Galli, "Divine Drama Queen" 7-15-10.

Due to the fact that Mr. McMahon interjects his own commentary in the midst of Galli's article, I will refrain from my own comments and save them at the end of this post.

I would encourage and admonish all of you to write to Mr. Billy Graham, founder and honorary chairman of Christianity Today and express your views on this article (as I most certainly plan on doing myself!). Mr. Graham's address is included at the end of this article.

And now, the TBC article: Christianity Today's Anti-Christianity Today

According to the online encyclopedia wikipedia.org, "Christianity Today [CT] is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, IL. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming readership of 290,000. The founder, Billy Graham, stated that he wanted to 'plant the evangelical flag in the middle-of-the-road, taking the conservative theological position but a definite liberal approach to social problems.'

"Today it, and its 13 sister publications, reach well over 2 million readers in its traditional paper bound form, and more than 10 million page views per month in their Internet form."

It was right after I [T.A. McMahon] became a born-again Christian more than thirty years ago that I encountered my first copy of Christianity Today. Having grown up Roman Catholic, my appetite for anything evangelical was ravenous. Yet even in those early years of my faith, there were things that I read in that magazine that troubled me. I recognized, in Mr. Graham's own words, "a definite liberal approach to social problems" in the promotion of "Christian" psychological counseling (see TBC, July 1999 ).

Of even more concern, however, were articles that clearly favored Roman Catholicism. This was disconcerting for one who had recently been delivered from the bondage of the false gospel of Rome. I remembered also reading an old quote from Billy Graham, which he had spoken nearly a decade before he started CT. He declared that "The three gravest menaces faced by orthodox Christianity are Communism, Roman Catholicism, and Mohammedanism" (Plains Baptist Challenger, March 1984).

Incredibly, years later, among CT's contributing editors and writers were Roman Catholics, including Catholic priest Richard John Neuhaus. It was Neuhaus, along with CT editors Chuck Colson, J. I. Packer, Timothy George, Thomas Oden, Richard Mouw, and Mark Noll, among others, who formed, were promoters of, and/or were signers of "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium." Their news release proclaimed:

"[L]eading Catholics and evangelicals are asking their flocks for a remarkable leap of faith: to finally accept each other as Christians.... [E]vangelicals including Pat Robertson and Charles Colson joined with conservative Roman Catholic leaders today in upholding the ties of faith that bind [them]....They urged Catholics and evangelicals...to stop aggressive proselytization of each other's flocks."

The Catholic bias of CT is reflected in the modus operandi of Graham's crusades: they were, and continue to be, publicized and subsidized by each Catholic diocese where they take place. Additionally, the crusades continue to be outfitted with Catholic counselors who guide those Catholics that "come forward" to return to their local Catholic churches.

The list of Catholic luminaries celebrated by CT includes popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II (Graham told Larry King that he and the pope "agree on almost everything"), Mother Teresa, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Buddhist/Catholic monk Thomas Merton, and mystic Catholic priest Henry Nouwen. Catholic mysticism is further promoted by CT contributing editor Richard Foster, who is the godfather of the modern contemplative/mystical (read "Eastern") movement within evangelical Christianity.

It seems that no voice that advances apostasy has been omitted from CT's list of contributing editors or writers: Ron Sider, President Obama's leftist theologian; Notre Dame professor Mark Noll; Eugene Peterson (who wrote his own bible called The Message); Eastern Orthodox followers Frederica Mathewes-Green and Bradley Nassif; former executive editor Terry Muck (who writes of his love for the Buddha); Leith Anderson (who promotes the experiential over the propositional, i.e., that emergent experience trumps doctrine); and psychology and Bible integrationist Eric L. Johnson, to name but a few.

All of this leads us to Christianity Today's senior managing editor, Mark Galli, and his article of July 15, 2010, titled "Divine Drama Queen," which is his characterization of the God of the Bible. We've reprinted here extensive excerpts of CT's God-demeaning/man-exalting article (albeit reluctantly, due to its wicked content) as further evidence of this "evangelical" magazine's continuing slither into the last days' apostasy. What Galli has written is CT's latest installment of corrupting the faith, generated from decades of undermining the Word of God and distorting the God of the Bible. Editor Galli makes this so obvious that what he writes needs few comments on my part.

Nevertheless, his writing is in italics, and my words appear in brackets ( [ ] ) and regular type:

I like a tranquil, even-keeled, self-controlled God. A God who doesn't fly off the handle at the least provocation. A God who lives one step above the fray. A God who has that British stiff upper lip even when disaster is looming.

When I read my Bible, though, I keep running into a different God, and I'm not pleased. This God says he "hates" sin. Well, he usually yells it. Read the prophets. It's just one harangue after another, all in loud decibels. And when the shouting is over, then comes the pouting.

Take his conversation with Hosea....He orders Hosea to take a prostitute for a wife; she becomes a symbol of Israel's unfaithfulness to God. This is no down-on-her-luck-but-with-a-heart-of-gold prostitute like those so often portrayed in movies. This is some sleazy woman who, even when given a chance at a decent life, keeps "whoring."

God then tells Hosea to have children with this woman. When the children are born, he tells Hosea to call the first Jezreel, explaining, "I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel." The second, God calls No Mercy, because "I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all." The third he calls Not My People, "for you are not my people, and I am not your God" (

Hosea 1:1-9).

This God is like the volatile Italian woman who, upon discovering her husband's unfaithfulness, yells and throws dishes, refuses to sleep in the same bed, and doesn't speak to him for 40 days and 40 nights.

[I refrained from drawing conclusions up to this point on my first reading of this article because I suspected that Galli would indicate his own misunderstanding of God. I guessed wrong. This is the kind of blasphemy that one would expect from militant atheists and humanists, such as Richard Dawkins, or foul-mouthed, Christ-mocking comedians like Bill Maher. It is total blasphemy--a mischaracterization of God as well as a denigration of His perfectly holy character.]

We may think this a crude depiction, except that Jesus--God with us--seems to suffer the same emotional imbalance. He rants about Pharisees and Scribes--or "snakes" and "hypocrites," as he calls them. So upset is he over sacrilege in the Temple, he overturns tables and drives people out with a whip. And then we find him lamenting, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate!"(Matthew 23:37-38). This God knows nothing about being a non-anxious presence. This is a very anxious God, indeed.

[It's difficult to restrain anger here. The Creator of the universe, the sacrificial Lamb of God, who paid the full penalty for our sins, and His Father, who sent Him to the Cross for our sake--they suffer from "emotional imbalance"?! They--whose Word tells us to be anxious for nothing--they are anxious?]

I'd rather have a God who takes sin in stride. Why can't he relax and recognize that to err is human. I mean, you don't find us flawed humans freaking out about one another's sins. You don't see us wrathful, indignant, and pouting. Why can't God almighty just chill out and realize we're just human?

[Has the reader been manipulated by Galli into fleshing out his own similar thoughts about God? Will he now set the record straight?]

It's that little phrase, "we're just human," that may be the rub with God. Sin seems to be a big deal to God because apparently we're a big deal to him. That little phrase, "we're just human," signals that we may not be as big a deal to ourselves....[God] believes that to be human is to be destined for glory. As Peter put it, he has "called us to his own glory and excellence," that we "may become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:3-4).

[So much for repenting of the character assassination of God the Father and God the Son. Instead, Galli panders to mankind's self-image, dangling before us the "glory" of humanity. He then leads the reader to the next step, self-deification--the same lie that Satan offered to Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:5).]

That's right: he (God) thinks "just humans" can become nothing less than gods. Not in the sense of beings who should be worshipped, but beings who have become, in the fullest sense, bearers of the image and likeness of their Creator....He created beings with deep awareness of themselves and their Creator, who could envision the absolute heights they could scale and the perfect love they could enjoy, and who knew they could have all this forever and ever....

[Nowhere in Scripture do you find the word "god" (with a lowercase "g" ) ever used to denote a righteous person or entity.]

...And yet God gambled. He has thrown everything into this grand enterprise. He made the creation of these beings not a matter of course or compromise, but a matter of life or death. Everything was on the line with this roll of the dice. To win meant for these creatures a bliss that only God knows. To lose meant death and eternal destruction. There was no holding back. God was going to make human glory a winner-take-all proposition, even if it killed him.

[God gambled? Does he mean that God doesn't know how things will turn out? This is the heresy of Open Theism, which denies God's omniscience--denies that He is the God of prophecy as He proclaimed in Isaiah 46:9-10: "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done...."]

So when things start going south, we find him throwing dishes and slamming doors....God rants at us as an Olympian curses himself for losing concentration during a crucial part of the race. Or as a novelist chastises herself for lazy writing. For the righteous perfectionist (versus the neurotic perfectionist), every detail matters. God wants nothing less than perfection, because he knows that perfection is the only way for us to become what he created us to become: godlike.

[Galli must be having flashbacks to his college Greek mythology classes. At least I hope that's his excuse. Of course, he could plead insanity. How much more irrational could one be than to posit a "righteous perfectionist" who throws dishes, slams doors, rants, and curses himself. Again, this is unashamed blasphemy. It is anti-Christianity from Christianity Today.]

When the stakes are so high, of course, the consequence of failure, even in the smallest detail, spells disaster. It's like a space shuttle--one of the most sophisticated and marvelous of machines--crashing to earth because of a faulty oil ring. When God sees the space shuttle hurtling toward its destruction, he weeps, he rants, he pulls his hair out. And something inside him dies. Our God cares about us frail, fickle, weak human beings because he knows something we often forget: we're not "just human." He'll go to any length to get us to grasp and live into our glory, even if it kills him.

[Our glory? What about the glory of God that Galli has dragged through the gutter of his paganized imagination?]

This is why the Bible traffics in such dramatic language. There is nothing cautious, careful, or reasonable about the human enterprise. It's about being lost or saved. Living in darkness or in light. Knowing despair or being filled with hope. Death or life. The Bible is not interested in a religion that merely improves the human condition, or makes life manageable. It's not about success or happiness or helping us all get along. These are paltry aspirations. No, what God wants is to raise the dead and make gods out of sinners.

[No! Once again, that was Satan's goal.]

So what we have, for better or worse, is a melodramatic God. He yells and throws dishes, and walks off in a huff, slamming the door behind him-and then he turns around and gives his life for us. In a foreshadowing of Jesus, he says to Israel through Hosea: "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel?...for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath" (Hosea 11:8-9). He's anything but calm and collected, reassuring and reasonable. He's as mercurial as gods go.

(God is) like the crazy uncle in the family. At some point, you have to let your friends know about him, but you'd just as soon avoid having to introduce him.
I much prefer reasonable religion with reasonable expectations, and a God who doesn't get bent out of shape every time his people trip up. But then again, I don't love as God loves. Not God. Not others. Not myself.

[So, are we to suppose that Galli was just trying to get our attention with his blasphemies for effect? Did we misunderstand his "literary cleverness"? No. What he paraded before us was a mockery of God akin to what Jesus suffered from those who gathered to watch Him being crucified and to what every God-hating humanist has since voiced.]

The road to hell is paved with reasonable religion with a non-anxious god. Most days, I'm pretty happy driving down that road. But I keep running into this Crazy Fellow along the way. At every stop light, he jumps up and down to get my attention. He pounds on my window asking me where the heck I think I'm going. He stands on the front bumper, shouting at me to turn around. When all else fails, he throws himself in front of the car. He's such a drama queen.

[Galli is "pretty happy" driving down the road to hell? God is a Crazy Fellow? God is a Drama Queen? I have two suggestions: 1) Send your reaction to Galli's article to the founder and honorary chairman of CT, Billy Graham, noting what seems to be the ultimate degeneration of what he started, and 2) Pray for Mark Galli, that he will repent. "[Regarding the wicked] there is no fear of God before his eyes" (Ps 36:1). TBC]

Billy Graham's address:

BGEA
1 Billy Graham Parkway
Charlotte, NC 28201

If you've made it this far, and are interested in my take on this diatribe by Mr. Galli, read on; however, as you can see for yourself, such 'rantings' of my own may prove extraneous to the point, which he has already evidently made. In more ways than one!

Those of you still willing to tag along, be prepared for some (hopefully righteous) ranting, because here we go (even if no one reads this, I will no doubt find it extremely therapeutic!):

Mr. Galli's states that he likes "a tranquil God, self controlled and one who doesn't fly off the handle at the least provocation."

The good news is that God is a God of peace (tranquil if you like), the Prince of Peace in fact; the bad news is that whatever else Mr. Galli wants his god to be, bears no relevance on God or His character which is not about to transform in order to satisfy his whims and potentially fickle desires!

He suggests that God is temperamental; he needs some serious study in the scriptures, because there it states that God is long suffering (2 Peter 2:9) and this is documented by such instances as the days of Noah, pre-flood. It was prophesied that when Methuselah died, that would be the year of destruction, and yet we also read that Methuselah was the oldest man of the Bible! How long did he live?

Nine hundred and sixty nine years! That's a long time to hold your temper!

Or what about the pre-exilic nation of Israel: God sent prophets to warn her of impending judgment, prophets like Isaiah, Hosea (whom he mentions), Amos, and others: how long was it in between the commencement of these prophetic warnings and the time when judgment finally came? A total of over 300 yrs!
"Fly off the handle" Mr. Galli?? Please!

Galli states that God "hates" sin... at least he got that part right, but then in almost snide fashion goes on to say regarding God's pronouncements against the sins of Israel, "It's just one harangue after another, all in loud decibels. And when the shouting is over, then comes the pouting."

I looked up that word 'harangue' just to make sure I didn't misconstrue its meaning: "a long pompous speech, a speech or piece of writing characterized by strong feeling or expression".

If any one would be justified in being pompous, I think God would have that licence! Nevertheless our God is humble; humble enough to even deign to deal with us rebels and sinners, when He most certainly would be justified in making all of us into toast!

Galli seems almost 'put out' that God would even become angry and 'up tight' about sin, which suggests to me that he has a very low view of the offensiveness of sin, for one, and perhaps an even lower view of the holiness of God Himself: not exactly a view any one should adopt considering that they too have an appointment with their Maker, certainly not a view any Christian who appreciates the incredible length God went through to destroy the power of sin in our lives would have!

Galli compares God with a "volatile Italian woman who ...discovers her husband's unfaithfulness" as He pronounces judgment upon the nation of Israel which forsook her God; then he ascribes Jesus, God with us, as having the same kind of "emotional imbalance"!!??

What depths of deplorable denigration is this man not willing to plumb in this diatribe of the Holy One of Israel?? How can any one take this man's so-called Christian commitment seriously, or subscribe to a magazine where such a senior managing editor has his hand on the helm? Perhaps they could if they never bothered to read such articles of theirs as this one!

I would admonish any of you that subscribe to this magazine to write Dr. Graham, and complain about the virulent views of this person! Even more, to cancel your subscription, as I would certainly do at this point, if I even had one!

Suffice it to say, this man's genuine faith (if he ever had any, which I am quite dubious about) has shipwrecked, and he stands upon the shores of apostacy!

He dares to say, "This God knows nothing about . . ." The Eternal God according to this man, knows NOTHING about "being a non-anxious presence. This is a very anxious God indeed."

Such a narcissistic, ego-centered, self-righteous disdain this man has for the God of the Bible, that one would be hard pressed to find anything more blasphemous, save perhaps for Anton LeVeys' The Satanic Bible.

"I'd rather have a God who takes sin in stride. Why can't He relax and recognize that to err is human. I mean you don't find flawed humans freaking out about one another's sins...why [c]an't God almighty just chill out and realize we're just human?"

Galli actually suggests that God is incapable of recognizing, that He is unable to realize things? That presumes that we, or at the least, he is capable of what God is not? Would Galli find God's judgment upon sin unjustified because we have the legitimate excuse of being "just human"?

This notion of his seems to circumnavigate around the central issue that we are a fallen race, and stand condemned before a Holy God, and would be eternally damned if not for the Cross of Christ Jesus!

The Holy God Whose Name and Person is exalted higher than the heavens, and is totally devoid of any taint or slightest flaw of sin; He is not at all like flawed sinners, which is why they don't 'freak out' at sin because its a part of their natural, unregenerate nature. God is angry with the wicked every day, because by sinning against Him, and refusing to repent of such sins, they are committing treason against the Holy King of creation!

God in His holiness is also the Righteous Judge, and no human (presumably moral, righteous) judge would 'chill out' with a convicted child molester or rapist. As heinous as such a crime is before the eyes of sinful humanity, the least of our sins are even more heinous in proportion to the Holiest, the God of Holiness!

Because this simple biblical truth seems to be beyond Galli's comprehension, that would suggest an unregenerate nature of his own, and further that he knows nothing of spiritual truth or life, and not at all born of God's Spirit!

". . . [God] thinks 'just humans' can become nothing less than gods . . . bearers of the image of Christ . . . He created beings with deep awareness of themselves and their Creator, who could envision the absolute heights they could scale, and the perfect love they could enjoy and who they knew they could have all this forever and ever."

Oh really? Any time in scripture it talks about people becoming or being gods, its never a compliment or a promotion; search the scriptures yourself and try to find humans exalted in their own godhood as being something that God approves of or endorses.

And no, Mr. Galli, created humans can not envision anything of God's spiritual domain because as sinners we are spiritually blinded! (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 5:8); only those born of God's Spirit can perceive ("see") and enter into God's Kingdom (John 3:3-5)! Only those born of God will bear the image of Christ JESUS, not (sad to say) the human race at large.

Self awareness does nothing to obtain spirituality, much less approval before a righteous and holy God; awareness of God is not possible for those who aren't even spiritually alive by God's Spirit

(Eph. 2:1-5; Col. 2: 13)!

"[God] will go to any length to get us to grasp and live into our glory, even if it kills Him."

Patent absurdity, not to mention false doctrine. Find one verse that talks about how God is working 'to get us to grasp and live into our glory'! Rather, Christ Jesus is the One who will receive all glory (Luke 24:26) while we as His children partake of His divine nature! By knowledge of Him we are called to glory and virtue, which are not our own, but belong to Christ Jesus (2 Peter 1: 2-4).

"What God wants is to make gods out of sinners."

Not gods, no; saints: humans born again of God's Spirit and sanctified, purified, godly, humble, and who adore and worship the LORD Jesus Christ out of a heart of grateful love and adoration, who bear in their souls the nature of Jesus Christ our LORD Who loves us and gave Himself for us so that we likewise would surrender ourselves, die to self and yield to Jesus Christ's potent life in us (Gal. 2:20).

The one who promises to make us 'gods' is Satan.

What I find to be tragic is that after reading this article in Christianity Today, there will still be some professing Christians who will continue their subscription to this ungodly, apostate, new spiritualty/emergent church-oriented magazine whose writers and editors know very little of the scriptures, and what little they do know, they seem delighted in twisting and maladjusting into contorted, unrecognizable 'truths' that are befitting of the world religious system that they've become a part of!

I am geniunely grieved, well near tears, at the wretched condition of a church that doesn't seem to recognize error when she sees it, and apparently cares even less to stand against it.

Please visit Apprising Ministries where there is a link provided to the full article ("Divine Drama Queen") written by Mark Galli:

CHRISTIANITY TODAY WITH GOD AS “DIVINE DRAMA QUEEN”
By Ken Silva pastor-teacher on Jul 15, 2010