Welcome to the year 2012—the much-publicized year
of the
Mayan writings that prophesy the "End of the World" as we
know it. But what is our spiritual adversary really up to?
And how does he attempt to accomplish his plan
to infiltrate and overturn Biblical Christianity, replacing it
with his “new” worldview—a worldview that will attempt to
scientifically prove
through quantum physics that “we are all God” because God is
“in” everything—a new worldview that states that humanity is
about to take a “quantum leap” into a
newly evolved state of being (counterfeit of “born again”)
that will usher in a “New Age” of world peace?
The Devil’s “Christ” —Antichrist—will,
of course, be the centerpiece of this counterfeit
millennium—this New World Order.
Who would have believed even just a short time ago, that today’s
professing evangelical Church would be buying into this New Age
deception and exponentially imploding the way it is—literally
catapulting a once biblical church into the heretical
panentheistic teachings of the New Age? For example:
-
Robert Schuller featured New Age leader
Gerald Jampolsky on his worldwide television program Hour of
Power. On another program, Schuller stated that “God is in every
single human being.”
-
Schuller’s disciple Rick Warren teaches that God is “in”
everything and uses Eugene Peterson’s
The Message
as his primary “Bible” translation in his book The
Purpose-Driven Life. Eugene Peterson inserted the key to all
magic and mysteries—the key occult/New Age phrase
“as above, so below” that signifies that God is “in”
everything—into his “translation” of The Lord’s Prayer.
-
Meanwhile Warren has developed partnerships with
global internationalists. And this past year he brought on
three "guru
doctors" with deep
ties to
the New Age to direct his health care plan.
-
Rick Warren and Emergent leader Brian McLaren heretically echo
New Age matriarch
Alice Bailey’s teaching that
prophecy is none of our business.
-
Controversial “evangelical” leader Leonard Sweet, with deep
roots in the Leadership Network, introduced the New Age tactic
of using
quantum physics to seemingly “prove” that God is “in”
everything while citing New Age patriarch Pierre Teilhard de
Chardin as “20th century Christianity’s major voice.” Sweet also
cites numerous New Age leaders as his “role models” and
“heroes.”
-
Bible teacher Gayle Erwin endorsed Paul Young’s unbiblical novel
The Shack, stating that it “teaches powerful
theological lessons.” Evangelical Pastor Steve Berger describes
The Shack as being “spiritually profound” and “theologically
enlightening.”
-
Merging “Emergent” leaders like
Brian McLaren,
Rob Bell, and Tony Jones have run
roughshod through the church wresting Scripture from unstable
souls as they
demean the reality of Hell and “churchy things like
doctrine.”
-
Rick Warren’s doctoral mentor
C. Peter Wagner, regarding himself as a modern-day apostle,
flew to
Lakeland, Florida to anoint
Todd Bentley—a man who kicked the “Holy Spirit” into
people with his combat boots and was about to divorce his wife.
-
Wagner has set up a global apostolic movement with the goal of
taking over the
7 mountains of culture in the world, and his
IHOP disciples have now
mainstreamed themselves into the Christian Right in America.
-
Evangelical church leaders are becoming involved in the same
New Age 2012 date-setting that the New Age leaders are
promoting, and some are even expecting
visits from extraterrestrials.
-
Rodney Howard Brown and the so-called Toronto Blessing’s
mid-1990’s
“Holy Laughter” revival was a sign of the times as the enemy
of our souls laughed through professing Christians and mocked
the church. And the latest fad is to
divorce Baal!
The list goes on and on as church pastors and
Christian leaders sat by in silence and let it all happen. Some
even
denied any of this was going on! Deceived and deceiving,
today’s church, while attempting to reach the world has become
the world.
Encountering
the Dead
Unbelievable as it sounds, one of the latest New
(old) Age temptations to confront both the world and the church
is to encourage spiritual and religious seekers to talk with the
dead. In this maneuver we can see the adversary’s ploy is to
further open the door to a seducing spirit world (1Timothy 4:1).
Demonic spirits that impersonate deceased
loved ones will attempt to convey “new understandings” and “new
revelations” that will contribute to a “new worldview.” This
will ultimately lead to a deceptively contrived world peace.
This deceptive “peace” plan was warned about in the Bible
(Daniel 8:25, Matthew 24:3-5, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, 1 Tim 4:1, 1
John 4:1, Revelation 13, etc.).
This temptation to talk and listen to the dead
has already entered the church. And it is entering through
mainstream evangelical doorways. Pastor Steve Berger and his
wife Sarah have written a book entitled Have Heart:
bridging the gulf between heaven and earth. In this book
they describe how their recently deceased son, Josiah, has
appeared to them and to members of their church in a variety
of ways. These appearances are described as missions from God as
Josiah allegedly makes visitations, worships with the church,
and imparts spiritual information to those who will listen.
The book then details a long series of
apparitions of Josiah that have reportedly appeared to
people in dreams or revelations across America. In their book,
the Bergers attempt to make the case that this is normal and
this is biblical—even synchronistic (what the Bergers call “God
Nods”)—and that believers should expect these visitations from
their loved ones from Heaven.
Bergers book
endorsed by Christian leaders
If Pastor Steve Berger was an obscure pastor with a tiny
congregation and a low-profile book, we would not be issuing
this warning about what he and his wife are writing and what it
portends for the church. But this is not the case. The Bergers
have a large congregation of over 4,000 people in Leipers Fork,
Tennessee and their book legitimizes and normalizes, even
encourages the idea of believers interacting with the dead.
It has already been featured on several widely viewed television
programs like Robert
Schuller’s Hour of Power and Canada’s Huntley Street.
In addition to these and other venues, Steve
Berger was invited to speak about his book at a 2011 National
Worship Conference that featured a number of Emergent and
evangelical leaders like Chuck Smith Jr., Miles McPherson, Chuck
Fromm, and which advertised as a keynote speaker the
“Christian” New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet.
But perhaps one of the most dangerous aspects
of the Berger book is the endorsements of high profile leaders
such as Calvary Chapel Pastor
Greg Laurie and longtime Bible teacher
Chuck Missler. Not surprisingly,
The Shack’s author Paul
Young is also listed alongside Laurie and Missler as an endorser
of the book.
Walking into the New
Age trap
In his 2011 novel The Twelfth Insight: The Hour of Decision,
New Age leader James Redfield tells of an ancient manuscript
that describes “a secret approach to spirituality that is
silently arriving in the second decade of the twenty-first
century.”(p. 178) Rachel, a main character in Redfield’s book,
attempts to legitimize talking with the dead as a means
of getting updated information from Heaven. The dead will
provide information—in the form of new revelation—that would
explain God’s real plan for bringing world peace to a
dangerously troubled world. Rachel explains:
“[I]f we follow the Synchronicity, we will be
able to learn from those in Heaven in a direct way, and that
will elevate us into the next level of consciousness.”(p.
178)
Later in that same conversation, Rachel relates
an incident regarding her deceased mother:
“And then one day, without anything pointing
out the way, I just decided to tell her how I felt out loud,
as though she were there. Immediately, I began to intuit
what she might say back to me, only I realized it wasn’t
something I would necessarily have been able to guess.
That’s when I realized that I was having an interaction
with her.”
“The idea of communication with the Afterlife
seemed too strange at first, and I stopped for a while, but
the memory of the experience was so energizing and profound,
I gradually began to communicate with her more often.
Eventually, she told me how much she regretted the way she
had raised me to think of men. She said it was all a mistake
that tormented her, and that now she holds the Agape and
speaks from truth—and she wishes she had known earlier, so
she could have taught me this new way.”
“…Don’t you see?... The Document says we
can begin to communicate with those in the Afterlife and
clear all our resentments and issues with them. All we have
to do is use more of our power to tune in and have a
conversation. It’s never too late. And there is so much more
they want to communicate to us.“In
fact, my mother said they desperately need to speak with us,
right now, at this crucial point in history. They know the
real Plan for the human world, and it’s time for us on this
side to understand.” (p. 179)[emphasis added]
Because a similar kind of talking and interacting
with the dead is now being introduced into the church by the
Bergers, and because their book is being endorsed by Greg
Laurie, Chuck Missler and others, the Discernment Research Group
has asked Pastor Larry DeBruyn to do a book review of the
Bergers’ book Have Heart: bridging the gulf between heaven
and earth.While sympathetic to the
Bergers, and to any who have lost loved ones, Pastor DeBruyn
will explain how our adversary can use something like the
Bergers’ tragedy to introduce new teachings into the church. To
be specific, Pastor DeBruyn will scripturally refute the
unbiblical practice of interacting with and listening to
spiritual entities that claim to be deceased loved ones. He
will also address a number of the other new scriptural
interpretations the Bergers introduce to make their case that it
is now normal, even desirable, to encounter loved ones that have
passed on.
Follow-up articles on the Herescope blog will expose how similar
tactics are currently being used by New Age leaders to present
New Revelation to convince people that the world is not coming
to an end, but just to the end of the age and the beginning of
the New Age. These New Age leaders argue that these new
understandings and New Revelations are being brought forth
through channelers, psychics, mediums—and yes, even those who
have passed on.
What these deceived New Age leaders are saying is that, armed
with these new revelations and understandings, the world will be
able to avert what would otherwise be worldwide crisis and
disaster. They say December 22, 2012 will be the first day of
the new beginning, the new era—the New Age.
Stay tuned . . . .
