Showing posts with label Christian. Show all posts

Yoga Training - truth for Christians 

Read this article (link above) for more insight into the different kinds of yoga and how each kind influences you.

The New Age Christian—An Accepted Oxymoron

Reiki ??  (see article above!)

RICK WARREN SELLING THE CHURCH AS CHANGE AGENT

• First, what is a CHURCH doing in the BUSINESS of assessing HEALTH CARE?
• Second, what is a CHURCH doing amassing a huge databank of intimate health data on evangelicals?
• Third, what is a CHURCH doing at the forefront of the health care reform agenda?
• Fourth, what is a CHURCH doing working with obvious New Age gurus?

(from Crosstalk Radio program)
Rick Warren, Dr. Oz, and the Dangers of the Daniel Plan
Host: Ingrid Schlueter

Guest: Jennifer Pekich (listen live at the link below)
http://www.crosstalkamerica.com/shows/2011/01/rick_warren_dr_oz_and_the_dang.php

Jennifer Pekich is a writer, researcher and stay at home mother who has been married for 19 years. She describes herself as a born-again believer in Jesus Christ who is committed to protecting and defending the Christian faith. Greatly inspired by 1 Peter 3:15, her entering the “blogosphere” was born out of her family’s personal experience of leaving a church due to false teaching.

Ingrid opens this edition of Crosstalk describing what we’ve seen up until recently from Rick Warren and the Purpose Driven Movement. With the help of his Purpose Driven books, Warren has convinced many Christians to initiate radical changes to the church ranging from thematic preaching and rock music to a more corporate style of church leadership.

Warren’s latest project is a 52 week health and fitness program known as “The Daniel Plan”. But one must wonder what Pastor Warren is up to when in promoting the plan, he relies on individuals such as Daniel Amen, Mark Hyman and Mehmet Oz.

Why should these men cause “red flags” to come up for Christians? Jennifer attended the Daniel Plan kick-off gathering on January 15. From her notes she shares how from Kundalini Yoga to Transcendental Meditation, these men are steeped in Eastern mysticism and the occult. In addition, through it all, numerous U.N. buzz-phrases could be heard; phrases such as "sustainable living", :smart growth", "public-private partnerships" and more.

Are Rick Warren and his associates attempting to restructure the church and society by warming Christians up to a fanciful sounding global plan? Decide for yourself when you review this edition of Crosstalk.



More Information
Jennifer Pekich’s blog:http://www.ponderingsfrompatmos.blogspot.com/

Rick Warren Introduces the Devil Plan. An article by Marsha West:http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/110124

A first-hand account of the Daniel Plan kick-off gathering at Saddleback Church by Jennifer Pekich:http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=5636


Amen, Christian, Crosstalk, Daniel Plan, Health, Hymen, Kundalini, Meditation, Mysticism, Occult, Oz, Pekick, Purpose Driven, Reiki, Schleuter, TM, U.N., Warren, Yoga

LTRP Note: We believe the following commentary is thought-provoking and useful in further understanding the methods of the new spirituality. Keep in mind that a growing number of Christian musicians are becoming involved in the contemplative emerging movement.

By Ellen Pope
Free-Lance Writer
A Commentary

Maybe you’ve noticed the difference on some of the Christian radio stations – how that songs lifting up Jesus Christ are blended with many others that sometimes make you scratch your head and wonder: “What are they actually saying?” or “Is that biblical?” or “This sounds a lot like … [insert name of secular band here].”

Vague and indistinguishable lyrics are sometimes yelled (or whined, or moaned) amidst raw electric guitar chords, emotional electronica, and mind-numbing freight train drum beats moving at break-neck speeds. Other times young men and women rap and hip-hop their way into frenzy. Some sing ballads about their doubt and confusion to the tune of sorrowful violins and piano solos, synthesized to be as hauntingly sad as possible. Once in a while words like “forgiveness,” “justice,” “peace,” “save,” “love” and “God” show up. Much of the time, it’s hard to tell if it’s a Christian singing or not; hence some songs have been granted play-time on secular radio rotations too.

Given the power that music has, especially (but not limited to) the youth, could it be that this is one of the most powerful “tools” used to propagate the deceptions of the emergent, seeker-sensitive, and New Age movements? Movements, which often claim Christ, but deny the Word? It only stands to reason that “another Jesus” would demand its own worship, being a tool to edify an erroneous faith. Is this it?

With the (almost indistinguishable) similarities between much of this music and the world’s music, as well as the questionable convictions behind the lyrics, questions must be asked. Millions of listeners and listener’s dollars are actively purchasing, supporting, and giving over their minds to this music.

Not long ago I opened my mailbox and found a large, multi-page newspaper advertisement for an event called “Creation 2010.” I still get mailings like this from my former years as a very naïve, “all-is-well if it has the word ‘Christian’ attached to it” years. I signed my name and address on all kinds of ministry lists, attended mega conferences (featuring surprise guests like U2, and Rick Warren). I donated to what I thought were “missions,” and even participated in leadership groups. Now I know better.

Years later, the advertisements and invitations still trickle in from these and other sources (apparently they thought it was okay to pass around my information). But I’m not upset. Getting these kinds of mailings lets me know what’s going on “out there” in this world so full of traps and deceptions. It also reminds me that many are still taking part, some for the very first time, as I once did not that long ago.

Creation 2010 boasts as being the nation’s largest Christian Music Festivals. It has on the surface, an innocent mission. “To worship the creator,” promote Jesus Christ, and minister to young people through music, camping, teaching, fellowship, and baptism. We do need all of that! But is it all that it seems?

Amidst schedules, photographs, seminars, and advertisements for humanitarian causes (fighting AIDS, hunger, and aiding the third world), we find that the event is also featuring big names in the Christian music industry. Groups like Toby Mac, Newsboys, Casting Crowns, and [contemplative promoting] David Crowder are all joining in, marking this as a major Christian event, which will draw enormous crowds.

In addition to the big names, there are many included on the schedule that I’ve never heard of (which isn’t saying much; I’m not exactly “in the loop”). Bands like Family Force 5, Tenth Avenue North, Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Red, Downhere, Remedy Drive, Reilly, Abandon, Kari Jobe, KJ-52, Chris & Conrad, John Mark McMillan, Francesca Battistelli, Israel Houghton, Unhindered, Sons of Day, December Radio, and Carlos Whittaker.

On the “Side Stage” there will be bands like The Classic Crime, Oh Sleeper, Sleeping Giant, Brian “Head” Welch, Superchick, Group 1 Crew, House of Heroes, R-Swift, The Letter Black, Secret & Whisper, Seabird, Thi’sl, B. Reith, Jason, Young Joshua, We As Human.

Intrigued, I took the time to read the pamphlet’s summaries posted for the “Main Stage” artists. Some of them seemed fairly benign. But a few really jumped out. Tenth Avenue North, for example, claimed to have “all come from church backgrounds and families, and therefore, are not satisfied saying the same old things in the same old ways” (emphasis mine). “What they’re hoping for with the music they are making is to not  the just entertain people. They want people to encounter faith. They desire to be [sic] cut to the heart and be honest, genuine, and faithful to what they believe is truth.”

I see three things happening here. First, these individuals are telling people that being raised in a Christian home automatically equates to stagnancy and an un-genuine faith. Second, they are attempting to make music to help people “encounter” faith. Is this different from “having” it, as the Bible says?

While it’s no secret that much of the organized Christian church in America is lukewarm at best, and totally apostatized at worst, I think it’s obvious that the faux spirituality of dry denominationalism is what’s really wrong. However, the simple remedy to unbelief, is belief, which happens as the Holy Spirit draws us (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), and not anything else. Especially not anything that forsakes the “old way!” Is that, I wonder, what they mean when they qualify the concept of “truth” with the statement “what they believe to be.” (As if there could be more than one version!)

That might be presumptuous to infer. But maybe not. Reading further, I found that the same idea expressed by Tenth Avenue North, regarding Christianity’s “problem,” is shared by Sons of Day, a Ukrainian band who came to the US in 1992. They found that “In this country Americans are unresponsive to the Gospel if it is told from the same perspective all the time.” (What perspective they’re talking about I’m still not exactly sure. If it’s the perspective of the Bible and that of a believer, then I don’t see a problem, except that the hearts of many Americans have hardened.)

Family Force 5 seeks to remedy the problem of people being “turned off” by the Gospel, by using elements of rap, post-hardcore, alternative rock, punk rock, and club orientedcrunk, electropunk, electronica and nu mental, with “positive, party lyrics in their music…” (emphasis mine) to draw in the crowds. Very “post-modern” don’t you think?

Sons of Day says: “We want to make music that is for God, but at the same time, we want to make music that people enjoy and that they’re not turned off by.” Switchfoot takes this a step further by boldly stating that “Calling us ‘Christian rock’ tends to be a box that closes some people out. Music has always opened my mind – and that’s what we want.”

I realize that these little snippets are just that, little snippets. But, it’s not without its context. Looking directly at the fruit of world-oriented “Christian” bands, especially ones that scream a lot, you know these aren’t innocuous statements. They mean what they say. People walk away from expensive concerts as if they would from a secular one: the same as they were before… except maybe partially deaf. So where is the theology behind this coming from?

If you’ll notice, a common thread among the statements issued to “summarize” these bands’ makeup and mission, seems to be a desire to “shatter” the perverted ideas surrounding what being a “Christian” is all about, and present the Gospel in a “new way.” They proclaim to desire to renew and revitalize the church. This is very tricky because, as I said earlier, the church is in desperate need of renewal. The question is: is that what’s being accomplished? Are people coming to the Cross?

Many of these bands are attempting to bring Jesus in “by the back door,” by choosing not to mention His name, but singing about forgiveness in general. This kind of method, however, will only feed the distortions of today, and increase the confusion.

Whereas the Holy Spirit brings clarity (the opposite of confusion), seeker-sensitive methods that avoid confrontation at all cost, only bring haze. Common sense and the Word of God would tell you that! Clearly, the Gospel doesn’t belong in the shadows of the background, nor should it be relegating it to a mere “suggestion” that is buried underneath much noise and personal “thoughts” in lyric form. This only invites perversion. Christians must come to grips with this reality. Even while the “premise” might be valid (these “Christian rock” bands claim to be using the music to reach the lost), it is those same methods they are employing to “mend” the spiritual disconnect that are causing grave problems.

As a sterling example, Switchfoot never shares a clear biblical Gospel message in their music. Instead of giving their talents to the Lord to become instruments of righteousness, they have created their own “version” of serving the Lord. It is simple. When the “seeker” doesn’t receive the uncompromised Word of God, how can he or she come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? In fact, the watering down “in His name” only makes it that much easier for people be led off in the wrong direction, away from Jesus, (all the while thinking that they are coming to Him in some way). This, dear readers, is the most dangerous place of all.

By making statements about inclusiveness and “open-mindedness,” Switchfoot is ambiguous enough to appeal to some professing Christians andnon-Christians. It jives with pluralists who like the idea of God, but hate the idea of Jesus being the “only way.” At the same time, it appeals to the confused Christian who thinks that hiding Jesus Christ and conforming to the world’s “norms” are the best ways to reach the world. For Switchfoot, this position is the “best of both worlds”… for the pocketbook anyway.

To be frank, what many of these bands really seem to want, is to be able to claim Christianity, whilst still being in and of the world. Much of the modern “Christian” music industry is evidencing rudiments of the world as the foundation, rather than the Rock of all ages. In attempting to bring a “new spin” on what it means to be Christian, artists have spun themselves right into false doctrine, and in so-doing became part of the problem.

Some artists don’t realize exactly what they’re doing. Some may be new believers or perhaps are unsure of what they actually believe (and no wonder in this environment)! Being thus, it would be easy to get up in the greater movements that call themselves “Christian.”

Young people are particularly vulnerable to deception, thinking that its “right” simply because it is popular, has a snazzy looking Christian veneer, or everyone they know (including their parents, and church leadership) is involved. We learn, after all, by seeing and hearing, and this music is marketed toward the youth. Creation 2010 appears to be geared even for very young children, with puppet shows and other acts as well.

One young artist, Francesca Battistelli, who is also scheduled to perform on the fourth and last day of Creation 2010, states part of her mission as bringing “something authentic to the scene that even non-Christians could listen to.” Again, the same thing is echoed over and over. Bring the world into your music, and the world will accept the bits of truth that might be in it.

If I could talk to Francesca, I’d lovingly tell her that the unconverted can listen to anything. But what they like to listen to is much different from what they need to listen to. We ourselves don’t have the power to convert a soul. No “non-threatening” lyric, catchy melody or “fashionable” cover art is going to affect any change.

The truth is, God doesn’t need “entertainment” to draw people to Himself! If people wanted to go to a club, they’d go to a club. If people wanted to hang in a coffee house and tickle their ears, they can. But Christians shouldn’t be the ones on stage doing the tickling!

Scripture shows the music is spiritual. Jesus said, “…true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24).

Christians gifted in music need to know that their music is, by its very nature, spiritual. Before the first note ever leaves a singer’s lips, there is a spirit behind it, producing it. What you must be able to do as a Christian, in order to affect any “change” for Christ, is to discern when you are entertaining the spirits in the world, or if you are worshiping “in spirit and truth,” through the power of the Holy Spirit. The difference is vast. God the Holy Spirit is the only One who can move people to conviction through you. The world needs the Holy Spirit, not its own, and not your own.

Music that evokes booty shaking, head banging, or, as December Radio put it “an adrenalin-fueled rock spectacle,” neither glorifies God nor is pleasing to Him, and nor can it touch the heart of a dying soul in need of the blood of Jesus Christ. Again, you don’t get saved under the influence of the spirits in this world. It’s God’s Spirit alone, and He is sufficient to do the Work.

Worldly music and worldly messages (which imitate the world) don’t offer the world anything different than what they can get anywhere. Yet, that’s exactly where much of the Christian music industry (and many “churches” too) have tried to recreate. They’ve gone in the seeker-sensitive direction, with staggeringly disastrous results!

To be blunt, the world doesn’t need any more of what its already got. Satanic and self-glorifying songs are prevalent enough. They don’t need Christians to become “like that,” and water-down the message either. What they desperately need is the same old Gospel the apostles preached, in the same way that God anointed from the beginning, from people who aren’t afraid to stand for it even at the risk of appearing “uncool” or “unfashionable” according to the Hollywood standard. Why should we take our cues from Hollywood anyway?

This issue is really quite simple. We are to avoid even the appearanceof evil (I Thessalonians 5:22). We are to glorify God, not ourselves (Galatians 6:14). We are to live by the Word of God (Luke 4:4), separated unto Him (II Corinthians 6:17), casting off the “old man,” and living as the new (Romans 6:6-11, Colossians 3:9-10).

By trying to play chameleon, many of these contemporary “Christian” bands are influencing young people in the wrong direction, even in some cases, into the clutches of the emergent church. Take Carlos “los” Whittaker for example.

His profile reads:“Carlos Whittaker is an artist, pastor, thinker, experience architect and Web 2.0 junkie. His passion for leading the church into a relational worship experience every Sunday was his heart’s goal. Recently, Carlos signed with Integrity Music to pursue a recording career and to continue to disturb the Church as a whole. Carlos lives to ignite a movement of authenticity among all generations of Christians that morphs the face of the evangelical church into a place of being real with yourself.”

Suspecting that this man may be part of the emergent movement, I decided to do some research and find out just where he was coming from, and what exactly he is attempting to “morph” the church into.

I came upon his blog, where quotes from New Age “theologian” Thomas Merton and emergent leader Rick Warren surfaced in page after page. Interviews with (and dreams of) Mark Driscoll, another young emergent founder, pepper the blog. Whittaker acts as a “minister” by opening up each entry to discussion, where he spurs conversation among readers, injecting his subtle emergent theology… where doors are many and “rules” are malleable.

Whittaker, a long-time close friend of Rick Warren’s, even took part in blogging for an unadvertised by-invitation-only “stealth leaders conference” at Saddleback Church, where leaders came together from all corners to discuss “ministry” and further their plots to engineer “world transformation,” (no doubt via with emphasis on the P.E.A.C.E. plan). Whittaker is obviously no stranger to social engineering, the social gospel, Christian psychology, and the confusion that is emergent “Christianity.”

I listened to samples of his songs online and heard nothing out of the ordinary. If I were listening to this five years ago I might have even liked it. But knowing better than to passively allow the spirit of the music do whatever it wanted with my emotions, I listened to it with a discerning ear of detached observation, as one should when approaching “New Age” contemporary Christian music. That’s when I realized something.

Were it not for the hypnotic beat (which has been a tool of Satan for ages) and the swells of the diatonic chord progression (which are designed to keep the listener in a perpetual state of suspense, and sometimes even induce a drug-like euphoria…), the song wouldn’t really be anything at all. Words are repeated, they are vague, and the message could be interpreted many ways. But here’s where the danger lies. Young people probably won’t know exactly what is going on theologically, just by listening to songs like “Rain it Down,” “Jesus Saves” and “We Will Worship You.” Elements of truth are used in the deception occurring behind the music.

To most professing Christians today, emergent worship music might sound good, but look a little deeper into the people behind them, and you’ll find a very different story… one where the Word isn’t really the ultimate authority, and where drug abuse, smoking, swearing, rebellion, participation in paganism, and even homosexuality aren’t necessarily sins. Where doctrinal error is not exposed but created, and what has been dubbed the “post modern worldview” becomes the new view of “the church.” All religions lead to God, so they say. But while claiming Christ with their lips, they have made themselves their own gods. And young people are diving in and worshiping with men and women who believe this new faith.

Creation 2010 might be a noble concept, and some leaders and participants will, no doubt, approach it with innocence in a right attitude and heart. Some children may indeed hear the Gospel from people with genuine faith, and some may give their hearts to the Lord. However, mixed and mingled with things deemed “acceptable” are also things which are not, and it so happens that many of them are on stage.

The spiritual end of the emergent church is death to the things of God, its fruits, and even to His mighty salvation. This is not something that can be ignored or shrugged off. We can’t keep silent. The source of the spirit of deception knows that in order to achieve the goal, it must all go down tastelessly silently, and undetected, so that once it’s in the body it can accomplish its ultimate end.

So it seems that the greatest danger to the church is actually in the church. Now, more than ever before, we need to speak up. Ridding with what appears to have a semblance of truth is a spirit that is false. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Even in this much-loved music. This is why every voice counts. Especially yours. Souls depend on it.

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1)

“…true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24).
“Jesus saith unto him, I am… the truth.” (John 14:6).

“…And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” (1 John 5:6).

“…the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21).

“Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” (1 Corinthians 10:21).

“A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” (Galatians 5:9).


Related Articles:
The Music and the Mystical

The New Missiology - You Can Keep Your Own Religion - Just Add Jesus

The New Missiology Says Three Things:

1. You can keep your own religion — Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, etc. — you just need to add Jesus to the equation. Then you become complete. You become a Buddhist with Jesus, a Hindu with Jesus, a Muslim with Jesus and so on.

2. You can throw out the term Christianity and still be a follower of Jesus.

3. In fact, you can throw out the term Christian too. In some countries you could be persecuted for calling yourself a Christian, and there is no need for that. Just ask Jesus into your heart, you don't have to identify yourself as a Christian.

Listen to some Popular "Postmodernists."

"For me, the beginning of sharing my faith with people began by throwing out Christianity and embracing Christian spirituality, a nonpolitical mysterious system that can be experienced but not explained."—Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz, p. 115

"I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts."—Brian McLaren (leader of the Emerging Church movement),author of A Generous Orthodoxy

"I'm not talking about a religion this morning. You may be Catholic or Protestant or Buddhist or Baptist or Muslim or Mormon or Jewish ... or you may have no religion at all. I'm not interested in your religious background. Ok? Because God did not create the universe for us to have religion."—Rick Warren, September 2005, United Nations, Interfaith Prayer Breakfast to 100 World Delegates

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Going to church this Sunday? Look around.

The chances are that one in five of the people there find "spiritual energy" in mountains or trees, and one in six believe in the "evil eye," that certain people can cast curses with a look — beliefs your Christian pastor doesn't preach.

In a Catholic church? Chances are that one in five members believe in reincarnation in a way never taught in catechism class — that you'll be reborn in this world again and again.

Elements of Eastern faiths and New Age thinking have been widely adopted by 65% of U.S. adults, including many who call themselves Protestants and Catholics, according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life released Wednesday.

Syncretism — mashing up contradictory beliefs like Catholic rocker Madonna's devotion to a Kabbalah-light version of Jewish mysticism — appears on the rise.

And, according to the survey's other major finding, devotion to one clear faith is fading.

Of the 72% of Americans who attend religious services at least once a year (excluding holidays, weddings and funerals), 35% say they attend in multiple places, often hop-scotching across denominations.

They are like President Obama, who currently has no home church. He has worshiped at a Baptist church, an Episcopal one, and the non-denominational chapel at Camp David.

"Mixing and matching practices and beliefs is as much the norm as it is the exception," Pew's Alan Cooperman says. "Are they grazing, sampling, just curious? We really don't know."

Even so, says Pew researcher Greg Smith, "these findings all point toward a spiritual and religious openness — not necessarily a lack of seriousness."

Among the findings:

•26% of those who attend religious services say they do so at more than one place occasionally, and an additional 9% roam regularly from their home church for services.

•28% of people who attend church at least weekly say they visit multiple churches outside their own tradition.

•59% of less frequent church attendees say they attend worship at multiple places.

The survey of 2,003 adults Aug. 11-27 has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. It measures Protestants, Catholics and the unaffiliated; there were not enough people of other faiths surveyed for analysis.

"For an extremely long time, most of us thought belonging or membership or home church was monogamous, even if it was serial monogamy, because we all know about church-switching," says sociologist of religion Scott Thumma, a professor at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Hartford, Conn. "Today, the individual rarely finds all their spiritual needs met in one congregation or one religion."

'Rampant confusion'

In the 1980s, Albert Mohler and Julia Jarvis were in graduate school together at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville.

Today, Mohler is president of the seminary and a leading voice for Baptist orthodoxy. He sees a "rampant confusion" about faith revealed in the Pew findings.

"This is a failure of the pulpit as much as of the pew to be clear about what is and is not compatible with Christianity and belief in salvation only through Christ," Mohler says.

Pew says two in three adults believe in or cite an experience with at least one supernatural phenomenon, including:

•26% find "spiritual energy" in physical things.

•25% believe in astrology.

•24% say people will be reborn in this world again and again.

•23% say yoga is a "spiritual practice."

Mohler calls these "the au courant confusions," attachments to the latest fashionable free-floating beliefs.

"One hundred years ago, it would have been 'spiritualism.' They wouldn't have known what yoga was but might have been attracted to the 'New Thought' of the time," Mohler says.

His former classmate giggles at that. She's an ordained minister in the progressive United Church of Christ and leads the Interfaith Family Project, which meets for weekly worship at a Silver Spring, Md., high school.

Jarvis, of Takoma Park, Md., also studies with Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and finds a spiritual dimension in yoga.

"I don't do astrology, but my mother, who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., and was a staunch Baptist all her life, looked at her horoscope daily and totally believed it," Jarvis says.

Jarvis says her late mother, like 49% of adults in the Pew survey, also had a moment of "religious or spiritual awakening."

"My mother feared for years that I was no longer saved, but just two days before she died, she had an epiphany," Jarvis says. "She said she was 'told' in a spiritual experience to put aside all religious and political differences and just love each other. That was her blessing to me, and that's what I'm doing."

Regina Roman of Alexandria, Va., calls herself "a very grounded Episcopalian" who's active in her church. But, she says, "I'm also stretching the boundaries of how we are to be here and now in this day, age and culture."

She leads pilgrimages to Egypt, New Mexico and Ireland to help travelers discover the truths and visions in Coptic, Native American and Celtic traditions. Roman celebrated the winter solstice with a home ceremony for guests to delight in the sun's gifts.

"We are all in relationship with the cosmos. We need to honor that," says Roman, who doesn't see herself crossing barriers but rather "coming full circle" with ancient ideas.

"People have always mixed religions, either in ignorance or willfully," says Stephen Prothero, director of the Graduate Division of Religious and Theological Studies at Boston University.

Despite the late Pope John Paul II's warnings to explicitly avoid Buddhist and Hindu practices, Prothero says, "American Catholics are so used to not caring what the official church tells them on birth control, divorce, premarital sex and other points that they don't think they are un-Catholic when they believe and do what they please."

Combating syncretism has troubled popes for centuries, says the Rev. Dan Pattee, chairman of the theology department at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.

The problem with borrowing spiritual ideas is that "the life-giving truth becomes compromised as we understand it as Catholics," Pattee says.

The growth of mixing

Prothero sees a similar trend among Protestants, a "resistance to being told what to think."

"Even people who call themselves by denominational tags don't really feel the identity attachment to them as they once did," he says. "And without that identity marker, what's to prevent you from checking out some other church? Nothing much."

Cooperman notes that the new survey is measuring a phenomenon that may have been going on for decades. Also, it does not clearly establish how much is due to interfaith relationships.

A new study from InterfaithFamily.com, which encourages Jewish-Christian couples to raise their children as Jews, looks specifically at the Christmas/Hanukkah season. The findings are not scientific but give an indication that in intermarried couples rearing their children as Jews, most will celebrate Hanukkah — which begins on Friday night this year — at home. Less than 48% will celebrate Christmas, and largely in a secular fashion.

Pew specifically excludes the major holidays and life-cycle events to focus on ordinary worship practices. Its report says the findings on interfaith couples are "complex," in part because people in mixed marriages attend worship less frequently than those with a same-faith spouse.

The faith-mixing trend has been building; other surveys in the past two years have touched on the swirling, unbounded paths of believers:

•Forty-seven percent to 59% of Americans have changed religions at least once, a Pew survey in April found. The top reasons for most: Their spiritual needs weren't being met, or they liked another faith more or changed religious or moral beliefs.

•The percentage of people who call themselves Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation, and so many people declined any religious label that the "Nones," now 15% of the USA, are the third-largest "religious" group after Catholics and Baptists, according to the American Religious Identification Survey last March.

•Despite Americans' overwhelming allegiance to someone they call God (92%), in Pew's 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, 70% said "many religions can lead to eternal life," and 68% said "there's more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion."

•Most (55%) say a guardian angel has protected them from harm, and 52% believe in prophetic dreams, according to surveys by Baylor University released in 2006 and 2008.

In short, we believe our own experiences are authentic, and no "authority" can say otherwise.

That's a very "Eastern" notion, says Jim Todhunter of Bethesda, Md. Retired after three decades leading United Church of Christ congregations, he has studied in a Hindu ashram in India and practices Zen meditation and Christian contemplative prayer.

"In the Western religions — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — the focus is: 'What do you believe?' There is always a tremendous focus on doctrine and teachings," he says. "In the East, Buddhism and Hinduism in particular, the leading question is, 'Do you know God?' It's much more experience-based."

http://www.worldviewtimes.com/article.php/articleid-5595/Brannon-Howse/Jan-Markell

Author Accuses Christian Publisher of Dabbling in 'New Age' Spirituality
Publisher Sponsor of Three-City Annual Youth Workers Conference
By Jim Brown
September 29, 2005

(AgapePress) - A leading Christian publisher of youth ministry material is being accused of introducing young people to practices rooted in New Age Eastern spirituality.

Today, the 2005 National Youth Workers Conference kicks off in Sacramento, California, but not without criticism. The conference is sponsored by Youth Specialties, a group that one Christian author says introduces students to labyrinth walks, yoga, and contemplative prayer practices. For that reason, Cathy Mickels -- co-author of the book Spiritual Junkfood: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth -- is advising youth workers and parents to distance themselves from the conference and Youth Specialties.

"One of their goals, they say, is to know God first-hand as a living reality. That's why they're putting kids into contemplative prayer-type situations," she explains. "How do we know God first-hand as a living reality? We read the Word of God because it is God-breathed and it is God-inspired. [What Youth Specialties is doing] is an undermining of God's Word; this is an undermining of the Christian faith."

Mickels also claims Youth Specialties teaches youth pastors to introduce students to ancient eastern spiritual practices.

"Nowhere in God's Word does it say that you take kids on labyrinth walks, [or] that you introduce students to yoga or to contemplative prayer practices where you say a word over and over again to put yourself into what Youth Specialties says is a 'semi-conscious state,'" she states. "None of these practices are in God's Word."

She says parents and youth workers need to be aware that those who approve of putting Christian youth into this semi-conscious state "are the same people sponsoring this Youth Workers' conference."

Mickels, who is former president of Eagle Forum in the state of Washington, contends that Youth Specialties and other evangelical leaders are "blurring the lines" between Eastern religions and the Christian faith. "It's hard to believe that while Christian parents have been fighting against the introduction of yoga and Eastern practices into the public schools, those in charge of training our Christian youth are introducing the same principles into the church."

Among the featured speakers at the Sacramento conference are Mark Yaconelli, who is the director of the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project, and Doug Fields, the youth pastor at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California. Musicians featured include the Chris Tomlin Band, the David Crowder Band, and Jars of Clay.


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Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
© 2005 AgapePress all rights reserved

Book Review on Castles in the Sandby C. Pack(Used with permission)"Spiritual Formation is Dangerous.... And Here's Why"

As a former New Ager, I have become increasingly alarmed at the New Age/New Spirituality practices and beliefs that I have seen flowing into the church. I was saved in a conservative, evangelical church that boldly proclaimed the gospel: Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life, and no-one comes to the Father but by Him. Yet, within 2 years time, this same precious church began to preach sermons on past mystics (St. John of the Cross), began offering yoga classes, and began to adopt practices that eerily reminded me of my New Age days... all of which are an assault on the true gospel.

In my spiritual immaturity, I just assumed that there was a type of mysticism that was okay within the framework of Christendom. I even participated in "setting the stage" for these new practices to come into our church: I helped hang blackout curtains to set the right "atmosphere," I set up candles, I carefully placed incense stations so they were out of reach of small children, etc.However, after doing a little research (just to put my mind at ease), I came to the startling realization that these "Christianized" practices (yoga, contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, etc.) were identical to what I (and my New Age friends) had done, way back in the 80s and 90s...they just had new names.

This book by Carolyn Greene unmasks the demonic nature of these practices and shows how our Christian children are being exposed to them. The heroine of this novel, Teresa, goes off to a Christian college that has always had a reputation for being doctrinally solid. Unbeknownst to her (and her foster grandparents, who themselves attended the school), the college has just begun implementing new classes in Spiritual Formation, Ancient Future, Lectio Divina, and Contemplative Prayer, among others. Not only that, but they've bulldozed the boring old soccer field to make way for a Labyrinth.... The story cuts back and forth between the experiences of the young student Teresa and another Teresa set in the 16th century - St. Teresa of Avila, a well-known mystic. As the student Teresa is unwittingly sucked deeper and deeper into a vortex of unbiblical practices and demonic deception, she becomes the star pupil of the college's glamorous new teacher, Dr. Jasmine Winters, who is introducing these enthralled young students to new - yet unbiblical - ways to "experience" God.

On a sidenote, let me state that as parents, we have been "trained" by our church leadership to turn over the spiritual discipling of our children to the leadership, whether at church or school.....but how sure are we that the youth group or private school or "Christian" college our kids are attending are, in fact, discipling them in solid Biblical truths?

The emergent church movement, which heavily promotes Spiritual Formation and Contemplative practices, is a HUGE and very popular movement today. It prides itself with being able to "dialogue" with today's youth, with being culturally relevant to them. But as Christians, we know that our children's deepest spiritual need is NOT to be "engaged" by someone with hipness and cultural relevancy, but is rather to be given spiritual truth: that they are dead in their sins, depraved at their core, and in need of God's mercy and plan of salvation, through Christ's atoning death on the cross. The emergent church movement never gives this message, because at its core, emergent theology is a cross between New Age and Universalist thought (man's divine inner goodness + good works = salvation.

If the gospel is not clearly given to our youth, but instead we are giving them exciting, but unbiblical, "experiences" - which seem spiritual because they're wrapped in Christian terminology - then we've damned them. In our rush to do the next big thing, we are taking the edge off the blade, as it were, and giving our children just enough "Christianity" to "feel" spiritual and saved, without them coming to God on His terms: through the blood of Christ. These emergent experiences do not have the power to save, but instead are just "a form of godliness" without salvific power (2 Tim 3:5).

This book will be eye-opening for anyone who has heard the terms Ancient Future, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation, Contemplative Prayer, Lectio Divina, etc. and perhaps wondered what they were, and if they were biblical. They absolutely are not... and Carolyn Greene shows us why.

(Originally posted at Amazon.com, used with permission from C. Pack)Click here for more information on Castles in the Sand. (This article copied from LighthouseTrailsResearch.Com)

Why Compromise in Christian Publishing Costs in the Long Run"Why compromise costs in the long runExclusive: Jim Fletcher argues publishers can't leave truth to pursue manna"
By Jim FletcherWorldNetDaily

With attendance down significantly at the Christian Booksellers' Association trade show last week, I want to examine some reasons for the decline in Christian retail---without focusing on the much bemoaned economy.
Discussing the real reasons for that decline, however, can't be done in polite company.
The production and sale of Christian books assumes that the publishers, trade organizations and sales channels pull in the same direction philosophically. That would mean, of course, that fundamentally, a person working in the Christian book industry would embrace the teachings of the Bible. The Christian Booksellers Association operated on this philosophy for many years.
In the 1990s, however, there was a shift in philosophy. Publishers, stores and distributors began to realize the vast potential for making money. As time went on, to appeal to the broadest possible audience, works began to creep in that were decidedly not aligned with the Bible.
I remember years ago walking onto the floor of a CBA convention and seeing Health Communications' booth. They were rolling out the first of the wildly successful "Chicken Soup" books. In the first volume, I remember reading an essay that discussed the "Golden Buddha" inside us.
I don't have a Golden Buddha inside me, and neither do orthodox Christians.
So I wrote to a CBA representative, saying basically, "Hey, you'll never guess who I saw at CBA. You are probably not aware of this."
They were aware of it. The representative sent me a letter, then his lawyer sent me a letter. Both explained they had to allow Health Communications to display. Click here to read this entire article.
Related Stories:
A list of Christian publishers publishing contemplative/emerging material
Baker Book publishing goes contemplative
Christian publishers that are NOT promoting contemplative/emerging spirituality

You can't argue with this man/his credentials. He's one of the best apologetics of our time. (hmmm many of your local churches admire this book)

The Shack: Helpful or Heretical?A Critical Review by Norman L. Geisler and Bill Roach
http://normangeisler.net/theshack.html

The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina will be sponsoring a conference this fall featuring yoga proponent and emerging church leader Doug Pagitt. The Wired2Grow event will take place on October 16th in Burlington, North Carolina....Pagitt is the pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minnesota where yoga classes are often held. In the December 3rd 2005 issue of the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, it stated: "Christian yoga has been gaining a devout following, and Twin Cities pastor Doug Pagitt has endorsed the practice in his new book, Body Prayer: The Posture of Intimacy with God." A PBS news story (see video) on the emerging church featured Doug Pagitt. The video also showed yoga classes taking place at the 2005 Emergent Convention in which Pagitt was a speaker. In one segment of the video (25 second mark), there was an Egyptian god symbol above a sanctuary stage (25 second mark) of a church. Currently, on the Solomon Church website is advertised the Women's Yoga and Prayer class...

Pagitt, like most emerging church leaders, resonates with mysticism (such as yoga and contemplative prayer) and is sympathetic towards Catholicism. In Roger Oakland's book, Faith Undone, he quotes Pagitt. Pagitt states: "During a recent Life Development Forum we offered a session on Christian practices. In one of the four weeks we introduced the act of making the sign of the cross on ourselves. This gesture has become a very powerful experience for me. It is rich with meaning and history and is such a simple way to proclaim and pray my faith with my body. I hold the fingers on my right hand in the shape of a cross, my index finger lying over the top of my outstretched thumb. I use the Eastern Orthodox pattern of touching first head, then heart, then right lung followed by left. Others in the group follow the Roman Catholic practice with left before right." (Faith Undone, p. 51) ....

While many Christians think that yoga is ok if it is just practiced as a physical exercise omitting the spiritual aspects, even Hindu yoga masters say that you cannot separate the two. In one article titled "There is No Christian Yoga" by Hindu Yogi Baba Prem, Vedavisharada, CYI, C.ay, C.va, he states: It was quite astonishing to see on the flyer 'Christian Yoga! This Thursday night....' I could feel the wheels spinning in my brain. 'Christian Yoga,' I thought. Now while Christians can practice yoga, I am not aware of any Christian teachings about yoga. Yoga is not a Judeo/Christian word! It is ... certainly not a part of protestant teachings. It is not found within the King James Version of the bible. It is a Hindu word, or more correctly a Sanskrit word from the Vedic civilization.

So how did we get 'Christian Yoga'? In an email Lighthouse Trails received from a professor at the Classical Yoga Hindu Academy, he stated: Is Yoga a religion that denies Jesus Christ? Yes. Just as Christianity denies the Hindu MahaDevas such as Siva, Vishnu, Durga and Krishna, to name a few, Hinduism and its many Yogas have nothing to do with God and Jesus (though we do respect that others believe in this way). As Hindus who live the Yogic lifestyle, we appreciate when others understand that all of Yoga is all about the Hindu religion. Modern so-called 'yoga' is dishonest to Hindus and to all non-Hindus such as the Christians.In a DVD titled Yoga Uncoiled by Caryl Productions, she explains that Yoga is not mere exercise.

The postures themselves are specifically designed to worship the gods of Hinduism. For anyone who thinks that Yoga exercises (postures) are valid and safe, please get a copy of Dave Hunt's book, Yoga and the Body of Christ and Caryl Matrisciana's DVD. You will not only have a deeper understanding of the true nature of Yoga, but you will also see how dangerous it is to the spiritual welfare of the believer.
Unfortunately, Pagitt's role in the North Carolina Baptist event is not the only indication that the North Carolina organization is heading into the contemplative/emergent camp.

In their Spiritual Formation department, they include Marjorie Thompson's book Soul Feast. In a recent book review, Thompson is quoted from her book as saying: Some Christians find that "mindfulness meditation," a traditional Buddhist practice, helps them live their Christian discipleship more faithfully.... The practice of contemplative prayer might give a Christian ground for constructive dialogue with a meditating Buddhist. (from Prologue of Soul Feast)...BSCNC is also advertising the North Carolina Five-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation. A look at the retreat's brochure reveals influence by Catholic priest and mystic Thomas Merton, who said he wanted to be the best Buddhist he could be and who compared dropping LSD to practicing contemplative prayer... (This article is from LighthouseTrailsResearch.com)

THIS IS JUST 3.5 MINUTES AND IS VERY BOLD ON PIPER'S PART - !

http://worldviewtimes.com/article.php/articleid-4518/Brannon-Howse/John-Piper

Defining a Cult...read from this link...

http://www.wfial.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=artGeneral.article_1

There are many individual powerful practices which characterize the methods of deception employed by false teachers, but the twisting of Scripture is universal among them.
Few, if any, people go into a cult or aberrant religious movement by reading the Bible alone, so they must have some help from false teachers. These false teachers must come to terms with the authority of Scripture. They deal deceptively with this issue in several ways.

Read more...

http://www.watchman.org/cults/cultwist.htm

Check out the names on this list from Lighthouse Trails Research web site (my favorite resource!).
If you see these names being recommended by speakers, authors, at conferences, in books, or recommended as favorable resources - BEWARE!
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/christianmysticspast.htm

Another List of Who's Who from Apprising Ministries - excellent site!

YOGA IS NOT FOR CHRISTIANS!!!

Does God Approve of Yoga?
A Hindu prior to converting to Christianity - Caryl Matrisciana on YOGA! (This is a 30+ minute CrossTalk audio file. Begin around minute 8 or 8.5 and you'll get the yoga portion. This is worth your time!)

Can Believers in Jesus Christ Do Yoga and SWG? (3of3) See youtube.com for parts 1 and 2

Do yourself a favor and view this DVD http://www.carylmatrisciana.com/shop/catalog/Yoga-Uncoiled-p-16188.html

The Pilates Method Article: http://www.wfial.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=artGeneral.article_7

If yoga is risky spiritually, what about Pilates?
Decide for yourself after you read this article.
http://www.pastornet.net.au/response/articles/121.htm