On January 7, 1855, the minister of New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England, opened his morning sermon as follows:
It has been said by someone that “the proper study of mankind is man.” I will not oppose the idea, but I believe it is equally true that the proper study of God’s elect is God; the proper study of a Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can ever engage the attention of a child of God, is the name, the nature, the person, the work, the doings, and the existence of the great God whom he calls his Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self–content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. . . .
But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it. He who often thinks of God, will have a larger mind than the man who simply plods around this narrow globe. . . . The most excellent study for expanding the soul, is the science of Christ, and Him crucified, and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity. Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity.
And, whilst humbling and expanding, this subject is eminently consolatory. Oh, there is, in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound; in musing on the Father, there is a quietus for every grief; and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead. It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.
These words, spoken over a century ago by C. H. Spurgeon (at that time, incredibly, only twenty years old) were true then, and they are true now. They make a fitting preface to a series of studies on the nature and character of God.
Who Needs Theology?
“But wait a minute,” says someone, “tell me this. Is our journey really necessary? In Spurgeon’s day, we know, people found theology interesting, but I find it boring. Why need anyone take time off today for the kind of study you propose? Surely a layperson, at any rate, can get on without it? After all, this is the twentieth century, not the nineteenth!”
A fair question!—but there is, I think, a convincing answer to it. The questioner clearly assumes that a study of the nature and character of God will be impractical and irrelevant for life. In fact, however, it is the most practical project anyone can engage in. Knowing about God is crucially important for the living of our lives. As it would be cruel to an Amazonian tribesman to fly him to London, put him down without explanation in Trafalgar Square and leave him, as one who knew nothing of English or England, to fend for himself, so we are cruel to ourselves if we try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. This way you can waste your life and lose your soul.
Recognizing, then, that the study of God is worthwhile, we prepare to start. But where shall we start from?
Clearly, we can only start from where we are. That, however, means setting out in a storm, for the doctrine of God is a storm center today. The so–called debate about God, with its startling slogans—“our image of God must go”; “God is dead”; “we can sing the creed, but we can’t say it”—is raging all around us. We are told that “God–talk,” as Christians have historically practiced it, is a refined sort of nonsense, and knowledge about God is strictly a nonentity. Types of teaching which profess such knowledge are written off as outmoded—“Calvinism,” “fundamentalism,” “Protestant scholasticism,” “the old orthodoxy.” What are we to do? If we postpone our journey till the storm dies down, we may never get started at all.
My proposal is this. You will know how Bunyan’s pilgrim, when called back by his wife and children from the journey on which he was setting out, “put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life, Life, Eternal Life.” I ask you for the moment to stop your ears to those who tell you there is no road to knowledge about God, and come a little way with me and see. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and anyone who is actually following a recognized road will not be too worried if he hears nontravelers telling each other that no such road exists.
Storm or no storm, then, we are going to start. But how do we plot our course?
Five basic truths, five foundation principles of the knowledge about God which Christians have, will determine our course throughout. They are as follows:
1. God has spoken to man, and the Bible is his Word, given to us to make us wise unto salvation.
2. God is Lord and King over his world; he rules all things for his own glory, displaying his perfections in all that he does, in order that men and angels may worship and adore him.
3. God is Savior, active in sovereign love through the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue believers from the guilt and power of sin, to adopt them as his children and to bless them accordingly.
4. God is triune; there are within the Godhead three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and the work of salvation is one in which all three act together, the Father purposing redemption, the Son securing it and the Spirit applying it.
5. Godliness means responding to God’s revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service. Life must be seen and lived in the light of God’s Word. This, and nothing else, is true religion.
In the light of these general and basic truths, we are now going to examine in detail what the Bible shows us of the nature and character of the God of whom we have been speaking. We are in the position of travelers who, after surveying a great mountain from afar, traveling around it, and observing how it dominates the landscape and determines the features of the surrounding countryside, now approach it directly, with the intention of climbing it.
Excerpt from Knowing God by J.I.Packer
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Indwelling Spirit of God
'The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you' Romans 8:11 NLT
I love that Scripture!God Himself lives in the born again Christian. Man, if that doesn't get your horn honking, you may still be dead in your trespasses. Or, you may have lost focus on what really matters. Folks, this is a passing stage of His plan. Don't get 'hung up' on this world and it's ways. We aren't 'obligated' to do what our flesh tells us to do. Christians can actually have joy in a bad situation. Remember Paul singing praises to God while he was imprisoned? He had his eyes and heart set on what really matters, and it wasn't this world.
Think for a moment about the reality of being indwelt by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Allow this Scripture to impact your life! More importantly, if you have not experienced the reality of this Scripture take a moment to pray, seeking God to make this Scripture real to you. Stay focused and run the race with endurance.
I love that Scripture!God Himself lives in the born again Christian. Man, if that doesn't get your horn honking, you may still be dead in your trespasses. Or, you may have lost focus on what really matters. Folks, this is a passing stage of His plan. Don't get 'hung up' on this world and it's ways. We aren't 'obligated' to do what our flesh tells us to do. Christians can actually have joy in a bad situation. Remember Paul singing praises to God while he was imprisoned? He had his eyes and heart set on what really matters, and it wasn't this world.
Think for a moment about the reality of being indwelt by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Allow this Scripture to impact your life! More importantly, if you have not experienced the reality of this Scripture take a moment to pray, seeking God to make this Scripture real to you. Stay focused and run the race with endurance.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
What Happens When A Person Is Born Again
Colossians 2:13-15
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
a. And you, being dead: This is the place of every person before they are raised with Him through faith in the working of God as Paul described in Colossians 2:12. Before we have new life, we are dead. Before a person comes to new life in Jesus, they are not a sick man who needs a doctor; they are dead people who need a Savior.
b. Being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh: Before we have new life in Jesus, we are dead in our trespasses. A trespass is a specific kind of sin: overstepping a boundary. We are dead because we overstep God's boundaries in our sin and rebellion.
c. He has made alive together with Him: We can't make ourselves alive, but God can make us alive together with Jesus. We can never be made alive apart from Jesus.
i. The new birth (made alive) and cleansing (forgiven you all) go together as features of the New Covenant, as prophesied by the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and the New Testament (John 3:5).
ii. Having forgiven us is the ancient Greek word charizomai - a verb form of the ancient Greek word charis (grace). We are forgiven by grace.
d. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us: The handwriting of requirements has in mind a list of our crimes or moral debt before God, a debt no imperfect person can completely pay. But it can be taken out of the way, by payment from a perfect man, Jesus Christ.
i. What a glorious picture! My "rap sheet" or "debit ledger" is settled forever, because Jesus nailed it to the cross.
ii. Martin Luther told once how Satan laid heavy condemnation on him because of his sins. Luther told Satan to list them all, and even reminded him of some he had forgotten. Then he told Satan to write across the whole list "paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ," and Luther rejoiced in the payment Jesus made.
iii. Having nailed it to the cross: We must keep that list up on the cross. We get into trouble when we take that list down from the cross and carry it around. We forget that it was all settled at the cross.
e. Having disarmed principalities and powers: Another aspect of Jesus' work on the cross is that He disarmed principalities and powers. These ranks of hostile angelic beings (Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12) don't have the same weapons to use against Christians that they have against those who are not in Jesus.
i. Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits have? They are disarmed, except for their ability to deceive and to create fear. These are effective "weapons" that aren't tangible weapons at all.
ii. Demonic spirits only have power towards us that we grant them by believing their lies. The weapons are in our hands, not theirs. We will one-day see how afraid they were of us.
iii. Perhaps Satan, for a moment, thought that he had won at the cross. But Hell's greatest "victory" was turned into a defeat that disarmed every spiritual enemy who fights against those living under the light and power of the cross. The public spectacle of defeated demonic spirits makes their defeat all the more humiliating.
commentary by David Guzik
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
a. And you, being dead: This is the place of every person before they are raised with Him through faith in the working of God as Paul described in Colossians 2:12. Before we have new life, we are dead. Before a person comes to new life in Jesus, they are not a sick man who needs a doctor; they are dead people who need a Savior.
b. Being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh: Before we have new life in Jesus, we are dead in our trespasses. A trespass is a specific kind of sin: overstepping a boundary. We are dead because we overstep God's boundaries in our sin and rebellion.
c. He has made alive together with Him: We can't make ourselves alive, but God can make us alive together with Jesus. We can never be made alive apart from Jesus.
i. The new birth (made alive) and cleansing (forgiven you all) go together as features of the New Covenant, as prophesied by the Old Testament (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and the New Testament (John 3:5).
ii. Having forgiven us is the ancient Greek word charizomai - a verb form of the ancient Greek word charis (grace). We are forgiven by grace.
d. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us: The handwriting of requirements has in mind a list of our crimes or moral debt before God, a debt no imperfect person can completely pay. But it can be taken out of the way, by payment from a perfect man, Jesus Christ.
i. What a glorious picture! My "rap sheet" or "debit ledger" is settled forever, because Jesus nailed it to the cross.
ii. Martin Luther told once how Satan laid heavy condemnation on him because of his sins. Luther told Satan to list them all, and even reminded him of some he had forgotten. Then he told Satan to write across the whole list "paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ," and Luther rejoiced in the payment Jesus made.
iii. Having nailed it to the cross: We must keep that list up on the cross. We get into trouble when we take that list down from the cross and carry it around. We forget that it was all settled at the cross.
e. Having disarmed principalities and powers: Another aspect of Jesus' work on the cross is that He disarmed principalities and powers. These ranks of hostile angelic beings (Romans 8:38, Ephesians 1:21, Ephesians 3:10, Ephesians 6:12) don't have the same weapons to use against Christians that they have against those who are not in Jesus.
i. Against the believer, what weapons do demonic spirits have? They are disarmed, except for their ability to deceive and to create fear. These are effective "weapons" that aren't tangible weapons at all.
ii. Demonic spirits only have power towards us that we grant them by believing their lies. The weapons are in our hands, not theirs. We will one-day see how afraid they were of us.
iii. Perhaps Satan, for a moment, thought that he had won at the cross. But Hell's greatest "victory" was turned into a defeat that disarmed every spiritual enemy who fights against those living under the light and power of the cross. The public spectacle of defeated demonic spirits makes their defeat all the more humiliating.
commentary by David Guzik
As Unto The Lord
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people Colossians 3:23
Focusing on who you work for will bring tremendous results. For example, I am in management and have 12 employees in my department. 11 employees are very unhappy and, honestly, spend alot of their time and energy not being productive. One of my employees has the reputation throughout the company as one of the best. He is hard working and does not complain. What is the difference in the employees? One is a Christian who works as unto the Lord, the others work for man.
When someone looks to a company for fulfillment, there is going to be disappointment. Our company is made up of imperfect individuals who, literally should never be in a position of making anyone else happy or content. It simply doesn't work that way. When one is born again and looks to God for everything, then that person can throw themselves completely into whatever task is at hand because the task is no longer menial, something that you have to do in order to get your paycheck. It is an opportunity to serve Him, develop Christ like character and to rejoice in the Lord. You are governed by His Spirit rather than ruled by flesh; yours and your employer's.
Work unto the Lord
Focusing on who you work for will bring tremendous results. For example, I am in management and have 12 employees in my department. 11 employees are very unhappy and, honestly, spend alot of their time and energy not being productive. One of my employees has the reputation throughout the company as one of the best. He is hard working and does not complain. What is the difference in the employees? One is a Christian who works as unto the Lord, the others work for man.
When someone looks to a company for fulfillment, there is going to be disappointment. Our company is made up of imperfect individuals who, literally should never be in a position of making anyone else happy or content. It simply doesn't work that way. When one is born again and looks to God for everything, then that person can throw themselves completely into whatever task is at hand because the task is no longer menial, something that you have to do in order to get your paycheck. It is an opportunity to serve Him, develop Christ like character and to rejoice in the Lord. You are governed by His Spirit rather than ruled by flesh; yours and your employer's.
Work unto the Lord
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Dishonoring of God in Popular Spiritual Warfare Teaching
"The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; And His sovereignty rules over all." (Psalm 103:19)
"[A]nd He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation" (Acts 17:26).
"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (Romans 13:1)
Many popular teachers question God's sovereign rule over His own creation. Their unbiblical scenario goes like this: God made Adam the ruler of the world; Adam committed "treason" and turned the rightful dominion of the earth over to Satan; and Christ's atonement was to regain this lost dominion. According to this theology, however, Christ turned the rulership of the world over to the church when He ascended into heaven. The church consequently lost it back to Satan by ignorance, unbelief, and dis-unity. Now in these last days supposed prophets and apostles are being raised up to take control over the Satanic forces in the heavenlies and Christianize the world. This happens as the church takes cities through binding and casting down the spiritual forces of darkness that rule over them. Many dominion spiritual warfare teachers embrace this scheme, though differing on some details.
The "dominion" scenario and its underlying theological premises are unbiblical. We shall consider the various claims of this teaching point by point and compare them with the teachings of the Bible. Quotations of popular teachers who espouse various new spiritual warfare teachings will be given to show how widespread these ideas have become.
Adam Gave World Rulership to Satan?
Read article
"[A]nd He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation" (Acts 17:26).
"Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (Romans 13:1)
Many popular teachers question God's sovereign rule over His own creation. Their unbiblical scenario goes like this: God made Adam the ruler of the world; Adam committed "treason" and turned the rightful dominion of the earth over to Satan; and Christ's atonement was to regain this lost dominion. According to this theology, however, Christ turned the rulership of the world over to the church when He ascended into heaven. The church consequently lost it back to Satan by ignorance, unbelief, and dis-unity. Now in these last days supposed prophets and apostles are being raised up to take control over the Satanic forces in the heavenlies and Christianize the world. This happens as the church takes cities through binding and casting down the spiritual forces of darkness that rule over them. Many dominion spiritual warfare teachers embrace this scheme, though differing on some details.
The "dominion" scenario and its underlying theological premises are unbiblical. We shall consider the various claims of this teaching point by point and compare them with the teachings of the Bible. Quotations of popular teachers who espouse various new spiritual warfare teachings will be given to show how widespread these ideas have become.
Adam Gave World Rulership to Satan?
Read article
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Life of Liberty
Here is a challenge: take the next week or so and read through the book of Galatians. This book is completely awesome because Paul teaches us how to live a life of liberty or freedom.
Folks, God has provided but many of us still are struggling for what He has already provided. Self effort is not going to attain anything. Christianity is a relationship with God; He knows you and you know Him, based on faith or trust in Him
Here is a link to a commentary by one of my favorite Bible teachers, David Guzik
Galatians
Folks, God has provided but many of us still are struggling for what He has already provided. Self effort is not going to attain anything. Christianity is a relationship with God; He knows you and you know Him, based on faith or trust in Him
Here is a link to a commentary by one of my favorite Bible teachers, David Guzik
Galatians
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Still Trying To Be God?
Wherever you are in your walk as a human being, God Himself would love to reveal Himself to you. You may be a Christian who is surrounded with the 'things' of God; church, bibles, Christian friends, Christian books and various paraphernalia but you really don't know Him. Or, you may be an occultist or pagan who is attempting to manipulate the spiritual realm for your own well being. You have your beliefs, practices and paraphernalia. You may be sincere in your attempt to pursue Truth.
Folks, we inherited a real tendency to hide. Adam fell from his relationship with God (Genesis 3) and he immediately responded by hiding from God. God pursued Adam after he disobeyed still desiring the relationship. However, Adam played the blame game attributing his condition to Eve and insinuating that God Himself was at fault. Adam was afraid and hid.
How are you hiding? Probably by attempting to control your life. Your life was given to you by your Creator and He has a plan for your life. His plan, not ours. He also plans to provide for you as you walk with Him. He desires for you to reveal yourself to Him as you are. Completely naked. That way you have no need to hide from Him in fear. You will overcome the fear and hiding from Him as He reveals Himself to you. You will not need to fear Him, or anything for that matter, because of who He is. He will become your God, fully accepting of who you are, as you are but desires to fill you with His Spirit in order to transform you into the image of Jesus Christ.
Here I am, some 20+ years into my walk with Him and I am not the same person that I was. My wife today stated that I am not a fearful person. Do you know what? I'm not. Before I knew God or rather am known by God, I was literally tormented by anxiety, worry and fear. Today I have confidence in Him. God is who He says He is. He reveals Himself through His word, the Bible. His word is Truth. And folks, you can place your trust in Him. He is faithful.
So, wherever you are, I would challenge you to reveal yourself to Him. Go to Him as you truly are. He will release you from whatever binds you; anger, fear, shame etc He wants you to be free.
Folks, we inherited a real tendency to hide. Adam fell from his relationship with God (Genesis 3) and he immediately responded by hiding from God. God pursued Adam after he disobeyed still desiring the relationship. However, Adam played the blame game attributing his condition to Eve and insinuating that God Himself was at fault. Adam was afraid and hid.
How are you hiding? Probably by attempting to control your life. Your life was given to you by your Creator and He has a plan for your life. His plan, not ours. He also plans to provide for you as you walk with Him. He desires for you to reveal yourself to Him as you are. Completely naked. That way you have no need to hide from Him in fear. You will overcome the fear and hiding from Him as He reveals Himself to you. You will not need to fear Him, or anything for that matter, because of who He is. He will become your God, fully accepting of who you are, as you are but desires to fill you with His Spirit in order to transform you into the image of Jesus Christ.
Here I am, some 20+ years into my walk with Him and I am not the same person that I was. My wife today stated that I am not a fearful person. Do you know what? I'm not. Before I knew God or rather am known by God, I was literally tormented by anxiety, worry and fear. Today I have confidence in Him. God is who He says He is. He reveals Himself through His word, the Bible. His word is Truth. And folks, you can place your trust in Him. He is faithful.
So, wherever you are, I would challenge you to reveal yourself to Him. Go to Him as you truly are. He will release you from whatever binds you; anger, fear, shame etc He wants you to be free.
All Things
According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness ...
2 Peter 1:3
Notice that Peter is not telling us that everything we have need of pertaining to life and godliness will be given to us. No, he says everything we need to live an abundant, fulfilled life — and everything we need to live like Christ has already been given to us.
This is radical because many of us don’t have this understanding. We think we’re still pursuing some key, and if we can find it, then we’ll be able to unlock the secret of life. We’re looking for the combination on the padlock of godliness. But Peter says something wonderful when he says God has already given us all things — not most things, not a bunch of things — but all things that pertain to life and godliness.
When my son Benjamin was born, although he wasn’t all that he will be one day, everything he needed was already packed in his little body. His job, then, was not to find additional body parts to add to himself. His job was simply to grow.
‘That’s obvious,’ you say. But a whole bunch of Christians do what I did for some years in my walk — they read, search and look for what’s missing in their faith instead of simply taking God’s Word at face value which says His divine power has given us everything we need for godliness and all we need for abundant life.
Knowing this can save us a bunch of time and a lot of money. For instead of searching bookstores and infomercials to find the seven secrets of effective people, or the way to ‘awaken the giant within’, we can simply grow in the knowledge that we’ve already been given everything we need to live abundantly and godly.
by Jon Courson
2 Peter 1:3
Notice that Peter is not telling us that everything we have need of pertaining to life and godliness will be given to us. No, he says everything we need to live an abundant, fulfilled life — and everything we need to live like Christ has already been given to us.
This is radical because many of us don’t have this understanding. We think we’re still pursuing some key, and if we can find it, then we’ll be able to unlock the secret of life. We’re looking for the combination on the padlock of godliness. But Peter says something wonderful when he says God has already given us all things — not most things, not a bunch of things — but all things that pertain to life and godliness.
When my son Benjamin was born, although he wasn’t all that he will be one day, everything he needed was already packed in his little body. His job, then, was not to find additional body parts to add to himself. His job was simply to grow.
‘That’s obvious,’ you say. But a whole bunch of Christians do what I did for some years in my walk — they read, search and look for what’s missing in their faith instead of simply taking God’s Word at face value which says His divine power has given us everything we need for godliness and all we need for abundant life.
Knowing this can save us a bunch of time and a lot of money. For instead of searching bookstores and infomercials to find the seven secrets of effective people, or the way to ‘awaken the giant within’, we can simply grow in the knowledge that we’ve already been given everything we need to live abundantly and godly.
by Jon Courson
Monday, November 2, 2009
How Deliverance Ministries Lead People To Bondage
by Bob DeWaay
The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2Timothy 2:24-26)
In 1977 I was in a ministry that specialized in inner healing and deliverance. People came to us from all over the country seeking release from hearing voices, addictions, emotional trauma due to past hurts and abuses, and many other forms of spiritual bondage. At the time our ministry was considered “cutting edge” in the world of spiritual warfare. Ours was a Christian community where people could come and live with other Christians to find healing.
About that time a woman from another state came to stay at our ministry center for a few days to receive prayer and deliverance. She had grown up in a family that was deeply involved in the occult and had been named after a Greek goddess. When she called us she was trying to get out of her occult bondage and was being attacked by evil spirits who did not want to let her go. They manifested themselves through her taunting us and making hissing sounds. We soon found out that the demons that tormented her were powerful and had no intention of leaving. Two of us took on the responsibility of ministering to her. After we had led her in some prayers, confronted some of the demons, and demanded them to leave in Jesus’ name, she found some relief.
The most dramatic event in our ministry to her came after one of our Tuesday night meetings. After most people had left she stayed for more prayer. Before we even got to her, she was taken over by a violent evil spirit. Her countenance changed, her voice altered, her face contorted and her hands became like claws. She let out a loud scream and charged at me, intending to gouge my face with her fingernails. As she screamed and raced across the room, I and the other man who had been ministering to her stood our ground and said, “Stop! in the name of Jesus.” When she got two feet from us she hit what seemed like an invisible wall and fell to the floor whimpering. We prayed with her and asked God to set her free.
We had encountered many cases of demonic manifestations in our ministry, but this was the most dramatic. As I look back on this incident now, what is most significant is not what happened that night, but what happened the next day. The next day she felt much better and asked to talk to us before leaving for home. She told me, “Bob, Satan is very scared of you. You have much power and authority.” What that statement and the event that led to it meant to me then was very different from how I understand it now. The difference is due to the “warfare” worldview I held then and the “providential” worldview I hold now. The way we interpret events is determined by our worldview. In this article I will discuss exorcism from the perspective of each of these worldviews.
Read more...
The Fraud of Deliverance Ministries
The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2Timothy 2:24-26)
In 1977 I was in a ministry that specialized in inner healing and deliverance. People came to us from all over the country seeking release from hearing voices, addictions, emotional trauma due to past hurts and abuses, and many other forms of spiritual bondage. At the time our ministry was considered “cutting edge” in the world of spiritual warfare. Ours was a Christian community where people could come and live with other Christians to find healing.
About that time a woman from another state came to stay at our ministry center for a few days to receive prayer and deliverance. She had grown up in a family that was deeply involved in the occult and had been named after a Greek goddess. When she called us she was trying to get out of her occult bondage and was being attacked by evil spirits who did not want to let her go. They manifested themselves through her taunting us and making hissing sounds. We soon found out that the demons that tormented her were powerful and had no intention of leaving. Two of us took on the responsibility of ministering to her. After we had led her in some prayers, confronted some of the demons, and demanded them to leave in Jesus’ name, she found some relief.
The most dramatic event in our ministry to her came after one of our Tuesday night meetings. After most people had left she stayed for more prayer. Before we even got to her, she was taken over by a violent evil spirit. Her countenance changed, her voice altered, her face contorted and her hands became like claws. She let out a loud scream and charged at me, intending to gouge my face with her fingernails. As she screamed and raced across the room, I and the other man who had been ministering to her stood our ground and said, “Stop! in the name of Jesus.” When she got two feet from us she hit what seemed like an invisible wall and fell to the floor whimpering. We prayed with her and asked God to set her free.
We had encountered many cases of demonic manifestations in our ministry, but this was the most dramatic. As I look back on this incident now, what is most significant is not what happened that night, but what happened the next day. The next day she felt much better and asked to talk to us before leaving for home. She told me, “Bob, Satan is very scared of you. You have much power and authority.” What that statement and the event that led to it meant to me then was very different from how I understand it now. The difference is due to the “warfare” worldview I held then and the “providential” worldview I hold now. The way we interpret events is determined by our worldview. In this article I will discuss exorcism from the perspective of each of these worldviews.
Read more...
The Fraud of Deliverance Ministries
Monday, October 26, 2009
Christian Wicca?
This is in response to Bluefirewitch:
"Christian Wicca"?
The Ultimate Oxymoron!
© Spotlight Ministries, Vincent McCann, 2003
www.spotlightministries.org.uk
In recent times, with the gaining popularity of the Wiccan and neo-pagan religions, there have been some attempts to reconcile Wicca with Christianity. For example, Wiccan authors, Tony and Eileen Grist claim:
"It is also possible to be a Wiccan and a Christian who goes to church regularly". (Tony and Eileen Grist, Illustrated Guide to Wicca, p. 13).
Some have even coined the questionable term "Christian Wicca". Is such a position really possible? While it is certainly important that Christians and Wiccans dialogue and are respectful to each other as human beings, we should not try and fool ourselves into thinking that Christianity and Wicca are in any way complementary. It is simply not honest to declare otherwise, as the key differences are just too vast. This brief outline points out some significant differences between Wicca and Christianity to demonstrate the reasons why they are clearly not compatible.
The majority of Wiccans do not believe in a Heaven or a Hell but instead hold to reincarnation. The Bible teaches that we die but once then face judgement (Heb. 9:27).
Most Wiccans believe in many god's (Polytheism). Christians believe in only one true God (Monotheism).
Wiccans believe truth is relative and that there are no absolutes. Christianity is built on absolute truth (e.g. Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life..." John 14:6).
Wiccans do not accept the sinful nature of humanity or the need of salvation, but rather see a spark of the Divine in all people. Christianity teaches that all people are sinners in need of salvation (e.g. Rom. 3:23; 6:23).
Wiccans do not believe Satan exists. However, Jesus clearly viewed him as a personal being. To deny the reality of Satan is to make Christ out to be a liar. The Bible ascribes the following personal attributes to Satan: He speaks (Job 1:6-2:1-5; Matt 4:1-11); he has a will (1 Chron. 21:1; Luke 22:31; 1 Thess. 2:18; 2 Tim. 2:26); he tempts (Matt. 4:1-11; 1 Cor. 7:5); and he oppressors people (Acts 10:38), all characteristics that we would expect from a personal being, not a symbol or abstract force.
Most Wiccans tend to view the Bible as unreliable and inaccurate in parts. The vast majority of Christians view the Bible as reliable and trustworthy.
Wicca tends to view most sexual orientations as normal and natural: heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. Although there are some liberal wings in the Church that also teaches this, the vast majority of Christians throughout history utterly reject this as being at odds with the plain reading of Scripture (e.g. Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:9-10). Sexual relations are to be between a man and a woman.
Jesus was from a thoroughly Jewish background, grounded in the Old Testament, which utterly condemns most of the occult practices of modern day Wiccans (e.g. Deut. 18:10-12; Lev. 19:26; 2 Kings:17:10-17; 2 Chron. 33:6).
Most Wiccans view the Divine as female (the goddess). Wiccans do worship a male god as well, but the emphasis is by far upon the "goddess". Although Christians do not believe that God is a 'He' in the sense that He is a male creature, we have to address God in some way. God transcends human sexuality. However, Christians follow Christ's example by calling God "Father" (e.g. the Lords prayer - "This is how you should pray. Our Father who art in heaven..."). There is no evidence that He called God a goddess.
Surprising Things Said By Wiccans On Youtube
"Christian Wicca"?
The Ultimate Oxymoron!
© Spotlight Ministries, Vincent McCann, 2003
www.spotlightministries.org.uk
In recent times, with the gaining popularity of the Wiccan and neo-pagan religions, there have been some attempts to reconcile Wicca with Christianity. For example, Wiccan authors, Tony and Eileen Grist claim:
"It is also possible to be a Wiccan and a Christian who goes to church regularly". (Tony and Eileen Grist, Illustrated Guide to Wicca, p. 13).
Some have even coined the questionable term "Christian Wicca". Is such a position really possible? While it is certainly important that Christians and Wiccans dialogue and are respectful to each other as human beings, we should not try and fool ourselves into thinking that Christianity and Wicca are in any way complementary. It is simply not honest to declare otherwise, as the key differences are just too vast. This brief outline points out some significant differences between Wicca and Christianity to demonstrate the reasons why they are clearly not compatible.
The majority of Wiccans do not believe in a Heaven or a Hell but instead hold to reincarnation. The Bible teaches that we die but once then face judgement (Heb. 9:27).
Most Wiccans believe in many god's (Polytheism). Christians believe in only one true God (Monotheism).
Wiccans believe truth is relative and that there are no absolutes. Christianity is built on absolute truth (e.g. Jesus said: "I am the way and the truth and the life..." John 14:6).
Wiccans do not accept the sinful nature of humanity or the need of salvation, but rather see a spark of the Divine in all people. Christianity teaches that all people are sinners in need of salvation (e.g. Rom. 3:23; 6:23).
Wiccans do not believe Satan exists. However, Jesus clearly viewed him as a personal being. To deny the reality of Satan is to make Christ out to be a liar. The Bible ascribes the following personal attributes to Satan: He speaks (Job 1:6-2:1-5; Matt 4:1-11); he has a will (1 Chron. 21:1; Luke 22:31; 1 Thess. 2:18; 2 Tim. 2:26); he tempts (Matt. 4:1-11; 1 Cor. 7:5); and he oppressors people (Acts 10:38), all characteristics that we would expect from a personal being, not a symbol or abstract force.
Most Wiccans tend to view the Bible as unreliable and inaccurate in parts. The vast majority of Christians view the Bible as reliable and trustworthy.
Wicca tends to view most sexual orientations as normal and natural: heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. Although there are some liberal wings in the Church that also teaches this, the vast majority of Christians throughout history utterly reject this as being at odds with the plain reading of Scripture (e.g. Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:9-10). Sexual relations are to be between a man and a woman.
Jesus was from a thoroughly Jewish background, grounded in the Old Testament, which utterly condemns most of the occult practices of modern day Wiccans (e.g. Deut. 18:10-12; Lev. 19:26; 2 Kings:17:10-17; 2 Chron. 33:6).
Most Wiccans view the Divine as female (the goddess). Wiccans do worship a male god as well, but the emphasis is by far upon the "goddess". Although Christians do not believe that God is a 'He' in the sense that He is a male creature, we have to address God in some way. God transcends human sexuality. However, Christians follow Christ's example by calling God "Father" (e.g. the Lords prayer - "This is how you should pray. Our Father who art in heaven..."). There is no evidence that He called God a goddess.
Surprising Things Said By Wiccans On Youtube
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Shadowboxing
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16
It is imperative for Christian to have understanding of what the Bible teaches. This should be a basic desire of everyone who has any desire to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He promised "You truly are my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32 The freedom Christ promises is that He frees us to follow Him, and not ourselves. However, when we are not faithful to His teachings, we end up in all kinds of self imposed bondage.
Let's look at 2 Timothy 3:16. We are taught that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable. Okay, the Bible is claiming to be from God and advantageous for us to know what He is saying. This is important because in our human nature, we have a real tendency to fool ourselves. We have a deceptive heart which must be kept in check. We have a tendecy to read something into what God is saying in the Bible and we have a tendency to add on to what God is saying.
2 Timothy 3:16 further states that the Bible is profitable for teaching. Let's stop there for a moment. Jesus promises us that His teachings will set us free if we reamain faithful to what He taught. 2 Timothy 3:16 states that the whole Bible teaches us what God desires for us. He has revealed Himself and has spoken to us. Now, the question that needs to be addressed is; are we faithful to what He taught and do we have a real understanding of what God has spoken in the 66 books of the Bible?
I have to admit, I have seen quite a bit of loose interpretations of Scripture in my journey as a Christian. Specifically, I am tremendously concerned about what is being taught and understood as being God's word concerning spiritual warfare and deliverance. My understanding of what Jesus Christ stated in John 8:31-32 is that the Christian is to remain faithful to what He has taught; not what He has not. My understanding of 2 Timothy is that the Bible is God's word and it is profitable for teaching; not for what the Bible does not teach.
I believe the error is when we add on to the Bible. Simply stated, the Bible does not teach that the Christian is under a generational curse, or must break soul ties, bind satan and his demons. Nor does it teach that demons have legal rights to a Chritian's life. I could continue with my list of 'teachings' that will not be found in the Bible. They are extra biblical teachings and are not from God.
We simply cannot go on believing what the Bible does not teach as God's word. This mindset and approach will set you up for self imposed bondage and you will not be battling the devil or his demons. You will be in a place of acting from your own will,in the name of Jesus Christ. You will be deceiving yourself.
Have you ever seen someone shadowbox? He may look like a boxer. He may have evrything in place, good shoes to grip the floor, good satin shorts which make him look good in the ring and his gloves are fitted for the impact that he will land on his opponent. However, his opponent is not actually there. He fights himself.
It is imperative for Christian to have understanding of what the Bible teaches. This should be a basic desire of everyone who has any desire to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He promised "You truly are my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32 The freedom Christ promises is that He frees us to follow Him, and not ourselves. However, when we are not faithful to His teachings, we end up in all kinds of self imposed bondage.
Let's look at 2 Timothy 3:16. We are taught that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable. Okay, the Bible is claiming to be from God and advantageous for us to know what He is saying. This is important because in our human nature, we have a real tendency to fool ourselves. We have a deceptive heart which must be kept in check. We have a tendecy to read something into what God is saying in the Bible and we have a tendency to add on to what God is saying.
2 Timothy 3:16 further states that the Bible is profitable for teaching. Let's stop there for a moment. Jesus promises us that His teachings will set us free if we reamain faithful to what He taught. 2 Timothy 3:16 states that the whole Bible teaches us what God desires for us. He has revealed Himself and has spoken to us. Now, the question that needs to be addressed is; are we faithful to what He taught and do we have a real understanding of what God has spoken in the 66 books of the Bible?
I have to admit, I have seen quite a bit of loose interpretations of Scripture in my journey as a Christian. Specifically, I am tremendously concerned about what is being taught and understood as being God's word concerning spiritual warfare and deliverance. My understanding of what Jesus Christ stated in John 8:31-32 is that the Christian is to remain faithful to what He has taught; not what He has not. My understanding of 2 Timothy is that the Bible is God's word and it is profitable for teaching; not for what the Bible does not teach.
I believe the error is when we add on to the Bible. Simply stated, the Bible does not teach that the Christian is under a generational curse, or must break soul ties, bind satan and his demons. Nor does it teach that demons have legal rights to a Chritian's life. I could continue with my list of 'teachings' that will not be found in the Bible. They are extra biblical teachings and are not from God.
We simply cannot go on believing what the Bible does not teach as God's word. This mindset and approach will set you up for self imposed bondage and you will not be battling the devil or his demons. You will be in a place of acting from your own will,in the name of Jesus Christ. You will be deceiving yourself.
Have you ever seen someone shadowbox? He may look like a boxer. He may have evrything in place, good shoes to grip the floor, good satin shorts which make him look good in the ring and his gloves are fitted for the impact that he will land on his opponent. However, his opponent is not actually there. He fights himself.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The REAL Truth About Halloween: Harmless or Hellish?
This was written in 2003 in response to a lot of queries about Halloween’s history.
There are a lot of stories told about Halloween. Some stories are fond remembrances of family celebration, spooky stories, “trick-or-treating” in the neighbourhood, bobbing for apples, and the genial fun of a night of mischief. Some stories are profound and moving worship of God, and mourning the loss of those who have died over the years. Some are stories of the end of labour, as the harvest finally draws to a close and winter begins, bringing with it the care and worries that the season brings to farmers.
All of those stories are true ones, and many of us have heard them one way or another. Yet there are other stories told of this time of year: stories of ancient Druids who terrorized the populace into giving bribes ranging from the best cattle to virgin daughters; stories of gruesome witches who poison candy and steal children for horrid sacrifices; stories of dark occult practices, and of modern-day evildoers, who use the mystery of this night to perpetrate acts of atrocity.
Year after year, Christians are warned of tainted treats, dangerous pranks, or random acts of cruelty that some people play on others on this night. Such warnings are certainly important, and should be heeded. Yet there are also sermons, tracts, and literature that speak of spiritual danger, portraying Halloween as the “Day of the Devil,” and telling a dark history of cruelty and evil. Yet others—some Christian, some not—have come forward to decry these statements as falsehoods,
As Christians, we are called to resist the devil: yet we are also called to speak the truth. If, as some state, Halloween is the Devil’s Day, then of course we should shun it, “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” [1] Yet how are we to know the facts of the claims being made? More importantly, once we know the facts, how shall we respond to them in a manner that honours Jesus?
Do Druids Trick-or-Treat?
There are a great many things we “know” about the Halloween. We “know” that the Druids were the priests of the Celts. We “know” that Halloween was an ancient Celtic festival, where the Druids would go from house to house asking for sacrifices (the origins of “trick or treat”). We “know” that the Druids would take humans as sacrifices (hence the stories that modern Witches and Satanists will do the same). We “know” that the Druids held the Celts in awe and fear by reason of their power, until the advent of Christianity (hence St. Patrick’s confrontation with the Druids, as represented by his “driving the snakes from Ireland”). The problem with all that we “know” is that most, if not all, of it is wrong.
Most people assume that it was the Celts who started Halloween. It’s quite true that there was an Irish festival called Samhain (pronounced “SOW-en”), but this was not the name of a god in Celtic mythology; indeed, we cannot even be sure if Samhain was a religious festival as we envisage today.
In modern Irish Gaelic, the word samhain simply means “The end of summer,” and refers to the harvest festivals that scholars speculate probably occurred at that time. We can imagine a joyful festival, rather like the modern Thanksgiving in America or the Harvest Home church festivals of the UK, or we can imagine dark rituals of sacrifice and divination, but the honest truth is that we do not know how, or even if, the Celts celebrated Samhain. No evidence survives, and the Celts left no written records, and if anyone definitively says that the Druids did this or the Celts did that for the festival of Samhain, they’re either speculating or lying outright.
Scholars are fairly certain that the Celts did not have a “unified” religion. The Gods of one tribe were called by different names than the Gods of other tribes, and though much speculation has been made about the role of the Druids in unifying the Celts, there is no achieve or archaeological evidence to support this.
It must be understood that the Celts were not a single people: though they spoke similar languages, the Celts were over a hundred different tribes that usually got along almost as well as Liverpool and Millwall fans. Surviving Celtic literature—such as the Táin Bó Cúalnge [2] of Ireland, or The Mabinogion [3] of Wales—is rife with tales of raids, wars, and grudges nursed and passed on over generations.
Additionally, contemporary authors—including Tacitus [4] and Julius Caesar [5]—tell us that the Celts were just as likely to start a fight between themselves as they were to go to war against the Romans, or the neighbouring Germanic tribes. With this kind of reputation, it hardly seems that the Druids could have been an all-powerful force within the tribes as a group, though it is quite possible that they may have held considerable power within an individual tribe.
What about human sacrifice? At the time of writing, there is one archaeological find that contains sufficient evidence of ritual that has led archaeologists to suppose that he MIGHT have been a sacrifice—or might not have been one. Whilst other bodies have been found within the Celtic time period in contexts that have lead scholars to suggest they may have been murdered or had unusual burial rites performed upon them [6] this is a long way short of the quantities of bodies described by the Roman contemporary historians of that time. The famous “Lindow Man” also known to the press as ‘Pete Marsh’ was one of four bodies so far [7] discovered in a peat bog near Manchester in 1984, and while Drs. Ann Ross and Don Robins of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London have published a popular book concerning this “Druidic Prince,” the fact of the matter remains that many of their arguments are based on weaving a cloak of supposition from a scant few threads of evidence. [8]
And what of the advent of Christianity destroying the power of the Druids? Both in England and in Ireland, many of the Druids converted with out dissent or quarrel: Adomnan of Iona writes in his Life of St. Columbus that several Druids who were converted were granted large tracts of land by the Church, [9] and we know that the class of Druids was recognized by post-Christian Irish law. [10] Indeed, from the evidence now available, the Druids were not the “priests,” but were the intellectual caste of the Irish, skilled in such disciplines as philosophy, poetry, history, astronomy, music, medicine, sorcery, and prophecy or divination; this parallels the Brahmins, who are the intellectual caste of the Hindu. It is probably true that priests were drawn from the Druidic caste, but again, this is speculation, not definite knowledge.
One thing that must be acknowledged about the Druids was their connection with magic and divination, both of which are forbidden by the Bible, and their possible connection with pre-Christian worship. However, it should also be acknowledged that the Druids were a recognized and accepted part of the administration of laws of Ireland well into the late eleventh or early twelfth century.
Indeed, as both the civil and criminal law code of Ireland survive in their completest form in the ‘Leabhar na h Uidre’ (Book of the Dun Cow) dating from the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries, it might be remarked that there had been no amendment of the laws relating to the Druids by that time. Two reasons can be argued: one, that the Druids still existed with a definite, if diminished, role in Irish society; two, that the Druids had vanished and so no one bothered to change the laws. [11]
It is likely that the Celts, as did most ancient societies, had some form of harvest festival—but we do not know what they did, how they celebrated, or even with certainty whether or not they did. It is quite probable that at least some of the Celtic priests were of the Druidic caste, but not all Druids were priests, and we are not certain that all priests were Druids. It is likely that the Druids did engage in sacrifices, perhaps even human sacrifices, but the only evidence we have for this are the writings of their enemies in war, and the uncertain evidence of a handful of archaeological finds.
Our knowledge of the Celts and the Druids—what little we have of it—does nothing to explain the origins of Halloween. Yet history does show that the roots of this celebration do rest in Ireland and England—specifically, the Ireland and England of the Medieval and Renaissance ages.
Halloween’s Beginnings.
The establishment of All Saints day is relatively well documented. Originally held the first Sunday after Pentecost, the date was moved to November 1st by Gregory III when he dedicated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to “All the Saints.” In 835, Gregory IV permanently moved the celebration to November 1. [12] Originally, All Saints Day was a solemn occasion, to be celebrated with a vigil spent in fasting and prayers the evening, followed by a “feast day,” a day to attend Mass and refrain from servile work. [13]
For some, however, this release from work devolved into a carouse, but even in this, the medieval Church tried to moderate the worst of the excesses. The solemnity of All Saints Day became combined with the festivity of harvest celebrations. While there may have been parades and bonfires and revelry, the Church worked with the nobility to keep the celebration within reasonable bounds—and also offered the revealers alternatives to debauchery.
Local practices emerged connected with the harvest glut including local cuisine specialties: in Europe, apple dishes were a popular food on this day (especially since the apple harvest ends relatively late in the year), and in England, the custom of making “soul cakes” to distribute to the poor in exchange for prayers for deceased members of the donor’s family.
It is to this time that we must look for some of the customs of our modern Halloween. Late autumn was apple season, and there was a bounty of apples: it becomes evident that this is the most likely origin of such games as bobbing for apples. The “soul cake” custom was the probable origin of our modern “trick-or-treat.” Far from the horrifying pagan blackmail of pre-Christian Druids imagined by some, this was actually a method of not only feeding the poor, but of persuading attendance at Church!
This is not to say that all of these activities were innocent. Even at this time, it is certainly possible that people attempted to divine the future with apple peels, or by roasting chestnuts. Yet it must be remembered that these local customs were just that: local, frequently isolated folk practices that had little influence across cultural or national boundaries. It was not until the Colonial Age, and the advent of cross continental and inter-continental travel that these local practices combined to create the Halloween customs that we are familiar with today.
Emigration and Travel
Harvest celebrations, and the various local customs that attended them, came to America with the waves of colonists. Just as Europe does not share all its traditions and customs, neither were the American harvest celebrations identical. In New England, with its heavy population of Puritans and Calvinists who disapproved of frivolity in any form, the celebration of harvest festivals was frowned upon; in Maryland and the more southern colonies such celebrations were popular.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbours would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country. [14]
This American indifference was changed by an event in Ireland. The advent of the Potato Famine in 1846 led to a dramatic influx of Irish immigrants to all parts of the world, including America. While they certainly brought their customs and traditions with them—including their Halloween traditions—they faced many obstacles, including a growing anti-Immigrant and anti-Catholic prejudice. It is possible that the origins of the “Anti-Halloween” movement stem from this prejudice, as many of the complaints directed by Christians against Halloween are also directed against the Roman Catholic Church. [15]
Yet for all of the potential for problems, Halloween adapted to America as readily as the Irish and English immigrants who took it there.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighbourly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century. [16]
Yet there are problems with Halloween. It has been known since the 1920s as a night of mischief, pranks, and vandalism, and since the 1950s, there have been tales about poisoned and adulterated sweets, diabolical witchcraft, Satanic sacrifices, and spiritual danger. Is there any basis to these tales? Where did they come from? Most importantly, what is a Christian supposed to do about Halloween?
Halloween and Samhain: Today’s Witches
Halloween has long been known as a night of mischief, but in the eyes of many Christians, it has also become a night of devilment—literally. Since the 1950s, various groups in England, the Americas, and Australia have emerged that celebrate the time around October 31st as a night dedicated to their pagan gods.
And we Christians have responded … though not always with wisdom. Since the 1970s, various Christians have come forward claiming to have once been members of the occult. They have given testimonies that they had witnessed, been the victims of, and even participated in, diabolical acts. Lurid tales of sacrifices, orgies, debauchery and cruelty have sprung up in countless places, and various forces—from Wiccans to Satanists—have been accused of committing crimes that are almost unspeakable in their atrocity. [17]
Both Pagan and Christian authors and reporters have called these witnesses into question, and many of the tales have been proven false. “Sacrifices” have left no forensic evidence for the investigators; locations where “bodies were buried” prove to have been undisturbed for decades; and those who were supposedly engaged in such activities are frequently nowhere near the location they claimed to have been. Yet these stories continue to circulate, without evidence—and in some churches, without a critical challenge. [18]
Samhain is a pagan and also a wiccan festival occasionally shared by those witches and occultist who have empathy with the Celtic deities and entities. Not all occult practiotoners celebrate samhain.
As far as Satanists are concerned Halloween is not their most high of unholy days it was and will remain their birthday. The only Satanists you will find celebrating on October 31st are those who were born on that day. [19] Some satanic lodges do use both Walpurgis Nacht (30th April) and the 31st October to hold initiations for their new ‘recruits’ but this has an awful lot more to do with the new recruits wanting a ‘special’ night in their own eyes a for their initiation to take place. Its part of the sardonic humour you will find shared by the more serious students of the occult.
Perhaps the most crucial story about Halloween is that it provides a gateway to the occult:
Halloween is harmful because it lures people into the occult. Many children are introduced to occultic practices at Halloween parties. I first learned about the occult at a Halloween party as a teenager. Many kids get their first exposure to occultic horror movies at Halloween parties. After the initial exposure to the occult some children are attracted to the occult because of the power it offers them. Others see it as the ultimate means of rebelling against there parents. [20]
So what is a Christian to do?
For any Christian at anytime prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God. [21] Such is its importance that Christ Himself taught people how to pray to God [22] Some Christians feel a special conviction to pray at this time of year so what should we be praying about?
Ephesians tells us that our battle is not against people but in resisting the hard sell of compromise with a fallen world. [23] It is Christ who by his sacrifice upon the cross has the authority to rebuke these entities so we should follow the example of Michael and leave the actual rebuking to him [24]. However we should pray for those who are spiritually seeking especially those who feel that they should explore evil practises at this time of year. Pray that they be touched in such a way that they begin to seek God.
Pray for those whose work and care is with young people. For teachers, youth workers, mentors, social workers and parents. Pray that the example of their lives provides a positive witness for Christ to young people.
Pray that God protects, blesses and gives His peace to all who find this time of year un-nerving or frightening.
Pray that those who plan to use this time of year as an excuse to cause fear, malicious mischief and criminal damage become convicted that such would be wrong and refrain from doing so.
Pray that the emergency services; the police; the fire service; ambulance crews and hospital staff that they have a peaceful night free from the consequences of out of control celebrations.
Pray for those churches that are hosting alternatives to Halloween for their young people that they are honouring to Christ and a good witness for Christ to those who are not Christians.
“ They (the church) are afraid because wolves have come to fleece the flock repeatedly with their fictional stories of sadistic rituals and evil madness.
They are afraid because they ignorant of the truths that come to bear upon this whole matter.
Even IF every urban myth was true. Even IF every witch was out to get you
My God is still on the throne….!!!
If only my brothers and sisters in Christ would study God’s word rather than Rebecca’s or Bill’s then would I no longer fear this season of the year? Let every Christian know that these myths are just not so. Hide away if you feel you must but while you do that pray for the rest of us who feel this season tug at our souls. God made this day too. He is the King of Kings
Let every child of God spend their efforts preparing for this day. How often does the world beat a path to your door? Now you will have extra people to pray for.
So why not give them some treats and pray for them to come to know Jesus?
And in between the precious little ones dressed in weirdness calling read your Bible and pray, having thrown the mislabelled fiction away.
Mark Ex-occultist
Praise Parties.
As Hallowe’en as opposed to samhain was originally a time of prayer and celebration within the church consider reclaiming it with a praise party and honour God. Many young people have vibrant ideas on ways of worshipping God and can be very creative if given opportunity and encouragement to become more involved in their churches life. Perhaps younger children would appreciate a party in which they celebrate the awe and wonder of God. Older teens might prefer a worship celebration they have organised with opportunity to socialise during and afterwards so they could invite their friends.
Remember most teens would far rather have somewhere warm and safe to have fun and meet their friends away from home than be cold and bored on a dark wet street.
Building relations with schools.
There are many teachers who welcome the chance to enliven their teaching sessions with seasonal activities. In recent years thanks to the commercial hard sell of Halloween goodies by businesses awareness of Halloween has been raised. There are certainly plenty of books aimed at children with themes of ghosts, witches, fairies, dragons, monsters and the like.
If Christians choose not to partake of school life for the rest of the year and only go in to complain and demand that Halloween activities are evil and should not take place they will appear as fanatics. Its far better to gradually build up a relationship with the school over a period of time so that those involved in teaching and administration at the school appreciate you share their concerns in providing a safe environment for their children. Even pagan teachers will appreciate that concern if you are known and your views are considered, reasonable, thought out and motivated by compassion.
This will then allow you to explain with reason your concerns about Halloween activities and request that it would be sensible to advise youngsters not to experiment with occult activities.
There will always be some who despite warnings from Christians and mature pagans alike do try and experiment so consider also suggesting that if any child is or becomes worried or scared by activities they do over Halloween they can always speak to their parent, teacher or even ChildlineUK. ChildlineUK is there for any child who has worries; has difficulties at school and so on it is not just those who suffer abuse.
*NB Jeff Harshbargeri will happily provide details of similar oranisations in the states just ask him*
Trick or treat
Christian children and the children of Christians should not be involved in this activity. In the UK more so than the USA the tricks can be rather malicious and frightening. It is not honouring to Christ to partake of an activity that in essence is pure blackmail to prevent vandalism and reprise attacks.
Encourage children to consider how this activity can frighten the very young and the very old if they were to turn up unexpectedly wearing scary costumes and latex masks. Enter into debate to consider the impact of being repeatedly woken up and disturbed on the frail and elderly. Most young people do have a sense of justice and once they begin to explore an idea they can see injustice and cruelty. Even pagans urge their children to think and act responsibly and take care for their elderly neighbours at this time of year.
Encourage you friends and neighbours to talk to their children into declining to take part in trick or treat and explain the reasons why in a way that allows for debate. You never know you might build a bridge to be able to share about Christ.
If your church fellowship is having an open Praise Party why not extend an invitation to your friends and neighbours inviting their children to that instead.
Please be aware that how you act and react at this time of year can produce or destroy opportunities to building a bridge to share the gospel of Christ with others. Pray that God guides you to act responsibly compassionately and with care for others as Christ Himself had.
For our own children?
Most of our young people will have friends at school who are wiccan; some will be exploring assorted pagan beliefs and a few will perhaps have blown pocket money on Lavey’s satanic bible. Our children are less likely to have our hang-ups about being friends with and discussing beliefs with such people. It is important that we as Christian parents provide our children with the most accurate information we can. If we do not they will know we do not know what we are talking about regarding the occult and that could lead them to wonder if we know what we are talking about when it comes to Christ.
Many teens do feel the pressure that wanting to be part of a group they can identify with brings. Pray that your Children know Gods peace and strength about their own convictions so that they feel able to make a stand when they feel they are being pressurised into decisions that concern them or they feel are morally wrong.
As young people grow they appreciate even if they do not like explanations as to why you view something as wrong or evil and would prefer them to refrain from doing something. Allowing discussions on ‘sticky’ subjects keeps open the door for your child to communicate on your part. As children become teenagers and begin to explore their own morality, belief and faith and yes rebellion this becomes even more important.
If you are banning Halloween parties with friends outright it can help if you are able to offer an alternative. Check if your church or a neighbouring church has any youth activities planned they could attend instead. Perhaps you could allow them to invite friends back to your home maybe with a take away or other favourite foods on offer. There are a range of DVDs they could share watching that do allow a wide debate on the nature of God ranging from ‘Raiders of The lost Arc’ well would you steal Gods box?’ to ‘Bruce Almighty’ what happens when man tries to be God’ and for those stronger parents of older teens ‘Dogma’ When angels go Bad and God makes better than new’.
‘I celebrate LIFE! Halloween has been forsaken by a lot of (ignorant) Christian who believe (falsely) that if they dress up and go get some candy that they are participating in the pagan and/or occult celebration. Hogwash!
Yep, I said it! Hogwash.
Christians can be some of the most ignorant, well meaning sheep that walk the planet. I do not accept the view that if I purchase my products at Wal Mart that I will become ‘possessed’ with the spirit of Sam Walton; Greed. Okay poor illustration, but come on the church needs to come to a place that fear isn’t the reason that we do/don’t do something in relation to observation of sabbaths, holidays etc.
If a person knowingly observes Halloween with its pagan/occult background, then that person is observing Halloween as a pagan/occult holiday. But, to put on someone else that they shouldn’t have fun and go get some candy…………PHEW!
Jeff Ex-Satanist.
One final word of caution.
Despite all that has been said there will remain a small group of people who for whatever reasons will attempt occult explorations for the first time this Halloween simply because it’s the 31st October. The majority of such people are going to be disappointed but given the unpredictable nature of the spiritual domain some with get a lot more than they ever anticipated possible.
If you have concerns about someone you care about or if you feel you have got out of your depth and want to know more about Christ then please contact Refuge Ministries
If they can help they will.
I wish to thank all those pagans who have so willingly shared their time, resources and thoughts with me regarding this article.
My most grateful thanks must go to Cern and Veritas.
To Cern thank you for understanding the need for an updated article that would provide insight to allow for constructive dialogue to begin. His comments and suggestions from the point of view as a pagan, a parent and a teacher were most helpful.
Veritas whose willingness to share his scholarly knowledge and resources of early historical achieve resources and social history allowed this article to be complied so quickly.
It would have taken me far longer to source material without his help.
I also wish to thank those ex-occultists ex-wiccans and ex-Satanists and all those practising who read through commented and made suggestions.
Thank you all.
Caitlin
— Footnotes —
1: 2 Cor. 6:14. All Bible quotations taken from the King James Bible.
2: A translated version of the Tain is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cool/
3: A translated version of The Mabinogion is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/
4: A translation of The Annals of Tacitus is available at http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.html
5: A translation of Caesar’s The Gallic War is available at http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html
6: British Archelogy No38 October 1998 ‘Human Sacrifice in Iron Age Europe. Miranda Aldhouse Green
7: British Archaeology No 13 April 1996 ‘Plastic Pete and Lindow Man’
8: Ross, Anne and Don Robins. The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man, An Archaeological Sensation. For the opposing view, please see Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Druids.
9: Sharpe, Richard, transl. Adomnan of Ionia: Life of St. Columba.
10: Ellis, op cit.
11: Ibid.
12: http://users.rcn.com/tlclcms/saintori.htm
13: For the definition of vigils within the Catholic Church, see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05647a.htm. For feasts, see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06021b.htm.
14: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibi…hallowmas.html It should be noted that the earlier part of the document engages in some rather irresponsible speculation concerning the “Celtic connection” to Halloween.
15: Bethancourt, W. J. Halloween: Myths, Monsters, and Devils. http://www.illusions.com/halloween/
16: History Channel, op cit.
17: Examples include Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder, authors of Michelle Remembers; Mike Warnke, author of The Satan Seller; Lauren Stratford, author of Satan’s Underground; and Dr. Rebecca Brown and “Elaine,” authors of He Came To Set the Captives Free. Please see http://www.religioustolerance.org/bk_fraud.htm for more information. However, it should be noted that the Religious Tolerance is a “religiously neutral” website: while their research is first rate, they do not solely adhere to Christian standards, and many Christians may disagree with some of their conclusions.
18: Please see http://www.religioustolerance.org/chrw_int.htm and http://www.religioustolerance.org/chrw_rad.htm. However, it should be noted that the Religious Tolerance is a “religiously neutral” website: while their research is first rate, they do not solely adhere to Christian standards, and many Christians may disagree with some of their conclusions.
19: The Truth about Satanism by Lance King. http://www.spiritwatch.org/sattruth.htm One of the best-researched articles on Satanism by Christians available on the web.
20: Quoted from http://logosresourcepages.org/halloween.html
21: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints2 Ephesians 6 v18 KJV
22: Matthew 6 5-15
23: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Ephesians 6 v12 KJV
24: “Yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said, ‘The Lord rebuke thee’” Jude 1 v9 KJV
There are a lot of stories told about Halloween. Some stories are fond remembrances of family celebration, spooky stories, “trick-or-treating” in the neighbourhood, bobbing for apples, and the genial fun of a night of mischief. Some stories are profound and moving worship of God, and mourning the loss of those who have died over the years. Some are stories of the end of labour, as the harvest finally draws to a close and winter begins, bringing with it the care and worries that the season brings to farmers.
All of those stories are true ones, and many of us have heard them one way or another. Yet there are other stories told of this time of year: stories of ancient Druids who terrorized the populace into giving bribes ranging from the best cattle to virgin daughters; stories of gruesome witches who poison candy and steal children for horrid sacrifices; stories of dark occult practices, and of modern-day evildoers, who use the mystery of this night to perpetrate acts of atrocity.
Year after year, Christians are warned of tainted treats, dangerous pranks, or random acts of cruelty that some people play on others on this night. Such warnings are certainly important, and should be heeded. Yet there are also sermons, tracts, and literature that speak of spiritual danger, portraying Halloween as the “Day of the Devil,” and telling a dark history of cruelty and evil. Yet others—some Christian, some not—have come forward to decry these statements as falsehoods,
As Christians, we are called to resist the devil: yet we are also called to speak the truth. If, as some state, Halloween is the Devil’s Day, then of course we should shun it, “for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” [1] Yet how are we to know the facts of the claims being made? More importantly, once we know the facts, how shall we respond to them in a manner that honours Jesus?
Do Druids Trick-or-Treat?
There are a great many things we “know” about the Halloween. We “know” that the Druids were the priests of the Celts. We “know” that Halloween was an ancient Celtic festival, where the Druids would go from house to house asking for sacrifices (the origins of “trick or treat”). We “know” that the Druids would take humans as sacrifices (hence the stories that modern Witches and Satanists will do the same). We “know” that the Druids held the Celts in awe and fear by reason of their power, until the advent of Christianity (hence St. Patrick’s confrontation with the Druids, as represented by his “driving the snakes from Ireland”). The problem with all that we “know” is that most, if not all, of it is wrong.
Most people assume that it was the Celts who started Halloween. It’s quite true that there was an Irish festival called Samhain (pronounced “SOW-en”), but this was not the name of a god in Celtic mythology; indeed, we cannot even be sure if Samhain was a religious festival as we envisage today.
In modern Irish Gaelic, the word samhain simply means “The end of summer,” and refers to the harvest festivals that scholars speculate probably occurred at that time. We can imagine a joyful festival, rather like the modern Thanksgiving in America or the Harvest Home church festivals of the UK, or we can imagine dark rituals of sacrifice and divination, but the honest truth is that we do not know how, or even if, the Celts celebrated Samhain. No evidence survives, and the Celts left no written records, and if anyone definitively says that the Druids did this or the Celts did that for the festival of Samhain, they’re either speculating or lying outright.
Scholars are fairly certain that the Celts did not have a “unified” religion. The Gods of one tribe were called by different names than the Gods of other tribes, and though much speculation has been made about the role of the Druids in unifying the Celts, there is no achieve or archaeological evidence to support this.
It must be understood that the Celts were not a single people: though they spoke similar languages, the Celts were over a hundred different tribes that usually got along almost as well as Liverpool and Millwall fans. Surviving Celtic literature—such as the Táin Bó Cúalnge [2] of Ireland, or The Mabinogion [3] of Wales—is rife with tales of raids, wars, and grudges nursed and passed on over generations.
Additionally, contemporary authors—including Tacitus [4] and Julius Caesar [5]—tell us that the Celts were just as likely to start a fight between themselves as they were to go to war against the Romans, or the neighbouring Germanic tribes. With this kind of reputation, it hardly seems that the Druids could have been an all-powerful force within the tribes as a group, though it is quite possible that they may have held considerable power within an individual tribe.
What about human sacrifice? At the time of writing, there is one archaeological find that contains sufficient evidence of ritual that has led archaeologists to suppose that he MIGHT have been a sacrifice—or might not have been one. Whilst other bodies have been found within the Celtic time period in contexts that have lead scholars to suggest they may have been murdered or had unusual burial rites performed upon them [6] this is a long way short of the quantities of bodies described by the Roman contemporary historians of that time. The famous “Lindow Man” also known to the press as ‘Pete Marsh’ was one of four bodies so far [7] discovered in a peat bog near Manchester in 1984, and while Drs. Ann Ross and Don Robins of the Institute of Archaeology at the University of London have published a popular book concerning this “Druidic Prince,” the fact of the matter remains that many of their arguments are based on weaving a cloak of supposition from a scant few threads of evidence. [8]
And what of the advent of Christianity destroying the power of the Druids? Both in England and in Ireland, many of the Druids converted with out dissent or quarrel: Adomnan of Iona writes in his Life of St. Columbus that several Druids who were converted were granted large tracts of land by the Church, [9] and we know that the class of Druids was recognized by post-Christian Irish law. [10] Indeed, from the evidence now available, the Druids were not the “priests,” but were the intellectual caste of the Irish, skilled in such disciplines as philosophy, poetry, history, astronomy, music, medicine, sorcery, and prophecy or divination; this parallels the Brahmins, who are the intellectual caste of the Hindu. It is probably true that priests were drawn from the Druidic caste, but again, this is speculation, not definite knowledge.
One thing that must be acknowledged about the Druids was their connection with magic and divination, both of which are forbidden by the Bible, and their possible connection with pre-Christian worship. However, it should also be acknowledged that the Druids were a recognized and accepted part of the administration of laws of Ireland well into the late eleventh or early twelfth century.
Indeed, as both the civil and criminal law code of Ireland survive in their completest form in the ‘Leabhar na h Uidre’ (Book of the Dun Cow) dating from the late eleventh or early twelfth centuries, it might be remarked that there had been no amendment of the laws relating to the Druids by that time. Two reasons can be argued: one, that the Druids still existed with a definite, if diminished, role in Irish society; two, that the Druids had vanished and so no one bothered to change the laws. [11]
It is likely that the Celts, as did most ancient societies, had some form of harvest festival—but we do not know what they did, how they celebrated, or even with certainty whether or not they did. It is quite probable that at least some of the Celtic priests were of the Druidic caste, but not all Druids were priests, and we are not certain that all priests were Druids. It is likely that the Druids did engage in sacrifices, perhaps even human sacrifices, but the only evidence we have for this are the writings of their enemies in war, and the uncertain evidence of a handful of archaeological finds.
Our knowledge of the Celts and the Druids—what little we have of it—does nothing to explain the origins of Halloween. Yet history does show that the roots of this celebration do rest in Ireland and England—specifically, the Ireland and England of the Medieval and Renaissance ages.
Halloween’s Beginnings.
The establishment of All Saints day is relatively well documented. Originally held the first Sunday after Pentecost, the date was moved to November 1st by Gregory III when he dedicated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to “All the Saints.” In 835, Gregory IV permanently moved the celebration to November 1. [12] Originally, All Saints Day was a solemn occasion, to be celebrated with a vigil spent in fasting and prayers the evening, followed by a “feast day,” a day to attend Mass and refrain from servile work. [13]
For some, however, this release from work devolved into a carouse, but even in this, the medieval Church tried to moderate the worst of the excesses. The solemnity of All Saints Day became combined with the festivity of harvest celebrations. While there may have been parades and bonfires and revelry, the Church worked with the nobility to keep the celebration within reasonable bounds—and also offered the revealers alternatives to debauchery.
Local practices emerged connected with the harvest glut including local cuisine specialties: in Europe, apple dishes were a popular food on this day (especially since the apple harvest ends relatively late in the year), and in England, the custom of making “soul cakes” to distribute to the poor in exchange for prayers for deceased members of the donor’s family.
It is to this time that we must look for some of the customs of our modern Halloween. Late autumn was apple season, and there was a bounty of apples: it becomes evident that this is the most likely origin of such games as bobbing for apples. The “soul cake” custom was the probable origin of our modern “trick-or-treat.” Far from the horrifying pagan blackmail of pre-Christian Druids imagined by some, this was actually a method of not only feeding the poor, but of persuading attendance at Church!
This is not to say that all of these activities were innocent. Even at this time, it is certainly possible that people attempted to divine the future with apple peels, or by roasting chestnuts. Yet it must be remembered that these local customs were just that: local, frequently isolated folk practices that had little influence across cultural or national boundaries. It was not until the Colonial Age, and the advent of cross continental and inter-continental travel that these local practices combined to create the Halloween customs that we are familiar with today.
Emigration and Travel
Harvest celebrations, and the various local customs that attended them, came to America with the waves of colonists. Just as Europe does not share all its traditions and customs, neither were the American harvest celebrations identical. In New England, with its heavy population of Puritans and Calvinists who disapproved of frivolity in any form, the celebration of harvest festivals was frowned upon; in Maryland and the more southern colonies such celebrations were popular.
As the beliefs and customs of different European ethnic groups, as well as the American Indians, meshed, a distinctly American version of Halloween began to emerge. The first celebrations included “play parties,” public events held to celebrate the harvest, where neighbours would share stories of the dead, tell each other’s fortunes, dance, and sing. Colonial Halloween festivities also featured the telling of ghost stories and mischief making of all kinds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, annual autumn festivities were common, but Halloween was not yet celebrated everywhere in the country. [14]
This American indifference was changed by an event in Ireland. The advent of the Potato Famine in 1846 led to a dramatic influx of Irish immigrants to all parts of the world, including America. While they certainly brought their customs and traditions with them—including their Halloween traditions—they faced many obstacles, including a growing anti-Immigrant and anti-Catholic prejudice. It is possible that the origins of the “Anti-Halloween” movement stem from this prejudice, as many of the complaints directed by Christians against Halloween are also directed against the Roman Catholic Church. [15]
Yet for all of the potential for problems, Halloween adapted to America as readily as the Irish and English immigrants who took it there.
In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighbourly get-togethers, than about ghosts, pranks, and witchcraft. At the turn of the century, Halloween parties for both children and adults became the most common way to celebrate the day. Parties focused on games, foods of the season, and festive costumes. Parents were encouraged by newspapers and community leaders to take anything “frightening” or “grotesque” out of Halloween celebrations. Because of their efforts, Halloween lost most of its superstitious and religious overtones by the beginning of the twentieth century. [16]
Yet there are problems with Halloween. It has been known since the 1920s as a night of mischief, pranks, and vandalism, and since the 1950s, there have been tales about poisoned and adulterated sweets, diabolical witchcraft, Satanic sacrifices, and spiritual danger. Is there any basis to these tales? Where did they come from? Most importantly, what is a Christian supposed to do about Halloween?
Halloween and Samhain: Today’s Witches
Halloween has long been known as a night of mischief, but in the eyes of many Christians, it has also become a night of devilment—literally. Since the 1950s, various groups in England, the Americas, and Australia have emerged that celebrate the time around October 31st as a night dedicated to their pagan gods.
And we Christians have responded … though not always with wisdom. Since the 1970s, various Christians have come forward claiming to have once been members of the occult. They have given testimonies that they had witnessed, been the victims of, and even participated in, diabolical acts. Lurid tales of sacrifices, orgies, debauchery and cruelty have sprung up in countless places, and various forces—from Wiccans to Satanists—have been accused of committing crimes that are almost unspeakable in their atrocity. [17]
Both Pagan and Christian authors and reporters have called these witnesses into question, and many of the tales have been proven false. “Sacrifices” have left no forensic evidence for the investigators; locations where “bodies were buried” prove to have been undisturbed for decades; and those who were supposedly engaged in such activities are frequently nowhere near the location they claimed to have been. Yet these stories continue to circulate, without evidence—and in some churches, without a critical challenge. [18]
Samhain is a pagan and also a wiccan festival occasionally shared by those witches and occultist who have empathy with the Celtic deities and entities. Not all occult practiotoners celebrate samhain.
As far as Satanists are concerned Halloween is not their most high of unholy days it was and will remain their birthday. The only Satanists you will find celebrating on October 31st are those who were born on that day. [19] Some satanic lodges do use both Walpurgis Nacht (30th April) and the 31st October to hold initiations for their new ‘recruits’ but this has an awful lot more to do with the new recruits wanting a ‘special’ night in their own eyes a for their initiation to take place. Its part of the sardonic humour you will find shared by the more serious students of the occult.
Perhaps the most crucial story about Halloween is that it provides a gateway to the occult:
Halloween is harmful because it lures people into the occult. Many children are introduced to occultic practices at Halloween parties. I first learned about the occult at a Halloween party as a teenager. Many kids get their first exposure to occultic horror movies at Halloween parties. After the initial exposure to the occult some children are attracted to the occult because of the power it offers them. Others see it as the ultimate means of rebelling against there parents. [20]
So what is a Christian to do?
For any Christian at anytime prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God. [21] Such is its importance that Christ Himself taught people how to pray to God [22] Some Christians feel a special conviction to pray at this time of year so what should we be praying about?
Ephesians tells us that our battle is not against people but in resisting the hard sell of compromise with a fallen world. [23] It is Christ who by his sacrifice upon the cross has the authority to rebuke these entities so we should follow the example of Michael and leave the actual rebuking to him [24]. However we should pray for those who are spiritually seeking especially those who feel that they should explore evil practises at this time of year. Pray that they be touched in such a way that they begin to seek God.
Pray for those whose work and care is with young people. For teachers, youth workers, mentors, social workers and parents. Pray that the example of their lives provides a positive witness for Christ to young people.
Pray that God protects, blesses and gives His peace to all who find this time of year un-nerving or frightening.
Pray that those who plan to use this time of year as an excuse to cause fear, malicious mischief and criminal damage become convicted that such would be wrong and refrain from doing so.
Pray that the emergency services; the police; the fire service; ambulance crews and hospital staff that they have a peaceful night free from the consequences of out of control celebrations.
Pray for those churches that are hosting alternatives to Halloween for their young people that they are honouring to Christ and a good witness for Christ to those who are not Christians.
“ They (the church) are afraid because wolves have come to fleece the flock repeatedly with their fictional stories of sadistic rituals and evil madness.
They are afraid because they ignorant of the truths that come to bear upon this whole matter.
Even IF every urban myth was true. Even IF every witch was out to get you
My God is still on the throne….!!!
If only my brothers and sisters in Christ would study God’s word rather than Rebecca’s or Bill’s then would I no longer fear this season of the year? Let every Christian know that these myths are just not so. Hide away if you feel you must but while you do that pray for the rest of us who feel this season tug at our souls. God made this day too. He is the King of Kings
Let every child of God spend their efforts preparing for this day. How often does the world beat a path to your door? Now you will have extra people to pray for.
So why not give them some treats and pray for them to come to know Jesus?
And in between the precious little ones dressed in weirdness calling read your Bible and pray, having thrown the mislabelled fiction away.
Mark Ex-occultist
Praise Parties.
As Hallowe’en as opposed to samhain was originally a time of prayer and celebration within the church consider reclaiming it with a praise party and honour God. Many young people have vibrant ideas on ways of worshipping God and can be very creative if given opportunity and encouragement to become more involved in their churches life. Perhaps younger children would appreciate a party in which they celebrate the awe and wonder of God. Older teens might prefer a worship celebration they have organised with opportunity to socialise during and afterwards so they could invite their friends.
Remember most teens would far rather have somewhere warm and safe to have fun and meet their friends away from home than be cold and bored on a dark wet street.
Building relations with schools.
There are many teachers who welcome the chance to enliven their teaching sessions with seasonal activities. In recent years thanks to the commercial hard sell of Halloween goodies by businesses awareness of Halloween has been raised. There are certainly plenty of books aimed at children with themes of ghosts, witches, fairies, dragons, monsters and the like.
If Christians choose not to partake of school life for the rest of the year and only go in to complain and demand that Halloween activities are evil and should not take place they will appear as fanatics. Its far better to gradually build up a relationship with the school over a period of time so that those involved in teaching and administration at the school appreciate you share their concerns in providing a safe environment for their children. Even pagan teachers will appreciate that concern if you are known and your views are considered, reasonable, thought out and motivated by compassion.
This will then allow you to explain with reason your concerns about Halloween activities and request that it would be sensible to advise youngsters not to experiment with occult activities.
There will always be some who despite warnings from Christians and mature pagans alike do try and experiment so consider also suggesting that if any child is or becomes worried or scared by activities they do over Halloween they can always speak to their parent, teacher or even ChildlineUK. ChildlineUK is there for any child who has worries; has difficulties at school and so on it is not just those who suffer abuse.
*NB Jeff Harshbargeri will happily provide details of similar oranisations in the states just ask him*
Trick or treat
Christian children and the children of Christians should not be involved in this activity. In the UK more so than the USA the tricks can be rather malicious and frightening. It is not honouring to Christ to partake of an activity that in essence is pure blackmail to prevent vandalism and reprise attacks.
Encourage children to consider how this activity can frighten the very young and the very old if they were to turn up unexpectedly wearing scary costumes and latex masks. Enter into debate to consider the impact of being repeatedly woken up and disturbed on the frail and elderly. Most young people do have a sense of justice and once they begin to explore an idea they can see injustice and cruelty. Even pagans urge their children to think and act responsibly and take care for their elderly neighbours at this time of year.
Encourage you friends and neighbours to talk to their children into declining to take part in trick or treat and explain the reasons why in a way that allows for debate. You never know you might build a bridge to be able to share about Christ.
If your church fellowship is having an open Praise Party why not extend an invitation to your friends and neighbours inviting their children to that instead.
Please be aware that how you act and react at this time of year can produce or destroy opportunities to building a bridge to share the gospel of Christ with others. Pray that God guides you to act responsibly compassionately and with care for others as Christ Himself had.
For our own children?
Most of our young people will have friends at school who are wiccan; some will be exploring assorted pagan beliefs and a few will perhaps have blown pocket money on Lavey’s satanic bible. Our children are less likely to have our hang-ups about being friends with and discussing beliefs with such people. It is important that we as Christian parents provide our children with the most accurate information we can. If we do not they will know we do not know what we are talking about regarding the occult and that could lead them to wonder if we know what we are talking about when it comes to Christ.
Many teens do feel the pressure that wanting to be part of a group they can identify with brings. Pray that your Children know Gods peace and strength about their own convictions so that they feel able to make a stand when they feel they are being pressurised into decisions that concern them or they feel are morally wrong.
As young people grow they appreciate even if they do not like explanations as to why you view something as wrong or evil and would prefer them to refrain from doing something. Allowing discussions on ‘sticky’ subjects keeps open the door for your child to communicate on your part. As children become teenagers and begin to explore their own morality, belief and faith and yes rebellion this becomes even more important.
If you are banning Halloween parties with friends outright it can help if you are able to offer an alternative. Check if your church or a neighbouring church has any youth activities planned they could attend instead. Perhaps you could allow them to invite friends back to your home maybe with a take away or other favourite foods on offer. There are a range of DVDs they could share watching that do allow a wide debate on the nature of God ranging from ‘Raiders of The lost Arc’ well would you steal Gods box?’ to ‘Bruce Almighty’ what happens when man tries to be God’ and for those stronger parents of older teens ‘Dogma’ When angels go Bad and God makes better than new’.
‘I celebrate LIFE! Halloween has been forsaken by a lot of (ignorant) Christian who believe (falsely) that if they dress up and go get some candy that they are participating in the pagan and/or occult celebration. Hogwash!
Yep, I said it! Hogwash.
Christians can be some of the most ignorant, well meaning sheep that walk the planet. I do not accept the view that if I purchase my products at Wal Mart that I will become ‘possessed’ with the spirit of Sam Walton; Greed. Okay poor illustration, but come on the church needs to come to a place that fear isn’t the reason that we do/don’t do something in relation to observation of sabbaths, holidays etc.
If a person knowingly observes Halloween with its pagan/occult background, then that person is observing Halloween as a pagan/occult holiday. But, to put on someone else that they shouldn’t have fun and go get some candy…………PHEW!
Jeff Ex-Satanist.
One final word of caution.
Despite all that has been said there will remain a small group of people who for whatever reasons will attempt occult explorations for the first time this Halloween simply because it’s the 31st October. The majority of such people are going to be disappointed but given the unpredictable nature of the spiritual domain some with get a lot more than they ever anticipated possible.
If you have concerns about someone you care about or if you feel you have got out of your depth and want to know more about Christ then please contact Refuge Ministries
If they can help they will.
I wish to thank all those pagans who have so willingly shared their time, resources and thoughts with me regarding this article.
My most grateful thanks must go to Cern and Veritas.
To Cern thank you for understanding the need for an updated article that would provide insight to allow for constructive dialogue to begin. His comments and suggestions from the point of view as a pagan, a parent and a teacher were most helpful.
Veritas whose willingness to share his scholarly knowledge and resources of early historical achieve resources and social history allowed this article to be complied so quickly.
It would have taken me far longer to source material without his help.
I also wish to thank those ex-occultists ex-wiccans and ex-Satanists and all those practising who read through commented and made suggestions.
Thank you all.
Caitlin
— Footnotes —
1: 2 Cor. 6:14. All Bible quotations taken from the King James Bible.
2: A translated version of the Tain is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/cool/
3: A translated version of The Mabinogion is available at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/
4: A translation of The Annals of Tacitus is available at http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.html
5: A translation of Caesar’s The Gallic War is available at http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html
6: British Archelogy No38 October 1998 ‘Human Sacrifice in Iron Age Europe. Miranda Aldhouse Green
7: British Archaeology No 13 April 1996 ‘Plastic Pete and Lindow Man’
8: Ross, Anne and Don Robins. The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man, An Archaeological Sensation. For the opposing view, please see Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Druids.
9: Sharpe, Richard, transl. Adomnan of Ionia: Life of St. Columba.
10: Ellis, op cit.
11: Ibid.
12: http://users.rcn.com/tlclcms/saintori.htm
13: For the definition of vigils within the Catholic Church, see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05647a.htm. For feasts, see http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06021b.htm.
14: http://www.historychannel.com/exhibi…hallowmas.html It should be noted that the earlier part of the document engages in some rather irresponsible speculation concerning the “Celtic connection” to Halloween.
15: Bethancourt, W. J. Halloween: Myths, Monsters, and Devils. http://www.illusions.com/halloween/
16: History Channel, op cit.
17: Examples include Michelle Smith and Lawrence Pazder, authors of Michelle Remembers; Mike Warnke, author of The Satan Seller; Lauren Stratford, author of Satan’s Underground; and Dr. Rebecca Brown and “Elaine,” authors of He Came To Set the Captives Free. Please see http://www.religioustolerance.org/bk_fraud.htm for more information. However, it should be noted that the Religious Tolerance is a “religiously neutral” website: while their research is first rate, they do not solely adhere to Christian standards, and many Christians may disagree with some of their conclusions.
18: Please see http://www.religioustolerance.org/chrw_int.htm and http://www.religioustolerance.org/chrw_rad.htm. However, it should be noted that the Religious Tolerance is a “religiously neutral” website: while their research is first rate, they do not solely adhere to Christian standards, and many Christians may disagree with some of their conclusions.
19: The Truth about Satanism by Lance King. http://www.spiritwatch.org/sattruth.htm One of the best-researched articles on Satanism by Christians available on the web.
20: Quoted from http://logosresourcepages.org/halloween.html
21: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints2 Ephesians 6 v18 KJV
22: Matthew 6 5-15
23: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Ephesians 6 v12 KJV
24: “Yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation but said, ‘The Lord rebuke thee’” Jude 1 v9 KJV
Monday, October 12, 2009
Your Parents and You
Parents are our primary role models. They have the awesome responsibility of shaping the perceptions we learn by observation and experience. We apply these perceptions to our view of God, our self-concept, and our relationships with other people. The problem is that our parents are imperfect people who model beliefs and behaviors learned from their imperfect parents. As a result, our perceptions are often faulty, and we and our relationships suffer.
Our misperceptions, manifested pain, insecurity, anger, or rejection are cycled from one generation to the next, and would go unaltered were it not for the truth of God's Word.
THE PROBLEM: Our perceptions of God, Self-concepts and relationships with others are shaped by our parents.
THE SOLUTION: A healthy perception of God, others and ourselves.
THE PROCESS: Changing our perceptions of God, self-concepts and relationships with others.
Recommended reading: Your Parents and You
Our misperceptions, manifested pain, insecurity, anger, or rejection are cycled from one generation to the next, and would go unaltered were it not for the truth of God's Word.
THE PROBLEM: Our perceptions of God, Self-concepts and relationships with others are shaped by our parents.
THE SOLUTION: A healthy perception of God, others and ourselves.
THE PROCESS: Changing our perceptions of God, self-concepts and relationships with others.
Recommended reading: Your Parents and You
Friday, October 9, 2009
Generational Curses
Biblical Answers to Questions Raised by the phrase "visit the inquities to the third and fourth generation"
by Bob DeWaay
“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:5,6)
“Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.” (Deuteronomy 7:9,10)
Oftentimes when a passage is unclear it is used to support false teachings. Because when many Christians are unsure of the meaning of a passage, they are less able to discern erroneous teaching based on the verses in question. This is surely the case for the popular teaching on generational curses that is based on the Biblical passages cited above. Many popular books published in the last thirty years claim that Christians are subjected to unknown generational curses that have detrimental effects on their lives. The writers of the books offer their special knowledge that can break the curses.
In this article we will examine the Old Testament passages about generational curses. By careful exegesis centering around the whole counsel of God, we shall show that these passages do not support the idea that Christians are cursed because of the sins of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We shall also make it clear that these verses do not teach that demons have the right or ability to inhabit Christians because of generational curses nor that Satan has the right to inflict curses upon Christians because of ancestral sins. On the contrary, Christians have the “blessing of Abraham” because of their relationship to Christ.
Read article
by Bob DeWaay
“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20:5,6)
“Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.” (Deuteronomy 7:9,10)
Oftentimes when a passage is unclear it is used to support false teachings. Because when many Christians are unsure of the meaning of a passage, they are less able to discern erroneous teaching based on the verses in question. This is surely the case for the popular teaching on generational curses that is based on the Biblical passages cited above. Many popular books published in the last thirty years claim that Christians are subjected to unknown generational curses that have detrimental effects on their lives. The writers of the books offer their special knowledge that can break the curses.
In this article we will examine the Old Testament passages about generational curses. By careful exegesis centering around the whole counsel of God, we shall show that these passages do not support the idea that Christians are cursed because of the sins of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. We shall also make it clear that these verses do not teach that demons have the right or ability to inhabit Christians because of generational curses nor that Satan has the right to inflict curses upon Christians because of ancestral sins. On the contrary, Christians have the “blessing of Abraham” because of their relationship to Christ.
Read article
Monday, October 5, 2009
Emerging Church
I had an interesting experience the past few days. I made contact with an evangelistic/church planting denomination. They ran an ad for a church planter in my area. Well, I was interested as I am planting a church (Calvary Chapel) and was curious as to their method, perspective etc. I wasn't necessarily looking to jump on their bandwagon, but I thought that dialog might be beneficial and fellowship may be available.
We exchanged e mail and initially liked what I saw. They seemed to have a real sense of direction in the way they go about doing what they do. I, being the curious one, tracked down each and every link that was available and found out that they embrace the 'emerging church' method and perspective. Here is a good explanation of what the 'emerging/emergent church' is:
'The emerging, or emergent, church movement takes its name from the idea that as culture changes, a new church should emerge in response. In this case, it is a response by various church leaders to the current era of post-modernism. Although post-modernism began in the 1950s, the church didn't really seek to conform to its tenets until the 1990s. Post-modernism can be thought of as a dissolution of "cold, hard fact" in favor of "warm, fuzzy subjectivity." The emerging / emergent church movement can be thought of the same way.
The emerging / emergent church movement falls into line with basic post-modernist thinking—it is about experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, outward over inward, feelings over truth. These are reactions to modernism and are thought to be necessary in order to actively engage contemporary culture. This movement is still fairly new, though, so there is not yet a standard method of "doing" church amongst the groups choosing to take a post-modern mindset. In fact, the emerging church rejects any standard methodology for doing anything. Therefore, there is a huge range of how far groups take a post-modernist approach to Christianity. Some groups go only a little way in order to impact their community for Christ, and remain biblically sound. Most groups, however, embrace post-modernist thinking, which eventually leads to a very liberal, loose translation of the Bible. This, in turn, lends to liberal doctrine and theology.
For example, because experience is valued more highly than reason, truth becomes relative. Relativism opens up all kinds of problems, as it destroys the standard that the Bible contains absolute truth, negating the belief that biblical truth can be absolute. If the Bible is not our source for absolute truth, and personal experience is allowed to define and interpret what truth actually is, a saving faith in Jesus Christ is rendered meaningless.
Another area where the emerging / emergent church movement has become anti-biblical is its focus on ecumenism. Unity among people coming from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and diversity in the expression of corporate worship are a strong focus of the emergent church movement. Being ecumenical means that compromise is taking place, and this results in a watering down of Scripture in favor of not offending an apostate. This is in direct opposition to passages such as Revelation 2:14-17, Jesus' letter to the church of Pergamum, in which the Church is warned against tolerating those who teach false doctrine.
False doctrine seems to abound within the emerging / emergent church movement, though, as stated previously, not within every group espousing emerging / emergent church beliefs. Because of this, care must be taken when deciding whether or not to become involved with an emergent church group. We all need to take heed of Matthew 7:15-20, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
While seeking new ways to witness to a changing culture is admirable, utilizing ways which compromise the Truth of the Gospel in any way is nothing more than promoting false doctrine and leading others away from Christ instead of to Him.' www.gotquestions.org
As I shared my concerns about the emerging church and its means not justifying the ends, the response was that what really mattered was transformed lives, not doctrine. However, there will not be transformation without the Truth. It is the Truth that sets us free.
To learn more about the emerging church go to http://www.apologeticsindex.org/290-emerging-church I recommend reading and checking to see if even your church may be embracing the emerging church. Truth matters, folks.
Recommended reading: The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
by John MacArthur
We exchanged e mail and initially liked what I saw. They seemed to have a real sense of direction in the way they go about doing what they do. I, being the curious one, tracked down each and every link that was available and found out that they embrace the 'emerging church' method and perspective. Here is a good explanation of what the 'emerging/emergent church' is:
'The emerging, or emergent, church movement takes its name from the idea that as culture changes, a new church should emerge in response. In this case, it is a response by various church leaders to the current era of post-modernism. Although post-modernism began in the 1950s, the church didn't really seek to conform to its tenets until the 1990s. Post-modernism can be thought of as a dissolution of "cold, hard fact" in favor of "warm, fuzzy subjectivity." The emerging / emergent church movement can be thought of the same way.
The emerging / emergent church movement falls into line with basic post-modernist thinking—it is about experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, outward over inward, feelings over truth. These are reactions to modernism and are thought to be necessary in order to actively engage contemporary culture. This movement is still fairly new, though, so there is not yet a standard method of "doing" church amongst the groups choosing to take a post-modern mindset. In fact, the emerging church rejects any standard methodology for doing anything. Therefore, there is a huge range of how far groups take a post-modernist approach to Christianity. Some groups go only a little way in order to impact their community for Christ, and remain biblically sound. Most groups, however, embrace post-modernist thinking, which eventually leads to a very liberal, loose translation of the Bible. This, in turn, lends to liberal doctrine and theology.
For example, because experience is valued more highly than reason, truth becomes relative. Relativism opens up all kinds of problems, as it destroys the standard that the Bible contains absolute truth, negating the belief that biblical truth can be absolute. If the Bible is not our source for absolute truth, and personal experience is allowed to define and interpret what truth actually is, a saving faith in Jesus Christ is rendered meaningless.
Another area where the emerging / emergent church movement has become anti-biblical is its focus on ecumenism. Unity among people coming from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and diversity in the expression of corporate worship are a strong focus of the emergent church movement. Being ecumenical means that compromise is taking place, and this results in a watering down of Scripture in favor of not offending an apostate. This is in direct opposition to passages such as Revelation 2:14-17, Jesus' letter to the church of Pergamum, in which the Church is warned against tolerating those who teach false doctrine.
False doctrine seems to abound within the emerging / emergent church movement, though, as stated previously, not within every group espousing emerging / emergent church beliefs. Because of this, care must be taken when deciding whether or not to become involved with an emergent church group. We all need to take heed of Matthew 7:15-20, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
While seeking new ways to witness to a changing culture is admirable, utilizing ways which compromise the Truth of the Gospel in any way is nothing more than promoting false doctrine and leading others away from Christ instead of to Him.' www.gotquestions.org
As I shared my concerns about the emerging church and its means not justifying the ends, the response was that what really mattered was transformed lives, not doctrine. However, there will not be transformation without the Truth. It is the Truth that sets us free.
To learn more about the emerging church go to http://www.apologeticsindex.org/290-emerging-church I recommend reading and checking to see if even your church may be embracing the emerging church. Truth matters, folks.
Recommended reading: The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
by John MacArthur
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Christians and Demons
From time to time teachings circulate through the body of Christ that are neither Scripturally nor historically held. The Apostle Paul calls such unsound teaching "wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14)." Tragically, as these winds blow through the church some people find themselves caught up and blown out!
Recently, there has been interest in the so-called "deliverance ministries" which claim to have cast demons out of Christians. They often report of demons being coughed up and vomited out of believers.
What about these experiences? Let us always be careful never to let experience supersede the Word of God. The Word is the only authority upon which we can build doctrine. Paul said, "but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8)."
So what does the Bible say about demon possession in Christians? First of all, we are told, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12)."
These demonic forces seek to hassle our walk with Jesus and hinder our work for Jesus. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you may find yourself bummed out and feeling down and discouraged. This can be the work of a demonic attack, but a demon cannot enter into or exercise control over the life of any true believer. Let's see why.
First, you are in Christ Jesus
When you accepted Jesus as your Lord, you were placed into Christ Jesus. Jesus said, "... ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20)."
In that same teaching Jesus went on to say, "... for the prince of this world (Satan) cometh, and hath nothing on Me (John 14:30)."
Satan and demons have nothing in Jesus for Jesus is, "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named ... (Ephesians 1:21)."
Where are we? "And (He) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6)."
We see that Satan or any of his powers have nothing in Jesus Christ and, therefore, have nothing in us either! Praise the Lord!
Secondly, Christ Jesus is in you.
When you accepted Jesus as Lord, Jesus came into your heart to live in you (see Revelation 3:20).
He is, "... the light of the world . . . (John 8:12)" and Scripture declares that, "... God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)." Darkness and light cannot dwell in the same place at the same time.
Now, those who teach demons can possess Christians often hide behind a semantical smoke screen and say, "Demons possess or invade the body and the mind but not the spirit." But the Lord dwells in the body as well, as the word clearly states, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ... (1 Corinthians 6:19)." The Lord also dwells in our mind for we are told, "... we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)." There just is no room for darkness when the Lord of light lives in us!
Thirdly, the Bible gives absolutely no example or teaching on demons in Christians
If such a major problem as demon possession in Christians was possible, without a doubt we would see several examples of this in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. We would also have clear teaching on this in the epistles, but it is just not there. The one example some do use as a "proof text" is that of Ananias and Sapphira. A careful study of that text, however, seems to indicate that they were not true believers at all. Even if they were, there was not an "exorcism or deliverance" that took place but rather instant judgment (see Acts 5)!
Also, is it not arresting that nowhere in the epistles is a teaching on demon possession or demon invasion of believers? Would God ignore such an important issue if it were such an important issue?
Then, why do people have such experiences of demons being regurgitated, cast out, or coughed up? I believe that these unscriptural practices come from sincere people who have a tendency to pass the blame for their carnal acts onto the devil. remember Flip Wilson's famous comedy sketch in which he said, "The devil made me do it?"
It is interesting to me that often the supposed demons identify themselves as the demon of lust, envy, impurity, witchcraft, anger, etc. But Galatians 5:19 specifically lists these activities as being "works of the flesh!" We are told to "... put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Ephesians 4:22)," and recognize these things to be dead (Romans 6:11). We are never told to, "cast them out."
I believe we, as Christians, should avoid pitfalls of looking for demons and focusing on Satan; rather, we should keep our focus, teachings, and attention on our Lord Jesus Christ. The way to overcome darkness is to turn on the light. The way to overcome the devil is to resist him, and he will flee from us (James 4:7). We resist him by keeping close to our Lord (James 4:7), for "greater is He (Jesus) that is in you than he (Satan) that is in the world (1 John 4:4)."
by Jon Courson
Recently, there has been interest in the so-called "deliverance ministries" which claim to have cast demons out of Christians. They often report of demons being coughed up and vomited out of believers.
What about these experiences? Let us always be careful never to let experience supersede the Word of God. The Word is the only authority upon which we can build doctrine. Paul said, "but though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8)."
So what does the Bible say about demon possession in Christians? First of all, we are told, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12)."
These demonic forces seek to hassle our walk with Jesus and hinder our work for Jesus. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, you may find yourself bummed out and feeling down and discouraged. This can be the work of a demonic attack, but a demon cannot enter into or exercise control over the life of any true believer. Let's see why.
First, you are in Christ Jesus
When you accepted Jesus as your Lord, you were placed into Christ Jesus. Jesus said, "... ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20)."
In that same teaching Jesus went on to say, "... for the prince of this world (Satan) cometh, and hath nothing on Me (John 14:30)."
Satan and demons have nothing in Jesus for Jesus is, "Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named ... (Ephesians 1:21)."
Where are we? "And (He) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6)."
We see that Satan or any of his powers have nothing in Jesus Christ and, therefore, have nothing in us either! Praise the Lord!
Secondly, Christ Jesus is in you.
When you accepted Jesus as Lord, Jesus came into your heart to live in you (see Revelation 3:20).
He is, "... the light of the world . . . (John 8:12)" and Scripture declares that, "... God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5)." Darkness and light cannot dwell in the same place at the same time.
Now, those who teach demons can possess Christians often hide behind a semantical smoke screen and say, "Demons possess or invade the body and the mind but not the spirit." But the Lord dwells in the body as well, as the word clearly states, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ... (1 Corinthians 6:19)." The Lord also dwells in our mind for we are told, "... we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)." There just is no room for darkness when the Lord of light lives in us!
Thirdly, the Bible gives absolutely no example or teaching on demons in Christians
If such a major problem as demon possession in Christians was possible, without a doubt we would see several examples of this in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. We would also have clear teaching on this in the epistles, but it is just not there. The one example some do use as a "proof text" is that of Ananias and Sapphira. A careful study of that text, however, seems to indicate that they were not true believers at all. Even if they were, there was not an "exorcism or deliverance" that took place but rather instant judgment (see Acts 5)!
Also, is it not arresting that nowhere in the epistles is a teaching on demon possession or demon invasion of believers? Would God ignore such an important issue if it were such an important issue?
Then, why do people have such experiences of demons being regurgitated, cast out, or coughed up? I believe that these unscriptural practices come from sincere people who have a tendency to pass the blame for their carnal acts onto the devil. remember Flip Wilson's famous comedy sketch in which he said, "The devil made me do it?"
It is interesting to me that often the supposed demons identify themselves as the demon of lust, envy, impurity, witchcraft, anger, etc. But Galatians 5:19 specifically lists these activities as being "works of the flesh!" We are told to "... put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (Ephesians 4:22)," and recognize these things to be dead (Romans 6:11). We are never told to, "cast them out."
I believe we, as Christians, should avoid pitfalls of looking for demons and focusing on Satan; rather, we should keep our focus, teachings, and attention on our Lord Jesus Christ. The way to overcome darkness is to turn on the light. The way to overcome the devil is to resist him, and he will flee from us (James 4:7). We resist him by keeping close to our Lord (James 4:7), for "greater is He (Jesus) that is in you than he (Satan) that is in the world (1 John 4:4)."
by Jon Courson
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Wiccan or "Christian" America
On the 4th of July, 2007, pagan religious leaders led a rally across from the White House to call for the appointment of a Pagan military chaplain and to request approval of Pagan religious symbols by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Elevating the “religion” of paganism as a legally-endorsed activity by the United States Military, of which the President is Commander in Chief sounds both fair and odd.
Fair: Democratic rights must be applied to all religious expressions. Everyone should be free to worship the god of their choice, as the saying goes. But what should be classified as a religion? The lines between religion and politics cannot be clearly drawn. People are political, social and religious entities—all the time, and all at the same time. Political questions always have a moral/ethical component and morals cannot be separated from religious truth. When well-known politicians die, the so-called “state funeral” always ends up in a cathedral somewhere, and the living politicians show up on the front row. Church/state separation, so vigorously applied during the politician’s life, evaporates before the great religious mystery of death.
more
recommended reading: Spirit Wars by Peter Jones
Fair: Democratic rights must be applied to all religious expressions. Everyone should be free to worship the god of their choice, as the saying goes. But what should be classified as a religion? The lines between religion and politics cannot be clearly drawn. People are political, social and religious entities—all the time, and all at the same time. Political questions always have a moral/ethical component and morals cannot be separated from religious truth. When well-known politicians die, the so-called “state funeral” always ends up in a cathedral somewhere, and the living politicians show up on the front row. Church/state separation, so vigorously applied during the politician’s life, evaporates before the great religious mystery of death.
more
recommended reading: Spirit Wars by Peter Jones
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Free Bible Software
E4 Bible Study Library, Vol. 1 & 2
Titles: Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus - parsed with Strongs Numbers), King James Version with Strongs Numbers, Young's Literal Translation of the Bible , The Weymouth New Testament , American Standard Version , La Biblia (Versión Reina-Valera De 1909), E4's Naves Topical Bible , Thompson Chain References , E4's Hebrew Lexicon , E4's Greek Lexicon, E4's Tense Voice Mood, Easton's Bible Dictionary , McCheynn - Sermons and Letters, Ryle - Holiness, Edwards - Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Smeaton - Paul’s Doctrine of the Atonement, Owen - The Glory of the Trinity , Haldane - Commentary on Romans , Hodge - Commentary on Ephesians , Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary , Hodge - Outlines of Theology , Guthrie - Your Salvation, Spurgeon - All of Grace, Spurgeon - A Collection of Sermons , Hodge - Sermon Outlines , The Westminster Confession and Catechisms , Hodge - Commentary on Westminster Confession , Vincent - A Family Instructional Guide, Baxter - The Reformed Pastor , Witherow - The Apostolic Church, Which Is It?
Go to Free Bible Software
Titles: Greek New Testament (Textus Receptus - parsed with Strongs Numbers), King James Version with Strongs Numbers, Young's Literal Translation of the Bible , The Weymouth New Testament , American Standard Version , La Biblia (Versión Reina-Valera De 1909), E4's Naves Topical Bible , Thompson Chain References , E4's Hebrew Lexicon , E4's Greek Lexicon, E4's Tense Voice Mood, Easton's Bible Dictionary , McCheynn - Sermons and Letters, Ryle - Holiness, Edwards - Jonathan Edwards on Revival, Smeaton - Paul’s Doctrine of the Atonement, Owen - The Glory of the Trinity , Haldane - Commentary on Romans , Hodge - Commentary on Ephesians , Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary , Hodge - Outlines of Theology , Guthrie - Your Salvation, Spurgeon - All of Grace, Spurgeon - A Collection of Sermons , Hodge - Sermon Outlines , The Westminster Confession and Catechisms , Hodge - Commentary on Westminster Confession , Vincent - A Family Instructional Guide, Baxter - The Reformed Pastor , Witherow - The Apostolic Church, Which Is It?
Go to Free Bible Software
Monday, September 7, 2009
Biblical Illiteracy
I have to admit, I have been extremely surprised at the level of biblical illiteracy among God's children. Why is this phenomena occurring? I think that we have such an influx of Bible teachers that we simply don't believe that we need to read the Bible for ourselves or to practice what the Bereans did in Acts 17:11 'And the people of Berea were more open minded than those in Thessolonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul's message. They searched the scripture day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.' The Bereans had a goal: they wanted to know the Truth that could set them free and they were responsible enough to know the scripture to make certain that they were not being misled.
I once spoke at a conference that had a speaker who taught that Christians would 'get a demon' by viewing The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe movie. The biblically illiterate Christians bobbed their heads in unison as though they just knew that to be truth. However, it is hogwash. Kenneth Copeland teaches that faith is a 'force' that is released etc. That's not exactly what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that faith is simply a believing trust in God and His word. Do you see how easy it is to be led astray if one does not know the scripture and relies on others to teach you?
Folks, I will do everything that I can to assist you in your biblical understanding. We have a link StudyLight, that has a vast amount of free resources for your understanding. I will post offers for free CDs, MP3s, bible software and biblically balanced articles on topics. I also strongly recommend that you request your free MP3 Bible. However, only you can do as the Bereans did; search the scripture day after day for the Truth.
I once spoke at a conference that had a speaker who taught that Christians would 'get a demon' by viewing The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe movie. The biblically illiterate Christians bobbed their heads in unison as though they just knew that to be truth. However, it is hogwash. Kenneth Copeland teaches that faith is a 'force' that is released etc. That's not exactly what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that faith is simply a believing trust in God and His word. Do you see how easy it is to be led astray if one does not know the scripture and relies on others to teach you?
Folks, I will do everything that I can to assist you in your biblical understanding. We have a link StudyLight, that has a vast amount of free resources for your understanding. I will post offers for free CDs, MP3s, bible software and biblically balanced articles on topics. I also strongly recommend that you request your free MP3 Bible. However, only you can do as the Bereans did; search the scripture day after day for the Truth.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
The Legend: Anton Szandor LaVey
"I'm one helluva liar. Most of my adult life, I've been accused of being a charlatan, a phony, an impostor. I guess that makes me about as close to what the Devil's supposed to be, as anyone. It's true. I lie constantly, incessantly. Because I lie so often, I'd really be full of @#$% if I didn't keep my mouth shut and my bowels open."
- Anton LaVey, Satan Speaks, page 101
"The bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it" - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
LEGEND: Claimed that "Anton Szandor LaVey" was his genuine birth name.
REALITY: Born "Howard Stanton Levey".
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by relatives.
LEGEND: Claimed his parents were Joseph and Augusta LaVey.
REALITY: Parents were Michael and Gertrude Levey.
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by ASL's daughter Zeena and daughter Karla according to her entry on ASL's death certificate.
LEGEND: Claimed he was introduced to the Dark Side by his Transylvanian Gypsy grandmother, who regaled him as a child with supernatural folklore and tales of vampires and werewolves.
REALITY: ASL's grandmother was not Transylvanian nor of Gypsy stock. She was a Ukrainian named Cecile Luba Primokov-Coulton ("Coulton" was Anglicized from "Koltonoff"). Despite his frequent claims, ASL had no Gypsy ancestry.
SOURCES: Relatives, including ASL's parents.
LEGEND: In 1945 the 15-year-old ASL was brought to the ruins of postwar Germany by his uncle, a U.S. Coast Guard officer. There the teenaged ASL was shown top-secret films inspired by Satanic cult lodges and their rituals. ASL claimed that the "German" rituals in his 1972 book The Satanic Rituals were actual transcripts of the filmed rituals he saw as a youth.
REALITY: Young Howard spent the entirety of 1945 in suburban northern California, and never visited Germany at any time in his life. The uncle who he claimed brought him to Germany was incarcerated at McNeill Island Penitentiary for involvement with Al Capone-related criminal activity during 1945, and was never in the armed forces. Allied martial law forbade U.S. citizens from visiting postwar Germany. The "German" rituals in the Satanic Rituals are written in extremely poor, Anglicized German. They are clearly uncredited adaptations of the short story The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long and H.G. Wells' famous novel The Island of Dr. Moreau.
SOURCES: ASL relatives, former wife Diane LaVey, The Hounds of Tindalos, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Satanic Rituals, Church of Satan member Rosalind Herkommer (who translated ASL's rituals into German).
LEGEND: ASL purchased the house at 6114 California Street (which would later become the headquarters of the Church of Satan - the infamous "Black House") because he discovered on first inspection that it was the former brothel of Barbary Coast madam Mammy Pleasant. The house was honeycombed with trapdoors and secret passageways, built by Pleasant to elude police raids.
REALITY: 6114 was ASL's parents' home. It was never a brothel, nor did Mammy Pleasant ever live or work there. ASL's parents first allowed ASL and his first wife Carole to live in the house, then transferred ownership of it to ASL and his second wife Diane in 1971. Such secret passages and hidden rooms that exist were constructed by ASL.
SOURCES: Relatives, San Francisco property records (Michael & Gertrude Levey, Joint Tenancy Grant Deed, July 9, 1971).
LEGEND: ASL wrote the Satanic Bible, his principal work, to fulfill his congregation's need for a scriptural guide.
REALITY: The Satanic Bible was conceived as a commercial vehicle by paperback publisher Avon Books. Avon approached ASL for some kind of Satanic work to cash in on the Satanism & witchcraft fad of the late 1960s. Pressed for material to meet Avon's deadline, ASL resorted to plagiarism, assembling extracts from an obscure 1896 tract - Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard into a "Book of Satan" for the SB, and claiming its authorship by himself. [Ironically these MiR passages are the ones most frequently quoted by ASL disciples.] Another third of the SB consists of John Dee's "Enochian Keys", taken directly but again without attribution from Aleister Crowley's Equinox. The SB's "Nine Satanic Statements", one of the Church of Satan's central doctrines, is a paraphrase, again unacknowledged, of passages from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The last words in the SB - "Yankee Rose" - have been puzzled over for years by readers. "YR" is actually the name of an old popular tune in ASL's nightclub repertoire.
SOURCES: ASL, The Satanic Bible; Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right, Port Townsend: Loompanics (reprint), 1896; Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Galt's speech, ca. pages #936-993); "Yankee Rose" by Sidney Holden & Abe Frankl (Irving Berlin Music, 1926).
LEGEND: ASL claimed that at the height of the Church of Satan's popularity there were hundreds of thousands of formal members.
REALITY: Diane LaVey (who administered the Church as High Priestess 1966-1984), Michael A. Aquino (senior Magister of the Church and Editor of its Cloven Hoof newsletter 1971-1975), and Zeena LaVey (High Priestess of the Church 1985-1990) have all affirmed that the figures claimed by ASL were grossly exaggerated. The membership of the Church of Satan never exceeded 300 individuals, several of whom were nonmember subscribers to the newsletter or ASL friends receiving complimentary mailings.
SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Michael A. Aquino, Zeena LaVey.
LEGEND: ASL claimed to be a multimillionaire, owning three homes in northern California, a convent in Italy, a chateau in France, a fleet of luxury automobiles, a 185-foot yacht, three salvage ships, and other property.
REALITY: During Diane [LaVey] Hegarty's 1988-91 lawsuit against ASL, and ASL's subsequent 1991 filing for bankruptcy, ASL stipulated under oath that he owned nothing more than 50% of the house his parents had given jointly to him and Diane, along with the personal items he kept therein. ASL's final years were subsidized by California state aid. Assessors declared the house to be in such poor repair as to be nearly worthless on the real estate market. Family members have attested to the fact that by the mid-1970s the LaVeys lived in near-poverty, frequently having to rely upon ASL's father's generosity. According to other LaVey relatives, ASL continued to rely on handouts from friends and relatives until the end of his life.
SOURCES: Hegarty v. LaVey (San Francisco Superior Court Case #891863), Anton LaVey Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern California, Case #91-34251), Zeena LaVey, other relatives.
And, yes I am aware that Blanche Barton is refuting this.....
- Anton LaVey, Satan Speaks, page 101
"The bigger the lie, the more the people will believe it" - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
LEGEND: Claimed that "Anton Szandor LaVey" was his genuine birth name.
REALITY: Born "Howard Stanton Levey".
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by relatives.
LEGEND: Claimed his parents were Joseph and Augusta LaVey.
REALITY: Parents were Michael and Gertrude Levey.
SOURCES: Birth certificate 4/11/1930, Cook County, Illinois. Confirmed by ASL's daughter Zeena and daughter Karla according to her entry on ASL's death certificate.
LEGEND: Claimed he was introduced to the Dark Side by his Transylvanian Gypsy grandmother, who regaled him as a child with supernatural folklore and tales of vampires and werewolves.
REALITY: ASL's grandmother was not Transylvanian nor of Gypsy stock. She was a Ukrainian named Cecile Luba Primokov-Coulton ("Coulton" was Anglicized from "Koltonoff"). Despite his frequent claims, ASL had no Gypsy ancestry.
SOURCES: Relatives, including ASL's parents.
LEGEND: In 1945 the 15-year-old ASL was brought to the ruins of postwar Germany by his uncle, a U.S. Coast Guard officer. There the teenaged ASL was shown top-secret films inspired by Satanic cult lodges and their rituals. ASL claimed that the "German" rituals in his 1972 book The Satanic Rituals were actual transcripts of the filmed rituals he saw as a youth.
REALITY: Young Howard spent the entirety of 1945 in suburban northern California, and never visited Germany at any time in his life. The uncle who he claimed brought him to Germany was incarcerated at McNeill Island Penitentiary for involvement with Al Capone-related criminal activity during 1945, and was never in the armed forces. Allied martial law forbade U.S. citizens from visiting postwar Germany. The "German" rituals in the Satanic Rituals are written in extremely poor, Anglicized German. They are clearly uncredited adaptations of the short story The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long and H.G. Wells' famous novel The Island of Dr. Moreau.
SOURCES: ASL relatives, former wife Diane LaVey, The Hounds of Tindalos, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Satanic Rituals, Church of Satan member Rosalind Herkommer (who translated ASL's rituals into German).
LEGEND: ASL purchased the house at 6114 California Street (which would later become the headquarters of the Church of Satan - the infamous "Black House") because he discovered on first inspection that it was the former brothel of Barbary Coast madam Mammy Pleasant. The house was honeycombed with trapdoors and secret passageways, built by Pleasant to elude police raids.
REALITY: 6114 was ASL's parents' home. It was never a brothel, nor did Mammy Pleasant ever live or work there. ASL's parents first allowed ASL and his first wife Carole to live in the house, then transferred ownership of it to ASL and his second wife Diane in 1971. Such secret passages and hidden rooms that exist were constructed by ASL.
SOURCES: Relatives, San Francisco property records (Michael & Gertrude Levey, Joint Tenancy Grant Deed, July 9, 1971).
LEGEND: ASL wrote the Satanic Bible, his principal work, to fulfill his congregation's need for a scriptural guide.
REALITY: The Satanic Bible was conceived as a commercial vehicle by paperback publisher Avon Books. Avon approached ASL for some kind of Satanic work to cash in on the Satanism & witchcraft fad of the late 1960s. Pressed for material to meet Avon's deadline, ASL resorted to plagiarism, assembling extracts from an obscure 1896 tract - Might is Right by Ragnar Redbeard into a "Book of Satan" for the SB, and claiming its authorship by himself. [Ironically these MiR passages are the ones most frequently quoted by ASL disciples.] Another third of the SB consists of John Dee's "Enochian Keys", taken directly but again without attribution from Aleister Crowley's Equinox. The SB's "Nine Satanic Statements", one of the Church of Satan's central doctrines, is a paraphrase, again unacknowledged, of passages from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. The last words in the SB - "Yankee Rose" - have been puzzled over for years by readers. "YR" is actually the name of an old popular tune in ASL's nightclub repertoire.
SOURCES: ASL, The Satanic Bible; Ragnar Redbeard, Might is Right, Port Townsend: Loompanics (reprint), 1896; Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Galt's speech, ca. pages #936-993); "Yankee Rose" by Sidney Holden & Abe Frankl (Irving Berlin Music, 1926).
LEGEND: ASL claimed that at the height of the Church of Satan's popularity there were hundreds of thousands of formal members.
REALITY: Diane LaVey (who administered the Church as High Priestess 1966-1984), Michael A. Aquino (senior Magister of the Church and Editor of its Cloven Hoof newsletter 1971-1975), and Zeena LaVey (High Priestess of the Church 1985-1990) have all affirmed that the figures claimed by ASL were grossly exaggerated. The membership of the Church of Satan never exceeded 300 individuals, several of whom were nonmember subscribers to the newsletter or ASL friends receiving complimentary mailings.
SOURCES: Diane LaVey, Michael A. Aquino, Zeena LaVey.
LEGEND: ASL claimed to be a multimillionaire, owning three homes in northern California, a convent in Italy, a chateau in France, a fleet of luxury automobiles, a 185-foot yacht, three salvage ships, and other property.
REALITY: During Diane [LaVey] Hegarty's 1988-91 lawsuit against ASL, and ASL's subsequent 1991 filing for bankruptcy, ASL stipulated under oath that he owned nothing more than 50% of the house his parents had given jointly to him and Diane, along with the personal items he kept therein. ASL's final years were subsidized by California state aid. Assessors declared the house to be in such poor repair as to be nearly worthless on the real estate market. Family members have attested to the fact that by the mid-1970s the LaVeys lived in near-poverty, frequently having to rely upon ASL's father's generosity. According to other LaVey relatives, ASL continued to rely on handouts from friends and relatives until the end of his life.
SOURCES: Hegarty v. LaVey (San Francisco Superior Court Case #891863), Anton LaVey Bankruptcy, Chapter 7 (U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern California, Case #91-34251), Zeena LaVey, other relatives.
And, yes I am aware that Blanche Barton is refuting this.....
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Telling Yourself the Truth
How is your thought life? Are you under the influence of the Holy Spirit when it comes to what is going on in your mind?
Folks, the way and what we think affects everything; the way that we feel and our behavior/actions. Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions and wrong behaviors - and unhappiness! So, when you learn to deal with your thoughts, you have taken your first step on the road to real contentment.
Jesus promises us in John 8:31-32 that if we remain or abide in His word, we will be His disciples. And, His disciples are free. Go get your Bible and read it for yourself. Are you free? Adam Clarke states "It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in whose heart the power of sin is destroyed, and who has received the Spirit of adoption, through which he cries, Abba! Father! See Romans 8:15. The bondage of sin is the most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and influence is the greatest liberty."
We need to be set free from our own sin in our thought patterns. Maybe we have been told by someone that we will never amount to anything, so we feel like a failure and live a life of failing. That was my thought pattern, simply because I believed a lie from one of my parents. I thought wrong (I would never amount to anything), wrong reaction (anger and depression), wrong behavior(set out to be 'someone' by entering the occult). I was unhappy! However, Jesus words have been (it is a process) setting me free as I renew my mind.
I am responsible to believe God's word and to place my mind under His Spirit's influence. By that I mean that I am to think correctly which is a discipline. Ouch! that is a word many of us do not want to hear. We like for God to 'do something' for us. But Jesus told us that it is our responsibilty to abide or remain in His word, or for His word to remain in us; believing His word, responding to His word, producing His fruit by His Spirit. It is a simple three step process of:
1.locating a lie in our thoughts and self talk
2.arguing against the lie
3. replacing the lie with the truth.
Remember folks, Jesus said if we would do this, He and His word would set us free!
recommended reading : Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus
Folks, the way and what we think affects everything; the way that we feel and our behavior/actions. Wrong thinking produces wrong emotions, wrong reactions and wrong behaviors - and unhappiness! So, when you learn to deal with your thoughts, you have taken your first step on the road to real contentment.
Jesus promises us in John 8:31-32 that if we remain or abide in His word, we will be His disciples. And, His disciples are free. Go get your Bible and read it for yourself. Are you free? Adam Clarke states "It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in whose heart the power of sin is destroyed, and who has received the Spirit of adoption, through which he cries, Abba! Father! See Romans 8:15. The bondage of sin is the most grievous bondage; and freedom from its guilt and influence is the greatest liberty."
We need to be set free from our own sin in our thought patterns. Maybe we have been told by someone that we will never amount to anything, so we feel like a failure and live a life of failing. That was my thought pattern, simply because I believed a lie from one of my parents. I thought wrong (I would never amount to anything), wrong reaction (anger and depression), wrong behavior(set out to be 'someone' by entering the occult). I was unhappy! However, Jesus words have been (it is a process) setting me free as I renew my mind.
I am responsible to believe God's word and to place my mind under His Spirit's influence. By that I mean that I am to think correctly which is a discipline. Ouch! that is a word many of us do not want to hear. We like for God to 'do something' for us. But Jesus told us that it is our responsibilty to abide or remain in His word, or for His word to remain in us; believing His word, responding to His word, producing His fruit by His Spirit. It is a simple three step process of:
1.locating a lie in our thoughts and self talk
2.arguing against the lie
3. replacing the lie with the truth.
Remember folks, Jesus said if we would do this, He and His word would set us free!
recommended reading : Telling Yourself the Truth by William Backus
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Providence and Promise: How God Rules His Universe for the Good of His People
Pastor Bob DeWaay has written an extraordinary article. Here is an excerpt of the article:
'People's lack of knowledge of the doctrine of providence (or their failure to believe it) has practical implications. The most profound is that Christians begin to think like pagans, resorting to spiritual warfare teachings to ward off curses or bad fate. They resort to divination to seek to divine information that supposedly will ensure good outcomes to their endeavors. All of this is a result of their not believing that God can care for us unless we obtain new, secret information.'
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue113.htm
'People's lack of knowledge of the doctrine of providence (or their failure to believe it) has practical implications. The most profound is that Christians begin to think like pagans, resorting to spiritual warfare teachings to ward off curses or bad fate. They resort to divination to seek to divine information that supposedly will ensure good outcomes to their endeavors. All of this is a result of their not believing that God can care for us unless we obtain new, secret information.'
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue113.htm
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Free Resources
CDs Only
1. "Jonah Pt 1"– by Chuck Missler
2. "Jonah Pt 2" – by Chuck Missler
3. "Compassion In JESUS Name" – by Wess Stafford
4. "When Your Roof Leaks" – by John Seaborn
5. "The Mount Of Transfiguration" - Richard Bennett
6. "Watching The Storms In Life" - by Dr. Howard Clark
Request your CDs from our friends @ firefightersforchrist@cox.net
Also, I have some Bibles that have been sitting on my shelf. I would love to give them to anyone who promises to read them. You just need to cover the cost of shipping, if possible.
1. Giant print KJV black leather- like new condition
2. Large print Open Bible NKJV hardcover- used condition
3. Black leather NIV- used condition
4. Paperback NLT The Book- brand new condition
E mail me @ info@refugeministries.cc if you are interested in one of the Bibles.
1. "Jonah Pt 1"– by Chuck Missler
2. "Jonah Pt 2" – by Chuck Missler
3. "Compassion In JESUS Name" – by Wess Stafford
4. "When Your Roof Leaks" – by John Seaborn
5. "The Mount Of Transfiguration" - Richard Bennett
6. "Watching The Storms In Life" - by Dr. Howard Clark
Request your CDs from our friends @ firefightersforchrist@cox.net
Also, I have some Bibles that have been sitting on my shelf. I would love to give them to anyone who promises to read them. You just need to cover the cost of shipping, if possible.
1. Giant print KJV black leather- like new condition
2. Large print Open Bible NKJV hardcover- used condition
3. Black leather NIV- used condition
4. Paperback NLT The Book- brand new condition
E mail me @ info@refugeministries.cc if you are interested in one of the Bibles.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Bait and Switch
Trading the Vibrant Life of Jesus for a Ritualistic Religion Called Christianity.
I saw the sign a year ago in Georgia: Live Free for Three Months. It was a developer's marketing strategy for a declining housing market. When I saw it, however, I wasn't thinking about houses. I thought about Christianity and how we invite people to live free in Christ and then soon after saddle them with all the obligations of being a "good Christian". We generally don't even let them have three months.
When the early believers were first called Christians, we don't know if it was a complement or a mockery. We do know that they didn't invent the term for themselves. The culture called them "little christs" because they had found so much identity in following Jesus. Whatever spawned the term, those early believers adopted it for themselves and for 2,000 years it has been the dominant identifier for those who claim to follow Christ. But that might be changing.
Recent surveys show even believers are becoming uncomfortable with the term. At least in the United States it is increasingly used not for people who reflect the passion of Jesus in a broken world, but for adherents of a religion that has been built on a distortion of the life and teaching of Jesus, not necessarily it's reality. The results can be confusing.
"Are you a Christian?" I used to love it when someone on a plane asked me that question. "Absolutely," I'd answer, proud to be on the side of all that's good and right in the world. But over the last fifteen years, answering that question has become far more difficult. Much of what has been done in recent years in the name of Christianity embarrasses me and disfigures the God I love. Some of it even horrifies me.
So now when I'm asked the question today, I hedge a bit. "It depends on what you mean by 'Christian'," I often respond. If they are asking whether or not I am a faithful adherent of the religion called Christianity, I have to confess that I'm not. I'm not even trying to be. But if they are asking me if I am a passionate follower of Jesus, the answer would be an enthusiastic yes.
In a few short years those realities have diverged significantly. Perhaps there has not been a time since the Middle Ages, where what it means to be a good Christian and what it means to thrive in a relationship with God, couldn't be more at odds. You can do everything required of a 'good Christian' in our day and still miss out on what it means to know him and be involved in a meaningful relationship with him that transforms you to love as he loved.
How many people endure repetitive rituals certain that doing so endears them to God? How many embrace a slate of ethical rules or doctrinal propositions thinking that doing so ensures God's blessings? Jesus offered us a vibrant life of relationship with his Father, and we ended up creating a religion that often disarms that very Gospel of its glory.
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Mark 7:6-7) These words are as true for us today as when Jesus voiced them to the religious captives in his. His warnings in Matthew 23 about the pitfalls of religion, are more applicable in our day than they were in his. When is the last time you heard a sermon from that text? Read it. You'll know why.
Something Is Broken
For the last few months I've done numerous radio interviews for people concerned about what's being called the collapse of Christianity. Newsweek did a cover article in April about the collapse of Christianity's influence in America and that fewer people identify themselves as Christian or are a committed part of a local congregation.
There's a lot of handwringing going on about those statistics, most of them blaming the culture. But the problems in religion itself have never been greater. Conservative Christianity aligned itself with a political agenda and a party that turned out to be as corrupt as it blamed the other party for being. More and more believers I know are embarrassed at the anger and arrogance of many so-called leaders who speak to the press on behalf of Christianity. So it's no wonder to me that last year 4000 churches closed in America, 1700 pastors left the ministry each month and another 1300 pastors were terminated by their church, many without cause, and over 3500 people per day left their church last year.
Clearly we have a problem that cannot be blamed on the secularization of our culture. The kingdom is no longer a pearl of great price, and knowing Jesus is no longer the fruit of our religious activities. And people who are beginning to see that, are often marginalized as rebellious or unsubmitted for simply wanting what Jesus promised them.
Many people giving up on local institutions are not doing so because they've rejected Jesus, but finding that the culture of Christianity is actually diminishing their faith not enhancing it. In an email I got the other day, from a frustrated pastor trying to help people follow Jesus, and is just coming to realize that his own job may be at odds with his greatest passion. "Church has become a hindrance to building relationships and loving others."
He's not alone. Many of us came to faith enamored by the life and teachings of Jesus. We were promised a relationship with God but were handed a religion of doctrines we had to believe, rituals we had to observe, obligations we had to meet and a standard of morality to adopt. While most of those were true enough, many found that their attempts to follow them did not produce either the life of Jesus it promised, nor the reality of true, caring communities of faith.
We have traded the simple power of the Gospel for a religion based on human effort. We were invited to relationship and ended up with a host of irrelevant dogma and burdensome obligations. Fortunately people from all over the world are waking up to a fresh hunger to shed the dictates of religion and embrace the wonder and power of a love-filled relationship with the living God.
Was Christianity Ever Meant to Be a Religion?
I guess all of this begs the question, did Jesus intend to start a religion called Christianity, or did we do this to ourselves? I suspect the latter. I am wholeheartedly convinced that he came to end all religions, not by lashing out against them, but by filling up in the human spirit what religion promises to fill but never can. Religion seeks to manipulate human effort to earn God's approval, when such approval can never be earned.
Abraham, a Jewish man, lead the tour portion of a trip to Israel I was on fifteen years ago. Some of those on the tour had been rude to his faith as they tried to "help" him embrace Jesus as the Messiah. On the last morning, I found him alone by the bus and had the chance to ask him if he'd been offended by some of the remarks.
He smiled. He told me he'd been guiding tours for 30 years and someone is always trying to convert him to their faith--Christians, Reformed Jews, Muslims and Mormons. Then he asked me, "Do you know why it makes no difference to me?"
I shook my head. He led me out to the street and pointed at a building, "Do you see that synagogue with the star of David? That's our building. The one over there with the cross on it is yours. Further down, do you see the dome? That's theirs. On the surface they may look different, but underneath they are all basically the same. You would think that if one of us was serving the Living God, it would look differently."
I still remember how much his words impacted me. Religion is the same all over the world. It is a prescribed set of doctrine, rules, rituals, and ethics. It celebrates sacred space, exalts holy-men as gurus and tries to muscle its way into the culture. For 2000 years many have practiced Christianity as a religion, essentially no different than the others, except in who it claims to follow. But if one of us was serving a Living God, wouldn't it look very different?
When we cram the life of God into a box, we rob it of its life and power and only distinguish it from other religions by claiming a more truthful doctrine. Could that be why Jesus didn't teach his disciples how to gain a following or build institutions. He didn't teach them how to meet on Sunday mornings at 10:00 with a worship band and a leader to lecture the others. He didn't give them a prescribed set of behaviors that people were suppose to follow as the means to serve God.
No, he invited them into his Father's house, and a reality of relationship with his Father that would transform them and opened the way for them to share that love with others. That you can't put into a religion and trying to only chokes out any hope of relationship. Putting creed and doctrine above a growing friendship with him supplants the reality he offered us, no matter how correct our doctrine or moral our ethics.
Don't get me wrong. Truth is vital, as is righteousness, but without love they are also empty. Learning to live as a beloved child is far more transforming than the greatest principle you can follow. The life of Christian community isn't found by sharing religion together, but by embracing a journey of growing relationship with him that transforms us by his grace and power.
Losing Your Religion
What does this mean for us? Should we stop calling ourselves Christian or judge those who do? Should we come up with a new term to franchise so we could separate the ones who live it relationally from the ones who are caught up in religion? If we did, we'd only be making the same mistakes that have diminished our life in Jesus over the centuries.
The truth is that Christianity as a religion is a dangerous disfigurement of the God of the Bible. But not all who call themselves Christians live religiously. Given all the excesses and failures of Christianity, I am delightfully grateful that the Gospel of Jesus is still relatively intact inside its doctrine. Unfortunately it only lets new believers live free for so long before burdening them with religious obligations.
And I meet many believers and leaders who have a profound faith and are seeking healthy ways to communicate that journey with others. I rejoice in that, as I do the amount of compassionate aid that such groups share with the world in need. But too many people miss out on the life Jesus offered them by practicing it as a religion instead of growing to know him.
Ultimately the transformation from practicing religion to living inside a relationship with God is not an institutional battle; it is a personal one. We could tear apart all of our religious institutions today and nothing would change. I've been in many a house church filled with people who see the institutional church as the problem and are oblivious to the fact that they've just moved their religion into a home, where close fellowship only makes it more oppressive.
When God is a distant concept to you instead of a real presence.
When you find yourself following another man, woman, or a set of principles instead of following Jesus.
When fear of eternity, not measuring up, or falling into error drives your actions.
When you find yourself in empty rituals that do not connect you in a real way to him.
When you are burdened by the expectations of others and feel guilty when you can't do enough.
When you look at others who struggle with contempt instead of compassion.
When the approval of others means more to you than remaining in the reality of his love.
When you hesitate to be honest about your doubts or struggles because others will judge you.
When you think of holiness as an unachievable duty, rather than aglorious invitation.
When you think righteousness depends on your efforts instead of his grace working in you.
When following him is more about obligation than affection.
When correcting someone's doctrine is more important than loving them.
When God seems more present on Sunday morning, than he does on Monday.
If you have only known Christianity to be a set of doctrines, rules and rituals, I have great news. Jesus came and died to open up access between you and his Father. Religion supplants that, distracting us with discipline, commitment and hard work that never yields the fruit it promises. If you've been worn out by religion, don't think you're alone. Others are just pretending, afraid they are the only ones, too. Life is only found in him.
Switching Back
There's something about our flesh that craves the illusion of safety that religion affords. Anyone of us can find our heart easily turned toward following rules instead of engaging him. When we recognize that happening, we can simply turn our hearts back to him and choose to move away from the religious traps and connect once again with God as our Father.
Living the Gospel means we live in his love. We come to know the Father's love for us and then sharing that love with him, and with others he puts in our path. (John 13:34-35). No other motive will suffice; no other is necessary. This is where the journey begins and this is the only place it can continue.
Returning to our first love isn't as difficult as we like to make it. For me it just means finding a quiet place and talking to God. When you find yourself caught in religion, tell him you're tired of chasing a religion that isn't working and you want to know him as he really is. Then, wake up each day with a similar prayer on your heart. Watch how he makes himself known to you in the simple reality of living each day. Follow the nudges he puts on your heart instead of the obligations and rituals. Find others who are on this journey and find ways to share the reality of a growing relationship and help guard our hearts about following into empty religious practices.
If you've been steeped in religion for a long time, you'll find yourself going through a very disorienting time. One woman I met called it a Pharisectomy, which is simply having your inner Pharisee removed. You might feel guilty, lonely, lost, or fearful in the process. Your former religious friends may feel threatened that you're no longer doing the things they do. But in time you'll find yourself sliding into the reality of relationship with him that is as increasingly real, transformative and engaging.
Among It, Not of It
So let's not go to war with religion, railing against its failures fighting against its dictates. Instead let's do what Jesus did--let's live beyond it. Let's find a reality of freedom and authenticity in him that can walk alongside anyone with patience and gentleness. Religion is what people crave when they haven't found life in him. Taking their religion away won't fix that. The only thing that will is helping them see a reality of relationship with God that makes all our religious activity unnecessary and unattractive. Jesus could be in religious settings and not be captured by them. He could care about a Pharisee as much as a prostitute.
Live among religion if he asks you to, loving toward those mired in it but you never have to be of it. The Gospel opens the door for us to re-engage the transcendent God, to know him as our Abba and to walk with him through the twists and turns of life, sharing his affection with others.
Live in the reality of that relationship and you'll find it quite naturally finding expression through you as you love and treat others the same way God treats you. People who refuse to live to fear, conform to ritual or put doctrine above love will find themselves having ample opportunity to help others on this journey as well. A dear friend wrote me recently who was feeling a bit swamped by all the people seeking out his help these days, "You didn't say anything about being safe is like hanging up a "counseling available" shingle."
We live in a great day. The emptiness of tradition is being seen for what it is and people are hungering for the reality of relationship. Live there each day and there's no telling where that will take you or who you'll end up walking alongside as Jesus becomes your life.
Then you can live free, not just for a few days or even three months. He came to set you free
eternally!
by Wayne Jacobsen
I saw the sign a year ago in Georgia: Live Free for Three Months. It was a developer's marketing strategy for a declining housing market. When I saw it, however, I wasn't thinking about houses. I thought about Christianity and how we invite people to live free in Christ and then soon after saddle them with all the obligations of being a "good Christian". We generally don't even let them have three months.
When the early believers were first called Christians, we don't know if it was a complement or a mockery. We do know that they didn't invent the term for themselves. The culture called them "little christs" because they had found so much identity in following Jesus. Whatever spawned the term, those early believers adopted it for themselves and for 2,000 years it has been the dominant identifier for those who claim to follow Christ. But that might be changing.
Recent surveys show even believers are becoming uncomfortable with the term. At least in the United States it is increasingly used not for people who reflect the passion of Jesus in a broken world, but for adherents of a religion that has been built on a distortion of the life and teaching of Jesus, not necessarily it's reality. The results can be confusing.
"Are you a Christian?" I used to love it when someone on a plane asked me that question. "Absolutely," I'd answer, proud to be on the side of all that's good and right in the world. But over the last fifteen years, answering that question has become far more difficult. Much of what has been done in recent years in the name of Christianity embarrasses me and disfigures the God I love. Some of it even horrifies me.
So now when I'm asked the question today, I hedge a bit. "It depends on what you mean by 'Christian'," I often respond. If they are asking whether or not I am a faithful adherent of the religion called Christianity, I have to confess that I'm not. I'm not even trying to be. But if they are asking me if I am a passionate follower of Jesus, the answer would be an enthusiastic yes.
In a few short years those realities have diverged significantly. Perhaps there has not been a time since the Middle Ages, where what it means to be a good Christian and what it means to thrive in a relationship with God, couldn't be more at odds. You can do everything required of a 'good Christian' in our day and still miss out on what it means to know him and be involved in a meaningful relationship with him that transforms you to love as he loved.
How many people endure repetitive rituals certain that doing so endears them to God? How many embrace a slate of ethical rules or doctrinal propositions thinking that doing so ensures God's blessings? Jesus offered us a vibrant life of relationship with his Father, and we ended up creating a religion that often disarms that very Gospel of its glory.
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Mark 7:6-7) These words are as true for us today as when Jesus voiced them to the religious captives in his. His warnings in Matthew 23 about the pitfalls of religion, are more applicable in our day than they were in his. When is the last time you heard a sermon from that text? Read it. You'll know why.
Something Is Broken
For the last few months I've done numerous radio interviews for people concerned about what's being called the collapse of Christianity. Newsweek did a cover article in April about the collapse of Christianity's influence in America and that fewer people identify themselves as Christian or are a committed part of a local congregation.
There's a lot of handwringing going on about those statistics, most of them blaming the culture. But the problems in religion itself have never been greater. Conservative Christianity aligned itself with a political agenda and a party that turned out to be as corrupt as it blamed the other party for being. More and more believers I know are embarrassed at the anger and arrogance of many so-called leaders who speak to the press on behalf of Christianity. So it's no wonder to me that last year 4000 churches closed in America, 1700 pastors left the ministry each month and another 1300 pastors were terminated by their church, many without cause, and over 3500 people per day left their church last year.
Clearly we have a problem that cannot be blamed on the secularization of our culture. The kingdom is no longer a pearl of great price, and knowing Jesus is no longer the fruit of our religious activities. And people who are beginning to see that, are often marginalized as rebellious or unsubmitted for simply wanting what Jesus promised them.
Many people giving up on local institutions are not doing so because they've rejected Jesus, but finding that the culture of Christianity is actually diminishing their faith not enhancing it. In an email I got the other day, from a frustrated pastor trying to help people follow Jesus, and is just coming to realize that his own job may be at odds with his greatest passion. "Church has become a hindrance to building relationships and loving others."
He's not alone. Many of us came to faith enamored by the life and teachings of Jesus. We were promised a relationship with God but were handed a religion of doctrines we had to believe, rituals we had to observe, obligations we had to meet and a standard of morality to adopt. While most of those were true enough, many found that their attempts to follow them did not produce either the life of Jesus it promised, nor the reality of true, caring communities of faith.
We have traded the simple power of the Gospel for a religion based on human effort. We were invited to relationship and ended up with a host of irrelevant dogma and burdensome obligations. Fortunately people from all over the world are waking up to a fresh hunger to shed the dictates of religion and embrace the wonder and power of a love-filled relationship with the living God.
Was Christianity Ever Meant to Be a Religion?
I guess all of this begs the question, did Jesus intend to start a religion called Christianity, or did we do this to ourselves? I suspect the latter. I am wholeheartedly convinced that he came to end all religions, not by lashing out against them, but by filling up in the human spirit what religion promises to fill but never can. Religion seeks to manipulate human effort to earn God's approval, when such approval can never be earned.
Abraham, a Jewish man, lead the tour portion of a trip to Israel I was on fifteen years ago. Some of those on the tour had been rude to his faith as they tried to "help" him embrace Jesus as the Messiah. On the last morning, I found him alone by the bus and had the chance to ask him if he'd been offended by some of the remarks.
He smiled. He told me he'd been guiding tours for 30 years and someone is always trying to convert him to their faith--Christians, Reformed Jews, Muslims and Mormons. Then he asked me, "Do you know why it makes no difference to me?"
I shook my head. He led me out to the street and pointed at a building, "Do you see that synagogue with the star of David? That's our building. The one over there with the cross on it is yours. Further down, do you see the dome? That's theirs. On the surface they may look different, but underneath they are all basically the same. You would think that if one of us was serving the Living God, it would look differently."
I still remember how much his words impacted me. Religion is the same all over the world. It is a prescribed set of doctrine, rules, rituals, and ethics. It celebrates sacred space, exalts holy-men as gurus and tries to muscle its way into the culture. For 2000 years many have practiced Christianity as a religion, essentially no different than the others, except in who it claims to follow. But if one of us was serving a Living God, wouldn't it look very different?
When we cram the life of God into a box, we rob it of its life and power and only distinguish it from other religions by claiming a more truthful doctrine. Could that be why Jesus didn't teach his disciples how to gain a following or build institutions. He didn't teach them how to meet on Sunday mornings at 10:00 with a worship band and a leader to lecture the others. He didn't give them a prescribed set of behaviors that people were suppose to follow as the means to serve God.
No, he invited them into his Father's house, and a reality of relationship with his Father that would transform them and opened the way for them to share that love with others. That you can't put into a religion and trying to only chokes out any hope of relationship. Putting creed and doctrine above a growing friendship with him supplants the reality he offered us, no matter how correct our doctrine or moral our ethics.
Don't get me wrong. Truth is vital, as is righteousness, but without love they are also empty. Learning to live as a beloved child is far more transforming than the greatest principle you can follow. The life of Christian community isn't found by sharing religion together, but by embracing a journey of growing relationship with him that transforms us by his grace and power.
Losing Your Religion
What does this mean for us? Should we stop calling ourselves Christian or judge those who do? Should we come up with a new term to franchise so we could separate the ones who live it relationally from the ones who are caught up in religion? If we did, we'd only be making the same mistakes that have diminished our life in Jesus over the centuries.
The truth is that Christianity as a religion is a dangerous disfigurement of the God of the Bible. But not all who call themselves Christians live religiously. Given all the excesses and failures of Christianity, I am delightfully grateful that the Gospel of Jesus is still relatively intact inside its doctrine. Unfortunately it only lets new believers live free for so long before burdening them with religious obligations.
And I meet many believers and leaders who have a profound faith and are seeking healthy ways to communicate that journey with others. I rejoice in that, as I do the amount of compassionate aid that such groups share with the world in need. But too many people miss out on the life Jesus offered them by practicing it as a religion instead of growing to know him.
Ultimately the transformation from practicing religion to living inside a relationship with God is not an institutional battle; it is a personal one. We could tear apart all of our religious institutions today and nothing would change. I've been in many a house church filled with people who see the institutional church as the problem and are oblivious to the fact that they've just moved their religion into a home, where close fellowship only makes it more oppressive.
When God is a distant concept to you instead of a real presence.
When you find yourself following another man, woman, or a set of principles instead of following Jesus.
When fear of eternity, not measuring up, or falling into error drives your actions.
When you find yourself in empty rituals that do not connect you in a real way to him.
When you are burdened by the expectations of others and feel guilty when you can't do enough.
When you look at others who struggle with contempt instead of compassion.
When the approval of others means more to you than remaining in the reality of his love.
When you hesitate to be honest about your doubts or struggles because others will judge you.
When you think of holiness as an unachievable duty, rather than aglorious invitation.
When you think righteousness depends on your efforts instead of his grace working in you.
When following him is more about obligation than affection.
When correcting someone's doctrine is more important than loving them.
When God seems more present on Sunday morning, than he does on Monday.
If you have only known Christianity to be a set of doctrines, rules and rituals, I have great news. Jesus came and died to open up access between you and his Father. Religion supplants that, distracting us with discipline, commitment and hard work that never yields the fruit it promises. If you've been worn out by religion, don't think you're alone. Others are just pretending, afraid they are the only ones, too. Life is only found in him.
Switching Back
There's something about our flesh that craves the illusion of safety that religion affords. Anyone of us can find our heart easily turned toward following rules instead of engaging him. When we recognize that happening, we can simply turn our hearts back to him and choose to move away from the religious traps and connect once again with God as our Father.
Living the Gospel means we live in his love. We come to know the Father's love for us and then sharing that love with him, and with others he puts in our path. (John 13:34-35). No other motive will suffice; no other is necessary. This is where the journey begins and this is the only place it can continue.
Returning to our first love isn't as difficult as we like to make it. For me it just means finding a quiet place and talking to God. When you find yourself caught in religion, tell him you're tired of chasing a religion that isn't working and you want to know him as he really is. Then, wake up each day with a similar prayer on your heart. Watch how he makes himself known to you in the simple reality of living each day. Follow the nudges he puts on your heart instead of the obligations and rituals. Find others who are on this journey and find ways to share the reality of a growing relationship and help guard our hearts about following into empty religious practices.
If you've been steeped in religion for a long time, you'll find yourself going through a very disorienting time. One woman I met called it a Pharisectomy, which is simply having your inner Pharisee removed. You might feel guilty, lonely, lost, or fearful in the process. Your former religious friends may feel threatened that you're no longer doing the things they do. But in time you'll find yourself sliding into the reality of relationship with him that is as increasingly real, transformative and engaging.
Among It, Not of It
So let's not go to war with religion, railing against its failures fighting against its dictates. Instead let's do what Jesus did--let's live beyond it. Let's find a reality of freedom and authenticity in him that can walk alongside anyone with patience and gentleness. Religion is what people crave when they haven't found life in him. Taking their religion away won't fix that. The only thing that will is helping them see a reality of relationship with God that makes all our religious activity unnecessary and unattractive. Jesus could be in religious settings and not be captured by them. He could care about a Pharisee as much as a prostitute.
Live among religion if he asks you to, loving toward those mired in it but you never have to be of it. The Gospel opens the door for us to re-engage the transcendent God, to know him as our Abba and to walk with him through the twists and turns of life, sharing his affection with others.
Live in the reality of that relationship and you'll find it quite naturally finding expression through you as you love and treat others the same way God treats you. People who refuse to live to fear, conform to ritual or put doctrine above love will find themselves having ample opportunity to help others on this journey as well. A dear friend wrote me recently who was feeling a bit swamped by all the people seeking out his help these days, "You didn't say anything about being safe is like hanging up a "counseling available" shingle."
We live in a great day. The emptiness of tradition is being seen for what it is and people are hungering for the reality of relationship. Live there each day and there's no telling where that will take you or who you'll end up walking alongside as Jesus becomes your life.
Then you can live free, not just for a few days or even three months. He came to set you free
eternally!
by Wayne Jacobsen
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