LEARN TO DISCERN – HOW CATHOLIC MONASTIC PRACTICES ARE INFILTRATING THE CHURCH AND LEADING MANY CHRISTIANS ASTRAY- HARVEST BIBLE CHAPEL, BEWARE!

Are you aware of the dangers of Contemplative Spirituality? Would you know error as soon as you heard or saw something? Do you take the time to do some research on authors of books that are mentioned or suggested for you to read by those in leadership at your church before reading them? I pray that this post will help you learn to discern and show you just how very important it is to not only read and study God’s Word and to pray for discernment, but also how very important it is to always be alert for spiritual deception! I also pray that you will see just how subtle spiritual deception begins and how it can dangerously progress and lead you away from Biblical truth!

Before we begin, here’s some background information:

I used to be on Twitter quite frequently a few years ago. However, going on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, can turn the intended amount of time of being on there for just fifteen or twenty minutes, to at least an hour or two if you get drawn into commenting on a tweet or a post that you see the need to express your appreciation for or concerns about. It made me realize just how time consuming social media can be! All that to say this: I decided to go back on Twitter recently because I saw a huge spike in my blog stats on May 3rd, and the views were all coming from Twitter. Everyone was reading one of my most popular posts regarding why I left my church, Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows, back in 2012 after attending there for 14 1/2 years: https://living4hisglory.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/warning-you-with-tears/  Jessica Hockett, also a former member of Harvest Bible Chapel, had discovered my post and after realizing that she had been — and continues to be — an important person in the ongoing investigation regarding the misappropriation of funds by former Pastor, James MacDonald, and the wrongdoings and coverups that have been taking place at Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows, I began to read up on the very latest of what had been happening.

Now, to get to the important point of this post:

After a few weeks of being on Twitter and connecting with many people who also have serious concerns about those who once were in leadership there, and concerns regarding some who are still in leadership, as well as love and concern for the people who are still attending there, I saw that some people had posted a recording of a recent HARVEST BIBLE CHAPEL ROLLING MEADOWS FAMILY MEETING – (MAY 29, 2019)  and decided to listen to see what people were being told by those in leadership and to also see if any emotional manipulation was taking place. There definitely was some emotional manipulation taking place by what was being said to those in attendance, but this post is going to focus on something else that is equally or even more serious. I will continue now by telling you what I heard in that audio that urged me to write this post in order to send out a serious warning not only to those who are still attending Harvest Bible Chapel, but also to everyone because these types of unbiblical teachings are coming full force into many churches these days through so-called Spiritual Formation classes and similar classes!

NOTE: To those of you who may now be reading this post and are still choosing to continue attending Harvest Bible Chapel, (the Rolling Meadows location especially), I want to clearly state beforehand that my intention in writing this post is not to bring you any more pain as you are all trying to heal, but rather to help you — and every one else — realize the importance of thinking for yourselves, to help you realize the necessity of examining the Scriptures daily to see if what is being said is true (Acts 17:11), to alert you to what some — or all — of your leaders are involved in, and to give you information about some troubling things that they have already presented to some of you, and information about what they may very well present to you in the near future.

Although this information mainly has to do with HBC, this information is as relevant to every other Christian because what I am about to share with all of you is coming into many churches through numerous pastors, teachers, and authors of books that are being promoted at many churches these days.

Now back to the main thing that I heard as I listened to the audio of the family meeting at HBCRM and what I discovered after doing a lot of research:

As I continued listening, I heard Greg Bradshaw encourage everyone to “read” this summer and to “get a good book.” He mention a book entitled, Emotionally Healthy Church beginning at the 24:18 minute mark by saying:

“We’re reading as a church — we provided for our staff —  ‘Emotionally Healthy Church.’ We’re reading ‘Emotionally Healthy Church’ book this summer as a staff…”

I had never heard of that book before, so I decided to do some research on it, as well as taking some time to do some research on the author, Peter Scazzero. Here are some of the alarming things that I discovered:

Here is what you will see on the Our Vision page on the website of the church that Pete pastors — New Life Fellowship Church — that is located in Queens, New York. Red flag words: Spiritual formation practices, Monastic values, contemplative and monastic traditions, Desert Fathers and Mothers, and monks.

(SOURCE) http://newlife.nyc/vision/

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The following 1 hour and 16  minute video is the first of many videos that I watched and listened to in order to find out as much as possible about Pete Scazzero and what he teaches. Below the video you will see a list of notes that I took as I listened. I did that for you for the first 30 minutes of the video.

• Pete says people are not experiencing deep transformation.

• Mentions self awareness, managing one’s triggers under stress

• Pete claims to have had 4 conversions

• Notices and says, “People are not changing deeply in our church.”

• 1994 Pete starts an inward journey for 2 years

• Started Christian counseling

• His wife confronted him on how he’s not a strong leader – left his church, attended another one

• Pete shows diagram created by now deceased professor of Fuller Theological Seminary , Robert Guelich, and claims Emotional Health and Spiritual Maturity are inseparable

• Emotional component

• He claims he and his wife were “born-again” again

• 1996-2003 Claims “a little revolution took place in our church just by bringing in the emotional component”

• He still felt “something more was needed.” He “began to read quite a bit about Monasticism.”

• 2003, 2004 – For a 4 month period he and his wife “visited a variety of monasteries and lived rhythms of silence and solitude.”

• A revolution. Third conversion.

• Pete says about Christians in general, “We’re so busy we have to live off other people’s spirituality.”

• Got people connected personally with God directly

• Made drastic move to slow down their lives

• “…people’s lives began to be radically transformed…finally wrote it down into a couple of books.”

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The description that can be found under the following video on YouTube, says:

“Pete Scazzero interviews Rosy Kandathil about her experiences at the Monastery. Rosy is a former staff and pastor at New Life Fellowship and began a journey to become a Benedictine Sister.” 

Being a former Catholic, I find it very troubling that he presented this woman, Rosy Kandathil, who was once a “pastor” at his church and who is now in the process of becoming a Benedictine nun to speak to the people at his church, but it further shows that he is clearly promoting Catholicism and Contemplative  New Age spirituality.

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Just in case the following video entitled, ‘Pete Scazzero Interviewing a Trappist Monk on Prayer‘ disappears for some reason, I did a quick capture of it for you to document the fact that Pete Scazzero is promoting eastern mysticism and Catholicism by featuring William Meninger, a Catholic trappist monk, at his church. Once again I must ask a question: Why would a professing Christian pastor choose to have a monk speak at his church if he wasn’t?

Here is the video:

Below are some quick captures from the above video that will show you how Pete Scazzero has embraced the teachings of Catholicism regarding communion, that being that Jesus Christ is truly present in the elements of bread and wine and that Jesus comes into us when we take communion:

Here is a reminder for you of what it says in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding their communion which they call, the Eucharist:

“In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.” (Para 1374 CCC)

Here is one of the anathemas (curses) regarding the Eucharist that you will find in the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent:

Canon 3 “If anyone saith that the Sacrifice of the Mass is only a sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving; or that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifices consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice; or that it profits him only who receives; and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities; let him be anathema.”

[NOTE: Lord willing, I will be going in depth on the teaching  of the Eucharist and the Sacrifice of the Mass in light of Scripture when we get to that part in the CCC book.]

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One look at William Meninger in the following picture that was chosen as the main image for this video should leave no doubt in one’s mind that what he presents is not Biblical Christianity, but rather a form of mystical, New Age spirituality that is rooted in Buddhism, which is the same type of spirituality that Pete Scazzero is presenting at the church he pastors, New Life Fellowship Church in New York.

For those of you who have never heard of The Cloud of Unknowing, here are some resources for you to help you learn to discern so that you will not be deceived by this:

Lighthouse Trails Research:

https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=5656

CONTINUE READING HERE: LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH – THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING – “TAKE A LITTLE WORD, AND REPEAT IT.”

ANOTHER RESOURCE FOR YOU:

DAVID CLOUD – WAY OF LIFE – EVANGELICALS TURNING TO CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY

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The reason I am concerned that these mystical, New Age practices might very well be encouraged to be practiced by those attending HBCRM is not only because this book by Pete Scazzero was mentioned by Greg Bradshaw at the Family Meeting as a book that is being read by the staff, but also because of what Greg Bradshaw said beginning at 16:03-16:46 minute mark which was:

“How do you rebuild hope? I told our staff and I’m telling you, ‘The way you rebuild hope is intimacy with God.’ There’s no shortcut… but if your struggling a little bit with hope, ‘What is this going to look like at our church,’ the way to build hope is intimacy with God. And how do you build intimacy with God? There’s no shortcut, it’s disciplines. It’s finding time to get alone with God. It’s called solitude.”

In order to show you that I am not merely speculating, here is some documented evidence that I came across in my research that will prove to you that as far back as 2012 Pete Scazzero and his Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (EHS) teachings have been promoted in some ways at HBC:

I am also very concerned for all of you at HBCRM because of Greg Bradshaw’s emphasis on having “intimacy with God” and “getting healthy” as a church in light of his focus on Pete Scazzero’s book, ‘Emotionally Healthy Church’ which clearly presents New Age/New Spirituality/Catholic mystical practices as ways to have intimacy with God. After listening to the audio of HBC’s Family Meeting, I just strongly felt led to write this post as a warning of what might be presented to you this fall as the leadership at HBC seems to be raising a level of excitement about what they desire to see take place starting this fall season.

UPDATE 7/3/19 10:22 A.M. NOTE ADDED FOR CLARIFICATION:
I need to make it very clear that I am not saying that the leaders at Harvest Bible Chapel are intentionally and knowingly promoting these unbiblical, occultic teachings…they may be deceived into believing these are acceptable practices to do to bring one closer to God like so many other Christians have been (wrongly) led to believe. Harvest Bible Chapel leadership has been promoting Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer for many years now, and these women (wrongly) teach how to hear God speak to you. (Please consider reading the following post to see the documentation that I have on these women: HARVEST BIBLE CHAPEL LEADERSHIP, CHRISTIAN LEADERS, AND THE LACK OF BIBLICAL DISCERNMENT). However, there is no excuse for pastors and teachers who are held to an even higher lever of accountability (James 3:1) to fall for or to present such unbiblical practices to the people at their churches. Sadly, when many pastors see that a certain teacher is popular, they simply order their so-called “Bible studies” and fail to take the time to test what they actually teach against the truth of God’s Word to see if it is true or not. Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows leadership has fail to be Biblical shepherds and to guard their flock from false teachers; instead they just invite them in: Mark Driscoll, Steven Furtick, Levi Lusko, etc.

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God which he bought with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

We are all called to: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)  As Christians, we think that we can trust those in leadership, but that simply is not true. The only one who we can completely trust is Jesus Christ alone and His Holy Word that will endure forever. (1 Peter 1:25)

Besides constantly praying for discernment, now, more than ever before, we as Christians must: study God’s Word ( 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV), examine the Scriptures daily to see if what is being said (and done) is true (Acts 17:11) or not, and always be alert so that we are not deceived by the many ways in which our enemy, the devil, is attempting to devour us. (1 Peter 5:8)

Please also consider reading this post regarding Levi Lusko:  HOW DISCERNING ARE YOU? He was a guest speaker at Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows in 2016 on January 2nd and 3rd. [NOTE: Just to let you know, this post also includes a Biblical analysis of a message that T D Jakes’ daughter (Sarah Jakes Roberts) preached, entitled, ‘The Displaced Crown,’ but she did not present this message at Harvest Bible Chapel. The video that she preached her message in was taken down shortly after I posted it.] END OF UPDATE

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Dear Harvest Bible Chapel Rolling Meadows members and attendees — and every Christian — beware! Beware of what is being presented to you as ways to develop intimacy with God. We have God’s Word, the Bible. What more could we ever need in order to develop intimacy with God? Nothing more! Especially when the practices that are suggested for us to do in order to have intimacy with God is derived from unbiblical, New Age practices that can be found in Buddhism, Hinduism, and mystical practices derived from Catholicism –practices that open up doorways into the world of the occult!

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1-4)

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:25-31)

 

Thank you very much for stopping by today.

God Bless You

~Mary Dalke – Living4HisGlory

RELATED VIDEOS

In the following video, Pete Scazzero, who is also the co-founder of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship (EHD), where they “help leaders around the world grow their people into mature disciples of Jesus,” tells us how EHD has “helped thousands of people move from a shallow Christianity to a deep authentic relationship with God, themselves, and others.“ Although he may give some good suggestions in his courses, such as taking enough time to rest, to say that the Christianity of those who do not pursue the ways through which he suggests in his courses in order to be able to have a “deep authentic relationship with God” is “shallow Christianity,” is  very troubling!

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In the following video, ‘Pete’s Take on Daily Office,’ that you will find further below this quick capture from the video, Pete Scazzero has this to say beginning at the 1:31 minute mark:

“…but the silence to me is the quality that probably I found most significant because again, I’m being with Jesus my lover, and I’m quieting myself down, I’m centering in Christ and abiding in this love relationship allowing Him to love me and I’m loving Him back.” (Emphasis is mine).

This is sometimes referred to as spiritual romanticism; it is a completely unbiblical form of thinking in which we view Jesus Christ as our “lover.” This is frighteningly becoming a more common belief among professing Christian teachers (such as Ann Voskamp), and it leads Christians down an unbiblical and dangerous path! 

https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=6614

CONTINUE READING HERE: ROMANTIC PANENTHEISM, A REVIEW OF ONE THOUSAND GIFTS BY ANN VOSKAMP

Here is the video: Pete’s Take on Daily Office

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In the video that you will find further below, which is entitled, ‘What is the Daily Office & Why is it Needed,’ at the 2:43 minute mark you will find this chart that shows ‘the core of the EHS (Emotionally Healthy Spirituality) Course.’ These are very similar to the experienced based methods that you will find in transcendental meditation and in the New Age Movement.

At the 3:23 minute mark in the video below you will hear Pete Scazzero quote Brother Lawrence, and at the 4:43 minute mark in this same video you will also hear Pete Scazzero quote Dallas Willard. Both of these men promoted unbiblical, contemplative, mystical, spirituality. (See information on these men that I have added below for you at the end of this post).

Beginning at the 5:09 minute mark in the same video that you will find further below, you will also see this chart with Silence & Stillness Guidelines that clearly present the same type of steps that you will find in eastern meditation practices in Buddhism, but they have been repackaged using Christian terminology:

Finally, here is the actual video, entitled: ‘What is the Daily Office & Why is it Needed?’

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At the 4:12 minute mark in the following video you will hear Pete Scazzero say:

“Remember, the purpose of the Daily Office is to commune with God.”

He ends this video by saying: “…and I trust that you will find, as I have, that you are remembering and thinking of God much more throughout your days, in ways that you never imagined or did before.”

When anyone tells you to practice spiritual disciplines that are the same types of spiritual disciplines practiced by Buddhist and Catholic monks only Christianized to make them appear acceptable, or if you are told  to read a certain book or that taking a specific course is going to change your spiritual life rather than telling you that all you need is to spend time with God in His spiritual life giving, life changing Word — the Bible — that should send up an immediate red flag within your spirit! We are sadly at a point in time when many professing Christian pastors and teachers are casting aside Biblical Christianity.  Instead they are now focusing on man’s emotions and promoting having experiences with God that come directly out of the world of the occult!

I am sure that Pete Scazzero and his wife are probably very sincere and wonderful people, but they have sadly been deceived by accepting these unbiblical practices as ways to develop a deeper relationship with God. When trying to search for ways to help their people grow in their relationship with God and to grow spiritually, they have wandered off the Biblical path and are now presenting to their people — and to the world — teachings that are telling everyone to look inward instead of looking to God and seeking Him in His Word.

God is the only one who transforms us by His Word and by His Holy Spirit when we choose to believe the good news of the Biblical gospel and come to Him through Jesus Christ; transformation does not come about by looking inward and dwelling on the past and on our emotional pain and struggles. (Isaiah 43:18) (Philippians 3:13)

Jesus Christ was and is God in the flesh. Jesus, being fully God, took upon Himself human flesh and entered our sin-filled world. He lived the perfect, sinless life that we could never live, and became the perfect sacrifice. Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, willingly went to the cross where He bore all of our sins as well as all of our grief and sorrows, and God poured out all of His wrath intended for us because of our sins upon His one and only Son. He died in our place, was buried, and was gloriously raised to life on the third day in bodily form to show that God accepted His death as full payment for every one of our sins — no matter what we may have done! God is love, but He is also just. Therefore sin must be paid for, and Jesus paid our debt to sin in full –tetelestai. That is the life changing good news of the Biblical gospel that transforms a person’s life!

May I share a personal illustration with you? During the twelve years of my marriage I became a broken and shattered woman emotionally because of the way that my ‘husband’ treated me. However, everything began to change when I began to read the Bible and came to see the truly good news of the Biblical gospel for the first time and chose to believe it and to place my full trust in all that Jesus Christ accomplished for us.  In the midst of my deep hurt I did not look inward. I cried out to God and read His Word often throughout each day as the tears fell and my heart broke in thousands of pieces. As I spent time in prayer and in His Word, God began to heal me and to renew my mind and troubled heart and I no longer based my worth as a person by how my ‘husband’ treated me, but rather by what God’s Word says. That is when my life began to change and God began to transform me into a new creation in Christ. Day by day I learned to trust God more, and day by day His strength became perfected in my weakness and His peace that surpasses all human understanding began to guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus as I prayed and stopped worrying about everything. He proved Himself over and over to be faithful and able to meet all of my needs in ways that I never would have imagined!

I pray that Pete and his wife will begin simply seeking God in His Word and that one day he will cast these unbiblical practices out of his church, his books, and his presentations, as well, and that he will point his people — and all Christians — back to Jesus Christ — who was and is God in the flesh –so that they will find  true and lasting transformation! As true Biblical Christians that is what we are all to do.

I  hope you can now see that in many ways Christianity today is becoming more and more experiential based. Sadly, God’s Holy Word, the Bible, is now being used by many as a tool to bring one into an altered state of consciousness as it is twisted and repeated over and over.  God’s Word is no longer seen as having the greatest importance as it is read and studied in context. The only way to truly come to know God is through coming to Jesus Christ in simple faith and believing that His “once for all sacrifice” was truly enough to pay the debt for all of our sins in full!

Please do not be deceived by these unbiblical types of practices that may sound very appealing to you emotionally, but at their very core is New Age Catholic mysticism.

RELATED VIDEOS

More videos to show you how William Meninger, who was a guest at Pete Scazzero’s church, is heavily involved in New Age/ New Spirituality/Buddhism/Catholic mysticism.

Here is some information regarding Fuller Theological Seminary, the seminary that now deceased Professor of New Testament, Robert Guelich taught at. He was the one who made the chart that Pete Scazzero showed in his presentation at the 22:32 minute mark in the first video entitled, ‘Emotionally Healthy Spirituality – An Evening With Pete Scazzero.’

Brother Lawrence and Dallas Willard Information:

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS – BROTHER LAWRENCE

DAVID CLOUD – WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE – DALLAS WILLARD

UPDATE:

Lord willing, another new post coming later this month or in August on this same subject regarding how Catholic mysticism is infiltrating many churches these days and leading many Christians astray in order to show the extreme importance of reading and studying God’s Word and praying for discernment.

Also coming later in July, Lord willing, will be another new post in the series in which we will continue comparing the teachings found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church to a Catholic New Testament to show precious Catholics the truly good news of the Biblical gospel and that many of the things that they are being taught, which is based on the traditions of men, contradicts God’s Word, the Bible. It is equally important for all Christians to know this information so that they not only come to realize the need to share the truly good news of the Biblical gospel with their dear Catholic friends and family, but also so that they will not be deceived into thinking that Catholicism is Biblical and end up being lured into Catholicism by one of many ways that have been devised by our enemy, the devil.

APPARITIONS OF THE VIRGIN MARY, OR DEMONS IN DISGUISE? EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE IN LIGHT OF SCRIPTURE – PART 1 OF 3

As we begin this series of posts, I would like to start out by sharing some Scriptures with you in order to lay a solid foundation based on the truth of God’s Word before we start looking into some of the serious concerns that one should have when it comes to these supposed apparitions of the Virgin Mary. We will also be using  our critical thinking skills based  on what we can learn from what God says in His Word in order to help us learn to discern truth from error, which is a must in these days of rapidly growing spiritual deception!

Let’s begin:

We know from many passages of Scripture that the level of spiritual deception in the end times will be extremely powerful. Jesus Christ, Himself, strongly warned about spiritual deception and mentions it first among the many signs that will point to His soon return. He also made it very clear that these lying signs and wonders could deceive the very elect –if it were possible:

“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:1-4)

“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:23-27)

God also strongly warns us in His Word that we must not be ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11) and how we are to:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

It is also made abundantly clear to us in John 3:19-21 that those without Jesus Christ love the darkness because of their sin and are not willing to come into the light, and in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 we read that many will perish because they will not choose to receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. These are the ones to whom God will send strong delusion to because they chose not to believe the truth; their desire will be to continue on in their unrighteous ways:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come  into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. For everyone who practices evil hates the light, and does not come into the light, lest his works be reproved. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may me manifested that they are wrought in God.”(John 3:19-21)

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12)

One can only speculate at this time as to what all of these lying signs and wonders will actually be. However, if you will please just take the time to read this series — in its entirety — I believe and pray that after you pray for discernment and read and listen to the information that I will be sharing with you (concerning how the messages given by these apparitions contradict the very Word of God and instead reflect the many false messages of unity proclaimed by those involved in the New Age Movement), you will then come to realize that these supposed apparitions of the Virgin Mary are instead cunningly deceptive plans devised by Satan himself to mislead and deceive many who will choose to reject Biblical truth and refuse to test things against Scripture. I truly believe (along with some other Christians) that these apparitions are presently playing  — and will indeed continue to play — a huge part in end times spiritual deception! However, my opinion doesn’t matter. Let’s look at some of the facts. Just think of the many who have already been lured into New Age Contemplative Spirituality through Spiritual Formation classes and Contemplative Prayer by reading books by authors such as Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, Margaret Feinstein, Ruth Haley Barton, Mindy Caliguire, Richard Foster, Richard Rohr, Rick Warren, Gary Thomas, Henry Blackaby, (and many others), because they have been encouraged to have “experiences with God” instead of seeking to know God in a very real and personal way by reading and studying His living, life-giving, unchanging Word –the Bible! Or think of the many who have involved themselves in Eastern meditation practices by joining so-called Christian yoga classes that, sadly, are being offered at many churches these days!

Here are some more Scriptures that I would like you to please keep in mind as you read through the first installment of this three, or possibly four part, series:

“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 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. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

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

“Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.” (Jeremiah 14:14)

“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

For those of you who may be Catholic, please know that I am not out to attack what you may hold dear to your heart if you indeed hold the Virgin Mary in a place of honor much higher that you should. It is out of love and concern for all of you that I am sharing all of this information with you to warn you so that you will not be deceived by these alluring apparitions and the messages that come from this entity that claims to be the Virgin Mary, and to urge you to look to Jesus Christ alone for truth, forgiveness, and salvation!

Let’s begin now by looking at some of the messages given during these apparitions from around the world. If you will take the time to pray for discernment and test these messages in light of Scripture, you will see how this being who claims to be the Virgin Mary does not reflect the humble Virgin Mary that we see revealed in God’s Word who always pointed to her virgin born Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and not to herself. This being who claims to be the Virgin Mary also makes requests for chapels to be built in her honor!

Please also note the emphasis on “penance” and the need to “make sacrifices” that is stressed in these messages given to the visionaries, thus rendering Jesus Christ’s once for all sacrifice on the cross as being insufficient to pay the debt of our sins in full, when God’s Word clearly shows us otherwise!

Apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in 1531

A widely known series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary are the ones that allegedly took place in 1531 in Guadalupe, Mexico when it is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego and requested that a chapel be built in her honor.

“For I am your merciful Mother,” she said, “to you and to all mankind who love me and trust in me and invoke my help. Therefore, go to the dwelling of the Bishop in Mexico City and say that the Virgin Mary sent you to make known to him her great desire.”

The Bishop was very hesitant to believe Juan Diego and requested that this Lady give him some sign. Juan Diego was told by the Lady that she would grant his request the next morning. However, Juan Diego was unable to return the next morning because his uncle became very ill. Two days later as he was on his way to the church to request for a priest to come to his dying uncle, he was stopped by the Lady, who said to him, “It is well, littlest and dearest of my sons, but now listen to me. Do not let anything afflict you and be not afraid of illness or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Are you not in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need? Do not fear for your uncle for he is not going to die. Be assured…he is already well.” Juan Diego was exceedingly happy to hear her reassuring words, and then asked her for the sign that he was to bring to the Bishop. He was told to climb to the top of the hill where he would find many flowers in bloom, and he was to cut them and bring them to her. He was surprised to find many flowers blooming on the stony ground. Returning to the Lady with the flowers held within his cloak, the Lady rearranged them and sent him on his way to the Bishop, telling Juan Diego that this would be the sign for the Bishop that would convince him to fulfill her request. When Juan Diego was in the presence of the Bishop he opened his cloak, and the flowers gently tumbled to the floor, and the Bishop was awestruck as he saw an amazingly colorful image of the Lady, just as Juan Diego had described her, imprinted on his cloak. “Earlier that same day, December 12th, she had also appeared to Juan’s uncle, Juan Bernardino and restored him to health as she had told Juan Diego.” “Both had been among the first of the natives to be baptized into the true faith several years before.” (Source – YouTube video – The story of the five apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Juan Diego)

The “true faith” that is being referred to here, is the Catholic faith, not Biblical Christianity.

Even though it seems that the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that appeared on Juan Diego’s cloak/tilma made from cactus fiber came about in a miraculous way, and the colors have somehow been preserved from fading, and the cloak/tilma was protected from damage and deterioration  over hundreds of years from being exposed to the smoke of burning candles, and it was not damaged when bombs were planted under the image in some flowers in 1921, we cannot come to the conclusion that this image was a miracle from God since God’s Word clearly condemns images of any kind: Exodus 20:4 Deuteronomy 4:16, 5:8,

We must also keep in mind the warnings in Scripture about false miracles and lying signs and wonders in the last days. (Matthew 7:23, 2 Thessaalonians 2:8,9, Revelation 13:13,14)

The details concerning this image, although intriguing, (reflections of what appears to be that of Juan Diego and other people that were discovered in the eyes of the image, and other details that lead people to wrongly believe that Mary is the Queen of heaven), add to the evidence that this is not a miracle sent from God, but rather a counterfeit miracle that, once again, points people away from Jesus Christ, and to Mary. These apparitions of a woman who claims to be the Virgin Mary, is not the Virgin Mary revealed in Scripture, as you will soon come to realize –if you will choose to test these supposed miraculous details against Scripture.

What I found to be most disturbing is the fact that this image of the Virgin Mary is given credit for the conversion of eight to nine million of the pagan Aztec Indians into the Catholic faith, who had previously sacrificed thousands of their people to their pagan gods, when it is the gospel and faith in Jesus Christ alone that brings one to true salvation!

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16,17)

In this trailer from a documentary movie based upon these alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Guadalupe, the focus is on “unity,” which has been promoted among religions for quite some time now. It is said that this image brought about “the unity of different peoples and different cultures” and it is also proclaimed as “an image that would unite a continent.” This documentary is narrated by John Caviezel, who states,”The Virgin of Guadalupe is not just a bridge between heaven and earth, but also a bridge between different cultures, it is her love that unites us.”

In the video further below, it is wrongly stated that the Virgin Mary is the woman spoken of in Revelation Chapter 12 who is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

Catholicism also teaches that the Virgin Mary is the woman in Genesis 3:15 who crushes the serpent’s head. In Part 3 of MY TESTIMONY: FROM FEAR AND UNCERTAINTY TO PEACE AND ASSURANCE – HOW GOD REVEALED THE TRUTH TO ME AS I WAS READING A CATHOLIC NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE, (that you can read HERE), I shared with you how the Latin Vulgate mistranslated Genesis 3:15 using the word ipsa (she) instead of ipse, he, referring to Jesus Christ, and therefore the Catholic church claims that it is the woman who crushes the serpent’s head, and that the woman is Mary.You can hear a detailed teaching on this, and more, in the following video:

Former Catholic, Timothy Kauffman, author of Mary Mary Quite Contrary, a book that addressed the apparitions of Mary, made an excellent point in a video (that I will be sharing with you in Part 2 of this series), by stating — and this is not an exact quote —  that since the Catholic church teaches Mary was sinless, she should not have experienced pain when she was giving birth to Jesus because pain during childbirth is a consequence of sin. And since the woman in Revelation cries out in  pain, it cannot be Mary, or it would not be consistent with Catholic doctrine. He also points  out the fact that this woman who claims to be Mary in these apparitions oftentimes proclaims herself to be the woman in Revelation. Later in the video he makes this statement:

  “What it all come down to is that…we have the Word of God, and we compare it against what the popes teach, and what the apparitions teach. Both can’t be right; either the apparitions and the pope are right, or the Word of God is right.”

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Apparitions of the Virgin Mary at LaSalette, France 1846

Here are some of the messages given during the apparitions at LaSalette (which took place in September of 1846) that I quick captured for you from the video further below. You will also be able to see them  — along with many other messages given during these apparitions — if you choose to watch the video when time allows:

There is nowhere in the Bible that mentions there will be a “future Reign of Mary.” You will, however, find that God’s Word tells us that there will be a literal thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on this earth. (Revelation 20:1-4 and Isaiah 65:24,25)

In this message notice how it is Mary who is shown to have power to hold back the arm of her Son, Jesus Christ, from striking out because of the rebellion of mankind:

Here is the video:

Apparitions to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, France in 1858

Next to the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917 (which I have already written about in great detail), probably the next most widely known apparitions of the Virgin Mary are the ones that allegedly took place in Lourdes, France. It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to fourteen year old Bernadette a total of twenty-eight times. In many of these appearances it is said that the Virgin Mary remained silent.

Below are some of the messages given to Bernadette during these alleged apparitions. You will find the following messages, and more, in the video above.

8th Apparition February 24, 1858:

“Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners. Kiss the ground as an act of penance for sinners!”

9th Apparition February 25, 1858:

Bernadette: She told me to go, drink of the spring… I only found a little muddy water. At the fourth attempt I was able to drink. She also made me eat the bitter herbs that were found near the spring, and then the vision left and went away.” In front of the crowd that was asking, “Do you think that she is mad doing things like that?” she replied, “It is for sinners.”

10th Apparition February 27, 1858:

800 people were present. The Apparition was silent. Bernadette drank the water from the spring and carried out her usual acts of penance.

11th Apparition February 28, 1858:

Over 1000 people were present at the ecstasy. Bernadette prayed, kissed the ground and moved on her knees as a sign of penance. She was then taken to the house of Judge Ribes who threatened to put her in prison.

13th Apparition March 2, 1858:

The Lady asked her: “Go, tell the priests to come her in procession and to build a chapel here.” Bernadette spoke of this to Fr. Peyramale, the Parish Priest of Lourdes. He only wanted to know one thing: the Lady’s name. He demanded another test; to see a wild rose bush flower at the Grotto in the middle of winter.

14th Apparition March 3, 1858:

Bernadette arrived at the Grotto, but the vision did not appear. After school, she heard the inner invitation of the Lady. She went to the Grotto and asked her again for her name. The response was a smile. The Parish Priest told her again: “If the Lady really wishes that a chapel be built, then she must tell us her name and make the rose bush bloom at the Grotto.”

16th Apparition March 25, 1858:

The vision finally revealed her name, but the wild rose bush, on which she stood during the Apparitions, did not bloom. Bernadette recounted; “She lifted up her eyes to heaven, joined her hands as though in prayer, that were held out and open towards the ground and said to me: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The young visionary left and, running all the way, repeated continuously the words that she did not understand. These words troubled the brave Parish Priest. Bernadette was ignorant of the fact that this theological expression was assigned to the Blessed Virgin. Four years earlier, in 1854, Pope Pius IX declared this a truth of the Catholic faith (a dogma).

For those of you who are unaware of what this teaching of the Catholic Church is concerning the Immaculate Conception, it is not one that focuses on the virginity of Mary regarding the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, but rather it teaches that Mary did not inherit original sin as all of us did. They also teach that she never once committed sin of any kind her whole life long. Here is what it says in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The Immaculate Conception

Para 490   To become the Mother of the Savior, Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.” The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace.” In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.

Para 491   Through the centuries the church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854: The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by the virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

Para 492   The “splendor of an entirely unique holiness” by which Mary is “enriched from the first instant of her conception” comes wholly from Christ: she is “redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son.” The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and chose her “in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love.”  

Para 493  The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia) and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.” By the grace of God Mary remained free from every personal sin her whole life long.

To say that Mary was sinless is to go beyond what Scripture says when it declares in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In Romans 5:12 God’s Word also says that “just as sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned.” To present a teaching that says Mary never sinned her entire life is also adding to the text what simply is not there, and God’s Word warns against doing such things! (1 Corinthians 4:6)If any teaching cannot be found in Scripture, or if the teaching conflicts with Scripture, it is to be rejected! God’s Word is to be held in higher regard than any teaching of any church  –no matter what!

In the book of Revelation God gives this warning:

“I warn everyone who hears the words if the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.” (Revelation 22:18,19)

Clearly, God’s Word is not to be tampered with!

In the eyes of precious Catholics the teaching of the Immaculate Conception also places Mary on the same level as Jesus Christ, who, as Scripture clearly shows us, did remain sinless His whole life long even though He was temped in all ways as we are:

“But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him, or known him.” (1 John 3:5)

“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:22)

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. Let us then approach the of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Once again, for those of you who are Catholic, I must ask you the  question that God strongly impressed upon my mind in 1980 when I began to read the little Catholic New Testament and saw how the many teachings of Catholicism totally oppose what God’s Word has to say:

“Are you going to believe the Word of God, or the word of man?”

God’s Word gives us this warning in Colossians 2:8:

“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

In 2 Peter 3:15-18 we are also told:

“Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the errors of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”

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 In the video below you will see the following quotes taken from messages supposedly given during apparitions of the Virgin Mary. If this was truly Mary she would not be claiming to have the attribute of God’s omnipresence, or telling people to consecrate themselves to her heart.

“I’m always next to all those who pray and pray with maternal anxiety and concern.” (8:47 min. mark)

“I am always present in your midst.” (@ 7:16 min. mark).

“I am always next to all those who pray and pray with maternal desire and instinct.” (@8:52 min. mark).

“I’m always next to all those who pray and pray with maternal anxiety and concern.”(@8:56 min. mark)

“Consecration to My Heart is the vaccine that as loving Mother, I give you to  keep epidemics of atheism that infects so many of  My children, taking them to the death of true spirit.” (@9:07 min. mark)

Video – The Truth is Kept Intact Only in the Catholic Church

At the 9:07 minute mark in the video above you will also see the following:

Once again, the above message is one of many examples that show how precious Catholics are taught that they cannot come directly to Jesus, but must come through the Virgin Mary.

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In the video below you will hear the following:

“…a bleeding wound appeared on the right hand of the statue of Our Lady in the chapel. Sister’s guardian angel told her the flowing of blood is significant for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins.” (5:55 minute mark)

“According to Sister Sasagawa, the Blessed Virgin wants to gather compassionate souls who can please God by their sufferings.” (7:28 minute mark)

Agnes Sasagawa: “He [God] loves us so deeply. He is trying to save us from the chastisements through Our Lady’s messages.” (7:59 minute mark)

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 If you listen to the video below, you will come to realize by what this priest says, that the Catholic church clearly teaches that Mary is the dispenser of all graces. In doing so they are, once again, causing many dear Catholics to turn to Mary instead of coming to God through Jesus Christ alone as God’s Word clearly reveals we are to do. (John 14:6) (Acts 4:12) You will also see that they attribute to Mary what only should rightly be the accomplishments of Jesus Christ in the role of our redemption:

“…she gave supernatural life to us at the foot of the cross by acquiring with her Son the graces of our redemption. And her role as mother did not cease after her ascension into heaven but she continues to dispense graces to souls here on earth –all graces. And for this reason we call her ‘The Mediatrix of All Graces.’ So today we invoke her under this title and we ask her to give her all the graces that we need to become the saints that God wants us to be.” (00:58-1:40 minute mark),

In the quick captures below, which are illustrations from the Baltimore Catechism, you will see that it is Mary who is identified as the Dispenser of All Graces:

Here are two videos on this topic from a Biblical perspective. I added many more for you on this topic and others, further below under Related Videos:

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In the video below you will hear the following:

“So in today’s gospel where we have Our Lady standing at the foot of the cross…this is from St. John’s gospel…this prophecy of the sword of sorrow comes to fulfillment. The sword of sorrow that will pierce the soul of Our Lady is driven  through her soul at the foot of the cross. And thus she becomes the Co-redemptrix with the Redeemer and the mother of the human race. So as she brought forth our Lord at Bethlehem with no pain,  so now she brings forth the members of His mystical body in great pain… she gives birth, supernatural life to us poor sinners at the foot of the cross. And we too are called to share in this passion, in this work of redemption….we ask to be incorporated into this mystery of redemption, not in the objective redemption that Our Lady took part in,  that is, opening the gates of heaven with her Son, acquiring the graces of redemption, but we’re called to share in the subjective redemption, that is in the distribution of those graces by our prayers, by our sacrifices as Our Lady did, uniting  those with Christ on the cross we can become co-redeemers ourself,  collaborators in the redemption of others, calling down graces, the graces of the redemption, upon souls who are in need…” (00:53-2:41)

While it is true that Mary indeed experienced deep sorrow as she looked upon her Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, as He suffered in agony during the six long hours that He hung on the cross and took upon Himself the sins of the world and the full wrath of God that was intended for us because of our sins, to say that she participated in the work of redemption is completely unbiblical! Nothing can be added — or needs to be added — to the sufferings of Jesus Christ that led to His death which satisfied God’s demand for justice.

The Catholic church has been in the process of petitioning popes — past and present — for quite some time now, desiring to have Mary declared as Co-redemptrix with Jesus Christ:

Mary on the cross with Christ – Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome – source – David Clouds video, entitled ‘Catholicism, Past And Present‘ (see below under Related Videos)

This is why it is so very important for everyone to be born again by the Spirit of God (not through baptism, as taught in Catholicism) so that when we read and study God’s Word we can then come to know the truth by the power of His Holy Spirit, and be able to discern truth from error as soon as we hear something! No matter what is proclaimed through the teachings of the Catholic Church, if it  is not in God’s Word and if it conflicts or contradicts God’s Word even in the slightest way, it is not true!

Here is some of what God’s Word says that points to Jesus Christ and to Him alone as bringing about our salvation:

“He [Jesus Christ] came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:11-13) (Insertion added)

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

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

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)

“Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:7-9)

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” (Acts 16:25-31) 

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23,24)

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(Romans 5:1)

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:6-9)

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (Romans 8:1-11)

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9,10)

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)

“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God’s grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

“For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Thessalonians 5:9)

“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7)

“By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:22-25)

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” (1 Peter 1:18-21)

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18) 

“For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-7 )

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:11-13)

In the following videos you will hear many attempts made by Catholic clergy and leaders in the Catholic church to justify their reasons for petitioning the pope to have the Virgin Mary proclaimed as Co-redemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate –titles that should in no way be given to Mary, for Jesus Christ alone is our Redeemer, our Mediator, and our Advocate with the Father, and before Jesus ascended into heaven He made it known that the Holy Spirit would come and be our Advocate (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:13,14, 1 Peter 1:18-21, 1 Timothy 2:5, Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25, 1 John 2:1, John 14:16,17, 26, John 15:26, John 16:7)!

These are also titles that the entity in many of the apparitions is requesting to be proclaimed by the pope as *dogmas of the Catholic church, *(dogma – a truth that must be divinely revealed, and it must be infallibly defined by the Catholic church as something that has been divinely revealed, and it must be believed as true by all who claim to be Catholic). I will be sharing more detailed information with you in Part 2 to give evidence to the fact that this being who claims to be the Virgin Mary is making requests to have the pope grant her these titles, and that when he does, true peace will come to the world for a time!

Blessed Virgin Mary: Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate

Dr. Miravalle, Professor of Theology and Mariology at the Franciscan University at  Steubenville for over 35 years. He may have a lot of credentials, but does everything he says line up with Scripture? Or is he simply trying to insert into Scripture what simply is not there?

In the following video, clergy from many nations and from many churches, including an Anglican church, gather together to present a proposal to declare Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of All Graces, and Advocate of the people of God.  Nowhere in Scripture do we see any evidence to support giving Mary such titles which, regardless of what anyone says, truly would and does detract from what only Jesus Christ accomplished for us through His propitiatory sacrifice on the cross, His death, and His glorious resurrection from the dead!

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Here are some quotes from previous popes and Catholic leaders concerning the Virgin Mary:

“Who can worthily thank thee and adequately praise thee, O Blessed Virgin, who by thy fiat has saved a lost world.” ~Saint Augustine

“Sinners receive pardon by the intercession of Mary alone.” ~Saint John Chrysostom

“All those who seek Mary’s protection will be saved for all eternity.” ~Pope Benedict XV

“For God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is his will, that we obtain everything through Mary.” ~Pope Pius IX, Ubi Primum, 1849

“The Church…been accustomed to have recourse to that most ready intercessor, her Mother Mary…For as Saint Irenaeus says, she “has become the cause of salvation for the whole human race.” ~Pope Paul VI Christi Matri

“In every miracle we must recognize the mediation of Mary, through whom, according to God’s will, every grace and blessing comes to us.” ~Pope Benedict XV

“O Mary, the guardian of our peace and the dispensatrix of heavenly graces.” ~Pope Leo XIII, Supremi Apostolatus, 1883

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Many of the visionaries who see these alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary exhibit unusual spiritual and physical manifestations, many which can be observed in the world of the occult: translike states, levitation, ecstatic falls into sculpture-like positions in which four doctors could not move them, no response when being pricked with pins, having flashlights being directed into their eyes, not being burned when a match was held momentarily against their hand, “walking forward and backwards over rocky terrain with heads tilted back and eyes looking heavenward” as they were drawn to the presence that called them inwardly to the spot where the apparitions took place; all manifestations that defy natural law. Another common occurrence in many of these apparitions is the appearance of an angel to the visionaries announcing that the Virgin Mary would soon be appearing to them, just like what happened at Fatima. In the video below you will discover what took place at Garabandal, Spain in 1961-1965 when the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to four young girls over 2,000 times and gave them the following messages, and many more, which do not reflect the truth that can be found in the Biblical gospel that shows Jesus Christ’s once for all sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to pay the debt for our sins in full; no more sacrifices are needed!

“You must make many sacrifices, perform much penance, and visit the Blessed Sacrament frequently. But first, you must lead good lives. If you do not, a chastisement will befall you! The cup is already filling up. If you do not change, a very great chastisement will come upon you.”

“You should turn the wrath of God away from yourselves by your efforts. If you ask His forgiveness with sincere hearts, He will pardon you. I, your mother, through the intercession of  St. Michael the Archangel, ask you to amend your lives. I love you very much and do not want your condemnation. Pray to us with sincerity and we will grant your requests. You should make more sacrifices. Think about the passion of Jesus.”

At the 3:23 minute mark, it is stated:

“On July 1962 a significant phenomenon took place between Conchita and the Archangel Michael. This miracle was prophesized two weeks in advance. Conchita received a visible communion host on her tongue from the Archangel, witnessed by hundreds of people. This miracle was chosen to call our attention to the reality of the True Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist.”

While the Catholic church does teach that the bread and the wine literally becomes the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ during the Sacrifice of the Mass (CCC Para 1374), many Christians gave their lives and were burned at the stake rather than to accept that as being true. They knew that to accept this teaching would mean they would not only have to deny the sufficiency of Jesus Christ’s once for all sacrifice, but also they would have to reject the truth revealed in God’s Word that clearly says the following:

“Such a high priest meets our need–one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart for sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.” (Hebrews 7:26,27)

“For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one, he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:24-28)

“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:11,12)

Visionary, Conchita Gonzalez, says the following beginning at the 5:29 minute mark:

“Our Lady did not come just for the people in the village of Garabandal, but rather, she came for the whole world; for all of mankind.”(Again, a message that reveals this entity is attempting to reach everyone –no matter what their religion may be).

 

Garabandal predicts four supernatural events will take place, and the date they are to happen will be revealed to Conchita eight days in advance:

• 1) A celestial worldwide warning
  

• 2) The great miracle – the sick will be cured and unbelievers will be converted
  

• 3) a permanent visible sign will appear and remain until the end of time; a sign that can be photographed and televised but cannot be touched
  

• 4) A chastisement

Near the end of this video, the narrator, Ricardo Montalban, has the following to say, which again shows that the messages given during these apparitions are attempting to bring about unity because they are not intended just for Catholics, but to reach and to influence all the people in the world, (as you will see in Part 2 of this series).

“She [the Virgin Mary] clearly wanted all of us to know that we are all her children.”

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There has been talk for quite some time now of a “New Pentecost” by many Catholic leaders, and it has also been said that the Virgin Mary will be the one to bring this about:

In the video below you will hear Dr. Miravalle say the following starting at the 6:05  minute mark:

“Well now, we need a new Pentecost. How are we going to get a new Pentecost? We’re going to get a New Pentecost by doing proper tribute to the Mother. By proclaiming the truth about the Mother. By giving the Mother a dogmatic crown… Conceive it this way if you’re a visual person. Think of…a dove entrapped in the Immaculate Heart. Think of our Blessed Mother’s heart and think of a cage in the heart. And think of a dove entrapped in the heart. Now of course the Holy Spirit is divine…of course the Holy Spirit can do what He wants, but in the order of providence…in the order how God has arranged it, the Holy Spirit will not descend until the mother is recognized. So in other words, when the Mother is recognized in the proclamation of the dogma…when she is solemnly pronounced as the Spiritual Mother of all Peoples, then and only then, the Holy Spirit  will be freed to mediate through her in bringing the graces of redemption and a new redemption to humanity. To bring the grace of a new Pentecost to humanity.”

“Saint Maximilian, again, is so one in this thought.  He says, “The Holy Spirit is the source of all graces. Mary is the instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit acts only through the Immaculata…” So, she is the Mediatrix of each and every grace of the H S. That means when you get the dogma, and my friends, it’s not if, it’s when…when the Holy Father makes a proclamation of the dogma…when that takes place, when the Mother is acknowledged, the Holy Spirit, the cage will be opened, the Holy Spirit,  the dove will fly out of the Immaculate heart of Mary and historic graces will come upon a church, the world, in need of these graces by the day.”

As I was continuing my research for this post by listening to many different videos over the past month, I discovered the following video awaiting me yesterday on my YouTube channel among the list of recommended videos for me to watch. Dr. Miravalle opens the video by saying the following:

“You and I must start tapping the supernatural power of our guardian angels.”

Whether you listened to all of what Dr. Miravalle had to say or not, the title of the above video alone should raise some red flags concerning the reliability of Dr. Miravalle’s teachings!

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It is my prayer that many of you are now coming to realize by the power of the Holy Spirit, as well as by the evidence in this information that I have shared with you so far, that the Virgin Mary is truly being exalted to a position that is nearly — if not completely — equal with Jesus Christ, God in the flesh by the Roman Catholic Church by giving her titles, and petitioning for titles, that rob Jesus Christ of all the glory that is due to Him alone!

Many of these apparitions have been approved by the Catholic Church because the messages do not conflict with Catholic doctrine. However, if the Catholic church were to test these messages solely against Scripture and not by their “Tradition” that they declare must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments and reverence as Scripture is (CCC Para 80,81,82,95),  most of the messages would fail to line up with God’s Word, and instead they would completely contradict it!

The Virgin Mary as revealed in Scripture would never seek for such power, position, and authority that is being expressed in these messages given during these apparitions! There is only one who would, and he has been striving to do so — and to be worshiped — since the beginning of time –Satan! (Isaiah 14:12-15) (Matthew 4:8-11)

(TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2)

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:10-13)

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

“Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

“And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”

“Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye hath delivered: and many such like things do ye.” (Mark 7:7,9,13)

“I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)

RELATED VIDEOS

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts is to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (I posted a very lengthy one last week which I will continue to update until completed) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages or read these articles, as well as read the upcoming posts that — Lord willing — I will be writing on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you.

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

Now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

This morning as I was continuing to do research in order to add more information to my PREVIOUS POST concerning Moody Radio and Midday Connection, I came across the following article posted by Amy Spreeman when she was still writing for Stand Up For The Truth. Though it was written in 2013, it continues to serve as a clear warning concerning the spiritually deceptive programs and practices that are still being presented to  Christians in many churches and seminaries today! Even though I had only planned on cleaning all day today, when I came across this excellent article as I was eating my breakfast, I decided to share it with all of you.

Here is a quick capture of a small portion of that article:

(SOURCE) <– Please click here to continue reading this important article which has a lot of important information that you need to be aware of.

When time allows, I hope and pray that you will consider reading the above article in its entirety. As Christians we must not only read and study God’s Word so that we will know it so well we will immediately be able to discern error as soon as we are presented with it, but also we must make ourselves aware of the many spiritually deceptive ways by which the enemy of our soul is trying to lead many Christians astray in these last days! And Spiritual Formation programs, which oftentimes present unbiblical, New Age practices that are rooted in Buddhism and Hinduism, are responsible for leading many Christians astray today! Please pray and learn to discern, so that you will not become one of the many who are being  deceived!

NOTE: Sadly, I discovered that the documents mentioned in the comments section as being a “fantastic resource” are no longer available at the link provided. 😦

Okay. That’s all for today Mysticism Monday. Back to cleaning my condo!

Lord willing, at least one new post coming later this week.

Thank you for stopping by, and thank you very much for taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:3,4)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”          (1 Timothy 4:1)

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-5)

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:26-31)

MOODY RADIO’S ‘MIDDAY CONNECTION’ PROGRAM – CANCELLED

(SOURCE)

UPDATED MONDAY 2/22/16 7:44 P.M. Added another video of Dr. Sue Edwards and more information. See further below dated 2/22/16 in red.

UPDATED SUNDAY 2/21/16 Added video of Dr. Sue Edwards, Barbara Neumann, and George M Hillman discussing Organic Mentoring, and added a few more comments.

UPDATED SATURDAY 2/20/16 Added more information. See further below dated 2/20/16 in red. Lord willing, when time allows I will be searching for the notes that I took as I listened to many Midday Connection programs, and will share them with you in this post which should then fully complete this post.

NOTE: 1/4/2016 This post is a work in progress. It is almost completely finished, but in order to make sure that I will not lose all the information that I have already added to this post, I am publishing it now, and will continue to update it when time allows until it is completely finished. I will then remove this note.  Thank you.

Christians, have you ever found yourself stunned by what you have heard on Christian radio while you’re driving? Have you found yourself in disbelief to the point of where you gasp in utter shock and have to remind yourself that you have to concentrate on your driving or you might hit the car in front of you? Well, that had been my experience many a time over the past at least five years or so while I had been listening to Moody Radio’s Midday Connection program which started at 12:00 noon central time in my area. I write in the past tense because at first I was led to believe (by the announcement that I found as I was searching for more information at the end of October which I quick captured and posted above for you) that Moody Radio was simply going to be airing prerecorded editions of Midday Connection programs until the start of the new year when they would then begin having their new Midday Connection programs. However, after I began writing this post way back on September 9, 2015 with the intention of warning you about what is being presented on Midday Connection, as I was searching for more information at the end of October to add to this post it was then that I discovered the show  was actually cancelled! I then realized that what they meant by “new program” was actually just that; an entirely different program. I then had to go back and reword some of what I had already written and change the title of this post, as well. All that just to explain to you one reason why it has taken me so long to finish writing the post concerning Mysticism that I had been telling you at first was coming soon.

Okay. On with my post.

As I searched the Internet to see if I could find out the reason why Moody cancelled their program, I came across the blog belonging to one of the former hosts of Midday Connection —Lori Neff. She wrote a very vivid and deeply emotional account of how she was told:

(SOURCE)

My heart was filled with compassion for her because it reminded me of how I was treated after working so very hard for thirteen years at my previous job, and it brought back to my mind of how I felt two years ago when I was called into the office and told that I was fired. Unjustly fired, I might add. But that’s another story.

As I continued to read Lori Neff’s post I also identified with the shock that she felt, the disappointment, as well as the depression. But I had actually been praying that God would somehow get me out of my job mainly because of how the new manager was treating me. And although I shed some tears for a few moments after I left the building because I was escorted out as if I was a criminal, and because I loved my co-workers and was hurt that no one came to my defense, my heart then became filled with thanks to God for releasing me! Lori Neff, on the other hand, loved her job! As did Melinda Schmidt and Anita Lustria, I’m sure!

Before I continue by sharing some of my concerns with you in regards to what Moody Radio has presented and is continuing to present to their listeners, I’d first like to start out by saying that Moody Radio played a part in my spiritual journey before I was a Christian and when I was still married, yet feeling so unloved and alone. When my ‘husband’ would leave for work very early in the morning, I would search through all of the radio stations looking for something to comfort me, and one day I came across Moody Radio. One of the songs that I heard  for the first time was Unfailing Love, by Evie Torquist. The beauty of her voice, the melody, and above all, the gospel message (that I was unaware of at the time) which permeated this song, was what truly brought me to tears. Here’s a portion of the lyrics:

“Unfailing love flows from His heart and heals my soul. In spite of who I am He loves and makes me whole. I almost can’t believe it’s true, unfailing love. And yet I know…He gave His life to give to me, unfailing love.” 

I wanted to know God’s unfailing love! I needed His unfailing love to heal my soul! However, it would be a few more years and many more days of tears, heartache, and rejection until God revealed His love — as well as His truth — to me, and healed my soul and made me whole. (If you’d like, you can read about that by clicking on My Testimony at the top of my blog).

Mike Kellogg’s soothing voice, the Scriptures that I heard him share, as well as the songs that he played on his program Music Through The Night on Moody Radio was also a deep comfort to my broken heart and troubled mind throughout those years before I personally came to know Jesus Christ and the true gospel in 1980.

Now I’ll get back to the reason for this post by focusing on the program Midday Connection:

While Anita Lustrea, Melinda Schmidt, and Lorie Neff seem like they are all very sweet and warm radio hostesses who treated their callers with respect and gave them enough time to share what they wanted to say when they called in, I found myself becoming deeply concerned about all of those who listened to their programs because of many of the guests they had on over the past, at least six years, or so. Take September 9th, 2015 for example. Ruth Haley Barton, the former Associate Director of Spiritual Formation at Willow Creek Community Church, who is the founder of the Transforming Center, was their special guest:

For those of you who are not aware of who Ruth Haley Barton is, you will find some of many articles on her posted by Lighthouse Trails, HERE.

Here is an excerpt from some of the information that you will find:

(SOURCE)

Here is another very good article with a lot of information on Ruth Haley Barton that was written by the late Pastor Ken Silva (who faithfully and earnestly contended for the faith), followed by a quick capture of a portion of his article:

WHO IS RUTH HALEY BARTON?

(SOURCE)<–Click here to continue reading.

Then on September 29, 2015, Midday Connection had author, speaker, and spiritual director, Janet Davis, as their special guest. During this program creative ways to pray were  discussed which focused on prayer beads, breath prayers, wordless prayer, body prayer, praying in color, and other forms of prayer and practices that went beyond the examples of prayer that can be seen in Scripture, and into mystical and pagan practices that can be seen in the New Age/New Spirituality movement. Lorie Neff said that these creative ways to pray, such as wordless prayer, brought about a “deeper connection with God.” Janet Davis agreed by saying that these creative ways to pray is  “something that can really revitalize our prayer life.” Because of the fact that what they presented to their listeners on this particular day was so far from Biblical Christianity, and because much of what they presented on many of their shows led their listeners to desire having mystical experiences with God and away from seeking God in His Word, I found my concern for their listeners begin to intensify!

During this program, Lorie Neff, the host of Midday Connection, also mentioned  Richard Foster’s book Prayer which she said she had read for her spiritual direction training. (More information on Richard Foster a little later in this post).

(SOURCE)<– You can listen to the program here.

Here is a quick capture from one of her articles on Being Prayer, and using visual aids in prayer:

(SOURCE)

 

While doing research for this post I discovered that on June 3, 2013 Anita Lustrea wrote an article about Walking the Labyrinth on their Midday Blog:

(SOURCE)

For those of you who are not aware of what a Labyrinth is, here is some information that will show you this is not a Christian practice by any means; it is pagan in origin:

ENTER THE LABYRINTH – LET US REASON MINISTRIES

VIDEO PLAYLIST OF MANY DIFFERENT LABYRINTHS, AND AN EXPLANATION OF WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN THE CENTER OF THEM IN THE VERY LAST VIDEO:

At first I was hoping that some of Moody’s discerning listeners called and complained about the many New Age/New Spirituality teachings that were being presented on Midday Connection and that was the reason it was going off the air.

However, as I was listening to Moody’s morning show with Karl and June, I realized that was definitely not the reason, because on the morning of October 26, 2015 they had Richard Foster as their guest, so I went to their Facebook page to quick capture this for you:

 

That wasn’t the first time that Richard Foster was on Moody Radio. I remember him being on Midday Connection at least a few times over the past six or so years. Here is just one example:

(SOURCE)

One of the most alarming things that Richard Foster said in the 1978 version of his book Celebration of Discipline, a book which can be found on the Recommended Reading list put out by many churches to this day, is the following very disturbing description of what the reader is instructed to do which exactly describes the same occult practice of astral travel:

“In your imagination allow your spiritual body, shining with light, to rise out of your physical body. Look back so that you can see yourself lying in the grass and reassure your body that you will return momentarily … go deeper and deeper into outer space until there is nothing except the warm presence of the eternal Creator. Rest in His presence.” –Richard Foster in the 1978 edition of Celebration of Discipline, pages 26,27 (SOURCE) Lighthouse Trails

There was a time when you could listen to Moody Radio and hear  many Biblically solid teachings and messages. Today, however, as I hope that you can now see, things have drastically changed!

When I first bought a computer in 2008 I began searching for information on some of the guests that I heard on Midday Connection because of some of the troubling things that I heard them say, Lighthouse Trails Research was the first blog that I found that had an abundance of information concerning Moody, as well as Midday Connection. The information that I found confirmed all of my concerns and provided me with enough information to even cause my concerns to intensify! That’s why I decided to start writing posts this past year such as Mysticism Monday and Warning You With Tears Wednesday instead of just writing poetry that I began this blog with, so that I could warn all of you of the extreme importance of not only reading and studying God’s Word, but also the extreme importance of testing everything that you hear and read in light of Scripture (Acts 17:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:21,22), as well as the need to help you become aware of Satans devices that he is using to cause many Christians to be led astray and even to become deceived!

Lighthouse Trails has been warning about Moody’s promotion of mysticism and New Age spirituality for over seven years, as you will see by reading this article when time allows:

MOODY’S PASTORS’ CONFERENCE TEACHING LECTIO DIVINA THIS WEEK – AND SEVEN YEARS OF WARNING BY LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS GO UNHEEDED – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

Here are just some of the many other special guests that were presented to the listening audience on Moody’s Midday Connection over the past at least six years, and some articles and videos of them, as well. Pray for discernment when you have time to read the articles and listen to the videos below:

 

As previously mentioned, Ruth Haley Barton was one of their guests:

 

 

 

 

 

Trevor Hudson was on quite frequently, as well. Here are two examples:

(SOURCE)

(SOURCE)

Here’s an article with information on Trevor Hudson posted by DISCERNING THE WORLD – EMERGENT MYSTICISM: A BIBLICAL APPRAISAL OF THE MOSAIC CONGRESS – MOSAIC CHURCH (4-5 SEPT 2009)

 

 

 

John Ortberg

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: WHAT ABOUT JOHN ORTBERG’S ‘FULLY DEVOTED’ BOOK? MY PASTOR WANTS TO USE IT

Erwin McManus

(SOURCE)

 

ERWIN MCMANUS – HIS GOAL IS TO “DESTROY CHRISTIANITY” – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

Below is a quick capture from a portion of one of the many articles concerning Erwin McManus that you will find on Lighthouse Trails at the link above:

(SOURCE)

 

 

Kyle Strobel, son of Lee Strobel, was also one of their guests.

(SOURCE)

 

Here is more information on Kyle Strobel that I found over two years ago, which should raise your concerns, because, as the saying goes, “One picture is worth a thousands words.”

Richard Rohr – As I searched the archives of Midday Connection’s previous shows that now only date back to 2014, there were none to be found for Richard Rohr, but I am almost positive that I remember him being on there, and will continue to search for information to verify that for you.

I remember him as being one of the guest speakers on Midday Connection that I was very concerned about! Just by reading some of the titles of the following videos should cause a discerning Christian to become very alarmed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good information on Richard Rohr by the late Pastor Ken Silva in the following article:

WHO IS RICHARD ROHR

James Bryan Smith

James Bryan Smith was also a featured guest on Midday Connection. His book The Good And Beautiful God was discussed once a week on their programs throughout the entire summer of 2015.

(SOURCE)

Here is an article that I just found which was posted by Lighthouse Trails in which they give a review on his book, as well as inform the very concerned writer of the letter they received that James Bryan Smith is a writer and speaker in the area of Christian spiritual formation and that he has a very close connection with Richard Foster:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: CONCERNS ABOUT HOME CHURCH USING BOOK BY RENOVARE’S JAMES BRYAN SMITH

 

 

 

 

Margaret Feinberg – Margaret Feinberg was also a frequent guest on Midday Connection. As you can see from the quick capture below, she presented many teachings from the Book of Genesis:

(SOURCE)

In a PREVIOUS POST,  I added a lot of information concerning Margaret Feinberg. Here is just a little of what I wrote in that post to make you aware of some of the troubling things that she says:

“In the following video you will hear Margaret Feinberg say, “God often uses the repetitive nature of events and themes in daily life to get our attention. I call these moments, “Sacred Echoes.”

 

“In the video below, Margaret F. expounds on what she means by “Sacred Echoes” by saying the following.”

“What is a sacred echo? It is the persistent voice of God in your life.”

“And in my own life, while I want to hear the whispers of God, what I am discovering is that when I listen for the sacred echoes — when I listen for the repetitive nature of God’s voice in my life — then I walk more fully, and more confidently into all that He has for me.”

 

In that previous post I concluded expressing my concerns about her by saying the following:

“When you hear Christian leaders and speakers say things like that it should truly concern you, because it’s leading people away from the belief in the sufficiency of Scripture. Yes, Margaret F. does say in many of her videos that ‘what we hear must line up with what God’s Word says,‘ but the emphasis is no longer completely on hearing God speak to us through His written Word. Instead, people are now  encouraged to learn how to hear God speak by not only Margaret F., but also by Christian teachers such as Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, and many others. It then makes God’s Word appear to be outdated, and some will end up opening themselves up to doctrines of demons and demonic spirits through participating in these occultic practices and will end up being deceived spiritually. Never lose sight of the fact that we have the very words of God Himself recorded in sixty-six books of the Bible written by many different authors, but completely inspired by the Holy Spirit.”

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

“Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20,21)

 

 Ann Voskamp

This program originally aired on November 27, 2013(SOURCE)

Ann Voskamp is the author of the New York Times best selling book One Thousand Gifts. Although our hearts go out to Ann because of the very tragic death of her baby sister which she speaks about in her book as well as on this program, and even though she focuses on the goodness of God in both of them, as well, there are some extremely serious concerns that many Christians have with some of the very disturbing and unbiblical things that Ann Voskamp says in her book. We must be very careful not to be so emotionally moved by something that an author or a speaker says that we forget the importance of praying for discernment, as well as the importance of testing what is being said in light of Scripture. You can read about the serious problems in her book in the following articles:

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH – ANN VOSKAMP’S BEST SELLING BOOK ONE THOUSAND GIFTS – A COLLISION OF INSPIRATION AND THE NEW SPIRITUALITY

CRITICAL ISSUES COMMENTARY: ROMANTIC PANENTHEISM – A REVIEW OF ONE THOUSAND GIFTS – PASTOR BOB DEWAAY

 

 

 

Mark Buchanan – Original program aired on Dec. 6, 2010

(SOURCE)

 

 

Mary DeMuth – Original program aired on May 19, 2010

In this program, Mary DeMuth shares her heartbreaking story of child abuse in her book entitled, Thin Places (a Celtic term; physical places between heaven and earth were considered “thin places” where they believed “you can sense the presence of God”) and the healing that she said she received after coming to faith in Jesus Christ.

(SOURCE)

Though the above program was very moving, not only because of hearing what Mary DeMuth went through as a child, but also because of the heartbreaking circumstances that women shared when they called in,   what I discovered while  doing research on A PREVIOUS POST is the fact that Mary DeMuth promotes contemplative spirituality. As you can see in THIS ARTICLE  posted by Lighthouse Trails, in Mary DeMuth’s book Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture, she “favorably quotes [Marjorie] Thompson in three different chapters.” The book that she quoted from was Soul Feast. In the article by Lighthouse Trails, we are told that this book “is a book that promotes mantra meditation and New Age mystics.”

Here is a quick capture from a portion of the article by Lighthouse Trails Research:

(SOURCE)<–Click here to continue reading the article.

Nancy Kane

Ray and Nancy Kane were frequent guests on Midday Connection and discussed topics that focused on marriage and relationships. However, Nancy Kane is also deeply involved in the Spiritual Formation movement which she briefly mentions in this program:

 (SOURCE)

Although I could not find examples of programs in Midday Connection’s archives concerning Keri Wyatt Kent who was one of the guests on the show who promoted and who continues to promote Spiritual Formation and contemplative spirituality, here is some information on her:

Keri Wyatt Kent

(SOURCE) <–Click here to continue reading

(SOURCE) 

 

 

 

Mindy Caliguire – Although I had never heard of her before, Mindy Caliguire was another person who immediately caused alarm bells to go off in my spirit when I began to hear her speak on Midday Connection.

(SOURCE)

After listening to her for the first time, I began searching for information on her later because as I listened to her speak I discovered that she was involved with Willow Creek Community Church where Bill Hybels is the pastor. That definitely heightened my concerns that I already had about her! By all that she said it was very clear that she was also involved in promoting Spiritual Formation. 

Here’s some information on Mindy Caliguire from her Soul Care website:

(SOURCE)

(SOURCE)

Mindy Caliguire promotes Catholic mystic Teresa of Avila as well as Richard Foster’s Renovare’ and Dallas Willard:

Mindy Caliguire is also involved in The Practice:

And as Amy Spreeman of Berean Research tells us in the following article,  WILLOW CREEK’S “THE PRACTICE” BLENDS NEW AGE AND CATHOLIC MYSTICISM, The Practice is:

“… the brainchild of Pastor Bill Hybels son-in-law, Aaron Niequist. Niequist is also the Worship Pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, and he calls a Jesuit priest his spiritual director.”

Here’s a portion of her very revealing article that clearly shows you the intent for The Practice:

(SOURCE)

This tweet by Aaron Niequist that Mindy Caliguire retweets, again confirms to you her promotion of Spiritual Formation. A term that may seem innocent enough, but as you take the time to read the articles that I have added links to, as well as watch the videos below, you will come to realize that it’s simply New Age meditation techniques cloaked in somewhat Christian terminology. Please do not be deceived by those who promote this! Our minds are renewed and we are conformed into the image of Jesus Christ through the reading of God’s Word! These practices will only succeed in leading Christians away from the sufficiency of Scripture by telling you that you can have experiences with God! God’s Word is all that we need to truly come to know Him through Jesus Christ and to become like Him. (Read Hebrews 1, Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:1-14, 2 Timothy 3:16, Ephesians 4:22-32, just to name a few Scriptures).

 

In the following series of videos, Mindy Caliguire also had another one which was entitled, Practicing Silent Prayer. However, it seems that because of the comments that I remember discerning Christians had made on that video, she must have decided to remove it.

 

 

 

As I was doing more research today, 1/4/16, desiring to finally finish writing this post, I did another search on Lighthouse Trails hoping to find some information on Mindy Caliguire’s video, Practicing Silent Prayer  that she must have removed from her series like I just mentioned to you above, and was so thankful to have found an article that had been written by Mike Stanwood which included information on that video! Here is a portion of his article that I quick captured for you:

(SOURCE)<– Click here to continue reading.

David Jeremiah

Moody radio also airs David Jeremiah’s program, Turning Point. There was a time when he strongly warned about the New Age Movement in his book and audio series Invasion of Other Gods, (which I personally have). Sadly, however, he now promotes Roma Downey, who is deeply involved in the New Age Movement.

Here’s some information concerning Roma Downey:

NEW BOOKLET TRACT- CONFUSED BY AN ANGEL: THE DILEMMA OF ROMA DOWNEY’S NEW AGE BELIEFS – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

 

David Jeremiah also ‘opened his pulpit to Contemplative Advocate, John Ortberg‘ as Lighthouse Trails documents for us below:

(SOURCE) <– Click here to continue reading

As you can see, John Ortberg was also a guest on Midday Connection:

(SOURCE)

 

Here is some information on John Ortberg that was written by James Sundquist of Rock Salt Ministries which I found posted at DECEPTION IN THE CHURCH– JOHN ORTBERG EXPOSE’

John Ortberg and Joyce Meyer discuss “how to experience God in every day life.” He also mentions Catholic mystic, Brother Lawrence and “practicing the presence of God.” 

 

 

 

Further below you will see an example of another Moody Radio program, This Is The Day, with Nancy Turner. Nathan Foster, the son of Richard Foster, was her featured guest. The “ancient practice of spiritual disciplines” was the topic of their conversation.

As her program began, Nancy Turner invited those who tuned in to her program to continue listening, by saying:

“Hope you’ll stay tuned to hear the insights from saints of old to uncover fresh ways of of living in our world today.”

She introduced Nathan Foster by saying the following:

“Nathan is associate professor of social work and theology at Spring Arbor University in Michigan. He holds the Andrews Chair in Spiritual Formation. He’s also a licensed Clinical Social Worker and the Director of Teaching Ministries for Renovare.’ 

When asked by Nancy Turner to explain what Renovare’ is, Nathan said the following:

“Renovare’ is a nonprofit organization that my dad set up, and essentially it is kind of an outgrowth of his work and Dallas Willard’s work in helping equip the church with teachings on Spiritual Formation and how people grow into  Christ-likeness.”

(SOURCE)

To read about the many concerns that discerning Christians have with Renovare,’ please consider reading some of THESE ARTICLES POSTED ON LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

Also, if you are not aware of who Dallas Willard is, here’s some information for you:

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH – DALLAS WILLARD GOING DOWN THE CONTEMPLATIVE ROAD, AND TAKING OTHERS WITH HIM

 

 

The clearest evidence that I can present to you to show you that Moody is indeed promoting Spiritual Formation, (if everything that I have already shared with you wasn’t enough) is the fact that Moody Bible Institute now has a  Spiritual Formation program, (which Nancy Kane briefly mentioned in her November 19th visit on Midday Connection) and upon completion of the class you will  receive a Spiritual Formation certificate:

(SOURCE)

If you are still unaware of what Spiritual Formation is and the dangers that you can encounter in most of these teachings, please consider reading the following articles, as well as the articles that I have added under Further Reading. When time allows, I encourage you to watch the videos further below, as well.

SPIRITUAL FORMATION – PASTOR GARY GILLEY

ROOTS OF THE SPIRITUAL FORMATION MOVEMENT – PASTOR GARY GILLEY

 

When time allows, I will be updating this post by adding more information and videos, as well as some notes that I took as I frequently listened to Midday Connection’s programs in order to do research on the many guests they had on over the many years they were on.  It would not be an exaggeration to say that at least 98% of their guests were — and still are — involved in the practice and promotion of mysticism and unbiblical spiritual disciplines at various degrees. Simply by looking at the information that I have already provided for you, I am almost certain that you will agree.

UPDATED: 2/20/16

HERE ARE SOME UPDATES FOR YOU:

Upon discovering that Moody Radio chose Equipped as their new show that would replace Midday Connection, I decided to listen in on January 7th 2016 to get an idea of what they would now be presenting to their listeners:

(SOURCE)

 (SOURCE)

The description of this show reminds me of In The Market with Janet Parshall because they discuss topics in light of our culture today. At first I thought that this show might be good, because from the little that I heard the host of the show, Chris Brooks, say that day, he seemed very discerning and he is aware of the fact that spiritual deception is a big concern these days, and it sounded like Dr. Sue Edwards seemed to be presenting some good Bible studies by listening to much of what she had to say, as well. While I am not going to judge Chris Brooks by simply listening to one of his shows, what I soon discovered about Dr. Sue Edwards did cause me to become concerned:

Wanting to be certain that this particular speaker was Biblically solid, and that she wasn’t into anything related to Spiritual Formation since it seems that these teachings are especially permeating countless number of churches and ministries these days, I decided to do some research on Dr. Sue Edwards. Sadly, as you can see from the information that I quick captured for you below, she is on staff at Dallas Theological Seminary where they are  presenting these teachings to their students, and they have now merged their Christian Education and Spiritual Formation & Leadership departments:

(SOURCE)

Sue Edwards, along with Barbara Neumann, wrote the following book which caught my attention because the term organic, when not referring to food, can mean something new, vibrant, and unique in the language of the New Christianity:

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS – NEW BOOKLET TRACT: D IS FOR DECEPTION-THE LANGUAGE OF THE “NEW” CHRISTIANITY

After looking at a preview of this book on Amazon it clearly shows that the intent of this book is to explore ways that will be successful to mentor young women in order to keep the relationship going between mentor and mentee, and by the little that they showed in the preview, there doesn’t appear to be anything troubling in this book. However, just the fact that Spiritual Formation is strongly promoted at DTS is reason enough to be extremely hesitant about purchasing this book.

In the following video as Organic Mentoring is discussed, George M. Hillman had this to say towards the end of their discussion beginning at the 28:29 minute mark:

“Plug for my department: Many of you are in a Spiritual Formation group…that’s mentoring! That is pure mentoring. And you have an opportunity to invest in people’s lives and not just your leader in the group but you invest in one another’s lives. And I’ll go a sales pitch with this aspect of…if you want to learn this stuff,  guess what. Be a SF leader. We’ll give you a group of people and say, “Hang out with these people and love on these people.”

As I continued to search for information I came across this Spiritual Formation series that is based on a  curriculum which was developed at Dallas Theological Seminary which I have added to further demonstrate that Sue Edwards is indeed involved in Spiritual Formation. Not only is she is on staff at a seminary that teaches Spiritual Formation, but also she is on staff at a school that develops Spiritual Formation curriculum. Therefore Moody is still continuing to feature speakers on their programs that are involved in Spiritual Formation, some more deeply than others.

 

Below you will see that Dallas Willard (who is now deceased) and Richard Foster, who both have strongly promoted mysticism in their teachings, are favorably mentioned:

(SOURCE)

 

 

In Part 3 of this series, which is entitled Integrity, you can see by the list below that Spiritual Disciplines are a part of this course. To what extent, I do not know, but it is very possible that since Dallas Willard and  Richard Foster are quoted favorably in their series, the mystical practice of Contemplative Prayer may very well be included in their Spiritual Discipline practices.

(SOURCE)

UPDATED 2/22/16

After discovering that Sue Edwards had some of her teachings on YouTube, I decided to listen to many of them to test them in light of Scripture. Here is one of them that I would like to bring to your attention:

Beginning at the 4:57 minute mark in the above video you will see the following information that I quick captured for you below:

As you can see from the information above, Sue Edwards listed Henry Cloud’s book as one of her Recommended Resources.

This is very troubling in light of the fact that as Lighthouse Trails shows us in the following article (that I quick captured a portion of for you below), Dr. Henry Cloud wrote the forward to the Be Still book (the companion to the 2006 Be Still DVD that featured Beth Moore, Henry Cloud, Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Priscilla Shirer, and more) in which he “makes comments that clearly show the true nature of this mystical spirituality.”

(SOURCE)<– Click here to read this very good article in its entirety, or click on the link below.

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS – BE STILL BOOK CONFIRMS TRUE NATURE OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

END OF 2/22/26 UPDATE

Another thing that I would like to bring to your attention as you can see from the quick capture below, is the fact that Moody Founder’s Week just took place on February 1st through the 5th:

As you can see from the schedule below and the video that follows, one of their guest speakers was Ann Voskamp. Earlier in this post I shared with you the serious concerns that many have with what she presents in her books.

(SOURCE)<–All of the above information that I quick captured can be accessed here. You can listen to all of the sessions from Founder’s Week 2016 here, as well).

 

Thanks to Debi Martin, (who must also be a detective-at-heart like I am) it was made known on Facebook that Moody Theological Seminary is having a Spiritual Formation Retreat this weekend. By doing so, they are now  more openly declaring  just how strongly they are promoting Spiritual Formation:

So upon seeing the above post, I decided to see what else I could find out about this Retreat, and I discovered this video and the following information:

 

 

(SOURCE)

Why is it that those in leadership at Moody are so lacking in discernment? Why are they not aware of the fact that because of the many ways that they are promoting Spiritual Formation, they are actually presenting New Age/New Spirituality practices that are rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism to Christians? Why are they not carefully examining what Christian speakers actually say and write in light of Scripture before they choose them to speak at their Conferences?

Why is it that so many Christians in leadership positions today lack discernment? Is it that they no longer see a need to examine the Scriptures daily to see if what these pastors and speakers are saying is true? (Acts 17:11) Have they forgotten or are they just ignoring the many warnings in Scripture about doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1) and false teachers, and that many of these false teachers will arise from among us? (Acts 20:30) Do many in leadership today just seek after those speakers who are the most popular and highly sought after in order to attract more people to their conferences and retreats? God will judge their hearts and their motives one day, but this is very troubling because oftentimes they are failing to protect their sheep! And because of the many in leadership these days who are strongly promoting Spiritual Formation Classes and the Spiritual Disciplines which almost always include Contemplative Prayer, Lectio Divina, and other mystical practices that can be found in Buddhism and Hinduism, they are actually leading many Christians astray and right into Satan’s territory!

As Christians all of us are accountable before God for what we choose to do, but I truly hope that we are coming to realize more and more that we are to trust and to follow no one but the one and only Good Shepherd — Jesus Christ — and how we are only to believe the God-breathed words recorded in His Word –the Bible. END OF 2/20/16 UPDATE

IN CLOSING

Dr. Harry Ironside, former pastor of Moody Memorial Church from 1930-1948, wrote an  article, entitled, Exposing Error: Is It Worthwhile?  I answer that question with a hearty, “YES!” As I began to write this post I thought about him and how deeply grieved he would be if he knew about the many spiritually deceptive teachings that are now being promoted today through the ministry that he was once a part of.

I can think of no better way to pay tribute to him than by sharing it with you here as a way to carry on his legacy of earnestly contending for the faith. Here is a portion of his article that I quick captured from The Berean Call:

(SOURCE) <–Click here to continue reading.

It is my hope and prayer that those on staff at Moody will come to the realization that they are drifting away from the Biblical foundation that this ministry was founded upon, and that they would repent and return to presenting Biblical principles through their radio programs, their publications, and through their classes at Moody Bible Institute, and put a stop to presenting any speaker or writer who promote these unbiblical New Age/New Spirituality pagan practices that are being promoted through Spiritual Formation.

Please know that this post was not written with the intention of attacking Lori Neff, Melinda Schmidt and Anita Lustria, for I truly see them as sweet and loving women. However, I pray that their eyes will be opened to see the dangerous spiritual path that they are going down — and leading others down — which is leading them and many other women away from Biblical Christianity, not only because of their deep involvement in Spiritual Formation and the mystical practices that they are promoting, but also because of their involvement with the many others who are promoting  these things, as well.

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:3,4)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you.” (2 Peter 2:1)

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:1-5)

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7: 13-15)

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men. after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Colossians 2:8)

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when  men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 3:16,17-4:1-4)

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:6-8)

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

“Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:26-31)

 

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MISGUIDED SHEPHERDS – INFORMATION CONCERNING DAVID JEREMIAH – TURNING POINT MINISTRIES, AND CHUCK SWINDOLL – INSIGHT FOR LIVING –  LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: WHAT ABOUT JOHN ORTBERG’S ‘FULLY DEVOTED’ BOOK? MY PASTOR WANTS TO USE IT

IS YOUR CHURCH DOING SPIRITUAL FORMATION? (IMPORTANT REASONS WHY THEY SHOULDN’T) – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

THE DANGERS OF AND THE TRUTH ABOUT SPIRITUAL FORMATION – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

SOLITUDE AND SILENCE – PASTOR GARY GILLEY

CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER – PASTOR GARY GILLEY

SACRED READING – LECTIO DIVINA – PASTOR GARY GILLEY

UPDATED EXPANDED EDITION OF BOOKLET TRACT ‘FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

THE TRUE SPIRITUAL DIRECTION OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION – TESTIMONY BY PAMELA COUVRETTE – GUARDING THE DEPOSIT

EVANGELICALS TURNING TO ROMAN CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY – DAVID CLOUD – WAY OF LIFE LITERATURE

CONCERNS GROW AS MOODY PRESSES FORWARD DOWN CONTEMPLATIVED PATH – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

AN INSIDER’S ACCOUNT OF WILLOW CREEK’S DEEPENING APOSTASY – BY MARY FAIRCHILD – RAPIDNET

CONTEMPLATIVE OR MYSTICAL SPIRITUALITY CONTRASTED WITH BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY – EXCELLENT INFORMATION IN PDF FORM AT THE LINK BELOW:

http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/lochurch/contempl.pdf

 

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UPDATE: LORD WILLING, NEW POST CONCERNING MYSTICISM COMING VERY SOON – THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE

While some of you are reading this UPDATE, I am at this moment very busily working on my post focusing on Mysticism that I had promised you would be finished by the end of this past week, which would have been Saturday, January 2, 2016. Even though I worked on it for eight hours on Saturday, and almost ten hours yesterday after I came home from church, I am still not quite finished after already working on it for five hours today, as of 1:00 p.m., Lord willing, with God’s help, I hope to have it finished within the next couple of hours. If not, I will still publish it and just update it when time allows, because I have experienced some computer problems in the past which caused a couple of entire posts that I was in the process of writing to completely disappear — posts that I had put many hours of research into, like I have done on this one that I am still working on.

Another reason why (Lord willing) I will definitely be publishing this post within the next two hours is because  I have some major cleaning to do since I spent so much time this weekend working on this post! Ugh!

So if you happen to be waiting for this post on Mysticism, consider checking back here in two hours. It’s definitely one of the longest  posts that I have written so far…as of now it has 5,740 words. I realize that’s waaaay over the limit of words in posts that most people have time to read, but I think it’s very important to add a lot of information to certain posts to help you see why you should be concerned about many Christian speakers and writers, — and, yes…even pastors — because God’s Word is filled with warnings about spiritual deception and false teachers! Okay. Before I get carried away and continue expressing my thoughts on that very important subject, I will end this update and get back to working on my post on Mysticism so I can start cleaning! Maybe finishing it today is actually perfect timing, because I can now consider it my post for Mysticism Monday! 🙂

Thank you for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read this UPDATE, and for any time that you may take to read some of my posts and poems which I write not only out of my strong desire to earnestly contend for the faith, but also in order to warn you of the extreme importance of studying God’s Word and examining the Scriptures daily to see if what is being said (by your pastors and favorite Bible teachers, preachers, and Christian writers) is true. (Acts 17:11)

God Bless You

Mary/Living4HisGlory

MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts are to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices.

All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (One coming very soon –Lord willing) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you that is filled with important information for you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages and read the upcoming articles and posts on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you.

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

I hope and pray that all of you who are Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ are constantly testing what your pastors and teachers are presenting to you against the truth of God’s Word as we are shown in Scripture to do (Acts 17:11) no matter how long they have been in ministry, because many pastors and teachers are now embracing and presenting New Age mystical practices to their people through things such as yoga, as well as  though meditation practices which often times are found in Spiritual Formation classes and are referred to as Contemplative Prayer, silent prayer, Lectio Divina, Taize, etc.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

 Mysticism in the church is one of the many ways that Satan is now using to bring about the oneness and unity that is being promoted in the world to bring about the One World Religion. Sadly, many pastors and teachers lack discernment and have now become tools in Satan’s hands to promote these mystical practices. We must keep in mind what God says in His Word:

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11) 

Are you a follower of  a man (or woman) and their ministry? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Will you be a Berean and examine the Scriptures daily to see if what they are saying is true? Will you walk in the light and in truth and leave, if necessary, if Yoga and other mystical practices  are being promoted at your church? Or are the relationships that you have developed over the years while you have attended your church more important to you than being obedient to God and the truth presented in His Word? True followers of Jesus Christ will follow Him –no matter what the cost.

“For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” (2 Corinthians 2:9)

 I hope and pray that you will guard yourselves and your precious children and leave your church if yoga and mystical practices are being promoted and taught at your church before you and your loved ones are led into spiritual deception!

Lord willing, in future posts I will be going into greater depth concerning the pastors who are promoting Spiritual Formation (such as Rick Warren of Saddle Back Church and Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church), and I will also be warning you about some of the other writers and speakers who are teaching these things.

As I mentioned to you in a few previous posts, I am in the process of writing a very detailed post concerning Mysticism. Today I spent at least eight more hours working on it and it is very close to being fully completed. Lord willing, I am hoping to have it completed before the end of this week. So for today’s Mysticism Monday, in order to continue to inform you and warn you of how New Age mysticism is entering many churches today, I would like to share a video with you that was put together by a dear sister-in-Christ known as Psalm86 on YouTube.

And now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

Related videos by YouTube Channel Psalm86

 

 

 

RELATED VIDEOS

 

 

 

MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts are to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (One coming very soon –Lord willing) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video or an article with you that is filled with important information for you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages and read the upcoming articles and posts on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you.

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

As I shared with you before: If there’s ever a topic that I cannot warn you enough about, it’s Spiritual Formation! Many churches today are presenting Spiritual Formation classes to the people in their churches not only by their own pastors and teachers, but also through the teachings of women such as Ruth Haley Barton and Mindy Caliguire, as well as offering Bible Studies by women such as *Beth Moore and *Priscilla Shirer. *(Consider reading THIS POST to learn about Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer). These women strongly promote unbiblical, New Age/New Spirituality mystical practices in their teachings! (More about these women in upcoming posts –Lord willing).

While these Spiritual Formation teachings may be presented to you as ways to help you grow in Christ, as well as to grow closer to Him and help you to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, the practices they incorporate into their teachings, such as Contemplative Prayer, Lectio Divina, silent prayer, and entering into “the silence,” are unbiblical; they are all forms of Eastern Meditation cloaked in somewhat Christian terminology. Instead of leading you closer to Jesus Christ, these practices will lead you away from Him and into spiritual deception and even into the world of the occult!

When teachings become more focused on leading you to have experiences with God, and less focused on teaching and preaching verse by verse through God’s Word, or when verses are taken out of context to make it mean something entirely different in order to promote these mystical practices, those should be huge red flags to you that the direction they are going in is unbiblical!

Consider checking your church’s web site and the classes that they offer, as well as the topics of the sermons that they present to you. If you see Spiritual Formation and/or any of the above forms of prayer or people that I previously mentioned, you need to be on guard!

If there is no doubt in your mind that these mystical practices are being presented at your church, then it very well may be time for you to prayerfully consider leaving your church and looking for another church where God’s Word is preached verse by verse through many books of the Bible, and the pastor guards his sheep by exposing these false teachings and false teachers.

I hope and pray that all of you who are Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ are constantly testing what your pastors and teachers are presenting to you against the truth of God’s Word as we are shown in Scripture to do (Acts 17:11) no matter how long they have been in ministry, because many pastors and teachers are now embracing and presenting Spiritual Formation teachings and mystical practices to their people.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Mysticism in the church is one of the many ways that Satan is now using to bring about the oneness and unity that is being promoted in the world to bring about the One World Religion. Sadly, many pastors and teachers lack discernment and have now become tools in Satan’s hands to promote these mystical practices. We must keep in mind what God says in His Word:

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)

 

Are you a follower of  a man (or woman) and their ministry? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Will you be a Berean and examine the Scriptures daily to see if what they are saying is true? Will you walk in the light and in truth and leave, if necessary, if Spiritual Formation and mystical practices  are being promoted at your church? Or are the relationships that you have developed over the years while you have attended your church more important to you than being obedient to God and the truth presented in His Word? True followers of Jesus Christ will follow Him –no matter what the cost.

“For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” (2 Corinthians 2:9)

I hope and pray that you will guard yourselves and your precious children and leave your church if these mystical practices are being promoted and taught at your church before you and your loved ones are led into spiritual deception!

Lord willing, in future posts I will be going into greater depth concerning the pastors who are promoting Spiritual Formation (such as Rick Warren of Saddle Back Church and Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church), and I will also be warning you about some of the other writers and speakers who are teaching these things.

UPDATE:

As I mentioned to you in previous posts, I am in the process of writing a very detailed post concerning Mysticism, but due to certain circumstances I still have not had sufficient time to complete it. So in the mean time, for today’s Mysticism Monday, in order to continue to inform you and warn you of how  New Age mysticism is entering many churches today, here is a quick capture from a portion of an article that Lighthouse Trails just posted on their website that I would like to present to you for today’s Mysticism Monday:

 (SOURCE) <–Please click here to continue reading this important information.

 

RELATED VIDEOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary/Living4HisGlory

WARNING YOU WITH TEARS WEDNESDAY

Welcome to another post in the series of posts that I have entitled, Warning You With Tears Wednesdays. Lord willing, at least once a month on Wednesdays I will be writing and sharing one of these posts with you so that I can make you all aware of some important information that I come across on the Internet that you may not have heard about.

Since I knew that I would soon be starting a new part-time job (which I  started in June) and that my free time would then be somewhat limited, I was trying to think of something that I could write on a regular basis that would be short and to the point (at least that was my intention). And since I am a detective-at-heart and desire to make you all aware of the importance of testing things that pastors and teachers say (and do) in light of Scripture (Acts 17:11), the idea to do these posts — as well as the name — came to my mind in November of 2014, based on Acts 20:26-31:

“For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

So with all of that in mind, here is what I’d like to share with you in today’s WARNING YOU WITH TEARS WEDNESDAY:

1) As I mentioned to you IN A PREVIOUS WARNING YOU WITH TEARS WEDNESDAY POST, Carl Teichrib of FORCING CHANGE and Don Venoit of MIDWEST CHRISTIAN OUTREACH attended the recent Parliament of the Worlds Religions which took place in Salt Lake City Utah on October 15th through the 19th. Jackie Alnor of  THE SCATTERED SHEEP REPORT,  as well as Lynette Irwin are two more of many other Christians who attended and they also gave a rather chilling report on what took place there. If you’d like to find out some of the very disturbing things that they all observed and heard, you can click on the links below, as well as play the following video:

CARL TEICHRIB – STAND UP FOR THE TRUTH – COMING TOGETHER AS ONE

DON VEINOT – ALL ROADS LEAD TO GOD?

AN EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE WORLD’S RELIGIONS – LYNETTE IRWIN – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

 

 

2) I am one among many Christians who believe that one of the most dangerous books to be accepted as being Christian is ‘Celebration of Discipline‘ by Richard Foster. (Lord willing, more on Richard Foster in my upcoming post that I am hoping to have completed by Saturday evening). If you’d like to know why that book is so dangerous, please consider reading the following very important article by LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH BLOG:

CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE – 35 YEARS OF INFLUENCE – DOES YOUR CHURCH HAVE A COPY? – LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS RESEARCH

 

3) Another Christian book that is extremely popular and is considered by many Christians to be extremely dangerous, — and rightly so — is Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Lighthouse Trails recently posted a book review of  Warren B Smith’s book “Another Jesus” Calling. Warren tested the messages that Sarah Young claims to have received from Jesus against the truth of God’s Word and discovered that the Jesus that Sarah Young is hearing from is “another Jesus” just as Scripture warns us about in 2 Corinthians 11:2-4:

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [him].” 

BOOK REVIEW: ANOTHER JESUS” CALLING – A VALUABLE RESOURCE THAT EVERY CHRISTIAN NEEDS TO READ- LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS

4) If your church has AWANA groups for your children, please read this article by Lighthouse Trails Research so that you can be aware of some concerns that many are now having about what is presently being taught at some levels. (Hint: It has to do with Rick Warren).

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: CONCERNS BY AWANA LEADER ABOUT AWANA LINKING HANDS WITH THE EMERGENT CHURCH

5) Below you will find quick captures of the latest Suggested Posts that Facebook thought I would be interested in. Instead of all pastors trusting God to provide for the needs of their church, sadly there are some pastors who try to manipulate strongly encourage the people in their church to give generously. These pastors have now discovered new ways to inspire end of year generosity:

 

 

 

6) Can you guess who THE KING AND QUEEN OF THE NEW RELIGIOUS ORDER are? (Article by Jackie Alnor of – THE SCATTERED SHEEP REPORT and APOSTASY ALERT

7) Women, do not be deceived! Here’s what you need to be aware of if you’re considering attending an IF Gathering:

IF: GATHERING…IS IT A MOVEMENT OF GOD? – TRUTHKEEPERS

 

8) Herescope has another very in depth post that I read last week and completely forgot about it until I received an email from a dear sister in the Lord who sent me the link as I was getting ready to finish up and publish today’s post. (Thank you, Janice. 🙂  ). Once again, here is an  article that will show you how many in church leadership are promoting Christian mysticism through people such as Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer, and how the world is “mainstreaming mystic mindedness” throughout the medical field, as well as through our education system by promoting EASTERN MEDITATION AS THE UNIVERSAL CURE-ALL

9) I’ll end with this story by News reporter Bill Melugin of FOX 46, Charlotte, NC, to give praise, glory, and honor to God for the lives saved by a new technique that, if done in time, can reverse an abortion with no harm done to the life of the precious unborn baby:

 

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary Dalke/Living4HisGlory

MYSTICISM MONDAY – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation, or has your pastor been preaching on it? Have you been involved in “Christian“ Yoga, Centering Prayer, Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina? Well, this series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS,‘ will attempt to not only peel back the layers of the many forms of spiritual deception that have been entering the church in order to reveal them to you as being lies of the enemy of our souls, but also the intention of these posts are to present you with the truth of God’s Word in order to expose the spiritual dangers of these practices.

Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, (One coming very soon –Lord willing) but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I now have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages and read the upcoming posts on these important topics so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you.

Please be sure that you test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

Now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

If there’s ever a topic that I cannot warn you enough about, it’s Spiritual Formation! Many churches today are presenting Spiritual Formation classes to the people in their churches not only by their own pastors and teachers, but also through the teachings of women such as Ruth Haley Barton and Mindy Caliguire, as well as offering Bible Studies by women such as *Beth Moore and *Priscilla Shirer. *(Consider reading THIS POST to learn about Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer). These women strongly promote unbiblical, New Age/New Spirituality mystical practices in their teachings! (More about these women in upcoming posts –Lord willing).

While these Spiritual Formation teachings may be presented to you as ways to help you grow in Christ, as well as to grow closer to Him and help you to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, the practices they incorporate into their teachings, such as Contemplative Prayer, Lectio Divina, silent prayer, and entering into “the silence,” are unbiblical; they are all forms of Eastern Meditation cloaked in somewhat Christian terminology. Instead of leading you closer to Jesus Christ, these practices will lead you away from Him and into spiritual deception and even into the world of the occult!

When teachings become more focused on leading you to have experiences with God, and less focused on teaching and preaching verse by verse through God’s Word, or when verses are taken out of context to make it mean something entirely different in order to promote these mystical practices, those should be huge red flags to you that the direction they are going in is unbiblical!

Consider checking your church’s web site and the classes that they offer, as well as the topics of the sermons that they present to you. If you see Spiritual Formation and/or any of the above forms of prayer or people that I previously mentioned, you need to be on guard!

If there is no doubt in your mind that these mystical practices are being presented at your church, then it very well may be time for you to prayerfully consider leaving your church and looking for another church where God’s Word is preached verse by verse through many books of the Bible, and the pastor guards his sheep by exposing these false teachings and false teachers.

I hope and pray that all of you who are Bible believing followers of Jesus Christ are constantly testing what your pastors and teachers are presenting to you against the truth of God’s Word as we are shown in Scripture to do (Acts 17:11) no matter how long they have been in ministry, because many pastors and teachers are now embracing and presenting Spiritual Formation teachings and mystical practices to their people.

“These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

Mysticism in the church is one of the many ways that Satan is now using to bring about the oneness and unity that is being promoted in the world to bring about the One World Religion. Sadly, many pastors and teachers lack discernment and have now become tools in Satan’s hands to promote these mystical practices. We must keep in mind what God says in His Word:

“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21,22)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Are you a follower of  a man (or woman) and their ministry? Or are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Will you be a Berean and examine the Scriptures daily to see if what they are saying is true? Will you walk in the light and in truth and leave, if necessary, if Spiritual Formation and mystical practices  are being promoted at your church? Or are the relationships that you have developed over the years while you have attended your church more important to you than being obedient to God and the truth presented in His Word? True followers of Jesus Christ will follow Him –no matter what the cost.

“For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.” (2 Corinthians 2:9)

I hope and pray that you will guard yourselves and your precious children and leave your church if these mystical practices are being promoted and taught at your church before you and your loved ones are led into spiritual deception!

Lord willing, in future posts I will be going into greater depth concerning the pastors who are promoting Spiritual Formation (such as Rick Warren of Saddle Back Church and Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church), and I will also be warning you about some of the other writers and speakers who are teaching these things. But for now, in order to continue to inform you and to show you how  mysticism is entering the church, here is what I would like to present to you for today’s Mysticism Monday.

When time allows, please pray for discernment and listen to the following  short presentation of Mike Oppenheimer and Ray Yungen as they discuss mysticism and the Emerging Church movement and compare everything  against Scripture. Many names of those who have written about these unbiblical,  mystical, new age practices are also mentioned so that you can become aware of what names to watch out for, because sadly, some of these writers and their books are being promoted by some pastors and teachers, and their books are sold in many Christian book stores, as well.

 

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”          (1 Timothy 4:1)

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”          (2 Peter 2:1-3)

“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” (3 John 1:11)

“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall he speak: and He will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13)

“And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” (Acts 20:25-31)

Thank you for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary Dalke/Living4HisGlory

UPDATE:

Due to many responsibilities that I now have, and the need to get up very early for my new three days a week part-time job, I still have not had the time to finish my main post on Mysticism. Lord willing, I hope to have it finished within the next couple of weeks.

MYSTICISM MONDAYS – WARNING YOU OF HOW MYSTICISM IS NOW RAPIDLY ENTERING THE CHURCH AND DECEIVING MANY CHRISTIANS TODAY

Have you unknowingly been lured into New Age mystical practices by teachers claiming that certain “new ways to pray” will bring you closer to God? Have you signed up for classes in Spiritual Formation? Have you been involved in Centering Prayer , Contemplative Prayer, or Lectio Divina ? Well, this new series of posts in the new Category of posts that I have entitled, ‘MYSTICISM MONDAYS‘ will attempt to peel back the layers of spiritual deception and present you with the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices. Lord willing, at least once a month on a Monday, I will be sharing teachings with you from Christian experts on the subject, some of whom have even been personally involved with these dangerous practices. All of these teachings that I will be presenting to you will focus on many Scriptures; those who speak on these topics will not just be talking about these practices, because it’s only the truth of God’s Word that will expose the dangers of these practices and set a deceived person free.

Lord willing, when time allows, I will be writing many posts in the future zeroing in on specific Christian programming and Christian teachers who are promoting these deceptive practices, but since my time is getting rather limited these days because of other important responsibilities that I have, I will oftentimes simply be sharing a video with you.

When time allows, I truly hope and pray that you will take the time to listen to these messages and read the upcoming posts on this important topic so that you can be aware of these false teachings that are deceiving many Christians –possibly even you.

Please test the teachings of all those whom you listen to against Scripture as God’s Word shows us that we are to do (Acts 17:11) so that you will never be deceived.

Now for today’s Mysticism Monday:

Below you will find a video Playlist in which you will hear another one of my favorite speakers, Roger Oakland, of UNDERSTAND THE TIMES. In his presentation he will clearly show you how there is a One World Religion for peace forming and how there is a plan to win the world to the Roman Catholic Jesus –the Eucharistic Christ. If you are a former Catholic like I am, you will understand who/what this Eucharistic Christ is. If not, your eyes will soon be opened to discover how many Christians are being led astray by this Eucharistic Christ because not only are they failing to test things in light of Scripture, but also they are falling for the popular deceptive teachings that cause Christians to seek after having mystical experiences with God above seeking to know God through His Word.

In the following presentation, Roger Oakland shares many articles and documented evidence in order to show you how these mystical practices that are being promoted in many churches today (via the  Emerging/Emergent Church through Spiritual Formation, Lectio Divina, Contemplative Prayer, etc.), are being used to entice Evangelical Christians to travel down the road of mysticism which leads to Rome.  Oftentimes, when Christians involve themselves in these mystical practices that began with Catholic monks, known as the desert fathers, it causes them to embrace Roman Catholicism  itself, which is the goal of the New Evangelization program of Roman Catholicism.

Watching Roger Oakland’s videos concerning Roman Catholicism and Another Jesus made me see the connection with the Manifest Presence of God that is the focus of the messages of some popular pastors and teachers today, with what is called the Real Presence in Catholicism, and how these two could easily merge together one day. We must be aware of Church History and, above all, what God’s Word teaches, so that we will not be deceived, because, as you well know, history often repeats itself.

Do you know God’s Word well enough so that you will not be deceived by these false, mystical teachings that are being promoted in many Christian churches today claiming to lead you into having a deeper and more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you seeking to know God through His Word? Or will you sadly be among those who are being led astray today because you have fallen for the lie that God’s Word is not enough, and that you can now have experiences with God?

When time allows, I hope and pray that you will watch Roger Oakland’s presentation so that you will become aware of  yet another way in which mysticism is being used these days to cause Christians to seek after having experiences with God, and lead them away from Biblical truth that can be found in God’s Word alone.

The titles of the videos in this four part presentation are as follows:

1)Another Jesus

2)Another Spirit

3)Road To Rome

4)Road To Babylon

 

 

 

Are you aware of the teachings of Catholicism and how they compare to Scripture? It is extremely important for you to know, not only because  these mystical practices that are being promoted today are rooted in the teachings of Catholic mystics, but also because of the fact that Catholicism teaches “another Jesus” and “another gospel,” and many Christians are being led astray by their teachings. Do you know God’s Word well enough so that you could lovingly and patiently share the good news of the gospel with a precious Catholic if the opportunity arises?

Lord willing, I hope to have my post completed by the end of November in which I will compare many of the teachings that can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church against the truth of God’s Word. I hope that you will consider checking back here towards the end of next month and learn how to discern truth from error when it comes to Catholicism. Until then, please read and study God’s Word and continue to test all that you read and listen to against the truth of God’s Word so that you will not be among the many Christians who are being deceived today.

Thank you very much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy day to read some of my posts and poems.

God Bless You

~Mary Dalke/Living4HisGlory

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.” (Matthew 24:3,4)

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”          (1 Timothy 4:1)

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9)

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Corinthians 11:3,4)

RELATED VIDEOS

 

FORMER ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST FOR TWENTY TWO YEARS, RICHARD BENNETT:

 

 

 

 

 

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