What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? (Luke 9:25)

I did feel the firestorm created by the previous missive that I called Take Off The Gloves, and as I would later share in email, that particular missile must have hit an enemy fuel dump the way that it exploded. As far as I’m concerned this is a good thing. Personally I didn’t think I would have anything further to say on the matter, but it now seems in the Spirit this was incorrect. So, um; well…here goes…a kind of mini sequel. This morning the Lord spoke to me through my morning devotional material and clearly said: “Show another side.” This is what I will attempt to do briefly in this mini sequel.

And so, I have felt led by Christ to share this, and I do pray that you will receive it in the spirit of humility in which I write. First of all, despite my stances against what I have consciously chosen to call The Ecumenical Church Of Deceit (ECoD), believe it or not, I actually get very few letters of a negative vein. So all the more, whenever I do it has provided me an opportunity to show this “other side” that my Master apparently wishes for me to share with a broader audience here. Like pastor Bob DeWaay, whom I respect in the Lord as one of my own teachers, I also appreciate Dr. Francis Schaeffer. In particular Schaeffer’s very astute observation: “Honest questions deserve honest answers.”

To Disagree Agreeably

As such, even when the writer might take a very different position than I do on an issue I follow the above advice from Dr. Schaeffer, as well as this from another of my teachers, Dr. Walter Martin. “Let us agree to disagree agreeably” was the adage he’d often repeat. If you aren’t aware, then I must tell you that the time in which we live is not one sympathetic to the historic orthodox Christian faith, but rather it is actually quite aggressively hostile to it. You may recall that our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth rebuked the teachers of God’s chosen people when He walked upon His earth for not understanding the times they were living in. Hebrews 13:8 clearly informs us Christ cannot change, and the opening text above makes it very plain what is at stake for men like Living Spiritual Teacher Richard Foster.

Therefore, not wishing to be found among those teachers Christ will begin rebuking publicly “soon,” I have done my best to speak concerning the issues that I feel God leads me to write about. A couple of which would be the current infestation of so-called “Christian” mysticism into the Body of Christ, and its resulting counterpart of what is for all intents and purposes a “Christian” agnosticism. For those who may not know, briefly, Apprising Ministries (AM) was launched by the leadership of Connecticut River Baptist Church (SBC) June 1, 2005 and was only intended to be a local outreach. By June 17th Chris Carmichael of Christian Unplugged (sadly, no longer online), whom I did not previously know, had very kindly published my first article Apprising Joel Osteen’s Word-Faith Teachings.

Long story short; by August 27th AM was given its own website, August 31 Ingrid Schlueter asked me to appear on her Crosstalk program, and by September she had graciously afforded me an tremendous opportunity to be one of the contributors on her website Slice of Laodicea. You may make of it what you will, but I bring this up to offer it as a testimony to our Great Shepherd concerning His incredible kindness because I have never asked for any of this. A long time ago, when He graciously pulled me off the human scrap heap and sent me forth as one of His pastor-teachers we made a “deal,” as it were: The Lord said, “I’ll tell you what to do, and you do it for My glory without question.”

Even being an obtuse sheep, I was bright enough to realize, who was I to argue? And the point I wish you to understand here, is that I am aware in Christ that He has me speaking now for other “unknown” pastor-teachers and discernment ministries as well. I provide this background information on the newness of this work, the fact that I must do all the research myself–not to mention pay for the materials–concerning what I write, in prayerful hope that it just might help you better understand my fierce devotion to my Lord and Master. Because so far, with no outside agency funding and only a few loyal contributors, we have been able to do so. But those that have not seen “another side” of my pastoral work wouldn’t know that whatever I do is always funneled through some verses of God’s Word that I consider my own “life verses.”

Life Verses For God’s Guidance

Among these verses, first and foremost, is 1 Corinthians 15:10 – But by the grace of God I am what I am, which is why I shared the above. The Lord knows that I never lose sight of the fact that but for His grace I would be the Richard Fosters and the Brian McLarens and the Emergent Church leaders I am trying to awaken. For the few who have written suggesting I had better be careful of “judging,” as they relate it to Matthew 7:1-5, they were told in my reply that I sure do always keep this in mind. But I also tell them that the extremely sad state of affairs in the American Christian Church now demands that Christ’s true theologians, along with His pastor-teachers and ministers, at this late hour of apostasy, become more mindful than ever of John 7:24 – ”Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (ESV).

As I said in the original Take Off The Gloves post, we do not do these leaders of new evangelicalism in the aforementioned ECoD, daughter of the apostate Church of Rome, any favors by “pawing at them” with kid gloves. You need to awaken to the fact that these seducing spirits have an agenda with their contemplative spirituality, and that is to unite all religions into a Global Family through Contemplative/Centering Prayer (“Christian” transcendental meditation). For more information the interested reader is referred to The Church Of Rome Spawned The Current Apostasy. Yes, it is true that not all of these men are necessarily including every religion in this futile attempt to bring all “faith traditions” into the Church; and no, few–if any–will call their mystic meditation “transcendental.” Be that as it may, I have simply chosen to follow my Lord’s leading to boldly call this gravely dangerous spiritual practice exactly what it truly is.

God Himself Has Begun Sending These Delusions

“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all? Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face and then goes to a prophet, I the LORD will answer him myself in keeping with his great idolatry. (Ezekiel 14:3-4)

Men and women, please understand that when I carefully and quite specifically use terms like “Guru,” “Roshi,” or “Living Spiritual Teacher,” I am not doing so because I hate the men themselves who are under these extreme delusions of Gnostic mysticism inherent in the very aggravating anthropocentric new evangelicalism of the ECoD. Because it is written: Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (Ephesians 5:11, ESV), then this is what I must do. And, I might add, it is also quite possible to do this without personal animosity toward those you are exposing. Plus, it is here that I always remember 1 Corinthians 15:10. The “other side” I believe God wished this unworthy servant (and I do not play with these terms) to show is that, similar to my mentor Dr. Martin–not exactly a master of tact–I am using reductio ad absurdum in hopes to show people the foolish conclusion of these men’s warped and toxic teachings.

Men and women, if you hope to stand as these deceptions increase, in what just might be The Falling Away Of The Evangelical Church, then you had best come to understand what God has actually said in the Bible, and in addition you’re going to need a good working relationship with God the Holy Spirit Himself. Today, I tell you in the Lord that the ride is about get very bumpy and these men are, wittingly or unwittingly, tools that the enemy of men’s souls is now using to impart into the Body of Christ the spiritual cyanide of things taught by demons. It brings me no pleasure to say it, and only God and myself truly know what He must first put me through in order to “encourage” me to actually come out and say these things in such a public venue. You may trust me when I tell you that I go to the Lord’s “woodshed” long before I ever rise to speak.

Ride With Us To The Sound Of The Guns!

Which brings me to my final point. There are so many today (and let us be thankful for them) crying out for Christ to raise up voices to stand against these deceptions now even invading the evangelical community itself. However, the reason there are not more of us would be because we do, and will, pay a tremendous price. Not sensationalism, fact. I pray those of you who read this are mature enough in Christ to feel the discouragement of someone like myself (and the few others) who day after day take on the Richard Fosters and Brian McLarens and the Emergent Church. Those of us on the Net for instance face our articles being shunned because they are “controversial” and “negative,” which then shuts down our visibility. And sadly, so many of our dear brothers and sisters in Christ also offer us precious little encouragement in addition to our warnings being virtually ignored.

Please know this is not written in anger, nor do I write for sympathy. I am a soldier and I will continue to press the fight to Satan’s forces as long as my Lord gives me strength – no matter what; to the end! And so, perhaps this will help you to see why there aren’t more “voices” out here right now. I certainly do pray this will not be viewed as offensive, and may the Lord also help you to understand just how difficult the type of ministry that men like me are called to do truly is. And beloved, believe me we do covet your prayers. In closing for now, I think back to when Dr. Martin was telling of the time he was accused of being unloving on a particular “Christian” television program. His answer was along the lines that he’d dedicated years of his life to studying what he called the Kingdom of the Cults in order to better understand his own mission field in order that he might then be in a better position to lovingly tell these people the Truth.

Finally, as gently as he could, and representing all of us who are missionaries to our own country, Dr. Martin said: “I’ve spent thirty-four years doing your job, and now I’m unloving? Well, what have you done?”

…please know that there will be more forthcoming on these important issues…