Rick Warren on Catholicism
Published on Nov 26, 2014
The Rev. Rick Warren outlines an ecumenical vision for Catholics and Protestants to work together to defend the sanctity of life, sex and marriage.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Friday, November 28, 2014
PENSACOLA CHRISTIAN COLLEGE: CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICS IN "A BEKA" LITERATURE COURSE
Pensacola's A Beka Promoting Catholic Contemplative Mystics
November 28, 2014 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org)
A Beka’s high school World Literature course, fourth edition, 2011, features two selections from the writings of Roman Catholic contemplative mystics: “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence and “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas À Kempis.
The copyright page says that A Beka is “a Christian textbook ministry affiliated with Pensacola Christian College.”
By definition, a world literature course analyzes non-Christian literature, but a literature course intended for Christian young people should give clear background warnings about spiritual danger, whereas in this case A Beka does no such thing.
À Kempis and Lawrence represent a rapidly-growing and very dangerous contemplative movement today, and it is unconscionable for A Beka not to mention this.
Consider Brother Lawrence, (real name Nicholas Herman), a Carmelite monk. The Carmelite order is devoted to Mary. It is called the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I have visited the Carmelite church in Rome, Santa Mari della Vittoria (Church of Our Lady of Victory), which is dedicated to the idolatrous “Queen of Heaven.” It contains a fresco depicting The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy. Mary is being praised by the choirs of heaven for her victory over such “heresies” as the Bible as the sole authority for faith and practice and salvation by Christ’s grace alone without works. Santa Mari della Vittoria also contains a depiction of The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, another deluded Catholic “saint” who is influential in the contemplative movement.
The Carmelite order follows the Book of the First Monks, which establishes its doctrine of monasticism on wild-eyed allegorical meanings of Scripture, teaches salvation through sacraments and good works, and promotes blind mysticism.
A century before Lawrence, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross had reformed the Carmelite order with their mystical practices and extreme asceticism.
Teresa of Avila, one of the most prominent of Rome’s contemplative mystics, claimed to have seen Mary ascend to heaven and to have seen Jesus in the consecrated host of the mass (The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, chap. 39, p. 305; chap. 29, page 206). She claimed that she was visited by Mary and Joseph who clothed her in a “robe of great whiteness and clarity” (chap. 33, p. 247). She also claimed to have rescued many souls from purgatory (chap. 39, p. 296).
The copyright page says that A Beka is “a Christian textbook ministry affiliated with Pensacola Christian College.”
By definition, a world literature course analyzes non-Christian literature, but a literature course intended for Christian young people should give clear background warnings about spiritual danger, whereas in this case A Beka does no such thing.
À Kempis and Lawrence represent a rapidly-growing and very dangerous contemplative movement today, and it is unconscionable for A Beka not to mention this.
Consider Brother Lawrence, (real name Nicholas Herman), a Carmelite monk. The Carmelite order is devoted to Mary. It is called the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I have visited the Carmelite church in Rome, Santa Mari della Vittoria (Church of Our Lady of Victory), which is dedicated to the idolatrous “Queen of Heaven.” It contains a fresco depicting The Virgin Mary Triumphing over Heresy. Mary is being praised by the choirs of heaven for her victory over such “heresies” as the Bible as the sole authority for faith and practice and salvation by Christ’s grace alone without works. Santa Mari della Vittoria also contains a depiction of The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, another deluded Catholic “saint” who is influential in the contemplative movement.
The Carmelite order follows the Book of the First Monks, which establishes its doctrine of monasticism on wild-eyed allegorical meanings of Scripture, teaches salvation through sacraments and good works, and promotes blind mysticism.
A century before Lawrence, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross had reformed the Carmelite order with their mystical practices and extreme asceticism.
Teresa of Avila, one of the most prominent of Rome’s contemplative mystics, claimed to have seen Mary ascend to heaven and to have seen Jesus in the consecrated host of the mass (The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, chap. 39, p. 305; chap. 29, page 206). She claimed that she was visited by Mary and Joseph who clothed her in a “robe of great whiteness and clarity” (chap. 33, p. 247). She also claimed to have rescued many souls from purgatory (chap. 39, p. 296).
Teresa inflicted tortures on herself and practiced extreme asceticism. In this state, she experienced visions and heard voices that caused her great fear and anguish and led her friends and some of her confessors to think she was demon possessed. She experienced temporary paralysis so that she had no power over herself, and she would allegedly levitate. She described one occasion in which the nuns tried unsuccessfully to hold her down!
She even described her own mental state in terms of lunacy:“But this intellect of mine is so wild that it seems like a raving lunatic. Nobody can hold it down, and I have no sufficient control over it myself to keep it quiet for a single moment” (The Life of Saint Teresa, chap. 30, p. 219).
Teresa experienced visions and “raptures” through mindless meditation. “All that the soul has to do at these times of quiet is merely to be calm and make no noise. By noise I mean working with the intellect to find great numbers of words and reflections with which to thank God. ... in these periods of quiet, the soul should repose in its calm, and learning should be put on one side” (The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, chap. 15, pp. 106, 107, 108).
“The intellect, at any rate, is of no value here” (chap. 16, p. 113).
This is the type of contemplative mysticism that is promoted by Richard Foster and other leaders of the modern “evangelical” contemplative prayer movement. It puts one in danger of communing with demons masquerading as angels of light.
The practice of contemplative prayer almost invariably leads to ecumenical sympathy with Roman Catholicism, and often it leads to heresies of universalism and even pantheism (God is everything) and panentheism (God is in everything) as we have documented in the book Contemplative Mysticism: An Ecumenical Bond.
Brother Lawrence lived in this radically heretical environment. Deceived by Rome, he thought that his own works atoned for sins. He labored under a terrible legalistic bondage of Roman asceticism rather than the wonderful freedom of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brother Lawrence’s words about abiding in Jesus, which are quoted in A Beka’s World Literature textbook, are innocuous in themselves, but they must be defined by the context in which he lived and by the heresies that he held.
Either the authors of this textbook are unfamiliar with this context, in which case they should not be writing textbooks, or they know about the context and are hiding it from their students, in which case they are committing a great sin by building bridges to this dangerous world.“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Brother Lawrence looked upon sacrifice and suffering as a means of salvation.
In part one of The Practice of the Presence of God, Lawrence is quoted as saying, “This made me resolve to give the all for the All: so after having given myself wholly to God, TO MAKE ALL THE SATISFACTION I COULD FOR MY SINS, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He...”
Priest Joseph de Beauford, who compiled The Practice and Presence of God after Lawrence’s death, observed: “His one desire was that he might suffer something for the love of God, FOR ALL HIS SINS, and finding in his last illness a favorable occasion for suffering in this life, he embraced it heartily.”
That Lawrence, like Teresa of Avila, was dealing with demons is obvious. When something would take his mind away from God, he would receive “a reminder from God” that moved him to “cry out, singing and dancing violently like a mad man” (Gerald G. May, The Awakened Heart, HarperCollins, 1993, p. 134).
Why does Pensacola’s A Beka introduce high school students to these very dangerous people, even in the context of world literature, without a very loud and clear warning?
For more about Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, Thomas À Kempis, and the other influential contemplative mystics, past and present, the rapid spread of this practice today, and great spiritual danger associated with it, see Contemplative Mysticism: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond, available in print and eBook editions from Way of Life Literature.
It is imperative that parents, teachers, pastors, and missionaries be properly educated about the spiritual dangers that God’s people are facing today.
She even described her own mental state in terms of lunacy:“But this intellect of mine is so wild that it seems like a raving lunatic. Nobody can hold it down, and I have no sufficient control over it myself to keep it quiet for a single moment” (The Life of Saint Teresa, chap. 30, p. 219).
Teresa experienced visions and “raptures” through mindless meditation. “All that the soul has to do at these times of quiet is merely to be calm and make no noise. By noise I mean working with the intellect to find great numbers of words and reflections with which to thank God. ... in these periods of quiet, the soul should repose in its calm, and learning should be put on one side” (The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila by Herself, chap. 15, pp. 106, 107, 108).
“The intellect, at any rate, is of no value here” (chap. 16, p. 113).
This is the type of contemplative mysticism that is promoted by Richard Foster and other leaders of the modern “evangelical” contemplative prayer movement. It puts one in danger of communing with demons masquerading as angels of light.
The practice of contemplative prayer almost invariably leads to ecumenical sympathy with Roman Catholicism, and often it leads to heresies of universalism and even pantheism (God is everything) and panentheism (God is in everything) as we have documented in the book Contemplative Mysticism: An Ecumenical Bond.
Brother Lawrence lived in this radically heretical environment. Deceived by Rome, he thought that his own works atoned for sins. He labored under a terrible legalistic bondage of Roman asceticism rather than the wonderful freedom of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brother Lawrence’s words about abiding in Jesus, which are quoted in A Beka’s World Literature textbook, are innocuous in themselves, but they must be defined by the context in which he lived and by the heresies that he held.
Either the authors of this textbook are unfamiliar with this context, in which case they should not be writing textbooks, or they know about the context and are hiding it from their students, in which case they are committing a great sin by building bridges to this dangerous world.“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Brother Lawrence looked upon sacrifice and suffering as a means of salvation.
In part one of The Practice of the Presence of God, Lawrence is quoted as saying, “This made me resolve to give the all for the All: so after having given myself wholly to God, TO MAKE ALL THE SATISFACTION I COULD FOR MY SINS, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He...”
Priest Joseph de Beauford, who compiled The Practice and Presence of God after Lawrence’s death, observed: “His one desire was that he might suffer something for the love of God, FOR ALL HIS SINS, and finding in his last illness a favorable occasion for suffering in this life, he embraced it heartily.”
That Lawrence, like Teresa of Avila, was dealing with demons is obvious. When something would take his mind away from God, he would receive “a reminder from God” that moved him to “cry out, singing and dancing violently like a mad man” (Gerald G. May, The Awakened Heart, HarperCollins, 1993, p. 134).
Why does Pensacola’s A Beka introduce high school students to these very dangerous people, even in the context of world literature, without a very loud and clear warning?
For more about Teresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence, Thomas À Kempis, and the other influential contemplative mystics, past and present, the rapid spread of this practice today, and great spiritual danger associated with it, see Contemplative Mysticism: A Powerful Ecumenical Bond, available in print and eBook editions from Way of Life Literature.
It is imperative that parents, teachers, pastors, and missionaries be properly educated about the spiritual dangers that God’s people are facing today.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
FERGUSON, MISSOURI BURNED & LOOTED AGAIN~OBAMA GIVES IMPETUS TO STAGED CHAOS WITH GOAL OF EITHER CIVIL WAR OR MARTIAL LAW OR BOTH
OBAMA BEHIND IT ALL
PRE-PLANNED CHAOS, RIOTING & ARSON
Violence Erupts in Ferguson Missouri
The Moment Obama Calls For Peace (Nov 24, 2014);
At the Same Time He's Behind the
Build Up of Militarized Police Forces:
Grand Jury in Ferguson, Missouri
Does Not Indict Officer Darren Wilson (Nov 24, 2014)
Ferguson: Grand Jury Does Not Indict
Officer Wilson in Brown Case:
EXCERPT:
"The Ferguson grand jury turned down all five potential charges brought against Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson (shown), with none of them being persuasive enough to garner the nine votes necessary to indict him from the 12-member grand jury.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, heavily criticized for having close ties to law enforcement and therefore allegedly biased in favor of Wilson, announced the decision Monday night in a carefully crafted 20-minute statement designed to defuse nearly all of the potential charges that might be brought against his handling of the grand jury investigation. In the question-and-answer period following his presentation, it was clear that reporters who had already prejudged the verdict had been disarmed by McCulloch’s remarks.
Even President Obama, weighing in immediately following the verdict’s announcement, was hard-pressed to do much more than claim that the troubles in Ferguson were symptomatic of racial discrimination under the law elsewhere in the country and “that more needs to be done” as a result."
_____________________________________________________________________
Ferguson Burnt & Looted Again:
Ferguson Decision Plunges City Into Flames; What Happens When The Government Investigates Itself
Evidence May Be Hidden:
Epic Riot Footage From Inside The Battle of Ferguson
Published on Nov 25, 2014
After days of largely peaceful protests Ferguson, MO erupts with chaos. Infowars Reporters Stand tall in the face of gunshots, rioting, looting, tear gas and pepper spray.
FERGUSON: AN “ABSOLUTE BLOW” TO PRIVATE PROPERTY - http://www.infowars.com/ferguson-an-a...
EXCLUSIVE: FERGUSON’S HISTORIC RACE AND POLICE RIOT FOOTAGE -http://www.infowars.com/exclusive-fer...
NATIONAL GUARD ARRIVES IN FERGUSON, VETERANS ASK THEM TO JOIN PROTESTERS -http://www.infowars.com/national-guar...
FERGUSON: MAN STANDS WITH HANDS UP BLOCKING ARMORED POLICE VEHICLES -http://www.infowars.com/ferguson-man-...
INDEPENDENT MEDIA STANDS IN FACE OF FERGUSON GUNFIRE WHILE MAINSTREAM MEDIA FLEES - http://www.infowars.com/independent-m...
DID OBAMA ORDER NATIONAL GUARD TO STAND DOWN DURING FERGUSON RIOTS? -http://www.infowars.com/did-obama-ord...
FERGUSON: AN “ABSOLUTE BLOW” TO PRIVATE PROPERTY - http://www.infowars.com/ferguson-an-a...
EXCLUSIVE: FERGUSON’S HISTORIC RACE AND POLICE RIOT FOOTAGE -http://www.infowars.com/exclusive-fer...
NATIONAL GUARD ARRIVES IN FERGUSON, VETERANS ASK THEM TO JOIN PROTESTERS -http://www.infowars.com/national-guar...
FERGUSON: MAN STANDS WITH HANDS UP BLOCKING ARMORED POLICE VEHICLES -http://www.infowars.com/ferguson-man-...
INDEPENDENT MEDIA STANDS IN FACE OF FERGUSON GUNFIRE WHILE MAINSTREAM MEDIA FLEES - http://www.infowars.com/independent-m...
DID OBAMA ORDER NATIONAL GUARD TO STAND DOWN DURING FERGUSON RIOTS? -http://www.infowars.com/did-obama-ord...
Obama Issued Stand Down Order
of National Guard in Ferguson:
Published on Nov 26, 2014
Fire Chief: Ferguson Fires Appeared Set by Trained Arsonists:
FUTILE MINING FOR GOLD IN A DUNG HEAP~CONTEMPORARY "CHRISTIAN" MUSIC ADAPTED FOR ACCEPTABLE WORSHIP?
THE GETTYS
STUART TOWNEND
MATT MAHER
Looking for Gold Nuggets in a Manure Pile
FROM DAVID CLOUD'S WAY OF LIFE AT: http://www.wayoflife.org/index_files/looking_for_gold_nuggets.html
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
A couple of years ago, a music leader who has been involved with the Wilds Music Conference shared the following thoughts with me. I have since come to see that this is rapidly becoming the consensus within independent Baptist circles.
He said:
“When it comes to CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) and CWM (Contemporary Worship Music), I am not and never have been an ‘absolute separatist.’ ... I hold out hope that even a pony can find a gold nugget in a pile of manure, as the earthy saying goes! Translated: If a CWM artist ‘accidentally’ writes a song that has theologically solid lyrics and a timeless melody that reminds one of the great Scotch-Irish-Welsh tune tradition that has informed our own favorite hymns, and that song is re-arranged appropriately to remove any hint of pop/rock beats and stylings, I am not 100% opposed to its use. ... I also understand there is another view of my analogy here, that some would rather not have to dip their hands into that manure pile looking just for the few nuggets! ... We choose our songs very carefully.”
He mentioned the Gettys as an example of those he borrows from.BRO. CLOUD’S REPLY The gold in question is not that valuable, and the manure is very dirty; it is tainted with deadly poison, and those who are defiled thereby are rarely ever cleansed.
Few men better understand the ecumenical-charismatic movement represented by the contemporary worship artists than I do, because of my unique background and 40 years of experience and research; and with the utmost passion I can muster, I would warn that the danger of adapting contemporary worship music far outweighs the benefit.
Look at the future. Look at the potential fruit. Look at the next generation.
Can you be sure that the young people in your churches will not be influenced by the “easy going,” judge not philosophy and the radical ecumenical thinking of even the most conservative of contemporary worship musicians, including the Gettys?
Won’t many of them be more careless than you in their selection of songs? I know many independent Baptists who are ignorantly singing contemporary songs with a charismatic message, such as “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United and “Word of God Speak” by MercyMe.
He said:
“When it comes to CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) and CWM (Contemporary Worship Music), I am not and never have been an ‘absolute separatist.’ ... I hold out hope that even a pony can find a gold nugget in a pile of manure, as the earthy saying goes! Translated: If a CWM artist ‘accidentally’ writes a song that has theologically solid lyrics and a timeless melody that reminds one of the great Scotch-Irish-Welsh tune tradition that has informed our own favorite hymns, and that song is re-arranged appropriately to remove any hint of pop/rock beats and stylings, I am not 100% opposed to its use. ... I also understand there is another view of my analogy here, that some would rather not have to dip their hands into that manure pile looking just for the few nuggets! ... We choose our songs very carefully.”
He mentioned the Gettys as an example of those he borrows from.BRO. CLOUD’S REPLY The gold in question is not that valuable, and the manure is very dirty; it is tainted with deadly poison, and those who are defiled thereby are rarely ever cleansed.
Few men better understand the ecumenical-charismatic movement represented by the contemporary worship artists than I do, because of my unique background and 40 years of experience and research; and with the utmost passion I can muster, I would warn that the danger of adapting contemporary worship music far outweighs the benefit.
Look at the future. Look at the potential fruit. Look at the next generation.
Can you be sure that the young people in your churches will not be influenced by the “easy going,” judge not philosophy and the radical ecumenical thinking of even the most conservative of contemporary worship musicians, including the Gettys?
Won’t many of them be more careless than you in their selection of songs? I know many independent Baptists who are ignorantly singing contemporary songs with a charismatic message, such as “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)” by Hillsong United and “Word of God Speak” by MercyMe.
Won’t some doubtless “get in touch” with these people via the web and through that association be influenced away from a “staunch biblicist” stance?
Won’t the young people in the “adapting” churches fall in love with the “real” thing: the full-blown rock & roll that the contemporary artists love?
In fact, this is exactly what is happening everywhere. We have documented how that some prominent young members of the music department at Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, California, are moving into full-blown contemporary Christian music. (See “The Next Generation Rocking at Lancaster,” www.wayoflife.org)
A student at West Coast Baptist College wrote to me recently and shared the following testimony:
“I’ve been raised in conservative, traditional, hymn-playing music. There’s obvious signs of contemporary movements among the student body and even organized services. In the dorms, they only sing worship songs really, and the church sings many contemporary songs as well. The student body is largely into Christian rock, pop, etc. ... I feel like Lancaster Baptist Church thrives in many areas of ministry, and while I think they’d help in so many ways, I’m worried I’ll graduate with a warped philosophy mixed with my conservatism.”
That “warped philosophy” is the leaven that will ruin every good thing that is being taught at Lancaster, and the foolish decision to play around with “soft rock” and to “adapt” nuggets from the manure pile of contemporary music is at the heart of the problem.
I simply don’t understand the motivation to spend all of the time and labor and money to “adapt” music by people like the Gettys, which Soundforth and others are doing, when there is such a vast amount of unquestionably sacred music, both old and new, that is not coming from the one-world church movement and has no spiritual danger attached to it.
(NOTE: http://www.lorenz.com/Results.aspx?page=1&rpp=25&title=GETTY&voicing1=&div=&producttype=*&usage=&level=&pop=False&pod=True&bnew=True&bbest=False&sortorder=ASC&composer=&acap=False&series=&SearchOpt=&biblebook=&biblechapter=-1&bibleverse=-1&divwiseproduct=False&Widget=0)
Candidly, I suspect that most of those who are behind this simply love contemporary worship music (the real thing) and have an agenda of gradually introducing it into the churches by the "toning down" method. Think about it. How do you find the “gold” in the “manure pile”? Only by getting down in the manure and searching through it!
The Gettys and their friends readily and warmly and unapologetically associate with Mary-venerating Roman Catholics such as Matt Maher. Is this not a bright red warning sign? Can it be that there is no spiritual danger here? It is not obvious that we are dealing with “another spirit” no matter how high-sounding the words of their lyrics?
If the “evangelical” Gettys associating with Roman Catholic Matt Maher and his Methodist wife, who are raising their children “in both churches,” is not the “one-world church,” what is?
I have documented the previous facts as well as the one-world church aspect of contemporary worship music in general in The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians.
We say we love the truth; where, though, is the hatred of EVERY false way?
"Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128).
When I study the Gettys, Townend, MercyMe, etc., it doesn’t make me want to use their music. It makes me want to reprove them, warn about them, and run away from them!
Instead of spending time, labor, and money trying to find gold in the manure pile, why not invest that in warning God’s people about the manure pile and teaching the next generation about biblical separation? God’s Word does not command separation to hurt us but to protect us. Aren’t “better safe than sorry” and “better to err on the side of safety” biblical principles, as reflected in such verses as the following?
“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6).
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Doesn’t “touch not the unclean thing” refer to ANY manure pile?
I have been sounding this warning and asking these questions for a long time. I would love to be answered from Scripture rightly divided and sound logic rather than silence and ad hominem attacks.
I wish you well in every endeavor in the truth.
Won’t the young people in the “adapting” churches fall in love with the “real” thing: the full-blown rock & roll that the contemporary artists love?
In fact, this is exactly what is happening everywhere. We have documented how that some prominent young members of the music department at Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, California, are moving into full-blown contemporary Christian music. (See “The Next Generation Rocking at Lancaster,” www.wayoflife.org)
A student at West Coast Baptist College wrote to me recently and shared the following testimony:
“I’ve been raised in conservative, traditional, hymn-playing music. There’s obvious signs of contemporary movements among the student body and even organized services. In the dorms, they only sing worship songs really, and the church sings many contemporary songs as well. The student body is largely into Christian rock, pop, etc. ... I feel like Lancaster Baptist Church thrives in many areas of ministry, and while I think they’d help in so many ways, I’m worried I’ll graduate with a warped philosophy mixed with my conservatism.”
That “warped philosophy” is the leaven that will ruin every good thing that is being taught at Lancaster, and the foolish decision to play around with “soft rock” and to “adapt” nuggets from the manure pile of contemporary music is at the heart of the problem.
I simply don’t understand the motivation to spend all of the time and labor and money to “adapt” music by people like the Gettys, which Soundforth and others are doing, when there is such a vast amount of unquestionably sacred music, both old and new, that is not coming from the one-world church movement and has no spiritual danger attached to it.
(NOTE: http://www.lorenz.com/Results.aspx?page=1&rpp=25&title=GETTY&voicing1=&div=&producttype=*&usage=&level=&pop=False&pod=True&bnew=True&bbest=False&sortorder=ASC&composer=&acap=False&series=&SearchOpt=&biblebook=&biblechapter=-1&bibleverse=-1&divwiseproduct=False&Widget=0)
Candidly, I suspect that most of those who are behind this simply love contemporary worship music (the real thing) and have an agenda of gradually introducing it into the churches by the "toning down" method. Think about it. How do you find the “gold” in the “manure pile”? Only by getting down in the manure and searching through it!
The Gettys and their friends readily and warmly and unapologetically associate with Mary-venerating Roman Catholics such as Matt Maher. Is this not a bright red warning sign? Can it be that there is no spiritual danger here? It is not obvious that we are dealing with “another spirit” no matter how high-sounding the words of their lyrics?
If the “evangelical” Gettys associating with Roman Catholic Matt Maher and his Methodist wife, who are raising their children “in both churches,” is not the “one-world church,” what is?
I have documented the previous facts as well as the one-world church aspect of contemporary worship music in general in The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians.
We say we love the truth; where, though, is the hatred of EVERY false way?
"Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128).
When I study the Gettys, Townend, MercyMe, etc., it doesn’t make me want to use their music. It makes me want to reprove them, warn about them, and run away from them!
Instead of spending time, labor, and money trying to find gold in the manure pile, why not invest that in warning God’s people about the manure pile and teaching the next generation about biblical separation? God’s Word does not command separation to hurt us but to protect us. Aren’t “better safe than sorry” and “better to err on the side of safety” biblical principles, as reflected in such verses as the following?
“Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Corinthians 5:6).
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2 Corinthians 6:17).
Doesn’t “touch not the unclean thing” refer to ANY manure pile?
I have been sounding this warning and asking these questions for a long time. I would love to be answered from Scripture rightly divided and sound logic rather than silence and ad hominem attacks.
I wish you well in every endeavor in the truth.
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