THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
A STATE WHERE "FLAT REVENUES" DESPITE A GROWING SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
JUST AREN'T FAIR?
THE REFERENDUM DECIDED BEFORE IT TAKES PLACE
JILL FLOORE: "we have also talked each and everv year how we knew this day was coming"
SURPRISE COMMON CORE ENABLERS AND JUST SAY "NO"
GIVING DELAWARE'S CITIZENS THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE FOR MORE TAXES TO COVER THE COMMON CORE DEBACLE & CONTINUE MORE WASTEFUL SPENDING
RED CLAY SCHOOL DISTRICT
NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE
"OPERATING TAX REFERENDUM"-FEBRUARY 24, 2015
(WARNING: COMMON CORE MATH COUPLED WITH QUESTIONABLE ACCOUNTING, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
AND A GOOD DOSE OF FEAR TACTICS)
TEXT OF NOTICE PUBLISHED IN THE "RED CLAY RECORD":
Facing near flat tax revenues and rising costs, the Red Clay School District is seeking an operating tax increase from its residents on Feb. 24,2015. Polls are open at every Red Clay school (except Central) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The plan, which was made public in August calls for a 20 cent increase in Year One, a 10 cent increase in Year Two and a 5 cent increase in Year Three. Chief Financial Officer Jill Floore said the increase is needed after seven years without an operating referendum because cost increases have outpaced near flat revenues. Floore said that the nature of local education funding which mandates that operating increases are approved by voters, is a system which results in school districts needing to go to referendum on a regular basis. Although local per pupil expenditures have been limited to an average increase of 1.12% since 2008, set increases in salary, pension funds, and healthcare benefits alone have outpaced the flat revenue stream.
The last operating referendum in Red Clay was in 2008 and was projected to last four years. The district was able to stretch the 2008 referendum increase for seven years through sound fiscal management and one-time federal funds.
"This is not a district that has been spending greatly since 2008," said Floore. "We were able to use federal support for school districts through ARRA stimulus funds to stretch out the time needed before another referendum, but we have also talked each and everv year how we knew this day was coming" Floore said. "This is not the result of anything going wrong, or any decisions we've made, like the new school, or Pre-K, or academic deans," she said. "When you have flat revenues, you end up spending down a balance but that balance does not last forever."
The tax rate increase would mean the average Red Clay taxpayer with a house assessed, not valued, at $80,100 would pay an additional $23 a month in school taxes at its highest level.
In order to meet payroll and other obligations over the summer months, Red Clay must end the fiscal year in June with a $7 million balance. Floore projected that meeting the year-end balance in 2016 would require $9 million in cuts, with that figure rising each year. "We must do something,"she said, "but it is not a matter of cutting our way out of a referendum." Throughout the last seven years we have been in cost containment mode so $9M in cuts would result in very, very difficult choices. "Everything in the district would be touched by something of that magnitude" Floore said.
Funding allocated in the referendum allows the district to continue a number of high priority initiatives and improvements outlined in the 2013 Strategic Plan. They include increased security measures and school resource officers, reading specialists, after school programs, infrastructure improvements such as playgrounds and technology, curriculum programming such as STEM and International Baccalaureate and alternative placement programs.
A successful referendum would also allow the district to make substantial improvements in curriculum and technology, with $1.3 million going to technology and$.2.7 million going to curriculum in the first year alone. Additional funding would allow the district an infusion of technology and devices for
students and additional software and training to create a 21st Century Learning environment, said Assistant Superintendent Ted Ammann.
On the curriculum side, math textbooks that are nearly 15 years old would be replaced and a number of supports would be added or enhanced, said Deputy Superintendent Hugh Broomall. In addition to textbooks and software, they include full time school interventionists, reading supports, a writing program and Talented and Gifted (TAG) programs in all Red
Clay elementary schools.
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TEN COMMON CORE PROMOTERS
LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
The people who wrote and pushed Common Core on the nation are making bank
while the nation’s kids, teachers, and parents
writhe in the grip of their curriculum contraption.
BY: JOY PULLMAN-Joy Pullmann is managing editor of The Federalist and an education research fellow at The Heartland Institute.
NPR recently came out with an image-repair article profiling one of Common Core’s five coauthors, former Bennington College professor Jason Zimba. Moms and dads tearing hair out at their kids’ math homework and Environmental Protection Agency regulation reading assignments (yes, that’s really Common Core-recommended) should feel sorry for him, because it says Zimba was frequently up until 3 a.m. devising their family torture device. Somehow, I’m not that surprised or sympathetic to hear Common Core has mysteriously not improved math instruction at Zimba’s daughter’s school. Because it hasn’t improved it much of anywhere else, either.
Even as Zimba and his colleagues defend the standards against cries of federal overreach, they are helpless when it comes to making sure textbook publishers, test-makers, superintendents, principals and teachers interpret the standards in ways that will actually improve American public education, not make it worse.
Like McCallum, Zimba agrees with the North Carolina dad that the question on his son’s Common Core-labeled math quiz was terrible. But as long as Americans hold to the conviction that most of what happens in schools should be kept under the control of states and local communities, the quality of the curriculum is out of his hands. ‘Like it or not, the standards allow a lot of freedom,’ he said.
The real problem with Common Core is that it’s not prescriptive enough! I’m so sorry, fellow Americans, but there’s this little thing standing in the way of applying my education omniscience to all children—it’s called “truth, freedom, and the American way”!
It’s now clear that everyone but the people who wrote and thrust Common Core upon the nation will bear the blame for its failure. First on the list of bumbling idiots: Teachers. Second: Curriculum developers. Neither apparently can understand what Common Core wants them to do. One wonders if it’s written in English? Because, you know, we use language to communicate? It can actually be very precise. Ah, right, even a quick look at Common Core will reveal that it is not, in fact, written in English. Design flaw? No, no: Blame the teachers who can’t read non-English!
Common Core Coauthor Jason Zimba
To the point: NPR further reveals that Zimba gave up his professorship to devote his time to writing Common Core curriculum through an organization he co-founded with two other Common Core coauthors. How much does Zimba make through his public service through this nonprofit? Well, its 2012 IRS form 990 (the latest available—I’ve been through a lot of these babies, and they are usually quite outdated) says he made a cool $332,263. That’s probably not his entire annual income, as he travels to show teachers how to do Common Core right.
Zimba isn’t the only person making a lot of money from constructing a disaster. In fact, everywhere you look, people intimately involved with creating or pushing Common Core are making a lot of money despite having demonstrated exactly zero proven success at increasing student achievement. How convenient for them.
David Coleman, Zimba’s Partner in Crime
David Coleman is another of the five Common Core coauthors, and he and Zimba go way back. They were both Rhodes scholars. Zimba worked at the college Coleman’s mother runs. They started Student Achievement Partners(SAP)—the nonprofit where Zimba now works—together. They wrote a report calling for national curriculum mandates that got them noticed and hired by education nationalizers to write Common Core, for a still-undisclosed sum and under still-undisclosed conditions (apparently, NPR’s reporting only goes so far as the material Zimba and Coleman wish to feed them).
Apparently, NPR’s reporting only goes so far as the material Zimba and Coleman wish to feed them.
Anyway, the 2012 SAP 990 says Coleman earned $271,392 from it that year. But he also transitioned in 2012 to president of the College Board. You know, that tiny nonprofit that runs the SAT and Advanced Placement classes and has locked in millions in taxpayer dollars through state contracts and federal grants? That one. Well, College Board’s 990s are no more recently filed than SAP’s, but its 2012 document gives some clues to Coleman’s compensation. His predecessor earned a cool $1,848,009 that year. Coleman only began on October 1, and for his three months of work that year earned only $117,518. I’m not sure I could feed my kids on that, but when you multiply it out using non-Common Core math to cover a full year, that would bring his total annual College Board pay to $470,072.
Either College Board got Coleman cheap because of the black Common Core mark on his record, they paid him a prorated rate as he worked alongside his predecessor, or he’s got to work up to that $1.8 million per year. Or something. But, hey, I wouldn’t complain at a cool $470,072 per year. I think I could finally take the kids to Europe with it. Maybe after saving up for a few weeks.
Former New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein
Talk about golden parachute. Joel Klein left his quarter-million annual salary as New York City schools chancellor to run News Corp.’s then brand-new education division, which bets Common Core would give its high-tech products instant access to a nationwide market. His new base salary: $2 million annually, plus stock options, and the possibility ofat least$1.5 million in annual bonuses,according to Bloomberg News. He also got a $1 million signing bonus. In the meantime, he made time to coauthorCommon Core-supportingop-edsin the Wall Street Journal.
It kind of makes the six-digit earnings of all these other Common Core money-makers look wimpy. Klein, however, has yet to turn a profit, which he has to do by persuading thousands if not millions of individual people to buy his stuff. Most of the other folks only have to persuade a few gullible, deep-pocketed donors.
Spectacularly fail at government work, and you get promoted. Are you paying attention, kids?
King’s ties to Common Core are long and strong. He committed New York to Common Core months before it was written, which earned him a $700 million reward from USDOE, courtesy of the nation’s future taxpayers. Subsequently, King introduced “Common Core tests ahead of most states and before many schools had updated their textbooks” and spent a large portion of the federal grant creating Common Core curriculum.
Last fall, angry New Yorkers demanded answers from King about why their kids suddenly couldn’t do math and why school counselors’ offices were suddenly overloaded with nervous, twitchy kids. So he scheduled a series of public forums. But when he showed up, he refused to answer parents’ questions and told them that essentially no matter what they said, New York would not alter course on Common Core. The thousands of parents packing that forum got angrier, and shouted for him to answer. So he canceled the rest of the planned forums and has been hiding out ever since.
As commissioner, King earned $212,500 per year, reported the New York Times. He hasn’t been paid from the federal treasury yet, but colleagues at similar levels make about the same. Assistant Secretary Danny Harris makes $179,655; Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton makes $177,000. That’s their base salaries before benefits, so probably King will earn about the same from national taxpayers as he did from those in New York.
Spectacularly fail at government work, and you get promoted. Are you paying attention, kids? Flunking to the top: It’s the Common Core way.
Joanne Weiss, Common Core’s Federal Donkey Driver
As chief of staff to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Weiss made $179,700 in base pay in 2012. While there, she directed the Race to the Top grants that weaseled 41 states into promising to adopt Common Core before it was written. In fact, as the Washington Post reported four years after the fact, Duncan had originally put Common Core directly into the grant requirements by name. For political reasons, they decided to be a little more deceptive in the final version and instead use a definition of what was acceptable so narrow that it to this day only includes Common Core. And Weiss’s own website says she “was responsible for designing the [Race to the Top] policy to maximize its impact” and “writing the regulations.” So it’s not a stretch to imagine she wrote that requirement with her own hand. At the very least, she was fully aware of and participated in the decision to do so.
Weiss directed the Race to the Top grants that weaseled 41 states into promising to adopt Common Core before it was written.
Before the Obama administration, Weiss was the chief operating officer and a partner at the NewSchools Venture Fund. The 990s for her time there are no longer available (the IRS only requires nonprofits to post the three “most recent” years’ records), but in 2011 partners earned something near $200,000, give or take a few ten thousand.
Now, Weiss is one of those ubiquitous DC consultants, and she’s got deep-pocketed clients. Her website says they include the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—of course, since Bill funds everything Common Core and his foundation has more money than every other—the Council of Chief School Officers (one of the Common Core incubators), and for the Charles & Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. These all pay her for her Common Core expertise. For two, “Joanne is currently an Expert in Residence at the Harvard i-Lab and a visiting lecturer in education policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.” I bet she’s pretty comfortable.
Tom Luna, Idaho’s Republican Common Core Cheerleader
Idaho state Superintendent Tom Luna has spent the past four years as Common Core’s fiercest champion in a red state where voters rebuked his tech-heavy education agenda in a 2012 referendum. As Idaho superintendent, Luna makes $101,150 per year. He’ll get a boost when he moves on to Project Lead the Way, a curriculum development company that got a boost from Common Core making it suddenly a fit for nearly every school in the nation.
Common Core is good to lots of people. Just not the children whose faces they trotted out to get it passed.
No word yet on Luna’s salary, but fellow vice presidents at the nonprofit make between $110,000 and $127,000,according to its latest 990. As a resident of Indiana, where PLTW is headquartered, let me assure you that’s a comfortable income for these parts.
It’s not just higher-ups like Luna using Common Core advocacy as a springboard into very well-padded futures. Stephanie Zimmerman, a mother of nine who is Idaho’s grassroots Common Core watchdog, reports that “Common Core has been good for members of our State Department of Education.” Herpost details more from in-state. This is happening all across the country, not just in Idaho. Common Core is good to lots of people. Just not the children whose faces they trotted out to get it passed.
Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett
Oh, and by the way, former Education Secretary and Common Core-nik Bill Bennett is a senior advisor to Project Lead the Way. Since, as he told Politico when they reported he was paid by a public relations firm for a Wall Street Journal op-ed praising Common Core, “I’m compensated for most of the things that I do,” it’s fair to assume Bennett makes some money from Common Core curriculum, too, besides getting paid for his advocacy. That makes him essentially a paid spokesman, which is fine—but that should be disclosed to people reading and listening to him. So far as I know, it’s not.
The conflicts of interest involved with Common Core exist for essentially every person and organization that has publicly backed the project. Still believe it’s not a special-interest boondoggle?
Dane Linn, One of Common Core’s Many Misty Shepherds
Dane Linn’s bio says he “co-led the development of the Common Core State Standards” back when he worked for the National Governors Association. It’s unclear what exactly that means, as we know other people did the actual writing, but it is clear that he was in some sort of management capacity. So probably he rode herd on the, well, herd of people whose names are attached to Common Core but about whom the public has been not only told little but given no role in choosing. If you care to find out more, you can read his paper about it for the American Enterprise Institute.
Although we the public are not to know what Linn earned for his work on Common Core, we can make an educated guess about what he earns now as a vice president for the Business Roundtable, which along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce rides herd on Republican politicians so they won’t see there’s anything wrong with Common Core a little campaign cash can’t fix. The Roundtable’s latest 990 fills up as many slots as it can with the uncompensated members of its board, so there’s no room left to report Linn’s compensation. But it does report the compensation of one other vice president: Maria Ghazal earns $393,535.
Susan Pimentel, Yet Another Common Core Coauthor
We’re almost to the end of Common Core coauthors. Second on the English team was Susan Pimentel, the third Student Achievement Partners, er, partner. In 2012, Pimentelearned $335,367 from SAP. She does other consulting, too, and has a personal nonprofit from which she made similar amounts, but since the Common Core gig it seems to be largely an empty shell.
Bill McCallum, Still Another Common Core Coauthor
The fifth of the five Common Core coauthors is William McCallum, head of the University of Arizona’s math department. At the university, public records say McCallum earns $155,000 a year. NPR says McCallum has also started a nonprofit curriculum company to generate materials for Common Core: Illustrative Mathematics. Its 990s aren’t available yet, but the Gates Foundation’s website says the foundation gave Illustrative Mathematics a three-year grant of $3,416,901 in 2012. Illustrative Mathematics also received a mere $75,000 from the Hewlett Foundation in November 2014 “for development of a strategic business plan.”
Making Money Isn’t the Problem: Cronyism Is
Before I close out, let me be clear (for real, unlike that other fellow who likes to use this phrase): I have no problem with people making lots of money. I’m not against profits or earnings. If Klein can earn $3.5 million a year making widgets people freely buy, good for him. I sincerely hope he has a good life with all that money. So I’m not trying to make an envy-based critique that people making more money than me must be evil, or that just because Common Core’s supporters are typically rich elites using their excess money to manipulate public opinion there’s anything wrong with that. Ahem.
Common Core’s supporters are typically rich elites using their excess money to manipulate public opinion.
There are two fairer and broader points. First, we have an obvious conflict of interest problem here. People deserve to know when a prominent official or self-proclaimed “expert” who is testifying before state legislatures or writing op-eds is making money from their persuasive efforts. It means their judgment is not entirely independent, even if they feel it so. Basic ethics requires someone with a financial or personal stake in the outcome of a public decision to recuse himself from participating in that decision. That has not been happening.
Second, it indicates rampant cronyism, which is a form of political and social corruption. We see that Common Core is infested with essentially the same set of people rewarding each other with taxpayer dollars and huge private grants, decades before there can be any proof that all this money laundering produced a genuine public good. Common Core is a giant experiment, remember. Bill Gates says he won’t know if his “education stuff” worked for “probably a decade.” Former public officials (or semi-public officials, which is what I label the Common Core coauthors, because while we did not elect them we all must live with their decisions) are amply rewarded for doing what the rich and powerful wanted with sweet compensation packages following their “public service.”
The short of it is that there is a lot of money to be made from national curriculum mandates and tests, regardless of their effectiveness. The financial statements of curriculum companies are not detailed enough to flesh this out for them as I have for people who sit on the boards of smaller nonprofits, but they are making millions in government contracts. For example, Pearson, the world’s largest curriculum and testing company, has gotten millions from the federal government and its proxies to write and deliver portions of Common Core tests. And it’s set to have ongoing revenue from its role in these tests: “Pearson will earn a minimum of $138 million in the first year” of Common Core testing. That’s 2015. Pearson will also make millions from selling Common Core curriculum, which NPR says Common Core coauthor Phil Daro is helping write.
Millions of dollars and an exciting career are huge attractions for people to do well by themselves. But we yet have no proof that any of this has been doing well by the kids. In fact, the evidence suggests Common Core will spectacularly fail children and society. Shouldn’t people earn money only for demonstrated success, instead of promised success? In a free market, they would. But we all have to buy Common Core, whether we like it or not, and we have no ability to demand proof that it works before the sale. These sweetheart deals are only going one way, and it’s not ours.
CHRISTIAN BROADWAY LITERALLY "WE MAKE THE BIBLE COME ALIVE"? 2 Corinthians 4:18- "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." SIGHT AND SOUND, LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA:
Sight and Sound Theatres Exposed:
Published on Sep 15, 2013
Investigating the Sight & Sound Theatre organization. Evidence shows rampant sin and compromise. Can God be glorified through compromise? Does God want any part in worldly entertainment? http://www.gospeltext.org/
Alex welcomes James David Manning, chief pastor of the ATLAH World Missionary Church in New York City, to discuss how the Obama administration has worked to incite racial tensions in the aftermath of the Brown-Garner grand jury decisions. We'll also take your calls on this live, worldwide edition. http://atlah.org/ As instances of violence against police officers across the country escalate, chilling warnings about plans to kill cops on New Year’s Eve continue to emerge. http://www.infowars.com/chilling-thre...
Asset Forfeiture Gets Fierce Opposition From The Public in Orange County NY 12/29/14
Published on Dec 31, 2014
GOSHEN, NEW YORK-- At a public hearing the people of Orange County NY decidedly denounce a proposed law that would allow authorities to keep cash and other assets involved in misdemeanor drug cases once the defendant has been convicted or pleads guilty. 12/29/14
Asset forfeiture has been described as a form of legalized theft that serves as a major funding source for governments. Through asset forfeiture, law enforcement agencies can appropriate your property; your money, your car, your house, or any other property you own and keep it unless you can prove your innocence and that your property wasn’t used in a crime – either by you or somebody else.
Asset forfeiture violates the law, i.e. the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which was designed to limit government power in this area. When cops seize your property under asset forfeiture laws, they don’t have to prove you guilty. The burden shifts to you. You must go to court and prove your innocence in order to reclaim your property. There are numerous horror stories about innocent people have cash seized simply because they were carrying large amounts of money for perfectly innocent reasons.
Governments rake in an astonishing amount of money through asset forfeiture. In 2012, federal, state and local law enforcement gobbled up more than $4.2 billion in assets. Federal laws, along with most state laws, allow state and local law enforcement agencies to pocket a large chunk of that money.
2 PETER 2:19-"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage."
IN DELAWARE, IF YOU'RE INDEPENDENTLY MINDED
YOU'RE DISOBEDIENT TO GOD
DELAWARE FEMA PASTOR PREPARES CHURCH FOR ABSOLUTE COMPLIANCE WITH EVIL GOVERNMENT EDICTS
PASTOR TOBE WITMER OF LIGHTHOUSE BAPTIST CHURCH, NEWARK, DELAWARE www.lbcde.org PREACHES ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE
TO GOD'S COMMANDS, BUT FAILS TO INSTRUCT CHURCH
TO PLACE THEM IN PROPER CONTEXT;
BEREAN TYPE INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
NEVER ALLUDED TO; REFORMERS OMITTED;
AVOIDS ROMANS 13, BUT USES KING SAUL
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1 Samuel 15: "If Saul spare Agag, the people will take liberty to spare the best of the spoil . . . the sins of the great command imitation." (Trapp) "To spare the best of Amalek is surely equivalent to sparing some root of evil, some plausible indulgence, some favourite sin. For us, Agag must stand for that evil propensity, which exists in all of us, for self-gratification; and to spare Agag is to be merciful to ourselves, to exonerate and palliate [excuse] our failures, and to condone our besetting sin." (Meyer) FROM: http://www.bibleissues.org/rebellion.html Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam 15:23). The Bible correctly says so. Many preachers and leaders however, incorrectly apply this to anyone who dares to disagree with or criticize them. In fact many Christians are afraid to question the teachings of their leaders and prominent ministers for fear of “touching God’s anointed”. It is important to know what the Bible has to say concerning rebellion and not what certain people would like us to believe. SUCH AS:
A Love That Obeys (Part 1 of 2); (Don't Expect to Have Victory Over Sin; But That's OK Because You Have Eternal Security):
GOD'S "NON-NEGOTIABLE COMMANDS"; PASTOR TOBE WITMER QUOTES FROM JOHN PIPER, NEO-CALVINIST & CATHOLIC CONTEMPLATIVE MYSTICISM PROPONENT:
A Love That Obeys (Part 2 of 2):
WITMER'S SELF EXAMINATION FOR HIMSELF AND YOU:
IN SELF IDOLATRY IS THIS YOU?:
QUOTE FROM PART 2: "PRACTICALLY YOU'RE PLAYING THE REBEL AGAINST GOD, LIKE SOMEONE WHO WOULD PRACTICE WITCHCRAFT"?
THIS SO-CALLED FUNDAMENTALIST PASTOR NEVER WARNS HIS CONGREGATION ABOUT
ANTI CHRISTIAN HERESIES, FALSE TEACHERS, FALSE PROPHETS OR FALSE GOSPELS;
NOR HAS HE PREACHED ABOUT BIBLICAL SEPARATION OR SANCTIFICATION; HE EXPLICITLY PREFERS TO ADVANCE "CHRISTIAN UNITY" DESPITE ITS MYRIAD PERILS IN THE CONTEXT OF
ADAPTED CONTEMPORARY "CHRISTIAN" MUSIC.
SUCH AS THE CELTIC IRISH ADAPTATIONS OF THE GETTYS, ETC; HERE IS ONE OF MANY:
"How Suddenly a Baby Cries", Sung by a Church Member:
THE LULLABY OF THE EMERGING CHURCH SOFTENS UP BELIEVERS' CRITICAL SKILLS
FOR THE COMING ONE WORLD CHURCH PARTNERING WITH GOVERNMENT;
INDOCTRINATION INTO MYSTICISM
The lady above and her mother were invited to sing in the back up choir at Carnegie Hall, New York City, for the Getty/Ricky Skaggs Christmas concert, where they sang "How Suddenly a Baby Cries".
Unfortunately, although the song is sung in a lovely manner by a lovely person about the lovely and adorable baby Jesus, it has ecumenical, mystical, Celtic pagan origins by the very own admissions of its Catholic affiliated authors, as shown below. Also unfortunate is the fact that the songs of Keith and Kristyn Getty, Stuart Townend, and other Catholic/mystically inclined contemporary musicians have been and continue to be used in group worship, by church musicians, the choir, and soloists like the above, all of whom are likely unwitting promoters of apostasy.
The pastor and music director have blocked our correspondence in a hostile manner, refusing to address their idolatrous focus on Celtic, and/or adapted ecumenical music, when there exists a wealth of other more biblically acceptable sources. The only reasonable explanation for this focus is that Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University, and head of his own music oriented "evangelistic association", appears to offer sufficient validation for its continued use by Lighthouse Baptist Church, Newark, Delaware.
We will expose the facts below to demonstrate that all of this approach to doing church, allegedly "fundamentalist" style, is in fact a religious brainwashing technique to make church goers and members more and more compliant with dictatorial government that overrides the will of the people in an ever increasing breadth and depth, reminiscent of the Hitler period. In the case of the Gettys though, it is also an ecumenical brainwashing to accept the Pope as its head.
Please see our previous posts and linked websites about the Gettys, Townend, C.S. Lewis, Catholicism, contemporary Christian music, contemplative mysticism, emerging church, Pettit, Bob Jones University, etc., in their respective categories herein.
"This is a carol Kristyn wrote about how the coming of Christ affected the lives of individuals in the gospel narrative, as well as how it continues to impact lives throughout history. The melody comes from a traditional Irish folk tune called “The Star of the County Down” (Co Down is a breathtaking area of Ireland). The Irish writer C.S. Lewis once referred "Oxford placed in the County Down" as his idea of heaven. The grand imagery of Ireland later influenced his creation of Narnia - a place which was "always winter and never Christmas" until the Lion roared. The reel Keith and Fionan wrote to accompany “How Suddenly” is aptly named “Narnian Reel.”"
WHEN AN ALLEGED "CHRISTMAS CAROL" BECOMES AN IRISH "REEL DANCE":
(The imagery of Ireland went on to influence Lewis' creation of Narnia which was introduced as a place which was always winter and never Christmas - until Aslan returned from over the sea. Thus the reel written by Keith Getty and Fionan de Barra is named "Narnian Reel".)
"It is indicated that Aslan exists in all the worlds as some sort of divine figure of good. His manifestation is different in each world, as are his specific attributes and abilities. It is clear that on Earth, Aslan is Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis writes in The Last Battle that in Aslan’s Country, Aslan no longer looks like a lion. It is unknown what shape he takes there, and in all the other worlds."
"Aslan is depicted as a talkinglion, the King of Beasts, son of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea, lord of Narnia; a wise, compassionate, magical authority (both temporal and spiritual); mysterious and benevolent guide to the human children who visit; guardian and saviour of Narnia. The author, C. S. Lewis, described Aslan as an alternative version of Christ; that is, as the form in which Christ might have appeared in a fantasy world."
WIKIPEDIA QUOTE:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis: "It was during this time that Lewis abandoned his childhood Christian faith and became an atheist, becoming interested in mythology and the occult.""From boyhood, Lewis immersed himself firstly in Norse, Greek, and, later, in Irish mythology and literature and expressed an interest in the Irish language.""His experience of the horror of war confirmed his atheism."
"How Suddenly A Baby Cries: This is a new Christmas lyric written to the traditional folk tune “Star of the County Down,” which most people know as the tune for “I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.” It has always been one of my favorite melodies. The Gettys’ lyrics are a sweeping meditation on the mystery of Christ’s birth and salvation. The first couple of verses are soft and pregnant with anticipation, but then it suddenly picks up and turns into a reel. I lost count of how many verses there are, but it’s a very impressive piece.
Keith said that County Down was one of C. S. Lewis’s favorite places in North Ireland (mentioning it when asked what he thought heaven would be like). So when they were writing a new reel to tack onto their arrangement of the tune, they christened it the Narnian Reel in his memory."
(SEE OUR POSTS ABOUT C.S. LEWIS & HIS INFLUENCE)
"ALL FOREVER CHANGED"???? HOW/WHEN????
"CHILD OF BREATH DIVINE"???? WHAT????
ALLEGORICAL, MYSTICAL, UNBIBLICAL LYRICS
(FROM ABOVE WEBSITE); republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
Music by Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty and Fionán de Barra. Lyrics by Kristyn Getty.
Narnian Reel Keith Getty and Fionán de Barra.
"How suddenly a baby cries and all forever change As shepherds leave the angel song to find this holy place, Where in her young and trembling arms a virgin holds her Son And in this Child of breath divine our Light has finally come.
She ponders how the Magi kneel before Emmanuel. With gold and frankincense and myrrh Christ's sacrifice they tell. A dream would help them flee a king whose pride would cruelly destroy. As mothers weep God's mercy meets the hunger for His joy.
What wonder still that Anna filled with praise should bless the Lord; Her aging eyes now looking on the Savior of the world. For night and day her prayers had filled the temple of our God. Her heart could tell His saving hand within this gift of love.
Hear Simeon who had waited long draw near to hold the child To speak of Him who would reveal the many thoughts we hide: That hearts would rise to know His grace but many fall away; A sword would pierce His mother's soul upon redemption day.
How suddenly a baby cried and all forever changed. Through history soul by soul have come to find His healing grace. He filled my troubled heart with peace, with hope of endless worth. My voice will join the song of praise that tells Messiah's birth"
Canticle of the Turning is a song written by Rory Cooney based on the Magnificat (Song of Mary). The melody is the popular Irish tune "Star of the County Down" which first appeared as the song "Gilderoy" from Pills to Purge Melancholy by Thomas d'Urfey, published between 1698 and 1720. This version is sung by Gary Daigle, Rory Cooney & Theresa Donohoo from the album "Safety Harbor". For other songs that use a similar melody see here: Keith & Kristyn Getty "How Suddenly A Baby Cries" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpQB1C...
"CANTICLE OF THE TURNING":
GETTYS ROCKING TO:
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (with GreenGrass Reel):
Published on Dec 11, 2014
Join Keith & Kristyn Getty for "Joy! An Irish Christmas".
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (with GreenGrass Reel)"
Musicians: Fionan de Barra: Guitar Zach White: Guitar, Banjo Peter Wahlers: Upright Bass Keith Getty: Piano Garth Justice: Drums Maggie Estes: Violin Deborah Klemme: Violin Shannon Lambert-Ryan: Bodhran Patrick D'Arcy: Pipes, Whistles
"Joy! An Irish Christmas with Keith & Kristyn Getty" was performed at the Riverbend Centre, in Austin, Texas, on December 10th, 2014.
Behold The Lamb (Communion Hymn)
Keith & Kristyn Getty;
Inspired by the Occultic Narnia
Published on May 29, 2013
A communion hymn written by Stuart Townend, Keith Getty and his wife Kristyn. Some of the lines are inspired by C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the Chronicles of Narnia - specifically Aslan's Table in the Island of the Star (also known as Ramandu's Island or World's End).
"After rescuing Lord Rhoop and sailing east, everyone on board the Dawn Treader is rewarded with a greater revelation – Aslan’s table. Full of fresh food and drink, it also bears the knife that killed him on the Stone Table. This scene is a reenactment of the cross. In the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples to eat the bread and drink the cup; they are symbols of his broken body and shed blood, just as the knife is the symbol of Aslan’s sacrifice. As a result, in the Lord’s Supper Christians eat bread and drink wine or grape juice. They partake of Christ to have fellowship with him and “proclaim the Lord’s death till he comes” (John 6:53, 1 Corinthians 10:16, 11:26). By eating and drinking at Aslan’s table, Caspian and his friends not only remember Aslan’s sacrifice but also commune with him in his death and resurrection. The events at the Stone Table led to the ransom of the captives, Eustace’s baptism, and Lord Rhoop’s rescue. So Aslan’s table reminds everyone that sacrifice is the fruit of redemption and freedom. However, they cannot stay on the island but must continue east to Aslan’s country."
VIDEO:
CS LEWIS: WITCHCRAFT IN NARNIA;
"REQUIRED READING BY NEOPHYTE WITCHES":
Published on Jan 8, 2014
Further exposing the Taoist philosophy of C.S. Lewis, and rebuking the notion that the character 'Aslan' from the Narnia series is a type of Christ. http://www.turnfromyouridols.com/
Its easy not to confront falsehood today, but it has become easy to confront those who point it out. How many people tell others not to touch the so-called anointed ever check out the claims from someone who has real concerns, and is trying to get them to read about it? I can tell you from experience, very few. Why is this? Because for the most part they can’t read the material, or should I be more specific and say, they are not allowed to. Again I ask why?
It was an apostle named Paul who called the Berean’s more noble than the others. For what reason? They looked to the Scripture to see if what Paul was teaching was accurate. Today those who protect their favorite teachers say don’t touch God’s anointed for doing this. Paul never said, “Touch not God’s anointed” or “do my prophets no harm”; you will never find an apostle teach this, nor is this found ONCE in the whole New Testament. I ask again why not? Paul was questioned, why didn’t he say this? The apostle Paul called those who checked out what he said as noble, meaning they were a better stock than the others. How noble are you? Do you go wherever the tide goes? Are you willing to take a stand for the truth of the Word of God despite what people say, or will you follow the rest of the sheep off the cliff.
To tell people not to search the Scriptures and expose false teaching as David exposed King Saul is to be touching God’s anointed. You are stopping people who have God’s anointed word from using it correctly! Even David later on in his ministry as King accepted rebuke and correction from Nathan the prophet. He did not say, “don’t touch God’s anointed” to protect himself, and neither should those who follow their leaders do the same.
The following information is from The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, which is available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. The “contemporary hymns” of Keith and Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townend are widely used among “traditional, non-contemporary” churches, because they are considered relatively safe.
For example, at least eight of their songs are included in Majesty Music’s Rejoice Hymns and 29 of their songs are featured in Hymns Modern and Ancient, published by Heart Publications, a ministry of Steve Pettit Evangelistic Association and compiled by Fred Coleman who heads up Bob Jones University’s Department of Church Music. KEITH AND KRISTYN GETTY Their popular songs include “Don’t Let Me Lose My Wonder,” “In Christ Alone” (penned by Keith and Stuart Townend), “Speak, Oh Lord,” and “The Power of the Cross.”
Typically, the lyrics are Scriptural and the tunes are not blaring rock & roll (though the Gettys ca rock hard in their concerts). But the Gettys represent the exceedingly dangerous world of contemporary worship music as definitely as Michael W. Smith or Graham Kendrick.
Their ecumenical, one-world-church goal is to “bring everyone together musically” (www.keithgetty.com). They want to “bridge the gap between the traditional and contemporary” (http://www.gettymusic.com/about.aspx), but Bible-believers should know that this is a “gap” that must not be bridged, as it is a gap between Christ and the world, between the Spirit and the flesh, between true churches and harlot ones.
The Gettys are “modern hymn writers” but their music is syncretistic. They “fuse the music of their Irish heritage with the sounds of Nashville, their newly adopted home.” The Gettys list the Beatles as a major musical influence.
Keith arranged some of the songs on Michael W. Smith’s charismatic Healing Rainalbum.
The Gettys have a close working relationship with Stuart Townend, who is radically charismatic and ecumenical. Not only do they write and publish songs with Townend, but they also tour together, joining hands, for example, in the Celtic Islands Tour 2012.
In July 2012, the Gettys joined Roman Catholic Matt Maher on NewsongCafe on WorshipTogether.com. They played and discussed “The Power of the Cross,” which was co-written by Getty-Townend. The 10-minute program promoted ecumenical unity, with Maher/Townend/Getty entirely one in the spirit through the music. Major doctrinal differences are so meaningless that they are not even mentioned. Spiritual abominations such as papal supremacy, the mass, infant baptism, baptismal regeneration, and Mariolatry were entirely ignored. Jude 3 was despised and Romans 16:17 completely disobeyed for the sake of building the one-world church through contemporary Christian music.
In October 2012, the Gettys joined hands with emerging heretic Leonard Sweet at the National Worship Leader Conference in San Diego. Sweet calls his universalist-tinged doctrine New Light and “quantum spirituality” and “the Christ consciousness” and describes it in terms of “the union of the human with the divine” which is the “center feature of all the world’s religions” (Quantum Spirituality, p. 235). He defines the New Light as “a structure of human becoming, a channeling of Christ energies through mindbody experience” (Quantum Spirituality, p. 70). Sweet says that “New Light pastors” hold the doctrine of “embodiment of God in the very substance of creation” (p. 124). In Carpe Mañana, Sweet says that the earth is as much a part of the body of Christ as humans and that humanity and the earth constitutes “a cosmic body of Christ” (p. 124). Sweet lists some of the “New Light leaders” that have influenced his thinking as Matthew Fox, M. Scott Peck, Willis Harman, and Ken Wilber. These are prominent New Agers who believe in the divinity of man, as we have documented in the book The New Age Tower of Babel. Sweet has endorsed The Shack with its non-judgmental father-mother god, and he promotes Roman Catholic contemplative mysticism and dangerous mystics such as the Catholic-Buddhist Thomas Merton. (For documentation see the book Contemplative Mysticism, which is available in print and eBook editions from Way of Life Literature -- www.wayoflife.org.)
STUART TOWNEND Stuart Townend is charismatic in theology and radically ecumenical in philosophy, supporting the Alpha program which bridges charismatic, Protestant, and Roman Catholic churches. He is a member of the charismatic Church of Christ the King in Brighton, U.K. and supports the “extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit,” which refers to the demonic/fleshly charismatic mysticism such as meaningless gibberish, spirit slaying, holy laughter, and shaking.
His testimony of salvation is extremely weak, as stated in the following biographical sketch from WorshipTogether.com:
“Stuart grew up as the youngest of four children in a Christian family in West Yorkshire where his father was a Church of England vicar. Stuart’s family always enjoyed music and one brother, Ian, went on to become a member of the group Heartbeat. Stuart himself began to play the piano at the age of 7. It was while living in West Yorkshire that at the age of 13 he made his Christian commitment. Then later at the age of 18, when helping to lead a children’s camp in Hand Cross, West Sussex, he had a profound experience of the Holy Spirit.”
Townend is at the forefront of producing TRANSITION SONGS and BRIDGE SONGS designed to move traditional churches along the contemporary path toward Christian rock. From the perspective of the CCM artists involved in this, they aren’t doing anything sinister. They are simply and sincerely trying to “feed” the “broader church.” But from a fundamentalist Bible-believing position, the effect is to draw “old-fashioned” Bible churches into the contemporary orb, and that is most sinister.
Bridge songs include Townend’s “How Deep the Father's Love for Us” and “In Christ Alone” by Townend and Keith Getty.
These songs are doctrinally sound and more soft rock ballad in style as opposed to out-and-out rock & roll, so they are considered “safe” by traditional churches. But by using this music a staunch Bible church is brought into association with the contemporary world that Townsend represents and the contemporary hymns become a bridge to influences that are contrary to and very dangerous to the church’s original stance.
Townend has a false concept of Christ. When asked, “What would Jesus sing?” he replied:
“I think he would be doing thrash metal or hip hop or something where we’d go, ‘He can’t do that!’ Because I think he would be challenging our comfortable perceptions. I don’t know what he would sing or whose songs he would sing, but I believe he would do it in a way that would surprise and probably shock us” (“What Would Jesus Sing?” from an interview with Stuart Townend, TV series Principles of Praise, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCW0oAAna7c).
So, according to Townend, instead of singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, Jesus would be singing thrash metal and hip hop and trying to shock us with His musical choices. That is not the thrice holy Jesus described in Scripture. It is true that Jesus shocked the religious crowd of His day, but that was not because He was performing worldly musical numbers, gyrating to rap, and screaming out thrash! It was because the religious crowd had rejected God’s Word and He was God’s Word incarnate, so they did not recognize, understand, or appreciate Him. He came to fulfill every jot and tittle of the holy Law of God (Matthew 5:17-19). Jesus was a friend of sinners, but He did not sin with sinners and He was no sort of a party dude. He frequently preached on hell and demanded repentance, and that would put the brakes on any party!
Since the Christian rock crowd loves to shock people, they think Jesus is like them. Christian rockers lose no sleep at the fact that many of the saints are upset and discouraged with their music because they consider it worldly and inappropriate for the service of Christ. Christian rockers have taken over countless once-traditional churches even to the extreme of pushing aside and running over anyone who got in the way of their musical “choices.” Instead of sympathizing with the saints who oppose their music, they slander them as Pharisees and legalists and mindless traditionalists.
This is not the spirit of Jesus. He solemnly warned about offending those who believe on Him (Matthew 18:2-10). Paul, too, issued this warning. “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. ... Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another” (Romans 14:13, 19).
Townend is holding hands with the “broader church” in all of its facets and heresies and end-time apostasies, and his objective in writing the “hymn-like” contemporary songs is ecumenism. (For extensive documentation of the treacherous waters of evangelicalism see the report “Biblical Separatism and Its Collapse among Fundamental Baptists,” which is available as a free eBook from Way of Life Literature.)
Consider the following statement:
“‘How Deep the Father’s Love’ was the first hymn-like song I had written; before that point I had only written modern worship songs in a more contemporary style. ... This melody just kinda popped out of my head one day. ... It had a kind of classic hymn-like element to it. I thought I should just tell the story of Christ on the cross, but tell it perhaps from the point of view of what it cost the Father to give the Son. ... There is lot of talk about the wrath of God and is that right to think that the Father’s wrath was poured out on Christ, and I think that is right to say that. But that is not to say that God is a vengeful God; actually it cost him to give up His son.... It’s been interesting to see the response. It’s quite useful not only in the more modern contemporary churches, but in traditional churches as well because of the style. And I’m kind of exited about that; I am excited about the fact that you can write something that actually feeds the broader church rather than just particular musical pockets of the church. That’s something that motivates me and probably why I’ve thought more and more about writing hymns, is I would like to try and feed the whole church and not just part of it” (Stuart Townend, “Mission: Worship, The Story Behind the Song”).
The first comment we would make is that Townend openly states that his objective is to bridge “traditional” churches with contemporary ones. After “How Deep the Father’s Love” popped into his mind and he turned the “hymn-like” tune into a soft rock “modern hymn,” he realized that this type of music could be a powerful bridge. In his own blog he says “I don’t go home at the end of a busy day and put on a hymns album! So I don’t think of hymns as where I’m at musically at all!” (http://blog.stuarttownend.co.uk/2010/05/how-deep-fathers-love.html). Townend is a rock & roller, pure and simple. He wants to use the soft CCM to bring together the “broader church.”
It is largely the “traditional” churches that are interested in “soft” CCM, and by using it they are the ones that are in danger of being influenced and changed. When “traditional” churches borrow Townend’s “soft” CCM, the contemporary churches are in no danger of being “traditionalized,” but the traditional churches are most definitely in danger of being contemporarized.
The second observation is that Townend is committed to serious heresy. He states that God is not vengeful, whereas the Bible plainly, repeatedly, and forcefully states that Godis vengeful. The Psalmist says that God will “execute vengeance upon the heathen” (Psa. 149:7). The prophets warn of the coming of the “day of the Lord’s vengeance” (Isa. 34:8; Jer. 46:10; Mic. 5:15; Nahum 1:2). It was God’s holy vengeance that fell upon Christ, and it is His vengeance that will fall upon every sinner outside of Christ. The apostle Paul said that Christ will exercise God’s vengeance on all who obey not the gospel (2 Thess. 1:8).
One concerned pastor wrote:
“Keith and Kristyn Getty advertise themselves as ‘Modern Hymn Writers’ and are deceiving many into the Rock Genre by this very innocent title and the more conservative Praise Soft Rock music. But the fact is, that they are not modern hymn writers because they are putting out Rock Music which is not spiritual at all but carnal and thereby fulfilling the desires of the flesh and not the spirit (spiritual part of us yielding to the Holy Spirit).”
The frightful thing is that the average Independent Baptist pastor and the people in charge of music in the typical church don’t have the foggiest idea that they are being manipulated and that they are walking on a BRIDGE that leads to a place they say they are against, which is full blown CCM and its enticing philosophy of “don’t be so strict and uptight; relax; enjoy life; live the grace.”
Townend says that God loves electric guitars and drums (“Stuart Townend: The Journey Gets Stronger,” ChristianityToday.com, April 7, 2011). He is referring to electric guitars and drums used to create rock music. This is a presumptuous statement that is not supported by the Bible.
In July 2012, Townend joined the Gettys and Roman Catholic Matt Maher on NewsongCafe on WorshipTogether.com, as previously mentioned.
With regard to lyrics, Keith Getty articulates well his conviction regarding the theological significance of words put to song: “What we sing becomes the grammar of what we believe.”[1]Again, he notes, “What we sing affects how we think, how we feel and ultimately how we live.”[2] This conviction spawns a theological intentionality and robustness that distinguishes GTM songs from many in the SGM venue,[3] with an emphasis upon Christian doctrine over Christian experience.[4] Whereas Getty grew up Presbyterian and today leads worship at Parkside Church (a non-denominational church in Cleveland, Ohio, pastored by Alistair Begg), Stuart Townend grew up Anglican, and today leads worship in a NewFrontiers church in England (a neocharismatic apostolic network of evangelical, charismatic churches). Their goal is to write music that brings believers of different geographical, theological and musical backgrounds together in worship.
The primary danger comes not in their explicit theology, but in their implicit philosophical tendencies toward an evangelical approach to culture and a charismatic approach to worship.
At the same time, some lyrics are quite vague or are clearly Charismatic in their approach to God, thus making them inappropriate for fundamental, dispensational congregations. As with any other hymn text source, we should be careful that we select texts that reinforce our doctrine.
Group or Movement
Both GTM and SGM are at the forefront of what is being heralded as an idea or movement known as the “New Calvinism.”[8]In fact, the Time magazine article that broaches the subject identifies music at the very core of its emergence.[9] Mark Driscoll (identified as one of the three primary personae of the movement) lists four main differences between Old and New Calvinism:
Old Calvinism was fundamental or liberal and separated from or syncretized with culture. New Calvinism is missional and seeks to create and redeem culture.
Old Calvinism fled from the cities. New Calvinism is flooding into cities.
Old Calvinism was fearful of the Holy Spirit and generally cessationist (i.e., believing the gifts of the Holy Spirit such as tongues and prophecy had ceased). New Calvinism delights in the Holy Spirit and is generally continuationist with regard to spiritual gifts.
Old Calvinism was fearful and suspicious of other Christians and burned bridges. New Calvinism loves all Christians and builds bridges between them.[10]
Emphasizing the finished work of the cross is essential to the message of the gospel, but so too is “growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet 3:18), and understanding what His “excellencies” are supposed to look like (2 Pet 1:2-9). This is the danger of a movement that erases all theological distinctions and champions new converts as worship leaders – whose enthusiasm is contagious; along with their lack of discernment. The (nearly) exclusive focus of this movement upon justification results in a large-scale under-emphasis upon sanctification. And both are necessary components of an orthodox gospel.
A subtle shift is taking place within Christendom today, as the meetings of the church (Greek for “assembly”) become more about evangelism than about worship – that is, more about those “outside” the assembly, than about those “within.” With this shift, increasing emphasis is placed upon being “authentic” rather than upon being “holy,” resulting in an “inauthentic” gospel, devoid of victory over sin (Rom 6:14), and devoid of victory over the world (1 Jn 5:4).
Regarding GTM, we are cautiously optimistic about using selected songs in a non-pop/rock performing style. Some of the associational issues are real, especially while the songs remain so closely tied to their original source. For this reason, the authors have chosen, thus far, to not include GTM songs in our ministries, although we are not as opposed to GTM as we are to SGM. It is likely that when we believe the inclusion of GTM songs in our ministries will be a source of edification, without bringing danger to weaker brethren, we will use selected songs. This is the pattern the authors follow with all music choices from all music-publishing ministries.[12] __________________________________________________________________
John Piper, Tobe Witmer
and the Golden Calf of C.S. Lewis
Published on May 16, 2013
Download available (for Show 92) here at: http://podOmatic.com/r/pC17 http://www.facebook.com/MegiddoRadio --- John Piper's Desiring God National Conference 2013 will exalt C.S. Lewis with the title of this year's conference being: 'The Romantic Rationalist: God, Life, and Imagination in the Work of C.S. Lewis'. Is this more of the same from John Piper, as he has in recent years invited people like Rick Warren and Mark Driscoll; but does this represent something even worse? Paul discusses this and looks at the teaching and theology of C.S. Lewis. Was the theology of C.S. Lewis orthodox or heretical and outside of the faith once delivered? If his views were heretical, why are so many evangelicals worshipping this golden calf in the modern church?
John Piper, Passion 2012 and Catholic Mysticism
Uploaded on Jan 13, 2012
Paul discusses the recent news of how John Piper lead a "Lectio Divina Lite" contemplative prayer with Beth Moore at Passion 2012. http://apprising.org/2012/01/06/beth-...
KELLER ON C.S. LEWIS: "HE THOUGHT THE PAGANS HAD GOOD DREAMS":
JOHN PIPER EFFUSIVE ABOUT C.S. LEWIS:
"HE LOVED THE WISDOM OF THE AGES":
The MIND of CS LEWIS vs TRUTH of GOD'S WORD
Published on Dec 9, 2013
C.S. Lewis had a big imagination, and a high regard for the occult. Combined, these make for a dangerous blend of Theosophy, pagan myths, and an unbiblical worldview. This video compares his views to the Holy Bible. Sadly, they do not match up. 1John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.http://www.turnfromyouridols.com/ http://www.gospeltext.org/ WIKIPEDIA QUOTE FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy
The three characteristics of theosophy are listed below.
Theosophy:
Divine/Human/Nature Triangle: The inspired analysis which circles through these three angles. The intradivine within; the origin, death and placement of the human relating to Divinity and Nature; Nature as alive, the external, intellectual and material. All three complex correlations synthesize via the intellect and imaginative processes of Mind.
Primacy of the Mythic: The creative Imagination, an external world of symbols, glyphs, myths, synchronicities and the myriad, along with image, all as a universal reality for the interplay conjoined by creative mind.
Access to Supreme Worlds: The awakening within, inherently possessing the faculty to directly connect to the Divine world(s). The existence of a special human ability to create this connection. The ability to connect and explore all levels of reality; co-penetrate the human with the divine; to bond to all reality and experience a unique inner awakening.
JRR Tolkien & CS Lewis - Occult Affiliations Pt 1:
Published on Nov 11, 2013
http://www.crossroad.to/Excerpts/book... C. S. Lewis called Charles Williams, a man whose mind was steeped in occult rituals and demonic forces, "his dearest friend." This close friendship made an impact on Lewis and his writings -- especially on fantasies such as That Hideous Strength. "Among its first initiates was a coroner who allegedly performed necromantic rites... while another early member was black magician Aleister Crowley, the self styled Great Beast.... But the Order of the Golden Dawn also included persons of less outlandish ways, such as W. B. Yeats, whom Williams met during the period of his membership, one or two clergy with a taste for the mystical, and A. E. Waite himself.... It was this group that Williams joined. Excerpts from The Inklings: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and their friends by Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1979), pages 80-84. "...a fundamental element in Charles Williams's character, the thing that he was trying to express when he told a friend: 'At bottom a darkness has always haunted me.' What was this darkness? ... "...by the time he was in his late twenties he was making some study of the beliefs and practices of that semi-magical branch of Christianity known as Rosicrucianism. [An occult system using a blend of Egyptian and Christian symbols] During this period he read books by the Rosicrucian writer A. E. Waite; he entered into correspondence with Waite, and at Waite's invitation was initiated (in 1917) into an organization called the Order of the Golden Dawn.... "Among its first initiates was a coroner who allegedly performed necromantic rites... while another early member was black magician Aleister Crowley, the self styled Great Beast.... But the Order of the Golden Dawn also included persons of less outlandish ways, such as W. B. Yeats, whom Williams met during the period of his membership, one or two clergy with a taste for the mystical, and A. E. Waite himself.... It was this group that Williams joined. "As a neophyte aspiring to be initiated into the Golden Dawn he would apparently have had to declare: 'My soul... seeking for the Light of Occult Knowledge... [I chose not to include this oath].' He also had to take an oath to keep the rites secret, on penalty of a 'hostile current' which would be set against him if he broke faith.... Probably they were harmless enough [they were not harmless], based as they seem to have been on Waite's enthusiasms for freemasonry, vaguely Christian mysticism, and Rosicrucianism, a system of occult beliefs which combines the symbolism of Christianity with the terminology of alchemy...." [This is a demonic counterfeit of Christianity, yet it seems to be influencing the church through the popularity of mysticism, spiritual experience, and postmodern disinterest in God's unchanging Word] "Waite's own explanation of Rosicrucianism comes as near to lucidity as does any account of this opaque subject: 'The Cross is the sign or symbol... of the Brotherhood in its inward dedication, of pure mystical wisdom. Its red colour represents the mystical and divine blood of Christ.... There is placed in its centre a Rose 'of the colour of Blood' to indicate the work of Sacred and Divine Alchemy...'" (A. E. Waite, The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (William Rider,1924), pp. 107—8.)... "Certainly membership of the Golden Dawn involved the performance of rituals, which Williams, with his love of rite and ceremony, entered into wholeheartedly... he had always taken care to learn by heart the words of any Golden Dawn rite.... There does not seem to have been anything in Waite's 'temple' of the Golden Dawn which was opposed to Christianity. [Everything there opposed Christianity!] Indeed Waite, who had been brought up a Catholic, believed its practices to be part of what he called the 'Secret Tradition' of Christianity, the tradition that besides the overt meaning of Christian doctrine there is also a hidden series of truths revealed only to an elect few. Waite remarked of this gnostic tradition, and apparently of his 'temple'... 'It is not in competition with the external Christian Churches....' Waite also made a special study of talismans and of the Tarot cards.... These and other details of occult knowledge were to play a major part in Williams's novels." [The next sentence refers to Kabbalah:] "In one of Waite's books he also encountered the 'Sacred Tree of the Sephiroth,' a symbolic diagram based on the Jewish mystical Zohar.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_ps... http://www.gardnerian.de/artikel/howa... http://www.annwn.hu/osvenyek/dr-leo-l... http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%... http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/soc...
JRR Tolkien & CS Lewis - Occult Affiliations Pt 2:
Laurance Justice-C.S. Lewis is a false teacher:
Published on Nov 28, 2012
This is a very well documented expose on the false teachings of C.S. Lewis, given by Laurence Justice. C.S. Lewis is very much loved by many, but people seem to fail to recognize his universalism and ecumenical stance he took and the fact that he had a very shallow and heretical way in which he viewed the scriptures.
David Coleman is another of the five Common Core coauthors, and he and Zimba go way back. They were both Rhodes scholars. Zimba worked at the college Coleman’s mother runs. They started Student Achievement Partners(SAP)—the nonprofit where Zimba now works—together. They wrote a report calling for national curriculum mandates that got them noticed and hired by education nationalizers to write Common Core, for a still-undisclosed sum and under still-undisclosed conditions (apparently, NPR’s reporting only goes so far as the material Zimba and Coleman wish to feed them).
