The News Beats

Thank you for rejoining us in session three of TheNewsBeats.com conference “The Church of What’s Happening Now” for a look at what is taking place in the visible church today. In session two, we began looking into the poisoned well conference billed as “New Spring Leadership Conference.” We were able to determine that the conference was not about building leaders at all, but was instead a scheme for developing menservants. As menservants, conference goers will be trained to serve the leaders who will be speaking at the event.

We also deduced that the thrust of their conference will be about you exercising your power to bring them victims so that they can repeat the process as they build their kingdom on earth. The process they will emphasize will be on how you can obtain some worldly influence, and how you can take the influence you have gained to do this for them.

By your own efforts, if you attend their conference and follow their teaching, you will apply the pry bar at the fulcrum of opportunity and exert your leverage for their kingdom; using your own power.

Oh, the enabling of the Holy Spirit?

It’s interesting that there are always two extremes when it comes to misrepresenting the Holy Spirit. The first is complete antics. The second is complete absence. Here it is the latter. This is a movement of men, by men, and for men. This is also another conference, and collection of men, that relies on the formula of 10.10.10. as one of their tactics.

What that means is these pastors preach, teach, and demand the tithe from their victims; telling every person who sets under them they must give the pastor ten percent of their income every time they get it, bar none. This, lest they be cursed by God. It’s true:

Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, Charlotte, demands it,

and so do pastors

Perry Noble, New Spring Church, Anderson;

Pastor Judah Smith, The City Church, Seattle;

Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Irvine;

Jud Wilhite, Central Church, Las Vegas;

and the rest are probably doing so too.

Consequently, not a one of them will ever preach the whole truth from the Bible, much less from Paul’s epistle to the Galatians.

To set this up, Paul dealt with the very same sort of Judaizers who were following after his ministry which led men into the liberty of Christ to lead converts back under the yoke of bondage. The Judaizers were men who granted that salvation was by faith, but also held that Christians were still under the yoke of some old testament law; particularly circumcision.

One primary motive of the Judaizers was to make men subservient followers of them. They chose an ordinance from the Mosaic law and sought place it around the neck of the saints. The yoke is a wooden stock used to drive and steer animals. The contemporary Judaizers have replaced circumcision with tithing.

Paul confronted this practice of invoking Mosaic laws by rolling the ordinance of the laws back onto the Judaizers:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Gal 3:10)

What this means is the new covenant makes void the ordnance of tithing for Jews (Mal 1:1; 3:7), for it was never applied to the Gentiles, much less to the Christian, and thus needed not to be rescinded from them. This also means that anyone who dares to stand on a platform, and extort money by threatening form the Old Testament book of Malachi (written only to the Jews), can be asked to drop his pants on that same platform and be inspected for circumcision.

Here an aside for anyone joining this conference already in progress: this is not an attempt at sensationalism; it’s meant to be an affront to false teachers. It’s aimed at intimidating those guys for a change.

They stand up there and thunder that they are God’s man over God’s house and intimidate those setting at their feet. What chance does the little guy down there have? The pastor has got his wife in a small group, his kids in the nursery, and that’s for starters. The leadership team has got them all tightly woven into a web of activities designed for no other reason than to create interlocking relationships.

That is what Master Rick Warren has taught them to do in order to close the back door of the church so there can be no escape. They want walking away from these apostates to feel like peeling off layers of skin.

Most men are not up to the level of conflict, either with other members or at home, that would be required to get free from that church. So he’s got to go to that church and set there every Sunday and let this false teacher beat up on him, and he’s got to pretend he likes it.

Well, enough already.

Here’s some more ammunition to fight back with. The man on the platform can also be asked to prove, by the temple records, that he is a Levite priest; which were the only ones allowed to collect the Hebrew tithe (there go the Hawaiian shirts and faded jeans). Of course, we know that priesthood was abolished at the cross and the priesthood of believers took its place under one high priest who is now in heaven (Mat 27:50-51; 1Pet 2:4, 9; Heb 7).

It is no wonder why all the major denominations that have carried on this Protestant tradition and every ruffled-come-hipster upstart employing it are going, or start out as, apostate.   By claiming to act under the authority of the Levitical  priesthood in collecting tithes, these false teachers are, in effect, denying the New Testament made by Christ’s shed blood on the cross. That’s right.  That’s wrong.

In our next session we will look at the harm that is done to the saints by those demanding the Old Testament tithe.  We will examine the dynamics behind this practice that compromises the faith walk of the saints and causes them harm.

There is actually a rapacious, behind the scenes, process that these false teachers don’t want any one to know about, but in this conference we’re going to blow the lid off it.  We’re going to finally expose their tactics for the whole world to see what these evil men are doing, and how they are doing it.

I’ll look for you at session four, where pajamas and coffee are optional, but recommended.

[Resource: More on the Truth about Tithing HERE]

Thank you for rejoining us in session two of TheNewsBeats.com conference “The Church of What’s Happening Now” for a look at what is taking place in the visible church today. In our first conference session, we discussed the removal of the image for “Super Conference 10.10.10.” from the website promoting the event. I made the assertion that someone over there read my suggested captions for it and found them too strikingly accurate. If you’ve seen the image, you probably detected the evil leering sneers mingled with the rebellious conceited pomp in its circumstances.

Before retiring this group of heretics, we need to consider this Benny Hinn character. Not to worry, it’s going to be a short autopsy. He is so disgustingly repugnant even his image can’t be published here.

Here is a man who has made a fortune and lived a lavish lifestyle by lying to and stealing from crippled and diseased people. That’s his resume, which he calls a ministry. He is so evil he has to give every pretense of purity to offset his wickedness. That’s the explanation for him wearing white suits embossed with a dove while he performs his act.

How does his story end? Perhaps we can’t say for sure just yet, but it doesn’t look good. How long can a wicked man imitate the Holy Spirit and blaspheme the name of the Lord before he is turned over to Satan and his angles, and to demons, to be destroyed.

Here in session two, we’re going to look at another collection of suspects. Like the other group, these are arrested in this conference on suspicion of being false teachers causing harm to the saints. The detained are: Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, Steven Furtick, Perry Noble, Judah Smith, Jud Wilhite, and Rick Warren. A few will be singled out, but we’ll deal with them as a group.

Their conference offering is “New Spring Leadership Conference.”

If you attended session one of this conference, you are familiar with TheNewsBeats.com policy on excluding some images from this platform, which is in effect here. To view this image you will need to use the link provided. [HERE]

This heresy conference is billed as: “A Full Day of Teaching Focused on Leveraging Your Influence to Preach the Gospel” (emphasis added). This conference, which by the way takes up the whole day (you get you out of TheNewsBeats.com conference in under twenty minutes), has as its theme personal influence.

They say: “The New Spring Leadership Conference is a full day of teaching focused on influence and how it affects our preaching of the Gospel.”

What this actually is: this is not a New Spring, but an old poisoned well. These ruffled-come-hipsters of the new paradigm are full of themselves. They were able to dazzle the illiterate to leverage their apostate quirks, which they pass off as personality, into money making careers.

Let us have a guess at what their curriculum will be, and their motives. Because this conference is not about developing leaders, that’s just a bribe thrown out there to flatter the unsuspecting. They’re not interested in any leaders being created, nor are they interested in your ideas. They have already made all the leadership decisions a long time ago, and the attendees are only the fuel to keep them going in the direction they have determined to go.

These guys are like vampires. First, they are going to squeeze you for your blood, and the only leading they want you to do form them is to go out afterwards and lead in more victims to them.

What the conference is about:

They are planning to make more money by explaining how they’ve leveraged their influence to occasionally be a Christ-name-dropper in public, perhaps in an airport terminal where they traveled first class. More importantly, how you too can get to work for them; filling their building and filling their coffers by leveraging your quirks, and preaching the gospel of community

The gospel of community is one which allows for any and all to attend their Saturday night performances and Sunday matinees where a needle can be inserted into their arms and the siphoning can begin

Of course, there are classes offered in their respective churches that will personality profile you using rubrics designed by godless men to discover what gifts God has given you which enable you to work for these men. Often, there are contracts that must be signed by this newly trained ‘leaders’ before they begin performing what they are told is their ‘ministry’ and what others have correctly identified as indentured servitude.

These men are building their kingdoms one human sacrifice at a time.

A peek into the situation room, or strategy headquarters for New Spring Leadership conference, and an examination of the graphs, charts, merchandising plans, and finance statements would reveal it’s really nothing more than a money making recruitment drive.

For any discerning soul, this would be expensive outing, a complete waste of valuable time and lots of your money, but you’re not going to that conference. You’re at this conference; and you will be able to take some real tools away from it too.

Conference season is back.  It comes after summer when many have taken vacations or have had time off, and have probably done a few things they know they shouldn’t have; so it off to a religious conference to cleanse the soul.  But wait.  This year, it’s finally going to be different.  You won’t have to squeeze your clothes into a small bags and wrinkle them.  No need for hotel reservations and flight plans.  No scrimping on cheap restaurant food to make it all work (and forget about that indigestion too).

You can attend a religious conference without leaving the comfort of your favorite chair, and you’ll be leaving your money where you probably need it most; in the bank.

Attend TheNewsBeats.com religious conference titled “The Church of What’s Happening Now” where seating is not limited, and where it can be said without any hidden strings and catches that it’s absolutely free.  No offering will be taken, and there is no merchandise with glossy covers and luring titles on display in the lobby.

The title for this conference comes from a television comedy that ran in the sixties, and was the subject of a comedic skit performed by comedian Flip Wilson.  The author does not endorse Mr. Wilson.  He made a teenager laugh, but the mature man does not know if Flip found God or if he eventually flipped out.

But like that previous satire, this conference will take a short look at the contemporary church, the visible church, and make some observations.  So, stay in your pajamas, get a good cup of coffee, and relax in your comfortable chair for this short conference.  Admission is free.

For our first session we’ll take a look at what you’ll be missing by attending this conference instead of traveling.

Many of you have already heard of the “Super Conference 10.10.10.” where prosperity heretics Benny Hinn, T.D. Jakes and Senior Pastor Paula White will be performing in Florida in October.  The first thing to notice is that they all have to share the same ticket.  How’s that prosperity gospel working out for them in these tough times?

Sure, there are logistical concerns.  News is pouring out that Hinn and White have been sharing the same ticket for a while now.  And that revelation seems to have put a strain on their finances.  It’s also got them looking over their shoulder.

For instance, a short piece proposing different captions for an image promoting “Super Conference 10.10.10.” was run on TheNewsBeats.com member site News Snippets From All Beats.  That piece contained a link to the original image (TheNewsBeats.com could not in good conscious publish that image on this platform).

It so happens that on the very next day the website where the image resided invoked member sign-in authorization to view that image.  They took down the image, which was a group photo (a collage really) of the heretics.

What stinging oratory caused them to literally hide their faces?  Let’s have a look:

Super Fleecing Conference: 10.10.10

August 10th, 2010 by David Dansker

It is the policy of TheNewsBeats.com not to run an image of an ungodly reprobate, or of an evil man or woman; so long as another image can suffice with the content of an article, or when the subject is plainly too repugnant and blasphemous. Exceptions are sometimes made, but not in this instance. To view the image for which the following caption applies, readers must use the link provided.After viewing the link for “Super Conference 10.10.10,” read the caption: LINK

[UPDATE (8-11): Since this posting, sign-in authorization has been enacted to view the original image, but fortunately a screen shot exists HERE]

Appropriate Caption:

We will not be told by the Bible what to do.  If we women want to dress like men and call ourselves pastors to satiate our lust for power, we’ll do so.  If we want to wear religious collars to validate on the outside what does not exist on the inside, we will.  We don’t like Christ Jesus, and we don’t want to have anything to do with him.  We love ourselves.

We love extravagant vacations and expensive clothes, and luxury homes to return to.  We love your money.

We are nothing more than flashy orators and vocalists providing fleshly entertainment to disorient you in order to steal your money.  If all else fails, we will threaten you with a god we don’t believe in, much less serve.

We are a group of painted strumpets and cheap starlets and some demon possessed men, and we are a whoring after our other gods.  Won’t you join us?

Times are tight and most of our following fools are broke after taking our advice, so we had to team up on one ticket to increase the draw.

You will be able to gaze at the trappings of our material wealth and be awed by our style so that you can be made to believe that you too can possess all the things that you lust after by your brief association with us.  This is the substance of our unholy communion.

It is the communion you will take with us; a communion with demons at the Super Fleecing Conference.  On the scale of apostasy this is a 10.10.10.  Won’t you join us?

[If this caption isn’t the accurate one for the image, I’ll eat my own words (printed on chocolate to save a tree)]

It seems, ladies and gentlemen, that the truth cuts fast and deep when it’s run across, and these charlatans have been trading it under foot for a long time.  But the soles of their expensive shoes are wearing thin from being on the run, and the truth is beginning to hurt.

Having fun yet?  Next, we’ll look at another group of usual suspects.  Go get that second cup of coffee.

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

Afterword

Reverence -

The tone of this work was necessarily serious.  There is only one light quip in the whole of it, and that was almost edited out.  The focus was so keen and study so intense humor had to be allowed to explode elsewhere in other short pieces as a relief.  The word of God is the most precious thing a person can get their hand on, and after God, the Lord Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, nothing is more deserving of respect and reverence.  The theory entertained herein includes speculations from portions of scripture, and has made assertions for consideration.  Great care was taken at all times to keep in mind the holiness of the material and keep its author in the author’s mind.  In spite of all this care, the author is painfully aware that other men would have produced a better effort.

Strandings -

The author built his work on the work of other men, and has contributed to that discussion.  The largest contribution has been the discussion herein on the phenomenon of whale and dolphin standings.  Because the treatment is unique and provocative, and deals with physical characteristics of elements and animals that can be directly measured, it’s reasonable to anticipate objections from a certain quarter that might be of the opinion that an unauthorized intruder should be shown the door. In the spirit of objective inquiry, let the question remain at the forefront one which asks how he got in.

The theologian has access to keys men of other specialties and pursuits cannot count on their chain.  Speculating on phenomenon is not the exclusive domain of scientists because they can tie an instrument onto a porpoise’s pasutee and track him. (Interestingly, the porpoise is alternately referred to in Old English as mereswine.) What results from those endeavors is, in some cases, fairly accurate data which can be accessed, and from which fin tales can also be spun. 

The Christian has a more sure database to explain the unexplained, and can rely upon it more than upon the changing graphs and charts from technicians and cartographers.  But let’s use for the time what they can explain.

Objection:

If the entrance to the Abyss, from whence demons are summoned to use whales to strike land, and where they are at times banished, is in the Atlantic Ocean; how did the demons, cast out by Jesus into the swine that drown, get to the Atlantic from the Sea of Galilee when it is a land-locked sea?

Let’s take the most difficult part of this objection first.

There are in deep seas caverns where channels of water run many miles through undersea caves and causeways.  There is also something underground called the water table.  Water from precipitation and run off infiltrates the ground and at some depth the ground reaches a saturation point where the water tables in the porous soil and sediment.  In some areas the water table is only a few feet below the ground surface, and in others it’s thousands of feet below.  It’s an underground sea that the Sea of Galilee would be in touch with.  The demons could have been made to have traveled to the abyss in those ways, or in a more obvious one. 

The climate in the Mediterranean area is temperate, but still seasonal, and the topography is not static.  Water and even the earth move. 

While the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee is dry, there is more water to form tributaries to it in the winter time. When Joshua crossed the Jordan River a fourteen hundred years before Jesus was baptized in it, there was enough water in it to chronicle a crossing requiring special preparation.  When John was baptizing, he found enough water in the Jordan for all comers. 

Today, the Jordan River, which connects to the Sea of Galilee from the north, is barely a trickle in some places and dries in the summer in others.  This is due partly to climactic change, ongoing geological change, and manmade obstructions from water projects like dams.  It is not the same today as when Jesus sailed on Galilean waters to meet the demon possessed Gergaseans, but historical maps show the existence of tributaries that appear to join, or be able to connect, the Sea of Galilee through the Jordan out to the Mediterranean Sea, joining it just north of the city of Tyre.

This would have formed an acceptable waterway. From the Mediterranean the demons would pass through the Striate of Gibraltar into the Atlantic.

Six Days of Creation -

There are other references in the Bible for the six days in Genesis and the work performed therein.  The key to their interpretation is careful study.  The Translators of our precious King James Bible were the best men best available for the task or probably could have ever been assembled for the task.  Their work was so thorough and accurate that we can study the individual words they translated into English, and even take issue with some of the choices they made to render them translated.  But nothing so technical is usually at point due to their brilliance and choice of the most accurate manuscripts for their work. 

For example we read in Exodus:

For in six das the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath, and hollowed it (Exo 2011). 

To better understand what this verse in not saying we may take a word that is in question and apply it to another process. 

When we assemble ingredients in their respective quantities  necessary to bake a cake and put them through a process that does indeed produce it, we say accurately that we made a cake; we do not say we created it.  Everything that  was required existed beforehand and only needed to be reorganized and processed.  The word that was translated “created” in Genesis chapter one, verse two, comes from the word  bara  which means create.  The word in the Exodus verse translated “made” comes from the word asah which has a broad sense and wide application and is used for ‘accomplish,’ ‘advance,’ ‘bestow,’ and ‘fashion,’ and does not mean to create.

Videos -

WARNING -The following video depicts clearly the worshiping of demons and the celebration of their doctrines. If you choose to view the video, you may wish to do so on mute so as to lessen the demonic nature of the experience.

By the looks on the faces of some of the men present, they are uncomfortable with the worship.  They should have stood and collected their families and walked out, but the success of the demonic doctrine of feminism which led to the ordination of  women pastors has decimated the headship of men in the churches, and there is little some can now do unless they are willing to leave the church where their wife pastors.

The men are emasculated and the churches go into apostasy.  Paul warned about this progression of demonic seduction that would result from women pastors:

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1Ti 2:12-14)

Video Description - The animals are led to the pulpit in a procession.  First, women - on both sides to the pavilion - usher bears, one black, one white,  forward in celebratory dance, and the women continue in a provocative urging until they get the bears to rise up on their hind legs.  The colors demonstrate the joining of opposites, and the standing at the pulpit demonstrates the equality of animals to mankind, and their cohabitation in the church as fellow creatures and worshipers (abstain from meats).

Notice that the Sun god high priest has right hand in gesture of Hindu Gyan Mudra, with index finger touching tip of thumb, used induce a state happiness and increased knowledge promised in exchange for worshiping demons.

Notice woman in prominent position behind Sun god high priest, with man in tow behind her amongst the children. Notice woman carrying peace offering.

Notice nature themed banners. Notice foul smelling animals in procession.  

Notice in background intricate images of red flames projected on the walls and encircling the audience to disorient them and to impart a spiritual experience, and used as an imitation of the Holy Spirit descending on the platform to welcome worship.

Notice the demon high priest gesturing to give the benediction over the people.  

Notice the design of sashes on parade here, of bright colors and pantheistic heathenism.

Notice it all ushered forth with ribbon sticks waved to distract the conscious from reason as was performed in the Babylonian mystery religions, and carried over in the pomp in the Roman Catholic Church of colored vestments and ornate robes.

Notice as a fertility dance is performed on platform. Notice priestesses bring elements to the platform that could represent the communion and raise them for blessing of demons. 

Notice , if you did not mute, the worship music is haunting and trance like to produces an altered state of consciousness and renders the audience more susceptible to the worship of demons, and to demon possession.

The demons hang from the rafters and sit in the pews. Waiting. For victims.

Video :

Opening Worship Processional - 219^th General Assembly, “The Lion King Meets the PCUSA,” (from tdallasw’s Channel, July 4, 2010). 5 min., 26 sec. (accessed on YouTube July 29, 2010). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4pr_E5Nbuc&feature=player_embedded

Video:

PropheticSeer, “Breaking News: Ocean Floor About to Explode,” (from YouTube, August 2, 2010). 2 min., 44 sec. (accessed on YouTube August 5, 2010) .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5alY3-ydJ8&feature=player_embedded.

__________________________________________

For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Php 3:20-21)

Special Offer - 

Autographed copies of this work are available for a donation.  Proceeds go towards producing articles and other works such as this one.  Contact the author for details: david@thenewsbeats.com

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Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

Habeas Corpus

Now, it will certainly be argued that it is unreasonable to detect a time space between only two verses in Genesis that could  promote this much speculation about another cosmos and other living Awdawms.  Still, plausible supports are introduced in other scriptures (Jer 4: ; Isa 1:1; 2Pet 1:1), and we know of at least one other place in scripture where a remarkable time space exists. 

One Sabbath day, Jesus stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth to read, and He  read from the book of Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luk 4:18-19)

Here, Jesus closes the book and hands it back to the minister.  The passage in Isaiah that Jesus read is chapter sixty-one, verses one and two, but Jesus did not stop reading at the end of verse two.  He stopped in the middle of verse two at a comma. On the other side of that punctuation we read: “and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that moun” (Isa 61:2).

That comma is the place mark for over two thousand years and counting, and it is not in between two verses, but in between a single verse of scripture.  

As to the significance of time spaces in scripture, the most important event and developments to ever occur took place, and are still taking place, within this gap found in a single verse. 

As to the providence of God in the amount of information and the time in which it is revealed, we have the witness of scripture that even His own prophets were not informed about the creation of the Church, or fully comprehended Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

I dare say we do not fully comprehend it now.

Even the angles desired to look into the mysteries which waited to be revealed to the Apostles and to us (1Pet 1:12).

The naturalists will most likely not be allowed an habeas corpus, or to produce the body from amongst the dead Awdawms and claim it an evolutionary ancestor of man.  Their destruction may have been on the order of the one reserved for Gog and Magog who Satan will lead in attack against the camp of the saints at the close of the millennium.  There, fire will come down from heaven and completely devour them; vaporized (Rev 20:7-9). 

It could also be that some knowledge was passed to demon possessed men as to the Awdawms and their country and how it was destroyed, and from this comes the legend of Atlantis which is supposed to have perished beneath the sea.  The bodies of the Awdawms could be entombed at the bottom of the ocean. If this were the case, it would shed light another curious scripture. 

On that final judgment day after the millennium, all the wicked dead, small and great, will stand before God and be judged.  The transaction to bring them before the throne of judgment will be, first, the soul will be summoned from hell, and then it will pass through the grave to be embodied so it can stand in its sins and be judged.  This is what is meant by “death [the grave] and hell delivered up the dead which were in them” (Rev 20:13). 

This description is complete to cover all anthropos, or human beings, but this transaction is preceded by one in which the sea gives up all the dead which are in it (Rev 20:13). 

This seems to indicate that a different race of Awdawms who are held at the bottom of the ocean are to be judged first.  Paul tells us that all things will be done in their proper order as to the resurrections (1Cor 15:23-24), and so it would make sense for the Awdawms to be resurrected for judgment first. 

Because their disembodied spirits did not go to hell but to the abyss, and their bodies may lie concealed under the bottom of the ocean (q.v.), their bodies and spirits would be collected before leaving the depth of the ocean to be judged.  This is why when the sea gives up its dead; hell is not included in that transaction.   

To further substantiate the connection between the Awdawms and Satan we learn reading the account of his future demise: “They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas” (Eze 28:8).  This cannot be an allusion to a drowning sensation Satan is to experience in the pit, for not every anthropos drown who was slain in the sea.

Here the slain in the sea are again most likely a special class who are in the middle of probably the Atlantic ocean.  We know that Satan will be bound and cast into the Abyss for a thousand years prior to being released one last time to tempt a rebellion before being cast into the lake of fire (Rev).  Here he is reminded that his fate is tired to the fate of the Awdawms which he led in his rebellion in the Pre-Adamite earth.

With this in mind, we may see that there is more of a poetic quality to Satan’s demise then has previously been entertained:

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. (Eze 28:6-8)

The passage has been rendered by the translators in mortal terms.  In light of this observation, and incorporating what scripture does tell us, a variant reading of the passage in the author’s paraphrase:

“Because of you purposed in your heart to be God, desired and sought to ascend to throne and rule as a god, the Awdawms will be the cause for you being cast into the abyss where the foreign, strange, and profane disembodied spirits of the Awdawms, who are exceedingly mighty and terribly violent as many troops of animals, and are as pervasive and inescapable as a flight of horrible supernatural locusts; there they will actually rule over you, and your beauty and wisdom will be the wound of your defilement, and that is the splendor you have exchanged your splendor for.   They will have power over you to do this for a thousand years, and after that time you will die the death of eternal torment with them in the lake of fire.”

Considering the scriptures being examined deals with Satan’s rebellion and destruction, and his destruction is not one that can be accomplish by men and their weapons; the words tending towards the supernatural rendering were chosen from amongst the verity of Strong Concordance definitions available for them.  Nevertheless, the author does not care for paraphrases, and does not recommend them.  

All of this reversal of fortune takes place while the called out ones are ruled over for the same period of time in splendor and peace by their righteous King whose throne will be set up on the restored earth He possesses. Poetic justice.

The foregoing is a theory to explain the old appearance of the earth.  Of course, none of this is necessary to explain why the earth looks so old.  It could look old because it’s old, and for no other reason.  Other theories have been postulated that connect the age of the earth to the speed of light.  It has to do with the idea that the speed of light is slowing down, and suggests that events transpired faster, and so in smaller increments of time only thousands of year ago. 

The author favors this theory because it, as good theories should, provides possible answers to other mysteries as well.

We should come away from this study more intrigued by the awesome reasoning of Him who subjected us in frailty so that we may reside in hope, and with a renewed appreciation for the scope of the plan of salvation and the intricacies in its transaction.  We should now be more apt to engage the scriptures than to entertain science fiction (such as evolution), and able to more clearly see the dissimilar nature of different things.

Demanding a young earth is not the same as defending God as the creator of all things, and accepting an old earth is not the same as accepting the theory of evolution.   

Nor is looking at an old earth theory the same as looking back on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra contrary to divine instruction; you will not become a pillar of salt for doing so. 

We are witnessing a dividing in the Church over the subject of the age of the earth because it is presented as a package with two separate subjects which do not share the same compartment.  What is traveling therein is a misunderstanding that has mistakenly joined together a dichotomy and presented it as a tenet of Christian faith.  This harms two groups.

The saints are doggedly herded into a camp with unstable walls and told to bar the doors against an enemy that doesn’t exist; despite what their common sense tells them.  This behavior of placing faith in something questionable out of a conjured fear that doubting it would destroy the word of God can lead Christians into other areas of dissonance.

Over time, they will begin to tread lightly on their faith from a fear that standing firm on it would subject it to stress whereby its weaknesses would be revealed.

The scientists who are attacked to the gospel will stop short of accepting Christ as savior and hear Him only as philosopher so long as they  believe they must abandon the reality He has created to accept Him in reality.

We are comforted to know that those who are saved cannot be lost, and those who will be saved cannot be disappointed, but we are all nonetheless subject to scandal in this life, or treatment by it that prevents us from reaching many of what otherwise would be our attainments.  To this: woe to him who willfully causes scandal and correction to him who by error causes men to stumble.

________________

Works Consulted:

Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, Third Edition (Loizeaux Brothers: 1916; 1943; 1959).

Boris Culik, Kiel, “Globicephala macrorhynchus Gray,” Whales & Dolphins, CMS, 2003 (accessed 2008). http://www.cms.int/reports/small_cetaceans/data/G_macrorhynchus/g_macrorhynchus.htm

G. H. Pember, Earth’s Earliest Ages, New Edition (Hodder Stoughton, 1876; Kregel Publications, 2005).

Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin On Trail, Second Edition (Inter-Varsity Press: 1993).

Phillip E. Johnson, Reason in the Balance: The Case Against Naturalism in Science, Law & Education (Inter-Varsity Press: 1995).

Clarence Larkin, Dispensational Truth: God’s Plan and Purpose in the Ages, Revised Edition (Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1918; Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1920).

Clarence Larkin, The Book of Revelation: A Study of The Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture (Erwin W. Moyer Co., 1919).

Clarence Larkin, Rightly Dividing The Word (Rev. Clarence Larkin Est.: 1920).

Clarence Larkin, The Spirit World (Rev. Clarence Larkin Est., 1921).

Merrell F. Unger, Biblical Demonology: A study of the Spiritual Forces at Work Today, (Scripture Press, 1963; Dregel Publications, 1994).

Merrell F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, (AMG Publishers: 1981; 2002).

Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? (Regency Publishing: 2000).

____________________________________________

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

Redemption of Satan

In the book of Ezekiel we are introduced to the magnificent King of Tyrus.  So stunning is the description of his perfection and so complete is the account of his destruction that we must conclude that he in none other than the person of Satan before his fall.  Notice that Satan started out in such a preeminent state that God says of him: “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty” (Ez 28:12). Satan was originally created at the zenith such a creature could be made to attain to.

It does not appear that God provided beforehand for a transaction of redemption that would restore a fallen but repentant Satan as He later did for man, which “creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Rom 8:20).  Hence, a restored Satan would have retained the blemish of his fall. 

The prospect of being marred by his fall for all eternity, and thought of the memory of his former splendor haunting him in the congregation of God, might explain the sealing up of his fate.  It was his beauty which originally caused hid heart to be lifted up against God (Eze 28:17). How different from God’s faithful and obedient servant who was willing to bear the marks for the price of our redemption in His hands and feet and in His side (Jh 20:27).

On the question of whether God extended an opportunity for Satan and his angels to repent, we may at least have an account of one for his angles. 

There is a curious scripture in Psalm eighty-two.  It appears there that, just as Satan and his angles presented themselves before God and accused Job (Job 1:6), his angles were at another time standing in the congregation of God when He made the offer:

A Psalm of Asaph. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. (Psa 82:1-4)

If this was an offer, we have evidence of its finale withdrawal here also. 

That they are angles we know because God said: “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” (Psa 82:6).  This is the way the angles are described in Job. In the next verse their doom is pronounced: “But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes” (Psa 82:7). 

It is also remarkable that the next and last verse to this Psalm is also the chief corner stone for all creation: “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations” (Psa 82:8).  Although we do not know when this event transpired, it seems the rest of God’s plan which would now include the fate of fallen angels was irrevocable from the point.  And if such an offer could in fact be made to the angels, it follows that it could also be made to Satan.

This idea of an extended offer of repentance to Satan and his angels may also explain Christ’s words following his riding into Jerusalem as King (Zec 9:9).  It was near the hour of his crucifixion which would make possible the redemption of men, and Satan still opposed Him. 

Jesus prayed to the Father to glorify His name, and a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again” (Joh 12:28). This may include the miracles Christ performed, but the scope of this glory could also refer to before His incarnation as redeemer and Holy One of Israel, and after His resurrection as Savior; an assurance.

It is upon this promise that the plan of salvation will not be hindered that Jesus responds: “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast down” (Jh 12:31). This may be anticipative of Satan’s future doom, for he is not cast down yet; either from the heavens, to which he still has access until the middle of the tribulation period (Rev 12:7), or from his position over the kingdoms of the world.  Also, we know that the judgment day is future too, but still there may be a more immediate application to the statement. 

The world was about to be held accountable to the work of Christ on the cross, and everyone will be judged by that standard; have you received Christ so that you may be received of God, or denied him so as to be received in the lake of fire? 

Perhaps Satan, in addition to not wanting to be a marred creature in the redemptive state and choosing instead to rule as a god for as long as this age should last, also did not want to give up his power over death.  And so by needs sake he had to be destroyed when Christ rose from the dead to abolish death (2Tim 1:10), for we read:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; (Heb 2:14)

Satan was exalted as the covering cherub with many privileges.  He frequented the holy mountain of God, and the Eden of God’s garden that was in the same vicinity (not the Eden God prepared for man), and he walked up and amidst the stones of fire (Ez 28:13-16). 

It follows that he would have been the one to have also been given dominion over the earth.  That he has title to it today after displacing Adam there is no doubt, for he was willing to offer all the kingdoms of this world to the Lord if he would worship him.  Our Lord did not question the Devil’s authority to make that offer (Mat 4:8-10).

Satan most likely engineered the fall in the garden of Eden to retake possession of the earth after God gave it to Adam, and to doom God’s new creation because God destroyed similar creatures over which Satan had a charge. 

The animus he would have over mankind could be explained by the fact that God had destroyed Awdawms in the old cosmos who Satan had some authority over.  Because of the multitude of his privileges and wonderful attributes with which he was created, Satan’s heart was darkened and he “sinned” (Ez 28:16). 

He probably involved the Awdawms in his rebellion, and for that cause they were destroyed, and God foreclosed on earth and put it in a watery bank. 

Inferences seem to point to some redemption being available to Satan and his angels.  In the hierarchy of created beings, Satan and the angles were created heavenly beings and thus far superior to the Awdawms who were created terrestrial beings.  Because they were not created specifically to be called out, or redeemed, the terms of their restoration was limited.  God is not limited, so He must have created them as such for His reasons in the Grand Design (s.v.).  Satan and his angels may have survived a restoration transaction, but not unscathed.  The lesser terrestrial Awdawms, with no special plan for redemption in play, could not negotiate such a transaction and survive it.

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

Restoration of Earth

Instead of containing language describing the genesis of materials, the passage on the reorganization of the earth has the distinct tone of sorting out preexisting things.  In the first day, God turns a light on (Gen 1:2).  This is not the creation of the sun, or all the other stars, or even the creation of light itself.  It is the illumination of a planet which was shrouded in darkness bought into a resurrection day, and God called the darkness night, and the light day.

On the second day, God divided the waters to create the atmosphere which contains water in it and sometimes forms into clouds. Notice, of all the works in the six days this is the only one for which its end does not include the words “and God saw that it was good.” This may be because the Prince of the power of the air and his subordinate principalities, and the demons immediately, and in some case gradually, made the atmosphere their home (Eph 2:2; 6:12). 

On the third day, God gathered the waters on earth together in order for the dry land to appear, and not to be created.  Then, God commands that the seeds which already were “upon the earth” germinate and produce (Gen 2:11-13).

On the fourth day, the clouds break and the sunlight and moonlight can reach the earth.  When God says he “made” this happen, the word is not the same as the word “created” in verse one; it is an act of bringing something about, not creating things (cf baw-raw, H1254, to create; aw-saw, H6213, to do or make). 

God does not begin creating anything new until the fifth day where fish and fowls are created.  On the sixth day, God creates animals, and man.  Notice that all living creatures procreated immediately “after their kind,” and this is made very clear by the term being repeated five times.  There were no intermediate life forms.

This is only a brief description of the six days of restoration and creation, and it is from the perspective that earth was created earlier before this week of days.  The days of this week are literal twenty-four hour days, clearly identified by their components of mornings and evenings.  

Certainly, a reading of Genesis chapter one can easily produce the commonly held interpretation the earth was created in this week.  If that were not the case, then so many learned and reputable men would not have held the view.  Unfortunately, some of our learned men of today are unnecessarily beside themselves to devote study to what is germane to the subject.  

Of the contemporary arguments for a young earth, many articulate a defense aimed more at refuting Darwinian evolution then examining the text for variant readings.  Many are diverted to entering into another argument altogether over a popular theory in science which is by no means central to the examination, but the fear of it leads good men to see its efficacy looming so strong besides them that they are compelled to turn aside to address it. 

Consequently, a straw man receives too much attention, and Christians are admonished, at length, to accept a young earth explanation because it would make our lives less complicated, and because to consider an older earth would be tantamount to conceding too much valuable ground to the evolutionists.  From this concern, talks that are scheduled with provocative titles promising to explain why the earth looks so old spend little time on actually doing so, and degenerate into making contiguous all other Bible doctrines to a young earth,  and urging the door be bared against an old earth least evolution get its it foot in too and all the dominos fall. 

It is painful to witness some men of high stature so misapply their skills.  Fortunately, the bankrupt and easily discredited theory of evolution was not always so frightful to other men. 

In times past, other learned men in the faith did not see the earth’s creation in Genesis chapter one, verse two, nor feel threatened by scientists espousing naturalism.  The view that the earth was created before Genesis verse two is by no means a new one.  The interpretation is at least several hundred years old when dated by works from competent Bible expositors, and it appears to have been the view that was popular two centuries ago; in the first century church.  Further, a world that existed before this one, and was destroyed, may even be a fact that was known thousands of years ago by men inspired by God.     

Atlantis

 Atlanticus Awdawmonus

David Dansker

Published by TheNewsBeats.com

Copyright 2010, all rights reserved.

Introduction

In the Gap

Restoration of Earth

Race of Awdawms

Origin of Demons

Doctrine of Demons

Calling Out a People

Redemption of Satan

Cause of Strandings

Habeas Corpus

Afterword

In the Gap

Where the Bible is silent, we may speculate.  As long as that speculation does not contradict the Bible, and is consistent with the character of God and His plans and purposes for the ages; entertaining some speculations should not divide us.  There have been reputable and learned Christian expositors who have found silence between the first and second verses in Genesis chapter one.

The Genesis account that has been interpreted to be both an account of the creation of earth and the creation of man in short successive acts may only in fact be the restoration of earth and the creation of a new creature to inhabit it. 

Indeed, the first verse in the Bible identifies God as the creator, and when taken with the second verse we specifically learn that, in their respective beginnings, God created heaven and the earth, and he created man.  There is, however, something we are presented with in verse two that does not immediately follow verse one. 

When God sets about to create man we are at the same time presented with an earth in a condition that is uninhabitable.  Many have assumed that the account of earth’s condition changing from that point leading up to man’s creation was a part of the earth’s original creation process. 

Actually, the details associated with preparing the earth for habitation seem more consistent with a process of restoration rather than a process of creation.  The implication: the earth described in Genesis chapter one, verse two, is an earth which was created some time before in verse one, and it had become a desolation before being approached again in verse two:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen 1:1)

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2).

The Bible tells us that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1).  Elsewhere in scripture we also learn the earth was created to be inhabited, and that the process of its creation did not include a period where it lay as a formless desolation:

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain [to-hoo, 8414, “without form” (Gen 1:2); a desolation], he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD ; and there is none else. (Isa 45:18; emphasis and Strongs added)

It does not comport with the intention of creating the earth to place it for an indeterminable amount of  time as a waste and ruin; as is described in the second verse in Genesis, chapter one:

And the earth was without form, and void [to-hoo, 8414, a desolation; bo-hoo, 922, an undistinguishable ruin]; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Gen 1:2; emphasis and Strongs added)

This is the condition of the earth when God approaches it, the Spirit of God moves upon the face to the waters, and begins His work on it.  The earth and the deep were all created in another separate act back in the beginning, and here the Lord is performing a different act; one of restoration.  This is why no details are provided as to the actual creation of land, or of water (an indispensable feature for earth to support life).

The fallout over John Piper’s endorsement of Rick Warren has also revealed that people in ministry positions from where they should be able to respond decisively and expeditiously are selecting the wrong time to apply generosity of spirit and indecisiveness.  For example, Phil Johnson is executive director of Grace to You radio ministry of John MacArthur.  Johnson also writes for his own website Pyromaniacs, and his lengthy article “On the Piper-Warren Connection” would lead one to believe by its title that he is addressing the serious implications of John Piper inviting Rick Warren to speak at his Desiring God National Conference.  Actually, it does little to address the heart of the issue itself; instead, it provides evidence of an unflattering assessment of many in professional ministry.

Unfortunately, many that make their living in Christian Industry are often too far removed from real living to develop discernment.  Their problem is they are usually surrounded by admiring laity, and live a cloistered, insulated, happy little Christian life, and are too far from the front lines of spiritual warfare to discern the times.  This is demonstrated by the length Johnson goes to in his article to prove he almost knows that Piper’s endorsement of Warren is an apostate move, without being able to come out and say it is an apostate move; resulting in an irresponsible piece that flirts with the notion that Johnson knows the truth, but can’t set if free.

(more…)

Although not a surprise to most people, both in and out of the faith, Televangelist Benny Hinn has admitted to being unable to heal, according to the Los Angeles Times.  What makes this a real bomb shell is the ailment that exposed Hinn’s weakness.  It wasn’t a brain tumor, pancreatic cancer, or paraplegia that finally found Hinn out; it was his marriage.

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Brian McLaren is an infamous leader in the Emergent Church movement, which is a recent and more obnoxious outcrop of church Liberalism which spawned the Evangelical Left.  Among their many heretical takes on what the Bible teaches, they also profess that Israel is to be scorned.  McLaren is joining the cacophony of anti-Israeli voices now that he is visiting the Palestinians and has undergone an awakening from the “well-planned propaganda” he was the victim of all his life in the states.¹  This certainly brings the question of McLaren’s credibility, and even basic abilities, front and center.

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Members Recast: Judas Iscariots and No-Talents

Most Life Groups are not Christian fellowships.  They are groups of people managed for their resources by church leadership teams.  The unsaved are often encouraged to join these groups where salvation is secondary, if it is that high on the list at all.  The membership drives are conducted for any and all so long as they’ll be manageable for resources.  That is the impetus behind community outreach projects, and the reason an emphasis is on the surrounding community instead of focusing on the body of Christ, the Church, as a separate entity.  That sort of divisiveness would preclude growth as defined in corporate business models.

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Many civic minded individuals with religious convictions have joined together in the Manhattan Declaration to declare their opposition to abortion and support of marriage, among other socially redeeming values.  Except for other signers, it might be only the commendable exertion of civic duty on the part of the citizenry that could be praised much in the same way as their registering to vote, though garnering more of it from those who agree with their position.  What has turned this otherwise fair lesson in civics, however, into a debacle is the assortment of religious leaders who are now also in league together by their own declaration.

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Some of the scariest cult practices around the world actually contain Christian themes.  In San Fernando, Philippines, upwards of two dozen people have themselves nailed to cross on Good Friday to emulate the crucifixion of Christ.  Many more undergo self-flagellation where “scores of men pound their bleeding bare backs with bamboo sticks dangling from ropes in a flagellation rite meant to atone for sins.”¹ As atrocious and repulsive as these displays are, most in mainstream Protestantism would attribute these rituals to ignorant penitents of the Roman Catholic variety, and in far away jungles.  Welcome to the jungle.The misapplication of Christ’s life as an example for Christian living has become a popular topic for leaders in large Protestant churches in America, and the results could get just as ugly. According to mega-church pastor Rick Warren, people should look back on Jesus life leading up to the crucifixion and emulate it to perfect good leadership skills.While at first it sounds like a pious exercise promising great benefits to perspective leaders,  even the great mega-leader himself exhibits the pitfalls of trying follow Jesus after His life in the flesh.  In one lesson Warren instructs: “You’ve got to learn not to care about the opinions of others.”²  Real leaders won’t “pay attention to those who cheer you or jeer you.”³    After all, leaders need to be like Jesus who “lived for an audience of One” in order to please their heavenly Father.⁴   It almost sounds like Warren is championing the priesthood of believers, and extolling the individuals’ relationship with God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit.  Not so fast.

Warren is encouraging leadership, but not without the bounds of his own holy order, or outside of his organizational hierarchy.  Shortly after encouraging leaders to remain undeterred by either applause or rejection, he withdraws Christian liberty altogether.  “If God gives you a vision for your ministry,” Warren begins his about face, “he’s going to bring other people with the same idea together with you.  If nobody agrees on your idea, guess what?  It’s not from God.”⁵  Really? How do you know that you’re not just on a bad run of those ‘jeers’ you’re not supposed to pay attention to?  If you sense the Holy Spirit telling you to move, should you decline on Warren’s technicality of having at least one human witness to vouch for God’s credibility?Aside from this being absurd, this denies the fact that there are ministry opportunities a saint will encounter that will be used to demonstrate God’s awesome power and His sufficiency; to both strengthen the individual believer, and glorify His name.

Of course, Warren is being deceptively duplicitous.  He is pretending to hold out some vaunted mantle of leadership while actually enticing the simple into leg irons for subservience to the Purpose Driven holy order.  That order is the Purpose Driven Church comprised of cloisters of small interdependent groups which are closely supervised and directed by the real leadership at the top.

In an effort to support the claim for his small group paradigm by pointing to the disciples, Warren claims that “Jesus modeled this kind of ministry.  He never did ministry alone.” This outright falsehood is parleyed in an attempt to suggest that the Lord instituted the collectivist’s “collaboration” of working in “a small group,”⁶ outside of which no Christian service was legitimate, and that Jesus was incompetent and utterly dependent upon His small group to redeem mankind.

There is a strong resemblance between Warren the collectivist, and a more famous one spoken of by historian Clinton Rossiter in 1960:

He was, on any large view, a collectivist, a thinker who had a thoroughly social view of the claim to personal liberty, who obliterated ruthlessly the distinction between public and private man, … and who insisted that the behavior of any individual was determined almost wholly by his membership in a class.⁷

This collectivist and avowed atheist, who Warren has molded his soviet-style control groups after, was none other than Karl Marx. Warren’s ruthless obliteration of aging or small congregations by sending PDL-trained infiltrators in among the sheep to take over church buildings is well documented.  His propagation of the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which establishes a ruling clergy over an ignorant laity, has reestablished the class system the Protestant Reformation once freed Christians from. Next stop, Rome.

Notes:

^1. Associated Press, “Philippine devotees nailed to the cross in Good Friday rites,” International Herald Tribune, March 21, 2008. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/21/news/Philippines-Crucifixions.php

^{2 - 6.} Rick Warren, “The Seven Foundations of Jesus’ Leadership,” Christian Post, April 23, 2008.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080423/32075_The_Seven_Foundations_of_Jesus%92_Leadership.htm

^7. Clinton Rossiter, “Marxism: The View from America” (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1960), 119.

Every year more and more packages of small group curricula are marketed to churches under the pretense of helping pastors to do their job better. A popular theme this year is apologetics, and there are several products to choose from. Lee Strobel is broadcasting his “Investigation Faith” seminars, and his small group curriculum will be released this Fall. Strobel also endorses Garry Poole’s Seeker Small Groups (which is also endorsed by Nicky Gumbel, of The Alpha Course). Outreach Training’s Mark Mittelberg, who coauthored Becoming a Contagious Christian with Willow Creek’s Bill Hybels, encourages pastors to purchase their resources in order to get “key sharp lay leaders” to perform apologetics ministries, among other things.¹

It seems that nothing has been left to chance, or the Holy Spirit, at Outreach Training; they have even chiseled four “laws” of outreach ministry, with several codices for each. The first law, according to Outreach, requires churches to create an “identity” by using the marketing technique of “branding.”² Once the church designs a marketable image, they move on to work the sections in law number two which cover how to attract visitors. The first section in this law is titled “Doing Marketing God’s Way,” and it includes a particularly horrible take on the Pentecost, and advises that:

Churches and ministries should examine the communication channels (or media) available to them and strategize effective ways to use them for the Kingdom in their own communities.³

There seems, always, to be interspersed in these money making programs some talk about building something for the Kingdom, to lure the unlearned into thinking they are being extended an opportunity to construct an edifice to commemorate their meritorious sacrifices; if only to have it displayed as a small brick in the wall of the celestial city to come. All of this to be gained, claim the authors, by looking to the world’s method of marketing to know what to do. After all, this is the section on marketing, but it raises the critical point.

Are pastors allowing this shameless merchandising of the saints under their care because they really do need help doing their job; because they don’t know how to do it? What else to conclude but that too many young seminary graduates are actually psychology majors stopping over for the time being while they get up nerve to hang out their own shingles in practices elsewhere. Ambitious young men who are after more respectable and higher paying counseling jobs so that they can live in the houses they want to live in, and drive the cars they want to drive. Unless, of course, they could get the marketing right in one of these churches and build attendance into an income tsunami they could ride to prosperity on.

The authors of these programs counter that apologetics is some specialty ministry requiring their expertise and (well paid) assistance. They clamor that orchestrated attacks are mounting from the atheists, and time must be spent by pastors studying their arguments and crafting rebuttals. Yet, all atheism boils down to only one argument, and it is the easiest to rebut using only a book that pastors should already have in their possession.

The only thing that would establish atheism as the truth of the universe is the fact of Darwinian Evolution; and it is a theory that is almost effortlessly demolished, proved to be a universal lie, using only the first two chapters of Genesis. Are there not so many such men as are called pastors, who have faith in God and His word, who could teach from the first book in the Bible? Is it true that the best course for men in saving souls is that they should vex themselves by steeping their minds in the convoluted reasoning of reprobates and unregenerate men?

This is a digression of the worst sort. No such valuable time should be liberally applied to these pursuits, and especially not by pastors who admit, by their temptation to purchase these sordid professional development programs, that they lack familiarity with the Bible itself. Here is acquaintance on the subject of persuading those who would seek God, and what needs actually exists for supplementing the gospel. Open the book and read, even from the beginning. For our Lord spoke on this subject: “And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luk 16:31).⁴

Notes:

^1. Katherine T. Phan, “Apologists Ask Churches to Step Up Response to Militant Atheism,” Christian Post, February 13, 2008. http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080213/31176

_Apologists_Ask_Churches_to_Step_Up_Response_to_Militant_Atheism.htm

^2. Resources, Outreach Training, http://www.outreachtraining.com/resources.html. (accessed February 20, 2008).

^3. “Doing Marketing God’s Way,” From Outreach, Inc. Products Division. http://www.outreachtraining.com

/documents/DoingMarketingGodsWay.pdf. (accessed February 20, 2008).

^4. This from our Lord’s account of two certain and particular men who died and received their separate and eternal reward, and here He quoth Abraham.