Restoring the Supernatural (Part 3 – Exploring the Elements)

Posted by on May 28, 2012 No comments

QUICK UPDATE

Before I jump into to todays post, I wanted to let you know that I have began a project with Douglas Hamp. Basically, we are making his book Corrupting the Image: Angels, Aliens and the Antichrist Revealed into a film. This will be a essentially a way to visualize a lot of the concepts he brings up in the book to a wider audience. It will be done in a very professional manner and hopefully will get some views on youtube since it will be posted there on my page once it’s done. Doug has asked me to be the director for the project. We also have some phenomenal talent that will be a part of the making of this film including a guy who has worked on some major motion pictures in Hollywood in the CGI (Computer Graphic Imaging) department. So hopefully it will look cool. This last week, we recorded Doug talking about his book. We got about three hours of footage so the next step will be to build a proper script around the narrative that Doug provided.

After this post, I’m going to take a break from writing Restoring the Supernatural and focus on the video projects. As I read back what I have written, it’s been somewhat scattered and poorly written in many parts, so much like the way the film Age of Deceit was a “build-deconstruct-rebuild” I feel that this topic and my aspirations of making it a PDF book are similar. I am writing a whole different thing on the side that I hope to release much later. But working 50+ hours a week with a family leaves little time for doing this kind of stuff. In any case, here’s Part 3.

EXPLORING THE ELEMENTS
Throughout the many years of human history that we do have record of, it is blatantly apparent that the earlier the writings, the more fantastic they appear. Mythologies of strange creatures, giants, gods, heavens and the underworld are found in many ancient literatures. It is my conviction that this is the reason why God inspired the authors who penned the many scrolls of the Bible. It was to shave away all the deception and fluff in order to get to the core truths that are important for humanity to hold onto. However, I do believe it is important to look at how these ancient narratives and how they reflect on the Biblical text for a couple of reasons.

First, it helps us be informed about the enemy. While some are okay with holding steadfast to the Word of God alone and tune out the rest of the world, others like myself feel that knowing a little bit about the enemy can help the body of Christ be informed of the impending attacks. This is what being a watchmen is all about. It’s not for everyone and certainly God has appointed various people to do various things for the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:10). The common analogy used here is that of a sports team. Scouts always take a look at the other teams scheme so they can prepare for what they can expect to see when they face the opposition. We also have to keep in mind what God reminded us in the Word in the book of Luke when the rich man pleads with Abraham who was on the other side of the chasm that separated himself and the pit of Hades. The rich man wanted Abraham to somehow warn his brothers so they would be spared of the pain. Abraham replied, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16:31). So in a similar fashion, all someone like myself is trying to do is heed warning. Again I am no prophet, but the bottom line is that if the people don’t listen, and something excessively supernatural does go down, and I believe it will in a short time, the responsibility falls on the individual who heard the warning and didn’t do anything.

Second, if we know that the Bible is true, then ancient written records that do not conflict with the Biblical narrative should also be taken into account. Certainly not as inspired text, but at least to gain a better understanding of the context to which the Bible reveals truth to us.

Inevitably, the centerpiece and punch line to all of this is always going to be Jesus Christ. And this will be a recurring theme throughout our investigation of many of these topics. There is no need for this kind of knowledge to be saved by the love of our Lord Jesus, but it certainly does help us get a grasp of why Jesus is important.

But in order to even begin to explore what these ancient text reveal to us in light of the inspired text, let’s explore where, when and why we find ourselves in a culture that either ignores the supernatural all together, or has gravely misplaced its implications and effects in our world.

WHAT STARTED THE DESCENT?
The question that really made me curious about how we have come to this secular, materialistic view of reality was when it all happened. For centuries, ancient stories and mythology were not taken as mere folklore or fiction but as some form of history. Yet in the last few centuries, we have completely tuned out the supernatural elements of the ancient writings dismissing them all as “religious” writings, predominantly in the realm of academia from which cultural trends flow.

Just a quick overview of recent history and we know that sometime around the beginning of the enlightenment period, a major shift happened in the authority of academic scholarship. Almost all the text of religious or spiritual significance from ancient times that were held as historical for over a millennia were suddenly tossed aside as unreliable and unreasonable. A wikipedia source explains the enlightenment period as follows:

“The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe and America, whose purpose was to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted science and intellectual interchange and opposed superstition,[1] intolerance and abuses in church and state. Originating about 1650 to 1700, it was sparked by philosophers Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), John Locke (1632–1704), Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), physicist Isaac Newton (1643–1727), and philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778).”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment

As a consequence, anything that defied reason was touted as false or superstition. The age of enlightenment is the foundation to the state we find ourselves today in culture and society. The Institution of Church has also been greatly affected by the age of enlightenment. Anything supernatural is seen as somewhat taboo and almost unwarranted. And while there has been a slight revival in a sense of the supernatural elements in the modern church, it seems the pendulum has swung the opposite direction into the highly suspicious charismatic movement.

One place where the ancient records were not overturned were the Egyptian hieroglyphs. While this is speculation, I believe that those who were part of the enlightenment, although didn’t openly accept the supernatural, in specific regard, the Biblical accounts, for some reason felt that the ancient Egyptian records were the most accurate. Perhaps it was because of the wealth of records left behind by the Egyptians, or their alleged accomplishments of the Great Pyramids and Sphinx. Or if we really want to get speculative, it may be because the folks who touted “reason” we’re not doing anything new, but were resurrecting an ancient philosophy of wisdom and knowledge as the benchmark for attaining godhood. This makes a lot of sense in light of the secret societies that came out of the enlightenment period. The most popular group that emerged from this time period was the Order of the Illuminati.

 

Restoring the Supernatural (Part 2 – Supernaturality)

Posted by on May 23, 2012 No comments

The Supernaturality
It’s true that we as a culture and society have come to a place where information is readily available at our fingertips, especially here in the west. Everything we could ever want to know, we can find out in mere seconds. “Google it!” or “Wiki it!” have become a mantra for finding out information about anyone, anything, anywhere, and anywhen. But as knowledge is increased and humanity taps into this huge stream of information floating through the air, the chasm between those providing the information, and those receiving it, have become ever so wide. This is precisely why I believe the Word of God is so important. If the Bible is true and it really is a message from an all powerful Creator, a mind which spoke the universe into existence and has given life to me and you, then under such circumstances that we find ourselves today, information that we can be confident as “Truth” can only be found in the Bible. The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written by 40 people, in three different languages, spanning over 1500 years, various cultures, and time periods. Yet the conclusions of many who have researched and scrutinized the Scriptures for centuries have agreed that it is a message of supernatural origin.

I’ve often heard theologians and Christian apologists talk about how the Bible is not simply a book of spiritual truths, but also a historical book. While the secular scientific community is quick to dismiss and doubt Noah’s Flood, the Garden of Eden, or even according to the some New Atheists, the existence of Jesus as a man who lived in the first century, as a Christian, it is my conviction that the events which are described in the Bible (that are not obvious parables or metaphor) are real historical events. Do they have spiritual, moral, emotional, social significance? Absolutely. But without the events actually taking place in the fabric of our past, these other truths cannot be related to at the level they were meant to by God.

So when I read in Genesis that God formed the entire universe piecing together time, space, matter and energy, I believe it was a real event. When God formed the earth and formed man in His image from the dust of the ground, I believe this was a true historical event. When I read how the serpent (or shining one per Dr. Mike Heiser) came and deceived mankind into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, I believe this was a real historical event. When I read in Exodus 14:21 how God parted the red sea so Moses and the Israelites could pass, I believe this was a true event. When I read events described in 2 Kings 6:17 when God opens the eyes of Elijah’s servant to see the spiritual realm with horses and chariots of fire, I believe it was a real event. When I read Ezekiel 1:16 and Ezekiel 10:10 where he saw a cherubim, a living creature with four faces and what appeared to be a wheel within a wheel, I believe it was a real historical event. When I read Jesus rose from the dead, I believe this was a true historical event. When I read through Him, we are born again and are promised to be clothed with immortality, I believe this will be a real historical event in the future.

The Bible is full of supernatural events, past present and future. My little rant in the paragraph above is just a small snippet of all the supernatural events described in the Bible. I left out some of the more intense and important events so I can address them later in the book, but either way, it should be obvious that the Bible contains a supernatural history which is in context to eternity. The foundation to such a claim is that the supernatural is the reality that feeds the natural realm.

Supernatural Feeds the Natural

Francis Schaeffer’s most popular analogy was the upper story/lower story duality. This was the philosophical handling on the difference between the natural realm, the lower story, and God’s realm, or the upper story. The lower story consisted of reason, rationality, mathematics, materialism, nature, and all of the tangible compartments of existence while the upper story is where transcendence of meaning itself resides. This is the place of God. A place beyond understanding, explanation, and the confines of nature. While I can go deeper into the philosophical ramifications of this analogy, for our purposes, I simply wanted to show the trail of thought that can help us gain a better understanding of what the supernatural consists of.

Schaeffer, being a theologian and philosopher, never went into how this upper story may simply be the spiritual realm. What is the spiritual realm but a place that transcends nature? And since this reality does exist, and can be verified from the lower story where we reside now, it’s impossible to negate its existence. In other words, we being firmly in the lower story to conduct our communication between one another, it takes rational, logic, and reason to describe the upper story. Yet, while I am certain that no words can accurately describe what it’s like to be in that other place, or simply put, the spiritual world, I do think that it is important that we can use our lower story confines to investigate how or what the implications are. Otherwise, such evidence would only only be a construct of fantasy.

The mistake that is made with the modern sciences and even some folks who would call themselves Christian, is that they have ignored the upper story. They have forgotten that all that is down here, comes from up there. But even those who do acknowledge the upper story, like new agers, spiritualists, and other esoteric and occult practitioners are not realizing that there can be good and bad beings in the upper story realm. Because the beings in the upper story are very much intelligent entities, God being the ultimate, it is important to realize how much influence they have to our lower story existence. There are entities in the spiritual world who willfully rejected God, and therefore, there is an very important element of discernment that is needed for us down here.

This is why the Bible is what it is. While various religions and alternative spiritual practices will provide a particular staircase that promises a destination of upper story glory, pure, holy and transcendent, God Himself provides the proper staircase to ensure that the one we walk up will be met with the Creator Himself. It sheds a whole new understanding of that famous passage by Jesus doesn’t it?

“Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” ~ Matthew 7:14

In a sense, Jesus is the carpenter who built the staircase for us. God freely gave His life up so that this staircase would be constructed and available for anyone who wanted to accept the path. But not only that, He left instructions on how to get to that staircase and what it would take to make the steps upward. I’ve heard a clever acronym for the Bible; B.I.B.L.E. (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) and I really think this applies when looking at this analogy.

When we grasp this concept, we understand a wealth about our own behavior here on earth. First, we can understand why humanity itself is in constant search for something. For the transhumanists, it’s immortality in this physical world. For the new agers, it’s spiritual ascension and getting in tune with the “higher self.” For the esoterics, it’s “becoming gods.” For the scientists, it’s finding the cure for diseases. Whatever the label of a person or persons, the mission in life is to find purpose and meaning in an attempt to find a connection with that transcendent element of our being that is lacking so hard in the depths of our souls in this fallen world. It becomes abundantly clear that outside of the love, grace, and mercy of Jesus Christ, we are walking blindly in a world that offers false staircases, all of which lead to destruction.

Second, and more to the point, is that no one can live in the lower story without the reality of the imposing upper story. Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. Our concepts, motives, drive for meaning and purpose are all factors derived from the upper story realm. All of these things would be meaningless if the materialistic view is true, as many philosophers have agreed that a truly pure materialistic perspective ends in nihilism. Yet, all humanity yearns for something more than simply the material part of who we are. It is inconsistent for the person who lives believing there is meaning and purpose in their life, while at the same time believing that life is simply a grand clash of atoms and particles. Furthermore, when we get into the constructs of DNA, quantum physics, and the fact that information itself is an immaterial entity, we will really begin to see how the upper and lower story are inseparable.

The Church
‘Though Christians would never accept naturalism as a philosophy, many have absorbed a naturalistic approach to marketing, adopting techniques that treat a target audience essentially as passive “consumers” to be manipulated into buying “a product.”‘ ~Nancy Pearcey in the Book Total Truth: Study Guide Edition p 367)

The institutionalized church community has become trapped so to speak in the lower story. We have become salesmen for Jesus, not messengers of Salvation. The blurring of the line between financial gain and spreading the Gospel have become the stronghold that has driven our churches to become “seeker friendly” and all about “social justice.” Part of my criticism here is that the institution of church are largely seeking meaning and purpose in the same places that the humanistic atheists, new agers, occultists, and scientists are seeking. In other words, what makes the church that feeds the homeless different from the atheists who do? What makes the church that seeks quiet time for prayer different from the new agers who meditate for hours? And so on. And while the church does recognize the upper story and point to the unique God of heaven, how many stand in our pulpits today and deliver an alternative staircase that lead to destruction? How many have become mere word smiths verbalizing some snake oil of self improvement playing into the desires of the flesh? A question comes to my mind as I write this. “Who am I to judge the institution of Church and the intent of the pastors in seeker friendly churches?” And this is true. Who am I to point the finger? Again, I don’t have all the answers, but as I continue, I hope to continue to provide you with some food for thought and some concepts to chew on so that you are made aware of the impending dangers of deception lurking behind the appearance of success, fame, wealth, fortune, and the beautiful beast that is the institution of church.

Restoring the Supernatural (Part 1 – History)

Posted by on May 19, 2012 5 comments

How do we know History?

“This site is dedicated to be a repository for the numerous “out-of-place” artifacts that have been discovered…If taken seriously, these artifacts would destroy several fundamental theories in the realms of evolutionary science, geology, modern dating, and more. In the end analysis, it is clear that our understanding of and theories about history and evolution is wrong. The question is when mainstream science will admit it.”  ~Forbidden History

Cliches are often true aren’t they? Short snippets of words to describe some element of reality that most people tend to agree with under any circumstance. The one I thought about while pondering where to start with this chapter was the one that goes like this; “Those who forget history, often repeat it.” But what if the history we are forgetting is far more vast than simply a teenager who might be ignorant of the holocaust? And what if the history we are going to repeat have dire implications for the world at large?

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24:37, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” This passage will become more important as we uncover the supernatural implications of the words uttered by our Lord Jesus, but for now, consider the thought that there was a history in the antediluvian, or pre-flood world that are systematically denied by the established sciences, and forgotten at large by the body of Christ.

Through most of time, “history” was passed down through word of mouth, stories, myths, books, and other limited resources highly susceptible to corruption, change, or manipulation. Once modern science entered the conversation in the last century, they took the wheel as the authority in describing history in the academic milieu.

Science operates on the observation of evidence. However, I believe that there are two kinds of evidence. Material and immaterial. Material evidence can be ancient pottery, clothing, ruins, even the bones of a once living human being or animal from way long ago. Basically, they’re things that can be measured, weighed, and observed in the physical spectrum. While investigating these resources could tell us a great deal about a given ancient culture, it cannot give us any insight into the immaterial history. When I say immaterial, I mean the various emotions, thoughts and experiences of those who were actually there to experience the ancient past. These things are left to speculation and are often fabricated by those who investigate the material evidence.

Here is an example. Let’s say my wife and I go to Starbucks to have a cup of coffee. We walk in, order our coffee, sit down at one of those IKEA bought contemporary couches, and have a conversation. When we finish our coffee, we both leave our cups on the table and walk out. If an investigator on that same day wanted to know whether or not my wife and I had been at Starbucks, they can certainly figure it out without much work. Besides, they write your names on those cups now don’t they? But, if the investigator wanted to know what my wife and I were talking about, that would be a little bit harder. He would have to rely on secondhand information from someone who may have been there and heard a few snippets of the conversation. And let’s say the investigator was trying to uncover not just what we might have talked about, but our thoughts and emotions during that conversation. Good luck. Certainly we act out our emotions with our gestures and facial expressions, but unless they had a chip in our brains (more on that later in the book), you would have no idea what our emotional experiences were, let alone our thoughts.

So in light of understanding this fact, we have to look at history as we know it with a grain of salt don’t we? How could you say you know everything about a certain period of the past when you weren’t there? The legends, myths, folklore, stories and ancient writings are a mere fragment of the actual reality that may or may not have occurred in the distant past. Even if you are majoring in History at a prestigious University, all you would really know is what the establishment will feed you as “history”. Yes it would give you more knowledge about the past than your average person who doesn’t study history, nevertheless, your knowledge would be limited and even shaped by what is written and recorded. Another Cliche comes to mind; “Those who win wars, write their history.”

But it seems like websites like Forbidden History (forbiddenhistory.info) and many others going against the grain are trying to show that there are even physical artifacts that don’t fit the proper paradigm of the established sciences. Whether it be a huge pyramid structure 300 feet underwater off the coast of Florida, [1] or the Dashka Stone, which allegedly shows an aerial view of the region along with an unknown form of language [2], or a petrified footprint that the Smithsonian deemed hundreds of millions of years old [3], the earth itself is teeming with artifacts that don’t fit the paradigm of science as presented in all levels of our education system.

But how could this be? Why would the establishment lie to us? For what purpose and for what ends? These are legitimate questions and are worth investigating. The bottom line is that history is not what we read in the history text books. It is not simply found in the artifacts that fit or don’t fit the establishment.  I believe they have a supernatural undercurrent that is largely ignored by the not only the main stream populous but the body of Christ at large.

[1]http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-03-16/news/8701160699_1_underwater-pyramid-treasure-hunter-florida-coast
[2] http://ragnartaltos.hubpages.com/hub/Proof-of-Ancient-Flight
[3] https://www.forbiddenhistory.info/?q=node/116

Restoring the Supernatural (Intro)

Posted by on May 17, 2012 No comments

I am currently writing my thoughts and ideas on how to restore the topic of the supernatural for the church, largely based on my current experiences. This will come in multiple parts, and perhaps if I get enough encouragement, I will make it into a PDF document for people to upload. My goal is to show from a Biblical point of view, the importance of the supernatural realities which we wrestle with as individuals and also as a church body. I am going to attempt to provide a basic backdrop as to how and why we have redefined the definition of supernatural, as well as a warning to take heed on the various deceptions that are a part of supernatural realm. Today’s post is just the introduction.

“For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” ~ Ephesians 6:12

INTRODUCTION
The modern church in America has become a multi-headed beast. On one head, there are the self-righteous Christians who are legalistic in nature, telling people they will burn in hell if they don’t do X, Y, and Z; the religiously zealous Christians who hold onto traditions and ritual as a necessary step to salvation.

On another head, there are the social justice Christians who spend little to no time in the Word of God but go out and do acts of social justice as good “deeds” for the poor and needy. It’s great to go out into the local and world community to help and take care for the sick, needy, poor, marginalized and lost, but what makes their work any different from the work of a humanitarian group doing the same thing?

Then there are the Phantom Christians who are pure intellectuals who sit boarded up in their basement doing nothing that might be salt and light into the world, but studying the Word of God profusely like a mad scientist.

Then of course there are the lethargic Christians who maybe go to church on sunday but never spend a lick of time in the Word or do anything to help the community. They are the cultural Christians who live in sin during the week, but go to church on Sundays. The people who the secular world often labels, “the hypocrite.”

Then there are the charismatic Christians who have opened themselves up to the realm of supernatural so much that they seem to be demon possessed rather than filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of church with leaders who kick women in the face and say the Holy Spirit led them to do it.

Then you have the emergent church movement filled with allegorical mockery of the Word of God, making claims that are not found in scripture but continue to boast that the ideas are “grounded” and the product of the “real” church.

Of course then there are the people who call themselves supporters of covenant theology or dispensational theology, pre-tribulation, post-tribulation, a-millennial, post-millennial, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Brethren, Presbyterian, Restorationists, Quakers, Apostalic, Catholic, Protestant…

Then you have you’re cults. Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witness, Arianists, Molokans, Universal Alliance…the list goes on and on and on and on.

The truth is that we as believers all fall into one or several of these categories. But it begs the question; are we as the body of Christ dysfunctional? I think we could all agree with absolute certainty. Yes! And it’s a fair criticism from the secular non-believing community as well. I often hear the non-believer say, “If God was real and the bible true, then why are there over 200,000 denominations? Why wasn’t God clear?”

I by no means have a distinct and concise answer to this problem. But I am going to posit my own point of view and I am going to ground it in scripture the best I can. I am well aware that my own convictions and views of the world and the Church as a whole are subject to the same criticism I offer. But that’s ok because I don’t expect to be more right or more wrong than the next person. That’s not to say I believe in subjective relativism, because I do believe that there is such a thing as Truth, and that Truth is objective and external to us. I am simply going to convey a different perspective on the topic of the institutional Church along with society and culture as a whole and use the Bible as much as possible to support it. I don’t claim to be some kind of prophet, great theologian, or an apostle or that God clearly told me to write these things down. I am not going to say “my way or the highway” or that all my views are perfectly coherent. I am a mere fallen human being like every one of you reading this. I am a sinner, broken, a hypocrite and undeserving to enter eternal life. But at the same time, I know that I am blessed and a glorious creation in the eyes of God , brought to salvation in faith by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus.

So now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of my schizophrenic frame of mind, I will proceed into the one issue that I believe will help the church immensely. It is why I believe the Church needs a systematic reboot on the topic of the supernatural.

Experiencing Apostasy First Hand

Posted by on May 12, 2012 6 comments

I normally try to write blog posts with more substance than what I am about to spew out, but I think it’s a good way to make my feelings public while building an argument for my case. I debated whether to publish this at all, but I went ahead with it because I felt that it was necessary to shed light on the true issue at hand; apostasy in the church. More specifically, I believe this is a direct result of Satan entering into where he can be most effective; the church. I believe this whole thing has come about because Satan does not want the body of Christ to wake up and become fully aware of the spiritual realities which exist just beyond the veil of the material world.

Before I jump in, I want to let you know that I am working on several video and book projects at the moment, as well as maintaining Canary Cry Radio, my Youtube Page, and this blog. So I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, so I will be plenty busy over the summer. I am hoping to get more videos out and transform the blog into a more multi-media thing where I have text, video, and audio podcast on each post. That’s the goal, but it also means I will have to post less often. In either case, I hope someone can relate to the things I experienced this week, and what I am posting about today.

THE BACKGROUND

About two months ago, Doug Hamp and myself decided to try to push for a Prophecy Conference in Southern California. Doug being close with LA Marzulli, we would have had an all star line up. We also felt that my home church (non-denominational), which I will keep nameless (do enough digging and you can figure it out) would be a great place to host a conference like this because it would invite like minded people to gather together from San Diego and Los Angeles since Orange County sits right in between the two major counties. Well the two guys were on board and so I began to write a proposal to one of the church leaders. After I sent the first email, I got a reply saying that they were interested and that it would get pushed to higher people within the church to confirm the event. What we were merely asking for was a room to rent out for a day. My church, which has a beautiful campus hosts various conferences and meetings throughout the year  (half the time having nothing to do with Church or Christianity). So I figured an event focused on Prophecy would be something they are open to. After having a face to face conversation with this person, I sent her the email proposal. This is what I said in the email:

“Thank you for taking the time to listen to me this morning. I really appreciate it. Please pray for discernment over the request. Below is the official proposal of what you can expect to see in this one day conference. The speakers will be Doulas Hamp and LA Marzulli. Doug has spoken for Doc Beshores class and even has his endorsement on the back of his book.

Like I mentioned, we will be speaking about topics which should be, in my opinion, of greater concern to the church and it’s future than people are recognizing. I know when I had these questions, it was not our church who helped me answer them. In fact, because of the lack of answers, I nearly lost my faith just a year or so after I declared my faith in Christ. I don’t want anyone else to go through that because what I found was the the Biblical perspective is the BEST answer and Jesus’ light shines MUCH brighter after understanding these truths. Please give us an opportunity to speak into these topics and provide space for curious people in the church to get answers.

I get that most people don’t like talking about things that make them uncomfortable. But I believe it is understanding the enemy and the darkness revealed to us through God’s Word that makes the work of Jesus and his Gospel message shine! Again thank you for giving me an opportunity to share this with you. Here is a brief proposal of what we would like to do:

 

Preparing the Church for the Future (Name is still in the works)

(The views and opinions expressed in this conference may not necessarily reflect those of ******* Church)

This will be a one day conference with two speakers, both of which are evangelical Christians who will present a case for how the prophetic events described in the bible are manifesting in our time today. This conference will be scripture based, rooted in the literal interpretation of proper exegesis and hermeneutics of the bible, and have a scholastic approach where all information is credible, historic and well documented. The goal is to equip the body of Christ with a posture they can take moving forward into a time the Bible speaks more about than almost any other point in history. Unlike most conferences and teachings that concern prophecy, this event will not only be informing and eye opening to the audience, but will provide three crucial, practical, and tangible tools for the Bible believing Christian:

1. Thinking outside the box

What this conference will provide is a practical way for the believer to begin seeing the world with Scripture goggles in every facet of life. From personal struggles to what we see in the news, media, and the public forum, the goal is to give the audience the confidence that the Word of God is more than just a self-help book – but actually a book that is relevant and speaks into world events unfolding right now! We will speak into topics many churches would never touch on but are totally embedded in main stream culture while providing that solid foundation of God’s Word as the basis for understanding it’s deeper implications. We believe this is vital for the future generation of Christians who are living in a culture where Christianity is being more and more compromised, pushed away and considered irrelevant.

“My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me” Hosea 4:6

2. Outreach
The dichotomy within the churches today seems to be that either they focus entirely on studying the scriptures while avoiding serving opportunities, or on the other hand, serving consistently but spending little to no time in the Word. This conference will open up new ideas and opportunities to bridge the two sides by having conversations about what it looks like to serve the community in a brand new way. While many speakers and teachers of prophecy are very good at giving lectures, we hope to open up an extensive time of Q&A following the lectures as well as discussion time (much like Lumen) to provide the opportunities for these conversations to develop.

If poverty really is defined as “a lack of Shalom,” then “serving” becomes a posture that goes beyond helping the poor and needy, but to all people that you come in contact with. This includes the atheist, the party kids in college, the homosexual community, but even more, the new agers, the psychics and mediums, the spiritualists, people in the occult and secret societies, and even the Satanists and Luceferians. Besides, didn’t Jesus die for them as well? Furthermore, we hope to provide information that can be used as a platform for evangelism in a world pushing further and further away from the Gospel message. In other words, we hope that this conference will set a fire in the hearts of the believer so that we become people who serve the Lord and the community ruthlessly, without fear, and with total conviction that no matter how dark the world seems to be, the light of the Lord will prevail.”Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2

 

3. Prayer

The average time allotted for prayer in most churches on a given Sunday is a mere 50 seconds. Most of the time it is concerning the topic of the message and a general blessing over the congregation. We believe we need more prayer warriors. We want to provide an opportunity for people to pray not just for one another for personal struggles, but also as a body to pray against the darkness and high places. God is a powerful God and nothing is impossible with Him. While prayers for personal struggles is vital, we believe that by praying as a large group against the dark forces of evil is something that is not done enough. Occult groups, new agers, spiritualists and even satanic covens are strongly devoted to their rituals, yet the body of Christ does not do enough to fight in spiritual warfare against such practices. The church has great power under the authority of Christ, and we want to provide an opportunity to practice this authority by spending time in prayer after each presentation with suggested prayers against the principalities and powers (as covered in each lecture).

 

“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise redeeming the time because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:11-16

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

 

SPEAKERS

LA Marzulli-Author/film maker/researcher/Lecturer: LA has authored several books including the Nephilim Trilogy which is a fictional book as well as Politics, Prophecy and the Supernatural, Alien Interviews, and most recently, The Cosmic Chess Match. He is also the director of the Watchers DVD series and has been a guest on Coast to Coast AM, Prophecy in the News, and has spoken in hundreds of venues concerning the signs of the times in light of biblical revelation. He is well respected in the alternative Christian community as being one of the pioneers in discussing topics that no other Christian has.

Douglas Hamp, author of Discovering the Language of Jesus, The First Six Days and Corrupting the Image earned his MA in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.  During his three years in Israel, he studied both modern and biblical Hebrew, biblical Aramaic, Koine Greek and other ancient languages as well as ancient texts and the archeology of the Bible. He served as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa for over six years, where he taught at the School of Ministry, Spanish School of Ministry and Calvary Chapel Bible College Graduate School. Douglas has given numerous lectures on biblical languages, creationism and prophecy in the United States and internationally.”

 

THE REJECTION

About a month ago, I received notice that the church prayer team approved the event and that it would be going to a meeting where the final decision would be made. I was really excited because I thought this was going to be a turning point for the church that always preaches being “bold, courageous, and stepping out in faith” but avoided prophecy like the plague.

After two weeks of waiting, I heard nothing and so I asked the lady who I initially sent the email to what was going on. She told me that one of our other leaders in charge would make the final decision. So the next week, I went up to this person and asked him what the verdict was. He told me that it was brought up in the meeting and that he would let me know. I told him that both LA and Doug were holding a date for the conference for several weeks now so the sooner we know, the better.

The following week (which was earlier this week), I went up to the guy again and asked him if there was an update. He briskly moved away from me saying it’s not up to him and that it was placed back into the hands of the initial lady I emailed. Talk about playing hot potato. At this point I suspected something was up.

After contacting the lady once more, she gave me a call and told me that there were too many “red flags” in the theology and that it would not be a good time to hold such a conference and that this church would not be the best place to hold it. She apologized profusely because she was under the impression that someone else had already contacted me to tell me that it was a “no-go” several weeks before.

I was upset not so much that they declined the event, but rather that they all avoided telling me face to face. But at this point, I believe this is spiritual warfare and the veil of darkness that the institution of church is under. If it’s true that Satan does not want people to know or begin to recognize the spiritual realities, then it makes sense that he would attack the one place that is most powerful when it comes to influencing “God’s people.” The Church.

 

THE RESPONSE

I understand the politics that go on in a church institution. Because we are in a fallen world, these points of practicing power and authority are common and rampant even amongst the church establishment. But I just don’t understand why a non-denominational church avoids prophecy like the plague. Prophecy is the one thing that truly authenticates the Bible. It is a way to show that God really is supernatural. But it seems we have become so blinded by the world, so blinded by our own pride, so blinded by our greed and self-righteousness that we have become afraid of talking about it.

One of the things I’ve heard over and over again while talking to church leaders here about the topic of prophecy is that it doesn’t lead to a self-righteous lifestyle. The claim is that topics like the Nephilim, Sons of God of Genesis 6, the Divine Council and other supernatural elements of the Bible are irrelevant to being a better Christian. I wholeheartedly disagree with great conviction.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37 to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul and mind. Notice where it says “mind.” Part of righteous living is diving into scripture and grounding yourself in all the facets of scripture. And if you’ve done any research of the Divine Council as articulated by Dr. Mike Heiser, you will know that this understanding makes many parts of the Old Testament come alive, while it makes the New Testament have a whole new, much deeper meaning. It’s not just about stories that have good morals. But the church has reduced the Bible into just that…a good book for moral lessons. And while it certainly is that, it is SO much more! Why O Why does the church ignore the things that make the Bible truly a supernatural book? I pray that the Holy Spirit convicts the leaders of the institution to repent from their lackluster ways and set themselves on fire for the Lord Jesus!

Lamentations of America and the Church (Part 1)

Posted by on May 4, 2012 2 comments

2012 has been an interesting year for me. On new years day, someone who works in the ministry passed away. He was only 21 years old (Not drug or alcohol related…he just didn’t wake up on January 1, 2012). Since then, our church has experienced an influx of death. Memorials went from one a month to 2-3 a week. I often work these memorials, and it’s been emotionally draining. I often cry even though I never knew the people. A recent conversation with a local coroner revealed that they have had to turn people away from the sudden influx of deaths in our community. And today, as we held our “national day of prayer” event (praying for the 7 hills of influence as if our church has somehow gone Dominionist), I could only wonder what is on the horizon for America and the so called Church. I could only wonder, if these people who are going home, are the lucky ones.

Will God judge America? I can’t say for sure. But I do know that some people do believe God will judge America and that it’s going to be severe. But I don’t want to get into the different claims of prophetic visions or revelations people have had concerning this possible reality. I certainly feel the spirit of death in the air and it’s been coming on very strong this year. I consoled my Bible for guidance and insight. As I did, I found myself in the book of Lamentations. Here’s how verses 1-2 read;

How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The princess among the provinces
Has become a slave!

She weeps bitterly in the night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her.
They have become her enemies.

~Lamentations 1:1-2

This book was written by Jeremiah as he wept in bitterness over the destruction of Jerusalem, a city he so desperately tried to save. I am going to depart from proper hermeneutics and apply these verses in a much more subjective way, and so call me guilty for doing so, but I couldn’t help but relate our own country and church to the words in this book.

As I read verse one, I could only imagine a desolate land with a torn American flag blowing solemnly in the wind with an abandoned church building in the distance. A land that was once “full of people” and who was “great among the nations” now finding herself as “a slave.”

Think of all the conspiracies that so many of us have uncovered over the last decade; the poison we are fed through our food, the chemicals we find in our water, the financial ruin instituted by a debt based economy, poison being sprayed all over our skies, the corruption in our churches, our governments, our leadership! And the people…well we just go along right with it don’t we? We care more about the next ball game, or the next episode of Two and Half Goons. We have become slaves of the mind. And before we know it, the nation and the church holding steadfast to the world might be in ruins.

Verse two talks of how all of the nations Jerusalem once trusted had become her enemies. And isn’t this true with America in many ways? The boundaries of what it means to protect the homeland, and what it means to conquer have been blurred heavily, at least in a public perspective. The globalist agenda is to create a single government, but it cannot do so without destroying the sovereign nations, of which America is perhaps the most free. This cannot happen by brute force, but only by the willful ignorance of the people. And of course this ignorance is fabricated and instigated subtly, anonymously, and slyly. And as we stand on the verge of World War III, I believe it’s only natural to feel the pressure of feeling like WE, America are turning her back on Israel.

Her adversaries have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has afflicted her transgressions,
Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.

And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture.
That flee without strength
Before the pursuer

In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her downfall.

Lamentations 1:5-7

This is showing how the judgments on Jerusalem were brought about because of the multitude of her transgressions. But as I read these verses, I again see how it relates to our society today. We have become a society obsessed with death, lust, hate, anger, mindlessness, narcissism, arrogance, pride, money, fame, status, perception…and what is sad and true is that I am not free from these transgressions. We all fail in some of these areas, and we understand that. But we also know that we have a God full of grace. Nevertheless, it doesn’t change the reality that this country is on a steady decline. But it wouldn’t be as bad if we knew we had trust in our leaders and in our sacred places of worship. But the more I am a part of the institution of church, the more I see that the transgressions do not cease. There are no boundaries to sin. There are no limits when it comes to capacity to turn away from God.

It makes me wonder when this country, “fell into the hands of the enemy.” I for one believe it was always under the control of the enemy, but that with the providence of God and the many faithful members of the body in years past, this country flourished and were allowed to enjoy the fruits of peace that I am so grateful to be born into. But the devil is persistent and knows his time is short. And so now some of us have began to realize that we are being ruthlessly pulled into the pit of darkness, clawing against the edge of destruction, hopelessly crying out for the greater population to wake up from the hypnotic slumber. All the while, the fallen one and his angels watch as they mock us.

Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.

Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O LORD, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”

Lamentations 1:8-10

In these passages, it is clear that the message is not to blame God, but to blame ourselves. The blame for the destruction of Jerusalem was placed on herself for her calamities. Much in the same way, we here in America cannot blame God when we fall.

The language is so powerful in describing the lament of Jeremiah. But again, I get that strange feeling when I read them because I know that America and the church have “sinned gravely…(and) become vile.” And isn’t it interesting that the nation that people from all around the world once adored and saw as “the land of opportunity” and “the land of the free” is now despised because they have “seen her nakedness”?

And if the Illuminists and esoterics get their wish, then America might very well produce the false prophet or the Antichrist, in which case, we certainly did not “consider (our) destiny.” And it’s blatantly obvious that our nation has been so corrupted that we have fallen to a place where we truly have “exalted the enemy.”

Again, I realize the subjective nature of this post, but I felt it was necessary to vent out my own lamentation about the state of our country and our church. Please don’t get me wrong, I love this nation, I love the church, I love the people who are part of this country and the world. But I sense a deep pain in the depth of my soul for my fellow brothers and sisters on this planet. And if I am feeling this pain, I can’t even imagine the depths of sorrow God feels for His creation.

But this deep despair is not the final destination. It doesn’t end this way. In fact far from it. Perhaps God’s will being done is the destruction of our nation, and of our church. Perhaps it is the only way to truly serve justice in a fallen world and gather to Him all who are reconciled by the Cross and the blood of the Lamb. Maybe this pain is necessary in order to realize paradise.

I am going to continue my thoughts going through the Book of Lamentations in the future. Please let me know if this rant made any sense or if I should just can it. I felt like I was going on a limb by posting it, but I would love some feedback.

SMART or Sinister?

Posted by on April 29, 2012 No comments

People who talk in conspiracy circles constantly speculate as to how far ahead the government is with technology. This is something your average folks just can’t get their heads around. Try to think about culture and society in the 1950′s (I wasn’t there, but I’ve seen movies) and imagine people in deep underground labs at the same time walking around with iPhones. We just don’t know how far ahead the government is with technological advancement. So when we start to see the kinds of technology that is coming out today, we should be very alert of not only where the underground elite might be today, but also what they plan to do with it.

I’ve posted a bit about SMART meters which are being distributed in various states all around the world. In this post, I want to talk about more “SMART” technology that seems to be hitting the market.

Smart Dust

Yes folks. Forget your favorite science fiction movie because reality just got far more interesting. In 1997, Kris Pister, Joe Kahn, and Bernhard Boser from University of California Berkeley proposed a project to DARPAto create what is called Smartdust. This would be micro sized sensors smaller than a spec of dust that would be spread out all over, anything, anywhere. With the capacity to connect with each other wireless, the Smartdust would communicate various information about the environment including the temperature, chemicals, light, magnitism, and various other attributes of a given location. It would then relay the information back to a central location, where the data can be stored, categorized, and monitored [1]. The idea is simply to be able to keep surveillance and monitor various environmental characteristics in order to better predict earthquakes and weather changes. But how easy could this nano-technological “dust” be used to do something much more sinister? And if this is the technology we are hearing about today, then is it possible that this already exists? I mean we really don’t know what they’re spraying all over our skies anyways right?

The corporations are not shy about this technology. We know that even though many of us were speaking of a coming globalization for years, the public at large are not consuming the idea of a globalized society from the filter of the main stream media, which makes every one of these technologies a good idea. Consider an article that came out in 2010 on CNN about the Smartdust. Here is a quote:

“The latest news comes from the computer and printing company Hewlett-Packard, which recently announced it’s working on a project it calls the “Central Nervous System for the Earth.” In coming years, the company plans to deploy a trillion sensors all over the planet.

The wireless devices would check to see if ecosystems are healthy, detect earthquakes more rapidly, predict traffic patterns and monitor energy use. The idea is that accidents could be prevented and energy could be saved if people knew more about the world in real time, instead of when workers check on these issues only occasionally.” [2] (emphasis mine)

The article goes on to explain that the technology presently available is not the speck of dust that was proposed initially but more a bulky web of wires. Nevertheless, they continue to spew propaganda for Big Brother.

“Despite these differences, researchers say the smart-dust theory that monitoring everything will benefit humanity remains essentially unchanged.” [3]

Not Surprisingly, the author of the article addresses the fact that the Smartdust does cause a creeping effect of “Big Brother.” But the makers of the technology assured that quote,

“That doesn’t mean that researchers should stop working on smart dust. But they should be mindful of privacy as the work progresses, he said…Smart dust researchers say their theory of monitoring the world — however it’s realized — will benefit people and the environment…”People ask me what my job is, and I say, well, I’m going to save the world,” he said.” [4]

It should be clear that this is the Antichrist enslaving the world under the guise of peace. But think of the implications. Just imagine, Smartdust scattered all around the world to “monitor the environment.” Smart Meters collecting the information of energy use from every appliance in every home in every country. Smart Grid, collecting that information and feeding it to the “Central Nervous System of the Earth.” And then let’s include the emergence of human enhancement technologies as well as the preventative crime technology being deployed all around the world.

Satan knows his time is short [5]. This is effectively the attempt for Satan to be omnipresent. There is no other way Satan can achieve this by any real means. But his desire from the beginning was to dethrone God and to rise above His Holy Countenance [6]. Furthermore, what we see today is something that has never been seen throughout human history. It’s time to get right with God and walk in only His light because the time is at hand.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartdust

[2] http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-03/tech/smart.dust.sensors_1_smart-dust-sensors-kris-pister?_s=PM:TECH

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Revelation 12:12

[6] Isaiah 14:13

Apostasy in Worship Music

Posted by on April 24, 2012 11 comments

I’ve wanted to write about this for some time now but never had the inspiration to do so. But this past weekend was the tipping point.

The book of Jude is often ignored or skipped by many who read the Bible. In fact, in my 6 years of being a believer, and the last 3 being employed by the church, I have never heard anyone quote the book of Jude. In fact, just in the last year, I was the one who led a Bible study on the book of Jude for my staff group meeting, which was met with my manager looking at me like I had two heads.

Jude essentially talks about the falling away of the church. This short book is a warning to the church that ungodly men had crept in and have and will distort the truth and defile the Gospel.

While this is happening in so many different ways, one clear platform of this deception is in worship music. Now to understand where I am coming from, let me give a little bit of personal history.

I was born in 1983 in the thick of hair bands, glamour metal, and cheesy electronic pop. But it wasn’t until the early 90′s that I began to show a serious interest in music. I quit piano lessons in exchange to teach myself the electric guitar. I bought a flannel shirt and began cranking out Nirvana and Soundgarden tunes. It was the advent of grunge rock and a new wave of teen rebellion. Then i got into metal music. Metallica became my absolute favorite band. I couldn’t go a day without listening to it. It fueled my anger and rage towards the world. And my guitar playing was steadily improving as I learned Metallica songs note by note. I was also very much into blues music and one Stevie Ray Vaughn, who I still consider one of the greatest guitar players of all time. In any case, my goal became to make it big in music. I wanted to be a rock star. But as I grew into my late teens and early twenties, I began to realize that the music industry was changing. Once the internet came into play, popular music became way more of a business and a product rather than an art. The change was disturbing because I saw the radio waves turn from good music, to one hit wonders and shallow repetitive nonsense. Nevertheless, there were still many bands that were big in their own right and I worked hard to get to that place where I could write and play music for a living.

It wasn’t until I came to understanding fully what it meant to be a Christ follower that I had a major paradigm shift in my thinking and understanding of the world, especially music. In fact, worship music was the one thing I despised, even after i declared my faith. But I came around to it. Now I think bands like Hillsong United are great in bringing glory to God while remaining fairly artistic. But the reason why I wanted to make this post happened this last weekend.

There was a major conference happening at my local church of which I was an AV for. The opening day came and there were hundreds, if not thousands of young church leaders gathered to talk about moving the church forward in the 21st century. It began with worship. There was a single candle lit on the stage with a keyboard player singing on the left and a guitar player on the right. That was it. The worship leader began the conference with a very interesting proposition; “Take a deep breath and clear your mind. Let go of all the troubles and difficulties holding you down and just open yourself up. Invite the spirit to make his presence known.” Accompanied by long drawn out ethereal chords with lots of re-verb and echo, this sounded more like new age meditation than worship. After the small “moment of stillness,” the duo broke into a popular worship song. It sang of Jesus and God as any worship song would even though the style was still ethereal and new age-y.

After the first song, the worship leader stepped away from his piano and picked up his acoustic guitar. He plucked some chords while encouraging to pray for God to manifest. “Ask God to manifest right now. We know God is present and He is everywhere, but we want Him to manifest. A doctor could be present here in the crowd, but once he steps on the stage and begins to perform surgery, he is manifesting. In the same way, ask God to manifest.” Okay. What in the world is this guy talking about? God manifesting is first off, in Jesus, God who became flesh, and secondly the Holy Spirit. Am I wrong? In what other way does God manifest? And does he mean in some allegorical way or literal? This was very vague and confusing for me.

I was happy to find out that a couple of fellow co-workers of mine felt this was strange as well. But this was only the beginning. The following weekend, I set up the band for the High School Ministry as I always do on Sunday mornings. The band came in as usual and began their rehearsal. One of the “traditions” of our high school services is to perform an opening song that is catchy, poppy, and popular in main stream pop culture, but somehow also relates to the message for that weekend.

This weekend, the message was on “Talking to God” from the story of Jonah and the Fish. So what song did they choose for the opener? A song by Carly Rae Jepsen entitled “Call Me Maybe.” Keeping in mind that this was sung and performed by a band of high school kids to high school kids, check out the lyrics:

Verse 1

I threw a wish in the well, Don’t ask me, I’ll never tell I looked to you as it fell, and now you’re in my way,
I trade my soul for a wish, pennies and dimes for a kiss I wasn’t looking for this, but now you’re in my way

Chorus

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?
It’s hard to look right, at you baby, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?
And all the other boys, try to chase me, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?

Verse 2

You took your time with the call, I took no time with the fall
You gave me nothing at all, but still, you’re in my way
I beg, and borrow and steal
At first sight and it’s real I didn’t know I would feel it, but it’s in my way
Your stare was holdin’, Ripped jeans, skin was showin’ Hot night, wind was blowin’
Where you think you’re going, baby?

 

Chorus

Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?
It’s hard to look right, at you baby, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?
And all the other boys, try to chase me, but here’s my number, so call me, maybe?

The reason why I wanted to set up my history as far as music is concerned is because I am not some fundamental, conservative, right wing, republican, old school, Baptist church going, guy. In fact far from it. Yet I still have a problem with this. I didn’t say anything at the time, but my heart was hurting every time I heard the kids sing out, “I trade my soul for a wish”. It made my cringe inside. Why would anyone want to bring in this kind of song into the church? Some people unsurprisingly will tell me I am over reacting and the kids are just trying to have a good time and be relevant. But in all honesty, I consider church to be holy and sacred to God. And this song by no ways honors God in any way shape or form, nor did it have anything to do with the message, which itself was mediocre at best.

Jude warned us this:

“They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. ” JUDE 1:18-19′

The issue I have is with leadership. The entire week was a blast of seeing young church leaders talking about how to appeal to a changing culture and society, all the while maintaining the truth of the Gospel. Well, I just think you can’t. It’s a dangerous game to be playing. The fact is, the Gospel message is going to be compromised with such endeavors. It’s not meant to be presented one way or another. The Gospel is just meant to be preached as is. But the church has become a business. It’s about the numbers. It’s about attendance, donations and social justice programs. And while worship is meant to be simply that, worshiping God, it has also given way to the tentacles of the ways of the world.

I have friends who are part of the worship band and I know how caught up they get in political affairs regarding the worship team. There is judgment towards performance, ability, skill set, etc. The politics of who gets to play and who doesn’t, who get’s paid, who volunteers etc. is off the charts. Not to mention what songs get played, how they are arranged, who is featured…it goes on and on, and I often wonder if the main point of glorifying God alludes them. Are they simply lying when they tell the congregation to worship God? Or are they like all of us, just caught up in the affairs of the world?

I have no absolute solution for this, nor am I suggesting we can really do a whole lot about it. I simply write and brings these things to light for the sheer purpose of being a watchmen for the Lord. The point is to simply help people reflect on where their hearts are at when they do do ministry. It’s not an easy thing to do these days, and I get that. My only plea is that you and I keep our eyes on the Lord God and nothing else as we move through the world as aliens. And if I am off base here, I welcome the criticism and conversations about this or anything else.

Mind Control Gadgets and the Dumbing Down of America

Posted by on April 21, 2012 No comments

The more I read and learn about our current state of technological advance, the more I am seeing the urgent need to wake people up from their hypnotic slumber. As Transhumanism and Human Enhancement technologies develop and are deployed for mass consumption; as technological freedoms become more restricted and controlled by the government; as the global elite under the direction of the spirit of evil continue to regulate and enforce the enslavement of all mankind, the general public, and especially the Church is sound asleep being spoon fed the poison that we so willingly consume.

The technology that drives society is ever changing. But it seems the institution of church are willing to integrate such technologies before considering it’s implications. While on one hand, it’s useful to spread the Gospel by staying on the cutting edge of technology, it should nevertheless cause us to re-think about how and why we as a society are being inundated into becoming mere cyborgs.

While the mind-machine integration technology has been a concept for a long time, there are new gadgets coming out for public consumption. This was to be expected and if you have been keeping a pulse on the worldview of transhumanists and human enhancement technologies, it’s no surprise. The gadget I want to talk about today is called the Myndplay headset by NeuroSky. It’s basically an EEG headset that reads your brain waves and changes them from the analog signals into digital signals and then apply them to whatever you are trying to control with your mind. Check out this demo at a recent Gadget show:

 

Now notice the temperament of the people who are “playing” tug of war with their minds. Do they look like zombies or what? Now apply this to the business office, or worse yet the institution of church. Can you imagine walking into the church office where cubicles of people are sitting in their chairs staring at a computer screen? This is where society is headed. This is the epitome of mind control. And while the developers of such technologies, and the public at large would never admit it, this is all part of the global elite to get people to dumb down and become enslaved.

Again, this is only the beginning. While on the surface, these technologies seem harmless, if you understand the plan which have been in motion for decades, you will begin to connect the dots. Here is a great resource that I believe everyone must read.

The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America PDF 

This book chronicles the international plan to dumb down of America and the world. While it sounds like conspiracy theory gibberish, it’s quite compelling when you begin to see all of the documentation author Charlotte Iserbyt provides to show that this in fact is a large plan that has been integrated into our education system and beyond.

And so while the agenda continues to dumb down America and the world, technologies are being developed to speed the process up. The solution is simple. Hold steadfast to the Word of God. I don’t think we can say for certain to avoid it such technologies, or simply ignore it. But the line between being committed to God as opposed to the world are becoming bolder and bolder. Eventually, the gap will be too big and we won’t be able to jump from one side to another. Stay sober minded, clear headed, and educated on these topics and most importantly, grounded in the Word of truth. I believe that with this stance, not only will we be comforted in spite of the darkness closing in, but we will be used by God to do His bidding while we have time on this earth.

 

All About Conferences

Posted by on April 18, 2012 No comments

It was a year ago when I just started this blog that I was a worked as an AV for a large church conference here in the west coast. The event is called Catalyst West. Here is what they describe as to what their conference is about.

“Catalyst West is a gathering of young west coast leaders, a movement of influencers who see things differently and feel a burden for our generation.  We seek to learn, worship, and create together with a momentous energy passionately pursuing God. We are Catalyst. We are the kingdom ambassadors, change agents, and cultural architects who have the influence to change our communities, churches, and cultures for good. But this change happens in the very place where many leaders flinch and fail because the perceived cost is too high. We must push through this fear for kingdom change to define the future.” [1]

The event is full of people my age who are part of the post modern culture drenched in relativism. Growing up quite the liberal myself, I would imagine this kind of event would be very hip for me if I was not a believer, or if I grew up in the traditional institution of church. Wanting so desperately to be relevant in modern culture, I do commend these young Christians for being bold and courageous in their effort to spread the Gospel in a unique and different way. However, I still have to put in my two cents and commentary from a Biblical perspective. I do this not to be controversial, but rather to be the alert Watchmen I am called to be for the body of Christ.

To begin, this is where I first ran into the concept of contemplative prayer a year ago. Coming fresh out of the confusion between the new age and Christian truths myself, the topic took me by surprise. No matter how I looked at it, what was being promoted was Christian mysticism. As far as this years meeting, I will post something later regarding the content since I will be siting through some workshops. Check out the website for Catalyst yourself to see what you think.

SoCal Prophecy Conference
After being a part of The Future Congress Conference in Branson Missouri last summer, I was thoroughly disappointed when I realized that I will not be able to make it out this summers Prophecy in the News Conference in Branson. But God is good. After some months of conversing with fellow leaders in my church, we have come very close to getting a Prophecy Conference to happen in my home church. This is big news and would be ground breaking for this church because they label themselves as “seeker friendly.” And anyone who reads this blog regularly knows my frustration with what a non-denominational, seeker friendly church represents theologically as well as prophetically. The way I proposed this conference was that it would not only be informative, but we will focus on prayer and outreach.

The main difference between this conference and others is that this will be focused around group prayer against the principalities, powers, and cosmic authorities in high places. In fact, the goal is to make this happen the same week that the world most influential leaders will be at Bohemian Grove just a few hundred miles north of where we are. How powerful would this be? When was the last time several hundred people got together to pray against the dark spiritual forces of evil?

The speakers would consist of Douglas Hamp and LA Marzulli. At this point I will be playing host and mediator to help facilitate the event. My goal is to get Tom Dunn from Prayerwatch and The Josiah Project out here to lead us in prayer as well. But even if they can’t be here, we will certainly model after what Tom has invoked and pray against the principalities and powers.

In conclusion, while several hundred young church leaders and pastors gather to talk about how to reach the next generation, we the Watchmen will be organizing to fight the spiritual battles in the trenches. Again I will post a response to the talks I will be a part of as soon as they are over. Until then, praise the Lord and please pray for us to continue to help open the eyes of my home church to accept this conference. It is much needed in the Southern California area.

 

[1] http://www.catalystwestcoast.com/