Age of Deceit: Fallen Angels and the New World Order DVD Release
The month of January has been quite busy (which is a blessing) and so I have not had a chance to post here. But I am happy to announce that the Age of Deceit movie has been released on Amazon and Createspace for purchase, and so if you feel so obligated, please get a copy there. I made this movie not to make money, but to spread the Gospel. But because so many people requested the DVD, I wanted to make it available to you in that way. Thank you so much for the support, critiques, and even criticism of the film. I’ve found that not only has it helped many people pick their bibles back up, or for the first time, but it has helped me refine my research methods, and conviction of learning more about God through His Word.
Apologetics
I have been diving deep into the topic of Christian apologetics, and rightfully so since you can imagine the different attacks and topics of conversations I have received on Christianity after releasing this film. One source that is the mother of all sources regarding Christian apologetics is the website Apologetics 315. I think it’s a website that every Christian should at least check out. I don’t feel like many of us know why we believe what we believe, or know how to defend the faith. It’s not only scriptural to do so (1 Peter 3:15), but also the most essential tool in evangelism and just everyday conversation with non-believers and believers alike.
On Prayer
One reason why I have been so busy is because I am facilitator of a ten week small group being held at my church. It’s called “Rooted” and it’s designed to be a ten week small group experience that draws us closer to God.
As I was going through this weeks lesson/homework on prayer (yes we have homework), I was struck by a couple of points that needed to be addressed. First, I am very skeptical of any “program” that promotes a prayer experience as something that is meant to be a two way conversation with God. In other words, slogans like, “Learn to hear God’s voice,” or “What is God saying to you in this moment?” are the type of questions that make me cringe. This is not because I don’t believe God can speak to us; I fully believe that God not only does, but He does so constantly. My issue is with “seeking God’s voice” in essence is two fold. One, it’s not scriptural. We don’t find anywhere in the bible where we are told that there is a discipline for listening to God speak to us. God certainly speaks to people all throughout the bible, but it never says, “stop and listen to what God might be trying to tell you.” This is not found in the bible. Second, how are we suppose to know it’s from God? As someone who has looked into the new age, and alternative spirituality, people constantly “hear” voices, or have intuitions, or a gut feeling, or any number of things that can easily be labeled, “God” or “Spirit.” A line that drove me out of my seat was as follows: “But how can we be sure it is God speaking? We can know because thoughts will come into our minds that we know didn’t come from us. They will be consistent with His Word and what He wants for us.”
Now let me break this down a bit. Again, it should be obvious that having “thoughts com[ing] into our minds” by no meas verifies it is from God. To be fair, half of the next line does try to help fill the gap by suggesting it needs to be consistent with scripture. But this begs the question,; scripture according to who? Well the answer is God of course. But how can we be sure? It all goes back to proper application of hermeneutics and exegesis. If it is consistent with scripture according to the people who promote A Course In Miracles, then you might as well go ahead and join the closest new age cult. Second, how are we suppose to know what God wants for us in our lives? We can have an idea. But what God wants for us is to have a relationship with Him and that relationship is made through prayer, the one way kind. Not the conversational kind. Throughout the Psalms, it is pretty clear that we as people cry out to God in the stance of worship, praise, doubt, tension, confusion, and any other life circumstance.
The other thing that bothered me about the lessons was the lack of mention of Satan. I don’t mean this in a “giving credit to Satan” kind of way, but more as a way of discernment. The book went through several ways in which God speaks to us. Creation, people, circumstance, and the Word, and I have no problem with this idea. But it only mentioned a warning under “circumstances” because “Satan can influence us in our circumstances.” Actually, he can influence us in all of the same ways God communicates with us. I go back to 2 Corinthians 11 that speaks about Satan masquerading as an angel of light.
So in conclusion to my thoughts on prayer here, I think it’s vitally important for us to have a good and honest prayer life, speaking to God and praying to Him, praising Him and giving thanks to Him in all situations. But I also think we are to go to God with our prayers in times of struggle, in times of need and in times of doubt and hardship. God tends to use those moments in our lives as a means to draw us closer to Him. But don’t except to “hear” anything from God. He will speak to us on His terms, in His time line. Not ours.
Current Project: Demons in Japan
I am not sure if this is going to be a short film, a book, or something much larger, but I have recently been reading several Japanese mythology and folklore and was taken back by the amount of demonic presence in these writings. If you don’t know already, I am a second generation Japanese American, which means I was born and raised in America, but my folks immigrated from Japan. As such, I have a certain desire to learn more about my ancestral homeland of Japan.
As I went through the Koji Tales, which are the creation accounts of the Shinto religion in Japan, my curiosity was raised as there were several ironic parallels to the creation account in Genesis, but only twisted and highly demonized. It led me to seek out other folklore and myths famous in Japan. What I have been finding is that most of these mythologies and folklore involve ghosts, demons, shape shifting animals, goblins, and all sorts of supernatural phenomena. The level of superstition that is in these stories is uncanny. I find it interesting because it seems to have two levels of significance. One, because of the superstitious nature of Japanese culture, the people are very spiritual and are earnest seekers of spiritual things. I believe that Japan is spiritual, but that they are suppressed by fallen angels and demonic forces who have dominion over the territory of Japan. And two, because of the deep desire to connect at the spiritual level, it is a gold mine for the Gospel. I believe the reason why the Gospel has not been as successful in Japan is because of the nature of evangelism. Because historically, Christianity in Japan is only known through Roman Catholicism, and really the invasion of the West as depicted in that Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai, there is a stigma attached to Jesus.
Again, I’m not sure where this research is going to lead me, but I know God will steer it into the direction of His will. I apologize for the lack of updates and the choppy writing of this post, but I hope to continue with more frequent posts as 2012 unfolds. God Bless.
