By Frances Swaggart
Many today in both the secular world and professing church world claim that there are universal spiritual “laws” which exist and that any person may learn to utilize, causing the spirit realm to work on their behalf. Supposedly, these “laws” will work for anyone from any walk or persuasion of life, whether Christian or non-Christian. One of the most popular and all-encompassing of these laws is what New Agers refer to as the “law of attraction.” You will hear it mentioned, however, under a variety of different terms. In the business world, you may hear it termed “the power of positive thinking” or “unlimited human potential.” In the church world, you may hear teachings such as the “word of faith,” the “fourth dimension,” or the “confession principle.” In witchcraft, it is the formula, “as above, so below” (meaning, as it is in the spiritual, so it is in the natural). And, as you may have already realized, these teachings actually go much deeper than mind science religions and philosophy. It is clear that these so-called spiritual laws originated in the occult world and came directly from Satan himself. We will discuss exactly how in more detail later.
IMAGINATION, IMAGE, AND IDOLATRY by Pastor Larry DeBruyn Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.
Recently a listener sent me an email inquiring as to whether or not I thought "soaking prayer" was of the Lord.
In order to gauge whether or not soaking prayer is a valid form of prayer or communication to God, we must first look to God’s word. Prayer in its purest form is calling on the name of God and in every scriptural example is a done as a form of communication with the Lord. Although at first glance soaking prayer may seem that it follows this model of prayer it does not. Like most lies of the enemy a closer look will reveal a different picture. Soaking prayer involves a trance like meditative or contemplative state in which the adherent is encouraged to empty their mind. This type of prayer seeks to experience God’s presence through mystical exercises which teeters dangerously on the edge of the esoteric. As believers we understand that God’s presence is ever with us and when we come to prayer it is with His will in mind not ours.
A few days ago someone passed some information to me about a church that claimed sightings of black angels, orbs, pianos that played of their own volition, and even cell phone calls from God! They claimed these were signs of God’s favor, blessing and revival. However, to any true child of God these things are foolishness and nothing more than New Age mysticism. While some of these stories may be made up, there may be some that are actually experiencing these phenomenon through deceptive demon spirits. How can I be so bold in saying that these experiences are not from God? Because there is no biblical precedent for them and the word of God must be our plumbline!
“We all agree that the society to be transformed is not just one big conglomerate, but a unified whole that is made up of several vital pieces,
each one of which must take its own path toward transformation.
These segments of society should be seen as apostolic spheres.”
--C. Peter Wagner, The Church in the Workplace, (Regal, 2006), p. 112.
By the DIscernment Research Group
Did Loren Cunningham and Bill Bright just happen to have corresponding spiritual experiences where God told them a new way to make disciples of all nations, as described in the previous post? Did God really give them a vision of "categories of society" that were to be the church's "seven spheres of influence"? Or, perhaps, were they exposed to the teachings of Abraham Kuyper? The latter is a more likely scenario since Kuyper is behind the modern concept of "spheres." Bright may have been exposed to Kuyper's teachings while a student at Princeton Theological Seminary, which now houses the Abraham Kuyper Center for Public Theology.
from Deception Bytes Download PDF
By Frances Swaggart
by Frances Swaggart
Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” (II Cor. 2:11).
Scripture has made it perfectly clear that the Devil masquerades as “light” and/or an “angel of light.” In Latin, the name “Lucifer” means “light-bearer.” II Corinthians 11:14 says, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Therefore, any experience with spiritual “light” must be thoroughly examined under the microscope of the One True Light, The Word of God.
by Lynn & Sarah Leslie
