Ronnie Floyd and Life Action Ministries - Mystics in Disguise

President of Southern Baptist Convention, Ronnie Floyd, has for some time been known to dabble with questionable theology. He endorses the First Fruits tithing heresy of Robert Morris, and also endorses the contemplative mystic, Mark Batterson and his new age book, the Circle Maker. But another troubling partnership between Floyd and New Age mysticism exists—between him and Life Action Ministries.

Life Action claims to be a ministry that holds "revival" conferences at different churches. According their schedule, it appears to be all Southern Baptist churches. From their website page, "Awaken your heart," they say:

As a ministry, our desire is to see the hearts of God's people awakened and revived! Incredibly, God wants us to experience revival even more than we desire it for ourselves. He has even given us a road map to follow. We pray that these resources will help you discover and travel the pathways that lead to God's heart.

Now, who wouldn't want to discover the "pathways" that lead to God's heart. First and foremost, besides the entire new age theme of their website, the plural word "pathways" insinuates that there is more than one way to God. Do you see the problem here? Is there another pathway to God apart from Jesus Christ? They also teach a method of contemplative prayer, involving being quiet, waiting, sitting still, and listening for that "still quiet voice" of God to give you a specific revelation. They also teach that forgiving someone entails no longer desiring righteous justice or discipline against that person. Another workbook on their website, entitled Draw a Circle, is strikingly similar to Mark Batterson's Circle Maker witchcraft heresy that Floyd endorses. Their promo video for this prayer teaching involves a young man, who has a piece of chalk that keeps "magically" appearing on his Bible. He ultimately ends up reading Hosea 10:12-13 and somehow he gets the idea from these verses that he should be drawing circles around himself, and praying. In this workbook, they say:

It’s a challenge OneCry is issuing to men, women, teens, and even children...It involves a simple piece of chalk. With this piece of chalk, we kneel to draw a circle around ourselves and then look to heaven expectantly, praying, “Lord God, send revival, and begin it right here in this circle!”

Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Radio Host of Revive Our Hearts women's outreach ministry of Life Action, also endorses these chalk circles. She is known for associating with other contemplative mystics, including Richard Foster and Dallas Willard.

Ronnie Floyd has worked extensively with this ministry in the past. At the 2013 Annual SBC Conference, he partnered with them at a lunch meeting to discuss the subject of "spiritual revival." He asked his audience on his blog before the meeting:

Tuesday at noon: Life Action Ministries has asked me to join three other spiritual leaders over a major lunch meeting to talk about the subject of Spiritual Revival. I look forward to this engaging luncheon as hundreds of Pastors will gather for discussion around this theme. Pray for a mighty visitation from God.

Notice, he didn't say he was joining three other "Christian" leaders, he said "spiritual" leaders. Life Action Ministries' theme appears to be this "spiritual" awakening, a new age, contemplative type of awakening, or a mystic type of relationship with God. They also endorse a type of theology, known as Keswick theology, in which they believe that there are two types of Christians, carnal and sanctified. They believe that the "carnal Christian" needs to be spiritually awakened, and work themselves into a sanctified state. This is remarkably similar to the new age though of awakening your "inner-self" to a higher state of consciousness, and becoming "one with God." LAM also stands on the notion that somehow Satan can takeover the hearts and minds of those who are saved.

The first and worst cause of error that prevails in our day is spiritual pride. This is the main door by which the devil comes into the hearts of those who are zealous for the advancement of Christ. It is the chief inlet of smoke from the bottomless pit to darken the mind and mislead the judgment, and the main handle by which Satan takes hold of Christians to hinder a work of God. Until this disease is cured, medicines are applied in vain to heal all other diseases.

Ronnie Floyd's way of thinking appears to be very similar to this group. He believes that churches are filled with lukewarm, complacent "Christians," who are more interested in being promoted in the workplace than evangelizing the lost. While this is very true that our churches are filled with these types of people, the truth of the matter is that these people filling the pews aren't Christians. Carnal Christianity is not Christianity, it's false conversion. Generally speaking, people who have been influenced by Keswick theology may have a testimony like, "I was saved when I was 15, but I surrendered my life to Christ when I was 23." They tend to believe that human free-will is ultimately and separately responsible for starting and stopping the sanctification process. In an interview with Randy Hekman of Life Action, Ronnie Floyd was asked:

You have put out a clarion call to Southern Baptist pastors and members around the nation for a Great Awakening. How are people responding to this call?

And he responded:

...there was real resolve and commitment and understanding that our greatest need is a mighty move of God in this country...We need to strategize and get after reaching the world. The reason we want revival to come to the church, and for the country to be awakened spiritually, is so we can complete the Great Commission...We need fresh power to do that. We need American Christianity to wake up from sleep and get with it to reach the world with the gospel...[we must be committed to] the revival of religion and the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on this earth.

There is no mention of purifying the church of false converts or bad theology, or exposing the evil within the church. As most new-agers, Floyd doesn't believe this exists. What the Bible would describe as a false convert, it appears Floyd would just rationalize them as "less sanctified," and that they would need to become "more sanctified" by making a decision to wake up spiritually.

OneCry, a branch of Life Action ministries regularly praises Floyd for his advancement of "Spiritual Awakening." On January 19, they tweeted:

Every Christian, Pastor, & leader in all denominations should read this bold manifesto from SBC Pres. @ronniefloyd http://t.co/Lrr77WD6mZ
— OneCry (@OneCry) January 19, 2015

I believe that the SBC's association with this group is spiritually dangerous, but it appears to be the direction that this once great denomination is now heading. This slide toward the New Age is nothing new. Ronnie Floyd has prophesied a "Great Awakening," but the Bible predicts a "Great Apostasy." Who are we supposed to stand behind? We should always be praying for the salvation of souls, but should we be praying for something unbiblical? Should we be praying for something to happen when what the Bible predicts will happen, and must happen for the return of Christ, is already happening? Shouldn't we be praying for purification of the Church, salvation for the lost, and Christ's return to be quickened? Instead, it seems that the SBC wants to delve deeper into contemplative prayer, witchcraft and ecumenism.

More Information

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• Will the SBC officially announce their Apostasy at the 2015 Annual Conference?
• Apprising Ministries - Nancy DeMoss turns listeners to Richard Foster
• Sola Sisters - Nancy DeMoss endorcing Chalk Circles? Mercy!
• The Velvet Covered Brick - Prayer Circles

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The Devil's Old Manifesto: Enter the New Age

"I don't think I'm evil," she says, irritated that she is being pressed on her beliefs. "The heart of man is not wicked, and being taught that will definitely keep you from seeking it." She goes on to say that God has given us an "inner compass," and that we are not encouraged to follow it, because of religious beliefs. This was a conversation I had with my beloved mother not too long ago. She has come to the conclusion that human beings are not inherently evil, and therefore, do not need a savior. What Christians would view as evil is generally rationalized as illusory, or ignorance, and not the fault of humankind.According to her belief system, all we have to do is get in touch with our inner "God," and we can move on to the next level of consciousness—Christ-consciousness. God is in us, God is us. We can become one with God, a God who is an unconscious, impersonal, creative force, in which manifests itself in nature and material, and various gods throughout history. 

This is the typical thought process of those who have been seduced and indoctrinated by the New Age. But is this really a "new" concept? Satan has been using this line of deception since the beginning of creation. When God created Adam and Eve, and placed them in the Garden of Eden, he told them that they could eat from any tree, except for one. God told them that their disobedience to him, the fulfillment of their selfish desires, would cause them to die. But the serpent beguiled them into trying to find satisfaction apart from God, and they disobeyed and ate. Satan told them that God wasn't being truthful with them, and that by eating the fruit, they would become like God himself, that eating of the fruit wasn't evil, but good, and that God was trying to hide this "truth" from them. This lie in the Garden forms the basis of all false religious systems today, including the New Age.

This seduction into this esoteric (hidden) knowledge is central to most cults, Eastern mystic religions, and the New Age.  This idea that man is becoming God, is God, or God is in man is taught in Hinduism, Taoism, and even Roman Catholicism, a false religious system masquerading as Christianity. Even Buddhism and Atheist religions to a certain extent teach a type of humanistic self-worship. This concept is known as pantheism. As part of this teaching, evil is usually said not to exist or is rationalized as ignorance, caused by evil spirits rather than man, and should be warded off using mystical means. It's also taught to be part of a dualistic oneness composed of good and evil, a Yin and Yang, so that in reality there is no good or evil, just opposing equal forces. But the Bible teaches that evil is sin, a rebellion against God the creator, a pursuit of satisfaction apart from him (Matthew 5:19, Proverbs 8:13, John 3:19-20, John 8:44, 1 John 3:8).

Sadly, even prominent Evangelicals are dabbling in this divination. Rick Warren is probably one of the most well known Evangelical pastors of today, yet his ministry tends to lead people into the practice of forbidden things. He encourages the use of Breath Prayers in his book, The Purpose Driven Life (pp. 89, 299) and on his web site, Pastors.com, contemplatives Richard Foster, Philip Yancey, Charles Stanley and many more are recommended. He has had well known New Age sympathizer Leonard Sweet train pastors at his church, and another in Atlanta in 2008. Other prominent Evangelicals that practice divination, and claim to channel direct revelations from God are Matt Chandler, Beth Moore, Mark Driscoll and Steven Furtick (2 Peter 2:1). Yoga is now regularly practiced in many Evangelical churches and accepted as normal (2 Timothy 3:5).

The creative force, or principle, the God of the New Age who has deceived so many is generally believed to be unrelational, that is, it doesn't deal directly with it's creation, or "manifestation," and that the various gods, or ascended masters are responsible for the relations with creation. God is not a conscious being, and cannot be known. As part of this philosophy, man can achieve his own "god-hood" by following the paths of these god-manifestations and by simply becoming aware of your inner-god. When one becomes aware of his own inner-self, he becomes one with God. This is also a teaching of the Roman Catholic Church:

460 The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature":78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God."79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."80 "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods."81

Image of the False 'New Age Jesus'

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus Christ became man so that man can become God. This brings us back to the original lie of the serpent, that we can be God. This is the same concept that the New Age religion teaches. It teaches that Jesus Christ, among others like Buddah, Krishna, Muhammed, etc., were all teachers who had achieved their god-hood by becoming aware of their inner-self, and becoming one with the divine, impersonal creative force.

However, the practical methods of achieving this self-awareness is subjective, and is accomplished in a multitude of ways. Among the easiest of these ways is through the use of hallucinogenic drugs. This is typically an introductory way of achieving an altered state of consciousness that leaves the user curious, and longing for more. Some of the more advanced techniques, however, require much practice and self control, and involve the use of meditative techniques, such as Yoga. When entering into these altered states of consciousness, the person will usually have an euphoric spiritual experience, which leads them to believe that they have uncovered some kind of spiritual truth. But this "truth" is a deception. What New Agers fail to realize is that even the human desire for hidden knowledge is a result of our fallen state.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." This isn't because God is trying to hide good things from us, he is simply protecting us. He knows that the spiritual realm is filled with demons who want our souls. This is why he tells us to stay away from practicing divination or other spiritual paths that he has allowed (Deuteronomy 18:9-12, Leviticus 19:31, 2 Kings 21:6). It is our natural desire as sinful human beings to try to find fulfillment outside of God, and guess who's there to exploit our sin? Satan.

Satan knows that our fallen hearts are deceitful, and wicked, and he will never miss an opportunity to pounce on that. Satan desires the worship of humans and will do anything to get that. The Bible says that Satan masquerades around as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). Satan has created an entire world full of religious systems that are devoted to worshiping him. One of the common beliefs between all of the world's religious systems, including Buddhism and the New Age is that there will come another "Christ," known as the Maitreya, who will lead the world into the Age of Aquarius. The general consensus among the followers of this religion is that we are on the verge of this right now, and this Maitreya is actually already living in the world right now, waiting to be called out by his people. He is allegedly making private appearances to people, and performing miracles. But the Bible teaches that this Maitreya is the Antichrist. The bible says about the antichrist:

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. - Revelation 13:13-14

After the rapture, those left on the earth will be conditioned to believe in the lying signs and wonders he performs. He will perform a fake resurrection, which will bring awe to the world, and since the world has rejected the true Savior, Jesus Christ, they will readily accept Satan's substitute, the Antichrist, and the world will worship him.

5And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,a that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.b And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. - Revelation 13:5-8

So many people have been deceived into believing the lie, and unfortunately many will take this lie to their grave. This is exactly where the Devil wants you; he wants you to believe that you are a good person, and that you don't need a savior. He wants you to believe that Christianity is a dark force that tries to keep you from following your "good" heart. He wants you to trust in your self, rather than in Christ Jesus, because he knows that Christ Jesus is the only true path to eternal life.

7Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 or the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

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Don't Ask That in Church!

Do you ever feel sidelined at your church? Everyone going about their business, actively participating in programs, teaching Sunday School classes, men's groups, women's groups, kid's activities, you name it. You want to be involved, but you have that feeling in you, that you can't share what you want to talk about, or bring up your thoughts or ideas, because nobody else gets it. Do you feel like you can't bring up certain subjects to your pastor, or your Sunday School teacher, because they just brush it aside? It's because they either don't understand it, don't think it's important, or are just flat out uncomfortable getting into it.

You faithfully go to church every Sunday, go to your class, and it seems like every day, it's the same mundane, cursory lessons. Constantly going over the basics—the milk. You've tried changing classes, more than once, but you just can't seem to get into a group that's interested in the meat. Lessons seem to be selectively simple, picking out passages that repeat the same basic, entry-level Christian concepts. Subjects like sharing the Gospel with others, loving one another, sin and repentance, living our daily lives as a witness, etc. Not that these aren't important topics, don't get me wrong, the Gospel is by far the most important topic. But as a general rule, if you're a born again Christian, you should already know the Gospel.

So why is it when you bring up for example, eschatology, the topic usually gets dismissed with a nice smile and a "that's a lesson for another day" type response, but then it never happens? Why can't we bring up and discuss topics such as the Antichrist, end times prophecy, false teachers, the New World Order and the harlot Church, that's being built right before our eyes? Everyone just wants to act like there's nothing going on, and just get on with their daily lives. But it's eating away inside some of us, who really need to be able to talk about these things with other Christians—other Christians who share the same interests on an intellectual level, and really want to dive deep into it. We want to know who the Nephilim are, and do they still exist today. We want to talk about how the Papacy relates to the New World Order, and how false teachers in our churches and denominations are helping to build this world system. We want to discuss topics like "who was Melchizedik," was he actually pre-incarnate Jesus, or just a type of Christ? What about freemasonry in the church? Don't you know that freemasonry is a Luciferian cult, and it's running rampant within both the Evangelical as well as Catholic church? What about the Jesuits, and their influence on the Evangelical church. Why is this never talked about? What about the Serpent Seed theory? This is a heresy that seems to be gaining vast popularity, but try asking your Sunday School teacher about that one. Chances are, he's probably never heard of it. Why don't we talk about how the New Age cults have managed to creep their old pagan ideas into the Church, and transform the church into a speeding vehicle for apostasy? Most of our church members have no idea what type of eastern mystic Satanic pillars are behind practices like Yoga or Contemplative Prayer, yet these are things that just aren't talked about. In many cases, these things are subtly promoted through false teachers like Beth Moore, Ann Voskamp and Tim Keller, within even the best of Bible-believing churches, simply because people aren't discerning, or just don't take the time to do any of the research. Why? Because most people are comfortable where they are.

When my (at the time, Catholic) wife and I first (re)started coming to our church a few years ago, my wife asked our Sunday School teacher (and deacon), in a Southern Baptist Church mind you, why Baptists don't baptize babies, and why they only baptize adults. His response, paraphrased: "I think it's because the the Bible requires it for church membership, and it's because Jesus commanded us to." Well, you can imagine how my wife took that response "seriously." It was at that time I knew we needed to find another class right away, in which we did, and eventually her questions were answered, and she was saved after hearing the Gospel preached by a faithful teacher. Nonetheless, even the most faithful of these teachers have their limits, and still won't seem to touch these outer edges. It's a sad state when Christians have to turn to internet forums and groups to get their spiritual meat.

We recently did a course in my church on Wayne Grudem's book, "Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know." Well, basic was definitely the right word. It was so basic, so boring that I couldn't hardly hold my eyes open during the class. And this was the advanced "Pastor's class." I don't want to make it sound like the pastors at my church are intellectually inferior in any way, trust me, they aren't. But it seems like the general consensus is that the members in the church need this basic milk, which is probably true, but there just isn't enough interest to set aside classes or groups for members who need more. But I know I can't be the only one longing for that, there must be others. But I just can't seem to find them. Everywhere I go, people are just so satisfied with where they are spiritually, and aren't longing for that meat.

The fact is, in most churches, intellectual Christians get shunned, they don't fit in, and many ultimately end up leaving the church altogether. If a Christian doesn't feel like they are being spiritually fed, and can't find a place to be spiritually fed, this is a problem. I'm not talking about unbelievers who deny the Gospel, and deny Christ. I'm talking about true, born again Christians, who have serious questions, and want to be spiritually fed on a deep level. They long for understanding, acceptance, and validation, but just can't seem to get that in church. But God gave us an entire Bible full of commands to seek out and study a vast array of topics, including what most would consider fringe topics. God created us in his image, with an intellect and a need to share in relationship with others. He gave us his Word, the Bible, with the basic essential doctrinal topics clearly laid out for us, but he also gave us the other, not-so-clear topics so that we could exercise our intellects, and get to know Him better. It keeps us focused on him, interested in him, and close to him. I believe that's why he reveals himself that way. It keeps us longing for more of him, and for some of us, much much more.

According to “The Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy” by J. Barton Payne, there 1,817 prophecies in the Bible contained in 8,352 of the Bible’s verses. There are 31,124 verses in the Bible, making prophecy approximately 27 percent of the Bible. Now, how often do we study prophecy in the Church? Hardly any, especially prophecies that haven't been fulfilled yet. Without study, and clear teaching and understanding of these prophecies from solid Bible teachers, pastors and elders in our churches, this opens the door for false teachings to take over. That's the problem, there are more false teachers teaching prophecy than solid Bible teachers, and this is where people are getting their spiritual meat. The solid teachers are just telling people to stay away from the subject, and not to worry about it. But the Bible says otherwise. The very fist passage, verse 3 of the Book of Revelation says "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." So why aren't our pastors reading and teaching it out loud? Why aren't we studying this in Sunday School classes? Why aren't students being taught these subjects in seminaries? Why don't more Christians care? Unfortunately, I think part of the problem people don't take it seriously is because they don't truly believe it, but also for many more, they just don't get it. Sadly, our teachers are robbing God's people of the blessed hope by ignoring it.

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, - 2 Peter 1:19

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New Age False Teacher, David Wilcock, Twists Matthew 6:22

David Wilcock, a well known New Age lecturer who claims to be the reincarnation of Edgar Cayce, who has a huge following, regularly twists Scripture to make it sound like it means something that it has absolutely nothing to do with. In this video, Wilcock takes the passage out of Matthew Chapter 6, (apparently referencing the American King James Version, since it would be the easiest translation to twist into the meaning he is trying to portray of it), the parable of Laying Up Treasures in Heaven, and claims that Jesus' hidden message in this passage is in reference to the Pineal gland, and using it to enlighten us. Take the following transcript of David's video: (Entire Lecture Video can be found here)

There are some absolutely obvious quotes from Jesus that clearly indicate that he was aware of the Pineal gland and how important it is to any spiritual path, including the positive, loving, awakening of consciousness that he was trying to teach us. In the book of Matthew, Jesus says, 'the light of the body is the eye, if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light.' ... it doesn't mean you have to poke one of your eyes out to become psychic, it's saying that when your pineal gland opens, your body becomes enlightened and aware. Jesus was always speaking in parables, and this is a hidden metaphor for the Pineal gland

The Pineal gland, known in occult and New Age/mystic religions as the "third eye," is a pine cone shaped gland in the center of the brain that is responsible for the production of melatonin and plays a role in the metabolism of certain hormones and drugs, including psychedelic drugs. In esoteric circles, this "third eye" is believed to be the gate to higher consciousness, which can be awakened through certain mystical practices as well as the use of some psychedelic drugs, such as Ayahuasca. The symbol of this mystical third eye can be found in many of the world's major religions, including Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Satanism, Freemasonry, as well as the New Age. Many cults of "Christianity" also embrace this symbol, and incorporate this line of thinking into their belief system. As you can see, all of these religions are unified around the same principle, that man's "inner self," or "inner consciousness," is the key to spiritual enlightenment, and that man must awaken his consciousness in order to ascend into the next spiritual phase. David Wilcock would have us believe that Jesus Christ was teaching this same concept while hear on earth, but is this really what Jesus was saying? Let's examine the passage in context, on a critical and logical level, and uncover the real meaning of this passage, as intended by the author of this text.

The passage Wilcock uses, in the American King James Version that he uses to quote his passage, is as follows:

¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: ²⁰ But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ²¹ For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ²² The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. ²³ But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! ²⁴ No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

First of all, the Greek world translated is "light" in verse 22 is λύχνος, or luchnos. It literally means "lamp," or "illuminator," something that sheds or shines light on something else. It doesn't actually mean the essence of light itself, rather a source of light. A lamp illuminates the things around us, likewise the eye shows us the things around us, and where we are going and what we are doing. Here Jesus is likening our eye to a lamp that lights our bodies. Our eyes, or what we see and perceive, are the entrance to our hearts, and affect our whole being.

Understanding what Jesus meant by "single" in verse 23 is key to understanding the passage. Notice that Wilcock conveniently left out verse 24, because it totally changes the context of the point he is trying to deceive his audience with. The word translated as "single" in this verse is ἁπλοῦς, or haplous, which literally means simple, whole, healthy, properly folded. In other words, Jesus is saying that if your eye is good, your body, surroundings, path, will be illuminated, but if your eye is bad, and you can't see properly, you're going to stumble.

What Jesus is saying has absolutely nothing to do with the esoteric, "single eye," or "third eye" of the Pineal gland. He's saying that we as Christians should have one focus, or singleness of vision. Psalm 119:105 says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Jesus Christ is the Word of God, and Jesus Christ should be our single vision for Christians.

John 1:1-14 says:

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. ⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. ⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus wants us to set our eyes and our hearts on his Kingdom. He does not want us to be seeking the evils of this world, through politics and government. Such things are pictured as the beasts throughout the Bible in prophecy. We are rather to seek the light of his Word, and the rule of his reign over our lives and the lives of others by furthering the Gospel. The very next passage after the verse Wilcock tries to twist tells us not to be anxious about these worldly things, but to seek the kingdom of God first through faith, and our spiritual needs will all be met (Matthew 6:33).

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Rejecting God?

Imagine you and your family on vacation in Aruba. The warm ocean breeze blowing gently in your hair, while the glittering pristine waters sparkle as far as the eye can see. You're all relaxing under a shady tree when you son decides he wants to cool off. He grabs his inflatable raft, kicks off his sandals, and darts towards the waters. "Ahhhhhh," that's refreshing. Stretched out on the raft, dead to the world, lost in only his blissful state of personal paradise, he begins drifting outward. Worriedly, you jump up to yell for him to come back to shore, but he's lost in his own world, and isn't listening. Though he can faintly hear your pleading for him to listen, he's overwhelmed with the sounds of the waves and the wind in his ears, and just doesn't want to bother with your hysteria. Then the inevitable, you see sharks. You begin frantically shouting at the top of your lungs for him to come back, but he's too far for you to swim. You grab a life raft with a rope, and toss it too him, but he's hopelessly lost, cast away in his own being.

Why won't he respond? Because he's so caught up loving what he's doing, loving himself, that he's blinded himself to the reality around him. Sadly, this is the state of many who reject the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the reality is, people that reject Jesus, reject him because they love sin. They love their lusts and immorality so much so, that they've rejected all notion of consequences for their choices, and continue in their ways to their destruction, and the last thing they want is a holy and righteous God impeding on what they believe is a "good time." But what they fail to realize is that they are already under God's judgement, and just because they have rejected him, doesn't mean they won't have to face him on judgement day. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 says "⁹The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, ¹⁰and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved."Natural man does not seek God, or seek salvation from God. Psalm 53:2-3 says:

¹The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
²God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

and Paul affirms this in his letter to the Romans;  "no one understands; no one seeks for God" (Romans 3:11). Man seeks to indulge himself in his own desires, and refuses to acknowledge that the desires of their heart are not only deceitful, but disastrous (Jeremiah 17:9). And any call to them to turn from their lustful and worldly desires are met with deaf ears, as this is total foolishness to them who are perishing (1 Cor. 1:18).
People are turned off to the saving grace of the cross for a number of reasons. Another reason may be simply that they don't understand the true Gospel. In man's natural, unregenerate state, one cannot understand the things of the Lord (1 Cor. 2:14). It takes an act of the Holy Spirit to open one's heart and mind to the spiritual knowledge of God. Perhaps someone has heard a false gospel at some point, for example, the "prosperity gospel." This false gospel teaches that by accepting Jesus, you now have Jesus at your disposal to meet the material needs, and shower material blessings upon you at your discretion. Your faith in him is reciprocated with "prosperity." Yet, when these things fail to happen, the unconverted person becomes discouraged, and loses interest. However, he continues to believe that this is what Christianity is, and has no interest in entertaining any concept of God, since his experience was typified. But when drilling this back down, it all boils down to the same root cause—the love of sin. These people were only looking to get something for themselves out of Jesus.
Another common reason people reject the word of God is pride. Their pride can be intellectual pride, or moral pride, but both are the transpired transgressions of a wicked and deceitful heart, and God hates it (Proverbs 8:13). The morally proud man stands in contrast to God's word, and refuses to believe that he is wicked (Romans 5:12, 2 Cor. 4:4). This is a typical standpoint from the New Age movement. The new age worldview teaches that there is no such thing as sin, evil or Satan, and stands on the pantheistic belief that God can be found in everyone and everything—all is one, all is God. This morally relative worldview is really not new at all, and stems from old Pagan and Eastern mystic religions, and is really no different from any other false Gospel. It's a belief that teaches than man is inherently good, and does not need a savior, but unfortunately for the lost, not believing in the law, or the transgression thereof, does not exempt you from accountability to that law. If a convicted murderer tells the judge that he doesn't believe that killing is wrong, nor does he believe that jail exists, he's going to have a huge surprise for waiting for him. Believing that we are not sinful is a lie of Satan (John 1:8). The truth is, because of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, man is now inherently evil, and nobody can stand blameless in front of God in his own right (Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1, etc.)
Perhaps a more common form of pride is intellect. There is a major war being waged against Christianity, and has been since it's inception. The Word of God is attacked on every front, yet never defeated. But this doesn't stop the prideful intellect from believing that is has. The cohorts of the Vatican, Jesuitical influences and collegiate level criticism of the Bible have led many to believe that the text is corrupt, and is not the Word of God, but a false amalgamation of man-made stories. Many attempts have also been made to discredit the truth of the Bible, such as the false theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory. The proud intellect is too arrogant to believe that he may be wrong, and pretentiously buys into the attacks on God. These individuals are what Paul describes as "always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth." (2 Timothy 3:7) They read and study constantly, making an idol out of knowledge, yet without the Holy Spirit, you can never know the truth.

Pride is a subtle, but serious sin—perhaps the most serious. Pride is inherently the cause of all wickedness, and causes us to rebel against God, and disobey him. Pride defiles man (Mark 7:20-23), but the world rewards it (1 John 2:16). Pride prevents people from receiving the truth (Psalm 10:4), and from receiving God's grace (James 4:6). But pride ultimately brings shame and destruction to people (Proverbs 11:2, 16:18-19, 29:23). Yet people cannot accept God, because they are deluded, and caught up in their desires of their heart. Jesus Christ is light, and he shines his light and exposes the wicked heart of man, which proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. Man will flee from this light for fear of having their deeds exposed (John 3:19-21). People want to continue in their sinful ways, and will attempt to rationalize their sin through their pride and arrogance.

¹⁹And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. ²¹But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” - John 3:19-21

The Greek word for translated as judgement here is "krisis," prounounced "kree'-sis," according to Thayer primarily means a trial, or tribunal, the act or process of judging rather than the sentence or punishment itself. As we can see, with Jesus being the light that shines on man's wickedness and exposes it, Jesus didn't come to bring judgement, but it is his very nature that is judging of our sin. His very nature is pure and holy, and when man's deeds are measured against his infinite righteousness, his deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). In order to be declared righteous by God, we must put on the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself, because only he is without sin (2 Cor. 5:21, Philippians 3:9). It is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, by the only sinless man who ever walked the earth (1 Peter 2:22), who is fully God himself (John 1:14, Hebrews 1:3, Colossians 2:9), who took the punishment for our transgressions (1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 53:5), so that whoever believes in him, shall be rescued from his deluded world, saved from his sin (Romans 6:6, 2 Cor. 5:17) and saved from eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46). We must turn from our idols of pride, intellect and delusion, and turn to Jesus Christ alone for our salvation.

¹⁷ Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. ¹⁹ They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰ But that is not the way you learned Christ!— ²¹ assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²² to put off your old self,[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. - Ephesians 4:17-24

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Will the SBC Officially Announce Their Apostasy at the 2015 Annual Meeting?

Every year, right before the SBC Annual Meeting, a two day Pastors' Conference is held with various Southern Baptist preachers speaking at the event.  This year, the 2015 conference will be held June 14th and 15th in Toledo Ohio, and will be immediately followed by the SBC Annual meeting on the 16th and 17th.   The purpose of the event is to teach and encourage other preachers and pastors. Dr. Willy Rice of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, FL, and president of the 2015 Conference, writes on the website:

We have assembled a stellar lineup of leaders and speakers whom God is using and blessing. There will be passionate worship, great music, and inspiring stories. This will be the very time you need to refresh your soul and renew your walk with God and friendship with fellow leaders. I believe this is going to be a special convention and our Pastor’s Conference is going to set the stage for a true work of God.

We shall see.

The Great Awakening

As with every event in the SBC, the Pastors' Conference, historically speaking, isn't without it's problems.  It appears it will be no different this year.  The first problem of the 2015 conference is it's theme. It is officially being promoted as the Great Awakening. This appears to be a theme based on the convention's president, Dr. Ronnie Floyd's ebook, "PLEADING WITH SOUTHERN BAPTISTS To Humbly Come Together Before God in Clear Agreement,Visible Union, and in Extraordinary Prayer for the Next Great Awakening and for the World to Be Reached for Christ." Take a look at the logo from the Conference's website. The logo states that the theme will be "Clear Agreement," "Visible Union," and "Extraordinary Prayer."  Let's dissect what exactly this New Age, ecumenical and contemplative sounding language means. On page 1 of Floyd's book, he writes:

For the sake of our nation and the spiritually lost around the world, it is time to humble ourselves before God. For this, I plead with all Southern Baptist pastors, missionaries, laypersons, denominational leaders, churches, denominational entities, conventions, colleges and universities; from student to adult, regardless of age, vocation, or status.

As we come to God in humility and repentance, entering into this special season of extraordinary prayer, we plead with God for spiritual revival personally, revival in the church, and the next Great Awakening in the United States.

First of all, "The Great Awakening" is an idea that has been pushed by New Agers and the mystic religions for ages. Ashok Gangadean, professor of philosophy at Haverford College, founder of the Logos Institute, and co-convener of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality, and well known New Age proponent states:

Perhaps the single most powerful event facing humanity today is a great awakening on a planetary scale that has been millennia in the making. We humans are in the midst of a profound advance as a species to a higher form of global consciousness that has been emerging across cultures, religions and worldviews through the centuries. This awakening of global consciousness is nothing less than a shift, a maturation, from more egocentric patterns of life to a higher form of integral and dialogic patterns of life. [Emphasis mine]

So how does this relate the visible Church?  Well, the ideas are the same.  In effect, what Floyd is saying in his ebook, is that we need to tear down our denominational walls, doctrinal boundaries, and biblical divisions. Well known ecumenical Southern Baptist "pastor," and keynote speaker at the 2014 conference, Rick Warren prophesies "A great spirit awakening is on the horizon." Warren vaguely defines the "Great Awakening" as it relates to the Church.

In the last three years, I’ve told you this several times: I believe God is preparing the church for another reformation. The first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does.

For too long we’ve separated the Word of God from the work of God. As the church, we’re called to be the body of Christ – the whole body.

It isn't exactly clear where how he received this revelation, but we can be sure that it didn't come from God.  His prophecy basically outlines five man centered steps to "renew" the Church, water down doctrinal and denominational lines (including those of Roman Catholicism) and join together and unite under this new form of Emergent Christianity. The Emerging Church can be summed up by a few characteristics, including: tearing down down doctrinal divisions, a greater emphasis on sensory worship using candles, icons, images, incenses, etc. to bring about a feeling of "experiencing God," and a reexamination of Scripture and the purpose of the Church in society.  A lot of what we see in these Emerging churches are the acceptance of mystic practices such as Yoga and contemplative prayer, and a deterioration of a clear presentation of the true Gospel as portrayed in Scripture.  There becomes less of an emphasis on God's truth, and a greater emphasis on man's feelings.  In a sense, it's idolatry disguised as Christianity.

Clear Agreement

The next idea in the 2015 conference's motto is "Clear Agreement."  But Floyd never really defines in his book exactly how he wants us to come to this "clear agreement."  He only states "Surely we can embrace with clear agreement that spiritual revival personally, spiritual revival in the church, and spiritual awakening in the nation are all needed so we can accelerate our pace in reaching the world for Christ." Does he mean for us to set aside Biblical doctrine, hold hands, and unite in the name of Jesus for a man centered means of a better world?  I don't know, but based on his history, he has already set aside Biblical doctrine for man-made theology.

President of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, and prominent speaker at this event, Dr. Russell Moore has demonstrated this time and time again.  In December of 2013, Moore sent out a tweet praising the pope of Rome for being named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.  He has also openly praised Democratic, pro-life congressman Gene Taylor, calling him "the greatest public servant I've ever known."  Really?  Moore, along with Rick Warren, recently visited the Vatican, setting aside the Gospel, to hold hands with unbelieving Catholics in the name of uniting on the issue of marriage.  Being salt and light, by taking them the Gospel is one thing, but rejecting the Gospel in order to have fellowship, is completely different thing.  The Bible tells us that we are not to have fellowship with unbelievers (2nd Cor. 6:14), nor are we to have anything to do with the unfruitful works of darkness, rather expose them (Eph. 5:11).

So is this what Floyd, and the SBC want us to "clearly agree" on?  This leads us to the next point in the motto, "Visible Union."

Visible Union

So Floyd is pleading for the visible Church to "unite" in these ideas, visibly.  In other words, he wants the world to see what he thinks is the Church standing together regardless of important differences.  It seems that Floyd, and many others in the SBC are already doing this.  Take for example Lifeway Christian Stores. Recently, Lifeway's Research Committe President, Ed Stetzer was confronted about heretical books being peddled in the store.  Instead of addressing the issue, Stetzer, and his companions first chose to ignore their critics.  But when pressure started to build, they began to marginalize the critics by saying that there were only a few of the same "angry Calvinists," are always complaining.  After this comment sparked an uproar against Stetzer and Lifeway's Gospel compromising practices, they began attacking the critics, however, still not addressing the issue.  The point is that these types of pastors dominate the SBC, and they all think alike.  Ronnie Floyd, Russell Moore, Ed Stetzer, Rick Warren...they all are willing to compromise the Gospel in some way in order to avoid offending other religions, and stand united in the name of man centered ideologies.

The Bible warns us of these unholy alliances, and predicts that these unions will happen more and more in the end times.

1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1st Timothy 4:1-5)

Notice verse 3 above, and what Ronnie Floyd is asking the Church to publicly do on page 10 of his ebook.  He is asking the pastors to lead their churches in a "corporate fast."  I'm not aware of anywhere in Scripture that the church is called to fast corporately.  This is a practice of the Roman Catholic church, and is actually condemned in Scripture.  Fasting is something that should not be taken lightly by any means, and should never be done to draw attention under any circumstances. (Matthew 6:16)

Extraordinary Prayer

The last point in the motto is "Extraordinary Prayer."  He doesn't give a real description of what exactly he means by "Extraordinary Prayer," however, he does have this to say about it:

Challenge your church to pause at either sunset on Saturday evening or sunrise on Sunday morning, to pray for three minutes for the anointing of God to come on their pastor as he preaches God’s Word and the anointing of God’s power to come upon the worship services of their church. Prayerfully, these 180 seconds of focused prayer will soon begin a true 180-degree change in our churches. While God creates the change within our churches spiritually, He will also lead us to strategic change in our churches in order to rise up like never before to do whatever it takes to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Who's church gathers at sunset on Saturday evening?  I don't know many Protestant churches that do, but I know one well known apostate church that does.  Does Floyd want believers to unite with unbelieving Roman Catholics in prayer?  It appears that Floyd believes that by all of these churches, with their congregations, all at the same time, for exactly 3 minutes, petitioning God to do something, is going to make a difference.  Now, I am certainly a proponent of prayer, both private and corporate, but it appears Dr. Floyd has a misunderstanding of the purpose of prayer.  Prayer is not a petition for a man centered desire, but a means to have a relationship with God on His terms.  First and foremost, we must be praying for God's will to be done, and I've yet to see Floyd, or the SBC defend their agenda with Scripture.

Sure, there may be some positive aspects to this, but as a whole, it doesn't appear that they are appealing to the will of God for their purposes.  I agree with them that we should be praying for a revival in the Church, but it appears the revival that they want is un-scriptural. They want us to set aside good doctrine, and take a watered down message to the world.  Rather than addressing the issues of man's sinfulness and need for repentance and a Savior, they want to take the message of pro-life and traditional marriage, and stand in unity with unbelievers proclaiming these good works as a means to a better world.  There will, however, be a few excellent preachers at this conference. Namely, Clint Pressley and David Platt.  Both of them are great men of integrity, and excellent expositors of the Word of God.  Lets pray that the good, humble, believing pastors like these can have a positive impact on the SBC.   However, the Bible predicts that the visible Church in the end times will turn away from the truth, and start following doctrines of demons.  It looks like the SBC is falling away at a faster pace, and (God willing, unknowingly) helping to build the harlot church described in Revelation 17.

It also looks like God's plan is completely different than the plan put forth by the SBC 2015 conference.  God's plan never calls for a "Spiritual Awakening" in the end times, on the contrary, it says this will happen:

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. [2nd Thes. 2:1-12]

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