Posts tagged ‘NAR’
Stories, Stories, and More Stories…
Folks, as time progresses and we move closer to the time of Jesus’ return, we must remember that He warned us about the false Christs, the false teachers who would lead many astray (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). Things would be gearing up to see more and more heretics gaining prominence within Christendom. Because of the way people chase after their “felt needs” today, they are tossed about by every wind of doctrine trying to satiate their itching ears.
God in My Everything?
The more we begin to rely on our emotions and how we feel about something, the less likely we are going to look to God’s Word as the final and absolute authority for life and practice as Christians. This appears to be what Ken Shigematsu (and too many others to count), is doing. His books attempt to draw people away from the truth of the cross and Scripture into the arena of “feelz” using monastic rituals to get us there. He wants us to embrace the type of rituals that many ancient orders used for the express purpose of getting closer to God. Yet, these things are not in Scripture so we should be very concerned.
NAR’s Call for Restoration of the Church
I clearly recall the new worship leader inviting people to clap and even dance in the aisles of the sanctuary during morning service. He wanted people to worship God in the way he thought was appropriate, through emotional displays. Where is the self-control? Where is the decorum that is so often spoken of in Scripture? Too often today, love for God is relegated to our emotions. While we certainly should be glad for what God has done for us, with hearts filled with genuine praise, the reality is that love is best seen in our quiet, submissive obedience to every aspect of His will. Anyone can dance in the aisles and shout “hallelujah!” However, it means nothing if our lives do not conform to His will in obedience.
Knowing God’s Will: Context Means a Great Deal
Taking this verse out of its natural context, it’s not difficult to see how it can be twisted to mean something it does not mean. The idea here is that meditating on God’s Word will pave the way to success and prosperity, so we’re told. But is this what Joshua meant when he spoke those words? Hardly. The context fleshes out the full meaning.
Modern Christian Mysticism Stems from Existentialism
The mystic becomes his own determiner of truth (his own god). He needs nothing outside of himself to verify his experiences. He leans heavily on his own inner feelings to determine the veracity of his experiences. If an experience seems good to him, it is good. The Bible is secondary, at best, if used at all.
New Age, Dominionism, and NAR – Twisting Truth
What many Christians fail to realize is how much Satan has counterfeited the things that are very much patterned on Scripture, with a twist of course. Jesus spoke of the “beginning of birth pangs” in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21), and the New Age speaks of a great upheaval prior to the “birth” of the new age, what they believe is the Age of Aquarius.
Common Bonds of New Age, Dominionism, and NAR
As the climax of this age occurs, those in the New Age, Dominionism, and NAR will find themselves strange bedfellows, but will then realize that they have more in common than they ever previously understood. NAR will become much more New Age like and this has been verified by many people who have come out of the New Age movement only to realize that the New Age has infiltrated the visible Church!
Losing Control in the Name of God?
What would the apostle Paul say about this? He would denounce it, according to what he wrote to the Corinthians and I wish he were here to do exactly that! The prophet of God was always in self-control. How many times did Paul (and other writers), talk about the need for the Christian to be in control of their faculties?
Voice of Healing Movement of the 1950’s…
Branham stated he was commissioned by an angel in 1946 and shortly thereafter began his healing ministry with included revivals. Interesting that it was not God who commissioned Branham.
Numerous photos were taken of Branham where either a light (“fire”) above his head or over his shoulder exists. Branham believed that these occurrences were God’s stamp of approval on him and his ministry. So rather than go to Scriptures, he assumed the “sign” as being of God.
Signs, Wonders, Bells and Whistles
The only “ecstatic” experience witnessed as a direct result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto believers in prayer, was the presence of “tongues.” While this subject is hotly debated still today, the truth is in that particular case, the believers were actually speaking in a known tongue (though unknown to them at the time). We know this simply because of the way people responded. While some referred to them as being “drunk,” it wasn’t necessarily due to their actions or the way they walked. It was due to the fact that it seemed to some that they were simply babbling like a drunk person would do. Kenneth Hagin has stated that if people thought they were drunk, they must have been acting drunk (my paraphrase). That’s absolutely not true if we consider the context of those verses.
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