New World Order or Jesus?

If you are a servant of Jesus Christ you need to be on your guard.  Why?  Because there is a spiritual battle going on.  The spirit of anti-christ is moving about in our churches.  Granted, this has been going on for years, but recently the pace has stepped up.  Apostasy is defined as the abandonment of a previous loyalty.  This enemy spirit that lurks in our churches is seeking to have us abandon our Lord Jesus and pledge loyalty to Anti-Christ. Jesus says in Rev. 2:4...Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.  This enemy spirit is dressed in sheep's clothing.  It has the look of goodness, but is devoid of the power of God.  This enemy lurks about with various names such as:  Purpose Driven, Emergent, New Apostolic Reformation, etc.

Below are Biblical warnings:

Matthew 24:4-5 says..."And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many." KJV

1 John 4:1 says..."Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."  KJV

2 Thessalonians 2:2-4 says..."Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."  NKJV

1 Timothy 4:1 says...“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;”  KJV

2 Peter 3:17 says...“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.”  KJV

Jude 1:4 says..."For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." KJV

It is important to be arrayed in our spiritual armor to resist the enemy and his lies.  Here below are some links to very good writing presented by men standing on the "Rock".  Roger Oakland who was recruited by Pastor Chuck Smith to be a part of Calvary Costa Mesa in 1988.  And Paul Smith, brother of Chuck Smith and close friend to Roger Oakland.

The Hijacking of the Calvary Chapel Movement into the Coming One-World Religion

 New Evangelicalism: The New World Order (by Paul Smith)

Certain Men Crept In (by Roger Oakland)

Continuing Saga

To be honest I am a complete mess! *heavy sigh*  It is so hard to leave our church and honestly I don't want to, but I have to.  I spoke with my nursery co-worker yesterday.  She had not been to church in a month, so she had completely missed all that has happened in the past few weeks.  Thankfully, she has been going to a church near her home where her brother and his family go.  She said she has felt guilty for liking that church more than our church.  I told her it is probably of the Lord and then I told her the new direction our church has decided to go and the danger of it.  Our discussion went really well and now she can make changes for the better.  We are so sad to break up, but she works nearby where I live so no reason we can't get together for lunch when we can.

I've only told one other friend.  Most Christians are unaware of the dangers.  Granted, it is hard to keep up with the wiles of the enemy these days.  Anyway, my friend said she has been increasingly irritated with the worship music that is being played at our church.  She said she felt guilty about it, like she was being rebellious.  I told her that I was having the same issue and that maybe the Holy Spirit has been warning us.  My friend is a nurse and doesn't have much time to research and try different churches.  So she told me to let her know what church I ended up at so she can come too.  So we will see where the Lord leads.  So far we are have a Baptist church on the list.  They are close by and their statement of doctrine says they believe the scriptures are the sole authority to faith & practice.

There are other friends that I should share with, but I worry how they will respond to what I say.  I am leaving it in the hands of the Lord and waiting on His timing.  And honestly, right now I am so upset I am not in a good way.  I need time to calm down, chill out, focus and relax.  So here's to new adventures on the narrow road.

The Response

I have studied up on the "purpose driven" thing enough to know that it is not the narrow path that Jesus talked about (Matthew 7:13-14).  Instead it is part of the wide path.  In review of 2016 our church leadership did some wide path stuff.  The good songs we used to sing have been replaced with music from groups such as Jesus Culture. There was the time that our pastors burned incense in a service.  And another time the band played the music so loud it was like we were at a rock concert.  One of our pastors stood up in service last year and praised the Azusa Now 2016 event.  A family in our congregation stood up to talk about Voice of the Martyrs ministry and said there would be a meeting after the service to know more.  Only a few people attended the meeting and none of our pastors showed up in support of it.  Now add in the "purpose driven" drivel and things are not looking good.  Jesus said to examine the fruit, because you will know a tree by it's fruit (Matthew 7:15-20).  Analysis: the fruit doesn't look good.   

Since our pastor said he wanted to meet with my hubby to discuss things, my hubby has been pushing for a date to meet, but as of yet no date has been set.  Our pastor said he would be sorry to see us go, but they are moving forward with this.  As he said in Sunday sermon the leadership has prayed about this and have decided that this is the way God wants them to go.  So in their opinion we are the ones going against God.  So not much to talk about when you put that spin on it and there probably won't be any meeting.  Anyway, we are going to attend church today, for one last time, as it is my turn to do nursery.  I want to let my nursery partner, whom I've worked with for years, know we are leaving and why.

I am so upset over the direction the church is going that I am barely sleeping.  I get a few hours here and there, but for the most part I am not sleeping.  In February it will be 7 years that we have been a part of this church.  I was thinking how we have been through so much with these people, the hardships with our sons, my surgery and complications afterwards, etc.  And all that comes to my mind right now are the words to a hymn:  All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give.  I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.

Here are a few links to messages I have listened to regarding the wide path:
The Purpose Driven Lie
Sandy & Tim
Chris Rosenbrough - Rick Warren

Letter Sent

Well, my hubby finished his 2nd letter to our pastors with links showing why PDL is not good.  So now we wait and see the response.  Been praying.  The response will determine what we do next.  I've been so sad about all of this, its like a bad dream, but it is real.

It's a New Year!

This year the holidays seemed to go by in a flash, actually I guess that is a good thing because for the last several years Thanksgiving & Christmas have not been my favorites. There have been some aspects of these holidays I have enjoyed, but somehow they seem to accentuate what I am missing.  I try to focus on the blessings, but when you have a loved one that is missing or you aren't getting along with, it is hard.  So I just do the best I can.  It seems the one thing that I can count on is getting sick at Christmas and Christmas 2016 was no exception.  The bright side is that I wasn't as sick as Christmas 2015.  And now we are in 2017 and I am actually looking forward what this year holds.

As far as our church situation, it has not gotten better.  My hubby wrote to our pastors and told them he does not like the direction they are going.  Only one of the pastors wrote back asking what is wrong with The Purpose Driven Life (PDL).  In his Sunday message he quoted the Purpose Drive Life and basically said he thinks the book rocks.  He also said that they have prayed about this and they feel this is the direction God wants them to go.  That's when you know things are bad because its our pastors that should be guarding and protecting the sheep from the wolves.  My hubby is trying to get a letter together with on-line links to show why the PDL is not good, but he is a bit hesitant as he doesn't feel the leadership will be open.

My hubby also contacted a godly man we know via You Tube.  A few years back he had to leave his church and he has since become a pastor.  Anyway, he has experience in these matters and was kind to give my hubby some advice.  He said that my hubby's letter will probably be met with disregard so beware.  He also said we have some time as PDL is mostly being taught in small groups, but when it starts seeping into the Sunday message (which it has) then we have to leave because we can't sit under blind guides.  Galatians 5:9 says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump."  So 2017 is the year we begin our transition of leaving our church, visiting other churches and seeing where the Lord leads.