The Gospel of Jesus Christ or the Mystery of Iniquity?

Some leaders in the emerging
new spirituality call themselves “Red Letter Christians,”
referring to the red letters in some Bibles that signify the
words of Jesus Christ. But these same leaders minimize or all
together reject warnings in the Bible from the Lord about
spiritual deception and the cost that goes with belonging to the
Him. Listen to some of these red letters from our Lord in
Matthew 10, and ask yourself, are these the kinds of words that
the “Red Letter” emerging leaders such as Tony Campolo, Jim
Wallis, and Brian McLaren are speaking?

“And
whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when
ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of
your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment,
than for that city.

“Behold,
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye
therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But
beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils,
and they will scourge you in their synagogues;

“And ye
shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for
a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they
deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak:
for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall
speak.

“For it
is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which
speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the
brother to death, and the father the child: and the children
shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be
put to death.

“And ye
shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that
endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10: 11-22

By quoting this Scripture,
we are saying that the new emerging spirituality does
not talk about the cost of being a true believer. It talks about
unity at all costs, but not truth at all costs. And yet
Scripture, as this one above, clearly indicates that there is an
antagonism between the Gospel and the precepts of this world.

Our recent article, “New
Age Sympathizer Leonard Sweet To Speak at Pastor Skip Heitzig’s
Calvary Chapel Church,” illustrates clearly how deception
has entered the Christian church and how “grievous wolves” are
not “sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29). It is worth noting that
many now are warning against popular New Agers such as Oprah and
Eckhart Tolle, but some of those same warners are promoting New
Age sympathizers that have come into the church.

Alice Bailey, the
occultist who coined the term New Age prophesied that
the “Coming One” (really the false christ) could not come on the
scene until humanity recognized its divinity (man is God, they
will say). And she said that this “Age of Aquarius” will not
come around the Christian church but rather through
it. This is what we are witnessing today, and all believers
should take note. Bailey called it the “rejuvenation” of
the churches; Rick Warren, Leonard Sweet, and other prominent
leaders call it a new reformation. But it is the same
thing, and it will deceive millions….

There is a stunning
connection here. In A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen
quotes Laurie Cabot, a witch, who states:

“Mystics in every religious tradition speak of alpha states
of consciousness and the lure of Divine Light, although they
do so in their own metaphors and images. In their own ways
they have learned how to enter alpha as they pray or
worship. They learn how to become enlightened.” (ATOD,
p. 177)

She did not
say many or most religious traditions; she said “every.” This is
what Lighthouse Trails is trying to bring to people’s attention.
This Christian new spirituality/contemplative tradition is not
truly Christian and in fact opposes the Gospel by its
implications that God is in everything.

Yungen
explains:

“In a book titled
The Contemplative Experience, the writer presents the
point of view that could be expressed by any of the
contemplatives over the past 1,700 years. Speaking of
Bernard of Clairvaux:

“He realized that
God permeates the whole of creation. His experience was
that God is the “stone in the stones, the tree in the
trees,” and in the same way, the center point of his own
soul. God resides at the heart of all that exists.” (ATOD,
p. 177)

Clairvaux
isn’t making reference to the sovereignty of God over creation.
He’s making reference to what Leonard Sweet calls the
“embodiment of God” in all creation. And this is why Sweet
champions individuals such as David Spangler, Matthew Fox, and
Ken Wilber, et al.

When Sweet
says the following, he is echoing the very heart and soul of
Cabot and Clairvaux:

“Quantum spirituality [mysticism] bonds us to all creation
as well as to other members of the human family. . . . This
entails a radical doctrine of embodiment of God
in the very substance of creation.” (Quantum
Spirituality, p. 125)

Is THIS the
direction that Christian leaders are going to take the church?
What detriment that would be!

Lighthouse
Trails calls upon those who are bringing the false teaching of
contemplative mysticism (i.e. occultism) and the “God is in
everything” belief into the church to repentance. And we beseech
those leaders (such as Calvary Chapel veteran pastor Skip
Heitzig) who are giving credence to these false teachings by
their support and associations with the New Spirituality leaders
to stop turning a blind eye and begin warning the church. The
church is supposed to be God’s vehicle in sharing the Gospel of
Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, not a vehicle to bring
to the world the mystery of iniquity!

“Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ … Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day
shall not come, except there come a falling away first …
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.” (from II
Thessalonians 2: 1-7)