Link to the Eric Barger/Jan Markell radio program

Link to Jans site March 14 2009 How to spot the Emergent Church hour long program.
I do not recomend everyone Jan interviews but all in all Jan is very biblically solid and Eric is a good friend and brother in the Lord who I would recomend.
Here is the link

http://www.olivetreeviews.org/radio/mp3/index.php?page=1

How to Spot the Emergent Church in Your Church

With Eric Barger and Jan Markell solid biblical information.

Jim Diehl

This is some great news but Jim Diehl is about to retire. And we still have Emergent and Spiritual Formation promoter Jesse Middendorf  and its unfortunate that he is a  GS.

Now who will stand for truth in the Nazarene denomination?

It certainly will not be Jesse Middendorf.

 

This just in-
Good Morning Tim, I just wanted you to know that I got such a blessing and answer to prayer last night. It was the Central Ohio district assembly this week. Dr Diehl our G.S. spoke. I was not able to attend expect for last night when we had the Ordination service. It was my first. Our youth pastor was being ordained and felt I needed to be there. The Lord impressed on me to go but I didn’t know why other than to support our youth pastor and his wife. Well as Dr. Diehl began to speak he used the same passage that our pastor has used this past week. My jaw dropped,the cat was out of the bag. I have been having a hard time with having to keep what I know about what is happening in the church to myself. I wanted to get my facts straight and give my pastor the time to research also. Besides who would I tell and then it get back to the person who is helping bring it into our church. I was going to meet with my pastor and see if we could get a plan together to educate our church on this. 
Dr. Diehl beat me to it. He spoke on it last night. Using the passage in First Corinthians 16:13,Be on your guard;stand firm in the ; be men of courage; be strong, Do everything in love. He spoke aginst the emergent church movement in the Nazarene Church, even used the words new age. He spoke it with passion. My pastor was up front and I was in the back. This is at Grove City, a big church. I think he could hear me,I had tears in my eyes the whole time he spoke. My pastor knows for sure now that the battle is real. We need to pray for General Assembly. I am so grateful that Dr. Diehl is so against this. I am going to try to share what is going on in our church with my sunday school class tomorrow. Our teacher may not know. Thank you for all you do. I will keep you posted on how it is going. Now to deal with the Walk to Emmaus also. The Catholic church just keeps coming. I wish they were not the church that has started all of this but I must keep fighting. I will not compromise the Word of God at any cost! As Dr. Diehl put it last night. I will die first. Feel free to share this story. We will have someone fighting for us at General Assembly. I wish I could be there. 
–
VADA LYNNE ROSS
HAVE A BLESSED DAY!

Is this the journey the Nazarene denomination is headed on?

I’m not going to make any commentary here this was from U Tube and here is what was written by the video which speaks for itself.

“This is our video report for the West Texas District Church of the Nazarene District Assembly 2008 for the preceding church year.”

The Reformation and Plain Sense

Just a comment on the Reformation. I just got done reading an article by Naz Nets very own Dennis Bratcher it was titled “Problems with “Plain Sense” reading of scripture.
Now first of all I question what kind of sense Dennis used when writing the article.
Dennis states”A question I often hear in Sunday School classes or in discussions about the meaning of Scripture is: Why can’t we just take the Bible for what it says, at face value, “literally”? If what it says makes plain sense, can’t we assume we have the truth?

This sounds like a good principle, and in “principle” I would agree with it.” end quote

Lets put on the brakes right there because I don’t believe Dennis is being truth full here and conveniently uses the word in principle but then goes on to write a article on why he doesn’t agree with reading scripture with plain sense or literally.
In principle means we may agree on the fundamentals but do not agree on the details which in my mind is a type of a oxymoron because you cant believe in the fundamentals unless you agree with the very details those very fundamentals are based on.
I believe Dennis as a human being is quite brilliant but seriously lacks good biblical discernment.
Dennis goes on to state we are reading things based on how we were bought up , our culture, country etc..
We see things differently than they did back when scripture was written.
Dennis states here- “So if we lived in ancient Israel 3,000 years ago, the plain sense reading would be, well, plain. But to us today, it is not at all plain. In fact, what appears to us as the plain sense reading is actually nearly the opposite of what the text communicated in its own context.” end quote

That’s all just a typical Emergent church ploy. That’s why these folks ignore Gods warning in Deut 18:9-14 because they will state this was Gods warning to the Israelites only and doesn’t apply to us because God was talking about Baal or other false religions.
So this in turns opens the door to new age practices like contemplative/centering prayer etc..
So do we say that God no longer warns us of the occult?
Of course not- look what happened in Acts 19:19.
But of course a Emergent would argue back that it is wrong to burn any book because our culture of course speaks against that.
So if we have to look at everything through the lens of our culture we are indeed in sorry shape.
Dennis also states-
“First, this classical plain sense approach was a product of the Reformation, a major tenet of which was to recover the authority of the Scripture for the people.”
The Emergents have one very common excuse-Everything is a product of the Reformation therefore making the way we believe just some kind of brand new truth that’s only perhaps 500 years old.
What a utter lie.
What was Luther reforming?
Martin Luther was trying to reform the Roman Catholic church not Christianity in general which in turn started Protestantism.
I think its a real stretch to say that no one believed in a literal interpretation of scripture which was without error before the Reformers came along.
Gods Word was always as it was written even before it was all formed together in what we now know as the Bible.
I think its a giant leap to think no one thought this way before the Reformers came along.
But this is what the Emergent Church and those in higher learning would have you think.
Notice that one thing is very much absent in Dennis Bratchers commentaries.
The Holy Spirit and how we need to rely on Him to lead us into all truth.
John 16:5-15 teaches us about the work of the Holy Spirit.
If you take it from the angle I believe Dennis teaches from this would probably only apply to the apostles.
Where would that leave us then?
Orphans with no one to guide us?
Don’t believe that for a second folks
scripture states in John 14:16-18

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:26
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

The Holy Spirit told the apostles what to write in scripture which we have now in our Bibles.
And we receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved who then leads us into the truth of Gods Word.
Something unsaved and lost people cannot comprehend-scripture.
People cannot no way no how using any form of study guide or hermeneutics understand scripture without having the Holy Spirit. You just cant figure it out that’s why scripture confounds the wise.
1 Cor 1:27-29
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.”
And you know what that’s why higher learning and the scholars often just don’t get it.
Whether they want to agree with that or not its a issue of pride.
They truly want to glory in their flesh.
But sorry you just cant figure out scripture that’s why it was a stumbling block back in Paul’s day.
And its a stumbeling block to the scholars now.
That’s why we have the confusion and chaos we have in the writings of Brian McLaren, Len Sweet and other Emergent leaders.
Because their writings are inspired by someone else.

Point Loma Nazarene University Gives Students Heart Dose of Contemplative/Emerging Spirituality

From my friend and sister in the Lord Deb Dombrowski at Lighthouse Trails.

Point Loma Nazarene University Gives Students Hearty Dose of Contemplative/Emerging Spirituality
Point Loma has hopped on the contemplative/emergent bandwagon, and one student and his family are very concerned. Lighthouse Trails has been contacted by a parent who told us her son attends Point Loma Nazarene University in California. Fortunately, for this woman’s son, he recognizes the spiritual deception that is taking place at Point Loma, but unfortunately he is a minority there and believes if he spoke up and his identity were revealed, he could be asked to leave the school or be reprimanded in some way.

The mother who called us said her son is in a dilemma. The school’s required chapel services are inundated with contemplative/emerging persuasions, and students who do not attend are fined. This particular student has made a decision not to sit in chapel when there are false doctrines being espoused, and he now owes quite a bit of money to the school. (1, 2)

Let’s take a moment and examine what is taking place at Point Loma Nazarene University–

To begin with, this past February, PLNU had emergent leader and mysticism promoter Brian McLaren speak. Click here to listen to McLaren at PLNU. There is also the following endorsement for McLaren is posted on the Point Loma website:
On February 6, 2009, the Center for Pastoral Leadership had the pleasure of hosting Pastors Day 2009 for over 200 pastors from the greater San Diego area and beyond. This year, we were pleased to welcome as our special guest, author Brian McLaren. Time Magazine, in a recent publication, listed McLaren as “one of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in America.” It was a generous grant from the Strategic Planning Committee that made his coming to PLNU a reality. 3
This was not the first time Brian McLaren has spoken at Point Loma. In February 2008, Lighthouse Trails reported that McLaren was to be a featured speaker in March (08) at the university.4

To better understand Brian McLaren’s spiritual views and why his theology is not compatible with biblical Christianity, please read our review of his book, Finding Our Way Again. The book is part of the Ancient Practice Series put out by Thomas Nelson publishers. The book is a diatribe against biblical Christians (especially the ones waiting for Christ’s return) and an appeal to interspirituality via mysticism.

Since McLaren left the pastorate a few years ago, he has focused much of his time at colleges and universities. In Finding Our Way Again, McLaren reveals his interest in reaching youth. We explain in our book review:
In McLaren’s chapter titled “Moving On,” he gives a detailed analysis of how the emerging church is God’s answer to a stifled, fearful Christian church. He explains that this merging church must infiltrate the “institutions that rejected it,” adding that “conservative Protestants have repeated their Catholic sibling’s earlier mistakes (referring to the Catholic church’s one time rejection of Galileo). Then he says: “But over time, what they reject will find or create safe space outside their borders and become a resource so that many if not most of the grandchildren of today’s fundamentalists will learn and grow and move on from the misguided battles of their forebears [biblical believers]” (p. 133). You see, McLaren and his emerging church fellows (Pagitt, Sweet, Warren, et.al) want to change the minds of our children and grandchildren. That is why Rick Warren once said that the older traditional ones will have to leave or die because they won’t change, thus the emphasis in the emerging church on the youth.
Point Loma doesn’t seem to have any problem handing over their young charges to emergent leaders like Brian McLaren.

Another contemplative/emerging advocate that has spoken in the last couple years at Point Loma is Tony Campolo (who says mysticism unites religions). In Campolo’s book, Letters to a Young Evangelical, Campolo states: “[T]he West had severed itself from an ancient, magical form of religiosity and replaced it with a modern worldview in which religion was reduced to that which is rational [doctrine] and ethical [morality](p.10).” He talks in that book about becoming an “actualized Christian” and describes his own embracing of mystical practices:
[I]ntimacy with Christ has developed gradually over the years, primarily through what Catholic mystics call “centering prayer.” Each morning, as soon as I wake up, I take time–sometimes as much as a half hour–to center myself on Jesus. I say his name over and over again to drive back the 101 things that begin to clutter up my mind the minute I open my eyes. Jesus is my mantra, as some would say. The constant repetition of his name clears my head of everything but the awareness of his presence. By driving back all other concerns, I am able to create what the ancient Celtic Christians called “the thin place.”… After a while, an inner stillness pervades (p. 26).”
Is it any wonder that biblically discerning students don’t want to attend Point Loma chapel services. What a travesty that they are being charged monetary fines to protect themselves.

Point Loma student body president, Andrew Henck, represents Point Loma students. Sadly, he turns to Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, and Parker Palmer for his spiritual nourishment and recommends these authors to Point Loma students, many of whom, no doubt, look up to him for guidance.

There could be at least a partial explanation for Point Loma’s interest in mysticism proponents. Mark Carter, the school’s chaplain, is apparently drawn to contemplative spirituality. In the January 26, 2009 PLNU newsletter, it gives information for a class Carter was presenting: LISTENING FOR GOD’S VOICE: AN EXPLANATION AND EXPERIENCE OF LECTIO DIVINA–Grab your dinner and join Chaplain Mark Carter in the Cunningham Dining Room on Tuesday, January 27, at 6:30 p.m. for time in God’s Word. Also, on his bio, on the Point Loma website, Carter says that “Brother Roger of Taize” is his hero. Brother Roger is the late founder of a contemplative, interspiritual community called Taize in France. In the Taize Songbook, it describes the Taize experience:
“Short chants, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character,” the brothers explain in a brief introduction printed in the paperback songbook. “Using just a few words, [the chants] express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being.”
In a UK news article that came out after Brother Roger’s death, it identified him as a “new age pioneer.” We believe this would be an accurate estimation of Taize’s founder and Taize worship. And it is in contradiction to evangelical Christianity. A chaplain from a Christian university should not be telling students that an interspiritual mystic is his hero. Remember, the premise behind mysticism is panentheism (God in all things).

Contemplative spirituality is peppered throughout Point Loma Nazarene University. One book list at PLNU’s Center for Pastoral Leadership names a number of contemplative authors, including Marjorie Thompson, listing her book, Soul Feast. Thompson, an ordained Presbyterian minister, promotes mantra meditation in that book and favorably quotes New Age mystics. One person she points to in Soul Feast is mystic, interspiritualist Anthony DeMello, who once said:
A Jesuit friend once told me that he approached a Hindu guru for initiation in the art of prayer. The guru said to him, “Concentrate on your breathing.” My friend proceeded to do just that for about five minutes. Then the guru said, “The air you breathe is God. You are breathing God in and out. Become aware of that, and stay with that awareness.” (FMSCN, p. 119)
As Lighthouse Trails has reported many times, most of the Nazarene universities are now embracing contemplative/emerging spirituality. Point Loma is one of them, and for students at Point Loma who see what is happening and refuse to sit and listen to the school’s barrage of mystic-proponents in chapel, they are going to have to dig deep in their wallets and purses and pay PLNU’s “chapel fines.”

If you know a student at a Nazarene University who is standing to defend the faith by refusing to sit and listen to those espousing mysticism and the “new spirituality,” perhaps you could offer to help pay their chapel fines and include with that payment a letter to that school’s president. And if anyone would like to help the young man whose mother contacted us, you may do so through Lighthouse Trails, and we will make sure your contribution goes to this young man. It is a sad day in Christianity, when nearly an entire denomination’s university system has headed down the road of dangerous spiritual deception. Other evangelical denominations are doing the same, and it is equally tragic.

We’ll leave you with this. Point Loma is hosting a “Christian Formation Retreat.” The theme for this year’s retreat, “The Sacred Way” is based on emergent leader Tony Jones’ book by the same name. Jones’ writings have been the topic of several Lighthouse Trails articles. Jones, one of the original “emergent” guys from the 1990s with Leadership Network, has continued to promote mystical practices. He has become more pronounced in his beliefs in recent years, which can be clearly seen in his newer book, The New Christians, as well as in recent statements showing his laxed views on the homosexual lifestyle. As we have shown in the past, these two mind-sets naturally gel together (mysticism and advocating homosexuality) because both, by their very natures, deny a Creator who is separate from his creation. And thus, the rejection of the atonement is an obvious course.

Related:

Nazarene Superintendent Praises “A Time of Departing” But Denomination’s Schools Sinking into Contemplative

Trevecca Nazarene University Promoting Contemplative Spirituality in No Small Way

Radio EMERGING CHURCH INFILTRATES THE NAZARENE CHURCH

You can go to this link to hear the radio program’s with guest Eric Barger and myself and others concerning the Emergent Church infiltrating the Nazarene Church.
To clarify on the program-I do not currently attend a Nazarene Church that promotes Emergent. My church is very solid at this time with biblical preaching by Pastor Steve Spoon.

I left a church that promoted Emergent- Upper Valley Community Church in Piqua with Pastor Paul Jetters who had no problem with Rob Bell who is a false teacher.
Here is the link
http://swrc.com/ministry/schedule/schedule.html

And here is the schedule

Monday, April 20, 2009

EMERGING CHURCH INFILTRATES THE NAZARENE CHURCH, Part 1
Host: Larry Spargimino
Guest: Eric Barger
The Emerging Church movement is taking over Nazarene churches and congregations, and even making inroads into Nazarene seminaries. However, some Nazarene ministers and members are becoming alarmed and are trying to take back their churches and denomination. Eric Barger brings us the latest on the Emerging Church and what is happening in the Nazarene church.

Bible in the News: TBA

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

EMERGING CHURCH INFILTRATES THE NAZARENE CHURCH, Part 2
Host: Larry Spargimino
Guest: Eric Barger
The Emerging Church movement is taking over Nazarene churches and congregations, and even making inroads into Nazarene seminaries. However, some Nazarene ministers and members are becoming alarmed and are trying to take back their churches and denomination. Eric Barger brings us the latest on the Emerging Church and what is happening in the Nazarene church.

Bible in the News: TBA

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

EMERGING CHURCH INFILTRATES THE NAZARENE CHURCH, Part 3
Host: Larry Spargimino
Guest: Eric Barger
The Emerging Church movement is taking over Nazarene churches and congregations, and even making inroads into Nazarene seminaries. However, some Nazarene ministers and members are becoming alarmed and are trying to take back their churches and denomination. Eric Barger brings us the latest on the Emerging Church and what is happening in the Nazarene church.

Bible in the News: TBA

Diaprax Goes To Seminary

For those of you who though Dean Gotcher article on the diaprax may have been to heavy reading (and it is) here is a great article by my brother in the Lord Paul Proctor on the same topic.
DIAPRAX GOES TO SEMINARY

Paul Proctor
November 13, 2002
NewsWithViews.com

I mentioned in a previous article that many churches and organizations not officially belonging to the Willow Creek Association were now adopting Willow Creek’s ways. It shrewdly allows them the social and financial benefits of compromise without the carnal stigma of being affiliated. An example of this can be found in a recent Baptist Press article by Richard D. McCormack entitled:

‘Interactive Team-Building Seminar’ Called Cutting-Edge Way of Learning’ http://www.baptistpress.com/bpnews.asp?ID=14603

Mr. McCormack reports that a workshop was held at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas for the purpose of introducing a ‘new style of learning’ based on a program called ‘EPIC’. (Experience, Participate, Image-Rich and Connection) John Herring, pastor of discipleship at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala. was quoted as saying “it is the model of things to come for teaching in our churches”. Little does he know that what seminar leaders Leonard Sweet and Keith Kline were teaching is Diaprax.

For those unacquainted with the term ‘Diaprax’, it is simply another word for the Hegelian Dialectic or consensus process — a deceitful procedure designed to bring about change through conflict and compromise that was conceived in the late 1700’s by transformational Marxist, Georg Wilhelm Fredric Hegel who sought, as occult-led globalists do to this day, ‘unity in diversity’ – a term many of us became familiar with under the Clinton Administration. Diaprax, a word coined by author and teacher Dean Gotcher, essentially brings together people of diverse and often opposing backgrounds, worldviews and belief systems in hopes they will forfeit their own values, traditions and absolutes for the emotional rewards of group acceptance.

The goal of Diaprax in the church is to rid the flock of its pesky and divisive hang-ups and habits that impede unity and change – personal convictions and restrained behaviors that are based on Biblical truth rather than political correctness, pragmatism and personal taste. Diaprax is a truth-silencing technique that covertly promotes humanist ideals and a reciprocating brotherly love known in the Greek as ‘phileo’ through imagery (arts/media) and conversation (opinion/dialog) at the expense of the more Godly, obedient, self-sacrificing, truthful and unworldly ‘love-your-enemy’ kind of love called ‘agape’ – the kind of love that drove the Apostle Paul to speak the bitter truth about sinful man from the chains of a dark and lonely prison; the kind of love that caused Stephen to cry out: “lay not this sin to their charge” as the angry crowd stoned him to death for his cutting words of conviction; and what moved the Lord Jesus Himself to say as He hung on a cross for the sins of the world: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

Those who GO along to GET along, the cowardly essence of Diaprax, are rewarded with the ‘phileo’ love of tolerance and flattery. Those who courageously challenge the consensus are shamed, ridiculed or rejected for their ‘hateful’ attitude’, ‘mean-spiritedness’ and ‘ungodly’ disruption of the group’s ‘purpose-driven’ unity.

Facilitators of Diaprax always minimize the importance of scriptural knowledge (facts) and didactic teaching (lectures) in order to successfully seduce their subjects into group participation with un-offensive human interaction, superficial edutainment, non-threatening worshiptainment and dialectic ‘team-building’ techniques. Diaprax doesn’t teach anyone anything except how to THINK, FEEL and EXPERIENCE what everyone else is thinking, feeling and experiencing. The only thing learned by Diaprax is the process itself. What Diaprax is REALLY all about is unlearning your core values – letting go of anything that keeps you from moving toward the new paradigm of global harmony. It’s about turning one’s ears from the Ancient of Days to the latest noise on the street for spiritual guidance and direction.

You see, carnal Christians led by consensus are more likely to FEEL secure in their group-led opinions and actions knowing they’re not alone in them, even if they are unbiblical. But unfortunately, many today have made consensus their conscience in order to avoid any personal responsibility or accountability for sin.

Have you ever wondered why movies, games, sports, plays, concerts, speeches and events have a much greater motivational impact on us inside a theater, arena or coliseum surrounded by hundreds or thousands of enthusiastic people than they do viewed through a television screen in the privacy of our home? It’s because we receive the heightened emotional stimulation and support of the crowd around us. And it is THAT elevated emotional state that makes us cave-in to peer-pressure, laugh at sin, imitate the unregenerate and rush to say and do things we never would when alone with God.

This transformational process is especially dangerous to Biblical Christians who are enticed into compromising their convictions for the collective. The tragic result of the process is that believers are slowly drawn away from the absolutes of God’s Word to accept the ‘cutting-edge’ strategies and ‘team-building’ techniques of some ‘loving and supportive’ group they bonded with emotionally, making it extremely hard to walk away. These seductive ‘whatever-it-takes’ relationships are the driving force behind today’s ‘new spirituality’ where ‘facilitators’ with pre-determined outcomes manipulate ’seekers’ into superficial commitments and carnal covenants with eye-catching imagery and misguided emotion toward a one-world religion of wholesale mediocrity. This is the meaning of ‘unity in diversity’. It is an outcome-based religion and a ‘new world order’, powered by a transformational process called ‘Diaprax’.

Do yourself a favor and read the Baptist Press article above. What you’ll see is the dialectic language of a brave new world that lures its targets with words like, ‘interactive’, ‘image-rich’, ‘cutting edge’, ‘futurist’, ‘new learning strategy’, ‘rewired’, ‘leadership’, ‘team-building’, ‘transition’, ‘audience’, ‘participative’, ‘entrepreneurial’, ‘next millennium’, ‘whatever it takes’, ‘dialog’, ‘evaluate’, ‘programming’, ‘new paradigm’, ‘image-based’, ‘carving ministries’, ‘casting ministries’, ‘experiential momentum’, ‘passion-driven’, ‘purpose-driven’, ’success’, ‘non-relevant lectures’, ‘post-modern’, ‘concepts’, ’solidifying’, ‘invest’, ‘money’, ‘resources’, ‘conversational’, ‘intentionally relational’, ’share experiences’, and ‘connecting’.

Words you WON’T see in the article are God, Jesus Christ, cross, sin, rebellion, repentance, confession, forgiveness, grace, mercy, wisdom, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, the Holy Spirit, edification, sanctification, glorification or even salvation. Why? — Because this ‘model of things to come for teaching in our churches’ is not about the Gospel of Christ. It is about avoiding it at all costs.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” – 2nd Timothy 4:3-4

© 2002 Paul Proctor – All Rights Reserved

Pastor Bill McCumber

“This Jesus”
God’s One and Only Son
Our One and Only Savior

Let me tell you why I wrote this little book.

First of all, I love Jesus and I welcome any means of telling others about Him. Second, I am troubled by “emergent theory” that is moving toward an “emergent church.”
Leaders of this “conversation” or “movement” call themselves “post-modern” and I guess if you need a tag that one is about as good as another. My concern about them springs from their distortions of Scripture and their diminishing of Jesus …
More disturbing to me is the fact that the Jesus they talk about is not the Jesus of Scripture …
Only the Jesus disclosed to us in the New Testament is relevant to our times and adequate for our salvation. To diminish Him is to destroy ourselves.

(taken from the Introduction of “This Jesus“)

This is a great little book, truth from the Bible.

Pastor McCumber’s book gives the Christian assurance that the Bible clearly reveals truth (all truth). He does a great job identifying the “True Jesus”. I have immense respect for this Pastor for calling the “Emergent Church” what it is and that being a different Jesus. Thank you Pastor for the courage to take a stand.

If you are looking for details on what the “Emergent Church” believes, this book does not give enough information. A great site for understanding what is coming into all denominations (Even the Nazarene Denomination) is “Lighthouse Trails“.

Do not think we of the Nazarene Denomination are immune to Emergent Theology. If you use material from Nazarene Publishing House, then you have heard of Spiritual Formation.

Spiritual formation was first introduced into the churches back in the 1980’s, by Richard Foster. Spiritual Formation programs are taking root within every denomination. From the book: “My Denomination Does Not Promote NEW AGE SPIRITUALITY Through Spiritual Formation!” by Jocelyn Andersen quotes:

Spiritual Formation is defined as, the teaching and application of “spiritual disciplines.” The spiritual disciplines of Spiritual Formation, as we will show, can be found nowhere in scripture. The spiritual direction facilitated by Spiritual Directors is loudly touted as being an ancient Christian tradition. What is usually not mentioned is that it is not a Protestant Christian tradition or even a tradition practiced by the early church, but rather a Roman Catholic tradition. Seminary graduates, of every doctrinal persuasion, are being trained in ever increasing numbers to introduce certain spiritual disciplines into the lives and prayer habits of those within their spheres of influence. It must be understood, that when the term “spiritual discipline” is used, it is almost always referring to incorporating contemplative prayer into the lives of Church members Many churches are even introducing contemplative prayer into their children’s programs.

Coming from The Nazarene web site

(So . . . You Want to Talk with God?)
Prayer can seem mysterious to kids. However, this booklet will help children realize the wonderful privilege of talking with God. They will learn different types of prayer and effective ways to pray. Visit www.wordaction.com/go/PRAY for a downloadable leader’s guide.

If you take the time to read this it will cause great distress to anyone who has children. Why is this being taught, especially to our children?

Contemplative prayer is by far the main practice promoted by the Spiritual Directors who lead church members onto the slippery slopes of spiritual formation. Contemplative prayer is also called soaking or centering prayer. The terms spiritual formation and contemplative prayer are practically synonymous. And what the average Christian does not know, is that there is virtually no difference between what Christians call contemplative prayer and what New Agers and Occultists call Transcendental Meditation. Contemplative prayer, soaking prayer and centering prayer are simply old fashioned Hinduism dressed up in modern Christian terminology. Of the two movements permeating the evangelical church, the most widely accepted and pervasive within mainstream congregations is Spiritual Formation. What Is Contemplative Prayer? There is a great deal of confusion among Christians as why the practice of contemplative prayer should conflict with the biblical practice of our faith. It is difficult for many to grasp the fact that contemplative prayer is actually not prayer at all, but rather a “Christianized” form of unbiblical, spiritually dangerous, eastern meditation. Most of us know it by the name, transcendental meditation (TM). And it is rightly associated with Hinduism, all forms of Occult and New Age Spirituality. If you go to the children’s programs sight hit resources, which will take you to

Webster’s dictionary defines a contemplative as one who practices contemplation. To contemplate means to ponder, to meditate upon. So what’s wrong with that? Well, nothing is wrong with pondering or meditating upon things-as long as they are the right things, and as long as the pondering and meditating does not become obsessive.

The only thing upon which we can appropriately meditate on obsessively is the Written Word of God. Psalm one instructs us to do that. So how do we apply Webster’s definition of contemplate to what is known today as contemplative prayer ? We can’t. It is simply not possible. There are those, at this point, who will say this conclusion is not correct as many are being taught to choose a word or phrase out of the Bible and meditate on it as a spiritual discipline. But on closer examination meditation upon the Word of God (which is scriptural and healthy) is not what is being promoted. But let’s take a look at what is really being taught. Christians are encouraged to select one word or very short phrase then repeat it over and over (Mantra Meditation). The purpose and effect of this is to clear the mind of all thought. That makes the term contemplative prayer an oxymoron. How does one contemplate, clear the mind, and pray all at the same time? These are separate activities which cannot be done simultaneously. Contemplative prayer is nothing less than the practice of eastern meditation (transcendental meditation [TM]), which is “clear your mind of all thought.” How does one meditate on something with a blank mind? The answer to that is-they don’t. They can’t. It simply is not possible.

Jocelyn doe’s a great job helping Christians understand the difference between what is being taught through programs involving Spiritual Formation and what the written Word of God teaches us about pagan practices such as these.

Pastor Bill McCumber: Thank’s for a job well done!

May God continue to raise up men like him to speak in an age when it is not being heard from the pulpit any longer.

Praise God! I am grateful for this book

reader beware there is another Jesus being promoted today!

Jesse Middendorf is 100% behind Spiritual Formation

New article by my good friend and sister in the Lord Sue Butler. Sue if the wife of Don Butler both are the Executive producers of the DVD we are putting out. This DVD would not be happening (and be distributed for free) if not for Don and Sue who are both just being loyal and true to Jesus Christ.
Here is Sue’s article from sad nazarene blog (retitled Nazarene Church has lost its way blog).
Jesse Middendorf is one hundred percent behind “Spiritual Formation”.
From Nazarene Northwest University website
General Assembly Spiritual Formation Retreat.

Dr. Jesse Middendorf, general superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, recently expressed his support of this event, noting that “Spiritual formation is at the heart of our understanding of a Wesleyan-Holiness lifestyle. Our theology requires that we apply ourselves to growth both in understanding and in practice. I applaud the effort to provide this event for members of our global family in the Church of the Nazarene.”

link and source-http://www.nnu.edu/academics/schools-departments/school-of-theology-christian-ministries/general-assembly-spiritual-formation-retreat/

Northwest Nazarene University and Nazarene Theological Seminary are coming together to bring this retreat to the global family in the church of the Nazarene.

If you plan to be apart of this retreat, please test everything through the lens of the Holy Bible.

I am a bit puzzled; Alden Sproull of the Kairos Center for Spiritual Formation has been removed from the list of Leaders in the up coming General Assembly Spiritual Formation Retreat. If anyone knows more information as to why this has occurred, I would greatly appreciate the information. Mr. Sproull is no longer found at the above sites. I happen to have a copy from the Northwest Nazarene University home page before Mr. Alden Sproull was removed.

On my copy it states:

This retreat is being led by Dr. Jay Akkerman of NNU and Dr. Doug Hardy of NTS. Dr. Morris Weigelt, who taught at both institutions prior to his retirement, is also on the planning team for this event. Additional leadership is being provided by Dr. Mary Paul of Point Loma Nazarene University, Dr. Rhonda Carrim of NNU, and Dr Alden Sproull of the Kairos Center for Spiritual Formation.

At the Kairos site he has a link to “The Center for Contemplative mind in Society”. Another link on Dr. Alden Sproull’s site is “Sign Chi Do“.

Mr. Sproull is a Nazarene Chaplain out of Redlands Ca. He is involved in Pastoral Care at Redlands Community Hospital.

Colleen Mensching, staff writer at Redlands Daily wrote an article in “Redlands Daily Facts”. In the article Rev. Alden E. Sproull was named Nazarene Chaplain of the Year. Mr. Sproull has served at the hospital over 18 years, and was chosen from over 800 chaplains. There was a ceremony held in Meddifee in June 2005. Chaplain Dwight Jennings introduced Sproull at the award ceremony.

Alden Sproull in 2007 led in a spiritual retreat at Nazarene Theological Seminary. Below you can read about it, or go to the site:

NTS to hold Pre-M7 Conference Spiritual Formation Retreat

Kansas City–Nazarene Theological Seminary (NTS) will hold a Pre-M7 Conference Spiritual Formation Retreat, February 18-19, 2007.

The retreat is open to anyone desiring to deepen their spirituality. It will be a 24-hour directed retreat experience with opportunities for silence, solitude, prayer, and conversation. This formation event, to be held at the Sanctuary of Hope in Kansas City, Kansas, will begin Sunday afternoon, February 18 and will end Monday afternoon, February 19 just prior to the opening of the M7 Conference.

The event will be co-led by Doug Hardy, professor of Spiritual Formation and director of the doctor of ministry program at NTS, and by Alden Sproull, director of Pastoral Care and Clinical Chaplain at Redlands Community Hospital in Southern California. Both Hardy and Sproull are experienced spiritual directors and retreat leaders.

Check out the article at Preacher’s Magazine. Doug speaks on Lectio Divina.

Doug Hardy,

Find out what Naznet.com is saying

When we think of ourselves, we don’t think we can make a difference, But we can. I am a Mother, who knows that my lost son needs to be able to find truth in the corridors of the Church of the Nazarene or any church that claims this gospel message. In my small way, small, ity bity way, I come with my plea

It is so important to answer your questions and to get us motivated to realize and understand. So we know what we are fighting and what we can do. The Word of God is the armor of knowledge. I was shocked at the infiltration into our own Denomination. Why be shocked, when we as Christians are not even being taught any longer that there is an enemy, which comes to rob, steal, and kill.

I am blessed with the honor and privilege to give this information to whoever will read it, hear it and finally act upon it.

Every single one of us can make the difference for the sake of our lost loved ones and for that matter the lost world that needs to know that CHRIST JESUS came to seek and save that which was lost, for the ones who already claim the name of our LORD and SAVIOUR, which need disciplined through the words of the Bible, not the books of liberal theologians.

And I’m going to end on this note, so many times in the past 100 years people stood by and did nothing, This is the time we need to rise and defeat the viles of the devil, the evils that have come to our Nazarene Denomination to destroy the faith once given.

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Jude 1:3

My Brothers and Sisters it is the “Word of God”. Which our fore fathers did not question it to be the very word of God, not man’s word about God.

It is so important to know the facts.

My heart cries, I wanted to know the truth. Folks this is not what I wanted to find myself doing, but I have to take a stand.

God Bless