Articles from those involved in the New Apostolic Reformation movement are regularly featured at the Elijah List website. These apostolic charismatic types have a language all their own and they are heavily influenced by Dominion Theology (1). Here are some excerpts from an article entitled "Properly Discerning the Times! It is a Significant Time of Suddenlies!" (2) by James Goll (3) posted today:

Goll states: “In fact, the Holy Spirit is selecting Ambassadors of Hope. They will carry the Micah 2:13 breaker anointing and are being commissioned with the power of declaration to shift spiritual climates and atmospheres over entire regions. It is time for Hope Solutions to come forth in answer to the years of global intercession. The heavenly bowls are being filled with the prayers of the saints and with angelic assistance they are being tipped over into the earth realm again! "What goes up must come down! I can see it and even feel it as I compose this right now! Years of prayers will suddenly be answered!” Here we notice the false teaching inherent in the Word of Faith movement (4) which claims people have the power to decree and declare. We can easily see how this feeds into their false teaching that we are “little gods.”

Goll continues: “In the coming days, the gift of discerning of spirits is going to be one of the most valued and needed gifts.” Now, here we have an absolutely true statement. But, do a few true statements give validity to everything a person says? Of course not! Such merely gives credence to the statement “a broken clock is right twice a day.” The enemy comes as an angel of light and is deceiving many. We must try the spirits (1 John 4:1); study to show ourselves approved (2 Tim. 2:15); and be as the Bereans (Acts 17:10-11).

Continuing with the article: “The Lion is roaring! An unprecedented outpouring is upon us. The time of a great harvest is here. Mature tried and tested Believers are being given fresh assignments and commissions.” However, believers will remember that God’s Word describes the last days in this manner: 2 Tim. 3:1-4, 12-13: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” We are not told to expect a great revival, but rather a falling away (5).

Continuing: “We are on the verge of a Church quake! The equilibrium of the Church and thus how the world perceives us will shift swiftly. As His manifested presence increases, healing and miracles will occur in the midst of our corporate times of extravagant worship.” Believers will remember the enemy can produce miracles, and signs and wonders (Ex. 7:22; Rev. 13:13) so we are never to assume miracles are always of God. We are to investigate the teachings coming forth from ministries and not determine a ministry’s authenticity based on miracles, but rather if they preach the Word of God, following the instructions in these verses: Deut. 13:1-4 “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.”

And, for the final excerpt: “It is a significant "Time of the Suddenlies!" Suddenly, He will visit His people. Suddenly the Stock Market will rise to unprecedented highs. Suddenly blueprints and strategies will be released. Suddenly, scientific breakthroughs will occur and new approaches to the healing of cancer and the HIV virus will be discovered. Suddenly reconciliations will occur between family members.” While some of the above events could happen, the overall description of the last days from God’s Word is as follows: along with the verses quoted above from 2 Timothy 3 describing these days as perilous times, we also see in 2 Pet. 3:3 that there will be men walking after their lusts.  Verse four of Jude tells of “ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” We see many “prophets” today behaving similarly to Old Testament “prophets” who prophesied falsely to those in the nations of Israel and Judah. For example, Jer. 6:14 says: “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”  Also, in Jer. 14:13-14 we read: “Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.”

My prayer is that people would spend time in the Word of God, in which we have a more sure word of prophecy (2 Pet. 1:19), rather than chasing these words of man. I also pray that believers will seek to truly discern the times.
 
References:

1. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/blog---dominionism
2. http://elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=17513
3. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/james-w-goll.html
4. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/word-of-faith-error.html
5. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/revival-for-today.html

 

Should a true Christian attend the “March for Life?”

Right off someone is surely thinking, “of course!”, “why not?”, “why are you even asking?” and, “shouldn’t we do everything possible to end abortion?” Now, before I continue, I will say we should absolutely hate abortion, no doubt about it. The heart of the matter, and what I would like to address in this article, is can the enemy use what seems good and actually cause harm? The answer to that question is an emphatic yes!

The consideration of Isa. 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” and 2 Cor. 11:14, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light,” will help illustrate the concept that something may appear as light and actually be quite dark. These verses are played out on occasions when man is exalted rather than Jesus; when man is said to have the solutions if one will just join the right causes. An initial concern about this event is that when anything is presented as a solution for man’s sinful activities besides the Blood of Jesus, then more harm is done than good. In the case of abortion, we can expend a great deal of effort to convince women not to get abortions, but if these women are not saved, they will spend an eternity in hell. We can obviously see which concern takes top priority here. When a woman is saved and born again, she will not choose abortion, because that is murder.

A second concern about the “March for Life” is the ecumenical nature of the event. The pope has an agenda and it's one the entire Catholic church has pursued since Vatican II. It involves bringing the "separated brethren" back to Rome. Many evangelical leaders (Rick Warren, Kenneth Copeland, James Robison, Joel Osteen, Russell Moore all visited the Vatican in 2014), have joined in with this ecumenical movement, to the detriment of the evangelical church. The true church has been persecuted for the last two thousand years and millions have died because they would not accept Catholicism. Nothing has changed. Catholicism is a religion based on the traditions of men, not just another denomination within Christianity. I would encourage anyone who already hasn’t to read about the differences between Catholicism and Christianity. (1) In addition, there are two audio programs at this link (2) that will provide information about ecumenical efforts towards dialogue between Catholics and Christians.

People often quote John 17:11, "Holy Father, keep through Thine own Name these whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are," as a call for unity among Christians. However, in this verse, Jesus is praying for His followers to be one, not for believers to unite with unbelievers. And, the absolute fact of the matter is that many calling themselves Christians today have not placed their faith in the Jesus of the Bible, but rather in a Jesus of their own imagination. True believers need to pray for false converts, but under no circumstances should they unite with them. (3)

March for Life was started by American pro-life activist Nellie Gray in 1974, following the Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade, which decriminalized abortion the previous year. Gray was a native of Big Spring, Texas and a Roman Catholic convert. (4) So, due to the fact that its founder was Catholic, and she worked closely with Catholic churches and bishops, attendance at the annual event has predominantly been Catholic. Not recognizing the Biblical directive concerning separation by true believers, evangelical leaders have recently advocated for a greater presence of evangelicals at the event as evidenced by this quote: “I don’t want to see any fewer rosary beads at the March for Life, but I want to see more evangelicals here also at the March for Life,” said Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission (ERLC), to a gathering of Evangelical leaders during last year’s March for Life. “Our absence is a shame. And so we don’t need any less ‘Ave Maria,’ but we need some more ‘Amazing Grace’ in the mix as well.” (5)

In a biographical article about Nellie Gray we see a statement concerning her motivation for holding these events: “Everybody is trying to say we are imposing our religion, but we are actually just following our religion and American patriotism,” she told the Post. “God almightily created man and woman in his own image, and we recognize that. The United States Constitution recognizes that the human being is endowed with a right to life, and of course the churches must be involved in this. We must carry out our patriotism and our love of God almighty through such events.” (6)The fact that she wanted to demonstrate patriotism and a love of God is quite unusual. Where in God’s Word are we given directions concerning the concept of patriotism? Rather, we are told we are pilgrims in this world (1 Pet. 2:11) and our inheritance is in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). The concept of Christians and patriotism speaks to Dominion Theology which is discussed later in this article.

Concerning Catholics participating in speaking roles at this year’s event, at the 1:32:29 mark of this video (7) (Note: this video will be referenced throughout the article) we hear Patrick Kelly (8)Chairman of the Board for March for Life, and a Catholic, introduce himself and welcome everyone to this event. He says this is the largest civil rights demonstration in the world. But, a true believer would have to ask where in God’s Word are we ever instructed to demonstrate for civil rights? This attitude is man-centered, focuses our eyes on this life, and pushes God to the side. Kelly continues by introducing the singing of the National Anthem with the statement let’s “honor America.” I wish people could understand the complete hypocrisy of such a statement. This is an event protesting the death of close to one million babies a year, which has been legal since the Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. Therefore, it is beyond ridiculous that anyone could use the phrase “honor America” especially at this event. 

At the 1:36:03 mark we hear Jeanne Mancini speak. She is the President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund (9) and a Catholic. The following statements by Mancini are from an interview she conducted with Lifesite News. (10) She says this concerning working for the March for Life organization: “The irony of it is, we are not actually an inherently religious organization. We are non-sectarian—though most who work here have a deep faith. We are very prayerful and pray together as a staff. We seek God’s guidance on what our next steps should be.” Since the definition of non-sectarian is, “organizations not affiliated with or restricted to a particular religious group,” this means the members of the staff to whom Mancini refers could practice any faith or none at all. She states they pray together, but we know that most every religion believes in prayer and true Christians should not pray with members of other religions.

The following statement by Mancini speaks to the fact that March for Life has mainly been a Catholic event from its inception as noted earlier: “We’ve definitely seen more evangelical groups get involved over the last few years. Having come from a background of working at Family Research Council, it was difficult for me to comprehend why—for the most part—my pro-life evangelical brothers and sisters weren’t participating in the March for Life.” These pro-life evangelicals to whom Mancini refers obviously recognize they should not join with Catholics thereby creating an ecumenical event.

Another quote from this article by Mancini is: “In addition, many groups are joining with us who are not faith-based. One group, Secular Pro-Life, is truly an amazing organization; I’m always impressed with the different resources they have to offer. We encourage all groups to be involved in the March for Life as long as their approach to being pro-life is non-violent.” This statement shows the obvious point that one doesn’t have to be a Christian to be pro-life. This means there may be untold numbers of unbelievers at these events and, again, Christians are to remain separate.

Continuing with the discussion of Catholic speakers at the event, at the 1:38:33 mark of the video we hear the beginning of Kellyanne Conway’s (President Trump’s campaign manager) speech as she states: “I am a wife, a mother, a Catholic…” which receives huge applause.

We hear Vice-President Mike Pence begin speaking at the 1:46:55 mark. Much was made of his attendance as the first Vice-President to ever do so. Many are also excited about his faith. However, we should be concerned about some of his statements regarding his beliefs:   “But even more important than being a family man, Mike Pence considers his faith in Jesus Christ the most crucial aspect of his life. Pence shared, ‘I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican. In that order.’ And added that his ‘Christian faith is at the very heart of who’ he is. Pence continued, ‘I made a commitment to Christ. I’m a born-again, evangelical Catholic.’ In addition, Pence shared, ‘I would encourage you, if you are inclined to do as the Pence family does from time to time, to bow the head and bend the knee. Pray that America will once again stand tall, stand strong. ‘[Prayer is] the last best hope of earth,’ that’s what Abraham Lincoln called it. It’s still true.” (11) However, praying this for America is also part of the false teaching of Dominion Theology referenced later in this article. We should, rather be praying for souls. In addition, saying that prayer is the last best hope of earth is not scriptural. Titus 2:13 describes our true hope: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Pence states that he is an “evangelical Catholic,” but there truly is no such thing. The word evangelical means “of or according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christian religion.”  The New Testament is the book which describes the beliefs of the Christian faith and in the New Testament there is no mention of the papacy, worship/adoration of Mary (or the immaculate conception of Mary, the perpetual virginity of Mary, the assumption of Mary, or Mary as co-redemptrix and mediatrix), petitioning saints in heaven for their prayers, apostolic succession, the ordinances of the church functioning as sacraments, infant baptism, confession of sin to a priest, or the office of priest at all, purgatory, indulgences, or the equal authority of church tradition and Scripture. All of these beliefs and practices are part of Catholicism which is a religion based on the traditions of men.

At the 2:01:25 mark we hear Cardinal Timothy Dolan pray over the occasion. He is the American cardinal prelate of the Catholic Church. Appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, Dolan serves as the tenth and current Archbishop of New York. (12) “We praise you, God and Father of us all, Sovereign of all life, for assembling us to proclaim the dignity of each human person, and the sacredness of human life. Thank you, heavenly Father, for the gift of a nation where life itself is considered an inalienable right, where the dignity of each human person a self evident truth. Our prayers are the more fervent as they rise from Christians, Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, Islam, and people of all faiths in this ‘one nation under God.’ Our supplication is the more hopeful today as we rejoice in the solidarity of hundreds of thousands who believe so ardently in the civil rights of the innocent baby in the womb, deserving full protection of the law and the right to life. Our praise and intercession is powerful, as we make it in the Holy Name of Jesus, the Son of God incarnate in the womb of His Mother, the Savior who revealed Himself as ‘the way, the truth, and the life.’  Amen.” However, since Christians have been encouraged on a regular basis to attend events which include prayer (consider the “Decision America Tour” and “The Response” events), most don’t stop to consider whether their attendance pleases God. They don’t even stop and question whether God listens to prayers at such events because they just assume all prayer is a wonderful thing. However, only false converts would cheer the prayer of a man who is part of an unbiblical, religious system. Cardinal Dolan says God is the Father of us all, but John 1:12 says we become the sons of God when we believe on the Name of Jesus, so Dolan has given all in attendance a false sense of security. Then he erroneously asserts that God hears the prayers of people of all faiths. It is evident, however, from these scriptures (John 9:31, Psalm 34:15, Proverbs 15:29, etc.) God does not listen to the prayers of lost people, or false believers, unless they are calling out to Him in repentance. We must remember the example of Elijah in 1 Kings 18. While gathered at Mt. Carmel, Elijah didn't tell the children of Israel to join up with the prophets of Baal to pray to God because of the three-year drought they were experiencing, but rather to separate! 1 Kings 18:21: "And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."

At the 2:18:19 mark we hear Mia Love begin to speak. She is the U.S. Representative from Utah's 4th congressional district, the first Haitian American, and the first black female Republican in Congress. She is also the first African American to be elected to Congress from Utah. Love was raised as a Roman Catholic in the faith of her parents and moved to Utah in 1998 after converting to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (13) However, Mormonism is a religion based on the traditions of men (14) and true believers will witness to Mormons rather than pray with them.

Speaking at the 2:32:40 mark is Abby Johnson. She was raised a Baptist and now a practicing Roman Catholic, she was the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas. (15)

Karyme Lozano’s speech occurs at the 2:47:30 mark. “Since finding her way back to the Catholic faith seven years ago, famous Mexican telenovela star Karyme Lozano has had the opportunity to tell many people how praying the rosary has been of vital importance in her life. Lozano hopes she will soon have the opportunity to show the public at large as well. Lozano is slated to star in and help produce the short film ‘Eyes of Mercy,’ the latest endeavor from Vox Dei Productions depicting the power of the rosary.” (16) True believers will know that praying the rosary is completely unbiblical and want nothing to do with this practice.  

During the march itself, there was much evidence of the Catholic participation at this event. There were signs with quotes by Pope Francis and Mother Teresa, and pictures of the pope, for example. The picture below is just one of many references to Catholicism. 

 

So, in conclusion, we have seen that true believers joining together with those of other faiths and presenting a united front, knowingly or unknowingly, gives credence to these false, pagan beliefs; such joining together flies in the face of clear, Biblical commands to remain separate (1 Cor. 6:11-14 and Rev. 18:4, for example). Besides the ecumenical aspect, we have seen that emphasizing man’s efforts pushes the gospel of salvation to the side and offers no hope of being born again and spending eternity with Jesus. Additionally, we have seen the inclusion of the false teaching of dominionism at this event. For these reasons a true believer will not join the March for Life activities, but will rather present the gospel to a lost and dying world. 

 
Sources: 

1. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/catholicism-vs-christianity
   
2. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/vatican-ii-and-ecumenism.html
   
3. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/ecumenical-movement.html
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Gray_(activist)
5. https://juicyecumenism.com/2016/01/13/35331/
6. http://heavy.com/news/2017/01/nellie-gary-march-for-life-founder-biography-anti-abortion-pro-life-quotes-2017-date/
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iqFtWJEP-o
8. http://www.jp2shrine.org/en/staff/kelly.html
9. http://marchforlife.org/march-for-life-staff/
10. https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/interview-march-for-life-leader-reveals-silver-linings-in-snowpocalypseand
11. http://qpolitical.com/days-trump-elected-surprising-truth-mike-pence-exposed2/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_M._Dolan
13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Love
14. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/mormonism-vs-christianity.html
15. http://www.westmichiganchristian.com/local/665-former-planned-parenthood-director-affirms-my-goal-is-to-make-abortion-unthinkable.html
16. http://angelusnews.com/articles/see-the-power-of-the-rosary
17. http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/01/28/pope_francis_sends_support_to_march_for_life_in_washington_/1288811
18. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/blog---dominionism
19. http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/organizers-announce-the-power-of-one-as-theme-for-2017-march-for-life.cfm
20. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/27/511992534/demonstrators-descend-on-d-c-calling-for-end-to-legal-abortion
21. http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/contemporary-christian-music.html
    
    

 
 

On October 28-30 of 2016 an event called “Awakening Europe,” also referred to as “Awakening Scandinavia,” was held at the Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

​
​​Here is the promo video in which we hear Ben Fitzgerald (see below) say the following: “There will be outreaches occurring all over Scandinavia – Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark – we’re going to have outreaches spreading at the same time we’re here. It’s going to be something phenomenal where thousands of people all over Scandinavia are going to meet Jesus Christ.” The question we must ask right away is which Jesus will they meet? True believers recognize there is another Jesus, another gospel, and another spirit being presented today and we must exercise discernment when confronted with anything claiming to represent Jesus. Upon examination of this event we will find beliefs and connections which will give great pause.

The “Awakening Europe” movement is sponsored by Godfest Ministries. Scrolling down at this link
(http://www.awakeningeurope.com/about-godfest)
we see the vision for this ministry: “As a ministry, we put on festivals across the nations of the earth that are designed for people to meet Jesus. We are there to facilitate change in the heart of man through prayer and worship meetings, outreaches into cities, and vision-casting for the future. (No mention of the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins, though). We desire to see a more free world, safer for all people, full of love and peace, where God’s presence and joy is evident in daily life. We believe that more of God in a nation can only create cultural change for the better.” {This lends itself to Dominion Theology - We were never called to repair, or reclaim, this world, but rather to preach the gospel of salvation so that people may be snatched from the fire (Jude 1:23). Additionally, there will no true peace until Jesus returns to rule and to reign as described in Daniel 7:13-14: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed”}.(http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/blog---dominionism).

The vision statement continues: “We are an equipping and releasing ministry that works to impart our heart and pass the fire onto others, that they may live boldly for Jesus and transform nations (Dominion Theology again). Finally, but certainly not least, our main goal is to win people to Jesus. We want to fulfill the Great Commission by preaching the gospel and demonstrating God’s goodness and power. We believe that being a witness should not just be left for the evangelists, but instead every Christian should be representing Jesus whenever and wherever they are as a lifestyle.” (They mention winning people to Jesus and fulfilling the Great Commission by preaching the gospel, but in practice they are preaching a social gospel as we see by their statement of desiring “to see a more free world, safer for all people”).

​
(https://www.awakeningeurope.com/godfest-team/ben-fitzgerald) At this link we can read the following information about the director, Ben Fitzgerald: “Ben Fitzgerald is a passionate lover of Jesus and the Leader of Awakening Europe and GODfest Ministries. He spends a lot of his time travelling abroad as an Evangelist and for several years has been a Pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California. Originally from Australia, he met Jesus in an encounter that deeply changed him late in 2002 whilst he was dealing drugs. Since then Ben has lived hungry for one thing, to show the world Jesus in his everyday life and to take the good news of the Kingdom to the nations. In Galatians 5:1 it says “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” and in line with that mission they love to help people live in God’s fullness of freedom and identity.  He has a deep conviction that the future of nations and Europe will be transformed by radical believers living free and proclaiming Jesus boldly.” We see a huge red flag in the fact that Fitzgerald has been a pastor at Bethel Church which is under the leadership of Bill Johnson. If the reader is unfamiliar with this pastor please read the information at the following link
(http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/bill-johnson-bethel-church.html)
(http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/in-the-news/open-heavens-conference) and this blog about a recent event held there called the Open Heavens Conference. Additionally, we must be concerned when anyone describes their salvation experience as meeting “Jesus in an encounter.”

At this link (http://www.awakeningeurope.com/about-godfest) we see several screenshots with such statements as “Core Value: Family” or “Core Value: Passion for the Lost.” The description for the latter phrase is, “We want to see individuals, cities, and nations won for the Kingdom of God, transformed by a personal encounter of Jesus’ love, redeemed by His finished work at the cross, and restored and healed by His grace.” Winning cities and nations for the Kingdom of God now is also a belief found in Dominion Theology. This theology takes scriptures which apply to the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ which He establishes and rules over after He returns and applies them to the present time. Here is another good link concerning aspects of dominionism (https://watchmancurtis.wordpress.com/).

Now, someone might be thinking, “But, the above section actually says ‘redeemed by His finished work at the cross’” and isn’t that a good thing? However, another Core Value is this: “Unity – We serve the global church of God, from charismatics to Catholics. We believe in the unity of the body of Christ gathering around His presence and focusing on Jesus as God.” Joining up with Catholics and considering them to be fellow Christians means one does not understand and truly believe in the finished work of the cross; one is participating in ecumenism which is discussed in this blog
(http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/ecumenical-movement.html). It cannot be stressed enough that true believers need to beware of those who would say they believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross and then promote, or unite with, those who do not believe this.

Turning now to discuss those who were the worship leaders and speakers at this event we find that Todd White and Heidi Baker were two of the featured speakers. If anyone is unfamiliar with Todd White this link (http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/todd-white.html) exposes some of his false teachings. Additionally, at this link
(https://www.facebook.com/godtv/photos/a.149814658416063.33430.119396078124588/1236448379752680/?type=3&theater) we see Todd White’s statement of “When you say I do, Jesus says I am.”  This statement is classic Word of Faith jargon where we must act, decree, declare, and so forth, before God can move. Jesus said, “I AM” thousands of years before we were born so He doesn’t need us to say I do. Perhaps a good understanding of Job 38:4 is in order. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.” God is in control; He will act according to His plan and He does not rely on humans. Then, concerning Heidi Baker here is some information (http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/heidi-baker.html) about her false beliefs.

The main worship leader was Jeremy Riddle of Bethel Music. Below is a video of him and this group singing “One Thing Remains” at the event. As a worship leader for Bethel Music, Jeremy Riddle obviously holds to the aberrant teachings held by Bethel Church which have been described by Lighthouse Trails as: “a combination of the Word of Faith error and the prosperity gospel of Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, the signs and wonders of Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn, the false assumptions of the “spiritual warfare” and hyper-deliverance movement, the “prophetic movement,” and the gnostic mysticism of the Toronto Blessing.” An obvious question that must be asked concerning the “worship” at such events is if you turn the volume down, how can you tell if it’s secular or Christian?

According to this link
​(http://www.awakeningeurope.com/about-godfest) the movement is endorsed by Bill Johnson who stated: “Awakening Europe, put on by GODfest, is honestly going to release a shaking throughout all over Europe. These guys carry such a strong, but practical evangelistic anointing. I believe these events are going to be life changing, not just for those who attend, but honestly shaking the entire continent of Europe.” 

​Below is a video of Ben Fitzgerald speaking at Bethel Church describing the upcoming (at that time) event to be held in Stockholm: Some of his statements beginning at the 1:56 mark are as follows: “We’re really going after the lost…We’re taking Jesus to the streets…We’re headed to Stockholm; it’s a real gate for the whole Scandinavian region and we really feel right now kind of an urgency in our spirit that this area of the world must be touched by the heart of God.” (This may sound like an awesome idea except for the fact that the “Jesus” and the form of “Christianity” preached at Bethel are not Biblical as any of the above links concerning Bill Johnson show). At the 2:34 mark Fitzgerald says, “We have a similar thing to last year (referring to last year’s event which was held in Nuremberg, Germany); same with what happened to Azusa; look what God did through the faith of this house. It was incredible.” For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Azusa 2016 event which was held on April 9 at the Los Angeles Coliseum, this article
(http://herescope.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/azusa-or-pentecost.html) gives a thorough explanation. Additionally, at this link
(https://www.facebook.com/connie.wright.142/posts/10209344748875148) we can see a clip of NAR proponent Cindy Jacobs commenting that “the Lord showed me there was a great unity, great unity, a worldwide unity" at Azusa Now. Furthermore, one can see many posts and videos concerning the Awakening Europe event at its facebook page:
​(https://www.facebook.com/awakeningeurope/) Many people who attended the event went out in groups to minister in the streets of Stockholm (as people did in the streets of Los Angeles before the Azusa Now event) and there are clips of these occurrences as well. The problem, however, with all this street “ministry” is that these groups focus more on healings rather than on giving the true gospel of salvation.

​Continuing with Ben Fitzgerald’s message at Bethel: At the 4:16 mark he begins discussing a pastor who had a dream in which he says he heard the audible voice of God. This voice said, “I am coming to Stockholm; I am coming to this area and I am coming with something you haven’t seen. I will give you a choice; will you accept what I bring or will you refuse it?” The pastor said he woke his wife up and told her whatever’s coming next to our city we must say yes now. However, a true believer would know to never say yes to anything he or she hadn’t checked out. 1 John 4:1 says we are to try the spirits, not just automatically accept everything that comes in the name of Jesus.

In conclusion, true believers understand that it is not our duty to make this a better world. This society is not God’s. This is Satan’s world! ALL nations are deceived and under the Devil’s sway according to II Corinthians 4:4: “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” We are to preach the gospel and not chase after these events which come bringing another Jesus, another gospel, and another spirit. Additionally, we are never to unite with those of false religions such as Catholicism. Those who are participating in such events are being deceived and they will end up worshiping the antichrist during the tribulation if they don’t wake up to this deception before it’s too late.



Additional information:

Here is a link to one of the messages given at the event: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2NtpqM66pw) 
​
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp5bU2ALxq4  “God’s Great Dance Floor” is being performed at the event.

Popular CCM artist Chris Tomlin orchestrated an ecumenical/dominionist event on October 25, 2016 entitled “Worship Night in America.” The event had been previously recorded at Madison Square Garden and was then edited for theaters and non-theatrical venues. At Chris Tomlin’s website for the event people were encouraged to gather in churches, or rent movie theaters, to join in worship together across the country:

The following is a list of headline speakers and worship leaders for the event: Max Lucado, Louie Giglio, Matt Maher, Kim Walker Smith, Tasha Cobbs, and Phil Wickham.

At the following link (http://www.christomlin.com/faq) we see a list of questions and answers concerning this event. The most troublesome one is as follows and gives the reason why we can label this as an ecumenical event: Question: “What is Worship Night In America: An Evening of Unity and Prayer for our Country?” Answer: “Worship Night In America is a one-night event on Tuesday, October 25 that brings together people from all backgrounds and beliefs to unite around a single purpose: to pray for our country.” I would like to be able to give the creators of this website the benefit of the doubt and say the statement “from all backgrounds and BELIEFS to unite around a single purpose” was a typo, but considering that Matt Maher is a Catholic and Kim Walker-Smith is NAR/WOF, I have to believe the statement was intentional. Due to the inclusion of these musical artists, many who have similar beliefs surely attended this event. This is a major concern with any large prayer or worship event.  True believers should not be in the audience (even via satellite) with Catholics or dominionists or those of any other faith. Such is a fruitless and idolatrous act. Catholics, and these others, are praying to a god of their own imagination. We know that Catholics pray to Mary and to saints; and in the NAR, while they mention God fairly often, they do so much decreeing and declaring, thinking their words have the power to cause things to happen, that they essentially exalt themselves and minimize God. Any group of people, as these do, who believe Jesus cannot or will not return until the Church has taken dominion by gaining control of the earth's governmental and social institutions doesn’t believe in the Word of God.

At this point someone might say, well how about if a true believer does the praying? You have still joined in an ecumenical event which God will not sanction. Many so-called believers are running fast and furious into a false unity which will lead to the one world religion. A huge problem we have today is that Catholics and others are being labeled as Christians, when they actually follow religions based on the traditions of men. In 1 Kings 18 where we read the story of Elijah and the false prophets of Baal, at which time Elijah calls down fire from heaven, he doesn’t act like they’re all serving the same God. He clearly says in verse 24 of that chapter: “Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD.”  True believers must remember the scriptures on remaining separate (1 Cor. 6:14-17, Rev. 18:4, etc.) even more these days as the enemy is pulling out all the stops to lay the groundwork for the one world religion.

From Chris Tomlin’s facebook post of October 26 at 6:11 pm (https://www.facebook.com/christomlin/videos/10154525629341070/)
we discover that people in over 450 locations participated in the event. “We’re just a couple weeks away from this election. I know a lot of people feel like, “where are we headed?” I just want to remind you the heart of this night and moving forward, our hope and our trust is in a Kingdom that is eternal. We’re praying for this nation saying, Lord, have mercy on us; Lord, heal our land.” In this statement we discover the Dominion Theology aspect. Many patriotic dominionists, in particular, apply 2 Chron. 7:14 to America from which the “heal our land” thought is taken. However, as so well stated in this article (http://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/2-ch-714-if-my-people-read-the-context-there-would-be-less-presumption.html) “using 2 Ch 7:14 as many in America now do, does not even make logical sense. Do Christians have a land that needs to be healed? Last I heard Christians died with Christ and our home is in Heaven. Our land does not need to be healed. It would be more appropriate, but still wrong exegesis for Christians to apply 2 Ch 7:14 to the spiritual healing of the many backsliders in the Church. The problem in true Christianity is not the physical land our bodies occupy, and the problem in America is not the true Christians (My people).

I do not know how many times I have heard this passage used to imply that America was once a Christian nation and if the Church just did what 2 Ch 7:14 said, that God would restore America back to being a Christian nation. I have news. America was never a Christian nation. There were and are Christians in America, but there are no Christian nations on earth. It is also very misguided, if not sinful, to pray that God will heal our land when He is the very one that is cursing it because of the ongoing rebellion against Him. In the judgment of any nation perhaps some will repent and turn toward God. If that is the case with America, we do not want to be praying in opposition to God’s will.”

Now, to present some information concerning the headline speakers and worship leaders mentioned above:

​Matt Maher is a Canadian Contemporary Christian music (CCM) artist, songwriter, and worship leader originally from Newfoundland, Canada, who later relocated to Tempe, Arizona. He is a practicing Catholic. He has written and produced seven solo albums to date. Three of his albums have reached the Top 25 Christian Albums Billboard and four of his singles have reached the Top 25 Christian Songs chart. Maher was awarded Songwriter of the Year for an artist, at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards. A five-time Grammy nominee, he has garnered multiple radio successes writing and recording songs like “Lord, I Need You,” “Hold Us Together,” “Christ Is Risen,” “All The People Said Amen,” and “Your Grace Is Enough.” Maher has penned songs recorded by Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Third Day, Matt Redman, Hillsong, Passion, and Meredith Andrews, among others. In 2013, Maher performed on stage with Pope Francis in front of 3 million people at the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro:

Maher continues to perform and speak as a part of global high-profile events, including the World Meeting of Families in 2015, which marked Pope Francis’ first visit to the US. In December of 2015, he spoke and led worship at Mike Bickle’s IHOP OneThing event:

Additionally, he has recently been on tour with Casting Crowns and he performed at the ecumenical “Together 2016” event in July.

Kim Walker-Smith has quickly become one of the strongest voices in worship music. Walker-Smith is a passionate worship leader with an anointing to bring an entire generation into an encounter with God. Walker-Smith is one of the worship leaders for the Jesus Culture band and serves on the Jesus Culture Senior Leadership Team. She’s been with Jesus Culture since the beginning of the ministry.
​These statements are part of a bio of Smith at one of Bethel Church’s websites: http://www.bethel.tv/speakers/show/12/kim-walker-smith 

Walker-Smith completed the two-year program at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry and very likely due to the influence of the false teachings there concerning “trips” to heaven (http://bssm.net/academic-life/curriculum, see second year classes, inner development, encounters) she gave the following testimony regarding an “encounter” with Jesus:
​

Beginning at the 27:24 mark, one will hear the following just for starters: “And all of the sudden—and let me just remind you again, okay? This is not a normal thing for me to just have these encounters, but I have one and I just live off of that until the next one (laughs). So, I had this encounter, all the sudden I see Jesus standing in front of me and He’s reaching for me like this (gestures)—like He wants me to come to Him. And, I was terrified. I—I felt like I couldn’t go to where He was. I felt—I felt ashamed, I felt scared, I felt like I didn’t deserve to be close to Him. I couldn’t even look Him in the face. And Jesus (laughs) is completely irresistible. I always say there are three things that are completely irresistible to me. One is, of course, Jesus. Number two is my husband. And number three is chocolate (laughs, audience laughs). Completely irresistible.

Anyways, (pause) so, irresistible, I go to Jesus, I fall in His arms. And as I’m laying in His arms, I’m still feeling kind of afraid to really even look at Him.  All the sudden this thought comes into my mind, and I know this is not my thought. I would never, ever, ever in a million, trillion years think this; and I think, “I need to ask Him two questions.” I need to ask Him, “How much do You love me; and what were You thinking when You created me?” And as this thought comes into my mind, I’m thinking, “No way! I am not asking those questions.” As is overly obvious, this description of an “encounter” with Jesus has absolutely no Biblical precedent.

​Phil Wickham is a CCM vocalist/songwriter and guitarist from California. Wickham has released six albums. He is the son of well-known worship leader John Wickham. From this website (http://transparentproductions.com/events/the-journey) we learn that Phil Wickham participated in an event known as “The Journey” on Sept. 18, 2016 along with Matt Maher. This event was held in the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California, formerly owned by Robert Schuller ministries. This property was purchased in 2012 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in Orange County, California, to be used as the diocese's new cathedral. Here is a link to the promo video for this event:

We can also see that Wickham performed at a Joyce Meyer conference on August 26, 2016 by viewing this link (http://www.eventsinusa.net/event-phil-wickham-joyce-meyer-conference-giant-center-in-hershey-pa-hershey-4790171).
​Joyce Meyer preaches the heretical Word of Faith theology.


Matt Redman is a British CCM worship leader, singer, songwriter and author now based in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom. He co-wrote the 2005 Dove Award-winning "Blessed Be Your Name" (Worship Song of the Year) and the Grammy Award nominated "Our God". The single of "10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)", co-written with Jonas Myrin, reached #1 on the US Billboard Christian Songs chart. Matt Redman and LZ7, a Manchester-based Christian rap and dance group, released "Twenty Seven Million" on February 27, 2012, to raise awareness for the anti-human trafficking movement and in support of the A21 Campaign, founded by Christine Caine. 
​
​ This video shows Matt Redman performing at a Hillsong Conference in 2014.

At this link here (http://268generation.com/passion2017/) we learn he will appear at Louie Giglio’s Passion Conference 2017 with Chris Tomlin, Christine Caine, John Piper, Hillsong United, Levi Lusko, Francis Chan, and Beth Moore. ​
And, below we see a clip of him performing for Joyce Meyer’s Conference Tour in 2012. Before he begins singing he says, “Breathe in the Father’s perfect love for you.”

​
​Tasha Cobbs serves as one of the team pastors at dReam Center church in Atlanta according to her website (http://tashacobbs.org/about/). Most of her tenure at dReam Center has entailed leading worship weekly and managing the various entities of the Worship & Arts Department. She has received a Grammy Award, 3 Stellar Awards, and 3 Dove Awards. Cobbs continues to brand herself as a multifaceted game-changer as she blazes her own trail with her music career and ministry efforts. Of particular interest is the fact that in 2012 Cobb recorded the song, “Break Every Chain,” which landed as Billboard’s #1 song for a total of 12 weeks. This video shows her singing this song at TD Jakes’ “Woman Thou Art Loosed” event held in Atlanta, Georgia in 2012, which also featured Paula White:

One of the main lines in the song is, “There’s an army rising up…and this is what we came to do…break every chain.” The original lyrics do not include the phrase “and this is what we came to do”, but this is implied even so. Many may not realize it, but this is Dominion Theology phraseology. 
Max Lucado participated in “The Gathering” (please scroll down to the blog dated 9-21) event.

Louie Giglio is the founder of Passion City Church in Atlanta and the Passion Conference. Giglio is a supporter of Jesus Culture, Beth Moore, Christine Caine, Carl Lentz, John Piper and Hillsong Church, among others. As reported in this article (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/evangelizing-evangelicals-why-pope-francis-loves-to-meet-with-charismatic-movements-66914/) Giglio met with Pope Francis in July of 2015 at the Vatican. He also spoke at the ecumenical “Together 2016” held in July in Washington D.C. The following was Giglio’s statement on the promotional video for Worship Night in America, but the video has since been taken down from Chris Tomlin’s site since the event has passed: “We are standing even in this night on the Rock of Ages. If my people will humble themselves and pray (2 Chron. 7:14), that’s gonna trigger the avalanche of forgiveness and healing for the nation.” 

Again, concerning the specific belief that 2 Chron. 7:14 may be applied to Christians living in America today we must realize and admit that the promise of this verse is based on the covenant between God and Israel; it is not based on God and any other nation or people. While the United States has definitely had a Christian influence, only the nation of Israel can be designated as God’s people. Christians are indeed God’s people, but not as a nation.

Additionally, these words were spoken to Solomon, the king of Israel, and God promised Solomon that when the land suffered from drought or pestilence, that if the people would humble themselves and pray, then God would hear those prayers and heal their land. The Lord specifically said that His eyes and ears would be attentive to the “prayer that is made in this place” (vs. 15), a reference to the temple in Jerusalem.

Also, verses 19 and 20 say this: “But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.” I believe if we’re going to apply verse 14 to America we would have to claim this part of the passage, too.  And if we do claim this for ourselves, are we to believe that God is warning us that we could be uprooted from America and taken to a foreign land? It is interesting that no one warns us of this possibility. If a preacher wants to claim the beneficial part of praying and repenting, he should make the promise apply across the board, both positively and negatively.

According to 2 Tim. 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” So, we know we should read and study the Old Testament. However, not every promise in it applies to Christians today; many applied only to specific to individuals and incidents. We see this is true concerning 2 Chron. 7:14 when we study the verse in context.  This was written for the Israelites in Solomon’s time who were under a different covenant than Christians are today. Christians cannot claim any part of this promise.

I think it is important to discuss Chris Tomlin and a couple of his songs and associations before concluding this blog. He has produced ten albums including fifteen No. 1 radio singles, netting a GRAMMY® Award and eight additional nominations, three Billboard Music Awards, 21 Dove Awards, a platinum and four gold albums.
http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=3564

This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-WOneEXr00) features Chris Tomlin at Louie Giglio’s Passion 2013 conference with featured speakers Beth Moore and Francis Chan. Musical artists included Matt Redman, Lecrae and Jesus Culture. Chan, Lecrae, and Jesus Culture all appeared at the ecumenical “Together 2016” event. Tomlin is performing his song, “God's Great Dance Floor.” This song does not mention Jesus, and only mentions God in the following line which is repeated several times: “I feel alive, I come alive, I am alive on God's great dance floor.”

Chris Tomlin’s song “Good, Good Father” won GMA Song of the Year and he performed it at the “Worship Night in America” event. Here is one stanza:
​
Oh, I’ve heard a thousand stories of what they think you’re like
But I’ve heard the tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you’re pleased
And that I’m never alone

This terminology should be considered quite inappropriate. We are not to listen for “tender whispers of love in the dead of night” from God. 

While I have no doubt that Chris Tomlin is sincere in his hope of encouraging Christians to pray and worship God, he is presenting a false teaching that encourages people to do so in hopes He will heal our land.

To re-emphasize, Christians are not to join with unbelievers in any spiritual enterprise–especially worship. We need to recognize the signs of the times and understand there is no promise of a revival in the last days, but rather a worsening of evil. But, this is necessary before the Lord returns. We can read, for example, about the condition of the world at the time of Noah and Lot and how this applies to the last days as well (Luke 17:26-30).

Mother Teresa: The Life and Works of a Modern Saint

Rick Warren wrote the foreword to this book and just as he has praised Pope Francis, and referred to him as “our pope” he additionally praises Mother Teresa.

Excerpt from the foreword: “A handwritten note from Mother Teresa hangs on my office wall. It reads, “Be holy because the God who created you is holy and he loves you.” Mother Teresa didn’t just believe these words; she incarnated them.”

Red flag - That Rick Warren has a note from Mother Teresa hanging on his wall, and refers to a favorite quote of hers, tells us of his admiration for her. That an evangelical pastor retains such affinity for a Catholic nun is quite troublesome. But, Rick Warren has been hard at work encouraging the building of relationships with the Catholic church as demonstrated by the following:

• Rick Warren’s support of the “Catholics Come Home” project as evidenced by this statement: “The mission of Tom Peterson and Catholics Come Home to bring souls home to Jesus and the church is critically important during this challenging time in our history. I fully support this New Evangelization project.” http://www.catholicscomehome.org/catholics-come-home-announces-first-book-from-founder-tom-peterson/

• Warren’s statements at the “Pew Forum on Religion, Politics, and Public Life” in 2005: “Last week I spoke to 4,000 pastors at my church who came from over 100 denominations in over 50 countries. Now, that's wide spread. We had Catholic priests, we had Pentecostal ministers, we had Lutheran bishops, we had Anglican bishops, we had Baptist preachers. They're all there together and you know what? I'd never get them to agree on communion or baptism or a bunch of stuff like that, but I could get them to agree on what the church should be doing in the world.” http://www.teachingtheword.org/apps/articles/?articleid=59682&columnid=5787

• Warren’s endorsement of Father Jonathan Morris’ book entitled, “God Wants You Happy”:

• Warren attended “The Complementarity of Man and Woman: An International Colloquium,” in November of 2014, at the invitation of Pope Francis. He joined leaders from 23 countries and 14 religions. He stated, “It’s great to be with leaders from different streams of Christianity from all over the world,” Warren said from the Vatican on Monday. “Although we have some differences, we all love Jesus Christ and we all want marriages and families to be healthy and strong.” http://www.ocregister.com/articles/vatican-642454-warren-world.html

• Another excerpt from the foreword –“Mother Teresa never told anyone, ‘I’ll care for you if you become a Christian.’ Instead she offered the same unconditional love our Savior did. By being the hands and feet of Jesus, this petite Albanian Catholic nun became one of the greatest evangelists of the 20th century.”

Red flag – Evangelizing means to preach the gospel of salvation. Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), not just to attend to people’s physical needs. However, Mother Teresa seems to have completely confused the gospel of salvation with that of the social gospel. In her book, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations, and Prayers, "Mother" Teresa says on pp. 81-82: "We never try to convert those who receive [aid from Missionaries of Charity] to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God's presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, or agnostics become for this better men -- simply better -- we will be satisfied. It matters to the individual what church he belongs to. If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life -- his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation."
Quoted from: http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/teresa/general.htm

Another excerpt from the foreword – “In honor of her sainthood, I leave you with my favorite Mother Teresa quote: ‘God doesn’t ask us to do great things. He asks us to do small things with great love.’ Find a place to do that today.”

Red flag – Again, God asks us, first and foremost, to preach the gospel of salvation. This is the only way we may be redeemed and spend eternity with Jesus. To simply focus on performing good works means one is bringing a different gospel, in this case, the social gospel, and one is focused on the here and now.

I pray for true believers to recognize those wolves in sheep’s clothing who would lead people to the false, pagan, Babylonian system of Catholicism.

On October 3-6 a conference was held in Irvine, California called Exponential West 2016. The most well-known speakers at the event were Rick Warren, Matt Chandler, Erwin McManus, and Ed Stetzer.
​
An Exponential East 2016 conference was held this past April in Orlando, Florida. Two of the keynote speakers were Mark Batterson, author of  “The Circle Maker”
and Brian Houston.

From the website we learn the following concerning the purpose of the event: Overview – “Join thousands of church planting leaders for four days of inspiration, encouragement and equipping at Exponential West church planting conference in Los Angeles. The conference will feature 3,000 church planting leaders and sunny Los Angeles, California. Becoming Five continues a conversation started in our 2015 theme Spark: Igniting a Culture of Multiplication. Think of Becoming Five as a sequel of sorts that drills down into more detail focusing on how we can each play our part in moving the needle on church multiplication.  At Exponential 2016, we’ll roll up our sleeves and look practically at how leaders create healthy multiplication cultures: How do we confront and embrace the tensions that come as we’re trying to establish and develop healthy and powerfully aligned cultures that take churches from where they are to what we’re calling Level 5 multiplying churches? Be courageous! Journey with 1,000s of other leaders.  Continue to ask yourself: What would it take to face and overcome the tensions that are keeping me from living out a better scorecard rooted in multiplication?”

So the goal, apparently, is not just growing one’s church, but multiplying your one church into several church campuses. When we look at the modern church world almost all of the well-known pastors have multi-sites except for Joel Osteen.
Concerning the concept itself, it is easy to see people being drawn to campuses where the leading pastor has a very recognizable name such as Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Tim Keller, Craig Groeschel, Andy Stanley, Ed Young Jr., and Steven Furtick, for example. Many observers are quick to note it is often a pastor’s charisma and the brand identity of the church that draw people into these sites. Large churches and multi-site campuses are often run more like businesses today and a lot of this influence can be attributed to Peter Drucker and Rick Warren.
If anyone reading is unfamiliar with Peter Drucker and his influence on the modern church growth movement, I urge you to view this video beginning at the 1:04:04 mark:

At a 2005 ‘Pew Forum on Religion’ gathering called “Myths of the Modern Mega-Church,” Rick Warren stated: “I did a series of lectures for the faculty in the Kennedy School and also in the law school. I spoke to several groups of faculty and several groups of students and I started with this quote from Peter Drucker: “The most significant sociological phenomenon of the first half of the 20th century was the rise of the corporation. The most significant sociological phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century has been the development of the large pastoral church – of the mega-church. It is the only organization that is actually working in our society.” In Rick Warren’s office is a print signed by Drucker and given to Warren that reads: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?”

Here are the bios presented on the website with some additional information for each of the most well-known speakers:

Rick Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA in 1980 with one family. Today, it is an evangelical congregation averaging 30,000 weekly attendees, and has more than 300 community ministries. He also leads the Purpose Driven Network of churches, a global coalition of congregations in 162 countries. His book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” has sold 32 million copies and is the best-selling hardback book in American history, according to Publisher’s Weekly. Additionally, according to the rickwarren.org website, more than 400,000 ministers and priests have been trained worldwide, and almost 157,000 church leaders subscribe to the Ministry ToolBox, his weekly newsletter. I hope the reader will notice these figures and think about the overwhelming influence Rick Warren is having on the modern church world. I truly believe he has done an incredible amount of harm to the body of Christ, mainly due to the fact that he has been used as a tool of the enemy to change the gospel of salvation to a social gospel of meeting felt needs. He spoke at The Pew Forum conference on “religion, politics and public life” at Key West, Florida, in May 2005 and described the total gospel as this: “social justice, personal morality and salvation.”

At a 2005 ‘Pew Forum on Religion’ gathering called “Myths of the Modern Mega-Church,” Rick Warren stated: “I did a series of lectures for the faculty in the Kennedy School and also in the law school. I spoke to several groups of faculty and several groups of students and I started with this quote from Peter Drucker: “The most significant sociological phenomenon of the first half of the 20th century was the rise of the corporation. The most significant sociological phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century has been the development of the large pastoral church – of the mega-church. It is the only organization that is actually working in our society.” In Rick Warren’s office is a print signed by Drucker and given to Warren that reads: “What is our business? Who is our customer? What does the customer consider value?”

Matt Chandler is the Lead Pastor of The Village Church in Dallas, TX and president of the Acts 29 Network. He is in the Reformed Theology (Calvinist) camp.

Erwin Raphael McManus, a leader in the Emergent Church, is the founder of MOSAIC, a community of faith in Los Angeles, California.

Ed Stetzer is the executive director of LifeWay Research, a prolific author, and well-known conference and seminar leader. Stetzer has planted, revitalized and pastored churches, trained pastors and church planters on six continents and has written dozens of articles and books. However, he is a bridge to the “broader church” that is filled to the brim today with ancient and end-times heresies, despises separatism, and holds to the “in non-essentials liberty” philosophy.


There were many more speakers, but I wanted to highlight the two following men as examples of pastors who have completely changed the concept of church as a place to worship and learn God’s Word: Dave Dummitt is the Lead Pastor of 2|42 Community Church in Brighton, MI. Outreach Magazine ranked 2|42 one of top 20 fastest growing churches 3 years in a row. Known for its creativity, commitment to serving the city, and planting new churches, 2|42’s weekend attendance has grown to over 5000 at both the Brighton and Ann Arbor campuses. 2|42 recently opened the Commons, a family friendly community center open 7 days a week, housing indoor soccer and basketball, a preschool, a Cafe complete with a 3 story playscape for kids and the School for the Arts.

Dave Gibbons is pastor of the Newsong global alliance of churches and a creative futurist, activist, and strategist. He is the founder of Xealots, a group aimed at helping "creatives, entrepreneurs, activists, innovators, and artists discover their destiny and equip them to live it out."

So, we see that this conference involved bringing pastors together with very different ideas theologically. The main goal was to teach pastors how to multiply their churches with no thought apparently concerning the need to make disciples of church members.

Open Heavens Conference

Bethel Church held its annual “Open Heavens” conference from October 4-6. For anyone who might be unfamiliar with Bethel Church, it is pastored by Bill Johnson, and according to Lighthouse Trails, it is “a combination of the Word of Faith error and the prosperity gospel of Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, the signs and wonders of Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn, the false assumptions of the “spiritual warfare” and hyper-deliverance movement, the “prophetic movement,” and the gnostic mysticism of the Toronto Blessing.”

Two thousand people attended the event which featured Brian Houston, Bill Johnson, and Shawn Bolz. Worship leaders included Brian and Jenn Johnson and Jeremy Riddle.

The overview link of the conference’s website had this to say: “When Jesus bridged the expanse between Earth and Heaven, He empowered us to live like He did–tapping into the power and glory of His Kingdom. What is God’s has become ours! As Heaven permeates our lives, the extraordinary becomes ordinary, and the supernatural becomes natural. Encounters with glory become our new normal.

Open Heavens, one of our main conferences, captures the heart of Bethel Redding. It’s a response to our mandate to live in light of His reality, a call to converge our daily lives with Heaven. Through three powerful days of teaching, worship, and testimonies, you’ll walk away with a mind renewed and a life transformed, equipped to carry the power of the Kingdom with you, wherever you go.”

However, even though Jesus is mentioned, we can immediately see the purpose of this conference was not to preach Christ and Him Crucified. It was not to preach about who Jesus is and what He came to do for mankind. It was not to preach the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior. Besides the obvious problems presented by the description of Bethel at the beginning of this blog, the lack of preaching of the true gospel of salvation should be the major reason a true believer would not want to attend such an event. Additionally, the terminology used concerning “the Kingdom” is problematic. If the reader unfamiliar with Dominion Theology and such phrases as the “power of the Kingdom,” I urge you to read this blog that explains dominionism and the terms used in this false teaching.
http://www.biblebelievingtruthwatch.com/blog---dominionism

Other red flags are raised regarding the speakers and worship leaders. Information and links may be found exposing the false teachings of Brian Houston, Bill Johnson, and Shawn Bolz by clicking on their names. Here is some information concerning the worship leaders, Brian and Jenn Johnson, and Jeremy Riddle, as mentioned above, from their public bios:

Brian Johnson, son of Bill and Beni Johnson, was raised to make worship and praise before God his life's greatest pursuit. He is a founder of Bethel Music and has produced seven albums that have influenced the culture of worship in many churches around the world. Brian facilitates an atmosphere of faith in worship and pursues fresh expressions of God's heart through his songwriting. He has written anthems such as "Love Came Down" and "One Thing Remains," which was awarded #1 song for ASCAP Christian Music as well as the #1 Radio Single in 2013.

However, the fact that Brian Johnson is the son of Bill and Beni Johnson shows us he has been indoctrinated in the culture of Bethel.  This is a church which seeks experience over God’s Word and considers angel feathers, glory clouds, and gold dust as perfectly normal occurrences in church services. Additionally, we must ask why anyone is pursuing “fresh expressions of God's heart” since Malachi 3:6 says God does not change.

​Jenn Johnson is a worship leader and songwriter with Bethel Music. Known for her powerful vocals and unique prophetic sound, Jenn's lyrics flow straight from the heart. She has authored songs such as, "O Taste and See," "God I Look To You," "Come To Me," and "Who You Are," written with her daughter, Haley. Jenn is committed to raising up worshippers who will take hold of their true identity and pursue intimacy with God above all else. However sincere she may be, as the worship leader and wife of Brian Johnson, her beliefs would certainly line up with the Bethel culture as well. In this video we hear her describe the Holy Spirit as a sneaky, blue genie.

​Jeremy Riddle –He is a songwriter and worship leader at Bethel Church. Jeremy attended Anaheim Vineyard throughout his teens and later joined their staff as a youth pastor and worship leader. In 2007, Jeremy released his first full-length album, “Full Attention,” and is known for his song, “Sweetly Broken.” Jeremy has written many songs on Bethel Music albums, such as “This Is Amazing Grace.”

Here is a video featuring this song. While the words are beautiful, we have to consider the spirit behind music written by someone who believes the teachings coming out of Bethel Church. Here is a video and some additional information regarding a ministry for young people which is out of the Vineyard movement. This will show the type of ministry with which Riddle was familiar.

​According to the Vineyard resources site, “Cultivation Generation is a ministry that is focused on empowering, envisioning and sending out the next generation of the Church. They wish to see young people all over the world come into their destiny as children of God and ambassadors of His Kingdom. They desire to radically pursue God's presence as well as make His presence known to the world through evangelism, signs and wonders, and acts of justice. They believe true worship is an act of offering one's whole life for the cause of God's Kingdom and His purposes.” So, we can certainly see why Riddle would have been attracted to Bethel considering some of the similarities between the two organizations such as the focus on signs and wonders.

Of major concern is the occult influence so blatantly displayed in the facebook promotional video for the event with the use of the phrase “as above so below.”  In the book by Ronald S. Miller, entitled “As Above, So Below” we read the following concerning this phrase: “Thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt, the great master alchemist Hermes Trismegistus, believed to be a contemporary of the Hebrew prophet Abraham, proclaimed this fundamental truth about the universe: "As above, so below; as below, so above." This maxim implies that the transcendent God beyond the physical universe and the immanent God within ourselves are one. Heaven and Earth, spirit and matter, the invisible and the visible worlds form a unity to which we are intimately linked.”

The Message “Bible” by Eugene Peterson also uses this phrase in Col. 1:16, ““For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels - everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Additionally, in the Message version, the Lord’s Prayer begins: “Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what’s best— as above, so below.” The Message, however, heavily promotes New Age mysticism as excellently explained in this link.

Below are some pictures of Bethel Church’s “Alabaster Prayer House.” This statement concerning the prayer facility is by Beni Johnson: “It is a 24/7 prayer house-a place of peace and finding God's presence. People come here to soak in God's presence. They come to just be with God. There are no corporate prayer meetings in this building. We built it so that we could have a place to host the presence of God. We want people to experience God's presence in an intimate one-on-one way. Heavenly activity is present there. Just recently I was in my office, which is in the same building as the prayer house. My door was open, and a lady came out of the prayer room. She asked me if there was a room below the prayer room. I told her no and asked why? She told me that she kept hearing people laughing and talking. I told her that was normal and that other people have heard that same thing. Being a visitor to Bethel, she was blown away, and it messed her up-in a good way. She was hearing the sound of heaven. We do hear the sound of heaven all around our prayer house. It always seems to be one of joy and laughter. There seems to be a party going on. In my opinion, I think that heaven really likes to hang out in our prayer house.” (http://benij.org/heaven.php) It is quite concerning that what is obviously demonic activity is considered normal by Beni Johnson. Evil spirits are obviously operating at this location, but these people are deceived into believing these sounds are of God.

I pray for people to research the conferences they plan on attending. Many are a complete waste of time and money and can be damaging to your walk with the Lord and possibly send you off into apostasy.



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Additional resources:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=15508  New Age propensities of Bethel

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=20820  Beware of Bethel

Gateway Church is sponsoring a conference, which began on Monday, and ends today (Oct. 3-5, 2016). It has taken place at the Gateway Southlake location, which is one of six church campuses for Gateway Church, founded and pastored by Robert Morris. He was one of the speakers for “The Gathering” which occurred on September 21. At the “About” link for the conference itself we read its mission is “to bless, empower and equip local churches and their leaders.” Additionally, its stated purpose is: “The Gateway Conference desires to share practical wisdom for cultivating real growth by nurturing true and biblical health in the spiritual community of the local church.”

While these goals may sound noble to some, a huge red flag appears when we discover the list of the main speakers for the past few years: Joel Osteen 2013; Steven Furtick, 2014; Bill Hybels, 2015. Two well-known speakers for this year’s conference are Brian Houston and Greg Laurie. While these men are much acclaimed in the modern church world, Osteen, Furtick, and Houston are Word of Faith preachers. Hybels pastors Willow Creek Church, a forerunner in the Emergent Church. For more details about Willow Creek’s activities please read this article:http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/willowcreek.htm
Laurie has become quite ecumenical, especially of late:(https://www.facebook.com/connie.wright.142/posts/10210574214091010)
Saying all this to say, Christians and leaders of other churches should not take any advice from these men concerning their own churches.

Here, again, are some of the speakers for this year, including a bio for each one from the conference website:

Brian Houston - He is a pioneer, along with his wife, Bobbie. They are the Senior Pastors of Hillsong Church; a local church with 17 global campuses and over 100,000 people in weekly attendance.   Known for its healthy approach to Church life, Mission, Innovation, College and Praise and Worship, Hillsong’s Conferences are attended by tens of thousands of pastors and leaders from around the globe every year.  Hillsong Conference and Colour Women's Conferences are held in some of Sydney and London’s largest arenas and stadiums, with a focus on championing the cause of the local church.

Of major concern are Brian Houston’s Word of Faith beliefs. There are many other issues that are cause for alarm within Houston’s organization, but since the website’s bio mentioned the Colour Women’s Conference, I ask the reader to take note of some of the shenanigans occurring at these conferences: Any God-fearing believer would surely agree there is no excuse for such a display!

Jeremy Riddle – He is a songwriter and worship leader at Bethel Church. Jeremy attended Anaheim Vineyard throughout his teens and later joined their staff as a youth pastor and worship leader. In 2007, Jeremy released his first full-length album, “Full Attention,” and is known for his song, “Sweetly Broken.” Jeremy has written many songs on Bethel Music albums, such as “This Is Amazing Grace.” Here is a video

Here is a video featuring this song. While the words are beautiful, we have to consider the spirit behind music written by someone who believes the teachings coming out of Bethel Church. This church, pastored by Bill Johnson, is “a combination of the Word of Faith error and the prosperity gospel of Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, the signs and wonders of Oral Roberts and Benny Hinn, the false assumptions of the “spiritual warfare” and hyper-deliverance movement, the “prophetic movement,” and the gnostic mysticism of the Toronto Blessing.” (http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=20820)

Greg Laurie - He is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California. Laurie has authored over 70 books. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio program “A New Beginning” and television program GregLaurie.tv, Laurie is also the founder and featured speaker for Harvest Crusades and Harvest America—contemporary, large-scale evangelistic outreaches. More than 5 million people have attended a Harvest Crusades event. However, as mentioned above, he has become quite ecumenical and this article will reveal his connections to some emerging church heretics. In addition, he spoke at “The Gathering” event.

Then from the conference’s website we read the following endorsement by
James Robison: “When I refer to the “blessed church,” I’m speaking from firsthand experience. My wife, Betty, and I are active members of Gateway Church, which Robert Morris pastors. We’ve witnessed and experienced the dynamic power and profound impact made on personal lives, families, the community, the church at large and the nation. The blessed church members live a blessed life and continually seek to be a blessing to others. Through Pastor Morris’ leadership, Gateway Church has become a model and inspiration to the whole church around the world. Your church can experience the bountiful blessings of our God and Father right here on earth right now!'” -James Robison, Founder and President of LIFE Outreach International and Co-host of LIFE Today. However, Robison is quite ecumenical and even traveled to the Vatican with Kenneth Copeland in June of 2014. He also spoke at “The Gathering” event.

When one examines the Leadership and Worship Breakouts and Lab Sessions (a few of which are listed below) at the conference’s website, it becomes readily apparent the focus is on church growth. However, in Matt. 16:18, we see Jesus’ words concerning this topic: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." So, we see Jesus is the One Who builds the true church. The true Body of Christ consists of the ekkesia, or called out ones, and members do gather in church settings to worship and be instructed in God’s Word. But, the focus is not to be on numerical growth, or growth in church programs, but on the spiritual growth of the members.

If anyone reading is unfamiliar with Peter Drucker and his influence on the modern church growth movement, I urge you to view this video beginning at the 1:04:04 mark:

In the descriptions of these breakouts and sessions, we see the use of buzzwords and phrases popular in the modern church today such as philosophies, empowered, next level, healthy culture, world-impacting, relationally, mantles, DNA, strategy, and small groups.
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Leadership Breakouts -

Church government - Learn about Gateway’s governmental structure, keys to creating unity in your leadership team, core philosophies to position your church for growth, and practical ways to ensure your senior pastor is empowered, blessed, and protected. You’ll leave equipped to take your church to the next level as a life-giving body of believers.

Define Your Culture Before it Defines You - Creating a healthy culture in the church does not happen by accident. Without a clear picture of what healthy looks like, your culture can take on an unhealthy life of its own. Learn how to pull the puzzle pieces together as you assess the culture of your church, and intentionally affect it in a positive way.

Worship Breakouts –

Adventures in Prayer - Leading your congregation and teams into an unforgettable adventure in prayer that is exciting, life-changing, and world-impacting is our responsibility as pastors and leaders. Learn from Gateway’s long-time prayer champion and worship warrior as she discusses the practical principles of prayer that have provided a solid foundation of worship at Gateway Church.

Building and Training a Volunteer Tech Team - Join us as we discuss how Gateway’s technical arts team recruits, trains, and empowers people to serve in our live productions. We’ll share practical methods you can employ at your church!

Mistakes and Mantles - Why does God place us under leadership? Explore how we learn from their successes and from their mistakes without having to pay for them and how God puts us under leaders who have a mantle we need for His calling in our lives.

Lab Sessions -

Producing Musicals and Special Service Elements - Join us for a practical discussion about using theatrical arts as a method for evangelism and ministry. Topics include how to have auditions, forming production timelines, creating a budget, and developing rehearsal plans.

How to Lead Healthy Oversight Meetings  - Go behind the scenes and see: 1) what a closed-door oversight meeting looks like at Gateway, 2) how we function relationally, and 3) how DNA and health are imparted through a loving, Spirit-filled meeting.

Small Groups as a Strategy for Ministry Growth and Multiplication - Learn how Gateway uses small groups to grow people and ministry.

I pray for people to see the dangers involved in being influenced by the false teachings presented at this event by those who do not have Christ and Him crucified as the center of their teaching.

An event called “The Gathering” is taking place today, Sept. 21, at Gateway church near Dallas, Texas. Pastors and leaders will meet from 12-3 pm. Some of the sessions are as follows: Session 1 - Setting the Stage for a Solemn Assembly; Session 2 - Sharing a Vision for Corporate Repentance as Spiritual Leaders; Session 3 - Repentance Experience & Communion; Session 4 - A Call for Corporate Unity and Intentional Impact. Then, the evening event will last from 7-9 pm, featuring the following: A Call to Solemn Assembly; Session 1 - Focus on our Personal Lives; Session 2 - Focus on our Families; Session 3 - Focus on the Church; Session 4 - Focus on our Nation. The entire event will be simulcast to churches across the nation.

In order to understand the serious errors inherent in such an event the following points must be discussed: false unity; the false designation of America as Israel; and, the false belief in a great, end time revival. 

False Unity
Many are preaching a “unity-at-all-costs” gospel. Basically, God won’t hear us unless we are unified across all spectrums of the church world. At the about link of the website for  “The Gathering” in big, bold letters we read: One Vision One Voice One Agenda. More clues to the goal of the event are found in the following statement on the main page of their website: “The Gathering has one purpose: to unite the Body of Christ in America – all believers, regardless of race, age, or denomination – in prayer for forgiveness, wisdom, and provision for our nation.”
So, let’s address this concept of uniting the Body of Christ. Philippians 1:27 says, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel .” True believers will have the same spirit, have the same mind, concerning “the faith of the gospel.”  What is the essence of the gospel around which true believers will unite? 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
Therefore, if an event or movement calls for unity, or prayer, or even repentance, but does not have Christ and His Finished Work at its center, it is not of God. The true gospel reconciles sinners to God through the atoning, mediating Work of the Cross. This is the gospel preached by Paul and this is the “faith of the gospel” around which Paul told the Philippians, and all Christians by extension, they should strive to unify. Any gathering, or event, that does not loudly and strongly preach this message, yet speaks of “unity,” is promoting a false and man-made unity that is unbiblical.

The ultimate goal of every so-called Christian event featuring unity is the establishment of the one-world religion. If the reader is unfamiliar with this term, it is described in Revelation 17:1–18 as “the great whore”. This religion will be in effect during the Tribulation. These scriptures give us several characteristics of it. Verse one says the “great whore who sits upon many waters.”  The term whore or harlot is used symbolically to describe false religion many times in the Bible. Great whore refers to all the religions of the world that have ever been, which are devised by men as a substitute for Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. Waters refers to the phrase “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” from verse 15 meaning that it will have universal authority, no doubt given by the Antichrist, who rules the world at that time. The alliances forged by the false religion will unite church and state as never before. And, what some people don’t seem to understand is that this unity won’t just magically appear one day. The groundwork will have been laid by events such as “The Gathering.”

To their own detriment people may feel they don’t have to worry about unity, or the one world religion, because they will be raptured before the actual establishment of the one world order. However, if a person is deceived to the point of unifying with groups that believe and preach another gospel, that person will lose his or her faith, and will not be raptured. So, researching and being aware of events which promote false unity is very important.

Sadly, many will be excited about this event because their favorite teacher/preacher is speaking and they will fail to research some of the false beliefs of the speakers. The reaction of many will be: “Oh, they said they’re going to lift up the name of Jesus, so it must be biblical.” However, Elijah made it very clear that we do not unite with false prophets when he told Israel in 1 Kings 18:21, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.” True believers do not unite with just anyone who names the name of Jesus. This will be an event in which the blind are leading the blind, sad to say.

Here are a few of the speakers scheduled to appear:

Max Lucado – serves the people of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he has been on staff since 1988. A proponent of contemplative prayer for years, he was part of the 2006 “Be Still” DVD project which promoted this unbiblical type of prayer and also featured Beth Moore. He is the author of 32 books, one of which is the Cure for the Common Life in which he quoted Richard Foster and Thomas Merton, well-known advocates of contemplative prayer, and Eugene Peterson, author of the Message “Bible.” 

Rev. Ray Sutton - serves as Dean of the Province and Ecumenical Affairs of the Anglican Church in North America. He is rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas. In August 2010, the executive committee of the ACNA approved the creation of a task force on "Islam and interfaith engagement". Sutton met with Pope Benedict XVI, in Rome, in November of 2012, as just a couple of examples of the work with which he is involved. The interview at this site discusses Ray Sutton’s visit with Pope Benedict. The following statements reveal a completely ecumenical outlook on the part of Bishop Sutton. “As for what it means in the future, I think that of course Anglicans view the Roman Church as part of the faith, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Anglicanism has always been committed to trying to bring Christians together. We especially have a historically close relationship with the Roman Church in our own past. We want to seek ecumenical dialogue with them to the greatest extent possible.”

Ronnie Floyd - has served as the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, in northwest Arkansas, since 1986. He has been a leader in the Southern Baptist Convention for decades, serving as President from June of 2014 to June of 2016. He was one of the speakers at the ecumenical “Together 2016” event held on July 16, 2016.
​Click here for more information.
In December of 2015, he spoke at Mike Bickle’s OneThing IHOP conference to a 20,000+ crowd which included Baptists, Catholics, NAR adherents, etc.

At the 8:24 mark of this video one hears him say: “I’m not here tonight to highlight our theological differences, but to bend my knee, next to yours, and to ask God to have mercy on America."
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Tony Evans - he has served as the senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship for 40 years. His daily radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on nearly 1,000 radio outlets throughout the United States and in more than 130 countries. Through his local church and national ministry, Dr. Evans has set in motion a Kingdom Agenda philosophy of ministry that teaches God’s comprehensive rule over every area of life as demonstrated through the individual, family, church and society. He spoke at the Together 2016 event, and at the 6:23:13 mark of the video below we can also hear him praying a “commissioning prayer” over those attendees 30 and under, apparently with no consideration given to the ecumenical nature of this event.​

Dr. Jack Graham - pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church. He recently served as Honorary Chairman of the 2015 National Day of Prayer and he has served as President of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country. He revealed his ecumenical leanings when he promoted Roma Downey’s “AD: The Bible Continues” series, by having her speak at his church.

Anne Graham Lotz – she is a delegate to the Davos’ Economic Forum, a commentator to the Washington Post, a speaker on platforms throughout the world, and President of AnGeL Ministries. In addition she has authored 16 books, the newest of which is entitled The Daniel Prayer: Prayer That Moves Heaven and Changes Nations. Apparently Lotz believes the prayer of Daniel is some sort of secret weapon to motivate God to save America. In addition, she has recently promoted the pagan practice of circle making as described by Mark Batterson in his book, The Circle Maker.

James Robison - the founder and president of LIFE Outreach International. James has preached in over 600 citywide evangelistic crusades attended by more than 20 million people. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Indivisible (co-written with Jay W. Richards who is a Catholic). Here is one account of his ecumenical leanings in his own words. Click here 
James Robison also traveled to the Vatican with Kenneth Copeland in June of 2014. Here is his account of the trip.

Samuel Rodriguez - Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez founded New Season Christian Worship Center in September of 2010. In addition, he serves as the President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC)/CONEL, the world’s largest Hispanic Christian organization. He is considered a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation being a member of the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (ICAL). He is part of a unity movement involving pastors in the greater Sacramento area as described in this article.
One can hear Rodriguez’ message at the Together 2016 event at the 46:49 mark of this video. ​

Nick Hall – the founder and chief communicator for PULSE, a student-led prayer and evangelism movement. His passion is to “awaken culture to the reality of Jesus.”  He wrote a book entitled Reset: Jesus Changes Everything which presents the concept of a reset button as a spurious substitute for heartfelt, biblical repentance. He was the organizer of the ecumenical “Together 2016” event.

Marcus and Joni Lamb – co-founders of Daystar Television Network.  The network reaches over 108 million homes in the U.S. over all major cable carriers and satellite systems. Globally, Daystar reaches over 2 billion viewers in 200 countries around the world on a daily basis. Daystar is the fastest growing faith-based television network in the world. However, the network’s schedule includes of some of the most well-known Word of Faith teachers including Brian Houston, Joseph Prince, James Robison, Andrew Wommack, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, and Kenneth Copeland. http://www.daystar.com/schedule/  So, they are doing far more harm than good since they are spreading heretical Word of Faith teaching all over the world.

Greg Laurie - senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship® in Riverside and Irvine, California. In 1990, Laurie began holding large-scale public evangelistic events called Harvest Crusades®. Since that time, more than 5.2 million people have attended Harvest Crusades across the United States, in locations ranging from the annual event at Angel Stadium, Calif., to Madison Square Garden in New York City to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Harvest Crusade events have also been held in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Nearly 1.7 million people have attended Harvest events virtually, via live or archived Internet webcasts.
This article, however, will reveal his connections to some emerging church heretics.

In addition, since the event will be simulcast, members of at least 170 churches all across America will be, in effect, worshiping and praying together. Some of those listed include Baptist, United Methodist, Nazarene, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Holiness, and Mennonite. When we are not personally familiar with the teachings of a particular church it is unwise to join together at such an event. 
Besides the false gospel of unity a second spurious gospel will be preached. The other one states, in so many words, that Christians must repent so God will bless and save America. This gospel, along with other similar false concepts, will be discussed in the next section.

America is not Israel
Many people have been deceived by the unscriptural teaching that America is somehow the new Israel. However, God’s Word reveals that God draws the boundaries of all nations: Acts 17:26 - “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” Paul’s instructions in Romans 13 were given in order for Christians to understand how to live under civil governments during his day up to the present. Israel alone was established by God and maintained a binding covenant mediated through Moses. From its inception to now, America has never possessed a Moses or a binding covenant. Biblically speaking, it is impossible for another nation to enjoy the status Israel alone has been blessed to retain. The Bible does contain the moral laws of God and these apply to all people in all nations.

At the about link of “The Gathering” website we see 2 Chron. 7:14 underneath the purpose statement of which we have discussed the portion concerning unity. Concerning the specific belief that 2 Chron. 7:14 may be applied to Christians living in America today we must realize and admit that the promise of this verse is based on the covenant between God and Israel; it is not based on God and any other nation or people. While the United States has definitely had a Christian influence, only the nation of Israel can be designated as God’s people. Christians are indeed God’s people, but not as a nation.

Additionally, these words were spoken to Solomon, the king of Israel, and God promised Solomon that when the land suffered from drought or pestilence, that if the people would humble themselves and pray, then God would hear those prayers and heal their land. The Lord specifically said that His eyes and ears would be attentive to the “prayer that is made in this place” (vs. 15), a reference to the temple in Jerusalem.

Also, verses 19 and 20 say this: “But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations.” I believe if we’re going to apply verse 14 to America we would have to claim this part of the passage, too.  And if we do claim this for ourselves, are we to believe that God is warning us that we could be uprooted from America and taken to a foreign land? It is interesting that no one warns us of this possibility. If a preacher wants to claim the beneficial part of praying and repenting, he should make the promise apply across the board, both positively and negatively.

According to 2 Tim. 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” So, we know we should read and study the Old Testament. However, not every promise in it applies to Christians today; many applied only to specific to individuals and incidents. We see this is true concerning 2 Chron. 7:14 when we study the verse in context.  This was written for the Israelites in Solomon’s time who were under a different covenant than Christians are today. Christians cannot claim any part of this promise.

The second part of the purpose statement says believers are uniting “in prayer for forgiveness, wisdom, and provision for our nation.” However, if Christians pray for forgiveness for unbelievers they are asking God to forgive people who haven’t repented. They expect God to deal with these people when they haven’t had their sins forgiven; when they haven’t come to God by way of the Cross. Additionally, these Christians are asking for God to not follow His own Word concerning the judgment of sin and how God will give people over to their own desires (Rom. 1).
Some would point to examples in the Old Testament of prophets (Nehemiah 1:6-7 and Daniel 9:4-5) who interceded for the people and confessed the sins. It is factual that the Old Testament prophets were sometimes called to stand between the people and God. However, in the New Testament, believers may approach God directly to confess our own sins. We may do so because of Jesus’ Finished Work on the Cross.

From the National Solemn Assembly Fact Sheet at the Gathering website in a PDF file entitled “National Solemn Assembly Historical View” we read: “A solemn assembly is a sacred gathering calling God’s people to renew their covenantal relationship with Him and to repent – namely a turning away from sin and a turning back to God. Whenever a solemn assembly or sacred gathering was called in Scripture, it was often called by those in leadership – whether that be a priest, prophet or king. In a number of the major occurrences of national revival recorded in the Old Testament, they were preceded by a solemn assembly, or a time of prayer and/or fasting.” Here are the scriptural references they list: 12 Chronicles 12:1-8, 2 Chronicles 15:1-19, 2 Chronicles 20:1-29, 2 Chronicles 29-31, 2 Chronicles 34, Ezra 10:7-9 Nehemiah 8-9, Joel 1-2, Deut. 29:10-29; Judges 10:10-19; 1 Samuel 7:5-6; 1 Samuel 10:17-27; 1 Kings 8:1-66; 1 Kings 18:21-40; 2 Kings 11:17; 2 Kings 23:3; 1 Chronicles 13-18; 2 Chronicles 5-7; 2 Chronicles 15:9-15; 2 Chronicles 20:3-13; 2 Chronicles 23:16; 2 Chronicles 29:3-36; 2 Chronicles 34:31-33; Ezra 6:6-12; Ezra 8:21-23; Nehemiah 8; Esther 4:5-17; Joel 1:13; 2:12-17.

The authors of this document make a biblically unsupported attempt to link the concept of a solemn assembly to the New Testament church by describing the meeting in the upper room as such. However, the author’s premise of a “national solemn assembly” is rendered ineffective due to the fact that in the New Covenant disciples are to be made of all nations (Matt. 28:19). God is no longer dealing with people according to their nationality (Gal. 3:28). This is yet another example of the organizers of  “The Gathering” blurring the lines between the Old and New Covenants.

When listening to the webcast found at the resources link of the website we hear Tony Evans make the following statement: “God is not going to bring revival to a divided church…If there is no revival, there is no saving the nation.” So, here we see the second false gospel that is expressed by those involved with this event.

End time Revival?
Even though the concept is preached quite regularly, nowhere in Scripture do we see any mention of an end-time world revival! This teaching is unscriptural and stands in direct opposition to many passages of God’s Word. However, scriptures that speak of a great falling away from the faith are numerous. Here are just a few: '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; speaking lies in hypocrisy’(1Tim. 4:1); ‘Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling way first’ (2 Thess.2:3); ‘For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine...and they shall turn away their ears from the truth' (2 Tim. 4:3,4). The Bible clearly predicts 'false christs and false prophets' (Matt. 24:11,24); false and 'lying signs and wonders' (2 Thess. 2:9,10, Matt.24:24); increasing 'deception' (2 Tim. 3:13, Matt.24:11,24, Rev.6:4); and 'iniquity' (Matt.24:12).

How then have some reached the conclusion we are about to experience a great end time revival? Some are guilty of taking scriptures that apply to Israel and making them apply to the church. This is called Replacement Theology and is connected to the false teachings of Dominion Theology.
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We are obviously living in days similar to those of Noah and Lot (Lk. 17:26,28); we are living in the last of the last days and things are not going to get better until Christ returns to rule and reign. This world is preparing itself for the reign of the anti-Christ; as previously described, the groundwork is being laid through the efforts we see all around us such as this event. The word of God is being fulfilled as prophesied. People are desperate to save the nation which we are never told to do, but rather preach the gospel to a lost and dying world.